Festivals, Funhouses, and Literature, oh my!

GREETINGS, MINIONS!

Or... faithful readers. As you like it.

It's been a busy whatever it's been. This blog entry covers thrice topics!

First of all was the weekend's school festival. I think it's a cool tradition that most schools here seem to put on a festival every year (I've seen it in anime, and now I've lived it! XP ) where the different clubs and organizations raise money by offering goods and services--usually food related.

The net result of all that being that I ate. A LOT.

Remember how I said I hate Japanese food? Well, that apparently excludes festival foods, which is a different thing entirely.

It was actually quite funny... and annoying... how dedicated the students were to selling you their foodstuffs. After class was over (the Japanese students got the day off, but did we? Noooo, of course not) I headed back to my bike to ride back to the dorm for my camera. On the way back, I got accosted by no less than ten Japanese students blocking my path to try to sell me junk food. And the only word I understood of any of it was "DO YOU LIKE PUMPKIN?"

When I finally managed to escape and come back, I was in a much better mood, because I wanted what they were selling.

ALL OF IT.

I ended up eating a strange omlette dish, yakisoba, yakitori, and pretty much every dessert they were selling. It was ALL freaking tasty. I did get a little annoyed--and yet amused--at one point when I tried to buy some cotton candy. I got in line and waited, but when I got to the front, some Japanese students that were also working at the festival waltzed up and asked for some.
There was obviously a glitch in the communication between the girl taking the orders and the girl making the cotton candy, because she swirled it up, and tried to hand it to me--only to have the other girl tap her and tell her to give it to one of the Japanese students. So she swirled up another one, tried to give it to me, and the process was repeated.

Finally, on the third try, I actually got some.

It was delicious.

Nothing in the festival, however, was quite as good as the tempura ice-- or fried ice cream, as you may know it. It was the only booth at the festival with an honest to go crowd around it, and for good reason.

I also stopped by my speaking partner Miku's club's set-up: Cafe Parvarati. Pay 100 yen, and get all the instant coffee and tea you can drink--as well as a show, if you come at the right time. Which I did.

Since it's a choir group, obviously, it was musical. Care for a sample?
(speaking partner on far left)
I thought it was pretty good, myself. And it was amusing that they sung so many western-style songs. But, western culture dominates, wherever you go, I guess.

I also met Miku's mother there. She didn't speak English, but we managed to engage in some basic conversation in Japanese. I was rather proud of that.

Throughout the festival, I saw many interesting photo ops. Such as an American flag waving Santa being beaten up by a power ranger and spider man.

What message is this trying to send?
Later, tried to get a photo of spidey, but he just hid behind Buddha and shot web at me.


Then there was the awesome job they did on the steps, this bold statement, and this unconventional weapon.

All in all, quite an experience.

But it pales on comparison with...

ROUND ONE.

Yesterday, I was just making a snack in the kitchen, minding my own business, when my unit-mates come in and start going on about this "Round One" place they were going to. They invited me along, and I asked what it was. "It's this awesome place with games, and bowling, and stuff."
"Sure, why not," I answered. I figured I needed to get out more, and this sounded like a good opportunity to spend time with some people who's idea of a good time isn't just getting plastered.

So, not too much later, we set out into the cold.

We started walking.

And we walked.

And we walked.

Eventually we saw a sign that said "Round One! Two Kilometers!"

Oh, you've got to be kidding me.

Regardless, it was all worth it. Every minute of it.

Round One was unlike anything I have ever seen in America.

You pay 2,000 Yen to get in (1800 for us, since we got a student discount) and from then on, everything in the entire four story complex is free for your use.

Now, just what was in the complex, you ask?

Everything.

No, really. They had EVERYTHING.

The first place we stopped was the HUGE arcade. It had pretty much every game you could think of. Arcade Mario Cart (complete with vs. mode), a multitude of rail shooters, such as every time crisis and a rip off of time crisis, and... just... well, everything.

And since we paid to come IN, we didn't have to pay for ANY of the games. We played as much as we wanted, for as LONG as we wanted.

It was bliss.

Me and Michael, my roomie, hung out for most of the time, blasting through the rail shooters. (Despite our rocky start, we've become pretty good friends. I found out he complains about EVERYTHING--not just me.) One of the ones we played, the time crisis rip-off, was extremely amusing. It was sort of innovative-- you had a charge shot that only used one bullet, and could target multiple enemies, so that you could almost clear the screen in one shot if you pulled it off right.

But the most remarkable thing about it was the characters. They were beyond bizarre. The main characters were strange--P1 was a blond guy in a rubbery looking sweater and pants--completely in red, of course. P2 was a female covered completely in blue rubber, except for eye holes.
And the bosses were invariably nearly-naked women.

Except for one guy, who was transparent, and you could see his "bionic skeleton."

I felt it was an instant classic.

There was also a skating rink, which I didn't use because I didn't know my size. A kick-boxing simluator, a mechanical bull, karaoke, and so many other things I can't even name.

And that was all on one floor.

So, we eventually headed up a floor, to spo-cha, whatever that means. It was a huge open-air sports extravaganza.

They had mini golf, archery, soccer, volleyball, batting practice, badminton, and again, pretty much everything you can imagine. I'm not a big sports fan, but even I had fun. Managed to hit a few balls, completely miss the target in archery, etc, etc.

After that, I was starting to feel a bit tuckered out, so I stopped for a brief American Snack.


Then I continued exploring the building. Inside, there were more sportsy activities, only they were solo-style, made for practicing. For instance, there was the basketball game, an indoor fishing pond where you can catch live fish, a tennis machine, and a ping-pong machine.
And, as before, many other things that I can't even name or remember.

And check this: They had an in-house manga library.
No joke. And just around the corner was the "relaxation area," a large auditorium type room full of massage chairs.
Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to work them.

In any case, three hours went by in a flash, and our time was up.

We had probably only done about 20 percent of the activities available.

WHY hadn't I been coming here EVERY WEEKEND?

We all put our jackets back on, and started on the long walk back home, feeling tired but exceedingly content. None of us could stop talking about how awesome the place had been.

The whole experience left me a bit wired, so I stayed up until the wee hours and felt like crap the next day. Hooray!

And now, here's something you probably weren't aware of:

It's National Novel Writing Month!
And yours truly, being the lovable idiot that you know him to be, has decided to sign up.

It's gonna be about zombies! : D