STUDY ABROAD: WEEK 48

JULY 28

Yes! Back on my feet and ready to celebrate! Another Ramadan has come to an end. Aside from that last bout of sickness, I had no trouble fasting. I had been worried because I was told the humidity would kill me, but not this time.

The afternoon was marked by two events. The first of which was the conversation exam. This time, each of us would have an entire fifteen minutes to speak, and our partner was the professor. When all was said and done, my professor asked me, ‘Did you think it was easy?’ Does that mean I did well? Or, maybe I’m over-thinking it and it really means, ‘Don’t you think you should have tried harder?’ But, I don’t know what else I could have said. It was all right out of the textbook. Oh well, just let it be. Off to party~

Of course, we couldn’t really have a ‘party’ as there were now only three of us. Instead, we had a late lunch at the nearby curry place, and then we also ate some crepes. Then both of my new Indonesian friends went off to study for their exams. I headed home to pack another load and visit the district office to officially change my address. Now that I’ve received quite a few things from the other students, including a size-able box of study materials for the Japanese proficiency test, a folding table, a couple towels, various condiments, utensils, and more. Tomorrow is going to be my fourth round of moving luggage (the third was before I headed down to hand in my visa paperwork on Friday). Sadly, it looks like there’s more to come. So much stuff!!

JULY 29

It must be a universal rule that you have to change your address within 14 days of moving. I only found that out a few days ago, but I made it in time.

I am now an official resident of Okazaki city! A small part of me is still amazed that I was able to do the entire process on my own. In general, it’s not a hard process, but there is a little bit of paperwork. Last night, I stayed in Okazaki, so this morning I took the bus to Higashi Okazaki in order to reach the City Hall. I was told which department to turn my paper into, but no one said there was two buildings and multiple floors. Of course, that was only a small obstacle, and by noon the paperwork was filed. They even gave me a little ‘welcome’ bag, filled with news flyers, and a few bags for sorting garbage and recycling. After that it was back to Nagoya for some final reviewing.

(City map of Okazaki at Higashi Okazaki Station.)

JULY 30

It ended today. My last exam of the semester, my last day of classes at Aichi University, and it was all the last day of my undergraduate career. Would’ve thought I would finish my career as a student, and start a new one as a teacher, in Japan? I’m fairly sure I passed the kanji portion of the test with flying colors, but I’ll never get to see it. I’m not going to look back for it either: onward and upwards.

To celebrate the end of [most of] it all, I treated myself to something I have wanted to go to for years: DISNEY on ICE. Yes. I was actually lucky to get the ticket from a friend who could no longer go because of her exam. Gi and I met at the venue just as the show started. Our seats were off to the side, but we had a great view of the show. Pictures were improbable, but those images will stay with me I’m sure. Interludes with Mickey and the gang transitioned into each storyline: The Princess and the Frog, Cinderella, Snow White, and my favorite, Tangled. I only wish there had been more, but perhaps it depends on the show? I’ll just have to go to another one someday.

Dinner was my last Taco (salad) Night at Shooter’s with the girls. Tomorrow we are going to Universal Studios Japan!!!! I can’t wait!!

JULY 31

The adventure started off in the warm morning hours as we made our way from our apartments to the highway bus stop. This time, instead of taking a bus from the Meitetsu bus center, we registered with JAMJAM, another highway bus company. Coincidentally, the stop at which we had to wait was right in front of AIDAI. We left early because we were not aware of the stop’s location, so we had some time to wait. As we waited, one of the bus guides, an elderly man, started talking to us; of course, noticing we were foreigners, he was curious as to where we were from. He himself seemed very educated in regards to foreign languages. Too bad he wasn’t our bus guide, but he was an interesting man.

We boarded the bus and climbed up to the second deck. There were two rows of paired individual seats, not benches. These seats were also a comfortable size, complete with a leg rest, and blanket. There was also hardly any other passengers, so we had the desk to ourselves. As the trip proceeded, there would be rounds of visiting the very front of the deck to take pictures, as well as pretend to be driving the bus. One of the things that I noticed, and that I wish I was able to take a picture of in time, was an Egyptian cafe near Nakatsu Subway Station in Osaka. My heritage must have been crying out to me.

