Redecorating

I've been on an artistic bent lately. I whipped up a bunch of sketches over the weekend, surprisingly enough, and I even started working on a serious pencil picture. Haven't done that in ages. Okay, it's for a contest, but still... It's a picture I've been meaning to draw for ages.

While in Nara, I picked up a spiffy ornament for my cellphone. I also traded faceplates with one of the interns, so now my cellphone is ultra spiffy! The glass block holds a little laser engraving of the Buddha. Below that is a deer, and at the bottom is one of those weird ying-yang halves that are everywhere in Kyoto and Nara. Not sure what their significance is though.

Also, I finally got myself one of those nifty transparent umbrellas. I love those things so much... All this time, I've been meaning to get one, and doodle stuff on the inside, so it'd be like stained glass. The only problem was that I didn't have any colored Sharpie markers with me... BUT, Sarah is awesome, and she sent me a birthday present - colored Sharpies! They couldn't have come at a better time. This is just the start, but hopefully, there will be further additions made soon. ^_^

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: SuperGreenX, MC - DDR - 4F73R M3 (Yeah, this one's on OC Remix, but you can also find it at SGX's website)
Current mood: Yaaaaay!

Back from Kyoto

I went to Kyoto this weekend. It was awesome, although I was dying from a headache for all of Saturday and most of Sunday. I was totally stupid and forgot to bring painkillers along with me, and everyone else only had Tylenol. I know very well now that Tylenol does nothing for me. -_- At least, on Sunday, the cool architect guy that we met with gave me some Ibuprofen, and I was able to enjoy the tail end of the trip.

I don't feel like writing pages and pages of stuff right now... Maybe later. However, I did put some descriptive titles on my photos, so you can probably figure out what I saw. Since I didn't bring my laptop with me, I took smaller pictures (my camera can hold about 85 large photos, or over 200 small photos, and I knew I was going to be taking more than 85 photos...), and I kind of regret it. Should've brought the laptop! Oh well, so you can't see everything properly. I'll keep this in mind, the next time I go on a weekend trip. Here are pictures from Saturday and Sunday. And here are some lovely photos, courtesy of Mike-san, Mitsuko-san's husband. Enjoy!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: djpretzel - Super Mario World - Swanky Vegas (The pretz runs OC Remix, and most of his remixes are awesome)
Current mood: Kinda stiff and sore... Is that a mood? o_O;

Photoblogging?

I bought some green onions to go with tonight's pork ramen, and they are ridiculously long. I decided that I needed to take a picture of them, and that inspired me to do a 'cooking with Flykyr' tutorial. Because ramen is totally hard to make, I know. I went and put captions on all of today's pictures because I was too lazy to put it all together in a Powerpoint presentation. Plus, this way, people who don't have Powerpoint can see the pictures too. Check it out right here.

Speaking of photoblogging... Maybe I'll give that a try sometime, instead of just putting in links. Maybe after I get back from Kyoto. ^_~

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: The Wingless - Starfox - Godspeed (Hey hey hey, guess where I got this song from...)
Current mood: Content

Finger Lickin' Good

This evening was my welcoming party. My work group took me to a chicken restaurant - they specialize in everything having to do with chicken. We had yakitori, deliciously salty fried chicken, chicken soup with rice (NOT at all like your standard Campbell soup), "Italian" chicken salad, chicken shumai, chicken gyoza. I think the appetizer was spiced chicken skin. The weirdness prize goes to the chicken sashimi. Yep, raw chicken wrapped in mint leaves. I was brave and had one. Kind of the same texture as sashimi... but more tasteless. It wasn't too bad, provided that I refused to think about salmonella or asian bird flu. At least the drinks were free of chicken. :D

Yamamoto-san has decided to turn me into a Kyoto girl, being that she is from Kyoto herself, so I got a lesson in the different words for 'fool'. In Kyoto, Osaka, and the rest of the Kansai region, the word is 'ahou'. In Nagoya (and only Nagoya, apparently), it is 'tawake'. And everywhere else, down south to Kyuushuu, or north to Hokkaido, the word is 'baka'. I was familiar with 'ahou' and 'baka', but 'tawake' is a new one for me. Probably because it's so localized. I'll have to keep it in mind, in case I end up going there. Yamamoto-san's theory is that each word originated from Kyoto and spread outwards from there because, naturally, Kyoto is the center of Japan. There was much protest from the non-Kyoto types (that is, everyone else in the group).

