photoessay
So let�s see. There�s a lot on my mind and no time to write. Today is a Holiday; Higan to be precise. Higan is the weeklong celebration of the Autumn equinox, so I suppose that makes today equinox. I went into Shinjuku to buy an electronic dictionary (for about $150) and ended up getting a new lens-cap strap and browsing the mac section of Bic Camera. Biiiiku Biku Bic Camera!!! GOD THAT JINGLE AAARRRGH. If I hear it one more time I SWEAR I'll go kamikaze. Funny enough, I managed to haggle on my dictionary price and also to ask about iSights in Japanese. I really am surprised at how much conversation I can understand but also frustrated at how little I can respond.

Unless you�ve been to Japan, you really can have no concept of a Japanese department store. At least, I didn�t. Odakyu is huge in an obscene and entertaining way. I mean moreso than american department stores. They�re just� BIG in a way that things in Japan usually aren�t. Big, HUGE money pits. Like unfathomable money pits. With technology and gourmet and fashion all the top of the line. Odakyu has this basement full of food and shops like the most amazing food court you could ever imagine. I swear, my eyes almost fell out of my head gaping. It was insane.

After I made my purchases, I walked around for a while in Shinjuku and gave alms to a Buddhist monk standing still amongst the crowds in the hope that it would change the ill fates given to me the other day. Since that day, even, I have been feeling much better. Still, seeing the monk was a bit of a shock even after imagining things like this to be there. Tokyo is a city of immense order and chaos. Even the pigeons (Hato) sit evenly spaced in lines on the station roof.

It�s strange to be in such a city. With the Japanese, it seems that everything has a meaning. My host mother was confused that I told her my cat�s name (Rupert) didn�t mean anything. Here people trace their ancestors easily back five generations and are buried next to their great-great-great grandparents. Here samurai drama are cast full of meaningful glances and longing silences, much more so than American soaps. And so I find myself looking for meaning in the most obscure things� the bulldozer on top of a pile of twisted metal and rock rubble; the homeless man sleeping next to the bus station. What do these things mean?

I�m looking forward to learning more about everything. I�ve nixed my prohibition on pork and beef in lieu of trying some of the tasty cuisine Japan has to offer. No doubt it will be healthy anyway, despite that my host mother seems to think I need to eat more than my host father. HMM. I want to try everything.

Nevertheless, I still stick out like a sore thumb. Today while I was taking pictures of the monk, I caught some other Japanese taking pictures of me with their cameras. What�s the big deal? I�m just a white girl.

My host mother, sister and I went to watch some of the O-Higan festivities and I took more pictures. While I was observing, one of the organizers came over and nabbed me into a robe, then stuck me at the front of the procession. Woohoo! I was really embarrassed but it was fun. I kind of like being a circus freak. Guess the attention is nice. Still hoping I can capitalize on it. I saw one of those Americans who is a Japanese talk-show staple on Japanese TV the other day. Somehow, I think I hate him but envy him at the same time.

Well, hmm� I think that�s it for tonight. I meant for this entry to be more inspired and coherent but I haven�t had the time to meditate on it or link my photos in.

I'm too busy right now to set up a photogallery like I want to. If anyone out there has some time to get me running on gallery.com or anything, you'd have my undying gratitude.
Right now, it's the same old directory structure. I uploaded some pictures but I can't manage to put them in a chronological scheme. So go browse this directory for a glimse of the place I am. Shinjuku is my daily stop and near where I live. It's sort of like the metropolitan center of Tokyo. The Yellow building in the "kokusaibu" picture is where I'll take most of my classes at Waseda. Some of the other pictures have a story and I have a long entry in mind but I don't have time to write it tonight. Right now I'm preparing for my placement test tomorrow. I'm also feeling a sense of immense gratitude and respect for my family for having the courage to take someone so strange and so foreign into their home. You may or may not know this, but homestay is fairly rare in Japan. Even in modern times the gracious Japanese don't like others in their homes, it seems. This gives me such affection and thankfulness toward my family. Yay for homestay!

I wish the stupid motorcyclists would stop driving by my house. Grr. They sound worse than the freaking cicadas during the hot days.