Darlo's World

Two days, two exams, two epic fails. Bad part over and done with, let’s talk fun stuff. So this evening I went with a few friends to a cinema in Nishinomiya to see the second ひぐらしのなく頃に (Higurashi No Naku Kori Ni) movie. This was the first time I’d been to a cinema in Japan, though because I’m familiar with the Higurashi story (this particular arc anyways) despite the fact my Japanese skills are still lacking I was able to follow the plot.

The film itself was a fair adaptation to the original story, but it was the cinema screen itself which was real nice. We saw the final showing (literally, tonight was the last one) and it was in the ‘Premier’ screen. The seats seemed to be divided into two sections; singles and couples. The couples section comprised of two-seater chairs which just reminded me of the term “love seat”. For the singles, we had spacious reclining chairs with a table and storage space between the seats. Getting a special exchange student discount also was a nice little breaker bringing the cost down from 1,500 yen (£10.05) to 1,000 yen (£6.70). Don’t get me wrong this is still sodding expensive, but if I remember rightly cinemas back in the UK are also a frickin’ money magnet.

So what lies on the cards from here on in? Well as far as Konan goes I’ve just got an essay to write on religion, a presentation to make on the Japanese rubbish system, and a final evaluation sheet to fill in. I’m hoping to get these done tomorrow so I can at least enjoy my last few days with my friends here. But for right now, I think I’ll have a beer and watch an episode of American Dad.

So today marks the end of my time of learning Japanese at Konan Daigaku, Kobe. Yesteday was our kanji and reading comprehension tests, and today we had our listening test followed by grammar. That doesn’t mean I’m completely done though, after Golden Week (literally THE next day) I have my religion exam, and then the next day is my wonderfully anticipated Leeds exam (insert sad crying clown breathing through an iron lung here).

This partially explains where I’ve been for the last few days (presumably revising) with the exception of Wednesday where we were given a day off for a national holiday, and last night when I just plain didn’t feel like studying so stopped up watching Family Guy.

Wednesday was みどりの日 (midori no hi, Greenery Day), and while I could talk about the day’s history, I’d pretty much be repeating what I read somewhere else. So rather than do that, you can find out about Greenery Day right here. Personally the only real difference I noticed were a lot more people that normal out on the streets painting and drawing, which to be honest was still quite nice, and given the awesome weather that day I’m certain their pictures turned out great.

I did use the day to take a quit run (it was neither quick, nor did I run) over to Shinasaibashi (again). As well as buying what I severely intend to be the last Higurashi book I buy, I also bought the first Higurashi DS game at a nice cheap price, as well as an awesome とたけけ (Totakeke) firgure. You might know him as KK Slider from Animal Crossing (or the Japanese 動物の森, doubutsu no mori), and am happy to say I didn’t pay anywhere near the $70 that it seems to be selling for online. Here’s hoping I can get it home!

Sorry it’s kept brief today (though I did try to maintain a sarcastic demeanour) but I have somewhere I gotta be. In the mean time, I’ll be updating the Photos at the weekend, so be sure to check them out!