We also talked about sightseeing in both Japan and the US, fireworks, and musical instruments. Yui-san and Saito-san both play the piano, so there was a mutual comparison of hand sizes. People were impressed by mine - I have a fairly wide fingerspan. Of course, many other things were said that I did not understand, but I still had a good time. Speaking in Japanese comes fairly easily, even though I don't think I'm using as many second-year Japanese structures as I think I should be. It's understanding it that's really difficult!

On the gaming front, I found a couple Pop'n Music simulators. Stepnmusic is an offshoot of Stepmania (a DDR sim, and it looks very spiffy - I will have to try the DDR part out sometime), and is kind of like DDR for your fingers... Sadly, there are no keysounds - I can't play out individual sounds when I hit the keys. And that's really what makes Pop'n Music fun. But that game is what I found several simfiles for, so it's got the most variety. I desperately want to make a few more character designs for it though. It only came with one, and I can't find any more! The other sim is called Feelin Pomu, and it supports keysounded files (YESSSSS!). Unfortunately, I have found only three simfiles for Feelin Pomu, and they are all impossible for me. Sigh. Guess I have to learn in the arcade after all. :P Still... Pop'n Music is awesome! They need to bring it to the US, because I think I am really going to miss being able to play it once I go back home. I'm such a nerd. ._.

This weekend: MIT-Japan intern trip to Kyoto. It's going to be a blast!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: djpretzel - Phantasy Star 2 - BurntMota (Yes, I am going through all my OC Remixes, in case you haven't noticed...)
Current mood: Satisfied

Suddenly Social

This was an intern-heavy weekend. Not too many pictures, but you can see pictures from the intern party and its aftermath here. The party was great - it was good to finally meet all of the Tokyo-area interns, and the food was excellent. We watched Dracula - it had Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder in it. I only watched the second half, but I found it rather annoying and lame. I never figured out why Keanu Reeves' hair was such an odd shade of gray.

After the party, everyone headed over to Shibuya to go hang out at a cafe. Pong, Jumaane, and I went to one of the two (two!!) arcades in Shibuya that has a DDR machine. Jumaane is really good and I am teh suck. ._. Sadly, in the two-minute interval where I went to go watch Pong play Beatmania before dragging him over to play DDR, a horde of guys appeared and hijacked the DDR machine. There were like, a dozen of them! Somehow, this always happens. After I play on an unoccupied DDR machine, people show up and take it over for a long time. I don't know how that works.

Sunday, I went out for shabu shabu and sukiyaki with some of the interns. Photos are here. Not so interesting, but there is a nice picture of us at the end. Anyway, that's that. Time to get ready for another work week.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: None
Current mood: Worn out

Week's End

Wow, it's Friday again. That was quick. Today's lunchtime entertainment included a discussion of the dangers of keeping one's cellphone in one's shirt-front pocket. Quite a few people appear to have dropped their cellphones into the toilet because of this dangerous habit (squat toilets are fuuuuuuun....). Good thing I always keep my cellphone in my purse or my backpack.

The apple juice that I bought tastes suspiciously like pear. I am so mistrustful of all the drinks at the company shop because they are made by brands like Kirin or Asahi or Suntory (for a relaxing time, make it Suntory time), all brands that I know as producing alcoholic beverages. But hey, they make plenty of non-alcoholic drinks too. My favorite so far has been the jasmine tea. It's cold, but it sure brings back nostalgia.

This weekend, there's a Tokyo-area MIT-Japan welcoming party at an alum's house. Free food is always good. There was mention of clubbing afterward - I wonder if anyone will actually act on it. I am kinda curious...

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: None
Current mood: Annoyed

Watashi no Keitai

Back in the internet cafe for another ice cocoa (tonight is good - they used more cocoa powder than the last time I was here) and some more picture uploading. Sarah expressed a desire to see pictures of my keitai - my cellphone. And here is a picture of me with my phone. Ugh, I am so not photogenic - you don't want to know how many tries it took to get to that picture. At that point, I wasn't even trying to smile anymore. But that takes care of Mike's request for pictures of me in Japan. There. That's me, and I'm in Japan. So there. ^o^

There is an annoying gaijin dude here in the cafe, jabbering away on his cell phone. He is swearing a lot, which I find to be highly distracting. Talking on your phone in a cafe meant for reading books and listening to random classical music seems like a horribly rude thing to do. Americans. *shakes head*

Actually, I brought my iPod along and thus have headphones, so I think I will listen to DI.fm for a while. Goodness, it's been ages. I've been missing out on so much cutting-edge trance. I miss hearing A State of Trance... But it's on at like, 1am on Friday mornings, so there's no possible way.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Orinoko - Island (thrillseekers dub mix) (Score! Not only a song that I recognize, but a good one, to boot.)
Current mood: Bouncy

Food and drink

Today for the first time, I tried melon pan, a kind of bread which is very popular in Japan - Minataku from Digi Charat is always eating it. It was delicious. But that is because it didn't taste like melon at all.

