Tokyo ===> Osaka

Oooookay,

It's been one week since ya looked at me.... wait, that's the begining of a song by Barenaked Ladies, but let's be honest, you weren't looking at my blog every week....

So my song should start out with.... It's been one month since ya looked at me......yada yada yada..

Well, my last post was on Dec. 1st and truthfully, a LOT has happened since then.

Frankly, I just do not have the time to write about it all.

I WAS going to write about when I climbed Mt. Takao with my friends from the university.

Also, you SHOULD be hearing about how AWESOME the Xmas party was. (Actually, I mean how awesome the PARTIES* were*)

BUT, I have decided to SKIP over all of that.

Why?

Well, the fact is right now, (In my time zone it is December 29 @ 11:40PM) I am in Osaka.

On Monday (the 26th of December) I thought to myself, "I am sooooo bored." Most people, when they say that to themselves, do NOTHING. I am not "most people." The next morning, I woke up and said "Screw this, I'm going to Osaka!"

So, I hopped on to a Shinkansen (High Speed Bullet train), and traveled 530 kilometers West to Osaka. (For the American readers, I have decided to no longer translate kilometers into miles... DO IT YOURSELF bwahahah.)

On the train I was really cocky, I thought to myself, "Hell yeah, I'm to Osaka." In my head, I visualized bumping chests and pounding the rock with my best friends.

When I arrived it was a different story.

Japan was completely foreign again. I may have gotten "used to" Tokyo but I did not get "used to" Japan.

Tokyo, as massive as it is, is pretty organized. The train system and street layouts, are meticulously drawn out like a map. Osaka might be similar, the difference is that I have only been here for 3 days. It took me 3 months to feel comfortable about my location in Tokyo, so it's not like 3 days would make me an expert of Osaka.

For those of you that do not know anything about Osaka, it's pretty much the center of the second largest metropolitan area in Japan. (I like the comparison of New York = Tokyo to Los Angeles = Osaka.)

Enough with the lecture........... Everyone reading this wants to read something EXCITING, and see some pictures, sheeeeesh what am I doing?

Alright, let's start this over mmmmkay.

I could bore you with the facts of economics, population, and land size, but I won't.

What I will tell you is that the food here is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO good.

"Takoyaki" "Okonomiyaki" Yummmmmmmmmm ==> GOOGLE them.

On top of that, the people here are so friendly. Over that last three days, I have had several, completely random people come up to me and spark up conversations. Now, I was used to that in America, but I had not experienced that yet in Japan.

I have to say, it was very relieving. After a few of these random conversations, I thought, "Damn, people all across the world are the same, they just speak different languages."

Okay well, I still have a lot to say about Osaka, but I am getting ready to go to a club to party.

So, the story ends here. (For now at least)

Bye bye.

P.S. Oh yeah, for you picture lovers..... this is a picture of the headquarters of a television station in Osaka. When I saw this building I couldn't believe my eyes. It looked like it was made out of PLAY-DOH.

Keywords: Japanese===>Have===>Crazy===>Game Shows===>HAAAAAAAA

Study Time Skyline

I have been very busy the last two weeks with midterms, and club activities, but I figured I better throw in a few lines for y'all to read.

Despite being on the other side of the globe, lately I have felt like I am experiencing normal life with just a slight twist. I had a Thanksgiving dinner. ( In Japan? No way!?!). Earlier today, during lunch, I was in a little ramen shop, and I heard the song, "Santa Baby" playing on the radio. I couldn't help but smile as I looked at my phone and realized it was December 1st.

Also, it might have taken a little bit longer than in Wisconsin, but the leaves have turned red and orange. The leaves turning red and orange, are just a normal part of Autumn, right? Well here people make an event out of it. "Let's go see the 紅葉！” is what they say...

What? Can't read Japanese?

haha just playin'... 紅葉　（kouyou)　is a noun that literally describes the colors of Autumn. Anyway, next weekend I am climbing Mount Takao, to see this very phenomena.

