It's Time for Another Picture Post!

Indeed it is, for I have many pictures that don't have an entry to go with them. Since a lot of the things I haven't actually gone into detail about, I'll write a little bit about them :)

                 

 That festival that Alex and I went to with our friend Alisa, that Tanabata festival I think it was, lasted for the whole weekend, so on the last day Alex and I stopped by and I stalked some cute girls in yukatas.

Is it sour cream and onion? No! It's seaweed and salt! :D

The day after we got back from Osaka, Okaasan and Otousan took us to Moriyama to visit their oldest son's family, aka the family with Haru-chan and Ha-chan. Okaasan, Alex, Ha-chan, Haru-chan, their mother Tomoko-san, and I went to a cool shopping plaza in...uh...I forget what town...(maybe it was Kusatsu? Or Yasu...?), despite the fact that Alex and I were out of money XD. Well, I did spend the remaining 600 yen I had at there while at Kiddy Land, aka the cutest store ever. :P

In Japan, they just make desserts like this all the time. Yeah, maybe their slices of cake are small and whatnot, but when they make sundaes and parfaits, and anything of the like, they go all out XD

Japan is also big into fortune telling. This little doohickey was based on your zodiac sign, but another method they often use is your blood type. They also say your blood type defines your personality, but that's never been my cup of tea, because I can't believe there are only four types of personalities in the world. Anyway, this one dispensed a little ball that opened up to reveal a little folded paper telling you your fortune/all of your lucky things for the week.

Kiddy Land!!! :D (I went to one in Tokyo too)

Japanese Baskin Robbins, but in Japanese they just call it Forty One Flavors, so if you say Baskin Robins they won't always know what you mean XD

Okaasan and Haru-chan

Tomoko-san and Ha-chan

Pretty scenery as we drove back to Moriyama

One of Haru-chan's favorite pastimes was to set the timer on my camera to take ten rapid pictures so it looked like a movie. So afterwards, I made them a movie XD

Okaasan was very amused while we were making this :P

A friend of mine uploaded this picture of me playing the koto :D

We did purikura with Okaasan :D

One day Alex ran over a lizard with her bike, and every night after, this lizard would be on her window. We are convinced it's a ghost.

The tatami mats where we hang out after class

There was a yukata festival in Nagahama after we came back from Kyoto

Little kids showed off talents in a contest

 Since it was summer break, Haru-chan stayed over at our place for a few days since his family was busy being busy. The first night he was over, they bought fireworks for us to play with, which really are just sparklers without leaving a trail in the air for you to draw things with. But it was fun anyway :)

We had our purikura with Eri sent to her phone so we could upload it to the computer. :)

One day I did a photoshoot of my friend Helen who is a grad student from MSU who is taking the class at JCMU since her husband is Japanese and she wants to learn the language better :)

Although Japan is relatively safe, they have a big problem with chikan, or perverts. Often times you will see signs warning you against them or they will try to give special places for women to get away from them. At one point I was touched on the butt by a guy on a train though... T_T

There was something in Hikone called the Human-Bird Contest, where people built human-powered aircraft and attempt to fly the length of Lake Biwa. I went all the way over there by myself and there seemed to be more prep time than actual fly time, so after an hour of standing in the hot sun, one plane finally launched. It seemed to not plummet like many of them usually do, but I was bored so I went home :P

On the way home there was a giant parade of people walking somewhere. I have no idea what it was, but it made me laugh XD

My favorite sign in Hikone. Le Sel Poivre is what it says there in French, which means "The salt pepper", and the picture is of bread, and the flag is the Dutch flag :)

A picture I stole from Alex's camera of Abby, me, and Alex in Osaka

I hope you can hear it, cause in this video I tried to get the sound of the cicadas we hear every day as we go to school. Japan is FULL of cicadas in the summer and they (like all of Japan's insects) are big and creepy and obnoxious...and did I mention creepy? In the video they weren't even as loud as they normally are, usually it's like they are swimming around your head. And I see dead ones occasionally on the side walk there, along with other creepy, dead, large beetles. Man, bugs in Japan scare me. The bees in Japan...oh my, don't get me started on the bees. They are HUMONGOUS, as well as deadly- if it stings you too close to your heart, you die. T_T bees...

They sell Dragon Ball Z drinks in a vending machine near our house XD

 We ride past this river every day to school and it's usually FILLED with birds- herons, cranes, egrets, the like. I think there are like 12 here in this picture, but usually there are about 30 or more. That's something I didn't know about Japan before I went there, there ARE little birds like sparrows and finches, but they are not as numerous as the large birds like cranes and herons and birds of prey like hawks. I also have never seen so many crows in my life. They are eeeevery where. Any time you see road kill or something, you know it will be gone in no time at all, because the crows will just get it. They are big and freaky. Ugh. I don't like the crows. >_<

Pretty glass in the Nagahama station

Our last time in the bike park garage

There is Mt. Ibuki in the distance

 Our house has one of those creepy Tanuki statues. Tanuki is usually translated to English as Raccoon Dog, but in reality it is neither racoon, nor dog. Wikipedia can probably teach you about it better than I can, but like how rabbit's feet are lucky to westerners, Tanuki balls are lucky in Japanese culture, and the bigger the balls, the luckier they are. Almost EVERY household in Japan has one of these statues- the tanuki with the hat and the walking stick, staring with huge, vacant eyes, it's giant balls just being there. It is beyond creepy.

Recycle and sort your trash! Or this bunny and this kitty will cry!

Yeah, I think this is it for now. There will still be more posts to come, so look forward to it!

Mary

Location: The couch, but not that couch that I was on last time, but the couch I was on the first time.

Mood: Unmotivated. NO WANT STUDY  ・゜゜・(/□＼*)・゜゜ 

Listening to: the tv. Star Trek the movie is on. Yay!

Japanese for the day: 日本語を勉強すべきだけど、したくない！nihongo o benkyou subeki da kedo, shitakunai! - I should study Japanese, but I don't want to!