Day 150(Osaka) : Quick turn around

They actually managed to get all the mock exams graded in one day. I guess that's why the whole office was full of teachers when I went back Monday afternoon to pay tuition. I pulled out a 215/400 which sounds pretty bad but you only need a 60% to pass and at just shy of 54%, that's pretty close. All I have to do is squeeze out an extra 6% in knowledge or educated guesses in December and I'll be straight. We had to play with the rabbit drawings again today and sing the kindergarten song that goes with it. I have to admit that is a pretty big slap in the face but being able to get so close to passing level 2 means something must be working out.

It's not all good news though. The test on Chapter 13 this morning was pretty much garbage. If I got over 70% I would be surprised. The worst part is the last few questions weren't short essay style like previous tests but simple one question, one sentence answer format. Even with that working in my favor I found that I forgot tons of kanji over the summer break and I was struggling to remember words to make anything like a coherent answer. I'm also running on fumes, funds wise. At least until my next GI Bill payment. Paying tuition and rent back to back kills. At least when I come back to Japan in January I can score a legit part time job and get the cash flowing again.

Day 148(Osaka) : Fock mock exams

It's funny how skipping one day in a daily habit pretty much makes it not a habit any more. It looks like I won't be making daily posts like I have been because I'm a little pre-occupied with trying to figure out what I'm doing here in Osaka. As for this beautiful Sunday, I spent the whole day inside studying almost all of the books I have in my collection trying to get an edge up on this pop exam that we're having Monday. I'm still confused as to how a big exam that is going to run four hours and end the day early could have flown by completely off my radar. What's even worse is that I had to sign a piece of paper and choose which level to take, so at some point it was right in front of me and I still didn't notice it.

It's the first time in a long time that I actually put a few hours towards learning Japanese outside of the school. I'm even getting some early prep work for the kanji test that we'll have on Tuesday since the exam is setting us back a day. I did a little tour de neighborhood this afternoon too. Had to walk about fifteen minutes down the street to find a 7/11 that would accept my American credit card. I was surprised because after a few blocks it actually became a pretty nice neighborhood with newer homes and apartment complexes that kind of put my neighborhood to shame. Not that I'm complaining. I'd rather live here close to the station than put an extra ten minutes between me and school.

Day 146(Osaka) : T.G.I. Kinyoubi

So the first week ended quickly enough. There is apparently an exam on Monday and only people who will actually take it need to show up at school. The problem is I have no idea if I signed up to take it or not because they're always dropping official school forms off in all Japanese and I can't understand 80% of it because it's way out of my level. If I go and I don't have to take it, it's a waste of a trip and about 45 minutes of riding trains back and forth. That' s no big deal from where I'm sitting right now. But if I roll in there on Monday and I have to take a Japanese proficiency test off the cuff, that's going to be difficult.

School is killing me with the kindergarten routines. Today we had to draw pictures of rabbits and turtles on construction paper with giant markers. Seriously, the only thing missing from class today is milk, cookies, and nap time. It's weird with all the tests and exams coming down the line that we can't have anything more constructive than an arts and crafts class. It really makes me wonder why I'm even bother to pay tuition at this school and then I remember that the GI Bill is covering almost everything. It's going to be a long drawn out process to get all my out of the system since I still have a little over two years left in it. I'll have to find a decent graduate school but I'm no where near close to knowing what I want to do for that. Guess I'll just have to sleep on it and see what comes to mind.

Day 145(Osaka) : Back on the wagon

I'm back to the blog a few days alter. I took a little hiatus from writing because I was on an extended summer vacation and writing about how I was doing nothing but watching tv was boring the crap out of me. Coming back to school was full of surprises like how there is a NEW strand of flu running around that has already killed 3 people in Japan. The funny thing is they have already started throwing around the word "epidemic" which despite my best efforts scares me. They even put a no holds bar exemption on people who have any signs of the flu, so that they can skip school with no marks against them. The problem is if you skip school you can't stay alone because you might literally die in your sleep from this new strain of the flu... or so they say.

