Life's B-Side

The Fish-Eye

2012-02-06T01:54:00.000-08:00

Ive always wanted a fisheye lens for a camera. The effect in my opinion was always pleasing to the eye. Getting a somewhat distorted but wider view of things. In order to take pictures like this ones options are to either buy an expensive camera with changeable lenses and then buy a separate fisheye lens or go with a cheaper non-digital alternative.

Of course, the least expensive quality camera i could come across would be at least $600 at base price. Then the extension would cost another $200. To get a proper carrying case and the right equipment that should go with this caliber of a camera would bring be to a total of almost $1000. An expensive hobby indeed!

Another option is to buy a camera made for fisheye photography. There are a few brands that make cameras with these specialized lenses starting from $50 and moving on up. Of course, the one below is a glorified version of what you could get. Most of these cameras are made out of plastic and use 35mm film.

However much i would love to buy one of these cameras, considering the cost is quite important. On one end I have no choice to wait until i am a little less poor to get started on this style of photography. On the other end, I want this capability so much that i can easily settle for a cheaper alternative. However, this alternative involves film :(. Unfortunately for me, I am quite spoiled by digital technology.

Luckily, I found myself a 3rd option. Using an old digital camera to start with, I decided to build my own fish-eye lens at home. After some research and a look at what other people had done, I decided to try something out.

First I started out with a wide angle door viewer, a pvc pipe and some craft foam. All of the materials I used were from a local hardware store, craft store or my own garage.

Careful cutting and precision measuring helped me build the perfect fitting for my digital cameras lense to fit nicely into the foam. Also, coating the door viewer with the foam helped to create a centered piece that would fit nicely into the pvc pipe while being centered with the camera lens.

After putting everything together carefully, I was able to build a complete lens. To make it look nice, all it needed was some high quality black ducking tape. The entire thing was built out of 4 basic materials.

After the lens was complete I attached it to the old camera. Of course, I wanted to make sure it was the old camera... just in case the fitting of the lens was too rough. Since these cameras aren't really meant for such extravagant attachments I thought it was quite nice.

In the end i was able to make a nice looking extension of my camera. I was able to successfully build and test my new fish-eye lens. And the best part was.. I made it myself!

Its not perfect, the sides are still visible unless you adjust the zoom right. However, considering the alternatives and the cost, I would say the small less than $20 i need to build this was quite worth it. With a little more work and adventure I hope to take some great pictures with this soon!

ホール・ニュー・ワールド

2012-01-30T01:50:00.000-08:00

友だちのこかげでこの歌の好きさを覚えて来た。ディズニーソングの中にアラジンのA Whole New Worldは最初の歌いたいと思った歌だよ。

8 and 1/2 years

2012-01-28T19:07:00.000-08:00

Of blood, sweat, and more blood! Thats what it took to finally receive this very expensive document. Or.. email about the document I will be getting.

Aaaand.. thats one milestone in life down.. how many more to go??

Almost 30 days...

2012-01-25T14:57:00.000-08:00

Since I started the beard. I think its coming in quite nicely. All you people who think it makes me look like a bad guy... maybe i am! ^_^v I probably wont keep this for long if a want a job in a country that is afraid of the beard. Yes they fear it. Damnit I don't wanna shave it!! shoot.

On another note, Milo is really cute yes? He may look like an angry mop but hes a frickin awesome dog. Acutally, hes even more like a little person. Like an old playful man trapped inside of a puppy-sized dog's body. So his name is Mr. Milo to you!

And finally, I finished 日本語能力試験文法問題対策。Took long enough, but its not over. Now for review and starting one of the other many books i must complete.

Conan O' Brien Show

2012-01-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

I don't watch tv so much these days, but when I do I love watching late night shows. Late night shows are amazing in that they talk about serious issues while never failing to provide a few laughs.

Ive had numerous conversations in the past about how the current and upcoming generations take so many things for granted these days. So much amazing technology, information at our fingertips and the ability to communicate with people around the world using credit card sized machines at the click of a button (which even a button will go obsolete someday soon) or a touch of the screen. People are getting more unhappy, more impatient, and more greedy the more convenient things in this world get. Since when did our society become so focused on instant gratification? I hope to never lose an appreciation for what previous generations had in simpler times when people were happy and the music was great.

Heres a clip from the Conan O' Brien show which i found to be quite hilarious.

Any thoughts? Its kinda scary, this world that we live in. As new technology comes out theres always something else that becomes obsolete. The way our minds are thinking are maybe at the point where human thought and reason are advancing though. We have great technology, but people are becoming lazier, kids are becoming more anti social with their faces glued to PSPs and NDSs. Even human relationships are deteriorating. -.- Hopefully without something drastic happening we can learn to appreciate what we have all over again.

Oh My Goodnesss...

2012-01-17T13:38:00.000-08:00

Yess. This is what ive been waiting for for so long!
Being a able to make my favorite sushi rolls at home. ^_^

Yep. What you see on top of the avocado IS bacon.
In these rolls you would find nothing other than fresh salmon, tuna, avocado, rice, nori, spicy mayo... and...love.

I love Milo. The best lil brother you could ask for yeahp. Hes not a dog. He is a little person damnit.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

To all of my friends, acquaintances and family. Wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, are eating a bucket of KFC, spending it with someone special.. or not. Wherever you may be, I wish you an amazing merry Christmas and a happy new year.

But... but...There is someone special I would like to wish a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to. I hope you know who you are by the looks of this drawing I scribbled up.

I wish you all the best and I hope you are doing well. Please have an amazing year as I continually wish for your happiness.

~Mike

ps. I really hope you like my drawing :)

Oita 2 part B.. n Fukuoka

2011-11-20T00:42:00.000-08:00

Didn't take nearly as much video and picture as I thought in my second trip to Oita. I just threw together what I had on my camera for this one.

Oita 2!

2011-10-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just about most of the things I captured on camera, mushed together with Final Cut.. and bam!

Scam # 2

2011-09-30T08:50:00.001-07:00

Some people think they know a good cornbread when they see one.

This isn't even cornbread!! Throwing grains of corn into a normal piece of white bread does not constitute cornbread! But apparently in Japan it does.

Scam of the Day

2011-09-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

I once had a friend look at me in great disappointment after having purchased a bottle of water. She said "paying for water is stupid." And she was right. Since then, i've always felt guilty of buying something that should be free to everyone. So if I was going to spend money on a drink, it had to be something like a soda at the very least.

A year or two later, as if I didn't already feel like paying for water was big scam, I found one even bigger. Rescue Water!! (@_@)

Its basically the same thing as water from your faucet or a bottle. But it now comes in an attractive orange can that costs twice as much!

I was hoping they would put ions or minerals in it. But nope, its just water.. in a can for 158円. Almost $2.

Music Rant

2011-09-13T07:15:00.000-07:00

The more I get talked into going to karaoke, the more I get to hear American songs that Japanese and other foreigners want to sing. The more I hear American songs, the more I get to see the actual lyrics on the screen. The more I see the lyrics on the screen, the more I get a sense of what kind of culture my country is exporting.

I think about the lyrics, pause.. then wonder what the hell? Some of todays popular music has the most vulgar or by far the dumbest lyrics I have ever heard. What kills me is not only are people listening to this shit, other people are making bank off of it! I really do think our parents and grandparents lived in an age when music was still decent. It was maybe more simple, but it wasn't garbage. Will America ever go back to having good music? Or will it be like a musical version of Idiocracy where the dumb out-breed the smart?

Fukuoka thus far...

2011-09-09T22:22:00.000-07:00

福岡のアップデート！

今まで日本の二回目アドベンチャはめっちゃ楽しい。少し貧乏だから中古自転車をかって探検するためにそれをどこでも乗っている。自分自身で時間をよく過ごす機会がありますから愛宕浜の辺りを良く探検しています。

とても便利だ。

このビーチを見つけた！　僕のホストファミリの所から多分十五分だ。ここから、ウインドサーフィンと船をよくみえる。色んな島もみえて景色がとてもきれい。

この景色はももちビーチからみえる。そのビルは僕の住んでいる所だよ。ホストファミリはリッチやな〜！

福岡タワーを見つけた！

タワーの後ろもきれいな砂浜があるんだ。下の写真は僕の新しいデスクトップバックグラウンドだ。

この教会を初めて見た時すごくうれしかったけど．．やっぱり偽物の教会だ。あいにく、キリスト教は日本で珍しい。この建物や実はウエディングの結婚式の場所だ。T＿T　こんなにきれいなビルがチュリストのアトラクションになってしまった。

自転車を良く使って、海の近く住んでいるからさびがよく受けている！
ホームセンターからスプレイを買って自転車をペイントすることにしました。

スプレイをしながら、むしから刺されてしまった。T＿T　むしがにがて！

福岡で自分自身時間を過ごす機会があっても、友だちとよく遊んでいる。日本にいるのは２週間過ぎないんだけどいい友だちをもうみつけた。普通天神であそぶからよくうんどうしている、自転車で。

みなみ！

チュリスト風。

プリクラを取る機会もよくある。
日本が好理由は多くあるけど一つのは花火だ！一年中買う事出来る。

チーズフォンでゥ。

侍！

あのう．．．ブラックミュジック？

Hiroshima Beer Co. Week 1

2011-09-01T19:59:00.000-07:00

A very unfortuate problem happened to my computer, so there will not be many pictures or frequent posts for a little while. Thank God there is an apple store in Fukuoka though.

Now about my internship..

Im not quite sure how to say it, but I think in the last few days ive been realizing and starting to ask myself "What did i get myself into?" I've really enjoyed my time here so far and its like being an exchange student again except this time is different. Working at Hiroshima-san is such a different environment from a class room. Very quickly, I learned that this internship is no joke. Somehow I knew it but it never really hit me that doing an internship or any type of work in Japan would be nothing but pure immersion.

The only problem (well, not really a problem) is that this is my first time ever experiencing a professional environment. Basically taking a one-two punch, not only is it my first time trying to function in this kind of place, Its all in Japanese!!! OMG! is one of many expressions I have exploding throughout my brain on a daily basis. Ive got so much vocabulary Im learning for formal and business settings too. The cool part though is the products I get to catalog.

In a sense I think ive done a little bit of the same thing working for my dad. Documenting reciepts, products and all that. But on a much larger scale and instead of tire repair supplies its imported beer! I think its a miracle that i've basically been hooked up with this internship. My main challenges that I attempt to overcome are my recognition skills for kanji of names and places. Knowing them and or bein able to copy them is essential, or I would spend all day doing one piece of paperwork. The second challenge are those damn katakana words. Instead of really looking up all these Belgian, German, French... etc beers by their original name, I have to know the katakana versions. Ahh.. if katakana english wasn't already annoying enough.. But its all good, I like the products, im learning knew words in relation to brewing, beer, and business so its got my interest on lock for now.

