Sorry I’ve been so long in updating… first things were not exciting and I just didn’t update out of laziness, and then things started happening really fast… and week 10 I was pretty much just completely out of order, haha.
Basically nothing happened during week 9… it was just the normal get up, go to work, come home, do homework, go to sleep week.
EXCEPT.
Those of you that read my blog consistently already know that that was the big week of my trip, because I finally went to see the GazettE. (There is already a blog entry on this that you can go read.)
And it was so much fun that I’m going to go again! I have already bought a ticket to see them in Ōmiya on November 9th, and I am going to pop in on the 8th to see if there is a spare ticket I can buy. I enjoyed myself so much and it has made me feel so good, so confident that I want to go again as many times as I can.
Why, you might ask? The basic answer is that to see the band whose music saved me and inspires me, and continues to save me and inspire me, and see those people who have been saved by their own music, and who strive on despite overwhelming difficulties, who have succeeded despite their pasts and who enjoy what they do, enjoy seeing their fans, and make music just to save people like me… seeing them in the flesh cements the inspiration. I can make it through. I can make a difference, I can do what I dream of, and I can endure through anything, because these people are real, in the flesh, right in front of me.
So I want to see them again and again, because despite being a part of the crowd of thousands (which is extremely fun inof itself), they make you feel like you are the only one there. They make you feel like they are there for you.
Or maybe I’m just being dumb and fangirlish, but that’s the feeling I got. They want every single individual to feel like this is their time, this live is for them, this music is for them, and they make you feel like everyone in the livehouse are friends, family… you’re all in it together. And that, along with the individual inspiration, is something that makes me feel so good that I can never put it into words.
So I want to go again.
With that said, the physical demand of the live put me basically out of commission for the next week. xD The day after, I could barely walk. I just laid on the ground and slept half the day to let my body try to recover (and remember I’m already sick!). My neck and back and shoulders were in pain probably up until the Thursday from the headbanging and furisuke. But it was totally worth it.
Week 10 was another one of those work-go home-do homework-sleep weeks, just that I was so exhausted I hardly noticed it at all.
The big event of week 10 was that I finally got a haircut.
As you can see, it was desperately needed since I was unable to see.
Mana, my manager, took me to a huge mall in Urawa (in the main part of Saitama) to the Unix salon, which is a very high-class salon, there. (And I know that some visual-kei/Jrock star goes to a Unix salon, because they’ve said so on Twitter. I want to say it’s Ruki or Kamijo, but I could be wrong.) I got a cut with the director, which is the second-best stylist in the salon.
It was pretty interesting. Along with the haircut, I got a shampoo/scalp massage and a neck and shoulder massage. :D It was nice.
I hate to say it, because I love my stylist in America, but this is the best haircut I’ve ever had. Itagaki took very good care to do exactly what I told him to do to the best of his ability (to the point where he would pick up my iPod and look at the picture I provided him as reference for my fringe, put it down, cut a tiny amount off my hair, then look back at the picture). My hair feels so light now! And it styles out sooo nicely, because he point-cut it and razored it into random feathers, so it looks quite nice even when I don’t take a huge amount of time to do it.
And it feels nice to not have a ton of weight on my head. :3
This last week, week 11, I headed into Ibaraki to finally start doing test assessments. I was really nervous, but it ended up being a lot of fun, and I was well taken-care of.
Some pictures of the hotel, and views out of the windows.
I was in Kashima, part of Kamisu, which is a sort of out-of-the way place. But it was very nice, had a lot of really nice-looking buildings… it kind of reminded me of Anchorage, minus the greenery and mountains and cool weather.
I went into a school (and actually into it, not seeing just a few rooms) for the first time! It was quite an interesting experience, and a lot of the kids seemed scared of me the first day, but they warmed up to me the second day. The first day, a very friendly third-grade girl approached me and told me that everyone thought I was ikemen (Japanese for a very good-looking guy. GUY, not girl), which made me laugh and extremely happy. I am an ikemen! One of my life goals has been easily accomplished.
By the second day, I had a chorus of students following me down a hall as I left, shouting “Hello! Hello! Hello!” over and over again lol. It was so cute. Japanese kids are sooo funny. x3
Me the day of, sporting my new haircut and my men’s blazer. I am totally an ikemen.
Setup for the assessment~
Woohoo Japanese sliding doors!
Lunch the first day, yakiudon. Quite good.
And then I returned to Tokyo~
So, random picture time!
Had a really beautiful sunset sky in Hatogaya. I’m glad I got pictures.
Castella! A very nice little snack for only 98~
I bought the WOWOW channels so that I could watch the Summer Sonic digest. GazettE was the first day~ Unfortunately Ruki sounded like he might have been sick. 8C And the whole first day was really a flop, it was terrible. The second day was really really good though. :3 Finally saw X Japan and Yoshiki the femme.
(It’s too bad I didn’t figure out how to get WOWOW before they aired the U2 360 concert digest! 8C 8C 8C)
I got a strawberry jam castella treat from Mikaido when I was having cravings. It was sooo good x3 Soft and spongey~
I ran out of the straightening shampoo I brought over for America, so I have to use Japanese shampoo now. Nothing wrong with that, just that they don’t have straightening shampoo xD So I got the “nature smooth” version hoping it will keep my hair sleek.
Rose fragrance to give my apartment a nice relaxing scent.
Tres leches doughnut that my department head bought me before I went to Kamisu. 
Also a pumpkin sweet bun. This thing was HUGE. x3;;
Delay due to obstacle thing. Yay Engrish!
Ochanomizu station, on the platform.
This is Iidabashi, where I work. I’ve never really posted pictures, so while I was waiting at the station to be taken to Tokyo, I snapped a few shots.
Curry udon!
This is what I had for lunch and dinner for awhile. It was a donburi with pork, egg, and kabocha. Because of the egg and the kabocha it was a bright yellow colour. x3 It turns out that this was actually the least tasty thing I’ve made my entire trip here, but that’s most likely because I forgot to buy one of the main ingredients (thought I didn’t need it) and I probably underseasoned everything else. It wasn’t too bad, just added a bit of soy sauce and it was all right. But definitely far from the best.
Did the Rukikubi for a night before I got my hair cut. I need to practise more, but I will say that I like the makeup I settled on for this very much.
I love my Blackmoral bandana. <3 Too bad I don’t have a nice Japanese face for wearing it. ;__;
This was an advertisement at the 7-11 we went to to get lunch in Kamisu. Win.
That about sums it up for the last few weeks. I’ll be travelling around a lot the next month for work, and I have the (hopefully) two GazettE concerts in a couple of weeks, so I’m looking forward to that.
I’m still not ready to go back. I don’t want to go back at all. I really want to stay here. I’ve found myself here, and I’m so comfortable here. I have my moments where I do feel really lonely, but it is never bad enough that I’ve even thought, “I want to go back.”
But I must go back, so the least I can do is keep working on building my confidence and learning more about myself, so that when I do go back, I can be strong, steadfast in my ideas, unwavering in my view of myself and what I want, and strong enough that I will not bend to the demands to be be anything but me.
That way, I will survive until I’m able to come home again.
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