Yes, I said phenomena. It is something that is cherished here every year. That is the feeling I get. Just yesterday, I saw two girls walking by a tree that had colored leaves and one of them shouted, "きれい！" （which means beautiful), and then the other girl whipped out her phone to take a picture. I like how the people here take joys in some of the small things I usually consider normal.

After I visit Mount Takao, I will post a couple pictures and talk more about it.

As you can see none of this so far has related to the title of the blog post. Now I will explain.

I have started to get into a solid routine of studying. I still have a long way to go when it comes to my language skills here, so I hope I can keep up the current trend.

The place I can usually get the most work done is at the library on campus. I go up to the 8th floor and crank out as much Kanji as I can. (Kanji are these things===> 月火水木金)

Albeit, sometimes I find it hard to study on the 8th floor because when I look out the window to my left I see this....



...and boy do I love Skylines....

大学生活 － Part 3

I meant to write Part 3 a lot sooner, but the past week has been a blur. This is the third and final "大学生活" post. To be honest, creating the title of a blog post (or of any article of writing) seems to be the hardest part. You do not want it to be boring, but at the same time you also do not want it to be cheesy. Clever and relevant is the key. Yikes, now I am just rambling on and on and you guys are probably wondering when the heck I am actually going to be talking about something interesting.

Okay, so if any of you have forgotten, 大学生活 translates to university life. In a previous post, I talked about the importance of student organizations. Before I came to Japan, I was really interested in joining the basketball team here at Sophia. By the time I arrived, the season was almost over and if I decided to join, then I would have to leave before the end of the next season. Plus they practice 5, sometimes 6, days a week. I just do not have the time for that type of commitment. However, there are also several basketball clubs. I was finally able to participate in one of the events, and I have to say I had a fun time. There were some pretty skilled players and some that were just there for fun. I liked the overall atmosphere of the group so I am considering joining.



<=== Mt. Fuji!

This is the view of Mt. Fuji from the roof of my dormitory. The picture was taken just after sunset. I did not actually take this photograph, but mine did not turn out as good as this one did. Although the view of Mt. Fuji is awesome, I actually prefer going up on the roof after dark. I love seeing the night skyline and the lights all around and the trains going by.


Last week, I also had the opportunity to play Futsal for the first time. Futsal is a type of indoor soccer that uses a smaller ball and a smaller playing field. There was about 20 people from the SISEC group that showed up, some played and some just watched. The coolest part about this was that the field was on the roof of a 10 story building. We could see the skyline for miles, it was so incredible. By now you must have figured out that I love city skylines. I was too busy playing Futsal to remember to take any pictures, and I know people love pictures so I will throw in a random photo.


Random
Photo
======>

This is SISEC. We had just finished drinking at an Izakaya. If you look very carefully you can see me just to the left of the tree in the middle. (If you click on the picture, it should open up another window to get a larger version of the image) I am actually looking away from the camera to my left. If I remember correctly, one person had a little to much to drink and fell to the ground.

Anyway, I have a few midterms this week so I am going to abruptly end my post.

大学生活 - Part 2

Ever since joining the student organization SISEC, I have made a lot of new friends, and have been able to participate in some pretty remarkable events.

This past weekend, I decided to participate in an event hosted by a different student organization known as GL-Net (Global Network.) It is another organization aimed towards communication between Japanese and international students. The event was a day trip to Kamakura, which is roughly 50 km from Tokyo.

Oh yeah, for all the American readers, that is about 30 miles. I have become accustomed to using liters, kilometers, and even the Celsius scale. Living in a country that uses these forms, I have since become dumbfounded as to why the U.S. still uses such bizarre units of measurement.

Anywaaaay, back to the day trip===> Kamakura is famous for its numerous temples and a popular beach. One of the most recognizable places in Kamakura is the temple that hosts a giant buddha statue, known as Daibutsu.

