Fifi goes to nippon~

Hey all!

Well, I FINALLY have internet and cheap phone service again, so all those phone calls I've been putting off should be going out soon :)

Until I got internet, though, to keep my friends updated with my life, I started posting more and more often to my Japanese blog (in English, of course, so don't be scared) -- as it allows me to post from my cellphone, and even include pictures. You can find it here:

http://ameblo.jp/fencer-x

Entries are short, but the pictures probably tell more than I could write. Enjoy!

Hey guys!

Yup, I'm still alive, and yup, I'm still without net :( BUT! I *should* be getting it next Wednesday, so keep your fingers crossed. I'm posting this from work right now, and thought I'd let you guys see the kind of place I'm living now.

You never really got to see my old place in Hikone, so you can't compare, but know that I really like this new place. It's the perfect size for me, though I wouldn't turn my nose up at a closet, haha.

( Click here to see an 8 minute clip of me showing off my new place! )

Hey guys! Well I've certainly let this blog fall on the wayside, but I'm back updating to let everyone know I've found my new apartment in Tokyo! It's in Shinjuku-ku (there are 23 ku [wards] in Tokyo, and Shinjuku is one of the few in the 'main' part of the city), about 8ish minutes walking to the nearest station, and a 10 minute train ride from there to my office in Minami-Aoyama. Altogether, it should take me less than 30 minutes from my front door to work, so I'm REALLY excited! ( Click to see some pics of my soon-to-be digs! )

Hey guys!! It's been a while since I posted, so here I bring you an update on my birthday and my date with Curry Guy!!

( My birthday in Nagoya with Lil! )</center>

( My date with Curry Guy! )

Last but not least, I got a huge package of presents from my family Stateside, and to feel a little closer and properly thank people, I'm including a video:



Thank you guys SO MUCH for the presents--I'll call later for some more personal thanks :)))))

...are gonna be really busy!

March 15 - off to Kobe to attend a Remioromen concert--SO psyched about this!! They're my favorite Japanese band, but I didn't think I'd have time to go see one of their concerts during this tour. Turned out I not only have time, I scored an AWESOME ticket for cheap, and am going in a mere few days!

March 16 - Running up to Yokohama (about 30 minutes from Tokyo) to meet with Lil (sarahofcroydon) and ROCK OUT to the "Prince of Tennis 100-song Marathon" and finally see all the amazing voice actors we've been obsessing over for years now ♥

March 20 - Get to meet my replacement! She's an ALT at a Notogawa high school right now, and she asked if she could come up to check out the town and apartment before she officially moves here.

March 21 - Lil (same as above) comes to Hikone, and we party like it's 1999 for a few days~

March 22 - Uh, my 23rd birthday? Will be dragging Lil to Nagoya in all likelihood where I will make this Aussie chick eat fake Aussie food at my traditional birthday restaurant--Outback Steakhouse! XD I'm very much looking forward to her pointing out all that is wrong ♥

March 28 - Stamp myself in the attendance book at the Board of Education in the morning, then hop the next shinkansen to Tokyo for an AWESOME AWESOME WEEKEND OF AWESOMENESS. That evening: 8th row seeing the Rock Musical Bleach CodeLive:002!

March 29 - Two more CodeLive shows, FRONT ROW in the evening :D Hanging out to be had with people like analineblue et al.

March 30 - Two shows for Rock Musical Bleach The All, including senshuuraku (the final show, also the best show *____*)

March 31 - Skip work and see two more CodeLive shows, including the biggest senshuuraku of them all, the VERY LAST ROCK MUSICAL BLEACH SENSHUURAKU EVEEERRRRRR (that matters XD) ;_; I'll be packing tissue, people ♥

Some time between all those shows, I'll be doing things like going to karaoke, enjoying curry, speaking far more Japanese than is good for me, and trying to get backstage ♥

In other news, though--I just completed my first assignment for my new job working as an editor for DMC Corp, and I'm getting paid for it! I think I'm gonna funnel all the cash I get for this into my "Move To Tokyo" fund :)

( One last thing before I go... )

Hey guys!

