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Well, it’s been another 2 months since I last updated so I decided to write another note today. Adam and I have been in Japan for just over 9 months now!! This means that we’ll be home in less than 3 months… o.O I’m so excited but a little bit scared at the same time… things will be very different when we get back…

So what have we been up to since my last note? Well, we saw summer “end” (it’s still pretty warm even though it’s October now)!! I can’t wait until the weather starts to finally cool down though… I’m really looking forward to that! Meanwhile, when we get home, it will be summer again… *sigh*

On the 5th of August, Adam and I celebrated our 8th year anniversary together! We went shopping in Namba on the 2nd to celebrate. We had a very nice lunch and dinner too… Around that time I was feeling a bit depressed because I failed to get tickets to Arashi’s (my favourite band’s) anniversary concert in Tokyo. I stayed up late one night debating whether to buy a ticket from an online store which was selling some tickets for like 10 times the original price… I spoke to Steph that night… we had a long chat in MSN and she told me to go for it (actually, many people did which was surprising). She said that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and if I had the money I should go for it. It was one of the reasons why I came to Japan and you only live once so why not use my hard earned money towards something I love? My mum said that I don’t smoke… I don’t drink… I hardly spend any money on myself so… in the end… I was convinced to buy a ticket. The concert ticket that I bought just happened to land on my favourite member’s birthday so I knew that we were going to sing happy birthday to him… I definitely couldn’t miss that opportunity!! Even though the concert ticket costed as much as an airfare home… I don’t regret my decision to buy it. I’ll write about the concert a little later.

On the 8th, my friend Wilson came to Japan! It was cool to see a friend from Adelaide! We met up for lunch in Umeda before heading over to Osaka Castle. It was a very hot and humid day. After walking through the park, we went inside the castle. After that we came across a man and his children collecting cicadas in the park… lol… that was weird! After the castle, we went to Shitennouji Temple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shitenn%C5%8D-ji). When we arrived in Tennouji, we didn’t want to walk to the temple so I asked a bus driver where we can catch a bus to go to the temple in Japanese… When the bus driver was telling mw where we could catch a bus from, he kept looking at Wilson… he must have thought that it was weird to be explaining to the white girl instead of the Asian guy that was with me! LOL. I was pretty impressed with my Japanese though! I managed to score us a free bus ticket for the trip back as well! When we arrived at the temple, it was already closed (we arrived just 3 minutes too late)!! Oh well, it was still nice to see from the outside. There was a nice pagoda there. You can see my photos from page 4 in the photo album “My Japanese Life 5″. After the temple, Wilson and I split up. He went back to his hotel while I went home to take a shower and get changed. We arranged to meet up later to go to the Yodogawa Fireworks. I decided to wear my yukata. It was my first time to put one on myself! Adam helped me though. The bow was not very good but for my first try… many of my Japanese friends tell me that I did a very good job! Anyway, the fireworks were amazing! The show was 50 minutes long of constant fireworks and we got to see many Hello Kitty, love hearts and smiley faces etc. in the sky! The crowds were unbelievable though!! We had to walk to the river from the city (about 40 minutes) because the trains and stations were too crowded and staff were turning people away! While walking back, my ankle started to hurt… I must have hurt it from too much walking?? Anyways, the next day, Rie came from Okayama to hang out with me and Wilson… we were supposed to go to Namba and then meet up with a mutual friend for dinner but because of my stupid ankle, I couldn’t go! I couldn’t walk at all… I had to hop everywhere and Adam had to help me get around as well. I was pretty frustrated… Luckily, Rie slept over our place for a few nights so we could hang out for a bit. On Monday I couldn’t go to work because of my ankle… which was a worry because I had summer camp with work the next day… but it was a good idea that I stayed home on Monday because on Tuesday morning, I was able to limp on my ankle and I made it to camp! Yay!

