In Other News...

I really wish I had an actual camera, as opposed to this make-shift poor-man's cell phone thing.  That might be changing soon if I can allocate my budget... stay tuned!

Also, more pictures incoming.  I assure you.

Japan's Food & Drinks - Week 1

Something everyone needs to experience when studying abroad is, without a doubt, the food from the host country. And... well, drinks too. Why not?

If there was any doubt the Japanese disliked fish and tofu, it was dispelled by this meal. It's pre-Western era Japanese food catered to those with older cultural tastes. Can't say I was totally into it since 3/4 the meal involved mushy and/or weirdly-textured items, but there's obviously a market for it since the place was packed. Since we're in Kyoto and all, there was a bit of distinctiveness to this specific Ganko restaraunt- it is placed in what used to be a (pre?) Meiji-era emperor's garden.

And here's some finished ramen. I really can't remember where I took this, and all I know that it is in fact a finished ramen bowl.

Of course, we hit up a liquor store, and there's tons of imported goods. Japan's all about the booze (whether you see it or not). Imported goods are a mixed bag- some things you think would be exhorbitantly more expensive are actually close to American prices, while some run-of-the-mill brands (like Budweiser) are hugely overpriced. Wild Turkey, for instance, was going for $12 a glass.

My beer of choice one day was this little guy. Satan Red. With a name like that, you can't go wrong. First "sweet" beer I've ever tasted, and while it was great for the first few chugs, I can't recommend a whole bottle of it. It's like drinking apple cider, Sweettarts, and liquor. Mmm, mmm!

There's definitely more to come in terms of food. In fact, I just took a culinary class in downtown Kyoto at a Food Network-esque professional kitchen, which far exceeded my expectations as to what our program would offer for a free class.

Good times so far. Making life exciting while in an apartment is difficult since you don't have your host parents to rely on for tips, help, and whatnot... but keeping busy definitely isn't hard this time around.

Home Sweet Home

Some quick pictures of my house to help fill in the larger picture. In short: I have a 2-foot entryway, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and balcony. The balcony is nothing special, I assure you (unless you're fascinated by washing machines and concrete).

This is where I get my morning cartoon-watchin' on. I still can't understand regular Japanese TV too well.

My bed, with a CJ on it.

Then there's my tiny lil' laptop desk where I study (or peruse the Internet, more of the latter).

My dank, cold kitchen. Japanese homes don't have central heating, and the heater's usually in the room where the most "living" goes on (i.e. bedroom). So there's a sealed door between my room and this, and I don't cook too often because I enjoy my limbs being non-frostbitten. Lawson ftw.

Aaaand, that's it for now. More to come soon.

Goodies Incoming

\With my baggage finally making its way to my room, I have the time and the motivation to actually post some updates.  Nothing like freeing up 30 minutes or more per day (not to mention the time spent traversing downtown to shop for new clothes...) to get your writing schedule freed up.

This is an oldie but a goodie- here's some Kansai-ben that's been around so long that even I learned it 4 years ago!  I asked a Japanese guy at a local bar to teach me some slang, and he sprung out 何でやね (nan de ya ne)！It's basically "what the fuck?", after someone says something you wish they hadn't.  This is one of those words that has numerous applications.  It's usually accompanied by the following motion:

Lastly, and perhaps most terrifyingly, I finally have my tiny little bike.  I might look like I stole a 12 year old's bike or I'm escaping from the midgit clown circus, but damn if it doesn't fold up and stash well in my げんかん.  You'll see what I mean when I get some pictures up.

That reminds me- more pictures will be on here soon (I promise) once I get a Micro SD card and size converter from an electronics shop.  There's tons of pictures I've been storing up, and it's not fair only me and my phone get to enjoy them.

Till next time.

Might As Well Start Somewhere

While I'm sitting on hold for Air France to pick up their line, I figure I might as well do something worthwhile (besides clicky-click around Facebook) and do the first update to this blog.

It's been only what... 4 days?  And what a long 4 days with the 6:30AM wake-ups, jet lag, and constant activity.  Actually, it's really been 4:11AM wake-ups until 6:30AM rolled around, horrendous jet lag making me yearn for a bed at 6PM, and lots of gaps between activities around campus.  Maybe KCJS wants us to get us acclimated to the new schedule while accounting for jet lag.  Maybe they just like breaks.  Who knows.

It's been a great experience getting back to Japan so far.  I actually feel like I know a thing or two this time around, which is a far cry from how I felt in the dormitories back in Kyushu where I had no cell phone, bike, or sufficient knowledge of kanji to read a Yahoo Map.

The people are great too.  Going to an ivy league-esque program has the potential to pit you against some intimidating competition, and maybe this is 4 years of UofM speaking, but I feel like everyone's down-to-earth and genuinely nice.  There's been no problems with anyone really, and that says something considering Japanese knowledge can be a pretty polarizing thing (see: anime discussions, long dissertations about Asian history, et al.).  Hopefully it keeps up when the returning students get back.　今までは、人間関係はよかったね。

Coincidentally, today marks the 4th day sans-baggage.  It seems Air France mixed up luggage at De Gaulle and- even now- they can't find where my baggage is on the tarmac.  That's a very disconcerting feeling considering my body doesn't fit Japanese clothing very well, I'm on a limited budget, and Air France is supposedly notorious for being stingy with missing baggage compensation.  I'm hoping for the best but anticipating the worst.  However this turns out, it'll be an interesting life experience!  Speaking of anticipating the worst, I've been on hold with them for a good hour now and haven't gotten a human yet.

Hopefully my experiment of including the Twitter updates to the right make this blog a bit more readable.  Bite-sized updates are easier on me since I'm trying to limit my Internets time in this new, crazy city... and I'm sure you don't want to read these long posts any more than I want to edit them so they're comprehendable.  Keep an eye peeled to the right or check out my Twitter directly to get more instantaneous updates.

From now till bed, I'll be checking out which cell phone providers offer the best prepaid plans (or short-term contract paid plans!).  I'm swayed toward Softbank thanks to the following phones:

versus au's toy-like phones:

and DoCoMo's lack of any prepaid phones whatsoever.  Not to mention, Softbank offers a 300 yen/30 day unlimited plan for texting, and since that's how things get done in these parts that's way better than paying for texts per message.

Well, time to go hound Skype some more until someone picks up over at Air France.  As a parting gift, here's my bedroom in my new apartment.  I'll give a more proper tour once I get a... proper camera.