Whew, i'm behind!: My birthday in Japan!

The group!

Alright, so.. It’s been a while since I’ve updated, and I have quite a few things to talk about. For one, my poor excuses for not posting in the first place.  The Japanese school system has genuinely surprised me with its rigor.  I’ve been swamped with tests, and resting from tests.  Not to mention the onslaught of culture shock had left me rather useless for a while, but we’ll get to that later.
My Birthday
    Well, this shows you how off I really am right now.
All right, my birthday in Japan, was quite fun to say the least.  Honestly, I never expected to have a birthday in another country.  Before going to Japan I can’t say that I ever left California, at least when I was old enough to remember.

Tizzy has a go at Limbo.

Starting the action.

    In the days leading up to the celebration, I have to say I was less than thrilled.  I mean, I didn’t really expect to do much with anyone. I didn’t expect to get any gifts either, or to have fun in general on my birthday.  I was very wrong in thinking so, as I would later find out.  My unit mates told me to stay out a little bit later on my birthday, which was fine, I thought maybe they were going to make tacos for me, a very exciting prospect considering the absence of tacos in Japan at the time was the bane of my existence.  So, me and my buddy Corey went out to an Izekaya right near the school and decided to hang out until 730 arrived. We had a great time chatting and Corey bought me a birthday drink, a lime sour.  It was a tiny, really laid back place. Although I wasn’t a big fan of paying as you go, I didn’t complain.
    After we had our share of booze and chat, the time had flown by and I received a text to go home. So we hopped on our bikes and headed to the seminar house. Well.
    It spiked my curiosity to see friends standing on the first floor rather conspicuously as I entered. I said hi, and they got on the elevator with me, which honestly freaked me out a little bit more. Together we reached the fifth floor, and I opened the door to my unit..

The Izekaya.

SURPRISE!  Oh my good lord, my room was full of people! So many of my friends, Japanese and ryugakusei were there to wish me a merry celebration.  There were balloons all over the unit, and the lights were out.  My unit mates and friends had bought tasty pastries and put candles in them, and the table was littered with wonderful gifts from those around me.  I was surprised to say the least, as everyone started singing happy birthday.  It reaffirmed what my friends in the US said to me before I left Japan. They told me to not worry ,and that I would make lots of friends and have a wonderful time,  and that I would still be loved so far away from my home.  They were absolutely right. Everyone was smiling, and clapping and I’m sure my face was pretty red. 

My awesome friends!

The Super Man move!

    They made me do a speech, and I told them how much I appreciated what they had done for me, and that I was so excited and grateful.  Afterward, I opened my gifts, of which the contents were beautiful necklaces, a Goomba, a metric crap ton of candy, umeshuu sake and snacks abound. I even got a kanji pen and a wonderful Japanese letter from one of my Japanese friends!
    After the gift opening festivities everyone nommed on donuts and tiny cakes that were quite delicious.  I got to eat a little bit, but they all disappeared rather quickly.  So after our bellies were full of sugar to make us hyperactive, I decided to kick things up a notch with dancing! Our wonderful instructor Tizzy-san decided to show us a dance that was really popular in England, so we all got together and did the most random moves. It was so much fun, and even the Nihon-jin enjoyed themselves immensely.

Macho man move, thanks to Tizzy-sensei!

World's finest balloon warrior.

    That didn’t end the dancing though. We moved forward to another instruction-oriented dance, the cha-cha slide! As per tradition, everyone lined up together, many who had never done the slide before. We were all smiling and dancing, and everyone followed along pretty well.  Youtube came in great handy for the music.  After that, it was time to loosen up for limbo! My favorite jump rope became the limbo line and we all engaged in the festivities.  Everyone could get pretty low, and it was entertaining to see how far people would go to sneak under the line. I’m pretty sure our limbo champion was Jennifer, who was, simply put, badass.

Limbo a go-go!

Post tickle-war.

