For Erin

Erin said that I am the worst blog rider ever, so to prove her wrong, here is a nice blog about food dedicated to her:

Have you ever had an experience where you think, "Man, this is so wonderful--this is probably the best thing in the world"?  I have had this experience, and they call it Sushiro-- the greatest kaitensushi in the world.*

Now friends, you are probably thinking, "Kaitensushi?  I don't speak Japanese!"  But don't be alarmed; it only means revolving sushi.  Revolving sushi?  You may say, "No, no--this sounds to magnificent to be real.  There must be some kind of catch."  But no!  There is 

no catch!  For 105 yen a plate (the current exchange rate--where the yen is beating up the dollar--makes this about $1.10 a plate), you get two pieces of delicious, amazing sushi, delivered straight from the conveyor belt next to the table.  But what if your favorite sushi has not revolved in awhile?  No problem!  A little intercom connected to the table connects you with the sushi chefs, who will prepare a fresh set just for you!  And since this is Japan, there is no tax or tip to dampen your check!   Of the multiple times I have been to Sushiro, I have always walked away with a full stomach of delicious sushi--and have never paid over 1000 yen (around $11).

Now the real beauty of Sushiro's kaitensushi comes in the variety.  Of course, they have the old favorites like salmon and tuna, but they also get a little creative with their options, offering choices such as seafood salad, corn, and my personal favorite, meatball.  And when you are finished with dinner, grab a dessert from the revolving pathway, such as panna cotta or tiramisu (complete with cornflakes).  Truly, Sushiro is God's gift to the stomach.

*Author's own opinion

Also available at www.choysters.com

Don't do that!

Short post today.  No pictures.  すみません.

Yesterday we went to a はなび Festival, and of course I will go into more detail later, but while there, some of the boys thought it would liven the show up to add their own, new slang, like Daniel's idea to yell, "Jack!" and Jack to yell, "Spencer!"  But the best came when a huge explosion went off and Jack yelled, "Don't do that!"  Not sure why it was so funny, but I'm still laughing 24+ hours later.

Word Guide:

すみません: sumimasen; Excuse me.

はなび : Fireworks (Fireworks Festival)

Countdown til Fuji-san: 2 days

“You are a fool to never climb Fuji- san, and a bigger fool to climb more than once.”--Japanese Proverb

We live in an area called Hodokubo, a nice residential area that rests on a hill--the downside (or shall I say upside?) is that the most direct route to our apartment from the station is a severe climb that has us tired and sweating by the time we reach our place.  But our inspiration is drawn from the refrain, "Fuji Practice!" But now that refrain will soon take on reality, and I must say, fear is beginning to grip my heart.  I have heard more than one person remark on the difficulty of the climb, with one even going so far as to say, "Never again!"  But I feel like fear should never be a reason to keep me from doing something--if I had let fear control me, I wouldn't be in Japan in the first place, let alone all the other places that I have gone(as anyone who has flown with me in an airplane can attest to).  So I have bought my Japanese power bars and vitamin drink pouch (I am quite interested to find out what it holds inside/tastes like) so that my physical energy can hopefully hold out--so now I only have to focus on my mental willpower.  

"I lift my eyes up to the mountain(s), where does my help come from?"

I can hear the belling

Some quick insights:

Weather is super unpredictable; wash your clothes and hang them out to dry when you can.

Karaoke is fun, but it's even MORE fun when the English is slightly off.  Ex.: "I can hear the belling" (bell ring) from "Mamma Mia"; "Every moment, red letter" (gets better) from "A whole new world".  

It may look cloudy and rainy, but it's probably still hot.

If you haven't had the drink before, it's very hard to predict what it will taste like, even if you think it looks like water.

If you have a favorite food, you can probably find it in chip form!!

BTW, we (and by we, I mean I am while also forcing Sarah Joy to) are listening to Abba on repeat.  But only the song "Mamma Mia!", as inspired by karaoke.