This is me standing about 15 meters (I MEAN 50 FT!!) in front of the Buddha statue.

Oh and before you say anything, I have already had several people ask me if I am getting skinnier, and the answer is yes, I am. Despite eating about 4 times a day, I have lost 10 kilograms (22 pounds) since I have arrived. Although, I think I have finally leveled off and will maintain my current weight.

Back to the Buddha.... Since I had known about this statue/city for years, I am glad I took the time to go on this trip.

The next temple had a traditional Japanese garden in it. This is one of my favorite photos so far. You have to recognize how much time and effort goes into every little detail of these temple designs and gardens, in order to fully appreciate them. If any of you find this interesting, take a look into visiting Anderson Gardens, in Rockford, Illinois. I have been there and it really gives you the feeling of actually being in Japan. Wait, I just realized it is now November. Andersen Gardens is closed and will re-open, late April 2012.

Being in a place like this really makes you feel like you are traveling back in time. I really enjoy learning about world history, and ever since coming to Japan, my interests in history have risen. One of the classes that I am currently enrolled in at Sophia University, is called Japanese Literature. For the past month we have focused our class around The Tale of Genji. It is often described by many scholars as the world's first novel. Of course, I am reading the English translation (although even Japanese people have difficulty reading the original text.)

However, the highlight of my day was something many of you may find pretty boring. I saw the Pacific Ocean. Up until then, I had never seen any ocean with my own eyes (Aside from the window of a plane, 3 seats to the left.)

It is slightly hard to see, but the coastline is behind me.

I have plenty of other pictures and stories about this day trip, so if anyone is interested in hearing more, let me know and we can talk more about it.

Actually, there is more that happened in the past month that I would like to talk about, so I am going to make, my 大学生活 posts into a trilogy.

I will write Part 3 tomorrow....

大学生活 - Part 1

Almost a month since my last post?

I apologize to all of the diehard followers of my blog (bwahaha yeah right.) My excuse is that I am having to much fun to give a hoot about my blog.

Regardless, my life here in Japan is steadily progressing. The words that I used for the title for this post translate to college life. What I have come to realize, is that the most important aspect of college life in Japan revolves around the student organizations that you belong to. To some extent, this is similar in the United States, but I really feel like the students here put their heart and soul into the groups that they are involved in.

Two weeks ago, Sophia University had a three day long school festival. At this festival, many of the students organizations hosted food and beverage booths in order to raise money. There was also a main stage that displayed the talents from various groups like hip-hop dancing, acapella, and many others.

While it was nice that I had 3 days off from school, helping with the festival was hard work. Ever since joining SISEC, I have been involved in weekly meetings and events. For the school festival we hosted a booth selling tapioca. I help all three days with setting up the tent, decorations, and selling the tapioca. We were very successful, selling roughly 3000 units in 3 days. We completely sold out before the end of each day.

Aside from helping out selling tapioca, I also had the chance to try many of the foods and beverages that other groups were selling. At the end of the third day we all went to an izakaya to celebrate a job well done.

Izakaya is the most common type of drinking establishment here in Japan. The one we went to, had about a $25 entrance fee. Sounds pricey, but actually it was a great deal. For 3 hours it was all you can drink, and they constantly bring you food to snack on. Actually, it was more like a feast. The tables were really low to the ground but the floor is recessed so I could still put my legs under the tables.

Wow, sorry to suddenly change the subject, but I forgot to talk about Halloween. I felt like a kid all over again this year during Halloween. For my costume I combined the mask from the immortals in the movie "300" and the outfit of the grim reaper. The readers who already have me added on Facebook have probably already seen a hundred photos of me in this costume, but for those of you who don't....

Yes, this is me, and yes I am at a convenience store reading a manga (comic book).