Mid-tickle War

Intense Balloon Volley Ball

    After that, things didn’t really slow down. We were loud an obnoxious, and after limbo the challenge of balloon volleyball arose. Balloon volleyball, for all who don’t know is one of the most viscious games known to mankind, and should be approached with utmost caution. The photos shown here are only for those who can mentally handle their awesomeness.  I’m pretty sure we woke up the whole town that evening.
    Welp, of course the limbo came to an end. Thusly, we grabbed the balloons available and began to duel avidly with our weapons of mass destruction. This included swords, nunchuks and makeshift hulk hands as needed.  Balloons led to violence, and violence always leads to tickling, and so began the tickle massacre of 2010, of which I, obviously, was the victor.
    Things began to calm down, kind of, and we had a dance party in the room. We turned up the lady gaga and all got down together, randomly pushing people in to make them dance and be a little less shy. I also got to teach the lawn mower move, which brought me great joy.

Random Dancing, but fun anyway!

Whoops.

    Overall, my birthday was wonderful at the seminar house and I felt more welcome than ever.  Although, everything didn’t really end there. After that, we went to the club for the first time in Osaka, and everything changed..

More to come, more to see.

Bwah hahaha.

Go ladies!

Definitely beating up Taylor with Balloons.

Takoyaki Time; a non-Miyazaki Ghibli Movie? Let's Go!

Osaka continued; my first Train to Osaka!
      

    So we left off waving to such a wonderful stranger!  I managed to find my home visit partner and friend, Manami at the train station with the help of a very kind girl. From there we went our separate ways.  I purchased a ticket and Manami used her card and we headed to the platform.  To our surprise and dismay, the train was already there and preparing to leave. So, we hurriedly jogged our way down the kaidan(stairs) and had an epic moment of slipping through the doors before they closed.  I was so excited. Manami and I chatted in Japanese and I stumbled around, trying to maintain some kind of balance on the densha(train).  It was so smooth and quiet, and beautiful to see how quickly the land passed by outside. Everything was so clean and pretty, and I felt a brief moment of peace in my mind, and in the world everything seemed good and beautiful. Manami murmured in the background, and I placed my hand to the window and nodded, mindfully of course. Although my mind was in the city somewhat, exploring it in my imagination and framing all of the interesting people, sights, and energy to be found as we passed it by. It was all good and well, until another train passed by and made this ridiculously loud boom noise from the air pressure difference inside.  I was.. Quite surprised to say the lease, and my romantic fantasy evaporated when I bumped my head on something hopping away. All in good fun though, Manami had a good laugh.

    The train was fast, and many stops were made. The Japanese people exited and entered, all to their own destinations and for their own interests. I wondered where they were going, and what they would do there. The business men, the mysterious otoko with bright green headphones and spiked hair, the obasaan holding vegetables; they all had a purpose in riding, each with a story to tell if you asked.  Anyway, I snapped out of my daze when we arrived in the station. It was a flurry of people on the platform, with interesting advertisements posted everywhere, including upcoming anime musicals that would be featured in towns nearby.  Manami smiled and guided me out of the station and we walked outside.  Osaka was incredible! The sprinkles of rain were cool and refreshing, and the ground was saturated with water, which had the most pleasant smell as we walked through the city.  The streets were littered with umbrellas and fashionable people, with interesting clothing, and the smell of good food.. ..Erm as well as a massive, robotic crab that wiggles its creepy, red robo legs as you walk by the restaurant. 

    So, aside from narrowly missing a pink umbrella edge to the corner, traveling along went rather smoothly. And then.. BAM! Holy magikarp, there’s a huge department store.. Well about five to six stories high, with a beepin’ FERRIS wheel in it! How-awesome-is-that. Built right in, for crying out loud! Apparently I’m a complete and utter gaijin for being absolutely baffled by what-should-be-a-freakin‘-amazing-feat-of-mankind-but-maybe-I’m-not-that-hip-kind-of-thing. Well anyway, the red Ferris wheel, which I’m sure was the reincarnation of the Japanese goddess amaterasu was pretty sweet looking from the outside, but just as cool looking inside, which we’ll get to later.
 

