Classes are Finished

Greetings everyone.

Well, I originally started this blog for a class, and now that class is over. But have no fear, I will still make an effort to post when I can, but likely not as often. I'm no longer going to be graded on how my posts, and especially how many more posts I make than my lazy classmates (love you guys).

I still have plenty of cultural things to write about, like Hostesses, drugs, clubs, and things of that nature. Maybe I can even teach some Japanese along the way. lesson 1 is Futsukayoi : Hangover and Mafura- :scarf

flowers and other girly junk

Summer Time

Well, its almost summer time here in Japan. You know how I can tell?? Its not because the always wearing shorts too big for barbie dolls and skirts that make my neckties look like a waste of fabric. You can tell its almost summer because there are new flowers in bloom and sweaty foreigners (yeah, just foreigners. Japanese don't sweat, they are far too evolved for that).

Anyways, with the changing of seasons comes new nature. It seems like the Japanese love nature and they find space to show it off even in huge concrete cities like Osaka. I recently went to two separate rose parks in Kobe and Osaka. One minute I'm walking around a bustling city with trains, people, and stores as far as I can see. The next minute I'm in an open area looking at flowers.

There are quite a few of these kinds of parks throughout many of the major cities. Enjoy the pictures, thats all I have to say.

I REALLY Love This Country

Okay, so I was walking in a mall in Kobe last weekend and I came across something so amazing that I almost cried.

The mall I was walking around was about 4+ stories tall and had shopping carts that you could take to all parts of the mall - so you don't have to carry your bags. Thats pretty convenient, but whats more convenient is the amazing treadmill looking escalator that you use to get you and your cart from floor to floor! Take a good look at the posted picture. Yes, its a long escalator in a mall so you can push your bags or kids around all parts of the mall.

'What if someone lets go of their cart on the escalator? That could be dangerous...well have no fear because the escalator is magnetized, your cart won't move on its own.
Do you still want more examples why this is the greatest country ever?

Japanese テレビ

In one word, Japanese T.V. is...Interesting. But I don't mean interesting like I want to watch it, I mean interesting like its not what I'm used to and sometimes uncomfortable to watch. The good thing is, if you can only watch Japanese T.V. for 10 minutes, its okay because you've seen all that the T.V. has to offer. To me, Japanese T.V. seems to be fairly limited, in channels and variety.

Japanese T.V. consists of a few things, one being poorly filmed T.V. dramas similar to soap operas. Another being variety shows with incredibly attractive women, news, and comedy. Here is a sample of a famous bit from last semester. Unfortunately, every comedic bit is played 5 times a day, everyday until it becomes unpopular.

I honestly don't have enough time to watch Japanese T.V. (and neither do many Japanese people) so I don't have a completely well founded opinion yet. I just want to give you an idea.

Here is one more sample　and another for good measure

One thing that amazes me though is 'gaijin talents'. Gaijin talents are essentially foreign eye-candy. I will probably have to post on that later.

またね

回転寿司

While I'm in the mood to write about Japanese restaurants, I thought I'd mention the most convenient and interesting of Japanese sushi places - Kaiten Zushi. I guess the best definition for this is Conveyor Belt Sushi. This is kind of self explanatory but you sit by a conveyor belt as a million types of sushi (and cake, juice, fruit, etc.) pass by you. When you see something you want to eat, you take it, its that easy. Your plates are counted later to determine the bill.

I love this kind of place for the convenience and for the small portions, and the adorable kids that go there. It is also pretty cheap, each plate is about 100yen (like 4000 american dollars right now). The small portions at a steady pace prevent me from eating more than 7 plates, but somehow Japanese men can down 20+ plates by themselves. 'Where do they put it?' you ask? 知らないよ！


If you don't see anything you like on the conveyor belt, you can just order and have it sent out to you. Some places have the Shinkansen that speeds your order directly to your table. May I suggest the cucumber or corn sushi - its amazing.

I hear there are places like this in America, but of course it originated here - and there are at least 3 within biking distance from where I live. Get out there and enjoy the delicious convenience - いただきます！

カラオケ

I don't know how I made it this long without writing about カラオケ (Karaoke; or for you foreigners, Kerry-yokey).

