忘れちゃった！ pt. 2

Yes, yes, I know I forgot to write again.  Well...I didn't really forget, per se, as much as I just ended up in a situation more often than not where I haven't been able to update the blog.   For this I bow my head deeply, apologize profusely in Japanese, etc.  Blah, blah, blah.

First, before we move on to more wonders of the Land of the Rising Sun, I want to give a few more updates on my upcoming work adventure.  San Francisco lodging has been arranged for the length of the contract, and I'll be staying with several other people who are part of the program, which I think will be a ton of fun as well as a great learning experience for all of us.  All of the other candidates I've spoken to directly are extremely humble and well-mannered without being over-polite, both very good things.  Having a lot of these kinds of people in the program will make it less likely for the experience to transform into the software engineering equivalent of The Hunger Games.  May the code be ever in my favor, indeed.

My last week at Yamasa was filled with surprises.  First, we got slapped with a typhoon.  Yes, a typhoon, as in the Pacific Ocean equivalent of a hurricane.  Generally, Japan doesn't get hit with typhoons until the August time frame, but this one decided to break the rules and show up early to the party.  I knew that the storm probably wasn't anything to worry about when I arrived at the grocery store about 3 hours before the storm was supposed to show up, and everything was business as usual.  In America - you've all seen it, I'm sure - if the weather predicts something extreme (such as a big rainstorm or a huge snowfall), people race to the hardware and grocery stores and completely clean the places out.  Maybe to everyone else a typhoon would have been a big deal.  To the people of Okazaki, it was just a normal Tuesday with a little extra wind and rain.  Tuesday with a little extra wind and rain was actually a pretty apt description of what happened, actually.  If it wasn't for the noise outside, I wouldn't have even known anything was going on.  That said, it was a weak typhoon, but still underwhelming...

Speaking of the typhoon, it ended up delaying my home visit to the Miwa family by one day.  The visit occurred on Wednesday.  The Miwas are a very nice couple who seem to be a few years older than Lisa and I.  They have two adorable elementary-school-aged kids, Ryuuki and Rio.  Both of the Miwa children also happened to be pretty big fans of video games, and, though I'm still not sure exactly how it happened, I ended up getting into a Pokemon Battle with Ryuuki.  It was a lot of fun - if a bit embarrassing that my secret is out that as a 30-year-old male, I still occasionally enjoy a game of Pokemon.  I did get a lot of time to talk to Tomoko (Ryuuki and Rio's mother) about the differences between America and Japan, and I'm friended to the family on Facebook and certainly plan to keep in touch.  The similarities and differences between this family and my previous homestay family were interesting, indeed.  Suffice it to say that if I ever had a chance to stay in Japan again for study, and the Miwas would take me on as a homestay student, I would do it in a heartbeat.  They were very welcoming, kind, and a lot of fun to talk to.  I'm also beginning to realize that I can get along with kids, which is something I wasn't really aware of. 

I graduated from Yamasa on Thursday, which was sad, but needed, I think.  I got what I wanted to get out of the program, and I promise myself here and now that I'm going to continue from here, and not lose what I've managed to learn. 

忘れちゃった！ pt. 1

So, I know I haven't written for a while - and yeah, I feel pretty bad about it.  I've been trying to keep on top of the blog entries on sites I'm required to write, the ones I'd like to write, and the ones I really should write.  This blog is, unfortunately, part of the third category which also makes it the lowest on the priority scale...it doesn't receive as much TLC as it really should given the circumstances <3.

In the time since the last entry, I explored the Japanese countryside on an unofficial tour, went to Osaka on a whim and randomly went out to a pub with a bunch of natives, had interesting experiences on public transportation, bought far too many souvenirs, got addicted to okonomiyaki, turned 30, met new friends, watched them graduate, met a random old Japanese guy that wanted to practice English on me, had dinner with two Japanese fighting game players, got to play one in a game of Street Fighter IV (and lost horribly), ate Okinawan food, played DDR, cried myself to sleep after E3, and never once had to use a Gaijin Superpower.