Sorry it's been such a long time since I updated, I've been running here and there in life lately. As many of you are probably aware by now, I've got a job!

Well, yes, I had one already. HAVE one--with JET. But my contract's up in August, and I'm really wanting to move to Tokyo. What I needed most, then, was a new job--but finding a decent paying one there where I won't want to shoot myself after a few weeks is harder than it sounds.

I managed to stumble upon, however, what seemed to be the ideal job: working for a company called DMC in Minami-Aoyama in the Minato ward. Famous businesses based in Aoyama include Sony, Honda, and Louis Vitton among others. It's a happening place :)

I interviewed at the headquarters in Tokyo a few weeks ago, and they loved me! Since I can't come to work for them formally until August, they want to hire me on parttime for now, and hopefully hire me full time come August. What is the job? I'll be editing and proofreading English translations of Japanese scientific articles submitted by laboratories and hospitals across the country for publication in overseas scientific journals.

It'll pay, supposedly, a good bit more than JET does currently, but I'm not sure the exact rate yet. Next step is to find an affordable apartment! I'm not holding out too much hope on being able to find a roommate, so I'm probably going to have to rough it for the first few months, and then after I've saved up some more money and got a stead income coming in I can upgrade to a bigger place in a better area (better area = closer to work or play, not better as in less crime, since that's happily really not an issue in Japan :P)

This weekend I'm off to Tokyo for an event celebrating the release of a DVD I've been looking forward to, and next weekend Lil from Australia and I are heading to Yokohama (a little south of Tokyo) for a huge concert--I'm SO excited!! The next weekend is...MY BIRTHDAY! I'm hoping to get a few friends together in either Nagoya or Tokyo and go out to Outback ♥ Can't break with tradition, after all.

I'm most looking forward, though, to the last weekend in March, when foreigners will descend upon Tokyo for the final Rock Musical Bleach--myself included. I've got a ton of friends coming in that weekend, and it's going to be something I never forget.

Other than that, though, my life's been pretty tame. On the 20th, I'm meeting up with my successor for my JET position--a girl in Nodogawa a few stops down who used to be a high school ALT was moved to fill my position, so it'll be nice acquainting her with my schools. The guy who delivers my curry who's been flirting with me for the past 4 or 5 months finally got the nerve to give me his email address, and we've been texting back and forth for a weekish now ♥ It's March, and it snowed a good few inches yesterday. Crazy weather.

How are you guys doing???

Hey guys! Did everyone in the states applicable voooote?? Louisiana's is February 9th, and as it's the 6th here and I didn't realize, absentee ballot is a no-go for the primary >_< BUT! I'll get it in for the Big One.

It's kind of scary how I'm getting vaguely interested in politics lately. I blame this largely on my recent obsession with The West Wing. It's making me feel eerily patriotic.

Scarier, though, is how much my coworkers and students are paying attention to what's going on in the election! They know stuff I don't, up to the minute election results and all! Forget CNN or MSNBC, I have 8th graders who can tell me who's doing better in the polls, Obama or Hillary.

Lately I've been getting questioned more and more about "who I'm for," by my coworkers and students. And before I can even get a word out, they're all talking amongst themselves about who would be the better person for the job--amazingly enough, the idea of (among the Democratic candidates--because that's all they know) a black President or female President never even crosses their minds (and I know I've thought about it a lot, just like I thought about whether I wanted a female governor or a non-white male governor for Louisiana when it was Blanco vs. Jindal), it's always about who's the more qualified.

They cite Clinton's experience as First Lady, and Obama's youthful ideas, but not once have I heard them--in this country that has SO many stereotypes about black people--mention anything about a black guy leading America. A few did mention that they thought Hillary cried too much--one of the female teachers was talking to me, and said the first time Hillary cried, it was good, because it showed she had emotion, but the second time it painted her as weak. At that point, I didn't even KNOW she'd cried a second time (because it'd only JUST happened, wtf).

