Sitting in the living room, watching TV with Okaa-san and Mio (who's being told to take a shower). Otou-san's in here brushing his teeth while watching TV.
No class today, but went to Waseda anyways. Somehow managed to run into about 5 or 10 of the other Japan Study students. Went with Dash and Tyler to Akihabara, since we all had to buy electronics. Ross joined us after Dash went. I returned my router and bought some ethernet cables, Tyler bought a monitor so he can play his PS3 and XBox 360 at the dorm. Tyler and I also bought doner kebabs; I'd been missing those.
Anyways, fast and reliable internet access now. Huzzah! On the other hand, I'm waking up at 6:30 tomorrow morning, since I haven't done the route during rush hour before and don't know how long it'll take. It's now 10:14, so I'll need to got to bed soon. Bah.
Oh, and I've been watching Wizard People, Dear Reader on one of the JS students' recommendation. Win for people who like Harry Potter, win for people who don't. It's quite made of win.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Lazy Sunday, Part Deux
Back in the living room. Otou-san's watching sumo wrestling on TV, while Mio's watching videos of a Japanese talk show (I think) on Youtube.
... huh. Something about it being 6 PM on a Sunday, and therefore changing the channel. End credits of Chibi Maruko-chan. The answer is apparently more Chibi Maruko-chan.
... wait a minute, I can actually understand a decent amount of the show. Huzzah!
Let's see... courses. I'm taking:
Oh, I met my host grandmother yesterday. We're on the second floor; she lives on the first floor. Didn't spend much time with her, but she seems nice.
... toilet? Our toilet seems to be an older version of your typical advanced function system. Water jets, faucet, that sort of thing. The flush button is on the remote, though; I had to ask my host family how to flush the first time I used the toilet. I wonder what happens in a power outage. Does the toilet have a battery backup?
6:30 PM. Looks like Sazae-san is starting now.
Oh. I checked my bank statement earlier, and they charged me something like $15 on currency conversion to withdraw 40,000 yen, plus a couple bucks for using a non-affiliated ATM. Blech.
Update: Sazae-san has stuff about dad going out drinking with his work buddies, including depictions of them drunk. Sazae-san is a children's show. Nice.
Update 2: Oooh! And mention of pachinko!
... huh. Something about it being 6 PM on a Sunday, and therefore changing the channel. End credits of Chibi Maruko-chan. The answer is apparently more Chibi Maruko-chan.
... wait a minute, I can actually understand a decent amount of the show. Huzzah!
Let's see... courses. I'm taking:
- Intensive Japanese (level 3)
- Special Topics - Communication (level 3)
- Comparative Cultural Studies
- Contemporary Japanese Policy-Making
- The Constitution of Japan
Oh, I met my host grandmother yesterday. We're on the second floor; she lives on the first floor. Didn't spend much time with her, but she seems nice.
... toilet? Our toilet seems to be an older version of your typical advanced function system. Water jets, faucet, that sort of thing. The flush button is on the remote, though; I had to ask my host family how to flush the first time I used the toilet. I wonder what happens in a power outage. Does the toilet have a battery backup?
6:30 PM. Looks like Sazae-san is starting now.
Oh. I checked my bank statement earlier, and they charged me something like $15 on currency conversion to withdraw 40,000 yen, plus a couple bucks for using a non-affiliated ATM. Blech.
Update: Sazae-san has stuff about dad going out drinking with his work buddies, including depictions of them drunk. Sazae-san is a children's show. Nice.
Update 2: Oooh! And mention of pachinko!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Lazy Sunday
I'm sitting in my host family's living room; moved in on Thursday. I have a host brother (Yousuke, 15) in his first year of high school and a host sister (Mio, 13) in her first year of junior high. My host father (otou-san) is a businessman, and my host mother (okaa-san) works part-time as a librarian.
The house is small by American standards, but average by Japanese standards. I have my own bedroom, as does Yousuke. Mio sleeps in my host parents' bedroom. A standard Japanese-style toilet room and shower/bath room. Single main living room, small porch (mostly used for drying clothing it seems), and a kitchen. Japanese appliances tend to be rather smaller than their American counterparts. The oven, for example, is only a few inches tall; I think most things use the burners. Living room has a Western-style table and chairs for dining, and a couple of tatami mats and Japanese-style table for relaxing/homework/television/whatever. One computer in the living, plus a cable running to Yousuke's room for his laptop. I picked up a wireless access point so I can move around, but it's been pretty wonky, so I might return it and just run a cable into my room; that seems to be fine with okaa-san.
