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+about me+
name: Erin
+contact+
AOL: Gingitsune18@aol.com
gmail: ShadeKeiko@gmail.com
msn: rainbowgingi@hotmail.com
AIM: rainbowstargingi
+links+
I have henceforth removed links. You know where to find them. ^.~
+tagboard+
+previous posts+ +schedule+
+archives+ +counter+
no longer a n00b
mood: -.-
listening to: nothing
So today is my last full day in Japan.
I know when I get back I'm going to be bombarded with the "So, how was it?" question by about everyone who knows I've done this exchange, and who hasn't been reading this blog. Which is pretty much everyone I know, besides well, my beloved readers and my parents.
But to tell you the truth, there isn't one word that can describe this experience. Sure it's been fun, but it's also been fucking horrible. There have been laughs, breakdowns, fun times, shitty times, arguments, agreements, alone time, group time. And there have been, of course, times where I wished I had a revolver so I could shoot my host family in cold blood. But overall, it was worth it. I think.
So when someone asks me "Oh, how was it?" what do I say? Well, it has been interesting to say the least. Liberating as well. But in reality, as a whole, I just don't know. It's been so surreal. One part of me feels like I just got here, one part of me feels like it's been too long, and one part of me is in denial about the other to parts exitsting.
But when I leave tomorrow, to go on that plane back to the US, I know it's going to hit me like a brick to the face. I don't know when the next time I will be in Japan will be. It could be next year, it could be while I'm in college. I hope I lived these 6 weeks to their fullest. But I don't know. I'll tell you when I find out.
In these last moments here, I don't know what to think. I feel like I'm the only one who knows what it has been like. What I have experienced. I'm reassured that those who have been reading at least have some idea.
So I want to say thanks to all of you who have read and commented. Even to those who didn't comment, I know I have silent supporters out there. It helped beyond what you know. It motivated me to write about whatever happened that day, no matter how dull or how boring it may have been.
So to Nup, Paul, Senior3, Gracie, Ellie, my fucking awesome blogger buddies Eileen and Emmie, and anyone else who has been reading or commenting or both: Thanks.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all (or at least those I know) when I get back. Nup, we have to get together sometime before you head off to college. It's mandatory.
And I will be keeping nagoya-n00b up and running, although I'm not really a n00b anymore, I guess. I will be editing some posts, adding some new ones in, and adding more pictures. A new layout, I think, is in order as well. So please keep checking back for updates. But, besides that it's back to stardust.filter, methinks.
As things come to a close, I'll be thinking of you all, my loyal readers.
さようなら、日本
ありがとう。
Until America,
Erin
itinerary
mood: o_O
listening to: nothing
Here is what's shakin' for tomorrow. Mind you, this all (well mostly) takes place on the same day:
Sunday, August 7th, 2005.
4:00 AM JST - get up.
6:00 AM JST -leave for Chubu International Airport (Nagoya)
7:00 AM JST - arrive at airport and get crap on plane
9:00 AM JST - depart for Tokyo Narita
10:05 AM JST - arrive at Tokyo Narita
10:05 AM JST to just before 6:00 PM JST - wait. eat. wait.
around 6:00 PM JST - depart for LAX
11:15 AM PST - arrive at LAX (yes, I arrive before I left)
11:15 AM PST to 3:30 PM PST - clear customs, recheck bags, and wait. some more.
3:30 PM PST - depart LAX for PHL
11:35 or so EST - arrive at PHL
11:35 to ??? - get bags, go HOME!!
probably around 12:45 or 1:00 AM on Monday, August 8, 2005 - ARRIVE HOME~!!
So there is my day tomorrow. It will be long. Around 30-35 hours of travel. In one day! Yes, I know a day is 24 hours, but technically, except the very end, I will be traveling on the same day, August 7th, 2005.
Hope to see you all soon (at least those I know IRL)! <3
-Erin
reminders and an important announcement
mood: x_x
listening to: nothing
I need to put this down before I forget. These are reminders of things that I still have yet to talk about. That I have forgotten to mention or something. I may add more to this later.
