27th may

Today I had a Japanese and Geography exam, they were ok.  Anyway I got to leave school early and I went to a Yamaha store and walked around a bit.  One of the salesmen was very nice to me and he let me play some of the pianos.  They had a really cool digital organ that cost about $10 000... hmmm I might have to save up for that one.

After that I went to Junkudo (a really big book shop.)  Last time I went there I just saw the manga floor so this time I went and looked around all the levels (8 in total) At the top was a (small) english section.  Strangly enough the english manga is still cheaper in Japan than it is in Australia, but I didn't buy any.  Instead I got a really cool costume/ make up book and a novel (the little prince.)

I forgot to mention, yesterday the art teacher told me that there was a 'Sekaido' (art shop) close to where I lived. So naturally I went there a checked it out, and it was awesome.  I got a set of Neopiko copic markers for about $20 for 12.  I have to make sure I stock up on more supplys before I go home though.

Here's a drawing I did after school.

 

26th may

This week is exam week and even though i've only been here a month the (international) teachers have been testing me to see if I've been paying attention during the classes.  The best thing is that i've been finishing school early.

I think my Japanese teacher Richard (not Japanese) has pretty high expectations for a slacker like me.  He says that in western countrys people think "I don't have a life unless I have free time" but Japanese people think "I don't have a life unless I'm doing something all the time."  Which is crazy!
 School clubs can go up to 7-8pm at night, not to mention I (should) be doing 2 hours of Japanese homework everyday.  Last year to handle the HSC I pretty much fell asleep straight away after school.  If I don't get a decent amount of sleep I could get termanaly stupid, one day because I really tired the part of my brain that translates Japanese turned off so I had no idea what people were saying.
My point is i've got to figure out a ballance between doing stuff and sleeping.


Also i've found one of the best drinks ever, grape juice!!!  It's not the same as Australian grape juice (which is really gross) its super sweet, tastes great and its pretty cheap (about a dollar)

24th may

Since I don't feel like writting an incredibly long entry about the weekend i'm just going to condence it into short one.


On Saturday I went to the electronic town Akihabara (AKA where all the otaku fans go.)  Honnestly it wasn't that great, it was just full of anime porn (hentai) and shady guys reading it.  The only good thing was that I mangaed to get a set (7) of anime rings for $12 compared to Australia where they sell them for $15 each.

After I relized that I wasn't going to get any better than that I decided to leave and go back to Ikebukuro where I got some awesome punk clothes.

collar sewn on the inside to make it look like 2 shirts

plad shorts.  The skirt is removable.

has lots of useless zips

Nothing too exciting happened on sunday except for getting lost inside of Sunshine City (Ikebukuro mall.)



At school some of the boys are being jerks, so I have to hurry and learn more japanese so that I can figure out what the stupid boys monkeys are saying

Also i've got exams this whole week (easy-ish ones since i've only been here a few weeks) so I actually have to study now, so bye.

OMG

OMG, why does blogger keep deleating my entrys after I spend hours writing it!!!!! 


I'm just going to go take a break *grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*

yesterday

For the people asking, no I’m not friends with the crazy guy. At first I didn't recognise him since he got a buzz cut (surprisingly there are a lot people with buzz cuts here.)  Anyway when he saw me he asked if I liked “unchin.”  Since I didn’t understand the word I didn’t answer the question, which was good because the teacher said it meant poo.  The teacher’s advice was to say “do you like it yourself” to make sure if it’s a trap or not.  He also said I was cute but I don’t think it has the same impact after asking me if I liked poo.


After school my home stay family took me to see the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.  Before that we had dinner at an Italian restaurant.  I had spaghetti with meat sauce, noticed I used the word ‘sauce’.  I think I may have found a few particles of mince in it, but that’s what I get for going to Japan.  The menu was pretty confusing and I barley understood anything since they translated Italian words into Japanese.  I could read the Japanese, but I just had no knowledge on Italian food.  I think my knowledge on Italy is just about the same as Scott Pilgrims:

(1)

In Ikebururo there are heaps of little movie theatres around (kind of like odeon back home.)  When I got there I looked like a stage show because they were selling POT/ Disney merchandise as well as movie programs (it schemed pretty classy.)  They also sold caramel coated popcorn which was yummy :3

The good news about it being a new movie is that they kept it in English and put subtitles over it. 

