I never thought I'd being saying this in all my life, but I miss violence.  And in Japan, its something that you just do not get.  There isn't even any real crime here.  No murderers, psychopaths, or even thiefs!  My friend David dropped his wallet on the street the first month he was here (not on purpose.  we weren't experimenting I promise).  Nywz it was returned within a few days.  Back home the chances of finding that wallet would be like the chances of winning the lottery.  The worst kind of criminals you get in Japan are so-called chikans (perverts) - old men who like to stoke their hands against young high-schoolers' bottoms on packed trains.  So yes, after a few months here you feel like you are living in this perfect world free of violence and anarchy...kind of like the Wizard of Oz.  That is, if you imagine that Dorothy has her skirt pulled up to her panties and talks in an extremely high and nasally voice, the Strawman has not lost his heart, but rather his will to live from over-stress and commits suicide by burning himself, while the Wizard himself sits in his castle all day sifting through his collection of video porn.  You can walk down the street with literally nothing to fear.  Is this not the perfect vision of peace every Miss America contestant wishes for?  At first, I quite enjoyed this feeling of carelessness.  I could move about anytime of the day without fear or paranoia creeping through my limbs.  That was at first.  Over time, however, one begins to realize just how eerie it feels to live in this "perfect" world.  I don't know if it is my long-life experience of growing up in a largely American-influenced nation, but after a few months in Japan I began to crave violence and anarchy.  But where could I find it?  Sure I could resort to watching some Hollywood action films, but a person needs a certain amount in everyday life.  I began spending my days searching, wishing, hoping for something out of the norm, something disruptive, something violent.  Alas, nothing came.  I remember once I almost thought I saw a fight start.  I was so excited I peed a little.  But no, in the end they were just playing around, and no blood or nothing came of it.  So then I began to think of violence more and more, and every now and then this sudden urge sprang up in me to punch the konbini clerk, or shove a stick into the front spokes of a commuting salary-man's bicycle.  Of course I could not, or rather would not, do these things, but the desire was still there, ever pestering the tail of my thoughts.  I do not know what has come over me here, or why.  I had never had any of these thoughts before, but I just feel that Japan might be a little to perfect for its own good.  Whatever the case, I will continue searching on this quest for violence....i just hope I don't create any myself.  

Omg I totally forgot about this until my girlfriend reminded me a short time ago.  So do I really have to sum up nearly half a year?....naahhh.  I'll just touch on the basic points.

School:

Easy.  Who would have thought?  Most people over here think that Japan is this army of super-intelligent workaholics.  Well that may be the case in high school, but when it comes to Uni its slack, slack, slack.  So yes, if you are in need of an average booster, or you just don't want to sit on your ass for a year and have fun, come to Japan for exchange.  As for my teachers...all good good, well except one.  I won't go into much detail about her other than that her smile is strangely deceiving and reminds me a bit of a possessed hello kitty doll.  Nywyz, my favorite course was probably this course taught in English by a Chinese guy who speaks really awful Japanese.  Seriously when he talks in Japanese even the Japanese students are searching their electronic dictionaries to try and figure out what he is saying.  The worst part is that when he says a Japanese word that has a similar pronunciation in Chinese (emphasis on the SIMILAR and NOT the same), he just says the word likes its Chinese.  And he can't even tell the difference between his students!  There are these two Japanese girls in our class, Seiko and Saori, but to our teacher's eyes they are just clones of the same person.  Not to mention that I am the "white" guy of the class whom he insists on explaining all his Japanese to (as if anyone can understand him anyway).  But altogether he is my favorite prof there.  Even tho the class is 3 hours long, it goes by pretty fast when u have him teaching.

Food:

Japanese food: good.  Everything else: bad.  That pretty much sums it up.  Japanese people cook the most amazing Japanese food (as should be the case).  Seriously, I have eaten food so tender and flavorful in Japan that it seemed my tongue was on EX.  But yah....any other food....crap.  Seriously, who would ever put mayonnaise and corn on pizza!!!  Oh the abomination!!!!  And squid-ink spagetti? What the hell were they thinking?  Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of "fusion" foods, but the Japanese have just taken it too far!  Ok ok, I will delve into this topic in a later post.  Moving onto portions....yah.....Lets just say that if you need to lose wait, try the moving-to-Japan diet.

