Early this morning, Hideo-san's father passed away. If you can, please take a moment of silence.

The writing test wasn't as difficult as I thought, but then I studied for about five hours for this thing. What it was was long; about six pages worth of stuff to translate, fill in, and answer, and all in 50 minutes. Luckily, and I hate to say this, because I couldn't answer three questions I was able to finish on time. No one, and I mean no one, who took it knew what the stupid word for 'to place an order' was(it's chuumonsuru).
The koto teacher instructed us on how to play the difficult new song the internationals were given, but only the first page. Not only have I gotten through all five pages, however, but I can do it at least three times faster than she has us go. I may be awesome, or completely insensitive to Japanese music tradition. Either way, I'm good to go for the festival in three weeks.
Today was not a good day. That had nothing to do with anything at all, and was not due in any part to an outside stimulus. It was just one of the days where I want to kill everyone I see(sadly, this is not an expression or exaggeration). Good thing it calmed down before I got home huh? What did lighten my mood was learning about France and Scientology. If you haven't heard, just go to wikipedia's first page and get ready to shout hurray.

So, today I had my Reading/Writing paper midterm, and I definitely made up for any points I missed with the interview. Tomorrow I have the Speaking paper midterm, where I am expecting the very opposite to happen. What could be worse? Well, it could be raining harder. When it rains here, the barely flowing rivers (all of which have concrete embankments) rise at least two feet. I would have hated to live here centuries ago in the rainy season.
When it's not raining, the weather tends to stay at an oh-so-disgusting 70 or so. Where's the fall weather!? This is not what I expect from October in the Northern Hemisphere. Although, maybe Japan also falls under the influence of the Halloween phenomenon; on that night, it's always warm enough, and if it rains it holds off until later in the night. I can't be the only one whose noticed this, can I?
Today I tried to get vending machine ramen, but it just ate my money. So I paid again and got 1 cup. The next guy got 2. He looked confused, and left the extra there, but later must have changed his mind and came back to get it. I took it and put it away before he got back, though. I didn't feel like trying to overcome a language barrier just to explain why it was mine by rights.
Spell check says that 'ramen' isn't a word. Whoever typed up this word bank has got to have been the lamest college student ever.

Barbie is a Boddhisatva; Buddha uses the Giga Drill Breaker?!

Well, the first part of my exams are over and done with. I was really nervous and could have done better in reading/writing, but could have done worse in speaking. Afterwards, I beat the game Golden Sun: The Lost Age, something I've been trying to do for years. All in all, not a bad day.
Today I went to see a movie called The Rebirth of Buddha, because I was able to get a free ticket. It was put out by the Happy Science religious organization, which is like Japan's very own Scientology. I didn't go for the message (since I couldn't understand the dialog anyway), I went to see what kinds of animation techniques they would use for propaganda. Happy Science has their own political party, and in the last election they actually ran a candidate for every possible seat. They didn't win a single one though, so this movie came out at a good time for them, now it can chase away all the rest of their support. But it wasn't nearly as good as Scientology's cartoon (the South Park episode :)
The leader of this new religion thinks he's Buddha, and in the movie he is Buddha. He uses spiritual powers to open the hearts of the people in order to battle evil spirits from hell, aliens, and a rival religious organization controlling them all (which is very obviously Sokka Gakkai). When he defeats the final boss, he jumps onto (combines) with a magical elephant he summoned and pierces the evil adversary with light from his arm (see, it's the Giga Drill Breaker!). Then dozens of naked barbies descend from heaven and turn his power into a giant bodhi tree.
Put lightly, the movie sucked. But it did open my eyes to one thing-the Japanese have a religion that can combat the evil forces of Zenu! Maybe they can wipe each other out...

Observations:
One of the bats likes me. Maybe I should reclaim my childhood title as King of the Bats...
Here's a list of everything I've eaten on campus so far: rice, curry, curry with pork, udon, curry udon, zaru udon, shio ramen, tamagoyaki, karage-don, miso soup, pineapple, grapefruit, chips, chocolate, melon pan, choco-melon pan, chocolate/milk-roll, churros, doughnuts,cream tarts, cup ramen, ice cream, and McDonalds. The list of what I eat at my home-stay is way longer.

