Last day of Class

Whoohoo! No more homework no more books! No more teacher`s dirty looks.

Er... not that we had books. Or much homework.
... and the teachers were pretty nice.

But yay! School`s out.

Prof. Furukawa is taking the class out to an izakaya (like a bar... but more casual/relaxed atmosphere), but I declined the invitation with an excuse that I was already busy. Not entirely a complete lie (I made plans afterwards to get dinner with some freshmen...), but I have no interest in going drinking w/ that class. No one in there talks to me. I`ve tried a couple of times to get them to talk to me individually. I think they`re all too comfortable in their groups or something to really take interest in me. In the end I gave up. But yeah... if I went, it`d end up being me drinking in silence at the edge of the table. Not sounding too fun. Even if I like the professor and assistant. They`re pretty cool.

However... today someone said "tsukaresamadeshita" to me... which essentially is a formal phrase you use with people when the day ends. Like a... thank you for working hard and have a good day. Something like that. There`s no direct translation. That`s probably the only time someone`s tried talking to me. (O_____o) Sad....

But it`s only that class. Heh.

3 weeks left til I go home. Kinda strange. I got used to living here. Found those routines like grocery shopping n stuff. Going to be strange to not hear the "cheese and oaties" song repeatedly as I buy vegetables. (it sounds like "cheese and oaties" I have no idea what it actually is saying.)

But I got a DVD as a present. That was nice of the teachers. So now I`ve got documentation of the 3rd year on-going project. I`ll show you guys if I see you.

Anyways... rainy season was supposed to be last month, but I think it started this month. Lots of pouring sporadic rain. And an earthquake. It woke me at 5:30AM yesterday. 3rd one I experienced in Japan, but this one was in Tokyo, so it was strong enough to startle me awake. But nothing fell down, so maybe it wasn`t so strong? I`m not sure. B/c once it stopped, I was tired enough to just drop my head back down to sleep. ^^"

Anyways... I went to Tokyo Tower, Roppongi Hills, and Zojoji Temple last Sunday with Hashimoto-san. I`ll share pictures of that next time.

1 Month Left

Wow.... One month left.

Now that I am nearing the end of the trip (felt even moreso since this is my "finals" week (as in, projects are due, but there are no tests or anything... One big project on my part, but that was it....)), I am sort of looking back at it all and then, looking forward at my time remaining. Just to see if I can still make up for anything I missed.

With only one month left, I can't really say that it came up too quickly, like I most often hear from people who went abroad b/c quite honestly, I'm ready to go back. And I feel like I'm just waiting for August 2 to happen so I can board that airplane and head home.

I know that makes this trip sound awful, but no. It was fun in many ways. I think if anything, I've just drained that feeling of adventure out of me these last couple of months. I didn't really go anywhere on my own this last month (mostly due to homework and busy schedules, but some due to sheer laziness). And things like money and travel costs prevent me from making great ideas happen like touring Nagoya, Osaka, and Kyoto like I wanted to in the beginning.

Moneywise, I need to save a bit to get to San Diego when I get back. Time to start working on that job networking stuff at SIGGRAPH.

Therefore, I might not go to Kyoto like I had hoped. Japan is insanely expensive, especially travel costs. I think I can spend a weekend in Kyoto for $300. Not too bad, but I think I'm lacking that kind of funds.

But it's okay. I went to Kamakura, and that's supposed to be called the "Kyoto of East Japan". Works enough for me.

And when I'm a full-fledged adult I can come back on a tour. Do the tourist things.

I've definitely explored a lot of the city, but I am finding the local life is much more beautiful to look at than the shopping malls and flashing screens. Finding the small hidden temple the locals go to pray to versus taking a trip to the big tourist attraction. The small temple seems a lot more meaningful. I liked going to Saginomiya and walking down the walkway by the canal and watching the locals go back and forth. It's much slower. Gentle. And much friendlier. An old woman started talking to me when i stopped to take a photo. Unfortunately, I had no idea what she said.

Of course, I arrived during a time when all the kids were away in Tokyo or in school.

Not many people are in to nature like that around here, but they live in it. It's probably like someone telling me the life in suburban America is a wonderful thing to watch.

So I think I might do that instead. The next day that is sunny without threat of rain, I will go out with my camera and just ride my time-bomb-of-a-bike around Atsugi's farmland and just take photos. Rice fields, etc. I saw quite a bit that day I got lost, but it was rainy so I didn't stop for photos.

I really need to remember to have my camera on me always. I should go around photographing the school too now that I think about it.

Photos from Kamakura

In no particular order (b/c I don't feel like organizing in this tiny window that I get to type in)...


The beach! We didn't go in it. But pretty!

