Missed the final episode of Code Geass R2, but went to a Japanese festival instead

So yesterday I went to a real Japanese matsuri in Owari Yokosuka. We had to go to Kanayama and then get on the Meitetsu to get there. We stopped by at the one Japanese girl`s house who is from there. Her mom apparently has a ton of yukata I think from her company or something or other. She only had 2 male yukata so I didn`t get to try one on….

The festival was a lot of fun and I am glad I decided to go than sit at home and watch the last episode to Code Geass R2. I liked Code Geass R2 better when it didn`t have the Catholic mythology references. It looks like it sucked anyway, and I knew you guys would just yell at me for staying home to watch an anime than go to a festival. It was basically everything you see in anime. A lot of food stands, some games and such, and a lot of people.

The fish catching game is a hell of a lot harder than it looks or at least it was for me. I failed at it. The guy gave me some fish though as a present. So now I have 5 fish in my dorm. I need to go to the Jusco to get a fish bowl and fish food for them. They also had those shooting games with some amazing prizes like a DS, PS2, PS3 and a few other stuff like PC games like Higurashi, Little Busters, and Kanon. They can say they are giving these prizes away because it is completely impossible to get them. You have to knock the target down with the saying Great Prize on it, and knocking it down isn`t enough it has to fall off the stand that it is on. So to get enough force to do that from those guns is next to impossible.

So instead of use my money on these games I just kind of bought a lot of food there, and it was really good. Like takoyaki, squid, crepes, etc.

The Japanese students from the dorm who was with us commented on the drawings I drew in the little journal that is hanging in the community room. They used the term moe-kei so I don`t really know what that means. I was a little worried about them asking me what kinds of shows I like to watch because I don`t know if they were trying to see how much of a loser I am or trying to find a common ground for something to talk about. I mentioned mostly shows I have seen that I know Japan likes for example Honey and Clover and One Piece. Asking for my favorite shows on the spot is so sudden. I can`t remember which ones I enjoyed the most to be honest. That`s why I write them down lol.

It was a fun night. Definitely.

Princess Maker 5 for the PSP review – I am one shitty father

I was in Osu yesterday and looking at some of the more recent releases. Noticed that Princess Maker 5 was just released Thursday so I decided to buy it since I am severely lacking in games where I actually do something other than read text. If you don`t know what Princess Maker is it is basically a raising simulation game by Gainax where you raise a girl in whatever fashion you want. I am a sucker for these kinds of games because they`re interesting and kind of like a tamagotchi but with a cute loli instead.

I have never really played the other games in the series but 2 and I really didn`t like it mostly due to not understanding how to play and running out of money fast. So, one thing I like about 5 is I know what I am doing on a small scale and you get money every month but you can actually set when you want to get money to every month, 2 months, weekly and one other option. I am sure the amount you get varies in those spans as well.

The various options is really neat and in depth to like how late you want her to be out, how to address people, what she wears, who she talks to, what kinds of hobbies she can get into to. You can even make her an otaku. Yes, there is an otaku stat that goes up the more anime stuff you make her get into to. So, I think the range of possiblities with this game is pretty damn broad. For my first playthrough I am just being real hardcore and a bastard of a father. Having her study, study, study, do ballet, and piano. She gets top scores but I always respond that she isn`t doing good enough. Course her stress is through the roof because I never take her any where or anything.

Graphic wise I am so glad the artstyle is back to that water color like design from the older games. I believe Princess Maker 4 has a more anime art design to it which kinda looks too plain to me. The music is fine and there are voice acting for most scenes and what not.

Some of my complaints so far is basically sometimes it gets really boring just cycling through the daily routines hoping something new happens, but this could mostly be my fault for not taking her outside often because there are shops and events you can go to that help boost stats or get money and what not. You can buy outfits, items and food in the stores as well.

If you are one of those people that likes odd games especially simulation stuff like The Sims you might want to try this game out. This was totally a blind buy for me and I don`t regret it. I knew it was a simulation game but I really didn`t know how it was gameplay wise. I am really a huge fan of sim games like Tokimemo, the Civ series, Maxis games, all that stuff. Anything where I get to be some kind of all controlling god over something or build stats for some kind of goal.

