I’d just writen a long blog entry, but somehow I’d clicked the back button and now it’s all sodding gone! I’m not going to write it all out again, I really can’t be arsed so here’s a summary of what I did write, and will continue normally at the bottom.

• You’re listening to Life is Like a Beach by Rie Fu – I’ve come to think of it as my theme song.
• On Wednesday realised was just wasting time by coming home and not doing anything nightly.
• Went out drinking.
• Went to darts bar in Umeda where I (and a friend) played darts and spoke in Japanese constantly.
• Came home at 4 am instead of studying for big religion exam.
• Bombed Japanese kanji quiz (that’s bad).
• With a loss of motivation, I didn’t study for the religion exam and slept instead.
• Finished writing exam 15 minutes into it.
• Came home and slept.

So today we had our weekly Japanese language test and I’m almost certain of failing that also. My lack of motivation to study hasn’t just limited itself to religion. Afterward I went and hung out in the Ajisai room where a friend and I made a little game out of flicking 1 yen (0.8p) coins into a box. Sounds boring but it actually became quite interesting, with me kicking buttock left, right and … hmm … three buttocks … ok, not centre.

On the way home a few of us stopped by an arcade where we spent (blew) some money on some games of DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), Time Crisis 3, some guitar game (not Guitar Hero T_T) and UFO Grabbers. I left the arcade with a new 3 inch tall Winnie The Pooh, dressed as James P. “Sulley” Sullivan (Monsters Inc), after spending … not too much money on it. Oh! And we 太鼓の達人 (taiko no tatsujin, Taiko Master), an awesomely cute drumming game.

The plan for the night is to go out and have some fun. We’ve got mid-terms next week and since I can’t go out and have fun on Sunday night, we’ll do it tonight instead. Finally a hello to Lauren, a fellow Osakan, who’s looking for the Osaka Monopoly.

“I don’t have the money“, “I don’t have the time” or “I really don’t fancy going that far“.

I then normally explain that I’d love to pop along to one of the plenty of groups who play in the streets of Osaka. Hmm … perhaps plenty’s a bit of an exaggeration, but get on down to Umeda on a Saturday and you’ll normally find a group. If not you could always just go to Yodobashi Camera and have your eardrums burst by the incredibly irritating American announcer as a continual loop of different language give you information on the store.

Now skip back a few months (feel free to look through the old journals in order to do that) to when I was gutted to find that DragonForce, a band worth paying £16 to go and see, were playing at Leeds University (aka my uni) but waited until after I’d left the piggin’ country.

Redemption came to me earlier today whilst working through Kanji in Context and faffing about on the internet as I discovered that once again Dragon Force we making a trip to my doorstep. On the 27th of March DragonForce will be coming down to Osaka and playing at the Zepp. I check the price … 7,000 yen! That’s … that’s … more expensive than a cheeseburger! Right now that’s about £54.50.

I think to myself about some of the conversations I’ve had with home, and how much they want me to enjoy myself and do at least one awesome thing, so I begin to seriously consider going. After all seeing a band I like is one thing, but seeing them in the city that I adore is something else.

I’ve shown many times here that things can and never will go as smoothly as I’d like, and this also comes into play right now. For you see, Konan University were kind enough to line up various trips for us while we are here to experience new things and see new places. This means that on Friday 27th of March at 7pm when DragonForce kicks off … I’ll be over in Hiroshima, 176 miles away on a trip I’ve already paid through the (fire and flames, lol) nose for.

Oh cruel irony, why dost thou mock me so.

To stay alive in Japan you need this little thing called money, and recently things had been looking up financially. My student loan payment was coming through and the exchange rate had been on the up, hitting 140 yen to the pound a few days ago. Fast forward to this morning when the cash was actually in my bank account and you’d be forgiven for thinking I would have been a happy and relieved chappy.

First task this morning was to give 67% of that to Uni leaving me with me “good luck living on that” loan. Second shot came when I went to check the exchange rate. It had sunk to 130.7 yen to the pound (right now it’s at 130.3). Companred to the 200 yen to the pound I had when I first got here. So once again I’m left in the dilemma of whether I withdraw money now, or wait a bit longer. Risky.