The group I toured with. Every student is from a different country, except for one of them is from Tokyo. He was interesting though. Wish I talked to him more, but was hesitant to do so b/c he's deaf and me speaking Japanese to people who can hear the language is bad enough. Stupid uncertainties.
Countries represented: China, Korea, Burma, Bangladesh, and United States (me!)

"My peanut!" (*waves to Katherine and Midori*)

The big buddha statue at a temple.




It's sake.




That's all for now. I was a lazy bum and didn't go anywhere this weekend. Well, went around Atsugi on Friday, but meh. It's relatively normal stuff (karaoke, arcade, food) and found it awkward if I took pictures everywhere.

Photos from AIC

Here are photos I took at AIC (Anime International Corporation).

Since they let me take them, I'm sure it's not a big deal if I post them. Still, these ones will only be in small format. For their sake.

This is Saginomiya, where AIC is located.

The one they call Darth Vader. LOL. Someone please explain that to me!
And no, I didn't take the photo secretly while he wasn't paying attention. This is him posing.

His partner in crime. Does amazingly detailed storyboards.

All the in-betweeners at work.

This guy is the 3D animator at a branch of AIC close by. I'm pretty sure he's the only one. 3D animation is starting up in AIC.

More photos later. I went to Kamakura, so that's next.

More busy-work

Currently in the clusters doing animation. And wanting to kill every single squeelie girl around me. They won`t shut up! This is why I like working in my apartment on my own. No nuisances.

I actually think they are getting louder. The earphones kinda hurt now too.

Minor irritation. I don`t have much of a tolerance for it today. Hehe... oh well.

This weekend should be fun. First I am going with the school to Kamakura. And on Sunday to Tokyo Tower and Zojoji temple with Hashimoto-san, one of the guys I met in that international party at Shinjuku. He`s the only one I`ve kept in touch with since he lives in Atsugi too.

Yesterday I went to a new Japanese class. There is another class held in the engineering department for students who don`t know any Japanese at all. My teacher recommended I go to that. So I did. It`s like taking Japanese I for the 3rd time. We were doing days of the year. And then... iru vs. aru.

But I like that class for its environment. Very friendly and open like back at CMU. That class is 30 lessons long which is divided up into 3 semesters. This is the only one offered this semester... and it`s the first section.

So it`s bad timing for me, that`s all.

There is a huge gap between this Japanese class and the one I registered for.

But afterwards, these two international students from Bangladesh took me and Jyun to the gym to check it out (I didn`t even know we had one... hence the interest). But lo... a weight room and some courts. No one uses it it seems. The machines were dusty.

But I found archery!

A little too late though. There is an archery club here. But I think clubs might be serious business or something... I`m not sure. Still... I want to play.

After goofing around the gym, we went to a creek to try and catch fish, which essentially meant the two guys tried to spear fish with sticks. Me... I had fun just wading around in the water. It was really cool to me. I had no idea these things were around (The creek is off campus though... part of the nearby rice fields).

But yeah, silliness and just hanging out.

I did meet another professor though, I`m not sure of his name but it doesn`t matter since I`ll likely never see him again (he`s with the engineering department and the art and engineering majors are very separated here). But he really enjoys talking to foreigners. After about 20 min w/ him... we had a group from China, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, America, and (for a short while) Taiwan. Everyone asking him questions since most of them were sciences too.

Still, that was like, the entirety of the international students right there. Not a big crowd, but still. Neat.

Anyways, this entry is to keep my sanity while the girls continue squeeling. Back to work for me.

Photos next time, I promise. I took some at AIC, just haven`t uploaded them yet.

Another week of awesomeness gone by.

My schoolwork is getting a lot busier lately. Must be closing in on finals. I'm not really sure when my final dates are. Can't be very far though. My big project is due on the server on June 29. That's in 2 weeks, isn't it. Eep. Almost done w/ pencil work.

It's great the scanners are starting to give me evil streaks. So now I need to photo-edit my scans too. Anyone know why scanners do this? I think something gets burned inside or something b/c I wiped the tops and tried 3 different scanners.

Anyways....

Last week, Midori came over and we had tacos for dinner. And pizza. American food day! Lol. Funny how there are no Mexican restaurants here but there is a whole El Paso section in the grocery store.

We had an interview for the school paper which turned out to be far less exciting than it sounded. It lasted about 15 minutes max. Probably most of the time just trying to find a place for us to sit and answer questions. And they made such a big deal out of it too, planning it weeks in advance and scheduling it properly so Midori and I could be at the same place at the same time (funny story there... it took the both of us until a week before the interview to realize... hey, we were doing it together. We both knew there was another person, but we didn't know who).

But that was fine, we hung out later anyways.

