"Happiness Can Be Bought, and it Costs 100 Yen."

I have a long long long entry to type here kids, so be patient. First off, I have two picture galleries which coincide with this. It totals a bout 190 pictures... I like pictures. Week 4 Hikone Part 1 Week 4 Hikone Part 2 Okay, let's start at the beginning of the week. Monday: First off, it meant back to class. Oh well, no week is perfect, I guess. I mainly just hung out with Rob and Allan since Rob was supposed to be starting his homestay, but the rain left over from the typhoon held them back another day. By the evening, we were all trying to get into Study Mode for our midterm on Thursday. It was a pretty uneventful day, except when the Nihonjin started to have a water balloon fight. I went out and took pictures, because it was fun. Besides, hey, study break. Later that night, all the Japanese girls came down in yukata. They looked very nice, as you can see in my photo gallery. Allan and I decided to join in on the action in our Jimbe, as Akihito and Seiichiro had them on also. Not much other than that. Tuesday: One less hour of class, plus a cultural activity. We went to Shiga Daigaku, (Shiga University) to hang out with some Japanese people and tour their campus as well as eat at their cafeteria. So we all hopped on our bikes as the mass Gaijin Bosozoku (Foreigner Biker Gang) and rode to Shiga Dai led by Aizawa-sensei. Upon arrival, we invaded the tiny campus. Separated into groups of three, we were each assigned two Nihonjin. We all first went to the cafeteria since we were all hungry after class and a bike ride. I enjoyed some Katsudon, fried pork cutlet and egg over rice in anticipation of our exam. It is good luck to eat Katsudon before an exam. Allan and Seth were in my group, and we were grouped with Hiroyuki who had to run to classes (Chinese class actually) and Shiba. Shiba was an interesting individual. He wore the huge jeans and a way-too-big bright yellow shirt. He and his two friends (Shun and Taka) were all part of the American Football Club and were pretty cool. After food, which was surprisingly cheap for the quality and quantity, we toured the campus. We more or less walked in a circle around the campus, stopping to peek at the Aikido or Judo club (not sure which). Shiba then proclaimed that it was his fourth choice of a school, but he kept failing the entrance exams to get into the schools he wanted (Japanese colleges and sometimes high schools require the prospective students to take entrance exams and not just apply and look at your previous grades) and that it is a tiny school. It was. We met up with Hiroyuki at the little coffee shop and Taka and Shun were there also. The three JCMU students talked with the four Japanese students for a while, until about 3:30 or so, and then we had to part ways. It was really fun though. I got all their names and gave Hiroyuki my email, and maybe we'll hang out before I run away back to America. Who knows. Upon leaving Shiga Dai, we swung by a book shop called Miyazaki Books and I got a few more manga to fill out my collection. I got the Kenshin manga I was missing and the next two Negima. Yay, up to 40 manga. The rest of the day was spent homeworking, and by the time we got back, Rob was gone on his homestay. Too bad, don't get to hang out with him much now. Wednesday: Everyone was loopy and crazy today, the day before midterms. We were planning on getting katsudon before the exam (I was going to double up from the day before) at Shirumon, but we waited till dinnertime. The meantime was spent studying, studying, and, let's see, studying. When dinnertime came about, we went to Shirumon, with me, Elmer, Allan, Eric, Meghan (not just Megan I typed before. She insisted I put the h in there. So Mhehghahan. That's got to have an h where it's supposed to go), Scott, and Jamie. Alas, to the detriment of our test grades, Shirumon was closed for the day! No katsudon for us, we were doomed!!!!!!! Meghan, Jamie, and Scott decided to make curry at home, while the rest of us got Chanpon. Then back to studying until about 1 in the morning. Ugh. Thursday: Exam Day. Oh well, I prepared to the best of my ability. I got up around 7-730 to work it into my head a little more strongly, but it was really tough to prepare for it. I mean, we learned hundreds of vocabulary in the past couple weeks, and had to pick and choose which ones we thought were important, and try to guess if Satoh-sensei thought they were also important. A very stressing ordeal. When the test came about, it was actually three tests wrapped up in one. We had a kanji test (damned Chinese squigglies, go home!!) which was the easiest one of the lot, a test on 4 of the readings we had (we did know which ones in advance), and a test on the drama we watched, which was the hardest one because of the sheer amount of information and vocabulary that we had to soak up. We had two hours for the test, and at the 1:50 mark, I still had a composition to write and the wicked vocab box of doom to fill out. We all kind of