I have been hardcore neglecting this blog. More backlogs of stories to come, but a couple things for now:
I have employable job skills! (lolwut)
I went back to the states in November for the Boston Career Forum, the world's largest English/Japanese career forum. So I flew to 11 hours to Boston to interview with companies that also flew to Boston, even though their Tokyo offices are generally about 30-40 minutes from my apartment. Yeah. I had a hard time explaining that one.
BUT- a couple weeks after I got back, I got a full employment offer from Rakuten. Just accepted it right before the new year, so for the first time in 15 months I am not thinking about a job search, at all. Funny thing though: I still know very little about the concrete job details.
Fastest explanation of Rakuten is that its the Amazon of Japan, but it also has a lot of subsidiaries including travel, electronic money, investments, even wedding planning. When I start in October I'll have a month or two of training/evaluation and then they'll put me where the they think I'd be the best fit. Seems like this should work out well for somebody with an interest in everything but necessarily "tangible" job skills (oh hey, me!). But my various investigations into company atmosphere and happiness of current employees give me good vibes. (doesn't hurt that the pay is probably the most I could get as a new grad without going into finance and banking)
Did a lot of studying over the break, and most notably, I finished the exams on all 1945 of the Jōyō kanji (daily use characters), the characters required in primary/secondary education and generally used as a guideline of basic reading proficiency for newspapers and such.
Of course, the list was updated two years ago to now include 2136 characters. (jerk move, Ministry of Education). But when I originally set the goal to master all the Jōyō kanji, there were only 1945 at the time. So it still counts.
Third semester starts on Monday, reputed to be the hardest term academically. I'll be adding an Econ class, a business Japanese class, and a contemporary history class. The work so far seems challenging and interesting, and by this point we're using pretty much exclusively textbooks intended for native speakers.
To make this post more interesting, a mildly offensive (but still hilarious) example of how Japanese pop groups don't quite get how its insensitive to parody other cultures. T-ara, which is actually a korean pop group that also produces Japanese versions of their hits, dress up like Tiger Lily, and wave their palms over their mouths going "wowowowowowowo" as they dance around the teepees:
Friday, January 13, 2012
Monday, December 5, 2011
Monday, November 28, 2011
I have 18 roommates
So I very recently moved into a new apartment, with lots of Japanese roommates. It's a "share house" which is basically a college dorm for big people. But I only moved in 1.5 days before I left Japan for the week I spent in the States, so I hadn't yet met most of the roomies very much.
But on the national holiday the day before Thanksgiving (no relation), many of the roomies decided to get bellig. So I got home from class, passed out by 5 pm due to mega jetlag, and woke up around 10 or 11 pm to find a party in my house. They shared the shochu (vodka, ish) and whiskey liberally, but basically everyone else had a fairly low alcohol tolerance so there were a lot of red faces.
Gaydar is culturally subjective. In the states, I have surprisingly good gaydar. If I can tell at all, I usually pick up on the 'mo vibe upon the first eye-contact when meeting someone new. This is not necessarily true in Japan, in large part because much of the hip/fashionable clothing for young men would be effeminate--dare I say fabulous--by our standards.
One of my housemates, Mochi, is cute as a button and flirtatious with anything that moves and basically a Japanese version of my college roommate Kelvin. I had been wondering about him, but as the drinks kept pouring themselves the following happened:
Mochi: I want to study English so I can meet a good guy. I just want Zak Efron to touch me. I'd say "No Zak, no!" but really I would want it.
Erriot: Oh, so you're gay.
Mochi: Who told Erriot I was gay?!
Lolwut. This was not the first loaded-with-gayness thing he said, but it was definitely the most unmistakable.
Added fun note, many of roommates go by vomit-inducingly cute nicknames. Like, Okazaki Hiroyuki goes by Okapi. His bestie Ogawa Chihiro goes by Ogachi. I swear that Okapi and Ogachi are different evolved stages of the same pokemon.
For Thanksgiving itself, it was my first time not with family. Bummer. But to deaden the pain by eating my feelings, I made an imitation of Sweet Potato Casserole to share with the roomies. Japan does not have sweet potatoes, but this did not stop me. I made do with Satsuma-imo, which are vaguely sweet-potato-ish. But purple on the outside and yellow on the inside.
Also, explaining "Casserole" to people not from a culture inundated with casserole is surprisingly hard. "Um... you can make it out of lots of things. It can be tuna or it can have pasta. But its a big thing you eat for dinner. And its not a dessert food unless is sweet potato casserole, when it is."
