大黒の話

THE DAIKOKU STORY

Because this is actually a saga of events and I'm tired of doing day-by-day. Also, the truth is that Daikoku consists of at least 57% of the rest of my day-to-day accounts. You will see why in a moment. After you see why, you may want to get up to grab a snack. Or just leave this for another day entirely when you have four hours of your life free, because this saga is long and action-packed. And full of meat.

INTRODUCTION

Daikoku is a meat restaurant in Kanayama. Specifically it is a 豚肉/ぶたにく/pork restaurant, but it's actually more like a pork bar/izakaya because there are no chairs. And it's mainly bar food, because the pork is cut up into choice pieces (cheek, tongue, stomach, intestines, ANY PART OF THE PIG YOU DESIRE) and then grilled on sticks. So, kind of like yakitori but not chicken. They also have beef, I believe, and things that go with alcohol like edamame. And tomatoes, apparently. And tofu. And cabbage. (The cabbage is actually delicious.)

We go to Daikoku every Wednesday and Saturday. It is, it has to be said, our go-to hang out place, and the first time we went (when we were lured in by Mako [see below]) we actually tried to look for another place because of Gray's vegetarianism, but in the end Massiel and I have guilt complexes. The only reason we're not there all the time is because we have to order food and, judging from the way our bills have increased during each visit, we have no self-control when it comes to limiting our orders. The first time we went our bill was about 7000 yen for the four of us. The second time, it was around 11,000. And the third? 13,000. YES, WE ARE BROKE COLLEGE STUDENTS (IN JAPAN!) AND THIS IS A PROBLEM. :( Although the fourth time (just now, actually) we managed to keep it down to 5000 yen because a) Rachael wasn't with us because she went skiing with her host family for the weekend and b) we actually planned our orders beforehand so we'd know exactly what to get.

It is our favorite restaurant, if you haven't guessed. Our goal is to become regulars (we're well on our way) and also to establish enough rapport to, oh I don't know, hang out with them when they're not at work. Because besides the fact that this restaurant sells DELICIOUS meat, the guys that work there? Are absolutely precious. (And attractive.) Scroll down for an explanation of that.

So no matter what, every Saturday and Wednesday night we take the subway into Kanayama and walk to Daikoku. Usually one of the guys is out trying to coax customers in--except I don't see why they need to, because it's usually always packed--and the past few times we've been there, they've just been like, "'Oh hey, you're back?" Of course we are back. WE LOVE YOU AND YOUR FOOD. Though in reality we're just like, yeah. Hai. We're back.

We have learned many things from Daikoku adventures thus far:

1. Cultural notes, because we just had to know why this one plum wine is called "Obaa-chan's plum wine" (Grandma's plum wine). It's because grandmothers in Japan usually make their own plum wine, apparently.

2. Kanji. We asked the waiter. We can now recognize the kanji for 'salt'! YAY.

3. How to budget. Because if you don't plan your budget around Daikoku, you'll be flat broke in a day. (Story of our lives.)

4. Japanese. Of course. If we're not babbling incoherent Japanese to the waiters/trying to figure out what to say to them in incoherent babble, they're talking to us. And we don't mind. ♥

5. How to overcome language barriers and flops. Infamously, Massiel wanted to ask one of the waiters what time the place opened. She ended up phrasing the question as "from how long are you open?" Poor boy didn't know what to do. Also, "Owari onegaishimasu." Which technically means "finish, please."

6. How to use our peripheral vision to the best extent. ...What?

7. I can eat 30 sticks of meat. No surprise there to those of you that know me. However, 30 sticks of meat can NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN because MY MONEY. MY MONEY. WHERE DID IT GO!?

WHO WORKS AT DAIKOKU?/THE CAST OF CHARACTERS

9 wonderfully adorable guys work at Daikoku. We know 8 of them and have yet to see the last, though we are very intrigued.

First of all, a disclaimer: we're not actually (very) creepy. The guys have chalkboards set up around the restaurant called Daikoku no Kodawari, which is hard to translate but basically means "The Meaning of Daikoku." It lists their names, their "titles" (we have no idea of the stories behind any of them, but as an example, Ryou-kun is "The Good Singer" and Yuuta is "The Gang Leader") and then goes on to say how Daikoku got started. We can't read some of the kanji, but from what we can understand, it has been their dream to start this restaurant, and they love seeing everyone's smiling faces. HOW CUTE IS THAT? The answer is "extremely," in case you didn't know. In fact, 65% of the reason we love Daikoku is because we're fascinated with the guys who work there and started it. They're all obviously best friends, this is their dream and they're good at what they do--and I don't just mean grilling meat. In all seriousness, their smiling faces make us happy. And I know that sounds cheesy, but it's the truth.

DAIKOKU CAST (real name first, our nickname second):

1. Yuppe, or Mullet Guy

2. Yukkun, or Chubby, Happy Owner (or simply Chubby or Owner)

3. Yuuta, or Yeppo/Taemin/Massiel's (he is the main reason we started going back)

4. Ryou-kun, or Tall Guy

5. Yuki, or Tall 2 Tall Harder

6. Mako, or Greeter (who has the scrunchiest, most adorable smile ever and won't ever let us forget it)

7. New Fatty (we don't actually know his name)

8. Shino, or Smuggie (because he looks cocky ALL THE TIME. Also, he goes to Nanzan, too! Though we have yet to actually see him there.)