Some of the assignments ive been given include making documents for orders, calculating shipment costs, and arranging cases and assortments for the beer at the warehouse. One thing that got me a bit nervouse though was sending emails to breweries. They already had me placing orders to companies in England for thousands of dollars worth of this stuff. The work so far is good though, the staff is nice and Ive got lots to learn. :)

Typhoon Season

2011-08-23T07:46:00.000-07:00

I don't have pictures at the moment because the camera's battery is still charging. But its damn crazy here. After getting completely soaked the other day, I decided to wear swim trunks, a jersey and some flip flops to ride my bike (I finally bought a used one) from my host family all the way to the school. It takes almost an hour so it seams. After riding in the rain, without an umbrella it was like taking a shower while going to work.

Today was the day of my interview too. Luckily, thanks to my weather proof chrome bag, I was able to keep my office clothes dry for the trip. Ive been pretty tired these days, waking up early, then sleeping before midnight. Rather than stretching my brain and studying Japanese like I should be doing, I find myself eavesdropping on German conversations and every now and again making an interjection with the skills I learned from my one semester at SDSU. I find myself using English less and less too, with the exception of course when lending my ear to the Danish guy who finally has someone to rant to about the Germans.

Life is pretty busy already and about to get busier. It looks like ill be working on this blog on the weekends as I spend most of my time biking across this city while most people would just take the bus, train, or subway. However, Im on a fairly tight budget.. so bicycling it is!

Peace!

Round 2 begins..

2011-08-20T03:56:00.000-07:00

After 29 hours of flight time and stop overs I finally made it to Japan, alive and well. Taking off from SFO at 1.40 am and flying through the darkness for 13 hours, the plane made its stop in Taipei just in time to watch the sunrise. Ive never been to Taipei before so I tried my best to look for the famous Taipei 101 building that was apparently the tallest building in the world at one point in time. After a few hours, the connecting flight took off for Fukuoka.

Luckily I got a glimpse of Taipei 101 from the plane.. and it doesn't look like much but yes, its that tall.

Before landing in Fukuoka, the pilot decided to make a couple of loops for some reason. After being on such a long trip my mind was starting to freak out.

After leaving SF on Thursday I finally made it to Fukuoka the next day at 12noon. I remember telling myself that I would come back within a year or two, and I did it!. Naturally, I would have met my host family and crashed on the floor to sleep the moment I could get myself in the door. However, the days adventures decided to keep me awake as my host family was apparently MIA. I met a lot of students at the asahi nihongo school were the majority of my new acquaintances were the Germans. Thats right, I said it.. The Germans. I proceeded to make my way to the first convenience store in search for banana milk which unfortunately is out of season. Over the next few hours I made my way around the immediate surrounding area of the school and found myself a few interesting sights and a ramen shop.

Later around 7, considering that my host family was still MIA, the school hooked me up with a hotel for the night. In fear of messing up my sleep schedule, despite no sleep for almost 48 hours, I made my way to the "international bar" with my new german speaking friends. However, after a combination of being fully away the day before my flight and no sleep whatsoever the entire trip, I began to feel like a walking zombie. I didn't need alcohol to feel the way I was starting to.. So I made my way back to the hotel where I tried to listen to songs for the next time I ever karaoke. Finding that I couldn't even pay attention to entertaining myself.. I passed out. Now. moving forward, this the start to the next chapter in this life?

There was a mini fridge about the size of a shoe box in the room. Cute!

FRANKENSTEIN!!!

2011-07-14T23:50:00.000-07:00

In preparation and celebration of going to the land of Crazy Vending Machines, Maid Cafes, and Kick-Ass コンビニ(by the grace of God)、I have decided its time to resurrect my J-Blog. Only this time, a slight up-grade to the phenomenon known as V-LOGS!!! I hope you all enjoy, because I know I will.

This video is also a tribute to all of the people who gave me such a great experience in San Diego. You made my undergrad more enjoyable than I would have ever imagined, specially in this last semester. Stay Classy folks.

Being Glad it Happened

2010-09-18T01:03:00.000-07:00

Ah, its not easy sitting here in the corner of my house's mini library. Finding refuge away from the noise that comes with living in a big house with 17 roommates, fraternity and sorority neighbors, police sirens and the sound of breaking glass and parties at all the neighbors houses that usually accompany each night. Its been about a month since i've been back home, I would've been leaving for Japan in less than a week this time last year. I spent more time than I ever wanted to writing failed essays for scholarships and filling out paper work for the year long process just to get there. Before I knew it, my year in Japan was gone just like that. And yes it was worth it!

I've spent many weeks trying to wrap my mind around everything that happened before I left for Japan and what happened while I was there. The truth is i've been too busy for myself to properly reflect and soak it all in. As I continue to think this all up, I realize that I was dreading the day I would be writing my last post. While hoping not to lose my connection to Japan, I feel myself fighting for air to breath in this sea of academics and resumed responsibilities. I realized that If I didn't take this very moment for my self to take a break I never would. In other words, in the short time i've been in America, I quickly found myself swamped in my studies again, neglecting time that I should be taking to build or rebuild the relationships around me. Waking up each day at the same time, eating the same breakfast and rushing of to class at the same time... worrying about the same things. I wonder as if nothing has changed. The life around my school hasn't seemed to change one bit. People still caught up in little dramas about who thinks this about who and what. *sigh*

Before I go down that road, I should remember something... I am not the same person I was before I left. While putting a video together for this years Study Abroad Info Session, I wanted to make something I could use as an aid to help promote the city and school I spent the best year of my life so far in. Going through the pictures i had put in chronological order, I began to remember some of my favorite moments in the first few months. Going through some old raw footage seeing everything from blackmail worthy footage to just plain hilarious moments I found myself in nostalgia again. To take in the year as a whole, I realized that I cannot let my days be spent doing what i'm not passionate about. And yes, I have decided that I will go back to Japan one day, to live there for at least a few years... While pressing my shoulder to the wall to make sure i'm even more prepared during my next round, I also realize that I can't my life in America pass me by.

To everyone I met, to those who let me be a part of their lives, to my friends in America who kept in touch and skyped with me, to those who came from all over the world to share my life with me in Oita... I am thankful for each and everyone of you!! I will never forget any of you!! Although I was sad to see it end, I was glad it happened. For that I promise to keep looking forward and pursuing more opportunities to meet people like you.

As for the video, I managed to compress some of my most treasured moments in Oita throughout the entire year into 4 minutes. However, there were so many more moments I wanted to share but just didn't have the time or space needed. Hopefully from the eyes of those interested in studying abroad, seeing how much fun we all had might convince them to follow in our footsteps at Oita too.

Im in America and I'm still posting on this thing?

2010-08-31T00:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, ive been back, but my work concerning Japan isn't quite done. In a few weeks I will be sharing my experiences in Oita with students who want to go to Japan at the 説明会。Unfortunately that means one thing... school starting again. Thats right, my summer which had just begun, has now come to an end. My first day back at state wasn't too bad. Seeing familiar faces of other friends who either went to other schools in Japan or never left was nice. Also moving into a big house with my old frat mates isn't so bad. Theres new faces, but alot of legit people to be friends with.

Anyways, Im back in school. My one complaint is concerning textbooks. I realized that in Japan, colleges actually care about students and show it by providing cheap textbooks, free handout reading materials and cheap meals at school. However, this is not the case at SDSU or in America. Students pay ridiculous amounts of money for living in a dorm, buying a used text book (my finance book will cost $149 used), or getting ripped off with over priced items at the campus bookstore. Unfortunately there isnt much regulation and thats just how it is for now. I suppose I could consider it more motivation towards going back to Japan or pursuing other opportunities abroad. I want to learn alot, but I don't wanna grow up just yet.

I guess im going to cut my midnight rant short. But first, I know people have been asking me if I'm glad to be back. Of course I am. Actually it is nice to be back, away from the crazy humidity and in a place where the beaches are sandy and the waves are actually there. Yet, I had such a good experience abroad that it just went by too fast. Now I got this itch to go back... combined with a huge impression left on me by all of the people I met this last year. Alot of these friends I may possibly never see again, being that they are from all over the world, but then again... I could see them again! When people see me, sometimes they may wonder if Im depressed about coming back, but it cant be helped. Ill be doing my best to keep looking forward, cuz I can't just stop now. Ive become international and Im going to keep it that way.

Back in Black

2010-08-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

Im back!!

Its a mixture of sadness, excitement and a whole lot of anxiousness thinking about how not to lose my Japanese. The day I left Oita was indeed a sad day. Holding back and hiding my emotions just wasn't possible.. On the bus ride to the airport I listened to some Japanese music on my headphones while quietly going back and forth between being still or hiding my face while crying. While I was sad to go, i was still glad it all happened. I spent a few days with Kentaro in Yokohama before coming back. It was a great way to cut down the shock from leaving Oita. As said before, it would've been too much for me to handle if it was all at once. I didn't wanna be that guy on the plane, riding in the middle seat and crying for 12 hours. Even though I wasn't, didn't mean I wasn't sad.

As for being back... I realized I was in America once I got to the immigration line. It was almost an interrogation with that lady's tone of voice. Blah blah.. "What were you doing in Japan?" with a suspicious tone. "What did you study?" "Exactly how long did you stay?"... "What are you doing with $3ooo worth of stuff on you?" Uhh .... well, "I have my laptop with me and two check ins that have clothes and some random stuff." Ok "welcome back to America".. not so enthusiastic tone. I also realized I was back when I saw someone pouring out a can of soda onto the ground in some parking lot. "Yep, im in America."

As sad as I am, i realize I do have alot to look forward too. I finally got to eat real pizza when I got back. It was AMAZING! Now I have tacos and burritos to look forward to also. And just this morning, even though im back in Sac at my dad's place (the place where I feel most stagnant and will never move back to) I was really happy to go to the grocery store. After 11 months of small food portions plus having to always buy fruit in season, im finally back in the land of huge gallons of milk and juice, real bacon, flour tortillas, bagels that don't cost a fortune and mangos that are 57cents... not 3,000円 ($34). Yes, i'm back but, theres still work to be done. If theres one thing I learned from the last year it is to keep moving forward. I hope I can really take that to heard. In a few more days Ill be back in San Diego, where the real challenge starts. Im going to find a way back to Japan no matter what.

最後の日　Last Post in Japan

2010-08-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

Oh goodness, the things I lack words for. Nothing can describe my time in Japan, all of my experiences, the things ive enjoyed, the struggles I've had, the personal growth... all of it was worth the year long process of paperwork, transcripts, scholarship applications and interviews just to get here. I used to wake up almost every day amazed "wow, im in Japan!" I would have dreams that I woke up in California, I would be wondering how the hell I got back and wondering how on earth to get back to Oita. As wonderful as San Diego or Sacramento may be, I don't know if I can settle for simply moving back and staying long term. Im determined to get back here somehow... maybe not Oita, but somewhere here. Maybe its the culture, maybe its my inability to grasp the language all that well... whatever it is, I always felt like I was learning something new, thats why I rarely got bored here. You have to try so hard or be a boring person to not have fun here. But thats simply an opinion.

