Here we go again?

I don't even exist on the internet anymore .____.

I'm sorryyyy I have not written since that first post. So sad so sad. But here! A relatively uninformative, stream-of-consciousness style post!

Organization is for squares, let's talk about Japan!

I live here now. I've lived here for nigh on two months now. It's... still pretty great, but I admit I've been experiencing something akin to culture exhaustion as of late. There are wonderful things, like conbini and trains and Arashi and Japanese being hurled at you from all directions, but there are also disheartening things like too-soft apples and feelings of inadequacy and JAPANESE BEING HURLED AT YOU FROM ALL DIRECTIONS. Also, the weather cannot seem to get its shit together and become autumn. I would kill for sweater weather. I would maim someone I only mildly disliked to be able to don my rainbow scarf and justifiably drink hot apple cider. Jus' sayin'. I shouldn't hold it against Japan in the general sense, however, because according to my sources here this is a rare occurrence even in this mystical land.

Friends are another complex issue. On the one hand, of course I'm wanting in the close network of deep personal friends department, but I've been able to make many new friends, both Japanese and international-like! On top of that, there are a few choice 森人 living in and around Tokyo, so I have been able to spend time with the best people from the most supportive work place a girl could ask for. I suppose my lonely period of freshman year in college was a blessing in disguise; I think that if I hadn't experienced that social isolation I'd be feeling it more acutely here. Silver lining and whatnot!

Okay, I cannot contain it anymore. I have joined a choir here at Keio. Its succinct name is "Wagner Women's Chorus" (I give you this because I haven't been bothered to learn the proper name in Japanese) and

AND

For the past two years this particular chorus has performed as the background vocals at none other than THE Kohaku Uta Gassen

aahhhmammagawwwwwd.

There is no guarantee that we will be invited back again this year, but IF WE ARE I WILL BE THE HAPPIEST CAMPER IN ALL THE LAND~~~~

So yeah, that happened.

Today marks the start date of my second--count it--second illness here in the land of 2-pon. I woke up with a horrendous sore throat, managed to trudge through all but one of my classes, and immediately upon return passed out until about half an hour ago. Bleh.

Despite living in the city in which they perform most of their daily activities, my life has been relatively cut-off from Arashi and the fandom. I try my very hardest to watch their shows but recently they've been on break, and then it seems that every time they're actually being broadcast I have a previous engagement and miss them :( I watched Shiyagare this week and last week, though! And Nazodi! And maybe from here on out I'll be able to be a more responsible fan, for I am using the MAGNIFICENT ARASHI CALENDAR OF LOVE AND PEACE to chart the various movements of these here boys. I went to Harajuku yesterday and looked at a lot of bootleg idol shop pictures of them, and then merely out of curiosity stopped into one of those ticket re-sale shops and HOLY CRAP ON YOUR MAMA'S SHOES. They weren't even selling Beautiful World tickets, but MatsuJun's boxer butai tickets were going for over $1000 a pop. This life, not so silent suffering ;_____;

There are also more mundane things about my life, i.e. my dorm, my commute to school, my classes etc. as well as numerous recountings of my adventures thus far, all of which I firmly believe should be immortalized on the internet at some point or another... But I cannot bring myself to write about them at this particular juncture! Perhaps in the future I will regale you all with my tales of the BBQ in the mountains, or the FRICKIN FANTASTIC MONGOL800 CONCERT, or my growing sense of relief that I seem to have been placed in the perfect level for Japanese class. Perhaps some pictures will be forthcoming as well. SOMEDAY~~~

(Obligatory comment about blogging more often omitted for the sake of our combined sanity)

I am going to go back to my EXTREME Lord of the Rings binge, go to sleep as soon as I can, and then get up and write an essay on the tendency for Japanese people of the modern age to shy away from breaking ethnic minorities into more specified groups of peoples :Db

So close, and yet so so far!

I woke up CRAVING a Chipotle burrito today. Part of me was ashamed; eight days into my grand adventure and I'm already jonesing for indecent proportions of fast food Mexican cuisine? SHAME. The other part of me, however, salivated all over my pillow.

I know I know, I said I would post by Sept 6th, but that's the beauty of making promises to cyberspace; they're meant to be broken!

I wish I could supplement this particular post with pictures of my dorm, my campus, and my various adventures, but sadly I left my camera in Shinagawa... Not to worry, they are sending it over to me! It should be here within the next few days so I will hopefully be able to supply some enthralling visual aids shortly.