Today's drink: oolong tea. The Japanese really like cold tea. Cold green tea is nasty, and straight tea is full of sugar. But oolong tea is just right. I might try jasmine tea tomorrow, provided that they don't restock on apple tea first.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: None
Current mood: Anxious

Someday I Will Get Beyond Shinjuku...

Sarah and I have discovered the wonder that is cell-phone email. Finally, a way to communicate on weekends! I went down to the local internet cafe to meet up and chat with her over AIM. Caught up on the latest gossip concerning Jim and Vikki, neither of whom I've heard from personally. Also caught Mike online, which was a pleasant surprise.

I decided to go back to Shinjuku and DDR the afternoon away, so I did just that. I decided that I suck less on the 2P side than the 1P side, but I'm still relegated to playing Standard mode. I've realized that in order to play Heavy mode, you have to know exactly what you're doing, and my DDR sim's timing is very different from the arcade machine's. I can see why Brett has such a hard time when we use my computer to play. I stuck to playing easy songs, except for on my last song of the round, since it doesn't matter if I fail that one anyway. And every time, I picked a song I knew I could beat on my own system, and I failed every time. I came darned close to beating Era though. >_< I think the only Heavy level song that I passed was Cowgirl, and only barely, at that. More people were watching me suck away... At least they were more polite than some hecklers back in the States that I can think of. I wonder what they thought of the clueless gaijin in shorts, hopping around like a monkey to the gallops in Cowgirl. @_@;

Oh man, I felt so inappropriately dressed today. All of the girls and women in Japan wear either pants, capris, skirts, or dresses. Nobody wears shorts. Most of the guys wear pants too - if they wear shorts, they are knee-length. Actually, I saw one girl in Shinjuku with shorts that were actually knee-length cut-off jeans. But today was so hot! There was no way I could have worn pants. I would look less out of place if I went out in a skirt, I guess, but there is no way I'm going to DDR in a skirt. Skirts and sneakers don't go together anyway. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah...

People don't stack tokens to claim a place at the DDR machine. Instead, they line up, and when someone finishes a round, the next person in line takes their place. Yay for politeness. DDR is cheap too - 100 yen for five songs! Provided you don't fail right away... Of course, that means that if there's a line behind you, it takes forever to get another go. Took me a while to figure out how to access the non-Extreme songs (stupid Flykyr), but once I did, it was much easier to find songs to play. I was crushed that they didn't have Night in Motion, though. -_-

After four rounds of DDR, I'd had enough. I'm really sad that Heavy songs like Tsugaru, Frozen Ray, and even A are out of my league. I really need to work on my timing. I beat a hasty retreat because the smoke was killing me (arcades are sooooo smoky, it's awful) and I needed a drink. I remembered a fruit stand over on the west side of Shinjuku station that sells pineapple on a stick for 100 yen, which is cheaper than most drinks from a vending machine (vending machine drinks tend to range between 120 and 150 yen). Unfortunately, I was on the east side of the station, so it took me twenty minutes to get to the other side. The pineapple was good, though! Definitely better than cantaloupe on a stick, and only half the price. And I laughed because the stick that it's on is actually half of a pair of your standard disposeable chopsticks.

I stopped by another arcade and finally worked up the nerve to try out Taiko no Tatsujin. 200 yen for two rounds. So pricey. ;~; Plus, I played it on the stupid easy level, so it was no challenge at all. Still, I had this idiodic grin on my face through the whole thing - the game was really amusing. I probably scared anyone who was looking at me. My little sister would love it. She'd probably be chanting along with all the don's and the ka's. X3

I returned to Kokubunji after sitting down in a bookstore for a while to flip blindly through cooking magazines (it was all an excuse to sit down and rest my feet). Had dinner at a restaurant at the local department store, then came back to my room to watch Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, a classic anime movie that Seto-san lent to me. It even had English subtitles (sucky ones at that). The movie was great. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Lupin is awesome. :3

Today's expenses:

One hour and ten minutes at the internet cafe: 524 yen
Onigiri for lunch: 103 yen
Train fare to Shinjuku: 380 yen
Four rounds of DDR: 400 yen
Pineapple on a stick: 100 yen
One round of Taiko no Tatsujin: 200 yen
Train fare to Kokubunji: 380 yen
Dinner: 840 yen
Grocery shopping: 415 yen
Total: 3342 yen

Ugh! Over $30! For all my attempts at cheap entertainment, things still add up. Stupid train fare. And I keep going to Shinjuku because it's the cheapest place in central Tokyo for me to get to. *scratches head*

BTW, I'm fully recovered from my cold. Tomorrow's blood test is goin' down!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Pop'n Music 10 - DJ Taka - Votum Stellarum
Current mood: Sleepy

Another Day of Memories

Here are today's pictures.