My walk to Shirakawa (aka the original Higurashi village) might be back on. In February we have a week off which would give me time to start the walk. Only trouble is (and the reason I said start) is that I think it’s going to take longer than one week to get there. I’m going to have a word with my teachers about the possibility of me missing a class or two should I take too long, as this would be my only real chance to explore anything away from a class activity, unless of course I get a nice lottery win … though I don’t do the Japanese lottery.

However, this may also be marred by the fact that I didn’t estimate how the weather in Japan changes. Up until now I thought we’d had the worst of the cold and come February it would start to warm up a little. According to my Japanese friends this is not the case. In fact, where we are is going to get even colder, meaning December probably would have been the better time after all.

I leave you with a video that somes up the cold and the irony – Ironic by Alanis Morissette

With this being the case, my new discovery of the day was limited to another walk around my local area and the Tenjimbashisuji Shotengai, the world largest covered shopping street. As it was late most of the stores had already closed for the day, though many still remained open. Cutting in and out of side entrances and back-alleys meant that I could see a lot of the smaller shops, restaurants, fetish bars and pet shops, though I didn’t go into most of them. I did stop by a couple of UFO Catcher (arm-grabber) arcades, including one that seemed incredibly posh. It was so fancy not only were it’s prizes things like gourmet cakes and chocolates, it had a dance floor on a mezanine!

To be honest that’s where this entry ends, for today, but I do want to ask you to open your minds to the fact that although Japan is probably very different to the country you live in, don’t believe in all that you hear from movies and so on. Not only is the number of people who have asked me if “every Japanese person is tiny” getting pretty bad, but one person even asked me if the monks I saw were awesome because they “knew thousands of kinds of martial arts”. Now, I don’t even know if 1000 kinds of martial arts exist, that’s not my specialist field (like I even have one), but they had watched Bulletproof Monk and succombed to that idea.

For the record, the “Nameless Monk” was not even Japanese, but a Tibetan Buddhist.

Technically speaking I’ve moved again. I’m in the same room, only I’m not sleeping on the bed anymore. A few nights ago I wanted to keep up late working but I was getting too tired. I compromised with myself that I’d have a little kip, but would sleep on the floor where it would be colder and less comfortable, meaning I could get up easier when I did drop off. Twist of fate would have it that it’s actually a really comfortable floor, and I’ve been sleeping there ever since. Now all I need is a proper futon, and not just a blanket, and then I can tick off another box of daily achievements of Japanese lifestyle.

My new years resolution (aka the thing which I’ll actually just do for the first few days of the year and then agree to sod it) is to do or go somewhere new every day. So far I’ve managed to keep that resolution; the first two days I explored new spots of my local area and today me and some friends went to Kyoto. Overall, though it was marred by cold and damp weather, the environment and scenery were very easy on the eye.

I did however rekindle my old hatred of tourist areas due to the kind of people they attract the most. Tourists! I know initially this will sound very hypocritical, me being a tourist most of the time, but the vast majority of tourists really do my nut in. Their attitudes and lack of a moral and social conscience not only leave a negative impression for all people wanting to visit an area, but also ruins the days of pretty much everyone (unless the weather got there first). Personally I’d like to see some sort of tourist licence that meant that only people who understand that going to a new place doesn’t mean that everyone there is your servant, can go and visit places. I know this sounds just more like a rant, and I guess it kind of is, but as my time passes in Japan I certainly want to try to leave a positive impression of foreigners.

This isn’t to say that all the tourists I encountered got me irritated. I was incredibly impressed by one American woman (I think she had a Texas accent) who couldn’t find her way to a shrine and asked us if we knew where it was (as I said in a previous entry, this I don’t mind, but foreigners coming up to me wanting to just speak to me because I’m foreign I generally do). Not only did she ask us in a very polite manner (scoring major points in my book anyway), but she asked us in Japanese. It was very simple Japanese, clearly she’d learned a few key phrases, and this was a huge impression left with me. To be honest when I first saw her approaching with a map, I had a vague idea that she’d be asking directions, but well done that lass for going that extra mile. For the record we directed her in English.

