I was aware that electricity and water cost a large amount of money in Japan. However, it was not clear to me exactly how expensive these are until last night. My host mother tells me that she pays from 3-4man yen ($275-375) a month for electricity. Add another 2man yen ($175) for water. During the summer it is even more because of using the "coolers." Add this to the monthly and minute fee for the telephone, and living in Japan is definitely not cheap.

We have a final Japanese presentation to prepare. My friends are doing their's on the Black Forest. This isn't the scary place in Germany, but in fact, is at the base of Mt. Fuji. In this forest compasses and cell phones don't work. Consequently, people go here to commit suicide. The police go in once a year, being careful to tie ropes around themselves, so they too do not get lost, and they collect the bodies. Last year, they pulled 117 corpses from these woods. It could have been more: in their patrolling of the area during the year, they stopped another 80 people from entering. And my friends are going to try to go in...

Another after-dinner chat with my host mother yields another Japanese stereotype of Americans. This time, we were talking about comfort levels and public speaking. My host mother was very strongly under the impression that Americans are never ever scared to speak in public. She thought that she could put any American on a stage in front of thousands of people and their hearts would not beat out of control, and they would feel perfectly at ease. I told her that that according to surveys, the thing that Americans are most scared of is public speaking. (I think this is still true, isn't it?) She didn't believe me. She was 100% sure that Americans are never scared of being in public and that they love to talk all the time. She said that the host student they had last year told them she didn't like to speak, but they thought that was a very rare occurance. She asked me "honto?" (truly?) about 15 times after I told her this. I wonder where this idea came from?

The ojiisan (grandfather) who lives two houses away died. His soshiki (funeral) is today, and the preparations have been going on for the last 2 days. The front of their house is covered in a huge white cloth with the symbol of the temple he is affiliated printed on it. There are two tents on the street in front of their garden for when people come. Visitors must sign their name and give an "incense offering," a monetary donation, to the family. Along with the tents there are banners declaring his name, status, and other such things. Down the road and around the corner is a sign saying "This man's funeral place" and an arrow pointing the way to his house. Japanese funerals are almost always done at the home, and they are just the start of the memorial services at the family butsudan which continue to take place up to 100 years after the person's death.

Last night my host mother and I were talking about manners. Namely, parents who are strict in the upbringing of their children, and parents who are not. She was saying that contrary to most Japanese parents, hers had been very strict and demanding of manners and rules. I said that mine had too. She asked in what way. So I described American table manners and such. She was suprised. She said, "I thought that Americans didn't have manners! I thought that American children weren't taught how to eat properly at a table, or that they weren't scolded for bad behavior." It's just another interesting view of Americans from outside the country.

I just realized today that it has been approximately 6 months since I have eaten a bagel. In fact, it has been 6 months since I have eaten french fries, a hamburger, cauliflower, cupcakes, ranch salad dressing, crackers, ketchup, a burrito, a taco, hummus, chili...the list goes on. There is so much food that you think you need, but find you can easily forget.

I made a wonderful purchase at a Japanese sweets shop yesterday. I bought two small things, one which I was familiar with, and one which just looked awfully interesting. The first was mochi filled with anko and topped with a strawberry. The second was green and looked like a ball of spiky icing. In reality, it was kintoku, another form of sweet bean finely ground to the texture of icing and formed accordingly. It almost tasted like frosting too. If I hadn't known anything about Japanese cuisine, I wouldn't have even guessed a legume was the main ingredient. The Japanese are amazing at making the most tasty things out of beans. It is ridiculous.

