Japan is widely known for its traditional culture, but also for its weird culture. There are many odd things embedded within the culture that a lot of people actually enjoy. For example, in the convenience store, there are porn magazines for sale. I still can't quite wrap my head around that. There's also a lot of odd anime, manga, and TV shows magazines.

Now, since a while, there had been talk of going to what they call "Chinko Matsuri". "Chinko" means penis and "matsuri" means festival. So in other words, there actually is a Penis Festival here in Japan. Now, I have no interest in this kind of thing, but many of the students were going and asked me to come along. In the end, I decided to go see this side of the Japanese culture. This was April 5^th, the weekend before school started.

I learned that this actually happens to be the most popular festival among the foreigners in Japan. Once we arrived at the station, which was near Yokohama, the streets were already filled with people, mostly foreigners. Even the train had been filled to the walls. It was raining, so we ended up buying umbrellas there. We then headed to the starting location of the festival, and waited in the midst of hundreds of umbrellas and cameras for about 20 minutes. Then it started. They carried out three huge penises while shouting words of encouragement. We all just laughed so hard!



After that, Valentina and I wanted to find ourselves some candy, and so we got in line. After about 15 minutes of waiting, I came out of the shop with a bag of sexual part shaped candies. Just watching people eat these was really hysterical.

It was getting quite cold, so we headed back to Yokohama, where we had planned to eat at a Chinese buffet! This was my third time here in the Chinatown of Yokohama, but my first time in an all-you-can-eat restaurant. Jokes, laughter, and smiles accompanied us while we ordered and ate many different dishes!




We headed back about one hour and a half later, still laughing about the day's adventure.

After the placement test was taken, I was invited to join a group of students going over to the Odawara Castle to see the Sakura! I didn't have any specific plans so I joined in. I had never been to Odawara, which is actually the last station of the Odakyu (Odawara Kyuko) train line, (the only train available from Tokai). I had actually never even gone in that direction, which is the opposite of when going to Tokyo. Wait, I did once go to the next station by accident since I had stayed on the train too long.

But anyways, around 1 o'clock, we were all off to Odawara. By "all of us" I mean me and about 15 other international students, including a lot of Italians. I spent most of my time with Nnadi, my Nigerian friend. Mai, who is half Israeli, half Japanese also joined us after a while. It was a nice relaxing time, and it was really beautiful to see this all with Sakura.

I didn't really want to approach the new students just yet, so I kept my distance that day. But besides that, it was good experience.

Just like the semester before, all students studying Japanese have to take a placement test in order for the teacher to understand how much Japanese they know, and then create appropriate classes for everyone. Now, me having studied throughout most of the spring break, I had high expectations. My sister herself had managed to jump 4 levels while studying here at Tokai. With this is mind, on April 2nd, I took the test which seemed much easier than last time. I don't think I did my best; I was a little distracted and out of it that day.

During the month of March, Miguel and I had decided, after a few discussions, that we would like to do some exercise together. We ended up with a few choices, and one of them was wrestling. Miguel, being crazy, dared to fight me in the Kaikan's backyard.

Miguel and I had a few matches, which I enjoyed for more than one reason. This was exercise, and at the same time I could practice judo which would help me come back from my injury. I must say, Miguel is quite brave, but there is no way I would lose to him. I threw him a few times on the ground, sometimes being dangerous due to the fact that Miguel has not done judo, and does not expect certain movements.

After this first time, we invited Chipa to join in. He accepted and one day, we were all out in the back of Kaikan, pushing each other around. Now Chipa is much stronger than Miguel, and probably stronger than me, but he still has no experience in man-to-man combat. He got me down once or twice at first, but then I got the hang of his style and to his surprise, made him fly all over the place.

Why is this important? Well like I say, I could "practice" some "judo" without being watched or judged by everyone else. Also, when fighting Chipa, I really felt his strength. I mean, he's 10 kilos heavier than me, and he plays rugby, which made him quite hard to push around. But I still stood in there, and managed to find a way around it. Now yeah, it's not a fair match, but it still gave me a little boost of confidence and also showed me that our biggest enemy is ourselves. I think it's time I overcome my own fears.

On March 25^th, almost a month ago already, I was able to attend the Tokai University Graduation Ceremony.

