I haven’t written in a little while, so I thought I’d catch up. Nick and Brian got to Japan last Thursday, so it’s been pretty sweet going around the area and hanging out. They’re both crashing at my “mansion,” which is pretty small, but there’s enough room for us all to sleep on the floor with a comfortable amount of space in between each other. For their first meal, Seth and I of course took them to Bikkuri Ramen for some cheap gyoza and ramen. Seth took all of us to Mr. Donuts so that he could get the special prize glass.

Saturday and Sunday, I went with the IES group(s) to Mt. Fuji and Hakone for a day trip. It was short, but a very very fun trip. It was cloudy so we didn’t get to see Fuji very well, but the hotel was right on lake Kawaguchi and was awesome. On the way (via bus), we stopped by Erinji temple, a winery, and did some peach picking. Japanese peaches are super huge, watery, and mega sweet. Good eating.

At Fuji, it was a bit like the Nagano trip last year, just it was only 1 night long. I think the summer kids and spring kids kind of met each other, but for the most part the groups were pretty segmented. I roomed with Seth and Ari, and we were hanging out with a lot of random people. I finally met the kid named Andy, and all that can be said about that guy is that he is sweet. On the way back home, we took the bus halfway up Mt. Fuji (to what is called the 5th station). While it is nice to be able to say that I was halfway up the mountain, I was definitely not impressed. Not only was it cloudy so we couldn’t see the top, but the stop was pretty much just a tourist trap with like 5 big souvenir shops. Also a bunch of foreigners were there, in particular a bunch of Brazilian or something old guys. We also stopped at a place famous for its springs (comes from the melted snow on top of Fuji) and there was an awesome noodle shop behind a public bathroom. Shin-san recommended it and it was very good and very cheap.

Speaking of Shin-san, he didn’t get to eat at the noodle place because of certain situations. I’m not going to go into that much detail since I’m pretty sure a few summer IES kids have stumbled on this blog. However, kids, I will say this: if you’re not able to take care of yourself, it’s not a good idea to leave home, let alone the country. Don’t bring your problems on other people, especially when they have better things to do like eat cheap and good noodles.

Right now it’s the very end of Tuesday, and I’m getting ready to go to bed. Today after sending about a million faxes at IES as part of my intern duties, I headed to Ikebukuro to meet up with Brian and Nick. We went to Namja Town, the greatest place on Earth. It’s pretty much like a giant food court fused with an amusement part. As far as food goes, there are three main “zones:” Gyoza Stadium, Ice Cream City, and the Cream Puff Town. Gyoza Stadium was as awesome as the stories I heard all last semester from everyone. It’s pretty much an indoor village with a bunch of the top gyoza shops. We tried about 3, an the Okinawa gyoza place was definitely the best. Turkish pulled ice cream was good in Ice Cream City, and to cover all the zones, I got a chocolate cream puff also. We spent a lot of money, but it was a worthwhile experience. I could eat gyoza all day long.

On a side note, I’ve realized that a lot of my blog entries don’t make a lot of sense, or it’s just random stuff. I think that although I realize that other people are going to read this page, it’s also a good way for me to track what I’ve been doing. In a few years I can look back on what I’ve written and see what kind of stupid stuff I’ve done in my life. So basically, if you don’t like my blog, that’s too bad, I like it. If you do like it, or something, then leave me comments.