To start out the night, my dorm hosted a Halloween party. We all had food and drinks and then some of us did a tour of the neighborhood. I had a fun time scaring people, and just casually decided to read some manga, while the store attendants watched in horror.

At around 11 PM, I hopped on the train, still wearing my costume, and headed towards Shibuya to meet up with some people and then go to a club for a night of dancing. Halloween in Japan does not have as many participants as back in the States, so as I walked through the train stations I received the stares of petrified pedestrians. Not everyone was freaked out, because every few minutes or so, some random people wanted to take a picture with me. Most of the time, people would ask me to take off my mask to see my face, and when I did they were almost more shocked to see that I was a foreigner than actually seeing me in a mask.....ha.ha.haaa...

A little after midnight, I arrived in Shibuya and met up with my friends and then we headed to Club Asia. The headlining event at the club was a performance by Yasutaka Nakata, who is a member of the electronic duo Capsule, and the producer of one of the biggest pop groups in Japan called Perfume. There was also a female hip-hop/pop duo, called HaliCali, that performed and I managed to get front row. The club was packed and the music was great.

There is still a lot that has happened over the past month that I want to talk about, but I got homework to do, so I am going to write a part 2 tomorrow....

To be continued....

Sunday Funday

This past Sunday was awesome.

The End....

Okay, I'm not really done, but "awesome" pretty much sums up everything that happened without using a bunch of curse words.

There is an organization at Sophia University known as SISEC (Sophia International Student Exchange Council.) To be honest, I hate the abbreviation, because every time I say SISEC it reminds me of the word "seasick." Anyway to get back on topic, SISEC is a mixture of native Japanese people and foreign exchange students, that get together to engage in a variety of events. I was hesitant at first to join such a group, fearing that I would be spending all day with foreign exchange students. To my surprise, there are actually more Japanese members.

Sunday's event was called "Tokyo Tour!!!" There were roughly 60 people in all that attended. Since it would be very difficult for 60 people to travel around the city together, we were split up into about 10 groups. There is pretty much an infinite number of things that one could do in Tokyo, so each group was responsible deciding their itinerary. At 5:30 PM, all of the groups would meet at the base of the Tokyo Tower.

My group decided to go to the Meiji Shrine, Yoyogi Park, and then to a district called Odaiba.

In my last post, I described a shrine that I visited in the middle of the night. The Meiji Shrine was a completely different experience. The previous shrine was nowhere close in scale to the size and importance of the Meiji Shrine. Secondly, it was during the day, so I was able to get a better look how a Shinto shrine is structured.

This gate is the entrance to the Meiji Shrine. It is known in Japanese as a Torii, which symbolizes the transition from the regular world, to sacred ground. After the torii, there was roughly a quarter mile path until the main part of the shrine. Along the way there were stacks of barrels of sake on the side of the road.

Below is a picture of me standing in front of those barrels

When we arrived into the main part of the shrine, we came across an ongoing Shinto-styled wedding. The way that these weddings are carried out are very different than how I imagine weddings. Of course, nowadays in Japan the majority of people have a Western-styled weddings, but there is still a significant amount of people that opt for a more traditional Japanese wedding.

The shrine is dedicated to Emperor Meiji, who was the emperor during the time that Japan transitioned from a feudal society, to a modern, technologically, and politically advanced nation. There is way to much to say about this era in this post, but if you are interested in learning more the period is known as the Meiji Restoration.

At the shrine, I was taught by my fellow group mates, how to appropriately pray at a Shinto shrine. It was really interesting. I am not bound to any specific religion, so I had no problem carrying out the ritual. In fact, Shinto is a religion that does not require you to commit to a single God, or even to a specific "holy" text. It is a religion based on spirits and deities that typically are known to reside in specific parts of Japan. People look to these deities for guidance or protection in times of need.

Well, I could go on and on about Shinto, Japanese History, or even other stuff relating to this specific shrine, but I'll save that for another day.

