I Heart Japanese Toilets

Yes, yes it's been a while. I can sum up what I would have written during the past month, had I the time, by saying - Japan is good. I've never been a man of very many words, anyway. But here's a tip, my photo page is updated more frequently.

Classes are going well. Campus is like a zoo, a very fashionable zoo. No more sitting in class behind the girl wearing pajamas or the dude in a fleece with nasty cat hair all over it.
Thursdays and Mondays are Japanese Religion, Japanese Language and Japanese Business history - from 9:15 to 3:00. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday I have just one hour and a half long Japanese language class at 11:00, though I usually stick around campus to do homework for a while after.

I've also joined "Photo Club". University clubs, or "circles" are an important aspect of Japanese university life. They help students make friends, relieve stress, and are basically an excuse to get loaded with 20 or 30 like-minded people. Many clubs are sports oriented and other are for hobbies or interests. My favorite is FOLK SONG CLUB, which is described in the clubs list as follows:

"Hello, we are Folk Song Club. But we do not play folk song; we play Rock almost of our time. We organize bands with our member and play songs of favorite artists. If you want to enjoy playing Rock with us, come on and join us!"

Endearing...
Photo club meets once a week and has access to dark room facilities. We've only had one "nomikai" (drinking party) so far which took place at a Japanese style bar and then culminated with the cramming of 20 people into a tiny karaoke room, all of whom were chanting "take it off, take it off!" in Japanese.

I finally got around to taking pictures of my place. I guess the house is relatively old, but I'm not sure how old. Space is at a premium all over Japan, so homes are basically squeezed into whatever space is possible, are very boxy and sometimes have three stories. My place is pretty tiny. It's two stories, and can't be over a thousand square feet. It's interior is pretty traditional, which means tatami straw floors, sliding doors and paper screen windows.


See http://www.flickr.com/photos/unbdaveable for photos from the last month...