One day the bodyguard movie was on TV and they dubbed the talking bits in Japanese and kept the singing the same.  It was very strange; I think all movies should be kept in their original languages. 




(1)http://fyeahscottpilgrim.tumblr.com/post/2919528770/this-is-how-rome-do-rome-these-are-my

avoiding homework

I'm writing another entry to avoid doing homework right now.


In my 'international student handbook' it was talking about how japanese friendships work.  You first have the honeymoon, devorce and then marriage.  Which means that eveyone is going to welcome you because you're new and show you how great Japan is (honeymoon).  Then when they get use to you they start to ignore you since you're no longer interesting (devorce).  Then after a while when they get to know you, the real friendship starts (marriage.)

At the moment i'm starting to feel a bit of the honeymoon part and a bit of the devorce part.  For example last week-begining of this week some of the boys at school were teaching me weird things to say to their friends (read 16/5 post) but now they're kind of bored of hearing me say stupid stuff and haven't talked to me too much (devorce.)  But at the same time so other boys from other classes (who I probably said all the weird things too) are trying to teach me more weird stuff like "kuchikusai" or your mouth/breath stinks.(honeymoon).

Also because of the lack of communication its hard to have a propper conversation with people.  At lunch I sat with a bunch of girl but they didn't really talk to me.  I kind of felt inferior to them since I  had no idea what was going on.  I also feel that some of them were nice to me as a curtisy rather than actually wanting me to join their group.
So my general plan is to go around and talk to lots of different people even if its just to say hello. That way I can get to know people (and not piss them off by tagging along) as well as keep my individuality. 

Oh yeah I forgot to mention, Yesterday during lunch I heard music coming out of the room next door and I went to check it out and there were some kids who were dancing and so I went and talked to them.  I also met a weird but cool girl who likes to shout, she was teaching me words like "daisuki and aishiteru" which mean I like/love you. (hmmm... boys are teaching me 'you stink' and the girls are teaching me 'I like you'... I guess i'm getting the best of both worlds.)  Now everytime I see her she shouts 'daisuki' and I shout louder than her and she shouts louder. etc.  Now that I think of it we have a game like that at home except everyone shouts "pe-



Ok, next point.  Here's what REALLY inspired me to write this entry.
 
I told my homestay mum that the boys at school were teaching me weird things to says and the first thing she said was "did they teach you Majide?" <-- in Japanese
Bullseye.  まじで/Majide was one of the first words they taught me.  She's a school teacher so that might give her an upper edge, however she was good at guessing some of the words.  Then she went on to teach me more weird/ bad words (not swears.)  The bad thing is... I forgot them all :O


P.S i'm going to see pirates of the caribbean tomorrow, Yay!!  Japanese people love disney just as much as westerners love anime.  How much is that?  Alot.
One day my homestay parents took me to a disney shop and then skipped the Studio Ghibli shop... :(

Japanese people aren't that into anime, who knew.

Yesterday

I was dead tired yesterday and fell asleep as soon as I got home, so... here's what happened:

Anyway, 2 years ago when I was in Japan my friends (M'lissa and Dianna) and I went to an art shop that sold all sorts of manga supplies however we ended up getting lost in the shady parts of shinjuku before we got there.  So this time I thought I should google how to get there this time, and it turned out that subway station "shinjuku sanchome" written as "新宿三丁目" was on the same line I took to go home. 
So after school I decided to go on an adventure, half way there I realized that shinjuku was the biggest trains station in the world and that about the whole population of Australia goes through it everyday... meaning its big and its busy.  The good news is, I took the subway which is less crowded than the trains (they have people who literaly push people into the trains.)  I was kind of freaked out when I saw that they had exits everywhere "eg: A1-A-9, B1-B9, C1-C9, E1-E9..." (Because its so big I could end up anywhere) lucky enough I was smart enough to ask for help from one of the train guards before anything bad happened. 
When going down the passage way (about a 5-10 walk) I recognised it from last time.  Back then I just thought it was a small station that only had 1 platform, only now do I realize that it's all connected underground.  As soon as I got outside, I looked around to see if I was in the right place (since I'm know to have a terible sence of direction.)  Studdenly I looked up and realized... That this is what heaven looked like.

