April 25

Today looked like it would be a boring one, but it became a bit adventurous. I accedentally slept until about eleven. D: I spent a lot of time talking on skype and researching for my trip during Golden Week (If I do everything right, it will only be about 15000en for the train and my rooms :D). It was a bit after noon when I finished, and okaasan was carrying her purse around the house, so I asked if she was going out just to have something to say. She said she would be going shopping, and when she asked if I wanted to come with her, I took the offer. I was happy just to look around the grocery store with her, but instead she dropped me off at Uniqlo. If you don’t know what it is, you should check out uniqlock.com first. Unfortunately, the store doesn’t live up to its website. It’s pretty much Japan’s answer to Old Navy, so if you ever need a plain sweatshirt, t-shirt, or jeans in one of about 100 colors, it’s the place to go. I decided to try on a few things and I found that I’m short even for Japanese jeans. ):

It was, of course, raining hard for the first time since I can’t remeber on that day. My phone decided it wouldn’t get service despite its perfect signal, so when I was done looking around (and figured okaasan was done with her grocery shopping) I kind of worried that she would get flustered since I didn’t know where/when to meet her. Instead, she found me and when I told her I was worried becaue my phone wouldn’t work, she told me that I shouldn’t worry so much. I’m really confused by her; sometimes she’s worried about me (to the extent that she seems angry/troubled if I didn’t keep her up-to-the-minute on my whereabouts) and sometimes she’s completely passive and telling me to chill out.

I got a bit of a guilt trip too today. Okaasan asked me about sushi at my friend’s host family’s place (today is the last one) and basically, she said “Oh, they’re good people? They must be a fun host family. We (okaasan and otousan) must not be a good host family.” Of course, I contradicted her last comment strongly. Then she told me about a student who ordered a turkey online and had a party where they invited their friends over (to okaasan and otousan’s house) to cook and have fondue. I think she was trying to get me to do that kind of thing too. However, I can’t cook, and cooking doesn’t seem to be my friends’ hobby, so I don’t see it happening.

Additionally, I’m just trying to get everything in before I come back to the US. Planning is hard and we’re having a party at school, so it seems a bit futile to try. I’ve invited okaasan and outousan to whatever they choose and we’ve been on a trip (to Ise) together, so I’m wondering why okaasan still feels dejected. For a while, I thought we were getting to a pretty familial relationship, but okaasan keeps saying/doing things that make me think I may be hasty in my conclusions.

Anyway, when it came to be five-ish, I left the house for the sushiya. There were more people than usual when I got off at Rokubancho eki. In addition to the two Mikes and Annas, there were a couple of guys from class and about five Japanese girls. We had the usual fun time eating lots of sushi and singing karaoke. I wasn’t alone this time in not drinking though, as a couple of the Japanese girls drank nachan (orange juice) with me. Yukikosan though got visably (her face turned red) drunk though. As always, everyone was in good spirits and nothing came of it. Mike decided to bike to Nara for golden week, so I’ll see him on Thursday after Suzuka circuit.