Yesterday, I believe I experienced one version of what people imagine hell to be. I returned from school early due to an upset stomach and subsequent throwing up, and spent the whole afternoon either laying in bed or running to the bathroom. This I could have handled without too much stress if it weren't for one thing - Mondays are oil days. Because there is no central heating in Japan, everyone has oil heaters, and Monday is the day when the man with the oil truck comes around my neighborhood. His truck plays a little song, very loudly, continuously, to warn the housewives that they should set their oil jugs out to be filled. I listened to this song from 1pm to 5:30pm. I tried shutting my window, I tried covering my ears. If I would have had a gun and the strength to walk outside, that sound machine would no longer exist. There are no laws in Japan about noise pollution. There is always some truck with a loudspeaker cruising the neighborhood. But they usually leave before long. I think I will make sure not to ever be sick on a Monday again.

A lesson in linguistics:
Have you ever heard the phrase "just a skosh.." meaning "just a minute" or "just a little"? Ever wondered where the word skosh came from and what it really means? Well, yesterday I found out the answer to this question. It is Japanese. The word skosh comes from the Japanese sukoshi meanining "little," It was brought into the English language by soldiers stationed in Japan during the Occupation who picked up a little Japanese and took it home with them in various forms. A more surprising Japanese-derived English phrase is "hunkey-dorey." Literally, it is the name of a street in the Red Light district that was famous for its prostitutes. Honke is the street name and dori means "street." Who would have thought that such an innocent phrase would have such a colorful background?

Today is Valentine's Day! Happy Valentine's Day!!
Valentine's Day in Japan is pretty much backwards from Valentine's Day in America. Here, in addition to that "special someone," it is the duty of all females to give chocolate to all their male friends and co-workers. This is called giri choco. The department stores start stocking up on the most wonderous varieties of chocolates at the beginning of January. I stopped by Takashimaya the other day and sampled no less than 10 completely different kinds of chocolate. Amazing.
In the 60's a Marshmallow company decided that the women were being treated unfairly in the Valentine's Holiday scheme, and so they invented a new holiday just for female chocolate consumption. "White Day" takes place on March 14, and is so named because on that day, males give white chocolate to whomever they recieved sweets from on Valentine's Day. I am waiting expectantly for this holiday.

This past weekend was my so-called "spring break." Since my semester is finished on April 12, we don't have time for a week long holiday. Instead, the school pays for an outing and then gives us two days to do whatever we want. This year we went to Ise Shrine. It is probably the most famous shrine in Japan. After two days of fine dining, walking through forests, playing around (and in) the ocean, I moved on to Mt. Koya, the center of the Shingon sect of Buddhism. An equally peaceful and almost as well known religious site, Mt. Koya is also home to one of Japan's largest cemeteries. It was a lovely relaxing weekend.
I also found two new signs whose English could be a little better. Have a look.

McDonald's has just introduced a new burger here in Japan, maybe the states too...It is called the "cheese chicken burger." This new invention involves a breaded chicken patty filled with cheese sauce. Just the thought of eating this makes me feel sick. I don't know how the people on the commercial can still smile and say "Oishii!" (delicious). On a side note, I have not yet actually eaten at a McDonald's in Japan. I hear that the servings are extra small and the prices fairly high.

My favorite Japanese snack-type food is anko. What is anko? Literally, sweet bean paste. Doesn't sound very appetizing, does it? But put it inside mochi, pancakes, manju, or spread it on bread, and it becomes a most delicious treat.
On a similar note, my host mother set a jar of jet black cream out on the table with breakfast the other day. The label said "goma kureemu" which is sesame seed creme. So, I toasted my bread and spread it on. Delicious! Slightly sweet and not at all sesame-seed tasting. I think is the darkest black food I have ever eaten.

Yesterday I attended the beginning of the Setsubun activities at Yoshida Jinja by Kyoto University. The oni (ogres) paraded through the shrine scaring little children and harassing foreigners (me and my friends). They are symbolic representations of the evil of the prior year. Today, people will throw beans at them to drive away the evil.
Walking around the festival, I once again enjoyed some yummy Japanese food, but in addition, there was also a stall from Turkey! These guys were selling wonderfully tasty meat shaved right off of the hunk on a stick right in front of me. For the only non-Japanese food stall available, they were doing pretty good business.