japan: days 31-42

day 31 may 24

what are your hobbies? what do enjoy doing??

these are those mundane small talk questions that losers ask on first dates. but i guess its the quickest route in getting to the kind of person a person probably is. when im forced to answer these uninspired questions, i like watching tv and movies comes to mind for me. BORING! SO TYPICAL! u might think, and its true but dont put me with those ppl who watch role models, the hills (so is that show reality tv or like acting tv? as if theres actually a difference) sure i have my guilty pleasures of greys anatomy and jon and kate plus 8 (its true, i watch it. but ive been watching for years and i love watchin those kids. cause lets face it, u dont see 1. biracial couples on tv and 2. biracial couples with their biracial kids on tv. its refreshing. but lets not get into that whole madness shall we? cause im a genuine fan and it really saddens me.) ANYWAY. im saying gimme a chance when i say my hobby is watching tv and movies.

so when i say i like watching tv and movies, im talking about dexter (a rarity that gets better as the show progresses), six feet under (favorite show, hands down), arrested development (hey brother), eternal sunshine of the spotless mind (charlie kaufmannnn ahhh love him). i could go on and on, as i do when it comes to tv and movies.

[as youll see, all im gonna talk about these 2 weeks is going to be about tv or movies. pathetic]

so it sucks. because adding "i like to watch tv and movies" under hobbies probably isnt good when filling out a resume is it? or just in normal conversation really. i gotta make an effort and be a cooler person who has sexier hobbies and interests. pretending to do yoga is a start.

day 32 may 25

was watching the 6:54pm weather update (yes, very specific and random times. theyre japanese leave em alone) and there was a live video of the streets of shibuya as the weather guy and news guy were talking. all was well until a HUGEEEEE semi truck with a HUUUUUUGE advert of eminems new single did a questionably long winded left turn at the intersection. it was the most perfectly timed thing, it had to be staged. it was quite a sight, and brilliant. there was a hesitant 3 second pause from the weather guy when he turned around and saw eminem's face plastered on the screen behind him. classic. nhk's 6:54 audience probably isnt eminems new target demographic or fan base, so it must have been some sort of stunt. imagine eminem doing an advert campaign on pbs's news hour with jim lehrer? genius or too much time on their hands? u decide, cause i cant. my points of reference r really off lately.

day 33 may 26th

in the near future i want to go to potager, a veggie dessert place. sounds really weird, i know but its a proper bakery that sells yummy delicious desserts. i mean if u think about it, carrot cake is a veggie dessert.

so i tried to get the address and directions with google maps. i had my friends address in tracy saved into google maps so out of curiosity i kept the tracy address as the starting point and made potager the destination. weirdest route ever. first of all it tells me to get into a car and drive 812 miles up to bellevue/kirkland washington (why exactly?) then tells me to kayak 2,756 miles across the pacific ocean and arrive at the turtle bay hilton and turn right. WHAT!? HAHAHAH.

THEN it tells me to take a few streets left and right and once i turn left at kalakaua ave, i kayak across the pacific ocean AGAIN til i get to japans 263 prefecture highway and stay in the left lane. why did i have to stop in hawaii? was it to give me a good resting spot? cant think of a better place to rest than hawaii.

p.s. ive done this before with nyc and london, and maps told me to swim. i wonder what other helpful directions and modes of transportation google maps advises to take.

day 34 may 27th

i was reading the japan times today, and an article grabbed my attention. "trust your voice," it said, and it happened to be a tattoo that singer nakashima mika got recently on her wrists. yes, a japanese pop princess, who cares, but its a beautiful phrase that encompasses everything isnt it? well the article ruins my mood instantaneously with the opening lines, "'i believe in my voice as a singer,' declares mika nakashima, alluding to the 3 words tatooed in english around her wrist." surely thats not really the point? when u take such a beautiful thought like that and take it so literally, u kill it. like with a machette. its a tragic brutal death of a beautiful thought. im sure theres alot lost in translation, as the article is written in english and im pretty sure she cant speak it. plus this article kinda sucks. but trust your voice? love it.

day 35 may 28th

the world, as grandpa knows it:
1.ppl who smoke CANT drink water. its not that they dont want to or feel like it, its that they cant
2.ppl put their groceries into backpacks because its easier to carry
3."whats raisin bread? isnt that grape bread?"

4."wait those ppl werent on this show yesterday." "no grandpa, we're watching a different show. and that was yesterday."