1. Omar's Overnight
2. LORNE's Sex-Slave Recruition Card
3. Host Madre's Drunken Invitation
4. Why the Host Fam is driving me crazy
5. Why I hate Porch/Pouch/Poach/Pochi
6. Host Madre and Host Tia's drunken night
7. Nagoya Castle and the Italian Village
8. Why I hate Japanese Post Offices
9. Graduation Speech
10. HARD GAY (ハード ゲイ)
So there you have it. I hope you are looking forward to these stories getting published. LOL.
ANNOUNCEMENT THAT IS IMPORTANT:
Firstly, I'm not nearly finished with the Expo post...and probably won't be for a while. Keep checking back there for updates. For the meantime, I'll post what I can. I only have 3 more days left in Japan (!!!) so these next couple of days are going to be busy, probably, with my imminent departure back to America. I still have yet to begin packing, or ship my stuff somehow back to the States. I'm also in a small money crisis, as I only have 2455 yen left, and it costs about 3000 to ship stuff to the US...by BOAT. Per 3 KG. Plus I still have to have money to buy lunch and dinner in the airport in Tokyo...so as you can see I am a bit stressed out. I will try to update, but in the meantime, stay with me here and keep those comments flowing!! I love getting comments from all of you, and they are partly what keep me going. So thanks!! <3
-Erin
Gaijin Expo Adventure: GRAND SUNBURN
mood: >.>
listening to: "fairyland" by 浜崎あゆみ
Now let me tell you that when I arrived here in Nagoya, the first thing I saw were the two little green Expo 2005 Aichi mascots. (I forget their names; I just say small green one and big green one). The TV ads and promotions and specials on TV soon followed. Let's just say, apparently right now Nagoya is the place to be. Expo is literally everywhere. And I was getting SO sick of it. Host Madre told me some of her golfing friends have been to Expo 55 times. What the fuck. That's over a month of your life. WASTED.
I woke up at 5:55 feeling surprisingly refreshed and rested. Maybe because I slept for 7 hours the day before. Yeah. Probably. I got dressed in jeans (remember, Japanese people don't wear shorts. I avoid them like the devil since I don't want to be too gaijin) and a two layered tanktops (bad idea). Before I knew it, we were out the door. We didn't bother to eat breakfast at home; we brought it with instead to eat while we were waiting in the line to get in. Now, I didn't bring my cell phone because I thought "hey, I never use it, what is the point? I'm not planning on getting lost or roaming around Expo ALONE..." Well, when we were out into the street on the way to the station, Host Madre was like "Do you have your phone?" And I was like "No." And she had a little "freak out" episode, and Rei ended up having to go in to get it. o.O; We ended up missing our subway. But then again, we may have made it if Host Madre and Rei had bought their stupid Yurika Cards BEFOREHAND. Whatever.
We got on the next Subway and went from Sogo to Motoyama. Then, from Motoyama we went all the way down to Fujigaoka, where we switched to the special Linimo line that goes directly to Expo. The Linimo was crowded, so say the least. We were smushed in there like sardines for around 15 minutes. o.O; When we got out of the Linimo, we made our way to the Expo Line. North Gate, to be exact.
We met up with Saori, a college student who is the daughter of one of Host Madre's friends. She's really nice, and is kinda funny. LOL. Anyways, we sat there and waited until the Expo opened. For 2 hours. x_X; "Why does everyone line up to get into Expo??" You are wondering. Well, to explain this phenomenon fully, I must first describe the layout of Expo. The World Exposition (Expo) is held every 4 years or so, each time in a different part of the world. This year, it happens to be Aichi. Anyways, every year the Expo is held it has a theme. This year, the theme is "Nature's Beauty" or "Protecting Nature" or some sort of happy happy joy joy NATURE IS AROUND US!! thing. Anyways, Expo is made up mainly of exhibitions called "pavillions." Now, there are two types of pavillions. The first type are country pavillions. Each country (well, a lot of countries; i.e. USA, Canada, Pakistan, Cuba, Germany, Czech Republic...etc.) has it's own pavillion to show off whatever it wants, pretty much. The country pavillions are sectioned off by regions. These regiosn are called "Global Commons." Like, America and Canada are in one Global Common, while China and Korea are in another...and so on and so forth.