On my way to the station, I was amused to see a little boy waving a tiny bug net around. I couldn't imagine him managing to catch anything with it. Then I noticed his little brother walking along behind him, carefully carrying a green slotted box with a large white moth flying around inside. Little kids are so frickin' adorable.

Oh, the cleverness. Why is nobody laughing?

These fish are always there, and they always look dead. But for some reason, in this picture, they are looking a little bit less dead than usual. And OMAG, you can see my reflection in the fishtank. I'm wearing my 1UP shirt, obviously.

This town isn't big enough for TWO hair salons!

This guy's legs, claws, and eyes move! It was especially amusing because the same thing shows up in Samurai Champloo, and I saw it just the other night.

Went to Kinokuniya - a huge, huge bookstore. Spent a good deal of time in the foreign books section, almost got a Steven King book, but couldn't justify the $10 pricetag for something that I can get back home for $7. I figure that for now, I can still rely on my iPod to keep me entertained. Ended up going back later and grabbing the first book of Spiral. I think I'm going to be very confused by it, but the main character is a cutie, so it's all good. Manga can be cheap, but it can also be pricey. I hate how all the interesting-looking books are the expensive ones. ._. Oh, has anyone read My Father's Dragon? I loved those books as a kid - here's the Japanese rendition.

Wandered into Yoyogi a bit, but couldn't find the park. Instead, I found a guy and his laptop. I had to wonder if he was getting wireless reception there...

Spent an hour in a manga/internet cafe while waiting to wait the MIT folks. So much cheaper than the Kokubunji cafe, and the chairs are more comfortable! Plus, drinks are unlimited.

Waited for people in the designated meeting spot, but disappeared for 20 minutes or so to get the manga, since we were meeting right by Kinokuniya. Showed up, and no one was around. I feel like I went to the wrong spot. Tried calling Miles, since he was in charge, but I could only reach his voicemail. Sent him an email and left a message, but never got a reply. Eventually got tired of waiting, and went to a ramen restaurant in a nearby department store. Had a very lovely, but lonesome dinner. Considered dessert, decided against it.

I used the funniest bathroom ever in the department store. As soon as you sit down on the toilet, this machine starts playing gushing water noises... I guess to hide any embarrassing sounds of your own. Flushing is cool though - you put your palm up to an infrared reader, and it flushes. Soap and water at the sink use infrared - more reliable that in the States too. The dryer was scary. You stick your hands in this box, and some really strong air blows onto them and that supposedly gets most of the water off. Actually, it worked pretty well.

Went to the ONE arcade in Shinjuku that has a DDR machine. Watched a guy doing crazy doubles on Heavy, wandered a bit and watched a guy playing one of those weird card/video games, then went back and tried the DDR machine out for myself. I haven't played in several weeks, and I am fully aware that I suck at playing on an arcade machine, but I thought that I ought to be able to pass A. I tried it, after barely passing Air (which should have indicated that I need to play some easier songs to get used to the arcade machine), but I failed miserably! Then I turned to leave, and saw this huge queue of guys waiting for the machine, all staring at me. Soooooooo embarrassing! I felt like such a moron. No more going to the arcade on a Saturday night, when it is all crowded. Where did they all come from anyway? >_<

Spent the train ride back typing an email to Sarah on my cell phone. Typing via cell phone sucks, but at least it kept me entertained for the whole train ride back. Accidentally went through the wrong gate at Kokubunji station, and had the exit gates attack me. I fled out the south exit in shame, and then spent fifteen minutes walking around the station instead of turning around and passing through the station to go back out the north exit like any sane person would.

