Space Children Gathering

MMMMM Golden Week
Delicious vacation time

For my tasty Golden Week vacation I went with my friends off to Aso Mountain where we ate curry and listened to music and slept uncomfortably in small tents. All good though! Uncomfortable sleeping conditions ain't so bad when your home pillow is actually made of plastic beads. Mmmm, delicious plastics.

The trip down to Mt. Aso was kinda long, but it was filled with goodies. I started off in the morning from my buddy Dave's apartment. We got picked up by one of our friends with a car, and headed off to Shimabara to meet up with all the other people we were going with.

We took the ferry from Shimabara to Kumamoto-ken, where Aso is at. The ferry was tops. Since it was such a beautiful day, I went up onto the roof of the boat with a couple of other friends and we soaked in the sun and imitated Titanic poses until it was time to get back down into the cars.

From there, the drive was kind of confusing. None of us were really entirely sure as to where the campsite was on the mountain, or how we were supposed to get there. Luckily, we already had some friends up on the mountain who happened to be coming back down to grab some stuff from a convenience store who showed us the way up to the place.

Driving in, we went through some really beautiful scenes and passed a bunch of cows spray-painted with numbers. They were both pretty rad.

There were tons of Japanese hippies up on the mountain, along with quite a few foreigners who made a pretty long trip for the festival. Oh yes, we didn't just go to the mountain on our own accord, I am not so nature-friendly. There's a bi-annual music festival that goes on up on Mt. Aso which is filled with Japanese hippies and graying construction workers who paint in their free time. Well, okay, just one graying construction worker who paints in his free time, but he was a good dude.

Actually, this post is kind of dumb. I have nothing to say.
We made a campfire, that was fun
some crazy japanese dude came over and sprayed sake all over himself
lots of dudes had teepees and I was jealous
Some guy put paints out in front of his car and let people paint it up
tons of delish curry
I saw a full-circle rainbow
lots of dogs (I want a dog)
Also a turtle (not so much)


ANYWAY
I get to miss more school this week too because I am heading off to Kyoto and Tokyo. Should be killer.

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HEYOOOOOOOOO

UH WHAT
Yeah still here, still aliving it JapanLand
READ THAT AS YOU WILL

It's been a long while since I've dropped some knowledge on you dudes so I guess I better just RECAP things which have happened in the past few weeks/months WHATEVER IT'S BEEN A WHILE

MARCH
was cool. I think. I don't really remember when things happened and all that. Wait I think already posted in March about the whole 99 islands and all that jazz. Okay March DONE

APRIL
is this month right now. Things have been happening and they have been going well. I had a big ol' spring break (two weeks! and a little more!) and that was rad. Been playing a lot of Super Smash Brothers and Mario Kart Wii and stuff. That too is rad, but probably to a lesser extent.

I think it was in April that I went for Hanami, which is when everybody in Japan stops what they're doing to go to the park and admire the Sakura flowers blooming before they're all blown off the branches and the trees are just left with boring green leaves instead of pink flowers. I ate a carrot while there. It was unwashed, but I peeled it.

I went to a TALL SHIP festival in Nagasaki recently, which was pretty cool too. Some of my friends brought some cricket stuff and were fooling around with that. There were a TON of hawks hanging around, chasing birds and being generally intimidating. I think one of them ate a small dog. Or a child.

COMING UP
is GORUDEN UIIKU, or Golden Week. Golden Week isn't really a week, but rather a collection of holidays in such close proximity that they usually end up taking entire weeks and giving everyone a wonderful, relaxing break. This year, however, a lot of the holidays fall on the weekend which is a BIG BUMMER. Oh well. Anyway, I'm going to a mountain. Should be fun. Plus I miss two days of school which is goooood newwwws.

Shortly afterwards, I'll be making the trip to Kyoto and Tokyo with the other exchange students and taking super touristy pictures being all OOOH AHHH LOOK AT THE SIGHTS! That should be fun.

More on that stuff when I actually do it. Pictures and all!

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A Whole Bunch of Islands

Okay yeah so
Last weekend I went over to Sasebo, a nearby city, and checked out the Ninety-Nine Islands with my host family. The city itself has a big American Navy port there and a ton of Americans walking around, or at least a lot more than I have been used to recently. I've heard it also has a Nike store there, which I will have to make my way back to check out, seeing as they are supposed to have shoes in my size because of the demand from the Americans living there.

Anyway. Ninety-Nine Islands. I don't believe that there are actually 99 of them, I think in Japanese it's just a way of saying "A whole bunch". They're pretty nice, though it seems like they'd be pretty annoying to navigate because it's just a bunch of tiny islands and shallow areas lining the coastline.

