Today was grocery shopping day, so Sara and I headed to the top floor of our department store to the hyakuen (100 yen) store called Daiso. We got a few things, but I found the most amazing thing today I had to share.
(For the record, duck faces are okay when they're too lazy to retake the picture done as a ridiculous face.
I'm not going to bother with any of the Japanese, but according to the English these are "Joint Party Series Matching Card" with "Boy meets girl version" in wavy font on the top and "Are we in love each other by any chance!?" in a corner. On the back of the package, there are instructions. I'll read these to you first in case you're confused.
1. Write down on cards each applicable name of opposite sex.
2. When you finish writing cards, turn down the cards and announce them!
Who would write down each other's name?
OKAY GUYS, GOT THAT? So, here is what is actually written on these heart cards. These are triple spellchecked btw, just in case you're wondering if maybe some of these were typos.
♥ Who seems good cook...
♥ Who seems glamorous...
♥ Who seems wheedling person...
♥ Who seems coquetry person...
♥ Who seems likable as pet...
♥ Who seems soothing...
♥ Who seems suitable marriage partner
♥ Who seems suitable lover
Because when I'm looking for a partner they have to be a wheedling person.
Wheedling.
Wheedling.
Wheedling. Wheedling.
WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE??? I can vaguely understand coquetry, and likable as pet makes sense despite the fact that I instantly thought of S&M. But "wheedling"? I have no fucking clue.
Also, here are the warnings on the back.
•Use it as a game only. •Take care not to go too far forcing someone to do something. It becomes the source of troubles. •Use in a timely fashion. •Keep away from fire •Don't cut your fingers with a piece of paper. •Don't get it wet. •Please note that this game doesn't always let boy meets girl
Thank you, Matchmaking Card. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't know to not get paper wet, or to avoid paper cuts, or to not set the cards on fire. Also apparently these things expire. I also like that it actually says on the package not to go too far forcing someone to do something. You can do it a little, but not a lot. I really like how it urges you not to force someone to do something they don't want to, although I'm not sure what this would entail. I'm going to force you to seem soothing!!1 doesn't seem very threatening. But it is "the source of troubles" so you probably shouldn't do it anyway.
So yesterday I went to Kamakura with some people from my Japanese literature class. Kamakura is about an hour away from Tokyo, so we all had to wake up pretty early and catch a special train that goes down there. We met up in front of the station and there were 12 or 14 of us. First we went to Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu. To get to Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu, you have to walk up this main street that goes straight from the ocean. You don't notice it at first, but the street gradually gets narrower to make the shrine look farther away.
So we get there, and we're walking up the main path with food vendors and the center actually has stones instead of just gravel. Nanao said that this was the path meant for the gods, but now... no one really cares. Everyone just trodded all over it. People often bring their children to shrines (I think in general, but I'm not sure if it was this shrine in particular) when they turn 3, 5, and 7 years old as a celebration that they're still alive (hooray high child-death rates of the past!) and to wish for good health in the future, so we saw lots of adorable Japanese children in fancy kimono (girls) or hakama (boys).
We take a few pictures standing around, purifying ourselves, annnd my camera's battery promptly dies. Until I get pictures from other people whose cameras didn't die....
I am too lazy to post thumbnails when I have explanations on the pictures on flickr, but here are some fun stories:
We got fortunes at Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu. You pay 100yen and shake a stick out of a box, and the number on the stick corresponds to a paper fortune you get. I got "sue-kichi" which means I can expect good luck in the future. It has subcategories too like wish, marriage, relationships, illness, business, and exams. We all laughed and said THAT'S NOT GOOD LUCK when we noticed my illness said "It will be too late. Take care" but now a day later the slight cough/drainage I've had for like a month is starting to get worse. Freaky! I'm stocking up on orange juice and going to bed early writing this report lol I HOPE YOU APPRECIATE THIS YOU GUYS.
