Lessons in Japan

The semester is coming to a close and I'd like to take the time to write down some thoughts. I think everyone should study abroad. I think everyone should study abroad in a non-Western culture. These past 4 months have been amazing and difficult all at the same time. I've had culture shock, I've been irritated, I've been homesick, but I've also been meeting people from all over the world, talking to strangers in a foreign language, learning patience and little quirky Japanese ways of doing things. I've been testing my limits in all things social, food related, and I'm going to return home changed. All people who study abroad for a period of time return home just a little different. There is something to be said for people who have experienced being a 'foreigner'. At home, we are not foreigners, and we are sometimes shaded by what they go through. It is always good to have understanding about others.

That being said, while I believe Japan has some of the greatest things in the world, udon, takoyaki, karaoke bars, .. I will be glad to be away from Japan's bad points. Over the course of this semester, I have learned that the Japanese 'system' is racist (by personal experience). And not just against people who are black, but white, and to my surprise other Asians! As a white foreigner from the West, I am automatically 'The Guest', although thankfully my host parents have shown me true kindness and care and worry. If you plan to visit Japan, being the Guest is great, but if you want to study abroad here, work here, live here, be sure to have a very strong will, don't be easily offended etc, because you will remain the Guest and nothing further outside of your group of friends.

I will be glad to rid myself of the by-stander apathy problem, which I personally didn't recognize until my own experience on the afternoon rush hour train, where a man stomped over to a woman who was talking on the phone and proceeded to yell at her flailing his arms in her face. No one on the train came to her rescue even though it looked as though he was about to hit her, not even I stepped in. I was prob. the most qualified to have as well. I am foreign, he would have backed off, but I just stood there and turned away.. and that was prob the most disappointed in myself that I have ever been. I swore that I'd help the next person who needed it, but I have yet to be able to redeem myself. The one regret I have in Japan.

I have learned Japanese to the best of my ability, I have grown close to my host parents who I hope, I will keep in contact with for many years to come, I have made wonderful friends who I can't wait to hang out with when I return (Go Terrapins!) and I am finally ready to come home. Home to my bed, my dogs, and my family. Thank you everyone, for supporting me while I've been away. I'll see you all soon!

On another note

Just for everyone's information, Google Blogger does not work at my host family's house. It hasn't worked all semester. When I try to go on it cuts off my internet connection. This means = AFTER WEDNESDAY I WILL NOT BE UPDATING MY BLOG UNTIL EITHER, I GET TO MY HOTEL ROOM, OR I RETURN HOME. Facebook will still be updated with photos in the meantime. But After Wednesday this blog is going on vacation for about a week and a half.

Kobe Festival

So on Sunday, during which I should have been studying for finals, my Otousan took me to Kobe Matsuri. The last Kobe festival was in 1990 and apparently they have them only every 20 years? (It is a new festival and this was the second one). I've been really lucky this semester that all the once in a lifetime things I was just in time for, Imperial Palace, Himeji-jo, and now Kobe Matsuri. It was a HUGE all-day festival and parade. Thousands of people took over a 6 block area of Kobe's shopping district area, near Sanomiya station. Over the course of the day I discovered it was a multicultural celebration so Japanese-Brazillians and Japanese-Peruvians did some Spanish dancing, lots of Samba dancing. Okinawan dancing, etc. you get the picture. Every food imaginable was being sold and I chose to eat Korean style Okinomiyaki (which I think is just as amazing as Osaka style and easier to make) and a hot dog on a stick. Yes I ate a hotdog on stick. There are just some times where you need American food. Haha

Otousan did his photography thing and I snapped a few shots here and there which I will upload to facebook later today. We watched the parade starting at 11 AM for about 2 hours but we got hungry so we didn't stay in that area to finish watching it. The parade was still going on when we returned home later, we finished watching it on TV around 4:30.

I've been working on a video project (for fun) on all the clips I've taken in Japan this semester. I plan to make a video or series of videos documenting my semester. I'll prob finish those before I come home, so be on the lookout for links on facebook or here on the blog.

Finals

Boooo, finals have started. Luckily I finish them all early, unluckily four of them are on the same day...TODAY. I completed two so far, my speaking and reading tests (in Japanese). Passed with a good feeling about both of them. Next I have my final for my Culture in Everyday Society class. To be honest I didn't study as hard for this one because the language tests were more important but I'm hoping that me attending class a lot will help me. Then afterwards I must finish my sumi final because tomorrow I am backing it, or framing it for the end of the year show. I will upload a picture of it when it is done. I didn't want to do anything serious for my final project because I'm not really a serious person. I wanted to bring some humor to it. So I took a famous Miyazaki character, Totoro and put him in my painting. You'll see it when it's done, it's nothing really special, compared to the other art works I've seen... I'm nothing. But sumi-e class was fun and it was nice to be creative for once.

Kiriya Hiromu

This is Kiriya Hiromu, the woman who played the main lead as the Scarlet Pimpernel. Her man singing voice was sooooo good, and if you saw this play without knowing they were all females, you wouldn't think twice about their genders. They were very good at playing men. In Japan, the women who play the main male leads are the most famous and popular stars. They are the ones with al the fans. The females lead isn't that important.

The Scarlet Pimpernel- Takarazuka

This is Takarazuka's Scarlet Pimpernel, the original performance. This is not the one I saw.


This is the Revue part of the show, and the finale.

Takarazuka Revue

(Not much left in the semester to talk about. I'm winding down and am now starting finals. I have only one 'trip' left before I go home, and that will be after the graduation ceremony. Osaka Castle, which I've tried to go to several times, but it's never worked out. So I will go after he 22nd.)

Last Saturday I had the most amzing experience of my life. Thanks from a reccomendatin from Mieko, the gang, and a few other people I didn't know, went to go see Takarazuka's Moon Troupe perform The Scarlet Pimpernel! Takarazuka is an all female acting group. The concept of females acting as males is that an androgenous man is the ideal man in Japan, so the females that portray the male lead characters are the perfect men. I have to admit, that they do a really good job to. The males/females live as men untill they retire from te group where they revert back to being females. It is very interesting, (they are not gay, living like a man just makes their performance better).

So Takarazuka is a blend of Broadway and a Las Vegas show. The Moon Troupe is famous for it's musicals, and that's what we saw. We saw The Scarlet Pimpernel, it was fanastic, even if we had to struggle to understand. (All in Japanese) And in true Takarazuka fashion, when the main play ends, they put on a revue, the Las Vegas-type show. I will link videos to show my meaning.

But my advice for anyone visiting Japan, is GO SEE TAKARAZUKA. ANY troupe(They have 5 different troupes). YOU WILL LOVE IT!

Golden Week

Golden Week is a string of national holidays that, including the weekend, make about a week. Everyone in Japan has off for Golden Week, and by everyone I mean business men, schools, government agencies, etc. Not train station workers, and part time jobs in retail stores. It is the busiest time of year after New Years. While Emily and all them went to Tokyo to rough it out in hostels, park benches, and internet cafes, I took the more comfortable aproach and stayed home to hang out with my host family.

My parents brought me to a park and we had an all day outing, includin another delicious picnic meal. (They LOVE their picnics!). I worked a lot on catch-up with homework assignments and projects. On Tuesday we took a paid excursion to Shirakawa-Go, a 500 year old village on the northern coast. The town was still inhabbitted, and the houses still had thatched roofs- made for great opportunity for Otousan to take pictures. Unfortunatly, it took 6 hours to get there, I had to wake up at 6am, and we were only there for an hour and 15 minutes. Boooo~ Sometimes Japan confuses me, but by now I just shake my head and deal with it. We had bento lunches, and bento dinners on the bus. (Bentos are like bagged lunches.. except not bagged).

Moral of the Story

Don't feed the stray cats, no matter how much they cry. (T__T);

Fushimi Inari

On Saturday the girls, and John, went to the Yukata party thing and all I wanted was to sleep in and do nothing all day. So that's what I did. Saturday was the first completely lazy day I've had in Japan.. didn't go anywhere, didn't do anything, and my host parents didn't feel the need to bring me someplace.

On Sunday the gang decided to go to Fushimi Inari. It is a series of Shinto shrines and tori gates all over a mountain. The main temple sits at the base of the mountain and then you follow a path or two to the top, stopping at shrines along the way. The kistune or fox guardians, one biting a scroll and one biting a jewel (officially dubbed the Shikon Jewel-thank you Inuyasha), are the guardians of Inari, who is a human/er.. shinto god person. The climb was only bad in a few areas where the steps were steep, but the view is totally worth it. We brought lunch so we had a picnic near the top. And I also want to say that I officially LOVE Japanese woods. They are so completely different than woods I am used to back home. Trees are taller, skinnier, more moss on the ground, and the bugs don't sound as annoying. Very pretty day. Pics are coming soon to facebook.

