JIJ Vol: 013 I almost forgot about this!

I apologize. I'm a horrible person at keeping people up to date with that's been going around. It's been nearly 5 months since I last wrote. I apologize for not writing! I guess I got so caught up with spring time traveling and school. School is almost over, it more or less ends the end of this month. Then I shall have August and a little bit of September before I return to the states.

I've already decided when I'll be returning to the states. That's Sept. 19. It's still two months away... but we all know how fast time can pass!

For the time being I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive. Has everyone forgotten me already? I feel like my english has worsened since i've been here in Japan. By the time I get back I think many of you will have to deal with my japanese quirks and behavior... I'm only warning everyone ahead of time.

In the mean time, I plan on going to Yakushima this weekend with my class. Yakushima is a tiny island off the coast of Kagoshima-prefecture which is located in Southern Kyushu. We plan to do a two day hike through Yakushima. If anyone has seen the Japanese Animated Movie, "Princess Mononoke" this is the island which inspired the artist. I'm excited about going! It should be very hot.

Actually the weather in Japan has been pretty hot (though I hear in california it's been getting over the 100s). On average it's been about 90 degrees, but its humid and it doesn't get any cooler at night. It's worse downtown with the whole heat island effect. Heat getting trapped between concrete and skyscrapers and lasting till well into the night. Though it's only July, I hear that August is the hottest month of the year in Japan... and from what I remember from last year, that sounds about right.

So, in the past 5 months many things have happened! I managed to do a lot of travelling. Here is a list of places that I went since my last report (in the last report I went to Hokkaido).
1. A two full day (over night) road trip with my friends Sumiyoshi-san and Taniguchi-san. We went to Miyazaki-prefecture. It was a lot of fun! We rented a car and went sight seeing. It was a lot of fun!
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/jocyinjapan/Miyazaki-ken/

2. later that week, we all went on a class trip to Okinawa. Okinawa was beautiful! It's definately a place completely different to the rest of Japan. The people are slightly different, the food style is slightly different (goya [bittermelon] is a popular vegie that they eat). The weather wasn't too bad. It rained just a little, but we managed to get a lot of sight seeing done. I also got to drink Root beer... which is impossible to find in Japan! I think Okinawa is the only place where you can find A&W.
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/jocyinjapan/okinawa/

3. In the middle of March my Dad came to visit me. We went on a trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima. I don't have any photos yet, but i'll try and get some together. It was a lot of fun!

4. Starting in April school more or less started. I more or less decided to take double the load compared to the semester before. It was a lot of work, but at least now (it being July) school is practically over.

5. the first week of May was golden week. I decided to do more traveling and headed up to Kyoto and Osaka and spent some time hanging out there, visiting more sights and visiting friends. I also managed to go to Kobe, Himeji, and Nara. I'll post some photos of my golden week trip sometime soon to share.

6. I spent the rest of May and June mostly in Fukuoka, concentrating in school... and diving into the Fukuoka music community. I've become what most people call "Band girl." where basically I go to a ton of concerts. This I have to admit is true... though before I left Japan I started becomming a concert goer... going to all sorts of concerts. But, here in Fukuoka it's a little different. I have come across local indie bands that I like and since then I've been going to their concerts. It's a lot of fun because its music that I like and a bit closer interaction with the artists. I've also started making friends at the concerts that I go to, so I always look foreward to each one so I could see my friends.

Thus... we get to July. July is almost over... but it was a very busy month! I spent the first week of July cramming in final projects, working and making the due dates. My concert band club had a competition so we started having practices up to 3 times a week. Though in the end the competition was a lot of fun. The first week and a half was probably quite a difficult time meeting deadlines and band practice. After that I left for a 5 day trip to Indonesia. I decided to go to Indonesia because my mother was going, and that it was my grandfather's 80th birthday. I thought it was a good reason for me to go, and plus I had missed indonesian food. http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/jocyinjapan/indonesia/

Since I returned from Indonesia... i've spent my weekends going to concerts. I spent one weekend going to T.M. Revolution concerts (i've been a fan of his for over 5 years now) which also led to a small two day trip to Kagoshima. I then spent this past weekend seeing a metal band called "Onmyouza" which is known for their traditional japanese sound fused with hard metal. They're lyrics are about japanese mythology and folklore. They're a very interesting band... I could go on and on about them.

Japanese Holidays...
There arn't that many japanese holidays between Feb and July. There is Golden Week during the first week of May. Golden Week consists of many holidays stringed together in one week. these days include boys day (childrens day) and government holidays. Besides that, there have been a few holidays in July. July 7th was Tanabata. Tanabata is an interesting holiday... Taken from wikipedia: it celebrates the meeting of Orihime ( Vega) and Hikoboshi (Altair). The Milky Way, a river made from stars that crosses the sky, separated these two lovers, and they were allowed to meet only once a year. This special day is the seventh day of the seventh lunar month of the lunisolar calendar .

It is basically tradition to retrieve a strip of paper and write your wish on the paper. Then you tie it to a tree (usually a bamboo tree). On this particular day I happened to go to a concert. During that time the band members handed us all little strips of paper and wanted us to participate in the festivities. Now this isn't exactly typical of what I would have done in Japan... but I guess it kills two birds with one stone:

the strip of paper with my wish... (it's a secret!)
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/jocyinjapan/tanabata/IMG_0760.jpg

the bamboo tree inside the live house. :D
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a50/jocyinjapan/tanabata/IMG_0762.jpg

The 3rd monday of July was Umi no Hi or Day of the sea. It's a new government holiday (starting from about 1995?) and basically... it's a day off to go to the beach or go on a short holiday trip.

Now that it's summer... Hanabi time has started. Hanabi is basically firework viewing... it's like 4th of July all the time! My friends and I are going to go Hanabi viewing later next week (after we get back from our Yakushima trip) and we will wear our summer Yukata! So I'll share some photos of it!

That's about it for now... i more or less have caught you all up with the major points of what has happened in my life. Later next month I look foreward to climbing fuji. It was on my list of things to accomplish before I leave Japan. I'm going to make it possible.

I look foreward to living the next two months to the fullest. If anyone has any questions, requests, or comments - please do reply!
Hope everyone is well!