In the end, I really enjoyed getting to spend time with friends from all over the world. The only problem with getting close was the inevitable fact that I would have to leave them. I thank each and everyone of my friends who spent time me, put up with my bad Japanese, or just listened to all of the weird issues I might of had all year. Ahh, I don't have much time some sort of masterpiece about how I spent my time, or what I learned, but I just know that I wouldn't trade this experience abroad for anything. Right now its almost 5am in Yokohama, Ill be flying back to America in 12 hours. I wish to come back someday soon. I moved my flight from Oita 2 days early because I didn't want the shock of leaving Oita and Japan all at the same time. I knew it would have been too sad for me... Haha, I really couldn't hold back my tears when I left, but im glad it all happened. The good things and the difficult things were all worth it.

To everyone who spent my last days with me, thank you!!!

Izakaya, PEI pub, Hanabi, Sushi Meijin, Riding a bike with a kite attached..Ice cream in Yuta's Room.... it was a blast!

Ill never forget you!! See you again!

大分の七夕

2010-08-10T03:52:00.000-07:00

日本にもう少しいる事できてよかった。日本にクレベて僕の国はそんな祭りがない。伝統的な服や食べ物はほとんどない。とにかく、この３日間は本当に面白くてうれしかった。新しい体験ができていろんな国から来た友達とも時間を過ごせた。日本に来てからいろんな祭りに行った事があるけどこれは特に楽しい。甚平を着たり、花火を見ながら音楽を聞いたり、友達がプルグラムで踊ったり、色々な事を始めてみたりしてよかった。

Im glad that I've been able to spend the most of my one month summer break in Japan! Compared to this country, I could almost say that America doesn't really have festivals like this. We don't have any traditional clothing, dancing or specialty foods im sad to admit. But anyway, these last 3 days have been really nice. Oita's Tanabata festival is the biggest one in the entire prefecture each year. Theres alot of new experiences I've also had just in this short summer alone. Ive gotten the chance to spend some time with friends from all over the world to. Since being here, Ive been to festivals before but this was especially fun. Wearing Jinbei, going to see fireworks Japanese style (with music), seeing some friends dancing around in traditional clothing, and just being able to see alot of things for the first time, im really glad.

I took way too many pictures, but here are some highlights from Day 1:

There were several groups of people, schools, companies, organizations.. who were doing some sort of traditional dance, but some of these groups had some sort of really interesting float they were carrying around.

Day 2:

大分大学の組合

These streets were meant to accommodate somewhere around 470,000 people. This here is the group from Oita University.

Im not entirely sure what these guys were up to but it was entertaining. They would carry this thing a few meters, then spin it around like crazy people.. pour sake or something over the top and then continue singing and doing their routine for a while.

None of us want to leave Oita yet!!! We worked so long and hard to get here and the year flew by just like that.

Hopefully well see each-other again. I wouldn't trade the experiences ive had with these people all year for anything.

Day 3:

Hanabi by the Oita River

Whats that in my hand? Not diet coke... its a freakin beer! Were allowed to do that in Japan.. people here are that much more responsible... maybe. ^_^

Boom!!

Woohoo! I wore a Jinbei while the girls work Yukata. Its like a bathrobe, but you can walk around in public in it at your own leisure.

Enjoying the remaining years of our youth at Mc'Donalds... fun!

Comedy 喜劇

Tragedy　惨劇

Summer is HERE!!

2010-08-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

As for my year abroad in Japan, theres alot to be said. For now I will put my experiences into video... For those who haven't seen it already, heres the start to my summer. Finals week and all the things I did when I wasn't studying. Soon I have to probably write a report about my experiences, but since my time isn't over for another week or two... ill live it up so I have more to write about later. For now... これを見てください。

Surviving Homestay

2010-07-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

Only 3 and she's already a pro at the peace sign!

Woohooo!

This last weekend was my first experience staying with a Japanese family.

I wish I would've known about the option to do homestays much earlier in the year.

Either way, it was a pretty good experience..

When i turned in my application a few weeks ago, of the ladies at the ryugakusei center asked me if I liked kids.. I just kinda shrugged my shoulders and said "yeah" with more of an I guess tone. At first I was a bit nervous cuz i usually cant understand kids in the first place, specially Japanese speaking kids. In actuality, they kept me pretty entertained.. It was a nice weekend eating and taking some trips with the family. I also got some good insight into how to raise Japanese 3 and 4 year olds.. or at least a little bit of what to expect. Eta-kun, the 4 year old boy is pretty hyper... well behaved when he wants something... likes to make funny faces when his picture is taken. The 3 year old girl was cute too. She seemed to cry alot though and for reasons i don't know why. Enna-chan would draw something with crayon, all of a sudden she would be crying at the dissatisfaction of what she just drew. It was cute... like a true troubled adolescent artist. I had to keep making silly faces in order to keep her smiling. There were a few times i thought she was about to cry but luckily i did something silly enough to make her laugh instead.

Thanks to them I got to see some cool limestone caves in some remote part of Oita-ken. I got to see some stone carved buddhas in Usuki too. They must have been almost 800 years old.

If I have time in the future I would like to spend more time with them... I barely spoke any English! Even in Japan, when you have a whole community of English speakers, its pretty hard to resist... I still feel like i need to improve my Japanese though. As of the last few weeks ive been brainstorming ideas on how to come back or at least not lose my Japanese when I go back home.

I don't remember the name of this god but he looked pretty bad-ass. See the dragon?

Limestone caves. The last time I saw one was in a video game called Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven...yup... ninjas.

Feeding fish and watching them fight over little food pellets is entertainment for all ages.

If I remember correctly, this is the god you pray to so you don't get schizophrenia. Notice the happy human statues?

The god of luck?

The coolest looking buddha ive ever seen...

My Japanese family took me out to try some Japanese "Chinese" food. Not bad at all... pretty good actually. Im just not sure what the difference between public and regular food is. If you look closely it says "public chinese food" !!!

Buddha buddha buddha!

I couldn't quite capture the scenery here.. but burning incense and a beautiful scenery is somehow.. relaxing. ^_^

My host family the Yamaguchis

送別会

2010-07-17T01:19:00.000-07:00

まさか、もう一年が経った。去年の歓迎会は今まですっきり覚えている。それは十か月前以上のに一年間はほとんど終わっている。昨日の送別会はよかった。日本に来てよかった。どうして日本に来るか、いろんな理由が覚えた。アメリカにあまり帰りたくないけど今夢のように日本に住んでいる。帰った後で実際事を続けなければならない。アルバイトとかインターンシップとか真剣な事などまた考えさせられる。でも、しょうがない。さびしいけど大分に来てよかった。色々な大切事を習った。日本に来たばかりの頃より僕はもっとワイズかもしれない。

Its hard to believe that its already been about a year since i came to Japan. I still remember the welcoming party from the first week so clearly, all the people i met and some of the conversations i had. Ten months flew by just like that. Everyday I wake up and i realize, wow.. im in Japan! With all the events of yesterday I remembered why i came to Japan. I also know that I don't want to go back just yet. Ill have no choice but to continue with all of the practical things like getting a job, internship, all of the serious things. Ive been living somewhat of a dream here. It can't be helped. Its sad to see everyone part ways, but i'm glad I came to Oita. I learned so many important things in my time here.. I also feel a little bit wiser now than when I first came here.... Maybe...

いろんな国から来た人と友達ができた。僕の国の文化に比べて日本の文化とか韓国の文化とかオーストラリアの文化など大変違うのにいい友達ができた。日本に来てからずっと遊んだり一緒に勉強したり食べ物を作ったりしていた。

I got to make friends with people from so many different countries and cultures. Compared to American culture, Japanese, Korean.. Australian, etc... are different, but I learned to make friends different kinds of people. Eating together, studying and hanging out together..

学校の送別会後で居酒屋に行かなければならなかった。もう少し、もう少し一緒に飲もう！笑おう！

We had no choice but to go to an izakaya afterwards.. For at least one more great night out with everyone while we can still get everyone in the same place. One more night of drinking. One more night of laughs.

実は夕べの居酒屋はめちゃくちゃよかった！食べ放題焼き肉と飲み放題は３０００円だけだ。２５人で楽しんだ。

Luckily we found a place with all you can eat yakiniku and all you can drink for 3000 yen. The best izakaya ive ever been to in Japan actually.

めちゃくちゃ楽しかったって言っていた。＾＿＾

僕のチュターのおかげで最初の日に死なかった。ぼくの悪い発音を我慢してくれてありがとう。

Im sure its thanks to my tutor I didn't die in the first few days. Thank you for putting up with my horrible accent!

居酒屋後でもっとたのしんだ。もしろん、写真を取って、カラオケに言った。

Of course afterward, we were all a little silly.. we decided to go to karaoke.

前に今日の送別会は悲しいの感じを持つと思ったけど友達のおかげでたのしかった。涙が降らなかった。

Before the going away party, I thought I would be really sad. But thanks to my friends it was really fun. I didn't end up crying.. ^_^

後一か月もあるけどまた遊びたい。皆さんにお世話になったありがとございます。

I have about a month left, but i want to hang out with everyone again before we all split ways!

To everyone who made my year so fun, thank you so much!

春学期　part 1

春学期　part 2

A little late but still pretty

2010-07-10T17:38:00.000-07:00

On my way home from マック(McDonalds) after a long 4 hours of studying, I decided to head back home..I chose a different root and what was normally a peaceful road pleasant for walking or bike riding was suddenly up in festival. I had heard about 七夕 but i didnt know it was this big! It was fun... I've never seen Oita so alive since being here. Even the grocery store I normally pass by was busier than ever.

Upon arriving home I found the entrance occupied by some festival goers with a moveable shrine.

金魚！Goldfish! I always thought it would be fun to catch some of these to take home.. only problem is I wouldn't know what to do with them :/

Nagahama Jinja, usually a small quite shrine now seemed like it had a life of its own with tides of people ebbing in and out.

This is also Yukata wearing season... the girls especially look great. This is my friend Seulgi who i ran into at the festival.. かわいいね。＾＿＾

Traditional Japanese theater.... nou???

On campus we had a small Tanabata celebration.. Everyone wore Yukata (except for me).

Everyone looked really good! I felt a little underdressed and ashamed that i didn't buy a Jinbei or Yukata beforehand.

Although it wasn't a going away party or event, with the semester winding down the video they played, along with the candles and all the group pictures almost had a sense of bittersweetness too it. I felt a little sad because the real going away party is coming up so soon.

Give a few young people candles....and crazy things happen.

Yuta with a double-sided candle?

Seriously... the backround music that was playing was sad... and the candles?? At least these are memories that i can treasure forever!

July 4th..

2010-07-04T09:26:00.000-07:00

Somen noodles, Starcraft and fireworks...

Is how i celebrated America's independence in Japan.

However, It wasn't such a bad day! minus the rain of course. Ill let the pictures do all the explaining.

Beppu Daigaku Mae

Noir Watermelon Slices

Somen noodles! Somebody was a genius in designing this experience.