5.broccoli and lettuce look alike

theres so much more, but i cant think of any right now. theyre all comedy gold.

p.s. almost everyday my grandpa talks about drinking one way or another. "that doesnt happen though because i DONT drink...." "a guy on the news was found on the park bench passed out DRUNK..." "its a good thing i dont DRINK or smoke either" "maybe americans dont get DRUNK because they drink wine and beer and not sake" (thats another grandpaism, based on who knows what, every part of that sentence is wrong). is his unconscious mind trying to tell me something?

day 36 may 29th

loved UP. i didnt think they could grab u emotionally in the first few minutes like they did in finding nemo, but they managed. toppling the single dad raising his kid alone cause his wife was tragically eaten (yikes) is a pretty big hurdle to jump over, but it is pixar after all. the video i watched was one of those camcorder recordings but it wasnt half bad, surprisingly. i could hear the guy holding the camera adjusting his backpack and a kid asking his mom what just happened, but not bad.

day 37 may 30th

began finishing up pushing daises. i was soooo excited when that show came on the air a couple of years ago. it was 2 of my favorites getting it on and having a love child: the world, the charm, the whimsy and the colors of tim burtons big fish and jean-pierre jeunets amelie. its interesting, a bit weird and quirky writing, but it can come off...whats the word? this is also how i felt about gilmore girls and charmed (god do u remember our roommates watching that terry? coming home and seeing that on the tv was just awful. worst way to end ur day. sorry lina). no one on earth talks like those characters do...so verbose and full of (w)it, though the conversations arent exactly clever either. the back and forth dialogue is timed perfectly and theres a quick and perfect comeback every time. its like ur trying to make a point in every sentence u say, and u want to end it with one up on the other person. anyway, pushing daises is like that and its almost a turn off. but not quite. thats probably why i didnt really keep up with the show when it was on. thats the problem, its a show u dont have to see every week, but u like it. no wonder it got canceled. plus it was created by the cursed bryan fuller whose shows have not gone past 2 seasons. poor soul. pushing daises was his best bet too.

day 38 may 31

a stranger wants to be my friend on facebook.

or is he?

this is the story of my life. the name kinda sounds familiar, but not really. the face could be him, but maybe not. did we go to elementary, middle school or high school together? or all three? or none since hes a stranger?? my memory is horrible. its embarrassing. its embarrassing cause if its the guy that i think could possibly be him, i might have had a small crush on him either in elementary, middle or high school. yes, my vague ambiguous life.

when i get confused about who was who or what was what in my life, i usually turn to my friend jacob and borrow his brain. since we went to all 3 schools together and known eachother throughout those years (or did we?) i ask him for clarifications and facts about my life all the time. its really amazing cause his memory is impeccable. he reminds me things about my life that i forgot about looooong ago. unfortunately if i dont keep him updated the facts remain stuck in 1999. my favorite show use to be malcolm in the middle, like back in 8th grade, and maybe ive grown up a little but its not my favorite anymore. also he still thinks my curfew is still before it gets dark, and that my dad is going to yell at me when i come home past 8. that one comes up alot, and thats probably his idea of a joke (not funny)

jacobs too cool for aim now, or any of my transpacific correspondences really, so ill never get the strangers identification confirmed. i havent declined or accepted his friendship yet either.

day 39 june 1st

fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

its june 1st already.

day 40 june 2nd

im gonna have weak knees when i get older. i already called it. i can crack the bones in my knees, its the grossest thing EVER. its not as dramatic as cracking fingers or anything, but theres definite crackling whispers that should not be happening that is.

the tables and chairs/ booths r so low to the grounds at restaurants here for example, that when i get up my knees hurt (because i have arthritis and turning 79 next month). i have to give it a good grunt before i get up or i freeze in the middle of the motion.

p.s. when u can look over the grocery aisles and realize that ur probably the only one whose tall enough to do so, u have to take a good hard look at the kind of place uve ended up in. life here is so bizarre.

day 41 june 3rd

saw a sign in front of a pet store and it said, "dog rentals available"

dog rentals?

day 42 june 4th

theres some kind of matsuri (festival) going on today across the train tracks by the hakuyo swimmers apartment building, which i can see from the living room. i just realized this, but that huge apartment complex, hakuyo swimmers, has the name swimmers in the name because theres a huge pool in the basement. like a proper gym size swimming pool where ppl take lessons. theres even a bus that comes and goes from there. dont think its a community pool though, should ask grandpa later. but the fact that theres a pool in the basement, and 7 floors of apartments above it, is so japanese. in america u never see a chinese restaurant on the first floor and the family lives upstairs. thats commonplace here. except theres the occasional uber posh apartment complexes that have like a boutique or peets coffee at the ground level. but a gym/community pool/apartment building combo u dont see everyday.

