I'll Never Understand....

Why is it that even after being here for 11 months I am still finding new things that I find so weird? All the other weird things I have previously posted about (Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3) are seeming more and more normal, but here are 21 more things I still haven't gotten used to yet...


1. grown-ass men read comic books in public. On the trains and buses. In coffee shops and restaurants. Sometimes, they will hide the dirty ones in other books or newspapers. Not so slick.
2. grown-ass men also play hand-held video games on trains. 
3. grown-ass men have hello kitty key chains and charms. I really hope that's your daughters purse. Oh, you don't have kids? ...Are you a pedophile?
4.  Stores play Auld Lang Syne when they are closing
5. Parking. How do they do it? They all back into these teeny-tiny spaces or park horizontally in their driveways. It's baffling. Don't ever again underestimate an Asian driver's ability to park a car. 
6. folding bikes. It's weird, but cool. I kept seeing people bring these very oddly shaped bags on trains, but could never figure out what they were until I saw a bike wheel poking out one time. I've never actually seen the bike itself in its folded state, but I'm like 99% sure that's what it was. 
7. everything plays a song. crosswalks. Fax machines, garbage trucks, incoming and outgoing trains, washing machines rice cookers.
8. Girls wear fake hair and fake eyelashes all day everyday. You're in sweatpants and an over-sized T-shirt, going to the market, but you went over kill on the hair and make-up. I don't get it....
9. men have more bling and tighter pants than I do. Not cool.
10. rent a car places. There are so many. Why? Why do you need like 5 on one block?
11. book covers. Most of the books sold in Japan are the same size and you can purchase book covers (like how we used to cover books with old brown paper shopping bags) in cool patterns and whatnot. 
12. scrunchies. I don't think they ever lost their popularity here. I'm not proud to say, but I own some. And I wear them. Only in my house..
13. flushing sounds. Some toilets make a flushing sound the moment you put any pressure on the seat. Not only does it scare you at first, but it's very confusing because you can't tell when you've stopped peeing. Other toilets you can turn on and off the sound. Most women here use the sound when they use the facilities. I don't see the big deal. We all know what you're doing in there...
14. they give you a plastic bag to cover your shopping bag when it rains.
15. major cause of train delays are jumpers.sad, but true. 
16. passport photo booths. Yes. No need to go to Costco and take your passport pictures and then take them to the post office. Just go to a photo booth. What's even more surprising is finding them on the street in the middle of nowhere.
17. awkward silences on trains, buses and in elevators.
18. They have many signs that tell you how to use the toilets. If you can read the sign, you should know how to use a toilet.
19. older men and women like bands that teenagers like. In America there seems to be a huge generational gap in favorite genres of music. Not in Japan. 
20. poorly written English. It's so funny. I know it's probably expensive to hire a translator, but seriously...What the hell is that supposed to mean?
21. Apparently all Japanese people get all their 6 or however many shots they get at birth or something and it leaves this ridiculous scar on their upper arm. 

This is on some stationary I bought at the 100 yen store.
*Happy time with you.
We friend teddy bears.
It is always the same. It is the same indefinitely

There are so many things I haven't discovered yet. I highly doubt I will find more things before I leave, but I post them if I do. I have less than 3 weeks left in my apartment, less than 4 weeks left of work, and 32 days left in Japan all together. I have many many more posts to catch up on, so...Until next time! またね！
********************************
New Vocabulary:
~まんが  mah-n-gah  comic books
~歌 oo-tah  song
~英語  eh-ee-go  English 

Golden Week was Forever Ago...Part 3

Finally. Part 3. Hopefully this will be the last of the Golden Week posts, as I am nearing the end of my stay in Japan and have many other things to tell you too! Also, their trip ended about 7 weeks ago and I am beginning to forget what happened. Alright, onward to Osaka!