I took a boatride around one of the areas of the islands with my host family and took a WHOLE BUNCH of pictures. GOOD FUN. However, it was kind of an odd day; It was alternatively sunny and snowy all day long, and kept on changing on our hour-long boatride, so while taking photos on the deck I pretty much froze several times over.

But it was good! It was definitely fun, and I wanna go again later when it gets warmer. Afterwards we saw a whole ton of people at the docks having かき, or oysters. Turns out it was the last day of the season for them, and I guess everyone was getting what they could before they were gone for the year. I'm not such a huge fan of oysters so I had none, and I already had a HUGE Sasebo burger earlier, so I was full up.

Sasebo burgers are pretty much just burgers that some dude saw and thought, "Nah, I don't think that'll give me heartburn fast enough," and proceeded to put on various other meats, vegetables and a fried egg on top. And as questionable as that sounds, it was DELICIOUS. I wanted to get another to bring home, but I didn't. So that's that. Good story.

But yes. I mentioned shoes earlier, didn't I? I believe I did. Well, the reason why I'm bringing it back up is because I am a big fan of shoes. I love to get me a new pair of sneakers. So getting into Sasebo, the only place near me that has anything in my size, I was sure to get myself some shoes. Some tasty, tasty shoes. I am talking DELICIOUS WHITE NIKES. Air Force 1 mid, which I have been meaning to get a pair of for quite a while. I am not sure yet whether or not I will keep them pure white or if I'll paint them up to my own liking. Maybe I'll just let them get dirty and then clean them up to be painted. Anyway I'll figure it out.

So anyway. Not too much else to talk about. I went to an onsen, or hot spring, this weekend as well with a couple of friends. It was ridiculously cheap, like six bucks. Or at least I think that's cheap. I'm pretty sure it's cheaper than anything else you could hit up in America. But anyway yes. Weird stuff in there. There was a sauna that you rubbed salt all over yourself that reminded me of getting a big slab of meat ready for grilling or ovening, if that word makes any sense to others.

So yes yes. I think that covers everything going on over here and all. Please enjoying pictures.

EDIT OKAY NEVERMIND for some reason blogger refuses to accept my photos
I'll figure something out
YOU WILL HAVE PHOTOS

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Chats

So hey guys. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Man where is this dude at? Why hasn't he posted in such a long dang time? Is he even alive anymore? Did he get got by one of those Vespa Mandarinia Japonica deals? That would be a bummer."

But Hey! I'm still here! Still kicking, still moving, still making it.
I haven't really been traveling or anything much, so I haven't had all too much to share with you guys. However, I've been sitting here for a while waiting for something of note to come up to talk about, and so far nothing HUGE has come about, but I figure I might as well just let you all in on what's going on.

So alright. Okay. Time to talk.
I'm gonna try something different here. Something I think might make telling this story a bit easier. From here on, I'll be writing this out like a little interview. I find it's easier to just chat about stuff rather than going into a whole writing mode and cranking out paragraphs of nonsense, so uh, here we go.