(1) "Yes, i'm learning how to source things properly"

 The shop is called "Sekaido" and it sells art supplies in general.  The 1st floor has scrap booking and crafts, the 2nd floor has printing and manga supplies, the 3rd floor has paints and sculpting supplies and the 4th and 5th have framing.  As you all probably guessed, I went to the 2nd floor.  They had so many amazing things there for resonable prices.  In Australia I use to have to wait weeks for items to come in and then have to pay alot for them.

(2)

I got comic paper (can absorbe ink well and has blue ruler lines that disapear on photocopiers,) a name book (used for storyboarding your comic) and screen tones AKA gold (used in comics for shading and patterns.) 

I not very good at using screen tones because I couldn't afford to waste any of my precious resources while I was in Australia, but since I can actually buy then here I figured that I should start of with a few basic patterns to practise with until I get better. 

As for school... I don't feel like talking about it now.



(1) http://doortojapan.seesaa.net/article/73187122.html
(2) Picture by me
 

16th may

My school time table here is only one week long instead of  the 10 day time table I had at leo's.  So basicaly its the same subjects I had last week.  This morning I had an (easy) japanese class were I had to learn more vocab, then I had PE which was soccer again however I've got this weird, spotty bruse on my knee from trying to dribble a soccer ball.  There isn't technically a 'morning tea break' here, but there are 10 minute breaks after each class where you can get somthing to eat.
After that I had a (japanese) english class for 2 periods which was pretty boring followed by a free period where I just practiced kanji on the computer. 

At lunch time I met this guy (I swear he keep trying to pick a fight when ever we meet) the only problem is his english sucks so I can't tell if its an insult or not.  Today he came up to me and said "are you cute?  You are cute.  Then I am cute... no no no, shut up"  Then he said sorry and tried to shake my hand (and took it back.)  He's pretty crazy.

After that I went back to my classroom (still lunch time) and talked with some of the boys (these ones are nice) and they were teaching me some words like "majide" meaning "really?!"  then they were getting me to say stupid phrases like "give me money" (I didn't think they realized I knew what they were talking about.)  Normaly I would have refused and said it was too embarissing but I though, "why not, everyone I say it to laughs."  Strangly enough I enjoy the company of stupid boys compared to a pack of girls... wait a second thats not new.


Anyway every monday after school I have a private Japanese lesson with the art teacher (she speaks japanes, chinese and english), the good news is that the art club is in the same room at the same time so I didn't even have to move anywhere.  There I met a girl who also liked manga so we were talking about our favourite manga and drew some of the characters from them.

After class I bought the weekly shounen jump magazine from the 'conbini' convience store.  I figured that I should buy it at least once since I have been reading it online for all these years (I actually read this adition yesterday.) What was even more amzing was the price.  It cost me about $2.50 and its got about 500 pages, Now i've got to figure out how to read it ^_-

Also I just realized this.  My fancy, private school jacket has my name embroyded in it >O<  How cool is that!

15th may

Today I went with my homestay dad to get a new mobile phone.  When I the car I realized that it didn't need a key, it had a botton on the dash board that said "engine on/ off."  That was pretty cool. 

Anyway back to the main topic, at first they wouldn't let me get a phone because I didn't have enough ID so we went to the alien regirstration office to apply for my 'gaijin card.'  The card itself takes 2 weeks to be made however they gave me a piece of paper to give to the phone people.

Also by the looks of it everyone here is on a phone plan because there were only 6 phones in the whole store that were conpatible with pre-payed cards, but I think I got a pretty cool one.

PS. This is my favourite commerical here:

14th may - Very short post

I didn't do much today except catch up on sleep.  I went with my homestay dad to get a phone but they said they needed more ID so we're going back again tomorrow.

Friday 13th ~ Entry from yesterday

 Bloggers fixed now, so here's yesterdays update.

