Today as I was walking home from class, these two high school kids kept looking back at me, over and over. After the forth or fifth time, I decided that if they looked back at me again, I was going to talk to them. But when they looked I was always caught off guard, so instead when I walked past them I said "konnichiwa!" The girl just looked at me in surprise, and the guy says "おっ！こんにちは！" ("Oh! konnichiwa!") back in shock. After I walked past I couldn't help laughing a little at their shock! "Oh! The foreigner! She... she talks!"
From now on, when someone stares at me too many times, I'm going to say hi to them. It's your own fault if you can't stop looking if I start talking to you, Japan!!
I live in Tokyo where there are a lot of foreigners, so the staring is usually kept down to a minimum, but if I were in Osaka or something, I think it might be a lot worse. At first it did bother me a bit, though, however small it might have been. It was kind of embarrassing to have people staring at me all the time. But after a while I just chalked it up to people thinking I'm cute, and just left it at that. And if it's not that they think that I'm cute, and they just think I'm funny looking... I'd like to keep my own little delusions, kay? So don't burst my bubble, mmkay?
But I think in the end, even if being stared at is a little awkward sometimes, because I stand out, people are eager to meet me, so it's a lot easier to make friends. To me, that's a huge advantage! And then because they're so eagar to make friends, I can sort of break the rules a little bit and talk to them--and they feel relieved that they can talk to me, and not have to break the rules.
For example, the other day I was at a restaurant with my friends, and because there isn't a lot of space in Japan, the booths are impossibly close together. So when I caught the guy's eye from the booth next to me, I just said "Ohayou!" on a whim (which is cute and casual) which lead to them telling "the foreigner" that right now it's the night, so I should use "konbanwa". Of course, I knew this perfectly well, but I can play the stereotypical dumb foreigner who doesn't know anything about Japan for a while if that means getting to talk to new people. ふっふっふっ！！
Anyway, because I talked to that one group, the rest of them started rushing in to talk to me as well, which was pretty awesome. And if I hadn't been the object of their awkward staring for a while, I never would have gotten that much of an opportunity to talk to them!
I guess another thing that really helps me, though, is the fact that my pronunciation of Japanese is pretty good. I think people don't feel as awkward talking to me, and feel like I'll be able to understand better because I sound pretty native. So I think I might be a little bit more able to talk to Japanese people (or at least spark a little interest) because they'll say more to me (Not that I can always understand but...).
Anyway, sorry for this little impromtu blog without pictures. Recently I've gotten really busy, and putting pictures on here is difficult, so I always put it off. I swear I'll do it... sometime.
--Caitlin
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Friday, September 16, 2011
Two Weeks Of Pictures
I promised you I'd update today, didn't I? Actually, I would have done it yesterday, except that it was dark by the time I got around to it, and I thought my apartment was actually much prettier during the day. Well, then I procrastinated again and actually, I took the video at night anyway. Whoops.
Anyway, I'd show you the video right now, except it's uploading on my phone right now, and my internet is about as slow as a snail with a shell two sized too big, so I'll have to placate you for the moment with...
...Pictures, yay! You KNEW I had to be doing something these past two weeks, didn't you? So I'll start from the beginning-ish. I didn't actually do too well in taking too many pictures in the beginning, though, so just hold tight until I get to the picture place.
So, I get to Japan, and of course I'm exhausted from the long trip, but on the way to where I was staying, I had to take a rush hour train. This meant... people! And everyone getting smushed into the train! And people I didn't know touching me! And me thinking "AH! THERE'S GOING TO BE A CHIKAN* HERE AND I'M GOING TO BE ATTACKED!" Seriously, it was the most packed train I've been on to date, and I had to do it with all my luggage and while I was tired and when I had just been reading articles about chikan when I was at home. Fortunately, I was not attacked, and I doubt it would have happened with Keita standing right by me anyway. But hey, I wasn't exactly in my best condition anyway.