Though for sanity's sake, I think I'll stick to the highlights...but before we get started, an incredibly important announcement.  I can finally say for certain that I'm going to be accepting the temporary contract for the Code-Foo Software Engineering position at IGN Entertainment in San Francisco.  As a budding game journalist myself, this is a pretty big deal.  For those that don't know video games, IGN pretty much the game journalism equivalent of the NFL - it has a lot of power, a lot of renown, and a lot of reach.  Regardless of whether the IGN position will lead to a full-time offer, the potential for learning new technologies and making significant industry connections there - particularly with my unique background - is something I couldn't afford to pass up, even when considering some of the benefits of some of the other options I was exploring.  In any case, I'm very excited, but I've deviated enough.  Let's get back to our regularly scheduled highlights! 

1.)  Going into the countryside was far more interesting than I expected it to be.  I got to visit Ennoji, one of the largest active temples in Japan.  It's still in use, with resident monks running about and various ceremonies happening throughout the temple.  There are also photo gestapo following many of the tour groups around.  I don't think the other people noticed, but an employee of the temple was tailing us during the entire tour.  As sick as I am of this kind of treatment, I understand why they do it.  Taking pictures of the monks, trainees, and ceremonies is forbidden, after all, and for all they know we might not actually understand that.  I did manage to find a couple of souvenirs for my mom, as she didn't tell me before I studied in Japan last time that my late grandfather had an affinity for small Buddha statues.  This time I made sure to pick something up and I think my mom will appreciate it.

2.)  I got to visit Obama.  No, not the President... the town in Japan.  And no, Obama Japan has nothing whatsoever to do with President Obama, but that certainly didn't stop the town from trying to cash in.  From large caricatures of President Obama to small lanyards with "I love Obama" and "The Obama for Obama" written on them, references were everywhere.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any Obama themed snack cookies or crackers, or I would have picked up a box to take home.  Another interesting thing about Japan's boondocks - even though everyone's off of work on the weekends, most shops and restaurants are closed.  In downtown Obama, which is packed with shops, only a small Japanese eatery and a pachinko parlor remained open on a Saturday, while everything else was completely shut down.  This concept was alien to me as I had never seen anything like this before, but it turns out the tepid economy is making it difficult for many places to stay open.  That said, it probably makes more sense to open a touristy shop when tourists will actually visit it, ne?  Sometimes Japanese logic perplexes me.

3.)  The moment I was both eagerly anticipating and was a little nervous about finally arrived: I got to have dinner with pro players Yuko "ChocoBlanka" Kusachi and Yusuke "Momochi" Momochi.  After the awkward introduction at EVO last year when my nerves got the better of me while attempting to act as an interpreter for them, it was good to finally sit down and just casually chat in Japanese for a couple of hours with zero pressure.  The additional conversation practice that SILAC Intermediate provides is incredibly helpful.  There wasn't a single moment of awkward silence and I was able to gather plenty of material for the articles I was working on.  Yuko let me choose what we were going to eat - I picked a miso katsu restaurant since the dish is relatively famous in Nagoya.  I talked so much I actually had a hard time eating quickly and was the last one to finish - gaijin FAIL :-)!  I was pretty proud of myself, and they were both very welcoming and very nice.  Though, I must say:  compared to some of the other people going to school here, such as my friend Brad, I still get nervous when making the initial contact.  If I already have a reason to talk to someone?  No problem.  If I don't, and I just want to talk to some random person for the sake of talking (a.k.a. "shooting the shit"), I get really nervous.  It's something I've been trying to work on.

4.)  As part of the experience meeting with Yuko and Yusuke, I humbly requested, if there was time after the tournament I was covering, to play a match against Yuko.  Unsurprisingly I lost pretty badly, but I did get a few hits in.  Considering Street Fighter IV isn't exactly my strongest game, I think I gave a decent enough performance, though you'd never catch me doing that again.  I actually recorded it and may post it here for future reference should I be over the shame I experienced by then.  :-)  Or not.  I can now say with giddiness that I got the chance to fight against one of the players I write about!

