Awesome weekend

I have officially been in Japan for a month. But it actually feels like a lot longer. I can’t believe that one month ago I didn’t simultaneously think in broken Japanese or use the word ‘o-mo-shi-ryoi’ to describe almost everything. (‘Omoshiroi’ means interesting or amusing, by the way.)
The weekend was particularly awesome since I managed to squeeze in a lot of anime type fun, despite my sore throat and slight cold. On Friday I ‘met’ some Japanese kids at the school organized meet and greet on the second campus. Unfortunately the ratio of Japanese people to JSP students was pretty skewed in favor of the JSP kids. My favorite moment came at the end when, after speaking to a Japanese boy for a particularly long time, my two friends (Emily and Jen) asked the boy for his number. American style. And as he was giving it out his three male friends start ‘asking’ him who Suwa-chan was. Suwa-chan is apparently the Japanese boy’s girlfriend. I was sort of standing away from the action and witnessed this moment in cultural differences and enjoyed it immensely. Girls and boys in Japan do not really become ‘friends’ per se. And exchanging numbers with American girls apparently warrants a reminder that you already have a girlfriend.
Anyway after the strange meet-and-greet we went out for gyoza and then on to karaoke (which isn’t a lot of fun when it hurts to sing and when you can’t really drink). I damaged my throat anyway. Because I’m in Japan, damn-it. And there was a bit of confusion regarding rooms and people and boys wanting Japanese girls. A regular good time.
Saturday was the true day of exploring and anime themed adventures. My friend Emily was in search of the ‘pokemon center’ because she loves Pokemon. There are (surprising, I know) a lot of JSP kids who love Pokemon and have played all the games. I wasn’t really one of them but I watched the show and I can get into the spirit of things. We actually managed to get on all the right trains and not get lost and even found the actual Pokemon center. Which turned out to basically be a giant Pokemon store overrun with children asking to buy things and parents trying to say no. I bought things. I now have a pokemon ball replica that doubles as a coin bank and came with a copper deer like Pokemon. But my favorite thing I bought was this truly bizarre licking Pokemon plushy. It’s so weird and adorable! On the way into the station I looked out the window and saw Tokyo Tower, which I had no idea was in the same place. And I insisted that we go because as silly as the Tokyo tower is, you can’t deny visiting it once. I also had to explain how the Tokyo tower is featured rather prominently in a lot of animes, CLAMP in particular. I enjoyed my 11-year-old Pokemon adventure, and then my 15-year-old Magic Knights Rayearth themed adventure (which was the anime I loved and starred three girls sucked into another world in the Tokyo Tower.)
Two things really stand out about the time around the tower. And those were the monkey standing on stilts and the two giant pink dildo-like mascots of the Tokyo Tower. Trained monkeys and strange mascots make anything worthwhile. All that took up most of the day and then we took the train home, got sushi at the ki-ten sushi place, and then tried to hang out in a Japanese park. My favorite line from my history text was the one about how Japan never really came up with parks on their own; they just sort of made them because other countries had them. Which really explains the strange rectangle creation we hung out in. Which had a nice fountain but barely any grass and no trees. We did go to a nice park near the Tower though.
Today I spent with my okasan and I watched my host sister sing in her play and it was awesome. In Japan high schools have these things called school festivals where different clubs make exhibits or put on shows and classrooms become bazaars or cafes. And all the parents and siblings come and eat food and look at the displays and watch the shows. So my host sister is part of the musical club at her school – which is apparently an all girls club. And she played a boy in what I think was an American musical based on William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew. In Japanese. And the acting was pretty typical of Japan, which is a lot of dramatic posing. It was cute though and my host sister was the best in it. She played her part the most convincingly. So that was cool. And then we went to the school bazaar and I bought a scarf and my host mom bought some towels. And then we ate some lunch and checked out the anime club. It’s nice to know that anime ‘artists’ in high school suck in Japan just as much as in the US. Although the coloring is infinitely better. My host mom told me that my drawings were ‘ichiban.’ Which was sweet.
And finally we went to a random tea-room in the school where the school tea ceremony club girls were all wearing ornate kimonos and serving traditional whipped green tea and dai… something. The rice jelly surrounding sweet bean paste. Which sounds weird but is actually delicious and really sweet. I have secretly always wanted to go to a school festival and now that goal has been realized.
After that my host mom took me to jin-ja, which I think is the word for a Shinto shrine. Apparently it is very famous. I really like Shinto shrines. I made more wishes with coins and took pictures of some fighter planes. I had decidedly limited the amount of money in my wallet, so when my host mom asked me if I wanted to do more shopping and I had to say no. She took me to a department store in my station anyways, because she needed some stockings. And I found a skirt miraculously in my size and miraculously on sale. Sometimes you can’t help these things. She then took me out to dinner and I ate more tempura, soba, and yakitori chicken. It was really fun just chilling with my host mom. I think on Wednesday Chi, my host mom and I are maybe going to do something. We shall see. Sometimes she explains things about future plans all in a rush and I feel too embarrassed to ask her to repeat.
Regardless, a really fun weekend. And I’m still in freaking Japan (>.<)!!
Love y’all lots and lots and lots. ^^

as usual the link to new photo's is http://flickr.com/photos/30087712@N08/