One hectic week down and out of the way. I've almost gotten all of my script for Tuesday done, and finished the homework I have until then, so now its just a matter of more practice and smoothing out the edges.
This week went by pretty fast, but that's probably because I kept myself busy. There are only two more weeks of regular classes, and then the week of exams. The only foreseeable problem is finding a religious ceremony or service to write a report on. I tried going to a party I was invited to on Friday, where I knew there would be students from a church and I could ask to tag along, but that was a major fail. I wandered around Umeda for an hour and a half lost and only found that I hate big cities. So that's a big 'to do' right now. Luckily, I don't have to turn it in until the end of the semester, so I figure I'll look for something this week and go next weekend.
This weekend, Carl, my host family's first student, and his friend and fellow JET colleague came to visit again for Tatsuki's birthday party. This was mainly focused around the evening, since they arrived at 6:30 and left this morning at 10:30. The kids simply adore him. If only I could overcome the language barrier, I know I could be like that too. Oh, well, motivation for the future. We also celebrated (hah!) Musashi's second birthday by giving him and Kojiro their own little cakes. Shame they weren't spiked with sleeping pills, the stupid mutt barks nonstop at any visitor that so much as breathes.
Yesterday I went to visit Tenri with my Religions' class. Tenrikyo has its headquarters there, surrounding a site they consider to be the place God created human beings. All in all, a pretty peaceful religion. I wish we could have such ideals about harmony and respect practiced all around in Western religions. There aren't a whole lot of Japanese who are religious (so don't believe anthropologists when they tell you otherwise, they're working with the Western view of 'religious'), but when people do practice they truly believe. Of course, that could turn into a bad thing (Aum Shinrikyo).

Observations:
I give up trying to follow Japanese weather. It just doesn't follow any patterns that a human should be able to distinguish (which may account for the weather forecasts...). The chaos theory is probably the best rational for what the temperature is going to be tomorrow.
Although it seems kind of late, the autumn colors have finally come out. Or maybe the word 'exploded' would be more accurate. The trees are leafing all at once, but they also put out some of the most vibrant reds and oranges I have ever seen. It's like a final display before winter, going out with a bang.
Japan's mountains are HUGE.
Here's my interpretation of a commercial I saw-Is that a skirt, oh my god that's a skirt, I can't believe she's actually wearing a skirt, my life has been leading up to staring wildly at this skirt, OH GOD THE SKIRT, buy this car!!-and end. I don't think I exaggerated at all.