first of all i’ll just mention that i’ve changed the number of entries my front page displays at once… since i am kind of overloading on the pictures, and loading the page takes almost 30 seconds ^^;. so just keep that in mind if you do even care. i’ll also be laying off the embedded pictures in exchange for a bit more written content – so if you are just coming to look at the pictures head off to the gallery :p.

i guess there’s a lot to say. university classes started yesterday, so i actually have some material to study now. they are not so different from what we were doing in australia for the majority (apart from being 80 minutes compared to 45), apart from specialised and optional classes for speaking, kanji and computer information handling. it is a lot more like high school – we stay in a single class room and teachers come to us, there are bells signalling the end of each period, and the classes are small and very interactive. overall its a good learning environment imo and i’m happy :d.

the university has its own eating area (or 食堂) where you can order a meal from a vending machine, and take your ticket up to the kitchen, where the chefs cook (or… dump on to your plate) your meal. the meals i’ve tried so far have been quite tasty (tonburi, katsudon set, kitsune udon), but i really don’t know how healthy it would be to eat that kind of food every day… tea is free, but you have to wash all your dishes yourself in the (somewhat) automated washing area.

beneath the canteen place is a general store, with lots of haichuu and tasty stuff, along with a smallish bookstore. besides these shops are about 4 vending machines selling just about any drink you could possibly desire . the cream melon soda for 80 yen in a cup is veery good, not to mention cheap.

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its been raining for the last few days, and almost everyone is sick.. i have a sore throat myself, which is really horrible when i wake up but not so bad in the day as long as i have some (peach) throat lozengers. apparently there is a weather warning for tonight, but tomorrow was forecast as cloudy -> fine…

speaking of weather forecasts – in japan it isn’t just a matter of rainy, cloudy or fine. oh no… they will make sure to give you a percentage chance of rain for that day, just in case you want to take a gamble on whether to walk or bus it to your destination. i guess thats weather loving japanese for you.

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my host family took me to a video rental store last night. this place has just about any dvd you could possibly want, along with a music cd library (also for rental ). the best part is that rental overnight is only 200yen. yasui deshou! i got out the movie NANA and watched (and ripped) it last night – it was really nice . next time will be a raid on their music cd collection, followed with a lot of lossless ripping that night.

mmm, i have a lot of random events that i’d like to talk about, but i think its best to start in new posts for those. i guess i’ll finish with a few interesting points!

• sakura flavoured kitkats are tasty…
• in the worst case, our classes go for 240minutes with 3×10 minute breaks in between :s…
• because of the length of classes, one week of studying here is equal to more than 7 weeks at UWA…
• i bought ouendan without even owning a ds…
• (though i’m reluctant to write this) psrv is still up and going strong..

well, finally the sakura have finished blooming (most of them anyways ^^;).  its an awesome sight – they kind of line the side of the river along the road we take to uni.  it makes the journey a lot nicer.  so does the recent rainfall, which filled up the “waterway” to actually make it look like a real river.

they really do have a *lot* of sakura in himeji.  these trees look pretty bland for what… 350 days of the year, yet they make it the primary plant which is around the city.  i guess they can spend those days looking forward to the sakura blossoming for the other 10 or whatever.  they really do like their sakura in japan though – about every tv show on at the moment has to have a sakura tree in the background, every pop song that comes out has to have the word sakura in the title, and every family has to have a barbecue and drink under the sakura trees (on the dirt beneath them >.>)

next time you visit the boook store, don’t buy a book – buy a mook.  i guarantee it will be a much more interesting experience :p

we have an orientation kind of camp starting tomorrow and going overnight.  not really sure what will go on there, but we are with all the japanese first year students along with the other ryuugakusei.  should be an interesting experience.

just a foreword notifying you that pepsi nex is out! i guess they are just trying to be like coke in bringing out a new zero sugar drink… tencho says it tastes sweet. i’m not up to trying it myself :p

today i set off to my next and final destination in japan – himeji. ill be studying here for quite a while and won’t be doing any major travel.

shinkansen is my vehicle of choice – also my first time on a non-hikari shinkansen. unfortunately this one seemed like it was older than hikari

ok. i found a few interesting things at tokyo station in the hour i had waiting for my shinkansen. first is this “switch”, which looks more like a dial. they are located on every shinkansen platform. now what could this be used for, i hear you asking yourself. the notice below reads that it should be used in the case of emergency to stop incoming trains. they shouldve just put a sign saying “suicide switch” or something.

speaking of suiciding – i was speaking with mao about the suicide rate in japan. he said rail services are often stopped because of such cases, often delaying whole train lines for many hours at a time. the funniest part is, if someone happens to suicide, their family is made to pay a *large* sum of money to JR to cover the loss of service. lol.

ok. there’s this tiny door, about half the height that would be required for even a japanese person to fit through. its located halfway up the stairs. and then you see these girls dressed in pink crawling out of it… only in japan! even a few of the japanese were laughing as they watched.

finally, this guy was the 駅員 in charge of this platform. he may not look it, but he is carrying a wireless microphone with the power to do a lot of stuff… like turn on all those cool sounds and boom his voice over the system. in front of him is a control panel thats opened by a digital pad, which allows him to tell the train when to go. so he stands there with his uber mic and red baton/flag thing doing these hand signals in all 4 directions to make sure the train is ready to go or something, then hes like yosh! gogogo. and the train leaves. looks like a fun job :d

himeji is nice. the house i’m staying in is huuuge (for a japanese house anyway) and i have a stable net connection and a room to myself . life is good. more to come

well there’s quite a few 百貨店 (hyakkaten) stores around in japan, selling only products that can be purchased with 100yen (for 1 or 2 items).  this works out to rougly AU$1.25.  i guess you wouldnt think that you could buy too much for that price – after all, japan is said to be a very expensive country right?

lets start with the snacks section.  there are basically every kind of lolly/chip snack you could possibly want, including prepacked dried fruit and the likes too.

i really find these ones especially interesting – they are fruit lollies… kind of gummy but they come with quite a lot of moisture inside them.  the packets are resealable, and they taste reeeeeeallly nice (until you eat too many at once, then its not so nice).  i guess when fruit is expensive and you’re after that awesome lychee flavour, this is your haven.

ramen.  what is there to say?  its cheap!  i haven’t tried any of these kinds, so i can’t vouch for their edibility(?) but they look quite good i guess ;d

dishwashing liquid for 100yen..

what happens if you’re on a low income and need to lose some weight?  water dumbbells come to mind!

…and ther’s a lot more.  so like, what’s with people saying how expensive japan is?  its really quite a cheap country (until you get on a train).  *shrug*