February and March

Obviously I've been fairly unmotivated for the past month and a half as far as blogging goes. After getting a number of requests, and the fact that my rents will be here in a week, I thought better write something.
Quick run down of events- 80's themed V-day party, weekend trip in Aizu, all-nighter after meeting random cute boys from Canada, sick day, bowling, bought a new camera, Sophea's bday.

While every weekend has the potential for awesome fun, the best weekend recently was the trip to Aizu. It was nice to get out of Koriyama again and see some traditional Japanese stuff. My friend, Dave, used to live there so he showed me around his old haunts. We ate the cafe of Dr. Hideyo Noguchi. He's famous, even on the 1,000 yen. His hand fused together after being burned, but after an operation he got most function ability back. He traveled to Africa doing research for vaccines.
Aizu is also the resting place of the Byakkotai - a group of young men in samurai training who committed traditional suicide after they saw smoke coming from close to the castle. Unfortunately, the smoke wasn't the castle under attack, but from cooking fires. In the castle (a reconstruction turned into a museum) you can see portraits of each of the men. Only one survived, Iinuma Sadakichi, and he wrote about the tale so everyone else would know.
The castle itself is cool on the outside, but inside it's just a standard museum. Though the top floor view over Aizu is pretty impressive. My desire for experiencing more authentic historical things was completely satisfied by the Samurai Mansion. You can explore each room and area of the house as it was during the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Sadly, my camera was already broken at this point. We used Dave's camera, but he has a film camera so I don't have those pics yet. My new camera is a Cannon IXY 920 IS. It's a really popular model, and there's no question why. There are so many different functions! I can't wait to get some of those pics up here so you'll really understand. Luckily, on small/common digital cameras English is available. The staff at the store had no problem changing the menu to English. Who knows how long it'd take to figure out the directions in Japanese!

One last note before I head off to bed, I really enjoy shopping in Japan. Don't let me fool you, there isn't a huge variety in styles, and I rarely can find anything that fits well. Shopping though is always an adventure because of all the ridiculous things you see from Engrish shirts to neon pumps or french maid outfits. In America it's really easy to tell which years you are looking at by the clothing style. But what becomes of those clothes after they're out of fashion? Some ends up in trash dumps, some get sold at yard sales, while other pieces end up in a thrift store, but can that account for all of that clothing area? I think not, and in truth I believe I've found the rest of your wardrobe from the 70's, 80's, and 90's (possibly a few pieces from even further back). The majority gets sent to Japan! Seriously, if you are missing that glittering sequined shirt, or the drape dress it's in the used store in Japan, and selling for a nifty price. Need a jean vest, or acid wash jeans? You can find here!