I decided that today, after I woke up and got ready really early, that I decided to experience a little bit of the outside world. And what a fun day. I don't have much to say that won't be better said than a picture. So, I guess I will save a thousand words and show what I did this afternoon with a very good friend. I will give some background information of this festival though, then I will allow you to enjoy it. This festival is called tezutsu hanabi in Toyohashi. It's basically a bunch of fireworks going on with people holding onto the fireworks as they are showered by the little sparks of the flame. Then they bring in big firework cannons and shoot off a ton of fireworks. Overall, it's an interesting festival that they have. Now, enjoy the rest of the pictures.

I leave and come back and leave again...

ひさしぶりね。

It certainly has been a while since I last posted on this blog. I am a bad writer. Bad. Like someone should hit me on the nose with a newspaper.

I still don't have that same satiation for writing like I used to. But I am slowly regenerating myself to want to drive that energy towards writing.

I still do the whole vegging out after work, but I do write at least a page about my day or about a thought that crossed my mind. It has been interesting to get back on that horse. But, it feels like I am picking up a bicycle and riding a bit again. With no training wheels.

That's not to say I have not stopped living in Japan. I still am living on the other side of the world, with nothing to do but eat Ramen noodles and day dream about Mexican food drenched in salsa verde that my mom makes.

Since the last time that I posted, I found out I have not updated what has been going on with my life. I guess I should update something of what I have been up to.

Summers in Japan are in a word HORRIBLE. It makes cold showers and big ice refrigerators seem like a paradise! All I did was create new pit stains on some of my favorite shirts! It has not been pretty.

But fall is here, so the sweat pools have dwindled down nicely. Now I only worry about getting my cardigans dirty and what not. Otherwise, it is only going to get better now.

I have done a few more things on the bucket list that I made back in May. I did see a Kabuki show at an old retirement home. There was this cute little old lady that kept singing alongside the show. Speaking of little old ladies, one time when I was walking home to lunch, I got hugged by a random one on the street. It made me happy for a while.

Also, I have switched apartments. It's bigger, more spacious and has a little bit of a bug problem. But that was my fault. I let trash fester in the summer and must now reap the consequences. But I will say in my defense, the time I had to take out the trash, a typhoon came and would have made it very difficult to take the trash out.

I don't know what else I have yet to mention to make it sound like I am having a good time versus I am just complaining about the time I have spent in Japan. Because I don't like to complaining about this place. I love it here. I don't have much of a choice, I mean, I'm still planted here for another full year.

I wonder what to do for my one year anniversary. Probably nothing but a wine bottle for me. Raising a glass, October 13.

My inspiration is drained!

I have been trying to get back up on this horse of writing. But I have noticed that as soon as I get home, I will get on my laptop and instead of opening a writing application, which I have paid some decent money to say to myself well I bought it I might as well use it, but instead I go on tumblr, look up an episode I have not seen yet, pig out, and rest my eyes for the following day.

My inspiration has been slowly sapped from my skin. It has left no trace of hunger to continue this passion that I majored in.

And I find it ironic that while I Have no more inspiration to write, I keep looking at writing seminars, and universities that offer a master of fine arts in writing. I figure that if I want to get into these prestigious schools, I should be writing on a regular basis.

And yet, here I still sit, doing nothing.

But I have been giving some thought about a bucket list.

A bucket list of Japan, because, although I don't want to be pessimistic, I will probably not return to Japan. So, I have to do everything I want to do in Japan before I leave October of next year. So here is a bucket list with things I have already done and plan to do in Jaapan before leaving in October 2014.

1. Go to every Pokemon Center in Japan (7 total, 2 completed)
2. Climb Mount Fuji (To the top of the mountain. Go big or go home)
3. See a sumo match
4. See a Kabuki play (even though I understand no lick of Japanese)
5. Go to an Onsen (with monkeys or no monkeys; just as long as its an onsen)
6. Go to Tokyo Disney and Tokyo Disney Sea
7. Visit all the beautiful shrines and areas in Kyoto (Fushimi Inari shrine done, around 8 more to go)
8. Visit all the islands of Japan.
9. Stay in a capsule hotel
10. Buy a Kimono and a Yukata
11. Ring a shrine bell and pray
12. Do a Tea ceremony
13. Go to Universal Studios Japan


And heres the finished or completed parts of the bucket list:
14. See the cherry blossoms bloom
15. Go to Tokyo Tower
16. Visit the Winter Illumination in Nabano no Saito
17. Cross Shibuya Crossing
18. Visit Akihabara
19. Play UFO Catcher games in Akihabara
20. Visit a maid cafe
21. Visit Osaka and Dotunbori


And I know I have done a whole lot more, but I think due to the lack of sleep I am feeling, I am forgetting. But that's all for now. I will update as I think about more things I want to do while in Japan.