Home safely!

Just wanted to let everyone know I made it home safely, and then collapsed and slept for 13.5 hours.  But now I'm back in the States!  Shall be seeing some of you very soon!

帰国

Tuesday!  We had our final presentations, which went fine (probably my favorite was about the Tiger Conquering Brigade, which was a bunch of Japanese guys who went around Korea just randomly shooting tigers and trying to look manly during the colonial period).  That evening Yailett (who is another student from Harvard) came down to Yokohama to meet with me and hang out.  It was so nice to see her, and we walked along the pier at night, which I highly recommend.  Yokohama is actually really beautiful at night, especially in the Minato Mirai/Yamashita Kouen area.

Wednesday we had out exit interviews, which also went fine, because apparently I am a decent student with a very good memory for vocabulary.  We had a goodbye party afterward, where we received our completion certificates, and I got to meet a new incoming RSEA student.  Yesssssss.  So that was awesome.

Also, I have gotten Yuting hooked on Welcome to Night Vale.  *maniacal laughter*

A group of us from IUC wound up going on a hugely rambling adventure across Yokohama in the middle of the night that involved hamburg nabe* (significantly more delicious than I was expecting), Hello Kitty fireworks, ice cream (well, beer for everyone else and ice cream for me), and harmonicas.  Unfortunately, it meant that I got back to my apartment around 2 a.m., and then my brain decided it would be a good idea to wake me up at 6:30 a.m.  So today is going to be excitiiiiiiiing.

Speaking of, I'm going to be leaving Yokohama and on a plane back to the States in just a few hours.  (Well, actually, I'll be leaving Yokohama in a few hours and will be on a plane back to the states in about 7 hours.)  To all of you back in the States, I'll see you soon!

*Nabe is kind of like hot pot.  Hamburg is like the paddy part of the hamburger.

In which my lungs are slightly crushed but it's okay

Hello, readers.

I am making a conscious effort to not write this entire post in the style of Welcome to Night Vale, because, although it would undoubtedly be amusing to me, most of you would probably find it confusing and alarming.
...this is actually harder than it sounds because I am currently reading everything in Cecil's voice, which may be a sign that I have overdosed on Night Vale.

OH WELL.  ANYWAY.

Picking up where we left off last time, on Sunday, Lee (the only undergrad in our kobun and kanbun classes, who we all love dearly) came to visit Yokohama!*  He and Danica and I went to the amusement park by IUC, which we had been eyeing forever.  They have a very famous rollercoaster called Diving Coaster: VANISH!, and, yes, the name is written like that.  Anyway, we rode on that, which was an exciting experience!  To begin with, it had one of those over-the-head harness/restraint things, which, it turned out, kind of wanted to crush all of our chests.  Additionally, the roller coaster goes REALLY REALLY FAST and I think that that was the most G's I have ever experienced in my life????  And I think I forgot to breathe for most of the ride.  Which was probably good, because as we were going around the last few curves, the harness decided that it would be a good idea to get even tighter, and so as we pulled up to the unloading area, Lee remarked that he thought he had about 25% of his lung capacity.  In other words, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT, especially if you're riding with people who are likely to scream comically.
Speaking of screaming comically, there was a flue ride with a scream-o-meter, and we scored really low and it was embarrassing.
Also there was this shooting game (imagine Astro Blasters) called Cave of Echidnas, and all I can say is, wow, Japan, your echidnas are kind of weird, and also look like they should be really scary Pokemon.  This is an echidna.  This is some kind of hellish beast.  There is probably a Night Vale joke to be made here.

After that we walked around Yokohama, which is to say that we walked from one end of the Minato Mirai line to the other.  We wound up in a cafe with mattresses (???) that was projecting Across the Universe on a big screen and also Chinatown.  It was an exciting evening.

Monday, Valerie, another one of our classmates, was in town, so all four of us met up for purikura, karaoke, and dinner.  Purikura was hilarious as usual, and I must say that I look significantly better with a mustache than Lee does.
Also, true facts about karaoke: visual-kei = bad idea; just don't do it, okay

DINNER:

It was delicious.

Look at these fabulous people.  (Left to right: Lee, Danica, me, Val)
Note that this is 4/7ths of our kobun class.
(Picture callously stolen from Danica.)

(This picture was also callously stolen from Danica.)

So that was fun!

Val came back to spend the evening with us again on Wednesday, but other than that, it hasn't been all that exciting over here.  It is still too hot for living.  Today was our final, and tomorrow we have final presentations.  I am starting to pack stuff up, in preparation to fly back to the States on Thursday.  I need to buy omiyage, which will probably happen tomorrow.  At some point I should probably go on that danged ferris wheel that everyone goes on in Yokohama, just to say that I did it.  And then I should go on Diving Coaster: VANISH! again, because you've never lived until your lungs have been slightly crushed.