For camp, we went to Soni Kougen (mountains) in Nara. We stayed at a place called Kokuritsu Shounen Shizen no Ie (http://soni.niye.go.jp/). It was absolutely beautiful there! I felt like I wasn’t in Japan anymore! There was so much greenery and nature! Overall, the camp was really fun even though there was no air conditioning there so it was very hot and sticky during the day! It cooled down at night though. Anyways, on day 1 we did many indoor activities and then we had a camp fire at night. On day 2 we made some shippouyaki (http://img03.shoppro.jp/PA01002/247/product/1336495.jpeg – of course, not as pretty as this!), went hiking and did some outdoor and indoor activities. I really enjoyed being with the kids and just playing with them… some of the kids were pretty clingy to me by the end of the camp! We went there with 2 different groups, the eikaiwa (English conversation school) and juku (cram school). The juku kids studied on the bus there… all day on day 1… all through the night (no sleep!) and then all day on day 2!! They even studied on the way home (though some of the kids were drifting off to sleep… they looked SO exhausted! Poor things!) Camp was great because I was allowed to talk to the kids in Japanese. Japanese kids are so cute! Oh, on this camp I was finally able to try some natto (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natt%C5%8D)! Usually the smell puts people off but I liked the smell! lol… but I didn’t like the taste… it’s fermented beans after all, haha! Oh, and I had to bathe naked in a common bath area with some of the older kids from the juku (some of whom I teach in the eikaiwa as well) plus some other randoms… >__< That was so humiliating… Everyone was staring at me… In Japan, you must shower first before you can enter the soaking bath called an onsen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onsen)… *sigh* It was my second time to bathe in an onsen… and hopefully my last. LOL.

After camp, Adam and I had to go to the Immigration Bureau. We applied for our visa extension in June but it was August and we still didn’t hear from them… It turned out that the postcards telling us to come in to get the visa extension sticker put into our passports was lost in the mail somehow? Anyway, I was able to fully communicate with the staff in Japanese there! Adam’s mouth dropped! Hehehehehe! It was Obon holidays (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bon_Festival) so I was able to meet up with Mariko that week. I went to her house and we cooked a banana cake and then we went to the beach near her house for a swim. It was so much fun! Haha, at one point, Mariko and I were playing with a beach ball… but I missed it (it went over my head) and it started drifting out to sea… the water was getting really deep and the ball was getting further and further away so Mariko told me to come back… but some random guy ended up getting it for us! That was really nice!! Also, a ball came our way so I threw it back to this group of guys and they were like “sumimasen~” (excuse me~)! Then one of them was like, “Oh, I mean, sorry!!” “Ah, tsujita! (Ah, she could understand me now!)” Hehehehehe… There were so many guys there… they were getting a very dark tan! >__< After a little while, we headed back to Mariko’s house and made some pizza for dinner before heading back to the beach again to do fireworks! The fireworks that you can buy in Japan are awesome!! It was so much fun! Thanks Mariko! <3

About a week after that I found out that I won tickets to Arashi’s concerts in Osaka!! Actually, it’s a long story but when I originally called, I thought I failed so I was pretty upset… but then something wonderful happened! The results I heard were actually the results for Tokyo!!! I was in a very bad mood so I was going through the fan club E-mail I got to check if there was any information in it about when I would be getting my money back from all the failed tickets… Anyways, there was a question in the FAQ asking, “Why can I only hear Kokuritsu (Tokyo) ballot results?” then there was an answer saying “You must press “1″ after hearing Kokuritsu results to hear the Dome results.” Er, say what now!? So I rang the hotline again (and after trying for what seemed like a lifetime, I finally got through again!!) Anyways, I listened carefully this time and realised, yes, that was definitely the Kokuritsu ballot results… so after that message played, I pressed “1″… AND INSTEAD OF THE MESSAGE SAYING I FAILED, IT STARTED TELLING ME THE CONCERT VENUE, THE DATE, THE TIME AND HOW MANY TICKETS I BALLOTED FOR AND CONCLUDED WITH “TOUSEN DESU” (YOU HAVE WON THE PRIZE)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMFG! I GOT TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I got 3 tickets. 1 ticket went to Tae-chan and the other ticket went to Sarah. I’ll talk about the concert a little later. A week after hearing the good news, I went to Tokyo. Tokyo was an amazing trip. We went there by night bus… which was a very uncomfortable 8 hours ride. We hardly slept a wink on the way there… but sooo many wonderful things happened in Tokyo! On day 1, Adam and I went to Hakone to see Mt. Fuji. Unfortunately, the clouds were covering Mt. Fuji so we couldn’t see it properly… but Hakone was beautiful! The last time we were there it was winter and very foggy so we couldn’t see how beautiful it actually was! After Hakone, we met up with Satoko for dinner before returning to our hotel.

