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).