We're not positive on their ages and we're not going to dwell on it too much, but with the exception of Yuppe and Yukkun, they're all relatively youngish. Shino is 20 or 21, because he's a second-year at Nanzan. We don't know about anyone else, though. In fact, the rumor among us is that Yuuta is married with 4 kids. And that's hilarious, but you have to see him to understand why.

OUR JOURNEY: BECOMING REGULARS

One day we're going to walk in and they're going to know exactly who we are.

OH WAIT THAT'S ALREADY HAPPENED.

They know us. It's hard not to, because the first time we went Massiel was so intrigued (a.k.a. going ridiculously insane in the best of ways) over how Yuuta looks exactly like Taemin from SHINee, so we took a picture with the staff (and then she cried out of sheer happiness). But really, we go twice a week as crazy gaijin exchange students into a meat izakaya surrounded mainly by salarymen, but we know they talk about us (and write about us in their diaries...sorry, inside joke). When we walked in today it was the first time we met Shino, and immediately Ryou-kun went over to do whisper-whisper and tell him that we were the Nanzan girls. We were THOSE GIRLS. And lo and behold, Shino comes over and asks if we go to Nanzan.

What's hilarious is that they know us as 4, so when we went today as 3 they were kind of confused. Had to do a double-take, you know.

But we've already gotten so far that today Ryou-kun gave us free food! :) It was raw liver sashimi. And it was actually good.

THE DAIKOKU STORY: TO BE CONTINUED...

AND NOW: PICTURES.

Because I know that's all you're here for. No captions, because the contents are kind of obvious?

つづく

FRIDAY

On Friday, Shiho-chan took us shopping on Osu-dori, which literally means Osu street--and a street it is. In fact, it's more like a maze of streets that begin at either the Osu Kannon shrine or the Kamimaezu subway station, explode into all directions and then trickle slowly into Otsu-dori, or one of Sakae's (downtown Nagoya) main roads. We were told later that Osu is popular with "gaijin and young people." Well, we are gaijin, and we are young people. Double trouble. And yes, we really liked it.

The streets of Osu, all 55 of them (or however many there are) are lined with shops that sell EVERYTHING from normal clothes to crazy, what-you'd-expect-in-Japan clothes (here is where we first met a pair of slouchy, fuzzy leopard-print pants which we have since seen almost everywhere we go) to home-goods shops to shops selling taiyaki to rice cracker-shops to Mexican restaurants to secondhand clothes to leather to--well, you get it. Seriously, if you want ANYTHING you can find it at Osu.

We started at a shop that sold kitschy American and Japanese toys, though we were mostly concerned with the huge table out front with the big basins full of pins. They were obviously donated by gaijin because they were all really old and covered in cheesy slogans ('RADIATE NOW, MUTATE LOVE') or either company-based (Neopets, Tyson's Chicken, Safeway) and just strange. Like I said, kitschy. And vintage, I guess? I'm sure a lot of those so-called young people would have scooped up a bunch of pins and attached them to, I don't know, wherever youngsters attach pins to nowadays. But we stayed classy and just took pictures with the fun ones.

From there we walked the rest of Osu-dori and then around it--we didn't really buy anything, just looked into a couple of stores, including one that had cardboard cutouts of NEWS wearing the store's clothes, and also one that had figurines from Dragon Quest (I mean, maybe I was sort of tempted to buy one of the Teeny Sanguines because they're so cute...but I didn't. I know you all just breathed a sigh of relief).

In fact, we saved all of our shopping time for Parco, which is apparently where all the cool Japanese kids go. At the same time, those kids must be rich, because Parco has really cute clothes but they are REALLY EXPENSIVE cute clothes. Then again, that's the reality of shopping in Japan....it ain't no Forever 21, guys. (Better quality, ridiculously high prices.)

But! But but but! We got to the top floor and it was all secondhand, AND they were having a winter clearance sale (or a 'winter bazar,' as it was so correctly displayed on the signs). As an example of how excited we were, a shirt previously priced at 3000 was on sale for 600. Which is basically goingfrom $30 to $6. WOAH. WOAH WOAH WOAH. My wallet lost ten pounds that day. It was definitely a successful shopping trip--cute clothes (and clothes fit for a grandpa in Gray's case).

Then Shiho-chan left to go to her part-time job, and we....went home. I think we were too burned out by all the excitingly cheap clothes in our hands. Story of our lives.

FORMAL INTRODUCTION OF 'WE'

Because I don't think I've done that yet?

'We' consists of Massiel, Gray and Rachael. We are all American, speak English, and lack the ability to not embarrass ourselves in public places. We spend too much money on the following things: meat and drinks. Massiel and I drool over the following things: idols (Japanese for me, Korean for her). Gray is a grandpa. Rachael is adorable and can fold maps. Oftentimes, because of this newfangled Japanese language that we all want to punch in the face, we forget how to speak English. Together, we make one competent person and have so far spent one day out of the two-ish weeks we've known each other apart. And only because we were all snowed in.