As the noodles flow you can simply catch them with your chopsticks and put them into your sauce cup!

Playing with some green.

We lit of some bottle rockets and sparklers down by Oitagawa..

Not a very organized, well planned day, but overall... a successful 4th.

夜遅く買い物　Late Night Shopping

2010-07-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Last night in preparation for 4th of July I went out to DonkiHote, basically the walmart of Japan to find some fireworks. And guess what.... you can actually buy bottle rockets and other things that go BOOOM!!! ... at a freakin department store!!

First, check out this picture. The funny thing is it implies that you should probably drink some beer before handling these bottle rockets.

Most of this stuff is illegal in California, im surprised that you can actually get them here. Id required? not for foreigners.

I don't know about you but there are sexy female fireworks if your into that sort of thing.. ^_^

I really wish i could take these home!

This has nothing to do with fireworks, but its one of the wacky things ive come across here.. Notice anything going on in the lower half?

Honshuu Trip ..."Jari goes to Todaiji"

2010-07-01T06:59:00.000-07:00

Those of you who saw the video in the last post must have noticed a friend of mine stuck inside a pole? yes? Anyhow, at Todaiji Temple in Nara, crawling through the large pillar apparently gives you a year of good luck. Most of the people we saw crawling through it were kids... but we decided... "why not!?" and gave it a go. Most of us made it through.. and as for my friend in the pole.. most of us were too busy laughing and being jerks while watching a random Japanese guy pull him while two elderly women from behind pushed on his butt to help pop him out... Good times... Im sorry Jari.. please don't kill me. T_T

本州旅行

2010-06-28T03:59:00.000-07:00

And now.... the long awaited video for the Honshuu trip some of us took during spring break. A little late I know, but better late than never. ^_^

Struggling not to be a bum...

2010-06-18T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here I will write some of my thoughts, fresh and unadulterated from the not so early morning. My first is that there is great evidence that I am aging. Why? I can't seem to function very well without a good 8 hours of sleep anymore and staying up all night just doesn't work for me. T_T

My second is that I realize I have a lot of things i need to do in a short period of time. Ive been forgetting again how lucky I am to be in Japan, even if its only for a few months. I want to make the most out of my time left... In fact I want to make alot of things. New Video for the semester, new pictures, memories, foods....but I don't have time. Maybe I don't have the mental stamina to finish all the assignments for my eight classes early.

I will finish off two textbooks this weekend. Being here I do have to admit that my reading comprehension has gotten a little better. Still as illiterate as a 12 year old maybe... I can read some kanjis but sure as hell don't remember how to write them. Aside from finishing these books so early and prewriting all of the compositions, I still have to write two book reports in Japanese. So i guess my objective in finishing early is so I have enough time to enjoy my time here...otherwise ill be doing nothing but study... no thanks.

My last thought for now.... Getting in shape is difficult in this country. From the moment I first came here, everything I ate, no matter what quantity was different. The food here, is great, its healthy compared to food back home,, but it sure doesn't supply you with the same amount of energy. My one regret in Japan so far is that ive pretty much shrunk. Everyone I meet says "oh, you got thinner!".. "are you dieting?" Noooooo!!! Im trying to gain weight, not get skinnier than I already am.

Within the next few weeks there will be alot of partying... after 8 theres not much to do in Oita except... drink.

ホタル！！(hotaru)aka Firefly!!

2010-06-07T06:09:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year in Japan... If you can find the right place, most likely a river or some sort of stream of water, you can see fireflies!! The words I have cant describe the beauty of seeing these amazing bugs. Unfortunately i didn't have to means to take any decent pictures. The only time I really remember anything about fireflies is from stories I would read when I was a kid. The first thought I had was to collect some of these things in a jar... But many years later, here I am. When I finally came to see the beauty of hundreds of fireflies with my own eyes, I remembered something... with each tiny light flickering on and off in mid air I began to feel like I was in some sort of dream.. As if only Totoro was real and we were all in some Miyazaki film. I realized that my year here in Japan is almost up... these bugs are slow, clumsy, and easy to catch, but the light they give out though for a brief moment of their short lifespan can inspire dreams into existence for children and grown ups. The firefly's light is fleeting and so is my time here. Our very existence is fleeting so we have to remember to make to most of it.

I wish I had the means to take pictures of these amazing creatures... but instead I stole one online...

Navarro Family Vacation

2010-05-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yay!! ビデオができた。久しぶりにしなかったから時間がかかった。写真をよくウプロードする代わりにビデオにする方がいいと思った。だから作った、じゃ、たのしんでください。I haven't made a video in a while so it took some time.. Its nothing fancy, but instead of posting a ton of pictures on to this site I thought "why not just put it into a video?" so I did. Enjoy!

時間が足りなくなる　"Pressed for time"

2010-05-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

It seems lately that ive found less and less time for myself. Since this semester started ive put most of my focus on Japanese study. I've found myself constantly around other people. Just yesterday my sister and my dad returned to America after a nice 10 day visit. As exhausting as it was, it was an enjoyable experience. I took alot of pride in being able to show my family around Oita, Beppu, Kyoto and Osaka with only my broken Japanese to keep us from getting lost and spending the night on the street.

Now that im recovering from the so called "golden 'week'" which wasn't actually an entire week, Im busy making up for classes I missed and attempting to double up studying for tests I need to make up. However, I find myself now wanting to really study all that much. Ive been getting a little bit better at speaking and understanding the language but as far as book study, I can't bring myself too it. Ive been around people so long doing nothing but socializing and study that I forgot to make time for myself. I realized I don't even have so much time to make the wacky videos I used to or upload pictures from my adventures.. This week ill be pressed for time trying to get back on top of my studies even though I don't have a part time job or anything. I certainly hope Japan hasn't spoiled me too much, because I know i shouldn't be this busy. Haha, Ive been seriously thinking of ways I can get better use of my time, but first I need to learn to take some time for myself and recharge my mind. Later on I hope I can start making interesting posts and cool videos once again! Meanwhile, as I try to do what I 'should' ill probably distract myself by picking up the guitar like i used to, or spend the whole day cleaning my room or biking somewhere only to become hungry, eat... bike back, eat some more.. then buy groceries to make more food and eat some more.

Also, it seems like I have 5 new Japanese tutors, all Economics majors who im expected to teach English conversation to. But after all, ill probably just use my broken Japanese with them as much as I can. ^_^ It will probably be a week before I can start picking things back up with this blog, giving my friends personal updates, and being able to mess around with video editing again.

The Navarro family.. reunited in Japan!

PS: hopefully i can post more pictures soon. Given that I forgot to take my camera's charger out of my sisters bag before she left... I may need to get a new camera (-_-)

おはようございます！

2010-04-27T15:45:00.000-07:00

Im up early again.. you know what that means right? .. School!!!

Last semester I was in shock at the number of classes I had to take in English despite having worked really hard just to come to Japan. I don't feel like i improved as much as I could have so this semester im taking a whopping 7 classes just in Japanese! and only one intercultural communication class just for practical purposes. Anyway, from now on I hope I can post more frequently, its been so busy around here with all the new and confusing things the school is making the students do this year that even the Japanese students are confused by it.

Anyway, as short as this post will be, I wanted to introduce what ive been up to during my free time these last few days. 炊飯器焼き物！！Thats right.... to make up for the lack of an oven the last 6 months, the moment I realized I could bake things using my rice cooker, I went crazy. Up to now I've made cheesecake, chocolate banana coffee cake, quiche and beer bread! Dont believe me? see for yourself...

My first experiment.. the Cheese cake!!

Banana Choco-Coffee cake

Guiness Bread. Actually, all of the breads Ive made so far are made with different beers, I still need to try making a normal bread with milk!

The Quiche..

お酒を飲むと日本語ができます

2010-04-10T09:07:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, i've met so many new people. In between riding my one speed bike to Beppu and meeting the new exchange students moving in to the Kaikan, its been exciting. I've definitely been putting to use everything I've learned so far in Japanese... and its not easy. I was somewhat of a shy person before I came to Oita, but with how things have been as far as starting a new life, ive had to get rid of some old habits and make new ones. I could say that I'm actually pretty happy at the moment with being able to use the language ive been studying for two and a half years. I know I have a long way to go too.

Also, im pretty happy about the new ryugakusei. We have new students from Britain, Australia, Korea, Norway, and of course the US. Just over the last few days, some of us old timers have been spending time getting to know the new people and just tonight we had our first nomikai. As crazy as its been.. still with the obstacles of getting to know people from other countries, its been fun. I feel its safe to say im happy with the new people and look forward to being friends with them and sharing more interesting Japan experiences.

Its always good to see people making new friends .. Japanese phones are great too.. you can just send your profile over infrared.

Nomikai!

Some of the original crew..

Plus.. some of the new crew!

Haruyasumi South Korean Vacation

2010-03-23T01:36:00.000-07:00

One thing you have to be ready for when you come to Japan is....

Making a bunch of Korean friends!!!
That's right, something you should know when you come to Japan as an exchange student is that you will probably be around other exchange students most of the time unless your Japanese is reallllllly good. The interesting thing though is that you will probably improve your Japanese alot by talking to Korean exchange students who usually have a pretty good grasp on the language and speak it more frequently than others.

Thanks to some of these friends Ive come to learn about some differences between Japanese food and others coming from Northeast Asia. Ive really come to like Korean food actually. Shoot, I used to really dislike kimchee back when I first experienced it in the states. Now, I recently found myself searching for it at grocery stores only to be disappointed. Somehow the Japanese really missed out on the whole spicy food thing. = / Anyhow, this newfound love for Korean food eventually sparked and fueled the idea for a Korea trip. ..

During this trip I was lucky to visit quite a few friends... some I hadn't seen in a while either. However, to be honest.. my second larges reason for coming to Korea was food. It was like going from the land of "happy meal" size portions to the land of "Omg how do you expect me to finish all this?!!"

The first thing I notice the first morning... there are lots of motorcycles overpacked with who knows what.

Our first meal in Korea. Filling!!!!

Nathaniel. ahh the first of my friends to move to Asia. He's sort of my cousin..
either way, explaining my relation to him was rather confusing to everyone.

Mmm my first car.

Found a few flags with some Korean mythical creatures...

Pegasus?

Not sure... wouldn't want to mess with it though.

Band Pic w/Alex.. Charlottes sis.

Awesome underground library/mall/restaurant complex at Ehwa Women's Univ.

Mickeys favorite place.

Wait no.. this was his fav place.

Bon chan!!! (spelling not correct)

It was awesome seeing Charlotte... nice and 元気 again!!
Her mom is an awesome cook.

The BL5

Hoon Hoon Hoon.... the best guy I know.. the master of haggling shop owners
everywhere he goes.

The fortress at Suwan was probably the best cultural place to go if I had to pick one.
It takes about an 2 hours to walk the walls around the entire fort.

Just part of the Oita Daigaku International Family

mmm found this Shark looking creature inside a grocery store at the World Cup Center.