5.)  While walking around Nagoya, I found myself approached by a random Japanese dude while waiting for a train.  He asked in really nervous, broken English "You know English?".  I responded in Japanese, "Yeah, I'm American".  He suddenly got really excited and proceeded to sit next to me on the train, whipped out a pocket photo album, and proceeded to explain in English about his family, his teachers, and his reasons for studying the language.  Turns out the guy was in his 70s, retired from work, with the goal of eventually becoming a tour guide in Nagoya - which apparently requires a certain level of English.  He told me he was taking English classes for a couple of hours a week, and his English was surprisingly good, though his pronunciation was more "off" than with younger people I've talked to.  It was easy for me to understand him because I know Japanese phonetics/syllables, but if another random American were to talk to him, it probably would have been a bit more difficult.  In any case, the guy was really friendly, followed me off the train, and walked with me to Akamon-doori.  As luck would have it, there was a festival going on, so after we parted ways I got a chance to interact with even more locals and eat a lot of delicious street food.  Consumed deliciousness included: Katsu Curry on a Stick (Minnesota State Fair please take note), Negiyaki, and custard-filled fresh Taiyaki.  One thing I do get sick of is the whole 上手ですね thing.  Every time I talk to anyone in Japanese outside of Yamasa that isn't a store clerk, the first thing they always say (in order to be polite) is "wow, your Japanese is good".  Keep in mind this is usually after saying little more than "Hello", so it does get annoying.  Personally, I'm just happy I can be understood most of the time.

With that, I'll stop here for now, but part 2 is coming soon.  This time, I promise!

名古屋 X 名古屋

After my second day of classes, I'm pretty well settled in, but I still haven't been here long enough to stop noticing the stares, glares, and reactions to me.  I got the whole gamut this time:  from a little kid running away in terror, to odd (yet extremely creepy) smiles and waves from schoolgirls on another train, to looks of "WTF are you doing here" from salarymen and senior citizens, to people giving puzzled, inquisitive stares that could only be stopped by giving the offending gaper(s) a dose of the patented Gaijin Optic Blast (which consists of simply staring back at them to let them know you know you're being gawked at and that you don't approve).  It will never stop being humbling to be "the minority".  It has forever made me more conscious of the subtle nuances people use when interacting with others of different races or backgrounds even in America.  I've met some new people - again from all over the world - and I'm beginning to fill my schedule with various things to do.  Since I'm also doing gaming coverage while here, I have a new set of challenges to cope with as well, which I'm more than ready to tackle head-on, though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit nervous about making a good impression and being professional yet not dull when meeting with people related to work.

Two of my favorite restaurants in Tokyo - Curry Kitchen and the family-owned ramen restaurant located outside of Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku - are now closed.  If there is an upside, the franchise replacing Curry Kitchen serves miso soup with bacon in it.  BACON.  That almost makes up for the loss...almost.

In Okazaki, classwork is actually a lot less demanding this time around because SILAC Intermediate is far more conversation-centric and less drill-centric.  They'll still correct every mistake you make - which is great as far as I'm concerned - but they don't grade you on it, which encourages people to try expanding their grammar and vocabulary by trying out new structures and ways of communicating an idea.  This was never the case in the previous level, because they would crucify anyone who tried to do so during the speaking tests which were such a large portion of each student's evaluation.  It's kind of strange, actually.  Tomorrow I start my AIJP extra classes that are included as part of SILAC intermediate studies, and I anticipate those are going to be a lot more demanding, though I feel more than ready to handle anything they throw at me this time.  The fact I've been able to work on things on my own back at home for a bit, and self-study for a bit, has made me a much stronger student.  We're doing presentations on Wednesday dealing with "Festivals".  I can choose any festival from either Japan or my home country, and I'm pretty much at a loss to what I'm going to do.  I'm struggling to decide between Taste of Chicago and the Minnesota State Fair.  Both seem to provide some opportunities to include some laughs.  Anyone have suggestions?



This weekend I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go see Hamlet at the Aichi Arts Center in Nagoya last weekend.  The show was put on by a community theatre of foreigners living in Japan, and had wonderful production values.  The show was done entirely in English but had (extremely simplified) Japanese subtitles projected on a screen above the stage.  In fact, I'd go as far as to say that the subtitles give a better indication of what's going on than Shakespeare's heavy language, but that would be blasphemy so I will abstain.  After the show I couldn't help but think that I would love to work with these guys if I was going to be here for a longer period of time, but it would be pointless to do so at the moment because I have enough on my plate as it is between class, site coverage, and preparation for my return to the States.

