Well, I had a really busy week last week, so it`s been a while since I
checked my e-mail.  First of all I had to work 6 days, which I will be
doing this week and then three more weeks straight.  I also went to a
big festival two nights last week, which is kind of a new years
festival.  It is held over three nights and one morning.  It is a
Shinto festival (although in Japan most people are both Shinto and
Buddhist and in addition many just adapt whatever religon they want to
suit the holidays - one student, for example told me that they had a
buddhist birth, a Christian wedding, and would have a Shinto Death).
What it involves is these 7 Japanese gods called the seven gods
literally translated, who are always pictured on a boat.  3 are
ancient Chinese gods, 3 are buddhist (indian) gods, and 1 is Japanese.
 Ebisu is the Japanese god, usually depicted holding a fish and who is
a god of good luck, especially associated with business.  So for three
nights you kind of party and go into the shrine for good luck.  All
around the shrine and inside the shrines grounds are all kinds of
street vendors with all sorts of food and interestingly enough, warm
sake.  Which you are allowed to drink in the shrine and also are
allowed to smoke.  I didn`t do it first, I observed and followed.  The
sake they sell in the shrine though, and it is fantastic on a cold
winter night.  I also ate chestnuts for the first time in my life.
They smell really good when they`re roasting and are actually quite
sweet, but the shell is tough to get through.  I also had Takoyaki of
course, ikayaki, fresh barbequed corn, oh and sweet potatoes in Japan
are really good.  They`re purple on the outside and a little smaller
(I think what we get in the US only falls under the category of yam).
And there was a haunted house, which we went through, mainly because
it looked so cheeeeeezy.  And it was.  All it was was a few cords tied
to things which would open and close and a man in a mask, who came out
and went oooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh.  He sounded about 70.  But the girl
that we were with got scared.  Japanese girls have a way of
overreacting to almost all stimuli.  If something is a little cute, it
is the cutest thing in the world.  Also, there are street vendors who
have all these stupid luck games where you can win stuff.  Here I was
able to purchase a nintendo wii, which is fun, I`ve been playing way
too many video games since then.  It`s been ridiculous, but with the
new controller it`s really fun.  Then I had Japanese lessons for 2
hours on my Friday night, but I did manage to go out for Yakisoba and
Okonomiaki, which are soooooooo filling, I didn`t eat until like 2 the
next day.  Of course on my day off I had 2 hours of Japanese lessons
which almost turned my brain into mush.  After that I went to Oosaka,
because I had a date with a Japanese girl I met.  She actually turned
out to be a lot cooler than I thought, as I met her when I was really
drunk.  We went out to dinner and had drinks and just talked for
hours.  And luckily her English is actually really good, so I didn`t
have to speak Japanese at all.  After Japanese lesson I don`t want to
use it anymore.  So I am seeing her again this Thursday, which is my
only day off this week, so the busyness continues.  One awesome thing
about Japan and dating though is that the guy doesn`t have to pay for
everything, it`s almost always split 50/50.  But I have somewhat of a
predicament on my hands, because I am supposed to go with another girl
to Kyoto next month that I also met, so hopefully by that time I will
be able to make a decision.  The other speaks no English, which makes
things difficult, but she is also a lot different personalitywise.  I
would say much cuter and she is much more traditional Japanese, which
could be interesting.  But maybe it will be too tough.  I don`t know.
So as you can see, I`m very busy and somehow making things overly
complicated.  I guess I`ll just have to ride this one out.

Dan