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餃子天国

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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.

Another sad goodbye

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Just got back from Gyotoku. Took Kanako there for my last Ramen and Gyoza set from Bikkuri. I don’t know what was sadder: saying goodbye to the restaurant or to Kanako. Oh who am I kidding; it was Bikkuri Ramen. I’ll miss their 189 yen ramen or gyoza.

Oh, and in other news, I’m totally boned on this packing. I have about 3 hours until they are going to come and pick up my 2 big suitcases, which means I have to have the majority of my packing done by then. Oh and the post office is closed today since it’s ANOTHER random holiday, so I’ll have to rush tomorrow morning before I leave to go there and ship a box or two back home. There’s no way all of this is going to fit in the suitcases.

Well, I guess I will go ahead and write a post tonight. Woke up around 8 or 9 and started to clean up and pack my entire room. Well I really didn’t get that far. But I did call the ABC moving company, who will be kind enough to move my 2 big suitcases from the dorm to the airport. Since I’m riding the trains from here to there on Friday, there’s no way I could carry that with me. Luckily, I was able to set up a pickup date on Thursday evening, so I have another whole day to procrastinate and pack up. Man it’s gonna cost 4200 yen, but shouganai.

Around noonish, I went to Asakusa to get some lunch with a friend, and also to do some souvenir/gift shopping. It’s totally a tourist trap, but that means they have some good stuff to buy people (really Nihon-poi). The biggest surprise was that while I was walking around the market, I ran into the KFarr and Elida. Yep, of all the millions of people in this country, I randomly ran into them. Wow, sugoi, etc. I guess it’s a touristy kind of place, but still, すごい偶然だな (what a coincidence!).

After that I went to Kaihim Makuhari for possibly the last time. Had coffee with Super Sayokon and Mayo, then went to school to return the hard drive I rented from SALC, and said goodbye to some more people. Stopped by IES, said “later bro” to Shin-san, and I guess that’s that for IES also. Strange strange. Then went to Kappa-Zushi with the Baileys (er, I mean Seth, Mii, and Yuuji) for some awesome and cheap kaiten sushi. I finally know the name of the orange and white one that I like, and it’s toro (fatty) salmon.

After that, went to hang out with Hiroko and Nana like we decided last week at the Sayonara Party. Went to Tsudanuma (for real, not just the code the A-Team used to use to deter the scabies), all the restaurants and izakaya were booked up. I guess it’s the beginning of winter break everywhere here. Anyway, we were able to find a nice Shirokiya chain izakaya, and it was fun. Did purikura (those little sticker pictures). Japanese girls love those things; they’re cool i guess but what am I gonna do with all these? Anyways, we were heading to the station and decided to take some regular pictures before we left. Hiroko and Nana were talking about how it’s tough to find someone to take your picture, since apparently there are a lot of hookers around Tsudanuma station. There was a girl in a hat sitting down on a bench, and Hiroko said something to the effect of “she looks the most not-like-a-hooker/nice.” So, we were going to get ready to ask her to take our picture for us. I was like “hey, she looks like of familiar. She looks like Sayoko.” Haha, funny. But IT WAS! Whoa bikkuri. So yeah, there’s super strange guuzen #2 for the day.

Once again, this entry turned out longer than I expected. Tomorrow’s going to be one last visit to Bikkuri Ramen (most romantic date in Japan), then lots of packing. Most likely, I will have the majority of everything packed up and ready to go by tomorrow afternoon. Then hopefully the evening free to see Kieran, Blanchard, any other people I need to see. It’s still strange, to think I won’t be in Japan this weekend.

Gyoza Kings

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Tonight a bunch of us went to Bikkuri Ramen. Originally, tonight was going to be a huge eventful night, but since we’re all getting slammed pretty hard with final exams and papers, we ended up just going for Bikkuri. However, this wasn’t completely uneventful, as me, Bryan, Mikey, Seth, and Derek were there to do the long-awaited gyoza (pot stickers) eating contest. Mii and Isoroku were there too, but not competing. Anyways, Seth got a good second place with 1 bowl of ramen and 6 plates of gyoza. Me and Bryan tied for King with 1 bowl of ramen and 7 plates of gyoza. Nevermind the fact that we both felt so full we had to puke.

Between the 7 of us, I think we ate around 145 gyoza. Man they’re good. And cheap!

In other news, this has been by far my busiest week in Japan, especially when you consider it’s all for school/school-related work. Tomorrow’s my day off, but I’ll be spending all day at Kanda working on videos (Spiderman movie and also an IES video for the Sayonara party). For some reason, this reminds me of the end of senior year of high school. And also the end of freshman year at IU. I always tend to pick up video projects or something when it comes down the last minute…

Thanksgiving break…?

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Well, for some reason, they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving over in Japan. Regardless, there’s no school really. However, I’m not completely free. Still a good week:

Mon – just 1 class, Japanese. today was easy. Ate at Bikkuri Ramen, the best restaurant in the country

Tue – another random holiday! dunno what it is. planning on sleeping all day, then maybe playing some old school Nintendo

Wed – ugh. High school job. at least I don’t have to go next week

Thu – off! No class! no plans yet. KFC for Thanksgiving maybe

Fri – field trip for my stupid history class to the Imperial Palace.

Not a bad week. Better than normal at least. Maybe I’ll try to get started on some of my big papers that are gonna be due before I leave. Prolly not.

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