But on the national holiday the day before Thanksgiving (no relation), many of the roomies decided to get bellig. So I got home from class, passed out by 5 pm due to mega jetlag, and woke up around 10 or 11 pm to find a party in my house. They shared the shochu (vodka, ish) and whiskey liberally, but basically everyone else had a fairly low alcohol tolerance so there were a lot of red faces.
Gaydar is culturally subjective. In the states, I have surprisingly good gaydar. If I can tell at all, I usually pick up on the 'mo vibe upon the first eye-contact when meeting someone new. This is not necessarily true in Japan, in large part because much of the hip/fashionable clothing for young men would be effeminate--dare I say fabulous--by our standards.
 |
| Today's featured item of Japanese Goods with Questionably Translated Names: STRAIGHT TEA. They did not have any GAY TEA in stock. |
Mochi: I want to study English so I can meet a good guy. I just want Zak Efron to touch me. I'd say "No Zak, no!" but really I would want it.
Erriot: Oh, so you're gay.
Mochi: Who told Erriot I was gay?!
Lolwut. This was not the first loaded-with-gayness thing he said, but it was definitely the most unmistakable.
Added fun note, many of roommates go by vomit-inducingly cute nicknames. Like, Okazaki Hiroyuki goes by Okapi. His bestie Ogawa Chihiro goes by Ogachi. I swear that Okapi and Ogachi are different evolved stages of the same pokemon.
For Thanksgiving itself, it was my first time not with family. Bummer. But to deaden the pain by eating my feelings, I made an imitation of Sweet Potato Casserole to share with the roomies. Japan does not have sweet potatoes, but this did not stop me. I made do with Satsuma-imo, which are vaguely sweet-potato-ish. But purple on the outside and yellow on the inside.
Also, explaining "Casserole" to people not from a culture inundated with casserole is surprisingly hard. "Um... you can make it out of lots of things. It can be tuna or it can have pasta. But its a big thing you eat for dinner. And its not a dessert food unless is sweet potato casserole, when it is."
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Adventures in foreign medical systems
After a pretty full week, I had been looking forward to Saturday to catch up on work, sleep, and a party I had been assisting to coordinate in Tokyo. This didn't happen when I woke up with what felt like strep throat.
First couple hours of the day I contemplated dragging myself to the drugstore a few blocks away for what I knew worked pretty well on sore throats. I finally got the OTC stuff but it didn't seem to help as much as I had remembered, so I started looking up international clinics in the area, or places that at least would participate directly in the HTH insurance I'm receiving from Yale. (Students of IUC are supposed to enroll in the Japanese national health insurance, which would have made this a lot easier. But Yale pays extra for this service. I'll get reimbursed eventually, but there'll be more paperwork) But, all of these places were an hour + trip away, or closed on saturdays, so I was gonna call it quits.
It's hard enough when I'm healthy to call around in Japanese looking for a place, and then take the train and walk there and get lost for half an hour because the Japanese system of street addresses is useless and then navigate a bunch of unfamiliar bureaucratic procedures, so when I'm sick enough that getting out of bed is a challenge I wasn't really up to it. Armed with the knowledge of webmd.com, I knew strep will go away on its own, and the antiobiotics suppress contagiousness and generally not the actual symptoms, so I was content to wait in my bed until it went away.
But my symptoms were getting worse, so I finally pushed through to find a clinic. Interesting things different about the medical system here:
America's big on privacy and always has the waiting area cordoned off from the reception desk where patients discuss symptoms and payments with the nurse; that didn't seem to be a concern here. I'm used to filling out a complete medical questionnaire about anything that has ever happened to anyone in my family when I go to a new clinic for the first time, but the only survey I did was about the current condition.
I had heard that Japanese doctors tend to be brusque and efficient without much concern for bedside manner, and I guess that stereotype was confirmed but not necessarily in a bad way. He looked at my throat and nose and very quickly decided it was "風邪”, a cold, and subscribed me antibiotics. I asked if we should also do a strep test, since American doctors would usually do that as well, but he was confident that he'd prescribe the same things regardless of the test results and didn't feel the need. I felt lucky that my japanese level was advanced to know things like tonsillitis (扁桃炎、literally "flat peach inferno") because he didn't try to explain anything beyond that.
Although I wonder if the usage of kaze is wider in Japanese than it is in English, because I know most colds are actually viral and prescription antibiotics have no effect. And I definitely wouldn't call tonsils as large mine "the sniffles". But, the prescription drugs seem to be helping at least. Maybe the microorganisms responsible in Japan are more likely to be cold bacteria than cold viruses?