ジェレミー: So Jeremy! How's it going over in Japan?
Jeremy: Ah well, it's going fine. The weather has been kind of crap, but it's started clearing up now.
ジェ： Sounds good, sounds good. So what have you been up to lately?
Jer: Eh, nothing much. Just hanging with friends around Nagasaki prefecture and getting through school.
ジェ： Ah, school. How's that going for you?
Jer: Actually, right now it's pretty dang boring. Usually I got some classes up at the college that keep my attention and give me something to do, but the semester ended sometime back in January so I've just been going to the high school for the past couple of weeks. It's pretty boring.
ジェ： Ah, bummer.
Jer: Yeah dude. Plus all the dudes I knew up at the college have bounced back to their respective countries, so that was a bummer too.
ジェ： Ah, no good. So what've you been doing back at the high school? Been hitting up class over there?
Jer: Uh, yeah, sorta. I go to a couple of them but to tell you the truth, I can't really understand them much so I kinda just space out or read a book.
ジェ： Uh, isn't that kinda bad? Aren't you supposed to be learning the language and all?
Jer: Well yeah, that's what I do at the college. And then I practice it back at home and when I'm out and about.
ジェ： What about with the high school students? Shouldn't you be chit-chatting with them and all?
Jer: Well I definitely would if they didn't run away every time I approached them or if they actually went out every once in a while. I don't really get much of a chance to hang with them.
ジェ： So wait, who have you been hanging with?
Jer: Mostly teachers. English teachers. But before you say anything, yes, I still get a chance to use my Japanese when I'm out with them.
ジェ: Well alright. So then what else has been going on lately?
Jer: Uh, well last weekend or so I went off to Nagasaki to check out the lantern festival they got there which is pretty much just a copy of the Chinese lantern festival and all. It was pretty cool; there were lanterns all over the place in the city, in all shapes, sizes and colors.
ジェ： Oh cool. So what sort of stuff did they have there?
Jer: They had your normal Chinese lantern deal all around, but also a bunch of other stuff like a Pikachu, Guan Yu, some fish and a STEGOSAURUS.
ジェ： Oh nice! Do you have any pictures of them?
Jer: Yeah, well uh, about that. I sorta ain't got them right now, but as soon as they pop up, I'll load them up.
ジェ： Alright, well then, what else have you been up to lately?
Jer: Actually, not too much. One of my friends got the new Smash Bros. lately, which is pretty fun, but other than that, nothing is really going on. I found a site with some books online that I've been reading from lately, and I'm trying to get moving on photography and all that, seeing as I haven't been doing all too much over here. I've been feeling a bit cooped up around here lately and I've been getting a bit restless, so I'm just trying to put my energy into stuff instead of just stagnating and sitting around thinking about nothing.
ジェ： Ah, well at least you're trying to get stuff going for yourself.
Jer: Yeah, I've not been doing too much stuff over here and been feeling kinda bummed about it, so I figure it'd be good to just start moving so I don't end up being totally mentally static when I get back to the States.
ジェ： That's good, that's good. So anyway, what did you do today?
Jer: Well I got started on moving myself, so I went out for a little walk out back behind my house to take photos.
ジェ： Nice, nice. What's back there?
Jer: It's like this river/canyon deal with some tiny little open field areas and some woods that I haven't yet really made my way through.
ジェ： Oh yeah? Why's that?
Jer: Well on my way over there, I met some weird homeless dude who was hanging around the coals of his dead fire, and he started talking to me in his weird Nagasaki けん dialect.
ジェ： Oh, weird. What was he talking about?
Jer: I dunno, I could only understand a little bit. He kept talking about how it was dangerous to be alone in Japan or something but I kinda disregarded that because all the Japanese have a weird perspective on dangerous places, and he kept trying to give me something wrapped in newspaper from his moped thing.
ジェ： Wait, he had a moped?
Jer: Yeah, probably not a moped, just a little scooter thing. I dunno, it was a Honda deal
ジェ： So wait, why do you say he was homeless? How would a homeless dude be decked out with a scooter deal?
Jer: I dunno man, he had a whole little abode set up at the entrance to the forest with a woodpile and bedroll and all that. Plus homeless dudes back home have cars sometimes, why can't homeless dudes here have scooters?
ジェ： Alright fine. Whatever, you win. Did you get any good pictures in at least?
Jer: Yeah I think I got some alright ones. I figure I'll post some that I've played around with a bit.
ジェ： Alright, that sounds good. Well, I guess we should probably wrap this up.
Jer: Yeah I am getting kinda tired of doing this.
ジェ： Yeah, and typing up my name in Katakana every time I switch voices is getting pretty tedious.
Jer: Yeah, let's never do this again. From now on, just normal posting.

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Just wanted to let you guys know that I might be dead as soon as the weather starts warming up again. It turns out that there's a humongous monster that resides here in Japan that rears its ugly head every year. Also it is apparently a distant relative of Mothra. It's the "Asian Giant Hornet" or Vespa Mandarinia Japonica, and it can spit acid right into your eyes, no joke. Plus the venom has pheromones that call over even more hornets to spit more venom and gnaw at you with their gigantic mandibles. 30 of these dudes can take on 30,000 normal honeybees and kill them all in just a couple of hours, and then gorge themselves on honey afterwards. I can't even be in the same room as a yellowjacket without peeing myself, so I'm pretty sure I'll be done for if I cross paths with one of these things.

So yeah bugs. They aren't any fun.
Anyway. I've been doing things over here in Isahaya. I moved families once again, and found out that I won't actually have five host families, but I'll just be going back to my first two host families again. I don't really understand why they did this instead of just making my stays longer, but uh, I don't really understand a lot of things over here.

The new family is nice. My first weekend with them, we made a trip over to the local Buddhist temple because it was still the New Year's time and they went to pay respects to their ancestors, or something. I dunno.Then this weekend I went to a botanical garden with the host mom and her sister. It was pretty nice, but it seemed really strange to be in the middle of winter and checking out palm trees and all that. And uh...I really don't have anything to say for this post. I'll just put pictures up.

the truth is that after reading about that wasp hornet killer bee thing I read a bunch more about creepy insects and now I'm really paranoid and all I can think about are gross bugs, so uh, I'll just leave off here.

