Ube

It's a pretty much established fact that I am now in Ube, but I realize that I haven't exactly announced. Since I've been here almost a month, having moved in on the 10th, I think it's high time I told you guys about Ube. 

                 But it's hard to find things to tell. You know I'm teaching more classes, you know I'm driving – You do know I'm driving, right? Well I am, here's my International Permit to prove it. 

The original idea was that I could drive both to the church (that's where I teach my Ube classes) and to the Honyura eki (about a twenty minute drive). But that has fast deteriorated. After a few trips out and about I have been banned from driving to Honyura, instead I will drive to the church and walk, or bike, to the Tokiwa station. ( It's a beautiful walk. I'm planning on blogging it, don't let me forget). Driving in Japan, at least here in Ube, takes a lot of concentration. There are bikes, pedestrians, mopeds, and more kinks then an unused water hose. It's kind of like driving on a college campus, only there's worse parking. Ube city employs the use of  these huge, orange mirrors to help you in the tough spots. Lets play a game, If you can identify the two pictures below (give it your best guess) I'll post pictures of three different mirrors and, as a bonus, I'll throw in a picture of five-points too, because it's a crazy intersection that perfectly defines how I feel about driving in Ube. Okay, here are the photos, can you guess what they are?

                 

Oh, I just remembered. A few days ago I went to FugiGrand, Ube's mall, with a very stylish young lady. Let's call her, um, Lady Trams. Anyway, we were there for a very specific purpose, to have our photo taken. See, Japan has something called a Pri-Cla*, which is katakana for print club. I'm sure that's about as helpful to you as it was to me, so I'll give you my word for the English equivalent: photo booth. Yes, Japan has some crazy photo booths. They can be found in the arcade section of your local Japanese mall (I'm going to take y'all to the mall here sometime, wait and see).  There are different kinds of Pri-Cla, for example, Jewlla Eye promises to increase the size your eyes in the photo. To use it is easy. You stand in line for a few minutes, then enter the both with your Lovely Native Speaker. The  Lovely Natvie Speaker is then responsible for clicking through the options offered, and showing you how to pick different backgrounds. Want you head in a heart? You can do that. Purple and white stripes? Roses and sparkles? If it makes you happy go ahead. With an "ich, ni, san" your picture is taken again and again, about twelve time in total. Then you exit the booth and duck under a plastic curtain, where you'll find a Touch Screen displaying all your pictures. With the use of the conveniently placed Touch Pad Pens, you choose which six pictures you want to keep and then kick them up a notch with glitter, crowns, and anything else you can think of. Don't forget to write a message on it, there are only about forty different "inks" to choose from, ranging from plain black to sparkling  yellow and even taking a detour at neon orange. After you've decorated to your heart's content (or ran out of time, it happens) you just pick your favorite layout and go around to the side to wait for it to print. There you have it, Pri-Cla!   

This afternoon I walked around Tokiwa Park and brought my total number of pending post up to three. Well, four, if you count the train series I'd like to start. So I need you guys to vote on what you most want to hear about, since time is the problem. No wait, that sounds wrong. Oh, I've got. Please tell me what sounds more exciting because "time is of the essence." Then, after I hear your opinion, I'll choose whatever one I feel like doing. 

I love a good Autocracy. 

So, the choices:

             1) Tokiwa Park - Flowers, Swans, and... is that the daughter of Frankenstein's Monster? 

             2) The Path to Tokiwa Eki - Houses, Flowers, and an underground tunnel.

             3) Trash - much more then it sounds like, experience the Japanese trash system first hand! 

             4) Trains and Ekies - This would be a series of short posts, each one with the picture of an eki that I pass when I ride the trains to Hikari. The first post would teach you how to use your train book. 

             5) What's in a People House? - Finally you'll get to see what a Japanese shower looks like, and why no one brush their teeth in the bathroom. 

If you have any ideas not mentioned here, go ahead and post them. Just remember, no people. 

(The Ube LightHouse just bought a new building)

*Did you spot it? There are some very fuzzy Pri-Cla in the first picture -_^