**Correction!  Scott A. of Portland cookery fame has informed me that the true lyrics to the song "A Whole New World", are in fact, "Every moment red-letter", which apparently means excitement (kind of like it's exciting in the Bible when Jesus talks, so his words are red-letters).

Gaijin

Sarah Joy brought home Nanako after a shopping exploration, and one of the topics of conversations that came up is about natto, the beloved Japanese fermented soybeans.  I think a favorite activity for Japanese citizens is to introduce to snack to American gaijin to see their reactions.  If I was to try to explain how natto tastes using a keyboard, this is probably what it would look like:

BLAGHADRHGDFKGLSDFGADGR

>:(========)

GLGdfgadadgjauiaeDFGSADRGdjsfgadjkgfhuahuaehulVASDJASEFGJAERadgasd

FLEHBLAGHBLAGHBLAGHGRAAAAWWAAABLARFBLARF.

Which brings me to the topic of gaijin.  Gaijin, as I previously mentioned, are foreigners in Japan.  They can be whities, blackies, Chinesies, whatever; if they weren't made in Japan, they are gaijin.  Coming to Japan is much different from going to Europe, were passing for a native only requires wearing inconspicuous clothing and not hauling around a camera that you whip out for pictures every 5 minutes.  In Japan, blending in is not possible when your skin is tinted pink and you stand 6 inches taller than the average woman (and let's not even get into facial differences).  Let's not forget that Japanese style is insanely cute and composed even in 100% humidity; so while Japanese college students look like they just stepped out from some uber chic indie zine, I tend to arrive on the scene red-faced and pouring sweat with my baggy clothes sticking to my damp skin.  Real life might not seem so bad, but it's highly amusing to look back at pictures of myself with the students, where they are cool and classy while my appearance is more comparable to a fat man who has just gotten off a treadmill set to "mountain sprints".

But more importantly, there are cultural differences; general practices of courtesy that are ingrained into Japanese life.  Many of them aren't very difficult to remember, like pointing to your nose when referring to yourself; however, I had to constantly remind myself  not to point at people with one finger--and I have found it nearly impossible to always avoid eating and drinking while walking--I've definitely begun to notice how often I do certain things after I find out I'm not supposed to do them.  

Constantly standing out can be kind of weird; when we walk on trains, people always look at us (but try quickly to hide it), and we occasionally hear people utter the word "gaijin" to each other when we go by--but when you can't help it, you have to just go with it.  So technically, if we make faux pas every once in awhile, it's okay, because hey--we're gaijin.  If the humidity is pressing down on us on our walk to school, then I'll play the gaijin card and sneak a drink of Aquarius--the important thing is knowing the when going against the rules is seen as impolite, and when it is seen as adorably American (okay, I'm not sure anyone ever thinks that, but I have my hopes).  

Harajuku is for Lovers

Lies!  Lies!  Unless your lover is the spirit of shopping, then yes, actually, Harajuku is for lovers.  Three of the students took S.J. and I to the land of Love, Angel, Music, and Baby to see the scene and hopefully catch some of the wild otaku* cosplay kids.  And what we found was discounts galore!  Well, sort of galore.  More like discounts here and there.  But some of the shops were so cool/crazy!  They had the most intense decorations, my favorite being the Alice in Wonderland theme, that featured a rabbit hole style entrance decorated with flowers and ivy, with the mannequins out front having bunny heads.  I must say, after the actual White Rabbit, these were some of the most stylin' bunnies I have seen.

After we had been there for 45 minutes or so, the famous Japanese rain showers began, and while I hoped the downpour would discourage the faint-hearted and clear the area a little, it actually seemed that the streets began to get even more crowded then they previously had been.  We headed to an intersecting street that had so many people that it seemed to be a line on our path to Forever 21.  After we rounded a corner, though, I saw that we were actually in the line for the store--it was such an intense line that it required ropes and multiple security guards.  Getting inside allowed relief from the rain, but casual browsing apparently was a thing of the past--rivers of people determined the flow of shopping; for FOUR FLOORS we moved as a human wall.  Despite getting any shopping done there, I was impressed with the very cool decorations of the store--plus, the view was pretty spectacular.