One of the first things that I did was go to Obirin a few days into the trip so I could see my friends from that school (they had studied abroad at UNT). On the third day of that, we all went bowling.
Let me tell you a little bit about bowling, friends. I suck at it. Really really bad. Bowling hates me, and I hate bowling, and we have a mutual agreement to stay away from each other as much as possible. But with the Japanese, there seems to be two things that you always do: karaoke and bowling. And since all my friends are too embarrassed to go karaoke, I get to go bowling.
"Oh, it won't be so bad!" thinks I. I WAS WRONG YOU GUYS. I STILL SUCK. Like, I most definitely got the lowest score. It was pitiful.
Anyway, pictures!
Here we are, bowling. That's Yuki on the left and Keita on the right.
Keita makes various poses as he bowls.
...and another.
And another.
Yeah, you laugh, but he beat everyone by a mile. ....this must be his secret weapon to throw the rest of us off track because we're laughing so hard.
Yay everyone! Left to right, back to front, there's Eri, Yuki, Keita, Futta and Honami.
About halfway through, they came and gave us these. I'm not sure why. But anyway, yay, free trinkets!
Eri is probably laughing at me, because my ball is already heading for the gutter. Or maybe she's laughing because I'm so bad at this that I'm bowling with a basketball.
(I kid. It was actually really a bowling ball. Probably.)
Futta's like "Yeah. Nailed it."
Afterwards we went to eat and then did some purikura. If you don't know what purikura is... I'm sorry. It's awesome. You go and stand in this huge photo booth with your friends that has a touch screen inside, and you choose backgrounds for your pictures, and pose in various ways while they take pictures. After that, you go outside and to the side of the booth where you can decorate your pictures on another touch screen with a bunch of decorations, and stamps and different kinds of "inks" that you can draw with. Then it prints your pictures, and you divide them between you
It says "Texas Members" and "Caitlin, welcome to Japan".
I'll spare you the other picture I have of that, since I look silly. Or maybe I'm sparing myself. Either way!
A few days later Keita took me to a store. And there I took a few pictures.
In America, you eat M&Ms. In Japan, M&Ms EAT YOU. I mean, seriously, look at those things! It's creepy!
(You might want to move the little ones away from the screen for the next one.)
Thank you Japan. Now we know.
After that, Keita and I went to see Yuma in Yokohama. I wanted to see everyone, BUT EVERYONE IS ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING IN JAPAN. Seriously, you have to book in advance!
YAY CREPES! Japan likes crepes. I like crepes. I think we're going to get along juuuuuust fine, Japan. Juuuust fine.
And here I am, playing a drum game that's pretty much like DDR, except with Japanese drums (I pretty much rocked at it... even if I lost every time, haha).
OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS, JAPANESE ARCADES ARE AWESOME! They have huge games that you can like, get inside a machine and it has three screens around you and you're like, controlling your own gundam thing! And like, these things where you put cards down on a screen and you control your own team of fighters on the screen in front of you by moving your cards! And like, big shooting games and like... JUST AWESOME. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS IN AMERICA?!?!
And then we went on a boat!
And it was freaking hot out. And humid. And I thought I was going to DIE.
Here I am, half dead.
(I'm on a BOAT.)
Next we went to this international store thingy. And it was fun. And Keita bought a Star Wars mask, because he is 5 years old.
I am very scared. He is scary. I will soon be carried off to the empire or something. Aaaaaah.
And look what Yuma found!
Naked babies! Kyupi naked babies!
Shout out to Rachel who loves Kyupi more than life itself! And by "loves kyupi more than life itself" I mean she likes this kind of Japanese mayo on her sandwhich.
And then... More purikura!
It says "Texas. Love lo~ve!"
At the top it says "Cute!" and then "What is this?!"
That would be Keita in the mask. Because he likes Star Wars and because he is a dork. BUT IF YOU IFNORE THE BOTTOM PART then it's a really cute picture in the top left corner. IGNORE MY BOYFRIEND, OKAY YOU GUYS?