After that we wandered around to some of the sub-shrines, pictures, bladdy blah blah. We went to Motohachiman which is what Tsurugaoka Hachimanguu was based on. It was really small. We sat around and ate snacks before deciding we should head for lunch.
We got bento and ate on the porch of one of Nanao's dad's shops (Nanao was our tour leader :3), and then we went to the literature museum. It was all carpeted and we had to take off our shoes. It felt like a slumber party except it was kind of boring. Maybe literature museums are more interesting if you can read any of the displays and are familiar with the authors besides "oh yeah we had to read a story by him... I think." But the place was gorgeous! It used to be somebody's summer house (I forgot who...) before it was convered into a museum. Lots of gorgeous trees, and you could see the ocean! It was nice seeing the ocean after not seeing it for a few months. :D
After that we went to another smaller shrine for Amaterasu, the sun goddess. She's the ancestor of the Imperial family I believe, so she's very fancy-pants except this shrine wasn't. I wish I could remember the name. Anyway, it was very, how can I say this... vertical. It was on a hill and lots of stairs were involved. Someone found a path leading into the trees so we all climb up thinking we'll be able to get a nice view of Kamakura... haha no. TREES EVERYWHERE, CAN'T SEE DIDDLYSQUAT. We were all huffing and puffing and trying not to slip and die as we came down.
After that we went to see the Daibutsu! It really was humongous. You could pay and go inside him but the line was really long :/ Apparently Obama went there a few weeks ago and had some macha (green tea) ice cream, so now everything macha-flavored there is called オバ抹茶 or Obamacha. It wasn't SUPER AMAZING but pretty tasty~
I probably cut out a lot of yesterday's trip from this post but it's late and I'm tired lol. Oh, after we got back from Kamakura a few of us went out for dinner in Shinjuku. We went to this cheap Italian chain I can't remember the name of, and got soup, salad and a personal pizza for only 680yen. It was fun and DELICIOUS. I've really missed pizza here (ESPECIALLY WITHOUT CORN ON IT. ALL PIZZA HERE APPARENTLY HAS CORN UNLESS IT'S PRETENDING TO BE FOREIGN) and I got delicious dessert om nom nom.
Then I came home and did homework. Gross.
I'll end this post here, but I have a three day weekend so hopefully I'll get caught up on posting. I saw Alice Nine for free last last Saturday, and then last Tuesday I went to a free Momoclo event in Yoyogi park. I really want to make a post comparing the two, the fanbases are so different yet similar. It'll make a really interesting post. :)
Until this weekend when I'll actually have time to sleep~
-Blondie
So. Momoiro Clover is still trolololling around Tokyo promoting their single. It comes out tomorrow. They're not very popular so they need a lot of promotion :/
Anyway, I went again! I was wavering a lot about going a second time over the past month before deciding that my budget couldn't handle it. The Sabrina offered to pay for all three CD+DVD preorders in order to get me a twoshot with a member of my choice. And I mean really, how could I resist that?
For those not in idol fandom, a twoshot is when you get to take a picture with an idol. Since it's only you and one member, it's called a twoshot.
I'm beginning to think MomoClo is cursed, because I went yesterday bright and early... and because I took a different train, I read the signs wrong and ended up at the Showa-dori exit instead of the Akihabara Electrical Town exit. (Yes, that's the exit's name. No, I'm not joking). A bit of wandering led me to the proper area, so it wasn't as bad as last time. Plus it wasn't raining.
OH BUT WAIT, WHY IS ISHIMARU CLOSED? IT SHOULD BE OPEN BY NOW. WHY IS NO ONE OUTSIDE? WOTA ALWAYS HANG AROUND OUTSIDE WAITING IN LINE FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR. Lol well because it's a weekday, ishimaru opens at 11am instead of the 9am it does on the weekends. And because it was a weekday, the ticket distribution wasn't until 4pm for the 6pm concert. :| So I wasted 260¥ on train fare (plus the 300¥ for an iced caramel latte during wait-around-and-see-if-someone-shows-up time) and a sick day for my religions class for DIDDLY SQUAT.
