凛として時雨

We got our alien registration cards! Even better, that means we were finally able to get our cellphones! We were just going to buy some plain ol' prepaid ones, but apparently they were used to commit some organized crime a while back when you could buy 'em right off the shelf. Instead, we bought some fairly cheap phones and charge 'em up every 60 days with prepaid cards. The neatest part is that you can send an unlimited number of texts and e-mails for about $3 a month. The phones have already proven to be really useful, and I've even been back in touch with my friend Kohei. I'm insanely excited to take a trip out to Kanazawa after the term ends in June.

Yesterday (Happy Birthday Andrew!), we hopped a train out east. See, Watchmen just came out in Japanese theaters a few days ago, and we were all pretty anxious to see it. The closest movie theater is in Koriyama, about an hour away by train. Other than that, we wandered around town looking for food and hit up a few department stores. Jamie's been cravin' some tacos like mad, so we found a cool import store and bought some taco sauce and seasoning. There was another crazy store that seemed to have a little bit of everything, called Don Quixote. We climbed our way through a department store, too. Jamie held hands with a creepy mannequin, and we listened to music at Tower Records for 'bout an hour.

I found a band that really caught my ear. They're called 凛として時雨 (Rin Toshite Shigure), which roughly means "Rainfall of Dignity." The name...doesn't really translate so well. It's a 3-person band that employs high-range male and female vocals at any given time. Their sounds range from mellow, dreamy guitar tunes to fast-paced bass beats accompanied by an ever-evolving pace. I picked up one of their mini-albums for about $10, a purchase I'm glad I made! That's pretty cheap really. Most mainstream CDs in Japan sell for $30 a pop. Piracy must be even worse here...

Anyway, this band isn't really karaoke material, so my dilemma still exists. I'll probably just score some Asian Kung-Fu Generation off of Jamie and learn me some Japanese music.

To keep Sam from whining again, here's a Japanese lesson. If you want to say ex-girlfriend/boyfriend, you say "moto-kare/kano," respectively. If they're your second-to-most recent ex, you can say "moto-moto-kare/kano." But no, you can't say "moto-moto-moto-kare/kano." Unless it's a joke...I think.

また今度！