I went and got my hair cut yesterday. Its been something I have been meaning to do for some time now, but I have been getting distracted by other things. For the most part that hair cut was the same as in America. It did demonstrate that while I have built up some Japanese vocabulary in some areas, in others I still dont know enough.

The Major differences were that you also got a strait razor shave, and a shampoo as part of the hair cut. Also the barber did the entire haircut without use of the overgrown beard trimmer. It also costs about $10 more, but if you had all those services in America its not that bad.

Off to Kyoto this weekend. That should be fun :)

 
My Japanese tea ceremony class is now over. It wasnt as boring as some people led us on to believe. It mostly consisted of several rituals where you have to clean the tea implements, make the tea, and then clean everything again. Most things were cleaned with either a cloth napkin that had to be folded in a specific way(And refolded everytime you used it), or with hot water and another cleaning utensil.

If you werent making the tea the most of the ritual involved sitting in seza, eating a piece of dessert(which usually had some form of anko(Japanese sweat bean paste) in it), then drinking the tea. You also had to bow when receiving the dessert and tea. I think the dessert and tea really compliment each other. The tea is a little bitter and the dessert is a little sweet so they mesh together really well.

 
Oh yeah, if anyone from Japan recognises Milwaukee, all they know it for is beer. I find that really interesting.

 
Oh yeah, if you are going to do souvenir shopping in Japan, dont go to any formal souvenir store. Go to the different temples and shrines. Every temple or shrine I have been to so far has had a gift shop. Both Buddhist and Shinto shrines have some really neat different souvenirs. I really like the Momori that I have bought at the different Shinto shrines. Momori are little, for lack of a better word(s), shinto protection dealies. Different Momori are supposed to protect you from different things. A lot of the foreign exchange students at least have one on their backpacks. At the Buddhist shrine I picked up a metal abbacus, a Buddhist bead bracelt, and a little metal keychain fish(Which is really really cool).

This was also my first Buddhist temple I went too. The temple claimed to be the oldest surviving building in Nagasaki. Chinese imagrants were supposed to have brought the entire temple over to Nagasaki. My host mother says it is much more of a Chinese style temple than Japanese, which is to be expected. It was also painted mostly red. It had a lot more detailed statues and more gold than I am used to seeing in a Shinto temple.

I also finished all the film I brought with me. Thats 10 roles so far. I need to go buy some more before I head out to Kyoto.

 
Something really cool I have seen is roadside produce stands. The most common thing they have for sale is Japanese oranges, but I have seen all sorts of fruits and vegatables offered. The interesting bit is that they dont have anybody working at them. They have the produce in bags, and then they have the price listed, and then there is just a little strongbox to put your money in. I doubt this would work in America, for a lot of reasons, but its still really cool to see in Japan...

 
Two smaller observations today:
I find it really funny when I get explained the meaning of katakana words in Japanese. I know I dont know all katakana words(They arent all english words, or the word has been changed in some way), but I still enjoy being told what a barucodo is.

Also on every burnable garbage day I see lots of books being thrown out. Usually whole piles of em. I just feels wrong to waste printed things in that way to me. I would guess most Americans would have very negative connotations with burning books as well. Seb agrees that when you hear "burning books" what springs to mind is Nazi's. Especially the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where he goes to Berlin.

Not that I havent burned a book before. I did it once. With a $.99 book. To tease Gilby. It was only Orson Scott Card's Enders Game so it wasnt like I burned anything worthwhile. ;)