So after my last class ends at 3pm, I haul ass back to Akiba and AH, MY SOCIALLY AWKWARD BRETHREN. I stood in line for until 4pm and reserve my (second) copy of the normal version of Pinky Jones. And pick my number in line.... 131!? That's a load of bullshit! But ah, I guess if the numbers were given out based on place in line, they'd get wota sitting outside a lot earlier than an hour or two before distribution. -_____- Still aggravating though.
My thought process in Akiba is bad. Combined with last concert's toilet incident, I decided to forgo drinks while I waited the 90 minutes until I could come back and actually get it. And it's kind of rude to sit in a coffee shop and not order anything. Plus I don't need the calories, and I certainly don't need to spend the money, so I'll just wander around!
Well, obviously I spend more money wandering around than I would at a coffee shop by a long shot. I decide to wander around Club Sega like I did last time, and I actually won another Nyanpire! ^^ It's smaller and has a cell phone strap, and is decked out in Christmas gear. I actually got it on my third try, trying to get something else but the UFO catcher knocked it out completely on accident. Lucky!! Then I went up and checked out some of the vidyagames. Because it was 4pm on a Monday afternoon (I'm assuming), there were only two people playing Project Diva. I wasn't that interested in the game itself, but considering there was a line set up for people to wait and four machines, I figured it was popular enough to be fun and I gave it a shot.
The first time I had no idea what I was doing, the instructions were in Japanese, and somehow I pressed buttons and got the song set on hard. Lots of flailing and button slamming ensued, I'm pretty sure I annoyed (or at least amused) the other two guys playing, because they were actually good. Second and third time I played on easy, but it was too easy for me but then I couldn't figure out how to get the level to medium. But it was fun and I want to play it more and get really good at it! So that and the UFOs was... less than 1000¥ down the drain and into Club Sega's pocket. Let's look at it that way!
After that it was fairly close to 5:30 so I headed back to ishimaru and actually timed it perfectly when you include my bathroom break. I am going to miss the availability of bathrooms in most establishments when I get back to America, that's for sure.
So we go in, and I buy all three and lol I'm only the second person to buy all three singles that day. I'm not in the front and I certainly don't have a seat, but there were less people there because it was a weekday and I find short people to stand behind, so only one corner of the stage was blocked out and I could see everyone if I stood on tiptoe. The concert was more enjoyable this time, although they didn't perform ココ☆ナツ since they were playing it in the store and it got stuck in head. -__-; I am so impressed with Momokuro just because all their dances are so energetic. Other groups have energetic songs and choreographs too but they usually have a balance of those and ballads. MomoClo has NO ballads as far as I know. They certainly didn't perform any in the concert!
After the concert, the handshake event started. I sat, and sat, and decided "Fuck it, I'm not coming back a third time, so I might as well just get a handshake ticket and talk to them all once more." I suppose I should mention here that starting from the night before, I was harassing everyone I knew who I should choose for my twoshot. My original favorite was Akarin, but she seemed so unenthusiastic compared to the other girls last handshake event that I was disenchanted with her. I was leaning towards Shiorin because Sabrina kept saying she was my type, and because to me she is infinitely cuter once she takes out her pigtails:
But honestly I think almost everyone is adorable and choosing was really hard. Kanako is cute and seems really genuinely nice, Momoka is the most adorable thing on the planet, Ayaka is too fucking beautiful to be 14, and even Reni's look of sheer jubilance as she's performing makes me like her more. But at the same time, last time I told Akarin she was my favorite, and she isn't very popular. I wouldn't want to hurt her feelings, even if she seemed kind of unenthused last time.