After the shrine we proceeded on to Yoyogi Park. I forgot to take pictures, but I got the feeling that this was Tokyo's equivalent to New York's Central Park. People were outside playing Frisbee, having pick-nicks, and just walking around. It is a nice area, and I plan to return some day because there are public basketball courts and I saw people playing pick up games.

After Yoyogi Park, we went and bought tickets for a monorail line that would take us to Odaiba. The monorail was a unexpected treat. I am beginning to become accustomed to riding trains on a daily basis, but this was completely different. It had wide windows that enabled the riders to get a good glimpse of the city. It was also high off the ground. Some parts of the ride, the train was nearly 10 stories from ground level. It cut straight through the the inner city and then rode parallel to the Rainbow Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in Japan, and crossed the Tokyo Bay, leading us to Odaiba. The picture to the left, was taken after we arrived in Odaiba. To the left is Tokyo Bay, in the center is the Rainbow Bridge, and the rest is just a small fraction of the vast Tokyo skyline that could be seen from that spot.

After we did some shopping and some walking around, we rode the monorail back to downtown and headed straight for Tokyo Tower. As we were walking up to the tower I took this picture...

At the base of the tower we met with the other groups, took some photos together, and then those who did not want to go up on the tower went home or to other places. Of course, I was one of the people that chose to buy a ticket to go up the tower. The view was amazing. The pictures didn't turn out all that well, but looking out miles in all directions of the largest metropolis in the world, is something that I will never forget.

This was a great day not only because of all the places I went to, but because I was able to make a lot of new friends. I look forward to the next time that SISEC has an event, but I imagine that it will be hard to top the experiences that I had on this day.

Until next time....

Already a month!?

Yikes, its been two weeks since my last post. Part of the reason is that once school started up, I have not been around the dorms nearly as much. There is so much to do and see in Tokyo that I feel like it would be a waste to just go back to the dorms everyday after school.

The last two weeks have felt extremely long, as I have had a cold the entire time. The first week I thought it was just a normal cold, but it progressively got worse. I went to a doctor and found out it was bronchitis. Anyway, he put me on antibiotics and I am already feeling better, so hopefully it is gone for good.

Okay, enough of my sob story. The doctor was really cool. He had lived in Michigan for a few years and been to Wisconsin several times, so he knew all about the Brewers, cheeseheads, and essentially anything related to Miller-country.

Despite being sick the past couple weeks, I have still managed to go out and do some fun things. Last weekend, I went out to Shinjuku and Shibuya, which are two major downtown districts in Tokyo. We went to various places for food, shopping and drinks, before finally ending up at an Irish-themed pub. Before we realized it, it was like 12:20AM. Now if you want to go home via train, you better get to the station around midnight because the last trains leave around 12:30 or so. By the time we got to the nearest station it would have been impossible for me to make it back to the dorm, so my friend offered to let me stay at his apartment. We just barely made it into the LAST train and we had that "Hell yeah!" feeling.

Well, that feeling didn't last long. When we got off of the train, we realized that we never went and picked up our bags. Prior to going out, we put our school backpacks and anything we bought in the afternoon into some coin lockers. Turns out that in one of those bags, was the key to my friends apartment.

That meant we had to wait until 5AM for the trains to start up again. We went to a ramen restaurant, and then walked around for hours. It actually ended up being a really cool experience. Despite being in "suburbia" there were countless things that caught my attention. Shrines, temples, and statues were scattered throughout the neighborhood that we were in.

Here is me and the buddha....

It is a little difficult to see but it was really dark out and we weren't near a street light. Since I have spent most of my time in the busier parts of the city, I have not had the chance to see many historical aspects of Japan. We also stumbled across a temple that made me really feel like I was back in ancient Japan.

Upon seeing this temple, an eerie feeling swept through my body. All of the sudden it hit me. I had never felt so far away from home in my life. I had known all this time that I was roughly 6400 miles away from Wisconsin, but what I felt in that moment cannot be described as simply a number measuring distance. It was a mixture of loneliness, excitement, fear, and optimism.

