Guuh.. the morning after...
i'm slipping off the chair and my head is throbbing. You must know what I mean. hehe. But anyway, yesterday was a ball, man. Yuki and her pal took me over to Harajuku for a while and hung out and checked out the parade. It was awesome. The Japanese here seem to like Halloween a lot. I saw the craziest costumes. Unfortunately I didn't bring my cam out cause the battery was dead and I didn't have time to recharge it. But oh well... it was still an amazing experience. I said I would dress up like Spike or Ninjai, but that didn't really happen so much. Instead, I just came along with them dressed as some crazy scientist. I know... totally lame. But it's okay. I didn't care so much. I think I still have the make up on.....

So later on they brought me to a Halloween party nearby and that was awesome, too. Got some strange looks though since I'm a foreigner and had quite a bit of attention. That was interesting. Got to practice my japanese... show off some judo skills... just kidding... haha. We did some karaoke afterwards and fooled around. That's all pretty much. But it was fun anyway. I'll never forget this Halloween. Oh yeah, we stayed up late at their friends house and watched some really freaky Japanese Horror film. It was crazy! I don't remember the name of it but man... it was nuts and disturbing. But luckily I was kinda out of myself so I don't remember the worst parts. It was like some B movie or something. I don't know. Actually in fact, most of us were just laughing the whole time at the bad effects and acting. Haha. But anyway... good times good times... :)

3 more days till Halloween! yay! Can't wait to see the Halloween Parade at Harajuku!

Onigiri!

I made onigiri once again today. And they look better and tastier. However they are far from perfect. Did I mention that my favorite type of rice ball is the one with the sour plum? Those are the best. I love the sour taste of the umeboshi. Anyway, from now on, I think I'm going to just make my own onigiri instead of buying them at the store. I'll probably still do that, but I must get better at making onigiri... 

i'm really crazy... haha... :)

Hyah!

Today I went to the Dojo to practice some Judo. As usual it had me sweating like a pig, but what the heck - it was still fun and worth it. My sensei is saying that i've gotten better and that I should come more often like I used to. I just nod and bow. :) I will try. 

I can't wait till Halloween this Friday. Or was it Thursday? I can't remember. But Yuki has invited me to a party that night and it's gonna be so much fun! I wonder who I'm going to dress up like. I mean, it has to be someone or something familiar to the Japanese people. Hmm... perhaps an anime character??? I don't know. But I gotta figure it out this week. Actually, I can't really do anything real fancy simply because to get a costume here (a good one, at least) is quite expensive. So maybe something simple... SPIKE SPIEGEL! But where can I get a blue suit?? Hm... 

But anyway, Yuki and her friend Shigure are going to take me to the bridge by Harajuku station so we can see all the really cool costumes! Woot! ;P

Cool Beans

It's raining today again and I've just been at home, cozing up on the couch watching shows online. There isn't much else to do on a rainy day. I like to sit by the window and just watch the people and cars pass by. I opened my sketchbook, only to close it again when no ideas came into my mind. Recently my Nikon has been sitting alone on the table by my bed. I hope to have another oppurtunity to use it soon. :"] I was thinking of going by the dojo today to practice judo but I'm kinda on the lazy side today. But I should probably go since I haven't been there in a while. I've been a little busy lately. Though I can't even remember why. Haha. 

So here I am, couching around the house with the Ninjai hat ridiculously hanging off my head. I had that Prison Break marathon last night and I didn't sleep until 2 or 3. I'm feeling kinda woozy so I might take a nap. In fact... that's just maybe what I'll do for now. And then later I'm going to cook some spaghetti. That's if I can find the right ingredients around here. :) zzzzzzzz

Wow.

I just found this little 'hack' online that can enable viewers outside of the US to watch websites for US viewers only! Hope you get what I mean. But it's totally neat. Now I can catch up to my fave shows like Prison Break, Lost, and Pushing Daisies! I've seen Prison Break here in Japan but it's dubbed so I don't understand everything they're talking about. It's a good practice, though. but I've been careful simply because I don't want to run into any spoilers!!!! haha. Anyway, so now I can check out the new crusoe on NBC! Gah! Cool. I remember really enjoying the adventures of Robinson Crusoe when I was a kid. So I'm pretty excited to check it out. Haven't seen the pilot ep yet but will soon.

Well, that's one thing that I miss terribly about home. It's the drama shows! Well, it's good I can watch them now. Tonight I'll be on a Prison Break marathon so I gotta be prepared.

Unfortunately I haven't heard back from Costco so that sucks a little. But I will not give up!