Right-o. So, we planned to go see the new Ghibli movie that day, so we had to go grab our tickets. Apparently in Japan you get seating numbers when you purchase tickets, so you have to buy them at the same time in order to sit together. A bit of a pain, but exciting never the less.  The movie theater interior came as quite a surprise to me really. It was huge and all of the walls were pink, it reminded me a bit of a love hotel. I mean, you know, if I were ever to go to one which-I-will.   The food, of course was very expensive and quite small, so I decided that when we returned for the movie I definitely wouldn’t have any.  Also, I discovered that many theaters have discounts for women only on Wednesdays.  Why, I’m not, quite sure.. But I do know that I’m female, and that that’s really awesome. When we left the theater I was thrilled to find that we were going to go out shopping(or window shopping in my case) and that we were going to get lunch. At around that time I was absolutely ravenous for some Osaka cuisine, so we went--Oddly enough to a Men’s department store, or mall kind of thing.. which had a bunch of restaurants.
    
   The otoko no depaato was very interesting. At home, I’m used to guys throwing on a t-shirt and jeans, and being comfortable. Usually, well, men just don’t shop very much. Contrast this to a structure with five floors dedicated solely to men for the purchasing of clothes and you get the point.  To bypass all of the clothing stores we went from escalator to escalator, climbing about six in total to get to the food floor. It was quite the smorgasbord I have to say. They have these amazing little sculptures that look like real food, and to my surprise, sometimes they are real food that’s placed outside restaurant windows. 
The fry-fry madness,   

    After a while of browsing I suggested to Manami which store I’d like to go to. We decided to go to this nifty shish kabob looking place that had some really tasty looking dishes. We approached and I noticed a bunch of individual serving foods on the racks, and I didn’t know the awesomeness that would pursue.  Manami and I grabbed a table and put our purses away, and I noticed the table was a bit strange but I thought nothing of it. We grabbed dishes and filled them with skewers of shrimp, beef, hot dogs, potatoes, chicken and lotus root even.

      
After sitting down, I had a shocking realization, there was a DEEP FRYER built into our table! Oh-My-Gosh. I know I’m so fat for getting excited about deep frying my own food at a table but, it was AWESOME!  You dip your food in cream and tempura mix and fry it right THERE MAN.  There’s all kinds of dipping sauced and cooking times for each of the items in a small menu. Not to mention the restaurant was stuffed with dessert goodies and do-it-yourself udon and curry.  As I’m sure you know I fried everything I possibly could in that thing.

    
Even when I wasn’t supposed to throw something in there..  All of the tidbits were delicious, and in bite size pieces that you could just eat forever, until they kick you out when your 90 minutes is up, sigh.  So while dipping and frying, I smiled and laughed with my good friend Manami, and had an excellent time nomming great Japanese food.

  
    Miyazaki time!
   
So the food was good.  Next up was the movie theater.  We walked a few blocks back and lined up for the movie, which I had wanted to see for a while. When I arrived in Japan I Was told that Miyazaki had made a film after Ponyo, which I was SO thrilled to hear, since Ponyo was a bit of a let down. Since it was still in theaters we buckled down and decided to give it a watch, although it had no subtitles.  Manami and myself waited for a while and headed in the cozy theater and sat down, hanging up our wet umbrellas on convenient racks that the chairs had.

   
  Even with no subtitles I understood most of the Japanese, and what I didn’t understand was made pretty obvious by the actions of the characters. It was an absolutely beautiful, incredible film about a semi-micro cosmic world revolving around a little girl.. And I mean a little girl named Ariete. The backgrounds were incredible as expected, the animation was as smooth as butter and if the story didn’t charm you I don’t know what would.  Admittedly I cried like a baby at the end because it was so emotional, but I won’t spoil it for those of you waiting in the states.
Purikura,

I almost forgot to put this in! After the movie, we went to this really awesome arcade and did Purikura. It was pretty cool.