Afterwards, trekked into Tokyo for my appointment to sign the contract and pick up the key (yay!) for my new apartment. And then made it home through Tokyo rush hour commuter traffic, in the rain. I am just rocking out at the unreasonably hard being-an-adult challenges this week.
Now just five days until I return to the states for interviews at the Boston Career Forum, partying at the Sigma Chi 25th Reunion, and reminding hahvahd how many dead goats they suck at The Game!
First couple hours of the day I contemplated dragging myself to the drugstore a few blocks away for what I knew worked pretty well on sore throats. I finally got the OTC stuff but it didn't seem to help as much as I had remembered, so I started looking up international clinics in the area, or places that at least would participate directly in the HTH insurance I'm receiving from Yale. (Students of IUC are supposed to enroll in the Japanese national health insurance, which would have made this a lot easier. But Yale pays extra for this service. I'll get reimbursed eventually, but there'll be more paperwork) But, all of these places were an hour + trip away, or closed on saturdays, so I was gonna call it quits.
It's hard enough when I'm healthy to call around in Japanese looking for a place, and then take the train and walk there and get lost for half an hour because the Japanese system of street addresses is useless and then navigate a bunch of unfamiliar bureaucratic procedures, so when I'm sick enough that getting out of bed is a challenge I wasn't really up to it. Armed with the knowledge of webmd.com, I knew strep will go away on its own, and the antiobiotics suppress contagiousness and generally not the actual symptoms, so I was content to wait in my bed until it went away.
But my symptoms were getting worse, so I finally pushed through to find a clinic. Interesting things different about the medical system here:
America's big on privacy and always has the waiting area cordoned off from the reception desk where patients discuss symptoms and payments with the nurse; that didn't seem to be a concern here. I'm used to filling out a complete medical questionnaire about anything that has ever happened to anyone in my family when I go to a new clinic for the first time, but the only survey I did was about the current condition.
I had heard that Japanese doctors tend to be brusque and efficient without much concern for bedside manner, and I guess that stereotype was confirmed but not necessarily in a bad way. He looked at my throat and nose and very quickly decided it was "風邪”, a cold, and subscribed me antibiotics. I asked if we should also do a strep test, since American doctors would usually do that as well, but he was confident that he'd prescribe the same things regardless of the test results and didn't feel the need. I felt lucky that my japanese level was advanced to know things like tonsillitis (扁桃炎、literally "flat peach inferno") because he didn't try to explain anything beyond that.
Although I wonder if the usage of kaze is wider in Japanese than it is in English, because I know most colds are actually viral and prescription antibiotics have no effect. And I definitely wouldn't call tonsils as large mine "the sniffles". But, the prescription drugs seem to be helping at least. Maybe the microorganisms responsible in Japan are more likely to be cold bacteria than cold viruses?
Afterwards, trekked into Tokyo for my appointment to sign the contract and pick up the key (yay!) for my new apartment. And then made it home through Tokyo rush hour commuter traffic, in the rain. I am just rocking out at the unreasonably hard being-an-adult challenges this week.
Now just five days until I return to the states for interviews at the Boston Career Forum, partying at the Sigma Chi 25th Reunion, and reminding hahvahd how many dead goats they suck at The Game!
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| Unrelated: best unintentionally hilarious advertisement for a bar, TGIFridays. |
Also unrelated: terrifying but delightful commercial for Dole bananas.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Work and sweat
This week is a break between first and second semesters, but its yet to be that restful. Even when I thought I was done with all of it, I've had a surprising amount of resume/application/paperwork related stuff left over in preparation for next week's move. Also discovered I need to open a bank account tomorrow, which is great considering tomorrow is a national holiday ("Culture Day!") and thus banks are closed.
Tonight was my first full-on Japanese interview, conducted via skype. It was with Rakuten, one of the companies I would be more interested in and also felt I had a pretty decent chance at. Right before the interview I had a sudden crisis come up with the new apartment that finished only minutes before the interview, so I was maybe a little flustered to begin with. And then as soon as I turned on the skype video camera I realized I had forgotten to change into the dress shirt I had laid out and was instead still in my gym clothes.
Even after that I didn't feel it went that well, but I figure as much as anything I need experience in handling Japanese style interviews, so hopefully it will help me at later attempts. Although I'm bummed I might have missed my shot with Rakuten.