The second type of pavillion is the "mammoth" pavillion. Mammoths are huge pavillions, obviously. Many major Japanese countries are represented by their own mammoth pavillion. For instance, Toyota, Hitachi, Mitsui-Toshiba, etc. A lot of the pavillions choose to show all of their technological advancements. Expo, now that I think about it, is kinda like a technological contest. "Which company will have the COOLEST pavillion? Which country will come out on top??" Now, I know you are wondering "if the theme of the Expo is "Nature's Wonderful Crap" where does all of this technology stuff come in?" Well, it doesn't really. At the end of a lot of pavillions that are centered around technology, they have some sort of "let's preserve the earth!" thing at the end. LOL. Now, let's keep in mind that not all pavillions are on technology. I didn't go to all of the pavillions, naturally (lol, no pun intended) so I can't honestly tell the whole story. But I will GAMBARIMASU!!
Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, waiting in line to get in. (this could be a long post...it's already gotten deleted twice...GRRRRR. Idiot blogger). Once the gates opened, you had to go through security. Which, sadly and somewhat surprisingly, was pretty laughable. Actually, all security I have been through in Japan has been really quite lame. For instance, here is what happened to yours truly: When I approached the security, there was a table set up for you to put your bag down. I put my bag down, and the security d00d looked inside. Then he was like "what's this?" And I'm thinking, "what's what? There is more than one item in my bag. Specify, man, specify!" And then he pointed to my thermos and was like "what's that?" I will now list the reasons why that was possibly the stupidest question anyone has ever asked.
a) Nearly everyone going into Expo had a thermos with them. Why? Because you cannot take bottled drinks into Expo. They make you buy drinks from their own machines/vendors for about 5 times more than what you'd pay outside. You know, making money, money, money. Anyways, all thermoses, in my opinion, have the same general shape. You'd think that they'd be smarter than that.
b) Host Madre, was standing in front of me, so she went through security before me. The same guy checked her bags, and she had the same exact thermos that I had, except in a different color. UM...something is definitley not right about that.
c) does it LOOK like a bomb to you?!?
d) do I LOOK like a terrorist to you!?!?
So after he asked me "what's that?" to me, I was seriously debating saying "It's my light green BOMB, of course! When I kill people, I like to kill them in STYLE!" But I fought back that urge and was like "Um...it's a thermos..." (in Japanese) And he was like "Tea?" (in Japanese) and I'm thinking "Do you really need to confirm what is inside my thermos? NO, it's not tea, it's poison so I can poison the water supply, and thus everyone in the entire Expo!"
After passing through security, Host Madre had too much stuff on her to run, so she was like "RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!!" in a very slow motion kind of way. It was like slow motion; we were running, running to get to the Hitachi line, and then when we got there...alack, it was too late. We ended up making a plan B, which was Host Madre waiting in the Mitsui-Toshiba Pavillion line and me, Saori, and Rei going to the USA Pavillion. The USA Pavillion was tucked in the back of the second global common. I was sort of surprised it wasn't as popular as...er...Germany. But whatever. It was actually pretty cool. LOL, and funny. When we approched the pavillion, we were greeted with shouts of "Hello!" and "Nice to meet you" by the young American pavillion staff workers. Coincidentally, the state of the day theme was Texas, so they were handing out Texas pins and stuff. Another coincidence is that the USA Pavillion's theme is Ben Franklin. Ahhh...Just like home. LOL.
When we entered, there were only a few other people there. It was darkly lit in blue and purple hues. There were places on the wall with that lightning stuff that if you touch it goes to your hand. There was a big statue of Ben Franklin in the middle of the room holding a kite. It was pretty impressive looking. Also posted on the wall was a message from President Bush. We waited in this room to get into the theatre, which showed a movie, obviously. They offered me an English headset, but I declined since I already knew all about Ben Franklin, and because hearing English and Japanese mixed together would be kinda confusing, and would distract me from watching.
When we got in, we sat down on these hard seats. The room was kinda round, but the screen wasn't IMAX-type. When the movie started "Ben Franklin" began talking to us about himself and the technological advancements of the US or something. It was originally filmed in English, but it apparently was dubbed in Japanese, lol. It was actually pretty cool, because at one point this airplane flew above on the screen, and when it would have passed over our heads, a rush of wind flew in our faces. Another cool thing was when there was lightning and thunder the seats vibrated, and at one point it even rained. Yup, it rained in the theatre! I liked that because it gave a sense of reality to what we were watching. It was pretty neat. Rei and Saori seemed to like it.
