Basil in Japan

So I went to Tokyo this last weekend. Talk about an adventure! Some of you probably already know that... my plan was to go to the Tokyo Game Show! Color me excited! It was certainly the experience. Extremely busy, as in... SO MANY PEOPLE that you get in a crowd and you absolutely cannot MOVE and you're just getting pushed along with the mob. Crazy. But overall, it was a ton of fun, even though it was tiring. The weekend started off on Friday night after archery club (oh yeah, did I tell everything that I joined the archery club? It's pretty awesome). I met up with my friend Michelle at school around 8:30 and then we were off for Hirakata station. The bus we were taking was leaving from Osaka, so we had to get ... read more

So, I've done quite a number of different things since my last entry, from routine things to pretty amazing awesome things. I've experienced okonomiyaki, which... I must say... is absolutely DELICIOUS. Everybody should have some okonomiyaki at some point in their life. Yum. Plus, they cook it right in front of your table. Like, well, ON your table, as it were. Let's see, what else have I done... this weekend was Casey's 20th birthday, so we had a whole big day planned that was purdy fun. We went to Den Den town in Osaka, which, if you know what Akihabara is in Tokyo, that's basically what Den Den town is. A whole section of town that's devoted to electronics and otaku stores, basically. It was pretty much awesome fun. There were a whole bunch of figure ... read more

A collection of facts that I've learned in Japan so far: 1) English music is everywhere. Commercials. Playing from random stereos outside stores. And it can be in many forms too, sometimes without words. 2) English *celebrities* are everywhere. Cameron Diaz, Scarlett Johanssen, Tommy Lee Jones, Orlando Bloom, Kiera Knightley... tons... 3) Just about everything you can buy, you can find at a store somewhere for very cheap. Go to the mall, clothes are expensive. Find a local Avail shop or other equivalent, clothes are extremely cheap. And books? Books are already cheap, but find a used book store, and they're even cheaper! The only thing this isn't the case for is phones. Phones are friggin' expensive everywhere. 4) Traveling can be expensive... and long. But it's also kind of fun. Especially when you get lost. ... read more

So I had quite the exciting and full weekend for the most part. It was fun!! We didn't have school on Monday either, which made it even better. It was Respect for the Age day, or something like that. Not really sure. But anyway, I will probably split it up into two entries because both days that I went and did something were quite long!! So anyway, Friday night... not a whole lot of new things going on. Though apparently, Otosan came back that night! He must have come back very late. Okasan waited up for him, but both Mai-san and I went to bed. I got to meet him in the morning though. He was very nice! He's a company employee... I believe. Apparently, he works strange hours and goes on a lot of trips ... read more

So things are starting to get a lot easier overall here. I'm getting more accustomed to my schedule, I'm getting used to my host family and their home, I'm getting used to my classes... yes, I can say that I'm really starting to get settled. Which is nice. Definitely. It's not very fun feeling like everything's coming at you at once and nothing is familiar, let me tell you that!! Food continues to be an adventure. So far, there's only been one thing that I've really... just... and I mean *really* don't like. Which was this strange thing that Okasan put on my rice this morning. I have no idea what it was. She told me, but I didn't know what it was in Japanese, and I've forgotten it now so I can't look it up. ... read more

Ahhh, the last day of orientation. It's both extremely nice as well as nerve-wracking at the same time, because that means it's almost time to move in with my host family!! Which I found out won't be until Sunday at 4:30. Ahaha, wow... now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do until then!! But ah well, it will give me some time to relax and make sure I have my bags all packed and ready to go. Today we had the last of our briefing... meeting... things... there was some more good information to be learned there. The safety talk was actually quite humorous, as the professor that was giving it kept adding in all these snarky remarks. After that, we basically just had to wait around until 2:00, which was when ... read more