Reflections

I've been back stateside for a good, oh, two weeks-ish now. Figure I should post some reflections.

Japan seemed so alien when I arrived. I landed in an airport that was terribly hot and blindsided by people that spoke broken English who were attempting to help me locate my baggage, then given garbled instructions to take a thirty dollar bus to a location that would have a sign somewhere in the vicinity to help me get to my college. The vending machine was filled with strange drinks (and Coca Cola) and I was the only white person in visible distance. The ride up to campus was exhilarating, and the bustle on the campus grounds and in the dorms was fascinating and fast paced at first. It was a whole bunch of odd sensations all at once and I was overwhelmed and stayed that way for probably the first week or so there.

It was nice being in a place where I could get lost and remain just as content as if I were headed directly toward my destination. The canals and architecture continued fascinating me for some time and even continue to now to a certain extent. I would get lost in the city and wander around until I found a familiar landmark, and the whole time my senses would be bombarded with new sights, smells, sounds, sensations of all sorts. I was excited just to go to a convenience store and look around. I think lots of people feel this way when they're in a completely new surrounding.

Then the months began to drag on a bit. One location can only remain fascinating for so long. When it became repetitious in the schedule of going to classes, doing homework, going grocery shopping, going downtown for the weekend, drinking in a friends room, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, it became almost monotonous. The scenery was still beautiful and I cannot deny that the local area still had some allure to it, but the wow factor of it began to recede. It all became background. After a time, you're doing the same things you would back where you came from, simply in a different language. It's comforting but it the same time things become a bit, well, dull. Joining the onsen club (Senjinkai!) was good for that, as it allowed me to see the local area from a somewhat different perspective (onsen culture tends to cater really toward a Japanese view) but there is only so much that one can do when they're stationary for so long. Eventually you just run out of options.

Traveling was phenomenal. It rekindled what love I had for the country that I was in. The sites I saw reminded me if the history which was my main interest in the culture (surprise surprise, it's not cartoons and video games) and the shrines, temples, and historical areas I visited were beautiful, unique locales that I could never regret having the opportunity to visit. Nara is one of my favorite cities ever and I would go there again if I could. I got to experience a number of places and see plenty of sights, and yes I was in Tokyo. I did plenty of things that I set out to do, and more things I didn't know there were to do.

Unfortunately this made going back to Beppu seem so much more dull in comparison. In between my vacations was just filled with anticipation for the next time I'd be able to travel around.

Thank God I made friends with people to help me through that, though. There were plenty of individuals that made life in the area more bearable, and I hope that at least some of the friendships I've made will have chances to rekindle themselves at later points in life. I know I probably won't see most of the people I met again but I really do send my best wishes out to all of them. It was an international experience and we all benefited from it. We were enriched and enlightened and I wish everyone that I met is successful and happy in the rest of their days. And to those few that I'll meet again, I look forward to it.

And the food. I'll miss the food. I'll have to make it back to the Ramen Stadium someday.

I guess I'd have to say that Japan, as with most places, is probably somewhere better to visit than to live in. I'm of the belief that if you stay in one place too long then that place is just like everywhere else, but anywhere that you simply pass through retains a sort of magic in your mind's eye that doesn't fade with age.

That being said, I don't regret having lived in Japan at all. I regret not bringing more money along so that I would have had the opportunity to do even more things, but I am glad and thankful for the opportunity to have gone. It's something I'll carry with me forever. It was a learning experience in many more ways than the academic sense.

And this blog was enjoyable too, when I bothered to update, and when I bothered to put effort into it.

Thank you to everyone that read it. I sincerely hope that you were at least mildly entertained by the ramblings of a mad man that apparently has enough ego to fill a page about his life almost daily. You whom read this were a part of the journey too, so I hope I didn't make it too unbearable.

This journal is ending now, at least for the time being. The entire purpose of it was to chronicle my adventures in Japan. If I ever travel again (and I hope that I do) then I'll start it back up, ruining any effect that this farewell statement causes.

For the time being, if you care, I'll be arbitrarily updating at this link, so come along and walk the box.

It has an update schedule, but it should probably just be ignored. I mean, it's not like I ever stick to those things anyways.

--Roshi

Delays

I am bad at this now that I'm back stateside. Lo siento, compadres.

Let's talk about the remainder of the trip.

I was pretty nervous about missing the flight the next morning, so I pretty much didn't sleep. I laid in bed with my eyes open all night and didn't move much, but I was at the most semi conscious. Which was good, because I was attempting to leave the country and I should try to be awake for that.

