7th:

I went to a birthday party for two people from a local Japanese student group which helps international students feel welcome in Japan. I bumped into John as he was leaving, and he asked me if I wanted to come long, so I did. They cooked okonomiyaki, gyoza, and a bunch of other stuff, and I attempted to practice my Japanese after the requisite social drink or two. It was a blast.

Yesterday:

Went to do some research for our new Japanese Culture class with Haesung and a new student named Christophe. We were researching so-called “love hotels” by conducting interviews with some of the owners, sort of like undercover documentary writers. We got a lot of great insider information from a particular unnamed source; I’ll post more details later on.

Today:

Went to a hanami (cherry blossom viewing) with a bunch of friends. Several people had prepared enormous plates of food, and we sat in Nishi-koen (park) in the grass under the trees. It was a bit cloudy, but the company was great.

Afterwards, I picked up a PS2 game based on rolling stuff. You’re an alien, and you roll a gravity ball thing and pick stuff up with it. Seriously. The ball starts off at 10cm, and you pick up thumbtacks and candy. As you pick up more stuff, it grows, and you can pick up larger objects like tomatoes, fire extinguishers, dogs, people, trees, cars, cows, and buildings. It’s brilliant.

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