VIDEO

Video for Japanese Class

This past week I've been really busy working on a project for my Japanese speaking class. We had to write a script and film it. My group consisted of me, Emily, and Michelle. It was... eh.. I've uploaded it to facebook and currently am uploading it to youtube. Watch if you can. Many of you won't understand.. but you'll laugh nonetheless.

Japan's Countryside

The place I've always wanted to visit I have finally gone! Ignore the bad grammar in that last sentence. Okaasan took me to her hometown to bring obaasan back to her home. She has recovered from her cancer surgery and is very 'genki', energetic, healthy. Her home town's name is Ako and is about 3-4 hours drive from Hirakata. It is such a small town, very Berlin, CT-esque... but MUCH better. It sits in a valley along side a chain of mountains that hug the coast-line. We went to the beach and had lunch at this restaurant overlooking the pretty view, (Pics will come soon). But back to the beginning of the story. We arrive and within two minutes of parking there were 20+ neighbors come to pay their respects, bring presents, food, or just to gawk at us. Obaasan's house is extreeeemely old style and I LOVED IT! The layout was very wicked cool. Unfortunately dumb me didn't take a pic of the house. But basically there was the front door, and the front room had a ginormous window that we opened and was practically another door.

Later we visited the Ako Castle, which is famous in Japan. This is where the story of the 47 ronin that took revenge on their Lord's death happened. We went to the shrine there and there were statues of these 47 samurai everywhere. We also visited the Salt factory. Which isn't a factory at all. Ako, is known for it's sea salt production. They maintained these old ways of making salt from sea water and we got to watch and make some ourselves. Fresh sea salt is amazingly good!

Finally to end this wonderful trip my host mom brought me to an onsen. A hot springs. And for those of you who know little about Japanese culture, essentially I went skinny dipping with a bunch of strangers. The actual experience was amazing! They provide all these luxury shampoos and bath salts for you. And it wasn't too bad, since I had to remove my glasses and could barely see, honestly. Also, whoever says all Japanese girls are skinny, are just fooling themselves. They just have small frames, they still pack flab. :) (Personal feelings on this experience is that I would never do this again, but I'm glad I did it once).

Weekend Plans

I got nothing to write about. So I will tell you what I'll be up to this weekend. I will be catching up in hmk and things, mountain hiking, and maybe visiting Obaasan's home town. :]

Social Rules for a Gaijin #3

Things to Do and Not Do on the train or subway:
Do not talk loud.
If no one else on the train is talking... do not talk at all.
Do not use your cell, unless it is on silent. And under no circumstances are you allowed to make or take a phonecall.
Do not sit in the priority seating if you are a gaijin, even if you qualify as a pregnant woman, a person with a kid or old.
Always give up your seat to a Japanese person. If you don't you will get stared at.
Scratch that last one you will get stared at regardless.
DO NOT bring yuor dog on the train, unless you can carry it in your arms.

Tip: If it is your stop and the train is so crowded you can't get to the door, swish your hand around in a downward motion and say in a very gajin-like accent 'sumimasen'

America vs. Japan Round #2

Things I will miss from Japan:
heated toilet seats
the general public's amazing fashion sense
ofuro

There was a time when sitting on a warm toilet seat gave me an image of a person who just couldn't get out that #2. But here in Japan that image has changed. When I actually find toilets that aren't heated I give a little yelp cause it freezes my behind. I personally think a warm seat makes going more comfortable, especialy when you have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, sitting on a cold seat would wake you up.

People in Japan dress the best I've seen in any country I've been in. When you are young like me you dress very cute, and when you are old you dress your age. No wearing tank tops and booty shorts for grandmas. The girls my age know how to dress and I like Hirakata's popular style. As a side note, Kansai Gaidai is in the top 5 best dressed universities in Japan. And I believe someone said it was number three for a long time.

Ofuro... my wonderful ofuro. The weather is getting nicer and I won't get to have you any more. Ofuro, a hot bath you soak in after you shower, is the best Japanese invention ever. Think of it as a spa for you westerners. You sit in reeaally really hot water and it just feels great. Can't really do this in the states cause Japanese bathrooms are special. I will miss this a great deal as well.

Kyoto Imperial Palace Grounds picture

Kyoto Imperial Palace

If we lucked out with Himeji, then we REALLY lucked out with our Imperial Palace visit. Usually in order to go into the Palace grounds you need to sign up for a private tour. There is a waiting list and the wait time in a couple of months. LUCKILY, they had a special event which had the Palace open between Wednesday and Sunday of last week. We went yesterday, Sunday. The Palace building itself wasn't that special, but the Emperor's gardens, and the decorated walls inside of the buildings were beyond anything I've seen before. I took pictures of the three main entrances, the one for foreign dignitaries, one for commoners (which is the one we had to go through) and the one for the Emperor. We couldn't actually go inside, but the doors were all open so we could look inside. The walls were covered with sumi paintings. GORGEOUS sumi paintings. I took pictures of some, but they don't do them justice. The thing I found the best here however were the Emperor's personal gardens in the back of the palace. I totally want my backyard to look like that. It was inspiring. We shopped around a little after. There were a good number of people but it wasn't too bad because the grounds are very large.

Himeji Castle picture

Himeji Castle

Himeji Castle was closed on Sunday. It will remain closed for the next five years as they do renovation and some reconstruction on the castle and the castle grounds. Our group decided to head out early on Saturday morning to see it, since it was our last chance. GOOD THING WE DID! Himeji Castle was by faaaaar my favorite place in Japan and I'm sad that Japan's tourists for the next half a decade won't be able to see it.

I personally woke up at 6:15 and dragged my sleeping self to Hirakata station at around 7:45 where I joined the others. He headed out to our adventure. About 2 and a half hours later we arrived. It's a straight walk to the castle and the huge crowd of tourists directed our way. The mob that day was actually nice and since we had gotten there early, it was still BIG- but our wait to get into the castle was significantly smaller than people that came later. The transportation costs to get there was excruciatingly high but the entrance fee was rather cheap. We waited in line for about 30 minutes, taking pictures along the way. Our friend Andrew who had gone the week before went later in the afternoon and had to wait 2 hours to get into the castle. The outside of the castle is amazingly beautiful. There were six 'water' gates we passed and the crowd took the lesser grand entrance through the basement. We worked our way up to each level of the castle. There was beautiful artwork inside and it what was amazing even more was that the castle was FULLY original, it had never been destroyed or damaged in any war and was in rather good condition considering. (The renovation is replace the original however, and I didn't catch what they were doing with the original parts, putting them in museums, etc. I don't know). The stairs were extremely steep and since we had to walk through without our shoes on it was rather scary at some points. And it is true that Japanese people were short back then because the ceilings were so low that when Emily or I walked up stairs or downstairs we had to bend our back, and even when I did that I hit my back onto he ceiling's beam. It amused me and I didn't get hurt so all was good. At the top floor there was a Shinto shrine that had been on the land before the original castle. The story goes tat they moved the Shinto shrine and the gods punished them somehow so they moved it back on the land and in the attic.

There was a great view and you should go look at my facebook pictures when you can. After the tour through the main castle we toured the women's quarters to the west. It was for the lady's attendants and lady's in waiting and looked very much to me like a dorm. Afterwards we had lunch out by the cherry blossoms. Great day :)

Graduation style wear

another pic

Graduation Style Wear

It's like a kimono tunic /shortened kimono, with the graduation style pants. Mine is a skirt.

Not much to say these days

Not much is going on these days. I've been trying to keep up with my schoolwork, trying to get in studying. THis weekend we are all going to go see Himeji castle. It's partially under renovation and after this weekend it will be completely under renovation for the next five years, so if we want to see it, it's now.

Spent last weekend with my host parents. Doing some Ohanami, Sakura flower blossom viewing. Everyone in Japan does it. I mean EVERYONE. Picnics, beer, pictures... it's a good time. I've finally gotten to appreciate some aspects of beer. But I still prefer the fruity drinks LOL. I've been missing everyone recently. I'm not sick of Japan yet, but I definitely wish everyone was here with me.

I was debating taking a picture of my outfit for graduation but I want it to be a surprise, so I will instead post a picture of the 'style' of what I will be wearing. So you can see but not have the surprise spoiled. Okaasan is taking me to get my hair done for that, and Otousan is my self appointed photographer xD haha.