At just before 11am we arrived in front of USJ, Universal Studios Japan. There was only a few families and couples with us as we walked past the giant UNIVERSAL STUDIOS globe and through the ticket gate. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as we thought it would be. Once we entered the park, and made a necessary stop at the ATM, the crowds increased, but once again, it was the general crowd you would expect. Families, foreign and domestic, couples in matching clothing, groups of school girls, and occasionally some of the park’s characters would come out as well.

Our first destination was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We hastily made our way to the new attraction; from the outside of the park you could see the upper towers of Hogwarts. Gradually, the surrounding crowd began to increase. Before we could enter the attraction, we needed to take a time ticket. Since it was so new, it was still the most popular place in the park, and so it only made sense that they had to let people enter in cycles. The ticket said nothing about departure time, so it was possible that anyone who entered could spend the whole day there. We might have, if our ticket time had been earlier, but we could not enter until 5:30pm.

With six hours before the main event, the only thing to do was enjoy the rest of the park. We went to Jurassic Park first, just as the heat of the day peaked. The line for the ride wound so far down the trail that at first we thought we missed the entrance. That wasn’t so. Soon we found the end of the line and from there it was an hour and a half wait. If you read my past entry from my first trip to Japan, when we visited the Natural History Museum in Toyohashi, then you know I like dinosaurs. Kids of my generation should like them, and that is in part because of the wonderful Jurassic Park. That said, if I was going to create an attraction that would line up people for hours, then I would put something along the line to distract them, like some dinosaurs in the trees, or information cards. The only we had was a couple oscillating fans that people looked forward to reaching in the hot summer heat. Once we reached the cover, there was an introduction video playing on some TVs, but that was during the last thirty-minutes. By then, the excitement increased again, and very soon we were on the ride itself. I won’t spoil it for you, but just so you know, it was a water ride as if you were in a tour boat of the island. Of course, I wish it was longer, but it was very good. They should make one another level up in one of the Jeeps, and by level up I mean scarier, crazier, and more awesome!

So the ride exited into a small gift shop, once you got off the boat obviously. There weren’t that many interesting dinosaur souvenirs, which was a shame. Most of the store catered to One Piece (a popular anime about pirates) and Sesame Street fans. Those two are also two big attractions in USJ. We ate lunch at the One Piece restaurant (right), where the most interesting thing on the menu was the “Giant Leg of Meat”. It was in fact a turkey leg, but it matched both the Jurassic Park and One Piece themes. As we ate, a couple of characters from the show also appeared and performed a short act in the cafeteria.

After lunch, we walked back around the pond, or some body of water, that is centered in the park. We passed Jaws and Snoopy land, and spent some time near the front of the park which was decorated with Hollywood stars, classic American motifs, and souvenir shops. By this time, we had seen a number of people carrying large, I mean HUGE, bags with Harry Potter on them. We assumed those people had already left the attraction— ‘why would they leave?’ we joked. In addition, we perused almost all of the souvenir shops until we found two that also sold merchandise from the Wizarding World. However, the real special items that were on our shopping list could only be found within the attraction itself. We suspended buying anything at the time ans circled the park until we reached the Spider-Man attraction.

The line for the Spider-Man simulator was incredibly deceiving. Starting from the outside door, you can actually see the entrance into what looks like the start of the adventure. But after that line zigzags once, it throws you down a long hallway and into another maze of waiting. At least this time the walls were decorated with Spider-Man art and newspapers. I can’t recall how long we waited, but I’m sure it was over an hour at least. Slowly the excitement picked up as we reached the area near the entrance that I had mentioned. Then, once we received our 3D Glasses the real excitement set in. Once again, I won’t spoil it, but the ride was brilliant! I would have rode it again if the line wasn’t so incredibly long.

