Adventures of Carly

Conversations with My Students: Do You Have a Long Pink Mullet?

2012-02-09T20:43:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago my older kids were learning hair words and making sentences describing their own coifs. Most of the kids I teach would have found the original language to be too easy, so I added a few awesome words and flashcards. I Apologize for Not Representing Black People side note: I did make a card for the term "dreadlocks," but it didn't fit in nicely for the language pattern. You can't

DisneySea Strikes Back

2012-02-08T20:59:00.001+09:00

Kind of a cop-out post, I know, but I went to DisneySea again! It was the end of January and very very very cold. It would have been better had we known the park closed at 7pm and not the usual 10pm, but it was still a lot of fun. It's a post-apocalyptic icicle world after all... My buddies~ Shrimp-filled, lifesaver-shaped thing. 6/10, might eat again if desperate.

Conventional Beauty or GTFO

2012-01-29T11:36:00.000+09:00

I learn all kinds of wonderful things about people and society at work. Racism is okay as long as you're nice about it, learning disabilities and mood disorders in children should go untreated to save the face of adults (this subject will get its own post), and looks get you farther than talent in every conceivable way. I know I'm beating an equine beast that has been deceased for a long and

The Money I'd Have Wasted Had I Grown Up in Japan...

2012-01-25T23:29:00.000+09:00

For the past few days, awesome and un-useless things with cartoon characters on them have been forcing me to spend money. If you wouldn't think twice about buying at least one of these items for nostalgic value, you should find other blogs to read. First up, Super Mario Galaxy 2 Card Gum pack! A whole 63yen per pack at the supermarket. I threw out the square bathroom-tile-looking

Flea Market in Setagaya

2012-01-21T21:26:00.001+09:00

Last Monday Marissa dragged my butt out to Setagaya for the largest flea market in Tokyo! I'm pretty sure I caught a cold from being out in the cold all day, but it was fun looking at old Japanese junk. Start of the epic flea market! Sing those blues. I'd keep this in my house and use it.Too bad it was 25,000yen (more than $250). BAKED POTATOES WITH BUTTER Panda phone!

The things you find when you're not looking for them

2012-01-13T21:07:00.001+09:00

Ma and Pa My hammy brother Business in the front... ...party in the back! Dad when he was skinny! My dad took this photo of my mom.I believe he's stated it's his favorite ever. Kula Farms, Maui There's no place like home <3

Things the Japanese Do: Think "silly" is a cuss word

2012-01-11T21:02:00.000+09:00

Recently my brother has taken to chiding my mother and father for using the word "stupid." He says it's a bad word that we shouldn't use. Instead, we should substitute the word "silly" for when we'd normally opt for "stupid." They wouldn't air it in Japan if it was "Two Silly Dogs." As a native English speaker, I can tell you with all authority that this is perfectly fine in most situations.

EXILE in Hawaii???

2012-01-04T18:52:00.000+09:00

Indeed friends, it is (kind of) true. EXILE's clothing line 24 Karats has a surf shop in Waikiki! I've never been to the Tokyo EXILE shop or even seen any 24 Karats merchandise in person, so I didn't know what to expect walking into the store. After dining in the L'Arc cafe I knew the shop might be decked out in EXILE photos and videos; but I also know no one in America knows who they are

A Note to 2012

2012-01-01T12:46:00.000+09:00

Hey 2012. Just a few things on how to be awesome. First, some general points: 1. Try not to be a dick with the natural disasters. 2011 REALLY messed that up in an epic fashion. We're still recovering from those and we don't need more to deal with. 2. Get that global economy back on track. It'd be nice. 3. America kind of sucks right now, can you make it suck less? I know 2011 kinda screwed us

Aw, you think you're important?

2011-12-29T20:38:00.000+09:00

I was never very keen on talking to complete strangers. Yesterday I was at Barnes and Noble, the only big chain bookstore left in America, asking about a book on North Korea. With Dear Leader's demise there's obviously been an increased interest in the country, and I've had my own interest piqued in both Koreas since moving to Japan. I've been reading more articles about the post-war friction

Conversations with My Students: Spelling is Fun!

2011-12-28T17:40:00.000+09:00

Once a week I am blessed to be in the presence of five very high-level older elementary school students. They range in age from 10 to 12, and they're all very well-rounded kids who tend to have a little too much fun in my class. There are four girls and one boy, so naturally the boy gets picked on a lot. Photo mostly unrelated. I did make those at work :) In Ms. Carly's class, Japanese is

Twas the week or so before Christmas...

2011-12-25T20:56:00.001+09:00

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope everyone is thoroughly enjoying the holiday, since it's on a Sunday and no one in Japan or America has to work. I certainly enjoyed this view at Waikiki Beach on Christmas Eve. A while back dearest Marissa decided not to go back to America for Christmas, so we had a little Christmas get-together at her ENORMOUS apartment. Seriously, the company put me in

Mini-Post: I'm home!

2011-12-25T07:11:00.000+09:00

I'm in Hawaii, my dear homeland, for the holidays. I'll post about my (early) Christmas dinner in Machida and alcohol later. For now, I'm gonna spend time with my family and enjoy the warm weather. Beautiful downtown Honolulu. Merry Christmas to everyone in Japan and everyone in America (including me!) has mere hours to get those last-minute Christmas gifts!

