First off, I apologize for the general neglect that this blog has received in the last month. Apparently this is a fairly typical effect of holy-crap-study-abroad-is-ending syndrome, but this past month has been incredibly busy with seeing friends, visiting places, and doing all of the necessary preparations to leave Japan for a while. Saying goodbye feels beyond strange, and even though there are only a handful of hours between me and the airport I still can't comprehend that after tomorrow, the next time I wake up will not be in Tokyo (let alone on the other side of the planet).
The past couple weeks have been filled with a lot of goodbyes. It's been an interesting reminder of just how many people I've come to know during my year here, and how close we've become. People from juggling, from classes, and from random other interactions have all said their goodbyes, and some of them are starting to sink in. In particular, I realized at our last gathering that my program of study abroad students has really gotten close. This year, with its struggles and challenges, has tied us all together under this incredibly insane experience. It hit me when I was sitting in a cafe with 5 friends from my program, and we were just telling random stories and laughing together. We're all really different, but throughout the year our enormous group has become a hodge-podge of a family, and I still haven't processed what it means for us to not all be a unit from here on out.
The strangest part of all is trying to imagine what it will be like to be back. To not have your day revolve around train stations. To speak and be confident that what you're saying isn't nonsensical. To not eat rice with almost every meal. To have to drive places. These are all things that I no matter how hard I think about I can't remember what it's like. Don't get me wrong, it will be nice to walk into a restaurant and know what everything on the menu is, but I just don't get what that would feel like anymore.
All that being said, I am enormously excited to be returning home soon. I'm sure it's going to be a reverse-culture-shock-punch-in-the-face, but it's a punch filled with family and friends and intuitive reactions and bacon and countless other things that I cannot wait to experience once again.
Living in Japan has been incredible.
I've learned a lot.
I've enjoyed a lot.
And I definitely plan to come back.
But for right now, I'm ready to go home =)
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Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Juggling, Mimery, and Science
お久しぶりです！I apologize for the increasing gaps in how often I've been posting. It's not that nothing exciting or interesting has been happening, but as the end draws near I have unfortunately been focusing more on the target than what happens on the way. So, time to focus in the here and now. What's been going on here you ask? Three things: Juggling, Mimery, and Science.
Juggling
Last weekend was my first (and last) juggling show with the group that I have been a part of since coming to Japan. They only do one show each semester, and I this term I juggled clubs in a routine which consisted of a series of battles between different jugglers. My partner and I were to pass clubs with a person in between us, thereby trapping them within the vortex of deathly, whirling juggling implements. This was nerve-wracking for several reasons. 1) I could barely juggle clubs before coming to Japan 2) For some reason, they put me on the side so that if I messed up my throw, I hit the middle guy in the face. Why I was on the face-side, I will never know. During practice I hit the guy at least 5 times, and actually sent his glasses flying once. Despite a respectable amount of practice, I was understandably nervous when the performance came around.
The actual performance was great though. Well, I mean we kind of completely screwed up the first half of the routine, but it was a ton of fun. The audience was great, I just had as much fun as possible on stage, and we nailed the ending, so I think people we walk away thinking it went well, regardless of a less-than-sterling start. Overall, it was a nice reminder of how much I enjoy performing. (There will be video at some point, but until then here are some pictures).
Mimery
This semester I've been taking a class titled "The Art of Mime and Pantomime", which is basically a mime history and development class taught by an adjunct professor who's day job is as a touring, professional mime. The class generally consists of a lecture about a certain time period or style of mime, followed by some videos displaying that style. Short version: It's awesome. For our midterm assignment, we all had to attend our professor's show this weekend, and write a response paper. I had never actually seen a full mime performance, and this one was absolutely incredible. Turns out that our professor has a partner or two, and among them they did everything from an epic game of tug-o-war, to a one-man soccer game (complete with a red-carded foul and a goal), to a puppet which rebels against and kills his puppeteer, ties the strings to him, and animates his corpse like a puppet, all as one-man skits. How you depict all that with just one person and no words, I have absolutely no clue, but they did it, and it was truly incredible.
Science
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I miss science. A lot. Fortunately for me, Tokyo is an enormous
city, and therefore has more than a couple museums hanging about. Today, I went to the National Museum of Science and Nature (国立科学博物館) with one of my friends from the juggling group, Takebayashi (or as he is known in the juggling community, Mister Take [ミスター竹]). The museum was basically Japan's version of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, with a dash of Japanese history thrown in. Although the exhibits seemed a bit smaller, and it was definitely not in New York, I had a great time adding a bit of science to my otherwise sadly-non-scientific-stimulating daily life.
Takebayashi is actually a geology major who wants to work in a museum someday, so it was really cool to go around with him and hear what he had to say about the various exhibits (not to mention being with someone who could actually read the signs). We ended up spending the majority of the day in there, although I would have been happy to spend another day in there just to make sure I was getting my necessary dose of sciency-goodness.
In retrospect, it's been a fairly eventful couple of weeks. At this point, I'm mostly just coasting along until it's time to go home, but there are definitely some things I can do to make the most of my last 6 or so weeks in Japan.
Juggling
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| The vortex of deathly, whirling juggling implements |
The actual performance was great though. Well, I mean we kind of completely screwed up the first half of the routine, but it was a ton of fun. The audience was great, I just had as much fun as possible on stage, and we nailed the ending, so I think people we walk away thinking it went well, regardless of a less-than-sterling start. Overall, it was a nice reminder of how much I enjoy performing. (There will be video at some point, but until then here are some pictures).
Mimery
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| Poster for the mime show. the guy on the right is my professor. |
Science
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| Take explores the magic and wonder that is conservation of angular momentum. The museum had a huge room of hands-on physics stuff, what more could you ask for? |
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| Classification of stars....in Japanese |
Takebayashi is actually a geology major who wants to work in a museum someday, so it was really cool to go around with him and hear what he had to say about the various exhibits (not to mention being with someone who could actually read the signs). We ended up spending the majority of the day in there, although I would have been happy to spend another day in there just to make sure I was getting my necessary dose of sciency-goodness.
In retrospect, it's been a fairly eventful couple of weeks. At this point, I'm mostly just coasting along until it's time to go home, but there are definitely some things I can do to make the most of my last 6 or so weeks in Japan.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Maid in Japan
It's no secret that Tokyo has a lot of really out-of-the-ordinary things to bring to the table. From ramen-hamburgers to stores that sell nothing but lightbulbs, go anywhere in Tokyo and it won't be hard to find something that definitely can't be found back home. Last week, a few friends and I set out for Akihabara (秋葉原), the electrics/anime geek district of Tokyo, in search of one such oddity.
Our target: a Maid Cafe. That's right folks, you've heard of internet cafes, you've heard of tea cafes, you've heard of cafes that sell double-iced-cream-mocha-frappu-espresso-coffee-cinnos, but I'm guesing you haven't heard of a cafe in which every employee is wearing a maid costume.
