Hajimemashou!

That means let's get started, dudes.  See?  I haven't even begun to write yet, and already you, you lucky reader you, have been rewarded with wholesome education.  This is ironic given that I suppose the majority of my followers will likely rely on this publication as a diversion from finishing problem sets, cramming for the next day's test from PowerPoint lecture notes, or perhaps just reading a chapter or two in the textbook assigned a week or three ago.  To this I say:  Thank you, slackers, for upping the number of followers on my blog.  But more importantly, thank you for permitting me to channel my sheer excitement at finally coming to Japan, and at the prospect of being immersed in a culture at the far side of the world.

Anyway, let's get down to brass tacks.  I have a lot of catching up to do here, having been here since last Tuesday, so I apologize in advance if I give a somewhat abbreviated account of events.  Quite frankly, the amount of awesome I've experienced thus far oppresses my memory like Godzilla sitting on a McDonald's.  (Note the contextually-appropriate simile.)  So, here goes my effort at recollection.  My journey began at lovely Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C., where I boarded a plane for a trip of approximately one million hours.  Seriously, my flight plan took me the wrong way around the world, stopping off at Rome, then Dubai--I guess the good news is, by careful omission of truth, I can claim to have been in a bunch more countries than before.  Touching down at Kansai International Airport with the sun setting, I didn't see anything too out of the ordinary--they're pretty much the same the world 'round--yet I was already getting psyched up, and not just to stretch out after being contorted into a small plane seat for nine consecutive hours.  Moving around the airport, I got my first taste of Japanese in its indigenous environment by way of assorted signs.  They said interesting things.  So interesting!  Unfortunately I can't relate them to you, dear reader, because my comprehension of kanji (Japanese relies on Chinese characters, but meanings and pronunciation are somewhat different) had not exactly improved for being out of the classroom for three months.  With that said, I was able to successfully ask assorted personnel, in fluent Japanese, if I could speak English to them.  This was a winning strategy, but fortunately I found that I was able to soon discard my English altogether.  I eventually negotiated passage on a train to take me into town.

I got another great workout in my Japanese when, after getting off the train and walking for about five minutes to get to my hotel, I was politely informed by the receptionist that I had showed up at the wrong hotel.  For a gentleman who had been on a trip of at least one full day, lugging around a good amount of his belongings in one thousand percent humidity, this was not an overly happy occasion.  You see, there's a group that operates hotels at several train stations in Osaka, and I had kind of failed to discriminate which one exactly I had reserved the night at.  At any rate, I showed up to the right hotel after another quick hop on the train, and gratefully collapsed onto the bed in my room after divesting myself of sweat-drenched clothes.
Dudes, I had made it to Osaka!  If ever there was a practical test of Japanese, that was it, and I did all right.

I spent the first nine hours of my first full day in Japan completely inert.  It would've taken every last Power Ranger to stir me out of my brief hibernation.  Woke up and showered, then hit the small restaurant on the first floor for--that's right, kids--my first meal in Japan; a bowl of rice, some miso soup, and a little grilled fish, plus some green tea.  Guys, this is the way to wake up.  The fish included the head, which stared at me while I tucked into the meal, but having a nice stiff bowl of salty miso soup and some hot tea really got me going.  Psyched up as I was, it was time to do the first item on my schedule, which was:  nothing.  I didn't have to meet up with my program's staff until mid-afternoon, after which we'd be returning to the same hotel for the night.  Ditching my luggage behind the front desk, I went out to explore my surroundings.

Okay, this is sort of important.  The hotel was in an area called Kishibe, which is kind of a quieter area a bit away from the center of Osaka.  Not a lot of tall buildings here, dominated by a couple of train stations.  I was walking when my surroundings suddenly changed to brick buildings with large glass windows, low walls and carefully cultivated trees.  It took me a minutes of wandering around to realize that, yes, I had stumbled onto the campus of my school, Osaka Gakuin Daigaku (OGU).  Although I really enjoyed strolling around, I decided that random foreigners wandering aimlessly around are probably frowned upon, so I elected to retreat back to the train station.  I had looked at some literature provided by the hotel for tourists--I'm no tourist, damn it, but I had three hours to kill, so I was ready to pull out all the stops.  I caught a train into the center of Osaka, hopped off, and began my bold expedition to nowhere.

My first stop was a large building called Namco Land--Namco being the producer of one of my favorite video games of all time.  Inside was an arcade full of crane games, all with anime, manga, and video game merchandise to win.  If I were a bit more of a nerd, I might have thought that I'd apparently copped it and gone to heaven.  I did have a bit of a silent geek-out over some of the bigger names, like One Piece and Bleach, but unfortunately none of the prizes were edible, and there was rumbly in my tummy.  A turn into a small alley yielded a vista of restaurants crammed together; I spied a KFC, but elected to go with something a little more native.  The basic layout for your basic Japanese noodle shops is similar to bars, with the chef dudes working behind the bar and customers seated around.  I took a seat and checked out the menu.  So, um, more bad news:  Remember how my kanji reading wasn't so hot?  Well, unfortunately, my strategy of having Japanese naturally osmose into my head was not a success.  I tried to ask for a recommendation, then I tried to point out a nearby customer's dish and ask for that, but neither tactic was successfully.  Cue my daily dose of deus ex machina:  Another woman came over and asked if I needed help in English!  I kinda wished that I didn't have to resort to it, but I soon had a huge bowl of rice, more miso soup, and several pieces of tempura, each a different kind:  fish, scallops, chicken, vegetables.  This is kind of a boring story, but from here on in, I can pretty much skip describing my meals, since about 95% of my meals have been some combinations of these ingredients, or some kind of noodle dish.  And yes, it is all way better and less expensive than in 'Murica.

So having had my little adventure butting my head against the language barrier, I rolled out to go meet my program's staff at another train station.  This is where I met my homie Sean and his roommate Taku.  Since we were the only kids who had actually made it to the appointed meeting place, us three gangsters went to drop Sean's luggage off at the hotel, and then we chilled out at a restaurant nearby--yes, more miso soup, fried food, and noodles for all.  The best part, gents and ladies, is that we were totally ditching our English to speak with our mate Taku.  It was pretty tough at first, but now I feel like what little Japanese I can speak, I do pretty well.  Later on two of the other dudes showed up, Karen and Shane, plus the latter's roommate Toma.  Lastly was Diane, who showed up way late and totally did not chill out with us, and her roommate Asami.  Day completed, fools.

Well shit, dear reader.  As you can see, I have written like waaayy too much for a single blog post, so I am going to hit the brakes before this train rolls over even the most stalwart of my audience.  Fear not, because I have a ton more stuff to write about.  I have kind of a busy weekend this weekend, but hopefully this publication will be up to speed soon.