American foods I miss

Cheese steaks

Taco bell

French fries

Cheese curls

Doritos

Pizza

Wawa egg salad sandwich

American KFC

Macaroni and cheese

Bologna sandwich

Salsa (mexican but whatever)

Hostes donuts (I think I know someone who works at Entamens XD )

Gummi worms

Hoagies

BLT

Bacon on sandwiches

American cheese

wow... I think I might be able to find more when I get there...

It's funny how these things were just every day foods for me, but now it seems gourmet LOL

アニメ：子供の漫画 (Anime: a children's cartoon)

ok, so this post is to shatter the dreams of otaku in america.

first point:  when I say "お宅(otaku)" here in japan, it is to draw smiles as a joke, because everyone knows an otaku is a nerd.  the word means "great house" and is actually derived from referring to the people who never leave their house, and therefore are not good with day-to-day interactions and socially awkward.

second point:  the only people who watch anime are children; maybe 13 years or younger.  some adults read manga.  manga is just a comic book.  some people will argue "how can KIDS watch anime if there is so much blood sometimes."  well, it's a different culture, idiot.  and the kids who watch the bloodier ones are around the age of 10 to 13.

anime is NOT considered a great and all mighty "art form."  on the other hand I have heard it referred to as a children's cartoon.

japan is NOT all about anime.  most people don't like you if you say you love anime.  in fact, I guarantee you that if you talk to a girl about how you love anime so much, you will NOT get laid, because she will be laughing at you inside.

so congratulations, you made yourself socially awkward in your own culture, and also in japan.

just a side note;  if you go to japan, do it cause you are interested in the culture or language.  these are very highly and respectfully viewed reasons for coming here.

Leggings Edition

ok, so here's the deal with leggings...  they can look cute, and very easily they can look gross.

there are two main factors that immediately create the gross outcome:

1. Crotch Glamour

- first example:  this girl obviously has a nice figure and legs... but her crotch has also joined the runway.  "hello world!"

note that there are many ways to prevent this situation. 

+ skirt

+ shorts

+ blouse

++ tunic (favorite)

- this girl tried... but there is a flesh-toned crotch messing the whole thing up.  also note that if you like flesh-toned, get stockings.  they are much more flattering.  

++same rule applies with stockings!  did your mom teach you to leave the house with nothing covering your stockings!?  why would leggings be different?

- she almost had it!  but when she takes one step, that shirt will rise up and crotch will be on the menu.  if she were to pull her tunic down a couple inches (or buy a longer one in the first place), this would have the potential to become cute, instead of bedroom clothing.

++you can always scrunch up a longer tunic and add a cute belt to keep it raised... you can't make a shorter tunic longer.

2. Style

-  this girl looks a little slutty... but ignore that for a second.  the bottom is a good way to use leggings... EXCEPT for that they are SHEER.  what was she thinking?? well... with the top, I guess she wasn't.

+if you wanna go sheer, wear stockings or thigh-highs

- these make you look like your skin is chafing... sorry

- this kitten could still be alive today if this girl didn't kill it.  I know the whole leopard print is "in" this season... but it's tacky to make it a main piece, let alone (yuck) leggings.

here are some other examples of noted factors that negatively affect the style that are pretty self-explanatory

now for cute ways to wear leggings!

-her style makes her pull these off.  they are bold and it says something about her.

-the tunic makes this a very sophisticated look.  note that she isn't crotch rocking.

- shorts can be cool if you have nice ones to blend into the leggings, and boots are a nice 

touch.

there might be other ways to make them cute, but keep in mind that just cause YOU can pull them off with crotch glamour or leopard print, it doesn't make it good for the majority of the population.

The Nagoya Line **

The Jingu-mae (Jingu-may *) 

- 1 part tequila

- 1 part lemon juice

- 2 parts ginger-ale

- one chopstick

The Sakae (Sakay)

- 1 part white zinfandel

- 1 part sake

The Kanayama (Can-a-yam-a)

- under construction

The Sakyouyama (Sock-yo-mama)

- 1 part Asahi Supa Durai

- 1 part Shochu

The Tsurumi Line (Cinnamon Line)- a line of shot drinks

- under construction

*pronunciations are all skewed to sound like gaijin and we are well aware of the fact that we are saying it wrong in order to make fun of them.

** no joke. these things are Patented  ROAR!

first post since college

wow, so the last time I had one of these was in college and now that I'm living in japan, it's all in japanese.

kinda cool to be reading it in japanese actually.

today I went to Arimatsu temple... it's so peaceful there.  I wish we had temples like that in america.

in 20 days I will be returning to the states.  being here was nice, but for real, I miss my gf, friends, and family so much... for the first time in my life I'm actually glad to be returning from japan.

Things I will miss:

- karaoke

- temples

- breaking in the streets

- the food! omg the food

- fashion

- speaking japanese

- the service

Things I won't miss:

- mothers (I work for an English company and teach mostly kids)

- 外人

- being underpaid

- work for my job in general

- my "spin" dryer

- cold nights

yep...  either way, I have 3 weeks left and should make the best of it :D