Goals and Blowfish

Recently I went through a short bout of depression. I am fine now, but in my sadness, as a way to motivate myself, I decided to make a list of things I want to accomplish while living in Japan. Actually, I don’t know how long I will be in Japan, so I more so meant before my contract with the JET Programme is up. Some things are big like pass N1, lose weight, and save money, but some are small and silly like eat more kaitenzushi and watch more anime. I’m already succeeding with those last two haha!

My list is for myself and nobody else, and it’s kind of personal, so I’m not going to share it all with you, but just for fun, I’ll tell you a few. Plus, I’ll tell you a couple I accomplished this past weekend.

1)      Visit Kyushu, Shikoku, Ise Jingu, Biwako, Uji, Himeji Castle, Tokyo (again) and possibly one more foreign country. I have Thailand, Singapore, or Beijing in my prospects.

2)      Rediscover my love for Japan through watching anime and jidaigeki films, practicing tea ceremony, eating at kaitenzushi and izakaya, going to festivals, visiting Kyoto and Nara which are nearby, enjoying konbini, and going to Nipponbashi and manga-kissa (recently I got to accomplish my goal of going to a manga-kissa for the first time).

3)      Buy a game system (or bring my Gamecube back from America) and enjoy it!

4)      Cook more Japanese food.

5)      Order a pizza for delivery.

6)      Go to more EDM and metal concerts and at least one K-pop concert.

7)      Go to a winter illumination.

8)      Don’t miss out on kouyou (fall leaf viewing).

9)      Go to a nabe party.

10)   Pull an all-nighter, and hit up a jazz bar in downtown Kobe.

11)   Go to my friend’s oyster restaurant and try eating oysters for the first time, cooked and raw.

12)   Try pachinko.

13)   Try fugu (blowfish).

14)   Stay at a capsule hotel.

15)   Cherish moments and spend time with friends.

16)   Keep going to your favorite places, bars, restaurants, etc.

This past weekend, I accomplished two of my goals on this list. First, I ordered a pizza for delivery! A lot of you are probably thinking, “So what? Big deal!” but it really is! Learning Japanese has been a long and slowly progressing experience. Maybe you remember in one of my posts from a while back (perhaps my Hiroshima one) about how I was afraid to order a sandwich at Subway because it was too difficult. Now I wouldn’t think twice about it. For the longest time, I’ve had anxiety (as most of my expat friends living in Japan do) about speaking in Japanese on the phone. Even if it’s with a friend, I still get kind of nervous. It wasn’t until recently that I have become able to make restaurant reservations on the phone. I can say that I have proudly done it 3 or 4 times now! Ordering a pizza for delivery though…yikes! You have to tell them so much! Your name, address, phone number what kind of pizza you want…

Before ordering, I wrote out my address and what kind of pizza I wanted. I had the number for the restaurant entered into my phone, and all I had to do is press dial. I’ll admit that it took me a few minutes to work up the courage to press it. In the end, it went pretty smoothly except for the part where they asked for my name, and I had to repeat it like 5 times until the person understood. I even ordered stuffed crust and half and half style! When I hung up the phone, I shook all my heebie-jeebies out and did a little happy dance. It may not been the most delicious pizza I ever tasted, but it tasted like victory! One goal accomplished!

Victory Pizza!

The other goal I accomplished recently was also food related… Ok, so I like food! Get over it! I tried fugu for the first time. “What is fugu?” “It’s blowfish!” “Wait, isn’t that poisonous?” “Um, yes?? I suppose.” “Why would you eat something poisonous?” “Because it’s exciting, a delicacy, and I’m curious!” So actually, I believe fugu is prepared in a way that ensures there is no poison (although in rare circumstances people have died from eating it). I’ve had friends who’ve eaten it who and said it made their mouth, lips, or head tingle. This personally didn’t happen for me, but perhaps it has to do with the different ways it’s prepared. I ate mine in the form of nabe, or Japanese hotpot. In the future, I’d like to try it prepared a different way too because admittedly, I want to experience the tingle haha!

Before the cooking.

During.

After!

Shinya and I went on a nice date to a seafood izakaya called Odoriya in Kyobashi. I actually knew about it because I went there for my first work enkai at my new school. It’s an upscale place, so I thought it’d be a great place to have a romantic date. It turned out to be a wonderful night. The fugu was a tasty little fish, and I got to enjoy correctly eating nabe which I don’t do when I make it at home. Shinya was so cute because he served me the fugu, picked the meat off the bone for me because I was struggling, and arranged it all nice. I told him how impressed I always am when he gets the fish meat off the bone or the shrimp out of the shell so nicely to which he replied, “I’ve been a Japanese person for 30 years. I should be able to at least do that by now.” Hahaha true story.

My talented guy. <3 

So, I had a very productive weekend for accomplishing things on my goal list. I’ll try to keep you updated as I accomplish more of them. Wish me luck!