Another day I went up to Obirin again and look who I ran into!!
I bet you guys at school remember these people! It was so wonderful to get to see so many people again!
Me and Ai both have curly hair!<3
Izuho is still short, but I think she's graduated from looking like she's in 3rd grade to maybe almost ready to go into middle school. <3
They weren't paying attention. So I pounced.
Some of the boys.
And then we went to eat food! Because food is good, and we were starved!
And then.... I moved into my dorm. Blablabla, we'll get to that later.
Anyway, my new roommate and I decided to brave the trains by ourselves, and where did we decide to go? Asakusa! Two train transfers, because we are BOSSES like that.
We're almost there now!
The gate! And past the gate we find....!
It was 7:00 and everyone was closing. We were then fail.
BOO ASAKUSA! WHAT IF WE NEED TO COME BUY SOUVENIRS AFTER 7:00?! What then?!
We make the best of it, though. This is my wonderful roommate, Carly, by the way.
And then we decide we want to go eat.
But we just find expensive food. And these fish. SWIM FISHIES, SWIM! Because you are a delicacy in Japan and you will soon be consumed! Even if you ARE really cute.
While we were wandering around looking pointlessly for price-range food, we find handprints in the ground.
I find my hand twin right away.
Somewhere out there is my hand twin.... WE WERE SEPARATED AT BIRTH, BUT I WILL FIND YOU!!!
Roommate also finds a kitten or two. We watch as it waits for the traffic to slow down so that it can cross the road to disappear into a crack between the shops on the other side.
We then come to today, when I got to bored that I decided to go drink some coffee by myself. The barista was really nice, and could speak English. He knew I was from Toyo university because... well, I was white, and right across from our dorms, haha. He told me his coffee was the best in Tokyo, so I overcame my shyness and asked him for a cappuccino in Japanese.
He made me a bunny.<3<3 All was right with the world. And then I went to look for the big grocery store. And I failed. So I had to go to a small one that didn't really have all I needed... but hey, at least I could eat tonight.
On the way I found the place where hobos shop apparently. Man, Japan really DOES have everything!!
Finally, children, we have my introducing my room after I got home and tidied up a bit.
And there you have it! [I'll put up a longer video I took tomorrow, after it finished uploading from my phone]
--Caitlin
P.S. So it occured to me that there are probably a lot missing from these pictures that you'd like to see. I have one friend in particular who really wants to see all sorts of pictures. So if there's something that you want pictures of, like my dorm, what the grocery store looks like, what the streets look like, or what my city looks like, leave a comment (you don't have to have an account for that) and tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can't do, since I have gobs of free time before school starts.
--
*Chikan: molester; Basically, in this case, it refers to guys who like to take advantage of the close quarters of the train to touch unsuspecting girls, and take advantage of the culture, which is not draw attention to yourself. Unfortunately, this makes a lot of girls just put up with it without saying anything.
Anyway, I'd show you the video right now, except it's uploading on my phone right now, and my internet is about as slow as a snail with a shell two sized too big, so I'll have to placate you for the moment with...
...Pictures, yay! You KNEW I had to be doing something these past two weeks, didn't you? So I'll start from the beginning-ish. I didn't actually do too well in taking too many pictures in the beginning, though, so just hold tight until I get to the picture place.
So, I get to Japan, and of course I'm exhausted from the long trip, but on the way to where I was staying, I had to take a rush hour train. This meant... people! And everyone getting smushed into the train! And people I didn't know touching me! And me thinking "AH! THERE'S GOING TO BE A CHIKAN* HERE AND I'M GOING TO BE ATTACKED!" Seriously, it was the most packed train I've been on to date, and I had to do it with all my luggage and while I was tired and when I had just been reading articles about chikan when I was at home. Fortunately, I was not attacked, and I doubt it would have happened with Keita standing right by me anyway. But hey, I wasn't exactly in my best condition anyway.
