"If you don’t get out of the box you’ve been raised in, you won’t understand how much bigger the world is." -Angelina Jolie

On Sunday I decided to do a fair bit of exploring as it was a nice warm day (such a vast change from the rainy weather we have been having). After doing a bit of Japanese studying in the morning, I ventured out and decided to explore the area around Doshisha University. Along the way I passed a soccer game at a local elementary school and watched for a tiny bit (there was that nostalgic tug as I watched the little kids squander around the field chasing the soccer ball -- gosh I miss the sport). I stopped in a local Shrine and walked around the vast complex. Being respectful (and also desiring to look more like a local and demonstrate my newfound knowledge of the Shinto religion), I washed my hands and the purification station (usually located right next to the entrance). Then I ambled around, looked at the various sub shrines and then stopped at the main worship hall. From the looks of it, the altar must be dedicated to a kami that provides success in the athletics? There were lots of soccer balls and other athletic paraphenalia covered with Japanese writing (I'm assuming prayers to the kami asking for success). From there I made my way towards a CD shop and found the Japanese pop section. And the Jpop clearance section. Music is one of my favorite things, and cheap music is always something that makes me excited! However, I curbed my enthusiasm and actually, after about an hour of debating, bought only one CD for 500 yen, about equivalent to five dollars, maybe a little more. But the real success in this was not finding a cheap CD (though if you understand, Japanese music is atrociously expensive generally so 500 yen is a steal), but understanding the Japanese classification system. Just like any American music store, the Japanese order their artists by name. However, there is a problem as there are 2 different alphabets, and depending on the artist sometimes they go by first name last name instead of the traditional last name first name (in Japanese culture). So finding my artists proved rather difficult and time consuming (considering I didn't really figure out the system until about 30 minutes into my search). But in the end, all turned out well and I figured out where I would be able to find my favorites!

From the CD store, I took a brief detour home, dropped off my purchase, changed my shirt, and boarded the subway for Gion. I met up with David, one of my fellow Stanford peers, and we proceeded to walk around the Gion district for the next hour and a half. The Gion district historically was the Geisha district. Today, it is one of Kyoto's main primary culture hubs, as there are dozens of theatres, temples and museums within the area. So we toured the area, found (fake) Geisha/Maiko (more on this later), wandered side streets away from tourists...basically Gion is my favorite part of Kyoto. Officially. Many may prefer the downtown area of Shijo/Kawaramachi/Shijo but...Gion just bustles with activity with a touch of old fashion-ness. I told Austen the next day that we would have to devote an entire day to just walking around Gion. After the trip to Gion, I opted to walk back home instead of taking the subway. Previously, I had walked home along the river. This time I took a back ended route, going through various side streets and then ending up on the northern part of Kawaramachi (definitely not as lively and crowded as its southern, downtown part). Eventually, I made it back to the dorm (probably in an hour...) and I settled in for the evening, doing my little bit of homework, my sparse duties as a class assistant, and then watched a movie. :)

Monday proved to be a normal school day. During student hours, Director Horvat brought in Professor MacDougall (former Director of the SCTI center) to discuss the changing patterns of immigration in Japan and the lack of immigration law that actually exists in Japan. Did you know that it's harder to obtain permanent residency in Japan than citizenship? It's very very strange. To get permanent residency, you have to be in the country for 10+ years. However, visas only exist for 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years. After that, you have to reapply. So so strange. I was going to ask if there had been any affect on American immigration into Japan (or at least the number of American visitors to the country) due to the rise in protests of the Okayama base, but time ran out before. Then for a change, we had a lively conversation during Political Economy about the American health care system and how it compares to the Japanese version; how the American mindset is different from the Japanese. Somehow those three hours flew by (I can only hope this may be indicative of the coming weeks). Nancy and I then proceeded to head to Shijo via subway. The original intent was to just get dinner, but then she showed me this AMAZING wig store...and following our arrival she bought a long light purple wig. And these wigs are wonderful! They're all about half off right now...so I will inevitably get one because they are just to to wonderful to pass up! I just have to decide on the color...hehe. Dinner was then at a small ramen stall -- totemo oishii katta (very delicious)! Because I'm still without a cell phone, I told Ben I would meet him at Doshisha at 8:30 so we could finish booking our hotels for Golden Week...and we were only 10 minutes late. But by 10:30, we'd figured out our entire itinerary.

Today, after class, Nancy and I discovered this shop that would literally make my Mother scream. There is stuff EVERYWHERE. And the stuff isn't restricted to one category, it is possibly everything you could think of, from ceramics, to posters, to fridgerators, to old kimonos, to books, to antiques...the list goes on. I was at first skeptical to go in, solely because looking at the immense amount of items and the tiny makeshift walkways between the packed isles just stressed me out. But, Nancy convinced me, and it was definitely fun to just browse and see what we could find. I'll be going back at least a few more times just to browse. Oh the amazing things you can discover day in and day out. :)

On another note, I might be getting a new host family soon. I'm completely terrified once again, but I knew it was bound to happen some time. Hopefully it'll be a primarily female household and I can make sister bonds and everything will be fine (cause I know I can function in that sort of environment). But, I know, I didn't come to Japan to be comfortable. I came to explore, discover and learn. So it goes.