Day Four - Tokyo.
Jul. 25th, 2009 02:49 amMy Friday was rather fluid. I had a 2 o'clock appointment with a professor currently in Tokyo on sabbatical, but very little else to do before then as I had visited both of the museums on my pre-Kyoto list the day before. I decided to head for Shinjuku and drop in at KCP for a surprise visit. In Shinjuku, I stopped at a Tsutaya to pick up a copy of the newly released Yoroi: Samurai Zombie. I am so going to get my zombie on as soon as I get home (and as soon as I get a region-free portable dvd player).
The surprise visit to KCP went really well. Both Utami and Tanaka were pleasantly surprised and cordial - Utami especially. We chatted for quite a bit. I was able to see Anraku, Suzuki, and Kato senseis, and I had a good, long chat with Ujike sensei - one of my best advocates during my first trip there. She seemed to be really pleased with my progress, said my speaking style was very natural. When my attempts to decline her compliments failed, I turned it around by saying that my progress was due to her and the other senseis. And that's really true. My first year at KCP, they put me in level three because of my grammar skills but my lack of vocabulary meant that I often had no idea what was going on. The intensity of that term really forced me to a new level with my language skills. I turned a definite corner.
At the KCP Pink Building, I saw Moronaga sensei and Katayama sensei. Moronaga spanked me for being cheeky; Katayama (the kibishii salaryman) made a very cool recommendation for my Kyoto trip. I promised to come back and visit during my year of study in Yokohama.
I left KCP with just enough time to arrive exactly on time for my meeting with professor P. We spent nearly two and half hours discussing our various projects, mainly my ideas about my master's thesis and how it might be made into a dissertation. He had some very good suggestions for potential resources and potential objects to look at, but agreed with me that my tack - though fascinating - will be hard to pull off. I may still wind up rethinking. We'll have to see what we see.
I had dinner at Eunja's family's restaurant. Korean-style yakiniku that was out of this world. She sat with me and grilled everything for me over the brazier, and she also ordered kimchi and an assortment of tasty vegetables (bean sprouts, and daikon radish, and other things that I couldn't identify). It was really awesome to have a chance to see Eunja in her daily life, but once again she wouldn't let me pay. While I was there her friend Megumi came in with a package of sushi from the sushi shop that she (Megumi) works at. I think she had expected to be able to eat it together with Eunja and I, but as I'd already eaten they packaged it up for me to have later. (At the time, I wasn't sure when that would be... I ate so much grilled steak. So much.)
After dinner, Eunja and I went to a local bar and shared a quiet drink. We chatted and reminisced, and Eunja advised me very soberly to be careful in Kyoto. I promised to send her a text message everyday so that she'd know I was daijobu (a-okay).
She really does take a prodigious deal of care of me. I don't deserve it, but it's very nice all the same.
The surprise visit to KCP went really well. Both Utami and Tanaka were pleasantly surprised and cordial - Utami especially. We chatted for quite a bit. I was able to see Anraku, Suzuki, and Kato senseis, and I had a good, long chat with Ujike sensei - one of my best advocates during my first trip there. She seemed to be really pleased with my progress, said my speaking style was very natural. When my attempts to decline her compliments failed, I turned it around by saying that my progress was due to her and the other senseis. And that's really true. My first year at KCP, they put me in level three because of my grammar skills but my lack of vocabulary meant that I often had no idea what was going on. The intensity of that term really forced me to a new level with my language skills. I turned a definite corner.
At the KCP Pink Building, I saw Moronaga sensei and Katayama sensei. Moronaga spanked me for being cheeky; Katayama (the kibishii salaryman) made a very cool recommendation for my Kyoto trip. I promised to come back and visit during my year of study in Yokohama.
I left KCP with just enough time to arrive exactly on time for my meeting with professor P. We spent nearly two and half hours discussing our various projects, mainly my ideas about my master's thesis and how it might be made into a dissertation. He had some very good suggestions for potential resources and potential objects to look at, but agreed with me that my tack - though fascinating - will be hard to pull off. I may still wind up rethinking. We'll have to see what we see.
I had dinner at Eunja's family's restaurant. Korean-style yakiniku that was out of this world. She sat with me and grilled everything for me over the brazier, and she also ordered kimchi and an assortment of tasty vegetables (bean sprouts, and daikon radish, and other things that I couldn't identify). It was really awesome to have a chance to see Eunja in her daily life, but once again she wouldn't let me pay. While I was there her friend Megumi came in with a package of sushi from the sushi shop that she (Megumi) works at. I think she had expected to be able to eat it together with Eunja and I, but as I'd already eaten they packaged it up for me to have later. (At the time, I wasn't sure when that would be... I ate so much grilled steak. So much.)
After dinner, Eunja and I went to a local bar and shared a quiet drink. We chatted and reminisced, and Eunja advised me very soberly to be careful in Kyoto. I promised to send her a text message everyday so that she'd know I was daijobu (a-okay).
She really does take a prodigious deal of care of me. I don't deserve it, but it's very nice all the same.