In the morning I took a taxi to the airport, and thank god I printed out my itinerary because there is no United terminal in Japan, apparently. I was flying through ANA and the cab driver took me directly there.


I cannot be the only person that snickers at their logo.

After waiting in no less than three separate lines to find out I was doing it wrong, an English speaking attendant came to help me out and show me which line I needed to go to. Actually, the entirety of everything that needed to be done was done in English. I was apparently overly anxious for no good reason.

Wait, no, I lied.

Every single one of my flights had an issue.

The first flight was delayed an hour. Then, on top of that, they switched the gate without notice and I was anxious about that. Then there was some pretty bad turbulence on the flight.

The second flight (from Narita to Chicago) was also delayed (only by a few minutes) but then I myself was detained in order to get randomly screened. Yes. The white guy in Japan was "randomly" screened. Wink. The other person getting out of the random screening area was also a foreigner. Just saying.

The flight itself was relatively pleasant for how long it was, and I was sitting next to a woman and her son from Taiwan that lived in Canada, so they were fun conversationalists as well, which was good. Although the kid was really excited that I knew about video games and cartoons. I never thought being a nerd would have a downside (other than being picked last in gym class and having bad luck with women). Although they did show Dragonball Evolution, which is an abomination of a movie if I ever saw one. Worth the money back right there.

The plane had continental breakfast in the form of an omelette, sausage, and hash browns. It was my first taste of AMERICA in a while and it was glorious. Gotta love microwaved breakfast meals.

The flight itself had a lot of turbulence and the seatbelt light was on the entire time. We were allowed to get up and use the bathroom, but were encouraged to remain seated with our seatbelts buckled pretty much the entirety of the rest of the time. Sort of... restrictive, in that sense. And unpleasant.

After landing I had a 5 hour layover in Chicago before heading back home. I was pretty much waived through customs for some reason, which was nice. I wandered around looking for some food, but all the food shops were past security for some reason so I just nabbed some junk food from a newsstand. Then I found the info desk because I heard there were DINOSAURS afoot! Well not really afoot, but there apparently is a brachiosaurus skeleton in the terminal, or at least a recreation. That was also past security.

So I went past security, again needing to be individually checked (I AM APPARENTLY VERY SUSPICIOUS) and then immediately found the skeleton. I was probably looking like a gigantic manchild, but I took a bunch of photos of it with a grin on my face. I am allowed to like dinosaurs. I am a grown man, and a grown man should know what he likes. And dinosaurs are one of those things.

Also pretzels, cause I went and got one of those.

I had plenty of time to kill and there wasn't really a general waiting room, so I sort of wandered. My flight wasn't even listed on the terminal yet being so far ahead of when I arrived, so I found out about a wheel of fortune that you could spin to possibly upgrade your ticket in the next terminal over. I headed there and spun it to win a bottle of water, because I have no actual luck. Then I played around on the moving walkways for a bit and went back to the main terminal to get some actual dinner.

Afterwards I checked the departure schedules again to find out that I was departing from the terminal that I had just left. Literally two gates away from the wheel of fortune. Ah ha... oy. Headed back there and basically waited around until my plane would leave.

Except it had problems refueling. So we were delayed half an hour before take off. And as a result had to wait another half hour in the queue before we could actually take off. And then we hit such bad turbulence that in flight service was cancelled. AND THEN because there was a storm going on we had to wait an extra twenty minutes after landing before they unloaded our baggage.

But I managed to land safe and alive, and in prime condition to forget blogging for a while. My friends met me at the airport and I was discombobulated from not sleeping for three days. I was having difficulty speaking fully in English or completely coherently and kept dipping in and out of consciousness.

But I'm glad to be home.

Oh! Woeful Neglect!

Gack, I suck. I had intended to update this as soon as I landed. A combination of not having internet immediately, and visiting with people that I haven't seen in forever has delayed that. But, here it is now.

Leaving APU was full of quagmires and troubles. I had a bit more difficulty packing than I had thought I would, and needed to give away a bit more stuff than I had hoped to. Including my umbrella! I had named it Theodore, and it was a pleasant umbrella. It shall be missed. There were gifts and final goodbyes (I gave my neighbor a buffalo figurine, and he gave me a jade good luck bracelet. some kind of unequivalent exchange there, my bad). Also the security woman that checked me out was amusing. She hit her head and dropped stuff and was too short to reach the top of the dresser, so I helped her there. Also I hit my head on something so it was a whole bunch of "sumimasen. daijyoubu?" back and forth, and we were both covered in dust and mussed up hair and clothing by the end of it. Why madame, you're not supposed to act that way with your charges! Oh ho ho.

The way to the bus station was harsh and unforgiving. It was the hottest day we'd had that month and very humid, and the elevators were closed for repairs. Nobody stopped to help until a good halfway to the station, when a Roger from Papua New Guinea stopped and gave me a hand with my baggage. So if you meet him, help him out. I'm sure there's only a few Rogers from Papua New Guinea roaming around, and even if it's the wrong one I'm sure they're nice enough.

I was exhausted from lack of sleep the night before, and slept for most of the bus. There was some movie with I think Sandra Bullock and Al Pacino doing things, but I only caught a good 15 minutes of it in and out of drifting off and looking over my flight itinerary nervously. I also kept thinking about what movie they'd show on the way back to APU, and to make sure I got off at the right stop then not like last time, and I kept having to remind myself that I'm not going back to Beppu. It was a weird feeling.

Once in Fukuoka I dumped the hell out of my heavy baggage. Then I ran as far as I could from it and laughed maniacally to be rid of it. Or I went to go get lunch. Probably that one. One of my requirements for myself was to not eat McDonald's or any fast food while in Fukuoka, so after looking around and finding only expensive restaurants, udon, and takoyaki, I headed to McDonalds and broke that within 20 minutes. I was too hungry to care at the time. I then wasted some time in an arcade to play some games for the last time that we don't have stateside, namely Lord of Vermillion. Only to find out that my account had been cancelled due to lack of use. Buh. Guh. Zuh. FUH! Bah. That sucked and ended those plans, and I just went for a walk and visited some department stores. Wandered out to the Khaosan hostel in order to book a reservation for the next night. Afterward I took the train to Kido Nanzouin to see the world's largest sleeping Buddha! It was closed, but the surrounding area was still open so I wandered around there a bit and took some photos. It was really quite a beautiful area, and the people there were pleasant, which is weird for a town with a big tourist attraction. Most of the people I run into tend to be embittered by having to put up with noisy, irritating tourists all day. I would be too, but the tourist attraction I live next to doesn't really attract attention. After snapping some photos and getting bitten up by plenty of diseased local fauna, I headed back to Fukuoka. Then got some food and headed to the capsule hotel for that night (the hostel was booked all that night). Wikitravel said that the capsule hotel was cheap, but I was lied to! It was a good 50 dollars for my stay. There is a once per year membership fee on top of the room fee for the place.

All in all it was a pretty nice hotel. The rooms were spacious by capsule standards, and the service was friendly. The interior was fancy as well. They also offered in house sexual services on the cheap. 24 dollars, actually. I didn't oblige to sample them, but they were there all the same. I did however go to the roof onsen, which was nice but also not a real onsen, just an ofuro (the difference being that onsen are awesome and ofuro are crap). Still it was open air so that's always pleasant. Also there was a woman in the locker room. Most of the staff were women so it wasn't surprising that the floor attendant be one, but it was surprising that her desk was placed in clear sight of where I was naked. I made sure to keep my American shame covered at all times, which I'm assuming was much to her disappointment. Not that I have an ego, but I'd like to think that I was a pleasant change from the predominately 60 and above domestic customer base. If you're staring at wrinkly old Japanese butt all day, I presume anything is a welcome change.

It was good to get the bath in as Fukuoka was a good 5 degrees C hotter than Beppu had been, and humid to boot. I was sweating like a pig in summertime, and it was gross. To help with matters, the complementary outfits they provided were polyester and refused to breathe, so after the hot bath you just got sweaty again. Oy. Nice planning there. But it was made up for by the tv showing Casino Royale in English, so I was appreciative of that.

The next day I woke up early, then turned my alarm off and woke up late. Late being 10:30 which is still half an hour before check out, but I had wanted to go to the food court before I left and that didn't leave me the time. Ah well. I bet it was expensive anyways. Besides, I had ramen to go eat. I had been given the name of an Ichiran Ramen shoppe, and decided to go look for that. I found a brothel instead because I got lost. The man outside tried to get me to come in, and the prices WERE cheap, but when he asked if I was interested I told him "Yes. Interested in ramen". and he sent me on my way. Little did I know what I was in store for. At the end of the red light district that I had wandered into was Canal Town. This isn't a street of stores or a department building like most things labelled "town" are in Japan. No. It was a complex. A huge cluster of stores and entertainment venues, all inside one gigantic, interconnected structure. There were fountains, smaller canals running through the area, playpens, five stories, and a musical performance in the main central fountain. It was extravagant. After wandering around lost for a bit (and eating some Baskin Robbins) I found perfection in physical form. The fifth floor above the arcade was a place called the Ramen Stadium.