We took a local train from Kyoto to Osaka that took about 50 minutes. Our hotel was in an area called Namba (難波), a happening part of town. Dragging our luggage and trying to find our way out of the station was difficult. I think my iphone was drunk. It kept changing it's mind about our location and proximity to an acceptable exit that would lead us to our hotel. Turns out, no smartphone or even person could lead us to our hotel. Why? Because it's inside a pachinko parlor. And there weren't any signs suggesting a route to get there from the main drag. That's why. We asked some guy and he pointed us a direction and then we still didn't know, so we asked this girl who apparently worked at a dart bar nearby. She walked us all the way to and then inside the hotel. So nice. Once we checked in, we wandered around the area a bit and found the same sushi restaurant we had eaten at the other night. We ate there again, but this time sat next to this nice couple. The wife forced her husband to talk to us in English and he helped us order some sake and talked with us about his time in America (I think...that sounds familiar, but I have already forgotten). I talked to the wife in Japanese and then she made him take our picture for us. After dinner, we stopped at the dart bar for some drinks and games. No, not darts. They had Jenga, the alligator game (where you push his teeth one at a time until he bites?), waterproof Uno, and 黒ひげ危機一発 (koo-roh-he-geh-key-key-eep-pah-tsu), a game with a pirate in a barrel that you stick swords into until the pirate pops out. Directly translated, "A Black Beard from Crisis". Megan and Kelly turned in early and Aly and I stayed to watch a flair bar-tending show. Impressive. 

The next day we visited Osaka Castle (大阪城). I know I went here years ago. I have pictures, but nothing looked familiar. I do remember it was raining when I was there last. My memory sucks. Luckily there was no rain, but some kind of dance festival, so we watched as different groups performed similar dances to the same song, over and over again. We went inside the castle and up to the top observatory deck. It was a beautiful day, but really crowded. We descended from the top, stopping on each floor. We cooled down with ice cream and shaved ice while I dodged the many pigeons dive bombing the crowd. The girls wanted to do some gift shopping, so from the castle we went to an area called Umeda (梅田) in search of one of my favorite stores in Japan, Loft. Again, my drunk-ass phone pointed us in the wrong direction, but we eventually made it there and shopped around for a bit. We went back to our hotel area and had dinner at an Izakaya (居酒屋), a pub/bar like place and finished the night at another round of karaoke, singing 90's songs for two hours.

 

To the castle!

View from the top

They wanted to charge you like 500 yen to put the hat on. F-that. 

We had our own dance party

any literate person shouldn't need directions on how to use a toilet.

This is the largest stone in all the castle grounds.

  

The time came for Megan and Kelly to part with us. I cried, like a little bitch, and Aly made fun of me, but it's cool. We said our goodbyes and Aly and I headed for Nara (奈良). We walked through the deer park, fed some deer, and made it to the largest wooden building in the world, Todai-ji (東大寺) that holds one of the GIANT Buddhas. We spent a great deal of time trying to take a picture of us high-five-ing Buddha. There is also a cut-out in one of the wooden posts that is supposedly as big as Buddha's nostril that you can crawl through if you dare to do so. Last time I was here with my family, I didn't do it. This time I did. Wow, that was embarrassing. I almost got stuck. People were either cheering me on or laughing at me, I'm not sure. I was so focused on getting through there that I didn't even notice the group of Japanese girls pushing my feet through. No help from Aly though. She was too busy laughing her ass off at my misfortune of being stuck in a tree trunk. It doesn't matter how I made it out, but I did it! WINNING! We left Nara to head back to Namba to meet my old host sister, Emi, for dinner. She took us to Kushi-ya (串家). It was an all-you-can-eat skewer buffet that you fry yourself at your table! Each table is equipped with a deep fryer and you can choose as many pre-made skewers as you like! I think there might be one in Shizuoka. 

I love Japanese signs. 

Nara's mascot. 

I spy.....a deer.

Crackers!

Oh, they're for the deer. 

 

Supposedly if you touch this statue where you have some sort of ailment, it will cure it. Aly's ass hurts. 

This isn't going to work...

...wait for it... 

I did it!

 

  The next day Aly and I took some photo stickers, returned to Shizuoka, did some shopping, took some more photo stickers, and then had dinner at my favorite sushi place. She was very brave and tried everything that Anma gave her. 

I have no idea what was in the shells on the left, but that is Taro Root on the right. 

Anma is the best!

And just like that, my Golden Week was over. I went back to work and Aly went back to America.  I had such a great time with my friends here. Thank you, guys, for coming to visit me! Soon enough, I will join you in America again. I can't wait. Until then! またね！ 

**************************************

New Vocabulary:

~ アリはアメリカへ帰りました Ah-ree-wa-America-eh-kah-eh-ree-mah-she-tah  Aly returned to America. 

~ゲーム遊びました geh-moo-ah-so-be-mah-she-tah We played games

~ 通れない toe-reh-nah-ee  Can't get through