I decide that the handshake would give me second impressions and I'd make my decision then. I went up and Akarin immediately recognized me. She said "Ah, hisashiburi!" and said that my blue nails made me look cool and she liked my earrings. She asked if I had fun and thanked me for coming. I think Akarin, despite being an idol, is kind of shy because she was a lot warmer to me this time. Shiorin also said hisashiburi and thanked me for coming. Momoka called me a cutie again >w< and I was just like NO YOU ARE but more polite and in Japanese. I mean really, I challenge you to have this:
telling you "You are cutie!" and not pretty much melt into a puddle. LOOK AT HER. A lot of people think Shiorin is the cutest in the group and to those people I BITE MY THUMB AT YOU, SIRS.
Kanako recognized me but couldn't remember my name. Reni seemed to be confused by me but was smiley anyway, and Ayaka was like "AH, YOU!" and stumbled through a "good evening" for me. Walking away, I still had no idea who to choose. It was between Shiorin and Akarin. Momoka almost made it, but I'd been "decided" on Shiorin a majority of the time so she won out over Momoka. Texting my roommate, I complained a lot. Asking who I should choose, she said she had no idea who anyone was and her opinion was moot. I whined again, and she told me to pick Shiorin just so I could figure out my ~*true feelings*~. And shit, it worked. The fact that I didn't immediately jump on the Shiorin train showed that DEEP INSIDE, AKARIN WAS STILL MY FAVORITE. So, with resolve, I went up and was first in line for our twoshots.
And then a staff member brought out a box with tennis balls with the girls' names written on them and I had to pick one. I thought this might be maybe for the people who bought two versions of the single, because they got a twoshot too but just with a member. Nope, it's for me! So, lolling at my turmoil all being for naught, I pull out a tennis ball.... THAT SAYS AKARIN.
YEAH. FATE.
So I go up there, and Akarin is surprised to see me getting a twoshot, probably because I didn't last time so she figured it was the same gig. We did normal peace signs because I froze, I should have done hearts with her ;___; The girl who had Akarin before me brought cat ears for the both of them and Akarin looked ADORABLE in them. They looked so good on her I was hoping she brought them and I could do it next. No. :[ BUT, afterwards she told me she thought my hair was pretty and she was really glad I came. I told her she was my favorite and Sabrina's favorite, and hugged her :33
AND IT WAS AMAZING. And then I had to go home and type up my Japanese oral skit and do lots of reading.
Sorry for no posts, school blah blah blah. Lots of reading. But obviously, if I’m not doing super fun adventuring out in Tokyo, I’m doing something else.
THAT’S RIGHT, IT’S A “COLLEGE PERSON TRYING TO COOK” STORY but this actually turns out… scarily okay.
So, Sara and I have both found our go-to meal: pasta. We’re too scared to do any Japanese noodles, but spaghetti isn’t that expensive, and if you throw in some cheap meat and cheap veggies (we’ve been favoring eggplant recently due to its low price) with some premade sauce you can get between 2-4 meals out of it. This means less cooking other nights, which our lazy butts obviously prefer.
Anyway, on Wednesday Sara didn’t have class and I only had Japanese, so we went food shopping. Following her around, she picked up some weird powdered soups. Weird, but I’m up for something new so I grabbed Broccoli and Cheese soup. I’ve never had broccoli and cheese soup, but it’s always sounded good since broccoli is one of the least-offensive vegetables to me, and only satanists don’t like cheese.
I buy more pasta, and look through the premade sauces. I still have pasta left over from the last batch of cooking (protip: 500g of spaghetti will fit in our pot, but you have to force it in there and verbally abuse it) but I had no sauce. I couldn’t find any sauce that was just enough for one serving, so I decided I’d just use olive oil and salt. People did that, right?
We’ll get back to that.
So, we buy other stuff, take the train home (and of course still walk the 10 minutes to the apartment from the station, ugh) and we start packing our fridge. Oh, crap, I bought broccoli what, last Friday? Two Fridays ago? Oh awesome, it’s not covered in mold. I should cook this anyway, just so I actually eat it. So I boil it (a bit too long, but oh well).