it startled me earlier because suddenly i heard taiko drums. its the kind of scary alarming sound u wish u were prepared for ahead of time...cause for a good 10 seconds u dont know whats going on out there. thunderstorms on a sunny day? a parade? a riot? it was funny seeing ppl in the neighborhood peer out of their balconies to see what the hell was going on or the ppl who sloooow down in their cars or bikes to get a closer look at the festivities.

anyway, a matsuri in the beginning of june is weird. its a summer thing to do. or maybe theyre celebrating the rare japanese blue skies and the perfect bit of a breeze weather today. its been so cloudy and miserable lately, and humid! the terrible rainy season is upon me! summer is the worst time of the year here, ughh

japan: days 22-30

day 22 may 15th

today i needed to mail something to my mom. luckily my grandpa needed to send a book to her too, so i thought perfect, ill just stick the letter in the book so i dont have to mail it separately.

right? RIGHT?!

apparently its against the law. the post office business literally became a business (like fedex and such) but theres no us postal service equivalent anymore, as in a govt run service. the genius legacy of koizumi (bushs japanese cowboy, just like britians british cowboy blair) was to privatize the post office. then suddenly these crazy ridiculous (in my humble opinion) rules were put into place. envelops have to be a certain size, for example, and i had a "r u serious?!" situation when i tried to send lina a card and the card was REJECTED because the size was too small. its not like theyre gonna open the book and see that i smuggled a lovely letter that shoulda been delivered separately or anything (i guess) but grandpa said its best to just obey the rules. but what r they trying to prevent with this? who cares if theres a note or a card in between a magazine or book? ur still paying by weight arent u? japan, ur weird.

day 23 may 16th

today we went to the airport to drop off my grandma. a part of me feels like i shoulda just waited til she got to the us and then come to japan with her so she doesnt have to travel alone. but another part of me knows that if i had to stay in tracy for another 2 months i would be feeling a kind of misery and boredom that hasnt been felt by any human being before. yes, i was that miserable back home. but now, yes its inevitable, i miss it. im the type that has to leave or loose something to really appreciate it...which is common senscial, and everyone says that. but i proactively do this to force myself to learn the lesson (even though i know what the lesson is) instead of the usual "coming to terms with it" reflection ppl conclude with after something happens. and i tend to learn this lesson every year or so too about the same sort of things. its dumb.

anyway. 4 weeks without grandma and its me and grandpa time. everyones worried wondering how thats gonna work. it works fine! he rambles and i listen. its the same scenario with me whoever im with, wherever i am.

day 24 may 17th

broke down crying, woke up with epic back pain, took random nap in the middle of the day, had the strangest dream about my long lost middle school friend iming me on aim, broke comb in half, forgot to record bros favorite anime show....

JUST SOME OF THE REASONS WHY TODAY WAS THE WORST. i hate these horrible days.

day 25 may 18th

i know greys anatomy sucks. things went bonkers after isiah washingtons true colors were exposed, was fired, and the writers scrambled to change the storyline (hatin on the minorities even though ur one urself? i get why this happens, but then again i dont. anyway thats another blog im working on...), guest stars turned permanent cast members started backing out and ending contracts, and weird ghost sex. yes, that would be more than enough to turn me off. but greys use to be my showwwww. god i use to worship that show. i invested a huge part of myself and the kind of person i am when i became an avid fan when it first premiered. i see a piece of me in meredith grey, the dark and twisty pessimist...and i think thats why i remain a devoted and loyal viewer. dont think i can call myself a fan again, but ive watched every single episode (while dissing the writing and how the character development has hit the wall of course. i use to watch an episode and know if the episode was written by a new writer or one from the far more superior first two seasons). i also think im still attracted to greys because u dont see shows about main characters who are weird and gloomy. its always about the underdog or the sparkly teeth heroes and i hate that. how boring.

i bring up this greys thing because 1.i watched the season 5 finale where they managed to kill off 2 main characters (quite ballsy of em, but its time those actors move on to bigger and better things) and 2. i cried my eyes out (greys is a soft spot, what can i say) and it triggered my breakdown from the night before that i mentioned. i was already crying, so i just kept going i guess. im a crybaby and gotta cry to get things off my chest, as a kind of cleansing ritual to move on and get going on whatevers next. i havent done that yet since being here, and i, for the first time, felt how crazy i am for starting my adult life in another country. so i cried, whatever. but this wasnt ur usual tears poetically rolling down the cheeks. this was like, sobbing and blowing nose crying. serious stuff. so ive been here before loads of times and im staying at grandparents house and i eat delicious green tea flavored desserts everyday and i got it easier than most. but shit, im scared! im crazy! i have no job leads! and that breakdown felt out of nowhere and weird, but necessary. very necessary