Friends:

Met lots of really nice and amazing people here, and other interesting individuals...I live in a dorm that is not too far from school (like 5 minutes by walking).  The people in my dorm are really nice, and I spend most of my free time hanging out with Dan, my korean-american friend who lives down the hall from me.  Most of our conversations are based around pricing complaints and what we should eat next.  Then there is Dave and Kay, oh the list goes on and on.  I'll just explain more about them in other posts.

Okay, sick of writing now.  Just gonna sum up this post by saying I have gotten used to living in Japan now, and its a pretty sweet deal.  Although I doubt I'll ever get used to "Japan" itself.  

Okay, its been a while since my last entry...everything has been really busy with settling in and all.  But yah, I have to time to write right now, so what the hay.  The past week I have been doing orientation and OMG what a bore.  Some parts were so painful it hurt, but I guess other parts were okay and sometimes informative...hehehe.  I have been writing lots of exams lately too.  Not only the placement exam and interview, but two exams during my first class and another interview scheduled for monday.  I guess they really wanna make sure you are in the right level.  Well other than school I have been going out lots and doing all sorts of fun stuff.  My Japanese, unfortunately is not doing so great...I think I might have a mental problem involving Japanese, cuz no matter what I always seem to block what people say or doubt myself to the point that I can't even say one word.  Anyways, I hope it gets better.  If not I might need to seek mental help???  haha.  I am getting to know Kyoto fairly well now.  It is a ridiculously flat city, so you can bike anywhere in pretty much half and hour.  In that regard, transportation is very cheap...free actually.  I have been downtown and also to a few tourist sites around the city.  The other day we went to Arashiyama and had bento boxes by the river.  Also there was a little concert being played at that time, so it was all a very peaceful atmosphere...although everyone else seem put off by the group of exchange students sprawled over beside the river (i guess people don't lie down in public here???).  hehe.  Nywzy last night we went clubbing and omg we stayed up all night and right to the next morning when the sun was coming up.  Wooo I couldn't believe I could make it that long.  The club was an international club...so pretty americanized I guess.  It was fun tho...the music was good and everyone was having a good time.  Biking back was super cold tho, and not a fun thing to do after you have been on your feet for 4 hours dancing.  I could barley stand up by the time I got off my bike at our dorm...haha.  Today we took it easy and had a hotpot dinner on the roof of our dorm building.  The view is sooo spectacular up there.  I can see that we will be repeating this activity many times in the future.  The hotpot was very yummy too...well...until we added the fish.   You see David and I thought it would be a good idea to buy the fish parts that were SUPER cheap at the grocery store...only like 3 bucks for a big package...but yah BAD IDEA.  As soon as we added the fish it stunk like rotten whale.  Omg we couldn't even eat it after that until the Koreans took the rest of the fish and added an amazing amount of hot spices to make this soup...at that point all you could taste was chili...but it was quite good tho...haha.  Thankfully we had a lot to eat out of the hotpot before we added the fish parts.  It was pretty neat sitting up there having dinner on the roof like that...even the Korean guy, Dan, said he hadn't felt this asian before...lol.  Tomorrow I really want to take it easy again, maybe buy a phone, do some laundry, and study a bit.  I am stick homesick tho...something that may not go away, but at least I'm content knowing that right now everything is okay.  Its only a few shorts months after all...so I might as well make the best of it.  Also, I think it may be better to be homesick (and Meganne-sick)...it reassures me that I know what is really important in my life.