So yeah, that is 'we.'

SATURDAY

On Saturday, we had one mission: TO BUY STATIONARY. We met up pretty late that day, I can't remember why, but Massiel's host family was really excited about her leaving at night because they thought she was going clubbing. She told them she was just going to buy stationary. They were disappointed.

Anyway, I'd heard that there was a Loft department store in the NADYA Park building in Sakae. If you don't know what Loft is, it's basically where you go if you want colorful and cute things for your everyday life. Towels, rugs, slippers, carpets, toilet seat covers, cool imported shampoos, adorable stuffed animals, lunchboxes, utensils, hiking gear, etc.--and most importantly, stationary. There is a stationary FLOOR. YAY!--or so you think. Saturday does not have as happy an ending as you may believe.

This was the first time we were at Sakae station, which is impressively large, shiny and full of shops itself--in fact, let me just butt in here with a cultural note and explain that Japan doesn't have malls. Japan has shopping mazes. Usually they are streets, like Otsu-dori and Osu-dori and Hisaya-odori, or they are entire cities, like "I'm going to Sakae to shop today." The closest thing Japan has to malls are department stores, and even those don't count because they're not made of separate stores--each floor has its own specialty, and there are always the following in a department store: 1) a floor of restaurants, 2) a bookstore and 3) a supermarket in the basement. But Japan also takes its train stations, especially the bigger ones like Sakae and Nagoya, and makes them into giant shopping complexes. So you hear people say "I bought this in the Nagoya station subway" and everyone understands. /cultural note

So yeah, it was our first time at Sakae so we decided to check out Oasis 21, which is a bus terminal on glitter crack. It has won numerous design awards for being huge and....pretty, I guess. I don't know, but it has stores there too, including A POKEMON CENTER and A STUDIO GHIBLI STORE. I mean, only my childhood, no big deal. We proceeded to take tourist-y pictures of ourselves in the Pokemon center holding plushies of 3749375937th generation Pokemon. As I told Massiel, it doesn't matter that we don't know what their names are because they're all the same: Waterchu, Firechu and Grasschu.

Also at that point the shopkeeper hovered near us, unsure of what to say to a group of wild, giggling gaijin, and then just gave up and walked away. This will happen many times in the course of our stay here.

After we looked through the Studio Ghibli (actually I think it was like a television station goods store, but it had Studio Ghibli, sooo) and deemed everything a) adorable and b) expensive, we headed out of Oasis 21 into the now-dark city of Sakae...though when I say 'dark' I only mean that in regards to the sky. Sakae was lit up like no other, because this is Japan and they like to make their cities glow like absurdly large fireflies surrounded by the dark rice paddies of the countryside. Oh, you know that metaphor was fierce, don't even lie.

The building we wanted to go to was called NADYA Park, which stands for Nagoya Design Youth Amusement (I think--I'm not going to look it up, but if that's not it, it's something just as crazy), but I'd forgotten that so we instead chose to call it Nagoya and Dinosaur Yogurt Attack. Fitting, right? Anyway, so we'd asked the Oasis 21 tourist center for directions, but in the end we didn't follow them. Instead we followed all of the Loft shopping bags--can't miss 'em, they're bright yellow and say 'Loft' on them--coming from a certain direction. And we found it (and actually found a bunch of other CJS people on the way there; yay for Sakae!).

Here is where the story gets whack. (No really, there is no other word for it.)

We went into NADYA Park, saw Loft, got really excited--and then discovered we were really hungry. So we went to the directory to look up a restaurant, and the directory said (important key words: THE DIRECTORY SAID) that there was one on the 8th floor of the building. We took the central elevators up and only got to a bunch of offices, so we went back down. According to the directory, there were multiple sections of NADYA Park--offices, parking, retail, etc. So we decided to take the retail escalators in Loft. At the time, it was a good idea. Was it? No, because the escalators stopped at the 7th floor. We ended up trying another set of escalators (because THERE WERE MORE, FOR SOME REASON) and found a cafe that only sells omurice (omelette rice, which is rice wrapped in an omelette, basically), but we weren't really feeling it.

Finally, exhausted that we were getting so lost in what was basically the future/Tron Legacy in Japan, we asked the information desk where the restaurant was.

It no longer existed.

THEN WHY WAS IT ON THE DIRECTORY? Your guess is as good as mine. Nagoya Design Youth Amusement was not as amusing as we had expected.

Unfortunately, that whole ordeal had made us even more hungry than before, so we left NADYA Park and immediately found an Italian restaurant. It smelled like pizza! It smelled good! We went in!