To be honest I wasn't entirely sure what to expect beyond that. The idea of being served by only women in maid costumes leaves all kinds of room for strange, creepily sexualized nuances. however, that was not the case. Everything was just cute. Really frickin' cute. The walls were made purely of polka dots, high-pitched voices filled the air, and drinks had little faces drawn in them with syrup. What's more, customers can even play card/board games with the waitresses, and get their picture taken together. My friends and I opted to mostly just sit and take in the atmosphere (while sipping our face-drawn beverages). Not gonna lie, this place was so cute that it hurt.
One thing that this definitely confirmed: Japan does a lot of things well, and a lot of things poorly, but there is no question that it has cuteness down to a science.
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| My drink with a picture of Doraemon drawn on it. |
To be honest I wasn't entirely sure what to expect beyond that. The idea of being served by only women in maid costumes leaves all kinds of room for strange, creepily sexualized nuances. however, that was not the case. Everything was just cute. Really frickin' cute. The walls were made purely of polka dots, high-pitched voices filled the air, and drinks had little faces drawn in them with syrup. What's more, customers can even play card/board games with the waitresses, and get their picture taken together. My friends and I opted to mostly just sit and take in the atmosphere (while sipping our face-drawn beverages). Not gonna lie, this place was so cute that it hurt.
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One thing that this definitely confirmed: Japan does a lot of things well, and a lot of things poorly, but there is no question that it has cuteness down to a science.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Retreat Version 2.0
Some of you may remember a post I did a few months back about a retreat that my study abroad program took as a chance to reflect on our experience and spend some time together outside of the city. Last weekend, we went for a second retreat, this time to the small mountain village of Minakami (水上).
Minakami is one of many examples of a small town that is tucked away in the mountains of Japan. They are not very difficult to come by: if you aren't on the coast, then you're in the mountains. With
such an ample selection of rural locales to choose from, why did we pick this one you may ask? Well, while I was off working at my cheap-college-student Japanese-style inn (旅館) during February, another student was working at a very lovely inn in Minakami, and because of the connections he made we were able to stay there fairly affordably .
To make a more easily relatable comparison of the quality of this inn: I worked at a Motel 6, and this guy worked at the Waldorf Astoria.
Where we stayed was easily the nicest traditional-style ANYTHING that I have experience since coming to Japan. Upon arrival, we first had about an hour long session of small group reflections about our experiences thus far, and how things are reshaping in light of our approaching return to the US. Afterward, we all picked out individual yukata (浴衣), and were led to our rooms by the astoundingly polite, kimono-clad hotel staff. After getting settled into our simple yet sophisticated tatami rooms, the time for dinner had come.
Prior to this experience, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the veritable gamut of "traditional" Japanese foods. After all, I've been here for 8 months, I got this right?
Wrong.
Of the roughly 20 plates that passed through my place at the table that evening, I could probably tell you 4 of the things that I ate. Upon first entering the dining hall, all of us sat bewildered at our place settings, trying to figure out any way of describing food beyond "that tofu-y lookin' thing" and "the squishy one with the little yellow doodads". This was indeed a top-quality inn, and that evening we ate traditional Japanese delicacies at their finest (I think, like I said, absolutely no clue what I ate).
After completely stuffing ourselves with who-knows-what, we spent the remainder of the evening relaxing around the inn. It had an absolutely wonderful natural spring bath (温泉), a separate stream of hot water for soaking your feet, and a couple of different lounge areas for general socializing. That evening was a great chance to get to spend time with the other people on my program, as well as take a break from the general chaos of life in Tokyo.
The next day we awoke to an equally...interesting, breakfast. Having filled up on another big meal of what I'm sure was something edible, we then checked out of the inn and headed out for our next
destination: Dole Land Minakami. It was basically a big fruit farm where you can pick whatever kind of fruit you like when it's in season. Right now, however, there was literally not a single fruit in season on the farm, so we spent the day strolling through fruitless-tree orchards and just generally passing some time in a more natural setting. After we got our fill of walking through rows of trees, we rounded out our trip with a Japanese-style BBQ, and a quick stop by a crafts area of Minkami before returning to Tokyo.
Overall I felt that the retreat accomplished most everything it was intended too. I was able to bond with my fellow study abroad students in new ways, heard some interesting opinions about our time in Japan slowly drawing to a close, and got a nice breath of fresh air outside of the bustling atmosphere of Tokyo.
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| A stream near the inn where we stayed. And to answer your question: Of course we climbed to the top. |
such an ample selection of rural locales to choose from, why did we pick this one you may ask? Well, while I was off working at my cheap-college-student Japanese-style inn (旅館) during February, another student was working at a very lovely inn in Minakami, and because of the connections he made we were able to stay there fairly affordably .
To make a more easily relatable comparison of the quality of this inn: I worked at a Motel 6, and this guy worked at the Waldorf Astoria.
Where we stayed was easily the nicest traditional-style ANYTHING that I have experience since coming to Japan. Upon arrival, we first had about an hour long session of small group reflections about our experiences thus far, and how things are reshaping in light of our approaching return to the US. Afterward, we all picked out individual yukata (浴衣), and were led to our rooms by the astoundingly polite, kimono-clad hotel staff. After getting settled into our simple yet sophisticated tatami rooms, the time for dinner had come.
Prior to this experience, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the veritable gamut of "traditional" Japanese foods. After all, I've been here for 8 months, I got this right?
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| The original table setting of what eventually became a 4-course hodgepodge of unidentifiable Japanese cuisine. |
Of the roughly 20 plates that passed through my place at the table that evening, I could probably tell you 4 of the things that I ate. Upon first entering the dining hall, all of us sat bewildered at our place settings, trying to figure out any way of describing food beyond "that tofu-y lookin' thing" and "the squishy one with the little yellow doodads". This was indeed a top-quality inn, and that evening we ate traditional Japanese delicacies at their finest (I think, like I said, absolutely no clue what I ate).
After completely stuffing ourselves with who-knows-what, we spent the remainder of the evening relaxing around the inn. It had an absolutely wonderful natural spring bath (温泉), a separate stream of hot water for soaking your feet, and a couple of different lounge areas for general socializing. That evening was a great chance to get to spend time with the other people on my program, as well as take a break from the general chaos of life in Tokyo.
The next day we awoke to an equally...interesting, breakfast. Having filled up on another big meal of what I'm sure was something edible, we then checked out of the inn and headed out for our next
destination: Dole Land Minakami. It was basically a big fruit farm where you can pick whatever kind of fruit you like when it's in season. Right now, however, there was literally not a single fruit in season on the farm, so we spent the day strolling through fruitless-tree orchards and just generally passing some time in a more natural setting. After we got our fill of walking through rows of trees, we rounded out our trip with a Japanese-style BBQ, and a quick stop by a crafts area of Minkami before returning to Tokyo.
Overall I felt that the retreat accomplished most everything it was intended too. I was able to bond with my fellow study abroad students in new ways, heard some interesting opinions about our time in Japan slowly drawing to a close, and got a nice breath of fresh air outside of the bustling atmosphere of Tokyo.
