GREEN TEA

Imma warn you all right now, this post may have a slight over-usage of caps lock. Sometimes, my left pinky just spazzes out, ok?? Don't you judge me!

Anyway. Happy 4th of July, Americans! Happy July 4th to everyone else in the world too! To celebrate, let me give you this post on a totally Asian thing, okay? (O_O)-b. Okay!

Did you know, there was a time when I didn't like green tea all that much.
In fact, it was my *least* favorite herbal/Asian type of tea.

...
TRULY, HOW FOOLISH I WAS.

Since coming here, I've been trying ALL THE GREEN TEA THINGS. Everything is just... wonderful. *sniff* It brings tears to my eyes, how delicious it all is. And for the sole reason of making this post entirely dedicated to green tea things, I've been holding back on some pics from you all. I know, I know, it sounds cruel and unjust. But it was all for a greater good! So here, look at all the amazing green tea options you have in Japan.

Ikebukuro

So you remember some time ago when I said I went to Akihabara? Well, it's fine if you don't remember, but I did. For a quick recap, though, I mentioned that Akihabara was a place geared mostly to guy geeks in the anime department. Conversely, Ikebukuro is a somewhat similar area except geared mostly towards girls and girl geeks. But there are still some things that just everyone loves regardless.

Like arcades. (/OワO)/

Taiko game again! If only we had the shoulders of real taiko players...

A Peculiarity

A short one for today.

I've found, since being here, that I have this irrational urge...

I spy with my little eye...

Guess who I saw this weekend, guys?!?!?



BAM. UVA KIDS BE TAKIN' OVER JAPAN.



Mysteries upon mysteries...

So I've wandered around several places already. Most of them are around Tokyo, so they're very urban, big-city, tall buildings, wide streets sort of places, yes? I've even walked from one ward to another (about a couple miles or so distance).
And I've never.
Not even once.

WERUCOMU TO JAHPANNN

*hic!* I'm *hic!* back, gu-*hic*-ys!

Just kidding, I didn't drink... too much. <_<.
Haha, but seriously, it really wasn't that much!, and it's Japanese custom!, and I'd always wanted to fully experience a Japanese welcome party, ok?! I DO WHAT I WANT, HURRAHHHHH.

But anyway. I get ahead of myself.

What I'm actually supposed to be doing over here

City-Walker: Advanced level!

Righto then! I'm back, all. Mah b, it's been busy and I've been perpetually sleepy.

Anyway, straight to work! First order of business, we'll need to... TIME TRAVELLLLL.
Or just, y'kno, remember back to Sunday. However boring you want to be.

But yes, so Sunday was a day filled with exploration! And adventure! And discovery! And LOTS AND LOTS OF WALKING. One of the other student residents of DK House Warabi was kind enough to offer to show me around some places, so off we went! FROM 10AM TO 6PM. Outside of a lunch break where we sat down to eat, we were walking. Walking. The. Entire. Time.


Akihabara

This is a place practically *made* for geeks. For the most part, guy geeks. Or particularly, geeks for anime, manga, and Japanese video games featuring (disproportionately) voluptuous females. And/Or those who would enjoy seeing maids around every corner.

Taiko game! LOOK AT THOSE ADORABLE CHARACTERS


There are also TONS of arcades here. And not like the dinky ones in the U.S., not a whit like them. These are arcades that have games jammed side-by-side across an entire floor of a building. These are arcades where each game has its own stereo system to blast the music into your ears so loudly that you can't hear anything further than 3 feet away from you when you play. These are arcades where you can break the equivalent of $120 because people can and do spend that much, sometimes even in one sitting.

Full of Failures

Yesterday, I was full of Japanese food. Today was full of failures D: (<--- Possibly an exaggeration. Possibly.)
But anyway, I like to think of it as a... "journey of mis-adventures"! Yes, that's how I make myself feel better.

Today is Saaaaturday! And so we take our first day off to go grocery shopping and explore the area a little.

Gorgeous sidewalk thing! This is right by our dorm.

It's maybe a 25 minute walk to the grocery store, but we took longer since we stopped at another store and also to look at other things along the way.

There's this walkway that's right behind our dorm/house (I'm just going to refer to it as dorm from now on), and it's lined with cherry blossom trees and other bushes and plants. Too bad the trees aren't in blossom, I can only imagine how amazing it would be.

Our dorm is also right by an elementary school, so since it's a Saturday, there were little kids having a sports game there (I think it was baseball). It was a bit hard to see since the fence, which separates the cherry blossom walkway and the school, is covered in vines. But as we walked by, I could hear a lot of "Oiiii!.... Oiiiii!.... Oiiii!" How interesting, I wonder what that calling's for.

IT'S MOOOOORNIIIIING~

Today (yesterday for me, this time traveling business is getting difficult...), was my first day at the university, SIT. Two students from our lab were going to come pick us up at 9:30AM, so naturally, I set my alarms for 7:45AM. And naturally, jet lag had me awake at 4:30AM instead. (=_=)-b

Anyway, before I get into all that silly stuff, I thought I'd go ahead and get the serious business out of the way. You knew this was coming. You knew you wanted to see it. And I don't like to fail all your expectations, ya know. So, without any further ado and in order of appearance,

Rice paddies! Everywhere!

So I made it to Japan! Yaaaaay! The flight was... interesting. As if to mock the previous, mini plane that we went on, the plane to Japan was enooooormous.

This is the mini-plane, btw. Look, isn't it cute? And we got off on the ground!

Why don't I have a picture of the big plane? ;-;

ARE YOU A BOY OR A GIRL?

The adventure begins! But wait, what did you say your name was? Oh, and I have a grandson too, but what was his name again? By the way, pick one of these wild animals that I beat and captured and use it to do your bidding.

Oh man, my parents and relatives will never understand any of my posts at this rate... And neither will any of you people who never played vidja games as a kid too! Shame. >: /

Anyhoo, begin the traveling! Did you all know? Mornings *can* be tiring. Just a tad. It's shocking news, I know. Our first flight was at 8AM, and I was at the airport from 6 while Nile was there since 4:30 (O_o).

 This is social interaction at its best at 6AM. (OワO). Lol, j/k, we talked too.

The Prequel

Hello! This is just the start and testing of this blog so that I can figure out how all this new-fangled technology works. I would say I apologize for all the pinkness, but thinking on it, I'm not actually sorry about it, so forget that! I DO WHAT I WANT.

A quick explanation on the title, since there will likely be family members (and maybe others) reading this that don't understand. "Double Dash" is referencing one of my favorite video games, Mario Kart Double Dash. A golden "shroom" is an item in said game that makes you go super speedy. No, it is not a drug. "Hobby Homeland" is a reference from nothing, I said that for the pure and unadulterated reason of alliteration. Oh wait, I also said that because most of my hobbies originated from Japan (e.g., origami, manga, video games). (OワO)-b

Right now, I'm still running around everywhere in Virginia, prepping to go to Japan. So until the adventure really begins, I will see you all... later!

Oh right, for future posts, please do comment on them! Then I can pretend that I'm loved ;-;.