So, most of Japan is notorious for this funny little weather phenomenon called 梅雨 (tsuyu, the rainy season; check it out.) Basically, from some undetermined point in June to some undetermined point in July (okay, sure, there are averages, but we all know how reliable those are), the rain falls like a college student onto a free buffet which includes churros.
... indefatigably, I mean. Ahem.
Now, to a desert dweller such as myself, this is more than a little strange.
In fact, it's downright "freaky," to employ the vernacular.
(The humidity isn't too great either, let me tell you, but considering the fact that that's still an issue at present... it isn't really 梅雨-specific.)
Having only experienced these early summer months in Hokkaido before, I was, prior to this year, blissfully inexperienced in terms of this so-called rainy season.
So too, it seems, was my dear little desert amigo, Sabotendaa. (He has a name now. The resemblance to his namesake is uncanny.)
You see, I leave him out on my balcony so he gets plenty of sunshine. My room only really gets indirect sunlight, and I want to be sure that he gets as close to his native habitat as we can possibly manage in this temperate-cum-subtropical suburban paradise of Sakyo-ku. As we've discussed before, I've taken a certain degree of pride in his unprecedented growth since he has returned to my care. Far be it from me to rob him of his birthright.
But... well...
Let's just say I may have been a little bit neglectful when it comes to remembering where my dear cactus was when it was coming down in buckets.
Oopsies.
Apparently, your average cactus is very much the optimist, and will attempt to make as many damn pitchers of lemonade as possible when presented with a veritable crap-ton of weather-varietal lemons.
Instead of giving in to the temptation to simply up and drown in this excess of precipitation (I have... experience with other cacti succumbing to such a fate... though through no fault of my own, I assure you!), my adorable little prickle-puss instead chose to put on a little weight in order to take full advantage of this bounty of hydration.
After all, that is, of course, what most desert creatures do, given the opportunity. Desert storms, while few and far between, tend to be hard-hitting, and therefore everything has to take in as much water as it can, as fast as it can, despite any resulting consequences, if it wants to survive until the next downpour.
In other words, my tiny little cactus has the survival instincts of a full grown saguaro.
I'm.... so proud. (sniff)
And look!
All better!
A month or two later, and he's thinned right out again. It may be my imagination, but I also think he's a little taller to boot. Talk about adaptation! This is one tenacious little sucker, let me tell you.
(...although you may be able to see that the fake dirt hasn't fared so well. Apparently it just can't handle precipitation of that magnitude.)
This is Edo, signing off pondering how her Japan blog has been overrun by such a cornucopia of desert-related tomfoolery.
Despite my best intentions... I am being a horrible, horrible blogger.
I mean, really.
So, I think that a new blog-order is...well, in order, as it were.
You see, you people just don't realize how much effort I put into your average post on this thing. Really. I am deeply, deeply invested in these trivialities I throw out there into the ether for your amusement. I am also deeply invested, for some reason, in packaging said trivialities into large bundles that take time and planning to produce.
And nowadays, well...
Let's just say that there's probably a reason that "higher education students" do not represent a very large percentage of personal bloggers on the internet at present.
... at least, I don't think they do.
... I really hope they don't.
... if they do, please don't tell me.
Either way, though, don't take that as me complaining--because I am most emphatically not. Being in higher education is awesome. That's why I'm here, after all.
But it is not exactly conducive to my blogging activities.
Mainly because, to people outside of academia... my daily life at the moment probably provides approximately the same level of vicarious excitement as does watching bread rise. Except without the delicious, yeasty payoff.
So, my new goal, which may be at least partially inspired by the recent slew of band member blog updates that have inundated my inbox, is to lower my content standards.
... those are a few words I never thought I'd use in that order.
Er, what I mean is, I am going to start allowing myself to make posts that aren't, gasp, necessarily constructed around a cohesive, singular topic that is in some way personally distanced from myself. This is, after all, basically an "I live in Japan, aren't I nifty" blog, and if I am constantly reining myself in because I don't have a fully formed, five-page essay on a recently popular drama written, proofread, thoroughly edited and ready to go for the day... well.
Suffice it to say that I may lose a few readers if I start posting even more inane, day-to-day trivialities, but I will surely lose all of my readers if I stop posting entirely.
(... yeah, that really doesn't sound as deep once I get it down in writing.)
So, for the time being? Let's try out the less of two evils, and see how things go.
...And now...
Well. I am researching gender and sexuality in the Visual music scene, so posting BUCK-TICK videos is entirely appropriate, regardless of any content downgrades, upgrades or sidegrades.
Especially when they're this awesome.
I am so excited for this album, you don't even know.
(Although really, Atsushi. What did your eyebrows ever do to you?)
Besides, concert-going is, in my opinion anyway, definitely the most exciting thing going on in my life right now, so I think we're really hitting all of our bases here.
This is Edo, signing off while wondering if using the word "nifty" automatically disqualifies you from being so.
Although I'm sure you're all quite used to that by now.
I must inform you that, in real life, I'm actually quite punctual. I feel like I need to get that out there before you lose all respect for me.
And I'm not really talking about the blog post. No, no, I've come to terms with the fact that I am no longer maintaining anything close to a decent updating schedule. Ironically, being busy and (theoretically) having things to write about breeds nothing by apathy when it comes to online reporting.
No, I'm late on reporting BUCK-TICK's new single, エリゼのために (For Elise).