I went back to Nagoya after class today with a different goal in mind - scoping out the arcade where the players I'm covering are hosting a tournament later this week.  It's a little hole-in-the-wall place but it's packed with great players.  All the machines are also hooked up to the DRM system that allows users to choose a title from 20-plus different games on several different cabinets throughout the arcade.  This works sort of like a Neo Geo MVS, but doesn't require separate cartridges for each title in the system.  Seeing the telltale sign of a Windows program (including the title window for a brief second) after selecting Persona 4 Arena and watching the boot-up sequence made me bristle a bit.  I can't believe these arcade games are really nothing more than expensive PC titles.  They don't even hide it anymore.  What I wouldn't give to have one of those machines for one of my cabinets at home.  No such luck though, those are subscription boxes and even if I were to purchase one for way-too-much-yen, they require arcade operators to pay a monthly fee, and they "phone home".  Arcades are moving toward this model, which is unfortunate as it makes importing of machines for the few arcades left in America next to impossible.

Finally, I'm already feeling the side effects of living here from a health perspective.  The pounds are already melting away, and I feel stronger and more energetic than I have in over a year, easily.  It's strange, even eating the "bad stuff" here (such as katsu, korokke, tempura, kara-age, and other fried goodies) still seems to be better than eating anything back in the States.  The food here (again, even the stuff that's "bad for you") doesn't make me tired or ill, it's as simple as that.  If I were super-rich and never had to work again, I'd probably live here a couple months out of each year just for health reasons; I'd probably live 5-6 years longer if I did.  Some of it probably has to do with all the walking I need to do in order to get from place to place as well, but still.  It's amazing how quickly the transformation takes place. 

ただいま！

It's been a while, Japan.  A lot has happened since the last time I've been able to come back.  And truth be told, it's very much a coincidence that I've been able to come back to study (and to work, a bit).  The timing lined up perfectly, which is not something that happens often.  If there is a downside, it would have to be the fact that I won't be playing Diablo III until well after its launch, but I suppose that's the price I pay for coming here, and it's a price well worth paying.  My first few days have been a whirlwind, so rather than going on and on about the various things that have happened so far, I'll share some highlights:

1.)  I managed to get an exit row seat on the flight to Tokyo!  Though extra leg room solves one problem (namely, the fact my legs always feel like they're about to fall off by the time we land), it doesn't kill the strong urge to punch the person next to me.  He wasn't doing anything wrong, either.  A sardine can is a sardine can, and people don't belong in sardine cans.

2.)  The Japanese are trying to emulate Chipotle.  Poorly.  The first morning I was in Tokyo, I saw a variety show that was advertising a place called EAT American Dining.  All four Japanese talent (and I use the term loosely) were each presented with a burrito that looked just about as large as the ones from Chipotle and had many of the same ingredients (rice, black beans, pork, lettuce, and what appeared to be pico-de-gallo).  They all tasted it, after wondering for a bit out loud how one was supposed to eat such a thing, and responded with the classic  「おいしい！」　("Delicious!"), which is what anyone on TV always says anytime they are presented with food and eat it.
http://r.tabelog.com/tokyo/A1306/A130603/13094589/dtlphotolst/P6320536/?ityp=1

3.)  The iPlague has hit here big time.  I'm hard pressed to find a single game worth picking up because nobody cares.  Everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) has an Apple device now, which is rather surprising for a nation which generally thumbs its nose up at American products.  There are very few competitors here in Japan, and those that exist aren't well displayed or advertised. I've gotten a sad few amount of StreetPass 3DS tags in Nagoya and Tokyo, though going to the mall on a Saturday in Okazaki yielded more.  I fear for the future of gaming, as  Japanese studios have gone completely silent on the console front.  The few tags I did received on StreetPass shared a common theme: Monster Hunter tri-G, a game that will most likely never be localized.  *sigh*.

4.)  This trip also marks the first time I was ever randomly approached by a Japanese stranger in the Tokyo area.  She was walking by and noticed my book (as I was studying for the Yamasa entrance exam) and asked me if I was studying Japanese.  I found out she was a volunteer in a town in the Tokyo suburbs, teaching foreign students using the same book.  We had a good conversation for a few minutes.

5.)  I learned a thing or two since last time.  It's been much easier for me to adapt my language, though I still find myself unable to find certain words on the spot only to realize a few seconds later I could have expressed what I wanted to in a much clearer way.  Every day it gets easier.

6.)  Overheard at the pub while hanging out with friends: "She has teeth like a shady Vietnamese gambler."  I also found out the recipe for a killer cocktail dubbed "The Granvania":  Cassis, Cointreau, Tequila, and lemon juice. Shaken.  I will be making lots of these upon my return.

