Thanksgiving and a haircut!

As most of you are aware, Thanksgiving was last Thursday in the US. One of the hardest parts about living abroad is missing holidays you usually celebrate. The hardest for me is always the 4th of July. This year was the absolute worst since not only did I work that day, I also had literally no one to celebrate with. But now that's not an issue as there are tons of Americans at Kansai Gaidai! A group of my friends and I were planning on celebrating in the dorms and making a full on Thanksgiving dinner, but sadly dorm head was pretty set on saying no. A lot of people ended up staying in Hirakata and going to an all-you-can-eat restaurant. We stepped it up a level by going to Umeda in Osaka and going to Outback Steakhouse.

We got there without much hassle. 

Now let me tell you how weird it was walking into that place. It looks just like the standard American restaurant. Which is really weird after having not seen them in almost seven months. They had a little placard on the table that said "pay at the table" like we do in America, which is really strange here. We had silverware rolled in cloth napkins. They still brought us hand towels to wash our hands before the meal though. After all, this is Japan. 

I ordered a cheeseburger. And it was delicious. I miss meat. Just big slabs of meat. I have never cared for it before, but now all I want it meat all the time. So that cheeseburger was amazing. Also, I was reminded of American meal sizes. I couldn't finish it and I was so sad to waste the food. There are no doggie bags here. Drinks were good, even if horribly overpriced. I miss cheap Prague. 

The waitress was super nice. She was also really patient while we counted out a large portion of our meal in coins. We tried to tell jokes to lighten the mood. I think it was fun for all of us as we got to practice Japanese and she got to practice English. And no, we did not leave a tip. It's extremely rude here. 

On the way home we stumbled upon a Christmas lights display at the station. It was so pretty. We danced around like dorks and had a great time.

And the next day I cut my hair!! I was just going to wait until I got home, but after my friend Asa told me about how much fun it was. So this is how it went. I called to set up the appointment the night before. There are tons of salons all over, but this one was recommended by my host mom's friend. It's run by a young couple and one other person and located right next to the train station. I got there a little early. They had a cute little locker for my coat(s). Then they took the key for the locker and my earrings and put them in a little container. I went and sat down in one of the chairs and the wife brought me some magazines to flip through. I had planned on just telling them to do whatever with my hair, but while I was flipping through I saw a picture of the cute short bangs that a lot of the girls at school have. So we went for something like that. 

One big difference between salons in America and in Japan is that not all salons in Japan wash your hair. There are plenty that say "cut only" on the outside. Those are all the cheap ones. I wanted my hair washed because... well it would be weird for me. They had a little glass on the counter in front of my seat for my glasses. My hair was washed twice and the while the conditioner was in, I got a head massage. Massages are pretty standard. Asa said that when she went they gave her a shoulder and hand massage as well. Afterwards was pretty normal. I was really happy to speak Japanese with the man cutting my hair and the old woman next to me. I mean, I speak Japanese all the time with my host family and friends, but it's completely different when you speak with someone you don't know and when there is no one there to back you up if you can't say something. It was a really good experience! 

My hair is now probably the shortest it's ever been all over and I love it. 

Shinsaibashi and Takarazuka

This is going to be an adventure post.

Let's start on Saturday, when I went with my good friends Claire, Jannine, and Tahire to Shinsaibashi, a district in Osaka. Holy shit is this place awesome. We come off the train to meet this giant, covered street lined with shops called Shinsaibashi Suji. It's pedestrian only and probably stretches for over a mile. One thing of note is that shops here typically occupy one floor of a building and most buildings are at least 3 stories tall. There were a lot of shops. They were also a bit expensive so I didn't buy a whole lot.
After a while we moved locations to another shopping district that seemed targeted at college kids, especially those who followed specific fashion trends. Suddenly there were visual kei and lolita shops next too hipster and hippie shops. Loads of CD stores and a few live music clubs. We hung around there for most of the afternoon. I bought a new bag in a second hand shop and we were all handed demo CDs on the street. I was really excited to get it, but I haven't put it in my computer yet, fearing it may not be a CD. ... hmmm
After shopping, we went to a SUIPA!!! Sweets Paradise to be specific. Meaning all you can eat sweets for 70 minutes. Oh yeah. It was awesome. We headed back to the Suji after dinner and played in some arcades and took sticker pictures. Also, as it turns out, the sticker picture area of the arcade we went to is also where all the yankee girls meet up to smoke and and take pictures. It was not fun. YOU ARE NOT COOL BECAUSE YOU SMOKE IN THE ARCADE YOU STUPID GIRLS!! One thing I miss about America is the smoking bans. But it was an awesome day. I really loved hanging out with people outside of Hirakata again. I feel like there is definitely a bubble that needs bursting out of.