Karaoke is probably the most entertaining thing ever. And the kind of Karaoke most common in Japan is rather different from what I was used to seeing in America. For starters, you are typically in a room with just your friends, not a bar with a bunch of strangers (although, they do have that in Japan as well). And even at the cheaper Karaoke places you can usually digitally scroll through song choices and select a song via remote. Karaoke is also a place to find the ever famous nomihoudai - alcohol and singing just spells fun to me.

The song choices are pretty vast as long as you don't go to Ring. You can choose from popular (and unpopular) Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English songs. I'll admit, I was a little shy the first time I went to Karaoke - which was only 6 days into my stay in Japan - but as long as you go with friends its completely fine. There is always someone worse than you, and alcohol fixes everything, so just enjoy the terrible music. Speaking of terrible music, is anyone sick of Through the Fire and Flames on this blog yet?

居酒屋！！

Let me introduce you to the greatest restaurant invention ever - the Izakaya.

Simply put, and Izakaya is a place to eat and drink in a friendly, and occasionally loud, atmosphere. But more specifically, Izakaya is an amazing restaurant/bar that typically serves many types of foods in small portions with about a million drinks to choose from. Many foods in small portions is a fantastic idea (this is typically done for home meals in Japan too), it allows you to try many new foods and tastes and never get bored - or fat. Izakaya is an itsudemo kind of place; great for drinking with friends, meeting with coworkers after work, dates, and getting Crispy Crunk!

In Izakaya's you can also find Nomihoudai (all you can drink). For around 1500-2500 yen, you can drink all you want for 1.5-2 hours. Thats music to anyone's ears. This is a bonus for Gaijin since we can drink 3000yen worth of drinks in about 30 minutes. Tebehoudai-Nomihoudai (all you can eat and drink) is a little less common but you can find it for around 3500 yen.

I absolutely love the drinking culture in Japan. Places like Izakaya are awesome everywhere. Nobody has to drive home, so designate drivers are low and fun is high. For about 20 dollars you can hang out with friends for a couple hours, try 8 kinds of foods, drink rediculously sweet alcohol, meet new people, and have a convivial gathering of sorts (thank you Zach).

Recycling - Ever heard of it??

Okay, I lied. I will write on Izakaya next time. I recently got a question about Japan and Recycling. This is a great question considering Japan invented Recycling (as far as I'm concerned).

Lets go over the basics. All trash is divided in to Burnable/Raw garbage and Plastic. Drink bottles are divided in to glass, plastic bottles, and cans. Whats more impressive is that the plastic labels are taken off (via perforation) and placed in the plastic garbage bin while the bottle is placed in the PET bottle bin. Everything is divided up carefully. The fact that the Japanese are patient and care about recycling makes this work, its amazing.

You don't just see this kind of recycling/trash separation in homes; its everywhere. At the train station, mall, and even the Starbucks you see it. You usually have to take care of it yourself, but in places like Starbucks the staff will sometimes take care of it for you...what a country...

I hope this gives you a little bit of an idea about Japan and recycling.
I think the score now is Japan 85, America 4.

日本バー Revisited

Japanese people are without a doubt awesome. Once again I visited Kyoto (for a classy night of drinking) and could not help but fall in love every 30 seconds. This is besides the point, I spent a great night in a unique bar, with four 30 year olds, and enjoyed alcohol I had never tasted before.

The beauty of Japan is that no two bars are alike. Izakayas may be pretty similar, but bars are quite different. And for those of you who don't know what an Izakaya is, I will post on that next.
So anyways, Japanese bars are unique in that no drink menu is the same. Every bar I have been to always serves different brands of sake, umeshu(one of my favorites), and even beer. Just last weekend I drank 4 types of Sake I had never even seen. The variety of alcohol is amazing, and kind of a challenge. This becomes a problem, however, when you find a brand of sake you like because you will likely never see it again.

Another great characteristic of Japanese bars is the lack of flat panel TV's and tacky junk on the walls. Most bars here are classy and don't have the drone of football interrupting your conversation.

Don't get me wrong, there are some kinds of bars, like standing bars, that are not classy and pretty common. But in general, if the bar has seats, its a pretty cool place.

Take care, stay classy

Hiroshima