7.)  Game centers have evolved.  They now are running DRM-enabled cabinets that all connect through the Internet.  Users can choose between several different games (sort of like a MVS system) and load up any one they wish. The games for PS3 that I want to bring back with me, .hack//VS and AQUAPAZZA, don't release until after my return to the States.  I may see if I can get a friend to pick them up from amazon.co.jp because it's going to be so much cheaper than ordering them from an import shop.

8.)  Living in an apartment has its benefits and drawbacks.  Lots of personal space...but washing machines with ten million buttons.  No common area.  Trash needs to be taken out.  Perks?  I can cook now, which is good and bad, and have a clean fridge that doesn't reek of spoiled kimchee like the ones in the common dorm did two years ago.

9.)  Going to Hamlet this weekend - in English, with Japanese subtitles.  I have no idea how that's going to even work.  I can't wait to see this...it's going to be hilarious.

10.)  I miss home already.  I've met a lot of good people here in a short amount of time, and - despite being in a much higher class than last time - the work is much less demanding.  Yeah,  I don't get it either.  I need to stay on top of things and keep reviewing the basics so I can be more effective.  It does seem like everyone in the class is around the same level - as opposed to previous classes where people were all over the board.  All of us can understand way, WAY more than we can speak, with one possible exception.  I know I'm in the right place.

11.)  Apparently, Okazaki has the most traffic fatalities out of any city in Japan this year, and had the only documented cases of road rage in the entire country.  I'm not surprised.  Walking to class in the mornings and seeing the crossing guards fear for their lives every time they have to walk a group of children out into the street, with their little yellow flags.  Did I mention it's also quite close to Toyota World Headquarters?

And that's all, folks.  Talk to you again soon.

Epic 5: 関西

This weekend was a tour to the Kansai region. I originally had plans to travel to Osaka with some friends, but one of those friends had financial issues with the bank back in the States (issues I understand completely, as I will document below >.<), so I decided to sign up for the tour instead. Yamasa tours are a lot of fun, and you get to see a lot of stuff, but they're very draining and very hectic. Sacrificing freedom and your own schedule does get you a steep discount on travel costs and meals, and they will take you places that would be very difficult (and expensive) to reach on your own via taxi or obscure train route. This particular one started off on the wrong foot, as I had to commute from my host family's house to the pickup point in the pouring rain. I also had not received my confirmation voucher at this time, so I was actually rather freaked out wondering whether or not they'll even come by to pick me up. Colin did eventually show up with the van courtesy of Declan, and we were off.

Fortunately, unlike the last tour, everyone coming along this time was a native English speaker which made communication both easy and relaxing as for once I didn't have to worry about the "JP Onry" rule that pretty much runs my life at this point between school rules and the fact that Japanese really is the only shared language among many of the students here. I don't know Chinese (more than 60% of the students here seem to speak it as a native language), so there's no other way to communicate. I certainly write more English than I speak on a daily basis - which is conductive to the learning environment I suppose, but can be extremely demoralizing at times. It tends to make one feel more isolated than one would normally feel in a country where you are already a minority (and in some cases a freak show). It's something you get used to but can shellshock you on occasion if you're not ready for it. I know enough Japanese to be able to communicate what I need to in a wide variety of situations, so it's not really a problem, but it still can be intimidating at times.

Our first stop was the rain-soaked Sekigahara region, marking the location of the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600. The battlefield itself wasn't much to see, but a lot happened here. This battle was a huge turning point in what would be one of the longest running and most famous shogunates of Japan - the Tokugawa Shogunate. As I learned from one of the guides, Tokugawa Ieyasu, winner of Sekigahara and first shogun of the Tokugawa line, really does not have a good reputation amongst many Japanese. He was viewed as a "schemer", someone who hung back until the opportunity arose for him to take power. In reality, he actually kept promises to those who served him, and there were many men willing to fight to the death for him because of it.

The rain kept us from enjoying the misty mountain views atop the battlefield site for long, but we did get to hear the entire story of the battle in English in the museum down the road. One thing about Japanese museums - even if there are no signs anywhere that say it, don't pull out your camera. Apparently there is an unspoken rule that picture taking in museums is forbidden. I found this out the hard way when a little Japanese lady working for the museum came running up to me with her arms crossed in the "batsu" symbol, glaring at my camera and apologizing but still insisting that the camera gets put away. I put it away but was still irked enough to not buy any souvenirs at the place. Everyone else was smart and used their phones, which were a little less obvious than my digital camera.