Back in Oita

2010-03-08T20:16:00.000-08:00

From old people and porn shops to maid cafes, nerds and electronics to graffiti and fashion, the Honshuu trip was quite a success. For not being able to constantly keep up to date on what I experienced in other cities in Japan I apologize.

While traveling with a group of 9 was a bit exhausting, the trip went smoothly and we each were able to enjoy the things we wanted to in each city. Because of the simple layout of Osaka's subway system it was really easy to find your way around town. And being in one of the largest cities in Japan I got to see many things I've never seen before.

In the subway in Osaka, this was my first time seeing a traincar only for Women.

The streets of Shinsaibashi at night

Im pretty sure this is famous!

If McDonald's ever owned a night club, this would be it!
There was even a security guard.

"Love Lockets" by the Asian World Trade Center

The ferry we took to get to Osaka port all the way from Beppu.

Sonic! my favorite SEGA character of all time

Osaka-Jo aka Osaka's Castle

I dont know about you, but i'm pretty sure im not as fashionable as the girls behind me.

And of course, you can't go to Osaka without having some of the best Takoyaki.

I can't leave out what I saw in Nara and Kyoto. Honestly I didn't know much at all about Nara except that there were alot of deer roaming around. I thought that the moment I stepped out of the station, it would be nothing but forest, but i was wrong.

This place wasn't all forest but there were deer! It was a bit troublesome to feed them cuz they would start competing with eachother or start nibbling on your clothes.

We went to Todaiji temple which housed one of the largest wooden buddhas in all of Japan.

This was the guardian at the gate, pretty "BA" if you can see it.

Gold Plated!

This is Kiomizudera, the Water Temple

Kyoto is the first and only city i've been to where young women and girls still wear traditional Japanese clothing.

Omiyage shop

Wandering the old streets where the Geisha and entertainment district used to be and still is.

Kyoto Tower

Oh, and apparently this place has everthing you could ever want.

Although I already posted on what I saw in Tokyo, I can't leave out some of the most important things. Half the reason to visit Tokyo too was to see some good friends of mine! Special thanks to Ken, Han, Coco and Yoko for coming to meet up and hang out!

It was good to see some friends while splitting off from the big group. I got to see some cool things like China Town, Yokohama bay, Meiji Jingu and Harajuku.

This statue at Shibuya was dedicated to a dog whos master passed away. He came to the same spot in front the station year after year everyday to wait for his master to return home.

Went to the Channel 5 broadcasting station. They air shows like Doraemon and Shin-chan.

The gate at Meiji Jingu

Yoyogi Park

This statue actually came from San Diego!

Yokohama Port

At the temple in China Town.

Honshuu Trip: Hiroshima!

2010-03-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

Saturday's trip from Tokyo to Hiroshima comprised of hopping local trains all day from the first train in Tokyo at 5:20 to the last train reaching Hiroshima at 8:40ish pm. The trip itself was over 15 hours from way before sunrise to sundown. As a group of nine, the transfers between trains went smoothly, but never again will I make such a trip. Im pretty sure that noone in the right mind living in Japan has willingly made such a trip... i could be wrong. Ha!!

Sunday:

Hiroshima!

Hiroshima's specialty. Its own style of Okonomiyaki.

The last day of our trip we spent in Hiroshima. The two main things to see today were the Atomic Bomb Dome and the shrine at Miyajima. Once again like Nagasaki, the memorial park was one place i wasn't sure I wanted to visit mainly because it would give me a somber feeling. Then again, Im glad I got to visit it. Its one of those places that reminds you that not everything you learn in textbooks is part of the past as some sort of fairytale. Seeing all sorts of things in the museum like tattered clothes, imprints of shadows bleached into walls, and old diaries, you begin to remember or realize how precious human life is. Wars are never good and lots of people suffer at the quarrels of a few. I wouldn't consider it somber as much as it was moving.

Our next and last major sight to see in this trip was the Shrine at Miyajima. Usually the Torii (gate) is usually surrounded by water and known as the "floating gate" but because it was low tide we had the opportunity to walk up close to the base and see it in HD.

Also, I didn't expect any animals like these cute deer to be roaming the island so freely.

本州旅行六つ目：東京　　Day6: Tokyo

2010-03-02T16:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we spent 11 hours hopping local trains at different stations all the way from Osaka to Tokyo. We passed by alot if interesting places like Miyabara, Gifu and Nagoya but unfortunatley didn`t have time to stop. Last night we arrived at arrived around 7pm, got to the hostel, went out for some dinner and hookah. The lounge in the hostel is pretty also...

As for this morining, we will probably explore Akihabara (electronic district), but first I need to find some food!

Update:

Today the first place we went to was Shinjuku. I got to see and walk across one of the bussiest intersections in all of Japan.

Complete with giant TVs, people on bikes... it was like being in an aquarium with schools of people. I mostly walked around the area just to explore the streets. There seemed to be of course alot a shopping that people could do. One thing I noticed though was the large amounts of Graffiti on some of the buildings. Some of theme were actually pretty good too!

Notice "SD" on the hat?

I also happened to run across the first Burger King ive ever seen in Japan... it sold alchohol.

Actually I ran across alot of interesting things. One of the "natural" conbini stores had a can of Corona that came with a pouch of lime to pour in.

I found this sort of strange but awesome ski mask at one of the shops. It only let you see out of one eye though.

Apparently some stores have their own way of advertising Snickers bars.

In Japan, everything is cute. Even the condoms.

The next place I went to explore was Akahibara. Its known as the electronic district. Also, im guessing because of all the Otaku that buy electronics, its related to the huge number of Maid Cafes located in the area. Acutally, we went to one. T_T It was not cheap. But it was one hell of an experience... there was no cameras, cellphones or video allowed. I realized that everything we learned about the Otaku from Nagaike Sensei`s class was true. Not just an exaggeration of perverted nerds in Japan. .. It was kinda sad seeing some of the people that come to these places regularly but inside, I was laughing pretty hard. Theres a pretty good reason why the rules say "No touching, taking pictures or asking for personal information to any of the Maids." But what an ingenious Idea! Comeing up with a stirct set of rules imposed on the customers... the store requires a cover charges just to get in, then requires you to order at least one thing on the menu, and then prohibits picture taking but sells polaroids at 500 to 800 yen a piece! Yet lots of customers still frequent it!! That is freakin good business!

This is Jesse in front of one of the Maid Cafe signs.. in his new baller glasses.

Actually, this maid was pretty nice. We talked to her with our broken Japanese for a while and talked her into letting us take a picture with her for free! Omg

I found this "American" coffee in a vending machine at one of the arcades called Club Sega.

Our next and last stop for the night was at the other end of town...in I don`t remember the name. We got to go up to the main observation deck of Tokyo Tower. Giving a 360 degree view of the city, you realize that you can see nothing but busy streets and tall buildings as far as the eye can see in each direction. Really breathtaking... my words really couldn`t do justice.

Yess!! I`m a sucker for awesome views!

Tomorrow I hope to go to Harajuku to see all the people who dress funny. As for now its super late... so.. Oyasumi!

本州旅行四日目　Honshuu Trip Day 4: Nara and Kyoto

2010-03-01T07:32:00.000-08:00

Last night I forgot to write about our third day in Osaka. Actually it was our `free time` day, a break from traveling with the group and being able to explore Osaka as we pleased. Some of us ended up getting into small groups just to make things more fun and as for me, I decided to buy a day pass and explore different stops at each station. I started at the furthest station and worked my way back to town finding many things from a 52 story sky tower to banana milk at the conbini.

However, today was different.

Using the rail pass we bought back in Oita, we decided to use one day on it to take us to Nara and then Kyoto. The things I got to experience for the day were as follows:

-Woke up, ate breakfast and drank hot choco while walking to the station.
-Took train to Nara
-While in Nara:
Walked through the town to find deer freely roaming the streets
Went to a park to feed some dear
Got mugged and violated by the deer
Went to Todaiji Temple
Looked at the biggest wood carved Buddha in Japan
Crawled through a tiny hole in one of the pillars of the temple
Watched Jari get stuck in the hole

-While in Kyoto:
Ate 1300 円 worth of sushi
Went to Ginkakuji to see a building made of Gold
Went to Kiomizudera.. the water temple, seeing one of the coolest temples ive ever seen
Walked trough what used to be the Geisha and Entertainment district of old Japan
Ate special Kyoto Unagi!

In truth this trip was pretty exhausting. I haven`t walked so much in any traveling I`ve ever done before.. But being able to see Nara (which is much more than a bunch of trees and deer) and Kyoto (one of the most beautiful cities and the heart of Japan) was the trip of a lifetime. Tomorrow well be waking up super early to catch local trains all the way to Tokyo.

Heres a video of some of the deer we saw roaming around Nara.. Unfortunately, ive been super exhausted and therefore too laxy to upload any pictures yet. Ill try to update all of the posts for the trips soon.

大阪二日目 Osaka Day2

2010-02-27T03:03:00.000-08:00

Today I woke up around 8am after having fallen asleep around 3.30am. I shaved off what i could of the rapidly growing mustache which ive grown to dislike, ate a handfull of granola and met up with the fellowship (of the Kaikan). We got ourselves some train passes then made our way to 大阪城 the famous castle in Osaka. It was probably the prettiest castle iv`e seen since coming to Japan and the Sakura trees being in pre-bloom season had everyone reaching in pockets to take out cameras and hold up peace signs.

Our second stop was アメリカ村(America Town) . Seriously?
Its currently part of a strip mall (extending for miles in every direction) in the most developed area of Osaka , perfect for people who want to shop, find restaurants, spend lots of money and dress funny. Actually, America town and the areas around it were pretty cool. Think about the Gas Lamp district in San Diego, but bustling 24/7 and bigger... way bigger.

Currently were back in the hostel for now. Some of the others are hitting up a club tonight and partying till the first train at 6am while a few of us are going on our own adventure. Realizing that were not rich, some of us are buying really cheap ramen, cooking in, then testing our Japanese on the trains.

As for now, ive half asleep since getting out of the onsen. Ill just relax until later tonight when i venture back into old people ville for the supermarket. Ill post pictures for yesterday and today later!

Surviving the Boat trip and Osaka Day one...

2010-02-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

I'd like to celebrate this moment in my life with a few seconds of silence....

Ok, so it feels like its been a really long day and It has. This little trip of ours (about 9 people who live at the Kaikan) started with a 12 hour boat ride on the Sunflower Ferry from Beppu to Osaka. We left Beppu port at 6.30 on Thursday night... and survived the night by distracting ourselves with various games of UNO, drinking on the deck of the ship, and playing "sleep in a room full of sickly, snoring old people."

Thats right, I'm not so clever with words at this moment because all I can remember in my trip up to now old people, old people and old people.