Sure I was with a friend, but I felt lonely when I realized that I could not share that moment with any of the friends that I grew up with. Excitement, because I felt like I had traveled back in time, and ended up at that very spot. The fear was when I understood that this life in Japan is my new reality. Hate it or love it, that fact that I will be hear for another 10 months is not going change. Yet, this fear quickly left as I felt a surge in optimism for the future. I have barely scraped the surface of what this country has to offer.

Okay, my emotional Dr. Phil time is now over.

5AM finally came, and we went back to Shinjuku to get our bags. We parted ways and I got on a train back to my dorm. I fell asleep on the train and awoke to a train attendant telling me that we were at the last stop and I needed to get off. When I looked at the station map I found out I had rode the train 50 minutes past my stop. The most embarrassing part of it all, was that I fell asleep a second time on the next train and missed my stop again. When I finally got home, it was 9AM.

Regardless, that night was a fun and unique experience that further solidified my decision to study abroad in Japan. This weekend I am going to a Japanese festival that has been an annual event for around 400 years.

Hopefully this time, it won't be two weeks until I get around to writing another post.

Get Real.

After being here for almost two weeks now, things are starting to settle in. I'm starting to realize that this is not just a year long vacation. There are things that need to get done while I am here.

Last Thursday, I had orientation for Sophia University. Campus is small but really compact, and accessible. It is only a minute or two walk from Yotsuya Station. I'm not quite used to riding the trains yet, but I'm feeling more confident about actually knowing where I am at any given point.

Prior to the actual orientation program, we had a Japanese Placement test. I felt really confident going in, but no so much on my way out. I know I haven't actually been in classes since last December, but maybe I should have studied more. Regardless, the class I am put into is where I need to be so I can only get better from here on out.

After the placement test and orientation, we were introduced to Monitor Students, that are essentially there to help us if we have any questions about the university or things in general about Japanese life. We then went to a welcoming party held in one of the cafeterias. My Japanese is shaky at best, but I was able to meet a lot of new people and made some important contacts for school and club activities.

After the party, I went out to dinner with 5 students from Sophia, and my friend Gordon. He is also an exchange student from Whitewater. Below is my view of the restaurant that night.












The food we ate is called okonomiyaki. Not only that, but we went to a place where you make it yourself right on the table you sit at. Since it was our first time going to a place like this, Gordon and I made most of the food.

The first one that I made turned out like this....

Each time one was finished we cut it up into pieces and then shared. I liked doing it this way because I was able to try several different kinds of okonomiyaki, and believe me, they were all very tasty.

Along with a great meal, it was nice to meet and talk with some of the students from Sophia.

Changing the subject quickly, this past weekend I had my first clubbing experience in Japan. I had a blast, but it ended up putting me in a coma for all of Sunday. Not because I drank to much, but rather because we didn't go to the club until after midnight, and then returned around 6:30 AM. The club was called AgeHA (ah-gei-haa). You can look it up if you want more information or to see what its like, but like the Vegas slogan, what happens in AgeHa, stays in AgeHa.

Well, fun and games aside, today I got a bank account and tomorrow I hope to get a cell phone. Also, the placement test results are posted tomorrow at 10AM so then I can get a feel for what my weekly schedule will be like. School starts on Friday so I have a couple more days of vacation before my "regular life" (if you can call it that) will start.

See ya.

Typhoon!?!?!

I have already had a few people ask me about the ongoing typhoon, so I thought I would say a few words about it.

Today, I was supposed to go to Sophia University for orientation. It was canceled due to heavy winds and rain from the typhoon. In Nagoya, a city about 220 miles from where I am, there was some flooding that caused damage and evacuations. Around my city, it just seems to be raining harder than usual. No flooding. No power losses.