We then stopped at a few more temples and had lunch along the banks of a river in Kyoto. One of the guides mentioned that Nintendo headquarters was right down the street and I suddenly realized what Shigeru Miyamoto (the man who created Mario) meant when he said in an interview that he could bike to work every day. The place is just gorgeous. Mountain scenery, non-crowded roads lined with shops and restaurants, and lots of riverboats - some restaurants themselves. It didn't really seem like a rich area, but a peaceful one. An area reeking of tradition and begging to be explored fully. Seeing the scenery around here made it really obvious to me how someone growing up in an area like this could get inspired creatively.

But we weren't here for Miyamoto. We were here for Murasaki (Shikibu), author of The Tale of Genji. Apparently ten chapters of the novel, the English translation of which I read back in college, took place at one of the temples around the gorgeous river-street. I don't remember much about The Tale of Genji but I do remember it was really messed up. Actually, most of the historical and contemporary stories I read for my Japanese Literature class were really messed up, but I could write a whole blog entry just on that topic. The temple was certainly interesting to see, but a lot of the temples are starting to blend together at this point and it's getting hard to remember exactly what happened where.

Our last stop before heading into town was Ishiyama temple, where The Tale of Genji was (allegedly) written. They even have a little animatronic Murasaki Shikibu writing away in a little corner of the temple where the book was supposedly written. Personally, while I recognize the literal significance of that novel, I found it a little odd and off-putting to have a robot at a Buddhist temple. It just seemed too "touristy" for me.

One other thing I learned here, which is something relatively fascinating, is that the koi in a lot of the temple ponds have an average lifespan of 180 years. The biggest problem for them is skin cancer, which is why they try to keep the ponds shaded in a lot of areas. I had no idea a fish could live that long - particularly if it's fed as well as the temple koi are. You learn something new every day.

In Kyoto we had delicious yakitori at a small place down an alley in the Gion district (a.k.a. World Geisha Headquarters) and explored the surroundings. I had a very interesting conversation with one of the guys who does a lot of the staffing for Yamasa about organizational problems that can occur when developing software, and realized I'm more knowledgeable than I feel most days at my job, and yes, that is a good thing. We had drinks at a couple more places and saw a shrine to Susano-oh (my favorite character of Japanese mythology) lit up at night before returning to the hotel - which was fully Japanese style, a separate futon on the floor for each person, and VERY comfortable. The guys were all in one room and all the girls in another, so unfortunately I had to deal with snores coming from both sides, but at that point I was so exhausted that I really stopped caring.

The next day was Ninna-ji garden, a used kimono shop, and a nice (if unusual) Western-style breakfast where they managed to ruin the bacon by smothering it in ketchup, along with the breakfast sausage. Okay, fine, if you're going to ruin something, ruin the sausage, but leave the bacon well enough alone. It doesn't need your help, thank you.

Osaka was far away, and by the time we got there we didn't have a lot of time to eat. One of the guides picked out a tempura place and then proceeded to order tons and tons of raw seafood, which was very hit or miss. Some of it was delicious, some was edible but barely, and some of it was just bizarre - like slimy, whole mini squid or some kind of drink made of kombu. The other guide and I were both relatively irked that we went to a tempura bar and almost no tempura was ordered by the time we left. I was mad enough that I decided to buy some takoyaki at the nearest takoyaki stand on our way back to the car. Osaka is famous for takoyaki which is - for the uninformed - little balls of savory dough seared golden brown with generous pieces of cooked octopus on the inside. I know how weird it sounds to other Americans, but octopus is actually not that bad and is one of the few seafoods that doesn't taste fishy at all.

Ordering street food creates a problem, and it's one that we take for granted in the States. Despite how clean Japan is, they really don't have many garbage cans around that aren't for businesses only. And so, when you order a messy food like takoyaki and then have a piece of takeout garbage oozing with onions and sauce, there's no place to throw it out. With drinks it's not really a problem as you can just put the bottle away until you find a place to put it, but drippy, messy food containers are a huge pain in the neck. I couldn't throw out the takoyaki wrapper until arriving at a rest stop about 40 minutes after getting on the road back to Okazaki, stinking up the car in the process.

