Anyway, since I have been so busy I haven´t written much the last weeks. What follows is what I wrote a while earlier: (First I just gotta tell you about the weather. It was 24º C for a few sweaty days but then the temperature fell to around 10º C. But from now on the temperature will surely rise.)

I have finally gotten in touch with most of my friends. Wednesday the 11th Tsuyoshi and two other friends since last year - Dan and Keitaro - came and picked me up after school to go to a huge shopping complex in Otaru. It was great to meet again. Later this month there will probably be a party with the Tokai university club IFA (International Friendship Association). I really look forward to it. On the way to the Otaru we passed a garbage truck that had emptied it´s contents on the street and police were there. Later I saw about that on tv. I wonder what it was all about. Speaking of garbage, there is a very special garbage system in Japan. The garbage bins on the streets are usually divided into burnable, unburnable, other, cans and bottles. A lot of times there is only one or two of them so you can´t always throw your finished bottle or empty bag in the nearest garbage bin. When you throw garbage in your home it is the same way with some more categories such as large garbage. And you put out the different garbage different days. I hear they are very strict about this and the school told us to follow the rules carefully (probably because the school is our guarantour). Somebody said that there were some guys who mixed garbage and to find out who they were the police went through the garbage and found papers with their names on. 

Since the japanese class was a bit to easy for me I switched to a more difficult class. In a way it was sad because I was getting settled in the class but it is exhausting to study stuff I already know. The new class turned out to be the class Daniel and Darcy, the australian guy, are in. The other people in the class seem nice too. I still haven´t learned quite how to plan my studies yet but it´s been less than a week in this class so far. 

One thing I was puzzled by at first last year was the fact that on a lot of public toilets there is nothing to dry your hands with after washing them. I wondered how people dried their hands but I soon found out that it isn´t a problem for most people - they don´t wash them in the first place. Well now I really understand that you need the small wet towels to wipe your hands on before you eat... Another interesting thing related to washing is the onsen (hot spring) baths. You don´t wear swimming trunks but instead you walk around with a small towel hiding your private parts. Personally I think it feels a bit silly walking around like that. I mean, everyone is male anyway. 

The streets are quite different from Swedish streets. One funny thing is that there aren´t always lights at the street crossings so you have to watch the traffic lights for the car going your way... Another funny thing is that there are almost no bicycle lanes. Instead you have to ride on the sidewalks which means some slalom skills are necessary... Speaking of sidewalks, near where I live there is a street with wooden sidewalks! I´ve never seen that before.

If you have a descent internet connection and some time to spare I recommend Radiskull and Devil Doll, a site I discovered recently. Especially if you like cute characters or goth rock. It is a bunch of animated episodes about an evil floating skull and a cute little devil with a song in each episode. You need Flash Player 4 or higher to watch the episodes.

The Japanese drama series are very amusing. Among my favourites are a department store drama about a young man working in a clothes shop assisting customers. In each episode he saves the day for at least one customer and the department store. He says "okyaku-sama!!!" (something like "dear customer!!!", but you don´t really say it like in Japan anywhere else...) probably a hundred times each episode. I really like the goofy humor in some of the dramas. Unlike a comedy show they lack jokes and laughter but they feature a lot of strange characters and funny situations. The funniest moments, however, are the moments when it´s supposed to be serious. Like the times the main character in the department store drama realizes he wronged a customer and runs after him/her and hen tells the story of his life and win the sympathy and friendship of the customer. It has happened every episode so far and it is equally funny every time. I guess I´ll get sick of it sooner or later.

Did you know that young Japanese people are crazy about mayonnaise? Well a lot of them anyway. There has been a lot of shows lately about the bad effects of eating too much mayo and about people who put mayo on just about anything. How about some mayo on your watermelon or your strawberry cake? Or why not a mayo-beer? (These examples and more were gulped down during one show...)

Sorry about the delay. I will try and keep up with the logging each week.