Second day in Japan

Konban wa!

Before I tell about today, here is a video of my first sight of Japan from the plane. I was making a video of the clouds and ocean, and suddenly I saw land--it was Hokkaido!




Today, once again we starved until they finally let us go to the 7 Eleven next to campus. I bought an onigiri (rice ball) that was made out of a brownish rice and had shrimp in the middle, and when I went to pay for it, they asked me if I wanted it heated up, so I said "Hai," and they heated it up in about two seconds. It was so good. Or maybe I was just starving.

We talked about earthquakes and watched a depressing video with footage from some of the worse earthquakes in Japan. They gave us a checklist for in case of an earthquake. Emily and I will have to figure out what to do about that. After going over lots of things like Alien Registration cards and cell phones (I'll be able to get a cute Japanese phone!) and telling us about the seedy places in Roppongi and strongly discouraged us from going there...they let us go find lunch. I had "Braised Beef Noodle Soup" or rather, ramen. It was delicious, but it was just too much for me, so I couldn't finish it. It was interesting ordering, since our waiter knew some English, and we had a lot of confusion on both sides at one point, lol. After that, our TUJ representative (whose voice and accent reminds me of Mr. Rovello, and it was really bothering me throughout the day) took us to Roppongi, where we wandered all over. Here's the spider statue that's in the middle of Roppongi Hills (I think it was in Roppongi Hills). It was in Roppongi, anyway.




When we were done looking around, we took the subway/train back to Jiyugaoka...it took ten minutes. I could barely reach the hanging loops, so I just stablized myself most of the ride by balancing my weight and shifting with the train. The train was so much smoother than the subway in NYC! Once back in Jiyugaoka, we walked around the neighborhood for a bit, and I took a picture that I know Mom will love:





There were even some more of the old-style Minis parked out behind the building.

Then we found the 7 Eleven and I bought some kind of sushi roll for dinner--it says "sarada maki" on it, which means "salad roll." From the picture, it looks like it has crab, egg? and cucumber rolled in rice and nori. I haven't had dinner yet because I'm still stuffed from lunch. I also bought a mochi for dessert, and then a "ringo no danisu" (apple danish) for breakfast, and a small carton of milk. I'm a little suspicious of the milk, because on the carton it says, "The Milk as Milked." What the hell is that supposed to mean? Just like the saying on Emily's waffles: "It is softly making and delicious waffles." I love Japanese English. ^_^

Right now we have the tv on, and there's some program about women who go to Host clubs...it was really weird. They apparently go in the mornings, before going to work. They don't drink or anything, but they just hang out with these pretty men, who compliment them and treat them well, and pour them drinks (tea, I think). At the end of the women's stay, the Hosts walk the women out to their taxi or to the end of the block and send them off on their way, telling them to work hard at their job. One women they interviewed said that her husband doesn't know that she goes to Host clubs. (The women's faces were blurred, and their voices were chipmunked.)

I was going to end this post with a video of the apartment Emily and I share, but for some reason it won't upload, so I guess I'll have to figure something out later.