Nothing much to report today, so it's time for a:
Train Lesson
Before riding a train, you have to buy a ticket that corresponds to how far you want to go. Each station is usually lumped together with at least one other by distance away from your current location, and the farther away that group of stations is, the more it costs to get to one of them. The price starts at 150 yen and with each new grouping goes up by 50 yen. After you purchase your ticket, you insert it arrow first (there is a little illustration) into a slot as you walk through a barrier. You have to keep walking, because your ticket will pop up at the other end pretty quickly. Keep hold of it!
Now, not every train will stop at the station you want, or even the one you are waiting at, even if it passes through there. So, once on the platform consult a map. It will show different colored lines with circles under the names of stations. The color represents the type of train, whether express or local, etc. The circles represent stops. If one line does not have a circle under the name of a station, that means that it doesn't stop there. Also, when a line ends, that means that is as far as that particular train goes. Don't worry if you have to get off of on train and board another, you don't have to go buy another ticket.
So now you have taken the train to your destination and are moving off the platform to the exit. Take your ticket out and feed it through the slot again. A computer (I guess) will calculate the value of the distance between where you started and where you are getting out (maybe when, too, I don't know if tickets expire). If you paid the correct amount, then it keeps your ticket and you can walk on through without any problems. But if you didn't pay enough, then doors will swing out to block your way and security will come. The barriers might be motion sensored, too, so if you lose your ticket you can go talk to the employee on duty to see about purchasing a new one while still inside the station. Need I bother warning against trying to jump through?
It's an expensive but highly efficient method of mass-transport. I pay 200 yen to get from Kuzuha, where I am staying, to Goten-yama, where the university is. I wish the States had something like this.
Regarding buses, they are efficient and timely like the trains, but they are also as expensive and don't go as far or as fast. 210 yen (about $2.10 U.S.) a ride is really tough.

Observations:
I was doing my homework while sort of watching a show where people did famous impressions. I looked up suddenly though when I heard something I wasn't expecting for another four months, and certainly not here-24 music. I saw a Jack Bauer look-alike doing the "Drop your weapon and get down on the ground!" line. That was almost as surprising as the fact that he did this without raising his voice in the slightest. What are they watching over here??
Melon soda tastes like lime jello, but liquid. It's sooooo weird...
I still have not seen a single cat. I can't fathom that there aren't any in this area, there's gotta be a cat lover somewhere...