day 26 may 19th

as a kid i was always annoyed about dealing with trash in japan. everything is divided up and is crazy organized like someone with ocd: combustible, noncombustible, plastic bottles (called pet bottles for some reason), cans, glass, cardboard and newspapers. sometimes u have to remove the straw and put it in the noncomustible, take off the plastic cap or remove the aluminum seal and then finally toss the plastic cup or paper cup itself. what a hassle. it takes about 5 minutes to get the job done, a simple thing like throwing away trash takes 5 minutes in japan. cardboard must be folded up small and tied together with rope. newspapers stacked together and tied with rope as well. disobey and no trash pickup for you! japan, ur crazy.

now i applaud the annoyance because this is how recycling and trash maintenance should be. instead of shoving everything in one of those huge trash things as recycle, trash, yard. oh and someone else will sort through it later!! plus everything is labeled so u know what the material is and u can throw away each piece in the appropriate place. oh japan, ur crazy!

btw this is only relevant when theres trash cans in the first place. there arent any for miles sometimes. and because the japanese r japanese, they hold onto the trash until they find a can to bin it in. sure theres a few RADICAL yougens who litter, but ppl will generally keep the trash until there is a trash can to put it in. thats the kind of ppl the japanese are, what can i say. there have been times when ive done this too in america, (i am japanese afterall) and often i find unrecognizable wrappers and receipts from places i cant remember from months before. gross.

day 27 may 20th

song of my year: pixies where is my mind

ps, the placebo cover isnt half bad...

day 28 may 21st

found out today that japan is going to start having jury duty. they didnt have jury duty until now! i couldnt believe this. dont really know the full details of it but heres what ive gathered:

its only for serious crimes like murders, arson, crimes against humanity, etc.
at each trial theres 6 members of the jury (who arent randomly picked but chosen by those who fill out a form saying theyre willing to be a juror. so everyones a willing participant and not moody and unlucky ppl...interesting)

the 6 jury members plus 3 "professional judges" (whatever that means) decide the guilt/innocence and the length/severity of the sentence. and its by majority vote! not unanimously like in the us. quite interesting indeed. btw u can vote i dont know, which means not guilty because theres reasonable doubt? god i dunno, obviously im not trying to be a lawyer one day.

japans judicial system is a bit weird, i remember learning...and i could do a quick wikicheck, but i have a feeling that the entry "japanese judicial system" isnt going to be a quicky (thats what she said). one thing i remember was how forced confessions are taken pretty much as guilt and ppl r convicted like 95% of the time. doesnt matter if the police torture u to confess (this actually happens!). man, i guess when u think about it japans only been a democracy for like 60 years and "trial by jury of peers" isnt such a deeply rooted common sense idea. imagine something so democratic to be so novel. but wow, i was surprised by the jury duty business.

day 29 may 22nd

properly tried yoga today. to me yoga is a fancy word for stretching or holding a strange and embarrassing pose for 45 seconds. i tried to do yoga last week, but i started laughing immediately. its just so silly! and i imagined someone walking past my room seeing me with my ass in the air and i couldnt stop laughing. then i regained composure and tried again only to laugh even more than before. i mean stumbling upon someone doing yoga might be the funniest thing u can stumble upon. i think this narrowly beats out stumbling upon someone taking a myspace picture. (the best ones r those taken in their bathroom, seeing them holding the camera in their reflection, half sitting on the counter)

day 30 may 23rd

woke up today and both sides (side muscles right under armpits down to hips, thats the proper anatomical label btw) ARE HELLLLLA SORE. damn yoga. thats what i get for trying it out. heres the conversation i had today with my body regarding my courageous venture into yoga: me playing the curious well intentioned soul, and body playing the snarky know it all.

[yesterday afternoon.]
me: so, im gonna try this yoga thing for real today. grandpas napping, drapes r closed, no worry of someone walking in on me doing downward dog or cat and the cow.

body: oh reallyyy. u and yoga? HAHA

me: u laugh now, but ull thank my well toned oc-calling, us weekly subscribing, apple tini in the morning self one day!!

