Live gig, interview Hey! Last week I went to a little club in Shimokitazawa with some friends to see some rock bands play live! The "club" was surprisingly small, but hey I'm in Tokyo.. the bands were pretty good but the crowd (consisting of people's girlfriends mostly) barely moved a muscle.. everyone stood there, really listening... if this was in the UK for example, I bet the audience would be a bit more active, but that is not the norm here, it seems. Nice evening anyway, met some interesting characters..

Here are some of the posters covering the walls in the crowded basement... look at this one.. look at that URL they wrote. Are they expecting people to read and remember it??? You need to actually take a picture or write it down if you want to visit their website later on... sure, everyone has a camera phone, but I'm not sure if the whole URL fits with those tiny lenses.... I may be wrong, but I'm sure there are more practical ways to attract visitors to your website.

Today, me and my fellow exchange student, Indra (link to her blog - and yes she stole my blog name!!), were interviewed and photographed by this fellow, Mr Quigley, for the magazine Biz&Art, based in Uppsala, Sweden. He was working with an article about students from Uppsala, studying in Japan and we spent the afternoon talking and taking photos in Asakusa. That's a pretty decent camera he's got there... was fun being a photo model for a while, but I think I'd rather be the one holding it than posing in front of it!

Otherwise.. let me give you a little update on the latest news. Another guy from Iceland moved in! A computer expert, owner of a white PS2 (the slim version) and master of all the games he brought, vivid World of Warcraft player, fellow scholar of the Japanese language, Haffi (that's like 10% of his full name so let's keep it short) - Welcome!

Actually, today it's his birthday so Okaasan treated us to a magnificent chocolate cake after the always-delicious dinner. I seem to be the only one in the house who enjoys a beer from time to time (with the exception of the host father who occasionally has a small glass of beer or "alco-soda" AKA Chuu-Hi AKA Hooch before getting drunk and falling asleep), so tonight I was served a beer in addition to the standard cup of green tea and a glass of cold barley tea (?).

Bought a game for my DS yesterday.. not really a game actually; it's a kanji-training software meant for elementary school kids primarily but with all the high-level kanji too that even adults have difficulties writing and reading. Yes it's not exactly comforting to see an adult Japanese fail the same kanji you are being taught in beginner's Japanese class, but it's a fact.

What else.. got a few restaurants I want to go to... and a pile of Japanese textbooks I am slowly going through, in preparation for the next semester and my general progress..
I'm really enjoying the holiday so far!
One day at a time! ¶ 21:29