It was glorious.

In its second year, the Ramen Stadium takes competitors from all over Japan, each claiming to be the best ramen in the land. There were 8 stands in total, and a line outside each one. You purchase your ticket and stand in line until a seat opens up. There were souvenirs and everything, and the food was delicious. Easily the best I'd had there. It's a shame I didn't find out about it until my last day there.

Sigh.

Afterward I brought my luggage to the hostel I was staying at. It took half an hour to get to the 10 minute walk away hostel while carrying everything I had, and that was when I decided that maybe I should take a cab to the airport so that I don't end up late to my flight trying to make it there. I left my junk behind and went back out to do some last minute shopping.

After picking up some items that I had promised to people, I decided that it was entirely too hot out (it had raised two more degrees since the day prior) and just went to an internet cafe for three hours. Free drinks, air conditioning, and high speed internet. If I could live at one I would. After enough of that I headed back to the hostel and had some decent conversation with the other people hanging out there, including a girl that apparently went to APU as well that I managed to never meet. Fancy that.

The rest of the night was filled with charging all my electronics for the flight and attempting to get some sleep, which never happened because I was afraid I'd sleep through my flight.

My flight...

Well, I'll talk about that tomorrow. Long story short, I'm not flying United.

New Post!

So hey.

Sitting here waiting for my laundry to finish so that I can finish packing up, and I figure that I should post another blog.

In a few hours (see: about 10) I'm going to be leaving campus for the last time. The plan is to take the bus to Fukuoka, and stay in Fukuoka for two days. The first day I'm going to TRY to get a hostel reservation, and most likely just inquire into the capsule hotel (which should be a fun bout of claustrophobia). Going to get some delicious ramen at the delicious ramen place, and then head out to some city whose name I forget for the day to look at a giant Buddha statue. Oooo. Then come back to Fukuoka and try not to get robbed, and go to sleep. The next day will be spent all in Fukuoka, and hopefully I'll get to climb the ACROS building this time (the huge building with the maze on it). Then probably just go to an arcade or something, I dunno. I need to buy omiyage still so that'll take up Saturday as well. If I eat McDonald's for any meal that isn't breakfast (cause come on, who ever gets to eat McDonald's breakfasts anyways?) then it'll be a waste of the last two days.

You also might not hear from me for the next few days. Unless I'm in an internet cafe for a night because I can't get a room, then I'll most probably be unable to access the internet until I'm back stateside.

So for that I'm sorry. However, I'll be blogging a few times when I get back. So keep checking until the end of next week.

After that, I'll be updating my other blog over at Walking the Box. I've had enough of the review junk, so it'll be just whatever I feel like. And then also occasional reviews. Hopefully somebody enjoys them, but for what it's worth if I get nothing but negative comments on it I'll cut those out. But for the most part just my idle musings, and if you've stuck around through all of this crap you might as well stop by there every once in a while.

Oh these halcyon days will be over soon. Here's hoping stuff at the airport goes alright.

Just Can't Shake It

Or sing it, rather.

Today I went downtown for the second to last time in my second to last day in Beppu! Hurrah! Was lots of fun. Hung out with Kohei and Euan at a hotel onsen and karaoke.

The onsen was really really cool. We were on top of a hotel. Like, on the roof. I didn't know they made those even. And there was a nice, light rain going on as well, so it was a good mixed medium sitting in the hot onsen. It was a good view sitting there chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool while watching the beach, the bay, and the mountains. We were there a bit longer than I had a need, but considering it was an expensive onsen that we got into for free, I'm not going to be complaining.

Afterward was karaoke. For three hours. Yeah. But really, you haven't lived until you've heard your foreign friends butcher the execution of classic Western music. It's perfectly alright, though, cause I went up and butchered a few of their songs too (name Setsunarensa, Makafushigi Adventure, and Real Folk Blues). Proud of that. It ended up being a lot more fun than you'd expect three hours of karaoke to be, so hey why not.