NHK and the Morning Drama

So in order to explain my horrible morning today, this rainy Friday, I first have to explain the Japanese's morning drama. In Japan, there is a morning drama that plays all year long, 6 days a week, at 8:00 A.M., for 15 minutes. (A point to note, TV in the Kansai area is different than the Kanto prefecture/Tokyo area and others, and television differs in each region. The common thread is a few stations, one of which is NHK, the Japanese national channel. It shows everything from news to documentaries etc. ) The mrning drama is shown on NHK after the morning news. Up until now I have only watched the news, but since the new year started in Japan (new year such as September back to school etc. etc. is April in Japan) the new drama has begun.

The new drama named, "Gegege's Wife" is the story of the real author's wife, and it's her story growing up. It started out when she was 9 or 10 or something and it's going to show her progression through her life, growing up, learning new things, her first love, etc. I predict that it will be immensely popular. And here's my reasoning: 1. It is set pre/during war and gives the ageing Japanese population a nostalgic feeling of the past, of good times, their childhood. 2. The main character is the epitome of the perfect girl in Japan. She's gentle, sweet, kind, everything that Japanese school systems try to mold young girls into. This creates a feeling of attachment and admiration for her character already instilling an emotional link to the story. 3. I can tell because the trains are virtually empty on my line while the show is in progress and there is a mass exodus towards the train station as soon as the show is over.

This brings me to my horrible morning. I watched the drama today, mostly because I like the theme song it uses simple Japanese so I can understand most of it, and because I watch TV while I eat my breakfast anyway. Fridays I have my first class at 9:00 A.M. and we have a chapter test every friday. I left for the train this morning after the show was over and found myself in a sea of people walking to the train station. I was packed soooon tighly against people on the train today that a seemingly cool day turned really hot from body heat! Because of the increase in passengers the trains were a bit offtime and the busses were late and slow. I ALMOST MISSED MY TEST!! Rawr! That was my bad morning. And even though you don't know how I feel, believe me when I say, I... HATE.... CROWDED... PLACES.

I'm Joining a Club

Starting next week I will be in the Japanese sign language circle/club. I can alsread say a few things like my age, where I'm from, things I'm good and bad at, things I like etc. I'll never ever use it.. but it's still fun.

Okinawa Day #5

Our last full day in Okinawa was spent in the Old craft village north of where we were staying, near the American marine base. This old village was created for a TV drama and turned into a craft and activity village for locals and the occasional tourist.

Four of us weaved a cloth thing. It was actually pretty fun, even though my stripes weren't even and my OCD-ness prevented me from liking it to much. I took a lot of cool pictures there. We walked through the banana tree green house and had a good time just chilling there. We ate lunch at a place across the street. And the others did some shopping there as well.

Taking pictures was my favorite part of this day, so the post is a little boring. Wait for the pictures later.

Okinawa Day #4

Our fourth day was spent at the glass factory and wonderful Okinawa world!

We took two cabs to the glass factory to save about 2 hours in our commute. John, Andra and I were in one cab, where the guy kept talking to us in Japanese... Andra was the only one talking to him. I was reading a book and John was listening to music.. and I was purposefully ignoring the driver LOL. Andra sort of understood him I think. Anyhow we got to the glass factory safely. At frist I wanted to pay to blow glass, only 2000 yen, but everyone was too chicken to talk to anyone and too chicken to do it with me so we decided just to shop instead. I got a few cool things in the glass store. I bought my favorite souvenir here that I will show everyone when I get back.

If I ever go back to Okinawa I would come back here! Okinawa world is a cultural theme park all about Okinawa, (no cool rides). We got to watch traditional dancing and drum playing. We went to a snake show. John wanted to see the famous Okinawan Snake vs. mongoose fight but alas no gory fights were shown. We went to the cultural museum there. Had a wonderful lunch in the cafeteria. (can't remember what I ate anymore though sorry). We all bought Hibiscus tea, which I LOVE because when it's cold it's sweet and when it's hot it's bitter. My host parents don't like it much but I think it's 'Yum.'

I think the best part of Okinawa world was the underground caves we got to go in. I'm going to say it's about a 20 min fast walk through. Prob. took us a little under 50 mins because we were taking a lot of pictures and stopping here and there. There was one area in the caves that completely freaked me out. The room/area had a step down area and when you walk out into the open area you look up and thousands of little spikes are starring at you. I was paranoide that they were going to break off and fall on me and kill me.... even the smallest one would have. Then this stupid little kid ran by and shouted really loud and banged his feet on the ground. I was making choking motions in his direction because I really wanted to kill that kid! Brat! Other then the scary parts the caves were very pretty.

Okinawa Day #3

Our third day was spent at the beach. It was a GREAT day weather wise. We took the monorail and the bus. The bus ride took about an hour and a half and was very expensive. Buses ni Hirakata are 220 yen no matter where I go, at most 250 yen. In Okinawa a normal ride could and did go up to 1000 yen. It made transportation very expensive for the rest of the week, (we rode the bus to get to our destinations). It wasn't beach season in Okinawa so the close beach was closed. It was really nice, warm weather to us foreigners but we saw people walking around in fleece sweatshirts. The hotel people didn't understand we wanted to go swimming in weather they think is too cold.

Not much to write about this day, we swam, took pictures, had fun and went back and had some famouse okinawan food. Pictures tell this story better than words.

Okinawa Day #2

(Sorry for the long wait guys I was a little busy with a paper this week)

The second day of Okinawa we all woke up early to go to Shurijo Castle, an old Ryukyu Kingdom castle. (The Ryukyu Kingdom inhabited the island for hundred of years before the Japanese took over in the late 1800s). We took the monorail and walked a little ways. If you don't take the monorail or bus... you have to walk everywhere.

When we finally found it, about 15 mins into the walk, we walked up the ramp and into the castle grounds. We toured the entire grounds, inside and out. When we went inside the guest quarters and the main throne building we had to removed our shoes. I had worn sandals that day and most of us were walking barefoot. It was an interesting experience (I have never been barefoot in public in Japan.. weird feeling, socially awkward). I took a bunch of pictures but the buildings were dimly lit and most of them didn't capture the beauty of what we saw.

A lot of famous places in Japan are undergoing renovation. Half of outside the castle was under construction so you can see it in the pics, so I bought a postcard with the entire pretty building showing.

After the castle we took the monorail to the 'Mile' which is a mile long street with famous shops and eating places on it. We bought most of our souvenirs there. We ate a a spagetti shop for dinner. Japanese spaghetti is different, different ingredients, different taste. Not at all like Italian or American style.

Okinawa Day #1

I went to Okinawa with Emily, John, Andra, Tiffany, and Mieko. We left on Monday morning to the Kansai airport around 10 in the morning. I over packed by a lot and my shoulder hurt walking with my duffel bag. Taking the train was VERY expensive for usual train costs here. I prob. spent 20$ to get to and from the airport. We took the limited express trains, and got there at about an hour or so later. We chilled in the check in area waiting to pick up our tickets. When we got in the terminal we just waited around at the gate. Japanese domestic flights have the nicest security. Didn't have to take off my shoes, didn't have to take off my sweater, very fast and convenient. We took a JAL flight, and the snack they gave us was this slice of hard Italian-type bread that was dipped in white chocolate... MMMMMMMmmmm! I loved it. The flight was a little less than two hours there (took less no the return trip).

We took Okinawa's monorail to our hotel. Okinawa doesn't have trains, just a single monorail system and buses. (We were soon to find out that taking the bus in Okinawa would deplete our funds). We walked about 5 minutes to our hotel. It wasn't the nicest hotel, but it had great access to the monorail and good restaurants around it.. and for the price we all paid it was very good. We got three hotel rooms. Mieko and I shared a room. We survived off of convenience store food the first night.

Spring break is Over

And I'm too lazy to post. I will write the posts tonight and quickly add them tomorrow morning.

Note To Readers

Obviously I am not taking my computer to Okinawa. So please don't expect any updates after This weekend. When I leave I will not be posting again until I am back in school, with access to good internet. Thank you for your time. :]

Weekend/ Vacation Plans

Tonight I am going over my neighbor's neighbor's house to meet the three girls that live there. They invited me over for dinner. One girl is in high school, one in junior high, and one in primary school. They've been wanting to meet me since my host parents told their parents I was coming. Sounded like fun and they know English and I can try out my short form Japanese on them.

Saturday Is up for grabs. Don't really know what we are doing. I think Lunch and karaoke are being talked about.

Sunday I am going back to the Kyoto Flea market at Toji temple. Then Sunday night we are going to the light festival. For the past two weeks, certain temples in Kyoto have been lit up at night and we all wanted to go. The last day is Monday so we decided to go on Sunday.

