Random things.

I fell of my bike yesterday. Got some bruises, but nothing too bad. It was more embarrassing than anything, because I stopped traffic and I had garbage in my basket thing that I had to pick up. Stupid rain.

People sometimes ask me for certain cultural differences that I notice in Japanese society. These kinds of questions always get me thinking too hard, and usually I respond with a "I dunno, give me another drink" or something to that effect. I mean I think a lot of the differences are obvious. Like most people already know that Japanese people often take food to an art form, or mix their "l" and "r" sounds up a lot. And most people know that's really funny. But i'm always thinking to myself, what ARE some interesting cultural differences?

Well, here's one I like a lot. Whenever Japanese people bend over to pick something up, or sit down heavily to relax, or do another motion that in American (and perhaps Western) society would otherwise warrant a heavy sigh or a slight noise from the back of the throat, Japanese people actually say something. They make a completely audible utterance. It's kinda hard to type, but it's something like "ee-show" (or "ee-shou," long 'o' sound). It's actually pretty funny to hear, and I like to do it now, too. It's more fun than just sighing. EESHOOO!!

How's that for a difference?

Last weekend, I found the king of all kaiten-zushi places. These are the restaurants where sushi comes out on a conveyor belt. It's about a 20 minute bike ride from my house, but it's so worth it. They have a norway roll, which is like salmon-wrapped california roll, for 250 yen. Cheap cheap. They even have fried fugu, the poisonous blowfish that I still haven't grown the balls to try.

Yesterday, I ate at Hard Rock Cafe. Manami, Erisa, and I celebrated Erisa's birthday and indulged in American food. This was the 3rd Hard Rock that I've been to in Japan. Kinda sad right? No, it's not. Fuck you.

My new job is pretty sweet. I do one week in Junior High, then one week Elementary. Back and forth, back and forth. It's nice, cuz i'm never in the same place too long, but I still have the chance to get to know the kids. What else is different, though, is that in JHS, i'm much more of a real teacher than last year. I have my own class, I am the teacher. I have an assisstant to help translate necessary things in Japanese (I'm allowed to use *NO* Japanese in class, but can talk to the kids outside of class in whatever language I want. Make sense?), but other than that, I am the teacher. In Elementary, however, I'm the assisstant, and do far less teaching than I did last year. It's weird, but I think I like the system more. And every other Wednesday, I can sleep in. Boh!

I'm going to Kyoto next week for Golden Week. Golden Week is a string of holidays where everyone in Japan gets off. Ooh that sounds nastay! I meant gets off work. So, Kyoto will probably be packed, but I should have some sweet sweet pictures. For those unfamiliar, Kyoto was the old capitol of Japan before Tokyo. It wasn't damaged in any wars (as was much of the area I am in), and it's also not seismically active (no earthquakes), so there are a lot of old shrines that date back to like year 1000 and stuff like that. Maybe older. Should be awesome. That, and we made a reservation for a wagyuu tabehoudai shabu-shabu place (that means all-you-can-eat, awesome domestic kobe-beef-like shabu shabu restaurant). It's totally gonna kick ass. Splurging time.

Another cultural difference? They appreciate toilets that squirt water up your butt. This might be common knowledge, let me know.

Lates!