It is far too easy to spend money in Japan. Usually, I cook myself dinner so I can splurge on weekends. Current exchange is about 104 yen to the dollar, so you can approximate prices by dividing any Japanese price by 100. Today's expenses:

Train fare to Shinjuku: 380 yen
One hour in the internet cafe: 380 yen
Manga: 390 yen
Dinner: 680 yen
One round of DDR: 100 yen
Train fare to Kokubunji: 380 yen
Bottle of water for the walk back: 100 yen
Total: 2410 yen

In the end, transportation is expensive. Groceries are expensive too - I think I spent about 3000 yen on groceries this week. My goal was originally to get by on $10 per day, which was a stupid goal, considering that lunch alone always costs me about 500 yen, and if I go anywhere, that takes at least 600 yen. The goal has since been revised. <_< I think I still have enough cash on me to last me 'til I get paid at the end of the month. Hooray for getting paid in cash. Japan revolves around cash.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Vincent de Moor - Flowtation 2002 (From my 105-yen Cyber Trance 4 CD ^_^)
Current mood: Still feeling stupid

Post-Shibuya Post

Ufuu... Up late! I hung out with Gabe and Cathie in Shibuya tonight. Good times, although we didn't do much besides walk around and eat. We tried okonomiyaki, a sort of Japanese pizza, and it was good, even though we were clueless and didn't know how to make it, and had to have the waitress help us.

We also went to a music store, and I found some cheap, used 100-yen CDs - a trance compilation and the Scatman CD. Oh, I laughed over that one, but it was so cheap, I couldn't resist. I've loaded the music onto my iPod, so I will listen to it tomorrow while I ride the train. The next time I go into a store with used CDs, I'm going to pick up some random J-pop. Should be fun.

It was so good to hang out with English-speaking people again. Not that the people at Hitachi are bad at English, but I have to talk a lot slower around them. It was also cool to hear about other peoples' experiences. I am reminded again how fortunate and unusual I am to be living across the street from my workplace. Cathie has internet in her room, though. I am jealous. ;~;

I left Shibuya around 11:30pm, because the trains stop running midnightish (actually, it's closer to 1, but that's what I thought at the time). Unfortunately, everyone had the same idea, so I got a real taste of humans-as-sardines on the ride back. Every time we'd stop and I'd start to be able to breathe again, more people would get on the train, and I'd be squashed back into my corner. Fortunately, I got a seat halfway through, but then I just felt guilty because I was in one of those priority seats that you're supposed to give up for old people and stuff, and I was all... young and stuff. Yeah. Oh well, no one beat me for sitting there or anything.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Ian Van Dahl - Will I? (From my 105-yen Cyber Trance 4 CD ^_^)
Current mood: Tired

Adventures in Cooking

Today, I decided to try making Japanese curry rice. My mom has made it on occasion, and it's very popular over here. I was inspired when I was doing my grocery shopping yesterday and discovered that they sell precooked rice. Until then, I had been despairing of ever seeing rice this summer, on account of having no rice-cooker. So I bought myself some rice, curry roux and potatoes from the 100-yen shop (100-yen shops are the best - so much better than your standard American dollar store). Today, I went to the supermarket to get the rest of the vegetables, and realized that they sell cute 'curry packs' of your common curry vegetables - one carrot, one onion, and two little potatoes. I passed on it though, since I already had the potatoes. I also bought some meat that I hoped was beef, since I couldn't really read the kanji on the label. I could make out the word 'curry', so I assumed it was meat meant for curry, and that must mean that it was good. Heh.

It is very easy to make curry. First, you cut up the vegetables, put them in a pot, add water, and boil them until they become soft. You can also brown the meat on the side. At this point, I discovered that the 'beef' was actually pork. Whoops. After the vegetables are done, add the meat to the pot, and then add the curry roux. Melt the roux, and then you're done! Served with rice, it makes for a very tasty and filling meal. Plus, I ended up with enough leftovers to last me several more meals. And I still have enough ingredients left over to make another batch sometime. At long last, I've added another meal to my cooking repertoire, which up until this point has consisted of... uh... mapo tofu, pancakes, scrambled or fried eggs, paella, and ramen. <_< Maybe I should teach myself something else next week.

I got my cell phone today! Spent a good deal of time getting it up and running, and fooling around with it. It can do email, but sadly no web browsing. I called home, but the reception was so bad that I couldn't stand to talk for more than a few minutes. Plus, for some reason, the stupid thing would repeat my voice every time I talked, so I couldn't hear my mom on the other line sometimes. There was all this noise on the line... Oh, I was so disappointed. I expect to pick up a phone, and just have it work. At least it gives me a way to send email over the weekend.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: mv - Final Fantasy VII - A Foray into the Eastern Horizons (yet another excellent OC Remix)
Current mood: Satisfied

Recapitulation

I've been too busy to get out to the internet cafe for a few days. I spent an evening playing with my new cell phone, as well as a few days coloring a picture that I wanted to have done for tonight, but didn't... -_-

I uploaded some pictures that I took on Sunday. I got a late start because I had been up half the night with a coughing fit (but I'm getting better, at long last!) and slept in really late. I didn't do much but wander around Kokubunji. I also visited my first 100-yen store. Man, those places are awesome. It's mostly a grocery store, but also has various mundane objects, and everything costs 100-yen. That's about a dollar. But this is so much better than a US dollar store. I can do a good deal of shopping for a very reasonable price. Still need to look elsewhere for vegetables and meat though.