It was the longest and most exhausting dinner EVER. First we couldn't figure out how to order because the waitress gave us a menu with individual pasta orders and then another for sets, but then she told us we couldn't order pasta alone, we had to order it with sets, but Gray is a vegetarian so she only wanted pizza, but we couldn't order the pizza alone like you could the pasta, you had to order the pizza in a set--

--So ordering took 30 minutes. Then we got our food and it was okay, not great, so we decided to add fondue to our line-up. The waitress said she had to check in the back (aka call the Emperor) to see if that was okay, and it turned out to be fine but we had to wait like another hour for the fondue to cook (we suspected they were driving to the wheat fields to get ingredients for the bread and/or milking the cow for the cheese). But when the fondue came it was delicious. We only had to wait three hours for it, no big deal.

At the end, when we paid, they gave us point cards.

Me: Hey look, we have point cards!

Massiel: ...But we're never coming back again.

We're not.

SUNDAY

Sunday it snoooooowed! We were supposed to go back to Sakae and NADYA Park, because we never actually went to Loft after the exhausting Italian dinner--the weather was supposed to take a turn for the worst (aka snow) and Massiel and Gray live out in the country, where snow actually affects how trains run, so they had to leave after we ate. It was obvious, though, that we weren't going anywhere on Sunday. It was snowing and it was sticking.

We hadn't started classes yet and I didn't really have much to do--plus I was really hungry (as usual)--so I went to the supermarket later in the day. By that time we'd gotten about 3 inches of snow, and it was still falling a little, so getting to the supermarket was kind of like trekking through Siberia--but I wasn't the only one on that perilous journey, so it was okay.

At this point, please listen to my woes about Japanese supermarkets. They are great, guys--unless you are looking for things to make pasta with (provided that pasta is not covered in fish egg sauce, which I actually don't mind except when I want, you know, American pasta). Japan sells one kind of cheese. One. They also sell about 2 kinds of butter, one kind of olive oil that costs about as much as your leg does and 3 kinds of tomato sauce. :( It wasn't too bad, though, and I managed to scrape together enough ingredients to make garlic shrimp pomodoro pasta. Yummy yummy snowy day food. And it was delicious! :)

MONDAY

More orientation. Why?

After that we went to Nagoya Castle on a CJS field trip. We were kind of ehhhh about it because we'd heard Japanese students would be coming, so it was like a kind of 'we can make friends!' thing, but it turned out to be a CJS-only field trip--meaning just exchange students. But we went along anyway and ended up staying for the whole time (we wanted to leave early to get to Sakae/Loft to finally buy stationary) because our tour guide was the cutest old lady in the universe and we couldn't just leave her like that. The castle was about as interesting as castles go. Not to say that the Nagoya castle isn't beautiful and has its own slice of history--and man do I LOVE my ancient Japanese history--but the tour lasted five hours. Enough said.

After the castle, we hopped on the subway to Sakae, made our way to NADYA Park, AND FINALLY BOUGHT STATIONARY YAAAAAY. We actually went floor-by-floor looking for the things we needed, as we'd made a 'Loft Masterlist' beforehand with all of the things we wanted to buy (among them a stuffed animal with long arms and legs--don't ask; IT'S CUTE), but oh man that stationary floor. They made quite a bit of business off us, let me tell you. (Although the planner I bought doesn't start until February, so I can't quite use it yet...um.) We already have plans to go back. OF COURSE.

After a successful run at Loft, we left to find food. The only criteria: something fried. Luckily, Freshness Burger came to us in all of their yummy hamburger and wonderfully-fried onion ring glory. It was a good dinner.

AND THEN KARAOKE.

It was honestly kind of a joke at first, because after we left Freshness Burger I brought up the idea of "practicing" for when we do real karaoke, but then everyone else was like YEAH LET'S DO IT! So we did. We found a Joy...Joy? Or a Joysound? I think it was a JoyJoy. From that you should deduce that there is a karaoke chain in Japan called "Joy" with two factions: JoyJoy and Joysound. We've been to both and like JoyJoy better--it's smaller, more cramped and just feels more like karaoke. If you know what I mean.

The first thing we had to do upon going into the lobby was writing down our names on the information sheet. That was all fun and games mainly because we had no idea what one part was, so I asked the cashier and he said to write down where we lived. Okay, Nagoya. Easy, right? NO BECAUSE I DIDN'T KNOW THE KANJI FOR IT. I can read it! I can read a lot of kanji! Writing it is a different story entirely. So we dithered at the front desk for like 15 minutes trying to fill out a sheet and one of the guys behind the counter had to hide his mouth behind his hand because he was laughing at us. I don't blame him, because I would have, too.

We signed up for an hour but ended up extending to 2 hours because IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Just, epic renditions of everything all over the place. We did Ke$ha, Britney and then a beautiful (though painful, because we were screaming the entire thing and I had a sore throat) version of I Want it That Way--wherein a passerby actually stopped to look into our room. Because we were so loud and epic. I would have bowed had I seen him, but Rachael was the only one.