fell on our faces on this exam, but if we all fall together, we can't all fail, right? Right? In any case, after the exam we went in search of Katsudon. Again. We decided that as long as we got it in to our systems before we get it back, the 7 of us go back to Shirumon which as miraculously open this time. After Shirumon, we went downtown for the others to get some cash on hand. After a while, we hit the 100 yen store in the Ginza shopping district. We found lots of cool stuff. I am going to get a full dish set from there before I leave. I got a wind chime, and a few other things, like a No Smoking sign for my apartment when I get back. They also had a little pack of two condoms (from a 100Y store?!) that had a picture of two monkeys on it and said "Mamotte Kudasaru?" Saru means monkey. Mamotte Kudasaru? means "Will you protect me?" I thought that was hilarious, but I did not end up buying them. I will have to go back for pictures later. Allan and I were planning on doing a little anime marathon of "Aishiteru ze, Baby" (I luv ya, Baby) which was supposed to be absolutely hilarious, but the other three, Scott, Meghan, and Jamie were already planning on finishing their drama. So we hung out downstairs. Allan and I got some sake and warmed and drank it, and it went down beautifully. It was a great little relaxer after stresses of exams. Granted, most people were getting trashed at Sugimoto's, but that's not my style. But you know what? I am really missing Killian's and Leinenkugel beers. They have a few honey browns here also, but they suck compared to US and UK beers. Shortly thereafter, the drama was done (because I could hear the sniffling downstairs, and the tv room is upstairs) so we invaded and watched some anime. It turned out to be sickeningly cute, not funny. There is still no plot to speak of, but the little 5 year old in it is absolutely adorable. But soon enough, it was sleepy time, so I slept. Friday: First time sleeping in after my alarm, and on a day that we are chartered to schools by taxi. I woke up my roommate, showered and shaved, and sprinted to the Academic building. Eric, Akane, and I went to Joshi Elementary School in downtown Hikone. It's close by, and I had even passed it a few times on bike rides. We hung out with second graders for the few hours we were there, but first we went to have tea at the principal's office. He told us about Tanabata, the Festival of the Stars. The main character is like a cowboy he says, a Japanese one. He was tending his cattle one day when he found a woman's kimono in a tree near a hot spring. He picks it up and it turns out that it belings to the woman bathing there, who happens to be absolutely gorgeous. She wants it back, but he fell in love with her at first sight. They end up getting married, and having kids. But she is actually a star come to earth, and she has to one day return to her heavenly home. She also works on a loom making kimono, but I am not sure where that fits in. But kids make little paper things tied to bamboo trees and they have their own wishes in them to come true. So we went to the class, introduced ourselves, and sat with them to make things. I sat with 4 girls and a guy. Miko, Miyu, Ai, Kouhei, and Misato. Kouhei is the guy. He's my buddy. He led me around everywhere when we left the room and he's just a cool kid. I wanted to steal him. But in this time, all the kids asked me to hang their tanabata things up. A lot of them made lanterns, some made monsters, some made monsters that they proclaimed to be the Prisoner of Azkaban, because that movie came out on the same day as the visit. And I will so see it. Kenchi kept coming up to me, and he reminded me a lot of how David Carter was when he was 7. Shou came and he put a tanabata thing over my neck. It was cool. I felt like a rock star. Soon enough, it was recess, and dodgeball time. Japanese dodgeball is very different than US dodgeball. Each team has two lines. The back line on a team hits a person in the front line to move forward, then the front line hits the people in the other team, and the hit people go to the back row of the thrower's teams. If the person who the ball was thrown at catches it, then the thrower goes to the back line of the catcher's team. Make sense? I hope so. So we played that a bit, and then a kid came up and poked me in the butt! Then I turn and chase him, then another one did it. I made sure to keep them all in front of me from then on in. It soon degraded into me wrestling four or five of them at once, using a mild form of the Dad Move on them to keep 8-10 little arms from poking me in the belly. They thought it was great fun. I was very tired after a half hour of this. We then went up to a music room, where the teacher read us a story that I only caught about half of (the old lady in the story spoke in Kansai-ben, the local awesome dialect!!), and then they sang songs, and we tried to join in. They had obviously practiced, they even had hand motions to a few of them. Then we did one that I knew, Bingo. But