On a more personal note, I'm not really sure who I'm going to vote for. I'm 22, and have never voted before (I was eligible last time, but wasn't motivated--I would've voted for Bush anyways, though, because that's What You Do in Louisiana). No state elections, no parish elections, no city elections, last time I voted was for student council president senior year of high school >_>

But this year I feel like I WANT to vote, which is something it's kind of hard to get younger voters to feel about nowadays. I find myself more aligned with most (MOST, not all) Republican idealogies, but I'm really really excited about the potential for change that could come with either Obama or Clinton. Strictly from an outside view, if I had to choose between a female president or a black president, I can't say I'd be unhappy either way (though I kinda want a female president more). I certainly don't agree with all their platform, but the parts I do care about I find myself agreeing with them on.

McCain, assuming he wins the Republican ticket, seems a more liberal Republican, not as strict on issues I wished Rep's would lighten up on, yet still protecting the stuff I DO care about. In the end, I find myself agreeing so much more with his stance on most issues, but I can't resist the siren call of Obama/Clinton, whose stance I support somewhat as well...

If Obama or Clinton wins and takes the other as their running mate, this may all be moot XD

Hey guys!! I know it's been forever since I updated, but I kinda wanted to wait til I actually had worthwhile stuff to update about, so here I am :)

It's almost the end of January--hard to believe it! It's almost been 6 full months--a half a YEAR--since I moved to Japan, and I'm pretty comfortable in how used I've gotten to life here. Things that scared the pants off me at first--ordering in Japanese, trying to get somewhere by train by myself--no longer are that big a deal to me, and I find myself adopting much the same personal lifestyle here as back in the states (read: my apartment's a wreck and I spend too much money XD).

For an update, I went back to America for 2 weeks over Christmas/New Year's and had an awesome time--though I ate out far too much and probably gained back any and all weight I might have lost, whoops :) I got back to Japan on Sunday Jan 6th and had to start back at work bright and early the very next day, fuuuuun :P But I'm back in the swing of things now, more or less.

I already updated some of you on this, but shortly after I got back, I began my new job search in earnest. For those of us joining us now, I'm not going to be recontracting with JET another year. I love the job, especially all these days off (that are almost gone XD), but I just can't live this far from Tokyo being as into Japanese musicals and theatre as I am right now--it's too expensive, and wears too much on me going back and forth. It'd be different if I lived in Yamanashi or Kanagawa or Chiba or something and was only a short, INEXPENSIVE train ride away--I'd WANT to live in Tokyo, but there'd be no financial or time-burden on me to do so--but I live a 2-and-a-half-hour VERY expensive train ride away, and there's no sense in staying that way. And since I don't plan on stopping my love for musicals and theatre, it's gotta be the job that changes :)

With that in mind, I've been searching many online forums and Japanese job websites, and have hit upon a few that look very promising, so I hope they get back to me. One actually did--a representative from East West Consulting. They asked me to come in for an interview, and since I was in Tokyo last weekend, I did so.

I wasn't sure exactly what the job would entail, but I went with a positive attitude--it looked to be a very good job, making twice as much as I am right now and right in the middle of Tokyo no less. The offices were nice, and everyone very friendly. I thought I did very well in the interview--the only problem after it, though, was I didn't like the job :P

The company basically acted as a middle-man between Japan-based offices for foreign companies (big corporations) and Japanese employees. The comapanies wanted Japanese employees, but needed someone to convince them to come work for them, essentially. My job would be to cold-call Japanese companies, and convince whoever I was assigned to that they needed to meet with me for a conference, and at that meeting convince them to come work for another company.

And all that, in Japanese.

I could probably do the face-to-face meeting in Japanese, given enough prep-time and practice. And I could do cold-calling in English if I had to (and if the price was right). But both? And in Japanese? Oh heeeeellllll no. First of all--the level of Japanese they required was FAR below what would be needed to actually pull this sort of thing off--there are all sorts of levels of politeness that I'm not comfortable using like a native speaker, and it just would not be a pleasant experience on ANYONE'S part.

