drive me crazy
If you imagine driving in Seattle or LA is bad, I assure you that driving in Tokyo is probably 10 times worse. I really can�t say for sure since I haven�t DONE it. And, admittedly, I�ve only been here a week, but I think I�m a pretty good judge of driving patterns. This city is crazy. I know I keep saying that but it�s true. I don�t think that motorcyclists or bikers have to obey any traffic laws in particular. At least they don�t seem to think so. They move in an out of traffic when it�s at a standstill, weaving in front of stopped and moving cars. I�ve seen people ignore the turning of a stoplight. Most drivers seem to have extreme disregard for pedestrians, though I haven�t yet seen any accidents. Maybe it�s not �disregard� per se but just the speed that everyone seems to think it necessary to drive at. Even in the thinnest, narrowest back alleys, even cars drive up to 30 mph, maybe more. It�s really quite scary considering that in the most isolated alley in my neighborhood one can only go for a few minutes without seeing a pedestrian, motorist or cycler.

And why, I wonder, does it not smell like food in here? My house (which is, in fact, bigger than I originally realized in comparison to others around here) backs up onto the row of shops facing the street. Right outside my window are two small restaurants, a udon shop and something else. But it doesn�t smell like food. Hmm. The bigger question, really, is that with all these hundreds and thousands of TINY, TINY restaurants EVERYWHERE, most of them EMPTY, how do their owners ever manage to eke out a living? How in god�s name do they make money?

Today I did some self-maintenance, which included doing laundry (washed at home, dried in the "Coin Raundory") and walking around the neighborhood and getting terribly, delightfully lost� until I retraced my steps and realized where I was. I�m still building my mental map so I got rather disoriented. For a moment I was afraid I would have to walk into Shinjuku (30 minutes away) and attempt to take the bus home. But it was a perfect adventure and a great chance to see the neighborhood. Even the residential areas are interspersed with small shops, back alley restaurants, shrines and parks. Saw a few REALLY nice places (one wealthy-looking family lives across the alley from me) and lots of hovels. This neighborhood (as many are, I suppose) is a maze of narrow, unnamed alleys and nondescript street signs. I guess the signs would help more if I could read Kanji.

(Can anyone tell me what's up with this Broom Buddha?)

I figured out how to use my phone a bit yesterday. I can now send email, c-mail (text message), mail photos, change the ring and notification sounds, change the background and add to the address book. All totally intuitively because can't read it. And I still have no idea about 80% of the features. But I�ve got all the features in the �easy manual� down pat! God I hate kanji.

Ugh, one think I don�t like about being here is that if I�m not occupied with something scheduled or walking around somewhere, I feel the loneliness and oppression settle in. If I can keep myself busy, I don�t get so afraid. Even if I�m out walking around, I can at least mask my illiteracy and stupidity by not talking to people. I�m hoping that by listening my brain will sort of learn by its self. Right now it's hopeless. I really can�t wait for classes to start.

I�m also having a bit of difficulty determining how to spread out my time. I�m not sure how much I should spend out and about, in here by myself or with my host family. I want to talk to my family and I feel like I should visit with them regularly but right now I�m often finding that I don�t have any time to rest or be by myself. When I do talk to them, I have a good time (albeit difficult conversational parry) and we all laugh a lot. My host mom and dad are so sweet that it makes me tearful. I still don�t know what to think about my host sister. Undecided. But even though they�re nice I still feel like they�re strangers. It�s hard to settle in.

My goal is to have one new super Japanese drink each day while I'm here! I doubt I'll succeed because there are SO many and they all cost a dollar or more. So that's a shitload of spare change. But I'm vastly amused by the rows and rows of vending machines and slightly saddened that they outlawed the "panty vendors" because I'd love to have gotten a photo of one. Here's some Engrish for you: what the hell is "Carbo-Flexible"????