I just finished Botchan a novel by Natsume Soseki.
It kind of looked dumb from the cover and I actually stole it from my Japanese class. It claims to be the most widely read novel in Japan. So I thought I would give it a shot. It turned out to be a really engaing book. It does not have much of a deep meaning. The only meaning I could pull from it was do not take people for face value. It is not really deep as it is written right on the paper. Although not a deep novel it is fun. I found myself having trouble putting down the book. It is short, but I highly recommend it. The story is that of a man named Botchan (clever title, heh) who is from Tokyo. He is labeled as the family screw up and because of this lives up to his roll. He latter assumes some responsibilty and goes to school and after completing this gets an offer to teach in a small, nothing country town. The story is about his mis-adventures in this small town as a school math teacher. I would recommend this read, it’s witty, funny and and enjoyable read. You do not have to be a Japanophile to enjoy this book. It can be purchased through Amazon or through any major retailer.
Tag: Japan
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Japan does it again!
I am sitting here watching the Nintendo press conference for E3 and the president Satoru Iwata comes up to speak. His English is not perfect, but pretty good. I have just come to the realization that all native Japanese trying to speak English automatically are unbearably cute. If you don’t believe me go listen to one yourself. Mr. Iwata was explaining how you can close the Nintendo DS at anytime and it freezes the game then you can open it back up and it will take off from when you closed it. Instead of stating that this technology has spoiled him he says, “I think I am spoiled.” It’s a little quirky which I think makes it so adorable. You might think that at this point I might sound like a chick, but basically you can forget that because you will be singing a different tune when you find I am correct. So if you can find a native Japanese who is learning English I suggest you listen up, and subsequently melt when you do.
P.S. Wii has me giddier than a school girl.
It has been a while since I last posted so, this one is going to be a long one. I hope I can recall all that I have wanted to post.
Ok, so there is this kid named Austin Hart. He’s in a couple of my classes including Physics and Pre-Cal. We joke around all the time. Well, one day in Pre-Cal we were kind of ripping on each other pretty hard and during a part when the teacher was teaching I was just doodling my name in lighting then Austin made some crack. Well, I figured I would would take this opportunity to illustrate to him the current situation of our lives. Nate, me, and even Austin broke out into laughter in the middle of a lecture. I’m sure we looked like idiots, but it was just too funny. There was no way he could recover from such a burn so I walked away from Pre-Cal that day triumphant. Me: 1 Austin: 0
So there’s a new craze sweeping college dorm rooms across the nation. It’s name you ask, Guitar Hero. This game is pure fun. I don’t know what they used to program it, but it was probably something like a fun-puter. OK, lame jokes aside the object of the game is to hit a combination of buttons the correspond with those on the screen. To expand this, there is a guitar controller with 5 fret-buttons and a strum-bar. The game has 47 songs to choose from with varying difficulties. A note or combinations of notes (color coded for ease) will pass down the screen, as they line up with circles at the button you hold the correct fret-buttons and stum the stum-bar. It’s almost like DDR. Simple enough concept, but for some reason it’s just terribly fun. I think the key is it’s simplicity. Some may think this is a new concept, but I just want to take this time to plug the original, Guitar Freaks. It’s been in Japan for sometime. Why it took so long to come here, beats the hell out of me. In conclusion, go. buy. Guitar Hero. You will not be disappointed.
The big part of this blog would be the exchange students. Let me explain. Crown Point High School has a sister school in Japan, Arima High School. We exchange students with each school every year, we go to Japan one year and they come here the next. It was so fun when they were here. It was so sad when they left. They were definitely some tears shead by the students. Anyway here is a recap of their stay. They day they got here we went to the mall. We were all still getting used to each other so there was a schism of Americans and Japanese. Sunday a bunch of students and their hosts went to Chicago. We took the train up but our groups got kind of split because of train stations and scheduling. We decided the Shedd Aquarium would be the place of choice. When we stepped off the train we noticed right next to us our other half-of our group. It was so weird we were one train apart the whole time and didn’t even realize it. So, that worked out for the best. The aquarium was awesome. I heart the aquarium and the last time I was there was like in 6th grade. After the aquarium we tried to head to Ed Debevic’s but the aquarium was too far away to reach in time on foot. We ended up going to Starbucks and grabbing hot chocolate or whatever kind of crazy moocachocalataee everyone else got. When we got hoem we went to Steak and Shake to actually eat. It was some god-awful service. I was kind of tweaked and did not leave a tip. The next day we had the students shadow us all day. I felt bad for Manami. My classes are less than stellar and classes such as Government were especially boring on that day. I had golf try-outs after school that day and the next day, can you say bad scheduling? That was a pain. I didn’t even make the golf team. That’s ok I didn’t really wanna make it this year anyway. That’s not to say I did not try I just sucked pretty bad. The week kind of sucked. We tried to show them stuff afterschool, but a lot of the time we were tired an whatnot. Thursday I didn’t even go to school because I had to catch up on sleep I missed from staying up late then getting up early for school. One day, Zack, Nao, Manami, and I hung out Zack’s house and played Mario Kart for SNES that was really fun. I was in that way tired, but not sleepy mode. So, I was kind of giggly. Me and Zack took one of his blankets and hid underneath and said it was our castle and that they couldn’t come in. They honestly didn’t care, but we kept asking them if they wanted to come in and they said no, and our response was “Well good, because you can’t.” It sounds stupid, but it was funny. I believe it was Saturday that we decided to go cosmic bowling at Inman’s in Valpo. It was a lot of fun. Your’s truly won the first match *blows on nails then polishes them on shirt*. The night before they left we all went to Zack’s house to hang out. We played Guitar Hero and DDR. Kevin actually got to kiss two of the exchange students, and get this his deal was “If you guys kiss, then you can kiss me.” What the hell kind of deal is that!? After most of the people left I got to talk to some of the students one on one. I liked that the best. It being about midnight I asked if any of them were sleepy, and I got the most memorable and adorable response ever from Nao. In perfect English she tells me “Time is precious, so I don’t want to sleep.” I agreed and continued on the conversation. The next morning my family and Manami went out to breakfast before we dropped her off at the high school. We were all sad she was leaving even my day which is surprising. The night before I stayed up and made a scrap book for Manami. I gave it to her at breakfast. In the car she started crying. It was so depressing. I plan on going to Japan this summer so hopefully I will see them soon.
I have to comment on this because I am tired of hearing this. When I was golfing in some really cold weather for try-outs an overweight adult come up and asks how we are we respond with “Cold.” He says “o you kids are young, you’re fine.” The fuck?!? Since when did age determine the outside temperature? You hear it all the time too “Your young you shouldn’t be tired.” It’s usually from some haggard 40-year-old who hasn’t seen exercise or his penis (fat stomach joke, think about it) in quite some time. I forgot that because I’m 18 I don’t get tired, cold, or hungry. Look adults get some flippin’ exercise and maybe you wouldn’t be so tired. Don’t use age as an excuse. That’s my Gripe of the Blog.
I will update more often, I promise. Comment’s wouldn’t hurt either.