I’d first discovered Fukubukuro when reading Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei a couple of weeks ago. A fukubukuro roughly equates to a lucky bag, and come New Year shops start making and selling these depending on what kind of store they are. Nozomu Itoshiki (aka Mr Despair) basically describes them as a way of getting rid of the stores junk and unwanted items, and walking around Kyoto today I saw them at almost every single store, large or small. Prices of these lucky bags also varied depending on what you might expect to get in it, with the most expensive one I saw at 80,000 yen (just under £570) at a jewellery shop.

I’m pretty much open to trying anything at least once, especially with food (unless mayonnaise is involved, then it can go get stuffed) and in the past have enjoyed weird combinations; cucumber dipped in apple sauce and KFC with maple syrup to name a couple. So today when I saw a new flavour of ice cream I felt I had to give it a go. Personally, the taste wasn’t so great, but in reality I don’t think many people could eat Pumpkin and Chestnut Ice-Cream. Giving it to my friends there was a mix of reactions, but at least I know now to stick to mint chocolate-chip.

So let’s start with Halloween. As I said in my last entry I did indeed walk again from Uni to Sannomiya. This time I was aided by the fact that I didn’t have to take a detour to avoid being associated with an obvious over-the-top western tourist and managed to complete the walk in an hour and a half, meeting up with everyone at a reggae bar in Sannomiya called Second Chance. This time it was a bit of a night walk … well, not quite night when I left, but it was when I got there. Before this there were many photo’s taken in the Ajisai room and many different costumes. I went down my usual cheap-ass route and wore a purple hat (which was part of my usual clothing) and borrowed a pair of white framed lensless glasses. Tonight Matthew I’m going to be … Spike Lee! Admitadly it was mainly the Americans who got it, but I didn’t really care much.

Oh, I and I did leave that Gaikotsu on balcony!

Coming back to the reggae bar for the time being, when I got there it was a happy hour so drinks were cheaper than usual. That being said, I think I have a strong feeling that Second Chance water down their drinks. I say this not because they tasted weak (in fact they were rich and full of flavour, but because I had quite a few without feeling any effect. Maybe I missed the sign that said ‘Alcohol Free’ at the door.

On the food side it was quite hit and miss. I ordered two plates; Garlic Fries and Fried Chicken. The garlic fries came with 3 dipping sauces (ketchup, mustard and a garlic sauce) and were legendary. The were called fries, but they were much more like a British chip: big, bold and potatoey. The sauces were also fantastic! Normally I hate mustard, but this kind had a strange appeal to it and I was able to easilly use all the sauces rather than just the traditional ketchup. However, the chicken was less than fantastic. I seemed to be very ordinary and lacked a lot of flavour. Did I mention it was also sitting in a big ass puddle of MAYONNAISE!!!

MESSAGE TO JAPAN – NO MORE MAYONNAISE PLEASE! T_T

After the reggae bar the large group split up a bit and I joined a group heading to a karaoke bar. As well as my usual repetoir I sang back up for a few of the others as we partook of an all you can drink offer. I don’t know if it was a Sannomiya alcohol selling code for that night, but once again the drinks were very weak (yet still full of flavour). After singing our hearts out and individually downing somewhere between half and a dozen drinks, our time was up and we were on our merry way. From the looks of some of the people we passed, some were merrier than others!

Upon getting back to the train station, we coincidentally met up with most of the others who we split apart from at the reggae bar. Because me, ‘the monkey’, the ‘army man’ and the Frenchman (no outfit, he’s genuine!) live in the same dorm, we took the same route going home together. The stares we got on the train were much more than we normally got (which by the way are now almost non-existant) and were also combined with some laughing. Still, it was always all in good fun. Kudos to the monkey for acting as dignified as much as a man in a monkey suit (literal pun) could act.

We had to get off the train a stop early, as it wasn’t stopping at our station. We could have waited for the next train, but instead we just walked from Awaji station to home. Many more stares were had and a few bike crashes narrowly avoided as the odd-squad went walking along. At the dorm I felt hungry so me and monkey went on to raid McDonalds for a burger. I could go on about the funny looks and stares we got, but I think that message is kind of embeded in the rest of the halloween entry. However at McDonalds something pretty amazing did happen. I only ordered one burger (that wasn’t the amazing thing), and was actually asked if I wanted a bag or if it was fine as it was (cue the "wow"). Seriously, everytime I’ve gone and just had one thing (and had it for take-out) I’ve ended up with more bags than produce. This was amazing.