Now Takarazuka.
On Monday we had a national holiday again (I swear I've had maybe 2 Monday classes all semester). About a week or two ago I mentioned to my host mom that I wanted to go to Takarazuka, so we bought tickets for Monday and made plans and such.
First, let me explain Takarazuka. Though Takarazuka is actually the name of the town, when most people talk about it, they mean the Revue. Started in the early twentieth century, the Takarazuka Revue was created as an attraction to the last stop on a train line leaving Osaka. Since it's beginning, the Revue has risen to international acclaim for it's performance. The unique aspect of it being that only women perform on the stage at the Takarazuka Grand Theatre. Composed of 5 troupes (Flower, Moon, Star, Snow, Cosmos) of female performers, the Revue has performed everything from West Side Story to War and Peace. They also do more traditional Japanese storied, though none are playing right now. I'm quite sure they have a rendition of the something involving the Shinsengumi, but I've only seen picture at this point.
So onto my experience at the theatre. It took about an hour to an hour and a half by train to get from Hirakata to Takarazuka. My most mom and I left at 8:30 that morning and made it with a bit of time to spare for the 10:30 show. Even though it was a Monday, the theatre was packed with people, mostly women. There were shops here and there selling Takarazuka themed food, gifts, and even a post office where you could send things with the official Takarazuka seal on it. Fan clubs for the performers were there, lining up to go in. Women of all ages were present, ranging from elementary schoolers to grannies, all dressed in a different manner of ways. There were women in the latest fashions, lolita, crossdressers, house wives and kimono. It was literally one big girl's fest. And it was awesome.
The show we saw was Gone With the Wind, which was never one of my particular favorites but the actresses did a fantastic job. I really felt for Scarlet, even though I only understood about half of what she was saying.They sets and the costumes were beautiful and extravagant in true Takarazuka style.
Afterwards I managed to survive the gift shop and come out with some things, including a photobook of one of the actresses. I sort of want a DVD but they are around 100$. So probably going to pass on that. At least until I have a job again.
All and all, it was an amazing three day weekend. I did a few other fun things but these were definitely the most note worthy. Now to studying for midterms!

I freaking love Osaka

I will now give you a chronicle of today with tiny anecdotes about Japan thrown in along the way!

Since I last left off, I've moved into a new house with a new family. I live in Osaka Prefecture, about 30 minutes from Osaka City. On this particular day, I met Chidinma in Osaka City for a day of adventure!

I had to get up early to get to Osaka by 9:30 (the scheduled meeting time) and as it turns out, I got up in time to listen to some AMPlitude with Lina and Carina. They even let me request a song like the awesome people they are!

After that I said good morning to Yuuto, my 7 year old host brother, who was the only one up. Okaasan woke up right before I left, and I told her I was probably eating out for lunch and dinner, so she didn't need to make either for me. Haha....

So I made it to Osaka like a pro. My transfers were swift and smooth. Like seriously, you would think I had experience in foreign forms of transportation. I even got to ride in the women only car!

At 9:30, Chidinma and I met up, as planned, and went to an Ikebana presentation that Gaidai gave me free tickets for. It was in a hotel right in front of Osaka Castle, meaning we had a gorgeous view of the castle beyond the flowers. The flowers themselves were beautiful and the ladies who were running the event were very kind and came and chatted with us in Japanese.

After that, which took a lot less time than I had assumed it would, we decided to meander around Osaka Castle since it was right there. We saw a bad ass kendo tournament and met one of my friends who works in the gift shop.


For lunch, we decided to go to Umeda, a section of Osaka City that some of Chidinma's friends recommended. They did a good job. We roamed around before finally finding what we were looking for: OKONOMIYAKI!!! OH MY GOD! Okonomiyaki is delicious. It's usually described as a Japanese pancake or Japanese pizza. It's pretty much dough filled with veggies and meat and topped with yumminess. We found this legit restaurant where nothing was in English. In fact, the owner who greeted us as we came in asked us quite bluntly, "Do you speak Japanese?" From there, we realized this was a no-nonsense kinda place. So much so that after they took our order....the didn't even let us cook our own okonomiyaki. All around us, everyone was making their okonomiyaki on their little grills, but we were apparently just not approved of. We pretty much laughed all through lunch. You know, I feel like it was much funnier as it was happening.

After that was PURIKURA!! I'm trying to get the photos to post them.

Then we walked around.....maybe going on a wild goose to find Nakatsu station because I wanted to see it.....because it's Nakatsu Station.

Pretty much the best day ever. Except I ended up having to eat at home which I felt kinda guilty about. But home cooked food is always better than pretty much everything else.

This post ended up much less exciting than it actually was. But seriously, the Okonomiyaka experience was probably the funniest and most awkward moment of my life here so far.

Also, I have no idea what people want me to write about, so please comment with things you want to know about Japan?