Then we parted ways so I could get something to eat (you know, for the first time today. At 7pm.) and I chose ramen,like I usually do. So good. And then afterwards, Starbucks, which is insane to hear coming from me, I know. Wait, probably not that insane. I don't think I'm one of those corporate conspiracy types, I just really don't like coffee. However, they have this "lemon green tea frappuccino" there that I was debating not coming home because of, until it dawned on me that it tasted exactly like green tea SoBe.

When is the last time I had SoBe? When is the last time YOU had SoBe? They still make it, right?

One more thing to do when I come home.

Sunday.

FOUR DAYS, PEOPLE.

Wow.

Knock knock

So I go to bed at 5 am, like I often do when I don't have classes. And I figure hey, I'll sleep in until noon, like I often do every day of the week. And my plans were foiled, as Japan and most schools often do.

It was about 10:30 and I got a knock on my door. Now normally, I can get that and go right back to sleep. In this case, however, it was the security office doing a room inspection before I left. Oh. Joy. So I had to stay up until they finished inspecting my room. Augh.

Today was more cleaning. That's basically all I've got left. I need to clean out my room, and ensure that it's ready for me to leave when I need to. Another two garbage bags full of junk left today, and hopefully tomorrow I'll be done with the rest of it. Then I think I'll pre-emptively pack everything I can (just to be on the safe side) and throw out/give away whatever is left. Should be...well... whatever the opposite of fun is.

To compensate for that un-fun, I'm going out with some friends that are mysteriously still on campus. And by that I mean Senjinkai members. Hurrah! We're going to an onsen tomorrow (Oh boy!) and then going to karaoke. It'll be the most Japanese day I've had in a long while. Should be...fun? We'll see. I haven't been to karaoke in forever, so I should enjoy singing off key to a crowd of people that don't understand what I'm saying anyways.

Hurrah!

U G L Y YOU AIN'T GOT NO ALIBI

So today was cleaning day, because my room was hideous.

HIDEOUS.

I am not using that word lightly. I had three trash bags full of crap that I could throw out, and it took 15 minutes to vacuum the place clean. I can reach any part of the room in three steps. 15 minutes. Yeah. I found some candy (that was within the realm of edibility), some stickers I had forgotten about, some long expired very useful coupons, and bus tickets that I would have liked to know I had lying around before I bought some yesterday. Also an US 20 dollar bill, not sure where that came from, but hey, 20 dollars. Nice.

I had both hash browns and pizza today, and that was grand. Unfortunately I remembered after the pizza had been cooked that I also had bacon lying around, so I didn't get the chance to make bacon pizza. Sigh.

Everything does look a lot... less, now. Which is a good thing, because now it looks like my possessions will actually fit inside my luggage. I still have some more cleaning to do, but I made enough progress today that tomorrow should be a breeze. Go downtown with those free tickets I found and try to sell some of the stuff to Book OFF. Anything they don't want I'll just sell back/give to my friends.

Also hung out with Fanxing in the first time since... well... forever. The last time we hung out was in the lobby after Michael Jackson died (which I only remember because he kept asking me about the guy). So that was nice, I feel bad about not seeing him much this semester.

We watched Philadelphia. I'm one of those incompetents that never hears about apparently classic films that I should know about, so I went into this one blind. Oh... oh God..... I think I'm heartbroken now. Good movie.

And I'm outta soda. Maurice, fetch me another C.C. Lemon! Stat!

Chug a lug.

Apparently

I'm trying to reset my internal clock to be on American time already. Seriously, sleep all day and be up all night? That sounds about right as an excuse.

So today (well, yesterday now I supposed) I woke up early so that my friend and I could go to the Kihokan. The Kihokan is the Beppu Sex Museum. We weere expecting it to be a legit museum, but it was in all honesty pretty raunchy.

So much so in fact, that I'm not posting the pictures here, or at least most of them. I'd have to set the blog to a mature filter. And because my mother checks the photobucket account frequently, I created an entirely alternate photobucket just to upload the pictures to, and I'll link that here.

Okay, so it's sort of a lie. There were some actual exhibits. There were plenty of idols, symbols, and statues that were worshipped in ancient times as sexual deities and for fertility and the like, and these were on display on the first floor. So there were statues of Buddha (Siddharta Gautama, not fat Buddha) making love to women, as well as just idols with oversized genitalia. Or, rocks in phallic shapes. PLENTY of those.

