Sunday, December 27, 2009
And...
On the semi-bright side, everybody you have to cancel on is really understanding, probably because they've all had to do it before, too.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
You know...
Usually, I think of the similarities between Latino/Chicano and Japanese culture, you know, like emphasis on the family, respect for elders, and all that good stuff. Today, I was reminded of a major point of difference: planning. Oh my gosh, why does everybody here have to make a plan for every little thing they do?
Another lesson in living in Japan: when your boss/mentor suddenly gives you a call a little ticked off that you haven't told him your family's plans for when they visit so he knows what days to take them sightseeing, is very taken aback to learn that you don't have any specific plans to work around, but still wants to meet to make up a plan, you cancel your own plans for the night so you can talk to him.
Although I've heard of people canceling dates and outings with friends which they've been planning on for a long time because their boss wants them to do something suddenly, this is the first time I've experienced it. I guess it's another part of learning to live in this country. Would've been a sweet show though...
Another lesson in living in Japan: when your boss/mentor suddenly gives you a call a little ticked off that you haven't told him your family's plans for when they visit so he knows what days to take them sightseeing, is very taken aback to learn that you don't have any specific plans to work around, but still wants to meet to make up a plan, you cancel your own plans for the night so you can talk to him.
Although I've heard of people canceling dates and outings with friends which they've been planning on for a long time because their boss wants them to do something suddenly, this is the first time I've experienced it. I guess it's another part of learning to live in this country. Would've been a sweet show though...
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Old Enough to Cry
Although, listening to his often-grating voice can take a little bit too much energy to relax to sometimes. Plus, I feel like if all these great artists from the 60s were predecessors to musical developments, like trance-building rock-pop, which would continue to unfold from there on, Ray Peterson might be called an early harbinger of emo. Still, really good.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Recollections from Last Night
I don't really think it's that cool when I'm in a darts and billiards bar at 1 in the morning and the group next to me has a pre-k-age kid with them. I don't know if I've ever before seen a little girl so tired and disoriented-looking.
I had fugu last night! It was good. Pretty cool.
I had fugu last night! It was good. Pretty cool.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
So, so many, so, so good
I'm like making a list of songs I want to play. This song is so beautiful and powerful.
OH MAN!
OHH MAN!! Barbara Lewis's "Hello Stranger" just came on randomly while I was playing a period mix I just downloaded and making okonomiyaki. I KNEW that "shoo bop shoo bop, my baby" and ran over and YES!, it was Ooo "Seems Like a Mighty Long Time" (as I've always known the song, hah). But I hadn't even thought of that song in so long! That's what I love about going on this massive oldies exploration - there are so many songs whose melodies and small little repeating parts I remember and have stored somewhere in my mind and in my heart, and even if I can't search them out or remember them, I know when they come. And when they hit me, it's magical. It's childhood. And it's now.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
the 60s
So, is that why people are so interested in the '60s? When I was a kid, all I knew was it when everything was crazy and there were hippies and lots of drugs. Now, it seems like that's when everything changed, like things were beginning to change at the beginning of the decade, and they were completely transformed by the end. I just finished listening to Vanilla Fudge's take on "Keep Me Hanging On" from '67 and then Bobby Darin's "Dream Lover," written the year before the decade began. Interesting. I want to say things change so fast, but where we are musically now is completely different from where we were 7 years ago, too. But is it that different? Of course, things must have been changing for years and years leading up to the '60s, and maybe greater change actually happened before (or after) it, but it sure seems incredible right now.
Music! from a long time Ago!
Whoa, I just found found songs I made and recorded back from December, 2005! And wow, they're so interesting! One of my first reactions was, "Haha, I sounded a lot more like Sonic Youth and Hello Astronaut, Goodby Television back then." But then another one of my first reactions was, "Damn! I was on it then!" There's so much more passion and fast strumming than I have now and I can just feel the energy in the hits! Or so I thought for a moment. In any case, I need to get back to playing music more devotedly and with electricity, and, hopefully, with other people.