I didn't turn them down right away, but they said to keep in touch, since I couldn't come in until August--suffice to say, I PROBABLY won't be calling on them if I can help it :P

Other than that, though, I had an AWESOME weekend in Tokyo--I went to one of *pnish*'s (the theatre group I follow very closely) events and got to see Japanese friends there I hadn't seen in a month or more, so very exciting. Meg brought her boyfriend James, who was visiting from America, to one of the shows, and he had a great time too XD

It's been reeeeaaaally cold here lately, but I love it--because we're finally getting that lovely weather phenomenon I've not had the pleasure of being exposed to much: SNOW!!!



This was the view outside the teacher's office at one of my school's yesterday afternoon--all that white isn't fog, it's snow coming down so hard and fast it's a white-out :)



This was the view outside my apartment this morning--that yellow towel on the left is one I put out to dry XD;;; Whoops. It's a little hard to tell, but the snow's still falling.



This is a video I took from inside my apartment, too, so you can see the snow falling. I talk a little in it, so turn up your speakers to hear moi :D



And finally, this is a video I took while one of my English teachers drove me to school (it's dangerous to ride your bike in the snow).

It's SO pretty!! I love walking outside and just getting covered in these fluffy white flakes--though it does make getting around a real pain :P

Well, it's almost halfway over! It's hard to imagine it, but in only a few weeks it will have been FIVE MONTHS since I came to Japan. At times that seems like a really long time, and at others it seems like a short time. Right now, it feels to me like I've been here a long time, but when I think that it's barely 4 months, that seems like a really short time. Guess it's all relative, huh? ( Indeed, Einstein was correct :) )

"But my apartment heater's soooo delightful~"

Hey guys! I'm back from another awesome weekend in Tokyo! This weekend I picked up Brandy from the airport to spend a FUN-FILLED WEEK together. We've got a lot planned--going to Kyoto for Thanksgiving Thursday, hitting up Tokyo again Friday, going sight-seeing, and maybe even to see Phantom of the Opera or Wicked...in Japanese of course! XD

This weekend was also my first time to get to participate in one of Nagayama Takashi's fan-club events. I'm a huge fan of his, if that wasn't obvious, because not only is he hot, he's an amazing singer and actor, and his events are NOT to be missed. That definitely held true, as I was treated to two straight hours of his singing songs he hasn't sung in front of an audience for 3 or 4 years, lots of little insider bits about his previous performances, friends, and his own past.

He's such a personable, friendly guy, and tried to strike up a conversation with me in English (tried XD) when I shook his hand as we left.

I also got to meet up again with Takada-san, a girl I met a couple of weeks ago when I went to see the final performance of Switch. I mentioned in my previous post that I only BARELY managed to get in in time, through a strange series of coincidences. One of those coincidences was, when I got to the theater, I asked a random girl in the crowd if she knew if day-of tickets were still being sold. This girl was Takada-san. She took care of EVERYTHING for me, a total stranger (and more so, a foreign stranger!), and gave me her own card to try for the chance to get a ticket (since it was a lottery), and because of her I was the VERY LAST person to get in. Suffice to say I was VERY happy to meet her again and have the chance to thank her. We exchanged cellphone info, and we're going to hang out some more at future events.

I also figured out this weekend that I have very cheap long-distance and I THINK I can call home with a simple code for about $5 a month! Expect calls from me soon, everyone *evil cackle*

Sorry it's been a while since I updated! I've been busy busy busy! With what?

( Well come find out! )

Ready to see what my life's been like so far in Japan? While these are far from fully descriptive of how it's been, I think it's a good insight into what I've experienced thus far! So click the cut if you're ready to see! (Warning: image-heavy, DUH)

( Lots of pics behind here! )

All right, everyone, today we're going to talk about the Japanese and how they are aaaallll hypochondriacs...for the wrong reasons XD

If you follow the actors' blogs for any length of time, then you know by now that the month's between October and March are sad, sad months for us fans, because these are the months when pretty much every Japanese citizen walks around with surgical masks plastered over half their face.