There was also a mini shrine with giant wooden dongs in it from the penis festival in Japan. Yes, that's a real thing. It's basically a celebration of fertility and sexuality, and they ride giant logs carved to look like penises through town, carried on the shoulders of their drunken fellows. Sounds like good fun. The mini shrine also had a tribute box and prayer incense, so I tossed a good 20 yen in there. You know, just to stay on the penis god's good side.

There were also old wood block art prints of depictions of sexual scenes, some of them more tasteful than others. The pride of the museum was a series of samurai and geisha that is apparently pretty old, so good for them.

That's pretty much where the actual museum related stuff ends. The rest of the exhibits were real dolls in sexy poses, a porn theater, a bucking saddle, a display where you can stick your hand into a hole and feel a fake breast, and things along those lines.

There was a real doll that was rigged up to appear like it was urinating for your viewing pleasure (you sick monsters), but that pales in my opinion to the wasx sculpture orgy scene of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The wicked witch had a penis for a nose, if you can't tell by the pictures. Yeah. . .

So after spending time there, we left. And directly across the way we found a pet shrine, with Buddha holding a cat and dog. For some reason. So I paid tribute to that, and we walked along to Sukiya to get some delicious gyuudon. It was really good. Like, really.

Anyways, that was the end of that. We came back soon after that and I was exhausted so I took a nap. And the nap turned into legit sleep, so I wound up waking up late. And now the blog is late here, hurrah!

Ah well.

The pictures for the sex museum can be found at this link and the pictures from Usuki will be up STILL later. Sorry for the delay.

Tomorrow is cleaning day, so no exciting blog, but I think I'll be going to karaoke and onsen the day after so... so that probably won't be exciting either really.

Ah well.

Usukieah

No, YOU sucky. Oh wait that's not how it's pronounced, my bad.

So I ended up going to Usuki instead of Usa. I was told by google that it was cheaper, but I later found out by reading the prices at the station that it wasn't. Ah well.

The place was really nice. It's a very small town. Or rather, it's deceptively small. Every inch of it feels like a small town, but it's actually a pretty expansive building, just one with no buildings over two stories.

The city houses a plethora of stone Buddha statues, carved into the side of a mountain. Some of them are damaged, most of them are restored, but they're all still pretty cool. There is a main one that is about three times the size of all the other ones. The huge Buddha in Nara is still uncontested, but it's nice to see that other people gave it a shot as well, why not.

The city had a sort of odd atmosphere to it being a foreigner. Everybody stared at me. Everyone. There were white tourists I saw when I was coming into the city, but I'm pretty sure they hit the Buddha's and came back and that was the end of their stay there. I decided I'd walk back to the station. Well, rather less decided and more I missed the bus. Shut up.

It was a deceptively long walk. You couldn't tell by looking at the map. It illustrated two blocks, then a short block and a bridge. In actuality these were residential clumps, not blocks, so that short jog turned into a three hour long walk through the city. It was nice and I got to see some of the sights and run into people (people kept either greeting me or glaring at me like I was a trespasser) so that was interesting. Also go lost twice, in the aspect that I thought to myself "I'VE BEEN WALKING FOREVER. IF I TURN HERE I'LL GET THERE EVENTUALLY" and then needing to turn around 8 blocks into that attempt. Not so fun.

But the trip did end with some ice cream, and the train rides back were pleasant at least. I got some good pictures and some videos too (of rocks yay!) so I'll try to upload those tomorrow.

As for now, I am exhausted. I didn't sleep last night, and I half dozed off twice writing this. So pictures tomorrow, tonight sleep.

7 Things I Like About You (Japan)

Part 2 of a two part series. In this shocking chapter, Mary Lou is discovered to be going steady with Fragnart, that bad orc raider from the other side of the tracks!

1. The food - Okay, well, not all of it. Japanese adaptations of Western food tends to be absolutely horrid. But there are Japanese dishes that are themselves fantastic that I'm going to miss. I'm the self-appointed Ramen King for a reason. I absolutely love the stuff, and I doubt that I'll be able to get anything as good back home. Tonkatsu is similarly delicious, as well as any type of curry or donburi. Takoyaki is alright if I must as well, and sashimi when I feel like it. But ramen reigns supreme.

