Well, I am in Japan. The conference was finally over, and it was freaking long. Most of days started at 8:30am and ended at 6:30pm. And, then, of course, every night, we went out to izakaya (Japanese bar), and had waaay too much sake. I was very nervous about speaking Japanese professors and grad students, and well, I was right. It was really hard to speak to them because I had no idea who was who. In Japanese academia, you cannot really approach to professors unless they speak to you. Eh. Also, you cannot just call their name, you gotta always use “professor X.” So, during the poster session, one of guys asked me if I was available to talk to him. He was saying something in Japanese, but I had no idea if he was asking me a question or just making comments on my poster. His sentences kept ending like “ blah blah blah~, isn’t it?” So, I was just like, “oh okay.” And, he told me what he is doing for his study, but the way he described was very ambiguous, and I did not get it at all. Ugh.

Although I did not know Yokohama area, that’s because I am Japanese, I had to take “I wanna sake!” group of people to difference bars every night. It was really fun to talk to people in the casual setting, but it was not easy to take care of 6 – 10 people every night (and I was the only one who could speak Japanese). In the last day of conference, we went to the bar with more than 20 people, which was chaotic from the beginning, and when we were about to pay, we were super under. Some people left without paying, and some people did not have enough cash to pay their drinks. The tab was almost $1000, and everyone was freaking out. Grrrrr, well, someone got to pay, so some people (including myself) paid waaaay too much... Sucky...

After the conference, Sebastien and I stayed in Tokyo for the weekend. When we were buying train ticket at the station, Eli found us, and came along because he was staying in Japan for extra days. Well, that was fine, but he had no hotel reservation at that day. So, although we always paid our hotel, I asked the reception lady (very nice) if we could have extra person in our room. She said that I would need to change larger room which would cost 10000 yen (about $85), and we would need extra bed which would cost 4000 yen ($35). So, Eli would need to pay 14000 yen. So, I asked him if he wanted to pay that much money for one night. He was like, “oh whatever.” So, I told the nice reception lady to go ahead and change our room. But, when we were waiting for the confirmation, Eli just said, “oh, well, that’s lots of money, so I will find somewhere else. Can you tell her I won’t stay here.” Hmm, well, I was annoyed. I was almost pissed. I was thinking, “you tell her!” But, since I am a nice person, I asked her to change back our room. After we settled in, we went to the Imperial Garden. Well, we couldn’t get inside of the Imperial Place because it’s not open to public (dah, emperor lives there!). It was pretty cool to see the garden even though there wasn’t much to see. We also checked out Japanese restaurant which supposedly inspired Crazy 88 (restaurant in Kill Bill). The restaurant was pretty neat, but there were so many foreigners! Weird! Although there was so much potential to be great weekend, my Tokyo weekend ended up pretty bad. I wish I hadn’t stayed there. I was still tired from the conference, being a guide for everyone, and continued to become a guide in Tokyo was not my intention. Anyway, I uploaded couple funny video clips, so check them out.

I finally came back to my home town after a brief stay in Tokyo. It was actually nice to be back in Hiroshima because, well, I hadn’t been back here for 4 years. Although it was nice to be back, I wasn’t really excited to stay my parents’ house because where they moved couple times while I was gone, and the place they are living right now is totally new to me. In addition, they got two dogs (and no more my cat!). They live tiny apartment with two dogs, oh, and my brother… He is still living with my parents. I think my parents kinda like it, and probably my brother likes it too because he doesn’t have to pay rent or food or any living expense! I told my mom that he should put some money in every month, but she was like, “oh, but he bought me new TV. He is such a nice kid.” Well, that was nice of him to buy my parents new HDTV. But, I told my mom that HDTV cost about $1200 - $1500, not much comparing to paying rent! I really think my brother is pretty good at manipulating my parents!

It was kinda crazy weekend in Japan. We had pretty big typhoon passing throughout the country. Since we are in the middle of raining season, I wasn’t really care much. It had more wind and stuff like that, but it wasn’t too bad. Then, we had pretty big earthquake in the northern part of Japan. I didn’t think it was that big, but obviously, several people died, and hundreds of people got injured. Well, good thing Hiroshima is far away from where the earthquake occurred.

I am kinda enjoying staying in Japan, but I am so ready to go back to the States. I love Japanese foods, and great services I get at restaurants or wherever (even without paying tips). But, I miss my apartment. I even miss Minneapolis! And, I cannot fit into clothe I find in the store!! For some reasons, all guys trim their eyebrows, and they look so weird. And, skinny pants and tight clothes seem to be popular right now, and well, they just look like so gay! Also, I saw many guys have mullet!!! I cannot really explain well unless you see one. But, just think about bunch of guys with trimmed eyebrows and really nice mullet wearing super tight clothes... I don’t know what to say...

Ah, so today is my last day in Japan. Coming back to Japan wasn’t as bad as I expected, but I am so ready to go back to the U.S. I guess I am not so good at staying my parents’ house. I feel like I cannot relax. I could go jogging, but since it is raining season in Japan right now, every day is pretty much raining. It has been only two weeks at my parents’ house, but it has been very very loooong. Since tonight is my last night in Japan, my parents, my brother, and I went out to eat. We ate lots of Japanese foods (we went to izakaya style bar), and I had several sake (good ones) for the last time. I cannot remember when was the last time we as family went out to eat. It was a little bit awkward in the beginning, but, it turned out to be a lot of fun. My parents kept evaluating every food we ordered, and my brother and I kept telling my parents, “oh c’mon, just relax and enjoy foods and drinks!!” I think we all had a good time being as “family.” I am sure I will miss it, but well, I am so cool with it!