I just don't get the rail system...

Hey guys! I've been back in the states for about a week, and am doing the standard summer preparations- job hunting, grad school picking, etc. But that's not actually what I'm here to talk about. I don't know how many people read this journal, but I wanted to take a moment and spread the work about the threat to network neutrality.

What is network neutrality? It's basically a law insuring that internet service providers have to grant the same access to any and all websites. It means that people have the same opportunity to access huge websites like AOL, and unheard of website like...well, our blogs. Network Neutrality gives you the right to access whatever websites you want to access.

Huge companies like AOL and Verizon are trying to change that. The Internet is in some serious trouble here. Things are being set in motion that would allow your internet service provider to slow down loading times of internet sites as they saw fit, or block sites off altogether. It's already happened. According to savetheinternet.com, "In April, Time Warner's AOL blocked all emails that mentioned www.dearaol.com — an advocacy campaign opposing the company's pay-to-send e-mail scheme."

I could go on and on about the possible repercussions (death for small businesses, utter abandonment of right to free speech) of the loss of internet neutrality, but this website does a much better job of it:

http://www.savetheinternet.com/

Please take a look, and find out how your local representative voted (for most of you Philly kids, it's Rep. Pitts). If they voted against, let them know you disagree. If they voted in favor, send them your kudos. The Bill is still in committee, so it's not too late to turn this around.

I have NO IDEA what to write. 24 hours from now, I will have been on a 747 for an extended period of time, and it'll feel like I was never in Japan in the first place. I'm all packed, my room is pretty barren, save the odds and ends we're leaving behind for the next roommates. I've got a long book for the plane ride, and said my goodbyes.

There's so much I feel that I didn't write about: pan rice (inside joke), brown water hotsprings, kamakura...I forgot just how many amazing things I've done here until I was packing up and going through ticket stubs and the like. Wow...

I wish I could write more, but I was never really good at conclusions. I'll update this thing a few more times- pictures I want to show off, post-flight anecdotes, etc. But this is my last post from Japan.

Thanks to all my tuj buds for hanging out with this awkward little irish gal. Thanks to Mom and John for making it possible for me to come and live here in the first place, and thanks to the rest of my family and friends for all the words of encouragement. And thanks to all the drunk salarymen for only groping me that one time.

Wish me a safe flight!

This is why language teachers can tell if you are doing your own translation, or using online translators like bablefish. In the English to Japanese function of bablefish:

"Pardon me, do you know where I can get some illegal drugs, and perhaps some hookers?"

Translates to:

"私がある違法薬剤を得ることができる多分あるhookers 知りどこで許し私、か"

Which translates back into english:

"Certain hookers which can obtain the illegal medicine which has me you know perhaps and permit somewhere me?"

Let's try another!

"In a fight between Superman and Batman, Chuck Norris would intervene, kill them both, then take Lois Lane and Selena Kyle out for a nice steak dinner."

"スーパーマンとバットマン間の戦いでは、素晴らしいステーキの夕食のためにLois の車線及びSelena Kyle を取るためにチャックNorris は介入したり、それらを両方、そして殺す。"

"Between the superman and the bat man swaying, chuck Norris intervenes the lane of Lois and in order to take Selena Kyle because of dinner of the splendid stake, both, and kills those."

Honestly, the above sentence would make more sense than Infinite Crises right about now.

So I check my e-mail, and waiting for me at the top of my inbox is this little memo:

"Don't Miss Larry the Cable Guy"

No thanks, Ticketmaster. No thanks.

Also, Mina and I studied for about 3 1/2-4 hours for the Japanese test today, like the bunch of nerds we are. The teacher gave us all of the questions she might ask in advance, so we'll rock it pretty hard (like Mary rocks Takeshi, oh snap). Chuck Norris no yooni jiyozu ni naguremasu. That's probably conjugated wrong, but that doesn't make me any less of a man.

So, I just got back from the parasite museum.

NEVER AGAIN.

Man, I'm not gonna be able to eat spaghetti for another couple of years.