Doom and gloom aside, going back to school was about what I would expect. One homework assignment was collected with a ton of leniency for people who "forgot" or the four students who simply didn't come back to school today. So the difference between me who struggled to get the work done in time and the students who blew it off = 0, nothing, notta, zip, zero, zilch. It's craptastic but what can you do about it. At the very least it should affect their attendance record which puts me for students closer to receiving one of the national scholarships which would give me a legitimate opportunity to attend a graduate school after this is done.

I went out for a few drinks after school but it was fairly lame. There is something about people who weren't in the military not being able to hold their own when it comes to drinking. It's really disappointing too, especially when I get all worked up going out for a night of drinking to have the only other guy cash in after a single beer. How is that too much? Worst part is that I recommended the giant beer for the same price and he specifically turned me down for the smaller half sized beer that he could barely finish. Slash sigh.

Day 138 (Osaka) : The inner geek

I'm really getting into this whole Galactica franchise thing. I spent a little time researching the original works and found that it has everything from comic book lines to original full length movies that go way back to the 70's. It's pretty crazy, even when you consider that they "re-invisioned" the original story, but it still is popular and has relevance. That's the problem with most of the brain numbing shows I get hooked on like Dexter. There is no deeper meaning to pull from the story, no hidden messages or things to be mulled over with your friends.

The formula that is turning prime time television to crap lately is the idea that a show cannot end without a cliff hanger so every episode has to reveal some shocking new twist. Take any of the recent series that have come out like Desperate Housewives, Dexter, Lost, Prison Break, 24, etc. They all thrive on that "find out more, next time" hook. Is there any other context that an audience would be satisfied with that kind of empty conclusion? If you read a newspaper article and it trailed off without making a point or rented a movie that just ended without a resolution, wouldn't it be natural instinct to be disappointed? It kind of boggles my mind that it has become the "in" thing for tv shows.

Oh, yeah. I'm not exactly studying at the present. I'm more in line with the pins and needles guy from PCU, if you can remember what his thesis paper was about.

Day 137 (Osaka) : Laundry encounters

I ran into one of the other tenants at this apartment when I was getting laundry done earlier. The guy was really weirding me out because he kept throwing a fit about me standing there. Even though three of the washers were a few minutes from finishing he felt like I didn't have to be there until after he left. I guess he thought that spending $2 at a coin laundry was the same thing as owning the apartment and being able to tell other people where they can and can't be while he's doing laundry. That really bugs me. If I was in a normal American home I wouldn't have to put up with that kind of crap or have to hang my clothes out so they can come in smelling like fresh sour clothes straight out of the wash.

One of the tv shows had a segment on this tubby guy who plans to run from Kanto to Kansai, some couple thousand kilometers. It's supposed to take him 240 hours of non-stop running but he was talking about running 20 hours a day, like the distance wasn't enough of an accomplishment. I know I'd be happy to make that kind of trek and have it televised even if I only ran sixteen hours a day. I'm curious to see the end because he's not going to be a tubby guy after running twenty hours a day for a week and a half. Still, makes me want to get back into jogging every morning and tracking down marathons but it's rough when most of the sites are only in Japanese.

Day 136 (Osaka) : No season 3?

Somehow I managed to get two copies of season 4 and no disc for season 3 of Battlestar Galactica. I did get to watch the pilot episodes that I over looked before. Now a lot of the flash backs they've been showing through out the first two seasons make a ton more sense. The only real break from the sci-fi marathon was a throw back suspense flick, Anamorph maybe. It seemed really low budget, second string actors and actresses, but some of the crime scenes were pretty high in shock appeal. The ending was pretty disappointing though. The mastermind behind all the serial killings that used all kinds of cool tricks for the first hour just guns the protagonist down. No tricks, no special set up, just pow pow.