[12 hours later. this morning.]
me: OH. MY. GOD. why is that sore?! UGHHHHHHH i thought i was working my abs?!? AHHHHHH

body: thats what u get when u say u want to try yoga, u idiot. its no stretching in the park

[and scene.]

we're working out our differences, but me and body r gonna get through this yoga curiosity together, whether body likes it or not.





bit of a weird week this week, ups and downs and sideways. also no week in pictures, i was busy being bipolar. plus it would be me crying, doing yoga and throwing out trash.

japan: days 16-21

day 16 may 9th

nothing..

day 17 may 10th

...to report. (not that i ever do. ut ohhh then what rubbish have i been typing all this time???)

day 18 may 11th

confusing japanese thing of the week:

phone numbers. it appears that cell phone numbers here have an extra digit than regular land lines. is this so we can differentiate em? also, where u put the dash and breakup the numbers are completely random. ive seen numbers be written out as 04-7146-6066 or 0471-46-6066 even 7146-6066 (i guess the 04 is the area code of sorts)

this is problematic when writing out resumes and i dont want to look like the idiot who doesnt even know where to put dashes when typing out phone numbers. ppl will think, damn, why would i even THINK to hire this nut? she doesnt even know where to put the dashes!

day 19 may 12th

guess what. im thinking about trying yoga. jenn and yoga?! i know. my newfound interest in yoga confuses me too. as in, who am i to suddenly want to start yoga? i know i came to japan to "find myself," but this is what i find out along the way? am i gonna start buying fashion mags, buy princess outfits for my dog, move to the oc (and call it that), watch american idol, and invite girlfriends over for some apple martinis at 10:30 in the morning???

shiver me timbers, i really know how to scare myself. i think i had a cold sweat come upon me.

ive gone so far as to download video podcasts from itunes...YOGAmazing!! its called, with host chaz rough

??? (and then) !!!

with a name like that, who isnt interested? i highly recommend watching one of those yoga videos and skipping around. seeing quick edits of different yoga poses is HILARIOUS, and i couldnt stop laughing just now. pathetic. this is what an unemployed (not even recently anymore) college graduate does in another land to pass the time.

shiver me timbers, i really know how to laugh and get depressed, in record time no less.

haha (but) sighhh

day 20 may 13th

i was channel surfing and i stumbled upon veronica mars. usually i would change the channel in disgust ("im in japan and i still have to encounter these tweeny wb sitcoms and dramas? what am i in america still?! ughhhh") but to my surprise i saw my tween crush, jonathan taylor thomas as a guest star. he was muscley, thick necked and old! it broke my heart.

in other news, it is helllla windy today. i thought my grandpa was gonna be picked up and blown away with the kind of tornado winds we've been having. i think he thought the same, as he held onto the fence for dear life periodically while pulling out weeds in the back garden.

day 21 may 14th

im a shameless tweeter (or am i a twit? who tweets?) and its funny cause its just my equivalent of talking out loud. would that make it tweeting out loud? anyway. i was taken aback by the 1 hour maintenance at noon theyve been advertising on twitter for some time now. to shut down such a popular site in the middle of the day is madness. but not to worry followers! by noon pst ill be deep in REM sleep so ill miss out. take that suckas! mwahahahaa

just kidding. and that was weird.

japan: the week in pictures (days 8-14)

for my second week in japan...here are some pictures.

not to be all star trekkie (DEFINITELY NOT SEEING THAT MOVIE, read my angry movie entry), but its kinda like we're flying into warp speed though innit? with the timing and everything, its a once in a lifetime snapshot

not a typical street in japan ppl! 2 wide lanes with trees still there and not a tall skinny apt building or mall thats replaced it!?

this was hilarious. this elmo was just chilling walking around

when i "got work done" at starbucks. no matter what country im in, i cant seem to escape starbucks.

like the patterns..

got in trouble taking this picture...i dunno why. it was an ordinary fabric shop. and the nerve to go up to a foreigner and say DONT TAKE PICTURES? i applaud you girlfriend.

creeepy but i love the lighting here.

where im at right now typing this. its so dark and moody!

japan: days 7-15

day 7 april 30th

i dunno what im gonna do, living in a country that highly values conformity. i hate peer pressure, and nothing turns me off like doing something everyone else is. i point this out because every single japanese girl is dressing exactly the same and its really annoying. its amazing cause they literally all wear the same fucking thing. last time i was in japan wearing really short skirts with long ass boots was in. doesnt matter if its raining, 108 degrees or in the middle of winter. this time around its the same idea, but with black knee high socks (its a disturbingly similar look). UGHHH and the worst is seeing mother and daughter being twins.

day 8 may 1st

had to go to the bloody dentist today. the last time was back in tracy right after i finished school and there was a new lady there. dr nakaki retired apparently. and i want him back. that new woman scraped my gums off around my teeth and i could feel em bleeding. and it hurt like hell. it really did. i was shedding tears at one point, and she showed no mercy. that sadist! it was terrible. to top it all off, she said i had a cavity, and the thoughts of going back to her again, this time to fix my cavity, was terrifying. is there anything worse than anticipating a dentist appointment? especially when it involves fixing a cavity? im sweating just typing that question.