On an unrelated note, I did quite solid on the Metro Tokyo final. One more paper and three more exams to go.

Last day of classes...wigga what now? I'll be home in less than two weeks. Kind of torn about that...it's time for me to go home, I'm ready to go home, but I'll miss Japan. My wallet won't miss Japan though good lawd. Eh, regardless of my feelings on the matter, my plane's U.S. bound on April 21st. Finals aren't looking like they'll be so bad this semester. Two papers aside, it's two essay tests (which I own at), and a listening comprehension and oral exam (which Mina and I are going to practice for daily). So, yeah, we'll see how all that goes. I seriously have nothing of value to say right now, other than I am seriously tired and could use a nappy-nap.

( So, have some random pictures! )

Soooooo sleepy. Yesterday was pretty awesome though. Rachel, Sarah, Taylor and I went to this hotspring about 50 minutes outside of Tokyo. It had 7-8 different springs, most of which were comprised of this brown sulfuric water that's supposed to be really good for your skin. It was outdoors, and extremely relaxing. A trip back during a study day is in the works.

Once we got back to TUJ house, it was girls' night! In attendance was everyone who went to the hot springs, plus the Catherines, Mina, Smalls, and Mark (who was nice enough to host us all). We watched movies and painted nails- it was the girliest thing ever. Rachel and I had a really nice conversation later on that night, then those of us still awake chatted in the common room for awhile. I got to bed pretty late, and I think a nap is sorely in order.

Things I have to do this weekend:

1. Go to Yasakuni shrine to take pictures for my paper (I was going to do that today, but it's raining out and I'm a bit too tired as it is)
2. Finish the paper for my japanese culture class (I already have 4 pages done, it's just a matter of editing)
3. Type up and send in the corrected Japanese skit (Mina- I need your help with that, my computer isn't set to Japanese text)
4. Finish the Japanese take home final
5. Hopefully knock out 3-4 pages of the Metro Tokyo paper, so I can go guilt-free to the hotsprings on Wednesday.
6. Try and type up some articles for the Paper

So, pretty busy, but manageable. And remember kids:



Indeed.

Aw yeah. I'm done with the rough draft of the paper for murai's class- it went really well, four pages in two hours. I'm writing about p.o.v. stuff, so it's right up my alley. Papers write quick you have something to say. It's mostly rambling, but there's some very concrete ideas in there that I can turn into an "A" paper. Hopefully I can finish that up tomorrow, and knock out about half of the metro tokyo paper this weekend. Might be tricky because I have a bunch of Japanese to do too. My Japanese hasn't improved as much as I hoped it would, but my pronunciation has become a lot smoother. I still have an accent, but I'm not walking around saying "Wataaaashi waaa Molly deeeesueee." This summer I'm going to have study like one of Socrates's university boy toys to get caught up with the rest of the kids in my level.

Also, I don't think I posted any pics from the bandai museum. Oh man. I have to go to sleep, but here is a small taste of what is pretty much the greatest place on earth.



Just a gal and her gundam, hanging out. LONG LIVE CHAR.



The future is nigh!

So the penis festival was...well, I'm going to take a note out of Rachel's book, and let this picture speak for itself:



I hope I'm not pregnant. I heard you can get pregnant through ornate wooden ceremonial shafts.

So, couple the penis festival with the cherry blossoms, and I had one heck of a weekend. Unfortunately, I am now drowning in schoolwork, as it is finals time at TUJ. I'll be fine if I take it one assignment at a time and don't think about how much work that amounts to. Meh, se la vie' (I am almost positive that's Japanese. Absolutely.)

So, last night was ten kinds of fun. Maybe twenty, I don't even know, I lost count. It's cherry blossom time, when all of the sakura trees in Japan come out in full bloom. They are only in full bloom for about a week and a half, so everyone goes out to see them. Corporations send out their youngest employees days in advance to mark off spots, and then when the evening rolls around, they hold huge company parties underneath the trees. It's not just corporations. Families go, and so do school groups (they often have kids camp out to get good spaces). A lot of the marked off spaces were veritable cardboard banquet halls. They taped together boxes and tarps to make long banquet tables, brought portable electricity generators to provide light and cooking appliances, and had huge platters of food delivered to that park. Cardboard pimpery at its finest.