Had another interview with an American company scheduled for late tonight, (11 pm is about the only reasonable time that overlaps with their business hours) but as I was waiting for their representative to appear on skype I received an email saying "double-booked your interview lolwut sorry". Mrrrrrhhh.
More exciting stories: I had a conversation about dicks with the other guys in judo class. I was so happy when I realized the guy was asking me whether Americans shave their pubes. This is a cultural milestone in male bonding, and it means I have been accepted.
It did take me a while to realize that, though, as he was trying to phrase the question in very broken English, and from picking up "under" and "long" I assumed he was asking whether Americans wear longjohns, and I explained "they sometimes do when its really cold". This answer to the pubes question elicited unexpected laughter.
Also had another great conversation with Train Friend, who previously offered that if he met a girl who wanted to date me he would let me know. This time, as we transferred trains, I asked if he smelt something funny. He calmly explained "it is the smell of girls".
In others news of bridging cultural differences, please allow yourself to be enriched by the cultural goodness of Ayaman Japan performing Poi Poi.
Tonight was my first full-on Japanese interview, conducted via skype. It was with Rakuten, one of the companies I would be more interested in and also felt I had a pretty decent chance at. Right before the interview I had a sudden crisis come up with the new apartment that finished only minutes before the interview, so I was maybe a little flustered to begin with. And then as soon as I turned on the skype video camera I realized I had forgotten to change into the dress shirt I had laid out and was instead still in my gym clothes.
Even after that I didn't feel it went that well, but I figure as much as anything I need experience in handling Japanese style interviews, so hopefully it will help me at later attempts. Although I'm bummed I might have missed my shot with Rakuten.
Had another interview with an American company scheduled for late tonight, (11 pm is about the only reasonable time that overlaps with their business hours) but as I was waiting for their representative to appear on skype I received an email saying "double-booked your interview lolwut sorry". Mrrrrrhhh.
More exciting stories: I had a conversation about dicks with the other guys in judo class. I was so happy when I realized the guy was asking me whether Americans shave their pubes. This is a cultural milestone in male bonding, and it means I have been accepted.
It did take me a while to realize that, though, as he was trying to phrase the question in very broken English, and from picking up "under" and "long" I assumed he was asking whether Americans wear longjohns, and I explained "they sometimes do when its really cold". This answer to the pubes question elicited unexpected laughter.
Also had another great conversation with Train Friend, who previously offered that if he met a girl who wanted to date me he would let me know. This time, as we transferred trains, I asked if he smelt something funny. He calmly explained "it is the smell of girls".
In others news of bridging cultural differences, please allow yourself to be enriched by the cultural goodness of Ayaman Japan performing Poi Poi.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Moving Apartments
This last week was outrageously busy as I tried to juggle classwork with prepping my resume/applications for the Boston Career Forum (flying back to the states for a week in November) AND simultaneously setting the gears in motion to move apartments.
Moving apartments... being an adult is hard. But I think I got it right this time.
I never really bothered to share photos or descriptions of the current place because its not much to share. From my 8th view window, I can see... car parts factories. At night, the sounds of motorcycle gangs on the adjacent highway serenades me to sleep. On my route to school, I have a lovely tour of used car dealers, and car part stores, and car repair shops. It's a private, functional space, but that's about it. I selected it without understanding much of the area, or even what I was looking for, only that it balanced far enough away from school to be cheap but still close enough to commute by bike.
I also hardly ever encountered the neighbors. It's a monthly apartment, pre-furnished and with an easily adjustable contract, so it caters to working adults whose companies transfer them to work in Tokyo for a few months. Most neighborhoods are meticulously guarded by the local neighborhood watch organization--most of my friends have been scolded by the vigilant grannies for taking out their trash too early. This might be obnoxious, but the presence of trash-guard-grannies evidences the strong bonds of community, which is something my neighborhood/apartment just doesn't have.
I have a weird guilty complex about hanging out with foreigners outside of class and speaking English. But my current situation allowed me hardly any opportunity to meet Japanese people my age. So then I would retreat to my apartment and be bored, and feel guilty that I wasn't better utilizing my time.
But, with the magical powers of the internet, I found a company "Social Apartment" that's basically college dorms but for big people. I'm moving to Shinkawasaki, which is still only a 12 minute train ride (1 transfer) to my school in Minatomirai. Individual bedrooms, but actually really nice shared facilities. There's a lounge with a PS3 and Wii, nearly the largest kitchen I've ever seen in a Japanese house, outdoor wood deck, and a rooftop deck with a pretty view looking towards Tokyo and Shinjuku.
