Hisashiburi! It's been a while.

The semester is coming to an end. We have 1 week (well... 4 days) left of class then finals start on Friday! Since a lot has happened between now and my last post in June (sorry..) I'll share the big highlights.

Hiroshima
We had a mandatory trip with CIEE to Hiroshima for a weekend. It was quite the experience cramming 60 foreigners into the Shinkansen in about 1-2 minutes flat (trains wait for nobody). I felt a little sorry for the Japanese people who were (un)fortunate enough to reserve seats in the same car as us. (60 Americans = loud!)

 Bunny and musubi dinner on the Shinkansen! Took about 4 hours.

The first day we went to the Peace Museum and got to hear from an atomic bomb survivor. Random note: the prime minister (?) of Afghanistan happened to be visiting on the same day. I tried to look for him but we were ushered inside before he came out. (But one of our staff got a picture of him!)

After the museum and park we had the option to look around some more or go to a castle. Out of the whole group, only 3 of us (me, Elizabeth, Shannon) decided to hang back. Elizabeth wanted to find eye drops so we went down a street full of shops and happened to discover that Taito (one of our frequent UFO catcher stops in Akihabara) followed us to Hiroshima.

The arcade and the spoils. Don't tell!

And purikura of the non-castle gang.

At night we ate okonomiyaki (savory Japanese pancake-like thing) and later watched Japan lose to the Netherlands during the World Cup. Apparently Japan doesn't do sports bars - we tried in vain to find a bar with a TV but ended up with conbini snacks back at the hotel.

 Hiroshima style okonomiyaki - yummy and filling!

 Snack for the game.

The following day we went to a little island called Miyajima for progressive snacking which is famous for its giant tori gate and deer.

 From left to right, top to botton: deep fried momiji manju (cheese in the middle!), the best oyster I've ever tasted, super soft sweet potato, grilled squid legs.

Hair Cut
With summer in full swing and the rainy season around the corner, I was ready for an overdue haircut. I looked up a place in Harajuku that had staff that spoke English so explaining what I wanted went very smoothly. My hairdresser even gave me a massage and offered me something to drink - nice Japan!

In honor of EDeng because I didn't make this one my facebook profile pic.

Origami Museum
The gallery was pretty small (like 1 small room small) but it was free. There were some crazy cranes and we even got a free demo. This lady whipped up a rose, fish, Christmas tree (complete with a star at the top and mini Santa), and... a dog (?). There was also a room where we saw people making origami paper, and we took home instructions for origami "kiss lips."

Photo from google but we managed to make them ourselves after much pain.

CIEE Farewell Party
I can't believe study abroad is coming to a close. There were some really nice videos and speeches, but what was really exciting was the food. And smuggling home a giant bottle of unopened oolong tea.

It's strange to think that this was the last time I would see a lot of CIEE people, but we have to go our own ways eventually.

21st Birthday

Hey all, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. :)

Sooo... on Monday (6/7) I got to celebrate with the host family. The kids came over and Britt (secretly) baked a brownie cake and topped it with homemade chocolate sauce! Although the pieces were the cut the same, the kids ended up fighting over who got the bigger sized bowl.

But before I came home, I went (by myself.. haha) to Akihabara to scope out the restaurant I wanted to eat at the next day. And, since I was there, I had to check out the UFO catchers. At the Taito arcade, I stalked watched a couple clear out a machine of its prizes so I observed their tactics and waited to attack. After they left I asked a worker to move the plushies I wanted to try and win and put in 500 yen for 6 (!!) tries. I got another Love-chan in 2 tries and then a French (Ko)Rilakkuma in 1 try! After that I didn't manage to get anything else but I was pretty darn satisfied with 2 animals for 500 yen!

The new members of the family! Capybara-san is from Jillian. This Rilakkuma is going to one of the kids in the host family.

ラブ兄弟 - They can hang out with each other.