Massiel also did some K-pop songs (Sorry Sorry, Lucifer, Bolero, and some failed DBSK medleys) because she's cool and knew all the dances to them, like seriously how badass, if I were that coordinated I would know all of the Arashi dances. As it is, I can do a couple of hip thrusts and MatsuJun winks, and that's about it. We also did Arashi songs! Oh be still my heart. As a side note, the other day I was in the supermarket and they were playing Arashi's Happiness. I stood there and grinned like a fool. ♥

After karaoke, as my voice decided to go put itself through a shredder, we walked through a deserted Osu-dori (it was around 10 o'clock by that time but stores in Japan close really early) trying to find a subway station. In the end we had to ask some people walking through, who responded to my question IN ENGLISH although I'd asked it in Japanese. :( THANKS GUYS, ONLY TRYING TO PRACTICE YOUR LANGUAGE, NO BIG DEAL.

I got home at around 10:30 and had to walk up a steep hill in the pitch dark. It would be the first of many walking-home-in-the-pitch-dark encounters. To all those concerned, don't worry: I walk with a weapon--my keys. Or my umbrella. Whichever is handiest.

--

Okay, I'm tired and I have an essay to finish, so this is stopping point number 2. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, etc. next post--I promise I'll catch up. You know, someday. ;)

つかれた～

Since my last post, LOTS OF THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. In another language, that's いっぱいことがあった。(Ippai koto ga atta.) And although the date of this post says Saturday, it is in fact Tuesday the 18th. Here is a day-by-day guide of Melissa's Life Since Last Tuesday, because I'm lazy and the easiest way to do this is day-by-day. GO!

TUESDAY

On Tuesday I went to get my alien registration card, also known as the がいじん/外人/gaijin (which means foreigner) card, also (officially) known as the がいじんとうろくしょう/外人登録証/gaijintourokushou. This was an ORDEAL even though I don't think it was supposed to be, mainly because I looked up what to do and where to go online, and apparently the Japanese government doesn't do well in updating their websites. You'll see what I mean in a bit.

So my dad and I set out Tuesday morning to Nagoya city hall, or the 市役所/しやくしょ/shiyakusho. The Internet said I could go to the city hall to get my gaijin card. WRONG. We showed up and they were like, oh sorry we don't do that here. Commence headache one. They told me to go to the ward office (in Japan, cities have different wards, like how New York has boroughs). The nearest one was for Naka-ku, or the Naka ward, and I distinctly remembered the Internet also saying that I could sign up for my card at any ward office even if it wasn't the one I lived in. So we set off for the Naka ward office in the middle of downtown Nagoya. Guess what they said when I got there? Yeah. I had to go to the ward office of the ward I was actually going to live in. Commence headache two and also EXCUSE ME WHAT, PLEASE UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE WITH ACCURATE INFORMATION. They let me fill out the required forms there, though, and kindly put everything I needed to give to the other ward office in a folder so I wouldn't have headache number three. So back into the subway far away to the Showa ward office. Finally, this was the right one, and everything got thrown together into the magical pot of alien registration. I don't have my card yet, though--just a temporary certificate (that I had to pay 300 yen for...no surprise there) and a paper that says 'you will get your alien registration card soon.' Gee. Thanks. I sure hope so.

(During that time my dad asked if I needed the Japan National Health Insurance, whose booth was conveniently located right next to the alien registration one. I said no, because I really thought so--I have international health insurance, after all. Was I wrong? Yes. Japan only takes Japan National Health Insurance, apparently, so I had to come back to the ward office a couple of days later to register...and then a couple of days later after that to pick up my insurance card. They know me there, they really do.)

Then I went to get my cell phone. I couldn't before because I hadn't registered at the ward office as an alien and didn't have anything that said I could own a cell phone legally. But now I did! So off to au. Au (pronounced as the letters are: a, u) is one of the major Japanese cell phone companies next to Softbank and DoCoMo. (If you want an American comparison, Softbank sells the iPhone, so it's like AT&T. You can decide which ones are Verizon and Sprint.) I like au--I've had DoCoMo and au phones in the past, and from my experience au is cheaper and has phones that are just as good as DoCoMo's. So we went to au and I bought a prepaid phone (pictures below, as usual), and it wasn't very expensive, which was good although I ran out of minutes in a week. Of course, it is me. I might actually wait until I use up all my new minutes and then just go get a prepaid Softbank phone, because I get free e-mail with that, and with prepaid au I can't have any kind of e-mail or internet (which means no texting whatsoever).

While waiting for my phone to be set up the padre and I walked around the area and came across a Mos Burger, which will someday cater my wedding because their fish burgers (and really, anything they have to offer) are the most delicious. So we had lunch there (and of course I took a picture).

And then I went to the dorms: the Nagoya Koryu Kaikan!

We took the subway to Yagoto Nisseki hauling my ridiculously huge suitcase and my rolling carry-on and took a taxi from the station to my school. At this point all the CJS (Center for Japanese Studies; the program I'm in) office had told me to do was go to information. Uh, okay...well, as soon as we walked in the security in the police box (in Japan the police have BOXES) were looking at me funny, so I had to stop and explain that basically I had no idea what the hell I was supposed to do. They gave me this look that suggested they had no idea what the hell I should do with myself either, but were very nice and called the CJS for me. Ten minutes later (as my dad put it, "They're calling the Emperor"; supposedly this is why everything in Japan takes 5 times longer than it should) we were walking out the main gate of the school, and the dorm mother came to pick us up.