I heat up my pasta, put on the olive oil and salt, and take a bite. …..Oh. Ew. I forget that our olive oil isn’t extra-virgin, or whatever doesn’t taste like crap when you put it on salad. Gross. Sara suggests frying it, because when in doubt you should either a) fry it or b) add soy sauce. I put it in the pan and fry it a bit… Oh! I have broccoli! I’ll put that in, at least make it look more healthy. So, I put in the broccoli.
And then Sara suggests that I use the instant soup I just bought as sauce.
BRILLIANCE. Okay, I admit that we don’t have a measuring cup that won’t melt when you pour boiling water in so I had to eyeball it, and I did use 2/3 packets, and I did spell the second bowl all over the table and push most of it back into the bowl with a paper towel, BUT it wasn’t very good soup (INSTANT SOUP NOT AMAZING? I AM SHOCKED) and importantly, it made good pasta sauce.
So that’s how a bunch of coincidences and good luck gave me a dinner that doesn’t suck. I got like 3 meals out of it too.
I've been a fan of the group Momoiro Clover for a while now. I think I saw their Momoiro Punch PV sometime late last year and thinking they were cute before being reminded of them with their Ikuze! Kaitou Shoujo single earlier this year and actually actively caring about them.
The PV that started it all:
Anyway, they're not exactly super popular in Japan and nonexistent anywhere else, so I was excited to buy their singles and possibly see them live. Lo and behold, they're having a tour for their new single that comes out in November! I should have known this would be a fiasco in the beginning when my idol-expert friend Sabrina told me that the ishimaru soft (sort of like Best Buy I think) the event was at was not the one I was thinking of, and it was not in Akihabara like I thought. Telling me it was in Ochanomizu, I find a convoluted route through Google Maps the day of and head out.
Ticketing for the concert would begin at 10am, so I planned to get there between 9-9:30am so I could mill around and hopefully be towards the front. I left around 8:30am (later than I'd hoped, but with a 45 minute travel time I'd still get there around 9:15am). I hop on the Mita Line not knowing how my transfer is read, only having the kanji I know typed in my phone as (god, idk, town) so I would remember what to look for. I find it on a map over the door I can see from my seat, it's a stop after the stop I use to transfer to Sophia University. Cool, this is going pretty well I think to myself.
HAHAHAHAHA. I step off the train, and walk to the next platform. It's for the Shinjuku line. I look for my next mysterious kanji stop (little, river, town) and OH, there it is! It's only one stop away! That's convenient. Oh, but this train is going the other direction. There's the train I want, on the other side. .....How do I get there? I backtrack and see a sign saying the train I want and an arrow. I follow, and end up on the same track. Whaaaaat. After walking the same 30ft three times, I decide I look like an idiot and if I keep walking I at least won't look stupid. About 3 minutes of walking later, THERE IT IS, with a dinky sign. I go down the stairs, cross, up the other stairs and get on the right platform.
A few minutes later, a train arrives. I hop on it. The train takes a while to get to the next stop... and it's not what I want. Huh, I could have sworn it was the next stop... Second stop, not it. Uh.... Third stop, not it. Okay, I'm looking at the map. OH GOD I'M ON THE EXPRESS LINE AND I AM LIKE 10 STOPS PASSED WHERE I WANTED TO BE WHYYYYY Five regular stations later, the express finally stops and I get off and make sure the next train I get on it LOCAL. That takes a while, but I finally get to the right station.
....What exit do I take? Google maps didn't tell me this! They're not even labeled helpfully, like "East" it's fucking B1-B7! I take B6 because there was nowhere else to go besides B6 or B7 at this point. I come up and it's raining. FFFFUUUU break out my dinky red umbrella. My directions tell me to cross the street and go left towards the train crossings. Train crossings are on right. WHERE GO? I go to the trains, and I'll cut this short and just say I got really lost before finding an "Information board" that had a map. I actually wasn't that far off, but I missed where I was supposed to go. Thank goodness crossing a river was involved in my directions, or else I would have been a lot more confused. Going "THERE IS A RIVER, I NEED TO CROSS THAT" is helpful.
