I fell asleep last night around 9:30 watching the Japanese version of The Mask. It took me a long time to remember what that stupid movie is about.
Even though it is Sunday, I was awakened at 8:20 for breakfast. I got to fix it this time, so I had some Frosted Frakes, milk and toast. They won't quit giving me too much toast. Then I watched some extremely boring tv with them, and came upstairs to prepare for tomorrow. After a while, my mother showed me how to do laundry. The washing machine is electronic, with 2 compartments. One is for washing and the other for spinning. You have to move the clothes from one to the other when the wash part is done. When the spin is done, you hang them up in the living room to dry, underpants and all. Or in my case, I hung my handful of belongings on a special rack set up in my room. I hope my pajamas will be dry by bedtime.
Today is a cold and rainy day. I heard that Hakodate temperatures are around 70 in the summer, but the weather has been brisk since I got here. It's damn cold.
At around 1:30, I had another somen lunch. My host mother was done in minutes while still I sat. My host father made himself a runny egg-ham concoction which would have been an omelette had he stirred it or cut up the ham. I don't know when my host brother ate. He has been in his room all day. I saw him once this morning.
I almost ate all my food at lunch, leaving only a few noodles. After eating, I watched a little more tv with them. There was a horrible remake of Oklahoma! on satellite with Japanese subtitles. It was so bad that I could barely understand the actors through their fake accents.
Yesterday, one of the cats got out. A neighbor returned it this afternoon and it immediately recieved a bath. I didn't hear any screaming or howling or anything. And when they came out of the bathroom, my mother was dry! It is a mystery. Normally, this is a fluffy cat, but it was wonderfully scrawny and stick-like when it was wet. It was really great. And pissed.
I boiled myself a potato and few vegetables for dinner. I had a bowl of rice with them. Real rice cookers are really expensive. I am beginning to understand why now. They have to keep the rice hot and soft all day without burning or drying the rice or sputtering all over the kitchen. I wasn't quite as slow finishing tonight. I don't think it would matter anyway because they eat so fucking fast. I offered to wash dishes again, but she said not to.
After dinner I watched part of a televised festival going on in Sapporo [prefectural capitol of Hokkaido, where Hakodate is located; yes the beer is from there]. It seems to be a bunch of large scale musical numbers performed by lots of dancers on a large stage. It was pretty dull. And it was raining in Sapporo so everyone, including the dancers were wet. And it was cold there. Then they switched to a samurai drama which was also quite dull. I decided it was time to call it a day.
The shower-bathtub room thing kicks ass. Basically, it's a really big shower stall with a small tub in half of it. There's a small shelf and mirror in the other half close to the floor. There's a bucket but no stool. The faucet is a combination spout and sprayer on a hose. Depending on which way you turn the knob, water comes out of the tub filler or the sprayer. The temperature adjustment is separate. The shower feels really good.
There is no air conditioning in buildings here because it's cold in the summer. There are kerosene heaters installed in the bedrooms and living room connected to the wall with pipes. They are electronic. Actually, it looks like everything in Japan is electronic down the the oscillating fans. Anyway, because there's no heat in the toilet, the seat is heated. It was weird at first.
I seem to have found the American tv channel. Tonight's movie is Men In Black and I just saw an ad for Dark Angel and Star Wars: A New Hope.
There's a really comfortable chair in my room that I wish I could take home with me. It's a recliner type chair of black leather but it's not wide and sits a few inches off the floor. Kind of like sitting in a sports car.
Bedtime. I have to get up at 6:30 tomorrow.