All connotations aside, this post is late because last night I had work and stuff to do and it was getting too late to write a post.  Despite having to wake up at 6, I had about 2 1/2 hours in which I didn’t have to do anything, so I finished my book (so good).

I got to Imadegawa with time to spare and talked to people.  But then everybody started whipping out their phones and I felt thoroughly left out.  Cell phone companies, or at least Softbank, the company everyone is getting their phones from, has a policy where you can’t get a prepaid phone (the best option for people not in Japan long enough for a contract) if you’re under 20 (which I am) unless you have a guardian with you. So I have to get a phone with a host parent present.

First class was Japanese review, after which a bunch of us went over to the Shinmachi campus of Doshisha, which is a short walk away.  The Shinmachi campus has a better cafeteria and none of us had tried it yet.  While there, one of our group started talking to some Japanese people, and we all introduced ourselves, but the guy from our group was the only one doing any real talking.  The rest of us kind of watched in amused silence.

After lunch I had another two hour period in which I had nothing to do.  It wasn’t enough time to go and explore and see touristy things, so I tried to get some work done.  After nearly falling asleep several times at the computer, I realized that I was not being productive in the least, and in my experience the best thing to do when you’re unable to do work, is to have fun, because if you’re incapable of doing solid work, there’s no point in wasting that time.

I went back to the student lounge and tried to figure out a way to get down to Osaka to see a pillows concert.  To my dismay I discovered that it’s on a Thursday evening, so getting all the way down to Osaka to see a concert on a school night poses some problems.  I might still try and do it, but I’ll have to see if there’s a relatively quick way of getting from Kyoto Station down to Osaka.

After struggling with that for a while, I quit, because the internet in the student lounge suuuuucks.  I wandered over to the bookshelf and started talking with some people.  I grabbed a Carl Hiaasen novel, but didn’t really read any of it, preferring to talk to people instead.  That’s when a friend of mine discovered an awesome book.  It was a book of Japanese slang.  Immediately interested, I waggled my arms at the book and made begging noises, to be rewarded with the book in question.

There were two great things about this book: 1) more than half the terms in it were related to sex.  There were like, four different words for vagina, a couple for penis, there were some that described various sexual acts, etc.  2) the examples for these entries were fantastically funny, because they were things that you would never think could come from the mouth of a native Japanese speaker.  I don’t know.  Regardless, the book was hilarious, and I really want my own personal copy.

The last class of the day was “Kyoto and the Visual Arts of Japan.”  While the professor has something of a monotone voice, I’m looking forward to this class because we’re making a bunch of field trips, some of which look really cool.  For instance, tomorrow we’re going down to Nara, admittedly to see a museum, but still, pretty cool right?

After Visual Arts, a friend and I decided to go find some hundred yen shops, since I had not found any as of yet.  We followed directions that our teacher gave us and we found two.  Hundred yen shops are…not as cool as I thought they would be.  Most of what you can find in hundred yen shops are household items that don’t really hold much interest for me.  For instance there’s toiletries, bath supplies, cooking implements, and other random things you might need at home.  All in all the hundred yen shops were ok, but kinda boring.

However, we did find a couple bookstores on our adventure and I caved and bought a couple volumes of Yotsuba, figuring that the language was probably simple enough that I could understand at least some of it.  After the last bookstore I headed home.  I still think people are looking at me on the trains.  Maybe it’s my long hair, maybe it’s my anime messenger bag, maybe it’s because I’m a tall gaijin wit a beard, maybe it’s my pink DSi, I don’t know.

I got home, ate dinner, and excused myself to do some work.  I really do my best work at night, because despite the long day I’d had (about 14 hours at that point) I was able to get through the readings pretty easily.

I’m getting more and more used to ofuro, and as the weather gets cooler, but not cold, I’m loving them more and more.  There’s just something about them that’s so nice.  Maybe I’m just being a Japanophile.  Yup, that’s probably it.

With that, I’m getting ready to depart.  I have a few hours before classes start, but I was thinking of exploring.

-Shimon