On Tuesday first up was the Pokemon Center. If you visit within 3 days (before or after) of your birthday you get a special birthday service. First from the Tokyo shop you get a birthday Charmander for the DS games. It has the moves Quick Attack, Return, Hidden Power, and Howl (for you few who appreciate it). I also got a giant shiny Pikachu card and happened to win a free folder from the Pokewalker scratch card promotion which is running until the middle of July. There was also the opportunity to have a birthday battle (against an employee on Pokemon Revolution for Wii) but I opted out because all my good Pokes are in my English version (are they compatible?) and we had to get back for class.

After class I went out to ゴーゴーカレー　(Go Go Curry - and they have a gorilla logo) for dinner with Britt, Elizabeth, Anna, Jillian, and Gary (Keung-san! who happened to be visiting Japan). This place serves Ishikawa-ken style curry which I saw on TV one night and wanted to try it out. The curry sauce is thicker than usual and although the whole pile of rice is completely covered the sauce doesn't soak through. They also put shredded cabbage on top with whatever other toppings you choose.

来た！ Looks soooo good!

Katsu curry!

And for the very reasonable price of 1000 yen, Jillian got the jumbo sized Major Curry.

Oh my goodness!!!

She did a good job and whittled it down to about 1/8 left. Toppings: 2 sausages, 1 hardboiled egg, 2 chicken katsu-s, 2 ebi fry (fried shrimp) - all piled on an extra large rice. Apparently there's a Go Go Curry in New York so all you East Coast people go find it and eat!

Afterward we went to look at the UFO catchers (again... but they change them a little each day!). Gary wanted to get some plushes as gifts so I showed him the easy machine from the other night. However, today it was 500 yen for 3 tries instead of 6. He was trying for a Rilakkuma but a Snuggle bear (detergent mascot) was getting in the way of one of the arms. Somehow the Snuggle bear ended up getting knocked down into the prize chute and Rilakkuma shortly followed. With a few tries left, he asked to try for a black dog holding a picture frame and ended up getting it in 1 shot. A salaryman was hanging back waiting for us to finish (kind of how I was the day before) and we inadvertently made him wait for quite while. He played after us and tried for (and eventually got) a... Snuggle bear. I wonder why they're so popular.

Finally, my parents sent me a gift basket from a shop in Japan. It came with a few fruit, muffins, and other snacks. I got a good number of people trying to peek into the box (it had a clear top) when I was carrying it home.

Thanks parents!

Wednesday after baseball practice and lunch meeting, my team sang Happy Birthday and gave me gifts. The 四年生 (fourth years) gave me a baseball charm with a message inside:

Kate - Wherever you are we are teammates! Until August have fun with baseball! From: 4th year(s)

Thank you everyone who got me things, wrote on my facebook wall, or though of me!

Elizabeth - the socks you gave me are in the wash.

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. :)

Wisteria and Love-chan GET!

This past weekend we went to Kameido Shrine to view the blooming wisteria flowers. There were also a lot of food stands so we gravitated around them before deciding what to eat.

遠藤　えんどう　Endow　遠 = far, 藤= wisteria. Yay.

Afterward there was a CIEE cultural exchange / host family get together. I got to meet Elizabeth's family who were super cute and nice! There was also a nice park that we got to walk around.

Dinner! :D

Last night Britt's boyfriend came over and met the family! Okaa-san, of course, made a crazy huge meal.

The Master in action.

 The food!

 The couple! Britt and her super Asian pose.

Have a great time in Kyoto with your boyfriend and friends Britt!

Today (Fri) I leave for Osaka with Elizabeth and Anna. Before heading out, Elizabeth and I decided to be adventurous during our 1 period break between lunch and class. In 1 hour and 45 minutes we went to Ikebukuro to try and win an AI-CHAN / LOVE-CHAN PLUSHIE! Elizabeth saw this darling dangling when she went to Ikebukuro with her host sister yesterday.

  The victim. You have to try and knock the ring off. The ears are on the left side btw.