Keep
I keep reading the USC Dept. of American Studies and Ethnicity Graduate Students page and getting all excited.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Muri
I gotta say, this book, Muri, has been a little bit of a disappointment. When I read that it would be about people living in a merged, rural town in Japan, my mind automatically went to stories of people trying to make it in despite of economic and population decline while dealing with a society moving away from traditions and being left behind by the government. I thought it would reflect something of what I saw in my own town and that there would be some kind of critical analysis of why things have turned out the way they have.
Instead, it's a book about a whole bunch of weak, corrupt, and opportunistic people who live in a town that seems to be driven to slow destruction by their own failings. The most common representative of the demise of the rural town is women. It makes it difficult to read the book knowing that somewhere in the chapter, I'm going to have to get through some part associating women with the decline of society. Usually, it's a single mom lazily living off welfare, whose own fault it is that her past husbands have left her because she didn't act "mother-like". Either that, or it's deceptive women who cheat on their husbands or sleep with their friend's husbands. There's also the middle aged women, who the author almost always associates with wearing overpowering makeup, who herd together, following cultish religious groups or a single activist organizer. Besides this, whenever introducing a female character, the author always writes in detail whether she is good-looking or not. There is only one female in the whole book so far who does not get this treatment, a high schooler trying to get into college in Tokyo.
The second most common theme associated with the decline of the rural town is foreigners. So far, Brazilian laborers are the main target. They wear baggy clothes, fight with the local students (who are also described almost completely as soon-to-be dropouts or people without any future), loiter and mess around with vending machines, and pull knives on people. They get a minimal sympathetic treatment by the acknowledgment that people are racist against them (individually, not systematically) and that they've traveled half-way across the world. In the end, though, like with most of the female characters, the reader never gets a look into their perspective and they remain pretty flat characters. Also, Filipina prostitutes just made an appearance in the book, as part of an entourage to a corrupt male politician (one of the main characters, whose own bad deeds and cheating on his wife is written about without any judgement). There is no mention of the sex trade in Japan for which Japanese kidnap young women from other countries, especially the Philippines, or trick them with promises of acting or singing careers.
All in all, a pretty disappointing read in terms of sympathy and meaningful criticism.
But I keep reading it. I'm not sure why, but I think it might have to do with the writing style. I've been able to get to page 113 at a pretty good speed, which is encouraging, and have been reading a chapter a day for about half a week or so. I like the words the author uses to describe actions and emotions, a lot of which I haven't encountered up until now. It's definitely good Japanese practice. On the other hand, the main reason I bought the book, after the fact that it deals with decline in merged, rural towns in Japan, which was that there were multiple main characters, all of which seemed fairly interesting, didn't pan out very well, either. Most of the characters are pretty flat and uninteresting still, and I'm already a fifth of the way through the book. I could stand reading about characters with which I cannot sympathesize, but if they're not even deep to boot...The author also holds to a rule of devoting one chapter to each character in a fixed order. So, I've read three chapters on each character now, and not much has developed. Still, since I seem to be going through the book and finding some kind of pleasure in reading it, I figure I'll keep reading it. It'd be cool to finish it.
Man, and what am I even talking about? You don't want to read a bunch of paragraphs about a book I'm reading, do you? Sorry if that was boring. I'm listening to Radiohead again.
Instead, it's a book about a whole bunch of weak, corrupt, and opportunistic people who live in a town that seems to be driven to slow destruction by their own failings. The most common representative of the demise of the rural town is women. It makes it difficult to read the book knowing that somewhere in the chapter, I'm going to have to get through some part associating women with the decline of society. Usually, it's a single mom lazily living off welfare, whose own fault it is that her past husbands have left her because she didn't act "mother-like". Either that, or it's deceptive women who cheat on their husbands or sleep with their friend's husbands. There's also the middle aged women, who the author almost always associates with wearing overpowering makeup, who herd together, following cultish religious groups or a single activist organizer. Besides this, whenever introducing a female character, the author always writes in detail whether she is good-looking or not. There is only one female in the whole book so far who does not get this treatment, a high schooler trying to get into college in Tokyo.
