cheap cheap cheap!

Cheap!

I went to Bookoff, a used book and CD store that is really famous for not actually being a used CD and book store. They somehow manage to get around the Japanese law that says certain media items have to be sold for a certain price. They aren't really used, but somehow they call them "used". And oh my god. Oh my GOD. CD's for A DOLLAR!! 100 yen! Can you believe I only bought 2? I wanted to buy everything, but once again I restrained myself. I'm going to make a list of stuff I REALLY REALLY WANT. By the way, if anyone, ie: people like Claire and Jeff and Sara, or anyone else reading this wants me to buy a CD, or a few CD's for them, just let me know and I'll look. They are SO CHEAP. And it's not only Japanese CD's. I found a WHOLE section of old school New Kids on the Block! All for a dollar! Like, seriously! What! And they have newer CD's too. So let me know.

AND. The manga (comic books) were also 100 to 200 yen! And there was SO MUCH! And a lot of books came in compilation series, so you could buy all the books in the series for less than the normal price. I bought books 1-11 of X/1999 for 90 yen each. 90 cents!! I saw Loveless and Kaikan Phrase and Ayashi no Ceres (which i am buying the rest of to complete the series), and Fushigi Yuugi and One Piece, and Peace Maker Kurogane and EVERYTHING. And so much more! (Can you tell I am super excited about the cheap stuff available to purchase?) Again, if anyone wants me to pick up anything... But remember I have limited space in my luggage. Unless you want a whole lot, and are willing to pay for shipping, cause I am totally willing to do that. I could always ship everything to one person in the same package, and you can arrange to pick it up, to save on shipping.

Hello!Project Store

This weekend I went to Kyoto, and I went to the Hello Project Store! Hello Project is the music label that all my favourite girly jpop bands and singers belong to. IE: MATSUURA AYA. I bought a bag that says Matsuura Aya on it, and I bought some photo's. And I won a draw and got a free photo. They had music video's playing, and they had costumes on display! It was a small store, and they didn't have a whole lot, but I want to go back and take my time. I kinda had to rush because I was meeting some friends, and it took me a while to find the store. I doubt anyone reading this is any kind of Hello Project fan, but if you are, and you want something, let me know.

Yakiniku

While we were in Kyoto we visited Gion, the Geisha district, but it was kind of commercial and like every other street. Some of the side streets were really pretty, but that's about it. Maybe we went at the wrong time to see interesting stuff. For dinner we ate Yakiniku! You get served meat at your table, but it's raw, and you cook it yourself on a barbeque-type thing right at your table. It was so good! I looove meat. They served vegetables and stuff, but the meat was obviously the best part.

I Am Smart!

In school related news, I had a big test in my Japanese class today, and it's *possible* I got 100%! I had to go slow and take my time, but I knew EVERYTHING, and didn't have to guess at all. Unless I made a few stupid mistakes, like the kind where you know what the answer is, for some reason you just wrote it wrong, I really think I did awesome. So we'll see if I beat my last score of 89.9%!

I might join a traditional dance group. We will be learning a dance and performing it at the International Festival. I really want to join some kind of club, but all the ones I want conflict with my classes. So I'm going to go to the first meeting and see when the meetings are.

Matsuura Aya

In other jpop news, Matsuura Aya is starring in a movie, and I am going to see it on Sunday! It's about a delinquent high school girl who gets in trouble with the law, and is given the choice to go to jail, or work as a government agent / cop / detective type thing. But a really *bad-ass* one. It's kind of part of a series, like James Bond, where every few years they make another one with a different actor. BUT. The coolest part is that the main character's weapon is a YOYO! Isn't that amazing!? It's going to be the cheesiest / BEST movie ever. And it has AYA in it. But the weird thing is, there are very few movie theatres in Japan. Like, we have to take a bus and go three towns over. Hirakata is a BIG city, and there's no movie theatre! Most people told me to go to Osaka to find a movie theatre! What! Plus, movies are like 20 dollars! Luckily, the first of the month is half price day.



So. I think that's pretty much it for now. Soon I'll have some pictures up, so look forward to that.