Most anyone that has seen me regularly will be able to spot the dark pair of shoes as one my characterizing traits, even if they hadn’t noticed the shoes. If I were to tell you that I wear the shoes often it would be a gross understatement; I wear the shoes all of the time. If I’m not wearing the Diesels, I’m inside someone’s house or I’ve been knocked unconscious and someone’s stolen them right off my feet.

The shoes have had a lot of ground underneath them. From the decades old rebuilt cobblestone roads of Kyoto on New Year’s Eve, to the base of Mt. Fuji — and they would have had the chance to climb the mountain if it weren’t for missing the seasonal closed gates by a few days. Redemption came in climbing Mt. Gozaisho. They’ve seen many late drunken nights walking miles and miles or aiming to ride a bicycle home from various karaoke bars, and they’ve walked the sacred Buddhist grounds at Todai-ji — sober. Though walking so much outside, they only once or twice set foot inside of the house as it’s customary to take off your shoes at the genkan, a habit that’s stuck with me. As a result, their laces have not been untied in years and they even underwent a period of time where the back lip was worn down as makeshift slippers to make for easier removal.

The constant wear and tear on them has had its affect of course. On each of the shoes there is a slowly expanding small hole where my big toe is, though it’s tough to notice especially since I wear black socks often. The tread on the bottoms is also wearing thin. It hasn’t gotten to the point of the Airwalks however, where I can’t wear them on rainy days as the bottom of my socks will get wet.

Nowadays the Diesels spend most of their time traversing corporate carpeted hallways. Their better days aren’t hopefully in the past, plans to visit Australia and go in the outback are ahead.

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1. The Past Week or so
2. TV Shows Interrupt Commercials
3. Christmas Eve ですよねえ！

Today I had no time to relax. I woke up to go to school to say good-bye to some teachers, though I only found Yamashita-san in the office. Then, I went with Lee and Akira to Nagoya to meet Haruka and Akiho. I said good-bye to Akira (we all got a bit teary-eyed) and met up with Akiho. We three then went to Starbucks (don’t get me started!) and waited for Haruka to take her lunch break. We ate and drank a little, didn’t talk too much though. Haruka had to get back to work in a rush, so we didn’t get a chance to say farewell properly but Lee and I walked with Akiho for a little bit.

We stopped at the subway gates to part ways. Akiho started crying. I started crying.

A few hours of last karaoke at Shidax, saying good-bye to Marina and Yoshie (though I’ll see her again in the morning), a few hours at my favorite restaurant Ohgiya, a few hours trying to stuff my suitcases, and at 2 in the morning here I am: still awake.

I leave at 7. There will be others who will come to see me off. I’ll write once more.

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1. Happy New Year!
2. Kabuki
3. animeFM

New Year’s Eve I left with Lee to Kyoto. We hung out all afternoon wasting time and seeing some sights, eating at several restaurants and stuff. Near midnight, we gathered, along with several other thousands of people, on the streets leading up to an all night festival to wait for midnight. Midnight came and it was only the foreigners on the street that could be heard counting down and yelling out, everyone else just stood waiting o_O

We did karaoke, ate at restaurants, and walked all through the night until the trains started again in the morning. It was a blast and I’m glad I finally go to see Kyoto.

Related posts:

1. Happy New Year!!
2. The Past Week or so
3. Akiko

Christmas Eve, those of us foreigners in my building got together for a dinner. There were about fifteen total that turned up, with each of us having to bring some food for the dinner. We’re all a little bit lonely this Christmas without our families so that’s why we decided to do this dinner. Thanks Damien for hosting.

Christmas day I spent with Lee in Fishimi. We shopped, did karaoke for a bit, and shot purikura. I booked a hotel room for the night. Being away from Proxy was nice even for just one night.

Tuesday through Friday early morning I went with a few of the other foreign students and a bunch of Japanese students to Nagano for skiing and snowboarding. I snowboarded for two days. Although to be more accurate: I spent two days falling on my buttocks again and again.

Today, I canceled my cell phone contract. I only had to pay about ¥6,000 for this month and the remainder of my contract. It’s a bit sudden, sorry to those that are trying to send me emails to my phone. My personal email address is listed to the top-right of this page.

Still don’t know what’s going on for New Year’s Eve. There’s parties near home, fireworks at Nagoya Port, major events in Kyoto, etc. No idea what to do yet.

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1. Next Week’s Preparation
2. Company Dinner
3. No Email, No Phone ― Have Some Snow

I’m almost fully recovered today. I should be OK by Monday I think.

Last night we went to a Kabuki performance. Like everything else that I’m experiencing, it was my first. The performance was about four hours in total, with three short intermissions. There were a lot of the students that fell asleep or slept through most of the thing.

Kabuki is extremely stylized. From what the actors wear, to the backgrounds, to the very tones and language used. To watch it was like watching a living art piece in movement. The only thing that I didn’t like was that it was very difficult to understand what everyone was saying, but from what I head even Japanese have a difficult time.

In short, it was awesome! If I have the chance, I’ll go again.

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1. Last Few Days
2. Placement Test
3. Closing Ceremony

予定は栄へ行ってカラオケに行くことだった。

昨日は初めて一人でバス・地下鉄に乗った。たいてい外国人の友達と一緒にどこでも行く。でも、昨日一人だった。まだ理由はわ かないけど、まだ女の子とか僕にすごい見るが多い。ちょうど良いバスに乗ったり、ちょうど良い地下鉄に乗ったり、たくさん漢字を読むのは大丈夫だった。実 は旅行がちょっと楽しかった。

とにかく。カラオケにユコの二人の友達が会った。彼女とボーイフレンドだった。彼女はやさしそうな人だったけど、僕に紹介なかった。名前とかまだ知らない。僕もうちょっと自己紹介したね。

僕が歌うすぎった、やはり。カラオケ後声ががらがらだった。今日、声が出ない。のどがすごく痛いし、話すと痛いだ。

今、カラオケが好きだけど、段々大好きになっている。

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日本語サークルの人々は大勢の留学生が愛知県長久手町での公園でお花見に行った。でも、昨日の朝で雨が激しく降った。ピクニックで、私達は少し食べたり、ビールを飲んだり、ビンゴを遊んだ。僕はパーティの間中で二人の日本人の女と話した。

お花見後で I ハウス（留学生のために大学の宿舎・インターナショナルハウス）で飲んで行った。僕達はビールポンというゲームを遊んだ。僕も、その時前にビールポンを聞いたことがない。そのゲームの目的は……酔うになる（X_x;;）僕のチームは 6 番勝った。

ゲーム後で僕達はカラオケで行った。やって日本の音楽をたくさん歌った。レミオメロン「粉雪」とか、大塚愛「プラネタリウム」とか、高橋洋子「残酷な天使のテーゼ」とか、修二と彰「青春アミーゴ」などの曲を歌った。昨晩カラオケで歌うのは始めただった。すごく面白い。

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