i haven`t updated for over a week, my bad. been busy getting ready to go home. i can`t believe i`m leaving japan in a few days and i had to spend quite a bit of time getting all my luggage together and sending stuff that i don`t need back home. plus the graduation on the 22nd was quite hectic. so tomorrow, the day before i leave on the 3rd, i`m gonna spend time tomorrow uploading all my pics for my grad and after so this webpage will be complete before i get on the airplane. sorry to disappoint everyone for the lack of updates this week!
japan is getting too hot, it`s like a sauna right now. i guess when i go back home, the cold calgary weather would be much appreciated. may 21, 2004
well, tomorrow's the day for my graduation ceremony. depending on the weather, i may or may not wear a kimono. the weather's been rainy the whole week because of a typhoon coming this way. >:(
yes, about those ganguro people. ganguro was this trend in tokyo about 8 years ago, girls would dye their hair to be a browny color or blonde, go to tanning salons or smear dark makeup on their face, use lots of white eyeshadows and on their lips and just look really weird and ugly. all just to stand out. they died out in 2000 but now it's slowly coming back. i actually got the chance to take a pic of them, only cuz i grabbed some foreigners off the street to ask them if they can pose with them. me it's impossible cuz i look jap and they'll think i'm some sort of weirdo.
i think these girls are just butt ugly, i don't know if any guys will be attracted to them
i took some shots from my magazine for my presentation in japanese but i can't copy those pics from my powerpoint. looks liek i'll have to update those pics another time when i get it off from my laptop. but here are some shots from the net that i found and used them for my presentation.
may 19. 2004
yeah! done my last final jap exam plus handed in my 12 page essay and i'm free! just killing time til i go home. anyhoo, i have some pics from WAYYY back in september in tokyo of some interesting freaks there. Harujuku in tokyo is where these teens hang out but they wear gothic clothes. not just black, but the girls like to wear those frilly dresses and little bonnets on their head. i don't know if they would be considered real lolitas or if this is some cosplay going on. i was lucky to actually see them there. those pics bring back such memories when i look at my self now and b4.
i tried getting this goth girl in but not too sucessful.
next, when i was about to leave, on the bridge i could see this little park and people gathered around. my curiousity got to me and i really wanted to see what was happening.
i didn't have any problems getting people for pics at all , so me very happy :)
this costume was pretty cool, especially the teddy bear and the chain collar. and she even had on green contact lenses
the person on the right reminds me of sai from the anime hikaru no go....though i think it could be.
the white frilly dress and the wig kicked ass i think
the 2 people in the green outfits reminded me of the teenage mutant ninja turtles. the girl in pink costume was pretty cool too i thought.
see the thing is, their wigs look too clean and untangly cuz the wig i had last summer was so knotty in 1/2 a day. so i'm thinking they mite have dyed their hair
i did buy a summer japanese yukata , a pink one but the pic was on my film camera and i couldn't find anyone with the digi cam to send it to me. but i do have another pic in a purple yukata that i borrowed from my friend
i guess the next updates will be the ganguro, those black faced girls that's sorta making a slow comeback
may 17, 2004
one exam down, 1 to go and my 12 page essay. well, i'm pretty much all ready for it but i can feel my ethusiasm to study has been going downhill since my first exam this morning. cuz i kicked ass and now getting a bit too confident for my own good. alrite, to finish the rest of the update for golden week. i can't believe i'll be going home so soon! >_< where did all the time go?
a trip to kobe, a place that i haven't visited for the last 6 months and it was nice to see it again. but i'll be seeing it again when i come back in the summer with my family so i'll be an unpaid tourguide for them.
an area in kobe, it has a very european style to it and there's lots of foreign buildings. figures why so many jap people like to mob that area cuz they're all facinated with foreign stuff. but this pic, i heard that it's a museum with old fashioned eruopean dresses and it has this weathervane on top of the roof. thought it was prety cool, especially since they have hello kitty kobe limited goods of her dressed up as a chicken sitting on the weathervane.
another close up shot of the red bricked weathervane house
then at chinatown, too many people! it was twice as crowded as i went last 6 motnhs ago. and that's cuz golden week , everyone rushes out to travel. since last time i got a shot of the monkey, need a shot of the fat panda to represent china.