This week, there was a luncheon w/ 3 members of the International Committee of TPU which consisted of Prof. Okubo, and 2 English professors. Prof. Furukawa was supposed to be there too.... I think he had an emergency. He was late to class too. But it was nice. Got to talk to people. I can't remember anything we talked about though. Some of it was a bit important. Like mentioning professors who had connections to the working industry and I should meet them and things. I can't even remember which industry.

That's probably all because of yesterday.

Thanks to family connections (that were only discovered after I came to Japan), a family friend invited me to AIC to have a mini tour and meet with the people and see her business. AIC is an animation production company, probably most famous for the series "Tenchi" and "Ah My Goddess!". The studio itself is surprisingly small for something I thought might be famous, but I guess that just shows the amount of competition around.

I got to see production processes. The business and PR relations. I.e. the producer's roles (since that was Jia Lin's job). But then she took me down to the editting room, watched a bit of a first run-through of a new episode they were working on. I hope it was a first run-through anyways. Got to see the colorists hard at work (and really fast too!). Then down to the animation room where all the artist-work goes on.

There I got to meet Kitajima Nobuyuki-san, a lead animator, lovingly nicknamed "Darth Vader" although I don't know why. I never did ask anyone while I was there. But he and his partner sitting behind him were really fun to talk to. They both had been around a long time in the industry and had stories to tell. And collections to show.

So Nobuyuki-san used to work with Miyazaki as his in-betweener. So he had in his possession some of his keyframes. And he let me see them. So it hit me during that. Holy crap. I'm holding images drawn by Miyazaki's hands himself!

And then it hit me too. This Nobuyuki-san. The people here pretty much consider him a god at animation. I'm probably standing in front of someone great. Of course, my reaction to that is to do nothing. As it was also with Scott McCloud back in December. Somehow those feelings just never register themselves completely on the outside, so I either seem too casual or not-caring.

But yeah, we stayed and talked for a long time (Jia Lin translating the entire time. Thank you so much!). Then went to the 2nd studio to talk to their one and only CG person. CG in animation here is to blend it to look like the cartoons. Made me wonder... why not just draw it then? But maybe it's much faster and cheaper to do it this way instead. Like cars and stuff.

We went to McDonald's for dinner and there 2 people from a toy company selling merchandise from AIC animations came over to show the prototype of some mecha figure to Jia Lin.

That was cool. Not the fact that they were discussing distribution issues, but rather the fact that they were doing it in McDonald's. So random, but at the same time, so cool. To be completely immersed in that kind of life. Makes me think of how we do it in CMU. What with GCS project meetings and stuff. It must sound kinda sickening. To have it become your whole life, but I dunno... it sounds fun to me.

Still, to be able to sustain myself on a decent paycheck would be nice to. The avg. salary of an animator in Japan was about $10,000/yr. According to the people I talked to. Scary.

One thing we talked about I found interesting to learn. Anime is becoming really generic. I think so. The employees thought so too. The animation directors I talked to really liked American works because to them, they weren't so generic. Kinda like how we really like Japanese animation because we thing they're innovative. But being here, even I notice... it's all the same. And the reason isn't the producers of the companies not coming up with new ideas. It's the system. Sponsors only want to sponsor shows they know already that people will like. Because then they know it will be able to air on TV. Risk is dangerous. And companies must appease the sponsors in order to secure airtime and thus, financial reward.

It was interesting how many people voiced a want for change while I was there. Wonder if anything will happen?

Bye Bye Katherine

Yay. Katherine was here for a whole week! ^_^ Thanks for coming!

It was definitely a surreal feeling walking around Tokyo with Katherine and Midori, as if we were back in Pittsburgh heading to Squirrel Hill or the Waterfront. It just seemed so out of place, until you see your environment and yeap, they're all Japanese.

Not to mention I got sick. So... that fever could have helped the feeling a bit.

But I have no photos (wah!) because we used Katherine's camera the entire time. But we went to Shibuya, Shinjuku, Akihabara, Ikebukuro, and Asakusa. Ikebukuro was the new one for me. All was fun, some things disturbing. There was a short moment when I became all fangirl over some Final Fantasy merchandise. Bought more clothes at Uniqlo (I think I am becoming the Uniqlo poster girl...). And walked a lot.

Oh and ate a LOT of food.

Asakusa was fun even though I was going a second time. Without the huge swarms of crowds, it was a bit easier to explore the shopping. It felt like an old people's place to go, but really, it felt nicer than Shinjuku or Shibuya. No desire to kill the slow crowds that keep stepping in your way.

And no screaming girls. That's a plus.

But yeah, it's been busy and now I've got tons of homework for my procrastination. Not Katherine's fault. I just don't concentrate as well when there are people around me. So... today I slept. Guess I'm doing homework all night?