Short post today, because I was stuck inside all day, thanks to the typhoon. It seems to have blown over now, but they're showing pictures of the damage on TV and it's pretty frightening. In Kyoto, which is about as far inland as you can get in Japan, there was a house that sank an entire story into the mud. In Nagoya, all the schools were closed and the public transit was shut down and the U.S. consulate was evacuated. Fun times.
I've spent the day making a spreadsheet for my finances, reading the assigned article for my seminar, trying to calculate whether I can live a full year on my first payment from Fulbright (answer: yes, actually, as long as I'm thrifty and don't ever go anywhere, which won't happen, because I want to travel), reading more of the article (it's not terribly long; I'm just a very slow reader in Japanese), watching a Mario Kart tournament in the dorm common room, and other such things.
Also, my Japanese suitemate said she'd take me to Toyokawa Inari*, because her family lives nearby. You know, if people keep offering to take me on random field trips, my research may just do itself.
*Inari is normally worshiped** as a Shinto kami, but Toyokawa Inari is a Buddhist temple. It's a very interesting case of a kami being worshiped as Buddha. I also read an entire book on Inari (and Toyokawa Inari, specifically), which was The Fox and the Jewel by Karen Smyer. So that would be massively cool.
**The way "worshiped" is spelled really bothers me. It's like "kidnaped." Ugh. I shudder when I look at those words. CURSE YOU, ENGLISH.
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