Sorry folks

Just a quick little note to let you all know that my internet's down, so communication will be a little unpredictable for a while. Can't complain too much, though. We were stealing wireless from the neighbors instead of actually paying for it. We're signed up to get DSL but they can't come set us up for 3 or 4 weeks, so I can't say how often I'll be online for the next while. I do miss you all and will be checking e-mail and Skype voicemail as often as possible, so I'd still love to hear from you.

No uber-exciting photos to add yet, either, but trust me; some really good ones are on the way. The above photo is one that I took from the train not long after I arrived. As you may have guessed, it's a little farther away from Tokyo than where I live. I like seeing the green, though. Something I haven't seen a whole lot of since I left Oregon. I saw some evergreen trees the other day and it almost made me a bit teary eyed...

Hope everyone is well!

P.S. Also a reminder that Japan does not have daylight savings time, so for those of you who live on the west coast of the US, we now have a 17 hour time difference instead of 16. (i.e. 6am Tuesday in Oregon is 11pm Tuesday in Tokyo.)

Gakugei-daigaku Autumn Festival

One of the wonderful aspects of Japan: people are crazy about having festivals. In the area where my school is, everyone is preparing for some kind of festival or another it seems. This week, there was an Autumn Festival right outside my school. Here are a few pics:





















Photos:

• Top left: Processional that came up the street near my school. There was also drumming which everyone was chanting with.
• Top right: the processional stopped at a stage area right outside the Gakugei-daigaku train station. You can see some of the musicians with flutes in this pic.
• Bottom left: many people set up tarps with household items for sale. Lots of super cheap dishes, etc. I bought tea cups for 50 yen apiece. This picture was taken right outside the stairs which lead up to my school.
• Bottom right: another pic of the neighborhood near my school. This is pretty much what it looks like every day.

Attack of the (fake) panda

Photos:

• Top left: Shibuya at night. I took the picture from almost exactly the same place as the photo from Sept. 28. There are so many lights here that the place is lit up even at 10pm.
• Top right: I only have one question. What exactly is that panda doing to that poor man? I watched them walk down the street, the man in the panda costume hanging on to the other man's back the whole way...
• Bottom left: big intersection at Ueno. Actually, this is what a pretty typical intersection looks like in busy parts of Tokyo.
  
• Bottom right: more Ueno. Thought the pic looked cool in B&W.

Mmmmmm....tasty!

As Winston always says, there's nothing like the taste of sweat on those days when you're *really* thirsty, if you know what I mean. Maybe that explains his facial expression?

P.S. Pocari Sweat is actually an extremely popular beverage here in Japan. Everytime you turn around, it seems, you're looking at another vending machine full of it. It actually tastes like a lemon-flavored sports drink.

An outsider's looks at grocery shopping in Tokyo

• Round trip train fare from Azamino to Tamasakai: 1,220 yen
• Japanese phrasebook: $.50 at a used bookstore in the States
• Buying peanut butter in a country where the people never eat it? Priceless.

Let's face it. Anyone who lived with me at college knows exactly how much I like peanut butter. The thought of going without it for a year or possibly paying atrocious amounts of money to have it was heart-breaking. One trip to Costco was all I needed. All I have to say is that I left the building with a smile on my face, my head held high, and a 4-pound jar of PB. Before, Japanese people just ignored me on the trains. But for this one particular day, I became a one-woman show, it seems. I got the "once-over" from pretty much everyone. I don't think they'd ever seen that much peanut butter in their entire lives...combined.

The rest of the pics that follow are a small example of my grocery-shopping successes here in Tokyo. Just looking at the labels will give you a small idea of how I feel at the store. I finally got in the habit of bringing pictures of a cow, chicken and pig so I can ask the clerk what kind of meat I'm buying. But enough chatter...let me show you what I mean.

I should also take this opportunity to introduce you all to Winston. He's a sheep. Wearing a Santa hat with a frown on his face. But I love him anyways. For today, I have given him the job title of "Vanna White of Japanese Groceries." Here, you see him with a can of what I think might be tuna. I still haven't worked up enough nerve to open the can, though.

In this photo, you see Winston with a typical loaf of Japanese bread. The biggest size they come in (that I've found) is 8 slices. You can also get loaves that are identical in size but with only 4 or 6 slices, they just cut the bread thicker. Almost like Texas Toast. Still costs over a dollar, too.

No Winston in this pic. He was on a lunch break. But this is one of my favorite things about beverages in Japan. Not only are there vending machines and convenience stores everywhere you look, but the aluminum cans of Coke come with screw-top lids. Tell me, why don't we have this in America?

And last but certainly not least. Here's a pack of saltine crackers. They don't come in long packages like at home. To my surprise, Winston and I found that inside the box there are actually only 9 individually-wrapped packages, each with 6 crackers inside. Nice for packing lunches.

Japanese people go bowling too, you know.

A night at a bowling alley in Tokyo.

Photos:

• Top: L-R: Mel from NY (coworker of Kim), Kim (my flatmate), Me, Brian (another coworker of Kim). Every time a girl wears one of their costumes, they get a free cell phone charm. Kim and I got ours, but Mel and Brian were just plain out of luck.
• Middle left: get your bowling shoes from a vending machine: "The Autoshoeser"
• Middle right: Bowling alley. TV screens everywhere you look.
• Bottom left: Final scores. Yes, the 38 was my proud conclusion to the evening. And as a side-note "Bolan" was the way the Japanese employees typed Brian into the computer. At least we all got a good laugh out of it.
  
• Bottom right: Kim and I had thought about purchasing a snack for the train ride home. That is, until Brian ruined the moment and told us they were "cabbage flavored." People who can read Japanese just suck the fun out of everything sometimes. We went home empty-handed...I'm not THAT brave yet.

Chinatown, Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Bay

Photos:

• Top left: Garden near Chinatown where the wildlife consists of...cats. I guess they hang out there to, um, "watch" the koi in the pond, if you know what I mean.
• Top right: Chinatown
• Middle left: Even Chinatown has to have its own Starbucks.
• Middle right: My first glimpse of Tokyo Tower. Sorry, folks, I'll try to get a better pic next time.
• Bottom left: Tokyo Bay...very smoggy, but also very pretty.
• Bottom right: The emptiest anyone will ever see a train car in Tokyo, which is probably because it was empty except for me. But this was taken on a Sunday morning towards the end of the line, hence the lack of people. A little something that I like to refer to as "fewness of men," which is otherwise known as "oliganthropia." I just KNEW Greek history would come in handy one day.
  

Yes, I know. It's kind of counter-intuitive to travel all the way to Japan and then go to Chinatown. But it is the biggest Chinatown in all of Japan, so I figured that gave it enough of its own weight to merit a visit. Lots of things to look at; I really enjoyed it. Kim and I found a great restaurant to eat at, too.

The shot of Tokyo Tower is one I got just by chance. Yesterday I decided to take the train over to the branch where I will be training on Monday, just so I could time it out and make sure I'm not late for my first day of work. After I got off the train, I decided to explore the neighborhood a little bit and upon rounding a corner, I got my first glimpse of the Tokyo Tower. I hadn't even known I was that close to it. Nice little surprise. Kim and I plan to go back after I get my train pass. We may even pay the 900 yen it costs to take the elevator up (about $7.60 USD), but we'll see...

Really enjoyed my first visit to the Bay, too. It's just a few blocks from Chinatown, so it was really easy to get to. It also made me slightly reminiscent of trips to the Oregon Coast because of the smell of salt-water in the air. The bay is about 45 min from my apartment by subway. Now all I need to do is figure out how much it costs to take a ferry ride. :)