After the movie was over, the next room was museum-like. It was mainly focused on the Mars Rover (a to-scale mars rover replica was placed at the center of the room), but there were also sections on the man on the moon, futuristic (and fuel efficient, to add in the "let's save nature thing") cars, and airplanes and things. A very hot American d00d gave me an explaination of the mars rover thing. It was actually quite interesting. Rei didn't understand a bit. However, I was mildly shocked when Saori actually asked a question! I think she understood a lot of what he was saying. It was pretty cool.
After leaving the USA Pavillion, we headed back to meet Host Madre at the Mitsui-Toshiba Pavillion.
Now this pavillion was interesting, to say the least. This is where, now that I think about it, I start cracking up. Well, I would start cracking up right now, but people would probably stare at me as if I was Crack Puppy (...did I ever mention Crack Puppy? hm...whatever).
It's hard to explain, so I think I'll cut and paste off of their website, and add in some comments.
INTRO
In the Mitsui-Toshiba Pavilion, visitors can become part of the cast of a movie themselves. Through the world debut of a movie system call Futurecast, even those with no experience can deliver surprisingly moving entertainment. Moving indeed, my fellow ameteurs.
The title of the story is Space Child Adventure Grand Odyssey. (Now if that's not the stupidest title for a movie you have ever heard, I'm looking forward to those who have heard worse. HOLY CRAP. When I first heard Space Child Adventure: GRAND ODYSSEY, I nearly died keeping myself from laughing for 5 hours) It is set in the distant future. The children of the human race (um, aren't they still human??), who had gone to live in space, set off on an adventurous journey for Mother Earth, which (if you call Earth "Mother Earth, wouldn't you say "who?") they have never seen before. Through this grand and thrilling story (I'm on the edge of my SEAT!), we can understand the importance of the existence of our irreplaceable Earth.
Notice how they added the whole "irreplaceable" thing in. Although I suppose it is irreplaceable.
STORY
Grand Odyssey, using full computer graphic images, is a depiction of the future of the Earth and space. Here is a preview of one section.
It is set in the distant future. (No shit.) The human race has created a system to look after the environment perfectly. However, as a result of the system the balance of the ecosystem has been greatly affected, and the Earth becomes unable to support human life. (Of course, the techonology ruins it all. The hypocrites. Note the addition of "help our earth and nature! thing.) The human race has to flee from its birthplace and is scattered through the expanse of space. Many generations later, a spaceship called the Mnemonic is discovered on one planet. This was the very ship that their ancestors traveled in. (Imagine that!) The "Space Children," the children of a human race that no longer knows anything of the Earth (I find that very hard to believe, but I suppose it is a necessary plot additive), use the spaceship (of course it's still operational after hundreds of years) to set out on a voyage for their ancestral world. In the middle of what they thought would be a smooth voyage, a giant umbrella-like goblin appears inside the spaceship. (CRACKS UP. First of all, how can you expect a "SMOOTH VOYAGE" on a ship that has been rusting for hundreds of years?? Secondly, WTF?!? An "umbrella-like goblin?!?" Who came up with THAT cheese?) The umbrella gets into the main computer and takes control of the spaceship. (Naturally. Isn't that what ALL umbrella-like goblins do? These people certainly need to do their research before launching their Mnemonics.) The attempts of the crew to stop it are obstructed by the umbrella one after another. (and then they all die, THE END.) What is the giant umbrella's natural form? (UM...a giant umbrella? I don't even think I found out. It was all in Japanese. o.O;) What is the meaning of the strange girl who suddenly appears? Will they be able to reach Earth?