The shopping ambush of Forever 21 and the continuing 

rain seemed to drown us of our energy, so we stopped at a nearby Italian restaurant to regain our strength.  We tried hitting up a few more shops after that, but we decided to call it quits before even making it to the other side of Harajuku.  Still, it was a wild ride--and I'm excited to go back!

 

The Lingo-Dingo:

Otaku = Can be translated as "fan" or, more commonly to non-otaku Japanese, geeks/nerds.

Cosplay = Costume play

Sexy...Shabe!

Every Friday we have Shabe* Night, a time to get together, eat, hear a talk about a theme, read some Bible, and then discuss the theme.  This past Friday night we had SeXy ShAbE, where we split up the guys and girls to :gasp: talk about gender-segregated things.  For the ladies, we put on a tea party, which consisted of us all making delicious little foods that would look especially cute with tea, which we drank while wearing fancy clothes.  The men, of course, went the masculine route of eating man-meat (with cheese).  

We played a game where the girls had a list of quotes which were either lyrics from

a song or a Bible passage (specifically the Songs of Solomon).  I got them all right

 (もちろん), but the winning student was Yumi, who got 9 out of 11 right (some girls weren't able to get more than a couple accurate).  Some of them were kind of tricky, because it some lyrics had similar words to Bible passages (The kisses of your lips are sweeter than honey, my love-->Your kisses are sweeter than honey {but guess what?  so is my money}), but it

 was funny how surprised the girls were with some of the answers.

The most interesting part of the evening was the discussion; it was great not to get the expected answers to the common questions that usually go with the subject (especially in a Christian setting).  I'm really glad I was able to hear what these girls think, and I look forward to getting to hear their opinions on more things in the future.

*The Lings:

Shabe: Short for shaberu or shaberimasu (if you are super formal, like me).  This means "chat", a more colloquial term than "hanashimasu": to talk.

Sexy (thesaurus): toothsome, provocative, tantalizing, foxy

Songs of Solomon: the sexy book in the Bible

もちろん: Mochiron; of course.

DAIbutsu!

Last weekend, the gang (i.e. BEST setters* and Japanese students) headed for Kamakura for a beach trip--or what we thought was to be a beach trip.  The details of the trip weren't translated entirely, so what we were told was that we would be having a beach day and then we would stay the night in Kamakura, with a trip to the onsen thrown in somewhere.  The Japanese students decided that instead of paying for a hotel, we would just go to an all-night hang out place, with the options being an internet bar, restaurant, or karaoke (can you guess which one I would choose)?  Staying up all night singing is pretty much what I do most of the time anyways, 

so it sounded good to me.

When we got to Kamakura, we were told we would go to a shrine first, which was located a little up in a hill.  We had to walk through a small tunnel before getting to the place; it turned out it was a temple where you washed your money to give it a lucky cleansing.  It was so humid out that I wish I could have had a little lucky cleansing--what's nice is that from the pictures, you can definitely play "Spot the Gaijin", because you have all the Japanese students looking fresh and trendy, and then I am the sweaty, red-faced whitey  with the awkwardly large back

pack that knocks people over in the train station.  Aside from red and whitey-ness, the money laundering (teehee) was in this serene little cave, the inside of which was decorated with collections of 1,000 paper cranes--each batch supposedly granting a wish to the person who patiently completed the origami task (my question is--what did they wish for?  My guess is more origami paper for more wishes!).

After leaving the temple, we proceeded uphill for a "little hike"--a nice excursion, but many of the girls were not prepared--some were wearing skirts, and more than one wore strappy sandals with heels.  We were told the end of the path would lead to the Daibutsu end--"

Dai" meaning big, "butsu" meaning buddha--something I didn't think much about at the time.  However, when we finally ended up at the destination, I saw that the name was no exaggeration--at 43 feet tall, this buddha was humongous (note the pic from last time, yes?).  