     


Takoyaki Party!

Sooooo…. Osaka was fan-freakin’-tastic. Although, we had other plans for the day and I had to say farewell to the awesome city and hop back on the train.  This time, the stop we made was near Manami’s apartment, where her mother was cooking dinner for US, you know, ME AND HER, real Japanese food. To me, that was more exciting than seeing the movie or going shopping!  We went to her apartment complex and it was beautiful and clean, and right across from a playground that looked like an awesome wooden Japanese fortress; if only I were a small, Japanese child..  But anyway, Manami’s apartment was awesome. It was cozy and had hardwood floors, and the rooms were small, well lit and quaint. She was excited to show me around, and I was excited to see and absorb everything about the household. At the moment her mom was out doing laundry I think, so we sat on the couch and talked about her family and her hobbies, and what everyone liked to do. It was so insightful and fun.  After we watched some music videos we wanted to practice, Manami’s mom popped in. She was so pretty and smiley, and she looked very nervous! I was too, we kind of stammered in English and Japanese and she served me a coca cola, and she began to whip up everything for dinner, which smelled so good!

    After everything was set out on the table, I noticed something awesome. Could it be.. It was, a takoyaki maker! (Takoyaki are little balls filled with octopus and other goodies by the way, very popular in Osaka.)  There were all kinds of toppings, green onions, cheese, mochi, tuna, corn, mayo, so NOM!  She had also made chicken tempura and onigiri, along with Japanese pickles, which were delicious. So I talked with Manami’s mother and discussed her hobbies, and Manami turned on the takoyaki maker and encouraged me to put toppings on, which I did with gusto.  After that batch was done she smiled and said “Your turn!” And my mouth probably encompassed my entire face when I smiled and grabbed the chopsticks and batter. They cheered me on to oil the pan quickly and pour the batter without spilling it; all of us laughed together. It made me miss my mother and family, but at the same time gave me a sense of similar fulfillment. Anyway! I poured the sauce and threw on the octopus, cheese, green onions and as many things as I could shove onto the pan.

      

To sum it all up, we had some pretty deformed looking takoyaki balls, but they were still incredibly tasty. We all sat together family style and ate merrily. Manami’s Okasaan brought me a beer along with my coke and said how happy she was to have me, which made me blush a bit.  The rest of the night followed suit, and we laughed together. I practiced my Japanese and they taught me some new words.  Before I knew it, time had flown by and it was time for me to leave Manami’s house and say goodbye to her Okasaan.  It was a hell of a day, and I couldn’t have asked for anything better or more fun really. I couldn’t say thank you enough to them, especially after Manami’s Okaasan packed me a to go bento with extra takoyaki, chicken and onigiri.  Walking out the door I couldn’t help but to smile as I waved goodbye, heading for the elevator with Manami with beautiful day behind me.
  
More to come, more to see,

ChocSush

The Beginning of My Trip to Osaka; Refreshing Rain

And now for another entry of randomness, and somewhat mediocre and entertaining instances of Japanese cultural encounters with consequences solely on my part. Let’s continue shall we?