For the uninitiated--Japan is OBSESSED with sickness and germs and remaining germ-free...to an extent.

Wearing a short-sleeve shirt when the temperature's below 70? You WILL be asked, in a concerned voice, "Aren't you cold?"

Got a little cough? You WILL be asked if you should see a doctor about that, regardless of the severity.

Is it fall/winter/spring? Most of the people around you WILL be telling you to watch out for catching a cold.

Seriously, the concept of catching a cold is perhaps one of the most prevalent in this society, and I have NO idea why. The Japanese think even the SLIGHTEST gesture can render you helpless to the virus's attack. Step outside for 5 seconds with damp hair, and you're headed to the hospital. Go outside PERIOD when the weather's below 60 and you're courting death. Not wearing your mask when someone else has a cold? Well sir, you've just signed your DEATH WARRANT.

It's laughable how "health-conscious" the Japanese are about things they DON'T need to be so worried about (wearing surgical masks all the time, staying out of the cold--which is an old wive's tale anyways--gargling after every meal and using the bathroom to get rid of germs [HAH]) and yet still have some of the worst problems with cleanliness!

Let's start with the toilets: while yes, I will admit squat-toilets are probably more efficient at using their water, I'm still not getting how they're cleaner. Because they're not. I'd rather lick the floor of a western bathroom than a Japanese one around the toilet--because it's quiiiiite a bit easier to "miss" when you're just squatting. Yikes. Plus they smell horrible >_> I try and never use the bathrooms at school if possible.

And while you'd think the schools and other buildings would be really clean--what with the kids themselves cleaning up every day, everyone taking off their shoes before entering places--but you'd be wrong >_> Some parts of this school are the nastiest places I've ever seen >_< Of course I'm sure building cleanliness differs from city to city, based on upkeep, but STILL!

...And don't get me started on the state of dental care :P

You know what I'm getting tired of?

BEING RUN OVER.

Today was the 2nd time this month I was almost run over by a car riding my bike >_> And I don't mean the car screeched to a halt before hitting me, I mean they HIT ME, KEPT GOING, and it was only the screech of metal against metal that alerted them to the fact that they were about to put me in the hospital, GEEZ.

You would think that Japan, being a country largely populated with bikers and walkers--more so, it seems, than America at least--would have better road safety rules and regulations, better maintained sidewalks, and generally be a safer place to bike or walk. You would think that, BUT YOU WOULD BE WRONG. Sheesh. I survived 22 years in America without a scratch and I come here and within 2 months I'm pawing at the hospital doors!

I haven't been hurt in either of these encounters, and thankfully neither has my bike (cause I'd rather NOT pay the $200 and get a new one >_<). The first time I was riding to the station for a weekend in Tokyo, with my laptop in my bike basket, my purse on one shoulder, and my overnight bag on the other--not exactly good for stopping on a dime. Then of course a lady in her car starts to pull out of a parking lot onto the street, right in front of me. I guess she didn't see me, because she just keeeept on scooching forward even when I was practically on top of her. She knocked me over (and kept on going!) pretty much trapping me under my bike so I couldn't move if she'd come forward much more. Luckily she stopped pretty much as soon as I went down and got out, frantic, asking if I was okay. As I was, and was in a hurry to make a train, I told her I was fine, hopped back on the bike, and kept going.

Then just today, maybe an hour ago, much the same thing happened on my way home from school! Except this time it was 2 guys in a car. Now, you'd think, that even if the driver was looking one way and missed me, HIS PASSENGER WOULD SEE AN ONCOMING BIKE AND TELL THE DRIVER TO STOP. ...Not so *headdesk*

Japan. You're going to be the death of me. LITERALLY.

All right, time to actually put this journal to some good use!

Sure sure, ,I know you people are just thrilled to be getting weekly updates of my life here, but what use is that to those of you thinking of coming over at some point?

