Hey everyone, sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been really busy/sick. I didn't do much this past weekend, cause I got kind of sick, and I'm just getting over it now. Fukiko was very nice, bringing me orange juice and making me onion soup(which I guess is like the Japanese version of chicken noodle soup). Friday night, I just went home, watched the tape my parents sent me with the White Sox game highlights/game 3 of the Boston series and went to bed. Saturday night, Sarah and I went out to Roppongi. First time I'd been there. It was interesting. In the words of my host mother "it's not really Japan", it's like the part of Disneyworld with all the different countries. There are Mexican restaurants, Chinese goods stores, American Sports Bars, etc. It's like Gaijin (foreigner) central. I wouldn't want to go there all the time, but it was fun. Sarah and I had some Mexican food, which was delicious. She then proceeded to drink way too much Tequila, while a enjoyed a couple of my standard rum and diet cokes. Drinks are really expensive here, though. So her bill ended up being really high. But it was fun. We went to a Sports Bar and got hit on by a creepy American guy old enough to have fathered us. Apparently the presence of creepy American guys that hit on young girls is an international not just a domestic problem. We might be more popular if we exported less of them. Anyway, so that night was fun, and then Sunday I did homework and slept a lot because I felt like total crap. Apparently when you start to feel sick, staying out late and drinking is not the best thing to do in order to feel better. Oh well, lesson learned again. So yeah, today I had a Japanese test and then we took an excursion in my woman's history class to a museum that had replicated part of Tokyo during the Edo period. It was interesting to see how people lived. I had an interesting conversation about discrimination in Japan. Apparently they won't let people of the same sex holding hands into Tokyo Disneyland even if they've paid. Also, many public baths won't let people with tattoos in and will kick them out if they see them, and some bars have a no foreigners policy in general. So that sucks, there goes me on two counts. I don't plan to hold hands with women anytime soon, so I think Disneyland is still alright. It's strange how they allow discrimination here. They have laws against it, but they're not really enforced. It's not like in America where if Disneyworld didn't let a gay couple in or a spa kicked out somebody with body art, they would be immediately sued. I guess that would be the upside of our overly litigious society. I think since I've been in another culture, I've come to appreciate a lot of things about America more. I was getting disillusioned with the political system. But in Japan, they have a parliamentary system where the opposition party has almost no power, and the same party has been in power for almost 50 years. People complain about our 2-party system. But then Japan has a multi-party system that actually functions as a one-party system. I guess it's easy to complain about your own country when you have nothing else to balance your opinions against. I also have a new appreciation for the multi-culturalism of America. Because here, I'll always be seen as Gaijin, no matter how well I speak Japanese, I could marry someone Japanese and have half-Japanese children, I'll always be an outsider in their society because I look different, which is something I can't change. In America, everyone looks different. Children don't stare at foreigners, people don't act different around foreigners because we're all foreigners in a sense. You could be a fourth-generation Korean person and never really be a Japanese citizen, always be known as Korean. But in America, it's like you step of the boat and your Korean-American. I'm starting to realize how much I like the diversity and openness of our society. Plus you don't get shows like the Chappelle Show in a racially homogenous society, and that show was damn funny. Well, I have much homework to do. Peace.