Imperial Gardens

2011-12-15T21:09:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago I walked around the Imperial Gardens in Tokyo. It's free and open to the public, which is great because paying to get some culture all the time sucks. It's kind of strange being able go from the sprawling urban jungle of downtown Tokyo to these amazing gardens by just crossing a street, but that's part of the magic of this city. I'd also like to mention that a few years ago a

Conversations with My Students: Fighting with Four-year-olds

2011-12-12T19:44:00.000+09:00

Recently I got mad at a four-year-old. I usually get mad at four-year-olds for things like whining, crying, or generally being impudent, but this time it was over something more legitimate. I teach one little girl who is very high-level and knows quite a bit of English. Her mother is fairly conversational and her grandmother speaks very well. The little girl knows the alphabet and knows the

Shameless Purchases Post

2011-12-11T00:41:00.000+09:00

Welcome to another Shameless Purchases post! I've been dropping some serious cash on various things this past week, and I'd like to share them with you~ Seriously, how do I sign up to drive the EXILE/J Soul Brothers truck? First up, my beloved Sandaime J Soul Brothers released their new album! Check out their ad trucks rolling through the Shibuya scramble, easily one of the best random

I Survived the JLPT

2011-12-05T23:35:00.001+09:00

This past Sunday I and many other foreigners all across this great nation took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test! Seriously. Since I live in Saitama my assigned test site was Saitama Daigaku, which seemed like a typical Japanese campus and thankfully nothing terrible stood out about the place. I got to my test room about 15 minutes before the test began, and it was almost all men in

Things the Japanese Do: Go to the Doctor for Everything

2011-12-02T21:09:00.001+09:00

I was the unfortunate victim of food poisoning this past Wednesday. Dinner came back up the way it went down at about 2:30am and I spent the rest of the night running to the bathroom. I didn't get much rest and I certainly didn't feel good, but I also knew skipping work the next day would be pretty bad. I got through my Thursday classes, slept a good 12 hours that night, and still wasn't 100%

Nordic Print Tampons

2011-11-30T22:31:00.001+09:00

I've said in previous posts how everything marketed to women in Japan has to have some sort of OMG SUPER KAWAII element to it, and apparently tampons are no exception. Allow me to showcase my latest find: Nordic print tampons! Seriously - why do these even exist? Japan loves its seasonal themed crap, I know, and I share in that love every time I go to a convenience store and see new

Conversations With My Students: RUDE.

2011-11-23T21:58:00.000+09:00

Teenage boys have a way with words. Keep reading. A way long time ago, I accidentally taught Slightly Racist Teenager the term "muffin top." Not one of my finest moments, but it was pretty funny. He brought it up again in class recently: Me: Tell me a story. A funny story, like the time your friend had his crepe stolen from him by a crow. SRT: Ah... *Thinks for a moment* On the news they

Photos from my weekend

2011-11-22T20:57:00.001+09:00

I went to Odaiba on Sunday. I had wanted to see Mt. Takao and all the leaves changing color on the mountain, but the weather forecast had predicted rain so I decided against it. But it turned out to be a beautiful day, which was nice but also sucked since I'd already scrapped the plans for Takao. Oh well. The view from this little offshoot in the park was amazing. The graffiti on the

Mini-Post: Tuna's Gone!

2011-11-18T22:22:00.001+09:00

Remember back in March when my mother thought I was going to die of starvation following the earthquake and sent me 29 cans of tuna? I polished off the last can about an hour ago! Even after I gave 10 cans to a coworker, it still took me the better part of 8 months to eat it all. Thanks, Mom!

I have done nothing of interest lately

2011-11-15T23:03:00.000+09:00

Seriously, I haven't done much of anything lately. I've been trying to save money, asking my parents to send me stuff from my closet at home, and generally surviving until Christmas break. SO HAVE SOME RANDOM PHOTOS OF STUFF! What I've been getting for free from my j-boy: J-boy and one of his male buddies went to the Girls Award show at Yoyogi Stadium this past weekend. HE GOT TO SEE

Conversations with My Students: Story Time Answers

2011-11-06T16:23:00.000+09:00

For the older and more capable students, I often start with an activity on the board called "Story Time." I leave about four simple questions for the students to answer whenever they happen to roll into class. The last question is usually, "How are you?" The boys give great answers. Q: How are you? Why? A: I'm good. (Reconsiders this, erases it.) NO. Me: (Watching student write this) NO

Urawa Reds Game!