      Before I arrived in Japan I became aware that home-stay would be far too expensive, so I weighed my options on what could be similar but within a range I can afford. Fortunately, Kansai Gaidai University had an excellent solution. Do to the high volume of applicants for home-stay and the inability to cope with them all, Kansai Gaidai began to offer a Home visit program instead. This program enables Foreign students to make contact with a Japanese hold by spending time with them and attending different outings to become more familiar with Japanese culture and family life.  It’s incredibly effective, it allows both parties to become involved with one another with minimal consequences over the long term if they don’t get along. The program also provides options for poor students such as ma’self.
    Anyway to get to the point of it, I signed up for said program and wha-boosh, I was accepted! It was incredibly exciting to be accepted, since not all applicants are able to have partners or families, poo.  My home visit partner and somewhat ambassador is Manami. She’s a wonderful, intelligent girl who’s incredibly kind and wishes nothing more for me than to learn about Japanese culture and enjoy the presence of her family. This fact gives me great comfort and happiness, considering that my family as well as the friends I considered family are still in the States. 
    Within the first week a meeting was scheduled and I was able to meet Manami for the first time. Although, beforehand she had left me an absolutely endearing message in my mailbox, delicately wrapped in pink paper with the most welcoming of words that brightened up my rather stressful day.  So, when I finally got to meet Manami it was very casual and took place within a classroom full of other family partners and their foreign guests. Most people showed up, but a few gaijin had the nerve to be absent, and to leave their family wondering what they had done wrong, which was rather frustrating on my part at least.  Moving right along, we chit-chatted for some time and I stumbled along in my tickle-me-Elmo quality Japanese that was seeded with nervous giggles and the occasional stifled snort that arises during the most intimate of moments.  Needless to say my piggish nostril fart hadn’t gone unnoticed, and it gave us both an excellent laugh albeit very awkwardly at first.
    By the end of our meeting Manami and myself had planned out a delightful day with each other. We scheduled it for the 23rd, which happens to be a Japanese holiday because of the autumnal equinox (..which was quite awesome but perhaps another story).  Well anyway weeks passed surprisingly quickly and classes came and went. Lo and behold the day had come for me to meet Manami’s mother, and spend the day with my soon to be friend and awesome Home-visit partner.
        The trip of awesomeness and the Japanese-Style toilet of despair.

So the day had arrived and of course, I was my normal, cool self. We were to meet at Hirakata station at 11 AM, and I would catch the bus there and be a timely, excellent guest. Of course I had to make sure my hair was right, and oh, perhaps my outfit was a bit too chilly, as well as the pink umbrella that was stuffed into my engorged purse, was it too small for the rain we would encounter in Osaka and--well.. You get the point. Eventually I found myself checking my email at the point in time that I should’ve been on the bus. Right-o, I finally got things in order and booked it for the stop, snatching a plastic loaner umbrella-that-I-Probably-Shouldn’t-have-but-I-did-it-anyway-kind of thing on my way out of the seminar house.
    After hopping on the bus I had a wonderful conversation with a friendly obasaan. We joked and laughed and spoke about the rain, and about the differences between Japan and the states. She was really nice, but she spoke very quickly in Osaka-ben, which often baffles me with its hurried, up-tone style. I informed her of my comprehension difficulties and she replied with a smile, telling me that she understood my troubles. In the same sentence she also mentioned that Osaka-ben is much faster than other forms of speech around Japan, specifically Tokyo, and that it would probably be easy to understand them after living near Osaka for a while.  It was great that the little old woman was so kind to me and willing to talk, it made me feel very welcome when she invited me to sit next to her on the bus.  When we departed I bowed to her, and she bowed to me. I said thank you and we went our separate ways, and that’s life. Wonderful and over before you know it.
    My speaking adventures with Japanese folks I don’t know didn’t end their though. Manami texted me to meet her at a clothing store in the station. With my complete ineptitude when it comes to directions, it’s no surprise I needed a little assistance with the matter (without bugging Manami to leave of course). I spoke to a girl about my age who left the bus and asked her where UniClo (the clothing store) was. She offered to walk me there since it was on the way, which was so incredibly kind! I was excited, and she introduced herself and I met a second, very nice person to talk to on the way to the station.

    When I stepped outside the station served as a beautiful wind tunnel. Within the past few days the rain has refreshed the land and soil and removed much of the air pollution.  The breeze, or kaze was incredible. It was cool and sweet, and difficult to explain. It was the fragrance of wet earth, something that reinforces the beauty that can be found everywhere. It didn’t just cool my skin and flow through my hair, it reminded me of memories that were previously hazy to me… And by that time I had walked into the train station with my new friend and it was gone. I forgot what I was thinking about, and said hi to Manami as we bumped into her. We thanked the kind stranger for her help and waved as she made off for her train.