One of the first things that I did was go to Obirin a few days into the trip so I could see my friends from that school (they had studied abroad at UNT). On the third day of that, we all went bowling.
Let me tell you a little bit about bowling, friends. I suck at it. Really really bad. Bowling hates me, and I hate bowling, and we have a mutual agreement to stay away from each other as much as possible. But with the Japanese, there seems to be two things that you always do: karaoke and bowling. And since all my friends are too embarrassed to go karaoke, I get to go bowling.
"Oh, it won't be so bad!" thinks I. I WAS WRONG YOU GUYS. I STILL SUCK. Like, I most definitely got the lowest score. It was pitiful.
Anyway, pictures!
Here we are, bowling. That's Yuki on the left and Keita on the right.
Keita makes various poses as he bowls.
...and another.
And another.
Yeah, you laugh, but he beat everyone by a mile. ....this must be his secret weapon to throw the rest of us off track because we're laughing so hard.
Yay everyone! Left to right, back to front, there's Eri, Yuki, Keita, Futta and Honami.
About halfway through, they came and gave us these. I'm not sure why. But anyway, yay, free trinkets!
Eri is probably laughing at me, because my ball is already heading for the gutter. Or maybe she's laughing because I'm so bad at this that I'm bowling with a basketball.
(I kid. It was actually really a bowling ball. Probably.)
Futta's like "Yeah. Nailed it."
Afterwards we went to eat and then did some purikura. If you don't know what purikura is... I'm sorry. It's awesome. You go and stand in this huge photo booth with your friends that has a touch screen inside, and you choose backgrounds for your pictures, and pose in various ways while they take pictures. After that, you go outside and to the side of the booth where you can decorate your pictures on another touch screen with a bunch of decorations, and stamps and different kinds of "inks" that you can draw with. Then it prints your pictures, and you divide them between you
It says "Texas Members" and "Caitlin, welcome to Japan".
I'll spare you the other picture I have of that, since I look silly. Or maybe I'm sparing myself. Either way!
A few days later Keita took me to a store. And there I took a few pictures.
In America, you eat M&Ms. In Japan, M&Ms EAT YOU. I mean, seriously, look at those things! It's creepy!
(You might want to move the little ones away from the screen for the next one.)
Thank you Japan. Now we know.
After that, Keita and I went to see Yuma in Yokohama. I wanted to see everyone, BUT EVERYONE IS ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING IN JAPAN. Seriously, you have to book in advance!
YAY CREPES! Japan likes crepes. I like crepes. I think we're going to get along juuuuuust fine, Japan. Juuuust fine.
And here I am, playing a drum game that's pretty much like DDR, except with Japanese drums (I pretty much rocked at it... even if I lost every time, haha).
OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS, JAPANESE ARCADES ARE AWESOME! They have huge games that you can like, get inside a machine and it has three screens around you and you're like, controlling your own gundam thing! And like, these things where you put cards down on a screen and you control your own team of fighters on the screen in front of you by moving your cards! And like, big shooting games and like... JUST AWESOME. WHY DO WE NOT HAVE THIS IN AMERICA?!?!
And then we went on a boat!
And it was freaking hot out. And humid. And I thought I was going to DIE.
Here I am, half dead.
(I'm on a BOAT.)
Next we went to this international store thingy. And it was fun. And Keita bought a Star Wars mask, because he is 5 years old.
I am very scared. He is scary. I will soon be carried off to the empire or something. Aaaaaah.
And look what Yuma found!
Naked babies! Kyupi naked babies!
Shout out to Rachel who loves Kyupi more than life itself! And by "loves kyupi more than life itself" I mean she likes this kind of Japanese mayo on her sandwhich.
And then... More purikura!
It says "Texas. Love lo~ve!"
At the top it says "Cute!" and then "What is this?!"