Monday morning everyone that is going on the trip is meeting at Hirakata station, then we are taking the train to Kansai International Airport/ KIX. Our flight leaves around 3. We are going to Okinawa for the whole week. We don't have specific plans once we get there, but some people want to swim (they are crazy cause it's freakin cold still) and I am happy to sit on the beach and sleep/ or read. I want to take a glass boat ride to see some coral and try Okinawa's unique food. But that's about all I have planned.

Awesome Teacher

Update on Midterms

Midterms are completed. A week of Japanese tests exhausted my studying skills. They are a bit rusty you know. The last time I studied for a Japanese test was freshman year. Classes here are way tense and I couldn't not study for them. I think I did really good on my reading, kanji, and translation. I think I did OK on my interview and my grammar sections.

I got my culture test back. I got a 101!Yay for bonus question~! Also, the story for the picture. I got finished with the exam really early and there was this picture of Godzilla at the bottom of the page. I decided it was my duty to 'finish' the picture. I got comments back on it. ;P

Grandma Camp

Dear Grandma,

I'm glad I got to say goodbye before I left to Japan. I'm glad I got to say 'I Love You' one last time. I'm glad that you are no longer in pain. But I'm not glad that I couldn't be with you in your last few days, or even at your funeral. I hope that God has blessed you wherever you are now.

I love you Grandma Camp.

Sunday with Okaasan.

Okaasan took me, with her friend, to Hirakatashi's once a month flea market. I didn't buy anything big, but we sampled a lot of food. Okaasa was mean on Sunday though. Here's how it went down:

We were walking along the stalls and she went off to buy something and get free samples. I went to the handmade jewelry shop to look around. She came back with a spoon full of something I didn't recognize. I had been chatting with the shop owner as best I could up until that point. (Basically she asked if I was a college student, and I replied yes, I go to Kansai Gaidai, I'm here with my host mother). Okaasan stuck the spoon out for me to eat it. I asked her what it was but she insisted I just eat it. I should have been suspicious when the shop owners started giggling at us. I ate it. It was Natto wrapped in a brown lettuce thing. Then Okaasan asked Is it delicous? I said, in a very loud voice, NO IT IS NOT DELICOUS. Then the shop owners laughed at me more.

My Sumi-e Midterm

Waterfall

Friday/ & Osaka Aquarium

Last friday the gang decided to go to the Fire festival in Kyoto which only happens once a year. I was torn between going and studying for my tests this week. But since I knew that Sat. we were going to the Aquarium I stayed home. Luckily for me, Unlucky for them, they got there late and were about a mile away from the actual ceremony. So they didn't see much, but two torches. They didn't get to see the Temple on fire (not really on fire, but the torches ON the temple) so I didn't miss anything.
On Saturday morning we left for the Aquarium, with Tiff this time. YAY! Tiffany usually has club things on Saturdays so I was happy she could come with us. If I said Kobe reminded me of Baltimore, then Osaka Aquarium reminded me on the Inner Harbor even more so. The Aquarium wasn't as big as Baltimore's but it was still REALLY nice and I had fun going through it... up until my camera decided it didn't want to take any more pictures.. T___T I was in a bad mood up until lunch for this reason. We had lunch at this mall place next to the Aquarium. I had my frist Japanese KFC... and it was amazing. Emily got Subway. And I can't remember what everyone else got. After lunch we walked around, found a Hello Kitty store and a Ninja/shinobi store where I bought my geisha doll and two postcards. After we shopped around it was time for our Imax movie. We bought tickets to go see the "Under the Sea' Imax movie. It was in Japanese so we didn't understand it.. but the visuals were great and there was such pleasant music we all got a little sleepy. After the Imax movie we went to buy tickets for the big ferris wheel. It used to be the biggest in the world a few years ago, but it has since been outmatched. Never-the-less, it was HUGE. John was a little scaredy cat so he sat on the floor while the rest of us enjoyed the view of the Sunset from it. After that..we walked to this park, where a sign declared the park was 'Japan's smallest mountain' It was really a hill. We were all confused. We went back to Hirakata for dinner, because we knew the food was cheaper. We ate at a chinese restaurant, and I got Ramen.

Yay Free time!

This week is midterm week so I've been very busy studying for my exams. SO far I have done my Culture midterm, my Speaking Japanese Interview, and my sumie painting midterm. Today I have my Reading test. Thursday my Listening Comprehension, and Friday my Kanji test.

I have a small paper to write for April 1st, which I'll be doing while on vacation next week. Since I had some free time today before my test I figured I'd update people on what's going on.

ICK

Last night I didn't finish my dinner. I wasn't even close to getting halfway. My host family thought I was sick. I was sick. Sick from disgust. I didn't have the heart (or the stomach) to tell them their food was horrible. Horrible in every sense of the word. Period. One bite out of the bean curd filled with a mysterious substance made we want to gag the other food I could get down. I usually eat the nasty food first, I USUALLY can get it down, but not last night.

I lost my appetite after the mystery food for the rest of the night and because of that my host parents thought I was sick. They kept pestering me to eat stuff, (which would have made me vomit right on the spot), they kept asking if I was ok. YES DAIJOUBU!(I'm ok) now leave me alone! Aaagh -___-;

Parents...

Memorial Garden

My Photography
Otousan took me to Kansai's memorial garden with his photography club. I don't remember what the memorial is for, but having been here a while now I'm sure it's either about peace, or about taking care of the earth. The people in his photography club were really friendly and I had so much fun that I was thinking about getting a SLR camera and persuing photography more. The park/garden was HUGE and Otousan got us lost a few times. Most of the park was pretty, except the late Spring/Summer area which ahsn't bloomed yet and looked completely dead still. I'm sure it will be amazing later though. It seems every time I get to go flower viewing it's either raining or Freeeeezing. On Sunday, I had both. Despite the cold though I had a lot of fun and I got some great pics with my mini camera.

Memorial Garden- Picture

My photography.

Shin Saibashi

I bought a new purse and I finally bought a bento set. I couldn't decide between a Charlie Brown style or Hello Kitty, but the Hello Kitty ones had more pieces so I picked that. The Hello Kitty store in Shin Saibashi was where got it. I got the My Melody one though, because the Hello Kitty one was red, and I wanted pink. It comes with chopsticks, two onigiri packs, the bento box, and the carrier. It's very cute.

Shin Saibashi was even more crowded than Namba, but this area is very famous anyway so I guess it's expected. I found the Glico man and took the 'tourist' photo with him. (Glico makes pocky for those who don't actually know who that company is) We found some weird people wearing pokemon PJs in the street... I still claim that Japanese girls can make anything look cute on them... even those bright neon fuzzy overalls I found in the mall.

Namba Walk

After the Peace Museum the girls (and John) and I took the subway to Namba. We originally wanted to go to Osaka castle, and to eat lunch. But we couldn't find a place to eat and it wasn't really a nice day to go see the castle. We walked around the castle gates and I got to see the NHK building. They are the Television station that my Host parents watch everyday. I watch the NHK news every morning. We checked out the inside of the building and then decided to go to Namba cause we were getting hungry. Namba is another large underground mall. I'm beginning to think they are very popular in Japan. It cuts through the subway/train station so there's a good number of people. We had lunch here. I got this takoyaki mac N cheese thingy, with a shrimp and cheese over rice thingy. I also got a strawberry parfait. It was very good, and I was glad I spoiled myself that day. The Namba walk was fun and we were there a few hours looking around, but nothing worth blogging about happened. Lol

Osaka Peace Museum

On Saturday Morning I finally got the chance to go to Osaka. Emily, Andra and I followed John and his class on their field trip. The museum was a WWI museum. It is a localy funded place so the biggest portion of the museum was dedicated the Osaka bombings from the B-29 bombers (hope I remembered that correctly. The bottom half of the museum had pictures and memorabelia from the era. There were old propaganda newspapers, guns, diary entries talking about their inscription, etc. There was a VERY small space dedicated to the Pearl Harbor attack. There was a huge section on the atomic bombs. They had pictures of affected people.. (really nasty to see, made me kind of sad). They had pieces of melted debri which was cool to look at. We got to see an educational video that gets shown to elementary schoolers who visit there. This is where the different in educational systems are shown. The video was animated but is showed gore, violence, it didn't put the war in context, kind of put a bad light on the Americans, although we weren't actually mentioned by name. It portrayed the US as arbitrarally bombing all over Osaka, but as John's teacher taught us, they were strategically picked areas that were bombed (important gov. buildings, railways, etc.) I wouldn't go as far to say it is a propaganda video, but I can say that it is specifically made for little children to be scared, getting an emotional rise from students. My impression of the museum is so so.

