06/09/2019
It's rainy season in Japan now, so this past week has been pretty wet. It was pouring rain on Friday night, so I just stayed in and cleaned up from the week. On Saturday morning, I watched a Charlie Chaplin film with Alex. I actually really enjoyed it, even though there was no sound. It was raining throughout the morning. I decided to start on the Tinkerbell puzzle that Libby and Dana sent me for my 22nd birthday and watch a documentary on a hidden city in Russia, called Ozersk. It was really intriguing. Its a city where a large amount of Russian Uranium and Plutonium are stored, so you have to have special permissions to leave or enter. In a lot of ways the civilians see themselves as having a better life because the Russian government provides everything that the people need so that they don't have to leave the city (because they can't). The Russian lady who did the interviews fled to France for safety. I found it very interesting that many of the people interviewed (most of their faces were blocked out and voices distorted) talked about how much they loved the motherland, but hated the government that controls the country. I worked on my puzzle for another hour or so, it's actually really difficult! Most of the puzzle is in gray-scale, so you can't really match up colors. I finished all the edge pieces and a portion of the inside. I think I will just work on it when I get really lonely because a lot of people are really busy. The only people that keep up with me regularly are my sister, Alex, and Emily so it can be challenging at times, but I have been doing my best to distract myself.
At 5:30, Terry and I met outside to go to Nara. I didn't want to sit inside all day, so I suggested that we go have okonomiyaki for dinner. Diego was in Shiga for the weekend, so it was just Terry and I. We went to Okaru, which was the same place that I took Alex. I knew it was safe because it had an English menu. The waitress still tried to talk to Terry in Japanese, it never fails. It's so funny because every time he just stares at them and is like 'I don't speak Japanese'. He ordered the same shrimp okonomiyaki that Alex got and also a Asahi beer. Terry actually ate most of the shrimp parts that she grilled. He didn't eat the eyes and head though, but apparently some people do. I got the modern okonomiyaki, which has soba noodles in it. Terry helped me finish it at the end because I was too full. It was delicious, probably will be one of the foods I miss most from Japan. After dinner, we went to 7-11 so Terry could use the ATM. I saw this super cute pink hand towel that I wanted, like omg. You have to understand that little hand towels are really important to Japanese culture because there are NO hand towels, paper towels, or hand driers in public bathrooms. If you don't have a small towel to bring with you, you basically have to wipe your hands on your pants and everyone kinda like stares at you. I mean that probably happens regardless because blonde hair sticks out like a sore thumb. We decided to walk down the street before heading back home because it was only 8:30 pm or so. We glanced into a pachinko, which is like a low key Japanese gambling game. Gambling is actually illegal here, but they use these to get around it. It kinda looked like a bunch of pin ball machines, but we didn't actually go inside. I also saw a Catholic church down the street which surprised me! I think Christianity is like less than 5% of Japan's population or something small. I ended up going back and buying the pink towel because it was like $ 4 and too cute. Afterwards, we decided to go home to prepare for Sunday. I went to bed pretty early, around 10:30.
I woke up around 7 am and went on a run, just a couple miles. My Achilles started hurting, but I kinda just ignored it and kept going. When I returned home, I showered and went to the grocery store. I go every Sunday, usually in the afternoon. However, this Sunday I was going to a Hanshin Tigers baseball game and would likely not be back until after the grocery store was already closed. I called Kim and tried to show her what a Japanese grocery store looks like. In all reality, its pretty similar, you just can't read anything. They also don't have good frozen pizzas or brussel sprouts, and the fruit is way too expensive. I was still talking to Kim when I got back, so I made pancakes and ate tempura while I was on the phone with her.
Around 11 am, we left to go to the baseball game. It takes around 1.5-2 hours by train to get there, so I brought my WWII book and read on the train. It was a long ride, especially because we had to stand the entire time. Once we arrived at the stadium, we went into the souvenir shop and OMG Japanese people LOVE that stuff. It was shoulder to shoulder the entire time and the purchasing line wrapped around the building. I didn't buy anything because the t-shirts cost like $ 30.00 minimum. We waited for a few minutes for two more of Denny's friends, and then entered the stadium. It was packed. We were pretty high up and it was HOT (luckily no rain), but luckily I brought sun screen. Overall, I don't think it was that different from American baseball games. The stadium and field were a little smaller, but apparently it is historic and one of the most stadiums (Koshien Stadium) that you can go to in Japan. They still sold snacks and drinks, but their snacks were more like cups of baby octopus or something. I didn't see any hotdogs or peanuts, just really expensive pizza.Â
Terry was cheering for the Fighters because they had a Taiwanese player on the team. It was also his first baseball game! I was cheering for the Tigers, because they're like my favorite animal (other than Golden Retrievers, and my fish Watermelone). The fighters were up until around the 5th or 6th inning, where the teams became tied. We all had dip n dots during the game because Terry and Kazuki never tried them before! I think they liked them for the most part, but I felt bad because Kazuki's was almost rock solid so he was struggling to eat them and had to keep shaking the container to loosen some of the ice cream bits. He also pointed out the funny Japanese commercials to me and tried to helptranslating the score board, but he even thought it was confusing and he played baseball for a few years. He actually has a friend that is on the team in Tokyo. The Japanese don't have a 7th inning stretch. Instead, they have lucky 7, which is where everyone blows up these balloons (that are the color of the team you are supporting, ours were yellow for the Tigers) and you all let the balloons go at the same time. They all come down because of a plastic weight because the Japanese are conservative with the environment. It looked so cool! I took a video of it so that you could see. It was really funny because Terry was struggling to blow up his balloon. He could only get it a little bit, so he took one home to practice. He said he will be able to blow it up before he goes back to Taiwan, but that is a month away so we will see! In the bottom of the last inning, the Tigers hit and scored a run, winning the game! I was so happy. Poor Terry, but he was a good sport about it.
Once the game was finished, we sprinted out of there. I think most of the people took the train and we didn't want to wait two hours for a train and take two more hours to get home. We left fast enough that we only had to wait 15-20 minutes. We stopped near Osaka for dinner, which was Korean food. It was delicious, but a little spicy for me. My eyes kept watering from the hotness so it looked like I was crying, but I did my best. I really enjoyed the meal, I just wish that I could eat spicier food. I guess I just have to work on building that up. Once dinner was over, we headed home and I honestly just called Alex for a few minutes and went to shower and go to bed because I was so exhausted. We got home around 9 or 10, and had work in the morning. I really enjoyed the baseball game though and was very happy I was able to have that experience!