2011-11-04T22:08:00.003+09:00

My dear friend and #1 Urawa Reds fan Chie invited me to one of their last home games for the J-League season. I went with her and another friend to a charity game back in April, but this was entirely different and way more awesome (aside from the fact that they lost 0-3). Chie and her husband are season ticket holders for the Reds, but her husband couldn't go to this game so I got to use his

Stuff I Did Not Take Pictures of on Halloween

2011-11-02T22:48:00.000+09:00

Everything I did this past weekend sounds good written out, but really it was fairly meh. Saturday I went clubbing. Now, under most circumstances, this would have been awesome. You get dressed up, even MORE dressed up for Halloween, dance, talk to boys, drink a little, and end up counting down the minutes til first train. It certainly wasn't terrible, but I've had better non-holiday nights. I

Conversations with My Students: Despondent Teenager

2011-10-25T21:35:00.002+09:00

I have one kid who sometimes is a pain but can be pretty hilarious if he's in a good mood. Like many other kids his age, or really half of Japan, he's obsessed with One Piece. I asked him about his weekly schedule and he told me he always watches the anime on the weekends. Me: On Sunday you watch One Piece? DT: Yes. Me: *Writes ONE PIECE on the board* DT: WAIT WHAT NO I NO I. NOT ONE PIECE.

My Childhood on a Phone Strap

2011-10-23T12:24:00.004+09:00

Browsing around Village Vanguard the other night, I came across an interesting capsule machine. I usually find great capsule machines at Bic Camera (they have aisles of them) or in Odaiba Decks, and given what I'm used to seeing I shouldn't have even noticed the pathetic little one VV had. But at the very bottom was something I never thought I'd find in Japan: A REN AND STIMPY PHONE STRAP

Monjayaki with Chef~

2011-10-19T23:13:00.000+09:00

A few nights ago I had the pleasure of meeting and dining with one of my Japanese Twitter friends, Tmkwon The Chef. Like many Japanese, he doesn't put his real name on the internetz or even show his entire face on profile photos. But I don't have Photoshop on my Vaio so I had to get creative in Paint. Sorry, Chef! We met up in Tsukishima and ate the local specialty, monjayaki. It's kind of like

Conversations with My Students: Boob jokes

2011-10-14T20:54:00.001+09:00

Recently, I've been trying to teach some of the older boys the kinds of things my brothers used to pull on me when I was their age. One of them being UP HIGH, DOWN LOW, TOO SLOW - you offer your hand as a high five, complete said high five, subsequently offer a low five, but move your hand away before your partner can actually make contact with your hand. I may be an IRL troll, but it's

Conversations with My Students: Wedding Cakes

2011-10-06T22:13:00.002+09:00

*I don't want to talk about WORK necessarily, but I think it would be fine for me to share some of the funnier things my students tell me. It's sometimes very enlightening!* My grandmother student is one of my favorites. I showed her an article about superstitions related to food, like making wishes on birthday cakes and how it's bad luck to spill salt. At one point the article talked about

Sing in Japanese

2011-10-04T20:55:00.000+09:00

I picked up an actual CD at a Tower Records recently. We still have those in Japan - people who buy physical CDs, that is. Given my shameless love of a number of JE boys, you may be surprised to find out I purchased a cover album by an American group doing Japanese punk songs! Allow me to present to you Me First and the Gimme Gimmes: Sing in Japanese~ Japanese language covers of 6 songs!

Mini-post: You look different, Pikachu!

2011-10-03T23:30:00.000+09:00

One of these Pokemon isn't like the others, one of these Pokemon is unbelievably lulzy and almost made me spend 1200yen. Can you tell who doesn't belong??? ANSWER: IT'S DITTO! A POKEMON I ACTUALLY KNOW FROM MY CHILDHOOD!!! I almost bought it, but I didn't wanna carry him around. I wonder how many kids in that store understood what was going on with this one...

SUMO!!!/相撲!!!

2011-09-29T22:08:00.000+09:00

This past Sunday I was lucky enough to watch the final day of matches of the Tokyo sumo tournament! HUZZAH! I honestly wasn't all that excited to go. My friends were all pumped, but I was sort of meh about the whole thing. I think I've mentioned before that I'm pretty meh about most things. I was going along for the ride, maybe buy some things for people back home. Pretend to be cultured. Go

!!! Cup Noodles Museum

2011-09-24T22:17:00.001+09:00

Friday was a holiday and I had to make the most of a glorious random day off, so off I went to the Cup Noodles Museum!!! Instant ramen and Cup Noodles were invented by Momofuku Ando, who is probably one of the greatest men to have ever lived. Ando was originally from Taiwan, and I find it kind of ironic that one of the things this fairly xenophobic nation is most famous for was created by

JLPT!!!

2011-09-21T00:10:00.001+09:00

A little while ago I was looking at job postings around the internet out of curiosity. Seems like there's an abundance of English teaching positions, but I was also looking at other industries. "I have my journalism/advertising degree sitting in a frame or folder somewhere in Hawaii," I thought, "maybe it's time I try to use it." To my dismay, I need business level Japanese for most of the

3/11 and 9/11

2011-09-11T12:47:00.000+09:00

It's a big anniversary day for awful things that happened in the world - six months since the Tohoku earthquake and ten years since four planes were hijacked and forced to crash into three buildings and a field in Pennsylvania. Much of my Four Months Later post still holds up, but there some updates. There are still a number of people in shelters, but more of the temporary housing units were

Hanabi + L'Arcafe~

2011-09-07T21:33:00.004+09:00

Yeah, I haven't updated this thing in WEEKS. Terrible. I felt like I was getting hit in the gut everyday for a while. Stress at work, stress from boys, stress about money, I GOT SICK. Bleh. None of the things I was stressing out over have been completely resolved, but I'm trying to do my best at getting back into studying and blogging and not letting shit get to me. I visited my non-cousin last

Obon Vacation

2011-08-23T23:31:00.000+09:00

...That happened like a million years ago and I never talked about. MEH. Obon wasn't *amazing* and I actually didn't get around to doing any of the things I really had my heart set on. Didn't make it to the beach, didn't go out clubbing, spent way too much money. But there was some fun to be had: 1. Saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Did not see Part 1. Meh, details! It was a

Wipe Your Butt with Pikachu!

