Yes, Yes. It has been a VERY long time since I have written anything here. I suppose I've lacked whatever motivation I've needed to conjure up a few paragraphs to update you guys. I'm sorry for that, but maybe now I'll start doing it a little bit more regularly. Maybe...

I was just doing some laundry out on my balcony and I stopped and thought... Man, I really do live in a really beautiful place. I could post a picture right here to let you guys try and feel what it's like to be here, but it wouldn't do it justice. Gorgeous fall weather, crickets chirping, moon bright up above and the long, empty train passing by my apartment. It was really one of those, "Jesus, I live in Japan" moments. They don't come as often as they used to, but when they do, it's pretty surreal.

I highly suggest you come visit me. It's the only way you'll understand what I mean.

Anyway, I guess I'll write a bit to let you guys know what's been goin' on. I won't by any means try and catch you up on the last, oh, five or six weeks (already???), but I'll give you a little bit to chew on.

This week was "Silver Week" in Japan, meaning Japanese state employees and students got Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off of work/school. So, on Saturday I headed out to Osaka where I started a five day mini-tour of the Kansai region. It was really great to get out of the usual routine and hit up some of the more notable touristy spots in the area.
Quick outline of the trip:

Saturday: met up with some friends in Osaka, which is about an hour south of where I live by train. (I'm soooooo lucky to be place where I am. It is so easy to get just about anywhere in the area from my city.) We checked into our capsule hotel and hit up the aquarium, which has the largest tank in the entire world! Complete with two whale sharks and a few manta rays!!! It was really cool, despite the large throngs of Japanese school children. It's a good thing they're so damn cute! Afterwards, we took a sunset spin on the Osaka ferris wheel which overlooks the entire city. I hear a lot of things about how ugly Osaka is, and yes, I've seen some drab places, but it looks pretty damn good from up there at sunset!

Sunday: We took off fairly early in the morning to get to Himeji Castle, which is about an hour west of Osaka by train. Himeji Castle is Japan's largest (I believe...) and arguably most beautiful castle. I heard rumblings around my school about it being shut down for renovations in the near future so I wanted to make absolutely sure we made it there beforehand. It was a really beautiful day, and, unfortunately, about 10,000 other people had the same idea as we did. We spent the majority of the day standing in line to enter the main tower of the castle, which was probably not really worth the wait. However, I got some pretty great snapshots, which I will post up on my picasa ASAP. You should check 'em out. They're swell.
After that we headed back to Osaka where we took naps, cleaned up and hit the town for the night. Osaka is known as a nightlife city so we were out looking for a little bit of fun. Unfortunately (or fortunately, perhaps) our hotel closed its doors from midnight 'til 4:30 AM, meaning a night out would likely turn into a night and following morning out. After dropping into a few small bars we made our way to a karaoke joint where we sang and sang and sang. ALL NIGHT LONG... ALL NIGHT LONNNNGGGG!!!
Next, 6 AM McGriddles stop on the walk back to the hotel. Then sweet, sweet sleep.

Monday: We had to check out of the hotel at 10AM, which was a little rough, but not nearly as difficult as I had expected. The gang headed out to Kobe which is only about a half an hour west of Osaka on the way to Himeji. Kobe is a really stunning harbor city which was almost entirely leveled in 1995 by the Great Hanshin Earthquake. Since then, it has been rebuilt and is extremely impressive. We spent lunch being beaten and bruised by throngs of eaters in Kobe's Chinatown, which evidently, is an extremely popular dining destination. Being moderately claustrophobic, I was slightly unnerved by all the elderly Japanese ladies pushing and pulling me about, but fortunately the lunch rush did not last long, and we were able to breathe after an hour or so. After lunch, we walked in the harbor and stumbled upon a yosakoi (a type of Japanese dance) festival. It was supremely badass! I had heard about how much people loved watching yosakoi, but I remained skeptical... Not anymore! It was heart-pumpingly-exciting. I grabbed a few videos of some dance groups that I may or may not post. They take up valuable upload space, and I don't know if I can afford it.
Sunset harbor cruise: $10
All-you-can-eat seafood buffet complete with chocolate fondue: $25
Watching Diku practice his Yosakoi moves all evening: not quite priceless, but worth at least $150

Tuesday: Our group split up. Diku (my buddy I met in Tokyo) and I went to Nara, the ancient capital of Japan, while the rest of the crew went to Universal Studios Japan. As cool as USJ (what the kids call it these days) sounds, I thought feeding deer and taking pictures of the world's largest wooden building sounded a lot cooler. I think I was right. Nara was amazing! I wish I could say that I had a lot of pictures for you to see, but of course, my camera died like 5 minutes after I got to Nara. So yes, I did manage to sneak one of the giant buddha inside of Todai-ji (the big-ass wooden building) bud not much else. I'll have the few on Picasa as well.

I'd love to elaborate on Nara for you guys but my head is absolutely killing me. I came down with something the last day of my trip and I've been feeling pretty awful for the past few days. I think it's just a sinus infection or something similar, but it's really quite the pain in the ass. Since Japan is so strict about drug usage, they don't sell cough medicine or NyQuil or anything that works, so I'm just toughing it out. Fortunately, my wonderful, thoughtful Lindsey is shipping me some of the good stuff. (Thanks my sweet Mary Hawley). Until then, I'll just have to sack up and tough it out. Hey, at least I don't have the swine flu! I hope...

Much love everybody! I miss you and want to know what's happening on the other side of the world. Keep me in the loop, kudasai!