Last week I felt my bed shaking but I thought it was just my imagination however today when I work up I noticed that my window was shaking as well.  Wow, it’s weird having an earthquake.  When I talked to my teacher he said that Tokyo has aftershocks all the time but it’s safe since the buildings are specially built to withstand earthquakes.  He also said that people have gotten so use to them that they can even guess what level they are “oh, this feels like a level 4 quake” and “wow a level 5 quake, that’s impressive.”

Since it’s been raining heaps here we had PE in the hall.  The hall has the main floor down stairs (basket ball court) with a gym attached on the side.  Then directly above it is a running track that runs around the sides of the wall.  In PE the teacher was teaching us how to handle a soccer ball like balancing it on your foot and passing it to other people.  Except as you probably know, I love kicking the crap out of everything so it was almost impossible for me to control it.  What’s weird is that the guy and the girls change in the same room (main class room) so you have to be really secretive when changing such as putting your gym shorts on under your skirt.

After that I had some free study lessons and a boring English class so I’ll skip that part.

Since I’ve been eating nothing but noodles all week (since I can’t read the menu) I decided to have a change and get a sandwich.  At the school there is a cafeteria seating area, with a kitchen where you can order hot meals.  At the back of the cafeteria (like the rest of Japan) has HEAPS of vending machines.  There’s a tea machine, juice machine, soft drink machine, ice cream machine and finally… a bread machine.  That’s right I got my sandwich from a vending machine.

What was deleted from yesterday’s blog:

Yesterday at lunch I heard a bunch of boys making noise in the hall way and went to check it out.  It turned out that they were playing bowling with a baseball and some water bottles and they asked me if I wanted to play with them (which I did.)

Back to today:

Anyway, today I went and talked to the same boys and they were pretty cool.  We didn’t play bowling because I think they got in trouble (not exactly sure though.)  Over all I think a lot of the students are getting use to me and are being more friendly, which is great :D

After class I then went to the English conversation club 英会話クラブ.　The purpose of the club is for Japanese kids to come and practise their English; however I went because it’s a good excuse to talk to people.  I thought it was fun so I think I’m going to go back again next time.  Also it will probably be good for me since it will help my crappy social skills. 

My plan for tomorrow is to get a mobile phone since my Australian one costs a fortune to use.

Since today is Friday the 13^th I’ll share some spooky news.  To get to Ikebukuro I have to walk next to a cemetery on a street that my host parents call “black cat street.”  In the middle of the road is road block with a black cat spray painted on it.  Also, one day I saw a real black cat in the cemetery.  

nooooooooooooooooooo

noooooooooooooooooooooooooo, the blog enty that I just spent the last 30 minutes on just deleted itself nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo


I've got homework to do now, I won't re-write it agin, sorry.

11th may

I'm going to skip all the boring subjects for this enty so that I can hurry up and get something to eat. 

Anyday every week i'm going to be helping with a year 7 english class.  Today we played a game where the kids had to pull an item out of a box and say 'is this a...' and 'no, it is not'  I did the same except I had to say it in Japanese.

hmmm.... blablabla.......  After school I went to the Art club, as usual I couldn't understand much and it took them a while for them to figure out that I wanted watercolours.  There was one guy that was drawing a manga but the rest of them were into life drawing stuff. 
After doing 3 different clubs everyday and coming home after 7pm i've realized that this is CRAZY, i'm not doing this every day... I need my precious time for watching TV, sleeping, doing homework (even though I don't want to.)  Also i'm kind of getting lonley.  Last time when I came here there were other international students (who spoke english) and that I could got along with, but i'm the only one this time.  I have been able to talk to some of the Japanese students, but we're not exactly friends yet.  Half the time i'm just pretending to know whats going on... GGGGRRRRRRRR!!!  I wish I could hurry up and learn conversational Japanese already!!!!


Oh yeah, I got my school uniform yesterday so here's a picture:

I was pretty disapointed when I first saw it.  "aww, I wanted a sailor uniform.  This one looks like the ones back home."  However its a fancy 'Private' school uniform that was costum made with fancy bits all over. Like this embroided logo.

I also got my train pass today too.  The card is a magnet so all I have to do is just tap it aginst the barrier and it goes *beep*

10th may/ 五月十日

I'm going to make this entry a bit shorter compared to yesterday since I have to get ready for tomorrow.
In the morning I had double english (with the Japanese students) in this class we were reading an english books and answering some questions (which was pretty easy for me).  But I made sure to write down notes when ever there were translation bits from Japanese to English.  Also i've made some friends with the girls that sat next to me, so thats good.