so a miracle happened and i never had to go get my cavity fixed! it was because my insurance ran out. i was saved! so i put it off. now that im in this country of universal health care, my mom reminded my grandma to make an appointment so the dentist can take a look at it. grandma made an appointment right away for the next day. then there was a huuuuge unnecessary kafuffle between my mother and i, when she started yelling at me for making an appointment so soon and to wait until my teeth started to hurt. instead of it being a "treat it sooner than later dear!" motherly advice, it became an attack on me depending on grandma for my teeth troubles, or a sort of "why cant u take control of ur own life?" rant she embarks on once a month. she went nuts. all in all, it was fine and when i asked about why she suddenly snapped at me about the dentist thing she said, "uhhhh dunno," like it wasnt a big deal. didnt feel like nothing when she was yelling at me.

the dentist was a tall slender fella of about 60. the very opposite of what id imagine a japanese dentist to look like (i had an overweight oily faced guy in his 40s who smells of rice crackers pictured in my mind. dunno why). he was a little too undisciplined and free spirited for my liking, having conversations with patients from across the room (it was a big open space with 3 dentist chairs, no separate rooms!) he said that i do have a cavity, but its not a big deal, and then he proceeded to teach me how to brush my teeth. this was a bit humiliating...ive managed these 22 years. he said to first use a small toothbrush and to brush each tooth, front and back, without any paste. not gonna lie though, my teeth feel squeaky clean afterwards. theres no trick really, just to take ur time. and having the dental assistant, the dentist and my grandma standing around me making sure i was brushing my teeth properly was quite the experience.

day 9 may 2nd

top 3 amazing things ive seen in japan (riding bicycles edition):
#3: riding a bike holding an umbrella on a rainy day
#2: riding a bike while texting. (texting takes precedence over riding the bike, clearly.)
#1: seeing an 80 year old grandma riding a bike with some rice strapped onto the back of the bike. rice must have been one of those huge 50 pound ones. amazing!

day 10 may 3rd

its golden weeeeeeek! holiday season here in japan. its even more crazy this year because of the swine flu business...paranoid stories and updates on news programs. i liked the interviews theyve been showing on the news, where 99% of vacation returnees have said, "yeah we wore masks around the streets of paris and everyone looked at us like, 'ohh the japanese r soo paranoid.'"

day 11 may 4th

had my first case of a claustrophobia attack today. im usually okay with confined spaces, but something about it being a holiday and EVERYONE IN KASHIWA shopping at the same mall at the same time really did me in. i literally had to remove myself from the food court area and stand by the stairs. ive endured full capacity trains during rush hour but shopping at a busy mall on a holiday was a bit much? wow im off to a horrible start. but then again i was hungry, tired but caffeinated so i was paranoid. the perfect storm for a claustrophobia attack.

day 12 may 5th

i know its a matter of context, and that theres different innocent meanings to things, but seeing a swastika on japanese maps as a symbol for japanese temples is shocking no matter how many times ive seen it. i do a double take every time.

day 13 may 6th

THE BEST CINCO DE MAYO EVER!!!! is the kind that comes and goes. why does a real holiday become arbitrary occasions to get drunk? it appears to me that these lets get fucking drunk!!!! holidays r tied with proper holidays...st patricks day, cinco de mayo, july 4th. hey america, do u need the promise of drinking and getting pissed drunk for these patriotic/cultural holidays to be celebrated?

this was also THE BEST CINCO DE MAYO EVER!!!!!! because i didnt even know it was cinco de mayo, given that im in japan. i didnt have to hear radio commercials advertise happy hour or watch weird 3 minute cinco de mayo segments at the end of the local news. yes siree, this was the best cinco de mayo ever. it has been holiday season in japan however, and the 5th of may is actually kids day.

day 14 may 7th

funny english phrase of the week:
seen from a cockroach killing spray commercial. its soooo japanese, from the boy band music video-ness of it to the really bad english. it just ends with the lead singer saying "[cockroach] to the heaven!" while holding that boy band dance pose. the cockroach bit was in japanese (gokiburi) but the "to the heaven!" was in english.



wasnt that brilliant? ohhh japan.

day 15 may 8th

today i went to starbucks at the local mall to get some work done. as always i procrastinate and end up writing a few entries for my blog and call it a day. my small cup of caramel macchiato was actually pretty good, and the lady took forever and a dayyyyyy to make it all pretty. it even looked like those promo pictures, where the food looks nothing like the picture in real life. here in japan, they actually make an effort. its refreshing!

japan: the week in pictures (days 1-7)

random pictures from my first week in japan...