Yesterday was very decent, for a change; I didn't get aggravated in Japanese class once. For lunch, I had what will probably go on my Top 10 Strange Food Combinations list-curry udon. It is exactly like it sounds, noodles in broth with curry sauce poured in. For a country of spice wimps, it was amazing. It was hot, hotter even than cajun sausage sandwiches, and easily the messiest thing I have ever tried to eat with chopsticks (even the Japanese acknowledge how messy it is). In Anime class we watched Millennium Actress, which has amazing visuals. Every scene is set up to be able to transition into a completely different scene without disrupting flow. And in Sign Language, I got to play telephone. It's not easy when the person before you doesn't understand half of what's being signed, and then you have to make something out of whatever.
Today I slept late. Since there was no class for me in the morning, I didn't have to get up on time. But others did, because half my classmates had the first part of their mid-term exam today. I have two tomorrow, so today was study-like-crazy time. I have to be able to read a randomly selected passage (not hard), and hold a full-keigo conversation with my Kansai-ben, mile-a-minute-speaking teacher (very hard). And then on Monday and Tuesday I've got the written exams. I need more sleep -_-

Observations:
Japan might not be the land for me if my teacher isn't acting stereotypical in his skits. In every boss/worker skit, a worker is supposed to roll over to anything the boss says, even if it is totally unreasonable and too troublesome for the worker (like helping his boss move, driving him to the station because he's tired to drive himself, obey his every whim, etc.). Even though it's just pretend, I have to hold myself back from lashing out-physically. I've got pride, and I just can and will not bend over backwards like that. Respect for superiors has its limits.
Real dogs come out at night. Neighborhood cats hide all the time. And turtles live in public ponds. If I see the herons wearing top hats, I'll just skip the next few steps and commit myself.
I heard this a while ago: "I've got to study for a test." "A test in one of your classes?" No, stupid, to get his pilot's licence. Heeeere's your sign.

Sunday was the best day I've had over here. The local elementary school was having its fall Sports' Day, and I went with another family and their host student, Sora (lucky him, Sky translates directly into Japanese). So I got to see a traditional school festival that all schools in Japan have, which fits into my interests. I participated in one event, which was trying to toss bean bags into a tiny 12-foot-high basket. My hand-eye coordination sucks, so I couldn't get a single one in. Most of the events were some form of relay. I guess in order to have over twenty wide participation events there's no choice but to put running in most of them. There were four overall teams, separated by which area families lived in in relation to the school. There were some government officials that came and gave speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies, but I was glad to see that they were paid almost no attention :) Just because politics are more prominent here doesn't mean that people have to care about it.
After the morning events we got some bentos and left instead of waiting for the afternoon ones. This family like to drive, and we went up into the mountains (real mountains this time) north of Kyoto to Biwako, or Lake Biwa. I had heard of this lake outside of anime references because it's famous as the largest lake in Japan. From the shore, though, it looked pretty tiny. That was because a bridge in the distance was cleverly disguised to appear as the other bank. It is actually gigantic, I've only seen lake Pontchartrain as bigger. There was a large mountain to the west that looked like a nice two hour hike, but I knew we couldn't do that (this couple is elderly).
We did however, get to drive up it. And it was not, like thought, a simple mountain. It was none other than Hiei-zan, the legendary mountain of the origins of Japanese Buddhism. And it had only looked average because of the distance I was from it. This thing was huge! Even with the elevation differences, I bet it easily beats the height on the Appalachian mountains. The whole thing was like a bunch of mountains had gotten together and just piled on top of one another, because it extended farther than Asheville's city limits (which are deceptively large). The sides were lush with forest and as steep as the Pyrenees, and they just kept going up and up. At the first outlook I looked north and saw the second peak easily towering over the one I was on, and I was only 1/4 the way up then. In looked like a scene out of a Miyazaki film.
In case you haven't guessed, I love mountains.
Yesterday was a slap back to earth. With two tests and midterms coming up, there's just no way I'm going to be able to go to that festival on Thursday. I did all of my Japanese homework yesterday, just to be able to have enough time to study everything for Friday. This put me in a bad mood, which only compounded when my new tsume carved ridges into my fingers. And I really want to kill one of the dogs. I mean really kill. I've always held that animals are just as intelligent as humans, but now I've revised that to some animals. That little rat-thing is the very epitome of everything negative about canines, and it's not housetrained despite being with this family for over three years. Everytime it barks I want to kick it across the street.
I've got two months of this left, and I just can't see how it's all going to be filled up. We've only got two more chapters in the Genki book, and those will be gone in 2-3 weeks. What after that? Intensive review? We could sure use it.