Quick note on the pictures - the first one is a picture of the Hitachi campus (the gate's closed because it's Sunday). Most of the following pictures are random neighborhood pictures, and pictures of trains (because I think the trains are cool). And then, near the end, I found a little graveyard and shrine. The last picture is uh, the latest exercise machine for kids. BTW, I never knew there were such things as black ladybugs.

Myuh. I better go - it's getting late, and I have work tomorrow. Weekend plans include possibly wandering in Shibuya with Gabe, as well as a Tokyo-area intern meetup on Saturday in Shinjuku. Should be fun. I wonder if DDR will be involved. :P

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Tonight I'm being treated to a stream of classical piano and accordian music
EDIT: OMAG, they just started playing 'Walking in the Air' from The Snowman. Nostalgia, nostalgia. Now, if only it were the original instead of some weird laid-back orchestral version...
Current mood: Tired

Stupidity is my Forte

I wash the dishes after dinner, berating myself once more for forgetting to buy dish soap. After, I stand there drying the dishes and thinking it strange that I was provided with a dish towel, but no dish soap. It is then than I drop the towel on the ground, and it falls open, showing me the unpristine interior. I mentally curse.

I've spent the past week drying my dishes with the dust rag. No wonder my teacup keeps getting bits of dust in it.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Heglar - Deep Sky
Current mood: Disturbed

Internet (Cafe) Access

I've finally gotten my laptop back onto the internet! I found a little internet/manga cafe nearby Kokubunji station. I went inside after staring at a sign outside that seemed to indicate that I could bring my own laptop inside and have it work. The deal is that you buy a drink, and they bring it to you along with a time printout (and an ashtray). You pay for the first hour and then additional 30-minute blocks, and there are racks and racks of manga, as well as ethernet connections. Sweetness! I'm still wondering if the drink is included in the bill - guess I'll find out when I leave. I uploaded lots of pictures to my webspace. I really need some sort of photo organizer account so I can explain them all... Oh well, for now, this will have to suffice.

As you can see, I went to Shinjuku today! The photos start with some shots around the dorm where I live, and then move on to photos of Shinjuku's skyscrapers. I went to a tall governmental building (I forgot the name already - I'll have to look it up) and took an elevator up to the 45th floor, which is where the next batch of pictures come from. I also saw some interesting souveniers.

I then visited the nearby park and wandered for a bit, before heading back to the busier center around the train station. I wandered for a while in the maze of streets, never really worried about getting lost as it's very easy to orient oneself by the skyscrapers. Plus, all roads lead to the train station. X3

I went into some arcades! Pachinko parlors are stupid, but the arcades are cool! Because space is limited, all arcades are several floors tall, and have different things on different floors. Purikura (I think they're called) are extremely popular - those are those little photo-booths where highschool girls go in droves. Interestingly enough, guys aren't allowed on the purikura floor by themselves (maybe not so in all arcades, but that was the case in this particular one).

There are all sorts of iiiiinteresting games in the arcades. The fancy shooter games are gorgeous, with huge screens and guns. The gambling games are very numerous and very popular. You know those games where you put a token in, and if you're lucky, it will push the other tokens around to make some fall out of the machine? Those aren't popular at all back in the States, but they're all the rage here. Fighting games are set up interestingly - instead of playing side-by-side, the other person sits on the other side of the machine with their own screen, so you can't see who you're playing against. Here's another odd one - horse racing games. You sit there and... bet. Or something. I didn't really get it. There were also classic games, which Sarah would appreciate. UFO catcher-type games are also hugely popular, as are bemani-type games. I had a heck of a time finding a DDR machine - DDR is not nearly as popular as Drummania, or Guitar Freaks, or Beatmania. I got to play a round of Pop'n Music. I'm sure I traumatized the guy who was waiting behind me, I sucked so much. >_< Next time I'm going to play Taiko no Tatsujin - it looks hilarious! Trust the Japanese to come up with a taiko-drumming game.

