Moar Reunions, New Shoes!

Saturday we had a four hour practice (!!) for baseball. And it was pretty hot even when it was cloudy. All of the other sports teams were in Nagoya for the Sophia-Nanzan sports festival so it was a rare occurrence where we were the only team on the entire sports grounds.

After practice I got to meet up with Angela Sun (!!!) and Elizabeth. We first went to Ikebukuro to look at play the UFO catchers. We had a few sad reality checks and coins down the drain, but we managed to get Angela a fluffy Toy Story alien!

It was one of the machines where the plush is hanging off the edge and you have to push it down. Well push it down we did but eventually it refused to go down any further. We ended up asking an employee how to win from there but he ended up opening the case and giving it to us! Not as exciting as the feeling you get when the plush falls down the prize chute but it was still a satisfying experience.

 Yatta! 95% of the work: Edeng

Somewhere in-between looking at the various UFO catcher arcades, we went to Tokyu Hands where we wandered around until reaching the "home security" department area. Among other things there were the personal alarm devices that make loud noises that supposedly thwart away attackers. Well, I was curious to see (hear) exactly how loud it would go so I ended up activating one which ended up blaring a really obnoxious alarm that resounded throughout the floor. I'm sure I scared some customers away from our section because it was really really loud. The employees came over to try and stop it but they too had some trouble. (why do you put these things out on display if you know people like me are going to try to play with them?) I tried my best to profusely apologize for my dumbness but it seemed like they didn't care too much.

 Lesson of the day: don't do it.

Big news: I also managed to finally get new shoes! We passed by a huge shoe store and we stopped to look at their "sale" items. Besides Uniqlo Shoes, shoes are usually expensive (5000 - 10000 yen!!) but there were some amazing shoes for 4000 yen. I figured that if I use them for a long time (and it looks like they're sturdy with thick pads) it would pay itself out.

The new!

I really like them! They're watermelon colored, sparkly, and big! Elizabeth also got a pair but with a different color scheme. :D

When coming to Japan I only brought one pair of shoes. Besides regular walking around I also use them for baseball (warm-ups) so they have gotten dirty and worn out really quickly. My other shoes at home are also in a battered state. I did get pastel green shoes from Uniqlo a while ago but I wanted something more substantial. I'm not going to wear these new ones to practice so look out for them when I get home!

The raggedy taggedy old. The shoe lace even frayed!

After touring around Ikebukuro (池袋 - the pond bag) and eating dinner, Angela and I went to Asakusabashi where there was the Torigoe Shrine Matsuri. There were really huge mikoshi (portable Shinto shrines) with a ton of people holding them up and swaying them while other people played drums and flutes. There were also a lot of guys (males) that were part of the mikoshi support group that were not wearing anything on their legs (no shorts or pants, but at least a loin cloth) so sometimes a little butt was visible if you looked down. D:

Cute Japanese ladies and a float with drum people.

Lots of people shaking the mikoshi. They were all really genki!

And, of course, there were a lot of food stalls. Points of interest: ramen burger and giant tako tentacle takoyaki. Seriously when they stuck the tako in the batter filled pan they stood up like a tree of sucker goodness. It was amazing how they managed to turn the batter into a ball with that much filling but the end result looked amazing.

The ramen burger was a "patty" of fried ramen noodles that was placed in a bun (?) with regular ramen fixtures (bamboo, green onion, egg, ect) as toppings. It smelled really good and I had never seen anything quite like it before.

Ramen burger tabetai!!

Angela got baby castellas (caste iron cooked cake bites) and I got kakigori (shaved ice) with ramune flavored syrup. I wish I could have eaten more but I was already full from dinner. :P

Festival foods.

Thanks for the fun time Angela and Elizabeth! Let's do it again sometime. :)

Pokemon Center: Tokyo

Last week I went to the Pokemon Center in Tokyo with my fellow Pokefan friend Shannon.

We got progressively more and more excited as we got closer and closer to our destination. The direction signs in the Hanamatsu-cho Station were our first glimpses of Pokemon goodness.

Posing with Pikachu

Next was the actual entrance to the Pokemon Center.

We made it!

And to top things off, the grand finale was Pikachu in the flesh (or costume) - jumbo size!

Better than Disneyland, imo

True to its name, the Pokemon Center played the in-game Pokemon Center theme song over and over again.

And, of course, the goods (for now...):

Sleeping Pikachu face towel, Doduo / Dodrio (my favorites!) mini charms

We also pre-ordered tickets to the new Pokemon movie coming out in July. Since we're in Japan and Japan always has super cool promotions, especially when it comes to Pokemon, we also get to choose between a special shiny in-game Entei, Raikou, or Suicune when we go to the theater.

Yeah Boy!

We also get to download a promotional Celebi when we go to the movie. Thanks Japan!

Classes and Shopping

We are coming to the end of the second week of classes. My schedule is as follows:

9:15-10:45 Tu/F Chinese Civilization
11:00-12:30 M/Tu/Th/F Japanese III
1:30-3:00 M/Th Modern Japanese Literature
3:15-4:45 Tu/F Contemporary Japanese Societies

Quick breakdown of how they are going:

Chinese Civ: The professor did some research work at USC so he has a USC email address. Apparently he knows a lot of the EALC professors pretty well. Gets out early every day because he just breezes through a powerpoint. So far a lot about early Chinese writing, pottery, and the dynasties. Typical Chinese civilization material.

Japanese: We went from having 2 sections of jam packed classrooms to 3. I got moved to the new section which is nice because it's on the 1st floor (old section was on the 6th!) but we change between two classrooms every other day. The homework is waaay shorter and waaay easier than Japanese classes at USC.

Japanese Lit: So far we've read these seemingly wacked stories only to have the deeper meaning and significance unwrapped during class. It's like... "what the heck does this mean?" to "what the... why so deep?"

Japanese Societies: Another packed classroom - this time we keep migrating to a new room every day. The professor has labeled us as "homeless" so for now we never know which building or room to go to. The subject matter is really interesting though and it's neat to be able to see examples in everyday life here in Japan.

Now enough about classes. They are only a portion of the study abroad experience.

I went shopping at Harajuku yesterday to pick up some more shoes. I only packed 1 pair (plus a pair of rain boots) and they have quickly deteriorated due to everyday use (school and baseball practice). However, being in Harajuku and up until now not really buying anything except food and essentials, I had to splurge a little..

From left to right: plad backpack, shirt, 2 shoes (the teal ones were only 990 yen!! =$10ish), socks, Sophia sweats.

We are quickly approaching Golden Week here in Japan. Elizabeth, Anna, and I are planning on traveling down to Osaka for a couple of days. I'm looking forward to it!

Good-bye America... for now

I’m leaving for Japan in the morning!! My suitcase is a whopping 47 lbs – just under the 50 lbs limit! Before I go I want to share a snippet of my new and improved keyboard…

Wahh… love it! Next time you hear from me I’ll be in Japan! Orientation will be for 2 weeks then classes start in April. See you guys later!