Fishnets in the Spring

I'm happy to say that I'm feeling a little less homesick today. On Saturday, Melanie and I went spring/summer clothes shopping in Shibuya. She's a skinny 5'9" redhead with killer legs but little fashion experience, so she became my barbie doll for the day. After hitting up the Gap and Zara, we had lunch at TGIF (yes, they have those here). The heavy shot of Americana cleared up my bout of homesickness.

While strolling around Shibuya, Mel and I people-watched to see how Japanese women dress during the sunnier seasons. Apparently, not all of them registered the season change: we saw plenty of young women in black leggings, knee-high boots, and heavy jackets. It was 72 degrees and sunny!

I discussed this bizarre behavior with Mina, my go-to-gal for all things Japan, and she said that women here have no qualms whatsoever about wearing knee-high boots all year round, regardless of how hot and humid it gets. I fully expect to see fainting females once we get into July.

Last week was also the start of my spring classes. As I mentioned, I am taking Bhuddism and Fiction for my Optional Electives. Lots of people showed up for the Short Fiction class on Wednesday. The professor is British and said it will be a discussion class, not lecture, so we're all very excited about it. My Bhuddism class, taught by an American who's lived in Asia ever since he graduated from Princeton in the nineties, is also discussion-based and focuses on how modern bhuddism is used to address social issues in Japan. We get to go on three field trips, including one to see a temple that was recently made over to be a "green" building- it's entirely run on solar panels!

It's odd to think that at the same time I'm beginning the spring semester, Carnegie Mellon is enjoying the annual Spring Carnival, which marks the last stretch of the school year. My sisters have built a "Jack and the Beanstalk" booth this year, and I can't wait to see the pictures! Good luck, ladies!

Since Maggie asked...

Here is a picture I took at the Shiroi Koibito Chocolate Factory in Hokkaido. Looking at the bridge, I was reminded of the whole "troll-under-the-bridge" fable, so I asked my homies to help me out and pose. That's Melanie down under pretending to be a dreaded bridge troll, and Maggie and JC are astonished and frightened victims of Mel's wrath. And might I say, Maggie absolutely nailed it ;)

Cherry Blossoms

It is finally truly spring here in Tokyo: the leaves have returned, the warm sun, and, unfortunately, so has my homesickness :_( As I reported in my end-of-semester essay on Culture Shock, a sojourner's mood goes up and down, and this is just another small dip in time. Fear not, I shall recover.

I am, however, very grateful to be here for Hanami season. Hanami means, in so many words, cherry blossom viewing party. For about one week, the sakura, or cherry blossoms, are in full bloom, and everywhere Japanese pour outside with cameras and sake to enjoy the country's national flower. My friends and I strolled over to a nearby temple in Setagaya that is famous for its sakura, and rightly so. The trees were absolutely dripping with blossoms, and I was once again reminded how fortunate I am to be able to enjoy Japan as an American student.

But sakura season also signals the beginning of the new semester, as I mentioned in my last post. I am happy to say that my two dormmates, Melanie and Michael, who were in my class last year have tested into the same level as me, so we'll all get to worry about quizzes together again. Though we haven't registered yet, I've decided on my supplementary Japanese course: Intermediate Aural Comprehension. I tend to have trouble understanding what salespeople and others say to me (thanks in large part to keigo), so I think this class will help with that.

For my two optional courses in English, I'll be taking Japanese Buddhism and Social Suffering, and 20th Century Japanese and Western Short Fiction, which I am particularly looking forward to as a Creative Writing major.

Luckily, my schedule is arranged so I only have to travel to Keio three days a week, allowing me time to continue my unpaid internship at Mission One. I am also keeping up with my short story writing; my current project is a rather lengthy piece set in Ancient Greece. Nothing better than man-eating harpies and merciless irony to brighten your day.

Hope the weather in Pittsburgh is improving. Cheers!

I hate you Blogger

So, I know I was supposed to eventually post all the wonderful photos I took of the snow and ice sculptures at the Yuki Matsuri, but that isn't going to happen, and you can blame Blogger for that. Their editing program for pictures is so incredibly inconvenient and unpredictable, I'm just not going to deal with it anymore. First it was the video, now it's the pics. So sorry, but no more. Instead, I will be including the photographs in my presentations promoting studying abroad at CMU in the fall. I hope you come and see it; the photos are really amazing.

I am also sad to report that my spring break is pretty much over (weeps inconsolably). Yesterday, all of us exchange students had to take this semester's placement test. It was less stressful than last time, as I knew what to expect. I also felt much more prepared, since it had only been two months since my last Japanese class, instead of four months at the last test.

Afterwards, my friends and I went to Rappongi Hills to go see Watchmen in the theater. There are several theaters in Tokyo that show American movies, but we chose Rappongi because a) the theater is SUPER nice and b) they have the cheapest tickets for exchange students. Seeing a movie in Tokyo is usually ridiculously expensive- about $20 for one adult. But at Rappongi Hills, it's $18 for adults, $15 for students, and an amazing $10 for foriegn exchange students! All we had to do was show them our Keio student IDs and our alien registration cards. Huzzah!

By the time I made it home last night, our dorm's welcome party was about to start. About a third of Willing Setagaya's residents moved out, and though we will miss them, we got a lot of new students last week. Oddly enough, nearly all of them are from France or Scandanavia (Norway and Sweden). They are all very nice people, and I really look forward to hanging out with them this semester.