So I cross the river, wander around more, and finally see an ishimaru soft. I go in, and it looks dinky. Like, not even big on the first floor, let alone seven floors. I ask a woman in terrible Japanese if this is where the Momoiro Clover event is. She says no and gives me directions to another one. Of course, I don't understand at all. I ask her to show me, and she takes me outside and says the same thing, but I catch "migi" meaning "right" this time and decide to go right. HURR DURR IT'S RIGHT AROUND THE FUCKING CORNER GOOD JOB. I go in, and by the number of young Japanese guys hanging around in groups it's clearly the right store. Oh, and I guess the table with tickets and stuff helps too. I reserve the normal copy of the single and draw my number ticket... 196. FUCK. It's 10:30am now, of course all the good tickets are gone.
So, I wander around the store. 5 levels of it before I get bored. I sit outside on a bench and eat some onigiri I purchased at a mini mart. I feel awkward because there's another guy on the bench and I'm the only girl let alone the only gaijin, so I pick a direction and start walking. After a few minutes, I think Huh, that ramen place looks like the one Sara and I wanted to go to when we went to Akiba for the first time but didn't know we bought tickets outside before going in and Hey, isn't that the maid cafe in Akiba that blasts moe maid chants for their cafe? before realizing I AM IN AKIHABARA. TAKING THAT LONG CONFUSING ROUTE WITH TRAINS AND STATIONS I DIDN'T KNOW WAS COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY FUCK MY LIFE!!!!!
Wandered around Akiba, spent some money at UFO machines with adorable Halloween-themed Nyanpire plushies. Got tired (and hungry, but mostly tired) and got a burger at a Beckers by the station and sat around for an hour before I felt bad and left. Wandered more, before deciding to head back to ishimaru. Sabrina recommended lining up around 1:30ish, and even though my ticket had a line-up time and a number I figured it was better to at least check rather than get there way late.
I show up at ishimaru and there are more wota hanging outside. Cool, I'm not the only one! Pretty soon, they're lining up and going up to the event floor. No one checks tickets, no one says anything. We end up there, I sit down and look around. Small stage, some chairs, standing room and CD sales in the back. I see some wota pointing at a poster of some girl idgaf about. I look back and see the same girl on CDs being sold. My first thought is A) Momoiro Clover's single isn't out yet! and my second though it B) Momoiro Clover is not one girl. I leave instantly and walk back to Akihabara in embarrassment for going to the wrong fucking event.
I wander around Akiba more, stopping to pick up some blue glowsticks for Akari (Sabrina's and my favorite member) before eventually wandering towards a Starbucks I saw in Ochanomizu during lost-time in the morning. I get a frappacino and chill for three hours, until around 4:30pm when I return to ishimaru.
I get there and there are a lot more people than before. I see some girls in high school uniforms, but there are probably 5 max out of over 200 people. We stand around for an hour or so before they start calling numbers. Right when they get to mine, I realize I have to pee. Badly. I figure I'll just pee when I get up there.
LOL NO, BATHROOM IS ON THE FOURTH FLOOR. After preordering a special version of the single and getting my handshake ticket I have to take the elevator, use the bathroom, and by the time I come back up the place is packed and the show is just starting. I'm stuck in the back with some drunk wota drinking beer and being boisterous. I stand on tip toe a lot, and see members sometimes. Luckily Akari was placed on my side so when they were standing around usually I could see her the best. I broke out my glowsticks and tried my best to work the idol chants and what have you. I could hear a few people talking about how there was a gaijin there, but nobody talked to me. One of the boisterous wota offered me his spot though, which I was really thankful for.
After the concert ended, it was handshake event time! I wasn't 100% sure that was what it was, so I asked the person next to me in very basic Japanese if it was. He said yes, and then pointed out that while I was number 68, he was number 67. Great! I could just keep an eye on him instead of trying to make out the numbers being said really fast over the microphone. WELL. I'm trying to listen and keeping an eye on him and then this other guy sees my number and gestures at me to go. THANKS, 67 :| I get in line, and use the mandatory hand sanitizer.