hordes of people in chinatown
those game centers are just too damn addicting! i keep getting caught up with it and i managed to get 2 of those racoons. but the next weekend, desparate to get the whole set and set out looking for them (and i did get them too)
harborland, the cruise boat just landing. lots of foreigners were there too. i accidently cut some foreigner guy off by accident when lining up, and he said "hey, she cut in front of me" in english. i guess the idiot assumed i was jap and didn't understand a word of english but i turned around and apoligized and let me go ahead of me. the prick said that he didn't give a shit and his jap gf said that "see, jap people do understand english." i felt like telling him, if he doesn't give a shit of going ahead of me, why did he get pissed that i cut him off? plus his gf must be stupid. no jap person's english pronounciation can be that clear, it's obvious that i'm a foreigner. unfortunately, kobe started to rain in the evening :(
then on may 5, the last day of the holidays all linked together, was children's day. it's actually more of a boy holiday cuz the girl holiday was back in march 3, the doll festival day. on boy's holiday, they have 3 carp flags. the black one is the father, the red is the mother, and the small blue one is the boy. the wind was not strong at all, so the fishes look sorta dead from the way how i took it.
may 10, 2004
finals creepign up on me faster than i expected! at least i got some of my japanese presentation and report out of the way, just need to start working on other japanese tests and finish my 12 page report on japanese society. man, my ass was sore on sunday just sitting on a chair for 5-6 hrs typing out the report and japanese essay.
anyhoo, to start the updates of my golden week. did a bit of traveling, went to nara and kobe. it was nice to see those places again since early october i believe.
in nara, b4 hitting the todaiji, went to a new temple, hyoryuji. excuse my very bad japanese translation here to english. i wish i remember the significance of the place, will check my travel boook later! :P
b4 entering the temple, need to wash my hands off at those convinient little wells in front of every temple
to celebrate that this temple was the first building to be nationally preserved, need a shot to remember this by. plus everyone was doing it, so i figured, why not!
near the main entrance, all these flowers were blooming. actually, they're blooming all over japan now. not the cherry blossom but a different kind.
one of the main temples
the sign for the oldest cafeterias in japan for the kamakura and nara period, odd....
here's a good shot of the hyoryuji temple, the palace grounds were broken up into 3 sections so u had to tour 1 area, then exit to another area, then another. lots of foreigners here too
then to go to todaiji, the temple with the big buddha. on the way there, there were these people making mochi, rice cakes. it was my first time seeing them pound it, i knew that on new years day people still do it in villages and rural area. but they were making it and i got some movies of them, it was crazy cuz they pounded away at it and when the guy was using the hammer, another was flipping the dough over with his hands. don't know how he managed to not get smacked with the hammer...
ha ha, those tourist shops were selling those deer ears, figured i should try on a pair of those pink ones to look like an idiot and beg for some biscuits >:)
golden week, loads and loads of people every where i went. the last time i went, it wasn't nearly as crowded in october.
for once, there were hardly any deers. i couldn't beleive it since there were so many of those annoying creatures all over the place begging for food. now, they DON'T want any of it. kids kept on forcing it on them, so they're lying on the ground looking pretty sick still eating it.
revisit of kasaga shrine, the 1200 or so laterns shrine. there will be a festival coming up this week for it at night and they'll light it up. i wish i can be there but since nara is a bit far from where i live, won't be able to go :(
next time, kobe pictures!
may 6, 2004
greetings people. long weekend is over :( had a day off on thursday, school on friday, then weekend, plus mon - wed were all holidays so it was fun to not go to school. damn school >:( not in the mood to come to school today. in fact, not a lot of people are here anyways, people must still be travelling.
anyhoo, to finish the updates for the show that i saw in april with my host family. all of the performers were either maikos and geishas and the show as like an hour or so. they broke each scene done and changed the background for different seasons. here's some of the pics that i took there.
a row of maikos and geishas. the geishas are the 1st, 3rd and 5th person. their kimonos are more simple. maikos, the younger girls, the 2nd and 4th person wear more colorful kimonos.
for spring, the cherry blossoms. the background is actually a place in kyoto, the giant tree in the middle is like a big fat umbrella where cherry blossoms do bloom on it for 2 weeks b4 falling off.
the finale and everyone's on the stage.
even though the cherry blossoms already dropped, a different kind of cherry blossom blooms for about 2 weeks. unlike the 5 petal flower, this one has double petals. somehow, i prefer the original ones.
and this is the area in kyoto where the traditional dance house is . all wooden buildings selling traditional goods like bags , wallets, paper and there are restaurants too. even though the place is very traditional with tons of shops, unfortunately, this place is also crowded with cars. mite be cuz of the show. anyways, next updates will be where i went for golden week!