More to come, more to see.

Osaka Continued, next.

-ChocSush

School, Friends and Fun; Making My Way Into Japanese Society

  

Beautiful ladies cooking at the Sushi Party

Well,
    Thus far, my time in Japan has been pretty awesome. After getting some sort of routine and going to school for a good two weeks or so things have been settling into place.  I’ve been learning more Japanese steadily, and at a pace I really didn’t think possible   My language class is five days a week and very fun, consisting mostly of group work and a little bit of homework. We have weekly quizzes which aren’t too difficult, but they definitely make you maintain your vocabulary.  I’m really happy that I’ve made friends, or at least acquaintances.  In the past week, I’ve spent lots of time in the Center for International education, CIE.  In there I study Japanese with my partner Saki, or just enjoy a chat with some of my buddies.

Picking up things, what classes have been like....
    Since I left off on my first week, I guess I’ll kind of fill in what’s been going on since.  Well, I passed all of my placement exams for Japanese.  Studying for those with all the Kanji I didn’t know was a pain in the butt, as well as the vocabulary review.  As for my non Japanese classes, they’ve been pretty interesting. I’m taking Yoga: Mind in Buddhism and Daoism, as well as Sexuality and Desire in Japan.  I figured a small amount of classes would be good, to offset the shock of being in another country for the first semester. All of my instructors are amazing, especially my Japanese teachers. They’re so enthusiastic and fresh, and you can tell they enjoy teaching as much as we enjoy learning and laughing at each other’s mistakes.  It’s been inspiring, to know that Japanese is possible for me. My biggest fear before leaving was getting Comfortable.  Comfortable with not traveling, with speaking English and not learning Japanese and comfortable with not making Japanese friends.  It was so worrisome, I didn’t want to become anti social, or to avoid the natives because of my lack of knowledge.

Fortunately for me, I’ve learned quite a bit,
    Not of my fears have come to fruition. I really don’t think they will at all, aside from culture shock which I’m sure will creep up on me sooner or later.  I’ve done my best to immerse myself in Japanese culture. I speak tons--I mean.. Metric language tons with my Nihonjin friends and it’s wonderful. Saki, Nao, Haruna, Tomoko, Tomoka, and well--Well …everyone is just so motivating. Even when I know I suck they encourage me to continue, and take risks with speaking and learning new things. Whenever I do, I never regret it.  As for my listening comprehension skills, they’ve skyrocketed since my arrival. Since my immersion began I’ve been more capable of holding conversations and understanding the incredibly quick and upbeat tones of the Osaka and Kansai-bens (..which are quite difficult, by the way.).   Making friends, or at least speaking to those I don’t know was quite the task at first, and rather intimidating to say the least.  But now, I recognize that the only barrier that’s holding me back isn’t my speaking ability, it’s my fear of the unknown and of making mistakes.  Upon recognizing my self-hindering I sought to change my ways, and I’ve done well in going about it. This change occurred around the second week, by the way, and it’s made my stay so much more enjoyable.
   
So since my last post, outside of school..
    I’ve done some fun stuff. Some of which involves izakayas, pardon my romaji..  Izakayas are Japanese pubs, basically. They serve food and drink, often in a great atmosphere with socializing with Japanese friends, or just about anywhere. Pubs here are places for friends to cut loose and abstract themselves from the constant Office-style atmosphere of Japanese life and to loosen up a little, in one way or another.

Lots of friends and myself at an izakaya.

My favorite izakaya is called Toriki, which literally means chicken. It’s cheap at 280 yen for any meal or drink, not to mention EVERYTHING is superty-dupery-umpty-sumpty-delicious. That’s right, I took it to that level. Well at least if you like Yakitori and gyoza, or white peach whine. Who doesn’t though? Don’t answer.  Not to mention we’ve made a few journeys to Karaoke for tales of embarrassment and laughter beyond your wildest dreams, of which none can be described through the awful and profound videos that will soon be posted in the realm of face book.  After drinking and having friends sneak their own booze into the singing room, it’s incredible how many people are on par with beyonce and green day within miliseconds in the fantasy world that we love; karaoke. I’ve had a blast every time will making a bit of a fool out of myself, which surprisingly loosens everybody else up. Not to mention a particular buddy, Hart, does the most incredulous impressions of rappers and singers of any musical background to a T.