Now, up to this point I'd call this entire day a fiasco and slightly unenjoyable. The concert wasn't bad, but I couldn't really see anything and being on my feet practically the entire day didn't help. However, the handshake event made everything worth it. If you haven't been to one, they're very short. You have handlers telling you to keep moving, so you can only get maybe 30 seconds tops with one girl before you move onto the next. The first girl was Akari, so I was worried I wouldn't know what to say after that. That wasn't a problem. I told Akari she was my favorite, and Sabrina's favorite, and I'm studying here in Japan and want to see them again. She told me to do my best and then I was moving on to Shiori.
Probably one of the best things was that everything goes so fast that the girls can only focus on the person in front of them and can't look at who's next down the line. Every time I moved to another girl, their face turned to such a surprised and happy expression I'll probably never forget them. I told everyone I loved Momoiro Clover, Kanako pointed out that my shirt was red and her color was red, Momoka introduced herself in English and I told her it was really good. Reni (I'm pretty sure it was her) was last and was so excited to see me. She was jumping around and called me kawaii and said "I RABU YOU" and I told her I loved her too and then my time was up.
I was pretty much giddy the rest of the night, and it was by far my best experience in Japan so far. I think it really excited them that someone who wasn't Japanese knew who they were, and was taking the time to actually come to a concert and preordered a CD to get a handshake ticket. I'll probably keep this memory in my back pocket for whenever I feel like shit, however sappy that sounds.
Off-topic can we talk about how hilarious it is that iTunes chose for me to listen to Metallica as I'm writing an idol post? Dying right now.
As if that isn't enough, Erena Ono's last AKB48 concert is tomorrow night. Because, you know, I haven't been standing in line enough lately. I didn't win a ticket, so I'll probably be standing in the lobby watching on a monitor. Wish me luck someone takes pity on my gaijin soul and gives me a ticket (or I at least don't have some tall wota between me and the monitor).
I did some updating but was too lazy to post it here. I made a post about Ana and Michelle and Tim arriving, going to a festival, and Sophia Univeristy's orientation. I'll make an elaborate post about the festival when Ana Michelle and Sara post their pictures. There's also a post about my language test and the subsequent day and me dealing with food allergies in a foreign country. It's waayy too much to copypaste by now, so uh sorry I guess. LINK DESU YO.
Today it was raining a lot, and cold enough that it actually required a sweater. It was in the 60s I think? Our apartment is good at staying warm though, so I'm still in a tank top (but wearing pants instead of shorts tonight!). Sara and I had to go get food (I woke up this morning with a pack of pocky, some grapefruit-juice popsicles, and a carrot on my shelf of the fridge. Sara and I share the cereal/milk and switch off on buying it). We got wet while walking. When we came back Sara went back out to enjoy the not-smothering-heat and go to the other market to get stuff to put in omelets. I stayed home and did laundry. I planned to clean but that didn't happen until around midnight.
Tonight we actually cooked! Sara and I saw chicken on sale for 98円 and we had chicken with soy sauce, vegetables (for Sara, carrot for me) with soy sauce, and rice. It was pretty good actually! For some reason my brain short circuited and I thought we should have grapefruit (mostly to use a grapefruit). It didn't work but I ate it for dessert.
After I cleaned, I took pictures of my apaato!
What I cleverly covered up is the HUGE AKB48 LINGERIE BIKINI HYBRID POSTER on one of my walls (it's not that one specifically, that one is old, but it's the same color and same basic idea). I bought Erena's キラキラ photobook and the 2010 senbatsu magazine or whatever it's called. THE PICTURES ARE SO PRETTY AND WAY BETTER THAN SCANS. I'm already admitting that I have a problem. But I never noticed things like Erena is reading a Daria book or GET THE PIZZA ONES ERENA THE PIZZA LUNCHABLES ARE THE BEST. Wait what do you mean there are other girls in this group??