On foot, naturally, because my dorm is located right outside the school gate and takes about 30 seconds to go from door-to-school. YES! You all know that this is perfect for my lazy behind. And honestly, the dorm isn't really a dorm, either--it's an apartment complex, and within each apartment there are 4 separate rooms, a kitchen/dining room, two toilets, a wash area and a shower. It's really nice despite the fact that if you're not in your room it is FREEZING. Unlike America, where everyone wants to be warm and cozy everywhere they go, Japan only lets you be warm and cozy in your own room. Otherwise, to save energy, everywhere else feels like ice. But, okay, it's not terrible. You do get used to it. And hey, it builds stamina (even though I have a cold right now).

First of all, because there is somehow an inherent need in people who work in dorms for everyone to be introduced to each other in the most embarrassing of ways, we were stuck in the lobby for 5 minutes because I had to meet another student who lived there. His name is Ayumu, but I didn't know that until I met him again at the Welcome Party. Introductions don't normally take 5 minutes, but it was a lot of "So do I speak Japanese to him?" and a lot of "So do I speak English to her?" on his part. That equals, apparently, a lot of confusion and backtracking in languages and translating one's own words. Look, guys. I don't know. It was tiring.

Then to my room. Here's what's in it: a desk with shelves, a bed with sheets, really warm comforters, and a pillow filled with beans (or something--most pillows in Japan are like that, and they are uncomfortable), and a dresser. Needless to say my room is kind of empty. And so was my dresser at first....AND THEN I WENT SHOPPING. But that's not until Thursday, so wait a little bit.

When I got to my room there was no one there, and when the dorm mother and my dad left I was alone in the apartment. It was a bit unnerving because what was going to happen when my roommate(s) came back and there was this unknown chick in the apartment, right? But it wasn't like that. First Shiho-chan came back--she is my Japanese roommate (there's one in every suite), and she is THE MOST ADORABLE THING ON THIS PLANET oh my gosh. How one 21-year-old girl can be so cute is beyond me. But I was standing in the kitchen and then she walked into the house and was like OH MY GOD HI and I was like OH MY GOD HI and then five minutes later our two other roommates came back: Kara, from Indonesia, who has been here since last semester, and Sen, from China/Pennsylvania, who has also been here since last semester but is new to the dorms (like me). Everyone was like OH MY GOD HI, and then we took a tour of the apartment, and then for the next two hours we stood around the kitchen talking. In Japanese. Coherently. I win. (No really guys, this is a huge deal to me!)

That night I went to sleep on my bean pillow, and quickly resolved to buy another pillow sometime in the future. A real pillow.

WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY

Wednesday was orientation. Thursday was also orientation. It was as all orientations go: not very interesting. In fact I can't remember much of it except that a) the placement test was ridiculously long, b) Japan does not believe in central heating (true life: there is no hot water in the school bathrooms and the classrooms are all freezing. More stamina-building, I suppose) and c) everyone is from America. Okay, that's a lie, but mostly everyone is from America.

The first thing we did was take the placement test, and since I had (and still have) a cold I was That Kid Coughing Every Other Minute. The test lasted three hours. WHY. And then lunch with people that had congregated outside the test room. This was our first brush with Japanese university cafeterias; they are, in fact, quite delicious and cheap BUT there are many on campus (I think we have 5 or 6, and also a convenience store and a bakery) so we kind of ambled our way into one. And then we couldn't read half of the menu because most of it was in kanji, so I ordered the first thing I could read, which turned out to be つくねどん/つくね丼/meatballs over rice (okay I know this sounds gross, but it's not the Italian/American meatballs you're thinking of--they are made very differently). The gist of this first lunch is that we were sad at what we ordered (though it was good) because we couldn't really order in the first place, and also that we were REALLY COLD.

Oh,, but we did have konnyaku grape and apple juice, which was basically like sucking fruit jelly through a straw--in order words, the strangest texture ever, but AMAZING. And only a hundred yen!

For the sake of my sanity, we were oriented on the following: drugs (very bad), riding bicycles (bad if you hit people/walk on the wrong side of the road and people hit you), the Tokai Earthquake (extremely bad since no one knows when it's going to happen), pickpocketers (very bad--they come up behind you riding a bike and just snatch your purse away), academics at Nanzan (good) and student life at Nanzan (also good).

We also went to a big gathering-type thing with snacks and Japanese students, wherein we met some more people in our program, had to introduce ourselves via microphone, and met Japanese students including Shiho-chan and Nao-chan (except apparently Nao-chan graduated and was just sticking around). Shiho-chan, however, promised to take us shopping on Friday AND DID. She wins.

Lastly for Thursday we took the subway one stop over to Yagoto for Jusco, which is a department store--kind of like malls, except more compact and there is always a supermarket in the basement and almost always restaurants and/or a hundred yen store on the top floor--and bought clothes. Very successful, that was, especially since they accepted credit card. Japan is a very cash-oriented culture--card isn't accepted everywhere as it is in the US. In fact, most ATMs close around 5 PM, and banks usually close a couple of hours before that. So if you're running out of money and can't find a bank to exchange your traveler's checks and you can't find an ATM that takes international cards, you're out of luck. (Why yes, in fact, that might be me right at this moment...sigh.)