The second most common theme associated with the decline of the rural town is foreigners. So far, Brazilian laborers are the main target. They wear baggy clothes, fight with the local students (who are also described almost completely as soon-to-be dropouts or people without any future), loiter and mess around with vending machines, and pull knives on people. They get a minimal sympathetic treatment by the acknowledgment that people are racist against them (individually, not systematically) and that they've traveled half-way across the world. In the end, though, like with most of the female characters, the reader never gets a look into their perspective and they remain pretty flat characters. Also, Filipina prostitutes just made an appearance in the book, as part of an entourage to a corrupt male politician (one of the main characters, whose own bad deeds and cheating on his wife is written about without any judgement). There is no mention of the sex trade in Japan for which Japanese kidnap young women from other countries, especially the Philippines, or trick them with promises of acting or singing careers.
All in all, a pretty disappointing read in terms of sympathy and meaningful criticism.
But I keep reading it. I'm not sure why, but I think it might have to do with the writing style. I've been able to get to page 113 at a pretty good speed, which is encouraging, and have been reading a chapter a day for about half a week or so. I like the words the author uses to describe actions and emotions, a lot of which I haven't encountered up until now. It's definitely good Japanese practice. On the other hand, the main reason I bought the book, after the fact that it deals with decline in merged, rural towns in Japan, which was that there were multiple main characters, all of which seemed fairly interesting, didn't pan out very well, either. Most of the characters are pretty flat and uninteresting still, and I'm already a fifth of the way through the book. I could stand reading about characters with which I cannot sympathesize, but if they're not even deep to boot...The author also holds to a rule of devoting one chapter to each character in a fixed order. So, I've read three chapters on each character now, and not much has developed. Still, since I seem to be going through the book and finding some kind of pleasure in reading it, I figure I'll keep reading it. It'd be cool to finish it.
Man, and what am I even talking about? You don't want to read a bunch of paragraphs about a book I'm reading, do you? Sorry if that was boring. I'm listening to Radiohead again.
L.A. and School
I feel like there is just something about academia in L.A.
I can't wait to be there already!
I kind of wish I had gotten ready to apply to grad school this year, but then I wouldn't have figured out and experienced all that I have these past few months. And this way, I have a whole year until applications and then another 8 months or so until school starts again to do oh so many things I want to do.
I'm getting excited about lots of "things" and the future now! A specifically academic environment!
Man, and I also admire those people who go right through college, to a masters, to a PhD, knowing what they want and deciding things for themselves as they go. I feel like I might be kind of a latecomer to grad school when I get there, but that may not be true, and it might not even matter anyway.
I can't wait to be there already!
I kind of wish I had gotten ready to apply to grad school this year, but then I wouldn't have figured out and experienced all that I have these past few months. And this way, I have a whole year until applications and then another 8 months or so until school starts again to do oh so many things I want to do.
I'm getting excited about lots of "things" and the future now! A specifically academic environment!
Man, and I also admire those people who go right through college, to a masters, to a PhD, knowing what they want and deciding things for themselves as they go. I feel like I might be kind of a latecomer to grad school when I get there, but that may not be true, and it might not even matter anyway.
Wee!
Looking at grad schools is fun!
Especially when you run into old friends on the current graduate students page, haha.
Especially when you run into old friends on the current graduate students page, haha.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
You know...
You know, Japan is going to lose out on a lot of passionate researchers if its universities continue to present humanity and civilization as East Asia and the West.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Chicano Power
Thee Midniters, Chicano Power
I never realized the drummer for Thee Midniters was so good! Jump, Jive, and Harmonize?! Not even just the breakdown in that song, but that rhythm switch-up/pause thing toward the end rocks!
I never realized the drummer for Thee Midniters was so good! Jump, Jive, and Harmonize?! Not even just the breakdown in that song, but that rhythm switch-up/pause thing toward the end rocks!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Wow
After a passage through Talking Heads and getting more and more into the Supremes, I think the Ronettes finally knocked Roy Orbison from my top listening position.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tried
I tried to listen to some long, relaxing songs so I could calm down and maybe get some writing done and go to sleep and not listen to Be My Baby again. I couldn't. So won't you please...