Then for period 3 I had... English again.  Wow, I didn't realize that i'd be learning so much english when I came here.  Though this class is special, its a 'Higher English class' meaning that there teacher is going to teach me stuff like grammar, spelling, essay writing ect.  Smart stuff!!  He said it was to prepair me for university. 

After that I had P.E (I wore my leo's PE uniform.) Their football field is made out of plastic turf, so I was pretty amazed by that.  Anyway we were suspost to learn how to control a soccer ball by balancing, and dribbling the ball.  I couldn't do it but who cares.

Then I had a free study where I practised more kanji.  The hardest part about learning kanji is that there are more than one way of saying it for example

一　this kanji is called ichi/ one.  But then it changes based on the context. 
1 person                    = hitori
1 thing                      = hitotsu
1st day of month      = tsuitachi
1st month/ january   =ichigatsu


Ok enough of that.  After that I had a Japanese, Japanese lesson... basically it was too hard to understand so I stopped paying attention after a while.

Finally I had a karate class after class at 4pm - 6:30pm it turns out that there are karate classes 6 times a week so the Japanese classes are more intense.

hmmmm.... what else... um oh yeah I got my school uniform today so i'll wear it tomorrow.

EDITED 9:36pm

I forgot to mention the everyone knows my name for some reason.  Some even know the 'McLeod-Yu/ Makuraudo yuu' bit even though I never said it, weird.  Also I think some of them just like saying my name too.  Some times I hear boys randomly saying 'Jeshika' 

9th may/ 五月九日

I've come to realize that even though i've been learning Japanese for a few years now I don't really know anything. But the good news is, thats what i'm here for, to learn.

Today I got my school time table (picture below) and was thrown into a bunch of classes with other Japanese students.  Everyday i'll have homeroom in the international room then have other classes with everyone else. 

We had P.E today, but since I didn't bring my uniform I just sat by the side.  Thought I'd never thought that there would be a day when I wanted to join in a P.E class, though its probably the side effect of doing absolutly noting for the last few months.  In class I met a girl called 'Arisu' I think her name is pretty easy to remember since it sounds like 'Alice'

After that I had english class... From a Japanese person's perspective, it was pretty interesting seeing it taught the other way.  In class I met some more girls called 'Yukina, Miyuki, Ondu, Yui and Izumi' it is so hard to remember all these Japanese names (especially when they tell you all at once.)  Actually I already forgot the teacher's name ^_^'

At lunch time I had Soba noodles, the reason I keep eating noodles in school is because its the only thing I can understand thats on the menu. (hahahaha) Most of the menu is in kanji (chinese charcters) So then I look for word that are in katakana and hiragana (other japanese characters) However I still don't know what the food is since the only Japanese food i've every eaten (in Australia) are sushi and ramen.  The good news is I sat with the girls I met in class instead of by myself like last week.

umm, what else?... Oh yeah, I had a free lesson in the computer room where I did some kanji practice.  It was pretty boring. 

Finaly... I have no idea what my last class was, all I know is that it had alot of kanji and reading, blablabla... So I just pretended to know what was going on and took notes that made no sence.

Then at the end of the day I had a special Japanese lesson, which is probably the equivalant to the "ESL" in australia.  The teacher 'Yoko' sensei then gave me a year 1 primary school book on kanji.  I think its super easy after doing Japanese for my HSC however its easy homework so I won't complain. 

After that I had  my first kendo lesson (at 4pm.)  The teacher has a really cool voice, it sound like he's always talking into a megaphone.  However I didn't understand a single thing he said... But I can figure out charades.  He was teaching me the basics (which I already knew) but I figured "once you master the basics you can... do awesome stuff" so my technique good better :D

He said that I was 上手/ 'good at it.' So thats good, I think he wants me to enter a competition when the time comes, but my translation skill only got me so far.  I finished at around 6:45pm and then went home.  Honnestly I think I cou'd have done a more intense work out, but since I had to walk home/ go to school tomorrow.  It was pretty good that I wasn't so tired......... i'm still normal tired though. Sooooooooooooo..... thats the end of this entry.    