I found a home DIY project for making affordable solar curtains. Those things usually run around eighty bucks but you can get the raw materials for about eight. So I ordered two mylar blankets from Amazon and I'm working out the mounting device at one of the crafts shops near Tennoji station. The cool thing about mylar blankets, or space blankets, is that they insulate or deflect over 90% of heat depending on which surface the heat comes into contact with. So if you're freezing on a camping trip, you an use it to conserve body heat or if you're burning up in a desert, you can use it to keep cool. The latter purpose is what I'm going to benefit from by hanging it outside my ceiling to floor patio windows. From morning until night that side of my apartment is a raging inferno from all the sun light that comes through. It'll probably take a few days before the stuff gets here but I'm optimistic.

Day 135 (Osaka) : Season 2 marathon

I've been sticking with what works best and really making the most of my summer vacation by not studying. At this pace I'll be locked into a full week of non-stop catch up work to finish all the assignments and review material before class starts up again on the 20th. On the bright side, I still firmly believe that forgetting something and re-learning it is a big part of making something a natural reflex instead of some kind of forced effort that requires constant focus.

The weather report has been talking about a typhoon lately, but the only affect where I am is a bunch of rain. Usually rain is great because it cools things down and I can enjoy opening my windows and letting in fresh air, but lately it seems like the rain just gets stuck in the air. It never actually cools down, it just gets more humid and stays just as hot so it's pretty miserable trying to sleep without constantly running a fan, the AC, or both. I end up having the same feeling every single year. "Isn't summer over yet?" It feels like it stays hot forever. I never really put much thought in it before, but it seems like I'm more of a winter person. I enjoy being able to move around over long distances comfortably without breaking a sweat and a blanket is a lot cheaper than the small electronic army that it takes to keep an apartment cool in the summer.

Travelocity sent me an automated "friendly" reminder to get things in order for my upcoming travel plans. Their recommendation includes a hotel for about three grand because no one would want to stay with their family in December, right? [sarcasm] Even if it wasn't the season for family gatherings I would still be hard pressed to find any reason worth dropping that much money on hotels to visit Virginia. It's not exactly the "Vegas of the desert". Haha, actually the vegas of the desert isn't exactly the vegas of the desert. That's what one of the NC's on my old ship used to call Bahrain as part of his sales pitch to get people to agree to taking a post there. Good times.

Day 134 (Osaka) : Home sweet home

I'd love to say I did something exciting after coming back to Osaka, but I mostly just settled into a nice vacation from my vacation. All the walking around and spending tons of money really took it's toll so I enjoyed the down time. It's funny, I originally started getting into Gattaca because of a reference they made to the collectors set in The Big Bang Theory but it's actually turning out to be very interesting. I kind of wish I was a bigger fan because the new season kind of jumps in where the old series left off so I'm still a little boggled on some of the plot devices. On the bright side it is one of the few things I've been able to watch in crystal clear high def on my TV. For some reason most of the collection at the movie rental places here are still DVD only so it's hard to come by anything especially HD.

I downloaded a new release from the Sony Store for my PS3. I'll admit that I was suckered in by the fact that it was a Square Enix release from their flagship Final Fantasy franchise. After playing it for a few minutes I realized it was a complete waste of ten bones. It has the graphics of a mid ranged cell phone application and considering the recent popularity in tower defense games as downloadable content across the platforms you would think they were going to redefine the genre. Just look at how well Tactics was received among turn-based strategy enthusiasts. I wouldn't be surprised if "Crystal Defenders" was some how released by a black market company without Square's approval. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, because of one of my all time favorite companies starts to put out garbage what hope is there?

Day 133 (Hiroshima) : The long way home

Thanks to our discounted travel package, all of our plans were a complete mess. We went through a group called "Trapics" with the fancy a with two dots on top so I'm guessing it still sounds like tropics even if it's spelled wrong. They first helped us out by giving us an early morning shinkansen to Hiroshima so we could get there a few minute after 10:00am. That sounds great if you have a normal check-in time, but we had to wait until 3:00pm to check in for some odd reason. The hotel staff let us leave our bags at the front desk but there was no negotiating an early trip to the room.