On the way back I also felt like opening a new line to my Osakan food checklist by finally trying Takoyaki. Takoyaki is a fried octopus ball, and although I’m no stranger to octopus or food that comes in ball form, these were completely different to anything I’d ever tried. It was an interesting combination of creaminess and meatiness in one with a small air-pocket in the middle. It was nice, but don’t get me wrong I probably won’t be having Takoyaki too often.

Skip forward a day to the 1st of November. An old fortune says that if the first words you say on the first day of a month are ‘White Rabbits’ then you’ll have good luck throughout the month. Unfortunately I confused myself with a late night munching on takoyaki, so my first words came out as ‘Black Bunnies’. I hope that doesn’t arouse any old supersticions.

On this day I lost some money on a bet I placed before coming to Japan. I made a bet with my brother that my two nephews would pass their driving tests before he does (seperate bets, one for each nephew). My brother’s older than me and my nephews are 5 and 2. Congrats on passing your test dude.

Thanks to a friend from Konan, I was introduced to a show called Green Porno. It’s an …. I’m struggling to think of how to describe it. It’s a show that shows different mating rituals of various bugs and insects, but it’s told in a very kid-show style. By kid-show, I mean the kind you watch when you can’t even talk. There’re 8 short videos on the website, and also some extras including a making of.

With a friend from Uni, I went to Nishinomiya Kitoguchi. Clearly not feeling stared at enough, we both sat in a very public area with white-boards and just practiced kanji over and over again and again. It was actually quite fun, and when we could overhear people talking about us or reading the kanji that we were writing it was more inspiration to keep on going. I was quite tempted to put my hat on the floor to see if I could make a few yen, but I was pretty sure Japan had laws against busking, at least without filling in mountainous paperwork beforehand. I’m thinking of making this a regular thing, because not only was it interesting, I actually did remember most of the kanji I practiced.

2nd November was a Sunday. This would normally be a day where SDS (Sunday Dorm Syndrome) kicks in. However, today was different! Today I (and a dude from Uni) would have a host familly … for an evening. Konan had kindly arranged for dorm students the opportunity to have dinner with a familly, giving us the chance to be able to speak with Japanese people we didn’t know in a new environment. This basically bridged the gap between dorm and homestay students. The family that we went to were quite far up into the mountains of Kobe, and yet the train ride seemed to be surprisingly short. As a gift I gave them some British tea bags (Tetleys) and a cottage figure I’d picked up in London.

Dinner was wonderful. I can’t remember the name of the main dish, but it’s very similar to Shabu Shabu. A large pot of boiling water in the middle of the table is accompanied by a range of vegetables (some of which were home grown) with thin slices of beef, all arrange around the table. These were then piece by piece put in the water and we all helped ourselves. This was followed by American Upside-Down cake and some After Eights! There were also some Scandinavian sweets that we tried (the familly too tried them for the first time) and they were … different. We also tried (I’d never eaten so much in Japan before) some persimmons, a fruit which appeared to cross the boundary between orange, tomato and mango. In other words it was bloody good, all of it was bloody good.

Throughout the night we talked and listened and enjoyed each others company. I learned some new things about both Japan and America and in turn passed on some of my knowledge of England and Wales. It was a great 4 hours and I really appreciate everything that the host family had done in order to make it special. This is what it was like to have a host family.

9 o’clock came and it was time to say goodbye. We were driven back to the train station, but stopped on the way to see an awesome view of Osaka from the up a mountain at night, all lit up. I was going to take a picture, but unfortunately I knew my camera was too naff (not to mention I left it in the car). We arrived at the station and said our last thanks and goodbyes.

I went home with a smile.