8th may

Today I went to a shrine with my homestay mum... it probably doesn't count as going to church since its the wrong religion ^_^' (though i'm not really sure if it was buddhist or shinto.)
I was sort of farmiliar with what to do since I went to a shrine last time.  First there's a water fountan thing that you washed your hands in (cleansing?) then you chuck money into a thing-y and bow twice, clap twice, then bow once again.  I think you're suspost to prey somewhere in between all of that but I didn't for obvious reasons. Outside the shrine (which is called kishibojin ) there was a market place where all these people were selling their home made arts and crafts. 

After that we went to a 100 yen shop which is basically the same as our '$2 shop' except everything is actually 100yen/ $1.  The shelves don't even have price tags since everything is the same price, it was SO cheap.  Then we went grocery shopping and came home after.

edited 8:40pm

Because it's mothers day today we had sushi, pizza and cake.  It was yummy however I think the pizza in australia tastes better.  I had to expain to my family that it was weird eating nigiri (rice with a huge piece of raw fish on top) so I just had a little but of it.

cool song

This song is from the anime "Black Heaven" that I watched a while ago.  I think its pretty cool :D

7th may

Today I went to a Japanese primary school with my homestay dad who is a teacher there.  Honnestly I wasn't sure what the occasion was (maybe childrens day) but they had a bunch of old Japanese games and toy for the children to play with (myself included :P)   One of them was called a 'beigoma' which is like a really old beyblade.  What you do is wrap a piece of rope around the bottom then when you throw it you have to pull the string at the same time. They were really hard to use and the only people who could make them spin properly were a bunch of grandpas.  I got it to spin once but I think that was just luck.

picture from google

Another toy was called a "kendama."  The point was to flip the ball up and try to catch it on the side.  I was able to catch it a few times.  As you can see I was too lazy to take my own pictures but I found some in google images.  Some other games included juggling bean bags, walking on stilts and jump rope but you should know what that is so i'll move on.  





another picture from google

After that we went to a famous/ very popular ramen shop in Ikebukuro for lunch.  It was yummy :3 This shop was so popular that we had to buy a ticket from a vending machine (with the food order) then wait in line before we got seated... oh boy i'm pretty hungry now.  Then when we got home I proceded to do one of my favourite hobbies... sleep.  After 4 hours later I got up and wrote this entry.

6th may

This morning I saw my homestay brother 'Take' at breakfast who had a hang over, he was so funny.  He looked something like this:

Anyway, I had my 2nd day of school today.  However it turns out that i'm the only international student at the moment (the others are coming later) so I pretty much had a private tutor.  Also my english teacher is a real english man :D hahaha... I think thats pretty funny.  Anyway I read some news articles then did mini japanese tests (to see what level i'm at) and then some kanji practise. 

For lunch I had Ramen, at the school we actually have a cafeteria to sit in however since I don't have any friends yet I sat by myself.  :( 

The said that next week i'm going to be put into a homeroom some some classes.  Luckly enough I don't have to do any crazy nerd subjects like 'super crazy advanced asian maths'... At least not yet.

I told the teacher about the guy who was following me and he said that if that happens again I should go to the 'koban' which means police box and say 'chikan' which means dangerous person. 

I don't think he meant any harm (he was just weird) but if it happens again i'll know what to do.



5th may

Today was pretty interesting.  Since its still holidays here I went to a game center in Ikebukuro and played on the UFO catcher machines.  After a few tries I won this toy from on the the machines however I wasn't so lucky the other times. 

I tried to get a teddy bear from on of the machines and spent over $30 and still didn't get it.  Anyway since I was there for so long a guy and a lady were there trying to help me but I still didn't get the bear. Later the same lady came back with 3 toys from the same machine, and she gave me one of them since she felt sorry for me.  Yay simpathy!!

These UFO catcher machines are so addictive, its like gambling for kids.  I couldn't afford to get a gambling addiction, especially after I got my RCG (responsible conduct of gambling) that would be really embarissing.  So then I switched to playing guitar hero where I only spent up to $3 and had a lot more fun.  I've learnt my lesson, i'm not going near one of those machines again unless its really easy or i'm spending other peoples money.