PICTURES:

My phone! :) The round, smiley thing is the mascot for Nagoya Castle dressed up as a ninja. It even has a sword. Oh, Japan.

MOS BURGER, otherwise known as the burger place that has the best fish burger I've ever had in my life. We're getting married. Move over, chicken curry. (There is enough room for all of us.)

The dresser and door of my room.

Desk.

Bed (with fashion magazine). And heater, which works very nicely.

And the view from my balcony! Do you see the snow? Which brings us to the next picture...

SNOOOOOOOOOOOW!

FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY/THE SNOW --> in my next post. To be continued!

着いた！

I'M HERE!

And man, does it feel good.

I have a lot to say (when do I not?) so this post (the first real official one!) will be conveniently divided into three parts. They will be in chronological order because I'm blood type A and everything has to be in its rightful place or else someone's gonna get it. So I'll start by explaining my trip to Japan, which was kind of like demon spawn because I traveled for more than 24 hours with no thanks to Delta airlines, and ended up spending a night in Tokyo. And then I'll talk about Japan, complete with pictures! I hate myself for being such a tourist with the camera and all, but sacrifices must be made for the sake of memory. And then I'll just freak out at the end because come on--I'm in Japan. I think I'm allowed to freak out a little bit. Or a lot a bit.

I. DEMON SPAWN TRIP

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little when I say demon spawn, but then again I could say it was the trip from hell and it really wasn't that, so what's less than hell? Demon spawn, I guess. (It works out in my mind, okay? Don't ask questions.)

The condensed version of DST (demon spawn trip) is that our plane had to be rerouted to Fairbanks, Alaska in order to drop off someone on the plane who needed emergency attention. That wasn't bad; I mean, it was all for the best. So you think we'd be in and out, right? Drop off the sick person, refuel a bit, and be on our way?

NO. That did not happen. Instead, the sick person got taken off the plane and then we sat there for five hours. Doing nothing. They wouldn't let us off the plane. BUT WHY? Nobody knows. According to the vague words of the captain and flight attendants, we stayed so long because we needed maintenance. So, okay, it took awhile for the mechanic to make it over to Fairbanks from Anchorage, and another hour for the stuck valve or whatever the hell was wrong with the plane to get fixed...and then we were "on our way," meaning we taxied to the end of the runway and sat there for another hour before we departed. Supposedly we were getting de-iced. Or something. I don't know. I really don't. All I can think of when I recall this incident is WHY. WHY WERE WE THERE FOR FIVE HOURS? I made my way across the fictional world of my Dragon Quest IX Nintendo DS game and beat three bosses before we even taxied. And then I finished a book. I mean, I guess I was productive. And at least we got the sick person to land safely. But all that aside....FIVE HOURS. WHY. It wouldn't have been so bad were we allowed to leave the plane, I think, but they kept us in. And like bears, or Americans, we raided the kitchens. No, really...by the time we were in the air again there was a drink shortage because economy class had a little too much fun helping themselves to "free" soda and water. (Myself included.)

So we ended up getting to Tokyo six hours after we were supposed to. Naturally, everyone on the plane with a connecting flight missed their connections. Woo hoo! Once we were let off into the totally-deserted Narita Int'l Airport, Delta representatives swiftly ascended on us, trying to pacify everyone before we all exploded by giving us new flights for the next day and moving us to the airport hotel for the night. It was too late, of course; most people were already exploding, including the brisk (and by "brisk" I mean "ear-splittingly loud and high-pitched" or, if you understand, 150% Filipino Woman) Filipino lady I'd had the great pleasure of sitting behind during our flight. Those of you that have not yet been blessed with hearing my wonderful Filipino accent, remember this blog post so that when you see me again you can ask. It's only funny in person.

ANYWAY--so we were bused to Hotel Nikko, the Japan Airlines hotel, which was actually a pretty nice hotel. Or maybe it was just nice because it was all FREE and they extended the restaurant hours (they had closed at 10 and re-opened until 3 AM for us) to give us poor foreigners (and we were on a huge Boeing 747; there were A LOT of said foreigners) some nutrition in our severely jet-lagged states. Thanks Delta, it's the least you could do.

Then sleep. Yay, sleep.

In the morning we took the hotel shuttle back to Narita, but that's not important. Instead I want to talk about how amazing my breakfast was. I know no one cares because you all know how much of a secret fatty I am, BUT JUST LISTEN, OKAY, because this is the Japanese breakfast I've wanted for the past 3 years. Dream: fulfilled (for now). So I had my eggs and sausage, right, and then I went back to the breakfast buffet and THERE WAS ANOTHER TABLE. Melissa was happy. Then I actually looked at what was on the table--Japanese-style breakfast foods. Melissa went into a state of bliss. I had vegetable stew and tofu with soy sauce and green onions and rice porridge with pickled vegetables and homemade miso soup with daikon radish and I sort of passed out a little from happiness. And look, I know you're all rolling your eyes at me, but you don't understand. JUST LEAVE ME AND MY DREAM BREAKFAST ALONE.

