Saturday, July 17, 2010

Shopping and other stuff

So last night I went to Tsutaya again (that amazing store with a bunch of DVDs and CDs and Manga for rental) and finally got to take a lot of pictures after forgetting my camera the past two times we went there.

CUTE SUMMER WARS DRAWING THAT MADE ME MELT INSIDE.


Lots of love for K-On! :3


EVEN MORE LOVE FOR CLANNAD AND CLANNAD ~AFTER STORY~ <3


AND EVEN MORE LOVE for TORADORA! ... but there were no DVDs to be found anywhere. ;__;


So... Much... Hayate no Gotoku!...


Lots of Pokemanz


STUDIO GHIBLI <3



That's not Wallace and Gromit, it's Uoresu to Gurumitto, obviously.


More strange movie titles in Japanese:
  • The movie "Flushed Away" in Japanese is called マウス・タウン (Mausu Taun, Mouse Town)
  • "Over the Hedge" is 森のリトル・ギャング (Mori no Ritoru Gyangu, Little Gang of the Forest)
  • "Ratatouille" is レミーのおいしいレストラン (Remii no Oishii Resutoran, Remi's Delicious Restaurant)
  • "Meet the Robinsons" is ルイスと未来泥棒 (Ruisu to Mirai Dorobou, Luis and the Thief from the Future)


Afterward, Taiga, Ryosuke and I went to the onsen/ofuro place again that is instantly recgonizable by a huge "ゆ" banner outside. (湯/お湯 means hot water, read "ゆ yu" or "おゆ oyu" - the 'o' in front just makes it more formal) They just got back from hiking up a 2,000ft mountain or something for a school trip and they were like we're all tired let's go sit in some baths so we did just that.


*****


BUT BEFORE ALL THAT, in school periods 5 and 6, we went to "clean up" ... basically meaning walking long distances around the neighborhood and playing with worms and moss and metal pincer things-- not much "cleaning up." But it was still fun.

*****


And right before this post, I went around shopping. Well not really... I tried to go-- I guess my mom was right when she says there aren't good any stores around here. :P She is going to take me to some Japanese-style shops and such on Wednesday, though (RIGHT before I leave!). :) However, today, I did stumble in on NODA-YA which is basically a "Gun & Figure" store... a strange combination.

And then I saw Rin (from こどものじかん, Kodomo no Jikan, A Child's Time).

But she was 6800円 (a little more than $68) so I was all like cry ;__; And no Mom, no children were harmed in the creation of that figure, anime or manga. Plus the manga was written by a woman so it's even more lolthisissoscrewedup-ish.

...NODA-YA did have some pretty awesome stuff though:


Lots of K-On! stuff. :D ...including a car, lolwut.


this made me lol


PEANUTS :)


Vocaloid :D


CLANNAD LOVEEEええぇ~ラブラブ


The original reason I went there was to look for some Haiji stuff... which I ended up not finding at all. :< In case you don't know (which you probably sadly don't), THIS is Haiji:

love.

...and that's all. Tuesday is my last day of school (Monday is a holiday, 海の日 umi no hi, Marine/Ocean Day), and I have to give a closing speech I think... totally not prepared for that. :) and then on THURSDAY, I leave for America! (leave at 10 and get back at 9 the same day or something... hah.)

See you all really soon!!! :D

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Purikura & some other pictures which are moderately humorous (and some bad English)

First of all, those 'other pictures' mentioned in the title of this post:


You CANNOT SURVIVE IN JAPAN without knowing this word.


How evolution worked in Japan (which actually didn't even happen if you read my favorite book mentioned earlier, "Stories About Jesus")


I broke out laughing in the middle of English class. (I want a robot that acts like a cat (not just a dog or a seal), and detects landmines, now what.)


AND THEN. After school I did purikura with the 語学部 (gogaku-bu, language club) at school of which I am a part of. If you don't know what purikura is, Google it (or click here if you're too lazy to). Basically we were all like LOLOL XDD WEEABOO PEACE FINGERS TEENAGE-GIRL FACES AND MAKEUP and then decorated ourselves with pens and animals and stuff.



