well, the bad news is i fail at life, but the good news is i got a new, tiny, digital camera.

god. today is a school holiday and what time did i wake up? 730. i was supposed to go on a trip to visit Kamakura, where there are lots of old temples and a fucking huge bronze statue of Buddha called the Daibutsu that's hundreds of years old. did i actually go? no. did i mention it's also raining today?

i already played tourist yesterday when i went to Ueno Zoo. highlights obviously include the jackass penguin,

and sad looking polar bears.

Mr. Polar Bear, i feel you.

right now langhorne slim and death and flowers sound a lot like home...

i need these shoes

...but they are not my size. alas, eBay.

if i had them i would look like a space cadet, in a good way, of course.

my friday night...

was certainly a lot better than my week. there's nothing like doing things you actually want to do, as in, not homework. i journeyed out to Koiwa in Tokyo to go see Dmonstrations(GSL and SAF records) at a venue called eM SEVEN. eM SEVEN is in a skyscraper on the 2nd floor. it was a late show that started right after the trains shut down so no one would have to worry about being stranded somewhere sucky because we were at the venue watching the show.

the bands and dj were all pretty sweet. there was also this guy that would beat box while playing this Chinese stringed instrument that looked like a koto--it sounded cooler than i can describe in words. Dmonstrations were of course awesome. you should of course go see them if and when they come through lawrence again.

then after Dmonstrations there was a 3 am dance party. i was quite excited about this because i really do miss lawrence dance parties. it doesn't look like people were dancing in this photo but i swear they were.

at about 4 am i went downstairs to go outside for a second because i was starting to feel claustrophobic, and i could see the sun was starting to rise. it was weird. at 430am the last band, called Deepslauter, played. i was pretty much gone by this time. i still enjoyed their set but i was tired.

at 5 am i walked back to the train station to go home. it was already broad daylight. on the train, some business man was standing in a corner drinking a beer and reading the day's newspaper. the guy sitting next to me kept unintentionally dozing off and leaning on my shoulder and i felt uncomfortable that i had no personal space. yup. eventually somehow i got home and went to sleep.

things recently brought to my attention by japanese people

-japanese people hate the movie lost in translation
-japanese people think americans have horrible fashion

tomorrow i'm going to see dmonstrations and drink some beers. thank god--i've certainly memorized enough kanjis this week to deserve this.

right now my mind is a little bundle of nerves shooting sparks, and i'm jumpy and weary. but whenever i'm in school it's pretty much always like this.
---------------------------------
1. find a smaller camera with which to document "the good times" so i can not forget so quickly that, duh, there are good times.
2. i can now report that studying for four hours for my kanji midterm with my Korean friend who speaks no English can be described as, how can i say, challenging.

what i miss

1. kyle
2. the rest of my friends
3. taco bell
4. burger king veggie burgers
5. pizza shuttle
6. jimmy john's sandwiches
7. oriental flavor instant ramen--pretty sure it's not over here

p.s. i missed my brother's high school graduation yesterday... :(

today i went to hang out at my japanese friend's apartment. she had a carpet like fuzzy cover on her toilet seat which greatly amused me. there's pretty much nothing stranger to me than a fuzzy toilet.

What the hell

About a half an hour ago I was in my room when I looked out my window and saw an immense building sized swarm of perhaps bees or locusts outside my house. At that same second I could hear the Korean girls that always hang out downstairs scream when they tried to leave. It was extremely surreal. It reminded me of one of the seven plagues. I was glad that I hadn't opened the screen. About a minute later they moved on.

today marks my 40th day or something in japan

sooo here's the cutest strawberry soymilk ever (and delicious!)

the 豆乳 means soymilk--yum

cooking fiend

that's me

mopey and homesick and it's supposed to rain all week. it's only monday bahhhhh

today i:

-ate delicious vegetarian ramen for the first time
-saw an amazing traditional parade of energetic people carrying shrines through the streets(perhaps photos to come? if my friend emails them to me)
-wanted to buy the most incredible colorful adidas high tops ever, but they were 120$
-went to a great record store that contained probably all the japanese thrash kyle could ever want

all in machida city approximately 10 minutes away from where i live by train! fun

by the way

did i tell you guys i've been smoking here? you've gotta do something when you're walking alllllll the fucking time. i like to think that when i get back i'll have the grit to just stop the second i get off the plane.

Cinco de Mayo

I missed it?!? I guess no one really cares about Mexico here, which is a shame. Still, I'm going to try to celebrate this weekend by eating some Mexican foods and throwing back some beers (tequilas?, no...beers).

from CNN

"TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- A strong earthquake struck off the coast of Japan early Thursday, the national Meteorological Agency said, waking up people 100 miles away in Tokyo.

Two people suffered minor injuries from falling furniture, public television broadcaster NHK reported. An 18-year-old man was hit when his stereo speakers fell onto his bed, and a 25-year-old man was hit by objects rattled off shelves.

There were no other immediate reports of injuries or damage from the magnitude 6.8 earthquake, NHK said. No tsunami warning was issued.

The earthquake occurred at 1:45 a.m. offshore at a depth of about 25 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was about 100 miles northeast of Tokyo.

A second quake with a magnitude of 5.3 struck the same area about 30 minutes later, and more aftershocks could follow, Tamotsu Aketagawa, an official who monitors earthquakes for the country's Meteorological Agency, told The Associated Press.

"Since it was a very large-scale earthquake, we would expect to see some modest aftershocks," he said.

Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world because it sits atop four tectonic plates. Tokyo has not been hit by a major quake since 1923, when 140,000 people died in the Great Kanto Earthquake."

-------------------------------------------

I woke up, but when I heard that nothing was falling off of anything, I just rolled over and went back to sleep. LAME. Why can't the big ones be during the day when everything is more exciting??

i watched Liars videos on youtube last night after i finished my homework. they gave me nightmares

story of my life

"Is that totoro on your arm?"

I probably should have been able to guess that this would happen...

Art

Japanese contemporary art rocks. Why the fuck can't we learn about it in Kansas?

p.s. What's wrong with me? I bought a Merzbow cd and listened to it all the way through.

omg

Last night my friend gave me train directions to go see Lucky Dragons. It turns out that the venue, a warehouse space called Highti, is on the complete opposite side of Tokyo that I'm on. It took me almost exactly two hours to get there. When I got of the last train I saw this:

This is certainly not the busiest part of Tokyo, but at least they can get away with diy shows here.
When I got there Minifer started playing.

Noise noise. Then later, Lucky Dragons.

Lucky Dragons used a lot of audience participation with whimsical sounding instruments.

I didn't talk to too many people there. I mean, in America I don't just walk up to strangers or anything. I did meet some traveling Australian people though. I think I might've been the only American there besides the touring LA bands.

Then after being at Highti for only about an hour and a half, I had to go catch the ten million trains I have to take to get back home before the trains shut down. I still don't know if I feel comfortable enough to stay out all night somewhere...

TV

On TV here, instead of dieting shows where fat people lose weight, because basically the only fat people are sumo wrestlers that you never see, they critique the eating habits of skinny people and tell them that if they don't change their eating habits they'll gain weight in five years. It's kinda fucked up.

Also, this weekend and Monday and Tuesday are a collection of holidays (including the emperor's birthday) called Golden Week. I hope there's something fun in store for me during all these days off. I'm gonna go buy some beer now.