Interlude 5: Byouki

So yes, I'm aware I haven't written for quite some time again. But I have a very, VERY good reason. For the last few days, I've been fighting off the most egregious case of food poisoning I've ever had. For those people ever planning on traveling abroad, let me explain that food poisoning in an unfamiliar country is one of the most torturous experiences one can encounter during a trip. Multiply that torture a few dozen times if you have a daily commute that you have to make during your trip (as I do - 40 minutes of walking and up to an hour total depending on train times).

For me, the whole thing started with a seemingly innocent lunch bento. Homestay only includes breakfast and dinner, so you are still responsible for any food you want over lunch break at YAMASA. So, Tuesday I decide to go to my usual lunchtime spot - a nearby supermarket named DOMY. DOMY is, without equal, one of the cleanest looking supermarkets I have ever seen, in Japan or otherwise. Everything smells fresh and is well-organized. Unlike with most Japanese supermarkets, not a hint of fish scent oozes out of the seafood section. Therefore, I had no concerns whatsoever about eating lunch regularly there. For two weeks I had no problems eating lunch there daily, choosing a small pork cutlet and vegetarian sushi for lunch. Tuesday, however, I tried something different. I was feeling particularly stupid after class that day and noticed a gigantic chicken katsu (fried cutlet) on sale for 198 yen, served with cabbage. Being in a bad mood I decided to choose that unhealthy option (actually cheaper than my usual sushi choice) and then head back to school where I promptly consumed both the chicken and the cabbage.

Little did I know that there was something lurking within...

That very night it came back to haunt me with a vengeance. I'll remember this forever, because it was that very chicken katsu that managed to wake me up just in time for the Nintendo E3 conference stream at 1AM JST with the worst case of indigestion ever. Not being able to sleep, I decided to go ahead and watch the conference in hopes that something about the Wii Vitality Sensor would dull my senses and put me into a boredom-induced coma. Instead, I got to see the 3DS unveiled in its delicious 3D glory as my stomach turned cartwheels and bounced up and down inside my abdomen.

My next mistake was the next morning when, despite the fact I felt more or less like I had the flu, decided it would be a good idea to try and go to class. I managed to make the hellish commute - which hurt pretty much every step of the way as I struggled NOT to be the crazy huge sickly gaijin that puked all over traincar 4 on the Aichi Loop Line - and ended up in class clutching my stomach. I was able to endure about two periods worth of class (I had to stay as long as possible because there was a test the next day) and then couldn't hold on any longer. So it was back to the homestay via another long and painful commute. My host family was gravely worried, in particular when I woke up a few hours after returning home, briefly forgetting where I was, and began mumbling in English.. "I really needed to sleep..." My host mother panicked and asks me in Japanese if I needed to go to the hospital. I snapped out of it and replied that I was probably OK, as I had food poisoning in the US before too and it had a similar feeling to this. She was really confused when she asked what I ate that could have caused this, and I replied that it was DOMY's chicken katsu. I find out later that someone else from YAMASA had recently gotten food poisoning from a DOMY bento. Wish I would have known about that before.

A note if you get sick in Japan: you can't buy medicine at a grocery store. You have to go to a kusuri-ya (drugstore, like Walgreens) in order to get anything that will fix what ails you. Now here's the problem. I'm not feeling well. And I'm already feeling beaten to death over finding out just how little Japanese I actually DO know, even after studying it for so long... how the heck am I supposed to deal with this? Of course I can ask someone where something is at the store. The concern I was trying to ignore at the time was avoiding giving the kusuri-ya clerk a story to tell when this sickly looking gigantic gaijin comes plowing into his store meekly asking for geri-dome (anti-diarrheal agent). Yeah. Great. Eventually I sucked it up and got the medicine, thanks to my host mother pointing out exactly where the kusuri-ya closest to the house was located.

Today I am fully recovered and about 5 pounds lighter than before the food poisoning. Actually, none of my pants fit anymore. They've been gradually getting larger, but now they are all far too big. My next problem... where to find a gaijin-sized belt in Okazaki...........