2011-08-14T18:46:00.003+09:00

Way back when my vacation was still fresh and new and had potential, I found myself with Tracy wandering around Sakuragicho. Prior to our pit stop at Anna Miller's, she had mentioned the Landmark Tower had some sort of Pokemon event going on and they were giving out toilet paper. Well now, that just meant we had to go get a few rolls of our own~ The Landmark Tower is home to one of the many

Anna Miller's Yokohama?

2011-08-12T23:47:00.001+09:00

Yeah, really. I found ANOTHER Hawaiian institution in this great city, and it's the Yokohama branch of Anna Miller's! They even have a take-out pie counter! On my humble island of Oahu, there is a modest family restaurant by the name of Anna Miller's. It's not really fancy but it's a nice place to eat if you're out by Pearlridge. They're known for their pies and baked goods back home, and I'm

Omiya Matsuri

2011-08-05T23:28:00.000+09:00

The same day I went to Harajuku, I also got to see some of the festival in Omiya! I met up with the #1 Urawa Reds Fan Ever (I have never written her name since I've never asked for permission) and one of her friends to enjoy parade and matsuri food. We made a pit stop at Starbucks for drinks and air conditioning. They've had these cake pops for a little while now so I decided to try the

Eggs 'n Harajuku?

2011-08-02T21:36:00.001+09:00

Nishihara and I went exploring in Harajuku this past weekend. We originally went for the elusive yet official Johnny's idol shop, but found so much more. The Johnny's store was ONE BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, Johnny likes to squeeze every last yen out of JE fans that he possibly can, but seriously the unlicensed stuff at the Takeshita street shops is so much

Spam Curry~

2011-07-27T22:32:00.000+09:00

I love Spam. Many people find Spam to be strange and inedible, but I grew up eating it and I think it is just delicious. It compliments so many different things - rice, eggs, noodles, pancakes, green beans. Oh, the combinations are seemingly endless! And it comes in so many different varieties! They don't just come in blue cans, you know. I've tried most of the ones in this picture: Spam spread

Four Months Later (2 of 2)

2011-07-25T00:59:00.000+09:00

I can think of a few awful events that have occurred in the last decade somewhere in my great homeland of America, but I was usually fairly removed from them. I was sleeping in my bed, safe and sound in Hawaii when those four planes wreaked havoc on the east coast in September of 2001. I watched the events endlessly looped on the news stations that day and in the weeks following, but I could go

Four Months Later (1 of 2)

2011-07-18T17:08:00.000+09:00

Japan won the Women's World Cup earlier today, and it was fantastic and amazing on its own for a variety of reasons. It was the first time any Asian team won the tournament, and the fact that the Nadeshiko won it after this spring's earthquake/tsunami was a big deal. Everything was well and good until the more bitter Americans got on the internet to say all kinds of horrible things about the team

Happy Food Things

2011-07-11T11:34:00.000+09:00

Three angry wall-o-text posts in a row was quite enough. WE NEEDZ MOAR PICTURZ!!! OF FOODZ!!! A few weeks ago Tracy and I stopped into Cafe L'Occitane, which overlooks the Shibuya scramble crosswalk. I used to sell their skincare products when I worked at Ala Moana, so I was curious about their cafe. It's a nice place with a menu full of cakes, teas, coffee, and light entrees. I liked all of

The Tampon Incident: UPDATE

2011-07-10T12:30:00.000+09:00

After writing that post about being encouraged to carry my used tampons in my purse, I received a lot of feedback! It seems the person quoted in that last post is very much alone in her ways and that none of my female friends have ever been asked to do that, native Japanese or foreigners living in Japan. THANK GOODNESS. Thinking about all the comments I got (on Twitter, Facebook, here), I don't

The Tampon Incident

2011-07-07T21:31:00.000+09:00

READER BEWARE: This post contains swearing and excessive use of the Caps Lock key. You have been warned. I am a woman. I am relatively healthy. I could eat better and exercise more, but I digress. As far as I know, my bodily functions are all in order because of my good health. I am of child-bearing age and menstruate regularly, which means things get a little bloody about once a month. This is

Smoothing my skirt under my ass, and other things

2011-07-01T22:54:00.000+09:00

As much as I earnestly try to avoid judging Japanese culture, it happens. I was raised in America and I'll probably always see the world that way to some extent, so some things just BOTHER ME because I wasn't brought up to do x, y, z or believe a, b, c, or what have you. Gender roles in Japanese society irritate me. A lot. The injustices and double-standards women are subjected to here are