OK, now here is one thing I need to get out. In all of these Japanese CG films and whatnot, there is always a "strange little girl" in a flowy spring dress, usually holding a small object like an orb or something, all small and innocent, but ends of up saving everyone's asses with a couple shouts of "ONEGAI!" and closing her eyes and pouring all of this power into the object, which then makes the enemy go away. However, the little girl was actually a fairy or something, or the manifestation of Earth or some crap, and ends up mysteriously disappearing because she used all of her power, and her work was done or something like that. When she disappears she usually is all like "Sayonara................................" and then the little object or orb or whatever is left behind for all to wonder. This is the typical outcome. And it pisses me off. >.>
And of course they end up reaching Earth. o.O;
MORE TO COME...
gizzards and shell guts and cow tongues OH MY. GOD.
mood: x_x
listening to: Japanese TV...once again ;-;
I woke up at 11:30 and decided to read a bit of my Sailormoon manga. At 12:30 I decided it was time to head upstairs. Host Madre was all worked up about my breakfast being at lunch time. I kept telling her it was fine. o.O; I dunno if she listened or not.
Rei had handball practice until 3:00, so I was free to do whatever in that time. So I think that's when I blogged about Disneyland. However, I also read my manga and stuff, so I ran out of time to blog about all of this other stuff.
At 4:00 or so we went to Osu, which is this really cool place with thrift stores and cheap shops all lined up on about 3 streets. The area is really cool, and it, surprisingly was heavily gaijin populated. I even saw some real Japanese (and foreign) cosplayers, since I think the world cosplay convention thing was in Nagoya that day. For some reason, I dunno where I read that.
We shopped for a while. I ended up buying a seifuku bow and a pair of hot camo pants. Both of which were on my list of things to buy, so I don't feel THAT guilty...the pants were actually half off, since there was a sale, so I got them for 4000 yen instead of 8000 yen. W00TS! However, now I only have 10000 yen left (about $100) and I still have to buy my ion dryer, curler, and other things. Like new SM manga. LOL.
After spending a while in Osu, Host Padre took us to a steak house nearby. Apparently it's very famous. It's also very small and black.
When we got inside we ate at the bar where the chefs where all cooking in this small little space. The first thing in the course? Raw steak, sashimi style. So yes, people. I ate raw steak. Yes, I ate it with some wasabi. Yes, I knew you weren't wondering that.
After that I decided that this dinner could get a LOT better, or a LOT worse. Either one or the other. Well, obviously it was the latter.
Next was some meat thing. It looked pretty familiar. Why? Because it was the same gizzard thing that Rei asked me if I wanted the day before at Tsukuneya. I was forced to eat it. I had not choice. I knew then it was going to be a long night.
The next dish was some shell stuff. I had the abalone, fine. However, some specialty of theirs is literally the abalone's GUTS. I'm not kidding you. So they almost made me eat some shell guts, but I was like "no thanks, I think I'll pass." Meanwhile Host Madre is all like "OISHII!!!!!!!" which means delicious. Japanese people like to exclaim that, and "ATSUI!!" which means hot. Since it's really hot outside right now.
Anyways, I decided that after shell guts it couldn't get any worse. I mean, what else could they make me eat that is WORSE than shell guts?
Well, lemme tell you. When the chef brought over thin pentagon shaped strips of meat, I had NO IDEA what the hell was in store for me. I asked, out of curiosity and suspiciousness what the strips were, but Host Madre kept saying she forgot. And I BELIEVED HER. (never again...)
After about, I dunno, 7 pieces each, we were finished with that dish. It was then I heard Host Padre say one word. And that word, my friends, was "TONGUE."
Yes, people. My host family tricked me into eating cow tongue. WHY WAS I SO GULLIBLE??? OH WHY????? I'm so scarred for life. I sat there sitting in my chair, shaking my head at my own stupidity for the next hour.
Luckily nothing worse came after that, but the damage was already done. I had some pretty good tenderloin, but I couldn't get my mind off the fact that I ate 7 pieces of cow tongue.
After that we headed home. I was still in disbelief about the tongue the entire way home.
Host Madre said that the next day we were going to Expo. That meant waking up at 5:50. AM. Why? Because the lines there are killer. I swear to you, the entire Expo is like one giant line to wait in. You spend most of your time waiting than actually DOING anything. But I'll get to the Expo later. For now I shall take a small manga break. ^.~
JA.
-Erin
夏 まつり and another trip to tsukuneya
mood: z_z
listening to: nothing.
Sorry I didn't get to blog yesterday. We finally hauled ass over to Expo, and we, naturally didn't end up getting back to the house until past 12:00 AM because of a restaurant pit-stop. But that will come later. Let me continue with what happened once I woke up from my beauty sleeping.