The hotel totally got my hopes up too because they had a diner on the 3rd floor with all you can eat steak from 5:00pm - 10:00pm, but when we tried to go there they told us the diner had been rented out by some company for a formal dinner. The next hook up for the trip came with our return tickets. Our check out time was 10:00am, negotionable at 25% the room fee but that's crazy expensive for a few hours. To make that even better, our shinkansen back left the station at 7:51pm. We ended up going back to the station, then to a mall, watching Harry Potter, eating dinner, walking around the station, and killing time in general for about nine hours. Getting home felt great and it was funny to really get that feeling when the people at the train station started speaking with an Osaka-ben dialect. I've only been here a few months, but it's really grown on me.

Day 132 (Hiroshima) : Shukkeien Park and Nantoka Jima

I'm finally getting around to updating my blog, not for lack of trying on my part. I've read articles on laptop reviews and battery performance but experiencing it first hand really drives the point home. The basic boot up process required to get through the initial log in screen consumes about 8~10% of my battery power. Using my lap top on the go is a lot like one of those stingy calling cards that uses half your points every time you even attempt to dial a number. I was able to operate on battery in lower power consumption mode for a little under two hours, which barely got me through the first night of vacation.

Now that I'm back in Osaka and plugged in, I can finally get my pictures up loaded and get some of the trip down. After seeing the Peace Memorial on Thursday there really wasn't a lot left to see in Hiroshima. They had a manga library somewhere and a naval museum but the only way to get around the city was to take taxi's or their trolley cars, which were like really small and inconvenient trains in the middle of the street. In hindsight, I should have taken a picture of the trolley platforms to explain how bad they actually were. You have to stand on a two or three foot wide platform int he middle of a four lane street where there is no shade and cars driving past giving you a nice mix of heat and fumes. It was very not cool.

The first place we went on Friday was Shukkeien Park. It looks pretty much like every other park that I've been to before but I realize that going in the middle of summer isn't a good idea. You don't get the scenic view of blossoms that you can see in spring, the changing of the leaves you can see in fall, or the snow covered view that they show off in the little park brochure. Nope, going in the middle of summer rewards you with crazy heat and tons of bugs. I think I got ninety percent of my bug bites this year from the hour or so I spent walking around that park. I did take some decent pictures though, so it wasn't a total loss.

This small hut is where tea ceremonies would be held. I'm not really sure if they still use it or if it's just part of the park now.



Typical lake for a Japanese style park. Lots of rocks, trees, and small bridges here and there. Part of the appeal of Japanese gardens and parks is that they attempt to recreate nature in a smaller scale. So most parks will have lakes, artificial creeks, forests, hills, and even rock cliffs on occasion.


Picture some Japanese couple took of us at the park. Kind of wish the camera bag wasn't in the frame...

After getting our fill for walking around the park we hopped onto the world's longest trolley (exaggeration) to travel down to Miya Jima where they have a famous shrine only a short ferry ride from the main land. For me, the coolest attraction were all the "wild" domestic deers they have around this place. It's crazy, there are almost as many deer as their are people but they are more or less oblivious to the people walking around them because I guess they're just that used to it. the brochures all say, "Beware of the wild deers, they may eat paper and clothes so keep your souvenirs safe."



I should have taken some videos of the deers so that people wouldn't think it's some kind of deer museum with stuffed deer all over. I do have a few shots in a row of three deer chasing a guy with food that looks pretty cool but I haven't figured out how to string them together so that it looks animated.

I was going to take some cool pictures of this deer sleeping, but it started moving around after the first picture. Before you wonder, I didn't use flash. I never use flash when taking pictures of animals because I don't want to try to re-enact my own episode of "When animals attack!"


This tori gate is one of the land marks of the island. What was unique about the day we went there is how low the tide was, because normally the water is near the middle of the gate. I was disappointed because the whole shrine would have looked something like an oriental Venice if the tide was in.



For example, this shot should have had a lot more water in it and a lot less bare sand. Ah well, it was too blazing hot so I skipped out on waiting for the tide. I originally planned on climbing the mountain and hanging out for a sunset photo op, but the tourist map says the ascent takes two hours or more depending on your pace.