Observations:
Everywhere I look, someone has a t-shirt with engrish on it. According to one: Garden Mosters-die by their own swordi dig their shoes they are like a child
What is it with bats and my hair? There's a colony living near me, and this isn't the first time I've had run-ins with one.
Apparently, it's just the middle-of-nowhere towns and big cities that are ugly. Once you get up by mountains, the small towns are really beautiful (I guess the same could be said of our cities).

This coming week is going to be fun. Monday is a two-chapter Kanji test. Monday and Tuesday evenings are Koto, while Wednesday is sign language. Thursday I want to go see an all-night matsuri that is supposed to be one of the most authentic in Japan, but Friday morning I have parts of midterms for both Japanese classes. Whoop-de-f---ing-doo.
Today I went to Hiroshima, waking up at six just to make it to the meeting place on time. And I have a new opinion of Shinkansens now: just because they can go super fast, doesn't mean that they will. The ones I rode couldn't have been doing over 100mph. But they are really convenient; if I hadn't gotten off at Shin-Osaka coming back, I could have ridden all the way to Tokyo on the same line.
I hope this doesn't spoil anything for anyone, but Japanese cities could hardly be said to be beautiful. They look grey, cold, and dirty most of the time, and the only actual nice places to be are either historic sites or temples/shrines. Even downtown Kyoto truly looks like this. That said, Hiroshima Peace Park is probably the prettiest place I have seen thus far, even better than Kiyomizu-dera. It feels like being in the middle of the Audubon Zoo, the trees are tall and twisty, and the ground alternates between dirt and grass in a nice way. The things on the ground were a let-down, though. Everything was ridiculously spaced apart, it made all the memorials seem diminished in importance.
You might have seen the before/after areal pictures of when there were buildings and then there were none. Those images do not do it justice. This year was the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Peace Park as well as the submission of a photo collection by a famous Japanese photographer from Hiroshima who documented the aftermath and the city's reconstruction. So his special collection was on display, with one enlarged, side-by-side panning of the epicenter. I was so horrified I couldn't move. I looked like something out of the dust bowl, dirt and rubble were everywhere but it was all laid out completely flat. It was as if a giant hand had just brushed over the surface of the ground and everything was just swept away. I also saw a shadow. They're starting to fade, but you can still easily make them out.
I also got to visit Hiroshima castle. The real one was destroyed in the blast, but it was reconstructed only three years later (some priorities...). On the third floor there was a weapons and armor exhibit, showing what had been saved in the castle's collection. And among them was a treasure beyond treasures: a Muramasa. It was only a tanto, and it was just the blade without the handle, but that thing must be worth more than the castle itself. That's probably why the guard was there, to stop anyone from stealing it (but who watches the watch?). It's a shame they don't allow photography in Japanese historic sites. It's like the board of tourism is afraid they'll lose money because people will just look at pictures instead. That may be true, but how else can you advertise and get new visitors?
If you ever come to Japan, you should try Mos Burger. It's like their version of a McDonald, because it's the symbol of a Japanese hamburger. The strange thing was, the ground beef is mixed with basil. It was really neat. After that I tried some hot cakes (that's what they call them here, so I will go with it, but I absolutely refuse to call them anything other than pancakes back home). And, like every kind of bread that's supposed to be its own meal, it was sweet. Even without the syrup. Bleagh (hah, try correcting that word, spell check!)

Observations:
The Kansai region is actually pretty flat I bet a long time ago it was just like a still version of those needle toys that lets you make impressions in it. Then the gods probably smacked it a few times and there you go: instant giant, strange, maze-like arranged mountains. It's like living in a maze where the path between hedges is wide, and the exit is adrift in space. They're everywhere, but only where the ground isn't already flat. It looks very primal.

Skip Angry, go stright to Smash

This week has kept me busier than I have been since orientation week. The last two days I had no time after classes to do any homework, so I had to do it all between classes. And at night, I worked on my report for Anime class (why is spell check telling me anime isn't a word, if this keeps happening I'm going to learn to hack in Google and rewrite all their word processing software, argh it pisses me off!) So essentially, I had no time to do anything fun for the first time in years, and I learned that I don't react well to such a thing. Kudos to my parents for lasting as long as they have, but I would have self-destructed long ago if I were them.
On a brighter note, since I did get all my work for the week finished yesterday, I've gone on an anime binge (that's it, spell check DIES!) and the new Dragon Ball Z remake is frankly awesome. Gone are all the four-episode-power-ups-with-no-actual-action sequences. No longer are there fillers turning a 104-max episode show into over 400. If you're a fan of the original series, you have got to watch this. Only twenty-seven episodes and it's already well into the Namek arc.
Missing a lesson in sign language really makes a difference. Since most of the class is conducted in silence, I have no idea what new signs are until I can use the old ones as reference. Japanese class is kinda like that now, too; either I get everything or look like a complete fool. I've bought a phrase book to supplement class Japanese with street Japanese, and already I love it. This would be because it comes with a menu guide that has kana and kanji, so now I can actually know what lots of places have to offer (this includes the cafeteria).
Midterms are coming up here, and I'm hearing stories about blonds having breakdowns because they can't keep up with their language studies. On some level, I'd really like to sympathize, but they're blonds so I just can't stop laughing. Also, if I hear one more ignorant person whining about how ridiculous 'can-ji' is, I'm gonna lose it. If you don't like it and won't put in the effort, then just go home already!
Sorry for the rant (it felt good, though). Next time I'll be calmer.