As we departed from Spider-Man’s ride, we took the obligatory picture with the hanging Spider-Man in the alley. Unfortunately, they had a professional photographer in place there, so we couldn’t exercise our freedom with the poses. It’s not like we even wanted a print from them anyway, just the picture on our smartphone was suffice. From there, we grabbed a quick snack of smoothies and soft cream pretzels.

The heat continued to bore down on us, though we still had over an hour to wait before entering The Wizarding World. On our way towards the attraction, we passed through Jurassic Park again. This time, there was a raptor on the loose. It was one of the incredibly realistic robots, except for its legs. As I was taking its picture, it seemed to notice and purposely walked in my direction. When it was right in front of my face, I finally noticed that it was bigger than I expected. It almost reached me before one of its trainers, or whatever the assisting person is, called it away. As it turned, its huge tail took out a small child. I wish my brothers had been there with me to see it; they would have enjoyed it as well.

Soon, the last hour of waiting was upon us, but there was no real place to rest outside the entrance. We meandered into Snoopy land and rode around in circles inside giant cupcakes, and then, once we were tired of the Hello Kitty motifs we wandered back to The Wizarding World entrance. We sought out some shade amongst the giant circle of obelisks, found a cool pace to wait, and then counted down the minutes. Just before 5:30 we stepped into the new-forming line, becoming part of the first ten people to enter at that time.

As we traversed the path lined with coniferous trees we could start to hear the musical score from the Harry Potter soundtrack. Ron’s car was crashed near the trees. The true entrance quickly appeared before us, with its expected stone and wood architecture. The 9¾ train awaited near the entrance, across from various small specialty shops. In the center of the street was a stand selling the famous Butter Beer, which you could have regular or iced. We each ordered a cup, and continued to make our way up the street towards the castle of Hogwarts. Each store that lined the way was an eye-catcher, but first we intended to ride the castle ride. I can’t even begin to describe the level of excitement that was set on by the atmosphere. It would have been great to dress up, and even better to visit the attraction in winter, when the snow on the shop roofs would actually make sense. It goes without saying that the line for the castle ride was enormous, probably taking upwards of three hours from the entrance. The outside wasn’t much to look at, but once one enters the castle proper, then things became interesting. It was impossible to take pictures in the dark though. Then as the line proceeded, we dropped off our things in a locker, passed through Dumbledore’s office and approached the ride. No spoilers~ it was equally, if not more fun than the Spider-Man simulator. If I ever come back, my top priority will be to ride it again.

(We toasted with our  butter beers, which tasted just like crème soda. Here’s to us.)

We exited the castle into another souvenir shop, but once again, the items that we sought were not present, for example, chocolate frogs. By the time we were able to enter the specialty candy shop where they were sold, they were sold out. People were buying them by the dozens to take home as gifts for other people. We had only wanted one or two, so it didn’t seem fair, but anything that is limited appears more desirable. There would have to be a next time, someday, somehow. We proceeded to eat dinner at the resident restaurant, which also served turkey legs. It was about 15 dollars a plate, though I suppose that’s standard for theme park fare.

Night had come, and soon the park would be closing. We finally did some souvenir shopping of our own, some for us, some to give to our friends back home, or in Nagoya. The night parade was nearly about to start, but we were tired, dead on our feet to be honest. We regretfully left the park and said good-bye to our wonderful adventure.

Leaving the park proved to be quite interesting in itself. The UNIVERSAL City Walk that led towards the station was once again decorated in neon lights and American motifs. It looked like a fun place to explore, if we had the time and energy.

As we boarded the train to take us to Kobe, the cold that Joy had staved off all day suddenly hit with a vengeance. The train was also too crowded to sit down on for most of the way, so she had to bear it standing with us.

We had not made accommodations this trip, in part because we were trying to save money. If we found a karaoke place, we figured we might stay there till morning for not even a fifth of the price of a single hotel room. First, however, we wanted to make a stop at a bar run by one of Rachael’s good friend’s mom. Rachael and I spent most of the night there chatting with the owner, her son, and a couple other random customers. Aurianne and Joy had rightfully excused themselves to find a place to sleep. I made sure that they arrived at their place before enjoying the rest of the night with Rachael on my second wind of energy.