Day 131 (Hiroshima) : Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony

Today is the anniversary of the first atomic bombing in history that fell over Hiroshima August 6th, 1945. I missed the ceremony because it is held at 8:15am the time the bomb was recorded as going off over the city. I took a few pictures that I will post later but for the most part I refrained from being the stereotypical tourist, mostly because there were already thousands out there snapping pictures of prayer offerings and people paying their respects like it was some kind of feature at Universal Studios. There was a huge turn out of people from all over the world, so it hardly felt like I was in Japan.

The Peace Memorial Museum was something that you have to see for yourself. I was surprised because all of my college level courses in Asian studies repeatedly painted Japan as being stuck in some kind of denial phase of the role they played in aggressions throughout the Asian Pacific. The description in the museum went to great detail in describing Japan's role in occupying Korea and invading China. While it didn't use the word "rape" it did clearly refer to Nanking as a massacre, which I would like to shove in some of my old professors' faces after all the things they "taught" to students state side.

At night they had the tourounagashi tradition where people write their wishes for world peace or lost loved ones on paper that is hooked around a wooden float with a candle. Thousands of the floats are put in the river and the site at night is very moving. My memory is fuzzy, but I'm thinking they did the same thing at some point in the Karate Kid. I will be attaching pictures after I get back to Osaka in a few days. I managed to forget my charge kit for my laptop and for some reason the battery started off at 90% even though it is always plugged in when I'm at home. I'll probably have juts enough to write my blog tonight and tomorrow before it dies but I can always post from my phone in a pinch.

-- Updated Pictures --
These are the floats for the tourounagashi thing, each one has a wish written on all four sides and a candle in the center. The view is much better when it's dark but it didn't seem to be getting dark soon enough for me.

I think it's hard to tell from the picture but this is like a million swans for that belief that you can have a wish come true if you fold a thousand swans. They set up stands and visitors can fold as many as they want, so after a few tens of thousands of visitors walk through you start to see these everywhere.


This is a difficult shot to explain, but it's part of the Peace Memorial. There is actually a huge distance between me, the flame in th emiddle, and the arch way off in the distance. All of which are famous parts of the memorial park.

Day 130 (Osaka) : Road trippin

I made it through another kanji list, and even got a little review through the first book done today. Most of the day I've just been watching cheesy Japanese game shows. All of the packing and preparation for the trip has been taking care of, so we'll be ready to go out early in the morning. It's going to be a little sketchy when we get to the business hotel because we're not allowed to check in before three, but if the train is anywhere near schedule we'll be there like three hours early. There shouldn't be any problem dropping our stuff off and checking in later, but I'm not completely sure that will be cool with their front desk until I get there.

Other than that, it has been more of the same. I ran through the first season of Gattaca, mostly because of the reference they made to it in The Big Bang Theory. I'm kind of stuck waiting until I can borrow a copy of the second and third seasons though. It isn't so bad since I picked up somewhere in the 2nd season to start with so I don't feel all that much suspense from the season finale cliff hanger. I'll be out for the next few days in Hiroshima so I may make a few mobile posts or just use my laptop at night when I'm back in my room. I'll be back in Osaka by the 8th so I won't spend too much time on the dark side of the moon.

Day 129 (Osaka) : Coco's and Sci Fi goodness

Today was pretty much the same with the added bonus of having an order of Coco's but I was kind of disappointed. The cutlets tasted like they had been drying out in their oven for a few days before they actually decided to serve it. Yuko is helping me work out some of the Hiroshima plans with a travel magazine she picked up for the trip. There are actually a lot more things to see there than I had though and not all of them are related to the atomic dome land mark. I think we'll take turns bring cameras because hers is lighter and mine is better for capturing the scenery.

I made it through today's kanji list but the review is crazy hard. It was much easier with the teachers spending two hours explaining the different reading and examples for each kanji we covered. I guess I'll know how well I'm doing when I hit my practice test on Thursday. Reviewing the old kanji from the first book is really rough though and I haven't even looked at the grammar or summer assignments the teachers gave out. I'll probably save those until after I finish the trip though. I need the time off to get back in the flow of things because lately I'm hitting the wall where it's considerably more difficult to learn. A good break my help to level that out and even out the learning curve a bit. When I was the EPO I used to tell kids that they had to follow the four R's to learn anything. Read, write, rest, and remember. Yeah, technically write doesn't start with an R but who cares? The main point is that it takes time to forget something before you can learn it in a natural meaningful way.

