I talked with Sonja yesterday on Skype and among other things we discussed my love for Emerson. She asked for an example of what kind of things he writes and at a loss for words to describe such a magnificent writer I decided to simply post this beautiful example. I welcome the opportunity to post something by my dear dear Emerson on all of my blogs so here you go. Enjoy!

Who troubles himself about his ornaments or fluency is lost. This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.

Bliss. <3
Peace out.

未来はずっと先だよ 僕にも分かれない

I strongly dislike being sick. These days the I-House is all but deserted and sitting in the vacant common area of the 4th floor, I have been watching the sun move from one part of the sky all the way to the opposite side. After just over a week of sickness and being stuck inside (which frustrates me to no small degree) I can safely say I have had enough and am ready to go out and play. I have high hopes that this cold will clear up by tomorrow so I can go take a long-needed walk... or take a trip to Osaka....

That is not to say that today has been entirely fruitless. I finally sat down and started planning my amazing trip I will be taking in February- March. School doesn´t start untill the beginning of April so I have plenty of time for sight-seeing and traveling.
Some stops I want to make so far include:

• Witness the real-life effects of atomic warfare in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• Pray at Ise Shrine, the holiest Shinto shrine in the world
• Explore the grounds of Himeji Castle in Himeji
• See the three great views of Japan (Nihon Sankei); Matsushima, Amanohashidate and Itsukushima
• Climb the 3776 meter Mount Fuji, an icon of Japan.
• Ascend Mount Aso to see one of the world's largest calderas
• Climb the 2446 stone stops of the holy Haguru mountain through an amazing primeval forest.
• Soak in the hot springs of Japan's Onsen Capital, Beppu.
• Overnight in one of the holy temples of Mount Koya. 

Care of http://wikitravel.org/en/Japan

Will be polishing the details of when I´m leaving, how long I stay at each place and if I´ll include a trip to a not-easily-accessible long lost valley, and will see who wants to tag along on my quest to find the spirit of Japan! Promise to at least try to take as many pictures as I can.

Have got to get back to my busy schedule now.

Update: It´s only yesterday I finished my classes and can now go back to doing whatever I want. 
So far I have been spending the last two hours reading a blog by a random guy teaching Greek lit. and trying to find some courses I can take before school starts again. Kendo, Archery, Latin, Baking... anything. I have also been trying to pick courses I can take at HÍ when I get back home. I just don´t do well sitting empty-handed...

Changed the layout so you, my readers, can give my feedback or just comment the first thing that pops into your pretty little minds. Even if it´s just the story of why you missed dinner yesterday... leave a comment, won´t you? Any language acceptable, so long as you make sense...

♫ I just want your extra time and your..... kiss! ♫ ♫ ♫

I´m not supposed to be blogging. I´m supposed to be studying. Does that stop me from reaching out to my wonderful readers and telling them about my amazing life in Japan while listening to Prince? Never!

The exams kicked off last Wednesday after we had to hand in our essays. So glad that that´s over....
So far I´ve been doing fine, except for my oral exam.... I managed to get sick so I was very tired, aching and had no idea what I was saying or why the teacher was asking me about cell phones. Apparently a very common and valid topic for an exam here in the land of upside-down but I was just very confused and forgot I was taking an exam while I started babbling about the good and bad points of having a cell phone. Monday I have my last Japanese exam (reading comprehension and kanji) and a religious exam later on. Thursday is my last one before I run into spring break like a calf in spring... break....!

Yesterday was sad to say the least, we had a "see you again party", which is the positive cousin of the better known "goodbye party" but as emotions tend to run high some clever person decided to rename the whole thing to keep rivers of bitter tears of as small proportions as possible. I skipped to the party, which was held on the first floor of the I-House, not really comprehending what it meant... that people would be going home. These things take me a while... The floor was crawling with people, from the "Friends" group, tutors, random Japanese people I have never seen before, creepy Russian Harry Potter guy, us exchange students and inhabitants of the I-House. After talking, frolicking and feasting we fed our eyes with a picture show from last semester (the people who are leaving have been here for one more semester that I have), as well as this one. Very entertaining. :) After all that, we listened to some speeches by these very same people and not a dry cheek was to be found in the building. No one really wanted to go home (obviously) and have to separate from their friends and people who they had come to call family. It was so hard not to cry but as I knew I am going to cry buckets of my own when I have to leave I decided to wait a few months and managed to choke back some tears throughout the evening.

It wasn´t until the most genki (energetic) people of the I-House took their bags and walked out the door that I finally realized half the people here are really leaving ... it was a very emotional moment. It´s going to be very quiet without them, and so many people I will miss. It almost seems unfair....
But life goes on and emails have been exchanged. Next semester we have so many people storming the house and we will have some more great times. :)

I cannot wait for our two month vacation! I´m going to travel as much as I can around Japan and drink in as much experience as humanly possible. Haven´t planned anything concrete yet BUT I will go meet my people in Tokyo and go snowboarding and mojito drinking with Svanni, Björk and Sakai sensei! <3  Have never snowboarded in my entire life so it should be interesting :)
For the most part I will simply enjoy (cannot stretch that fact out enough!!) simply being in Japan, there is nothing that could make me more happy, and being free! *drifts away*

Alors, mes petits, be good, be happy and feel the love I am sending through this post. :)
All my best to everyone who reads this!
Spring is coming soon!
xoxo
-Tabibito

Some favorites in Japan:

* This is the most beautiful city in the world! At least its easy to think so when walking, taking the bus or cycling around Kyoto´s various quarters. The lush green mountains, endless streams of water, Japanese style houses and gardens or shrines that pop up almost every corner... it can be quite breathtaking.