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| A picture taken at the fruit farm, in which I some other group members flying through the air with my immense strength. |
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| Our entire group (as well as a couple guests who were with us) outside of the inn. |
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Mountain Juggles
As far as I could tell, I had been juggling a lot since I joined the juggling club at the university here. They are pretty intense about getting a lot of hours of practice in, and even the small fraction of that in which I participate is about 4 times as much as I juggled back in the states. However, a week ago my definition of "juggling a lot" was blown to bits after ascending into the mountains of Japan for a 3-day juggling extravaganza.
This mountainous juggling adventure was the juggling club's spring retreat, known more commonly in Japan as a "gashuku" (合宿). Almost every club in Japan has a gashuku at some point or another, and they can range from anything to completely social trips, to training camps. The one which I attended is probably described best as a healthy combination of both, with an extra dash of training camp.
The trip started off at 7am on a Friday morning, with a 6 hour bus ride out of Tokyo and into the mountains. That may sound like some far off venture, but actually in Japan, if you are not on a coast, then there is probably an 80% chance you are in the mountains. We got the got off the bus, dropped stuff off in the hotel rooms, and then immediately proceeded to a nearby gym for a few hours of practice. Each day was similarly structured: Wake up. Eat. Juggle. Eat. Juggle. Eat. Socialize (Juggle). Sleep. Despite the large portion of time each day taken up by juggling practice, the gashuku gave a lot of opportunities to hang out with people in a different context than usual, and to be social with people outside of the usual juggle-centric practices, and despite being absolutely exhausted upon returning at 10pm three nights later, it was a fantastic trip. For a bit more detail into what happened on the retreat, take a look at the pictures below.
This mountainous juggling adventure was the juggling club's spring retreat, known more commonly in Japan as a "gashuku" (合宿). Almost every club in Japan has a gashuku at some point or another, and they can range from anything to completely social trips, to training camps. The one which I attended is probably described best as a healthy combination of both, with an extra dash of training camp.
The trip started off at 7am on a Friday morning, with a 6 hour bus ride out of Tokyo and into the mountains. That may sound like some far off venture, but actually in Japan, if you are not on a coast, then there is probably an 80% chance you are in the mountains. We got the got off the bus, dropped stuff off in the hotel rooms, and then immediately proceeded to a nearby gym for a few hours of practice. Each day was similarly structured: Wake up. Eat. Juggle. Eat. Juggle. Eat. Socialize (Juggle). Sleep. Despite the large portion of time each day taken up by juggling practice, the gashuku gave a lot of opportunities to hang out with people in a different context than usual, and to be social with people outside of the usual juggle-centric practices, and despite being absolutely exhausted upon returning at 10pm three nights later, it was a fantastic trip. For a bit more detail into what happened on the retreat, take a look at the pictures below.
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| Arrival on the mountainside. |
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| One of the several tables in the dining hall in the inn. |
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| One of the three different gyms that we practiced at while we were there. This probably about a third of the group, most people were still getting ready. |
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| Juggling! Wheeeeeeee! |
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| The tallest game of Jenga that I have ever seen. |
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| One evening I learned how to play Go, an ancient Chinese strategy game that looks deceptively simple, but makes Chess look like tic-tac-toe. |
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| Final group shot in front of the inn, just before returning back to Tokyo. |
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Golden Week Streets
Yesterday began what is known as Golden Week, a week at the beginning of Spring in which Japan has 4 national holidays in rapid succession, and many organizations just take a break during the days in between each holiday, resulting in a week long vacation for almost the entirety of the country. While many people are going off on adventurous travel plans, I'm staying right here in Tokyo, and started off my Golden Week celebrations in the neighborhood of Koenji.
Koenji (高円寺) is a convenient train hop away from where I'm living, and a really interesting area of tiny shops and restaurants. However, what drew me there for the first time Sunday was Bikkuri Daidogei (びっくり大道芸), a huge street performance festival that sprawls throughout the area. There were performance of every variety, from musicians to jugglers to magicians and back again. It was a beautiful day and I could have enjoyed simply strolling through the neighborhood regardless of the various squads of performers there to ensure that I was having a good time. The most notable act of the day was a performer who first seemed to be a mime of sorts, but ended up also being an absolutely incredible juggler. Not only was he incredibly skilled, but he was playing with kids from the audience the entire time (not to mention a few grown-ups), and really knew how to sympathize with the crowd and draw their energy to his performance. As much as I've been able to grow technically as a juggler here, it was a very refreshing reminder that ultimately good performing has little to do with the skills you show on stage, but so much more to do with connecting to the audience, and enabling them to feel the excitement along with you.
Needless to say, the street festival has been the highlight of my Golden Week thus far. Other than that, I've been keeping myself busy staying social around Tokyo, seeing friends, playing in the park, all of the good stuff that one should be doing during a week off in the spring. Tomorrow morning I'm off for a retreat with the juggling club, and so will be rounding off this Golden Week with a nice-and-shiny, 3-day juggling jamboree. Until then, よろしく！
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| The best performance of the day. Note the small squadron of astounded children nearby. They were messing with him throughout the entire performance, and he took it as a chance to make things a bit more fun. |
Needless to say, the street festival has been the highlight of my Golden Week thus far. Other than that, I've been keeping myself busy staying social around Tokyo, seeing friends, playing in the park, all of the good stuff that one should be doing during a week off in the spring. Tomorrow morning I'm off for a retreat with the juggling club, and so will be rounding off this Golden Week with a nice-and-shiny, 3-day juggling jamboree. Until then, よろしく！
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| A walking, metallic, bird on stilts....Don't ask questions. |
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| A brass band playing every kind of tune you can imagine. |
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| A diabolo artist who did all of his routines to the tune of an audience-member-driven street organ. |
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Many of you have probably seen this commercial, representing the gleeful frolic of parents preparing to send their children off to school again, and kids sad at the prospect of once again facing the perpetual, existential monotony known as public education.
For me, this is the complete opposite. I love school (and my mom hated when I went back, because that meant I got super busy and never saw her [or anyone else for that matter] ever again until the next break). And although the school system here has led to a much different starting time, I am indeed very excited to be back in school once again.
Here's a question I never quite understood the answer too: Why do you like not being in school? In school you see your friends EVERY DAY. Without even having to try to hunt them down or make plans! They just show up! (usually). Yea, I mean there's work too...but I'm happy to do work and have a social life every day than be bored.
As per usual procedure, I was really excited to be consistently seeing people again. There were a lot of friends here who I haven't seen in weeks (or months). Apart from the general merriment of social reunion, what's been particularly interesting is hearing all of the stories from what other people were doing while I was in Hakuba. From the sound of it, almost everybody had a moving experience in one way or another, and having a shiny new experience to share with everybody is refreshing.
