Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Sendai

... communities" for the most part, but I'm lucky enough to be placed in Yoneyama, which is about 10-15 minutes away from every other town, making it easy to get to the more "urban" ones whenever I want (once again, not too unlike New Braunfels).

We arrived at the BOE and jumped right into things. Walked up stairs to the BOE office, were eyed by the 30 some-odd staff, then were shuffled into the superintendent's office. We then went through a very official ...

... my Tora cosplay and met up with Monica, to whom I was selling my extra ticket. Monica is a Taiwanese-Canadian working in Tokyo. We ran into the French girls from earlier who introduced themselves as Amelie and Rola (sp?). It was nice to be able to pass the time talking to fellow gaijin, especially ones who are very open and friendly.

Eventually I’ll get around to writing a full live report, but damn, was Alice Nine amazing. They opened ...

... and there are no keys. Instead you punch in a password, which is annoying because I have to keep my receipt with the code on me at all times. Also. you can’t check in early. I got to the hotel 10 minutes before it was time, and the doors were locked. Oh well, it was cheap so I get what I paid for.

With an afternoon to myself, I did what I usually do when I have free time in Sendai: go ...

... and cardboard. Things are divided by what you sell and what series your doujinshi is mainly from. Too bad I didn’t figure that out until later. -_-;; The most popular series were Axis Powers Hetalia, Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Sengoku Basara, and Vocaloid.

The cosplay photography area was limited to just a wall. It was really crowded, and you had to wait to find space. Not a big fan. I got to see less frequently ...

... into a Lolita dress, but I have this thing where if I try something on, I’m more inclined to buy it. And I didn’t have enough money. I did swing by h.NAOTO anyway and talked to the nice pink-haired girl that sold me the skirt last time. I am really going to miss all the cool salespeople when I go home. Eventually I reached my target destination: Little Hearts. I took a few seconds to lament the fact that Sakito, the guitarist of ...

... us when we all were being dropped off. 8 people wound up sitting in the back 2 rows of their grandparents’ van. That’s okay since the girls were cute. Anna and I stayed at Michael X’s house to make our trip out to the speech contest in Furukawa easier.

The English reading contest was long but not as bad as I thought. Granted, I still didn’t like heading out at 9 AM and ...

... ways I feel a bit more attached to the Rookies characters just because I got to see them more than my 3rd years and the drama showed each individual's personal struggles. I am totally quoting the drama or the movie in my farewell speech.

Glossary
sayonara - good-bye
yukata - casual summer kimono
Natsu Matsuri - Summer Festival
sotsugyo - graduation (yay, another word I learned from watching dramas)

... and a string of rapid Japanese that I didn’t understand… besides the part when he yelled out “Sex!” ^^;;

The first bars of the next song made the crowd go wild because it belonged to “I Gotta Kick Start Now.” Everybody clapped along during the catchy chorus. The mood mellowed out with the ethereal “Cosmos”. Hyde’s vocals were beautiful; he seamlessly transitioned from his usual low sound to ...

... and most of all, I had a blast of a time. New Experiences inclue going to an outdoor onsen (public bath) and the best of all ... Eating gyuutan ... If you ever go to Sendai, eating gyuutan is a MUST ... beautiful delicious food ... It might seem off-putting at first when you find out what it is - but honestly dont let that stop you like I almost let it stop me, it's honestly delicious.

... jp/soumu/kouhou/ worldcup/english/akiu.html Read about hot springs etiquette: http://miyagi-kankou.or.jp/tourist_info mation/english/pdf/p08_09.pdf People were wandering around the hotel in yukatas (cotton kimono). We found that every one of our hotels provided these yukatas to their guests as bathrobes, and if the hotel had Hot Springs, then the guests wandered around the hotel in them. I went with Judko to the women's side ...