Update

Nothing much is really going on nowadays. I don't do many interesting things during the week to blog about. I've been getting things ready for adding classes for the Fall. I'm going through all my leftover requirements. They are mostly Gen Eds. (Two of which are sciences/labs that I haven't done yet D:) I have to get my course equated again, since I didn't take the classes I signed up for.

In my culture class we discussed the Japanese school system, with comparisons with the American and Chinese school systems. The Japanese (elementary level) school system we looked at emphasized collective and group interactions/togetherness, peer to peer interaction, and little adult discipline/rather discipline from your peers. Sounds boring to some but I was entertained by the discussion.

Eating lunch at New Dehli again. The Indian restaurant across the street from the school. I can taste the curry now Mmmmmm....

Midterms and Spring Break

Midterms are next week! Haha The semester here is shorter and it doesn't really feel like I've been here for over a month but I have. I saw the schedule posted for midterms this morning which is reminding me to get a head start on some of my work for the second half of the semester (the more I do now, the less I ahve to do later).

Also, my Spring Break plans are set in stone, paid for, etc. etc. My group, John, Emily, Andra, and I, are going along with our friends Tiffany and Mieko to Okinawa! We will be there from the 22nd to the 27th. (We planned this before all of the earthquake nonsense. So hopefully they won't come again while we are there.) We bought a package deal through Kansai Gaidai's travel service. We will be flying there and back. We will be staying in nice hotel, which thankfully is pretty cheap. I personally plan to do some reading, and catching some ZzZ's on the beach, try out some of their famous food, and maybe take a glass bottom boat ride to look at coral.

Raw Egg for Dinner

I narrowingly escaped eating raw egg for dinner last night. It's a popular food here in Japan aparently, where you take your bowl of cooked rice and mix in a raw egg. I politely declined.

Flower

Plum Blossom

Hanami (Flower Viewing)

The first signs of spring have shown themselves in Japan. The flowers have started to bloom, so my Okaasan decided we should go out to have a picnic. In the morning we made onigiri and some fried chicken and a bunch of other picnic foods and packed them up in the car. It was nice inside the house, but after a while it was a little cold outside. But we toughed it up and sat in a really nice area. A little crowded but not in our general area. I don't think anyone in Japan minds the cold because it doesn't stop them from doing things outside. The flowers were just beginning to bud and I can't imagine how pretty that area will be in a week or two more when the flowers are fully bloomed. We ate, too a bunch of family photos and took a walk around the lake to warm up.

Cooking Class

This weekend was full of new things, just like always. This weekend my group from school had all different schedules so I decided I'd give this weekend to my host parents. (After our Friday's weekly karaoke night of course) Saturday began with a whole day of fun for me. After I did laundry and hung it outside I got ready to go to Hirakatashi. I needed to get my new train pass, which was more difficult than I thought. I forgot to get the slip of paper from Kansai Gaidai so I could only get a one month renewell instead of the three month pass. I'm going to lose a few bucks over this, but not too much. After I got my new pass I walked over to Hirakata's community center where my class was. My host mom does a lot of things with community centers so she signed me up for this cooking class (she often ahs me help her in the kitchen at home and it's fun to learn how to make Japanese food). There were a few other Kansai Gaidai students, but most of them were just other foreigners living in Hirakata. Hirakata is home to a large population of forigners, because of Kansai Gaidai and businesses. This class taught us how to make a bento. Everything was really simple and I fully intend on making more bentos when I return home. As I said on my facebook photo albumb: I made Onigiri, chicken wrapped over carrot slices and a green veggie, fried tofu, two different types of bean curds, one with a boiled egg and one with beef and carrots. We made rice noodles and an apple, fake cheese and cucumber salad. I wrote down all the directions (I'm going to make everyone try it when I get back! :D)

After class I went back home. On the way back I bought a mini fower arangement for my otousan because tonight we were going out for his birthday. We went to a western style restaurant about 20 minutre drive away. It had all you can eat bread. The 'bread people' I dubbed them walked up to each table about every 3 minutes to give you more. I got to eat with a fork and knife again.. T_T We had cold water to! We ate chicken and asparagus and shrimp in a white sauce thing. Carrot soup. Deliciousness. Mmm

Request

I've been requested to find out what the Japanese people think about Hiroshima. Now normally I have no qualms about asking people personal questions.. I just do it, but I don't know if that kind of outgoing... / assertive behavior would go over well in asking. So I did it anyway and asked my host parents how they felt about it. (They are an older generation and I figured they'd give me a better answer than my speaking partner). This might shock some people, because it shocked me, but they were honestly taken aback, not about the question, but that I knew about it. Odd right? Well maybe, maybe not. A little explaination is in order here.

Japan's education system has a notorious/historical reputation of rewriting their history text books to suit the state's needs. (For example, if you want to instill national pride change your history books to show that you were 'always' a powerful nation, etc. ) I honesty don't know if this practice still continues, if it does it's not very noticable. But yeah moving on, my personal thoughts on this is that they think all countries do this so the states can keep their dark secrets from their people. Again, only speculating but the only thoughts they shared on the subject were ones of suprise at me knowing about the atomic bombs.

Nara Video

My friend Emily uploaded this video on her Picasa account, I can't imbed it here but here's the link VIDEO

My Classes

I promised my mother that I would talk about my classes here at Kansai Gaidai. She is under the impression that I am failing all of my classes from my lack of talking about them. (HAHA Oh mooooooom).

My Japanese speaking class is kind of fun. We do a lot of pair work having conversations. Some days there is an odd number of people and I get paired up with either the Sensei or the two teacher assistants. The two teacher's assistants are students of Kansai Gaidai about to get their teacher's license. They are both going to teach Japanese to foreigners, either abroad or here in Japan. They are very nice to talk to. Anyhow, sometimes I get paired with them which is only bad when I have not been paying attention and don't know what we are talking about. Anyhow, most of what I go over in this class I have learned before, but I'm learning how to apply them better. My Reading and Writing class, which I thought would be difficult at first is prob my easiest class. I know usually about half of the kanji in each week's lesson which makes studying easier. (THANK YOU YOUKOSO!- name of my old Jpns textbook) I feel really smart in class to. I have very little diffifulty with reading the assigned passages, and when I write, the only thing I ever get wrong is a word or two and some particles, which have always been my downfall. I'm not doing as well in my Japanese classes as when I was at home, but Jpns at Towson is reeeeallly easy. I still maintain solid A's for these classes so far though.

My sumi-e class is amazing, and it's a great time to sit and relax during the week. When class starts I have to take off my shoes (tatami mat art room with low sitting tables) and get my supplies to my seat. I fill my water dish and start grinding the sumi-e ink. The grinding takes about 10-15 mintues and then class starts. Sensei/of who's name I don't actually know, demonstrates a technique or a new 'item' such as a flower or rock and then the class is left to experiment with it. The second class of the week is also a technique class. The third class of the week is just free time to paint whatever I want, or work on a technique or finish the hand-in assignments. I have to hand in three pieces of work a week for my porfolio. I will be graded on my porfolio at the end of the semester. I've been getting better, but I am still working on tonality. Basically having more than a one or two shades on the painting. I am also still working on getting away from the 'Western art perspective.' This basically means that Westerners like art that is definit, equal, balanced, while Eastern perspective likes messy, random, and asymetrical. I am also always conciously thinking of this as I paint. So far I have learned two techniques of bamboo, one type of flower which I don't remember the name, rocks, and next week we get to learn chrysanthemum.

My Culture in Everyday Life class is also a good class. It is an anthropology of Japan class, basically. The big assignment for this class is one or two interviews with strangers on a topic of my choice. I have to annalyze both interviews. I am not very good at picking topics but I am excited to do this interview. The book for this class is a collection of articles about different aspects of Japanese culture and I completely love to read them! I'm already ahead in the readings because I find them so interesting. We get to read about the Japanese school system, minorities in Japan, etc. AND speaking of minorities in Japan: last semester I ahd to do a proect/write a paper on Koreans in Japan and one of the sources I used was really interesting. As it turns out, the Professor that teaches in this class wrote the article I quoted and used as a source in my paper! What a coincidence!!