Around 5, most of the usual suspects and I headed out towards Ueno. Ueno Park is like the sakura Mecca. There are hundreds of sakura trees that line the main street. We strolled around for a bit, and then went to get some dinner. We were walking around looking for a reasonably priced place to chow, and someone in our group was like "Holy crap! There's a Friday’s!"

Now, I genuinely enjoy trying new food. A vastly improved diet has been one of the unexpected benefits of my time in Japan. But sometimes, you want a stereotypical, artery clogging bacon cheeseburger. The restaurant was so surreal- it was exactly like being home, minus Ueno Park in the background. There’s probably a whole damn dissertation on the fact that I felt at home in globalized restaurant chain, but that’s for another time. The menus were in English, so I didn't have to spend 5 minutes sounding out the katakana. My katana skills are a joke. I had a cheeseburger platter, and potato skins! The soda also had free refills. This may not sound like a big deal to you spoiled people back in the states, but you've gotta understand that in Japan, soda is often the same price as an alcoholic drink, and rarely has free refills. You have to keep an eye on how much you drink, which I'm still not at all used to. I had 3-4 cups, easy...don't judge me :p

After that, we went to Ueno and bunkered down for an hour or so. There were no spots on the main walkway, so we set up base camp on some temple steps. There was chatting, drinking, singing, an all around good time. Everyone in the park was feeling really good natured- it was one giant party. People kept coming up to us and giving us drinks and food and hand warmers. Did I mention that I love Japanese people?

After that, we hit up Karaoke for about an hour, then headed back to TUJ house. Nang and Vicki were watching Office Space in the common room, and were nice enough to let us join. That movie always cracks me up- and puts the fear of god in me to stay the hell away from IT-related work.

Today is going to be pretty tame. I have a ton of homework to catch up on, and some laundry to do. Tomorrow is the Penis Festival! I don't remember the Japanese name for it, but it's a virility/fertility festival up in Yokohama. While I certainly don't need any fertility in the foreseeable future (you hear that, Danielle!), it should be a fun time nonetheless.

PS: As of today, I only have 20 days left in Japan. When did that happen?

Let it be known that cramming a month's worth of activities into one week wears a gal OUT. I slept the whole weekend away. I'm sleepy, and quite broke, but it was a great week, and it was good to see bubba (haha, I'm allowed to call him that and you aren't).

So like I said, this weekend was hella tame. Wrote some postcards, did some studying, etc. School is going really well- I got three papers back this week and got A's on all of them. One of my professors encouraged me to turn a short pastiche I did into a skit for TUJ orientation, and another one (British Paul) said I should post the paper I wrote for his class online or something. I'm a bit hesitant to do that- the paper was about the treatment of Women in Comics and online comic fans can be ten kinds of crazy. Still, it's definitely something to think about for grad school.

Ack, Grad school. I'm graduating next year. That is so very far from sinking in, even as I start to plan internships. I gotta decide what I want to do with myself. Sometimes I think I'd like to take a year and do the JET program, but only if I can get my loans deferred. Otherwise, heeeeeell no. I am not trying to couple the cost of living in Japan with student loan payback. I'm also excited to think about grad school- Emerson has a great publishing program, but I also might want to go to a school that would let me keep up with the research about comics- there's definitely a good book in their somewhere, if I have that kind of stamina. Dr. Molly? Who knows. I just see so many different paths that I could take with my education, and it's utterly unreal that the time has come to narrow those paths down a bit.