Blog for a Blog Award + Shameless purchases

2011-06-24T23:18:00.000+09:00

My dearest Caroline decided to give me a blogger award. I told her I don't quite understand why I'd ever be worthy of one, because the main audience for this blog is my mother (hi, mom!). Thank you, nonetheless, bb~ I believe the conditions of my award are to give it to 9 other bloggers, but I barely read 9 other blogs and according to my profile I follow 11! So uh... I recommend reading those

Food for Thought

2011-06-20T01:17:00.000+09:00

Reader beware: this is going to be a WALL-O-TEXT post. In my last super awesome Disney Sea post I mentioned that I'm not a very reactive person. I try not to let things in my life bother me and can generally roll with the punches. However now that I'm older and have full voting rights, I find myself more interested in American social issues and politics and BOY CAN I GET WORKED UP OVER STUPID

DISNEY SEA

2011-06-10T22:29:00.000+09:00

This past Monday Tracy and Marissa half-dragged me to Disney Sea. I'm not normally a big Disney person and I'm not attached to many cartoon characters here in Japan (at least not attached like EVERYTHING I OWN MUST BE _____ ), but I went along since I've never been there. I went to Disneyland with John way back when, which was fun but I wasn't left with a burning desire to go back. I figured

Placenta on MY FACE?

2011-06-07T13:07:00.000+09:00

This past weekend I had an overnight work thing and I got to meet some of the other foreigners in my company. The girl I shared my hotel room with professed to me her love and undying devotion to her amazing skin care regime, which was made up entirely of products that use placenta extract. Yes, really! The way she talked about how absolutely fantastic these products piqued my interest and I

BLAH

2011-06-01T23:12:00.000+09:00

I'm working on a more serious post, but it's so problematic and I don't like it and I'm just gonna rewrite it I DON'T KNOW. So yeah. I'm alive and everything. Yay. I haven't done anything terribly interesting lately. Didn't make any awesome purchases this past weekend. BLAAAAAAH. Lame post is lame. But I've been slaving away on the other post and it's not going anywhere and I felt like I had

Photo time~

2011-05-23T22:28:00.000+09:00

I was left not quite destitute after my awesome Golden Week, so I haven't been doing anything of much interest lately. Today and last Monday were spent mostly in my apartment - cleaning, organizing photos, studying Japanese, NOT spending money, etc. I am eagerly awaiting payday this week OMG. I downloaded the pics off my cell phone and was surprised at how amazing they look! For a cheap Samsung

GW Part 5

2011-05-19T22:19:00.000+09:00

Is this over yet gosh. SO DINNER. YUM-YUM YUMMY. Kevin somehow got it in his head he really wanted some AMERICAN food and we were going to walk all over the place to find a TGI Friday's or Hard Rock or Planet Hollywood. I avoid these places like the plague in America, because any burger or steak or rack of ribs you can find at those places is almost always done better at another restaurant.

GW 2011 Part 4

2011-05-17T22:50:00.000+09:00

I AM STILL WRITING ABOUT GOLDEN WEEK LAWD why did I do so much? After Gion, the three of us went back to our hotel and decided we'd sleep in the next morning. We have to wake up early all the time for our jobs, and this was vacation damnit! We were gonna sleep in and assume we would wake up at a decent hour! We woke up at 11:30. Oops. I love drink bars. After a leisurely lunch at everyone's

GW 2011 Part 3

2011-05-14T20:48:00.000+09:00

The Kansai trip I shall be retelling here and in the next post almost didn't happen. Kevin, my dear friend Tracy's coworker, is about to return to America and he'd been after us the past few weeks about going to Kyoto and Nara. He never made the trip out there during his stay in Japan and he REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to go before going back home. I told him I'd be game for the trip and I'd

GW 2011 Part 2

2011-05-10T22:40:00.000+09:00

I have no idea how many parts this GW series will be, but given the amount of photos for this one it will be quite a few! On Sunday of Golden Week I went to Mt. Takao, the highest point in the greater Tokyo area! It is a mountain and in nature and all of that, but hiking Mt. Takao is like saying you're hiking Diamond Head - you're not really *hiking* most of it because it's paved. The official

GW 2011 Part 1

2011-05-09T00:16:00.000+09:00

My Golden Week this year was so jam-packed with activities and trains and money flying out of my wallet I barely know what hit me. So I'll start with GW Friday~ My two "inherited" friends invited me to a barbeque at Kasai Rinkai Park, way out by Disneyland. They are somehow affiliated with the group that put on the barbeque, which was aimed to be an international/Japanese mixer of sorts. I got

Coffee Prince Cafe + Space Izakaya

2011-05-04T23:59:00.000+09:00

HI THAR. Just got home from Kyoto about an hour ago and here I am blogging about what I did... two weeks ago. Heh. But for a moment let me rewind to about a month ago. Thursday nights are glorious in Japan, for that is when they air the only thing I really like watching - Himitsu no Arashi-chan. For the last few episodes the boys have been paired up and given a celebrity "date" for a day, and

Kawaii everything

2011-04-26T23:36:00.000+09:00

One thing I have come to superficially appreciate about Japan is that there is no reason why anything I ever own has to be ugly. I have seen super kawaii EVERYTHING - kitchenware, appliances (from blenders up to washers/refrigerators), furniture, clothing, accessories, stationery, various tech devices, etc. If I were so inclined I could trick out my portable WiFi device as much as my cell phone,

BIRTHDAY POST

2011-04-21T23:49:00.000+09:00

My birthday was last week YAY. But I haven't updated this blog for TWO weeks, so here we go~ Two weeks ago I went to my first Urawa Reds game! It was a charity game against Yamagata to raise money for those affected by the earthquake and tsunami. I went with two friends I "inherited" from the teacher I replaced back in February, and they used to teach some of the players' kids so they are BIG

So much to write about!