The next day, I met Sato at 8:00 AM in the morning and we lined up for Arashi concert goods together. The line was so very long already. When the stalls opened at 9:00 AM, the line was moving quite nicely for the first half an hour… and then… it hardly moved at all! We finally got to the goods area at 11:30 AM! o.O We left the goods area at 12:45 PM… It took forever… about 4.5 hours!! Meanwhile, we heard Arashi rehearsing one of their songs!! I was so excited! Anyways… I got SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sunburnt on my arms and chest. It was really painful to move… It looked SO bad… and when I put aloe vera on it, it evaporated instantly! >________< Even now, more than a month later, the skin on my chest is pink! Oh well, it’s a constant reminder of my Arashi dream coming true! ^___^ After getting our goods, we took a taxi (we couldn’t be bothered walking, lol) to Harajuku. We had lunch and did some shopping. After that we went back to the hotel so I could freshen up before meeting Tae-chan and her friends for karaoke (Arashi songs only)! It was so much fun!

The next day, Adam and I met Tae-chan in Odaiba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odaiba). We had a look at the VS Arashi (Arashi’s game show) demonstration set up outside the Fuji building (Fuji TV was having a festival there). After having a look around the building we walked over to the giant Gundam! Although I’m not a fan of Gundam, the statue was amazing! We arrived at a good time too! We got to see the head move and steam… lol. After that, we went to Palette Town (still in Odaiba) and went shopping in Venus Fort (http://www.venusfort.co.jp/multi/index_e.html). Venus Fort is so pretty! After some shopping, we decided to leave Odaiba. Adam went off on his own while Tae-chan and I went to do some more sightseeing. We went to the National Diet Building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Diet_Building), the Imperial Palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Imperial_Palace) and Yasukuni Shrine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasukuni_Shrine). Meanwhile, it was very hot and because of my sunburn I had to wear long sleeves to protect myself from the sun… It was very uncomfortable… but I had a lot of fun with Tae! <3 After Yasukuni Shrine, Tae-chan and I met up with Adam and Sato in Shinjuku. I also asked my friend Marie to join us! I hadn’t seen Marie since January! It was so good to catch up with her! We went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. It was very nice. After that we all went our separate ways… The next day was the day my dreams came true. In the morning, Adam and I checked out of our hotel and went to Shinjuku for lunch and some shopping. After that we headed over to Kokuritsu (Japan’s national stadium used for the Olympics). Unfortunately, it started to rain… but it was cooling my sunburn down though… haha. Adam left to go somewhere while I went into the national stadium… for Arashi’s concert!! The concert was outdoors… and unfortunately, the rain never stopped… it rained during the entire concert (it turned out to be a typhoon)! I was wearing a poncho and it broke about halfway through the concert… so I got all wet… but I didn’t care!! ARASHI WERE SO FREAKIN’ HOT/AWESOME IN REAL LIFE! Poor Arashi though… they were so wet… but we got 3 encores!! My favourite member (MatsuJun) told us to go home after this last encore because he was very worried about us! *dies* There was a birthday cake for him… but there were no candles on the cake because of the rain. We sang happy birthday to him though and he grabbed some cake with his bare hands and stuffed it into his face! I still can’t believe that I could finally see the boys in the flesh! My dream after 2 years finally came true… and it came true twice since then… more on that later. Anyways, after the concert (which lasted 3.5 hours by the way), I met up with Adam at Shinjuku, got our stuff out of some lockers so I could dry off and get changed. We had dinner and after that, we headed over to catch the night bus home. I was tired so I was able to sleep the whole ride home!

