Staying Up Past Eleven

Well hello! It's Sunday so the fun is done for the most part because I have to read and study, blah blah.

But Sunday also means I get to buy my Sunday treat, coffee! I drink the cheap 55 cent iced stuff all week and then splurge on a $3 hot coffee on Sundays. It's the little things, eh?

Anyways, this weekend was fun. I'll break it down for ya with photos:

Naturally, there are many bubble tea stands everywhere.

We went to this mall in Harajuku on Friday and it was really into Avril Lavigne. They had a HUGE poster of her hanging on the front and then the basement had an entire wall of magazines dedicated to her. I guess the Japanese are really advanced in some areas, and are totally clueless in others.

This photo is a good example of the traditional east meeting the modern west. Aka an old woman in a kimono ordering a six inch cold cut combo.

Crossing the street is basically the true stereotype that you see in the media. I blame it on the fact that the lights take forever to change so naturally a huge crowd will build up. This mob scene in Shinjuku is NOTHING compared to the one we saw in Shibuya on Saturday.

This is "Green Spice", which could also mean that she is matcha powder. We got in trouble for taking photos because I guess the fool doesn't want exposure. Geeze.

Ahhh Shinjuku! So fun.

Saturday morning. I usually wake up to this. I want to pet it BUT there are garbage cans nearby and I fear that it was probably just playing in them.

Later, we went to Shibuya where there is a HUGE department store called "Tokyo Hands". They had everything, including a play-doh-esque product where you could make neat pastries and stuff and a selection of miniature bottles of liquor. My mom has a tiny collection of miniature bottles of liquor; not because she is an alcoholic but because she's really into miniature versions of things that look fancy, e.g. alcohol bottles, antique salt and pepper shakers, tables, oil lamps, etc.

This cake is from a "pastel and pasta" cafe in one of the malls. It was mad cute. As always, Hannah and I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we started eating. Oh well.

We did some more shopping at this mall in Shibuya. They had a lot of neat clothing and towards the end of the evening I was finally finding stuff that I would actually wear. I was becoming a bit daunted because a lot of the stores were selling "American" inspired things like... plaid shirts that have car repair shop logos and stuff on them, weird leather goods, and pointed shoes. I guess that's a big trend right now. The Japanese are alllll about parameters in style so they'll pick the trend or style that they like, and then shop at a small handful of stores that exclusively sell that trend or style. It's pretty neat actually. One trend that I could easily get into is "British Preparatory School". It's all about mixin' tartans, loafers, peacoats, navy blazers, etc. It's great.


NUTS stands for "New Urban ____ Space".


Aaaand I finally found the shop I had been looking for. It was pretty neat... although there was nothing I would buy. The owner was really nice and we chatted about this and that and told him we'll be BACK.

Other weekend highlights:

-- Really awesome "antique clothing store" with great music, clothes, and friendly staff
-- Delicious tacos. The tortillas were made out of rice paper, but it didn't stop them from being amazing.
-- Downpours (wouldn't be a weekend in Tokyo without some!)
-- Speaking French on the last train home
-- Eating curry

Etc. etc.

Now I'm going to get my coffee, eat, and e-mail the Spanish embassy.

Olé!

All Worku and No PaaTee

Studying abroad is what it is! It's not a semester off as some kids might say.

Anyways, I had my other two classes the other day. That included "Japanese Art", which is a low upper-level art history class covering Japanese art from the dawn of time up until now. Crrrazy. Then about three hours later I have "Youth and Deviant Subculture" with Hannah and about 1,000 other people who I sort of know. We got off to a hot start by debating what is and isn't deviant and the girl next to me was very passionate about arguing that incest was not taboo in every single culture. It was weird but the class should be a lot of fun and vurry interesting.

Also, I dropped my "Japan Today" class because it was writing intensive and combining that with my TWO art history classes and everything else, it was too much. Plus, once I dropped that I bumped my Japanese class to an earlier time meaning I'm done by 1:40 as opposed to 5:30. Hurrah!

This morning I don't have class until 1:40 but I had to wake up at seven so I could go to Shinjuku and apply for my alien registration card and also get the government sponsored health insurance. It did not take as long as I anticipated so I had plenty of free time to get lost on my way to the university and then scan every single page of every book I need to read for this semester. Ya see, Temple Japan's bookstore is very tiny and thusly, none of the books I need for this semester are there for sale. Professors either tell you to order off of Amazon (no way) or scan the books in the library. I did the latter because you can scan the entire book as a .pdf file and send it to your e-mail for FREE. This did take over an hour to do all of them, but hey, I only ended up spending $40 on books this semester (my Japanese book + the corresponding workbook). Hurrah!

No photos for this post because I'm updating at the computer lab BUT this weekend should be fun, including a trip to Harajuku and Shinjuku. Wooop!

Labour Day Means You Work Here

Hi hi. Before my American comrades even woke up yesterday, I had finished all my first day classes. Weird! Now, by the time I finish my second day of classes, most will not even have woken up to begin their FIRST. No labour day in Japan. Oh wells.

I managed to get myself to school using the Tokyo subway without getting lost! If you think trying to figure out the NY subway is difficult ( it isn't too bad once you do it a few times ) or the Philly subway system ( the main lines just go up and down and then left to right... ) than do not attempt Tokyo system unless you have some getting-lost time to spare. There are TWO different systems owned by two different companies and both are massive. Swirl in that most of the signs are in Japanese, and you've got a confusion stew. By it's not too bad I suppose. Hopefully this weekend I will attempt to go to Shibuya and Harajuku. Oh and downtown Shinjuku again. Technically, we live in the ward of Shinjuku but Takadanobaba is so big, that it's almost it's own little ward.

