Lately I ask my girlfriend to read to me. When I listen to her read, it helps me with my pronunciation and flow. Also it reminds me of how pretty Japanese sounds coming from a native speaker, as opposed to the oral butchering it receives from me:)

The Foreign words always stick out to me. My teacher says that they sound cool to Japanese. I can do without them.

I hate proofreading. Anything I write, I never want to read again, I am immediately embarrassed by it. I wonder what that means, I've been like that my whole life. Lately, I have forced myself to confront this phobia, but this blog is a rather large step for me.

I am here in Japan, studying Japanese. I love the language, and am fascinated by the differences between Japanese and English. I have always hesitated to put them onto paper or online, just because in a month or two, I will look back and think, "How pedantic". Anyhow, learning Japanese has helped me to overcome my pride. I write this blog not as a linguistics expert but as a student and Japanese language fan.

I went to see an exhibit on Buddhist statues at The Tokyo National Museum this weekend. Yes, I am a putz for not having been to Ueno before now. The museum itself is sprawling with (I think) 3 buildings, a Japanese garden, a park built around it. It's like the Met in NYC, you will give up before you see eveything.

Afterwards, we went to a little shochu bar in Ueno. There is a big market where you can buy clothes, souvenirs, and food. They will bargain with you and the whole atmosphere is loud and lively. It really should be on everyone's list if they come here.

I used to think I knew what a busy city was. Now I realize I had no idea.

Once I was talking to my girlfriend about how much I love my little neigborhood, as we were walking through it. She kind of shrugged and commented on the ordinary-ness of it. Japan to me is full of places like this, nothing outstanding, until you get comfortable in them, like an old pair of jeans.

Fujimidai is like that. Before I went, I looked it up on Japaese wikipedia. For surrounding places of interest, a convenience store was listed. But once you get off the train and wander, there are many little shops to buy bento, sweets, ramen and other food that is being prepared right in front of you. The streets are narrow but not crowded.

There is a stream of announcements over the town PA system that talk about sales, new stores, etc. It's a little like a town radio station. That you have to listen to. But it's actually pleasant. And good listening practice.

Fujimidai's name uses the characters for Mt. Fuji, See, Place. I assume that means "Place you can see Mt Fuji from". I couldn't see Fujisan, but it looked slightly hilly. I would like to return and try and find the place where I can see the mountain.

It's a straight shot west of Shinjuku, and amongst the typical shopping, you can find little tiny alleys with 2 table restaurants and lots of unique shops. If you are sick of shopping, there is a great park that has random vendors in a flea market type atmosphere on weekends. There's a lot to see here, but not the same sensory overload as Shibuya, for example.

My girlfriend came with, and we went to eat at some restaurant at the end of an alley. I can dig up the name if anyone is interested. We split carpaccio, some sort of meat-in-lettuce-Korean-style-thing, and Cheese Tofu with honey and cranberrys. Plus Sake and 2 beers and the bill was 4900 yen. Cheap!

Oh, I bought socks, too. If you ever move to Tokyo, lose all the socks with the holes in them first. It will save you some embarrassment. Or at least delay it a few minutes.

A photographer, Matt Melton, has a series called Life On A Japanese Train. The pictures capture part of the train-riding experience. However, you haven't lived until you have taken the last train on a Friday night from Shinjuku to anywhere.

My friend from Hong Kong lives here. It's pretty far out there, from the city proper. But it's also pretty cheap to live, and there is a decidedly "spread out" feel to it. If you mainly spend your time in Tokyo, you may not have any idea what I'm talking about. It reminds me a little of South Carolina, the sky is a little bigger this far from the metropolis.

Like most of Tokyo, around the station, there are restaurants, a supermarket and the usual fare. Hanakoganei actually has a pretty decent website, here. My favorite thing about this stop is there is a huge radio tower near my friends house. The towers lights change color depending on the weather forecast. If it's soft white, that means tomorrow will rain, blue is cloudy, green is sunny. And Japan's weather forcasting is pretty accurate. You can see this tower for miles at night, so you can look out the window, and know what you are in for the next morning.

I walked here, because I thought it might be closer to my house then the station I usually use (it wasn't). It's a local stop, small and quaint, but with a health club, large sound absorbing wall near the station, and some upscale shops being opened. I walked around, saw a cool looking restaurant that I might want to go to (HananoMae, I think). It was pretty early, so I wanted to get coffee, and the only place around was Mister Donuts.

I'm trying to not eat sugar, so I just got coffee. The nice thing about Mister Donuts is that if you order hot coffee, and ask nicely, you get free refills. Also, it's mainly frequented by middle aged housewives, who are usually not as shy as kids or the elderly, so it's a good conversation practice spot.

I studied for about an hour, and hopped the train home. Class starts again tomorrow, so I am going to continue my review. Last week, I was showing my girlfriend my new Kanji (Japanese/Chinese characters) textbook, trying to impress her, and she casually remarked that it's second grade level. How deflating.

This is a totally Scott-esque way to start off. I picked Kanda first, because when I came here last year to visit, (before I ever decided to move here) it was where I stayed.

Only it wasn't. I stayed in Ochanomizu, which is close but not the same. Oh well. I walked around, found an udon shop that wasn't too full of salarymen, and had a 300 yen lunch of noodles and seaweed. Very healthy and cheap. There are ways to save money in Tokyo, don't believe everything you hear.

Kanda is busy, but not crazy like Shinjuku. It's on the East side of the circular Yamanote line, at about 3:00. It's between the much more famous Akihabara and the much busier Tokyo Station. A 5 minute walk from the station and you can go to the Mitsui Museum. Admission is only 800 yen.

I have to allocate my time a little better. I got up early and ran, did some errands, and then went to Kanda. I walked around there for a couple of hours, so I'm a little tired. Luckily, it's still Fall break (2 more days left), so I am 30 seconds away from a nap. Ahhh!

I'll add pictures and stuff. Patience!!