Back from (unplanned) hiatus

Hello dear readers - if you are still around...


I'd like to first apologize for my long - and frankly, unplanned - hiatus.  I am now back in Japan, back in school, and have just finished my midterms.  Life in Japan has reached a sort of routine, finally.  I now have morning classes, which leave the afternoon open for...  studying.  Level 4 is proving significantly more difficult, as we now learn five (5) new kanji every day, each accompanied by 3-4 words: this translates into having to learn somewhere between 15 and 20 new words every day.  Did I mention that there were daily tests?  And that if you fail said daily test, you have to write out all your mistakes 20 times?  Yeah...


In any case, back to our regularly (haha!) scheduled programming - pictures of cool things I find in Japan!

First, a few things that I have seen in stores since coming back to Japan...

I needed hangers - is it bad that I bought these because I thought the Engrish was hilarious?

This semester, a few of us decided that we'd try cooking at the dorm more.  To do this in proper Japanese fashion, a rice cooker is necessary, so we went in on purchasing one of these:

Not actually the one we bought, but looks similar...

Restaurants and shops in Tokyo are always looking for new ways to advertise...  We saw this beauty on the way home.
 

After purchasing the rice cooker, the store actually wrapped the box up with the black straps you'll see in the next picture, and ATTACHED A HANDLE.  What a crazy idea.

Matt carrying home our rice cooker.

I've seen a lot of crazy things since I got here.  This next picture, however, was the most shocking thing to me yet.

GRAFFITI?!  IN JAPAN?!  NO WAY!

A few of us have also taken up Japanese Mahjong (called Riichi Mahjong).  This is a very different game than the tile-matching game that you may have played on the Internet.  Riichi Mahjong is most similar to Rummy, but with added complications.  It's really great!

I hear this game is often played by old Japanese men who gamble all their money away...

Finally, a few pictures from a trip to the 100Y shop...

I guess That must be good for cleaning dishes...

No clue why you'd want to drink coffee out of a burger