Anyway when I was ready to go and get lunch the same guy kept following me (even though I was trying to shake him off).  Honnestly I couldn't understand what he was saying all the time.  (I just pretended to know) Anyway he even bough me lunch (egg rice and soup) which was nice of him (I offered to pay though) and he even got me this toy.

Oh boy, I hope this wasn't a date 0.o After that we went to Book Off (second hand book shop) where I bought 20 books for 1600 yen which = $16  Holy cow!! In Australia one book would be worth $16 meaning 20 would = $320 that was awesome :D

After that I figured I should go home.  Normally I would walk back but since the same guy was still following me I didn't want to walk home instead I just took the subway back.  He said that he would like to meet me again next sunday but I said that I wasn't sure. 

He was a pretty nice guy however i've only been in Japan for 6 days.  Therefor I still cant tell the difference between an axe murderer and a japanese otaku (middle aged guys who like anime and games.)  Also I'd prefer to meet friends my own age.  (hurry up other exchange students!!)

ninja cat

There was a cat on TV that was black all over except for his face.  He looked like a ninja and they called him 'ganmen' which means mask.

4th may

Today I went to Ikebukuro and went shopping for books.  (Ikebukuro is about 15mins walking distance from my house.)  The book store I went to is called "Junkudo," my homestay dad said the it has a very small comic section.  However compared to Australian book stores its HUGE, its got a whole floor full of comics.  Whats even more amazing is, books that would cost up to $60-$100 at home only cost aprox $20-$40.

I got a how to draw book on perspective and backgrounds (left) and a manga called 'saint young men' This story is about Jesus and Buddha who are best friends who live in Japan. (right)

Also I noticed that I passed about 4 grave yards on my way home.  Where are all these dead people coming from?

3rd of may

Yesterday I had my first day of school, but I was so tired that I didn't update.  Anyway it turns out that its Golden week meaning that everyone gets a 3 day holiday.

So today I went to Sunshine street in Ikebukuro with my homestay parents.  We went to a game center and played with the UFO catcher machines.  The machines are harder than in Australia.  Since the claws are so weak you have to push the toys into the box rather than picking them up.  After alot of attempts we finaly got this Hello kitty. (aprox 50cm?)
 

After that we went to see the detective conan movie "Quarter of Silence" I understood most of it but when it came to conan explaining all of his detective stuff I had no idea what he was talking about :P

It was a pretty good anime, full of action and bombs and stuff... (what kind of recap was that?)  Also since this is Japan, I was able to get oolong tea as a drink.

Then we came back home and had some Japanese sweets called "chimaki."  Its only available in March because there is a much of holidays now.  1st was childrens day, 3rd is princess day and 15th is mothers day.

Thats about it for now.



quick re-cap of today

Today I got mesured for my new school uniform but until its finished i'm going to wear my Leo's uniform to school.   Then I had ramen for lunch.  After that my homestay parents took me to harajuku where I got a new belt, ring and jacket.  Harajuku has so many amazing things.  Also did you know that the Japanese McDonalds has flavoured soft serves, I had the grape flavour.  At home I had okonomiyaki and yaki soba for dinner.

I'm In JAPAN!!!! YAY!!!!!

After 4 months of waiting I can finaly use this blog to talk about my trip in Japan.

Today started out kind of rough because I acidently left my insulin at home in the fridge and we only realized this at the airport counter O.o luckly enough my mum's friend Jeanette saved the day and brought it to us before I had to board which was awesome :D

Australian customs are so different to the Japanese customs.  In Australia they made me empty all of my junk on to the convayer belt, including my shoes and jacket.  Then did a body search bla bla bla.  

Then in Japan all I had to do was show them my papers and they let me through straight away.

Then for the next 8 hrs I either drinking lots of tea, watched movies like "the girl who lept through time" (which was an awesome movie btw) and drawing.  I was so excited that I couldn't sleep desipite the fact that I only got 2 hrs of sleep yesterday.

After that I got picked up by my homestay parents and went home.  I'm too tired to write more so you'll just have to wait for tomorrow's update.