But of course, there is indeed the whole "academic" aspect of school to be dealt with as well. After last term, I learned not to make the mistake of picking classes with a potentially-awesome syllabus, but instead asking people and choosing courses with verified-awesome teachers. And luckily for me, one such teacher is a mime. That's right, a mime. He's an adjunct professor who teaches on the side of performing professionally all over Japan, and this term he is teaching a class about the history and development of mime and pantomime (is there difference? I guess we'll find out!) At any rate, that class is going to be FANTASTIC. The only other non-Japanese class I'm taking is Web Programming, which so far has been pretty simple, but will become more interesting in the coming months.
So, one week into classes things are going well so far at Waseda. People are beginning to settle into their course schedules, and routines are being reestablished (on that note, blogs should be coming forth more reliably from now on, sorry about that!). And with that: onward we go!
Monday, March 25, 2013
Small Graduates, Big Ceremony
Guess I had some good timing with the year I came to Japan, because today I had the opportunity to go to my host brother's graduation.
From elementary school.
I can't even remember if I had a ceremony for graduation from elementary school. Regardless, I was sort of expecting something fairly low key, maybe a few little speeches, people would get certificates, and so on. However, I knew that it had to be something more intense when my host sister suggested that I wear a suit and tie for the occasion.
For starters, i'm fairly convinced that the elementary was bigger than my middle school (which can likely to be attributed to the fact that people and governments care about education in Japan). It's nestled in a neighborhood, and easily the nicest building to be found in the immediate vicinity. Not to mention, they have roughly 30 unicycles that people can use during recess!....okay, so I'm jealous.
So we arrived at the elementary school this morning and my host family and I walked to the gymnasium and took our seats to wait for the ceremony to begin. The gym was split into several sections, one for parents, one for teachers, and two for students, with a stage at the front and various percussion instruments along one side. Other than the parents section it was empty. Almost all of the other parents were also wearing suits, with the only exception being an occasional kimono sticking out in the crowd.
The ceremony began exactly on schedule with a voice over the intercom thanking everybody for coming, and announcing the entry of the teachers. All of the teachers from the school entered in a single file line, and bowed to the families before taking their seats. After them, the students from the 5th grade class came entered (in Japan elementary school goes up to 6th grade), most of them with a recorder in one hand, and melodica in the other. (At this point I'm thinking "Everybody gets a melodica and unicycle? Why didn't I go to this school!?)
After entering in the quietest line of 5th graders I've ever seen, some of them moved over to the percussion instruments, and one of the teachers stood up, revealed herself as the music teacher by striking a conductor's position, and began leading the group of students into a tune.
Now, I'm sure many of you have had the experience of attending an 5th or 6th grade music concert, and for that I am terribly sorry. It's no secret that these concerts generally are of the quality that one would expect from a group of 10 year old kids.
Because of that, you'll understand my surprised when upon the conductor's signal the resulting sound was not a squeal of instrumental jabber. It was actually music. Heck, it was pretty good! All of the kids were on the same rhythm, playing the right notes, following the conductors changes. I, for one, was impressed.
And with the start of the music also began the progression of graduates into the gym. All of the 6th graders were wearing suits or skirts, and filed in single file to find their seat near the stage. Once everyone had entered the principal of the school went to the center of the stage and immediately began calling out names to receive their diplomas. Each of the students received their diploma and left stage in exactly the same, clean format: bow, grab the diploma with the left hand, then right, hold it out while you bow once more. Bend the diploma in half and hold it by your left side, turn and walk off stage. The uniformity of the pageantry was pretty remarkable. Following the diplomas the principal then addressed all of the students, talking about how as they grow into adulthood they can be the ones to help solve the world's problems, and how they need to continue working hard to accomplish their dreams. It was roughly the same nature of the speech we received at my high school graduation, except in Japanese.
My favorite part was what came next. After the principal and a few other teachers gave some speeches. The recent graduates stood and turned to face the audience, and then recounted their elementary story for first grade to present day. While they stood as a crowd, each member said one or two sentences without moving from their spot, creating this effect where you could hear different voices from different parts of the mass of graduates piecing together their collective story. It was really cool.
They then sang a song about continuing toward their dreams while never forgetting the past, to which the 5th graders responded by rising and singing a song thanking them for their guidance as their seniors, and promising to continue to work hard as the followers of their footsteps. (And as before their musical pieces were surprisingly well performed).
Once it was all done, pictures were taken for each of the respective homerooms, and the ceremony was drawn to a close. I'm happy I was able to see it, not only was it a lovely ceremony, but it was definitely different from the way I remember elementary school. The best part though, was that as the graduates filed out, my host brother, diploma in hand, was wearing the biggest smile in the room.
From elementary school.
I can't even remember if I had a ceremony for graduation from elementary school. Regardless, I was sort of expecting something fairly low key, maybe a few little speeches, people would get certificates, and so on. However, I knew that it had to be something more intense when my host sister suggested that I wear a suit and tie for the occasion.
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| The nice, big, healthily funded elementary school. |
So we arrived at the elementary school this morning and my host family and I walked to the gymnasium and took our seats to wait for the ceremony to begin. The gym was split into several sections, one for parents, one for teachers, and two for students, with a stage at the front and various percussion instruments along one side. Other than the parents section it was empty. Almost all of the other parents were also wearing suits, with the only exception being an occasional kimono sticking out in the crowd.
The ceremony began exactly on schedule with a voice over the intercom thanking everybody for coming, and announcing the entry of the teachers. All of the teachers from the school entered in a single file line, and bowed to the families before taking their seats. After them, the students from the 5th grade class came entered (in Japan elementary school goes up to 6th grade), most of them with a recorder in one hand, and melodica in the other. (At this point I'm thinking "Everybody gets a melodica and unicycle? Why didn't I go to this school!?)
After entering in the quietest line of 5th graders I've ever seen, some of them moved over to the percussion instruments, and one of the teachers stood up, revealed herself as the music teacher by striking a conductor's position, and began leading the group of students into a tune.
Now, I'm sure many of you have had the experience of attending an 5th or 6th grade music concert, and for that I am terribly sorry. It's no secret that these concerts generally are of the quality that one would expect from a group of 10 year old kids.
Because of that, you'll understand my surprised when upon the conductor's signal the resulting sound was not a squeal of instrumental jabber. It was actually music. Heck, it was pretty good! All of the kids were on the same rhythm, playing the right notes, following the conductors changes. I, for one, was impressed.
And with the start of the music also began the progression of graduates into the gym. All of the 6th graders were wearing suits or skirts, and filed in single file to find their seat near the stage. Once everyone had entered the principal of the school went to the center of the stage and immediately began calling out names to receive their diplomas. Each of the students received their diploma and left stage in exactly the same, clean format: bow, grab the diploma with the left hand, then right, hold it out while you bow once more. Bend the diploma in half and hold it by your left side, turn and walk off stage. The uniformity of the pageantry was pretty remarkable. Following the diplomas the principal then addressed all of the students, talking about how as they grow into adulthood they can be the ones to help solve the world's problems, and how they need to continue working hard to accomplish their dreams. It was roughly the same nature of the speech we received at my high school graduation, except in Japanese.