Los Angeles Music
What if the next big (underground (for now)) music movement in L.A. was made up of artists inspired by the pop music of the '60s reinterpreting it with the addition of the noise, psychadelic, electronic, and other musical-artistic elements that have developed since that time?
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Time Piece
Oh my gosh, am I going to turn into one of those people who dresses in clothes from a certain time period?
Inspiration
And major inspiration strikes when I hear the sounds of the screaming fans making an incredible background to "Be My Baby" in that live video.
Oh my gosh. The Ronettes, "Be My Baby"
Uh, wow. I don't know if I'd ever heard this song before, but hearing it this week, it struck something huge in me and I feel like I've grown up with it somehow. Apparently, the Youtube video can't be embedded in a webpage, so I'll put up the link, and I would really, really recommend watching it. Oh my gosh, the passion and just the way lead singer Veronica Bennett gets into it all is so awesome! I can totally relate to what I see in that video. It's interesting and cool, though, because I haven't really seen that kind of "spazzing" out by performers of pop music in the '60s. I am inspired. And I also now have a huge musician crush.
Apparently this song was "a worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the U.S. pop chart, #4 on the R&B chart, and #4 on the UK chart and sold over 2 million copies." Actually the whole wikipedia article on the Ronettes is really interesting when it talks about how the creators of the Ronettes used subtle details to cultivate the group's image (like small, yet leaping, deviations from the lyrical norm at the time - ie. addressing the listener directly with "I love you," instead of "I love him" for a more seductive or "bad girl" (direct?) image) and this "Wall of Sound" technique by Hal Blaine. Really, when you listen to this song with that in mind, it seems already like a modern, experimental take on U.S. '60s pop with its uncountable layers of percussion and melodies. Looks like the people who were making this music upped My Bloody Valentine and Deerhunter by a few decades. (You can also totally hear those kind of drums in "I Have A Boyfriend," by the Chiffons, too, which could also be described as a "wall of sound" - no mesmerizing castanets, though...:(). You can hear the intricacy of the song better on this studio version (and also look at some lovely lowrider art, hehe. Actually, I first found that video in a Youtube playlist of Chicano oldies someone had loaded up, so I actually probably have heard this, possibly numerous times, in my little years and just didn't remember it specifically.)
I don't think I've gotten this excited about a song or type of music in a long time! Those voices!
Apparently this song was "a worldwide hit, reaching #2 on the U.S. pop chart, #4 on the R&B chart, and #4 on the UK chart and sold over 2 million copies." Actually the whole wikipedia article on the Ronettes is really interesting when it talks about how the creators of the Ronettes used subtle details to cultivate the group's image (like small, yet leaping, deviations from the lyrical norm at the time - ie. addressing the listener directly with "I love you," instead of "I love him" for a more seductive or "bad girl" (direct?) image) and this "Wall of Sound" technique by Hal Blaine. Really, when you listen to this song with that in mind, it seems already like a modern, experimental take on U.S. '60s pop with its uncountable layers of percussion and melodies. Looks like the people who were making this music upped My Bloody Valentine and Deerhunter by a few decades. (You can also totally hear those kind of drums in "I Have A Boyfriend," by the Chiffons, too, which could also be described as a "wall of sound" - no mesmerizing castanets, though...:(). You can hear the intricacy of the song better on this studio version (and also look at some lovely lowrider art, hehe. Actually, I first found that video in a Youtube playlist of Chicano oldies someone had loaded up, so I actually probably have heard this, possibly numerous times, in my little years and just didn't remember it specifically.)
I don't think I've gotten this excited about a song or type of music in a long time! Those voices!
Monday, December 7, 2009
As
The Supremes, "Baby Love"
From a twitter of a professor:
"'Is Chicanismo dead?'" The question is more illuminating if we analyze the underlying assumption that it's unchanging."
As I live in Japan.
As I realize: I am now in Japan solely for the purpose of building up experiences living in Japan, and, yes, I now live in Japan.
