おはようございます！


Good Morning!


My apologies for the lack of updates(if there are people still reading this blog ;d). As the title suggests, I won’t let this be the last blog before my adventure here ends. Next Thursday I start my 9 days of visiting Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, Sapporo, and Tokyo tentatively. All in thanks to my nice 7 day Japan Rail pass which will simplify travel a bit. To those who are not aware, the rail pass allows unlimited travel all across Japan on any Japan Rail line. It wasn’t cheap, 28300 yen but with all that travel, I should end up on top plus having had the freedom not to worry about paying each individual fare.


So since golden week, I went to a free concert in a mall and participated in a parade.


The free concert was only an hour and a half but worth it of course. The second group was particularly good. Their name was LastGasp . They were really good acoustic. By the way, I think in my last blog I listed a number of bands but without links, if you like J Rock, I highly suggest you check out their myspaces out.


As far as the parade goes, it was a series of big wooden structures that people were inside playing instruments while the rest of us pulled wooden ropes to tow them around the streets. We would frequently stop so that some kids dressed in kimonos and the one boy in gi/hakama to do a traditional dance. It was actually impressive because the kids were from 3-6 years old and had incredible discipline. It was very slavery esque in that we were sort of just lugging a massive thing around town but it was interesting. Got to wear a Happi coat(basically a coat with regional symbol pictures on it).


Tomorrow I might go sailing with my host family. They really have been outstanding and I will miss them when I depart this next week.
Last Friday I got to teach 8 Japanese mothers how to cook an Indian dish. I had to go through the process from start to finish 4 or 5 times and use my bad Japanese but it was fun nevertheless. They were impressed by the simplicity and yet deliciousness of the dish. It is quite a bit different from standard Japanese cooking I suppose.


This coming week is also my last week of classes and general time with my schoolmate chums. I’ve learned a ton at Yamasa and I would recommend the experience to anyone at all interested in learning Japanese. On my last day, I have to give a speech.


I will miss the overload of nice people and the general safety and comfort feeling all around.


Expect a ton of pictures/video when I get my traveling on starting next Thursday.
The wooden structure we towed around town, you can also see someone wearing a Happi coat.

My favorite page of my translation textbook, learned a lot of great words…
A children’s toy…

じゃね