Anyway, I'm out of time for the evening, so I'm gonna go. Have a look at the rest of the pictures! :3

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Some weird oldies playing in the background
Current mood: Annoyed (at still being sick)

I HAVE PICTURES!!!

Lots of things happened today. I had a health check, which was fine, albeit sketchy. I also got a huge stack of papers to read (on top of the ones that I got yesterday -_-). I also spent many hours loading an English version of Windows XP onto one of my workstations. I will be using three (THREE?!) computers this summer. One is Windows XP Japanese, and is for 'office work' (read: email), one is Windows XP English, and is for software development, and the third is Linux to be used for goodness knows what. There's not much room on my desk because of all the hardware, although there is a neat switcher box that lets the monitor switch between two of the computers.

Tonight was a sort of Ladies' Night Out - Seto-san, Yamamoto-san, and I went out to dinner at the same restaurant that I went on my first night here. Seto-san has a five-year-old son, so she usually has to go home early to take care of him, but today was special because her husband would come home to take care of him, so she could stay late for dinner. So she requested to go to the place that we went the other night, because Yamamoto-san recommended it. During lunch, plans for the evening were discussed, and Seto-san jokingly invited Yui-san along with the stipulation that he would have to cross-dress in order to join us. Yui-san, of course, declined.

We enjoyed a delicious dinner. I think I'm acquiring a taste for raw fish, if only because I can stomach fish better than conch or sea urchin, or other oddities that induce a gag reflex. ;~; Ugh, conch is awful... Katasugimaaaaaasu! At the end of dinner we got 'pineapple saabisu' - dessert on the house. Presumably because I was a cute foreigner or something. ^^; It was delicious, but what can I say? Girls like fruit. And fresh pineapple is one of my favorites.

After dinner, we went to a video rental store because Seto-san and Yamamoto-san were worried that I would be bored without anything to watch (they have no idea how much unwatched anime I have on this computer), and we spent a pleasant while wandering through the anime section. Unfortunately, there are very few DVDs, and many of the VHS tapes are very very old (they had Heidi, and the Dog of Flanders, and other similarly old series. We did find the DVDs eventually, but most were Miyazaki films that I've already seen, and the others were things like Pokemon and Godzilla films from the 60s. In the end, I settled on a few DVDs, but none of us could check them out because neither Seto-san nor Yamamoto-san had proofs of address on them, and I don't have my Alien registration card yet. Yamamoto-san says that she will rent the DVDs later and leave them in my mailbox for me. So kind of her! o~o

I was planning on getting a cell phone with a camera to make up for my lack of a digital camera, and Bitoh-san and I spent much time walking around Kokubunji station yesterday looking for a store that sold the model I wanted. The model I am interested in is a prepaid cellphone, and is sold only in convenience stores (something to do with the increase in theft and misuse of prepaid cell phones and phone companies not wanting to take responsibility o_O;), so you'd think it would be convenient, but it was not! We could not find the correct phone anywhere. Eventually, we had to give up.

Today, Bitoh-san brought in an old digital camera that he does not use anymore, and offered it to me. The battery cover is broken, so the battery is held in place with tape, and the rechargeable battery was also lost, so it has a normal nonrechargeable battery in it right now. The camera's resolution is only 1 megapixel, but that's 1 megapixel more than what I had before, so I'll run with it. ^_^ Hopefully this will encourage me to be good and take lots of pictures. The pictures are stored on a compact flash card, so I also borrowed an adapter card from Hitachi. This means I should go and buy a rechargeable battery, an adapter card, and a cheaper cell phone without a camera. Oh, and some sort of nice thank-you present for Bitoh-san. ^_^;

I took a couple pictures already and you can find them here. Just my room, for starters, since it's the middle of the night and I can't see anything outside. Plus, I decided to be all multimedia-happy and bring my tablet into the pictures... Well, you can see for yourself. I wish I could take pictures of the Hitachi campus, because it is really beautiful, but doing so is forbidden. ;~; At least there are plenty of other parts of Japan that I can photograph.

All right! Time for some sleep so I can go sightseeing tomorrow. My first point of interest is Shinjuku, one of the major metropolitan centers of Tokyo. It is well-known for its skyscrapers and department stores. Should be exciting - I'll be sure to take pictures!

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: Zeratul - Chrono Trigger - Blue Minded God (Yet another excellent track that you can find at OC Remix)
Current mood: Exuberant

Tea Time

Apparently 3:00 is time for the office's women to have coffee and sweets. Yamamoto-san, Seto-san, and I gather in the back of the room and discuss the various sweets and omiyage that are sitting on the shelves over cups of coffee (or in my case, tea). I try Pretz with seaweed powder (quite good, and the sticks are much bigger than the tomato Pretz we get in the states) and we make plans to go out for dinner tomorrow night.

