As you might imagine, parking is at a premium in Tokyo and it's surrounding areas. Even as far out as Mizonokuchi, personal parking at one's own home seems to be a bonus instead of an expectancy. This includes street parking in front of or even remotely nearby the residence. However, the general lack of space has led to some rather ingenious ( Read more... )

So, one more observation on the train for you:

With all the people crammed into tiny spaces, being forced even closer to each other by complete jackasses trying to cram themselves into a train already way past capacity, and the vast amount of briefcases and purses being toted about, how is it that more people don't get ball-busted? I thought of ( Read more... )

Last week we went on our semester trip to some strangely named farm-amusement park place. I don't get what it is with Japanese and farms-turned-amusement-parks.
Anyway.


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Number one disappointment of the day ( Read more... )

Midterms were taken today. Probably not well, but taken, done and over with, so that's something. The best part of it all is that I got a free meal out of it afterwards. Unok and Hyonbe had a few of us over for some Korean food. It might just be me, but it seems like we always eat the same thing with the Koreans. I'm thinking they don't have too ( Read more... )

So everyone (or mostly everyone) knows that certain things are opposite in Japan, such as driving. The steering wheels are on the normal US's passenger side, and everyone drives on the left side of the road when they don't want to be pummeled by oncoming traffic (considering the high suicide rate, this general rule is likely not always followed).
( Read more... )

So, me and Japan, we aren't exactly the best of buddies when it comes down to food. For many reasons, such as:
1. I have a hotplate and a sink for a kitchen, which severely limits the range of items I'm able to cook.
2. I'm very inadequately prepared to cook traditional or everyday Japanese meals because I'm American, and as of yet, lack the language ( Read more... )

So, I spent the entire weekend holed up in my room sick. I started coughing violently on Friday, and woke up Saturday with a fever, achy limbs, loss of appetite and energy, etc. I ended up going back to sleep around 4:30p and woke up again the next evening at midnight. It was supposed to be a nap.
Of course, my dorm mother is the greatest dorm ( Read more... )

So, I got back to Japan late last week and started classes back up this past Tuesday. I was looking forward to fun times in the afternoon classes, staying up way too late, getting up just in time, and seeing all the "just woke up" looks on peoples' faces at 1pm.

HOWEVER!

Monday evening I got a call from a teacher at KCP. First she asked what I ( Read more... )

Yes, dear god, she does. Been neglecting this thing (surprise!). I feel like unless I have pictures to post, these become less interesting for those of you who actually read it, so I don't post. Or at least, I tell myself that's the reason, instead of admitting aloud it's due to laziness and lethargy. Sometimes I think that I want a new camera, but ( Read more... )