2. Arcades - Stateside, you're hard pressed to find an arcade that isn't dead, or even one that doesn't exist attached to a movie theater or mini golf. They simply aren't profitable. Either that or people don't think they will be so they're not invested in. The arcade culture is thriving and alive in Japan. Kids will go after school to hang out there, and the hardcore elite will go there to battle each other. The prizes are great in the machines (but that much harder to win) and it's a great way to pass the time waiting for the bus or just for the hell of it. I'm going to miss my Lord of Vermillion when I come back.

3. Culture - By culture I mean more the cultural history, and the fact that it exists. You can find women walking around in kimonos, sumos touring the cities, random traditional festivals, shrines, regional food, and local folklore, pretty much anywhere in Japan that is smaller than Tokyo. It's really nice especially in the smaller towns, where you can get a feeling of a place that's evolved with its traditions over time. You're hard pressed to find that in the US. We don't have traditional garb, all our holidays are historic, not cultural, and all of our cultural history centers around trying to awkwardly honor those people that we've subjugated. Oh, and war.

4. Security - It's an odd sensation, not needing to worry about anything. I've had multiple friends lose multiple wallets, and they've all gotten them back completely intact, and one of them even had a note in it saying "I am sorry you lost your wallet. It must have been stressful looking for it and I hope having it returned puts you in good spirits". Seriously. And things just won't get stolen, either. If you leave a bag somewhere unattended then go to the bathroom and come out and it's missing, that's because somebody brought it to lost and found. Granted there is a large sexual harrassment problem in Japan, but at the very least it tends not to be rape. Oddly enough it tends to be highly, umm... flashing. Not sure what the big thing with that is, but I guess it's popular. There is some awkward touching in crowded areas, but in a lesser of two evils sense it's not being unconscious in an alleyway. Hell, it's happened to me, so, take that as you will. Maybe it really is just saying hello.

5. Television - The television is as awful as it is fantastic. 90 percent of the things on it are awful, awful game shows. Not even funny awful, just bad. But it's that 10 percent left that makes up for it. There are the animes for dorks like me, and I'm okay with admitting to that. But then there is the rare game/variety show that just makes all the other ones worthwhile. Like the woman that lived with a monkey for a month that was trained to slap her. Or "ESCAPE!", a show where a bunch of out of shape people are set loose in an enclosed section of Odaiba city while agents in suits chase them around, as the people try to find people in animal costumes that are similarly wandering around to retrieve objects from them so that they can complete the scavenger hunt. I don't even know how somebody arrives at that concept for a game show, but I'm glad that they did.

6. Did I mention ramen? I did? Oh... Alright, the landscape then. - Japan, for the most part, tends to be gorgeous. It's full of a stark contrast of climates. Beppu alone has palm trees, pine trees, and bamboo all coexisting in relatively the same areas. There tend to be mountains everywhere, streams and waterfalls on the sides of roads, interesting rock structures, and well preserved areas of forest near shrines. Even the cities tend to have interesting looking buildings to compensate for the otherwise lack of scenery. I'll miss riding the bus down the side of the mountain through the forests on the side of the cliff as I watch the city draw closer.

7. Engrish - I will never not love Engrish. The weird half attempts at speaking or writing English, with awkward translations and plenty of misspellings. It never. gets. old. Or maybe I'm just a juvenile for being able to laugh at seeing an "Erectronics" sign no matter how many times it comes up *snicker*. As an aside to that, there is also a weird hybridization of cultures. America tends to blend them all into AMERICAN culture. Japan kind of... accessorizes them. It'll take a kappa and add a sombrero and mustache on it for a Mexican restaurant, and this will be wedged in between a traditional Japanese restaurant and a fancy looking McDonald's that has Captain America emblazoned on it for no particular reason.

But wait, that's not all! A bonus that I forgot from yesterday.

7-2. Smoking - I hate, hate, HATE, the smoking culture here. It is an aspect of the culture itself. Pretty much everyone does it, and places where smoking is banned it's not really enforced. It's the reverse of the transition in the states. When we were transitioning and there were smaller and smaller partitions for smokers, it's the non-smokers that get packed away into the corner. Japan passed a Clean Air Health Act last year that aims to decrease public smoking, but for the most part it's essentially ineffective. It's cool to smoke here and people won't stop doing it, entirely for that reason. It's so ingrained that if you decline a cigarette from somebody they'll ask you when you quit instead of just figuring you don't smoke. And me whining here with my asthma. Cough. Wheeze. Hack.

And that's all, folks. This is Three Dog! live from the Capital Waste- right. Going to Usa tomorrow if things go according to plan. Hopefully I'll have some nice pics.