So I returned from the Daimonji fire mountain lighting in Kyoto. I had been planning to go for a tad while and what not, but it turned out much more interesting than I had originally thought. The event itself was the lighting of huge fires shaped into the kanji of "dai", "myouhou", a ship, a tori, and a second smaller "dai" on the sides of the five ( Read more... )

Sony is widely known as the Microsoft of Japan. My coworkers have noted their spotty quality record, something they call the "Sony clock." Almost immediately after the one-year warranty expires, Sony devices have a notorious habit of breaking. In addition, though, here might be another reason why Sony is/has become the Microsoft of Japan ( Read more... )

Today, I went to the Gundam exhibit at the Suntory Museum. Though named after the Japanese spirits manufacturer, the museum, located next to Osaka Kaiyukan, has nothing to do with alcohol or the history of alcohol. Very cool, nonetheless ( Read more... )

As of Saturday, the weekend is looking awesome ( Read more... )

I went to some very far away place that was unfortunately very crowded. The station name was Tadonbayashi, and there were fireworks and food stands, matsuri-style ( Read more... )

So on Monday, I went to Tenjin Matsuri for the fireworks. The trip tuned out to be more exhausting than I was bargaining for. Lots of matsuri-type things, food stands, boats, but as much as I tried to act and feel impressed, I really wasn't. The fireworks did last two hours, but that was only because they shot them off really slowly. It was also ( Read more... )

I live somewhere northwest of Nara, nearby a Kintetsu Subway stop called Takanohara. My apartment is not a shabby place, and rent is paid for by ATR, the place I am working at this summer. This arrangement is quite a bit better than I was expecting, but the place is pretty boring on the whole. Towards that end, I usually try to spend some free time ( Read more... )

I returned from Gion Matsuri yesterday, staying at my host family for the three-day weekend. Gion Matsuri was _absurd_. There were so many people and shops; it was shoulder-to-shoulder crowded on Friday and Saturday night for almost a mile along Shijo. I wandered there Friday night to see the various hoko and yama (moving floats) and saw tons of ( Read more... )

I think in order to feel the full force of cultural shock, the feeling of lost home I had learned about in a class on anthropology and culture, you have to live alone in a foreign country. Living day-to-day is sometimes a frustrating ordeal. In Japan, foreigners are simultaneously welcomed and shunned, sort of like welcoming a group of people but ( Read more... )

So I moved out of my host family's home this past Saturday. I sent my bags through takyuubin to my new apartment south of central Kyoto. I managed to get the address incorrect, sending them to my _office at work_, but thanks to my host family's help, the bags arrived at the correct address about two hours late ( Read more... )