Hey all,
It's been a long long while it seems since I last dropped an inshyou (印象) on everybody. Golden Week is sadly over and time well spent with my family is over a week in the far, distant past. Life has gotten dramatically better for me, so why don't I start with that?
Well, since I've walked away from everybody, leaving people panting with bated breath... (no, really ><") We had this random holiday last Tuesday to celebrate the birthday of the dearly departed Emperor Showa. I had planned to go to Yokohoma with friends from DK and G-Splash, but laundry kept me at bay. After a day, stuck indoors all the while the sun was shining its pretty, godly face down upon the Earth, I resolved to leave the Matsumoto household. I was just so sad and miserable there that I couldn't understand or convince myself to stay. So, the day after break, I went to the Overseas Liasion Center and told Mr. Nakayama Ei all of my problems. He listened to me kindly and said that if I wanted to, I could move from the Matsumoto's to DK House. But, before doing so, it would require me to talk to them in a detailed, calm manner. After G-Splash practice Wednesday night, I went home and was kept waiting outside for 15 minutes as nobody was present and I don't hold a key ( and may never hold one).
To be quite honest, being kept outside the house resolved me to leaving. I thought it was unbelievably ridiculous that I had to be kept waiting outside of a home that I paid to reside in. When Okaa-san and Meimi came home, they greeted me and apologized. They had gone to the local Police box (kouban) because Meimi had a traffic accident the Saturday previously and didn't recollect the incident until forcefully brought to the Nurse's office earlier that day, whereupon she was suddenly flooded with details of the incident. Well, I didn't say much, just nodded my head and asked to take a shower in a quiet, mellow voice. I also asked to speak to Okaa-san in depth after my shower and dinner and she consented.
I just realized that I have this all written in a post I did on my notebook, but I'll leave it here and post what I wrote earlier later on. End result is this, I'm staying with the Matsumoto's. Life isn't grand there, but I can breath much more easily now and don't dread going home.
OOOOOKAY~
ONTO GOLDEN WEEK DETAILS:
Friday - Club Ageha
Saturday - Recovering from Ageha (literally)
Sunday - Harajuku's Meiji-Jingu, Ikebukuro's Namja Town, and Shinjuku Karaoke
Monday - Ochanomizu's Kanda Myojin (?), Music Area, Jinbocho's Used Book Stores, and Ikebukuro's Libro
Tuesday - Kamakura
Friday was... friday (?). It ended. I went to play at the manga cafe near my house for the better part of the day. That night, I went to Club Ageha, which was an experience. Overall, $35 to get in was a bit ridiculous, but it's something that every young person heading to Japan should try at least once to see whether or not they're comfortable with it. I feel like I need to do it one more time with a different group of people before I can definitely decide whether I hate it or not. The only thing that really mars my memory of the club is that I was pushed/tripped/fell down the stairs and have this series of massive bruises running down my left side to show for it. I seriously looked like a battered female at the moment. ^^" Also, I got my chest groped in a seriously out and out conspicuous manner. This guy walks past me, grabs my chest, gives my bra a good hefting, and then saunters on by as if it's the most natural thing to do. I glared at him the entire time and he just gives me the peace sign. Really. Japanese youth are rather... insane when intoxicated.
Saturday was my day of RR from the events of Ageha. Greg invited a bunch of us out for karaoke, but I had to turn him down as the thought of leaving the house at any point in time during Saturday was just beyond me. I made plans for a culture-packed day of fun with Hunter though.