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It's the New Year's time here in Japan, which as far as I can tell, seems to last a lot longer than it does back in the U.S. Lots of people go to temples and all that, so I went to a couple with Alex, the other American exchange student here in Nagasaki prefecture. We went to the Suwa Shrine, the biggest shrine in Nagasaki prefecture, located in Nagasaki itself. A ton of other people were there as well, and it was quite interesting to see. I took a time-lapse video of us walking up the steps to the shrine, but it turned out to be a shorter trip than I expected, so the video is kind of quick. Also, I didn't really think the whole time-lapse thing through, so at times it can get a bit choppy. If you've got some video know-how though, maybe you can go through it a little slower.


For New Year's day, we had a meal of special New Year's-only food. Most of it was pretty gross. Actually, I can't honestly say that I enjoyed the meal. Most of the stuff came covered in some weird glazing that hardened into a plastic-like covering. However, the next day I also went to a New Year's dinner in Nagasaki with Alex where we had some KFC which was a little more edible. Apparently KFC has become a sort of traditional food in the end of year/New Year's time of year. I would be all OH GOODNESS THAT IS GROSS about that, but seriously, KFC is such a better choice than the stuff they usually have.

So uh, I don't really have a whole lot to say here. I guess, uh, have a happy New Year and all, even though I am quite late on that. As for a New Year's resolution, I don't really have one. Never really did make them anyway, because I usually just forget about them in a week or so. I dunno. New Year.

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Fukuoka once again

GUESS WHO
I guess if you don't know
you can wait a paragraph or two

On Christmas Eve, I set out with a couple of friends to Fukuoka once again. This time instead of a day trip, we went to stay for two nights. My friends were going to Fukuoka Airport to fly out to Thailand for their winter vacation, and I was accompanying them for fun, and so that I could go see a concert going on in the city. When we first got in, we got all settled in the hotel, which was placed right near the HIP and HAPPENING area of town, and was super convenient for pretty much everything we wanted to do.

After that, we set out to explore the city a bit, and came upon a huge toy/comic store that had all sorts of stuff for sale. I found a whole bunch of bearbricks and kubrick figures, and picked up a tron lightcycle in wireframe. It's fantastic; the stand that it comes with is supposed to be the trail that the lightcycles leave, and there's a little wireframe dude to go along with it.

Some fool on ebay is trying to sell this for 50 bucks

The rest of the day we pretty much just walked around looking at stuff, ate, and then went to karaoke. The next day I walked around with Ryan, a dude from Vancouver, and we just started wandering around, looking into stores and exploring. Eventually we ended up in an indoor snowboarding hill and we were all "Whaaaaaa? Where did this come from?" It probably wouldn't have been so surprising (I mean, they have these things elsewhere), but most everyone we had talked to had no idea about things like this, or even just an average skate park (Ryan is a big BMX dude. I uh, I didn't really care all too much).

We also found a ton of different stores just by walking around. Ryan happened to share a big interest in sneakers with me, so we wanted to hit up all the same places and things worked out well. Unfortunately, neither of us are really able to find sneakers in our size, because we both have pretty big feet (sizes 13 and 14), but that doesn't stop us from looking around.

For dinner we found a Jamaican restaurant near the hotel. Some of you may be thinking "Why is he eating Jamaican food while he's in Japan? How silly," but after having Japanese food every day for a while it stops being "WOOOO JAPANESE FOOD EVERYDAY" and becomes "food." It was my first time having for real Jamaican food, and it was pretty dang delicious. We talked to the owner of the restaurant, who cooked our meal. Turns out he was born in Jamaica, but moved over to New York later on.

After all that, Ryan and I went to go see Carl Cox at some club near the hotel. It was a bit odd though, because the venue limited the audience to 300 people, and even then there couldn't have been 300 in the club. The Japanese don't seem to do concerts and live shows like we do back in the States, or anywhere else for that matter. It seems that instead of going to see a huge name play at a local club, they would rather go and sing at a television set. Go fig. Also, even those who do go out to the club just kind of end up being sweaty, dancing out of time and making a lot of noise. However, as much of a bummer as that sounds, the awesomeness of Carl Cox totally made up for it (his dancing was supreme).

The next day I saw my friends off and went off on my own to walk around and look for stuff. I didn't find all too much, but I did manage to snag a fantastic photo in one of the bookstores.

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