the lyrics translated differently. "I have a dog, and Bingo is his name, B-I-N-G-O, and what a cute dog he is." Then the teacher sprung a new one on them. We did Head and Shoulders; Knees and Toes in English. And the kids were able to do it! I am impressed with them for that. I remember learning it in Japanese in 10th grade. Oh, memories... After that, we formed a conga line and did London Bridge is Falling Down where there were a few kids who would trap a person going through their bridge at the "My fair lady" line. Then that person would switch with one of the bridge holders. And it continued. The best part is that the principal played it with us all. But that was about all the time we had. We got a few more pictures, and they thanked us all in unison, and I shook a million tiny hands, and was once more the rock star I am in my mind. Back to the principal's office, we were to sit and have coffee, but the taxi was there and waiting so we had a sip or three and headed home. I left a thank you note to the class on their desk, but I may go back and visit again. Back at JCMU, we went and grabbed a Lawson Lunch and just kinda hung out for a while before the big barbeque. This isn't a David with his little hibachi barbeque, but a full-fledged BBQ with burgers, brats (BRATS IN JAPAN!!!! JOHNSONVILLE!!!!), yakitori, and grilled veggies. It was amazing, with 4 big grills. Once they got them lit, I went and grilled. I didn't realize I should set my own food aside first, and the yakitori disappeared in moments. I learned when I started grilling the brats, the vultures started to hover. Jay, Ross, Elmer, Rob, and I all made sure to set our stuff aside first. I got to grill for about 4 hours straight, it was great, except for the shifting winds blowing smoke in my eyes. I grilled yakitori, brats, cheddar brats, smoked brats, polish sausage, burgers, and pitiful excuses for chicken wings. I am a GrillMasta! Later on, I saw an old guy in a green Jimbe playing ping pong. He was awesome at it! Wicked crazy spin!! The BBQ died down and we went upstairs to watch some anime, but Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was on, dubbed in Japanese! All of the voices were awesome, except for Snape's. Snape had a booming, deep narrator voice. Not quite what I expect when I hear Snape, but it was acceptable, I guess. When that ended, we watched another episode of Azumanga Daioh which was crazy and random. Fun. Then we watched some Aishiteru ze, baby, and then a Zero Gravity video. Zero Gravity is a group of people who make martial arts shorts and seem to want to break into stunt work. Great job for amateurs. In fact, Allan had trained in Capoiera with one of the guys. That was Friday night. Sleep came soon after. You thought that was a long day? Saturday should be a big one also! Saturday: I woke up about 9:30ish, showered and got out to the common area to use the internet. It hated us, just like it was trying to do the night before. But I was sitting talking to Scott when Meghan and Jamie came downstairs and said "Let's go to Nara now!" This was about an hour and a half ahead the schedule we had agreed on last night. They bugged Allan and softshoed in front of his door (stomped around in slippers) until he was ready. Granted, little Meghan, under 100 pounds, didn't make that much noise, but it was enough. We headed out to the Hikone-eki, then caught a train to Kyoto to transfer to Nara. At Kyoto station, we stopped at a bakery, and I got a delicious Neufchatel cheese tart and a Croqeutte sandwich. It had horseradish on it, so it was a bit odd, but still edible. The train to Nara was local, so it took about 50 minutes. While on the train, a random guy asked if we spoke English and then told us how he lived in Sao Paolo, Brazil for three years. Apparently he wanted to share that he lived abroad also. We talked till he and the older woman near us got off the train. We got off the train shortly after. We were in Nara, the capital of Japan before Kyoto, which was the capital before Tokyo. Didn't make up their mind for a while, did they? Upon exiting the station, we saw a public official being interviewed for a tv appearance, and hordes of little kids with their matching yellow hats. We consulted the signposts which told us we had 1.7km to get to Kasuga Taisha, our first stop. We started our walk, and found some interesting things in short order. First was a sign about the deer. Deer? In a big city? You bet! They're short deer (like the Japanese people) who wander around and are protected by law here. Population over 1200 I hear. The sign had funny pictures on it warning to not get too close to the babies or the parents will get angry. The one right next to it said, in huge type, "Chikan ni Chuui!" which means "BEWARE OF PERVERTS!!!" I found that hilarious that they would have a sign with that on it in the middle of town. Another block produced deer for us to pet. They wanted treats, but everyone else was feeding them deer treats, so we just pet them. Continuing on our way, we