Myself and my Buddies at an Izakaya!

Outside of Drinking and Karaoke..
    I’ve invited friends into the Seminar House that I leave in. During such times I’ve taught yoga as well as hardcore yet fun abdominal exercises, which I think  were enjoyable; the jury is out on that decision currently though.  We did lots of basic poses, and I’m actually surprised at how popular Yoga had become in Japan. I’m also surprised at how inflexible some Nihonjin are, I Sometimes forget they’re regular, 80 lb people, just like the rest of us.
    The same night my unit-mate Eriko had a Sushi party, which was good fun. All in all I think about twenty-some odd people showed up, all partaking in a smorgasbord of raw delights including but not limited to Maguro, Sake and ebi(fatty tuna, salmon and shrimp).  There was tons of rice which was incredibly delish, along with the fresh sakana which made for a tasty, healthy dinner for all of the hungry ryugakusei (foreign students).  I myself enjoyed the soup which was exotic and tasty, although very light on the belly so that one could eat much of it and enjoy it as if the last sip was the first.  After the munching was over and our resident Okasaan came to look at the suspicious amount of people signed in under one name, all had went smoothly. We went into my room and performed a bout of yoga and called it a wonderful evening.
     

The Yellow Team at Asa-Tomo!

    As for another activities, I got to participate in the Asa-tomo festival, literally the “Let’s Make Friends” festival in Japanese.  We all divided into numerous teams determined by color, I.e. Blue, red, pink, yellow and green.  It was during and incredibly warm weekend on a Saturday, which was okay, albeit I’m sure I gave good ol’ Mr. Snipes a run for his money when the activities were completed.  Anyway, when the colors were determined team leaders were also selected, as both Japanese and foreign students. Not to mention the teams had many Nihonjin also, to introduce the ryugakusei to their new home and make them feel welcome, as well as to allow the Japanese to participate in awesome games with people from different countries. 

Blue Team, so cool! Ao--SAIKO!

   Most of the games we enjoyed that day I had never played before.  The friend-making activities included tail snatching--Where everyone wears a tail of their teams color, which is then to be grabbed by another team, although in a quite risky fashion that brings one’s hand eerily close to another’s backside--As well as an oni game, which is quite similar to red light green light. Only in this game, there’s a demon that murmurs a chant, and anytime he stops you have to strike a pose--Which can very from being a super model, a statue or a sports player, by the way.. Quite enjoyable. Last but not least there’s a quiz game where one foreigner and one Japanese teammate team up and answer questions in Japanese--Although it’s a little more complicated because you have to find the accursed answer on the ground first and pound someone into it to get a grip on the sheet you want.--Oh, not last, er. There was also a ridiculous relay race that consisted of balancing a ball in a spoon and running with it, spinning your head on a baseball bat, scavenging peoples clothes and stealing their shoes and or valuables as well as running like hell. I’d like to think that one was more hilarious to watch than take part in.

Me with the Japanese Stretch-Instructor Banana

 Anyway after the hours in the burning sun, although they were good hours, the festival came to an end. Ironically, the team I was on won, although we encouraged fun over winning, and winning was just a positive, possible outcome on top of having a good time. Go AO-GUMI! Our theme was “Nanji Desuka?” “BLUE TIME!” --Literally what rime is it? Blue time!  It was great fun, and admittedly I made quite a few friends. Well worth stepping out of what little comfort zone I had. 

All of the teams that participated, way to go guys!

Well it’s late, and I wanted to get all of this out before I forgot,

More to come, more to see

Soon, REALLY!

-ChocSush