Sick

Uuuurgh. Slept until nearly 2 in the afternoon. Insane to have gone out so late last night. But so much fun!

Today, figuring that it would be better to rest and let the cold go away before hitting Kyoto, I did pretty much nothing. Seriously. Got up at 2, ate what Mayu's mom put before me, lazed around, and finally went out to rent a movie with Mayu. Hey, at least it was a Japanese movie! And animation too! And by the most famous animation studio in Japan!

After getting the movie (did you know you can also rent CDs in Japanese video stores? You can also burn copies from the CDs you rent!), we went to a funky store that Mayu knows. Along the way, she pointed out an adult movie store, where you can go see porno not in a theatre, but in your own private booth or room (I think). At the store -- called Village Vanguard, incidentally -- we both laughed ourselves silly over a Gloomy book.

Gloomy is a bear. A pink bear. That is often depicted with blood dripping from its nose and mouth. Because Gloomy was found by a little boy who took it home. But Gloomy, instead of smothering the boy with love and licks, kicks the shit out of the little boy. And mauls him with his claws. And generally acts like a bear. Because, as Mayu explained, you can try to tame a bear all you want, but a bear will always be a bear.

I've seen Mayu's Gloomy wallet dozens of times, but never really understood how charming the whole concept was until today. Freakin' hilarious.

(Yes, I probably need help. But Mayu needs more!)

We finally headed back home around 8 or so, to homemade katsudon that Mayu had asked her mom to make because I had wanted to eat katsudon for the past couple years. After reading Banana Yoshimoto's description of delicious katsudon in her novel Kitchen, I promised myself that if I ever went to Japan, I'd eat this dish, which consists of breaded and fried pork over rice. Man, it was good. I wouldn't mind some right now, actually.

After dinner and a bath, I started watching the DVD we'd rented. Spirited Away came out in the States one or two years ago. I didn't catch it then, but a chance viewing in my level 4 Korean language class, when we were learning how to tell a story made me want to watch it. The imagery and characters were so imaginative and well-done, even a five-minute clip made me vow to see it sometime. So I did, tonight, using the English subtitling option. It's a wonderful movie, packed with unforgettable characters and beautiful and weird images, and moreover, it was really kind of touching too. I saw Studio Ghibli's Princess Mononoke a few years back, and was impressed by the artistry, but puzzled by the story. Not so with Spirited Away.

A thoroughly lazy vacation day. Just because you're in a foreign country doesn't mean you have to be on the go everyday. So I tell myself.