Japan 2011-2012: January 2012


Christmas Tree made of lights!!! This was on the side of a building in Umeda. Had to get a picture!

Merry Christmas!!!

メリクリスマス！！！

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

あけおめ！

明けましておめでとうございます！

I apologize for my late response and in not posting in December at all. >__< I had intended to, however I never actually go around to doing it. December was full of a bunch of melodrama and I was sick often, so I didn`t really feel up to posting. To make up for my lack of posts, I have made this blog particularly image heavy! Please enjoy! I wish everyone a belated happy holidays!

Last month, I ended up getting sick for about 4 weeks. O__o Eventually, I went to the doctor`s to get myself fixed. They gave me a bunch of medicine for a bunch of things. Headache, cough, stomach ache and nausea, antibiotics too. OMG THE COUGH SYRUP WAS AMAZING. O__o It tasted like PEACHES. PEACHES I TELL YOU! PEACHES!!

AWESOME COUGH SYRUP OF AWESOME!

And about a week later I was much better.

I ended up missing quite a few classes, but I worked with my teachers to make sure I stayed up to date and ready for exams.

Winter break (冬休み) began a little strange. We had the Emperor`s Birthday on Friday, then Christmas Eve and Christmas on Sat/Sun. Then on Monday...school. Yeah. Seriously. And Tuesday? Winter Break officially started. O__o ONE day of classes... XD

Christmas was uneventfual, really. I had a nice gift from Chami and Kris though. They went to Volks and got me a cute outfit I wanted for my SD girl. =^.^= She looks absolutely ADORABLE in it! I feel bad though, since I was unable to get them anything for Christmas, but I will make up for that when I am able, and I think they know that too.

Shabu Shabu in Umeda! My fav fancy place ta eat!

Bart, Cory, and Sam!

Heh! Cory's face! ^_^

Heh! SAM'S face now! I thought it was funny cause they BOTH made the same faces. XD

For fuyu yasumi, our friend Cory, who was one of the others with us when we were on the research team, came up to Osaka from Hiroshima and spent some time with us. ^_^ We went as a group to some shabu shabu in Umeda. This was a first-time for quite a few of the others, and it was fun and great! We all got stuffed! lol We had around four or five plates of meat (I think two or three of beef and one of chicken and pork). We all deemed that the chicken and pork were not as tasty as the beef, so we god more servings of beef after finishing our plate of half chick-half pork.

The group consisted of Kris, Chami, Me, Bart, Sam and Cory. Wow! O__O Big group! We went on Christmas day to eat. ^^ Long wait, around an hour or so, but it was really worth it!

Yo!


Kris and Chami


Me and Chami. Hi Chami!

Shabu Shabu with Chicken (left) and Pork (right)

I think this was one of our last plates of meat.

I spent another part of the Christmas break before New Years with a little bit of Karaoke. (At least I think it was before New Years... O__o) Went to a different place than we usually went to, and one that was a little more pricy...but MUCH more fancy! ^_~

For this round of Karaoke, by the end of the night, there was a rather large group (one larger than I am used to) that made their way in. Olly, Miho, Ben, Yuho, Anson, Tim, Celeste, and Me. *whistles* Wow!

Unfortunately, this place doesn't have some of the songs that I REALLY like to sing, and a lot of my fav Evanescence songs are not there. :( It makes me a sad panda. V_V I will probably just stick to the other place rather than this place unless I feel like going somewhere fancy to sing stuff. But mostly the other place. ^_~

(from right to left) Ben & Tim with Yuho, Celeste and Miho blending in cause of the camera!

Oh Yuho! You're so fun! :D

Yuho's hand with Anson an'da' mike!

*insert music and singing here* ^__^

New Year was a little more eventful. We went to Pontocho and had shabu shabu しゃぶしゃぶ and nomihoudai 飲み放題. The nomihoudai was a little unexpected, but it was still great. I drank enough, but not enough to completely knock me out. lol Pontocho was very lovely again, and I love walking up and down the long street of nothing but food and tea houses...EXPENSIVE food, mind you. O___o But it is in the middle of the Geiko district, so high expenses to be expected.