I woke up on Monday 3rd November with a frown … no more than that, I was grumpy … no wait, I was just plain naffed off. To say that my smile from the previous night was upside down would be like saying Mount Fuji is just a pile of muck in the ground. It was a national holiday, Culture Day, and that meant I was starting my day hungry. Having not brushed my teeth the night before (out of shere laziness on my part) I could still taste the delicious repas from that night’s meal. I left for Uni in a slump, with my only sense of pleasure coming from the fact that most people would have the day off. That may sound odd, me being glad other people got the day off, but it meant that I could be assured of a seat on the trains rather than have to stand ‘sardine in a can’ style.

I stayed up late the previous night, despite still being shattered from my walk to Sannomiya, but I don’t even remember what for. I think it was just one of those nights of reflection (where I COULD have been writing a blog entry), but anyway I’m getting off topic. It meant that on the train I could get some sleep and try to forget about the rumbling in my stomache.

Arriving at University I headed straight for the shop. I could only feel I that I could partake a Ghana bar (a chocolate bar), so paid for it and headed to class. I offered pieces to my other dorm-hungered friends, who modestly turned them down. As usual one class member makes comments that he thinks are clever (if he’s clever then a baby learning 1+1=2 must be a genius), but I couldn’t feel the need for any of his crap today. After all, today was a reason that dorm students could take it out on others, even if they had it coming all along. So this being the case for every clever thing he said I quickly shot it down with a large dose of sarcasm and directness. He soon got the hint I think.

Monday’s are the day I tutor English, so after a quick lunch I headed up to the room. Being a holiday I didn’t really expect anyone to show up. But regardless I prepared the room, writing information on the whiteboard, including the British word of the day (to pop – I’m just popping to the shop). To my surprise … wait, that’s not the right word, to my expectation nobody came. Given that I was there for two hours, I used the time to practice kanji for this week’s quizes. I did have a couple of visitors come by the room; another transfer student and a Japanese teacher, but they didn’t stay long. Eventually, my two hours were up and I headed to the Ajisai room.

Feeling a need for a rest I covered my eyes with a giraffe scarf (also apparently known as a snood) and lay across some chairs at the side of the room. Even though I was awake with my eyes open looking through the tiny gaps in the fabric, my stillness must have given off the impression that I was sleeping as I overheard several people commenting on it. It’s amazing what you can here when you really listen. I won’t write them down here because I think that would be a little harsh to people who like talking about people behind their backs, then show a different facade when the person in question walks into the room.

One thing that did get on my nerves was when someone started moaning about their host family. They were giving it this and that about how they’re only eating Japanese styled food and how they can’t hang out with friends for every minute of the sodding day because the family wants to do things with them, like go to places and such. God, what a ponsey smarmy git! First of all consider yourself lucky to actually get food everyday (had it not been for my own home visit it would have been two days without a proper cooked meal), but you actually have a family willing to take your ungreatful ass to places you’ve never been to and are willing to help you learn Japanese. I won’t even go into the fact that you’re also paying less than the dorm guys … whoops, too late. Me being in my meditative like state at the time didn’t move or shout him down, but I was mentally picturing destroying him in an effort to calm myself down.

After a while I got up and just sat down, briefly including myself in the convestion that was going on around me. As it approached 5 o’clock I realised I’d already done the homework that was due the next day and had already memorised the kanji for the quiz. With nothing to really head home for and no desire to stick around, I proposed a question to the students sitting in my vicinity.

"How long do you think it’d take to walk to Juso from here? I wonder if I can get there before 9 o’clock."

After explaining my reasons why I’d be willing to do such a walk (those mentioned just above) I was on my way, leaving the parting words

"If I’m not in tomorrow, someone phone me to make sure I’ve not passed out in a ditch."

I started walking towards Okamoto station as I still considered just getting the train home. As I approached the station I had my pass ready to go through the turnstiles, but instead I turned left and just kept on walking. I put my pass back in my wallet, crossed the train tracks at a cross point and walked down an alleyway in the direction of Osaka.

At this time of day it was still quite bright out, so walking down the back alleys of Kobe wasn’t too bad. Not to mention there were plenty of people around. My plan was to stick close to the Hankyu trainline as I knew this would be a surefire way to keep on route. I decided to see how I felt at the next station and decide then whether to continue or not. This was the beginning of what some would call a long night, and leave a physical effect on me that would last … well, I still hurt.