That would be Keita in the mask. Because he likes Star Wars and because he is a dork. BUT IF YOU IFNORE THE BOTTOM PART then it's a really cute picture in the top left corner. IGNORE MY BOYFRIEND, OKAY YOU GUYS?
Another day I went up to Obirin again and look who I ran into!!
I bet you guys at school remember these people! It was so wonderful to get to see so many people again!
Me and Ai both have curly hair!<3
Izuho is still short, but I think she's graduated from looking like she's in 3rd grade to maybe almost ready to go into middle school. <3
They weren't paying attention. So I pounced.
Some of the boys.
And then we went to eat food! Because food is good, and we were starved!
And then.... I moved into my dorm. Blablabla, we'll get to that later.
Anyway, my new roommate and I decided to brave the trains by ourselves, and where did we decide to go? Asakusa! Two train transfers, because we are BOSSES like that.
We're almost there now!
The gate! And past the gate we find....!
It was 7:00 and everyone was closing. We were then fail.
BOO ASAKUSA! WHAT IF WE NEED TO COME BUY SOUVENIRS AFTER 7:00?! What then?!
We make the best of it, though. This is my wonderful roommate, Carly, by the way.
And then we decide we want to go eat.
But we just find expensive food. And these fish. SWIM FISHIES, SWIM! Because you are a delicacy in Japan and you will soon be consumed! Even if you ARE really cute.
While we were wandering around looking pointlessly for price-range food, we find handprints in the ground.
I find my hand twin right away.
Somewhere out there is my hand twin.... WE WERE SEPARATED AT BIRTH, BUT I WILL FIND YOU!!!
Roommate also finds a kitten or two. We watch as it waits for the traffic to slow down so that it can cross the road to disappear into a crack between the shops on the other side.
We then come to today, when I got to bored that I decided to go drink some coffee by myself. The barista was really nice, and could speak English. He knew I was from Toyo university because... well, I was white, and right across from our dorms, haha. He told me his coffee was the best in Tokyo, so I overcame my shyness and asked him for a cappuccino in Japanese.
He made me a bunny.<3<3 All was right with the world. And then I went to look for the big grocery store. And I failed. So I had to go to a small one that didn't really have all I needed... but hey, at least I could eat tonight.
On the way I found the place where hobos shop apparently. Man, Japan really DOES have everything!!
Finally, children, we have my introducing my room after I got home and tidied up a bit.
And there you have it! [I'll put up a longer video I took tomorrow, after it finished uploading from my phone]
--Caitlin
P.S. So it occured to me that there are probably a lot missing from these pictures that you'd like to see. I have one friend in particular who really wants to see all sorts of pictures. So if there's something that you want pictures of, like my dorm, what the grocery store looks like, what the streets look like, or what my city looks like, leave a comment (you don't have to have an account for that) and tell me what you want, and I'll see what I can't do, since I have gobs of free time before school starts.
--
*Chikan: molester; Basically, in this case, it refers to guys who like to take advantage of the close quarters of the train to touch unsuspecting girls, and take advantage of the culture, which is not draw attention to yourself. Unfortunately, this makes a lot of girls just put up with it without saying anything.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Where Am I?!?
This is what I have been doing instead of updating.
Poor gummy bear never knew what hit it.
--Caitlin
P.S. Updates and video of my new dorm tomorrow (finally)!
Poor gummy bear never knew what hit it.
--Caitlin
P.S. Updates and video of my new dorm tomorrow (finally)!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
One More Day!
You know, there used to be a time when Japan was just a foreign country. They were far away, and they did things differently than I did, and that was kinda cool to me. Learning about their customs and their culture was exciting.
At that time, Japan was kinda how I see China now. Not in culture, but in the foreignness of it all. Filled with people speaking a language I didn't know, that didn't look like me, all with black hair, and different faces than I was used to. It was so different than me in so many ways. Even small things like riding a bike as an actual form of transportation (not just for kids), and the way the streets were laid out... this all made Japan something far away--something fundamentally foreign.