Observations:
Breast/condom ice cream. Don't ask.
Supposedly, every school in Japan is supposed to have the same bell soundtrack for starting and ending classes. I like that the local high-school has unusual tastes; they play Yesterday instead :)
Remember the epic, two-note piece used for Lord of the Rings trailers? Forklifts seem to come in those two-note varieties as well. If I could just get ahold of some...

This weekend, my host's family's first host student, Carl, came to visit them with two of his old Kansai Gaidai friends, Dianna and Cash. Man, I with I could have the same relationship with the kids that he has. Put simply, those three are just cool; they communicate well enough, they all have jobs with the JET program, and they're easily sociable (the trait I envy the most). They also relate with the parents better than I do. What do I need to do to be like that?
I bought the Shinkansen ticket I'll need to get back from Hiroshima next Saturday. It was really hard to find the ticket booth, though. There's a little store underneath the Hirakata-shi station that looks more like a retirement/clinic sign-up than a travel agency. I've got a reservation for 6:37 pm, so I'll get a morning and evening ride on the fastest commercial transportation vehicle in the world. They should put up one of these across the Pacific; then, getting back and forth would only take at most eight hours instead of eleven.
Yesterday I was mistaken for Jesus. This isn't anything new; in high school it was always said I was John Lennon with my glasses on and Jesus with them off. But this time it was different. A woman stopped my in the convenience store to tell me my hair looked very pretty. Then when I thanked her, she made the sign of the cross. I'm not sure I like people treating me as a god. Unless it's Tatsuki when he sees me eating apples, he calls me Ryuk and I'd be quite happy to be a shinigami.
Today was a day off nationally, while schools played it off as 'Sports' Day'. So, aside from sleeping in and working on a paper, I went to Umeda to look for an otaku store my teacher pointed me to. It is every american fan's paradise; they've got manga, anime, CDs, DVDs, video games, trading cards, novels on tape, towels, pillows, figurines, doujins, model kits, masks, and cosplay. Three whole stories of it. And all the while music from various anime is being played and I can hum/sing along to almost every song! The only reason I'm not still there is I ran out of money to spend. I got a five-piece Gurren Lagann figurine set and two Code Geass model kits, which may have been a mistake: I've got no idea how to do the paint job on the pieces. I also tried on Code Geass' Leleuch's emperor outfit from the final episode. I was able to get it on, but I couldn't zip up the back of the shirt because of my broad shoulders. Also, the sleeves were too small. That was the largest size they had, so I had to abandon my cosplay dreams as quickly as they had come (no Beelzeneuf puppet, either). The weird thing is, though, the pants were an almost perfect fit. What kind of person is that costume outfitted for!?
I am now taking orders for various Japanese goods. Simply send me a request for some type of item, and I'll reply with a list of all the things I can find in that range and their prices, with no mock-ups. Just leave a message under a blog from here on with contact info, and I'll get back to you. Be warned, though-If I receive any complaints of people getting unrelated e-mails or spam, I will terminate this service.
Observations:
Evangelion and Cowboy Bebop music has been added to almost any show that involves visiting or exploring new and exotic places. It's really frustrating, because I keep looking around at the sound of music I know only to find it's some guy in a ramen shop in Tokyo, or a documentary about a submarine crew.
I've been to Shakeys' now, and I can say it's not really impressive. Sure, it's all-you-can-eat, but the food's just average. That other pizza restaurant practically next door is way better (if the onion is left off :)
I have finally seen a real dog (as opposed to all these rat-mutts Japanese seem to adore as cute [they're not]). I was higher than my knees, pure white, and had fur that was at least a foot long covering its entire body, except the nose. Nice to know someone here appreciates a real animal.