2011-04-20T00:44:00.000+09:00

And no time to write it!!! So for now I'll just leave you with a small anecdote. Today I had two boys, both very bright and happy, in an elementary school level class. I thought it'd be funny to bring in the animal finger puppets I usually use in a baby class for a few cheap laughs. I would show them each animal and ask them what the name was in English (*hold up monkey* "What's this?" "Monkey!

Puroland~

2011-04-07T22:03:00.000+09:00

This past weekend, dear Marissa convinced me to go to PUROLAND. I realize the name does not give any hints as to what this place is, other than that it's some kind of amusement park. Here's a clue: She's so much prettier in person. PUROLAND = HELLO KITTY LAND OMG. Of course we have a Hello Kitty Land in Japan! What kind of horrible place would Japan be if they DIDN'T give HK her own freaking

Cat Cafe

2011-03-31T00:05:00.000+09:00

Japan is a country with many wondrous, exciting, and strange things. It is a land of (mostly) cute creatures that magically disappear into balls, where a man made of bread rips parts of his own face off to feed to children*, and 14-year-old school girls transform into planetary heroines after school. It is also a place where you can pay to play with cats and drink coffee at the same time. Cozy~

The hilarity doesn't stop

2011-03-26T23:18:00.000+09:00

In the time that I've spent in Japan, I've never seen the police DO anything. The crime rate is incredibly low (at least for your more everyday incidents, excluding yakuza activities) and the most I've ever asked of a cop is to give me directions. Police boxes are always really small, even in the popular areas like Shibuya and Harajuku, and I'm sure the fuzz in my little town don't get to see

Finally, some fun~

2011-03-24T23:24:00.000+09:00

This past weekend I FINALLY went out to drink and be merry! I've been in Japan a month and I'm kind of sad that the whole earthquake/tsunami/genpatsu-kun thing put a damper on such activities*. But there are many more weekends ahead of me where I'm sure I can make up for it. On Sunday I went with two of my fellow trainees to Harajuku. Wandered around, bought a lucky bag at Liz Lisa that I

Short and sweet

2011-03-23T00:50:00.000+09:00

I had an awesome weekend that I will have to post about later, but for now I wanted to put this out there: Life is what you make it. If you have a negative outlook on life, you'll make yourself miserable. If you try to be positive, you'll have that much more fun. Goodnight~

Back to Work

2011-03-18T21:08:00.000+09:00

Despite the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear crisis, the corporate whip continues to be cracked and I returned to work yesterday. I know many people in the company wished they had more time off to deal with everything, but just for myself I was kind of happy to have something to do other than watch the news all day. The trains aren't running at full capacity so I don't feel comfortable going really far

Charity Shirts

2011-03-18T09:49:00.000+09:00

Want to support Japan and the charities helping with the relief efforts, but think texting is totally lame? Buy some awesome shirts designed by celebrities! Let me tell you, I WANT THE AYU AND SALVATION ARMY ONES SO BAD but the post office isn't working very well in Japan so they'll have to get shipped home. Ayumi Hamasaki + ViVi collaboration shirt - 1500yenThe Japanese LOOKS scary, but I

Ikebukuro in the Dark

2011-03-16T12:33:00.000+09:00

I ventured out of my town for a little while and went to Ikebukuro. It's one of the big cities closest to my town, so I'd be less likely to get stuck there than somewhere farther out like Shibuya or Shinjuku. My blackout was scheduled for about 6-10pm, probably the worst time of the five groups since that means NO LIGHT and NO HEAT. I wanted to get out of the apartment so I wouldn't be sitting in

Update Post-Earthquake

2011-03-14T22:50:00.000+09:00

In my humble opinion, the situation in Japan has not gotten any better. Experts continue to say that we're probably going to experience more strong aftershocks, 7.0 and higher on the Richter scale and above a 5 on the Japanese scale. I don't even know what's going on with the nuclear power plant in Fukushima but it's not under control yet. The government had scheduled blackouts for most of the

EARTHQUAKE!

2011-03-11T22:21:00.000+09:00

I survived the seventh strongest earthquake ever recorded. HOLY SHIT. I don't remember exactly what time it hit, but I tweeted about it shortly after it stopped at 2:55pm. http://twitter.com/#!/carlislenoriko/status/46086902855643136 It lasted a good long time. It started out like every other earthquake I've experienced in Tokyo, sort of mild and motion-sickness-y. Then it got a little

They're paying me to teach kids English. Oh lawd.