We arrived in Osaka at 6am this morning and checked into the Hotel Raizan. Some of us took naps, but some of us decided to venture out for some breakfast. While wandering the streets of 動物園前 we began to wonder "why are there so many old people?" Maybe it was simply just that time of day when old people venture out into the market place, but seriously, of the hundreds of people we came across, there was nothing but old people. Some were playing cards and drinking beer on the streets, some were walking around dazed, confused and drunk, and some were angry armed with bicycles. All of theme were at least in their 50's and 60's.

So of all the adventures ive had today, like avoiding drinking water because of yellow ice at one unnamed restaurant to seeing a crazed woman laughing to her self saying "Mee chan!! Mee Chann!" the most memorable thing I can't get out of my head today is the sound of Jesse's old person impression.( think of Jurassic park) Oh and not to mention feeling dirty earlier. I was just about to take a nap, but I had the urge to check out what channels my room's tv had. Apparently, our hostel includes porn channels. I saw what i didn't need to see, flipped to a family friendly channel and turned of the tv. I went to sleep only to wake up feeling dirty. ahhhh

Osaka!

Yufuin

2010-02-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

Whenever I "climbed" a mountain in the States it was usually more of a hike. Like Cowls mountain in SD, no one really "climbs" anything. In fact, people walk hike to the highest point in San Diego on a daily basis as a routine morning exercise. ..

So when Hoon asked me If I wanted to go to climb Yufudake, I said "sure."

Which brought us to Yesterday morning. There were about five of us up and ready by 7am. We took the train all the way to Yufuin and a bus to the base of the mountain.

Do you see the tip of that mountain?

Not only did it take three hours to hike up that mountain, but we climbed all the way to the highest point on it. However, this trip was worth it. Unlike "mountains" i've been to the top of, this one required grappling and holding on chains and rocks like your life depended on it.

Getting up there wasn't much of a problem. It was climbing down that was the hard part. For some reason my leg wasn't liking to take steps down. I spent the next hour and a half feeling like an old man waddling down the mountain, holding the group back. But in the end it was worth it... or at least I hope so. I've spent most of today just resting my leg, hope it gets better soon!

The Day We Died. (could have....possibly)

2010-02-01T06:15:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of Fugu?

Some people call them "blow fish" or "puffer fish". Apparently they are extremely poisonous and lethal for humans. In fact, (you can verify this on Wikipedia) chefs who prepare Fugu must be intensely trained to properly make the right cuts. It is illegal also for chef to prepare these fish without any special certification or license. Rumors say that a customer at a certain unnamed restaurant once ate Fugu that was improperly prepared... Tetrodotoxin, a highly potent neurotoxin, shut down the electrical signals in his nervous system as his muscles became paralyzed while leaving him still fully conscious. The customer eventually died of asphyxiation. The chef, feeling overwhelming guilt, commit seppuku.

Anyways...

Today I got the chance to try and eat some. I went, I ate... I survived.

My apologies. I wanted to show more footage by uploading a nice video, but we actually did get scared of eating it. We were all so cautions about trying it that we decided to take the first bite together and I totally forgot to film someone actually trying it.

Japanese Spring Break... Watch Out!!!

2010-01-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

So my first semester in Japan is just about finished. I didn't think the way the Japanese did all their year end cramming would be so tough. With all theses cumulative exams piled on top of each other and counting for up to 50% of your grade, it gets a bit crazy. Luckily everyone here so far has survived.

In coming to Oita, I somehow thought that just being in Japan would make me magically fluent. I was wrong. I still have a long way to go. However, considering how burnt out I was last year, I feel like my experience so far has re-ignited the passion that I need to learn and be interested in this language and culture.

I also didn't expect much when I came to Oita to be honest. I didn't think it would be necessary or even logical to try and get close to anyone, but I was wrong. I've met so many amazing people in my time here so far. Drinking at the Izakaya last night for our last big hoorah, I never realized how close you can get to people in such a short time. With some of us staying, but some of us leaving, it was bitter sweet, but beautiful. While i'm sad to let go of my friends that I was starting to get close to, i'm also excited and ready to have some great experiences with the people staying and the new ones coming next semester.

To everyone who made my experiences in Japan possible and enjoyable... Thank You!!!

Part A

Part B

猿、宮崎県、けんたろとハン！！

2010-01-10T23:12:00.000-08:00

新しい日記を書いて遅れてごめん。...

最近には誕生日だった。今年前たいてい父と晩ご飯を食べたり友達とパーティーをしたりした。ところが今年僕の一番いい友達はアメリカにいる。僕の家族もアメリカにいる。友達と家族は日本になかったらさびしくなると思った。しかし今年は楽しかった。サンディエゴに会った友達が大分に訪問しに来た。ハンと言う友達はサンディエゴで日本語の授業の同級生だった。けんたろと言う友達は去年サンディエゴで留学した。ほかの友達も来た。なべを作った。会館のロビーで食べたり遊んだりした。そのあとマットの部屋でテレビを見たりコンピューターで遊んだりした。真夜中になって友達が誕生日の歌を歌ってくれた。うれしかった。Just recently was my birthday. Before this year I would usually go to dinner with my dad and have a party with some friends. However, this year my closest friends and family are still in America. I thought that with most of my friends and family being so far away, I would be lonely. However, this years birthday was actually fun! Some of my friends I met back in San Diego came to Oita to visit. My friend Han was my old classmate from Japanese class at State and Kentaro was an exchange student there last year. After picking them up from the station we met up with some other friends. We made some Korean Nabe in Matt's room and ate together in the kaikan lobby. Afterwards, in Matt's room we watched some ridiculous Japanese tv shows and looked up videos on youtube. At midnight they sang the birthday song for me. I was happy, i got the customary midnight texts too.

とにかく次の日ハんとけんたろと高崎山にさると遊びに行った。その後大分と別府の間のビーチに遊びに行った。The next day we went to Takasaki Mountain to see some monkeys. After that we went to the beach between Oita and Beppu. The one with the pirate ship.

後ほど夜に宮崎県に行った。日本に来てから宮崎に行きたかった。大分から延岡まで電車で三時間ぐらいかかる。切符は２，４２０円。けんたろの家に泊められてよかった。Later that night I went back to Miyazaki Perfecture with Han & Kentaro. I never was good with planning my own birthday so this year I decided to just go with the flow. Thats what brought me to Miyazaki...Less than 15 min. to pack I was out the door. Within half an hour we were on a train with a ticket costing about $30.

次の日宮崎市に行きたかった。ところがバスは週末だけは走っているから車を借りらなくちゃ行けなかった。でも車を使ってよかった。１２時間ために料は６，３００円。ハンとけんたろと僕の間に一人当たりは２，１００円だけ。将来宮崎に行ったら車を借りるのをすすめる。けんたろのおかげでいろいろを訪問できた。へいわだい公園で八紘一宇を見られた。この公園では面白い人形がいっぱい。青島はとてもきれい。単語が青島のけしきをぜんぜん説明できないよ。うどじんぐと言う神社も訪問ができた。その所はかっこいと思う。来て今すぐ僕はすごい！って。The next day we wanted to go to the city. Since busses didn't run on the weekend for some reason, we rented a car. It was about $23 per person for 12 hours so it wasn't too bad. Actually, if anyone plans to go to Miyazaki in the future, I would recommend going by car. Thanks to Kentaro driving, we were able to go to some really cool places. Heiwadai Peach Park had some statues and monuments from ancient Japan, Aoshima was too pretty for words to describe, and Udojingu shrine was great too! You could never find places like this in America.

フェニックスと言う道路からけしきが見える。きれいなビーチと海より何もほうがいいよ。

トイレ！！！

へいわだい公園：かっこいことがいっぱい。

King of the World!!

自然はきれいだぜ。

青島に行っている間にすごいどんでいる写真ができた。（＾＿＾）

青島：

帰るときは少しむずかしかった。強い風が島に当てた。

うどじんぐ：

この所は日本人に人気だぜ。

友達と宮崎県を訪問してよかった。観光して全部は面白いと思った。ハンとけんたろとほかの大分に住んでいる友達のおかげで誕生日は楽しくてうれしかった。夏休みもう一度宮崎にいきたい。けんたろのお父さんも親切だよ。家で訪問ができてよかった。今まで新年はいい。将来こんな経験をできるといいんですが。I was glad that I had the opportunity to visit Miyazaki. Everything we saw was interesting. This summer I would like to go again. Also, thanks to Mr. Miake we had a place to stay. It was good to see Kentaro's place. All my experiences in this new year have been good up to now and I hope I can have more like this in the future.

また、誕生日ケーキももらった。びっくりした！！

They even got me a birthday cake too!!

四国 Adventures in Shikoku!

2010-01-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

今年のお正月は本当に楽しかった。ひろきと言う友達のおかげで日本のお正月の経験ができた。この経験は日本の家に始めて訪問しておもしろかった。友達の家族の家は西条にあるから大分から松山までフェリーに乗らなくちゃ行けなかった。松山に着きてともだちが迎えに来てくれた。This year New Years was really fun. Thanks to my friend Hiroki I was able to have my first New Years in Japan Japanese style! Since his house was in Saijou, I had to take a ferry from Oita to Matsuyama. As soon as I got there, Hiroki, his dad, and William came to pick me up.

松山でさいしょのところは道後温泉。千と千尋の神隠しと言う映画の温泉は道後温泉見たい。サンディエゴから来た同級生も来た。The first place we went to right away was a place called Dogo Onsen. The hotspring in the movie "Spirited Away" was apparently modeled after this one.

次の日にかんこうした。ひろきのお父さんは車でしまなみ海道に連れて行ってくれた。この所は四国と本州間に小さい島からおもしろくてきれいだ。The next day Hiroki's dad took us to the Shimanami Islands to go sight seeing. The small islands are located between the north part of Shikoku and Honshu. Its a very interesting and pretty place.

大島の店でいろいろなおみやげ食べ物を食べて見た。

At a shop in Oshima there were all sorts of good foods to sample!

伯方島で面白いお寺を見た。木戸銭は高すぎて外で遊んだり写真を取ったりした。

At Hakatajima we found a really cool temple, but it was too expensive to go in. However, we still took a bunch of pictures and played outside.

生口島ではサンセットビーチと言う所に遊びに行った。このすなはまはきれいだけど曇りだった。しかし写真がいっぱい。We went to a place on Saguchishima called Sunset Beach! This place was really nice but a little cloudy. We still took alot of pictures.

ひろきのお父さんはとっても親切！

一日中車で案内してくれた！

Hiroki's dad was really nice, he drove us around all day!

その後帰った。ひろきのお母さんは優秀なシェフ。晩ご飯はなべとさしみだった。食べ物はおいしそう！もちろんおいしかった！ After our adventure we came back home. Hirok's mom is an excellent cook! For dinner we had Nabe and some Sashimi. It looked delicious and it was!

レストランのさしみ見たいですね。

It looks just like restaurant Sashimi right!?

三日目もおもしろかった。

ウイルとひろきと松山で遊んだ。

Day three of my trip was also great.

For the day, Hiroki, William and I went to Matsuyama.