Epic 4: 変な日本

So it has been a while since my last entry, and for that I apologize, but things have been moving fairly quickly ever since I moved in with the Hyoudou family. To me, it's just been one thing after another, slowly finding my way around the customs and expectations of the people in the household. In general, things are pretty laid back - everyone is very nice (except the kitty, which runs whenever she hears me moving around...makes me sad) and the food and conversation thus far has been quite wonderful. The biggest problem I encountered so far is figuring out how the shower works. I had a bit of a shellshock when I went into the bathroom to take a shower at 6AM only to find a traditional Japanese washbowl and faucet waiting for me. There was a showerhead too, but no matter what I tried, the damn thing wouldn't go on. I wasn't about to ask my host mother or anyone else how to use it （シャワーを使い方教えて下さい。。。）, so I improvised and washed up with the bowl and stool, 日本人 style. It was...weird.

Fortunately I discovered on the second day how the thing actually works. Next to the lever that controls the faucet there's a diagram that shows a picture of the shower head on the left, the kanji for "stop" in the middle, and a picture for the faucet on the right. Now even though I turned the faucet all the way to the left before, I failed to account for the fact that the "off" position is actually with the lever facing to the right. Once I figured this out, turning the faucet into the "up" position actually sent water to the showerhead.

It's very interesting talking with my host family because they are most certainly cultured even though rooted in Japanese tradition. They have multiple DS systems and are trying to practice English using them. Helping the daughter with spelling while she was using the English Trainer DS made me realize just how painful our language must be to people who are coming from a phonetic language (such as Japanese). Phonics, sounds like "th", "ck", "sh", etc., don't make sense to them because every syllable in the Japanese language (with one exception) is a vowel-consonant pair. There are no "short" and "long" vowels in Japanese. An "a" will always sound like "ah", for example, not "ah" or "ey". Extended vowels (like our double "ee" or "ie", etc.) are always written the same way and sound the same way. Double consonants also give them trouble because it simply doesn't make sense phonetically.

It was interesting that the spelling mistakes they were making are pretty similar to the ones young kids make back in the states... "plees" for "please", for example.

Then again, I'm having trouble wrapping my head around some of the more complicated parts of the Japanese language, especially since this course is turning out to be a turbocharged version of my college course on Japanese linguistics. Japanese classes for 25 hours a week, most of which deals with exceptions that I never knew existed or only slightly understood the rules. This course is certainly building my vocabulary and giving me a stronger grammar base, but it's making me more hesitant to speak (at least in class, for fear of being completely wrong). It's something I need to get over, because as I've learned from the time with my host family, I can most certainly be understood. It's the teachers' job at Yamasa to tell us if our answer was not 100% grammatically correct.

I found an arcade fairly close to my host family's home, and I gather it may even be walking distance. So yes, finally, I have located a BlazBlue Continuum Shift machine if I ever need a fix. Fortunately the console version is due not too long from now, so I won't need it for much longer.

This weekend I went to Nagoya with some friends and may have extended travel plans. Next weekend we're planning to visit Osaka and the week after that, Tokyo (Disneyland) and a ryokan. One of my friends wants to try to get into the Ginza Vampire Cafe...we'll see how that goes...

A few weird things:

1.) Natto (a.k.a. fermented soybeans) which are apparently "good for your health" taste like nuts at first but the rancid aftertaste of something which has been partially fermented is a bit too strong for me.

2.) I tried Natsu Dango (summer) proving once again that mochi is evil, no matter how tasty the filling may be. Deliciously themed dumplings of blueberry, peach, and mango were silenced by the overwhelmingly chewy, gooey, sticky mochi mess. I don't think there's any way to make that stuff good.

3.) Breakfast today, courtesy of my host mother: hot dogs. But not what you're expecting, oh no. One "hot dog" was made of breakfast sausage, ketchup, and lettuce on a bun. The other was a hard boiled egg and cucumber on a bun. Served with a side of soup and fresh kiwi. Weirdest breakfast I have ever had.

4.) Nagoya is home to one of Japan's finest creations: The Bacon Wrapped Onigiri. Yes it exists, and yes, it's as good as it sounds. A salted rice ball wrapped in a large layer of bacon seared over a charcoal grill, then basted in a sweet soy-glaze and topped with sesame seeds. Mmmmmm...heaven. Proof once again that bacon wins against all. We need to find a way to integrate bacon and sushi. Not raw bacon though.