Video games
This month, my boss, Marc Cellucci, is getting hitched to his long-time girlfriend in Hawaii, and they're also having their honeymoon there. He's from Texas and she's Japanese, so their parents are flying in from both countries to meet halfway in Hawaii for the wedding. おめでとう、マルクさん！
Also in the world of JVG this month: the eagerly anticipated Kingdom Hearts spin-off for the Nintendo DS, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, releases in Japan on May 30! That's next week, people! To help with my Japanese study *coughplaygamescough*, I have pre-ordered it from Amazon Japan. Sooooo excited! Don't worry, my fellow American KH fans: the English version is coming to the States at the end of August.
School
Interesting how I put the video game paragraphs before the school update...
My core courses in Japanese are going along swimmingly. I really like the textbook we're using, and the professors are very skilled at explaining grammar in Japanese.
My Special Focus course, Intermediate Aural Comprehension I, is boooooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnngggggg. I always leave that class feeling like I downed a bottle of sleeping pills. But on the flip side, listening is my worst skill, so it's necessary. According to Mel, who took a similar class last semester, it greatly improved her listening skills, so I'm hoping that the painful hours of mind-numbing listen-and-repeat exercises will pay off in the end.
The comparative literature class I'm taking is quite interesting. I've really enjoyed the selections so far. It's so nice to have a literature class again; it makes me less homesick for CMU. And in my Buddhism class, I've joined the team focusing on gender and social discrimination in Japanese Buddhism. It's fascinating how similar, at least in my perspective, Japanese Buddhism and certain types of Christianity are in their use of particular interpretations of core teachings to discriminate against disenfranchised groups. I plead the First.
My Imminent Return
With only two-and-a-half months left, I spend a lot of my time considering all I need to do before I return to the US. I bought a plane ticket for July 29, two days after the last day of finals, which will give me approximately three weeks home with my family before going back to Pittsburgh. Apparently, while I've been abroad the airline companies have decided that financially raping customers is O.K., so I have to keep my two suitcases under 50lbs. or pay $150 extra. Why hasn't someone at CMU invented a teleportation device yet?
Packing aside, I also have a few lists of things I need to accomplish before leaving. There are still at least half-a-dozen places in Tokyo I haven't been to, such as the Tokyo Fish Market. I have a lengthy list of omiyage (souvenirs) to buy for people back home. And, since I just received IRB approval for my thesis interviews, I need to start contacting Japanese video game developers to find willing subjects. So much to do, so little time.
I'm also nearly done with my second of two video game books (in English) that I found at Keio's library. I don't think I've ever been so enthralled in non-fiction before. Did you know that Sega was started by an American in Japan? Yeah, it's true, look it up. And Miyamoto, the genius behind Nintendo's Super Mario Bros, plays blue grass guitar and banjo! These tidbits may seem insignificant to you, but already I am finding that Japanese and American video games have a more intimate history with each other than I suspected.
Seriously: best thesis topic EVER.
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