I ventured over to Kokuritsu Stadium on the 3rd in order to purchase oodles of Arashi goods, and my what an experience that was. First, I was so apprehensive about the actual occasion of acquiring goods that I didn't even think to look up directions to the stadium. I ended up getting off the train at a nearby stop and following girls around who looked like they were heading to the concert. I ended up asking these two girls who were COMPLETELY decked out in concert gear and Ohmiya colors for the way, which they obliged to give, albeit in somewhat of a bemused manner. I made it there and waited in the longest, hottest line of my life but it was WORTH IT. WOOOORRTHH ITTTT. I am now the proud owner of just a few more small shards of Arashi's collective soul.

On my last day in Shinagawa, the wonderful proprietors of Shinagawa-shuku had a little sushi dinner party for me and another guest named David, who was going in for an interview as an English teacher at a private elementary school the next day! I got to chat with all of them and eat a home cooked meal, so it really was a win-win situation.

The next day I heaved all of my luggage out of Tokyo and down to Yokohama, where I am currently residing in an official Keio dorm. It is a big international residence in a relatively small town just north of Yokohama proper. So far I am enjoying the location and people immensely, and I can only hope the trend continues! I feel like I can get into the school atmosphere and fit in juuust fine. Getting a bank account and a cellphone, however, have proved to be unexpectedly imposing obstacles... Since I have yet to turn 20, and therefore officially legal, in Japan, I can neither open a bank account or acquire a cellphone without the express permission of a parent or guardian--a little difficult when your parents live across the Pacific Ocean, yes? I've managed to secure a very inconvenient relationship with the local postal bank, which should at least provide clearance for the paperwork I need to file before I actually turn 20, at which time I am hoping to transfer over to a more accessible system. As for a cellphone, I think I'm just going to have to wait D:

We don't have any more orientation activities scheduled until Monday, so tomorrow Saori and I are going to hit up the Ueno Zoo and the Tokyo National Museum. I am looking forward to sleeping in!!

I will make a brief update filled with photographs as soon as my camera arrives ♥

Into the fray

Well, here goes my first official blog post since arriving in Tokyo. I suppose I'll just hit you up with a few anecdotes from my adventures thus far?

Fun on the plane!
I flew JAL over here, a decision which foresight and hindsight have both validated, thank god. I flew Delta last year and it was, to quote Hanako, a DISASTUH (firstworldproblems). I sat in the aisle row, and a Vietnamese-American boy took the window seat. However, he, being Asian, was addressed in unapologetic Japanese; whereas I was treated to halting English and uncomfortable smiles, despite the fact that I certainly speak more Japanese than awkward and slightly adorable otaku boy (AASAOB for short). You know, I couldn't help but be a little put-out by this turn of events, but at least one of the flight attendants was FOREVER REDEEMED in my eyes by a conversation I had with her about 8 hours into the flight. I was up working on my leg exercises--what with the embolism and all I didn't take any chances--and this lovely woman approached me with a takefumi, a sort of device made of bamboo that you step on and roll around on with the balls of your feet. Supposedly it helps with circulation, so I said I'd give it a go! Three seconds into our conversation the woman was complementing my Japanese, which in and of itself isn't that surprising, but she went so far as to ask me if I was half Japanese! I admit it; I dug it. So, as I was being flattered whilst rubbing my feet on this bamboo rod the flight attendant told me a story about this Chinese movie star who was on one of her flights. Apparently he gave this thing a try as well, and he loved it so much that he was rubbing it all over his face saying "Ahh this is beautiful, I want it!" Needless to say, the woman was mildly grossed out. She was like "Dude, do you know how many people have put their feet on that?" But, since he loved it enough to cuddle it despite all of that, they gave it to him free of charge! Touching AND beautiful, yes? I thought so!

So I land.
I get my bags. I get through customs without a hitch and make my way to the train station to get down to Shinagawa. During the first leg of the journey a happening occurred which I thought would be my main point of interest for the day, but what went down after I changed lines juuust takes the cake. The first incident involved a pure gyaru-o (kind of like the Japanese equivalent of a poser beach bum? At least the coloration is the same) falling asleep in the handicap seats. Nobody thought much of it at first, but then he slumped over and eventually had his whole body spread across the seats, almost landing his head in some old man's lap. The old man tried to wake him up, but by this time it was clear that he wasn't just asleep; he was actually kind of ill. I'm not sure if he was drunk (bear in mind, folks, it was about 3 in the afternoon) or was having a medical emergency, but either way the train was stopped and he was escorted off. So, yeah, not something you could call amusing but definitely noteworthy, right?