Well yes...homesick pretty much sums it up.  The past few days have just been so hectic and overwhelming that I grew to miss home very much.  I really need to get used to my room and all settled and stuff...maybe then it will go away.  I did have lots of fun last night tho.  After bombing the placement test we all went out to karaoke...all you can drink karaoke for that matter.  Wooot it was tons of fun and the japanese guy who came with us, Take, got soooo drunk that he started running around the room collapsing on to people and dancing with them...hahahaha.  Nywyz yah the past week i've gotten familiar with grocery stores and whatnot....slowly getting there.  Well I'll leave it there for now and post another soon.

Okay finally I am able to get online and write a blog....well actually I'm just gonna paste a blog that I wrote over a week ago when I was bored without internet at 4:00 in the morning due to jet-lag.  sooooo here is number one.

Well, I finally arrived in Japan after all these years.  Its kinda weird, but as I got off the plane I didn't even realize to a full extent that I was actually in Japan.  Only after meeting Takuya at the train station and boarding the bullet train did I come to my senses and swell up with excitement.  Since going to China last year, I forgot how much little everyday things become large and confusing in a foreign country.  Take buying a train ticket for example.  I must have stood fifteen minutes looking at the gigantic rail map and trying to read the complicated ticket dispensing machine before I finally asked someone for help.  When I finally figured how to do it, it was so simple that it made me feel like a 2 year old.  But in fact I think feeling like a 2 year old is quite normal when you enter a country you've never been to.  So here we are, Takuya and his new 2 year old, riding the bullet train to Osaka station, and as I look out the window I am entranced by all the narrow streets, little communities, and tiny squats of farms between jam-packed houses.  Everyone is scurrying around on foot, bikes, and cars like busy little ants and as I look at the old style buildings which Canada lacks I am amused at the mix of modern and traditional.  At just that moment I look over at Takuya when he points out the window at the houses and says..."Ugly"...hahah..I guess what's amusing to the 2 year old is not so amusing to Takuya.  After about an hour we arrive at Osaka station and have to make a transfer...only to realize that we caught the tail end of rush hour with 2 huge, heavy suitcases and not an elevator in site...haha.  Well I guess we got our exercise for the day trekking across the station up and down flights of stairs until we at last arrived at our Seta-station bound train.  The next hour on the shinkansen is kinda the same, so I'll just skip ahead to Takuya's house, and what a house it is!  Sooo cute and comfortable.  It has traditional tatami floor and small little bathroom..just perfect for one person.  The place is pretty big itself, but somehow everything seems mini-sized..hahaha.  The bathtub is tiny, the sink, fridge, washing machine...really nice and cozy feeling.  Nywyz, after dropping off the luggage we decided to go out and eat at an izakaya.  To get to the restaurant, we had to go to the small community's center, and although Takuya kept apologizing for how rural this place was, I thought it was wonderful!  Narrow paved streets connecting to a kind of small circular lively center...like a mini-city.  I noticed that people here are very active at night..especially young people.  Even when we came out of the restaurant at 10:30 there was a bustle of people around buying things from vendors, business men going home from drinking, and people getting snacks at the konbini.  The restaurant itself was awesome!  It is really true that Japanese food is MUCH MUCH MUCH better in Japan than Vancouver.  Not only the taste, but the variety!  Yakitori I've never had - like bone and skin....and sashimi i've never tried before...very fresh tasting with seaweed and radish served on the side.  And to cap it off all served in a lively, happy atmosphere.  Was one of the most satisfying meals of my life d^_^b.  After that I just pretty much came home and slept  (was 7 in the morning Vancouver time by that time) while Takuya watched a movie.  Now I can't sleep cuz it feels like the middle of the day, so I figured I'd write this while Takuya softly snoozes in the other room.  I dunno what today will bring, but right now I'm so content and peaceful that I'm sure anything will be enjoyable...I just wish my hunni was here to share it with me ^_^

Well...that was how I felt when I first got here...a lot has changed since then...but I"ll tell u about it in the next post.

Hi everyone, I'm Justin, Meganne (super hot amazing girl)'s boyfriend.

I like snowboarding and bragging about myself and studying Japanese. I'm going to Japan to buy her candies and help her grow her crazy obsession with j-rock.

Then I will return, better than ever! BUAHA!!

Goodbye.