Speaking of blind buys, buying a PSP was pretty much that for me, and the more and more I find out the shit you can actually do with a PSP by hacking it, the more I really do not regret buying it at all. Only downside is its shitty battery life imo. I was browsing some magazines at the book store in Irinaka today and it was all about how to hack your PSP. I am honestly amazed. I cannot wait till winter break when I am back home to try some of this stuff out like getting PS1 games on my PSP. Whoa.

If the world will reject me, I will reject the world

I have never really grown out of being rather angsty and depressed when the going gets tough. Being here in Japan I seem to have reverted to being back in high school or rather it might be always like this when I am thrusted into new situations. I am not good at making friends and seeing other people converse who are in their own groups and doing there own things makes me feel rather left out, but then on the other hand I like doing things on my own without being burdened by other people. In other words, I want the satisfation of having people around me to feel better but having nothing really to do with them or something like that.

I don`t know. I just need to vent right now since I feel very angry and it doesn`t seem to really be because of any reason. Most of it is jealousy, and lack of whatever on my part. I just feel very bitter, depressed and hateful. When I am like this I just get this feeling that I need to become better than everyone else. I get this feeling like I need to become stronger to crush all those who are rejecting me when in fact it is me who has rejected them.

I am tired of Japanese things, Japanese way of teaching, seeing Japanese everywhere. I liked it better when I was far away from these things and liking them from the comfort of my own country. I miss American things, familiar places, American way of teaching, and seeing English speaking people. I am tired of not being able to understand and to be understood since I cannot convey my thoughts into Japanese language well enough. I am so frustrated.

Getting in the groove of this Japan thing

Thank you everyone for the helpful advice and encouragement. I really do appreciate it even if I don`t say anything in response to it most of the time. My first really month here is going to end soon and I would say that I am finally starting to get in the groove of again with the whole school and studying thing. I am starting to get how classes are set up and what is expected of me.

Been trying to set up a thing where I am studying old material over as review so I don`t forget it while learning new stuff. Finally moved onto focusing on the grade 4 to 6 Kanji now so I am definitely moving forward but there still is a lot of Kanji out there to learn.

The Japanese students recently started college and now the campus is a whole lot more crowded and it takes a while to get a lunch and such now with the lines and what not. Speaking of food, I have lost 5 pounds since I have been here. I have no idea how. It must be a combination of exercise, having to walk to get anywhere in Japan, the heat, and the food must just be a whole lot less fatty than American food.

The girls here are real cute like all of them. Cute must be regarded as sexy here unlike America where less clothes = sexy or whatever, but I am having a tough time deciding if the girls look genuinely cute, or real fake. Like honestly, ALL the Japanese college students dress nicely here. The girls generally look all dolled up with high heels and what not as well which is why I have that feeling of fakeness. The most of the guy students seem to be trying to look more feminine or more tough. Putting hair over one eye or both eyes or using hair gel seems to be the “cool” thing to do from what I have seen. Really a whole lot different than us international students and how we dress to go to class.

The Clannad After Story is starting up soon so I need to get onto finding out what date and time it airs. I think Dengeki G`s said Thursday on TBS but gave no time. It still boggles my mind that girls young and middle aged go into anime stores here. Where is that whole girls don`t like anime argument? I thought anime was totally not liked here and people shunned those who like it that are over 13? LOL wut? Liking anime here doesn`t seem so it is only for one age group as I thought before. Still, I feel very not at ease when going in these stores since I am a gaijin that likes anime which leads to the typical gaijin otaku sterotype.

And today is a Japanese national holiday but I still have class today. :/

Code Geass 24 – OMG NUNNALLY OPENS HER EYES!

“Can you use your Geass on me?” Nunnally asks a shocked Lelouch as she opens her eyes for the first time since forever. So, I finally got around to browsing at a TV guide to figure out what channel and time Geass is on. To be honest, I thought Geass aired early in the morning so I thought I missed it but it only airs at 5pm so how is that a bad time? I am reconsidering that whole, “Oh Geass sucks now because of the time slot” argument.

I was pretty damn shocked by this episode. Maybe mostly because I missed 3 episodes in between, but man it was awesome even if I could only understand about 1% of the episode. Apparently a lot of characters switched sides during the 3 episodes I missed. I don`t know what went on exactly like what happened to Lelouch`s dad? Why is Suzaku and a few other people now on Lelouch`s side and vice versa? What is with some of the random Evangelion like references like the lance Suzaku uses to supress the power of a second nuke (I forgot the name of it). Lol wut?

The main stuff I got out of the episode were a lot of random fighting, Schneizel gets Geass`d by Lelouch which was actually an awesome twist on how he tricked him into think Lelouch was somewhere else. Those kinds of twists are good. Diethard dies. Nunnally opens her eyes and I guess is now the final boss or something. Sorry I cannot give a better synopis or what not because I have lol bad listening comprehension and even worse vocabulary. Still looking forward to the final episode though. Should be cool, I hope.

Trinity of Awesomeness in Japan

It seems like something weird is going on because there is some kind of tie in between computers -> video games -> eroge/anime and then books -> manga/anime light novels -> porn manga. There seems to be some kind of raising or falling of awesome/weirdness (which ever you prefer) when it comes to computer stores and book stores because it seems to always lead in those directions the higher up you go in these stores. These stores are like 4 to 5 floors high too. It really is a lot of eye candy and I wish I could take pictures inside these stores… About pictures I don`t think I can upload any on the computers at school because I need to install the disk to my camera on it. They are so uptight about that stuff here so I dont know when I will get my photos up. I wonder if I can try it at this computer cafe that I am at right now, but I dont have my cords with me. :/

I bought a PSP. I dont know if this is win or fail but Idolmaster is coming out for it in the winter and I want to play that actually. I am pretty addicted to the arcade game to be honest. Can you guess what game I got with my PSP? I cannot believe it myself but I got Clannad. lol… Other than that I have been just taking it easy since I was out at karaoke until 5am this morning. I drank a little too much Kirin which made me pretty tired. I seem to have some kind of weird affinity for sleeping in the bathroom when I am drunk just to kinda sober up. So I am kinda just browsing around today since things related to anime are really expensive.

Hm, not much else is new. Just trying to survive when it comes to my classes. I didnt do so hot on a grammar test that I had. Mostly because I studied the wrong stuff and made a lot of dumb mistakes but no real exact issue. …6.7/10 blah. Been doing my elementary translation homework and I can tell already that I picked a good class because I am going to really learn a lot when it comes to how to translate correctly and what not. Something I am actually interested it.

I dropped my Japanese religion class since I want another afternoon free other than just Wednesday. See it is like this here. Japanese for 3 hours on most days and then lunch followed by another class in the evening for about an hour and a half or so. Before I had class everyday but Wednesday since there are no afternoon classes. I figures 18 credits would be killer so I am down to 15 now, and that religion class was kinda boring anyway. The teacher didnt really leave a good impression.

So, that is pretty much all for now.

The umbrella it does nothing

So yeah a typhoon is supposed to hit some time later tonight/tomorrow. Should be interesting since I have never experienced one before. Things are really, REALLY wet outside, and my umbrella does nothing for me. Tonight we plan for some epic karaoke too with all you can drink. Looking forward to it. Hopefully they do not close early or something. Not sure how serious a typhoon is here lol.

Classwise I still dislike it, and the homework is a lot too kinda. The latest small test I got back I almost just passed. I made a lot of dumb mistakes that just took points off like .2 or like .5. The next one I can seriously do better and I will, I hope. I really want to have some fun too and not be studying all the time which is a new change because I really had no one to hang around at Penn State during the week or on the weekends. I mostly spent a lot of my time last year alone in my room watching anime and blogging about it but now I really am meeting all different kinds of people here and what not. A total change.

I hate the Japanese education system

I think things are starting to get better but slowly. Things are becoming less overwhelming for me, and I magically seem to understand what people are saying but it still appears like I am a mute. I am starting to gradually see results in the studying I am doing.

I really hate the Japanese education system at this point. I think the different groups and having some days longer than others is a nice change of pace but the whole same room different teachers teaching different grammar points for 15 minutes is pretty lame in my opinion because it really does not stick and really requires you to study on your own more which is never really a problem but class to me was something that helped to reinforce the things I read but class here in Japan is not doing much to help me. Also, the teachers seem to teach us like we are little kids. Everything just feels a lot like high school again. Glad I am not in a home stay then I would have a curfew, and from what I have heard it sucks.

Class is really making me consider to being more active outside class by practicing grammar there which is probably what I should be doing…

I really want to get better and I really want to do well, and here I really need to be aware of a lot since there is practically a quiz everyday. Monday was a vocab quiz, today was a Kanji quiz, and tomorrow is grammar. I think is I were not jogging and trying to stay in shape here I would go insane because that is really a great stress reliever at this point. Ok, let`s do this!

I love Japanese but…

I really wonder why I am here. Sometimes I wonder if I am here because I just wanted to prove to myself that I could get to Japan and now that I am here now what? Why do I feel so overwhelmed even though it really is not much different from college in America. Sure, the teaching style is a little different but I just feel like I am going to be doing poorly for a little while because of everything that is different. Sure they say one learns by failing or something like that but in my view grades are everything and if I cannot get a good grade and keep my grades high enough I will not pass.

Why do I feel like my usual way of life that helped me succeed is something I should not fall back on now? Secluding myself in my room all the time to study and then go out on the weekends was something that was never a bad thing but now it just seems like I should not be sitting in my room. I do not know. The work is very intensive here. I have to know how to write 28 Kanji by Wednesday. OMG… I am going to fail.

I like Japanese but now I am really wondering if this is really something I want to do. It is always like this. When the going gets tough I just want to find something easier. I have no confidence in my abilities despite being very skilled that lack of confidence is hurting me. I just have such a disadvantage since I am in level 400 dispite only taking Japanese for basically a year.

Why can I not accept that not everything in life is a free ride and I need to work to get better? It is always so mush easier to see the good points of others but to look over my own. I need to get better. I really do, but I really feel very helpless and weak right now.

I passed through the real Hinamizawa on a bus

So, my weekend was some what fun. I had an IES trip to Kanazawa which is more up north from Nagoya by the sea of Japan and is apparently VERY close to Shirakawa-go which we all know as the real Hinamizawa of Higurashi fame. I am really kinda angry that I find out about this now but I would not have had time anyway. Maybe this weekend I should try getting to this place because I really want to see the real Hinamizawa.

It is not all that far and I have already been to the Gifu area before so it should be interesting, I think. Really, everything we passed up north was mostly rural, and anything and everything there I saw looking out the bus window could have been Hinamizawa because it really did look the same out there with the rice fields, and small scattered houses.

Anyway, Kanazawa is famous for gold leaf and basically a great majority of it is done just in Kanazawa. The trip as a whole was decent but kinda lame picture wise. Saturday it was a 4 hour bus ride to get there. First we visited a ninja temple which never actually housed ninja at all, but it did have a lot of secret passages and tunnels and trap doors for escaping. Pictures were not allowed to be taken in the place. The tour was all in Japanese so I really did not know what was going on either. After that we went to this place that does gold leaf, and we actually did our own stuff using a jewelry box and using gold and silver to make some kind of design. Mine looks horrible since I am not really an arts and craft person…

Then we went to the Japanese inn which was pretty much the same as the first one we went to when I came to Japan. Although I would say that the hot springs was a lot nicer since they had an outdoor bath. Everyone pretty much came to that one. Guys and girls were towels to cover their private parts so it is not like we are naked or anything. But it was really nice. The baths were warm, the moon was out, and taking a bath in nature. The dinner they served us was okay, but whatever I ate really went right through me fast. My stomach did not agree with whatever that was.

Sunday, we went to the Kenrokuen which is apparently one of the 3 great gardens of Japan. What sucks about this is I really did not get any time to look around. It is like we go to this tea house and get tea and stuff served by the people there, and then they are like meet us at the candy making shop at 1pm, but we are supposed to eat in that time so I did and by the time I get out it is like 12:30 so there is no time to really look around. I could have really done without the candy making shit because it was pretty lame. Then when that was over we kind of just went back to Nagoya.

Traffic jams, religious discussions, annoying people, and such basically sums up some other things like the bus ride as a whole. I can really only tolerate some of these people from IES for so long it seems. Some people are alright but no one that I seem to really click with. I am very critical of people and it takes a long time for people to really get on my good side if I do not like you right away. On these kinds of trips though, I kind of just float around between groups just so I do not get lost and such.

Anyway, we got back to Nagoya station on Sunday around 8pm which was kinda late. I visted the Animate store there since I just heard about it. Wow, very awesome stuff. Manga on the first floor, tons of character goods to popular shows on the second, and I forget what was on the third… I did not buy anyway but I just wanted to see what it was like.

That was basically my weekend.