Now, looking at this video (I'll put it at the bottom), I look at it and I don't see something foreign. It doesn't seem so far away from me that it's like a "third world" anymore. It just seems natural and like the place I want to be. When I look at this video, the things there don't seem strange and exciting because they're a different culture; they merely seem exciting because I know it, and finally can be a part of it.
You know, there was a time when I became culture shocked, even all the way out here in the States. I didn't like Japanese culture. I wanted to study the language, but I didn't really want to deal with the "tateme" and "honne" culture, the "way I show people I am" and "the way I really am" culture (as well as several other jarring facets of the culture). But now--and maybe this is born out of naivety, since even though I've only been there for a month, studied about Japanese culture, and had Japanese friends, that probably isn't like being there for a long time--I don't feel so upset by it all. It just seems... well if not natural, then normal. Or if not normal for myself to participate in, then normal for myself to deal with.
--Caitlin
P.S. I LEAVE TOMORROWWWW!!!!
One Month In Tokyo from Eric Bates on Vimeo.
At that time, Japan was kinda how I see China now. Not in culture, but in the foreignness of it all. Filled with people speaking a language I didn't know, that didn't look like me, all with black hair, and different faces than I was used to. It was so different than me in so many ways. Even small things like riding a bike as an actual form of transportation (not just for kids), and the way the streets were laid out... this all made Japan something far away--something fundamentally foreign.
Now, looking at this video (I'll put it at the bottom), I look at it and I don't see something foreign. It doesn't seem so far away from me that it's like a "third world" anymore. It just seems natural and like the place I want to be. When I look at this video, the things there don't seem strange and exciting because they're a different culture; they merely seem exciting because I know it, and finally can be a part of it.
You know, there was a time when I became culture shocked, even all the way out here in the States. I didn't like Japanese culture. I wanted to study the language, but I didn't really want to deal with the "tateme" and "honne" culture, the "way I show people I am" and "the way I really am" culture (as well as several other jarring facets of the culture). But now--and maybe this is born out of naivety, since even though I've only been there for a month, studied about Japanese culture, and had Japanese friends, that probably isn't like being there for a long time--I don't feel so upset by it all. It just seems... well if not natural, then normal. Or if not normal for myself to participate in, then normal for myself to deal with.
--Caitlin
P.S. I LEAVE TOMORROWWWW!!!!
One Month In Tokyo from Eric Bates on Vimeo.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Two Days Left!
Problem:
You are female.
You are moving to a different country.
You have a limited amount of space.
You have a limited amount of weight that can go in that space.
And the airlines are stupid and give you a large amount of weight for a small bag (45lbs), and a slightly bigger amount of weight for your bag that's twice as big (50lbs)...
Guess who's going to have to pay money for going over the 50lb weight limit???
Okay, in all seriousness, though, I THINK I'm going to be able to keep everything below the weight limit. However, yesterday I went shopping for some clothes to look sufficiently Texan, and now I have to stuff more clothes in there. And I'm going to end up wearing my cowboy hat and boots on the plane. And I'm probably going to get funny looks. But such is the price you pay if YOUR BOOTS WEIGH 25 LBS.
Okay, I'm exaggerating. Slightly. But seriously, that's not going into my suitcase. It CAN'T. My suitcases are already packed to the point of no return.
Yakkan shoumei guys. It's like, "Hi, we're Japan, and WE DON'T BELIEVE IN MEDICATION. WE ARE SAMURAI AND WE MUST ENDURE WITHOUT YOUR PETTY MEDICATION. Oh, you're foreign and you need medication? YOU CAN'T GET IT HERE!! HAHAHAHA! Well, I suppose you inferior foreigners might need those kinds of things. We permit you to bring your medication. Just don't feed the children." And then you have to send in a form (the yakkan shoumei) and get it all approved to bring it all at once.