Something that's sinking in quite quickly is the fact that I'm leaving in less than a month. My time in Japan has been amazing- I've met some really cool kids, had amazing experiences, and gained more confidence in myself. Anyone who knew me in high school/freshman year knew that I used to have some real self-confidence issues. But I've really come out of my shell, even though I still get a bit reserved more often than I'd like. But overall, I rather like who I am, and it took some time (and some really good friends- they know who they are) to get to that point. Even so, the trip here has been a much needed confidence booster, because I took myself so far outside of my comfort zone. I probably won't realize how much I've changed until I'm back in old surroundings.

While I'll be sad to leave Japan, I'm also excited to get back to Philly. Well, Lancaster, then Philly, but let's leave the semantics out. I'm lining up some internships, looking to get more involved in some non-temple extracurriculars, and starting a new chapter of my life. It's turning out to be a damn anthology

Heh, as several friends and relatives have pointed out, it's been a long while since I updated this thing!

( So what the bejesus has Molly been up to? )

So, tomorrow, I have to interview a professor here at the university for this group project on propaganda comics. It's a group project, but so far I've wound up doing most of the work. Lame. It's not that I'm being taken advantage of, it's that only two people in our group are native english speakers, and I'm the one who volunteered to write to the guy. My schedule happens to sink up with his. But I haven't heard back from from the other native speaker in the group, to see if he's going to show up for the interview. I hope he doesn't turn out to be a flake. If so, it's not too late regroup. I'm not letting other kids ride on the back of my hard work. Had enough of that in middle school, thanks so much.

Anyway, I've never done an interview for an academic paper before. I'm a bit nervous, especially since I am not really familar with this particular professor's body of work. I've read a little from his book, but I don't know if he's the kind of guy that references himself all the time. "Well, as I laid out in my book..." Here's hoping not. The stuff I am asking him about isn't what was covered in his book, so I may avoid that pitfall. We'll see!

Journals. They are wonderful volumes of blank, bound paper pages. In them, you write whatever strikes your fancy. Fiction, art, gossip...sky's the limit. Do Japanese people not get the urge to write? Seriously. I've been on the lookout for a good journal for awhile now, and nothing has come up. Sarah, Mina, and I walked all around Shibuya today, and didn't find squat. Not even in Tokyo hands. They had a few blank notebooks, but I have no desire to remember my time in japan via a mickey mouse notebook. Sorry Mickey, it ain't happening. That goes for you too, Chip 'n Dale.

There are seriously no book stores in Shibuya. The clothing and makeup shops are exponentially proportional to the book shops. And the 109 is rich hoe central. Aside from the lack of journal, it was pretty fun. Got some crepes, and what I think was a job offer at a strip club. Maybe I can pick up a journal in Hakone, who knows.

Score! Road to Tenjiku is on. Is it wrong that I have a thing for Son Goku?

So, if you're ever in Tokyo, go to the MOT. It's the Museum of Contemporary Art...of Tokyo? I guess that's where they pull the abbreviation from. Anyway, I saw an exhibit where contemporary Japanese artists take traditional Japanese painting methods, and use them to create their own vision. The paintings ranged from political to traditional, from thought provoking to breathtaking. If you happen to be in and around the area, I highly recommend a visit.

I also went to the Crafts Museum. There's a fancier title to it than that, but it gets the message across. It is a museum dedicated to both older Japanese craftwork (pottery, fabrics, etc), and a revival of the medium. There are some very old works there, and some more modern stuff. It was a fairly small museum, but pretty interesting.

On a less highbrow note, there were tons of sales downtown today! First, at the grocery store, where many frozen foods were half off! Food in Tokyo can get very costly, so I stocked up. I got tons of rice balls, glazed chicken, and teriyaki beef for under twenty dollars! On our way back, we passed a street vendor who was selling various (junky) odds and ends. I wasn't interested in any of this gentleman’s stock, until my eyes happened upon, hanging modestly to side of the set-up, the most glorious purse ever crafted by the hand of man. More accurately, the most glorious purse-type apparatus, but let us not waste time on verbal semantics. It is a purse, shaped like a giant high-top sneaker. A Chuck Taylor, minus the label, and covered in white stars. How much was this veritable feat of footwear (foot of featware?), you ask? Three dollars!