Now just to give you a little background on the Japanese culture, first of all, most students have a set time of 4 years of studies, with the first semester starting in April, the second one in September. They do this for four years, and as long as they passed all their courses, most of them all graduate at the same time. Also, it is very common for some people not to attend their own graduation ceremony. Some of them have already found a job and are working hard or being trained.

This day was a very special day. I would say that about... 80% of the friends I have made so far in Japan were now all graduating on this day. This meant that it would most likely be the last time I see them before I head back home. So I packed up some of the organic hand soaps I had brought from Canada into little packages, making one for all of my friends. I also printed out and framed a picture for Chipa and Anzu, who were the ones who helped me the most since I've been here.

Now I actually had to attend two ceremonies. Since they all had to graduate on that day (but there were too many students to fit the gymnasium), they needed to separate the arts and the sciences students. And still, the room was filled! First up was Chipa's graduation. He graduated from the Architecture Department. I watched the ceremony which lasted about 1 hour. Gift where given to those who excelled, speeches were made, a video was showed and it was then time to leave.



After that, I gave Chipa his gift, and he headed off to his department to receive his certificate.

Two hours later, I headed back to the gym to attend the art's ceremony. But this time, my friend Kenta who was a staff at the dorm, invited us to go down with him. Being a little crazy, four of us who aren't graduating headed with the graduating students to watch the ceremony from a student's perspective. It was quite funny, and it didn't bother anyone. Since I won't really be graduating from Tokai, this gave me the opportunity to know how it feels to graduate from a Japanese university. Besides that, the ceremony was exactly the same.


After it ended, I had to chase down all my friends to take pictures with them and give them gifts. They all had to head to their departments, so it was quite interesting to try and spot them out of the hundreds of students coming down the road. Here they are, all dressed up for the ceremony!







*I didn't get a picture with all of them since some of them took it on their phone and still haven't sent them over...*

Most of my friends were graduating from the International Department, so I followed them there, and ended up listening to the last speech they received from their teacher. I must say, it really felt like I was graduating. Many of them actually asked me if I was haha!

Random but funny, the judo guys that were graduating saw me at one point, and asked me to take a picture with them. Most of them had never spoken to me before, but I don't mind. I just don't think I'm never going to see that picture since I don't have them as friends on Facebook.

But yeah, after saying goodbye to everyone one last time, I headed back to the Kaikan. That night, we had a supper to celebrate Chipa and Kenta's graduation and departure from the dorm.



Feelings:
 - First, most of my friends are going to leave, which makes me quite sad. I had really built this family atmosphere with all these friends I would come across on the university campus. Many of them had helped me at least once and I was really thankful for them.
 - This means that next semester, I get to start "anew". Since most of my Japanese friends are leaving, this makes me anonymous again. Not a bad thing I guess.
 - Every single one of them said that their four years had gone too fast and they wanted to stay here. All I could think of, is how fast my own trip had gone so far, and it really just made me scared that I wouldn't be able to accomplish all my goals within the remaining time.

One thing you might notice, and that I also noticed that day, is that most of my friends are girls! Well, what can I say... haha, no I did not do this on purpose. It is because most girls' Japanese is quite easier to understand, and they actually teach me Japanese. Also, guys in Japanese simply approach me to have "international experience", and so I prefer to keep my distance, although I believe I might change this for this next semester, but we'll see. ;-)

So on Saturday March 14^th, I was called by Kotaro to go to his place and have supper with him. He told me he wanted to practice some English, so I thought why not. After finishing everything I needed for the next day, I headed down the hill to his room.

When I got there, he was fixing something on his bed. I walked in and we chatted a bit. I was expecting him to start talking about english, but he never did. We stayed there watching TV for about 20 minutes before out of nowhere, Fubuki and Ryo just show up in Kotaro's room. They sat down with us and we all watched the television for a while. I was starting to have an idea about what was going on, but once again, I played my part.

Then we headed off to the restaurant behind their dorm, to which I have been many times (with Iwasa and Masari). Before we ordered, Kotaro then announced that today was a celebration of my birthday. I smiled with joy and everyone laughed. We ordered our meals and ate plentifully! The three of them paid for my meal. We had some funny conversations that night, and even though it was just that night, I was glad they took the time for me!




We headed back to Kotaro's room, and I got to try a Chinese beer (Chitao*) which Kotaro had brought from his recent trip to China. We stayed there watching TV till I left at 10.

During the whole process, I also received my Tokai Judo Team jumper which I had ordered back in December. It took a while, but I was very excited to finally have it.


So much for English studies...