Now to talk about September… The first half of September was very slow and boring. It was still hot and nothing good was on so we stayed home most of the time. Oh, but one night, I was stuck in a train for over an hour when I was coming home from work… There was an accident somewhere (most likely a human traffic accident = someone committed suicide) so I was stuck at the station before mine… I was hungry and not impressed… Hmmm… in the third week of September, we were lucky enough to experience Silver Week (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Week). In Silver Week, I went to Mariko’s house. We watched an Arashi concert together (lol) and just talked a lot. It was really good to catch up with her. She painted my nails for me… which was the first time for me to get my nails painted in a long time. Heh. A few days after that, Adam and I went to see the Rubber Duck Project 2009 (http://www.florentijnhofman.nl/dev/project.php?id=104) in Tenmabashi…

Then, on the 26th, I met Mariko and Tae-chan (who came all the way to Osaka to see Arashi’s concert with me) in Umeda and we had lunch and talked for hours until it was time to head over to the concert. At the dome, I met up with Sarah (who I met earlier in the morning) and we went into the dome together. To my surprise, our seats were awesome!! They were very close to the back stage (row 11)… and when the boys were on the moving carts… they were at eye level with us!! When Jun got on the cart right in front of us during the second song, I lost control! I couldn’t stop screaming. lol. I can’t believe that I could see him (and the other members) so closely! OH! Maruyama from Kanjani8 (another band under the same management as Arashi) was a guest that night! The next day I was able to see Arashi in concert AGAIN! An Internet friend of mine suddenly contacted me and told me that she had a spare ticket for Sunday if I was interested… Of course I was! The seat was terrible though… on the second level on the side of the main stage… but that’s okay because Tae-chan got tickets for Tokyo Dome in December so I get to see Arashi one more time before I leave! I’m so lucky and glad that I came to Japan this year… <3

Oh, something random happened to me the other day… I was waiting to get on the train when a saw a pigeon inside the train… I got on… and the pigeon got off. Everyone in the train was laughing their heads off… that was either the smartest or the dumbest pigeon that I have ever seen! LOL.

Ah, in my last note I mentioned that I wanted to go back to uni next year. I was originally planning to apply for a graduate course to teach junior primary and primary school children but when it came time to submit my application form, I changed my mind… I decided to apply for Early Childhood Education instead which focuses on children aged between 1 – 8. It’s easier and less tiring to teach adults but I find teaching children to be more rewarding… So, I’m looking forward to getting a career with children… preferably a kindergarten teacher… I wonder if I can get into the course. During the application process, there was a section about work experience so I was able to write about my teaching experiences in Japan! It should hopefully give me a good boost! I’m so glad that I could try my future career first to see which age group is better for me. Unfortunately, the course that I applied for is 2 years… but I’m going to try my best!

Also, for all the people who say Japan has a lot of earthquakes… well… I have been here for more than 9 months and I still haven’t felt one! In August, Adam felt one… it was very weak though… like level 2?? Anyways… I was awake… and didn’t feel a thing!! GRRR. I have always wanted to experience an earthquake… and all my friends in other parts of Japan keep experiencing them from time to time… it’s just not fair. Is it weird for me to ask for an earthquake? Yeah… probably! Heh. Oh and who says Japan isn’t a small world? I bumped into one of my students in the backstreets of my neighbourhood while I was riding my bike… of all the places to hear someone call out my name… I was pretty shocked! My school is in another prefecture so why was Harumi there!? Apparently she works in my neighbourhood at the local driving school!! What a coincidence!

Okay, that’s it from me! I’ll write another diary update in December before I leave… or when I get home! Eep! That’s scary! The next diary update could be written in Adelaide! WOW! o.O

P.S. 2 weeks ago, Adam and I started sending our things back by sea mail. We also bought a kotatsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu) the other day and we’re sending that back sometime this week! I hope everything arrives safely…