Day 128 (Osaka) : Home skooling

I managed to make it through the Monday's kanji list and make a few runs through the Declan software that I haven't used in forever. It's actually incredibly helpful to use the application because I've been practicing the kanji through rote memorization only. Meaning I can write them and occasional I can recognize them, but I don't have a clear understanding of their reading or the different meanings they have. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense if you haven't studied an Asian language but if you've ever played around with learning kanji you should know how much of a mess it is trying to memorize everything.

I picked up the first two seasons of Battlestar Galactica, the newer series that they released not the old one. I kind of liked it when Justin introduced me to it back in the day but I dropped in somewhere around the middle of Season 2 and never really got caught up on what the deuce was going on. It's pretty cool just to sit back and do a movie marathon but I feel like I could have gotten a lot more studying done if I watched less tv. Hmm, how to work around that. I guess I could go back to watching Japanese tv and dramas so I can get the listening practice. That would count a little bit in my book.

Day 127 (Osaka) : The next day

After having such a great time drinking, doing the BBQ, and watching the fireworks just relaxing at home on Sunday was really lame. I slept for most of the morning since Toyoji's dad dropped me off a little after one anyway. Other than that there really isn't much else to blog about. I went out for a few drinks with one of my classmates but I ended up back at home less than three hours after I left so it was hardly even an outing. I'm still enjoying the first couple of days of vacation before I start my study routine during the week. I figure if I pretend like I'm still in school and study during the week then I can enjoy the weekends more.

I'm need to find a good series or something to get into, something that I can watch for a few weeks to fill the gaps between studying and ... well studying. I feel like that guy who reached the end of the internet and got the message that said, "There's nothing left to see." Sure, it was a commercial but you get the idea. For now I'm going to check out some old sci-fi stuff since I've been on a sitcom binge lately.

Day 126 (Osaka) : BBQ and PL Fireworks

The PL fireworks was a perfect way to start the summer vacation. It also helped that I was going to a BBQ hosted by a super rich family. They really went all out with the food, showing us around the fireworks, and when the trains stopped running they even drove us the hour or so back to our places. It wasn't bad for me because I think Tennoji is close but after leaving me they had to drive out to Oji to take my classmates back to their dorm. There is a lot to say about Japanese hospitality but I wouldn't even be able to do it justice if I tried to explain it. It's one of those things you have to experience first hand to really have an appreciation for it.

When we first showed up Toyoji's father and sister were still out. Since he didn't get an international license in Canada his mother came to the station to pick us up. When we got back to their four million dollar home they offered us all kinds of fresh fruit, like these delicious giant grapes that I've never seen before. We had fresh tomatoes, edamame, grapes, sliced pears, and some Canadian maple cookies just as the appetizer while we were waiting for everyone to show up. I wish I had caught more names but there were tons of people. The only names that really stuck for me were Toyoji's father, Toshio, and his sister's friend's boyfriend, Jinbei.



Their house had a traditional Japanese style yard with trees and bushes, but no real room to have a BBQ. So we ended up setting up the BBQ area on top of their new garage addition that they just built this year. Climbing a later to get to the top was kind of ghetto, but it was pimped out like any other patio once you got on top. There was plenty of room for everyone and if we had been any closer we would have been able to see the fireworks without even leaving the roof.

The ladies from left to right are Toyohi's sister, sister's friend, and my two class mates Erica and Julie.




This is some kind of party game called "Sushi Jyan", not sure what that means. But you cover the plate with a plastic mat and pull out 7 pieces of sushi. Then it's kind of like go fish where you try to fill out one of the orders on the menu. It was pretty fun to play with everyone so I might get one for my place. Who knows, might actually want to play it since shogi doesn't seem to be popular at all.