After visiting the Daibutsu, we walked around the area for a little while before heading to the onsen.  When we arrived, Mark, our leader, told us that we were going to do our first pair talk while in the onsen.  "Pair Talk" is where we partner with a Japanese student to talk more deeply one on one, so that we can just be really honest with each other to help strengthen our friendship--so of course, my reaction is, "Oh great--the first time we get to talk deeply with another student we'll be completely naked."  Talk about being open.  However, it actually went well--I think had I not been paired off and instead went with the larger group, I would have felt much more intimidated by the...casual atmosphere.  Instead, my partner showed me the ropes, and I felt much more comfortable then I would have if I had just tried to jump in on my own (sorry, no pictures of the onsen).  

After the onsen, we waited around a little while til we could head off to our designated all night destinations--I was more than excited to try Japanese karaoke again, and I had a feeling there would be some feisty singers in the group (1-2-3-4...jk).  At the place, I realized karaoke places are magic! because they provide FREE ice cream and drinks with your session!  That's when you know things are going to be good (because believe me, I took advantage of the free helpings).  My pair talk partner had also decided to do karaoke; I was definitely impressed by the number of English songs she did (on the list of our duets were: Womanizer, Take Me Out, and Girl Put Your Record On--which she knew the lyrics to better then I did).  However, we weren't able to make it the whole night, which was why we rented two rooms--we split up to sleep in the wee hours of the morning.  Even with two rooms, though, there we still a little bit short on space--some kids ended up sleeping on tables, one boy slept sitting up against the wall, and I used spread out footrests--my fitful sleep was a result of a fear that I would slip through the gaps in my makeshift bed and fall on the ground.  

When we woke up in the morning, we went outside only to discover that it was pouring rain.  After a deliberation at McDonalds (where I had a Bacon and Potato Pie--similar to the apple ones in America), it was decided that we would head to a sports gym to play volleyball and basketball.  I was fine with playing sports, but I couldn't figure out why it was so expensive (they told us it would be around $17).  When we got to the Sport-cho, I realized that "gym" was definitely the wrong word to describe this place--it was like a mini, indoor fun park that looked like a Chuck E. Cheese's for adults (and for kids, I guess), only without the pizza.  The inside included: a mechanical bull (and yes, I rode it--4 times), an arcade area, a mini putting zone, pool tables, a skating rink, a shooting range, a reading room with massage chairs and a manga library, and more fun things that I am forgetting.  

On the train ride back, I realized that while our weekend was jam packed with activities, our beach trip ended without us ever stepping foot on the beach.  Still, everything we did was very Japanese and unrepeatable as well as incredibly fun--and I definitely slept well that night.

*The Lingo

BEST club= Bible English Sports and Travel Club at Chuo University

SETters= Student English Teachers

Gaijin= Literally "Foreign Person", any non-Japanese person

Onsen= Bath houses

Hajimemashita! はじめしまして!

Konban wa!  Or shall I say, "Ohaiyougozaimasu!" as it is actually 1 in the Ante Meridiem here in Tokyo.  Today I have reached the end of my first week in my second trip to Japan.  However, due to the incredibly busy schedule that we keep, it feels more like the first month--using the train systems has become old hat and we have picked out some of our favorite restaurants and stores (yes, we have eaten at the same place more than once already, and it has been equally delicious both times).

Now you may ask, "Jill, why are you in Japan?", to which I will probably reply, "OHOHOHO!"  And then when I stop laughing, I will say, "To meet Japanese students and eat all the sushi in Japan!"  And then I will follow it with, "OHOHOHO!" And so far, I think I am succeeding in both.  

My friends, this post is just a taste of things to come; like a sushi sampler, if you will.  Since it is quite late and I have bedtimes to get acquainted with, I will leave you with a few key words to tempt your palate and add Japanese culture to your vernacular:

Daibustu

Onsen

Hamburger Sushi

Harajuku

Gaijin

Atsui

Coolish

Chuo University

Please take the time to familiarize yourself with the following words over the course of the next month and a half by returning to my blog everyday.  I probably will not update everyday, but I expect dedication from you regardless.  Until then...Jaa mata/じゃあまた!