As I try to learn Spanish while I try to learn Japanese.
As I title my new songs in English and Japanese.
As I just might have decided to study neocolonialism and decolonization for however many more years in school.
As I want to pursue my dream of making music in Japan.
As I want to pursue my dream of making music in L.A.
As I want people to talk to each other more, respect each other more, learn from each other more.
As I want people to work together, for everyone.
As I want just for myself to be a human being functional to the capacity of my and others' dreams.
As I realize how personal the reaches of decolonization must go.
As I realize the depths to which colonization penetrates that we must dig it out from that far within.
As I don't need to go back to the U.S., and moreso L.A. (violent, dirty, dry).
As I need to go back to the U.S., especially L.A. (beautiful people of color changing and shaping reality, people "weird" in a way I can relate to instantly, dirty).
As I think about whether to go to grad school in Japan or the U.S.
From a twitter of a professor:
"'Is Chicanismo dead?'" The question is more illuminating if we analyze the underlying assumption that it's unchanging."
As I live in Japan.
As I realize: I am now in Japan solely for the purpose of building up experiences living in Japan, and, yes, I now live in Japan.
As I try to learn Spanish while I try to learn Japanese.
As I title my new songs in English and Japanese.
As I just might have decided to study neocolonialism and decolonization for however many more years in school.
As I want to pursue my dream of making music in Japan.
As I want to pursue my dream of making music in L.A.
As I want people to talk to each other more, respect each other more, learn from each other more.
As I want people to work together, for everyone.
As I want just for myself to be a human being functional to the capacity of my and others' dreams.
As I realize how personal the reaches of decolonization must go.
As I realize the depths to which colonization penetrates that we must dig it out from that far within.
As I don't need to go back to the U.S., and moreso L.A. (violent, dirty, dry).
As I need to go back to the U.S., especially L.A. (beautiful people of color changing and shaping reality, people "weird" in a way I can relate to instantly, dirty).
As I think about whether to go to grad school in Japan or the U.S.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Whoa
A quick search on Youtube of "sitting in the park Chicano" shows me I hugely underestimated the presence this song has had in Chicano music. There's a lot of old school rap ones, too.
Sitting in the Park
I just got a hankering to listen to this song and found out the version I grew up listening to was a cover. Hahaha. And I can't find the version I want on the internet! Who did the "Chicano" version of this song?!
I want my "la la la"s and Latin percussion...but in the meantime, I'll listen to this beauty.
I want my "la la la"s and Latin percussion...but in the meantime, I'll listen to this beauty.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Oh My Gosh!
Look what I just found on my way back from another driving course in preparation for taking the license test this Tuesday?
There's a used book store on the corner down from my house and I saw some nice-looking books with those slide covers, so I decided to check them out. Before long, names I recognized from Modern Japanese Literature class senior year popped up, starting with Kawabata Yasunari. I got excited and kept looking and eventually found Mishima Yukio and Akutagawa Ryunosuke, too! The only thing left to determine whether I would buy them or not was the price - after all, these may be used but they were nice books. I went into the store for the first time and asked the guy: 100 yen each. That's about $1.20 for each 300-500 page book of classic modern literature each. YES, very YES.
I don't even know how well I can read these, but I was excited to see a couple of stories I recognized from that class or from having read the English version, and that was enough to get me going. Still, I still am not anywhere near the end of 1Q84 by any stretch of the imagination and I also bought a new book recently called Muri (「無理」), which is about the lives of five people living in a small town in Japan being forced by the government to merge with other small towns, a trend that's been very common lately during the recession and pretty much only benefits the government while disrupting the economies and societies of the towns. There are so many things to learn about! I feel like a total nerd, in the best way. I am so excited, not only by learning new things, but just at the possibility of learning new things!!