Love.

I also got, for a mere 100yen ($1), the ugliest thing I have ever seen in my life. It is a tiny wooden pig. The carving is well done, actually. The pig's maker just decreed that this wooden mammal would be uglier than sin. Thing is, he is so ugly that he's cute. So ugly that the very idea of ugliness takes form and flips itself around. I named him Wilbur. A simple name for a simply ugly pig.

About a week ago, during a 4-day weekend, I went on a trip organized by the Ski club to the Nagano area of Japan. Mountains galore, galore I say!

( How I spent my winter vacation, in picture-heavy format )

Well, I survived midterms. Now it's onto the term papers. Such is life! I came through relatively unscathed, and got the highest grade in the class on my metro Tokyo midterm. I got back a little while ago from a very fun, yet very exhausting day.

It started with a 9 a.m. field trip. The trip itself was thoroughly 'meh'. The professor covered too many landmarks in too short a period, gave some rather incorrect information, and got mad at me for eating a banana. No, really. When this guy gives a field trip (mandatory attendance on a gorram Saturday morning), he stops at really cool spots for about a minute, and then it's time to jet. It's like turning on a really good movie, say lord of the rings, and turning it off before you even get to see a stinkin' hobbit.

But after the trip disbanded, Michi took my friend Josh and I back to some of the landmarks we went to before, and we got to really look around. Most notably, we went to Sensoji Temple. It's a really popular temple for tourists, because all along the outside are famous Japanese sweet shops. I got some freshly made rice crackers ^^

Unfortunately, my batteries died, so I got no pictures. However, I'll probably go back to the temple to buy souvenirs before I go back, so I shall supply some pictures then.

After the shopping, I went back to Michi's house for dinner! She invited me and Catherine several weeks ago, and I've really been looking forward to it. Michi is just about the nicest girl ever. She's one of the only Japanese students to walk right up and introduce herself (most are really shy, it's on the new kid to make the first move), and we became friends really quickly. Now I can see how she turned out to be such a lovely girl, her parents are wonderful people! They gave Catherine and I cute little hanamatsuri candies (hanamatsuri is the girl's festival. It celebrates...er, girls! Yay girls!), and they really liked the snack crackers we brought them from Nagano. The food was amazing (huzzah for home cooking!), and between broken English and Japanese (save Michi, who is fluent in both), we had a really nice conversation.

Michi, her mother, me, and Catherine:



Michi's parents, me, and Catherine:



Sorry for the red-eye of doom, but I lack le photo editing software! I still have tons of pictures to post, especially of the ski trip, but it is 11:13pm over here, and I need to hit the hay. After I find some hay...that could be problematic.

I'm alive, I'm alive! I got back from a 4-day trip to the Nagano Mountains a few hours ago. It was rainy, but then clear and breathtaking. I've never seen such gorgeous landscape in all my life. I took plenty of pictures, got plenty of bruises, and promise to post more about the trip in a few days. However, the next 72-hours promise to be a rather stress inducing cornucopia of midterm madness. It will be study, stress, study some more, and hopefully sleep somewhere in the process. Such is college. Wish me luck!

( The best times come from losing your map. Picture heavy! )

Earlier today, I got into a bit of a debate regarding the word "gaijin". I called it a racial slur, with the reasoning that a person is singled out as a gaijin because they are not of the Japanese race.

Other people argued that it isn't an inherently insulting word, just a description, and that it only holds negative connotations when said in a purposefully negative manner. To say I disagree would be a rather massive understatement.

I know what my experience here is with the word "gaijin". It's been extremely negative, to the point that someone using 'gaijin' in casual conversation bothers me, if only because other people accept it too readily. It’s different when joking around with my friends, but to be causally referred to (or pointed out) as gaijin bothers me.

But I've only been here a month and a half. I could just have had a run of bad luck. To the any non-native that is living or has lived in Japan, could you share some of your thoughts and experiences? Is 'gaijin' inherently offensive? Does it being used as a casual descriptor bother you? Why or why not?