目が閉まりながらひろきは運転が好きだ！

Hiroki likes driving with his eyes closed!

大きなまちゃアイスよ。

Big matcha ice cream please!

黒ごまアイス、実は悪くないよ。

Black sesame ice cream... not bad actually.

へんなマネキンを見つけた。たぶんあの店のずぼんをはきたらお客さんはセクシー

になるよ。

Uhh.. we found some weird mannequins.

シナモンメルツとバニラアイスは一緒においしい。

Cinnamon Melts and Vanilla IceCream.. nuff said.

ウィリアムは自由人だぜ。

４２０と言う店を見つけた。店人が怒してまでサングラスと遊んだ。いろいろへんな写真を取った。

We found a nice little shop called "420"

Had a photo session with sunglasses until the lady working there got mad.

マットさんの家庭教師も会った。みなはえひめから来た。

We also met Matt's tutor! Her hometown is also in Ehime Prefecture.

夜に僕たちはひろきの車でアドベンチャーした。高い所できれい夜景も見つけた。

That night, Hiroki also took us on another crazy car adventure. Driving through almost pitch-black mountain roads with abandoned looking government facilities was pretty scary. We did find a nice romantic view at the top though!

夜はおいしい晩ご飯も食べた。真夜中前にお風呂に入って特別のお正月番組を見た。そばを食べた後で寝た。That night we also had another delicious dinner. We watched a special New Years program on tv and ate Soba noodles before going to bed.

お正月：

新年の朝僕たちはきれいな神社に行った。始めの初詣での経験ができてうれしかった。神社の建物は面白くてきれい。空気は祭り見たいだってみんなは元気。Ne w Years day was also great. We went to a nice shrine as I got to exprience my first Japanese "Hatsumoude" (Shrine visiting on New Years). All of the buildings at the shrine looked interesting and really pretty. The atmosphere was like a festival since everyone seemed so energetic.

ひろきの弟も来た。

Hiroki's younger brother also came to spend New Years with us.

誰かは馬の頭をかぶっていた。あの人はとらじゃなかったから謝った。

初詣で後でひろきの親戚の家に行った。西条の景色はすごいね。

After visiting the shrine, we headed to Hiroki's relative's place. Saijou's scenery looks pretty doesn't it?

親戚の家でひろきのおばあさんとおじいさんに会った。全部の親戚はとてもやさしい。

I also met Hiroki's grandparents! All of his relatives were really nice too.

おいしいすき焼きを作っていろいろな食べ物を食べて見た。おじいさんは酒とビールを注してくださいました。We had a huge sukiyaki dinner complete with so many foods iv'e never eaten before. It was all really good too. Hiroki's grandpa kept on pouring beer for me too!

かんぱい！！

全部はおいしかった。みんなはおなかがいっぱいまで食べたり飲んだり遊んだりした。

Everything was delicious. I don't think there was anything I didn't like.

後で少しい眠くなった。

After all the food, some of us were pretty sleepy. Specially with the low table, you can't help but to lay back.

ひろきの家族のおかげで楽しいお正月の経験ができたよ。

Thanks to Hiroki and his family I had a really fun New Years experience in Japan!

Happy Holidays!

2009-12-25T19:54:00.001-08:00

This year I celebrated Christmas... Japanese style!

No.. there was no cozy fireplace or any pretty trees to put presents under, but there were fireworks! I guess listening to Christmas music (weather its English or the good old Japanese versions of Christmas carols) from stacks of large speakers while watching 花火 is the way they do it here.

So, its my first holiday season away from my usual friends and family, but I think us international students are holding up alright. This year we went to Beppu's firework show. Although Christmas isn't an official holiday here, people still like to put up lights all over downtown and open up booths to sell food, making the occasion very festive. Right on the beach several stacks of speakers were set up. You could hear everything from a Japanese version of Jingle Bells to Jackson 5's Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

For this Christmas occasion, most of still in Oita decided to take it easy. We threw a Secret Santa Party in the Kaikan lobby complete with a few games of 7/11 double. Nobody had to go bankrupt buying presents, but everyone still got something cool. On Christmas Eve we spent the evening eating dinner together at a nearby Izakaya. Later going to McDonald's and Family Mart for ice cream and cinnamon rolls!

Also, for Christmas Day some of us headed to Jun & Jesse's for another evening of fine dining and another game of 7/11 double. Honestly, not a bad holiday experience so far in Japan!

School..school...school

2009-12-21T03:06:00.000-08:00

I skype every now and then with a few folks back home and then i remember just how different the things are here with the school system. I can't believe the semester is already over for most of my friends, but i've still got stuff to worry about until the end of January. Even though Christmas isn't a holiday (a huge date day actually), we still get a two week break. To most of us Americans its god awful that we have technically have classes on the 25th. I believe the overall consensus though is that none of us will attend. Luckily though, all of our teachers understand the importance of Christmas for every other country so they are canceling it.

I suppose school in America wasn't so different just ten years ago. I remember when everyone would have a two week break for Christmas, but still have to take finals in January. Then someone finally realized that there is no way in hell that any child, teenager, or grown up would ever consider studying over enjoying the important holiday season. I guess Japan just never adjusted along with the rest of the world. But, to keep things fair, the classes us exchange students take here are for the most part fun. Tomorrow I have a presentation in my Pop Culture class. The topic: Fighting Magical Schoolgirls.

沖縄 Adventures

2009-12-10T17:17:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, a few of us decided to spontaneously buy plane tickets to Okinawa. When I came here, I didn't think of Okinawa as a place that would be on my travel list. After this weekend though, I believe if there is any place in "Japan" i would like to move to, it would be Okinawa. It reminds me alot of San Diego, but a foreign country other than Japan at the same time. It has its nice ritzy looking places and its rastafarian worn down places just like SD has LaJolla and Ocean Beach.

The people here are different too. They refer to themselves as Okinawans and they move at their own pace. Some two hundred years ago Okinawa used to be called RyuKyu until Japan took it over, but alot of their original culture still exists. Something about living in a place where the weather allows you to wear shorts while the rest of the country is wearing double layers of jackets might have some affect on the personalities of these people. Though it was only a short weekend, It was great to learn about Okinawa and its people. Its definitely a different side of Japan. While people in the main islands are "go go go" these guys are laid back and seem stress free. Their families are bigger and they never seem to be in a hurry.

Anyway, I really hope that anyone who has the chance to visit Okinawa takes advantage of it. The most expensive part is transportation to get there (200USD). One there, you can find a number of hostels for 12-18USD. The whole trip was a little less than 4,500yen. About $500.

Aquarium with the larges fish ive ever seen!

These things are called Shisa. Every Okinawan home has two of these guarding each door.

Life Aquatic!

Look! You can see other islands depending on what part of the coast you stand on.

Nagasaki!長崎！

2009-12-01T23:43:00.000-08:00

From Oita, it is possible to make a weekend trip to Nagasaki for 30,000円　or less. (About 350 USD) This includes the round trip transportation by bus and train while passing by Fukuoka. Two nights of lodging at the Akari youth hostel and transportation within the city is included. Temple entrance fees and food for three days are covered.

Epic Streetlamp

Nagasaki's Cathedral

Spectacle Bridge built in 1634

Peace Park

One of many album covers to come.

Statue near ground zero

Waterfall near the Seaside Park

The picture doesn't do this view any justice

Seeing Nagasaki is a great weekend getaway from Oita as the scenery changes from a busy bustling town to a smaller peaceful seaside community with a strong feel of historical presence. As eight of us galavanted around this small town, we got to see everything from the Peace Memorial to a view of the entire city from the top of a mountain.

Of course, as Americans we obliged ourselves to visit ground zero and the Atomic Bomb memorial. It was most definitely a sobering experience. Most of us in the states or any country don't give much thought or care to how wars affect innocent populations. Yes, its unfortunate that so many people have to pay the price for the quarrels of such small groups of people in power. It was a sobering experience that reminded me or made me realize, wars are never good. I pray that we all can continue to learn from the past. Overall, Nagasaki was a pleasant mini vacation. Im glad I went with the people I did.

Its made out of paper cranes!

A little thought...

2009-11-16T04:34:00.001-08:00

I rarely use myspace these days. But today was just one of those days, like checking the contents of that container in your fridge thats been sitting there for years. Or actually more like looking through an old album. As i checked my inbox, i realized that the tabs went up to #116. There were THOUSANDS of old messages i hadn't read since 2005. Long story short, of the messages I scrolled through, some from old friends or people I've lost touch with, It brought me back. I don't know why I never got around to deleting my account, but some old memories still sit in that box. Some good, some bad and others legendary.

I know my time so far in Oita has been a blast. No really, amazing! But behind the scenes I have to remember the bigger things which go on unnoticed. The reason why I came to Japan in the first place wasn't about partying, acquiring skills to get a good job, or to run from that past. No, it was to find myself. The kind of personal growth that helps you to be the best version of yourself albeit for your own sake, your future soul mate or whatever you can imagine.

A part of me got just a little bit gloomy remembering some of the old heartbreaks, trials, tribulations. But I also remembered the times I persevered. All truth be told, i've had a few moments of ups and downs here. Yet, I hear that voice that reminds me not to waste this God given opportunity. No matter what you've had in the past if it didn't work out, you always have something better to look forward to.

Had certain things I wanted in the past actually worked out, I can't even imagine where I would be. I know I'd rather be where I am now. So take a good look at your past, but not too hard. Learn from what you've experienced and leave behind whatever holds you back. Don't look back, don't hold back.

Maybe thats what all those nightmares about waking up in California have been about?

Mac & Cheese

2009-11-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

For those of you planning to go to Japan in the future, you should know that there is a mac & cheese shortage. Actually, they simply don't carry it, at least not anywhere i've been. So unless you plan on bringing a suitcase full of boxes or having your friends mail some to you, don't plan on eating it for a while...

But fear not!! I have successfully recreated mac & cheese with a few simple ingredients i was able to find:

Powdered Cheese (the same as parmesan but finely ground)

Lowfat Milk

Penne Pasta

Spreadable Butter

Yup, thats all you really need!

True, its not quite the same, but throw a little bacon and a few herbs and you'll be good to go! It's the next best thing if you don't plan on receiving any packages soon.

Fun Times in Hita!

2009-11-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

Our first field trip in the Discover Oita class was to Hita!

Heres the video!

Yay for school field trips!

2009-11-09T02:40:00.000-08:00

So I just woke up after a short 3 hour nap. Sometimes you just gotta take care of yourself after a long day. Today we went to Hita area. Our most important stop was the Kyushu Sapporo Beer Factory! Yes, it was a school sponsored field trip with free beer on tap!! Ahh!, pictures cannot do justice to one of the best field trips of my life, but for now a few will do. I will be posting a much more informative video later. Peace!

Fun Times in Oita!

2009-11-04T00:36:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, i finally got some of the videos and pictures of fun times we've had together and compiled them in to a sort of video/slideshow. Thanks to everyone made this possible and I look forward to more fun with all of you soon! Please Enjoy!

