no news is good news, i guess

Well, it's been a while between posts, hasn't it?
I had an amazing weekend. Basically, I was up and about doing stuff from dawn 'til dusk. I ate some really good food, made some new friends, stayed up late laughing, drinking, flirting, and went to an incredible hot spring.


Remi and Akiko had a shamisen concert, which was published in the news paper this morning. The headline says: "Murakami Sensei Miraculously Teaches American to Play Shamisen!"
...or something like that. Anyways, I lent him my digicam to take some pictures, so I was unable to record any of the wonderful things I saw. But to be honest, the most impressive part was the onsen and you're not allowed to take pictures there because inside the hot spring everyone is naked.

Here's a brief description of it: It was a cold night and the wind kept blowing mist off the hot water. Every now and then the wind would swoop up and create immense spiral nebulae against the waterfall dribbling against some rocks nearby. The only light came from a massive burning torch and the radiant half moon. If you are immersed in the water, you see steam running over the surface, over some rocks in flowing into the garden around the pools of water. One nearby tree had been tied up in the pyramidal fashion to protect it from the snow. It pointed straight up into the sky, pointing to a cluster of stars that was visible through the mists...

...Oh and every once in a while you could see a naked body moving to and fro.

So there you have it.

Krunk!!!

Ok Ok! So they got the spelling wrong, but this is the country where you'll see T-shirts with slogans like "Lets fighting love!" and "PUSSY CRACK ROCK AND ROLL". Anyways, it seems like I was meant to find this glorious piece of pop-culture from gangsta candyland! Someone littered in this litter-free land of pristine streets?! I mean, it must be destiny!

"Crunky yo! All y'all homies bettah shade ya eyes, cuz I's got krunk in my candy bars! So much Krunk it'da blind y'all! Woooooord!"

random image x 3

the world of Vlogging

You're lucky! Instead of going to Nigata for snowboarding, I made this little video...

PS. I was serious about the postcard thing!

trains

I had to take many trains this week.
Normally, I take the local train once a week, filled with high school students. It's good Japanese listening practice and I find that I learn a lot of Kanazawa-ben, the local dialect from them. The conversations are typically high school: so-and-so is so cool, she likes him, he likes her, homework sucks, i want a boyfriend, when is the next test...etc, etc, etc.
This is the inside. Normally crammed brim-full of uniformed students, but Monday was a holiday. I think, "Nation Founding Day", as it was described to me by a Japanese person. Not the most stylish ride, is it?

I also went to a Study Meeting in Komatsu, a boring, little town near here. However, on the way back I missed the local train, so I had to catch the Express. The Express is very cool!
The seats inside are like a luxury train. It reminds me a bit of VIA in Canada. Contrary to the local, it was filled with business men. And the ride that normally takes 45 mins on the local, took about 15 on the Express. Now, there's faster trains than the Express; the Thunderbird, for example, and the Shinkansen — what we call the 'Bullet Train'.

All in all, it was a fun trip. Only $7 more expensive too!

culture tip #8

Here's something strange: Valentine's Day here is celebrated by the woman giving the man chocolates. Now it's great getting so much incoming love, but payback comes March 14th, on White Day, when men give white-coloured presents to women. White presents can range from marshmallows to pearls. Also, it's expected that you make at least a token present to those who gave you chocolate.

my weekend in pictures

fig. 10.0: ripped down building. Man! demolition is sooOOOoooOOOoo cool!

fig 10.1: the canal twists behind some houses.

fig 10.2: I passed this temple on the way to Higashi Chaya, the geisha district to have some food. The signs outside say it's a bad luck day for people born in a certain year.

fig 10.3: karaoke. Yusuke and Kotaro.

fig 10.4: Yukitoshi singing. I guess Karaoke has gotten me over my fear of singing, because I sang quiet a few songs!

lame factor 7.5

sorry for the lame post, but I feel like I need to vent.

My weekend, which looked so great a few days ago, kinda fell apart. now, it's not like I have a lack of things to do, but the people I really want to spend it with have so far, either pulled out of our plans, or have refused to respond. today was one of the roughest work days I've had to date. I'm not sure how it happened, but I was whipped like a little farm slave. The thing is, I kinda enjoyed it. There was something about saying yes to a manager who is so beautiful and determined...I'm not sure how to describe it.

This week was supposed to be easy, but it's turning out to be insane. Tomorrow too, will be tough. Anyways, I'm looking forwards to meeting some friends and drinking my miseries away.

For everyone who will be in Osaka: you better bring me damn good omiyage!

Goodnight.

so much for time travel...

Yesterday, when I opened my door, the air was thick and a warm wind blew. The temperature was so different from what it had been days before, that I decided to go running. The air felt tropical, dense, mid-summer-like, and a little ominous. I ran beside the river in a T-shirt in the middle of February.

I can't describe why it felt so weird, but even the smell of the air was strange. It was as if I had stepped forwards in time when I opened my door that day. All of a sudden, it was a early summer day in 2007. Benjamin once said that he believes if time travel were possible, you would only be able to go forward. Somehow, while I was running, those thoughts made sense. Maybe, it's impossible to go backwards, except in memory. Yet, here I was jogging through the thickness of future air. Now, to tell you the truth, it didn't feel all that different, except most people weren't wearing jackets at all; there were no space cars, holographic police officers, or any fancy, jumpsuit fashions — nothing you won't see in your own lifetime.

Perhaps, time travel is only possible in your mind, like you can project yourself forwards when you are seriously thinking about your own...um, for a lack of a better word: destiny. Like your thoughts leap into your own body momentarily to grasp at some understanding of where you will be in the future.

Not that I gained any knowledge of this little mental trip to the summer, but it did make me think about where I want to be in the near future. When I think about it now, all I see in my mind is the kaleidoscope of a light brown iris of an eye staring back at me. It looks as if I'm looking into the lens of a magnifying glass, staring directly at the top of a rocky mountain — except instead of a snowy white cap, there's a ebony pupil, reflecting strips of white light back at me.

life drawing

Recently I've been going to a life drawing class once or twice a month.
These are some of the sketches I've done.







This is a study of her hips. Hips are so beautiful!

first snow

Yesterday was the first snow in Kanazawa. I was happy to see these massive snowflakes falling when I opened my sliding door to investigate some strange sounds coming from outside. This is what I saw:

Wowzers!

This is the best street artist ever! Julian Beever, Ladies and Gentleman!