YAY! I to Akihabara again yesterday but this time with my friend Yuki. She showed me all these really cool manga and anime stores. They have tons of the those in Aki. Like, seriously, dozens. Non stop. Most of them practically sell the same stuff, too. But, yeah, there were just blocks and blocks of anime. I guess that'd be great for the anime/manga fan. Which I AM one. the only thing is that I can't read japanese other than hiragana and katakana! haha. I guess I'll have to learn one of these days how to read kanji. Yuki laughed at that. But I DID buy some souvenirs to send back home while I was there. I bought some anime action figures of Naruto and Inuyasha to send to my little cousins back in California. Apparently, they like those popular anime shows. Anyway, she also took me to an interesting Indian inspired restaurant in I forgot where. HAHA! But it was good. I love indian food. But the only thing in the restaurant was, was that the rice was japanese rice and not basmati. It was good. But I have to say Indian Food is not Indian Food without the thin basmati rice. :) 

So it was fun. We stopped by some other shops but mainly the otaku parts, too. Her tour of Aki was a lot more fun than my little guide book. 

Cool Random Pic. :)

Hello, not gonna be a very long post today. I've just been exploring some places around the area. I also went shopping and stuff. There's nothing new to say really, that's why. Costco hasn't called and oh yeah! I forgot to mention. My friend, whom I went out with today, brought me to this part of the city called... er... i can't remember... something like Hachi-oga? I don't remember. But it was nice there. It's got a lot of shoe shops, which is actually what I was looking for. And so I got a pair of neat puma shoes. Wish I could post the pic of it, but my gramps borrowed the camera for a day. So, yeah, Hachi place was interesting. We ate together at this Thai restaurant. It was good. My friend is named Yuki. She's really nice. :) She's into anime like me. She'll take me around Akihabara for the anime/manga.

Homesick???

Well today I'm just sorta been lazing around a bit. Nothing much to do around here much. I'm going to see a friend I met at the party the other day. Costco hasn't called yet. Darn! Anyway, that's all I really have to say. Hehe. Sorry for the boring post. Can't help it. I have this feeling in me that I can't understand. It almost feels like loneliness. Maybe I'm getting homesick?? 

Drawing

Sigh... it's a beautiful day in Tokyo. The autumn here is just fantastic. So beautiful, serene, peaceful... I couldn't help it so I went over to the park nearby and started sketching things that I saw and drawing some Anime characters that I know. (I won't be posting them up, fyi!) I'm not much of an artist but i really like the relaxing feeling of drawing and interpreting what you see in real life onto a blank sheet of paper. It's quite soothing.

So I was drawing trees and people... took some photos. Oh yeah, i was trying to draw Ninjai as well. He seems pretty simple but, trust me, it's a lot harder. I kept getting his hat wrong and his body. Man, basically just the whole thing. At that moment, I knew I wasn't meant to be an artist. In fact, I decided that when I couldn't draw a fricking square. hahah.

YOyo ma!

So that outing with my granpa was awesome! We went out to his friends house for the weekend a little bit outta town. The house was an old japanese house but it was huge. His friend is a bit rich, I think. But that was good because there were so many people that came over. Young and Old. It was a lot of fun because I got to meet a lot of cool people and practice my conversational japanese. Most of them seemed somewhat impressed by my fluency. HAR HAR.

So the whole night was one big bash. Maybe that's over exaggerating. It was my first Japanese Paati. Most of them were drinking and smoking, but I'm still underage for that kinda stuff. But that didn't stop me from rocking out on the karaoke! Hahah. Luckily, they had some English songs avaliable so I was able to sing some U2 songs, and lame pop songs I knew. Hahaha. ANyway, it was lots of fun. I took some pictures with some of my new friends. In fact, next week I think I'm going to meet up with my granpa's niece of something. He's going to take me to this district in Tokyo. I forget what it's called. Maybe Harajuku or something to check out the artsy scene there. That'll be definitely fun.

So Costco hasn't called yet. But I'm sure it'll be soon. My granpa says that I'm being impatient. haha. Anyway, gotta go out to the groceries. Jaa!

 
I wish someday I will visit Fujisan. This is a picture my sister took when she went to Hakone. I heard its beautiful there. Maybe I should visit there this weekend? It's not so far from Tokyo! Don't you think the mountain looks so majestic? It does to me! It's been sitting there for who knows how long, watching over Japan like a demigod. Wow. I'd love to take snapshots of Mt. Fuji with my awesome camera. :) 

Holidays...

It's a long weekend here. I hope we get to go somewhere. I wouldn't mind going back to the beautiful Ueno park again. It was very beautiful there. If not, it's okay. My granpa is planning to take me out eating. He is so cool! I LOVE FOOD! I can't wait. Then we're going to go to a friend of his who's going to have a party. I'll get to meet other people which will also be a good time for me to practice my Japanese. 

I talked to my mom this morning. It brought back a few memories and made me miss the dry lands of california. She's doing well with her boyfriend and stuff and she hopes I'm doing alright. AND I AM, man. No need to worry, I told her. We talked about other things like the weather, the time difference, if I found a girl yet... haha... She's going to go to my family Thanksgiving gathering in Sac. I told her to greet my cousins. 

So... life continues for me... 

Outing!

Koncha world! 