...Yeah, so, shuttle back to Narita Int'l Airport. Once we got to the gate we actually met up with a bunch of people from yesterday's flight; apparently I was not the only one thinking WHY. Everyone else was still nursing bitter feelings over the whole five-hours thing, especially since most of them were only going to Nagoya to wait 11 hours for a connection flight to Manila. Ridiculous, right? That's not a layover as much it is...well, half your day.

Then I met the cutest 3-year-old ever, and we got on the plane, and I saw Mt. Fuji (pictures below) from zillions of feet in the air, and then we landed in Nagoya. ('We' meaning my dad and I; he oh-so conveniently had his vacation time the week I decided to leave for Japan--truly he is only here for the food; but then again so am I). Since Monday is a national holiday (coming of age day--and that includes me! I should totes be wearing a fancy kimono, getting my pics taken and going to the shrine), I'm headed to the Nanzan dorms on Tuesday after I get all that fancy alien registration done at the immigration bureau, and also after I get a cell phone (hopefully! Japan is so weird about what you need to get a phone, so hopefully I have everything I need).

For now, we're at a hotel in the city. And we just had Coco's curry. If you know what that is, I dare you not to be jealous.

II. JAPAN

I feel like I should put this in a list, because if I tried to write everything that's in my head this would be a) a novel and b) gibberish. And everyone likes lists, right? We don't get enough of them in college, after all...

So, LIST 1: Favorite things so far.

1. SPEAKING JAPANESE ALL OVER THE PLACE! And being understood. Okay, so maybe I've said yes (hai!) to a few...or more than a few...questions that people have asked me even though i had no idea what they were saying to me, but for the most part, I got this, yo! No surprise that I love it. I can get around and ask questions and explain myself and understand what the shows on tv are saying (mostly). Such a wonderful feeling.

2. Boxes of tea! Boxes > bottles.

3. Riceballs! Or, as we used to so affectionately call them, "rice triangles." What? They are.

4. Ramen! Self-explanatory.

5. Food! I mean, if the last three things on this list haven't been a dead giveaway...

6. Department stores! How I missed going from the supermarkets in the basement to the hundred yen shop on the top floor. Which leads us to--

7. Hundred yen stores! Or, well, okay, one hundred and five yen stores. Damn you, sales tax! No, but seriously, these aren't your typical dollar stores. You can buy ANYTHING in a hundred yen store, and I don't mean like junk you don't need (though they have that too), I mean you can buy cute dishware and luggage and clothes and shoes, all of extremely good quality. Basically you could buy your life here. But not a car. Or a husband. Sadly.

8. TV! As my dad said, "There are so many stupid shows on Japanese television." This is true. However, they are so fun to watch. Also, today we watched sumo, and then the national high school volleyball tournament. Not to mention the commercials--I love Japanese commercials (CMs, as they're called here). They're just so....Japanese. Proof.

9. This! You have no idea how much I missed train stations. Or trains, for that matter. That might sound ridiculous but I couldn't be more honest. We took one today from the airport to the hotel and it was just--nostalgia and love all wrapped in one 40-minute train ride, shooting through countrysides and cities and fields.

10. CONBINIIIIIIII. You're not going to get it if you haven't been in one, but they're kind of like the awesome sister of the hundred yen store, except it's mostly food and everything is over one hundred yen. Maybe they're just special to me because I used to get lunch there (aka run there and back in the blazing heat/freezing cold) with my friends during the school day (raise your hand if you were one of those friends and you would punch a cat in the face just to get to Family Mart again!), but seriously, I love conbini because I love their snacks (pork buns, sandwiches, riceballs, ice cream, 30395973847539041580958 other delicious/strange/deliciously strange/strangely delicious foodthings, and most importantly tea in boxes!!!!!). Plus they are open 24 hours a day. I...just thought I'd throw that in there.

PICTURES! I know that's all you're here for.

I will marry this curry. Chicken included.

The bridesmaids: boxed tea and rice triangle.

Guest of honor: ice cream.

And it will take place on Mt. Fuji. (Seen from the plane! It was actually HUGE.)

III.

I said I was going to freak out, but that wasn't the truth. I'm not freaking out. I'm not filled with an amazing sense of shock and/or awe that I'm back in Japan. In fact, that's all I can think of--I'm back, I've returned, I'm here again, yes. It's not anything fancy with fireworks and super-hype and stars exploding and keysmash (sldfkefjowhweoaisfnandohawehfohJAPANYAYJDDLJDLknfoihoi!!!!!!) all over the place.

It honestly feels like I never left in the first place. I walk around and I go to places and I ride the train and I eat the food and none of it feels like the last time I did any of that was three years ago. It's like I walked out of the house, stayed away for awhile, and came back to find everything where it was before.

Like I said, it feels good. I'm so happy to be back. :)