Sight Seeing, Art Classes, and a Travel Tip

Hello out there!  Sorry for the brief hiatus, but I had an off week thanks to a lot of school related stress.  I'm back though, and ready to give some updates.  The last few weeks have been just as busy as expected.  I've had a pretty solid course load from my language classes, and I gave a pretty cool report about a Japanese myth that I may relate as a mid-week update this week to kind of make up for the missed post last week.  Anyway, on to the fun stuff!

Let's start with some sight seeing!  Over the last week, I went out to a shoping area here in Nagoya (名古屋 - なごや)called Sakae (さかえ - I don't know the kanji for this area yet.).  It's one of the major touristy places around the city, and is hope to the Nagoya TV tower, a really cool music themed ferris wheel, and their central park.  There's also the center of the city bus system, called the Oasis that has a bunch of entertainment and shopping stuff in and around it.

 

A couple of shots from The Oasis looking at Nagoya TV Tower in Sakae.  The TV
Tower has LED lighting all around it that you can't see in these pictures,
but there are lightning bolt patters, and rainfall simulations that run
down the sides of the tower most of the time.  The first pic is the view of
The TV Tower from across the Oasis itself.

  

These are different views of the Oasis.  It's a really cool roof area over a below ground plaza.
The Oasis itself is about two stories above ground while the plaza below is about two stories
below.  I've been there both during the day and night now, though I took fewer pictures during
the day because it didn't strike me just how cool the place was until that night.
The last pic is the people I went on the night trip with.  It's myself, Sara, Anna,
and our new friend from the Philippines, Benedict.  That pic was taken up towards the
sky, but the light pollution with the overcast sky made for a surreal backdrop.

  

These are pics of and from the ferris wheel I mentioned before!  We rode it so we could
get some pics and look out over the city.  These are of few of my favorites I took.  It's
called the Nagoya Sky-Boat, and at the highest point, it is 150 Meters tall.  The whole
thing is a little strange because you board it from the 4th floor of a mall, and both that
floor of the mall, as well as the ride are themed for a local pop group called ABK 48.
It's a J-Pop girl band with 48 members... At least if I understand it correctly.  Not really
my kind of music, but interesting to say the least.

For the people that have asked me about my classes, I'm still enjoying them.  As stated to some friends recent, I finally feel like I'm in real college, not just playing at it.  In my language classes, there is constant homework, vocabulary quizzes nearly daily, and weekly speaking, grammar, and kanji tests.  On the other end of the spectrum, my two lecture classes are all depending on relatively few assignments to determine my grade.  The Japanese Culture and Art class has a total of 6 homework assignments and a final 10 page paper that determines the whole grade for the class.  Meanwhile, my Japanese Religions class only has a single grade in the form of a 10 page paper.  No pressure, right?  At least my art classes are mostly relaxing.  I've been rather enjoying both of them, despite not knowing what the instructor is saying at least three-quarters of the time.  It's helping my listening comprehension though, so it's almost like two classes in one.  As it turns out, I don't have any pictures of my hanga work handy, so I'll have to post those later.

This is one of my early attempts at Sumie (Chinese Black
Ink Painting -  すみえ)
The leaves are actually really challenging.

 

And, more recently, my failed attempt at this flower!  Some of the
leaves actually turned out pretty well, but the bloom itself was
very disappointing.  The funny part is, this is my first flower.
The following attempts the blooms looked better, but the
leaves looked just terrible.  So, this is the one I turned in.

So, over the last few weeks, I've had some things come up that I feel are important travel tips that I would like to share.  First and foremost, and one that is really important.  When you come to Japan, as a guy or girl, bring more than one pair of shoes, and make sure they're all comfortable for walking.  In Japan, I have walked more than I have probably any other time in my life.  Roughly a half mile (not really that far) to school and back every day, plus the distances covered on campus back and forth a few times a day.  And then on top of that any walking done to get back and forth between other events.  I brought in a well broken in pair of casual shoes that didn't last long once I got here.  The sole was coming off on one side within the first few weeks, and by the time I got caught in the second real rain storm, they offered almost no protection.  So I went out and bought a new pair of converse.  First of all, let me assure you that finding even upper end of average western shoe sizes is a challenge.  I wear a size 10 or 10 and a half at home, depending on brand.  That translates to a 27.5 CM here.  I found very few places that carry shoes that fit.  Then, once I've bought them, they tore my feet up bad.  I was walking a lot for the first few days after I bought them, and they destroyed my right heel.  As it turns out, medical supplies are expensive here, and finding exactly what you want can be a rather daunting task when you can't read the labels and instructions.  Fortunately, once I got the right stuff, my heel healed quickly and I'm back out there in very well broken in shoes that aren't destroying me anymore!

 

The moral of the story is: "don't keep walking
after the blister bursts."  In related news, I'm
much better now!  These blister-relief band-aids
and whatever kind of ointment this is really do good
work and fast!

Anyway, that's it for me for now.  It's late and I still have to study for a Kanji test.  I needed a break though, and I figured this was a good way to spend it!  Hopefully you enjoy reading.  As always, if you have topic suggestions, or specific questions you'd like addressed, just let me know!