... Look, I'm a research student looking at conceptions of gender and sexuality within Visual Kei and its fan culture.What do you want me to post about? My cooking really just isn't all that interesting, especially considering the fact that I've decided that rice + some mix of meat and vegetables is both an easy and (somewhat) healthy fallback when it comes to daily cuisine.
... really? Fine.
See, レタスチャーハン (lettuce fried rice) really just isn't all that exciting. I mean, I did add some shimeji mushrooms, but that's really only interesting to a a very specific kind of person.
(...so I watched a morning show where they went to a lettuce farm in Nara and ate a lot of lettuce-themed dishes. Like you've never been influenced by the television.)
Just count yourselves lucky that I'm not, instead, posting endless links to fascinating articles concerning the gender dynamics of certain subsets of modern Japanese women as relating to their musical preferences and the resulting societal implications. In Japanese.
Ahem.
This is Edo, off to cook more boring yet ultimately satisfying food. After updating her mp3 player, of course.
Really, you'd think I'd have tons and tons to post about, being an exciting research student and all, but as I am still in the "trudge through six months of Japanese-style Japanese language classes" period... well, let's just say it doesn't make for fascinating reading material.
But hey. Pictures are always fun. And pictures of flowers? Come on.
Saw these guys on the way home from a Nitori trip a few weeks back with Melon. Sure, it was kinda-sorta raining, and sure, it was getting colder and drearier by the second...
But we both stopped to get pictures of the pretty flowers. You gotta take your jollies where you can get 'em, I always say.
Okay, so I didn't take this picture, but whatever. It is nevertheless a relevant topic, and it was much quicker to do a Google search and then copy+paste a url than to take a picture with my phone, send it to my computer, download it, upload it and finally post it. Thank you, Google.
Anyway. For my non-Japanese speaking readers, this lovely little juice box says "One Day's Vegetables" (Ichi Nichi Bun no Yasai)... roughly. Basically, it's a small box of juice that, theoretically, provides a full day's serving of veggies.
It is glorious.
Sure, it tastes like the back end of a tomato, but for my entire day's vegetables? I will deal with a tiny box's worth of unpleasantness for that sort of healthy convenience, thank you.
Because, let's face it. Even as an adult, it's tough to suck down the recommended amount of veggies every day. Especially when you have to actually go out, buy them, come home, and then fix them up... all for yourself.
Long live the juice box, I say.
And finally... remember that far-too-beautiful-to-be-real Korean idol I spoke of a while back? (Scroll down.)
Apparently I was ahead of my time.
The man is everywhere. If I had a thing for sweet, fruity candy, I could see myself starting up a collection. Really, though, if they want to encourage that sort of consumerism, they should really get more than two shots of the guy on their canisters.
This is Edo, signing off with a wonderful box of scurvy-prevention running through her system.
I know I shouldn't repeat myself, but.... seriously. I'm telling you. The 食堂 is the place to be, people.
I mean, come on.
This? For 390? For dinner?
Ridiculous. That is more meat than most young people see in a week.
And that right there, my friends, is a medium rice. Oh yes. There are no attempts to stiff hungry students at my 食堂, no siree-bob.
(I was thirsty. Don't judge me.)
Oh, and by the way.
This is what you get for 400 yen. (Would have been 390, but I wanted my miso soup.)
Admittedly, this set runs out pretty quickly come dinner-time, but you can see why.
All that meat.
True, it is chicken more often than not, but that just makes it healthy.
... no, honestly, healthy. I promise.
And thus concludes another installment of "what Edo's been eating lately," cleverly giving me another couple of weeks of not having to think up any actual content.
Even so, I'm sure something extraordinary will happen. It's just the sort of band they are.
Whether or not I get around to writing about it is another question entirely.
Oh, and remember the LIFT-OFFs?
I'd better start studying.
(Pretend that there is a rhythmic, intense shouting going on through the entirety of the video. Gives you a better feeling of the actual event. Plus, it's way more awesome.)
This is Edo, signing off whilst wondering why the weather didn't get the notice about Golden Week.
I have heard many things about the relative discomfort and aggravation of living the life of a student, particularly at the graduate level.
You're always under the supervision of an authority figure, for better or for worse. Your life is not necessarily your own (again, for better or for worse). Provided you're on a government scholarship funded by a recently slashed education budget and conducting some seriously cost-heavy observational research, you're embarrassingly poor and incredibly reluctant to buy anything not immediately relevant to your survival so that you can afford your books (which are clearly priced for top-level executives, and not the poor humble likes of we.)
But then again, at least in Japan...
You get this much food for 210 yen.
That, my friends, is a small bowl of rice, a hearty serving of miso soup, and a pile of tempura. All for me. All for 210 yen. (The tea is free. Ignore the tea. It is inconsequential.)
食堂 (shokudou; cafeteria) are far and away my favorite places to eat. Ever.
And then there's all the 学生割引 (gakusei waribiki; student discount) you find everywhere you look. Honestly, you can't swing a cat around Kyoto and not hit a place that offers some sort of discount for the academically inclined youth. It even got me a free service plan with au--all I pay for is data service, and even that's discounted thanks to an age-based service.
So really, being a student in Japan? It's not bad, my friends, not bad at all.
This is Edo, signing out only wishing that Japanese cafeterias were as close to her bedroom as the ones on her US college campus were.
An overly opinionated, 20-something liberal arts graduate on a MEXT research scholarship in Kyoto, aiming to eventually break into academia, and painstakingly writing down all the interesting thoughts she has along the way.