Ok, so i added a slightly better quality version on my youtube account in case this was too small.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Banjo270E

Beppu

2009-11-03T05:07:00.000-08:00

After a long, fun but exhausting weekend Japan still spoils us with holidays. "Culture Day" meant classes were not in session. Today, in order to relax a little and celebrate culture day, Zach and I decided to try out Takegawara Onsen in Beppu. Just a few exits away, it was an inexpensive train ride to the next city over. After rinsing in cold water I decided to get into the hotspring as fast as I could... Bad Idea!! It was hotter than any spa ive ever been in back home. As hot as it was, it was a great experience. Rinsing in buckets of warm water after such heat felt good. After leaving the place I felt more relaxed than I had been since I got here.

After the onsen, we walked around Beppu for a few hours finding more onsen for future visits and seeing some of the many cool buildings and attractions that you can find in Beppu. Next time I have to go see the monkeys that you can only find in this city.

Of course, right here we had an Engrish moment. "Let's build a beautiful town. It makes bloom a flower to Beppu and needs."

This was cute. A dog riding a bike carrying a plant!

This shirt made my day! Haha, I found it in a Japanese thrift store and couldn't help but want to share this.

Long Weekend!!

2009-11-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

This past Friday school classes were cancelled by Oita-U for what reason? Matsuri!!!

A three day school festival that is. To take part in it, we Americans decided to sell three things we thought may be unique to the American culture but simple and tasty enough for the everyone else to enjoy. We sold hot dogs, grilled cheese and of course PB&J sandwiches! Day one, Friday was fairly interesting with several booths selling popular food known to be from the Oita region. The main attraction *caugh* er event actuall was the Mr.レーヂィーコンテスト。(Mr. Ladycontest) Yes, thats right, it was something you would only find here in Japan. A bunch of guys on stage dressed up as girls preforming dance like girls in some sort of Jpop music video. A part of me was kinda freaked out, but entertained by the whole thing.

The next night, Saturday was a different story. For most of us ryugakusei, October 31 meant something else. Halloween Party! We went to a venue downtown that might as well have had every foreigner in Oita perfecture. The music was live and loud, the room was crowded, and it was all you can drink. The party was crazy, American style! It was cool to, meeting people in person whos blogs I had followed just a month before. Kinda like "I know you... but not really."

This was probably one of the most interesting Halloween parties ive ever been to. Theres nothing like getting together with so many people from different places all knowing you have the same challenges being in Japan. As fun as it was, we still had to get up and be at school by 8:30 am the next day to introduce the world (Oita Daigaku) to American food.

The majority of the day was bad weather. Rainy and windy, it was probably the worst conditions for the one day we had to work a booth. And of course I had a hole in both of my shoes which got soaked like never before. Soaked shoes and socks are not cool. It was a crazy day but we got through it and got the opportunity to see people try PB&J and grilled cheese sandwiches for the first time. Their experiences were definitely worth it. After breaking even with what we spent to buy the stuff, we started cooking some food for ourselves and in the midst of it all, we created a new monster. Viola, the grilled PB&J sandwich!! Which basically got everyone in the booths next to us coming over to try a bite.

After three days of events, and a fourth ending in kickboxing practice, im ready to enjoy tomorrows "Culture Day." For the first time ever I will go to an onsen! (hot spring)

ps. no matsuri can be complete without some sort of sumo wrestling!!

Spaghetti Night

2009-10-28T01:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight is dine-in night!

For one thing, I do miss the pasta I used to make back in the US.

Though I love the food at restaurants here, its much cheaper to

dine-in. Well... getting ingredients for Italian food is a bit pricey,

but if you can improvise with using different things it can be

well worth it and tasty too. Alas, I can't exactly act like Mr. Gatsby...

I do have to save up and starve a little so I can travel too.

Viola! Simply pasta with olive oil, various italian herbs, cheese and gnocchi.

Fire Safety Day at the Kaikan

2009-10-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

The staff that coordinates with the international students here at Oita-U is amazing. And simply hilarious! The teachers here are nice and more often than not, interact with the students outside of the classroom. Yes, even by coming all the way from the university to our dorms (located downtown) just to teach us fire safety.

I find it funny because the student teacher relationship brings me back to my grade school days. The teachers almost take us by the hand to teach us random things. Today, that random thing was fire safety.

So basically we had a meeting in which we were told to go back to our rooms. The fire drill came on and we walked back outside. Then we got to play with fire-extinguishers..And yes we did get to pull the pins and shoot them!! (there was only water inside)

The best part of the day was the "earthquake experience car" haha. this was actually a large truck that rolled up to the front of our dorms, had a built in kitchen that would shake simulating an authentic Japanese earthquake!!!

これはとても楽しかった。

大分のせいかつはよくおもしろいね。

Reliving Elementary School

2009-10-17T23:49:00.002-07:00

Yesterday was the first all day field trip for the exchange students and their tutors. It was the first one i've been on since elementary school, maybe. We all got on a bus with our backpacks and of course brought $20 worth of candy. The three main things we did on the trip were as follows.

Zen Meditation experience:

The place we went to was beautiful. Traditional Japanese architecture both inside and outside confirmed everything I thought I might see and more. The room was covered in tatami mats and neatly spaced pillows for everyone to sit on. As for the meditation experience and people who have the discipline for it, respect. Haha, I thought my legs were going to lose their use after they fell asleep. Sitting cross legged with your back perfectly straight is much harder than I ever though. It was a great experience, but its not quite my thing. I was more concerned with when it was going to end rather than letting my mind relax.

Visit to Futagoji Temple:

This place was straight out of a movie. In fact, everyday ive been in Japan has been like living in a movie. Here the pictures can speak for themselves.

Mikan Grove:

At the mandarin grove, basically everything you could pick and eat on site was free! Anything else you kept you could take home for only 200yen a kilo!

During yesterdays trip i felt a little bit like a child again. Visiting places you only see in the movies, experiencing new things and having someone tell you that you can eat all the mandarins you want can make you feel younger. Not to mention the big bus and the teachers who came with us. Haha..

Oita!!

2009-10-15T01:35:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up to a beautiful sunrise. Blue sky, no rain and a ray of sunlight beaming through the curtains. I'm starting to wonder if I could every be bored living here because theres so much I don’t understand when I go out. I can't read most of the signs yet so in a way being illiterate keeps me entertained. All of the exchange students are just as amused as I am whenever I find the meaning of some kanji I just looked up on my 電子辞書。I have eight classes I'm taking this year at 大分大学 and a whole ton of broken Japanese to use. Anyway, heres a picture of Oita in a nutshell. Minus the tall buildings and such.

Typhoon!!!

2009-10-07T03:02:00.000-07:00

So apparently there is a typhoon headed towards Japan. Ive never experienced one before. Its been raining almost nonstop for the last few days and my last class was cancelled today. If the trains and buses don't work tomorrow, there will be no class! A bunch of us living at the Kaikan in downtown are just going to hang tight till tomorrow since we cant really go out in this craziness. My shoes were soaking wet all the way through the socks earlier so I'm fine with just staying indoors for the rest of the night.

izakaya

2009-10-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today was one of the busiest days I could possibly imagine happening in a while. Let me break it down: Catching the first day of classes, It was important to catch that 9:52 train, let alone know which train was which given all the kanji I don't know. After classes were over I spoke as much Japanese as I could to some students who were trying to teach me some Oita-ben (Oita slang). There were two parties on campus, and in one I finally had my first 10min conversation in 95% Japanese! Im not quite there and I've got a long way to go, but Oita is a beautiful place. For the first time since ive been here all week, we finally got to experience a drop in the humidity and feel some fresh air with a cool breeze. This of course made an easy walk to our first izakaya experience! With a couple of the international students from the Kaikan, we walked downtown and found a nice place to karaoke with nomihodai(all you can drink). It was an amazing experience. Topped of with a bowl of gyuniku don from yoshinoya. Thats right. Nothing better than to top of a couple of shots with a bowl of beef and rice.

Shorui!!

2009-09-29T03:09:00.000-07:00

Being in Japan these last few days just doesn't seem real. Each morning so far ive woken up wondering why I haven't woken up in California. I guess this journey has been so long in the making that I didn't know if it would ever finally happen. But it has.

Though its seemed like a dream so far, Its been amazing! Though there is one thing haven't seen more of in the last three days than ever before I came here and that thing is 書類 (shorui) aka paper work or legal documents. The main things you must do once you arrive in Oita are:

登録の申請 - Alien Registration. You have to get a special ID card which you apparently must carry at all times.

国保- National Health Insurance

携帯- A cell phone.

Actually, there is definitely more things that you must do, but those are secondary. The last three days have been a bit crazy just getting things together and making my apartment cozy and making sure that Im filling out all the right paperwork so I don't run into any legal misfortune.

Tomorrow Ill be off the Oita Daigaku to take the Japanese Placement Test. Oh how I wish I had studied over the summer. ..When you get here, you've gotta hit Japanese Language with EVERYTHING you've got.

Oh bother...(winnie the pooh voice)

2009-09-25T01:13:00.000-07:00

I believe this trip snuck up on me. Even though I had months to prepare, being the procrastinator I am, I waited. Moments after driving back all through the night to get back to Antelope from SD I was already in a rushed panic. The straight shot drive till 7am plus the horrible sleeping habits of that weekend left me a bit under the weather. Unsure of what exactly to bring, ive spend the last several days trying to fit what I need into two small pieces of luggage. Its tricky trying to actually sort through what you really need. So i ended up filling about 6 boxes to be put in the shed.

The top three space hogging items in my luggage are:

1 memory foam mattress topper

1 memory foam pillow

6 bottles of contact solution

whahoo!

My flight leaves later this after noon.

The schedule is:

Fly -SF international to Narita, Tokyo

Shuttle -from Narita to Haneda

Fly -Haneda to Oita Airport

Shuttle -to Oita Station

taxi or walk -Oita Station to my apartment.

I wont get to my destination until the next day at about 10:30pm

Sweet.

2009-09-21T02:47:00.000-07:00

*sigh*..
All good things must come to an end. Actually, no not really. I'd like to just say that all good things sometimes must be put on hold. Its been a blast the last four days hanging out in SD, surfing, playing rockband, and hangin out with the family that we all put together down here. We've had some great memories that well always treasure, but there are many more yet to be had. I know that there are alot of exciting things happening with all of you this year and I wish I could be a part of it too. As I drive back to norcal tonight I will dwell on how much I've been blessed to have so many of you in my life. This next year will be an exciting time to look forward to.

I know how moving away from home has been a big thing for me in the past, but going into Japan I have no idea what to expect. This is going to be the most terrifying and awesome journey in my life so far. To be honest, I have no plans. This trip will not just be about finding what I want to do for the rest of my life but about "who" I want to be. I've been blessed with an opportunity to rediscover my calling and I hope that I can pass on whatever I learn back to everyone at home and whoever else I might run into. Its been great and I love you all. Peace!!

-270E