My favorite part was what came next. After the principal and a few other teachers gave some speeches. The recent graduates stood and turned to face the audience, and then recounted their elementary story for first grade to present day. While they stood as a crowd, each member said one or two sentences without moving from their spot, creating this effect where you could hear different voices from different parts of the mass of graduates piecing together their collective story. It was really cool.
They then sang a song about continuing toward their dreams while never forgetting the past, to which the 5th graders responded by rising and singing a song thanking them for their guidance as their seniors, and promising to continue to work hard as the followers of their footsteps. (And as before their musical pieces were surprisingly well performed).
Once it was all done, pictures were taken for each of the respective homerooms, and the ceremony was drawn to a close. I'm happy I was able to see it, not only was it a lovely ceremony, but it was definitely different from the way I remember elementary school. The best part though, was that as the graduates filed out, my host brother, diploma in hand, was wearing the biggest smile in the room.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Tokyo! I'm home!
After a month spent working away at the Hotel La Montagne Furuhata in Hakuba, I finally returned to Tokyo a few days ago. My last post kind of makes it sound awful, and to be honest the beginning was pretty bad. However, as my time there went on things got a lot better, and so I'd like to sum it all up by listing off some of the good things that happened as a direct result of being in Hakuba.
I can now set a table in preparation of breakfast for 20 in under 5 minutes flat
My Japanese has shown noticeable improvement, as shown by several of the juggling members saying "What the hell, you got good at Japanese!" when I got back.
Right now I'm in the best physical shape I've been in since Japan. I think it's a combination of skiing every-other day, eating insanely healthy food for a month, and the fact that functionally the various kinds of work I did all boil down to moving things around all day.
Through much trial and error I have discovered the method to properly skiing, other than just bolting down the hill as fast as possible and praying not to hit a small child.
I made a few friends.
As working progressed it came to be more apparent that my bosses really appreciate the hard work that we put in. At the end of the month they made me a special dinner of my request, plus all of the things they had noticed I liked to eat as a way of saying thank you.
And to wrap it all up: a few pictures of good points for which words don't quite suffice.
I can now set a table in preparation of breakfast for 20 in under 5 minutes flat
My Japanese has shown noticeable improvement, as shown by several of the juggling members saying "What the hell, you got good at Japanese!" when I got back.
Right now I'm in the best physical shape I've been in since Japan. I think it's a combination of skiing every-other day, eating insanely healthy food for a month, and the fact that functionally the various kinds of work I did all boil down to moving things around all day.
Through much trial and error I have discovered the method to properly skiing, other than just bolting down the hill as fast as possible and praying not to hit a small child.
I made a few friends.
As working progressed it came to be more apparent that my bosses really appreciate the hard work that we put in. At the end of the month they made me a special dinner of my request, plus all of the things they had noticed I liked to eat as a way of saying thank you.
And to wrap it all up: a few pictures of good points for which words don't quite suffice.
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| There was a crepe shop at the ski slope, and there "special" has pudding, ice-cream, cake, tiramisu, bananas, chocolate, strawberries and cream. It hurt, but it was delicious. |
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| At one point the snow was really not fit for skiing, so instead I made a friend. |
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| And as always the mountains on the ski slope were gorgeous... |
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| ...but really, they were awesome. |
Sunday, February 17, 2013
白馬働き
My lack of recent blog-related activity has been mostly important to a fairly significant development in my schedule. As part of my study abroad program, everybody does what they call a "Cultural Practicum" for a month between February and March, which is just basically something out-of-the-ordinary from regular study abroad life. It can be anything from studying zen in a temple, teaching English in middle schools, or doing recovery work in Tohoku. The practicum that I've selected involves working at an inn for skiers in Hakuba (白馬), Nagano-Prefecture (長野県).
To give a little background, the city of Hakuba is where all of the skiing events were held during the Winter Olympics were held in 1998. Naturally it's a well known place for skiers both within and outside of Japan, and is has a sparkling, luxurious ski resort with all the bells and whistles right near Happone, the main ski area.
But that's not where I am.
I am working at an inn near the Iwatake Snowfield (岩岳), a sort of second-hand ski slope that's about a 5 minute drive away from Happone. It's functionally in the middle of nowhere (there is only one convenience store within a 2.3 kilometer radius, by Japan standards that's nowhere), and the city of Hakuba itself is pretty small as well.
So what am I doing at a place like this anyway? Working. The basic agreement for this particular Cultural Practicum is that you get to stay at the hotel, go skiing, and eat breakfast and dinner for free. You just have to work for it.
A lot.
On average, my schedule results in about 10 hours of work per day. Every day. No weekends or holidays, just work for each of the 28 days that I'm here. The nice thing is that every day basically follows the exact same routine, so once you get it down it's not too bad (and that that also means that after I finish this blog post you'll know exactly what I'm doing for the next few weeks!).
So here's the routine:
Every morning at sometime between 5:30 and 6:30, we wake up and go start doing breakfast preparations. Along with rooms, the inn also provides breakfast and dinner for all of the guests, so we have to get that all set up. It's not buffet style, it's everybody-eats-exactly-the-same-thing-in-the-same-portions style, so we have to set out all the plates and load them with food. At 7:00 we open up and guests start coming in to eat. Whenever they are all done we cleanup, do as much setting for dinner as possible in the morning, and then eat our own breakfast. At 10:00 we start cleaning rooms, so if we get done with breakfast before 10:00 (we usually are done around 9:00), we get NAP TIME!!! (I never take naps, but here I accept them as a gift from the gods).
10 o'clock is when we start cleaning. This is pretty straightforward: fold up all the beds and sheets and whatnot, collect all the garbage, etc. There are two buildings to the inn: the main building and the annex. I almost always am assigned to cleaning the annex, which is the less-nice of the two buildings. The fun part about that, is that a large portion of our clientele is college kids going on retreats, and of course they always ask for the cheapest rooms. For those of us who clean the annex, that basically means that we have to clean up a college party. Every day. Not fun (but someone's gotta do it).
Whenever we finish cleaning (usually 12:30), we get our big break for the day. The next time they call us in is to prepare for dinner, which usually isn't until around 5:00, so the afternoon is to be enjoyed at our leisure. What does that mean? NAP TIME!!! Alternatively, if for some strange reason you are of the misconception that you have enough energy to not need a nap, the next logical activity is to go skiing. Luckily, I've come to learn how to time it to fit in both skiing and a nap, and so have hit the slopes here a few times. While I may have referred to Iwatake as the "second-hand" ski slope, it is actually a really nice area, and the view is absolutely spectacular.
As mentioned above, after the break we have dinner, which is basically the exact same as breakfast, just with a bit more cleanup. With breakfast me and the other workers just eat by ourselves, but after dinner we eat with the inn owner and his wife. I really enjoy it because in a lot of ways it feels very communal, and it's fantastic Japanese practice. With all of that combined, we usually get off of dinner at some time between 9:00 and 10:00 in the evening, leaving just about enough time to take a bath, maybe hang out a little bit, and then get some sleep before the routine starts over again.
