Gaidai (The college I am attending) has a security guard. He has his own little guardhouse, and it is right next to the superfluous school gate. It's interesting to see him because he is always so cheery. Always. He always smiles and says Hello or goodbye to every student passing through. However, for the most part it is study abroad students who respond to him. Most of the Japanese students just ignore him.
It is also interesting because he has a bachelor's degree in economics and can speak English pretty well. I think he can also speak some other languages as well. I wonder why he is working as a security guard....

 
Oh yeah...

I have also been looking into traveling a little around Japan. I think I will be trying to go to Foukoka, and Kyoto. However travel in Japan is incredibly expensive. A round trip bus trip to Foukoka isnt bad at about $40, but a round trip overnight bus trip to Kyoto costs $200. I would really like to know why it costs so much.

It was also fun talking to my conversation partner about this. She was really amased at the $20 gets you anywhere in the Country sale that Greyhound buses have had.

 
Oh yeah...Last week was one of my Japanese teachers birthdays. She said she wasnted going to be doing anything for her birthday(Which really sucks...) so Seb bought some candles and I bought a piece of cake. We then wrote Happy Birthday, and How old are you on the board in Japanese before class started(Of course that question never got answered).

It was really fun to watch her reaction to the whole thing. She didnt erase the message on the board the whole class, and just kept writing more and more notes around it.

All in all, for 200 yen for a piece of cake it was well worth it...

 
This last weekend my host family took me to a traditional Japanese seaside BBQ. Each restaurant "stall" has a little wood BBQ stove you sit around to eat your meal. It also wasnt much of a restaurant by traditional standards. It had used small rocks for the floor, and was basicly a roof over the customers heads. All the shellfish are also given to you alive. It was kinda interesting to see clams open and close as they are being cooked.

The food itself was pretty good. There is a definite taste difference between a fully cooked shellfish and one that was just heated up. Different amounts of juices in it as well. They shellfish are also eaten with soy sauce and lemon juice.

The final cool thing is that during the cooking process parts of the shells would sometimes explode. Not enough to hurt anyone, but it would still send little white flakes flying a good distance. It would also make some rather distintive sounds.

 
I have been looking for TM Revolutions new single Invoke since the 31st of last month. Its been sold out everywhere I've been too so far. I didnt expect a new single like that to be sold out everywhere, especially one day after its release. But I bet knowing how long Japanese fads last that I will easily be able to find it at Book Off by december.

On the topic of music...My host sister Yasuko likes watching Japanese music variety shows. I get the impression that for a Japanese band their performance is as important or more important than their actual music. I think that is why you will see groups with so many members like Morning Masume.

On another side note, I was told that I should bring home a CD of Morning Masume. Not because they are good, but because it is the perfect example of Japanese Music.