Tyfoons and Banana Curry

I've had my suspicions, and it seems I was right about all this rain. It's tyfoon season over here. Right now Tyfoon #18 is blowing up from Kyushu, and the wind and rain is pretty strong. There's a chance that classes will be canceled tomorrow if this keeps up.
Yesterday was another koto lesson; this time, us international students got to receive instruction as well. I was really happy when, out of everyone, I was the only person who didn't have to fix anything about my playing. I also payed for fitted tsume (picks), which I should get next time the teacher comes. It was a bit expensive, but then again, the picks are made from ivory.
Today marked the beginning of a new era; let it be known to all that I now have access to my meal stipend! Daa da da daaah! I've got about ten dollars a day for lunch and snacks, and this will really help me out, since all this rain is making me shell out about that much just for transportation to and from class.
We were supposed to watch Pom Poko in Anime class today, but a dvd mix-up had us watching Mononoke-hime instead. Not that I'm complaining about getting to see my favorite movie, but it did make class run over. I missed this week's sign language meeting, so I went to go try some new snacks to make up for it.
Traveling Abroad Rule #2: I tested this in France, and I've confirmed it here-bbq chips are your friends. Also, Meiji chocolate's not bad, either.
Dinner was something I never would have imagined, although looking at Indian culture, I probably should have realized this was possible: banana curry. It really is a surprise when you bite into potato only to realize that it's not potato. But it wasn't bad.

Observations:
There are a lot of street dancers at Kansai Gaidai. And I mean a lot. After classes are over and done with, every part of campus with an overhead roof is packed with people practicing until at least 8 o'clock. And they take it very seriously, too, so I just can't put them in the same category as those annoying show-offs back home.
Osaka is apparently the headquarters for Japan's biggest store for otaku products. In other words, I have landed right in the middle of anime heaven.

I went, I saw, I ate it-now ask how much it costs

Yesterday was one big fulfilment of my desire for pizza. I took the train to Kyobashi station on the very fringes of Osaka (apparently Hirakata is in an area referred to as Osaka, and not the city proper itself, kinda like Manhattan isn't really NYC). From there, I had fun (LIES!) learning all about the subway system, which I used to get to Shinsaibashi, sort of the shopping/corporate business section of the city. I had read that Shakey's, the recommended pizza place, was closed for renovations, but there was another famous one called Slices six blocks from the station. Guess what happened next...
After failing to find anything, I walked back to the station and then headed in the opposite direction. Not one block away I found a proclaimed Italian restaurant that had pizza. I rushed up to the third floor (hey, it was a fast elevator) and proceeded to stare at the menu, hating katakana. There are easily over 50 times the number of kanji as katakana, and I truly believe it would be just that more easier to memorize all of them as opposed to these stupid loan word characters. Luckily, Europe taught me all about Maurgarita pizzas. I got one of those, which redefined the meaning of small; I could have easily held two-thirds of it in my hands! But it what almost exactly what I asked for-sauce, cheese, and one whole basil leaf on each slice (?)-so I was happy, if not full.
Then I walked into a tunnel carved through several buildings that served as a kind of mall, where I found another restaurant with pizza. But this time, it was real food. Pepperoni is called salami over here (can't believe I needed a picture to figure that out) and is exactly the same as back home. The only reason I didn't finish the whole thing in two minutes was because I had to pick off slices of onion. I swear, the person who created onion must have thought "let's make a vegetable that no one wants as a topping but is so transparent they can't pick all of it off". But the Japanese word for onion is tamanegi, so next time I'll just say "tamanegi ga nai kudasai" and all will be well.
Right after I left I found where Shakey's is. And it wasn't closed. It's just finished renovations and is celebrating it's first anniversary. The place is actually pretty easy to spot; just look for the line of over one hundred people wrapped around it waiting to get in. I think I'll stick with the other place until things cool down.
One of the good things about rain is that fall weather has now come in earnest. It is finally cool enough for me to wear long sleeves again. Yay! (short sleeves=hate) I've signed up to go on the Hiroshima trip in two Saturdays from now. With a group discount Shinkansen ticket I had to pay 7,430 yen (roughly $74.30). I don't get a discount for coming back, though, and taking seven hours using local trains instead of the 1 hour 40 minute Shinkansen would only save me ten bucks. And they say America's the capitalist giant...

