Universal Studios Japan, with Cristy and her host mum, was definitely interesting.

Some parts were quite like Los Angeles - the Citywalk especially; reminded me of LA (OH THE MEMORIES!). Even on a weekday is was busy, with hour-long waits for many things. The first ride, Spiderman-related, was like that; the line was more like a twisted spider's web, with turns here and there. It was longer than it looked.

The ride itself was rather scary, mainly because it was 3-D and the characters (Spidey included) had a habit of poking you in the nose. I covered my eyes the whole time.

We went on a few more rides...Snoopy's simple rollercoaster, a Jaws-like ride (I thought I'd be startled but the sharks were too ridiculous-looking), a Shrek adventure thing where we kept being sneezed on by Donkey. (The Shrek actor outside the Studios kept ignoring Cristy and I. Annoying.)

The most awesome attraction was the Horror Rock & Roll Show - basically Betelgeuse and a bunch of other horror characters (Frankenstein, his bride, Dracula, a werewolf, and two dancers named Hip and Hop) singing rock and disco. It's Raining Men, One Wild Night, Hot Stuff, I Will Survive, YMCA, Living La Vida Loca...it was the campiest show ever, and the most brilliant. Too much fun.

Yuki (my host mum) and I went back early - we all headed over to her mother-in-law's house, where her grandfather-in-law (the kids' great-grandfather) lived. He was 97 years old and hard of hearing, but always was smiling. He went to Malaysia in 1990 and I got to see his photo album from then; it was amazing to see just how much the country has changed in the past 15 years.

We had sukiyaki for dinner - beef and vegetable stew. It's eaten by being stirred in raw egg. I was skeptikal at first (I was worried about salmonella) but it's actually really good. (We had leftover sukiyaki this morning for breakfast without the egg and it wasn't as tasty.) I haven't thrown up yet, which is probably a good sign!

This morning we were supposed to visit the Bamboo Festival near our house with Cristy and Eli, but it was raining so it got postponed. Instead, we went out for lunch (I had Korean food), and we then went to this place that made Roketsu - a style of dyeing cloth. Chiharu, Naoke, and I made some bandannas of our own. The process goes:

1. Figure out what you want to draw on your cloth. Mine had a Totoro and a bat, as well as my name, "Up With People", and some random symbols. They had the Totoro but not the bat; I got to go online to copy a bat design. It was quite surreal, this old-fashioned place filled with old-fashioned art that had a new computer and high-speed Internet.

2. Place the source pictures on the table, cover them with wax paper, then place a test cloth on top. The table is a light box; turn on the light and the design will shien through.

3. Draw the design over the test cloth with calligraphy brushes dipped in wax. This was where I discovered that my drawing and calligraphy skills need major work and that drawing the Up With People logo was extremely difficult and really a lost cause.

4. Get the actual cloth and draw it again - hopefully better this time. Make sure the wax shows on both sides. To get an interesting shaded effect, go over parts of your design a few times.

5. Dip the design in greenish dye and mix it around for about 15 minutes.

6. Wash the excess dye off, then hang it to dry for about another 15 minutes. Here the dye changes colour to a very dark (midnight) blue.]

7. Take the dried cloth and toss it in a tub of boiling water to melt the wax off.

8. Then toss it in a tub of boiling soap water to wash it.

9. Put it in one container to wash the soap off, then in aother to rinse.

10. Put the cloth in a dehydrator to wring all the water off.

11. Iron the cloth on both sides, back first, to brighten the colours and bring out the shades.

12. DONE!

(or:

12. ???

13. PROFIT!

if you're the company.)

It seemed like such a perfect Community Impact project, getting to know the culture through its crafts. It's not free though, so that may be a concern...

Oh! Also. WE'RE ON THE UP WITH PEOPLE WEBSITE! It's still semi under construction, and a bit wonky in places, but WE'RE THERE! So check it out and check it out often! Part of it is my project and I've been waiting to see it for so long.

Tomorrow - parade! No one really knows what the heck we're doing except for the fact that we're wearing green and walking with an environmental NGO. It'll sure be interesting. Everything has been so far.