One quick thing to clear up: The "we" I keep referring to isn't the Royal We, I have two roommates with him I do all this work. I'm literally with them 24/7, unless I decide to go off and do my own thing during the break. Fortunately, they're pretty cool, and I'd be going insane if I'd probably have died at the beginning if I didn't have them to help me figure out how things work around here. They are hardcore skiers, and so for them working here gives them free lodging and food so that they are near the ski area and can practice at least a couple hours a day.
All in all it's going well. By no stretch of the imagination would I summarize my experience so far as "fun", but it's definitely had some enjoyable parts, I'm constantly being forced to use and learn Japanese, and despite the exhaustion it's the kind of challenge I signed up for.
To give a little background, the city of Hakuba is where all of the skiing events were held during the Winter Olympics were held in 1998. Naturally it's a well known place for skiers both within and outside of Japan, and is has a sparkling, luxurious ski resort with all the bells and whistles right near Happone, the main ski area.
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| Map of Japan, with Hakuba labeled. It's almost directly northwest of Tokyo. |
But that's not where I am.
I am working at an inn near the Iwatake Snowfield (岩岳), a sort of second-hand ski slope that's about a 5 minute drive away from Happone. It's functionally in the middle of nowhere (there is only one convenience store within a 2.3 kilometer radius, by Japan standards that's nowhere), and the city of Hakuba itself is pretty small as well.
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| A picture of the street near my inn. One of the perks of being in the middle of nowhere is the spectacular landscape (granted, I'll take a cityscape any day, but still..) |
So what am I doing at a place like this anyway? Working. The basic agreement for this particular Cultural Practicum is that you get to stay at the hotel, go skiing, and eat breakfast and dinner for free. You just have to work for it.
A lot.
On average, my schedule results in about 10 hours of work per day. Every day. No weekends or holidays, just work for each of the 28 days that I'm here. The nice thing is that every day basically follows the exact same routine, so once you get it down it's not too bad (and that that also means that after I finish this blog post you'll know exactly what I'm doing for the next few weeks!).
So here's the routine:
Every morning at sometime between 5:30 and 6:30, we wake up and go start doing breakfast preparations. Along with rooms, the inn also provides breakfast and dinner for all of the guests, so we have to get that all set up. It's not buffet style, it's everybody-eats-exactly-the-same-thing-in-the-same-portions style, so we have to set out all the plates and load them with food. At 7:00 we open up and guests start coming in to eat. Whenever they are all done we cleanup, do as much setting for dinner as possible in the morning, and then eat our own breakfast. At 10:00 we start cleaning rooms, so if we get done with breakfast before 10:00 (we usually are done around 9:00), we get NAP TIME!!! (I never take naps, but here I accept them as a gift from the gods).
10 o'clock is when we start cleaning. This is pretty straightforward: fold up all the beds and sheets and whatnot, collect all the garbage, etc. There are two buildings to the inn: the main building and the annex. I almost always am assigned to cleaning the annex, which is the less-nice of the two buildings. The fun part about that, is that a large portion of our clientele is college kids going on retreats, and of course they always ask for the cheapest rooms. For those of us who clean the annex, that basically means that we have to clean up a college party. Every day. Not fun (but someone's gotta do it).
Whenever we finish cleaning (usually 12:30), we get our big break for the day. The next time they call us in is to prepare for dinner, which usually isn't until around 5:00, so the afternoon is to be enjoyed at our leisure. What does that mean? NAP TIME!!! Alternatively, if for some strange reason you are of the misconception that you have enough energy to not need a nap, the next logical activity is to go skiing. Luckily, I've come to learn how to time it to fit in both skiing and a nap, and so have hit the slopes here a few times. While I may have referred to Iwatake as the "second-hand" ski slope, it is actually a really nice area, and the view is absolutely spectacular.
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| View from the top of the Iwatake Snowfield. |
One quick thing to clear up: The "we" I keep referring to isn't the Royal We, I have two roommates with him I do all this work. I'm literally with them 24/7, unless I decide to go off and do my own thing during the break. Fortunately, they're pretty cool, and I'd be going insane if I'd probably have died at the beginning if I didn't have them to help me figure out how things work around here. They are hardcore skiers, and so for them working here gives them free lodging and food so that they are near the ski area and can practice at least a couple hours a day.
All in all it's going well. By no stretch of the imagination would I summarize my experience so far as "fun", but it's definitely had some enjoyable parts, I'm constantly being forced to use and learn Japanese, and despite the exhaustion it's the kind of challenge I signed up for.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Dipping into Kansai
This past weekend Jeric (the other K College student in Tokyo) and I headed off to Hikone, a small rural-ish city in the area near Kyoto.
Why go to a random little city on the other side of Japan you ask? Well Hikone hosts the Japan Center for Michigan Universities, and a couple of our friends are studying abroad there and will only be in Japan for a few more weeks, so we wanted to visit them while we still had the chance.
As lovely as the trains in Japan are, they are not cheap when it comes to cross-country travel. The bullet train to Kyoto can get you there in about one and a half hours (which is wicked fast), but is outside of our poor-college-student-travelling-Japan budget, so instead we took a night bus. It was fine as night buses go...except for a small little issue that came up. When they were announcing over the intercomm when the bus would be making each of its stops, we heard the bus driver say 9:30 for our stop, not 6:30 (not that in Japanese there is a one-syllable difference in saying those two times). When I ended up waking up around 7, I asked the bus driver if he thought we would be on time for our stop, only to find that we had already passed it. But, being Japan, in any given region every city is connected by trains, so we just hopped of the bus, found the closest train station and made our way to Hikone.
One of the first thing that one has to do in cities like Hikone is rent a bike. Unlike Tokyo, there aren't trains and buses going every which way, in fact there were none. So, bikes it was. That actually became one of the best parts of the trip though. I had forgotten the absolutely freedom you can have when you have a bike. It's still significantly faster than walking, but unlike trains you can literally go anywhere. The first day we spent taking care of the necessary things to do. There is a castle in Hikone that is the obvious must-see for anybody going there, and we went to see our friends' campus and just get a better feel for the city in general. As with most trips, probably best shown in pictures.
After our touristic-efficiency during the first day, Jeric and I were all out of plans. We literally did the most minimal planning possible for the trip. He booked the bus, I booked the hotel, and then we just went there and figured stuff would happen. Every day that we were there we stopped by the tourist center several times, just taking a look at what there was to see in the area. Throughout the whole process we came to know the women working there pretty well. It got to the point that when we came into the building we'd say "I'm home!", to which she'd reply "Welcome back!". It was a lot of fun, and she gave us some great ideas for what to do the next day.