my oversized, waaaay over the weight limit luggage

lavender leaves from grandmas back garden

more from the garden

down the street

out the front door

this is really incredible...its stairs going up/down/sideways outside a mall, right by grandparents house. can u imagine having to evacuate the mall and forced to use this to get to safety? i might give up half way and say forget it, ill risk it.

being asian

kaitenzushiii

a little aquarium exhibit, figuring little "sea angels" they were weird. what i really shoulda done is taken a picture of the ppl taking pictures, all on their little tiny cell phones. sooo japanese

brilliant.

japan: days 1-6

day one: april 23/24 2009

got to japan safe and sound. still cant believe im actually here. keep asking myself, "and why am i here again?" "how did i get here??" my body may be here in japan but i dunno where my mind is. somewhere floating over the pacific ocean perhaps? it hasnt arrived here in kashiwa quite yet.

cried most of the day...just overwhelmed with scary thoughts of uncertainty. and my dads random pieces of advice did me in as well. i do this thing alot, where i think "thisll be the last time ill see my dog in awhile," or "i wont drive my car til...who knows when??" i tend to make mundane things into pieces of nostalgia.

slept a grand total of 45 mins on the plane. listening only to 10 mins of the 55min ricky gervais guide to the english was a clue (i did math to figure it out) and i kept waking up every time gervais had hes signature laughter explosions. crazy was the fact that i didnt get up at all to use the bathroom. 11 hours of sitting! its mad i know. even the lady on the aisle seat noticed..."wow u have a strong stomach" she said. she probably meant bladder?

the guy that sat next to me was a bit fat and japanese. he had 2 glasses of wine, 3 cans of beer and really bad breath. it was the worst. he was harmless and wasnt a drunk or anything, but i was very claustrophobic and using his breath as my main source of air was just disgusting. i coulda asked him and the lady to get out of my way so i can get up a couple of times to get some air, but i was too lazy. it was bad breath for most of the ride, but once we started to descend, the lady at the end who asked the wellbeing of my stomach/bladder gave me and the smelly man gum. she was a really nice lady. but then again maybe she couldnt help smelling his breath either.

was that really a house in the middle of the airport runway? surrounded by planes, runways and radio towers, it was encased in 50 foot fences. a huge antenna pole soared tall and i even noticed a poster of sorts hanging up in the 2nd floor window. bizarre.

for the first time, i didnt have that tingle go down my spine when we started to land. the very overcast skies and occasional sprinkle only further diminished the magic ive always felt when flying into japan. the cloudy sprinkly weather couldnt have represented my sentiment any better. the scenery felt very familiar and the airport looked like any other one. maybe ive been here too many times to fully appreciate the magic and excitement. come to think of it in the last year ive been to sd, seattle, oakland, sfo and narita airports. u see one, uve pretty much seen them all. take off and landing sure feel the same. or maybe, like i just said, my mind is off somewhere else.

i told this to jon, but i think that i need to leave so that i can reflect and really get perspective and make big life decisions. leave, miss it, want it back and come back. thats the plan.

so the adventure begins...

day 2 april 25

woke up around 4:15am. its jetlag, what can i say? finished the episode of lie to me i started watching on the plane (felt awkward watching it in the plane, especially with smelly man breathing down on me), meet jon and kate plus 8, episode of lost (the constant) and a documentary about islam. it started off with clips of bush, blair and clinton talking about hunting down terrorists for killing ppl (a chilling reminder of those horrible intolerant days, though clinton wasnt half bad) but then they started talking about how parts of the koran condone violence against nonmuslims. as if the other religions have a better track record against their own nonbelievers. i hate it when documentaries ask historians to take quotes out of context to make it fit their needs. the show was called "islam: what the west needs to know" maybe i gotta watch the whole thing, but it was pretty terrible and one sided.

turned on the telly, and they were doing a countdown of the news of the week. at #12 was the susan boyle story. shes getting offers to do a concert tour! i thought for sure #1 was going to be about kusanagi tsuyoshi of the smap boyband being drunk off his ass, naked, yelling in the park and refusing to get arrested. he had a press conference to properly apologize. havent heard more about this story other than initially finding out from eren yesterday on the drive home from the airport, so i dunno how japanese society is taking it. if they found justin timberlake drunk, naked, screaming at nothing at a park, america would freak out. the hero! the pop icon! the fantasy of young pubescent girls! is an open alcoholic? wow. brilliant. his lawyer said how he took off his clothes, folded them neatly next to his shoes and then went mental. "its possible he thought he was inside his home, though he as no recollection of what was happening at the time." i think thats hilarious. he might have been drunk and belligerent but in the end hes the type to neatly fold his clothes after taking it all off. what an idiot. so what was the #1 story of the week then? about 10 years ago a lady poisoned a pot of curry she was selling at a summer festival and got sentenced to the death penalty. even a star of a boy band cant quite compete with serious shit like that.