It was a very beautiful day today. Even though Costco hasn't called yet, I still got to do lots of cool stuff to ease my mind. I went to Ueno Park today with my grandpa. We drove there. It's such a beautiful park. I managed to take a few cool looking pictures as well. The trees there are AMAZING. I think I said this before, but the trees in Japan really look like they have a story to tell. The trees just look so ancient. 

so it was really beautiful there. I really enjoyed my time in the park and also the temple. I wish I could post more pictures. Oh well. The scenery here really reminds of the scenery in Ninjai. I guess it's because they're both in Asia. Well duh. An example is like this. But too bad it doesn't show the whole tree. :p

 

Yo

I'm at home right now waiting for a Ninjai episode to load. I really digg this show. It's so great. Can't get enough of it. Sorry for the short post. I'm kinda lazy and hungry... :p

Ugh.

So i went job hunting yesterday and it was a bit difficult since most of the help wanted ads were in japanese. I brought some business cards and flyers back home so that my granpa can help me translate them. I still don't know a lot of kanji... well, i went to ikea and they weren't looking for anybody (sadly) but then I went to costco and they were. That was the best news of the day! I swear, man. the whole day was cloudy and dark and cold. everything was in japanese. ikea rejected me. So, yeah, that was great news. So i dropped an application and they'll give me a call if I'm chosen for an interview. I really, really hope that I get to work there. It's kinda nice at costco for me simply because there are a lot of English products inside. It's almost a relief, really. It makes me feel like I'm back home! I love it here in japan, but it's nice to be nostalgic sometimes. :P So I hope they do give me a call one of these days. If anything, I think they'll put me in the loading section. You know the place where we have to restock things and carry huge boxes around. yeah. That's ok. I'm pretty built for that kinda stuff anyway. Well. I'll let you know soon. Jaa!

Koncha!

Koncha Minasan. Just came back from a workout at the dojo. I practiced today for 3 hours, I think. Aikido really takes alot out of me. At the end I'm always sweating like a pig. Haha. So I stayed behind a little bit to learn some more techniques from Sensei. He corrected me and guided me through some more exercises. It was very educational. Then afterwards we went to get some ramen at the ramen bar. It was very cool. We talked a while, with me struggling to speak and understand Japanese. Hehe. Well, I AM proud to say that I've picked it up quite a bit now. I can do simple conversation.

I think it's time to end this little vacation of doing nothing and touring around. Now that I can speak Japanese pretty well, my granpa is asking for me to get a job. I'm not exactly sure where yet. But I've been thinking about maybe Ikea or Costco since there are SOME english speaking people working there. It'll be good for me to get a job and make money and new friends. It'll be a nice experience, working in Japan.

I'm going tobe job hunting later this afternoon so I'll let you know how that goes.

jaa!

COOL

So I went to the zoo and it was lots of fun. I took a ton of really awesome pictures of animals and stuff. God, I LOVE my CAMERA! I can't wait to upgrade to the new Nikon D90. It looks amazing! Not only can it take nice shots, it can also do video! I think it's the first SLR that can do video. The video can also go up to HD, as well, and the lens you're using also affects the video. Like if you use a fisheye lens, then the video will be in fisheye. Anyway... got carried away there. So it was really fun. um...
so I went to Ueno zoo in Tokyo. Not as big as the one in San Diego. But it was still interesting. One of my favorite exhibitions was the Tiger Forest. It was cool to be nose to nose to the animals there. Haha. There was also a pretty cool five-story pagoda and tea ceremony house there. That gave the zoo a japanese touch. The park was pretty big and so I walked around for a couple of hours. Man, my feet ached a lot afterwards. It was interesting. It kinda made me homesick as well.

Gomen nasai..

Gomen nasai. I haven't been able to post recently. We had some computer problems and I had to bring it to the store and try to communicate what the heck was wrong with it. It was tough work! A lot of people here don't know how to speak English. Man. But at least I got to practice some of my Japanese. But, anyway, it's fixed now - up and running. :) So you'll be hearing from me now! Yay. So nothing much has happened lately but the usual. i'm starting to get used to being here and stuff. When that happens, I don't really go out and explore as much. It was only just the first few weeks, I guess. I still want to check out places but these past rainy days, I like to just sit back home, draw, photograph, or something else like READ. Oh yeah, that's one those things here. Not many places to find English books. Well, there are. But you gotta go to the city to find a really good English book store. I miss the libraries back at home. Sigh. oh well. So i've been practicing Aikido. My sensei Juro-sensei, tells me that I'm already getting better but I lack the FEELING. Well, something like that. I'm getting there soon though. Anyway, just wanted to update what's been happening. (Which isn't much). So that's all for now. Jaa ne!

Hey all!

Hey all! My friend sent me this link to this Ninjai article! Isn't that sugoi! actually, it only MENTIONS ninjai. But that could mean that Ninjai is getting popular again. When they start heading the news it means there MUST be some action! WHICH FURTHER MEANS THAT SOME NEW EPS might be coming out soon! It gets me so excited that I want to drink four shots of hot coffee. Anyway.... here it is!

http://www.action3news.com/Global/story.asp?S=9079811&nav=menu550_2