saw rickshaw pullers, and came to the turn off to Kasuga Taisha. Kasuga Taisha is famous for their profusion of stone lanterns. Over 200 of them if I remember correctly. We took many pics of lanterns, of the girls pointing to pillars, and then found an opportune shop. Scott bought some plushie deer antlers to wear, and I bought a little knock off of a Boss Coffee washcloth to give to Becca, since she has an unholy fascination with Boss Coffee. Further along the path, we actually got to the real Kasuga Taisha. It was a beautiful red shrine, with priests and priestesses in it. Also, a rock garden, dvd player, and really cool tree. DVD PLAYER?! Apparently they like DVDs also. On the way out of the shrine, I noticed an irregularity. There was a car that just drove up the stairs of the shrine. How very odd. In order to appreciate this place, you have to take a look at the pictures I took. They explain it better than I could type here. We got directions on how to get to Todai-ji from a bus driver, and made it there safely. On the way, we saw a cool park with, what else, deer. There was also a really nice pond with some trees, and then an old guy sitting under some trained trees. Closer to Todai-ji, we found a little stream going over rocks in the middle of trees, and that ate up some more memory on my card. A couple fox spirits guarded another small shrine, and we got to the first entrance of Todai-ji. It was guarded by more deer!!! Before getting in, Scott was stopped by some middle schoolers who had some English homework. He answered their questions about how he liked the movie Bambie and we were on our way. Once inside the first gate, there was another one along the way, but the first gate had two 45 foot tall wooden statues of protector kings of the east and west. They looked like they could do the job, too. The way to the second gate yeilded another little shrine, showing how well Shintoism and Buddhism work together. The second gate had the admission bit, but the 500 yen was well worth it. Then we had our final approach to the building which holds the Daibutsu, the giant bronze statue that is one of the biggest, if not the biggest Buddha statue in Japan. To the right is a golden spire where a 7 story pagoda stood until a big earthquake hit a few hundred (maybe less) years ago. I would have loved to see that. We got a group shot right about where I had my group shot when I was here with 50 people three years ago. Only 5 of us now. The Daibutsu is still giant and peaceful as he was three years ago, and probably will be for many, many years to come, I hope. Of course, my flash sucks and I couldn't get a decent picture of him. On either side of him are brightly shining Bodhisattvas, who are Buddhas in Training. Further around was a statue of another protector king, then a scale model of the original Todai-ji complex, with the 7 story pagoda. Keep walking, and we found the pillar with a hole in it. Buddha's Nostril! A random Japanese woman went through it, and then Allan slid through. Meghan was next, followed by Scott, and then some Japanese people. Jamie and I couldn't fit. I guess I will have to deal with being enlightened once. I picked up a couple postcards at the shop and we were ready to head out. I did get a picture of Scott messing with his footbag outside of Todai-ji, and Allan doing a headstand. Showoffs. It was time to walk through the Touristy strip which was starting to close as we walked. Meghan got her Pepsi Blue, which is very disgusting, but just introduced to Japan. Poor people. I found an ashtray that said "Shika no Fun Fun Fun Odoridayo!" which means "Deer's Fun Fun Fun Dance!" and a washcloth that had a couple people going at it and said "No F**king" without the asterisks. They alswo had really cool door hangings that looked cool and a bunch of katana that were more than likely crap, and things like that. The 5 of us went back to the station, and checked out an arcade where we got Purikura, the sticker club thing, which was more fun than should have been allowed for taking pictures in a tiny booth. Hey now, it's all G-Rated. We had to get back home though. So we went and hopped the train, which happened to be the more expensive one. It cost 500Y extra, but was faster and more comfortable. Back at Kyoto, we transfered to our train home, which was a pretty busy train, but Allan and I got a Rush Hour seat. We got off the train and had to eat, having only had the small baked goods hours before, and McDonald's was open for 10 minutes more, so Allan and I went there. Scott, Meghan, and Jamie went to Chanpon. We ate quickly and rode home, sitting in the computer lab to upload and share pictures. We whored out our memory cards to each other and got the best pics. I have uploaded all of mine, but the rest will be up in a few days. And now today I typed this, then I plan on going to an import food store momentarily, going to get a used yukata, and then doing homework until my eyes bleed. It was a great week, really. Besides that stupid midterm, at least...