Actually, the Japanese are pretty lax about that. Even medication that they don't permit to be sold in Japan you can bring in, as long as you don't bring in stimulants. You know, like Sudafed (DANGER, DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!). Actually, the process was pretty easy, and even with a minor hangup (I forgot to sign the bottom), everything was in and out in around a week. The biggest problem is *dun dun dun!!* The Insurance Company™.
What? You need medication to go over to a foreign country? We only permit you to bring 6 months at a time!! Oh, but first we'll TELL you that 11 months is all fine and dandy, tell you to call back in a few days, and then switch our story randomly. Now you have to be switched around to different departments 11 million times before they we'll finally be able to help you. Glimmer!
NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE OR ANYTHING.
Okay guys. Two more days.
You are female.
You are moving to a different country.
You have a limited amount of space.
You have a limited amount of weight that can go in that space.
And the airlines are stupid and give you a large amount of weight for a small bag (45lbs), and a slightly bigger amount of weight for your bag that's twice as big (50lbs)...
Guess who's going to have to pay money for going over the 50lb weight limit???
Okay, in all seriousness, though, I THINK I'm going to be able to keep everything below the weight limit. However, yesterday I went shopping for some clothes to look sufficiently Texan, and now I have to stuff more clothes in there. And I'm going to end up wearing my cowboy hat and boots on the plane. And I'm probably going to get funny looks. But such is the price you pay if YOUR BOOTS WEIGH 25 LBS.
Okay, I'm exaggerating. Slightly. But seriously, that's not going into my suitcase. It CAN'T. My suitcases are already packed to the point of no return.
Yakkan shoumei guys. It's like, "Hi, we're Japan, and WE DON'T BELIEVE IN MEDICATION. WE ARE SAMURAI AND WE MUST ENDURE WITHOUT YOUR PETTY MEDICATION. Oh, you're foreign and you need medication? YOU CAN'T GET IT HERE!! HAHAHAHA! Well, I suppose you inferior foreigners might need those kinds of things. We permit you to bring your medication. Just don't feed the children." And then you have to send in a form (the yakkan shoumei) and get it all approved to bring it all at once.
Actually, the Japanese are pretty lax about that. Even medication that they don't permit to be sold in Japan you can bring in, as long as you don't bring in stimulants. You know, like Sudafed (DANGER, DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON!). Actually, the process was pretty easy, and even with a minor hangup (I forgot to sign the bottom), everything was in and out in around a week. The biggest problem is *dun dun dun!!* The Insurance Company™.
What? You need medication to go over to a foreign country? We only permit you to bring 6 months at a time!! Oh, but first we'll TELL you that 11 months is all fine and dandy, tell you to call back in a few days, and then switch our story randomly. Now you have to be switched around to different departments 11 million times before they we'll finally be able to help you. Glimmer!
NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE OR ANYTHING.
Okay guys. Two more days.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Ohai!
Hey Guys! I'm still in America right now, but once I get to Japan (17 more days!) I'm going to use this blog to update everyone on how I'm doing, and what's going on. Also, if there's a natural disaster, or if North Korea ever gets around to attacking, or if a plane that's on its way to Japan mysteriously disappears, I'll update here to let everyone know that I'm still alive. Expect to see lots of pictures here (cause a picture says a thousand words, and that's a whole heck of a lot easier than actually writing all that) and the occasional complaint about how Japanese keyboards confuse me, because the punctuation is in all the wrong places.
I'm planning on updating here at least once before I leave, too, so check back in a week or so if you'd like.
I leave in the Morning on August 31st, and I'll make it to Japan by early afternoon in Japan (late night in America), so that's when you need to start praying that my plane doesn't dissappear.
Wish me luck~!
--Caitlin
I'm planning on updating here at least once before I leave, too, so check back in a week or so if you'd like.
I leave in the Morning on August 31st, and I'll make it to Japan by early afternoon in Japan (late night in America), so that's when you need to start praying that my plane doesn't dissappear.
Wish me luck~!
--Caitlin
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