Also yesterday when we were in Akiba we went to an arcade (it was below the AKB48 theater but the theater was closed or something because they weren't letting people up), and I actually won something from a UFO catcher!!! I've never won anything from them before, but last week I saw these cute little cat plushies from something called Nyanpire (CAT VAMPIRES). I already had a few cell phone charms from gachapon, but this was bigger and adorable and I needed it. We won't talk about how much I spent then and failed, but when we came back with everyone I remembered I had a 500円 coin and 500円 gets six plays (versus five 100円 coins would only get five). So, EXTREMELY DETERMINED, I tried. A guy came up on the machine next to me my third try. In a very American way I mumbled "Yatta!" as it picked up the plushie, and made subdued disappointed noises as it dropped. And then the fourth time I got it! I definitely was grinning and jumping around a bit, and then some more when the others found me and I proudly held out my cat vampire plushie.
LOOK I EVEN TOOK A PICTURE JUST NOW.
It's really soft and has itty bitty fangs sewn in and bat wings and it's so happy and adorable I can't even. I CAN'T EVEN. Also that's my AKB48 poster in the background.
OH WOW IT IS 3AM I AM GOING TO BED NIGHT GUYS. Tomorrow will probably be boring (possibly going to the kuyakusho to get some paper Sophia needs) but Saturday Momoiro Clover is performing at an Ishimaru in Akiba (I'm pretty sure) and I'm going to try to go to that and get the new trading cards signed for Sabrina.
Some background info: I'm a student at the University of San Francisco studying abroad in Tokyo, Japan for a year at Sophia University (aka 上智大学). I've been watching Japanese cartoons since I was a kid on Cartoon Network, but I didn't really get into Japanese culture until around 7th grade, where my friends were really into anime and I started getting CDs of anime soundtracks and merchandise. This carried through high school. Once I got into college, I started watching anime less but the interest in the culture is still there. It's less OH MY GOD ANIME IS AMAZING and more Japanese culture is so different from the West yet it's still a first world country WHAT AM I LOOKING AT THIS IS SO WEIRD OH MY GOD, if that makes sense. If I had to pick a poison though, it would definitely be Japanese female idol groups. Cute girls in cute outfits singing cute songs with cute dances nnngh.
I share an apartment in Itabashi with my friend Sara. It's been eight days since I stepped off the plane, and it's equal parts amazing yet the same as the US. Sure, the language is different and I sleep on tatami and have to air out my futon in the day, but it's not like I'm surrounded by gundam and magical girls or anything. Going to the store isn't very exciting unless you mistake the girl working in the bakery for a hot guy, or they play the Indiana Jones theme on repeat (which they do, all the time). The last few days have been pretty lay-low sort of days.
Technically I already have an in-Japan blog (here) so this seems vaguely superfluous. However, my aunts and uncles and grandparents read that, so I can't really tell stories like this:
Sara and I are in the bakery in the department store Daiei. There is a cute guy with dyed blond hair cut to around his ears working there. Sara gets him as a cashier. I'm admiring him as Sara's paying. I notice that underneath the baking outfit there are boobs. I am disappoint.
Hopefully you understand. Plus, a lot of my excitement is over Japanese idols, which would probably confuse and concern older generations. \o/ Look how cute Erena Ono from AKB48 is!!
This is getting a bit long so I'll make another post when I get back tonight (tomorrow morning for you guys in America). We've been hearing traditional music the past few days, and when Sara and I saw lanterns down a street when we were coming back to the apartment last night we had to check it out. Turns out there's some sort of festival going on tonight form 6-9pm, one of the staff members was really excited to tell us about it (translating through a shaky younger guy). At the end the man said 待っているよ which the younger guy embarrassingly translated as "waiting for you" so we'd disappoint him if we didn't go.
