Things are winding down now here at KIT, only one week left to go. Because of that, we're starting to be thinking more about our travel plans after the program. A few of us are going to a music festival called Nano-Mugen. It's a two day music festival featuring Japanese and English bands in Yokohama, near Tokyo, that I believe the band Asian Kung-Fu Generation started. That band is basically the only Japanese music I know, and I only know it because Xander showed it to me before we left for Japan.
Lazy Day
Today we didn't have a ton of class, we only had a final for our Japanese for Science and Technology class that lasted about an hour, and then we just hung out until the second class started, which was our project class. I mostly just caught up on things I wanted to do. For example, I have a notebook that I've been carrying with me almost the whole time I've been here that I just write down words I hear in so I can remember them. I'm in the middle of typing it up on the computer and checking with a dictionary, but there's a ton of words.
New restaurant
Today we had our final presentations for Japanese language class, I think they went pretty well, my presentation was on Kenroku-en, and I used a lot of my photos I took there. It was created by the Maeda family from the 1600s to 1800s, and it burned down at one point, but that was before it was even called Kenroku-en.
Haircut
Yesterday I decided I had to get my haircut, because I've been meaning to do so before I even came to Japan. I went to the bank first because haircuts in Japan are pretty expensive for a decent one. They seem to run about 3000 or 4000 yen, or about $27 or $37. When I got to the barber shop, I asked them how much it would be for a haircut, and they said just that with no shampooing would be about $30. Oh well, I've paid more for haircuts a few times. In my poor Japanese I asked for the man to use the buzz cutter on the sides and back, and the scissors on the top.
Ishikawa Prefecture History Museum
4th of July in Japan
Today was the 4th of July, and despite being in Japan, any excuse to party is a good excuse. In school we had some final exams for our language classes that are now pretty much over, and then after that we had a party at Nishikawa Heights with the Students for Global Exchange KIT students.
Also, we bought some fireworks at the convenience store: