Walking to school

My school is on top of a half-mountain, and I live on land that is comparatively lower than the surrounding area, so my walk to class is more vertical than horizontal.

I head out of my house and walk down the road a little ways, then I go up this ramp which is sometimes traversed by scooters and small vehicles. Then I go up that set of stairs with the white railing.
After going up that set of stairs I walk across this path. I turn, walk up another little path, and then reach more stairs...

The tan-ish house is the one I am staying in. The picture is taken from the above path.
I eventually reach this set of decaying stairs. This set is then followed by two more before I reach the road.
I have a relatively decent view of the area from the road, although the view from the upper floor of campus is much grander.
Once I get to the road, I walk uphill for awhile before I reach campus. The blue signs state the school's name in kanji. This road only leads up to campus.
It is a relatively uncomfortable walk on hot days.

Pictures

These are some random pictures taken from the second floor of the house I am staying in.

I walk the above path to class every morning.

This is my room. I can only fit so much of it in one picture. It was a really windy day.

Typing Japanese on English XP

Being able to type Japanese ideograms on an English version of Windows XP is easy. First, you’ll need to install East Asian language support. For this, go to control panel -> Regional and Language options -> Languages tab. Then tick the box for “install files for East Asian Languages.” You’ll probably need your XP CD for this.

Then, under that same tab slightly above the East Asian languages option is a box that says “details.” Click that, and then click the “add” button. Select Japanese on both pull down menus, click ok, and then you are done. XP home edition may be different. This does not change the language for the XP operating system, only the input, so don’t worry about getting your pc stuck in Japanese.

This adds the language bar to Windows XP (if you didn’t have it already). If a window does not display the language bar (such as in an IM program), you can change the language option and then go back to the window to type in Japanese. Shift + Alt. by default allows you to switch between languages. You can have the language bar at the top of the screen or minimized at the bottom right. Under input mode you can change between direct input (romaji), hiragana, katakana, etc. You’ll need to understand Japanese syllables in order to be able to type correctly; some Roman character combinations don’t exist in the Japanese language. Typing in ‘h’ and then ‘i’ will give the hiragana for ‘hi’ in hiragana mode (ひ). Pressing the space key allows you to cycle through the kanji for that ideogram (i.e. fire: 火), and you can then press ‘enter’ to continue typing. You can just press enter to move on without selecting a kanji. Foreign words will be written in katakana by default, usually.

Western Food & Weather

My host mother made a Western dinner yesterday that was quite reminiscent of home. It was pasta (tomato sauce & onions), meatloaf with BBQ sauce, gohan (with butter!), and an orange.

Today I had noodles w/ cabbage, onion, and chicken along with gohan & nori (onigiri) for lunch. Okasan always makes more food than I can eat. Nori is dried seaweed. It has its own distinct taste, and a *very* salty flavor. One way of eating it is by picking it up with chopsticks and bending it around the rice. Note: It doesn't do well in the microwave.

It's nice and cool today, as well as really rainy. Category 3 super-typhoon Jangmi (which I think has been downgraded) will make it's way to Nagasaki next week sometime, according to the weather reports.

Public Transportation

The bus system in Nagasaki is complex. Destinations are also written in kanji only, so if you can’t read Japanese or don’t know what the kanji looks like for where you are going, you’re in trouble. Busses are boarded in the rear only, and can be paid with exact change only. Busses have little change making machines at the front that should be consulted before reaching a destination. At the rear of the bus is a ticket that needs to be taken when getting on the bus, and deposited with the change when getting off. I totally screwed this up, much to the embarrassment of the cute girl I was out with that night. Most intercity bus rides are a couple bucks each way. I like walking and typically will walk the 40 minutes or so each way that other people insist on taking a bus for.

Taxis are quite expensive in Japan. It’s like a 500円 minimum charge, plus distance, plus a late-night fee if the ride is after the busses stop running. Taxi doors open on their own, and patrons should wait for the driver to open the door.

There are also street cars that can be taken for a cheap 100円 regardless of how long you ride them for. I have not done this yet.

Pop Culture, Insects, and Spiders

Tommy Lee Jones is the advertising icon for Boss coffee drinks. His face is plastered on vending machines, walls, signs, etc. all over. Disney and Thomas the Tank Engine are very popular here as well. The 100円 shop has sections devoted to both. There is a Thomas the Tank Engine theme park somewhere in Japan. Hello Kitty is still quite popular/fashionable also.

Mosquitos here are really fast. They are as hard to swat as houseflies are in the states. They are black with white lines on the legs. There was a really ferocious spider in between the screen and my window yesterday. I put my finger against the window, and it would put its front legs up in attack position. If I moved my finger around, it would articulate its body at the torso to follow. If I stopped, it would jump at my finger to attack it (and knock itself into the window). This happened a few times before I coerced it outside. Picture of the spider (it's a little bigger than a nickel):

Western cars

I've been surprised to see at least a few Western cars. My neighbor owns a Jeep cherokee, and I've seen at least one other Jeep driving around, as well as a Chevy Astro van and a giant Dodge Ram. European cars are decently popular, though. I see Mercedes (there is a dealership across the street) and Volkswagens all over. There is a Volvo dealership a short walk from the house as well, but I'm yet to see one on the road anywhere. I pass three Suzuki dealerships on the 40 minute walk to city hall. It is a rarity to see cars that aren't well polished and extremely shiny...anywhere. People here take good care of their vehicles at least superficially.

This is my neighbor's Jeep Cherokee.