My business communication class is my ultimate favorite class in the world! I hate business. But I love this class. We get to learn theory about interacting with other cultures in a professional atmosphere and I think that the things I learn in that class I can apply to working in my future. The project thing for that class is maintaining a blog. Heh well I haven't really been updating on my other blog. I think having two blogs is unnecessary, so I figure that this blog is fine for now. (Until he says otherwise I'm going to use this as my class project as well HAHA)

All in all, school in Japan is great. The professors understand that you are in Japan for a once in a lifetime opportunity and they make it very easy to learn and still do things outside of studying all the time. My life here in Japan rocks! ;P

Different Interpretations

My host mother's sister stayed the night last night because she was taking Obaasan/Grandma to the hospital today. Her sister is really nice and she knows enough English that I can understand her. This morning I was feeling particularly good looking.. xD ( meaning, not like usual, where I wake up and my hair looks like a bird's nest, where I have pillow imprints on my face and drool on my mouth...just kidding about that last part. ) So yeah I went downstairs to eat breakfast and her sister says something in Japanese to my host mom, they laugh and then she says to me, "You are so white." Now, I know that in Japan it is a compliment, but with my background living near DC and Baltimore all my brain could comprehend at the time (still being tired) was, "You're suck a cracker." ... It took me aback for a few seconds until I realized what she meant. She meant to say "Your skin looks nice this morning." -Sigh- misunderstandings..

America vs Japan: Round #1

Things I miss from America:
Cheese
Cold Water
REAL news

Cheese cannot be found in Japan in any recognizable form.
I am sick of tea. I am sick of hot water. I cannot be satisfied after a meal if I don't have anything cold to wash it down with.
Japanese news always has odd topics, and while it's interesting from an anthropological perspective, it is utterly useless for keeping up with international topics!

Social Rules for a Gaijin #2

Essential Phrases for the short term or long term Gaijin. These are all you need to know:

すみません I'm sorry/excuse me.

ごめんなさい I'm sorry.

しつれい　しました Excuse me I was rude.

もうしわけ　ございません I don't have an excuse.

いけない　こと　を　しました I've done something I shouldn't have done.

私がわるかった I am bad/I was wrong.

Quick Tip: The lower you bow the more sorry you seem.
(And yes, all Japanese people look like Goku when they are angry or upset)

Kobe Trip- Sannomiya

The Kobe trip actually happened first so ignore that I wrote the Kyoto post first. On Saturday I met up with my friends Sonya and Celest. They had moved to Japan sometime around last October to get jobs. Their free spirited nature took them all around Japan and Korea and they were on their way back to where they are currently staying when we decided to meet up and catch up. They are staying with friends in Kobe and I decided it would be fun to go out there and see what's around. So I dragged Emily and John along for a little adventure. We got completely 'lost' on the way there according to John, but my definition of lost is getting off at the wrong station or going in the wrong direction. We merely just couldn't read the map correctly and took a long way there. We met up with Sonya and Celest in Sannomiya. Sannomiya is in a busy part of Kobe and is prob the only famous thing about it. Kobe is the 'gangster/ yakuza' area of Japan.. but you really couldn't tell - or at least I couldn't. Under Sannomiya station there is a HUUUUUUUUUUGE indoor shopping district. And I don't want to say mall either, because the word mall implies a limited enclosed space. It was big and it lasted for blocks. We did a little window shopping there and decided to go to the famous Sweets Paradise for lunch. All you can eat cake and dessert stuff. you get 70 mins to stuff your face full of whatever you like. There was also normal food like rice and different kinds of noodles in case you needed real food, but the sweets were enough for anyone to take a bite out of. After that we walked to Kobe's China Town. It is something like a week afer the Chinese New Year (honestly I have no idea) so there were a lot of people. We had the famous Chinese meat buns, that Japanese people love, and I love as well! We walked around and decided we wanted to walk to the Kobe Earthquake memorial. On the way out however, we were randomly pushed to the side very abruptly and a dragon parade kind of came.. right to us. The dragon was going inside all the stores to give them good luck... but they were in our way. I uploaded a small clip of what I am talking about on my facebook. So go look for it! Anyhow we made our way over to the memorial. It is an outside memorial with a section of the old damaged port encased so you can look at it. That area of Kobe was the most heavily damaged and the pictures/movies in the memorial definitly showed that. I took a pic of the damaged section and the new bright lighted city in the background. Which ca also be found on my facebook. Kobe reminded me very much of Baltimore, despite being the only foreigners around, and it was really nice to 'get away', from what I don't know, but it was a nice feeling nontheless.

Kyoto Trip #3

I dub this the Official Trip of No Personal Space.

Our group, now having Andra back from her Saturday plans, was back together for this third trip to Kyoto. This time to the second most famous flea markets in Japan. It happens on the 21st of each month, and lucky for us February and March both have the 21st on Sundays. ( Meaning we don't have to skip class to go) The flea market is on the temple grounds of Toji in Kyoto. Kyoto being the most convenient and easy place to get to, it's obvious we like going there, and will continue to go for the remainder of the semester. At Toji station we weren't sure of how to exactly get to the temple. We had the brilliant plan of 'lets just follow the big crowd.' Usually that doesn't work in a place like Japan, .. or the US but it suprisingly brought us to the front gate of the temple grounds and we made our way in and around the shops. Walking around was a pain because half of Japan was here and being a foreigner didn't give me any perks today. Usually foreigners get more personal space because the Japanese want to avoid you. Nope. Not that day. People didn't have a problem pushing into you, bumping you, standing in your way, and coming to a complete stop while you are trying to catch up to your friends whom you had lost 5 minutes prior...! Ok.. enough complaining. I did buy a few things for shits and giggles but Emily and Andra were on a mission to buy Kimonos for themselves and for their mothers. New kimonos are rediculously exspensive, think one to a couple thousand dollars. There were nice kimonos for 3,000 yen to 60,000 yen. (30$-600$) VERY nice deals and the quality was still pretty good even for the cheap ones. There was a lot of antiques here and I was struggling with my love/obsession for old useless dirty 'things'. I was at the ends of my self-control on shopping through all of the antiques. Luckily I thought ahead and didn't bring a lot of money. Otherwise I'd be shoving huge pieces of antique pottery into my suitcase at the end of my study abroad experience. I had a candy apple (er sortta) and takoyaki for lunch. (takoyaki is really hot breaded ball of octopus) and the others had okinomiyaki (the fried cabbage pancake thing). We went early because the flea market only goes to 3pm, and by that time everyone was done with what shopping they were going to do and we headed back home. I had dinner with my host family that night.

Host Family

There has been a new addition to my host family over the past few days. My host mother sat me down last week and told me that her mom was diagnosed with cancer. Her mother is in her 80s/90s so she has lived a long life. She decided to get surgery for her cancer so she moved in with us. Previously she lived in her hometown which was like an hour away. So there is now another family member. She doesn't speak any english, and despite me saying several times in Japanese that I do not understand much and that basically I can't understand her, she continues to 'have long chats' with me. I basically sit opposite of her and nod my head for awhile, then I throw the obligatory Japanese 'Um', 'I see', "ah'. (But she's a really nice sweet old lady.)

Lunch With Speaking Partner

Today I had lunch with my speakng partner, Kaori (picture on facebook). I invited her to our friday karaoke nights. She likes Lady Gaga and Michael Jackson, karaoke with her should be fun! Tonight I go to a club meeting. I wasn't going to join a club at first and I still might not but this is a small bible study and I feel like I should do something with more than just my international friends.

This Saturday I am going to Kobe with Emily and John, and I am going t meet up with my friends Sonya and Celest that moved to Japan last year. I believe I haven't seen them since last October.

Sunday we finally decided that we would go to the flea market in Kyoto. So Sunday is trip #3 and there are still plenty of things to see and do.

"Make sure you have enough food for all" Some wise advice.

Todai-ji Temple

Waking up to a "was that REAL?!"

This morning I was supposed to wake up at 7 am but I wanted to sleep in a bit. Around 7:27 I start to feel the house shake. I'm kinda asleep and my thought while laying there was "this is an earthquake.. wow.. I should get up and like go somewhere" I asked my host mom when I went down stairs if that really was an earthquake, I guess I just couldn't believe it. She said it was a very small one. It may have been small but it was big enough for me to feel and big enough to wake me out of sleeping!