It was pretty fun. I played Pokémon SoulSilver all day in school today 'cause I was SUPER bored (in the same room all day - no gym/computer/music classes). Don't tell. :>

Also random stuff I have no other place to mention:
  • Nobody has black umbrellas in Japan. If you use one, people will tell you it looks like Totoro's... just because it's black.
...yeah, that's it. Engrish time.
  • Precious shiny stones / Keep shining and / it polishes beautifully
  • One touch sport jug is water supply for athlete. It can be carries conveniently for all sport , easy drinking and ecology.
  • FRESHNESS BURGER HERE
  • (in classmate's English notebook) helekoputa, connputa, banna
  • (on the purikura machine screen) It waits for a moment
  • Press English↔日本語 button for English Expression.

...

SEE YOU ALL IN A WEEK. :D

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Short Update

Only a week left from tomorrow. wow. Time sure has gone fast. However, I do have some mixed feelings-- I think 6 weeks is just the perfect amount of time. :)

Hopefully I'll be able to go shopping soon and buy lots of presents and stuff.

In other news, I watched UP three nights ago (in Japanese, "kaaru-jiisan no sora tobu ie" - Grandpa Carl's Flying House in the Sky... still laughing about that :D ) and last night Summer Wars (for maybe like the fifth time in all). :) yayyyy.

See you all soon!!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Johgi Nyorai Saihoji Temple (AND TONS OF PICTURES)

EDIT: Okay, the pictures really messed up here. I think I'm missing a few too... I'm kinda rushed so yeah. I'll fix later (probably meaning when I get home)... sorry! They will, of course, all be on my Facebook too, along with all the tons of other pictures which I haven't posted here. :)

*****

Well, what is the "Johgi Nyorai Saihoji Temple," you may ask? It just happens to be the name of the temple/shrine place I went to today--a Buddhist temple located in the hills about 40 minutes away from my house! :D

On the way there we saw a couple getting married, standing on a bridge overhead. We waved and they waved back. :)




I also saw many rice paddies and when we stopped to get gas, they put the gas in the car for you... and then gave you a towel to wipe the insides of your windows with while they wiped the outsides. Pretty neat. :D The scenery really was beautiful... but the temple was even more so! (is that the correct use of 'more so'? Google isn't really helping.) First, we went over and in a little cup you filled up with water from a bamboo spoud, washed our hands. Then you drank some of the water from your hands and spit it into the rocks (I accidentally drank mine). After that, we went over and paid 100円 for a candle and some incense-- we lit the candle and stuck it on a ... pick thing (pictures later and you'll get what I'm talking about) and then prayed (or something)... and with the incense, made circles in ash and then lit it on fire and afterwards stuck it in the ash to burn with the rest of them (and then prayed some more). We then threw in a 5円 coin in to a big wooden rectangle and prayed once again. :P





We then entered the main temple... which was BEAUTIFUL. So much intricate detail... it was stunning. We sat down as a person said prayers and other complex Japanese things I obviously couldn't understand. Afterwards two people (monks? whatever you call them if they're Buddhist) read off names for good luck and wished you to do something well (whatever you wrote on your card that you gave to some other people earlier, I think). Outside we saw people buying wooden slabs with animals on them and writing their wish on the back, and then hanging them up... :)







We explored some more, went inside some buildings, saw some fishies and even ate some tofu (which was fried so I didn't absolutely hate it). Then we didn't get ice cream even though they said we would and then WHAT THE HECK THERE'S ANOTHER TEMPLE PLACE. It was hiding in the trees! This one had a big bell that I rang, but my mom wouldn't because it was too embarrassing, apparently.






After that we went to eat some very AMAZING AND DELICIOUS ramen which is nothing like the instant-noodles that exist in America. This stuff is hardcore, salt/soy-sauce/misoshiru (miso soup) flavored noodles and broth with meat, vegetables and some awesome spiraly kamaboko (I shouldn't still need to tell you that the blue text is a link). But before that, we went to get some fruits and vegetables... and I saw some cherries that were SEVENTY-TWO DOLLARS. Some of the lower priced ones were around $45 or $20... one pack was only $5 but they were all yellow. Cherries are SUPER expensive in Japan, and usually treated as a desert (along with pizza-- that's a 'dessert' or delicacy too). Oh, also, the pet bird likes eating my socks.





IS THAT ENOUGH PICTURES FOR YOU EVERYBODY? :P

And that's it for now. 11 DAYS LEFT. ;____________; SO SAD. Tomorrow will be the start of my last week at school (except for next Tuesday, which will be my actual last day).

Bye for now. :)