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, no rain, no rain, then repeat. That's what the cycle over here looks like, with the no rain parts on the weekends. This sucks; I'm getting tired of riding the train to class all the time when I have an alternative that doesn't cost anything.
It turns out that there is an awful lot to Grave of the Fireflies that I never got before, not the least of which is the pun with the title. Hotaru has two kanji- one means firefly, and the other is like 'that which shines in the darkness'. The movie is based on a book a man wrote from his experiences during the firebombing. He actually had two sisters, one real and one adopted, who he watched die after all three were orphaned. Surprisingly, the book and the movie were made to examine the relationships between people during chaotic times, and weren't made with a single thought towards the morality of war, or the fighting that took place. When looking at it from a sociological perspective instead of a normal movie-viewing one, it really is well made and quite informative.
Today I went to three places in Kyoto. The first was Fushimi-Inari, so I could get that quail. And I got what I asked for; it was a complete bird, simply plucked and grilled. I had to look at its dead face the whole time, and could only think one thing: 'This would be excellent if not for the bones!' I also bought some travel chopsticks and carrying case. These chopsticks were carved especially to assist with eating ramen :)
Then I went to Kiyomizu, probably the most famous Buddhist shrine in Japan. While we have the phrase 'All roads lead to Rome' to mention how roads can always bring us back together (and why do we do that, exactly, it doesn't make a bit of sense) they have over here the phrase 'to set out from Kiyomizu/to leap from the Stage of Kiyomizu', which refers to starting a journey. I got to stand up on the Stage, which is a giant terrace about 20-30 feet above the ground. It has actually been documented that no one who has fallen from the Stage has ever died as a result. There is also a fountain with three founts. While the monks maintain that the only virtue received from drinking any of the three is longevity, urban interpretations have been around for centuries. The one I know goes longevity, wisdom, and luck in love. Of course, I drank from the middle one (I know what my priorities are). I bought a cup for 200 yen to use, and I'm bringing it back home with me. Before I left, I finally got to try some mitarashi dango, which was on my 'eat in Japan' list. I wonder if anyone remembers Smacks, a cereal from about fourteen years ago with a frog mascot. They were almost exactly like that, except with a stronger taste. They were delicious, but I found out later that they sadly don't agree with me.
My last stop was Gion. While I couldn't find the temple with the world-famous bell (maybe it was just a place with the same name), I did come across a giant statue of Kannon, the bodhisattva of mercy. Now, I've seen giant buddha statues before. I seen pictures of the biggest buddist statue in the world which is somewhere around Vietnam, I think, so in retrospect this one wasn't so big. But that biggest one is literally one piece carved out of the side of a jungle mountain. So I never would have thought that this three story statue would be able to sit on top of a one story building! Honestly, it looked like it could crush the thing at any moment. The best part about walking to and from that temple was that in a shopping district the loudspeakers were alternating between Beatles music being played on piano, and polka. What the hell?
Tonight I had my first experience with shellfish. I don't think it counts, though, since the Japanese really don't have a sense for cooking (Ever had fries with pepper on them? The Japanese think that's about as spicy as a human can tolerate).

Observations:
Senbei might be rice crackers, but they don't have to taste anything like rice. The one's I'm munching right now are more like giant fortune cookies.
When I had quail and dango, they brought out what I thought might have been barley tea. It was iced coffee flavored like bittersweet chocolate. Eww.
Japanese television is bad for your health. There are so many shows about dangerous and stupid stunts that I feel as if I need to lie down after seeing them (sitting on a pile of balancing chairs while the front two legs of the bottom one are hanging off the edge of a mile-high cliff, for example).

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain. And never when when it would get in my way. Just enough to make it unsafe to ride my bike. The rain over here is so depressing. Now compound that with Grave of the Fireflies, which I watched in class yesterday. Utter defeat.
When I was browsing so blogs from former students, trying to pin down that anime shop, I learned that in Shinbabashi there is an all-you-can-eat pizza restaurant (GOD, I want pizza so bad!). The blog was written by a New Yorker, so that should vouch for the food. Saturday or Sunday I'll head over and try it. Don't know which day 'cause I gotta go back for that quail, too :)
Today Hideo-san's father was moved into a hospital for the elderly. He has cancer and apparently it just took a turn for the worse. I was told he doesn't have much time to live, but the Japanese don't go through denial as nearly as much as we do, so I'm not sure just how long is 'not long'.
Tonight I had one of the foods I had been dreading most of all (not a singing village). While not as 'corn-happy' as the U.S., the Japanese certainly have invented strange way of using it as soups and porridges. Think beef stew, only there's less meat altogether then what makes up five of my fingers, and the broth is 100% corn paste. Eww. Not for the faint of heart, or humans for that matter.