I think I'm going to try to, at least once a week, post on some topic of Japanese life, some little quirk that will trip up the people visiting (at least Americans XD). And if you've got any questions or something you've been wondering, you people can take that opportunity to ask it :D

( So without further ado--Post #1: Paying for STUFF )

Hey all! It's been a while, but I'm doing preeetty good here. I'm in Tokyo right now, for my last little excursion for a while (not exactly cheap riding the shinkansen practically every weekend!!), and just got back from an AWESOME weekend in Kobe last weekend.

I went to Kobe to see Secret Box, the same play by the 4-man theater troupe *pnish* that I'd seen in Tokyo a couple of weeks before. All in all--I wound up seeing the play 6 times, because tsk, *pnish* is THAT amazing!!

This time I went with Meg, my friend in JET who lives up in Kinomoto, and met a Japanese girl I knew from Mixi (a Japanese blogging service) named Tenkuu-san. We also met another Japanese girl along the way who's really nice and sweet, named Chisato.

The four of us hung out together most of the time. Saturday evening was ANOTHER handshake event with the members of *pnish*, and I was a wreck by the time we finished XD Those guys are all just so AMAZING and SO nice, they're absolutely THRILLED to have foreign fans. After seeing the Sunday afternoon show, we had an hour or so to kill before seeing the last evening show, so the four of us hung out at Starbucks and talked and realized we had a lot more in common than we thought, and all exchanged phone info to keep in touch.

The very last show of a play's run is called senshuuraku and is usually the best one. I had gotten to see Aru Hi's senshuuraku at the beginning of September, but this one was COMPLETELY different. So many adlibs and flubs and just hilarity all around, because the guys were just having fun since it was the last show.

Meg had to leave early because Kinomoto's pretty far from Kobe, and she wanted to get home in time. Tenkuu-san lived in Fukuoka, the prefecture at the far southern tip of Japan, and so she had to leave immediately after the show ended to make her bullet train. So Chisato and I hung out afterwards waiting for "demachi"--where the actors come out after the end of the show and tell everyone goodbye.

Unfortunately, she didn't get to stay until *pnish* came out (because they waited until over TWO HOURS after the show ended!!), but she WAS there when one of the guest actors, a man named Katou Manabu, came out.

If you don't remember who this was, he's the actor I ran into randomly waaaaaay back at the end of July my first time out in Tokyo. I talked to him then and told him I was going to see this show, but he really must not have believed me.

Because when he came out, he was waving politely to everyone, thanking them for coming, but as soon as he spotted me, he stopped--did a double-take, and started SPAZZING OUT, seriously! He was pointing at me and going, "You came, you came!!" Out of the hundreds of girls there that night, he randomly remembered ME, who'd casually run into him in a store in Shibuya TWO MONTHS before!! Haha, best moment ever!

That was the highlight, pretty much, of my fun weekend in Kobe, and this weekend I'm going with Jen and her friend Nicolah to see a musical based on the anime Shounen Onmyouji ("The Young Exorcist").

Also--I booked my flight home for Christmas!! I'll get into Dallas at 5:10 PM Friday, December 21st, and will leave back for Tokyo at 7 AM Saturday, January 5th. Two glorious weeks in America :) Look me up when I'm back!!

Sorry for the long time between entries, I'm here!!

The past week has been interesting. I've not been in the best mood, for a number of reasons. A lot of stuff jumped up and bit me at once, and it really got me down.

I no longer have cats, in case you haven't heard. Last Friday, my Board of Education found out I had them, and before you could say "nyanko" they'd called me up and asked me to find another place for them (or find another place for me) ASAP, because it was against my apartment contract to have pets. So yeah, there went all my company in my apartment.

I gave my kitties back to the shelter (and the people were so nice and understanding, and said if I ever want them again they'll have them), that evening, and hopped the next Shinkansen to Tokyo. I was planning on leaving Saturday morning and coming back Sunday, so my cats wouldn't be alone for a long time, but since they were gone I didn't want to stay any more and just left.

