Mary the Party Animal

The semester is nearly over! Today I have a final in my Japanese politics class then Monday I have my last class for both Japanese and Social and International Relations of Japan. That just leaves my Asian Religions class. So basically, I'm almost done! That means...party time!

I started a little early though. Last Wednesday was Asuka's birthday so we had a tabehoudai/nomihoudai (all you can eat/all you can drink). Sadly I couldn't stay too long because I have class Thursday morning and felt that staying out late would have a negative effect on my grammar quiz grade. I have a picture from then though. In it are Kathleen, me, Asuka (the birthday girl), and Rachel. Sorry, I'm not naming the people in the background since you can only see their backs anyway. It was lots of fun and we got to grill our own food (see that stove thing behind us?). I love do it yourself restaurants though they can get pretty toasty.

Friday I went to Harajuku with Lydia and Briana and Rachel joined us after her class. I got three new pairs of pants! Yay! I now have jeans that aren't falling apart. I also bought a really cute coat for only 3000yen. We also explored a wonderful poster shop, got hit on by a half hispanic half Japanese guy, did purikura (instant photo booth), and ate kabobs and crepes. All in all, a wonderfully fun evening.

Saturday, I was a bum. Nothing more to say about that.

Sunday I again went out (bad Mary!) and met up with Lydia, Briana, and a friend of Lydia's. The friend (his name's Juusong--not sure of the spelling here, he's Korean) invited a Japanese friend of his named Etsuya, and we had lots of fun. I stayed out a little to late and thus did worse than usual on my Monday morning kanji quiz (probably a B instead of an A is all). The picture is Etsuya, Lydia, and myself. This is one of the more normal pictures taken that night. We got a bit silly... There were supposed to be more people, but Rachel had a paper to write and Juusong's other friends apparently got into a fight with some yakuza (Japanese gangsters) the night before. Not sure I would want to meet them anyway. They don't seem that smart if the pick fights with yakuza.

Finally, what you've all been waiting for........

Su-chan! It's kind of obvious which person he is in this picture. On the left is Tomo-san, Mami's younger sister. And the man is Tomo's husband Hiroshi (called Hiro). Mami as you've probably figured out, is behind the camera. I tried to get a picture with her in it, but when I picked up my camera, it told me the battery was dead. And we all wanted to eat that delicious looking food on the table too much for me to run get new batteries. Notice that this is also a picture of food! On Tomo and my plates is pizza which sounds very American, but on portion of the pizza I was eating was tuna and corn. They have the weirdest topping here, but it's sooo good! The dish in the middle closest to the camera is salad on top of katsu (meat cutlets). The other dish is a cheese tomato thing, not really traditionally Japanese but very yummy. In my glass is plum wine (tastes kind of like Port though a bit less sweet). Tomo-san is drinking ocha (at least I think it's green tea). She's very pregnant so no alcohol for her. Hiro-san is drinking beer, if you couldn't tell.




Here's the karaoke video. I hope it decides to work this time... In this video: Jeff, Sarah, Rachel, Kate, and Laura.

Wednesday, I went to Harajuku with a bunch of people. I love that place. It's so unlike a lot of the rest of Tokyo. It's way more laid back (until you get into the posh area where all the designer stores are). I could easily shop there a lot. Kathy will be interested to know taht there were multiple little shops devoted entirely to socks and stockings. Actually, knee high and thigh high socks are very much the fashion here (though often paired with incredibly short skirts) as are leggings and tights (again usually worn under really short skirts or shorts). I bought two dresses while there.

Also in Harajuku, we went to a character store where I bought a new wallet and a day planner. Mom will like this. They had half of an entire floor of the shop devoted to Hello Kitty. The other half of that floor was Studio Ghibli. Totoro and Hello Kitty: two things that I've now been overexposed too...

Anyway, that's it for now!