Good night, Night Vale, good night.  
(Shhh, I tried; don't judge me.)

*Lee is currently living in Osaka, just to be clear.  It's not like he came all the way from the States just to visit us.

EDIT: So a huge chunk of this blog's traffic is coming from what is very clearly a PUA blog.  This is curious, because if you try to PUA** me I will probably start puking feminist blog posts on you.  True facts about me!  So, uh, dear PUA who keeps somehow redirecting traffic from his blog to mine, I am not interested in your tricks for seducing women by observing their unique psychology (????), because strangely enough I think women are people are not objects (WHAT????  BLASPHEMY!!!!), so, in summary, no, no, no, NOPE, NOPE, NOPE, NO THANK YOU, BYE.

**I have made an executive decision that it is a verb now.

Best Buddhist statues and Musashi-Koganei's matsuri

Greeings from the Land of Ew Lemme Get You a Bucket for All That Sweat.

Our cruise this evening was cancelled because of thunderstorms (laaaame), so you folks get a post instead.  Huzzah!  (I guess.  If you like posts.  This post is mostly pictures because I am tired and don't want to type anymore things today.)

FLASHBACK TIME:

On Friday we once again had pick-your-own-course field trips, and I wound up going to the Tokyo National Museum, because I love the TNM.

NEWSFLASH: These are still my favorite Buddhist statues ever.

SO MUCH ATTITUDE.

Afterwards I went out to dinner with some of my classmates.  First we went to a super sketchy izakaya that was basically the biggest rip-off ever (also, they had a "sashimi" section on their menu, but the only sashimi they actually had was horse and chicken WHAT EVEN), and then everyone realized what a spectacular bad idea the izakaya was and instead went to get okonomiyaki, which was an excellent idea.

Saturday!  A couple of us went to a festival in Musashi-Koganei, which is a suburb of Tokyo.

It was a dancing festival, which meant that there were lots of groups parading through the street and dancing the "awaodori," which is literally "the bubble dance."

The combination of low light + rain + fast-moving people meant that a lot of my pictures turned out kind of like this.

P.S. Yes, it was raining.  Thank you, weather.  You're so helpful.  I, of course, forgot my umbrella, because the weather forecast said it wouldn't rain.

No, blogger, I am not going to add a caption.  Shh.

The best part of any summer matsuri is the inevitable small children in yukata.

I think this was about the point that the thunder and lightning started.

These people are dancing IN THE RAIN.  I hope you are impressed.

It started raining so hard that I had to cross to the other side of the street and stand under an overhang.

I crossed about ten minutes after all my other classmates, because they care a lot more about getting wet than I do, and also I was so busy taking pictures that I didn't notice that it was pouring rain.

Meanwhile, still lightning-ing and thundering.

And then lightning came crashing down directly over our heads (seriously, I think it hit a building in the vicinity) and the festival came to a screeching halt and everyone fled.

So that was the end of that.

OH WELL.

We did wind up going to Saizeriya for dinner, which is "Italian" food and is really cheap, which I guess makes up for the fact that it isn't really Italian food at all.

...the rest of the recaps will come later, when I don't have class in the morning.
HAHA, NO CLASS ON SATURDAYS?  WHAT UNIVERSE DO YOU LIVE IN?
*lies on the floor dramatically*

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD

HELLO.

I AM ALIVE.

THIS IS NOT A REAL POST.

I am going to stop typing in all caps now.

I have been busy with field trip + friends visiting + nearly getting my lungs crushed by a rollercoaster + nearly getting hit by lightning + preparations for final exams and final presentations + + 猛烈の暑さ + giving advice to random people because apparently I am adult who is qualified to give people advice about things ahahaha, whoops.

There will be an actual post
presently
but maybe not immediately
because I am going on a cruise tomorrow
and also I have class on Saturday
ew gross.
*lying dramatically on the floor*

P.S. If you don't know what the title of this post refers to, please stand in your bathtub and weep softly as you wait for the sheriff's secret police to arrive and escort you to reeducation facilities.

Lots of walking and also feels about Kaze Tachinu

Update time!

For our field trip on Friday, we were allowed to pick our courses again, and I decided to go to the Yokohama Art Museum.  It turned out to be a lot smaller than expected (I think it was really only about 5 rooms), so I finished up pretty quickly.  It was interesting--they had a fair number of works by famous artists...but no actual famous works.  But it was still an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

Saturday and Sunday I hung out with Mary, who was visiting Tokyo before she headed to the US for her first visit in two years.  (She is in the US now!)  I hadn't seen Mary for about a year and a half, so it was nice to have some time to hang out, catch up, and walk wayyyyyy too much.

