Rice and Ramen

Happy Halloween, guys! This year I decided to be a witchy little pumpkin: I cut out jack o'lantern face-shapes and stuck them to an orange dress I already owned and found cute (and cheap!) orange and black witch hat-headband to top off my ensemble. A bit of a step down from the full-body Pikachu I was last year, but it'll do. Hard to believe it's already November. I've already been here almost 5 months! The days and nights are getting colder (I'm wearing fingerless gloves as I type this) and the sun sets by 5 pm on the regular. But! Help is on the way: the vending machines across Japan have transitioned, for the most part, to their winter offerings. Hot canned coffee or sweetened tea or even just hot lemon juice and honey, like a liquefied coughdrop. There's even cans of corn soup or beef stew you can drink for a quick "meal." I love being able to get a hot drink whenever I need one from the nearest vending machine. Backing up a little...

Yesterday was the last day of the Hyakumangoku Festival. In the evening Kenrokuen Garden (the garden I went to with Ryo previously) had an illumination in the evening. When they said "illumination" I envisioned something dramatic and showy, like the Christmas light shows they sometimes have at zoos. So I expected colored strings of lights hung between trees and maybe some chains of lanterns lining the walkways. That's not quite what it was. There were no dramatic colored displays. Instead, certain key locations were lit with spotlights from below, and the pathways were lined with muted lanterns on the ground. In its own simple way it was very beautiful. But the most beautiful part about it was the traditional shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) performance they had. A woman wearing a kimono played the flute while being slowly poled around the pond. Everyone was silent, and the sound of her flute just echoed throughout the whole park.  And that con...

Happy New Year everyone! Even though I hit 2012 fifteen hours before you guys, I decided to wait to put this post up until we were all safely into 2012. That is the New Year's card that my family sent out; (they send out New Year's cards instead of Christmas cards) and look who's on it! Yay! It has the names of everyone in the family with a sentence or two about what's going on in their lives (the card is only the size of a postcard, you see). My little blurb on the bottom says: "An American who comes from Chicago. Will be leaving in February. Loves Japan and anime." (My host mom wrote it.) On January 1st, at 12 a.m. my whole family walked to the local shrine. You might expect the shrine to be slightly empty, but no, the line we waited in stretched from the shrine down the 4 flights of stairs and well around the block. Thankfully it wasn't that cold, so the 25 minute wait wasn't too bad. We got to the shrine, and tossed some change into the box...

These are the songs that get me through life here: studying, sporadic homesickness, boredom. I listen to them all the time. And now I'm spreading the joy! They're going in order (more or less) of, A. how much I listen to them and B. how much I like them Enjoy! This song= addicting as chocolate. And that's saying a lot. Possibly the coolest thing ever. A 2000 person virtual choir. I recommend either headphones or turning the volume up on the speakers to fill your brain with this glorious sound. Video, kinda odd. Song, epic. This is my official sleepy song. When I can't sleep because I'm thinking or worrying or whatnot, I turn this on and go right off to la la land.

I've gotten to listen to a lot of new music over here in Japan, and I just thought I'd share some of my favorite songs with you. moumoon-Tiny Star Sakanaction-GO TO THE FUTURE The ending theme from one of my favorite Ghibli movies, Itsumo Nando Demo. And I've saved the best for last so DEFINITELY LISTEN TO  THIS SONG: I spent one morning actually translating this one--Arrietty's Song--and here's what I came out with: I'm fourteen years old, I am pretty An energetic and small little lady I'm always underneath the floor Borrower Arrietty Sometimes I'm happy and sometimes I'm blue I want to meet someone Feel the wind blowing in my hair Gazing at the sky I want to give a flower to you Over there is another world Look, butterflies are waiting I am waiting Don't replace anything in My tiny world I don't hate it, but you I want to know more and more Joy and sadness Are always blended together CHORUS Under the ocean ...