The SHABU SHABU MEAT!!!! YUSH!

The veggies

The burner

First drink for nomihoudai! Fuzzy Navel! ^_~

I was hoping to do hatsumoude (first shrine/temple visit of the year), but I didn`t get the chance to. Then, yesterday, I missed Coming of Age. XD The two times I could really wear furisode, and I didn`t. @_@

I have been working a lot on my book recently, the Chigurashi Saga. I plan to have the book completely finished before I return home to the States, including editing and turning in the manuscript. Chigurashi Saga is my longest writing yet, and it is so very difficult to try and maintain enough focus to actually sit and write 60,000+ words. X__o That and with trying to finalize plot ideas and characterizations. All of this on top of my other work, Tales of Tir inna nOc. *sigh* So much to do!! O__o

I decided that once I leave (graduate), I will be coming back to Japan to teach english through a program. Which one, I am not sure yet, but I plan on applying for several different programs. Can`t hurt. Besides, the more I think about it, the more attracted to the idea of teaching that I am. I would like to learn fluent Osaka-ben and Kyo-ben as well as standard Japanese and Keigo, and I want to teach Japanese language in culture in University Level later down the line when I feel I have had enough English teaching. ^_^

I was awareded the JASSO, which will be a huge help in helping me eat. Can`t wait. lol It is a stipend of 80,000円 a month for 3 months. Super helpful.

We went to see the movie Genji Monogatari!!!!!!! It was beautiful movie! <3 I love Heian period and love to read/watch materials from and of that time. Genji was done quite well, even though it didn't follow along entirely with the original story....

And....

Abe no Seimei kept making an appearance! lol I love Seimei from Onmyouji, and to see Abe no Seimei with the same attitude as the Abe no Seimei from Onmyouji was a real refresher, if even hilarious. ^_^ He kept inserting himself into the tale when there was something supernatural happening. XD Obviously he isn't in the original story, and if he is he is not really mentioned, and he also appears in the newly released manga. The manga appears to follow the movie.


I took a picture of the lovely Tale of Genji display at the cinema!

Hmmm... What else.....

Took some pictures of the purikura machines in the Futabowl, along with the adorable kitteh's in some of the game machines. ^_^

Blonde Sam won this for me! <3 Thank you so much, girl! ^_^

What else...

A picture of Chami (Sam) in kimono for New Year!

Cas came with us on New Year

Yummy Chocolate cake from the Combini!!! <3 105円

Very lovely sunset from our balcony.

The awesome Beef Steak Plate at GB's Cafe in Kandaimae. A little taste of home when I get homesick. ^^

Awesome plate of fries at GB's Cafe.

Macha after a visit to Tenshi no Sato in Kyoto.

Some sweets to go with the macha.

Blonde Sam and Julie on the way home from the Ikeda Matsuri.


Nihon Buyou Japan, 1st Performance [Ikeda Matsuri]: (from left to right) Shuangshuang, Minami-sensei, Me

Shuangshuang and I! Wow! I lost quite a bit of weight since then! (rejoice!)

I am thinking about picking up cosplaying again. I want to sell some things back home and change it out with new material. I have been fluctuating between depressed and homesick and my hobbies help me feel more at ease and happier. It is hard to cosplay here in Japan because of social expecations, norms and customs. It isn`t like I can just go out in cosplay and expect to be treated with interest. It will most likely end up being the other way around and me being treated with some type of scorn. I try hard to blend into society as much as I can, because I AM a foreigner and already being judged by others around me just for that. I don`t need to help draw negative attention to myself cause I want to cosplay in Japan.

Some cosplay ideas I had in mind...

*Gakupo (not sure which version)
*Another Original
*Something aweomely steampunk or victorian
*Gackt Ghost (I know...blasphemy!)
*Silent Hill Nurse
*Kayako from The Grudge

Been a little more interested in horror flicks lately when it comes to cosplay ideas. I would love to be able to try and cosplay something scary!!

Some random cosplays from before...