I have already received an email from Sophia University, stating that orientation and the Japanese placement test will be tomorrow.

The rest of my day will be spent studying for that test.

Livin' the dream

I really don't know where to begin with this post. I've been here for only 3 days now and I have already experienced some pretty amazing things.

On Friday I went down to the Nerima City Ward office to apply for a foreign resident registration card. This will enable me to get a bank account and a cell phone while I am here. I also did some shopping for essentials. After I got done with my errands I made the trip to a downtown district of Japan called Shibuya. This district is filled with shopping centers, restaurants and nightlife attractions. It is also famous for an intersection where all traffic stops and pedestrians, literally in thousands, are crossing in all directions. A friend and I walked around for hours, stopped inside a few pubs and ate at a Gyudon restaurant. The trains typically run until about 12:30AM, and not being familiar with the train system yet I wanted to give myself a head start by heading back around 11:00PM. I was astounded by the number of people still getting on trains at this time. It was actually the busiest I had seen up to that point. Regardless, I made it home on time and then called it a night.

Saturday was one of the longest days of my life. Still feeling the backlash of jet lag, I woke up around 5:45AM despite not falling asleep until 12:30AM. The good thing is that I got the chance to meet some of the other Japanese tenants who had to be up early for work. About and hour before noon, I went to play some catch with a new friend Shinji Katsuno, and an American from Seattle named John. After that the 3 of us, along with 4 other people went on a walk to downtown Nerima. We visited some stores, got some green tea ice cream, and then eventually split up.

I went along with Katsuno-san, Kuri-chan, and Heiyo. One thing that I am adjusting to is an aspect of the Japanese honorifics that attaches suffixes to peoples names. When you become closer with an individual, these suffixes are often dropped. A lot of these people have nicknames, or do not expect you to use these honorifics. Most people call Katsuno-san, O-san, which I think is an inside joke that I am not aware of so I still call him Katsuno-san. Kuri-chan is actually a nickname and at this point I do not know her real name. Heiyo's name is actually Yohei, and his nickname is a joke because it sounds like the words "Hey, Yo!"

Anyway, the four of us went to Hikarigaoka Park. There were playgrounds, a bird sanctuary, and even a massive mall on the outskirts of the park that put any of the malls in Wisconsin to shame.
My favorite part about hanging out with these three is that I hardly used any English. It really helped to build my confidence for speaking in Japanese. It also enabled me to become better friends with some of the tenants that I will be living with for a year.

We got back around 7PM and then it was time for the Welcoming party. To start things off, we made our own pizzas, rolling out our own dough. Then we had a group toast, and that's when the excitement kicked off. We had a drinking contest, where the fastest person to drink a liter beer through a straw wins. To prove your victory you had to hold the beer can upside down over your head to show that no beer was left remaining.

I was the winner! Don't believe me? Someone magnificently caught the final image.

Although I am not sure if I should be bragging about being a skilled drinker, I do know that I gladly took the 3000 yen prize money. Almost instantly after this picture, the Japanese guy in the grey shirt on the left wanted to win the second place prize so badly that he held the beer over his head despite still having quite a bit left and it poured all over him. I was laughing so hard I almost puked out the liter I had just finished drinking. I met a lot of interesting people at this party and then went along with 5 people to a Karaoke bar down the road.


Forget everything you know by Karaoke. You haven't done it. You haven't even come close. We got our own private room, and unlimited drink catering. Because of my liquid confidence from drinking at the party, I volunteered first with Piano Man. I have to admit I did pretty well, and I know that I do not have a good singing voice. If you are worried about having too much attention on yourself, don't be. Whether its by using a maraca, hand-bell, clapping, shouting hoo-ha's or singing along in the secondary microphone, EVERYONE is involved in each song. We did this until 5AM until we finally stumbled back to the dorms.

This was ALL on Saturday.


This is getting to be a really long post, so I will keep Sunday's events really short.

