It's 10:30, which means...

...that one hour remains before the man from the television station picks me up, and three more remain before I'm interviewed on live TV. Eep! Wish me luck, everyone!

That will be all.

(no subject)

Well, the television experience went pretty darn well; well enough that there is now some talk of maybe perhaps possibly having me back weekly. (Eek! But also cool.) They were smart enough not to tell me that it was a cable station until I'd arrived, and that I was going to be interviewed by a rakugo actor. Rakugo is an old style of comedic dialogue; rakugo performers often interview mass media personalities in Japan, and usually mock them while they're at it.

We ran through the interview once, then had lunch, then it was time for the real deal. I was freaked beforehand, but calm for the duration. After all, what can you do? I'd look twice as dumb as I felt if I froze up in front of the cameras.

The interview was in biography format - my hometown, why I decided to study Japanese, my year at Nanzan University, my time in The Oaks, and then my move to The 'Robe. My pronunciation of English was roundly mocked, which was a relief; I'd been expecting my Japanese accent to be the butt of a few jokes. In fact, I found myself pretty relieved that I was being interviewed by a comedian, because it meant I could pop in a few jokes of my own.

"So this is a picture of you at Kiyomizu-dera, is it?" he asked. (Kiyomizu is one of the big sightseeing temples in Kyoto.
"Yes."
"And is this your boyfriend?" he asked, pointing to the human-sized statue of a rabbit guardian deity I was standing next to.
"Yeah. But we broke up," I told him, to the general amusement of all.

We next got on to the subject of Japanese food. He asked if I'd ever eaten ikazukuri (squid ink), which is apparently a local delicacy. Not only have I not eaten it, I didn't even know what it was. This set me up for a bit of mocking as well. "You've lived in the prefecture for three years? How can you not have eaten ikazukuri? And you call yourself a resident of the ken."

We then went on to Japanese foods I liked. I busted out with one of my time-tested bits: "I like sushi, sashimi, tempera, and kitsune udon." This is a bit like saying, "I like caviar, filet mignon, tiramisu, and big macs," and usually gets a good response.

"Oh, you'd better be careful," he told me. "Kitsune udon varies from region to region, and you might be in for an unpleasant surprise one of these days."

"Oh, you mean like ikazukuri kitsune udon?" I asked. That went down pretty well too.

Overall, I think the interview was a success - it ran over by about five minutes. The studio staff waving a cue-card emblazened with the phrase "幕で幕で！" (Time's up! Time's up!) in frantic silence was pretty amusing. It's going to reair at 6:30 tonight; two minutes after I board a train to Tokyo, which is a shame, because I'd like to get a copy to so I can go over my mistakes. But overall, pretty good time.

That will be all.