Everything changes when I hop off the Keisei line and onto the Yamanote. So I'm standing there, in the middle of a crowded train, feeling guilty because I am white and have all this luggage and am being horribly in the way, when I notice what the man in front of me is doing. Allow me to paint you a picture: typical salaryman dressed in a white button-up and black slacks, fancy smartphone, mid-thirties, about my height. Essentially the least conspicuous person you could dream up, and riding one of the busiest central JR lines in Tokyo, yeah? Well, he's got his headphones in and is diddling around on his phone. I realize he's watching a video, and cannot help viewing the contents myself, as he is standing directly in front of me. I'll just get right to it: it was a 5 second clip of a very erect penis getting rubbed. Not like, pleasured or anything, just having the head rubbed rapidly. And he would watch it, click out of it and go somewhere else on his phone, and then go back and watch it again. Over and over. In the middle of a very crowded train. A penis video. Over and over. Not obviously pornographic. On a train. With headphones. I just don't even know anymore.

Shinagawa Shuku
I arrived at the hostel with no further incidents, excited to see the people who run it, and meet up with Bianca and tell her all about my interesting experience. The woman at the front desk at the time checked me in with a smile, carried my bags up to my room (on the third floor, in the same room Tamaki and I stayed last year before we went to our host families!) and gave me a towel and a yukata free of charge, as a "service for referring the place to so many of my friends." I have said it before and I will say it again, this place is perfect. Nice people, excellent location, tatami rooms, and extremely affordable. Everyone, if you come to Japan, I highly encourage you to consider staying here! Okay, business pitch aside, I got settled in. After that we met up with Tomomi and ate dinner at a yakitori place literally right next door.

Can't go wrong with delicious chicken on a stick and a nice cold beer

THEN I WENT TO SLEEP, YESSSS.

Yesterday was spent at the wonderful Ooedo onsen monogatari, a beautiful, Edo-era themed public bath in Odaiba. We caught a free bus over there, paid admission, and changed into yukata before entering this lovely little number:

Incidentally, this picture was taken by a very friendly, mildly inebriated old man who approached us offering to take our photograph and then spent the next 10 minutes sitting at our table calling us cute and claiming, prefaced with the usual "I don't mean to brag, but.." line, that people tell him he looks like Ohno Satoshi. That's right, Arashi's Ohno Satoshi. Yeah it was weird, it was certainly a first in my book, but I'm not gonna pretend it wasn't cute.

The Concert (part one, hopefully)
Speaking of Ohno Satoshi, my plan for this wonderful Friday afternoon was initially to head over to Kokuritsu Stadium in Yoyogi and stake out the Arashi concert! I was going to get in line for goods, buy a ridiculous number of clear files and T-shirts (I have received a lot of orders from close personal friends) and then simultaneously squeal with delight and sigh forlornly as I listened to the concert get underway. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, as I am not feeling at all well today) due to the purportedly impending typhoon swirling up to Tokyo as I write this, today's concert has been postponed until Sunday. Tomorrow's concert is apparently going down as planned, though, which is strange to me as it is equally as likely to rain tomorrow as it has been today. Ah well, beggars cannot be choosers. So, concerts are on the agenda for tomorrow and Sunday, and then Monday's the day I check out of Shinagawa Shuku and head down to my dorm in Yokohama!

I am going to make a promise to cyberspace that I will update my blog no later than September 6th, the day after I settle into my dorm. Maybe, hopefully, I'll have stories to tell about my Arashi adventures and will post something before then as well :)

Contact post?

I'm debating the merits of a contact post...

For now I'm going to put some general information and then edit it later!

I will be living in Yokohama in Shimoda Student dorm while I attend Keio University in Tokyo. I am in the JLP and will be studying for a year.

Japanese cell phones don't use direct numbers for text messages, but you get a mobile e-mail address along with your contract. I will put that one up here as soon as I get a phone!

The journey has (not quite) begun

Ah the wonders of a study abroad blog! I'm not entirely sure why I felt the need to create a new blog when I already have a livejournal, but that thing is so full of Arashi and ridiculousness that I thought it might be prudent to have a space that doesn't scare my relatives serves a few more purposes.

My goals with this blog are to keep my loved ones updated on my general happenings in a manner which will hopefully avoid all sorts of rushed, intermittent, and uninformed emails on my end. You probably don't know this about me, but I'm flaky and bad at follow-through!

I'm being my awkward midwestern self again and taking on several ambitious projects abroad, including but not limited to:

• This blog
• Classroom Connections (I write letters to 3rd graders!!)
• a tumblr about 自動販売機

I may even post some in Japanese, something I've been petrified to do since forever because writing is probably my weakest area... Yes, I know avoiding it won't make it any better SHUT UP YOU'RE NOT FUNNY YOU'RE RUINING MY DREEEEEAAAAAAMMSSS

それでは、よろしくお願いします