I WENT OUT FOR SUSHI!

Not only was it sushi, but it was a conveyor-belt style sushi restaurant. Basically you sit next to a constantly rotating line of sushi and desert choices. You eat until your full and then pay based on how many plates you have. The place I went to also had a miniature train that would bring anything you desired that wasn't currently rotating around the room. You ordered it off of a digital screen and then it pulled right up to your seat. This was one of the best places I have ever dined at. Take a look for yourself.




Well, if anyone of you have actually gotten this far in my post I will now wrap things up. It is 8:00PM on Sunday the 18th, and I am actually late for another party that we are having tonight for one of the Japanese girl's birthday.

Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it!

Am I really here?

Well, I finally made it! I won’t waste your time wining about how tired I am, or that I was up for 41 hours straight. Oh wait, I just did. Anyway, I just got a full 8 hours of sleep and I feel great and ready to explore.

The plane ride was about 12 hours, which was actually pretty cool because it was 2 hours shorter than I had previously thought. I couldn’t sleep at all, but it still went by relatively quickly.

There was a student from Sophia University named Shogo who met me at the airport to help me find my way to my dormitory.

My first impression of the train system went well. Since Narita Airport is around 2 hours away from the dorms, I got the chance to see a few different stations. Some were busier than others, but I haven’t had to deal with a fully packed train yet.

Riding on the train and walking through the station felt really surreal. I felt like I was in a lucid dream. I have spent so much time preparing for this trip that it is actually hard to believe I am really here.

When we got to the dorms, I met the manager of the building and some of the tenants. I was surprised to find out that there are actually way more Japanese tenants than exchange students.

I didn’t get the chance to take any interesting pictures yesterday, so you’ll have to settle for a picture of some of the things I picked up yesterday. The green colored card is used for riding on the trains. The salmon colored card and the key are used to get into the dorms. The lower half comprises of Japanese yen, the 10,000 yen note is worth roughly $130 US.

That's all I got for you today, folks. Look for more soon!

One Step Closer

I recently purchased my plane ticket. I will arrive at Narita airport in Tokyo, Japan on September 15th. There will be a group of students from Sophia University that will meet me at the airport to help me find my housing.

I am arriving nearly a week before orientation, so I will have plenty of time to become familiar with my neighborhood before the start of school.

That's all for now, look forward to more exciting posts once I arrive.

Leadoff Hitter

As you can tell, the title of this blog is called "Kanpai!" It basically means "Cheers!" in Japanese. Before I get too far ahead, I will tell you a little about myself. My name is Matthew Tufte, but my friends know me as Tuff. I am a junior at the University of Whitewater-Wisconsin and my major is International Studies with a minor in Public Diplomacy and Japanese Studies.

I had originally intended on going to Japan for the Spring 2011 semester, but I am sure you are aware of the tragic events that occurred recently so I will not spend too much time explaining. These unfortunate events put a hiccup in my plans to say the least. Fortunately, I was able to keep both of my jobs, so that I can continue saving over the summer. I am now preparing for a fall departure.

While there is still much to be done in the recovery efforts in Japan, the conditions in heavily damaged areas are considered to be stabilizing. The situation at the Fukushima power plant is more concerning. At this point, it is still under control, but if something were to happen that could be a potential hazard towards my health, then I may not be allowed to go. I am regularly monitoring the US State Department Travel Alerts.

Raising a glass and shouting out "Cheers!" is something that is done on special occasions. Each person has their own definition of such occasions. Some people are cheering for congratulations on a promotion, engagement, or new pregnancy. Some people are cheering for a sports team, a deceased loved one, or a good old time with the boys from back home. Many times it is simply a premise to drinking in unison. What I love about cheering is that there really are no rules.

Therefore I would like to call a toast. To all of the people in affected areas of Japan, to all the fun times I have had with family and friends thus far, and to all the things that I will encounter while I am in Japan.

Kanpai!