I did have a great time in Tokyo, though. Cate, Debs, Becca, and Laura and I all went to "Panic Studio"--a radio show that's recorded live in Kiba, and you get to see the members hosting it through the glass. It's run by the actors of *pnish*, my beloved acting group, so I was very excited to see it for the first time.

Aaaaand, if you check here and scroll down to the second picture, you'll see a figure in a bright teal blue shirt outside the window--thaaaat's me!

That was Saturday evening, and Sunday we all went to Shibuya and dropped in at GAIN, the closet of a store where I went the first time I came to Tokyo and me one of the actors I follow. No fateful meetings this time, but we did manage to fill the ENTIRE store with our presence, and the manager was SO nice, as usual. Yamashita-tenchou loves telling foreign fans secrets he really shouldn't be revealing, hehe.

Monday afternoon I headed back to Hikone, to find my internet was STILL not working (and by then it had been over a week since it had worked). I didn't have anyone I could call, so I just decided to do without for the evening and call the next day.

Tuesday I went to Koura city for the regional English Speech Contest. 3 of our 4 students placed high enough to go to Prefecturals on October 12th, woohoo! Free trip to Oumihachiman~ So what if it's not that far--after that it's Tokyo!!

I called my Board of Education to complain about my internet, and the response was roughly, "Hmm yeah that sounds tough. You should call Yahoo or NTT (the phone company) and get that checked out." *headdesk* I DON'T SPEAK JAPANESE WELL ENOUGH TO RELATE MY PROBLEMS, PEOPLE.

Sometimes they really irk me -_- but that's the way the Japanese society is sometimes, I think. A lot of agreeing that your problem seems tough, and that someone should do something about it. Still annoys me, especially when I DON'T HAVE INTERNET.

So yesterday (Wednesday) I got one of them to come out and look at my problem, and call NTT, and the phone people are supposed to come out and look at it today. So HOPEFULLY I should have reasonably stable net by tonight. HOPEFULLY.

I'm going to Kobe this weekend (leaving Saturday afternoon and coming back Sunday evening likely) and won't be in touch until I return, but I hope everyone's doing well!!

Bye!!

Well, my looooong 4-day weekend is, unfortunately, over! I'm back in Hikone now (actually, at work XD).

Monday I managed to get a seat for the evening performance of *pnish*'s Secret Box, and Laura, Becca, Deb, and Cate and I all enjoyed a WONDERFUL performance. This was one of the two shows that were taped, so some of us might actually show up on the DVD! And of course, for those of you living under ROCKS--NAGAYAMA TAKASHI CAME TO THIS SHOW. Yes--my life is MADE. It was one thing watching Tuti and Nagayan perform together, but another thing to see Tuti on stage and watch him and see what Nagayan sees *____*

Immediately after the show, though, was the NaiPani talk event (where the actors sat on stage and talked about their new TV show Hottokenai! *pnish* aka NaiPani). Since I was in the very back for the show, I actually was the 3rd person in line, and there had to have been at least a couple hundred people there for the event.

What did that mean? It means, ladies and gentlemen, I got to sit FRONT ROW DEAD CENTER for this event. I sat not 5 feet from Tuti, Daiki, Eiji, and Wasshi, for a good 30 minutes, and it was SUCH A RUSH (especially now, in light of recent knowledge about certain people who were waiting backstage through it all XD).

Those of you interested have likely already seen my report on it over on the *pnish* comm, but it was taped, I believe, and should be on the next NaiPani DVD due out in November~

Tuesday, I used nenkyuu (paid leave) and stayed in Tokyo to see the afternoon show, and it was GREAT! Not only did I manage to somehow get an AMAZING seat (FRONT ROW!!!!!! THAT'S, LIKE, UNHEARD OF!!), but we saw Goumoto Naoya and Hayashi Shuuji (two actors from the Bleach musicals and good friends of Tuti's and Eiji's, and actually Osamu-chan is about to perform with Sano Mizuki, Daiki's brother :D)--and while we didn't see him INside the theater, we saw Kitamura Eiki OUTside the theater (and I embarrassed myself saying hi to him), though it turns out he had gone to see probably the later show that evening.