The bedroom is small, but the difference in rent and all means I'll be saving close to $300 a month. And honestly I think the lifestyle change of having Japanese friends to hang out with at night will be a major change in my happiness, in addition to being an invaluable language/cultural learning tool.
I was kinda anxious about the possibility of moving in with creepers / otherwise unpleasant roommates, but having met the landlord I feel way better now. I had been exchanging emails with the landlord for a couple days (incredibly relevant timing because we're working on formal correspondence in class, particularly emails chock full of keigo) before I came to visit and from the business-like tone of the emails I assumed he would be 50 or so. Turns out he's actually my age, and a super-chill bro, and we're gonna play soccer tomorrow. Nevermind that I don't like soccer very much and will probably embarrass myself because I haven't actually played since I was 6.
He vouched very strongly for the other residents being interesting people (I think there will be a total of 18 once I move in, 3 foreigners and otherwise mainly Japanese) and swore by the warm and welcoming environment of the apartment set-up. He insists that partly because it's a more narrow space, everyone gets more cuddly. I like cuddly. :p
Moving apartments... being an adult is hard. But I think I got it right this time.
I never really bothered to share photos or descriptions of the current place because its not much to share. From my 8th view window, I can see... car parts factories. At night, the sounds of motorcycle gangs on the adjacent highway serenades me to sleep. On my route to school, I have a lovely tour of used car dealers, and car part stores, and car repair shops. It's a private, functional space, but that's about it. I selected it without understanding much of the area, or even what I was looking for, only that it balanced far enough away from school to be cheap but still close enough to commute by bike.
I also hardly ever encountered the neighbors. It's a monthly apartment, pre-furnished and with an easily adjustable contract, so it caters to working adults whose companies transfer them to work in Tokyo for a few months. Most neighborhoods are meticulously guarded by the local neighborhood watch organization--most of my friends have been scolded by the vigilant grannies for taking out their trash too early. This might be obnoxious, but the presence of trash-guard-grannies evidences the strong bonds of community, which is something my neighborhood/apartment just doesn't have.
I have a weird guilty complex about hanging out with foreigners outside of class and speaking English. But my current situation allowed me hardly any opportunity to meet Japanese people my age. So then I would retreat to my apartment and be bored, and feel guilty that I wasn't better utilizing my time.
But, with the magical powers of the internet, I found a company "Social Apartment" that's basically college dorms but for big people. I'm moving to Shinkawasaki, which is still only a 12 minute train ride (1 transfer) to my school in Minatomirai. Individual bedrooms, but actually really nice shared facilities. There's a lounge with a PS3 and Wii, nearly the largest kitchen I've ever seen in a Japanese house, outdoor wood deck, and a rooftop deck with a pretty view looking towards Tokyo and Shinjuku.
The bedroom is small, but the difference in rent and all means I'll be saving close to $300 a month. And honestly I think the lifestyle change of having Japanese friends to hang out with at night will be a major change in my happiness, in addition to being an invaluable language/cultural learning tool.
I was kinda anxious about the possibility of moving in with creepers / otherwise unpleasant roommates, but having met the landlord I feel way better now. I had been exchanging emails with the landlord for a couple days (incredibly relevant timing because we're working on formal correspondence in class, particularly emails chock full of keigo) before I came to visit and from the business-like tone of the emails I assumed he would be 50 or so. Turns out he's actually my age, and a super-chill bro, and we're gonna play soccer tomorrow. Nevermind that I don't like soccer very much and will probably embarrass myself because I haven't actually played since I was 6.
He vouched very strongly for the other residents being interesting people (I think there will be a total of 18 once I move in, 3 foreigners and otherwise mainly Japanese) and swore by the warm and welcoming environment of the apartment set-up. He insists that partly because it's a more narrow space, everyone gets more cuddly. I like cuddly. :p
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| Unrelated: went to a Japanese baseball game last week, sitting on the side of the diehard Hanshin Tigers fans. American fans are downright pathetic when compared to the vigor that Japanese fans pour into their constant organized cheering. I was also creepin' hardcore on the trumpeters. |
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| Also unrelated: met some girls from Meiji Gakuin College last week on an event to tour some temples of Kamakura. |
Friday, October 7, 2011
Overdue Updates
I have been super delinquent on the blog, partially because I'm constantly pretty busy with the workload and all, and partly because the first month wasn't quite as "action-packed" as my previous experiences in Japan. Whereas summer programs for undergrads hold your hand as they inundate you with cultural activities, IUC is much more hands off. Its class, and a lot of it, and then students are otherwise on their own for the remaining 10% of daylight hours.