When I hit Shukugawa station I soon realised that I wasn’t going to make it all the way to Juso by 9. I was feeling much better than when I left uni. I was more relaxed, I had fresh air in me, and I was having fun. Not wanting to call it a day I kept my assessment of ‘play it by ear’ and would decide at each station if to carry on or not.

To save giving an account of every step, I’ll just put it to you that I had three dead ends (right up to peoples houses), went into two awesome shops (one electronics that had things much cheaper than other stores, and a second hand book store with quite possibly the biggest 105 yen manga section I’ve seen so far), had to take a 40 minute detour to walk up and down the bank of a river (Japan doesn’t seem to let you cross rivers easily unless you’re on a train or in a car), passed the Hi-Chew factory, and discovered that a black guy wearing all black walking in the dark with no road lights must be a very spooky thing to see for many Japanese people.

According to Google Maps, the journey should have been 22.3km (13.9 miles) and should have taken about 36 minutes … by car. I of course am forbidden from operating a motor vehicle while here on my year abroad, and heaven forbid I actually follow google’s set out route. I had no map, no real idea of where to head, and no Sun (to navigate by … no compass either). At the same time I had no worries. At several times along the way I imagined headlines about worse case scenarios, but soon dismissed them as depressing. Oh, and as for the 36 minutes malarky, well … I didn’t make it to Juso by 9 o’clock.

Uni to Juso by car (googlemap)
Uni to Juso by train (almost my route) (googlemap)

Just as the clocks chimed for midnight I could be seen hobbling just down the road from Juso station. My feet hurt, my legs and back hurt, my eyes hurt, but man was my pride strong. I thought I’d really impress myself and jogged for the last few hundred metres, killing off my kneecaps in the process and nearly crashing into many drunken businessmen. I must have looked a right sight. I hobbled through the turnstiles and made my way to the platform … to see my trains doors close.

I said a few words that no one should ever hear.

My next train was in twenty minutes so I figured it would be a good idea to get a drink. After hobbling up and down my platform, and a second platform, I eventually came to the vending machines. I bought a lemon flavoured drink and noticed the Ice-Cream machine right next door. I figured that I deserved a treat, so bought a chocolate chip ice cream. When i bent down to take it from the bottom of the machine I noticed something odd. Well, two things really. Firstly was that I had no pain and seemed to have got my energy back. The second thing was that there were two ice creams in the pick up spot. I thought my luck was on the up.

It didn’t last long. After taking two steps away from the machine fatigue and pain set in heavier than before, leaving me trying to hobble back to my platform. You know it’s bad when you’re overtaken by a man with a zimmer-frame, but to be fair if he’s agile enough to be up partying past midnight then all respect to him. I found a seat on my platform and started munching on my chocolate chip ice cream. The second ice cream appeared to be a green tea variety. About halfway through the first ice cream, enjoying every morcel and getting energy and strength back, something caught my attention in the air. To this day I still don’t know what it was, but that lapse of concentration caused my delicious nectar of the gods to go tumbling to the floor.

( TT__TT )

I put it in the bin with a slight tear in my eye; partly because I had to stand up. I then moved onto the second ice cream, saving the drink for after. Now for those of you who this scenario may happen to (getting doubles on an ice cream vending machine), you’re better off leaving the freebie right where it is. For you see, ice cream does a little thing when it reaches a certain temperature for so long and it’s called melting. When you try to pull open an ice cream that’s been melting for a while, you tend to have a little accident. For me, it looked as if someone had thrown some 1990′s kid show gunge my way, as my ice cream (or should I just call it cream) splurted out of the packet. I picked up what I could and made another trip to the bin.

When my train came I’d been sitting down for a while and felt relaxed. Unfortunately for me, so did my knees. They did not want to be bothered when the train came and boy did they let me know. I compared the pain to when I first bent my left knee after getting a full leg cast reduced to a half leg one after snapping my shin bone in half. Yes … it hurt like hell. No … there were no seats on the train.

I got home just before 1 o’clock, roughly eight hours after first leaving the Ajisai room. I was in bed … not in a ditch.