Some places we went include:

Tokyo Tower!
(We didn't go up to the top, though, 'cause that costs money.  More money than it did last time I went.)
(Also, Ueno Park, but I didn't take pictures there, so you'll have to take my world for it.)

Meiji Shrine!  (We actually got pretty horribly lost on the grounds, because I have the best sense of direction in the world.)

Last time I went to Meiji Shrine, it was closed (I went after 5 p.m.), so it was nice to see inside the gates.

Both Mary and I were pretty strongly reminded of Heian Shrine in Kyoto, which makes sense, I guess, given that they were both built in roughly the same era.

We also went to Yoyogi Park, which is right next door, and had some really great peach soft serve.
(I'm not addicted to soft serve.)

The Imperial Palace!

Which includes a moat full of slime, I guess.

I dunno what the deal is, 'cause the other moat was clean.

The Imperial Palace is actually a pretty great place to walk, and it cooled down enough for the weekend that we weren't totally roasting in the sun.

See?  Non-slimy moat.

And finally:

The Tokyo Sky Tree, which is the replacement for the significantly shorter Tokyo Tower.  We didn't go to the top of this either, 'cause it cost 1,800 yen, and I could eat a really nice meal for that much.

Anyway, yes, it was really nice to see Mary, even if I was totally exhausted and lost my voice a little bit afterwards.

Yesterday we got over 100 milimeters of rain in the course of an hour.  Also, lightning.  We made the news!  Because our weather was that ridiculous!

Our sensei had a fever today, which meant that we didn't have class.  So we get to have a make-up class next Saturday, fun, fun, fun!  I should note that that's the Saturday immediately before the final.  *lies on the floor dramatically*

Also, I went to see the new Studio Ghibli movie, Kaze Tachinu, today.  I went to see it with Ma-san (another Harvard student) and...neither of us was entirely sure how to feel about it.  Scattered thoughts (some spoilers) below, although they may coalesce into something more coherent at some point in the future:

To be fair, I think I only understood about 70% of what was going on, because every time anyone started talking about anything having to do with engineering planes, I was completely lost.  Airplane terminology: not a thing I understand.  There was also a subplot fairly late in the movie having to do with the secret police that neither Ma-san nor I understood a word of--we know what happened because of the secret police, but weren't entirely clear on why they had gotten involved.  Also, a weirdly large proportion of the dialogue is in German and Italian with no subtitles.

On a side note, there is a German character with worse Japanese than me, which makes me feel weirdly okay about my Japanese, because you know your Japanese must be pretty okay if the movie!foreigners have worse Japanese than you.  (Movie!foreigners tend to have pretty good, non-garbled-if-pretty-thickly-accented Japanese, mostly because horrifyingly bad grammar will tend to confuse the audience, and an accent will get across the message that they're not a native speaker just fine.)

People (mostly people who haven't seen the movie) have been branding the movie as "anti-Japanese propaganda," but, honestly, it's significantly less political than a lot of Miyazaki's movies.  You could interpret the ending as having an anti-war message, but...you could also totally not.  On the other hand, you can't really interpret Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa as not being about the environment.  While Miyazaki's movies tend to have pretty strong messages (like "DON'T POLLUTE" and "DON'T WAGE WAR" and "DON'T CUT OFF THE HEAD OF A FOREST DEITY"), Ma-san and I spent several minutes puzzling over the closing scene of the movie, which could be interpreted as "DON'T WAGE WAR," "DON'T DO BAD MATH WHEN MAKING AIRPLANES," "DON'T LOVE AIRPLANES MORE THAN YOUR WIFE," or even "DON'T BECOME AN ENGINEER BECAUSE ENGINEERING IS HELLISH."  Heck, the movie ends on such an ambiguous note that we couldn't tell whether one of the major characters was alive or not.
Despite the fact that the movie is basically about the guy who designed the planes that killed a whole bunch of people during WWII, it's not a movie about war--it's a movie about planes.  As one of the characters remarks fairly late in the movie, "We make planes, not weapons."  The characters all know what they're making the planes for--at several points, the main character asks who Japan is going to go to war with, and other characters respond with increasingly long lists of potential targets (all of whom Japan did go to war with!), but none of the characters have a moral dilemma or dwell upon the destruction that their planes will rain down.  Perhaps that's the point--perhaps the audience is supposed to question the characters' motives and wonder whether saying, "I make planes, not weapons" is really a free pass.
On the other hand, the rest of the audience seemed just as puzzled about how to react as we did.

