i'm surprised i'm still awake. i got up at 6:30am, which is really way too early - but you know, we had to catch the train to the other train, etc. hakone was nice. i could have spent all day at the open-air museum. (here's some info in english.) i think i took too many pictures there. i'm on my fifth roll of film now.

i managed okay with my fear of nakedness around strangers. after a few minutes you just kind of forget you're naked. the hot springs were really nice. the place we went to had about 6 different pools and some kind of cedar box thing you sat inside of and closed the lid, and also two big huge ceramic pots thing full of the hot spring water. i kind of felt like i was being boiled for dinner. after all the nice hot water all i wanted to do was sleep - but i still haven't done that yet. soon.

my brother is having a party for me tomorrow night at trocadero in setagaya-ku. we're going to have dinner and then hang out, so please feel free to drop by if you're in the area. you can meet tatsuhiko, my new style japanese boyfriend. heh, i'm so kidding, i just wanted to say 'new style japanese boyfriend'. tatsuhiko is a guy i met on new year's eve. i only wish i had a new style boyfriend. so many cute boys/men/guys/whatever all over the place, but they're always taken. even here in japan - couples, couples everywhere.

my brother's laptop mouse thing is out of control. it's just moving all over the screen on it's own and the start menu thing keeps popping up and it's driving me batty. so with that, i shall go to sleep.