Sorry it's been so long between posts again. I really need to get back into a routine on updating. School is going really well, the classes are all pretty interesting and I'm learning a lot of Japanese. The program focuses a lot on fluency, so while I may not have learned many new grammar since the start of the program, I've certainly picked up a lot of new vocabulary, and I'm able to use it much faster. The most difficult thing so far has been the kanji. We're learning about 5-10 per day. I don't think I'd have any chance of remembering that many if I wasn't seeing them so often. Being able to learn a figure in class and then see it on the menu at lunch really makes it much easier to pick them up.
We had a long weekend this weekend, so most of the IJST students took trips to Kyoto or Osaka. I'd planned on trying do some biking/camping with a couple of people, but unfortunately it looks like the rainy season has started. We had rain every day this weekend, and the humidity is way up. The rainy season usually lasts from early June into July, but it started a few weeks late this year so no one's 100% sure when it's going to continue until. In the mean time I just need to keep my umbrella close by. As the local saying goes: "Forget your lunch, but don't forget your umbrella."
So instead of heading out this weekend I ended up hanging around KIT over the weekend. Saturday night we went to karaoke with the Japanese students. Karaoke in Japan is really different from in America. In Japan you rent out a private room with couches, a tv/stereo, and a karaoke setup. You can select songs using a wireless touchpad, and it queues them up and plays with, with music videos, on the TV. The system can also score you on how well you did, adding some competition to it. Suprisingly karaoke in Japan has a lot of American songs. I also tried to sing some Japanese songs, but it was tough to read the lyrics fast enough. The other thing that was really different from America was the pricing, karaoke was 3000 yen (about 30 dollars) for as long as you wanted to stay, and as much as you wanted to drink. Overall, really reasonably priced, we ended up staying for about 4 hours.

We also headed downtown over the weekend to explore a little bit. After walking around for a little while we found a temple and decided to check it out. It ended up having a really beautiful garden. We asked around later, but none of the Japanese students knew what it was called or had ever been there.A cool thing to notice in this, the vines are held up over the water by poles. A lot of the Japanese gardens have wood structures supporting the plants.

After that we shopped around for a little bit. A lot of the clothing in Japan is pretty hilarious. They really like English, they think it's cool the same way a lot of people back in the US think Japanese lettering looks really neat. Unfortunately, most of the clothing has really terrible grammar. Some of the highlights were:

"LOvE HErOiN Like live in moment not for today NOT LET YOU CONTROL ME"
"PEACE ON MARS HARDCORE"
"LUST OF SURF TRIP"
and "DAMMIT! this is how we do!"

Whether or not anyone who wears these really understands the English is questionable. Most people just wear the shirts because they look nice and English is cool. We didn't end up buying anything though, it was all designer so it was like $50 a shirt.
I did end up buying some manga. It's all in Japanese, but it has furigana, a phonetic spelling over each word, so I can get through most of it (slowly) with a dictionary. Another one of the weird pricing things between Japan and the US. Manga is about half the price here, but anime is twice as expensive.
Also I know a lot of people asked about food. I'm eating out for most meals since I can't really shop very well (the supermarkets have a lot of wierd stuff) and because our kitchens aren't spectacular. Food in Japan is actually not much more expensive that the US. Beef, dairy, and fruits are all really pricy because they have to be imported, but most restaurants just avoid cooking with them. For breakfast most days I have a piece of fruit (about $1-$1.50 each depending on what I buy) and then get something at the bakery on the way to school. The bakeries in Japan have a really different selection from most places in the US. There are a lot more things with meat or vegetables baked into them, and a lot less sweets. I really like the rolls with bacon and corn. Those run about $1 each. Lunch and dinner are usually about the same. I also eat onigiri for breakfast a lot. Onigiri are rice balls with chicken, fish, etc. inside wrapped in seawead. They're 1-1.25 depending on the filling, and I eat about two of them. Cereal is very very expensive here, which is too bad. Ramen and curry are the two most popular cheap choices for cheap, non-breakfast food in Japan. Ramen (see the picture) is kind of like the free-dried ramen available in the US, but much, much better. It is served with a variety of toppings, but pork, eggs, seeweed, bean sprouts, and leek are the most common. Ramen is between 2 and 4 dollars a bowl. You can also buy a set, which is ramen with rice and some other side, usually a vegetable, for 6-8 dollars. One bowl of ramen is usually enough though, unless you're feeling really hungry. Curry is also really popular. The curry place near our apartment serves rice and curry with a piece of pork for 5.50. This is usually way too much food for me, I've only ever managed to get through about 3/4 of it. Even food at sit-down restaurants is really cheap. Tonight I ate tempura chicken, squash, some meat, some other meat, rice, miso soup, a cabbage salad, and a meatball for 6.50. It was a ton of food, I came nowhere close to finishing. The most expensive meal I've eaten was beef at a sit-down place inside a tourist attraction for 10. There are also a fair number of American fast food places around, although they're more of a treat. Within walking distance we have a McDonalds, a KFC, and a Pizza Hut. The McDonalds and the KFC actually taste exactly like their American counterparts, but they're more expensive, 6-7 for a meal. The Pizza Hut is nothing like Pizza Hut. They serve a lot of really wierd toppings and crusts, nothing you'd recognize in the US. Also, because of the cost of cheese the pizzas are small and pricey. Overall, it's actually really cheap to eat here compared to the US. Most meals cost me less than five dollars, and I'm certainly not going hungry.
I've got to get back to homework now. Mom - I promise I'll update sooner next time.