On the plus side, I’ll be returning next year for my honeymoon! It’ll only be 2 1/2 weeks, but at least I get to go back.
Speaking of honeymoons…time to plug my wedding blog
http://jessiesweddingblog.wordpress.org

I feel like I need to leave some final thoughts or something.

Stuff I miss
* My friends
* The public transportation system
* Ramen
* Conbini
* Food in general
* Drinking in public
* Good customer service
* Easy school days
* Clean streets

Stuff I was glad to come home to
* My family & friends
* My fiancé
* Cheap fruit & veggies
* Poutine
* Wedding planning
* Mommy’s home cooking
* A hot, but not absolutely burning summer
* School (normally I wouldn’t be glad for this, but I’m graduating next year!)

Okay so those were lame final thoughts, but I’m not good with conclusions.

And there you have it!

After the ceremony – where we got nifty diplomas! – my friends and I headed out to Chofu for 花火大会 aka fireworks. A bunch of other Waseda kids were heading out there too, but we decided to go on our own so we could go at our own pace.

Can I just say, Japanese fireworks are downright amazing. Canadian fireworks last for maybe 15 minutes…20 if it’s really special. This thing lasted for over an hour. Our feet were dying from the walk there, the walk back and standing for so long, but it was totally worth it! It was also one of my only opportunities to wear one of my yukata!

These photos don’t do the fireworks justice, but at least you get an idea.

I think this is the remainder of Doraemon’s face

Dinner in Wonderland!
One of the last dinners I got to have with my girls – the three most awesome girls I met in Japan – was at 絵本の国のアリス (or Alice in Fantasy Book as they called it in English). It’s an Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant in Shinjuku. The original branch is in Ginza, and they just opened a new branch in Osaka. It was a little pricey, but totally worth every penny yen.

The front and back of the menu were pop-up

Our appetizer. A little small, but delicious.

My friend’s salad

My spring rolls – thankfully dessert made up for the size of this

My desserts! Followed by my friends’ desserts

The door on the way out. You basically enter through a book cover that does not look like a door whatsoever.

Afterwards, we went for some karaoke at カラオケ館 where we discovered this little fella…

He takes the mic out of his bum before you sing.

And it wouldn’t have been a complete stay in Japan without singing this song during karaoke…

Random things here and there
I think I mentioned her before, but I took a literature class with Professor Gaye Rowley and I absolutely loved it. I was planning on buying her book and asking her to sign it (along with a couple other girls in the class who wanted to do the same), unfortunately I couldn’t find/get the book on time. Luckily, however, one of the girls who bought the book gave me hers (as a “wedding present”). A friend of hers is coming to Waseda next semester and can get another book signed for her then. So I got the book signed! Such a nerd, I know.

パンダちゃん、ありがとう！

Japan has countless flavours of Kit Kat. I’ve lost track of how many different types I tried. The special flavours tend to be a little more expensive than regular flavours, but I managed to find a bag of these on sale at Picasso.

Aloe yogurt flavour…not bad!

I totally bought a box of wasabi flavour for my cousin hehehe.

This is probably the one thing I’ll miss about Japanese Starbucks, although it only came around in the middle of July.

Yuzu green tea frappucino

My friend and I wanted to check out the Square Enix Store, not because we’re fans, but because everyone else had gone to see it haha. It’s in an odd place near Shinjuku, which we thought was strange. There’s not much else around there to see other than the Tokyo City Opera building. It definitely belongs IN Shinjuku, or better yet, Akihabara. It’s really small, but I managed to buy a couple gifts for people back home from there.

Saw this outside the station on the way to the store. It moves

The reason why we wanted to check out the store – Sephiroth in the floor

Okay so I thought I would put the rest of my Japan adventures here, but I think they deserve separate entries.

For those of you coming (or leaving) and you have ridiculously large luggage to lug, check out this company called QL Liner (they have a website but there’s also a counter at the airport). They cost about 2000yen per bag. I wish I had used it coming here because dragging a big suitcase on Japanese trains is not a good idea…especially the Yamanote Line. Anyway, I sent two of my suitcases to the airport yesterday so I just have my carry-ons and a third small suitcase to drag with me.

Time to do one last garbage run!

さようなら日本！お世話になりました。ありがとうございました！

First stop: 海ほたる/Umihotaru.

Umihotaru means sea-firefly.