The first order of business on the second day in Hikone was to figure out how to get to Tagataisha (多賀大社), a fairly well known temple in the area. I use the term "area" lightly, it ended up being about a half-hour bike ride away, but hey that's the beauty of bikes right? And the fact that the act of getting there on its own was an adventure just added to the enjoyment.
By the time we had gotten to the temple and back it was early in the afternoon, and our friends were still busy with various study-abroad related activities. So after a nice long bike ride what did we decide would be a good idea? Climb a mountain. Yea, let's climb a mountain.
Once the mountain had been conquered, we met up with our friends and just spent the rest of the day hanging out with them and biking around more of the city. By the time we got home it was around 11 at night, and we were absolutely wiped out from the most physically active day that I've had in a good long time, but it was a ton of fun, and all the exercise got me really excited to start skiing soon.
Our last day there was equivalently busy, it just involved less biking. That day I had made plans with one of our friends to get lunch with her old host family, because through a happenstance I ended up Skyping with them once and they wanted to meet me. They were really cool and very nice, and I had a great time meeting them. In many ways they were very different from my host family, but you can definitely see the same cultural background that they all share. It's definitely got both good and bad parts, but regardless it's interesting how much of a person's foundation comes from their cultural setting.
After that we met all met up and went to an event hosted by the the Japanese cultural exchange club at one of the local universities (by local I mean it was only 45 minutes away). Upon coming to Japan, we were told that Waseda is one of the top private universities in the country. Granted, it's nice to hear that, but honestly I never held that much stock in it, I mean everybody knows about it, but everybody knows about all the universities here. It wasn't until that event that I realized how true it was though. When I first mentioned to somebody that I was a study abroad student at Waseda, all of the Japanese students in the immediate vicinity let out a synchronized "WHOA!". Needless to say, for the sake of preserving social balance I began saying that I was just studying abroad in Tokyo. Apparently, going to a rural college and saying that you are a student at Waseda is roughly equivalent to saying that you are a law student at Harvard and cure cancer in your free time. With Japanese universities, it seems like it really is the name that matters most. Once I caught on though and people got over the whole Waseda thing, I had a great time meeting all of the students there and mingling.
I ended off the night by going to Kyoto to meet up with a friend who is studying there, as well as an old TA of ours. It was nice to catch up with them, and we ended up doing karaoke which is always fun, not mention the fact that I realized I can actually crank out a good amount of songs in Japanese now.
Overall it was a great little vacation to cap off the end of the semester. It was fun to see old friends, make some new ones, and see a part of Japan that I had yet to explore.
Why go to a random little city on the other side of Japan you ask? Well Hikone hosts the Japan Center for Michigan Universities, and a couple of our friends are studying abroad there and will only be in Japan for a few more weeks, so we wanted to visit them while we still had the chance.
As lovely as the trains in Japan are, they are not cheap when it comes to cross-country travel. The bullet train to Kyoto can get you there in about one and a half hours (which is wicked fast), but is outside of our poor-college-student-travelling-Japan budget, so instead we took a night bus. It was fine as night buses go...except for a small little issue that came up. When they were announcing over the intercomm when the bus would be making each of its stops, we heard the bus driver say 9:30 for our stop, not 6:30 (not that in Japanese there is a one-syllable difference in saying those two times). When I ended up waking up around 7, I asked the bus driver if he thought we would be on time for our stop, only to find that we had already passed it. But, being Japan, in any given region every city is connected by trains, so we just hopped of the bus, found the closest train station and made our way to Hikone.
One of the first thing that one has to do in cities like Hikone is rent a bike. Unlike Tokyo, there aren't trains and buses going every which way, in fact there were none. So, bikes it was. That actually became one of the best parts of the trip though. I had forgotten the absolutely freedom you can have when you have a bike. It's still significantly faster than walking, but unlike trains you can literally go anywhere. The first day we spent taking care of the necessary things to do. There is a castle in Hikone that is the obvious must-see for anybody going there, and we went to see our friends' campus and just get a better feel for the city in general. As with most trips, probably best shown in pictures.
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| Hikone Castle. Looks nice on the outside, but is way different from European castles. The inside was very stripped down and utilitarian, mostly just bare wood creating a system of different rooms. It was likely much more decorative back in the day, but for some reason that isn't preserved. |
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| The various people we we went to Hikone Castle with. Dan (left) was our Japanese TA freshman year, Brenda (right) is our friend studying in Hikone. |
After our touristic-efficiency during the first day, Jeric and I were all out of plans. We literally did the most minimal planning possible for the trip. He booked the bus, I booked the hotel, and then we just went there and figured stuff would happen. Every day that we were there we stopped by the tourist center several times, just taking a look at what there was to see in the area. Throughout the whole process we came to know the women working there pretty well. It got to the point that when we came into the building we'd say "I'm home!", to which she'd reply "Welcome back!". It was a lot of fun, and she gave us some great ideas for what to do the next day.
The first order of business on the second day in Hikone was to figure out how to get to Tagataisha (多賀大社), a fairly well known temple in the area. I use the term "area" lightly, it ended up being about a half-hour bike ride away, but hey that's the beauty of bikes right? And the fact that the act of getting there on its own was an adventure just added to the enjoyment.
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| A gorgeous stream going under the bridge that leads up to the temple. |
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| Entrance to the temple grounds. This was one of the bigger temples/shrines I have been to. It actually had several different shrines, with one main temple in the middle and paths leading off to other areas. |
By the time we had gotten to the temple and back it was early in the afternoon, and our friends were still busy with various study-abroad related activities. So after a nice long bike ride what did we decide would be a good idea? Climb a mountain. Yea, let's climb a mountain.
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| Another temple that was at the foot of the mountain. |
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| Jeric hiking through a bamboo grove that was along the path to the top. |
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| View from the top of the mountain, overlooking the city of Hikone, some other mountain in the distance, and then Lake Biwa to the right. |
Our last day there was equivalently busy, it just involved less biking. That day I had made plans with one of our friends to get lunch with her old host family, because through a happenstance I ended up Skyping with them once and they wanted to meet me. They were really cool and very nice, and I had a great time meeting them. In many ways they were very different from my host family, but you can definitely see the same cultural background that they all share. It's definitely got both good and bad parts, but regardless it's interesting how much of a person's foundation comes from their cultural setting.
After that we met all met up and went to an event hosted by the the Japanese cultural exchange club at one of the local universities (by local I mean it was only 45 minutes away). Upon coming to Japan, we were told that Waseda is one of the top private universities in the country. Granted, it's nice to hear that, but honestly I never held that much stock in it, I mean everybody knows about it, but everybody knows about all the universities here. It wasn't until that event that I realized how true it was though. When I first mentioned to somebody that I was a study abroad student at Waseda, all of the Japanese students in the immediate vicinity let out a synchronized "WHOA!". Needless to say, for the sake of preserving social balance I began saying that I was just studying abroad in Tokyo. Apparently, going to a rural college and saying that you are a student at Waseda is roughly equivalent to saying that you are a law student at Harvard and cure cancer in your free time. With Japanese universities, it seems like it really is the name that matters most. Once I caught on though and people got over the whole Waseda thing, I had a great time meeting all of the students there and mingling.