There's a used book store on the corner down from my house and I saw some nice-looking books with those slide covers, so I decided to check them out. Before long, names I recognized from Modern Japanese Literature class senior year popped up, starting with Kawabata Yasunari. I got excited and kept looking and eventually found Mishima Yukio and Akutagawa Ryunosuke, too! The only thing left to determine whether I would buy them or not was the price - after all, these may be used but they were nice books. I went into the store for the first time and asked the guy: 100 yen each. That's about $1.20 for each 300-500 page book of classic modern literature each. YES, very YES.
I don't even know how well I can read these, but I was excited to see a couple of stories I recognized from that class or from having read the English version, and that was enough to get me going. Still, I still am not anywhere near the end of 1Q84 by any stretch of the imagination and I also bought a new book recently called Muri (「無理」), which is about the lives of five people living in a small town in Japan being forced by the government to merge with other small towns, a trend that's been very common lately during the recession and pretty much only benefits the government while disrupting the economies and societies of the towns. There are so many things to learn about! I feel like a total nerd, in the best way. I am so excited, not only by learning new things, but just at the possibility of learning new things!!
Hm
That was interesting. I just "Zoom In"ed a bunch of times and read the whole article. It's pretty short and a fast read. And the author used one of the same authors I used in my thesis (!). Interesting read.
By the Way, Help
By the way, does anyone know how to print out articles like these without all the stuff on the side? Like make a printable version of it? Or make it bigger and more readable without copying and pasting the whole thing into a Word document?
http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/3/7/3/pages183732/p183732-1.php
cuz I really wanna read it.
http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/3/7/3/pages183732/p183732-1.php
cuz I really wanna read it.
Always Sunny in Philadelphia Foils
Oh my gosh, whenever I try to sit down and watch Blue Velvet by David Lynch, I keep getting sidetracked by the thought that I could actually instead watch another episode of Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And this is made easier by the fact that 1) I just downloaded the first four seasons of the show, 2) anyone who's seen a David Lynch film knows what s/he is getting into and the amount of concentration that is required when they sit down to watch one, and 3) I can eat oranges and get up to use the bathroom in the middle without feeling like I'm interrupting the show. So, today I watched like four episodes of Always Sunny. It's so funny, so freaking hilarious, but once you watch too much, you just start to feel bad because the characters are all such horrible, terrible people. Ahh.
Well, at least I got a pretty good amount of reading in John Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II done today. And I may have developed a pretty good system of taking notes when reading academic works, too. It started with when I was first reading 1Q84, then I used it when I started picking up Spanish studying more seriously again the other day, and now I've tried using it in a context similar to that of school research. Will it be useful again when I get to grad school...?? Methinks yes.
By the way, my fever is gone now (yippee!) and all that's left is a sore-ish throat and some mocos. But tomorrow is looking like a beautiful day (today had an amazingly cloudy, gray, and sublime cover over the world) and I'm looking forward to it.
No more t.v. for me and time to go to sleep. Also, Dead Mellotron, "Dress Rehearsal," awesome. The same goes for "Untitled," and, actually, the entire album Ghost Light Constellation is good, good, good. ;)
Well, at least I got a pretty good amount of reading in John Dower's Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II done today. And I may have developed a pretty good system of taking notes when reading academic works, too. It started with when I was first reading 1Q84, then I used it when I started picking up Spanish studying more seriously again the other day, and now I've tried using it in a context similar to that of school research. Will it be useful again when I get to grad school...?? Methinks yes.
By the way, my fever is gone now (yippee!) and all that's left is a sore-ish throat and some mocos. But tomorrow is looking like a beautiful day (today had an amazingly cloudy, gray, and sublime cover over the world) and I'm looking forward to it.
No more t.v. for me and time to go to sleep. Also, Dead Mellotron, "Dress Rehearsal," awesome. The same goes for "Untitled," and, actually, the entire album Ghost Light Constellation is good, good, good. ;)
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hm
What is it about being stuck at home with a fever that makes me suddenly motivated to get so much done?