And of course, not to be forgetting, THE HANDSHAKE. Yes, I'm typing right now with hands that have touched all four *pnish* members (and Nagayan!). Wasshi was just amazingly sweet and touched that foreigners knew his music and wanted to hear more, Daiki was...Daiki XD and just generally ADORABLE ALL OVER, Eiji frightened me at first, until I recovered my wits and put him in his place, and TUTI OH TUTI OOOHHHH TUTI. So. Much. Love for this man.

Everyone who's ever said he's cold at handshake events needs to ADJUST THEIR THERMOSTAT. Because he was just...WOW. So friendly, and curious about everything, asking questions and giving those utterly Tuti reactions, GEEZ. ]

I think that I can die happily now. Provided the wait until the Kobe shows doesn't DO ME IN FIRST.

Hey guys! Been a while since I posted here, sorry about that! Let's get everyone up to speed on what my last week's been like.

Last Saturday was my base school's "Sports Day"--which is like the equivalent of Field Day in America. It involves all the kids taking part in various events--marathons, high jump, long jump, and events that involve whole classes going against each other, like tug-of-war. Really fun for everyone involved, but definitely takes a bit out of you!

Because I had that on Saturday, everyone automatically got last Monday off, so I took the opportunity to finish mailing off my application for the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), a test which, if you pass whatever level you try for, gives you official recognition of your Japanese ability. Very nice when applying for jobs.

I'm trying for 2kyuu (there are 4 levels, 4 is the easiest, 1 is the hardest) this year, as is my friend living in Tokyo, Jen. Meg, another JET from Kinomoto who I've been hanging out with, is going for 3kyuu. I actually bought a few books to help me study, so here's hoping I can get myself ready by December 2nd!

The rest of the week was pretty slow, mostly because I was looking forward to the weekend SO MUCH! Because right now, if you didn't know, I'm in TOKYO again!

Meg and I got into Tokyo station around 9:00 Friday evening after a lovely (read: horrible) trip on the Shinkansen (standing for 2 and a half hours is NOT fun!) and collapsed into heaps of tiredness in Jen and Jenny's apartment and slept until Saturday morning.

After whiling away the hours waiting until we could order from this really good Italian take-out place, Donna Donna, we had full bellies and were off to Otome Road (the area of Ikebukuro that caters especially to anime and Japanese comic fans) to meet up with Susan and her Japanese friend, Yuuko.



After more Italian for dinner, it was off to Tokyo Metropolitan Art space, a really spiffy place:



Inside this theater we spent the next 2 hours of our lives--and arguably the BEST two hours of our lives *_______* I spent a TON of money ($200 at least, not counting the price of the tickets) and regret NOT A PENNY. Hora, lookit this swag:



The show itself was AMAZING, SO funny, and I plan on (trying) to go back at least two more times before I leave. Monday evening is a talk event the guys are hosting regarding the DVD release of the first 3 episodes of their TV show, and--are you sitting down?--Tuesday afternoon is a HANDSHAKE EVENT.

I'm going. To shake hands. With men I have idolized. For 3 years now.

I. Am. So. Nervous. Seriously--I know they'll be amazingly nice, and I know one way or another I'll think of SOMETHING to say and not embarrass myself TOO much. But these are guys I've been stalkingfollowing online and through DVDs for years now, I feel so close to them and yet still so far away, and finally getting to TOUCH them is just...WOW.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Cate and Deb in the morning when they arrive from ENGLAND, and then going to try and see the play with them if I can get tickets, and after that it's the Talk Show event! Same goes for Tuesday and the handshake event, and after that it's *sniff sniff* back to Hikone!

To finish up this post, I present: MY KITTIES~!



This is Hana--the calico any Tuti/Nagayan fan must own!!



And Tart, who is quite feisty :D They both are, really, but Tart's younger :D