Community Center

So on Sunday I had a rare day to myself. So naturally my host mother thought it necessary to bring me out.. instead of relaxing and studying at home. I got over my slight aggravation quickly. We walked about 30 mins to the community center in Hoshigaoka where she takes lessons in some type of Japanese traditional poem thing. Like a haiku, but it has a different order and it has to be witty or wise. We looked at the art people did. We watched the community center put on shows. We saw a magic act. Harmonica music. And traditional Japanese dancing. The dancing was prob the only thing I enjoyed outside of looking at the art. The kimonos were beautiful, the fans were to, the music was like jazz classics from the 50s?40s? I don't know,.. they were old. It was a so so day. We had a great lunch at this Chinese ramen shop accross the street. She got us platters. It was rice, Japanese Kimchi, dumplings, and a bowl of ramen.. Mmmmmm so good. Then we went back home. On our way back I was asking about buildings in the distance. In particular this giant pink and green building. She told me it was a love hotel which lead to a very.. interesting... awkward conversation. Love hotels are places couples go to um.. 'do it', because the walls of Japanese homes are very thin.

At the community center I met this nice man, whose name I can't remember right now, but his English was very good. He told me he was taking English Communication classes at the center. He was a cool dude and it made me think about this Anthropology article I read for class on this guy whose thesis topic/whatever ws on community connections in suburban Japan. I was making the same type of connections he wrote about in his article. Sounds boring right? To you, maybe, but I was fascinated.

Nara Trip #1

I woke up at 6:30 am because it was laundry day for me but I had stayed in on Friday so I got plenty of sleep. I did laundry and was out of the house by 9:30. I met with Andra outside of the Softbank store where I got my prepaid cell. It has been incredible difficult to coordinate trips through faulty/crappy internet signals at home. ( If you want my email for the phone message me on facebook. Japanese cell phones don't use the texting system- it is an email system. You can email directly to my phone and I reply just as fast as texting would.) At 11:00 we met with John and Emily and we started our journey to Nara. We had an hour long train trip, and we transfered only once. We went to Todai-ji temple which is a HUGE temple with an ENORMOUS Buddha statue in it. We went to Nara park where we fed deer.. got bitten by deer... got head butted by deer.. got chased by deer... and stepped in deer poo. We walked up to Nigatsudo where we could see the entire city. We went to the Shrine of a Thousand lanterns. We ended the day with more deer feeding and then we went to the light show.

Todai-ji temple has the biggest cast iron Buddha in the world. It is the religous center for a specific Buddhist sect, which I do not know of. The original building burned down and another was built in it's place, so this huge building used to be bigger. Inside there is Buddha, and two deity things on either side. We walked around to see him from the back. The posts to hold the building up were huge to. One had this hole carved out of it. It was said that if you could pass through it, then you are a virtuous person. Naturally the only non-virtuous person of our group tried, John, and he passed through rather quickly.

We walked up the mountain to Nigatsudo. (Made me tiiiired) This place was very high up and there was a very pretty view, so we all stopped to take a million photos. All along the way there are deer and we feed them every once in a while. Needless to say, we washed our hands at every water hole. We had lunch on the way to the Shrine of a Thousands Lanterns, which is a Shinto shrine. (Again, in Japan, mixing religions isn't abnormal, you can be many thigns at once). There was a pathway of old lanterns, comnig up the the shrine which was surrounded by more lanterns. They light one every year.

Deer in Nara, are sacred, so if you hit them with a car, steal em, etc. you get in BIG trouble. It used to be a capital offense. They trim the horns so they don't kill tourists and for the most part they are pretty safe. There are signs everywhere, in Japanese, telling people to not just feed the small cute deer, but the large older ones as well, otherwise they will get angry. We fed all types to there werent any angry deer. Some deer are territorial so they 'claim' a person and follow them, and bite at other deer. If you don't feed them fast enough they will snip at your bags or coat... my coat for example was covered in deer spit.. EWW. John was like a deer whisperer that day and got chased by deer even when we stopped to eat some human snacks. The pictures tell it all, so wait a big for them. They are coming.

Light Humor on Japanese Lang.

Funny Article You Have to Read About Japanese



My friend gave me this link. It is very funny and amusing. Read it.
Warning: It Contains Adult Language.

Future Plans

On my list of things to do/places to go:

Den Den town/Nipponbashi- in Osaka, shopping, bars, karaoke district and very popular area.
Nara- Toda-ji temple you can go and pet and feed deer.
Akihabara, Tokyo- the steryotypical bright and cute area of Japan. All things anime related, puri kura, maid and manga cafes. Think Hello Kitty land on acid. Lol Good place for shopping.
Hiroshima- museum, I'd like to go
Osaka aquarium
Universal Studios Japan
Toho studios in Tokyo
Imperial palace in Kyoto
Hijime Castle
Geisha district in Kyoto
Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto
Osaka Castle
Umeda Sky Building-observation deck in Osaka
Engyoji, Mount Shosha
Osaka Peace Museum
Mount Koya



all of these... for now.

Social Rules for a Gaijin #1

Rule #1 Feign Ignorance.

Pretending you are dumb as a foreigner is not only expected from the Japanese but it is also beneficial. You can listen in on conversations pretending you don't understand them. When you want to be left a lone in the station to avoid the soliciters passing out junk to people, just walk with a glazed over expression, tilt your head to the side, have a creepy smile on your face, stare straight ahead and keep walking. (Think of the scene in Disney's Aladdin where Jasmine and Aladdin first meet in the market place. Jasmine 'steals' an apple and Aladdin makes her pretend she dumb so she can get away. The look on her face is the look you should have.) This rule of thumb also lets gaijin get away with breaking social rules that they are not aware of. It is not however, an excuse to break those rules on purpose. Just know that in Japan, they expect gaijin not to know anything, and it is often very weird for them to hear or meet a gaijin that knows the rules. (And weird is not bad, but it often puts you into the 'other' category which is bad. If you are outside of the norm then it is bad)

Things I notice:

Money: It never passes hand to hand. When you buy something you place your money in a dish, and the cashier scoops it out of a dish and returns your change back into the dish. I asked once why that is and the only answer we could come up with was that it is historically rude to 'throw' money at people in Japan. Handing money to another person, who is a stranger, can't be hand to hand.

News content: News in Japan is somewhat puzzling. There isn't as much crime here in Japan so most of the news stories is a mix of oddly chosen stories of other countries, a spotlight story of a person which can be inspiring or sad, and small top news headlines which very little time is spent on. The top stories now adays are the Toyota Prius Hybrid story. It is important because it is a 'vertically integrated' Keiretsu, not as big as Sumimoto bank, or Mitsui or Mitsubishi, but it holds a lot of power in Japan, and needless to say in Japan, mistakes can't happen. The other top Japan news story is the story about the Asashoryu, a sumo grand champion, who got into a drunken bar fight with a stranger. He was ashamed and retired from the world of Sumo. He was Mongolian born, and while he is a hero in Mongolia, there are mixed feelings about him in Japan, in part because of their racist attitudes towards some 'outsiders'. It is news worth caring about? Not really, but it is interesting to me that it is interesting to them.

Fashion

The fashion here for girls is of most particular interest to me. High buns on top of the head with loose bangs and hair hanging down. Very large scarves that are wrapped around their necks several times, used also to block wind from hitting the lower half of the face/ ie instead of a face mask pull up your scarf. School girls do have long skirts here, as is appropriate, but I do see girls around the train stations pinning their skirts shorter. That is the fad in Tokyo and while it is fashionable here to wear mini skirts, it is also against many school's dress codes. Women older than school age wear mini skirts with tights. Sometimes they wear Bermuda length shorts with black, brown, or navy tights. And every female in Japan wears boots.

You may have seen that I have adopted the high bun look in some of my pictures, I need more hair though Lol my hair it to short for it to look perfect. I have already been doing the scarf thing over my face. I think it looks weird in America for people to cover their faces but here it is normal and I do it without hesitation when it is cold. I did bring my boots, but there is no way on Earth that I am going to where those out to school, or out about traveling where walking consists of daily life here. I will wear them to go to a specific place for a specific time, but my feet wouln't be able to last a whole day of walking the Japanese life.

Nihon ga daisuki desu...demo...

I love Japan... but...

I have some complaints.

People on the train/bus: This is a pet peeve of mine I am getting while I'm here in Japan. Japanese people are the nicest in the world, in my opinion, but when you are on a train or bus they act like New Yorkers! They push and shove their way onto the train, some young people don't give up their seats for the elderly, etc. When your stop is coming up and you need to get off, you would think a simple 'Sumimasen' 'I'm sorry/excuse me' would be sufficient for people to move out of the way for you.. NOT. You literally have to push the old grannies to the side to get off the train before the door closes. I ride a local train so there are not many gaijin/foreigners riding it, and the Japanese sometimes wonder if I am lost or something. I've been asked if I neeed help getting somewhere, and when I am standing right next to the door about to get off people walk in front of me before the door even opens! They think I'm not getting off or don't know where I am, it is VERY frustrating.