I especially hit it off with the four students from Paris; I took four years of French in high school so I was able to exchange a few greetings with them and follow a bit of their conversation (and they were kind enough to translate whatever they said in French for Maggie and me), and they were fascinated by my Texan background, even making me talk with an accent for them! None of them know very much Japanese, so I'll help them a bit with their Japanese and they can help me relearn a bit of French.

Tomorrow, I will find out what level I tested into, which will also determine which optional courses I'm taking- my plan is to take as many classes on the same days as possible so I have several days off a week. That way, it will be easier to continue at my internship during the semester.

I'll let you know what classes I'm taking as soon as I find out. Cheers, and Happy Easter!

Prescription for Sleep

Hey everyone! I'm happy to announce that the application for the iPhone and iPod Touch I worked on is finally available for download. It's called Prescription for Sleep, and you can read about it here: http://www.apptism.com/apps/prescription-for-sleep

It's a really great program that helps relax your mind so you can fall asleep more easily. As the Quality Assurance Intern, it was my job to watch all the simulations multiple times to look for errors or bugs, and to play around with all the different features. It was fairly easy to test, but using a sleep-aid application for four hours is not easy to get through. It certainly had the intended effect on me: even with 7 cups of coffee, I was still yawning the whole time!

There is a free trial version on iTunes that you can check out before purchasing the full program for $2.99. Make sure to read the About page- my name is at the bottom!

Let the games begin!

I decided to put off this post until I finally got to do some work, and today is that day!

About a month ago, I signed on for an unpaid internship at Mission One, an entertainment software and application developer here in Setagaya, Tokyo. I had met the founder and president, Marc Cellucci, last October at a Halloween party at Keio's Hiyoshi campus. Also a native Texan, Marc spent many years working for Sega both in America and Japan before starting his own company. Marc mentioned that his company needed testers in the near future, so we exchanged business cards. At the beginning of my lengthy spring break, I shot him an email, he offered me an internship, and I was onboard.

My official title is Quality Assurance Intern, which is really just a fancy way of saying I'm an unpaid game and application tester. But honestly, I would clean the entire office if it meant learning about video game development. Though he can't pay me, I have been getting fed, and everyone knows how much college students love free food!

The main part of my job is to test out the software that Mission One develops to see if there are any technical, design, or typographical errors and bring them to Marc's attention. Marc has also taken it upon himself to introduce me to the process of how entertainment software is designed and developed. I really could not ask for a better introduction to the entertainment software industry.

The application I tested for Mission One today will hopefully be available next week worldwide on the iPhone. I can't disclose the name of the app before it is released, but I will post it here asap. My name is actually in the credits!

Here is a link to Mission One's website, which is available in both English and Japanese: http://mission-one.jp/index_e.html They already have one game for the iPhone available for purchase: a pachinko game called Sho Chiku Bai. Though based on the widely popular Japanese slot game, the download is also having a great deal of success amongst Americans. Try it out- you're sure to get addicted!

I'll post any exciting developments in my internship here, so stay tuned. Watch out, video game industry! Katherine's coming!

March of the Penguins

Hey readers! Sorry about the lengthy pause; I've been quite busy applying for various honor societies/programs/grants at CMU. I've also ended my creative writing hiatus. Yay for being productive!

On the second day of our vacation in Hokkaido, my friends and I took advantage of the free transportation provided by our travel agency to go to the Asahiyama Zoo.

Asahiyama is the most popular zoo in Japan. It is known for the diversity of their animals, which come from as far as Africa and as close as the surrounding mountains, and the design of their enclosures and attractions, which allow visitors to get a closer view than is normal for zoos.

But Asahiyama is probably most famous for its "march of the penguins". A couple times a day, all the visitors in the park line up along a marked path around the edge of the zoo to see a half-dozen zookeepers herding a dozen or so penguins along in the snow. My friends and I arrived at the zoo just before the procession began, so it was the first thing we got to see.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime up close and personal moment with the penguins, especially this little guy, who insisted on investigating the crowd every few meters.

Probably my favorite animal in the zoo was this red panda. I had not known before that there was a different variety of panda, but there you have it! It actually looks nothing like the Chinese panda, but to me, resembles a raccoon or tanuki. I wasn't able to get any pictures of them, but there were three babies sleeping high up on platforms and in trees. 超かわいい！

I was also very excited to finally get to see a tanuki and Japanese Macaque, or snow monkey. In high school, my friends and I founded a manga/Japanese culture club, and we chose Tanuki as our mascot. Though a real animal, in Japan, Tanuki is revered as a spirit of fertility. And I had been waiting to see Japanese snow monkies since I had first learned about them on some national geographic show a long time ago. Natives of Hokkaido, Japanese macaques spend a great deal of their time relaxing in the region's hot springs. I generally don't like monkies, but I wouldn't mind being one if it meant lazing around in an onsen all day!

There were also a few animals from Africa, like this lion. To be honest, seeing him in the snow made me kind of sad; he seemed restless and spent a lot of time just standing on this thin piece of plywood the zookeepers had placed next to the window; he would stand there and roar. I don't think he was very happy in the snow.








This giraffe, however, looked perfectly happy. For the first three minutes we watched him, he was licking up snow on top of a box. The rhino waltzed right up and gave us some really great shots, as well.

I also got to watch the seal being fed. He was rather reluctant to come out onto the ice, but he did get half-way out.

The trip from Sapporo to the zoo was three hours each way- it was an entire day of just animals! When we returned to the city, we found a restaurant that specialized in soup curry, a delicious hybrid of curry and stew, served here with rice and chai tea. Hokkaido is a really great place to find deliciously spicy food!