香里園

So I've been living in Kourien for three weeks now. I have to say, I'm very pleased with the overall atmosphere of the place. I'm about twenty minutes away from the train station, Starbucks, some kind of generic bookstore, and a variety of pachinko parlors.It's a very 'exiting' place, guys. Look at Becca's 'exited' face.

Well, I suppose Pachinko isn't really unique to the area, considering there's pretty much one on every block in any city in Japan. Still, it's a neat town. I've heard from a few Japanese girls that they're afraid of going into Kourien after dark but...since I get home well after the sun goes down, it hasn't necessarily been a problem for me. The streets seem to be crowded any time before midnight, and that's good enough for me.

Although I live in Kourien, I feel like I belong more with the city of Hirakata. Sure, I live in Kourien, but I stick to the same route to the station so I don't get lost. I haven't had the courage to explore deeper than the route I was designated. I've been around Hirakata and just wandered the streets, though. One thing I noticed immediately were the gardens plotted right outside of some apartment buildings, with most windows covered in clothes in order to dry them in the sun.

For some reason, this scene makes me think of the country Jordan. A lot of houses over there hang their clothes up to dry outdoors, and they also have gardens in the front/back yards of their apartment buildings. This scene, minus the neatly paved road and shackled roofs, could be a spitting image of some Jordanian areas. I like how this small garden is so close to Hirakata - shi is still of interest to the neighboring residences in this city. It really blows my mind..

First Impressions of Japan

So I'm a little late in blogging about my first week...about two weeks late, I believe. I'm not particularly sure what I want to write about, since I'm new to the whole blog scene and I'm not particularly accustomed to expressing my thoughts anywhere else but in my head.I suppose I need to try, though, so here it goes.. My first impression of Japan is no doubt a positive one. The people are nice, the area is clean (from what I've seen they seem to take recycling more seriously, that's for sure), the food is delicious, and the main source of transportation is either a bicycle or your own two feet. Cheap, healthy transportation, am I right?! In those respects, Japan is everything I thought it would be.

Something of this nature, thanks to cracked.com

. On the other hand, there are a lot of images I've had of Japan that didn't hold true. For example, I felt that Japan had a sense of individuality when it came to fashion (not that Japan isn't unique, I just expected something different), however, glancing at passerbys in the train stations, I've realized most people have similar if not the same style of clothing. A lot of women tend to wear green/earth toned coats with fur lined on the hood, in combination with knee high boots, rocking the same brownish red colored hair, bangs down to their eyes, whi te makeup, and heavy amounts of blush applied on their cheeks. I suppose it's some kind of babydoll look, and there's nothing wrong with it, it's just one of those things I've noticed among the crowd. Guys have more or less the same spiked hair, some dyed reddish brown like the females, and I've been noticing this one particular coat among the men that's dark purple which appears to be made out of down. I must admit I payed more attention to female fashion than the males, so I can't necessarily point out any more similarities between Japanese men. One thing I absolutely love, though, is that some of the older women have cotton candy dyed hair. Pink, baby blue, even purple sometimes. I always joke with my mom that when she gets senile I'll dye her hair pink, so it's a nice reminder of my mom... Anyway, overall, I expected more diversity in style, but maybe in a big city I'll get what I'm looking for.

To give you a clearer picture of what I was expecting, the movie Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma Monogatari) should sum up my previous thoughts of Japan.

I've also noticed a good amount of Engrish, and I absolutely love it.

This is deep stuff, guys.

It just makes me feel better about my own Japanese proficiency. Hey, if they're making mistakes in my own native language, maybe they'll cut me some slack when I speak to them in Japanese and make a fool of myself in turn. As soon as I got off the plane, I came upon an Engrish sign more or less telling me to stay to the left, and that was my first picture in Japan. Since then, my friends and I have decided to take part in a never ending search for the best Engrish t-shirt. We've come across a few, but I don't think they have the "OMFG I need this!" calibur that I'm looking for.

Octopus ball with good tast, how can you go wrong?

As for the food, I kind of wish there were more zero calorie options for drinks, and I REALLY miss Mountain Dew, but that's just me being a spoiled American. I love tea, which is healthier than diet Mountain Dew for sure, and may not induce cancer, but it's just not the same. I'm addicted to my own ways -_-
That's about all I've got at the moment, じゃあ、また