2011-03-06T00:39:00.000+09:00

I have successfully (for the most part) completed my first week at work. Oh what, I didn't post anything about training or my awesome days off? Meh. Recap: Training was intense but ultimately worth it. I never learned how to deal with kids - I was an only child for most of my life and I never took much interest in kids younger than me. Honestly I had little interest in kids my own age, even now,

日本にいるよ～

2011-02-20T22:23:00.000+09:00

(Title: I`m in Japan) I had a bit of an entry typed up on my laptop, but net cafe man wasn`t very keen on me using the ethernet at the open sofa area and SUGGESTED I use a stall thing. I see why people love these places, they are quite amazing. For now I`m going to enjoy my two full days off (one of which has already gone by). I`ll have a post ready to go if I can ever find a way to upload it.

Packing and not packing

2011-02-18T16:54:00.000+09:00

UGH I think I might be ever so slightly ill. I tried really hard not to get sick before leaving! Sad pandas. I was kinda skinny! I'm obviously not packing like I should be. I found my old keitai in my junk and decided to charge it up and see what shenanigans I was up to the last time it was on. Reading the old mail and looking at photos on it make me nostalgic for my two partners in crime,

Sweet Baby Jesus I'm going to Japan!

2011-02-14T11:32:00.000+09:00

EEEEEEK I HAVE A FEW DAYS LEFT BEFORE I BEGIN MY NEW LIFE IN NIHONLAND. I'm feeling a mix of... Starting a full-time job ugh. Gotta pay back my loans ugh. OH DEAR GOD I'M GOING TO BE ALONE IN JAPAN I DON'T EVEN SPEAK (much) JAPANESE. SAD FRIGHTENED PANDAS. DO I EVEN LIKE KIDS??? CAN I TEACH SMALL IMPRESSIONABLE CHILDREN??? OH DEAR GOD I'M GOING TO BE LESS THAN AN HOUR FROM MY FAVORITE CLUB ATOM

I am a horrible blogger, part 2981

2011-01-02T21:00:00.000+09:00

Yet again, my plan of keeping the blog alive and updated fell by the wayside. Since that last post in September, I did the following: Got a second job. Quit lol. Started working daytime shifts at the first job. 10x more stress!!! RECEIVED MY CERTIFICATE OF ELIGIBILITY. HOT DAMN I AM GOING TO NIHONLAND. Oh and I didn't see anyone or do anything really fun because I was working all the time.

Reading is fun

2010-09-21T12:40:00.000+09:00

I'm not as active a reader as I'd like to be. It's not that I don't have more than enough material to keep me busy, I'm just lazy. My wish lists on Paperback Swap are impossibly long, and they get longer every time I hear about a great new book or see an interesting cover at a bookstore. I want to go back and read stuff from high school and college that I wasn't able to enjoy because I was too

It's Primary Election Day!

2010-09-19T12:31:00.000+09:00

Today is Hawaii's primary election day. I can proudly say I voted! You know why? If you don't vote, you don't get to complain. I mean obviously you can complain if you don't vote, but if you purposely didn't take the time to make your voice heard through your votes then I couldn't give a shit what you have to complain about. People my age LOVE to complain about everything the government does

YesStyle Order YAY

2010-08-28T07:34:00.000+09:00

MY STUFF FROM YESSTYLE CAME IN!!! I only ordered two things since it I was just adding onto an order, have some photos: I've been wanting a maxi dress like this since the beginning of summer when I started seeing all the Japanese girls at the mall wearing them. The restaurant I work in is always featured in Japanese tourist publications, so we regularly see the J-girl packs of 2-8 girls all

Shenanigans~

2010-08-20T06:23:00.000+09:00

Last week Friday I held a marvelous little party for my Japanese classmate Matsuura-kun! He's studying abroad in Japan for a whole year and his birthday recently passed, so I thought it would be good to send him off with a little party and fond memories of his Hawaii tomodachi. It wasn't a huge deal, I hosted dinner (oven pizza + edamame + gyoza + gross beer Gima-kun bought) and a movie at my

Allow me to get on my soapbox for a minute...

2010-08-20T06:11:00.000+09:00

Preface: In college, I came to the conclusion that you don't do yourself any favors by being ignorant. When I restarted this blog, I told myself I'd start writing about politics and serious subjects, in addition to the fluffy stuff. I purposely made the layout more friendly to the fluffy stuff, in part because I wanted to present such things to people who wouldn't normally care about such things.

I hate kanji, part 298482910

2010-08-04T11:42:00.000+09:00

I was too lazy to post this to Twitter, but my story in a nutshell: For Americans, kanji is DIFFICULT. For example~ My "classmates" and I were reading through our yomimono, like theいい学生 that we are, and we came across the first character in the equation. None of us had ever seen it before, though we were all familiar with the radicals (the individual components that make up a character - the

Can retainers be gyaru???