What Umihotaru actually is, is a rest area with really pretty scenery of the sea, Tokyo and Chiba.

After that brief stop, we went to Nokogiriyama where I would experience a hell worse than the stairs at Enoshima.

We took a ropeway to get to this point.

We didn’t realize how much stair climbing would still follow. Sadly, these flat stairs were just a tease. Most of the stairs were really steep with few breaks in between. Damn temples and their love of stairs.

“Peering into Hell.” You certainly have to go through hell to get to that point.

Part of 1,500 Arhats

There was also a large Buddha and a large Kannon that we wanted to see, but we were already dying from climbing, so we cut through one section and ended up skipping those statues. My friend’s dad is absolutely awesome though; he barely broke a sweat the entire time while the rest of us were ready to collapse. That man is my new hero.

Apparently some of the rocks that were shaved off the mountain are now part of a stone wall at Waseda

After all that climbing, we needed food, so we headed to a nearby rest area. This part of Chiba is known for Biwa! It’s quite nummy.

Biwa parfait with yuzu sherbet

Matching Biwa that my friend bought for her and I!

There is this apparently famous shoyu store in the area, so my friend’s parents made a stop there to pick up some stuff. While I was wandering around the store, I noticed this, and the fangirl in me HAD to take a photo.

After that, we headed to a GIGANTIC Kannon statue. My friend’s dad wanted to climb it (20 stories!) but the rest of us were too dead to climb that many stairs again. Once again, that man is my hero.

Perspective…my friend couldn’t get a picture of me in front of it without cutting part of it off.

After that we made a quick stop at a beach.

And then we made our final stop at a restaurant that’s famous for a certain type of clam that’s famous in the area. Unfortunately I forget what it’s called.

Anago tempura. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD

The clam in sashimi form mixed with onions and other veggies. Yum yum!

Same thing as above, but cooked with miso. Also yum yum!

My friend and I were pretty tired by the end of the day. We pretty much passed out in the car on the way back. It was a lot of fun and I’m so thankful to my friend and her parents for letting me tag along and treating me!

ごちそうさまでした！お世話になりました！ありがとうございました！

So…

At the beginning of July was 七夕 (Tanabata)…July 7th to be exact. More info on that here. With Tanabata comes Tanabata festivals (and festival season in general really). The big Kanto area Tanabata festival is the Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival (湘南平塚七夕祭り) in Kawasaki (I think?), so my friend and I went to check that out.

All these fancy things are sponsored by different companies

Tanabata wishes

There was a dance thing going on, so we went to check it out. There was some enka singer performing when we got there. Not sure if she was famous or not though. There were a bunch of groups that performed…

Massive cheerleading group

High school dance group

High school cheerleaders dancing to Arashi

The most gangster 8 year old dancers I’ve ever seen…who were dancing to a song with the lyrics, “Take your shirt off, motherfucker.” Nice.

Representations of old Japanese stories. If you look closely, you can see Momo Taro’s peen.

Goldfish!

Ramen burger. ままだった。

Shaved ice with like 5 or 6 flavours

What they called an omelet frankfurter. A frankfurter wrapped in a thin layer of egg and covered in ketchup and mayo. Sausages in Japan just aren’t the same, so it was just okay. I miss street meat!

The cheapest watermelon I’ve ever purchased in Japan. 300yen!

There were lots of people in yukata, so if you decide to go next year, feel free to wear one! I’m saving mine for fireworks festivals ^_^

So during my last Japanese class today, a guy in my class mentioned that there were a lot of Americans in the class, also referring to me. I jokingly responded with アメリカ人じゃないよ！カナダ人だよ！ (I’m not American, I’m Canadian). Then he said I’m アメリカ人だけど、米国じゃない (I’m American…but not from the United States, therefore also including Mexico since I was sitting beside a girl from Mexico). We had a good laugh and a bunch of us exchanged are US vs. Canada jokes. It was all in good fun, so this post is obviously not towards the boy & other US people in my class (who are all absolutely awesome by the way).

Now that that’s out of the way…

Yes, I am Canadian. Canada is located in North America therefore making me American. I remember in a Spanish class I took at my home university, my Spanish teacher (from Argentina) mentioned that to him, “American” refers to a person from North, Central or South America. Fair enough. I’m not going to argue with the technical fact that I can be classified as American being from North America.