It's really not a kid's movie, not necessarily because of any sort of mature content (okay, there is probably the most kissing that I have ever seen in an animated movie, but that's about it), but because I think kids would find it excruciatingly boring.  It's a very slow movie--very gorgeous, but just sort of rambles along until it reaches its conclusion.  In terms of pacing, it reminded me very much of Only Yesterday, in that it just sort of...goes...without a particularly clear build to a climax. And then it just...ends.

Ma-san and I also weren't entirely sure how to feel about the main romantic relationship in the story.  There are essentially two ways to interpret the role their relationship plays in the narrative.  You could interpret it as a cautionary tale about putting your work ahead of the people in your life (can we talk about what a lousy brother the main character is), which ends in a bittersweet manner (and the main character realizes that he has made a terrible mistake).  Alternatively, you could interpret it as a woman putting her partner and her partner's interests before everything else in her life--including her failing health.  I would prefer it to be the first--Ma-san interpreted it as the second (i.e. as another one of those "ladies, stick by your man no matter how bad he is at taking care of you while you're bedridden" movies).  ...on the other hand, you could also interpret it as a straight-up love story, I guess.  Again, the ending is so ambiguous (and there's enough evidence to interpret it any way you want) that I have no idea how I feel about it.

I'm also not sure how well it will be received in the US, as I'm not sure how watchable it would be for someone who isn't well-acquainted with Japanese history.  Or how many people want to watch a movie about a dude trying to make planes.  Or if people will be as puzzled as the audience we walked out of the theatre with.

...so that's my scattered thoughts about the movie.  Really unsure how I feel about it at this point, and will probably have deep conversations with Yuting about it tomorrow (she saw it this weekend and has been waiting for someone to talk to this whole week like the trooper she is).  May have more coherent thoughts on it at some point, but yeah.

I am still alive

Sorry for not updating; I've been busy with people visiting and way too much homework, and so I haven't really had time to sit down and write out a post.  Shall have a post up by this weekend at the latest.  Also, I'm going to see the new Ghibli movie, Kaze Tachinu, tomorrow afternoon, so will probably have a review of that up at some point as well.

海の日

First off, have a picture of all the IUC students:

Bonus points to anyone who can spot the two people who were photoshopped in.

And here's a picture of all the folks from my cohort who are currently at IUC:

(Picture ruthlessly stolen from Danica.)

Wow, look how academic we are, oh man.

Monday was 海の日 (Sea Day), so we, of course, went to the beach!

Everyone else in Japan had the same idea as us.

Japanese beaches are bizarre, 'cause they're some kind of "social norm-free" zone.  Needless to say, the "don't show your shoulders" rule doesn't apply at beaches.  Also, after about 3 p.m., most of the kids went home and the water suddenly turned into the "adult" zone--people were making out and necking and taking off their clothes (????) in the middle of the ocean, and, uh, that's not really normal behavior in Japan.  There were also these dudes carrying around boomboxes that were bigger than me, and these other dudes who kept doing backflips into the ocean, which I guess is a common Japanese pastime, 'cause I saw an ad with a dude backflipping into the ocean the other day????

Also, apparently the ocean in Japan doesn't really have waves.  It's weird.  It's like a wave pool or something.
I just don't know how to deal with an ocean that isn't actively trying to drown me.
ALSO ALSO, the ocean is really weirdly warm????  Possibly warmer than the Atlantic?  It was really confusing.  But it also meant that I could go swimming for half an hour and still feel my feet. Wow, how radical.

Wow, look at those beach-going gaijin.

(Picture ruthlessly stolen from Danica.)

P.S. Inner tube + ocean = GREATEST COMBINATION EVER.

The best part of the beach trip was the part where I managed to apply sunscreen properly and didn't get burned at all, yesssssssssssssssss.
The weirdest part was where all of us kept experiencing bite-y feelings in the water, and we couldn't tell if we were being bitten or if there was just really sharp seaweed or if there was some kind of not-particularly-lethal jellyfish in the water.  Oh well, none of us died, so it's all good.

And now, a random aside:

I ran out of soap last week, so I went to 100 yen store to buy some more, and of course I got COW SOAP.

You probably thought I was kidding.

It's probably hard to tell from these pictures, but one side says "COW" and the other has a picture of a cow.

COW SOAP.

FINAL NOTE:

This is a picture from inside the American restaurant we went to for 4th of July.

(Picture totally stolen from Danica, again.)

(Also, these are two of my lovely Harvard classmates.  Joanna was my mentor last year, and Floris is in the PhD program.)

Can someone please tell me that that strange piece of artwork hanging on the wall is not what it appears to be?  After we saw that, everyone got really uncomfortable...