The futon

My futon, my iBook and an empty box of chocolate cigarettes

Today was a wicked do-nothing-because-its-so-cold-day. I didn't get out of bed until 1o'clock and that was just to eat a quick lunch, after that I was back in bed. Its so cold!!

Anyways, since I didn't do much today but lying in bed, I'll quickly describe that experience. Well I am sleeping on what the Japanese call a futon (pronounced like the word crouton except with a "f" instead of the "cr") which is a traditional Japanese mattress. The futon is made out of cotton and looks and feels much like a hard blanket. It is about 5cm (2 inches) thick and is pretty small, or maybe I'm just too big for Japanese standards! My futon lies on the ground, no bed frame or such thing. It is quite comfortable in a way although you don't want to be sleeping on your side because you might have some trouble doing anything the next day (I found that out through first hand experience).

I can see quite a lot when lying on my futon: all of my room, including table, stereo, rubbish bin, bean-sack-like-seat, lots of stuff lying all over (I think I'll have to clean up my room sometime soon), wardrobe, mirror, my phone, a clock, various power points, Japanese music CDs, my jumper, my camera, a bottle of Listerine, 2 packs of high quality japanese chocolate cigarettes, a postcard from my family, a tissue box, more CDs, Japanese snacks, "algo" which is a card game that is supposed to make you smarter, school bag, sliding doors and a bit of Nao's room including desk, shelf filled with Australia memorabilia, and the TV :)

During dinner, I learned a few rules about how Japanese food is served: you have gohan (rice, also means meal) on the left, miso soup on the right and the okazu (main dish) in the middle, there are also lots of extra dishes that you can eat from anytime.
Nao's grandma is really encouraging and always tells me stories about different dishes and ingredients and tries to talk with me :)

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