Sunday was culture-driven craziness with Hunter. Unfortunately for him, he may have come upon the delayed realization that I really love to walk and walk everywhere. Sunday morning, I arrive at Shinjuku-eki 15 min before I'm due to meet Hunter at Harajuku, so I decide to run on over to the TMG building to pick up copies of the maps and coupons I gave away to my cousins a week earlier. It took me like 45 min to grab everything because I got lost twice and the building was locked all around except for one entrance that couldn't be really seen from the street level. I finally met up with Hunter, all sweaty and gross, but victorious with handfuls of maps and goody good coupons. We did Meiji-jingu. Wrote prayers. Went to the Treasure Museum. Walked lots. Then, we went to Oriental Bazaar because that's what Frommer's told me to do and Hunter picked up a number of presents for his friends back home. We were rather ravenous by then (me especially because he happened to describe the most amazing way to eat French bread that made my mouth water), so we head out to Ikebukuro for some GYOUZA DELICIOUSNESSITY. Gyouza Stadium in Namja Town within Ikebukuro's Sunshine City was a bit of a trial. Because of Golden Week, no matter where we went it was massively crowded. Namja Town was no exception. We ate. We went through some free attractions. By the time we left, it was too late to do Ueno, so we settled in to do some shopping around Ikebukuro. We bought clothes. He found a gift for his sister. At that time, Hunter got a message from Greg about some karaoke fun. Since I had yet to do karaoke in Japan, I said "Why not?" We met up with Greg in Shinjuku and after some crepe dessert, we settled in to finding a karaoke place. We found one. I did the talking because Greg was tired of doing the Japanese bargaining every time he went out, I do it every time I go out. Jen met up with us. We did karaoke. We drank nomihoudai. We sang horribly bad. Overall, fantastic day.
Monday I got off to a bit of a late start and just did some random solo tourist fun. I got hit on at a strand by a older Japanese man who went: "Oh wow, I thought you were Japanese." And then told me in English, "You, beautiful girl!" It was... different. *looks to the side* I was trying to find my texts for Modern Literature 2, but I couldn't. Because it was a holiday, most of the used bookstores were sadly closed. I could barely find them in Kinokuniya and I still have yet to locate the book, The Setting Sun by Dazai Osamu, that I have to have finished reading by tomorrow. Turns out that even the bookstore the school depends on is out of that book, so I'm just right out of luck. Monday was fun though. Only weird/bad point of the day is when I was looking at a map of Libro in Ikebukuro and coughed into my elbow behind this guy who was too looking at the map. This guy apparently thought I coughed on him because he went right behind me and coughed on me. No joke. Japanese people can be so weird sometimes.
Tuesday was amazing. I did Kamakura. I'm actually quite tired of temples so not much of it was fantastic. The best point of the day was that I walked, lots. I love walking. It was sunny, bright, and beautiful. I wore a tank top and halter dress with knee-highs (to cover up my many bruises). I have tons of pictures from yesterday, but I'm typing this here at Sophia, so I can't really do much a la picture posting. Best of all, when I got home, I arrive to find Okaa-san had made tempura for dinner! SCORE! I had "Chinese" food in Kamakura, which is ridiculous if you think about it. The lady didn't even speak Chinese, but my Cha-siu wonton ramen was good in a Chinese-y Japan-ified way.
Today is sunny and gorgeous too. But, I'm here. On campus. Trying to figure out when G-Splash practice is. I have a sakubun do tomorrow that I'm not too interested in doing and a test to study for. School is just... a hassle(?). None of the work is really challenging. Again, I think I covered this in my other post that's on my notebook, so I'll post that to cover this part of my entry.
Oh yeah, it's been a little bit late but:
AFTER ONE MONTH - Impression of Japan
Japanese people are evaders. If they can find a way to avoid conflict, they will. They are passive aggressive to the nth degree and if you don't realize that soon, be prepared to be frustrated out of your mind. They have a truly astounding sense of beauty, but it has been my finding that most of Japan is manufactured to be "beautiful." If even it's "natural" beauty is not by the hand of Mother Nature, then can it really be considered "natural"? *shrug* It'll probably take me a little while longer to figure out exactly how I feel about Japan, but for now, I'm just rather grateful to be American. Americans may be considered rude, stupid, and brash, but at least we as a people are willing to try and are overall more straight forward than not. I am Chinese-American, but I'm much more American than my Chinese heritage makes me Chinese. Life in Japan is like life anywhere else in the world. The laws are generally the same, don't litter and don't kill strangers. The lifestyles are different as are the beliefs, but for every difference there is, there's a common ground that allows us to sympathize with lives that are carried out in a manner wholly different from one's own society.
There. That's my opinion of life in Japan. After a month. It'll likely change loads as time moves on. But, for now. This is where it's at.
Time for homework now.
*crack snap whip*
pc
- T
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