Culture shock 3

Offending my host family:

For the most part, watching anime and TV dramas has given me a good indication of what I would expect, and they were accurate enough for me. I don't intentionally do things wrong but sometimes there are so many social faux pas that I can't keep up. NO shoes in the house. I got this one down packed. But this also applies to the toilet room, and the clothes hanging area. I have to change my shoes when I go into the toilet room, and when I go on the balcony. Sometimes I think it's just annoying so I don't do it. It is a complete waste of my time. Emily's host mother even goes as far as changing her shoes to unlock the front door, which is 3 feet away, just to then change back into slippers. Communicating is difficult and sometimes I don't know whether I am saying something correctly. Daijobu is the phrase I use most often. Like when my Okaasan thinks I am to cold and she wants to turn on the heater, I say 'Daijobu', when she asks if I want more food, I say 'Daijobu', and she gives it to me anyway, when she thinks I need to wear a scarf or bring an umbrells Say 'Daijobu'. It basicaly means I am ok, but it doesn't mean that they listen.

The biggest mistake that I make is before and after a meal, and before I leave and when I reaturn. I am supposed to say 'Itadakimasu' which essentially means 'Thanks for this meal' although not a literal translation, it's like a saying. When I finish I am supposed to say 'Gochisosama deshita' which means 'The meal was pleasing' although it is also not a literal transation. I forget to say these two, which gave me an awkward first week. I remember most of the time now adays. But saying thank you in English to my host parents doesn't have the same meaning behind it. This is a learned social practice, and I am learning. Similar to eating, when you leave the house and return home you are suppose to say 'Ittekimasu' and 'Tadaima', which mean I am leaving, and I am back respectively. My host parents have their own responses which mean 'Please return (safely)' and 'Welcome back' and also are not literally translated.

Culture Shock 2

What I eat:

Someone told me before that when a person is used to certain foods and abruptly must change his diet and eat completley new foods, he feels like he is starving and undernourished. This is kind of how I felt that first week with my host family. Everything I ate was foreign to me. I didn't know what it was, how to eat it, or even if I can stomach it. My bowels told me right away that my body didn't want any of that.. stuff. Most things I had I liked, but, most is not all and now, I am very comfortable telling my host mom what I like, and what I don't like. If anything at all I can eat the rice and miso soup which come at every meal. In Japan, a meal without rice is just a snack. Even for breakfast we have onigiri, rice balls, or mochi, dough made from rice, or some type of rice product. (I swear, if my homecoming meal is rice I will blow a gasket xD ) I've discovered that they eat small fish bones, the fat on pork, and other similar things. <- I get grossed out when they do that but I don't say anything, I just don't eat it. If I had a really nasty breakfast I make sure to eat a good sized lunch at school.

Outside of my host family, restaurant food is amazing. Most have the displays outside so you already know what you are getting. Japanese people are obsessed with McDonalds and KFC. I haven't tried their KFC but the McD is pretty good. I tend to go for noodle dishes when I am out, but that is only because udon is so delicious.

Requests: Culture shock

So I've been asked to write a post on more 'culture shock stuff'. Including what I do, eat, differences in daily life, being offensive, and bath time. Lol I'll do my best.

I'm at the point right now where I do miss some things at home, but I can't tell whether it is because I am homesick, or whether I am in culture shock. I think it's important for you readers to understand that it's hard to determine which one I am in.

Things I do: Every weekday in Japan is roughly the same, and I am predicting that I will have this reutine for the rest of my stay. This can be a good thing or a bad thing. My first class of each day is at different times. If it is an early class I wake up at 6:30 am, go potty, wash my hands and face and put my futon away in the futon closet. I am downstairs for breakfast by 7 am where my host mother proceeds to feed me the entire refigerator's worth of food. I still eat salad every morning.. ick, but she's been giving me pan, or bread with peach jelly or prune spread on it.. it helps. Then sometimes there's sweet potatoes and raisins, or yogurt and raisins. Tea or a veggie juice. But all in all it's a HUGE breakfast which I have been trying to tell her to make smaller.. It takes me about 30-35 minutes to eat my breakfast because my hand muscles can't use chopsticks for somethings... it is very hard. After breakfast we watched the news together. Otousan leaves early for work, so every morning it is just Okaasan and me. After some time I go abck upstairs and finish getting ready. If I have a late class in the morning I do my laundry. The washing machine is really efficient and cool, I just wished they owned a dryer. Hanging clothes is a pain, especially if it is going to rain. When it's time to leave, I say goodbye to Okaasan and Taro-kun, the dog, and walk to the train station near the home. Hoshigaoka station is a small station, and I only got on the wrong train that one time. I haven't gotten lost since. When I get to Hirakata station I push my way past the crowds and walk down to the bus stops. Most of the time I take the bus to school and I walk back to the station. This helps if I'm running behind schedule. When I get to school which is anytime between 9am and 11am I usually go to the computer lab first to do posts like these. Classes are next. The morning half of schedules everyone has their language courses. I have Japanese speaking 5 times a week and so on. Time between the first half and second half is where I eat lunch, sometimes If I have a 5th period class I only have 25 minutes so I have to hurry. I eat lunch in the big cafeteria. They display what is for lunch on a table near the doors so you can decide what you want ahead of time. (They do this in a lot of restaurants as well. ) I usally pick the udon, soba, ramen, or meat dish-usually pork. And this comes with miso and a bowl of rice. They have forks and spoon in the cafeteria and my hands like a little rest from chopsticks every now and then. After all my classes are done I walk back to Hirakata station. Depending on how late it is sometimes I just go back home. Other times I hang out with friends in the city. When I return home I finish any homework I have and then starts the end of my night. It is dinner time. Dinner consists of 5 or so small-hard to eat with chopsticks- dishes. After dinner, Otousan takes Taro-kun for a walk. After the walk we have tea time. With more food, usually fruit or a red bean bun. Otousan takes his bath first because he goes to bed early. Then It's my turn. I shower, then soak in the tub. It took me awhile to figure out why it is necessary to soak in HOT water. In Japan most houses, including my own, have no central heating. The house is always colder than the outside. When you soak in the hot bath you stay warm until you go to bed. This is very nice and I take FULLLLLLL advantage of this. After my bath I go upstairs and pull out my futon. If the internet is working I check my mail, if not I go straight to sleep, never later than 11pm. Basically my night ends when dinner starts. It can be a bad thing, but at least I get sleep.

Puri Kura

Don't know what it stands for but it was a fad that started in the 80s and 90s and is still quite popular today. It is NOTHING like the photo studios we have in US malls. This is way more fun and entertaining. Eventually I will scan these individually and post em on facebook, but for now, enjoy the mighty wonders of Puri Kura.

Tell me what to Post About

I know I've been neglecting important things to blog about, but sometimes I forget, so If you want me to take a picture of something, or want me to blog about something specific shoot me an email or a message on fb.

Kiyomizu dera

Kyoto Trip 2

Alot went on during this trip so hopefully I can remember it all. We left at around noon. Originally it was only Emily, John, and I, but Andra's friends cancelled on her last minute so we invited her along. The four of us decided seperatly not to wear our best winter clothes that day. I especially told my host parents that I would be fine wearing just a sweatshirt and gloves and a scarf. BOOOOOY was I wrong. But that part comes later. We decided that since we would go around to Kiyomizu dera and then to see the huge Buddha. Kiyomizu dera is a Buddhist temple set on this huge hill. Smoe facts I learned that day: People used to throw themselves of the temple, it was said that if you lived your wish would come true...- they had a nice gate up so people can't really do that anymore ^_^ instead of taking the huge staircase we took the ramp which went by all of these cool shops selling tradition Japanese traditional items. Kimonos, Geisha dolls, handmade fans, handmade pottery. All very expensive, but nice to look at. We went through the big red gate and into the temple grounds. It was very cold that day, we didn't expect a lot of people to show up. It was actually pretty funny, all the tourists were Japanese. xD we were the only foreigners around. Apparently, one the the temple workers told us that foreigners only come out when it's warm and that made us laugh. Halfway through the temple (outside temple to be exact) it started to snow. This made it a little unpleasant to continue walking through. And then.. what should we find in the middle of the temple gruonds?! An udon shop! :D so we sat down to have a late lunch. We also tried some sake. So... some god advice for anyone who wants to try sake, 1. Don't. 2. If you have to, take it like a shot so you can't taste it. It was pretty nasty, but it was a first that needed to be done. After finishing the temple area we walked over to the big Buddha. Unfortunatly it was getting late and the park had closed down for the night. So we awkwardly snapped a photo in the parking lot and walked back to the station. We ended the night with Karaoke. Very fun Saturday night.