Panpon practice was cancelled because of the rain, so I will not get to observe today. Panpon is like a larger version of pingpong. I'm thinking that it's similar to pickleball, although I never played that in PE so I wouldn't know for sure. Yui-san is on the team, and practice is on for the big tournament in two weeks. But Hitachi appears to be the only company in Japan that plays Panpon, so I don't know who they are playing against. Each other, I suppose.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: None
Current mood: Neutral

Hello, from Tokyo!

Hi there everyone, I'm writing this from my workplace in Tokyo. I have several entries that I've written between the end of school and now, but they are all on my laptop and I haven't found a wireless hotspot yet. So please wait for those. ^^

Japan right now is quite warm. It's the start of the rainy season, so it was pouring when I first came here. Hasn't rained since, although today is quite cloudy. This place is really funny because every place has an umbrella stand, and people leave their umbrellas in the umbrella stands when they enter a shop, a restaurant, the workplace, etc. Clear umbrellas are really popular here because one can ride a bike and hold an umbrella and still see through it. I want one so I can doodle on the inside... I think it'd be cool.

Tokyo is huge and sprawling, but everything is small. The houses, the shops, the people. I'm average height back home, but I feel pretty tall here. The power lines dominate everything. They are everywhere, and the poles they are on can be huge. Old is mixed with new - the houses near my modern dorm have sliding doors and there's a little temple nearby. Lots of vegetable gardens with vegetable stands set up at the entrance. Flowers. Lots of flowers. Lots of strange flowers that I've never seen before, as well as plenty of beautiful roses.

The crows here are very large. And they sound completely different from American crows. I saw some pigeons on a roof the other day, and they too looked huge, but I think it just might be that the roof was small. Dogs are quite popular here, especially small ones. I passed by a woman walking a chihuahua yesterday. I found a pet store while walking around the other day, and they were selling a huge duck. Chickens and parakeets too. Go figure.

Work is keeping me busy. As in, I'm here all day. But I haven't done too much yet. Met some people, did some email... I have a lot of papers to read though, so I should go do that. Woot. I hope I'm going to be okay here - my supervisor has high expectations of me, and I don't feel particularly intelligent at the moment. The jetlag and the fact that I'm sick do not help.

Apologies if the text comes out weird. The international keyboard that I'm using is... special.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: None
Current mood: Tired

A Leisurely Start

Today was my first day of work, and of course I had to wake up with a cold. It's my yearly pollen-induced early-summer sickness. Somehow happens every year. Annoys me to death. Thank goodness for the packet of tissues that I picked up from a streetside hawker yesterday. Too bad I have to go in for a health check on Friday. I hope that goes all right, because I doubt I'll be better by then. I wish I had brought some vitamin C along with me... I guess I'll make do with orange juice.

Not much happened today. I toured the campus (very pretty with lots of old trees, a pond, a couple of swans, and lots of koi), got new stationery (about 10,000 more pens than I know what to do with), registered for an alien registration card (required if I'm staying in Japan for more than 90 days - I'm here for 94), and got to check email (at last, thank goodness!!!). The real stuff starts tomorrow. Hopefully.

Today during lunch, I met Seto-san and Yui-san, as well as various other office-mates whose names I do not yet know. Setto-san is the only other woman in the room that I'm working in, and after lunch (where everyone praised my Japanese and chopsticks abilities) I went for a walk with her and Yamamoto-san. I got to see the pond once more, both of the swans, and the everpresent koi. A few sports teams were out practicing - "soft tennis" and "catchball". The former is like pickleball, or a larger form of ping pong, and appears to be done only at Hitachi. The latter is pretty much just the catching and pitching part of baseball. I wonder if they have competitions... After work was over, Yamamoto-san took me around to the various supermarkets in the vicinity of the train station, pointing out the good cafes along the way. I wonder if I will ever find any of them again - it's all too easy to lose oneself in the maze of streets.

Jet lag has finally caught up with me. I slept well the first night because I was exhausted, but last night I couldn't sleep at all. Right now, it's all I can do to keep myself awake. This evening I experienced my first earthquake. Everything started shaking - not very much, but enough to make me nervous. I've heard that earthquakes are weekly events around here. Should be, ehm, exciting.

- Flykyr Skysong

Current song: NoppZ - Asterix & Obelix - 3 Ways (get your own copy at OC Remix)
Current mood: Sick and sleepy