my heart speed up hella yesterday while shopping at uniqlo. i saw a tshirt that said "ucs.." and i freaked out. NO WAY. THEY DO NOT SELL UCSD TSHIRTS. i called grandma and cousin over..."I WENT TO THIS SCHOO.." turns out it was ucsb. SB! so close. this happened moments after i saw an oakland as shirt, so my bp was already at its highest in months. might have bought em both if it was ucsd and oakland raiders. its funny how they sell these trademarked shirts in random stores...last time i was here i bought a foo fighters shirt for 300yen. i think when i went to their concert at sdsu i bought their shirts for $20. shoulda just waited and bought it in japan eh?

day 3 april 26th

the other set of cousins came by today. i say the others because i never see em and i didnt think theyd make it out here on the 2nd day of me arriving. theyre more of the type to squeeze me into their busy schedule a few days before i leave. for them to come so soon we were all surprised. the little ones r so old now...oldest started middle school, and the youngest should be 4th grade-ish. i always hated when family would see u and say, "my my uve grown so much since the last time i saw u! u were only this high..." theres nothing more annoying than that for a kid. what if i were to turn the tables on em? "oh and those wrinkles auntie, my my uve really aged in 3 years havent ya? and i can see ur grey roots growing out.." though the fact that im starting to say "how much uve grown!" myself is a bit depressing and i feel 50 years old.

overall the 4 of them r wound up tight, but the youngest is hilarious. with a genius sister, mother and father who have uppity tendencies shes gotta be a bit of an oddball to make it through the day. she made my uncle/her dad take a bite of her takoyaki which was filled with mayo, a food he hates. he screamed. also, apparently her eye sight is really good, while the other 3 all wear glasses. "no one can see it, but theres tiny little bugs all over the bath and sometimes and i follow em around killing em." how this little person would so nonchalantly say, "i go around killing em" was hilarious and i could picture her mashing em under her thumb.

found out newspapers have days off! isnt that just downright unacceptable? i couldnt believe it. and thats not including holidays! tv networks dont have days off...yet newspapers do? i dont get it.

this swine flu thing is crazy. i missed the craziness by one day...i woulda had to go through some heavy security shit if i arrived in japan on sat instead of friday. but lucky for me i went right through, no problem at all. having both american and japanese passports makes travel amazingly easy. the japanese r obsessive over the story, making it seem like everyone here has it. no ones been exposed in the country yet! hows the news coverage in the states? it is as fear inducing and obsessive as the japanese news?? i know its serious, but ppl die from the flu all the time sadly. i know its a new strain and thats scary for scientists but i dont really get it.

day 4 april 27th

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE WHATTTTTTT. u just go into the city offices, fill out a few forms and bam, im covered. i graduated ucsd and my health care got terminated so i went 8 months without it. im here 4 days and im set. love it. love it love ittt. the lady at the office was well confused though, and it was annoying at times because she kept asking and talking to my grandpa and not me about the status of my citizenship. "what day was she born?" she would ask my grandpa and id answer back in perfect japanese. this happened a good 5 times, always with a surprised face at how good my japanese is.

day 5 april 28th

today is grandmas birthday! this is the first time im celebrating the day with her. usually we're across the pacific ocean, but not this year! as much as i usually downplay my own bday celebrations (aka i hate parties) i loove celebrating other ppls. calling em at midnight, sending cards, going out to eat, taking time to buy a brilliantly perfect gift. i really pride myself in giving really good gifts and i try to buy things that fit the person as much as possible. i use the, "buying something they would buy themselves but it costs money and so theyre not gonna buy it probably" rule of thumb when doing so.

day 6 april 29th

the internets brilliant innit? its the first full day of being connected over the internet and life is fantastic. as david from six feet under said, "on a scale of 1 to 10? 11"

today i threw away old postits off the fridge that had all of the different addresses i lived at when i went to ucsd. archstone la jolla, the mennonite mansion and sixth college apartments. there was even an address of another apt we almost moved into, but at the last minute decided against it. our rent was going up almost a grand, and my roommate priscila had her dad call in and say its illegal to raise rent so dramatically so fast. haha. he was a judge, so he had all the authority in the world. they eventually settled for $150 increase. something about throwing away those pieces of paper that had my old addresses was very sad and brought back loads of memories. partly because im missing san diego a little more everyday...