(Hogwarts, Universal Studios Japan, 2014)

AUGUST 1

Good morning, Kobe!

Rachael and I stayed at the bar until well after 3am. We went in search for the Internet Cafe that Joy and Aurianne were staying at, but they wouldn’t answer our calls. The only thing they had told us last night was that it was the same place we saw advertised outside the station that included all-you-can-eat ice cream. After finding that ad once again, we located the Internet Cafe and paid a visit to the front desk. Again, we didn’t really know where they were, so we had to ask by name. We just wanted to confirm that they were there, but the present manager went to check the rooms and brought back a drowsy Aurianne. With that, we confirmed that we had the right place, but it made no sense for us to pay the 1800 yen for only a few hours. Instead, we backtracked to the McDonald’s near the station and ordered some breakfast. There, we, along with other weary travelers and early birds, spent the next few hours loitering in McDonald’s basement cafe. Joy and Aurianne joined us after 7am, and we were back on the streets by 8.

That started a cyclic day of wandering, snacking, searching for places to rest our feet, more snacking and then more wandering. If you ask why, it is because once again, our bus wasn’t until the evening… as if we hadn’t learned anything from our trip to Mt. Fuji. In fact, we had no plans in particular for that second day in Kobe. After we bought some honey, and tasted some Kobe Beef at lunch our to-do list was pretty much complete.

The small steak of Kobe Beef that we ate was tender, juicy and delicious, but I can’t compare it to other beef that I have eaten simply because it’s been months since I have eaten steak. Everything else we ate was some form of sweet or bread, of which there seemed to be at every corner. We spent two or three hours just sitting in a cafe on one order of coffee, simply because we didn’t want to walk around anymore.

The bus couldn’t have arrived soon enough. On one hand, we wanted to shower, sleep and refresh, so we wanted to go home. But, on the other hand, once we returned home, the only thing that would remain for us would be packing and saying good-byes.

AUGUST 2

After a full night’s sleep, I packed up another round of goodies and prepared to head for Okazaki again. Rachael was having a Taco Party in her room, which I briefly attended, even though I swore off food several times since our indulgence yesterday. But, I couldn’t say no, she made special all-beef taco meat just for me.

I couldn’t hang around Nagoya forever because I had made plans to go to the Okazaki Fireworks Festival with Takahiro. The others would have come along as well, but they had already been to two or three other festivals, including the one in Gamagori.

This time, I dressed myself in the yukata all on my own. I still had all the ties and clips that I borrowed from Akane’s grandmother, so it was simply a matter of mimicking the process. It didn’t take too long, maybe not even twenty minutes. I was able to leave a bit early to meet Takahiro at the other end of the station, as we waited to meet his acquaintances from Canada. It was an interesting because he was actually invited to join a girl studying abroad and her host family at the festival. I sort of just tagged along as the outsider.

In fact, as it happened, the girl from Canada wasn’t present when her host mom picked us up. We went back to the house to wait for her to return, only to find out that she would be meeting us at the festival itself. At the time, there were other family members who had not yet even met the girl from Canada, so that’s who they assumed I was. Twenty minutes of being mistaken for someone else, but no one ventured to confirm my identity because they assumed I couldn’t speak Japanese. Finally, as we were about to head for the festival, I had the chance to speak and suddenly everything came to light.

One of the great things about living in a place that has little crime activity, and people in general respect one another, is that you can claim a space by laying down a blue tarp and no one will take it, even if you do so hours ahead of time and nobody is present to state the claim, just a name. Of course, everyone is doing it, so rightfully, everyone has the same opportunity.

The place that the host family claimed was down by the river. It was very close to the fireworks display, and one of the boats on the water, but we were actually watching from the back. We couldn’t see all of the special one-way designs, but we had a prime view over most of the large displays, and those that happened on the boat before us.

The event proceeded with fun and food, but it ended on a precarious note. Some of the other members in our group got sick from drinking too much. Takahiro had to catch the train home, but I stayed with them until their ride came to pick them up, and then I headed to the station to catch the last bus home.