After getting to school, I of course had my classes. It's a very long day that could get daunting as the semester continues.

10:30 - 11:30 I have "Russian Avant-Garde". It's an Art History course discussing the abstract / crazy Russian art pre-World War II, revolution, Soviet, and maybe post-Soviet. Should be good. The professor seems understanding and friendly. She's English as a Second Language with a noticeable accent and there are many ESL students in there of an Asian persuasion so I wonder if that will be difficult for them.

12:40 - 1:40 is Japan Today. It's a modern history course. The professor wrote a series of books and seems to love the topic and his non-stop talking did not bore me and made time go by quickly. Reminds me a bit of High School 'social studies' courses ( which I loved FYI ).

4:50 - 5:50 Japanese intermediate begins. After what seemed like an eternity in between classes ( two hours and twenty minutes ) I had to take an exam to see where I stand in Japanese. It was really hard... so we'll see. I really want to drop this class because: a) I took more classes than suggested b) It's a really draining class c) It's really late in the day. I shouldn't drop it because it's basically Japanese and what better time and place to learn Japanese than now. Ugh ugh.

After that, I came home and Hannah and I hunted down a curry place to eat. We also saw a bubble tea restaurant and a pudding shop. How fun!

Photos:

Part of my on-going drink experimentation, I tried this Mitsuya Cider. The liquid is clear so I wasn't sure if it was just going to be water. It turned out to be a less sweet and really delicious version of Sprite. I couldn't place the flavor until I eventually wikipedia-ed it.

Breakfast yesterday. A big spongy piece of bread with sugar on top and choco swirled all about. Also, the usual banana and coffee.

This type of brown curry is basically EVERYWHERE. It's almost always served with the curry on one side, rice on the other. Then there are bunch of toppings and stuff you can get. I got eggplant and it was so so so good.

Japanese TV shows are so weird.
Japanese olympic softball team player getting kissed by these chefs. It's some complicated show where the interviewees sit on the top of this stage and talk with the interviewer while two chefs cook down below. After the interview wraps up, the interviewees eat and decide which they like best. It's kind of fun to watch...


Wha-bam! Outta nowhere, Will Smith and Charlize Theron show up.

Oh Tokyo, Je T'aime.

Land of the Setting Sunday

Tomorrow classes begin already! Booo. That means while you kids are enjoying your Sunday, you I will be in class and you won't even have to worry about your classes til Tuesday!

Anyways, Hannah and I had a busy last day of summer.

I started my morning with a banana and a rice cake wrapped in nori. Iced coffee is EXTREMELY popular over here. Since it's also extremely cheap compared to hot coffee, I just microwave the iced. Not as delicious, but it will suffice (for now).

Cat hangin' out on my porch with me.

After breakfast, I walked around town while Hannah was getting ready. When we were about to head out for the day, we ran into the other TUJ students and they were going to a park in downtown Shinjuku so we tagged along.

Walking near Shinjuku Station (largest in the world I think?).

The park was massive and had zany trees.

And these weird things that looked like hands.

Jurassic Park bunker.

Traditional Japanese garden.


Crows are gigantic and do not care how close you get to them. I thought that one was going to eat Hanners for sure.

Snack time!!!






So many (disgusting) turtles.

These next two photos do not do justice to the sheer immensity of this park. These trees were so tall.


Lunch:
I had udon noodles and Hannah had hers with tofu.

So good (apart from standing).

Dinner:

We decided to eat at the restaurant that gave us our umbrellas the other night. They were again helpful because we didn't notice the "vending" machine in the front of the building. Basically, you put your money in this machine, pick what you want, and then you give your ticket to the people behind the counter and they make it. So fun!

Well like I said, tomorrow is my first day of classes. Boooo.

Rain Rain, GET OUTTA HERE

So it's basically been raining nonstop since I've been in Japan. And not just a little sprinkle here and there, monsoon style downpours for over 4/5ths of the day and night. Cute clear plastic umbrellas aside, it's no fun. Dodging into ike

It kind of sucks but as Hannah just pointed out a second ago, we will have plenty more nights.

Either way, here is what I did pre-evening rainout:

The most noticeable building in my neighborhood of Takadanobaba is the aptly named "BIG BOX". It's a huge building filled with clothing stores, a 100 yen shop, a used bookstore, food, and a huge arcade. Also, Uniqlo is in there! It's so cheap. Spain had me all prepared for expensive shizz, but in Tokyo, you can find so many affordable things.

Here are some photos from the arcade:
Painful-to-the-eye all-over wall paint.
Non-plussed bear prizes!
Fun photo booths!
A mere fraction of a fraction of the size of the place.
This game was MASSIVE (and had a silly name).

Lots of cute plush things.

Next we headed out of Takadanobaba to the "downtown" (what part of Tokyo ISN'T downtown?) section of Shinjuku.


These are just photos of SIDE streets in Shinjuku.

It was around here that we also experienced one of the infamous mass street crossings. I wish I had thought to take a photo.

After shopping / strolling the high-end stores of Shinjuku we stopped at a cake and coffee bar.

I had "mapuru tosuto" (maple toast) and Hannah had a nice little chocolate cake. We were the only white people in the whole place which I like. I also like that most of the menus have pictures of the food. So easy.

They even handed out complimentary tampons to the table! Psych, it's a moist toilette. But ya never know.

Then it rained some more.

Obvs not happy.

The train and a bicycle cemetery on our walk back to home.

More adventures tomorrow!