However…

There is the (unfortunate?) fact that people from the United States of America do not have a specific name to refer to themselves other than “American”. I can be Canadian, a girl can be Mexican, a boy can be Brazilian, someone else can be Peruvian. You get my point. But if I, being Canadian, go to a foreign country and call myself an American, people are going to assume I come from the United States of America. It’s funny because one girl once said to me that it should make sense that I get grouped with Americans because I’m from North America. Well then, what country would you think I am from if I tell you I’m American if I met you for the first time?

I’ll be honest. I have absolutely nothing against (most) Americans. I say most because every nation has its idiots, Japan and Canada included. But why do people have to hold my pride for being Canadian – and not “American” – against me? People from the United States are seen as being very patriotic, and being from Toronto I have seen my share of media and real life examples of people from the United States saying that they are proud Americans.

What about Mexicans? If you are going to go so far to tell me that “by American, I mean Canada too because Canada is part of North America,” does that mean you are willing to include people from Mexico as well? I know I have seen my share of people from the United States who would probably hang me for calling Mexican people American. In general conversation, there is always a distinction made between people from Mexico being Mexican and people from the United States being American, so why does Canada have to be grouped in with being American? Perhaps if the United States of America had a different name, this problem wouldn’t be happening.

Yes, Canada and the US have many cultural similarities, but we also have our cultural differences. In fact, our countries are so friggin huge, there are huge cultural differences within the country. But we are two separate countries for a reason. We love to poke fun at each other. Canada is the hat of America. Canada is the 51st state. Everyone hates Americans, so Americans have to pretend to be Canadian when traveling. Just check out “Talking to Americans” for a good chunk of jokes making fun of people from the US. My friends from the US and I have these silly fights all the time purely out of fun. My university profs who are from the US often jokingly apologize for being from the US. Honestly, while there are certainly negative sides to all this joking and poking fun, it’s better to just laugh about it in the end.

All this does not stop the fact that I was born and raised in Canada and I am proud to be from my country. I’m sure there are millions of people who feel the same way about their home country. Japanese people don’t like to be called Chinese, Chinese people don’t like to be called Korean, people from Taiwan are not Chinese. The list goes on, and I’m sure it could apply to European, African and South American countries as well.

Maybe because Canadians make a big deal out of it, others make a big deal out of proving otherwise. Maybe it’s the other way around. But at the end of the day, I will always call myself Canadian, and I will always politely correct you if you call me American.

And by the way Wさん, 確かに、私は米国じゃないのアメリカ人だけど、if I introduced myself as アメリカ人 to Japanese, they will wonder what part of the United States I am from. It works the same way in Japanese. But you are full of awesome nonetheless ^_^

P.S. Please don’t leave any unnecessary or mean comments. But amusing Canada vs. USA jokes are more than welcome!

It is, however, sinking in that I have to go home soon.

Anyway, as I think I said before, my friend and I are trying to fit in stuff that we want to do between now and the 28th so here’s more random stuff…

I went to Shinjuku to meet up with a friend who I haven’t seen in over a year and a half. She went on exchange in Toronto for nine months, but she lives in Hiroshima and we didn’t get a chance to meet up when I was in that area. 超久しぶりだった。 Anyway, she brought me some goodies from around her hometown.

Momiji manjuu. There were red bean, chocolate, tsubu, matcha and custard flavours. Nom nom nom.

Some sort of citrus fruit jelly, with real wedges of said fruit inside.

Thursday night after our SILS “going home orientation” we headed to the sort-of-new abura soba place right by the dorm.

超おいしかったよ！

Friday, we headed out to Asakusa, Ueno and Akihabara so I could do some souvenir shopping for family and friends. Almost done too!

Cold taiyaki! This one is tofu cream with a white chocolate outer layer.

Finally got a decent shot of the Sky Tree while it’s still being built…complete with the Asahi golden turd building

Also stumbled across the Gundam Cafe in Akihabara. Pretty long line to get in. Didn’t go in though.

Still so much to do but so little time!

The day started off with…

Tako-senbei!

It’s basically a super thin senbei (rice cracker) with a whole octupus smushed into it using a hot press. It was paper-thin, and tasted like shrimp chips.

Enoshima looked completely different from last time. Mostly because we couldn’t see very well in the dark and through the rain last time we went.

But I certainly remembered the nightmare that was the amount of stairs you have to climb…

For those of you who hate stairs as much as I do, there are a few escalators that will take you to different sections, but it costs like 700yen for all of the, or around 150yen or 200yen for each flight.

Getting ready for Tanabata

I totally have the night time version of this from the first time around

It’s also ajisai (hydrangea?) season. There are a lot in Kamakura and it apparently looks really nice, but there was a good amount of them around Enoshima too.

Ajisai!

Love locks! Not nearly as many as at N Seoul Tower, but still just as cute.

If you ring this bell after placing a love lock, you and your significant other will stay together…or something like that. It looks small, but it was damn loud.

Melon soda float!

Enoshima-don. I can’t remember for the life of me what was in it. Some form of sea food that I’m not familiar with. Smelled oyster or scallop-like…but a lot tougher.

So on one side of Enoshima are some caves. There’s some legend that has to do with the caves, a five-headed dragon, and a Benzaiten. Check it out here. The caves are 500yen to enter.

The view walking from one cave to the next

Dragon!

Next to the caves is this area with little pools with fish and other random sea life. And of course there’s the actual ocean. Hard to describe what it is really…you just have to check out the photos.

View of the outside of the caves. See the top of that mountain-type dealio? Yeah…you have to climb really steep stairs to get back up there. It was not fun.

Some drinks we noticed in a vending machine. It says “Mystery Zone”. Basically you don’t know what drink you’re buying.

We couldn’t leave Enoshima without eating murasaki-imo soft cream, which we did last time, except I think when I took a picture of it the flash made it look white. Well here it is again, but mixed with matcha soft cream. SO GOOD.

My friend tried murasaki-imo korokke. She said it was okay, but the inside looks funky.

And since I didn’t buy a Hello Kitty or Marimokkori last time…

Kamakura/Enoshima has nice beaches, and a lot of people like to surf there. But on really nice days it is also where you can find Gyaru/Gyaruo working on their tans.

I also bought a kendama because I’ve been wanting one for a while. They’re pretty expensive in Tokyo – around 1200yen-1500yen, but I found this one in Enoshima for 500yen. They had slightly smaller ones for 300yen too. Good price, I think.

I had to visit a temple near Asakusa for a literature assignment.

Side note: If you’re in SILS and can take a literature class with Professor Gaye Rowley, do it. She is an amazing professor. In my post-secondary life (and believe me…it’s been a long life so far), I’ve never encountered someone so brilliant, or someone who actually inspires me to study more than just the necessary classroom readings and things like that. She is definitely the best professor I’ve ever had, so if literature is your thing, take her class!

Okay back to the assignment. We had to visit a location related to a female Japanese writer from a certain time period. I ended up visiting a temple called Jokanji, which has the Nagekomidera (aka the throw away temple). It’s located near the former Yoshiwara district (former licensed prostitute quarters…now an area full of strip clubs and soap lands), and it’s where prostitutes were dumped after they died, if they had no family to be given back to. The little monument dedicated to them contained the ashes of maybe hundreds of prostitutes from that period. I was thinking of taking photos of it, but then I felt weird so I didn’t. There are photos around the internet though if you want to see what it looks like.

Our next task was to head to Ueno for some kaitenzushi! There’s a place that we like that also sells the green tea powder that they serve. You can obviously buy green tea powder in many places, but we really liked the tea at this particular restaurant, so why not buy it since it’s available?

On the way to Ueno – walked from the temple…not a good idea in 30 degree humid weather – we came across a cute street.

かっぱ通り (Kappa-doori). I love Kappa!

Kappa on the sidewalk

We also got a nice view of the Sky Tree while it’s still being built. The picture doesn’t show how nice it looked though. We’re going to go back to Asakusa to get a better view.

After dinner we headed to Shinjuku to check out Sex and the City 2. A lot of North American movies come out later in Japan. But in this case…we saw the movie around 3 weeks after it had opened haha. Absolutely awesome movie. I liked it better than the first. Interesting observation though: Japanese people do not react to anything in theaters. At least they didn’t when we were watching SATC2. There were definitely some parts that just could not be translated into Japanese with the same effect as the English did, but parts that were obviously funny for both English and Japanese speakers, Japanese people did not react at all. You could tell who the foreigners in the theater were because we were the only ones laughing. Is this normal? I remember seeing on a TV show that another foreigner noticed the same thing about Japanese people in theaters. Interesting indeed.