Salesmen
Damn, I feel so bad turning down salesmen in Japan sometimes. Just now, this guy was bowing down to me all the way past his waist and using all sorts of honorifics on me. Before I even really put up much resistance, he was begging me, "Please, please!" ("Onegaishimasu, onegaishimasu!") and his face was all twisted up looking like he was going to cry. That, alternating with bursts of fake laughter, jokes, and flattery, really made the whole experience pretty awkward. It really didn't seem like such a terrible deal (?) - three months of daily newspaper subscription for 90 bucks, with a 30 buck refund in market-convenience store gift certificates and some laundry detergent - but I just don't go for sudden offers without a chance to think it over. If I had just been thinking how much I need to get the newspaper maybe...
Oh yeah, and I forgot to include the cost of the check-up in my last post, so actually I ended up paying about 34 bucks to the doctors. On the other hand, I also actually received four different types of antibiotics and not just two. In any case, it was a way better deal than anything I've ever experienced in the U.S. Why do so many people immigrate to the U.S. and not Japan, again? (Or do they?)
Oh yeah, and I forgot to include the cost of the check-up in my last post, so actually I ended up paying about 34 bucks to the doctors. On the other hand, I also actually received four different types of antibiotics and not just two. In any case, it was a way better deal than anything I've ever experienced in the U.S. Why do so many people immigrate to the U.S. and not Japan, again? (Or do they?)
Another Awesome Thing about Japan
This:
I went into a local clinic without an appointment, was seen and diagnosed within 45 minutes, went to the pharmacy nextdoor, and got enough cough medicine, two different types of antibiotics, gargling medicine, and throat lozenges to last me forever plus a thermometer for 2,200 yen, the equivalent of about 24 dollars. Plus, I also got this neat little calendar for free.
Now, of course, I'm sure you're all wondering why I had to go to a clinic, which brings me to the not so good news. I've got some kind of fever. On the upside, though the doctor didn't tell me it was necessarily the H1N1 flu, and even said if it goes down by tomorrow with the medicine he prescribed me it might not be a full-blown flu. Good thing I caught it early. Actually, I'd had a little bit of a runny nose for a couple (to a few) weeks before, but I thought, Hey, you know, it's probably fine. And it was, until yesterday, when I actually started to feel like I had a cold. Alas, I started to feel sore and a little feverish today and I had to decide that my usual anti-sick method of drinking lots of water, eating lots of oranges, sleeping a lot, and spitting a lot wouldn't suffice anymore. I guess I showed some good judgment (for once)!
This comes at a pretty bad time (though I guess there are no good times to get a fever), when I need to schedule a driving course, meet an interesting person I met when going in for a job interview last Saturday (a fun, interesting story in itself), go see an incredible show on Sunday, and take the driver's license test (again) next Tuesday. Well, I'll just hope it's a 24-hour flu and get all the rest I can.
But, I'm fine :)
I went into a local clinic without an appointment, was seen and diagnosed within 45 minutes, went to the pharmacy nextdoor, and got enough cough medicine, two different types of antibiotics, gargling medicine, and throat lozenges to last me forever plus a thermometer for 2,200 yen, the equivalent of about 24 dollars. Plus, I also got this neat little calendar for free.
Now, of course, I'm sure you're all wondering why I had to go to a clinic, which brings me to the not so good news. I've got some kind of fever. On the upside, though the doctor didn't tell me it was necessarily the H1N1 flu, and even said if it goes down by tomorrow with the medicine he prescribed me it might not be a full-blown flu. Good thing I caught it early. Actually, I'd had a little bit of a runny nose for a couple (to a few) weeks before, but I thought, Hey, you know, it's probably fine. And it was, until yesterday, when I actually started to feel like I had a cold. Alas, I started to feel sore and a little feverish today and I had to decide that my usual anti-sick method of drinking lots of water, eating lots of oranges, sleeping a lot, and spitting a lot wouldn't suffice anymore. I guess I showed some good judgment (for once)!
This comes at a pretty bad time (though I guess there are no good times to get a fever), when I need to schedule a driving course, meet an interesting person I met when going in for a job interview last Saturday (a fun, interesting story in itself), go see an incredible show on Sunday, and take the driver's license test (again) next Tuesday. Well, I'll just hope it's a 24-hour flu and get all the rest I can.
But, I'm fine :)
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