I've been here now just about 5 weeks, and the concept of "I live in Japan" is starting to sink in. A little.
I spend a lot of time thinking about / finding / preparing / cleaning food. My fridge is less of a "living fridge" and more of a "beer fridge", so the size of it (plus the size of the kitchen) makes it hard to prepare and store food in bulk. But I make a lot of tofu dishes, and for the first time in my life I'm cooking fish by myself. Breakfast is usually a rice bowl with kimchi, natto, fried eggs, and wasabi furikake, plus a banana. Lunch is whatever I can buy for cheap at a cafeteria or conbini near school, and dinner is whatever recipe I look up, which is often based around what weird stuff is on sale at the supermarket.
My food budget on the scholarship would be around $20 / day, but with the current exchange rates thats more like ¥1600. Actual parity means it feels like $16 (if we establish the amount of noms I get on a US $1 menu as equivalent to a ¥105 rice ball). I eat a lot in general, but on judo days I'm guessing I take in anywhere from 3000-4000 calories, so I have the mental rule that I'm only allowed to buy things that have a 2 Kcal : ¥1 value. Cost of living around Yokohama/Tokyo is very very high. If I have time to cook properly, that's fine, but busy days are a lot harder. Even a cheap restaurant uses a majority of my daily food budget, and a round trip to Tokyo often ends up around $12 in transportation.
Speaking of Judo, I did join a new dojo last week, although not the Kodokan. This one is also pretty far, but there's a lot of adults (including a couple very prestigious ones... the head instructor is a 7th dan blackbelt, and another one won the National Championships of the Police Judo League). In randori I'm finally to the point where I've been able to get in a few throws on the blackbelts, although the net total of throws is still very much me being thrown. But apparently 小内刈 (ko-uchi-gari) is my best move now, which is surprising because it seemed like one of my worst before.
Adventures:
We had a day off from class to go on field trips sponsored by the center: I went to the Cup Noodle Museum (where I had noodles) and Kirin Beer Factory (where I had beer).
I've been here now just about 5 weeks, and the concept of "I live in Japan" is starting to sink in. A little.
I spend a lot of time thinking about / finding / preparing / cleaning food. My fridge is less of a "living fridge" and more of a "beer fridge", so the size of it (plus the size of the kitchen) makes it hard to prepare and store food in bulk. But I make a lot of tofu dishes, and for the first time in my life I'm cooking fish by myself. Breakfast is usually a rice bowl with kimchi, natto, fried eggs, and wasabi furikake, plus a banana. Lunch is whatever I can buy for cheap at a cafeteria or conbini near school, and dinner is whatever recipe I look up, which is often based around what weird stuff is on sale at the supermarket.
My food budget on the scholarship would be around $20 / day, but with the current exchange rates thats more like ¥1600. Actual parity means it feels like $16 (if we establish the amount of noms I get on a US $1 menu as equivalent to a ¥105 rice ball). I eat a lot in general, but on judo days I'm guessing I take in anywhere from 3000-4000 calories, so I have the mental rule that I'm only allowed to buy things that have a 2 Kcal : ¥1 value. Cost of living around Yokohama/Tokyo is very very high. If I have time to cook properly, that's fine, but busy days are a lot harder. Even a cheap restaurant uses a majority of my daily food budget, and a round trip to Tokyo often ends up around $12 in transportation.
Speaking of Judo, I did join a new dojo last week, although not the Kodokan. This one is also pretty far, but there's a lot of adults (including a couple very prestigious ones... the head instructor is a 7th dan blackbelt, and another one won the National Championships of the Police Judo League). In randori I'm finally to the point where I've been able to get in a few throws on the blackbelts, although the net total of throws is still very much me being thrown. But apparently 小内刈 (ko-uchi-gari) is my best move now, which is surprising because it seemed like one of my worst before.
Adventures:
We had a day off from class to go on field trips sponsored by the center: I went to the Cup Noodle Museum (where I had noodles) and Kirin Beer Factory (where I had beer).
The "My Cup Noodle" attraction: I drew Nyan Cat and Noodle Cat
A visual timeline of all cup noodle products and labels
Magical art noodles flying through the air
Met up with Elizabeth (Carbone) Igarishi two weekends ago, and we went out to the beach at Kamakura and the Daibutsu statue.
Went on a single day retreat to a Buddhist Temple, also near Kamakura. Turns out I'm really bad at meditating.
More to come later. I'll be less bad at updating.
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