My bedroom's a decent size; maybe on the order of 8' x 11' or so, including the built-in closet. Bed, desk, some drawers in the closet. Works just fine for my needs.
I'm sitting at the table. Okaa-san's preparing lunch right now. Udon, I think. Otou-san's in here watching TV, and Mio's watching TV and practising guitar. Yousuke's in his room. He had school of some sort yesterday, despite the fact that it was Saturday. That seems to be common to the Japanese educational system. Mio hasn't had school for the past week or so thanks to some disease outbreak.
Among the random things I've learned: routers here don't seem to have 802.11n and gigabit Ethernet. What's the point of 802.11n if your wired network can't handle the speeds? Also, when you buy a cell phone, it doesn't come with any accessories. You have to purchase your own AC adapter, even. Though my phone was free, and the store gave me 5000 yen in Visa gift cards for some reason, so it's not all bad. Plus my phone has 1seg TV and an 8-megapixel camera.
What else... commute. I'm living in Seijogakuenmae, part of Shinagawa City (one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo). It's about a 10- to 15-minute walk to the train station. I take the Odakyu line to Shinjuku, Yamanote line to Takadanobaba, and finally Ginza line to Waseda. Then it's another 10 minutes or so to campus. All told, probably around 60 to 70 minutes. Apparently around average to slightly longer than average.
Lunchtime, I think. I'll post more later.
The house is small by American standards, but average by Japanese standards. I have my own bedroom, as does Yousuke. Mio sleeps in my host parents' bedroom. A standard Japanese-style toilet room and shower/bath room. Single main living room, small porch (mostly used for drying clothing it seems), and a kitchen. Japanese appliances tend to be rather smaller than their American counterparts. The oven, for example, is only a few inches tall; I think most things use the burners. Living room has a Western-style table and chairs for dining, and a couple of tatami mats and Japanese-style table for relaxing/homework/television/whatever. One computer in the living, plus a cable running to Yousuke's room for his laptop. I picked up a wireless access point so I can move around, but it's been pretty wonky, so I might return it and just run a cable into my room; that seems to be fine with okaa-san.
My bedroom's a decent size; maybe on the order of 8' x 11' or so, including the built-in closet. Bed, desk, some drawers in the closet. Works just fine for my needs.
I'm sitting at the table. Okaa-san's preparing lunch right now. Udon, I think. Otou-san's in here watching TV, and Mio's watching TV and practising guitar. Yousuke's in his room. He had school of some sort yesterday, despite the fact that it was Saturday. That seems to be common to the Japanese educational system. Mio hasn't had school for the past week or so thanks to some disease outbreak.
Among the random things I've learned: routers here don't seem to have 802.11n and gigabit Ethernet. What's the point of 802.11n if your wired network can't handle the speeds? Also, when you buy a cell phone, it doesn't come with any accessories. You have to purchase your own AC adapter, even. Though my phone was free, and the store gave me 5000 yen in Visa gift cards for some reason, so it's not all bad. Plus my phone has 1seg TV and an 8-megapixel camera.
What else... commute. I'm living in Seijogakuenmae, part of Shinagawa City (one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo). It's about a 10- to 15-minute walk to the train station. I take the Odakyu line to Shinjuku, Yamanote line to Takadanobaba, and finally Ginza line to Waseda. Then it's another 10 minutes or so to campus. All told, probably around 60 to 70 minutes. Apparently around average to slightly longer than average.
Lunchtime, I think. I'll post more later.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again...
Anyways, leaving for the airport now. The butterflies in my stomach aren't fluttering, they're being thrown around in a hurricane. Ah well, it'll be fun.
Anyways, leaving for the airport now. The butterflies in my stomach aren't fluttering, they're being thrown around in a hurricane. Ah well, it'll be fun.
Friday, September 11, 2009
First post!
Less than 24 hours from now, I'll be sitting on an All Nippon Airways plane en route to Tokyo, where I'll spend a full year studying at Waseda University. Less than 24 hours. Anxious? You bet. Looking forward to it? Absolutely.
I don't know what my internet access situation will look like, but I'll try to update once I get to Japan.
Bags packed, souvenirs purchased... Man. Am I really doing this?
I don't know what my internet access situation will look like, but I'll try to update once I get to Japan.
Bags packed, souvenirs purchased... Man. Am I really doing this?
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