The catch!

Long story short - it was an adventure. Barely got the plush (had to ask a staff to make it easier) and barely got back to class on time. But SUCCESS! Thank you EDeng!!

The 1st Weekend

This weekend was packed with tons of new and interesting things! From food to exploring, take a look at what went on…

Gyoza

On Saturday I made gyoza with Okaa-san who is the master machine at pumping out these little suckers. Seriously, for each one I fumbled together she had three beautiful potstickers assembled. No real pictures b/c they were too ugly. (actually my hands were too dirty to take pics) Okaa-san was really intrigued when I told her that some of my Chinese friends use egg to seal the wrappers instead of water. Now whenever the topic of gyoza comes up she mentions it.

This is what they're suppose to look like... pic from google

Liar Game Movie

On Sunday I went to watch the Liar Game movie with Elizabeth in Kinshicho. Going to the movies here a bit different from what I’m use to. First off, tickets are expensive - 1800 yen, which is about $19! Fortunately for us, for this we can get "cultural activity reimbursement" through CIEE. Yay! When you buy your ticket you also get to choose your seat. This way you don’t have wait in line forever to for a good seat (Ben Lui!!). There is a certain time everyone enters the theater and then the previews start about 10 minutes after that. During the movie everyone was very quiet (despite a packed theater) even during the funny parts! (There was some muffled laughter..) The loudest non-movie noise was definitely my coughing. After it ended, there were people outside to take your trash and sort it into burnable, plastic, ect.

The movie itself was fun to watch. I was able to get the general gist but not the itty bitty details. Overall, it was a typical Liar Game set-up with people owning each other and then Akiyama (with Nao) owning in the end. The interesting thing about these games is that there are rules but you can do a lot of outside-of-the-box thinking to twist the circumstances to your advantage. Waa… it’s a really interesting concept and I can’t wait for subs to come out when the DVD is released. In the meantime, if you’re interested there are 2 seasons of Liar Game staring Matsuda Shota (Hana Yori Dango) and Toda Erika (Code Blue, Ryusei no Kizuna) – go watch it!

In front of the poster!!

UFO Catcher - First Catch!

After the movie we went down to the arcade to try the infamous UFO catchers! They are like the crane game machines but here they are actually win-able! Check out this crazy mom:

What the PRO?

Using her as inspiration, we tried to formulate strategies for knocking over plushies and nabbing plastic hooks. After a few failed attempts, we managed to get a cute plastic pig figure!

Something from Monster Hunter? Mask because I was coughing.

The cool thing is that if you win / mess up really bad, the workers will come and rearrange everything back to normal. Sure enough, after we won it only took a few minutes for the prizes to magically reset.

Pizza

Sunday night the family ordered Japanese style Pizzahut pizzas! Much more expensive than in the states but way more interesting. (A Medium averages $20 while Large can reach $30+) This is what we ate:

They got 2 mediums half-n-half

Ingredients of interest: edamame, potato, bulgogi, shrimp, egg, mayonnaise (kyuupi)

The Japanese mascot of Pizzahut is... Cheese-kun!!

Cheese-kun and Frankie before I left... they're still at home. ;_;

Ueno

Yesterday we had a Tokyo “scavenger hunt” where we went around to various big name places (Akihabara, Tokyo Dome, Ikebukuro, Harajuku, Shibuya, ect…) to take pictures / collect things. We were given a day pass for a large area covered by the JR train system so afterwards Elizabeth, Anna, and I headed over to Ueno to see the cherry blossoms (sakura).

They were sooo pretty and the trees ranged from white to dark pink.  There were also a lot of food stands so we decided grab a bite…

Takoyaki and sweet potato fries!

Very yummy and enjoyable but the weather got super cold!

~~~

Tomorrow I’m going to Kamakura on a CIEE mini-excursion!  Mika (older sister) said it’s like a Little Kyoto.  Should be interesting…