*Gion. The old Geisha quarter is where I usually wind up on my walks around town. It´s hard to describe the feeling you get walking through there. While a big part of the quarter has been rebuilt and is relatively modern there are so many old shrines, temples and houses - it´s almost like taking a trip to the past. The old Japan I love so much. Walking along the thin river running through it, complete with ancient looking, simple stone bridges and Cranes in the water, hoping to spot a Maiko or even Geisha, treading the impossibly narrow, dark streets, it´s truly magical.

*The practice of bowing your head in greeting. I bow to almost everything and everyone now, even other foreigners. I find it shows your humility and respect for other people, which I must say is very refreshing.

*Sliding doors. I love seeing people go into a restaurant, bar etc. of a Japanese style, extremely narrow building and sliding the doors closed behind them.

*The fact that here, you answer to society, not God. Threaten people with the idea of hell and they will just do as they wish and repent on their death-bed. Or confess every now and then and feel better. Here, if you do something wrong you put shame upon yourself and your family and society will shun you, which is extremely serious in a culture such as this.

*Japanese tv! Oh the madness! I just learned that they dedicate about 67% of their broadcasting to entertainment - leading to a very happy tv owner. Not a very enlightened one, mind you, but happy. ^^

*Everything is so damn cute... Everyone - and I mean it - has one or all of the following hanging from their person, phone, ipod etc: bells, good luck charms, small figurines from a particular anime or manga, big balls of feathers, long soft tails, sparkly diamonds, stuffed animals, stickers or some other decoration. Even the police are equipped with shining light sabers.... ^^

*The weirdness.... example of the day: It´s very common and accepted that men read pornographic manga on the trains on their way to work or back home... no matter what age.

The night sky, kotatsu tables, screeching girls and guffawing guys, shop clerks shouting Irasshaimaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee at you as you walk past (welcome, come in), barbie doll girls, freaky hair styles, engrish, company names like "Lucifer" (I think that was a restaurant), and "Relocation Brain System" (wonder what goes on in there).... I could go on for days. I love Kyoto. :)

So, just got back from Tokyo this morning. I managed to sleep for maybe 2 hours on the night bus as it made its way back from Shinjuku station to Kyoto station. As I walked from the train station back to the dorm around 7 am the sky turned from pitch black to a beautiful blue. The dorm was quiet, as was to be expected, and as soon as I lay down on my sorely missed bed I drifted off to sleep.

It was good to be back in Tokyo. I had found myself starting to miss the big city and I was fortunate enough to get a bed at Svanni and Stefán´s apartment. The sliding doors, kotatsu table, tatami mats and other quirks of a Japanese apartment reminded me of how much I wanted one of my own. Even though it gets bone-chillingly cold during winter...

Christmas and New Years was great, Björk and Svanni cooked the very Icelandic Christmas food to perfection, lamb, potatoes, gravy and green peas. We had an extra guest, a Danish guy from Stefán´s class. The more the merrier! And Sakai sensei (one of my teachers back home) brought the best carrot cake I have ever had! After living at the dorm where the nearest supermarket is ... well not so near at all, I very much enjoyed the generous amount of food offered at their apartment and the rest of the city. I don´t think I´ve eaten this much in months! I bought a recipe book with traditional Japanese cooking so I can hopefully start cooking more next semester.

After a few days I started thinking the dogs in Tokyo had developed some sort of sickness in the paws or were just the laziest in the world. Everywhere I looked I saw people pushing along strollers, carrying their young ones... puppies that is. The first time I saw one I thought the baby was having a fit but what I saw was a small dog, repeatedly scratching the top of the stroller.... probably dying to get out and doing some walking of his own. Keeps the streets clean, I guess.

New Years in Japan is really quiet. No fireworks, no party hats or even loud music coming from the neighborhood houses, nothing. Just a few people roaming the streets, coming home from a small gathering or a shrine, where they released hundreds of balloons in the sky at 12 o´clock. We wished whatever people we saw on the street a happy new year and took the last train home.
Before indulging in strawberries (mmm) and some bubbly wine we watched the new years special on tv, a popular dance competition (its 60th anniversary) and a 6 hour long special Japanese game show.

It´s very strange being back in Kyoto but there is so much to do now for the last month of school, I have so many books to read, a vacation to plan and exploring to do that I´ll have a hard time getting bored. It´s good to be back. :)

Hope everyone back home enjoyed the holidays, got some great stuff for Christmas and are excited about the new years. It´s 2010 after all, it´s gonna be great! :D