I spent the vast majority of the next day either in vast amounts of achey pain, or sleeping in various places. I did well on the kanji quiz, 100% baby (10/10).

Yesterday, Wednesday the 5th of November, when actually when I started writing this journal! It was also a very special day in the calendar … Bonfire Night of course! Unfortunately because of the North American presidential election our British holiday seemed to be backshelved. Never mind Guy Fawkes, I still remember you … and how you failed. ^_^

In Japanese class we were presented with our new textbooks, having finished (again) Minna No Nihongo. Now we’re using ‘An Integrated Approach To Intermediate Japanese’. To be honest at first glance it looks like it takes the style of MNN’s various books, and combines it into one hefty hunk of a book. Even though I’m looking forward to the new grammar points, vocab and so on, I’ll definately miss Biji-san and co from MNN. Still, I’ll be looking back over those books when I start forgetting the simple stuff again.

After Japanese I took a trip with a friend to Nishinomiya Kitaguchi. I wanted to head back to that electronics shop (the one from the walk) as they had a Denshi Jisho (electronic dictionary) that was reduced from over 31,000yen to 19,900yen. I was going to get one of these anyway while I was here, so seeing this one was a bargain. To be honest, this month I was either going to end up getting one of these, or a bike. But to be honest, I don’t think I’ll be in the mood for much self-powered travelling for a while. My friend bought a significantly cheaper one (about 3,300 yen), which comes without all the gimicks and fancy things mine did, but it also didn’t come with a touch pad which helps when it comes to finding kanji that you don’t know the reading for.

My Denshi Jisho

Making my way back from Okamoto station to Uni, I soon came across an American woman looking very out of breath running with a buggy. As she ran past me our eyes met and she came to a screeching halt (minus the screeching).

"Are you American?" she shouts to me. I thought maybe she was in some kind of trouble and needed an English speaker.

"I’m British." I reply,

"Oh I guess you’ll do. Obama just won and I had to run and tell someone about it and give them a hug!" She shouts as she dives my way and hugs me. Regular readers to my blog will already know my dislike of the stereotypical American (and for the record not all the Americans on my course here fit that bill), so I just stood there with a look to say "yeah … and?". Don’t get me wrong, I understand the significance of the election, but since I’ve been here at times it’s felt like I’ve been in an extention of America rather than Japan. No offence intended to anyone, but America isn’t on my list of places to go in my life. But still, I’d like to thank this lady for giving me something to laugh over with my non-stereotypical American friends.

Because of the fact that I knew I would have my PE class today, I decided to take a bath last night instead of a shower to see if the hot water would help my muscles relax a bit as they were still quite achey. I woke up this morning with a lot less ache, but it was still there. I still haven’t had a full 7-8 hour sleep since before the walk to Sannomiya, so I’m really pushing it. I think I’ll catch up at the weekend.

Walking to Kamishinjyou station I was tired. Waiting for the train I was tired. Standing on the train getting squashed like poo under a shoe I was tired. Walking from Okamoto station to Uni I was tired. During class this morning I was tired. Taking a short nap during the 10 minute break helped a lot, but by the end of the class I was tired.

As I approached the changing room for PE I knew I’d be in for an interesting session and I wasn’t dissapointed. Though I was a lot weaker than normal on the treadmill and bike where I normally do quite an intensive cario-vascular warm up (ooh … big words), I managed to increase some settings on the weights machines. I did tell some people about my 7 hour stroll and the story was met with both shock and disbelief. Perhaps they thought I just used the wrong wording (I’m the only foreigner in the class), but it also gave me a bit of excuse for my naff performance on the treadmill.

After getting my mark back from my Linguistics exam (and slipping in and out of consciousness during the actual lesson … sorry sensei) which wasn’t good but still a pass, I headed home. I noticed my left knee starting to throb and felt like it was swelling a bit. Stopping off at Juso on the way back (I took the train before you ask), I bought some postcards and a knee support. If anyone wants me to send them a postcard then please ask me ^_^. I’ll wear the support tomorrow and see how I get on.

Well, I don’t think I’ve missed anything out, but we all know what my memory is like. If you’ve made it this far, then congratulations and thank you. As a reward, here’s an animation about 10 sticks!