i can't eat.

i can't sleep.

sorry for the lack of updates. i've been drunk.incapacitated.the internet was down. take your pick. here comes the WORDS.

Saturday afternoon I went to Jissen Women's University in Tokyo, Japan. The trip was undertaken by the American Students of KCP International.

The University trip kinda sucked. It was saturday, so the school was out of session. I saw more high school girls getting tours than college students. Also because of this, most of the classrooms were locked, so we couldnt even get a proper tour (though I just fucking know they unlocked them for those high schoolers.) I spent most of the days taking long range photos of Andy from across campus with my new camera, which is still new enough that I treat it like a toy. I was also dissapointed by the fact that a Japanese college is pretty much exactly the same as an American one. I don't know what I expected, but I hoped to see at least one samurai or something walking around.

After we got our weak "tours" we all went to the on campus curry restaraunt. For those of you who don't know, curry is a spicey sauce that is poured over rice, and often mixed with fish, pork, vegetables or anything you can imagine. It is an Indian food and tastes delicious. Curry bars are one of the most popular type of restaraunt in Tokyo, for good reason. Me and Sanjiv had been in the same tour group and we ditched it during lunch, cause it sucked. The guides were really interesting, unless you engaged them in conversation or listened to them talk.

After lunch we went to a meeting room where all the Japanese and American students (about 40 people over all) played charades. Japanese people LOVE playing charades in classes, I have played this game with every Japanese teacher I have ever had. Me and Sanjivs charade was "nuts cracker." We asked Tanaka if it was a typo and he corrected it to "nutcracker." This is worth noteing because Tanaka then told us to never reveal the true meaning of "nuts" to any of the Japanese students, because the Japanese-American student relationship would be destroyed if such a nefarious word got out.

After charades we all took photos and exchanged numbers, which we had been expressly forbidden to do.

(L-R): Me, Sanjiv, Tanaka, Karen, Andy

All the KCP and Japanese students

Me, Sanjiv, Andy and Karen then went shopping in Tachikawa. We all bought something at this cheap clothing store. I managed to get two sweet jackets for only 3900 yen each. Trust me, this is a fucking amazing deal in Tokyo.

That night me, Mike and Ryan (another US student whose intro is better left unsaid) went out to Shinjuku. I wanted to meet up with Karen, Elijah, Patrick and Stephen, but the meet up fell through and it was me, ryan and mike drinking from 9 until 4 in the morning.

Patrick - An older KCP student, he is in level 4. He has some of the dryest humor I know, and is one of the few kids who you can carry on an intelligible conversation with on any topic. Also of note, is that he programmed the "new" version of Windows Media Player (remember when it stopped being a box and became pretty a few years ago? That was patrick.) He has been in Japan almost a year and goes home in December when I do.

Stephen - A self-described otaku (obsessed nerd), Stephen hails from Jaimaica. He loves manga and anime, and is the one who introduced me to Book - Off (which I won't spoil here, its an entry for a rainy day.) He likes to drink and is always down to do stuff. He is my age.

We went to a 300 yen bar that I had been introduced to be Ai after the Oasis concert last weekend. We arrived at around 9:30. Each drink cost 300 yen, and we racked up an 8000 yen bill 2 hours later. We then went to the Hub, an english styled chain pub in Japan that KCP students often frequent. I drank 3 Long Island Iced Teas there, and I was DONE. We stayed there a few hours and had fun talking to a group of 6 Japanese 30-somethings who loved talking to American kids, and teaching us bad words. Hetarai is the equivalent of 'fuck you' in Japanese, I was told.

We stumbled out of the bar around 3:30 and discovered all the local manga kissas were full. I noticed the Kanjii for open all night and we fell down the stairs to a Japanese diner. This diner was cool because it was traditional-styled, and there were no chairs, only tables directly on the floor. Many Japanese kids were there and more stuff happened, but I am not sure what because I passed out on the conviently close floor.

I do, however, remember one Japanese kid who only knew the phrases "YOU ARE MY BEST FRIEND!!!" and "ALLRIGHT!!!", which he kept screaming at us as he slapped up numerous high fives.

I woke up at 5:30 and we took the first train home. I woke up at 4:30 Sunday afternoon and feel asleep at 10:00 that night.

Did you know that Korean people actually eat dog? I didn't.
.karl.arthur.