It was 12:00 PM or so. Rei asked me if I wanted to go to the dome with her. I said that I was too tired. I really didn't feel like going to the dome. How could SHE go to the dome? Geez. Sometimes these people just don't know when to rest. I mean, they're always telling me to "relax" ("RELAX O SHITE KUDASAI!!") but they never indeed relax themselves. Whatever.
Rei left the room. She proceeded to have the worst fight with Host Madre that I have ever witnessed. Host Madre has been saying to me the entire time that Rei is in her "rebellious stage." Well, this time Rei had a HUGE MELTDOWN. Like a temper tantrum a 2 year old would have. I was shocked. And it was all over like going to the dome and being back in time for the Summer Matsuri or something like that, from what I could tell. I mean, what a stupid thing to have a screaming fit over.
Rei ended up leaving anyways. It was in the aftermath of that that I realized once again how different this family is from mine. If I had a screaming fit with my mom (and a little of dad) with the dad PRESENT...HOLY SHIT. I would be like a bloody pulp. I wouldn't have computer, internet or probably a bed for the next 7 years.
Anyways, I decided that if Host Madre asked me about it (like if I heard it or anything) I'd just say I was asleep. Play dumb, you know, to avoid embarassment. I then proceeded to fall back asleep for 3 more hours.
It was 3:00 PM. Host Madre asked me if I wanted to go to the Summer Matsuri thing. I was like "OK~!" Because I had already said no to Rei about the dome, Rei was expecting me to go, and I had always wanted to go to a Summer Matsuri. Even though this time I wasn't really in the mood, I didn't want to regret not going.
So I got dressed and whatnot. There were rumours of me wearing a yukata, but they didn't have an extra obi. Thank GOD. You see, I like yukata and kimono a lot, but holy crap. I'm a GAIJIN people. Gaijin wearing yukata and kimono look more blatantly gaijin than they do wearing shorts and backpacks around Sakae or Expo or something. I am against gaijin wearing them UNLESS they have permission from Japanese people AND unless it is to a Japanese event. Wearing them for random purposes in America like to the mall or something is really obnoxious. But even with that permission and whatnot, I still find it very hard to swallow. I know I had permission, but I frankly don't think I could swallow myself in one.
Rei got back from the dome 30 minutes late, so by the time we met up with her to friends (Satou and ???) we were 10 minutes late. We proceeded to the Matsuri as a foursome, and all on foot. It was pretty close.
The Masturi was pretty cool. I hung out with Rei's 2 girlfriends and 3 guyfriends. One of the guyfriends was really...well, interesting to say the least. At one point he told me (in English) that he "Loves me." LOL, I cracked up.
It was really hot. I ate mutarashi or whatever it's called. I love that stuff. After a couple of hours the 2 girls and the 3 guys and Rei and I all ended up going to the Tsukuneya restaurant - the restaurant that Rei's mom goes to often and drinks. The one with the really cool bar guy. In fact, when we entered, I saw the bar guy and said "Ohisashiburi!" To him.
We got one of those tatami rooms with the sliding doors. It was then I wish I didn't wear a skirt. It left me really uncomfortable. It also cut off a lot of circulation in my legs, sitting like that. (The tables are really low and do not have chairs).
Rei got her mom to come over and cover for the bill. It was really fun, even though I didn't talk much. Rei asked if I wanted some gizzard. I said no thanks.
After a while we decided to leave. Host Madre, however, wasn't done drinking (figures), so Rei and I left to go back home ourselves.
So that was two days ago. Now for the day before yesterday! *runs to catch up*
-Erin
location: Nagoya, Japan
blurb: I'm an American High School girl spending 6 weeks in Nagoya, Japan.
Yes, I know Tokyo Tower isn't in Nagoya, but since I've never been to Nagoya before
(stopping briefly at the train station doesn't count, OK??) I couldn't find any
good pictures that represent it well. Which brings me to my point: I'm a newbie to Nagoya.
(thus the name, nagoya n00b. am I not the cleverest person you've ever met?) Anyways, bear
with me people. This is going to be a long six weeks!
going: June 22, 2005
returning: August 7th, 2005
click here for my full
profile!