2010-07-25T17:02:00.000+09:00

I'm finally at the last stage of straightening my teeth (again!), and I got fitted for plastic wire retainers. I GOT TO CHOOSE WHAT COLOR I WANTED!!! I was excited. I chose *sparkly white* because retainers can be cute, too! Right? Do you see the sparkles??? And if you don't wanna think about retainers *omg* then have a picture of Bobby (大石一聡) from PlayZ, he's easily the best of the five since

So now the A in KAT-TUN is... auto-tune?*

2010-07-21T18:33:00.000+09:00

*SWEARSIES IN THIS BLOG* Dearest Jin formally announced he's leaving KAT-TUN. Oh. Let me recap it for you so you don't have to hunt all over the internet for articles: Jin is all AMERICA, FUCK YEAH! The other members of KAT-TUN have been saying nice things like "Please support us in our efforts and Jin on his solo project!" or whatever, but supposedly they're glad he's gone behind the scenes (

日本語の勉強

2010-07-08T12:17:00.000+09:00

ある日, 日本語で書こう... Just not today. Today I had my second broke-ass summer school session for Japanese! I'm not actually taking a Japanese course, I'm learning through helping my friends with their homework and following along on their worksheets. Cheers to spending money on flying to LA for concerts and not formal Japanese classes! The university is still using the same textbook that we had last

ME AND JIN☆

2010-06-28T08:10:00.000+09:00

And not you since you probably didn't go *nyah nyah* Last weekend, I went to Jin Akanishi's first solo concert in America omgsoexciting. Who the heck is Jin Akanishi, you ask? He's one-sixth of the popular Japanese idol group (read: boy band) KAT-TUN, managed by Johnny & Associates, Inc., one of the largest entertainment agencies in Japan. KNOW YOUR J-BOYS!Akanishi is top row, center. I have

REBOOT

2010-06-25T19:06:00.000+09:00

久しぶり! (Can't see that? Download a Japanese font package, お願い!) (It says, "Hisashiburi!" or "Long time no see!") I seem to have found myself with extra time these days, and after nagging from older bro I've decided to put some of that time into my blog again. I had a hard time deciding how I would like to focus my blog, now that I'm out of Japan. What sorts of silly things can I write about now?

It's been almost a year!

2009-03-29T11:37:00.001+09:00

I'm a few days early, but it's been almost a year since I flew away to Japan to study at Jouichi. And it's been quite a few months since I updated this blog heh heh. Reminds me of some lyrics from that one Wallflowers song:Man I ain't changed, but I know I ain't the same.Now that I can figuratively see the forest and not just the trees, I know how that semester abroad has affected me. Almost

Mixi is not helping

2008-09-07T02:06:00.000+09:00

I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it before, but Japan's youth have their own version of MySpace/Facebook called Mixi.To me it's a bit of a hybrid between MySpace and Facebook, without all the annoying applications. On Facebook, it's kind of expected that you put your real identity to your profile -- you don't get to make believe you're someone else. If you want to join a specific Facebook

So it's not just me?

2008-08-29T12:01:00.000+09:00

I've been back at Creighton for a few days now. There's still a big brown box next to my computer and the suitcases are half-full of junk, but I am more or less settled.I started my position as ad manager for the school paper, which sucks right now, and I was stuck in my little corner for a good part of the afternoon catching up on calls and emails. One of the editors, Mary, who had just returned

My Chance at Japanese Superstardom

2008-08-07T08:25:00.000+09:00

...cannot be fulfilled this year.Ma and I were watching House last night and a commercial for the LesPros model search came on. They are having an open audition to join the agency/win some prize, but I'll just be starting classes at Creighton when it happens. I looked online and you don't even need to speak Japanese to go to the audition! The website specifically mentions that people who are

Now that I'm back...

2008-08-05T06:53:00.000+09:00

I've been back in Hawaii for a few days, and I can't say I'm overjoyed. Sure, I'm happy that I won't have to spend as much money on a daily basis, happy to see all my friends and family, happy to speak English and not feel completely retarded.But I'm not sure when I'll get to go back to Japan, and even when I do I won't be able to go back to the crazy life I had over the last four months. I'm too

So it ends.

2008-07-31T15:04:00.000+09:00

My last blog while in Japan! So sad.I haven't got time to reflect on everything at the moment, but I will do that when I'm back on Hawaiian soil.It's been real.

Things to do before I leave

2008-07-27T12:18:00.000+09:00

I'm heading back to America in a few days, and I've got loose ends to tie up. I'm bringing Christina along to like all of them to translate haha.1. Have to cancel the cell phone EDIT: Done.The cell phone was something I needed and despite the cost I'm glad I had it. I will miss its cuteness when I have to go back to my Sprint LG whateveritis.2. Have to cancel the bank accountHonestly, nothing

FINALS

2008-07-24T10:47:00.000+09:00

Finals suck.I can't go out and do anything, I have to study, blah blah blah. I have three finals this semester -- three days of Japanese (conversation, kanji/listening/reading, grammar), modern Japanese literature, and international politics. I have a paper for history, which I half-assed last night. I mean really, if a prof can't be bothered to give me a guideline of what he wants a 10-page

I met another Fujiyoshi

2008-07-20T11:52:00.000+09:00

Desperate to get out of the dorm last night, I headed to Ikebukuro to wander around. After getting off the train, I felt a tap on my shoulder."Suimasen..."Yeah, like I can read where you live.I half expected to see someone I know, the other half expected to see some little old lady about to ask me something. It's happened before. Instead I got a short little Japanese guy in his 20's carrying a