I ended off the night by going to Kyoto to meet up with a friend who is studying there, as well as an old TA of ours. It was nice to catch up with them, and we ended up doing karaoke which is always fun, not mention the fact that I realized I can actually crank out a good amount of songs in Japanese now.
Overall it was a great little vacation to cap off the end of the semester. It was fun to see old friends, make some new ones, and see a part of Japan that I had yet to explore.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Bathing done right
Unfortunately for the interest of this blog, the past week has been pretty standard. Classes, juggling, friends, speaking Japanese - the works. The one thing that has been of particular interest lately is that this week and next week are finals, and so beyond having to begin studying for those, the end is drawing near! Don't get me wrong, I've definitely enjoyed several of my classes this semester....and there are several others that I have definitely not. Regardless, now that I know how the system works I some good ideas for what to do next semester, and I will be not be sad once this one is over.
With the lack of particularly interesting things happening, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about something that did absolutely blow my mind this week. Baths.
As some of you may know, the way of taking a bath in Japan is completely different from in the US. Before you can set foot in a bathtub in Japan, one must first take a shower. Seems a bit redundant at first right? The reason is because you don't use any soap or shampoo in the tub. You don't put anything in the tub. Ever. Nothing but your nice, clean body. In Japan a bath isn't about cleaning, it's about enjoying the hot water, having a moment to relax and to release the stresses from the day. Also, the same water is used by everybody in the family. And why not? Since everybody is clean before they get in, the water stays clean, and so it makes sense not to waste the time or resources to drain and refill the bathtub for every member of the family (since in most Japanese families everybody takes a bath every night). Because of this system, Japanese bathtubs are usually in a room by themselves with a detachable shower head so you can shower not-in-the-tub.
Thankfully, this very different method of bath-tubbery was taught to us during the first week we got here (prior to meeting our host families), so I was adequately informed by the time that first bath came around. Having been here for around 4 months though, this couldn't have blown my mind this week right? I mean, yea it's a really efficient hot-water-enjoying-system, but I'm used to it by now. So what was so cool?
This week, I discovered what happens to that nice, still-clean water after it's gone cold the next day. I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth the other day, and imagine my surprise to see a hose running across the middle of the (very small) room. I asked, my host mom about it, and it turns out that you can hook up a hose to the bathtub, connect it to the laundry machine, and it will use the bathtub water to do your laundry! Is that not the most efficient thing you've ever heard of!?!? I thought it was pretty incredible.
This is just a small example of an otherwise bigger thing that I love about Japan. In the US you'll often here people mentioning the "small things" that, if everybody did them, could make a huge difference in terms of cutting down waste and conserving resources. In Japan, these are already part of the culture. Water and food are never wasted, there are 6 different kinds of recycling and absolutely everybody sorts things out properly, people never use paper towels in restrooms. And those are just the examples that come to mind right now.
There's a lot more that could be said about baths in Japan, it's quite the thing here. While its pretty different, they seem to have gotten the bathtub thing right though.
With the lack of particularly interesting things happening, I'm going to take this opportunity to talk about something that did absolutely blow my mind this week. Baths.
As some of you may know, the way of taking a bath in Japan is completely different from in the US. Before you can set foot in a bathtub in Japan, one must first take a shower. Seems a bit redundant at first right? The reason is because you don't use any soap or shampoo in the tub. You don't put anything in the tub. Ever. Nothing but your nice, clean body. In Japan a bath isn't about cleaning, it's about enjoying the hot water, having a moment to relax and to release the stresses from the day. Also, the same water is used by everybody in the family. And why not? Since everybody is clean before they get in, the water stays clean, and so it makes sense not to waste the time or resources to drain and refill the bathtub for every member of the family (since in most Japanese families everybody takes a bath every night). Because of this system, Japanese bathtubs are usually in a room by themselves with a detachable shower head so you can shower not-in-the-tub.
Thankfully, this very different method of bath-tubbery was taught to us during the first week we got here (prior to meeting our host families), so I was adequately informed by the time that first bath came around. Having been here for around 4 months though, this couldn't have blown my mind this week right? I mean, yea it's a really efficient hot-water-enjoying-system, but I'm used to it by now. So what was so cool?
This week, I discovered what happens to that nice, still-clean water after it's gone cold the next day. I walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth the other day, and imagine my surprise to see a hose running across the middle of the (very small) room. I asked, my host mom about it, and it turns out that you can hook up a hose to the bathtub, connect it to the laundry machine, and it will use the bathtub water to do your laundry! Is that not the most efficient thing you've ever heard of!?!? I thought it was pretty incredible.
This is just a small example of an otherwise bigger thing that I love about Japan. In the US you'll often here people mentioning the "small things" that, if everybody did them, could make a huge difference in terms of cutting down waste and conserving resources. In Japan, these are already part of the culture. Water and food are never wasted, there are 6 different kinds of recycling and absolutely everybody sorts things out properly, people never use paper towels in restrooms. And those are just the examples that come to mind right now.
There's a lot more that could be said about baths in Japan, it's quite the thing here. While its pretty different, they seem to have gotten the bathtub thing right though.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Entering Adulthood
Despite popular opinion, I didn't actually become an adult until today.
In Japan, the official age at which one becomes an adult is 20, and today was Coming of Age Day (成人の日). While obviously not everybody turns 20 on the second Monday in January, that's the day that the hold the celebration. Every city holds its own, government-sponsored festivities, and so I was invited to the seijinshiki (成人式) for Shinjuku Ward (新宿区).
Typically, a seijinshiki involves all of the 20-year-olds gathering in one place, listening to a very long speech, and then being rewarded for their step into adulthood (and resolve for listening to the whole speech) with some sort of very nice gift. However, that ain't exactly Shinjuku style. Shinjuku is one of the biggest commercial areas in Tokyo, it houses the busiest train station in the world, and has the densest population of foreigners in Tokyo. So how does one come of age in Shinjuku fashion?
One has a party.
This afternoon all of the "seijin" (成人) of Shinjuku gathered at the Keio Plaza Hotel to have what was essentially an enormous mingle-party. Registration opened an hour before the actually festivities began, and so of course I arrived their five minutes early for registration. However, the hotel was already absolutely bolstering with activity. As I later discovered, the seijinshiki is quite frequently a huge reunion between individuals and their high school classmates, and so by the time I got there hordes of laughing friend groups had already formed. The hotel was completely overrun with seijin, and the first thing you notice is the sea of girls dressed in kimonos.
Now I'm not quite sure what you think of when you think of Japan, but kimonos are rare to come by these days, particularly in Tokyo. They're incredibly expensive, and typically only worn on special occasions, and a seijinshiki is one of them. Also, the kimono that is worn for seijinshiki usually has incredibly long sleeves (like, almost down to the floor), and apparently once you're married you can't wear a kimono like that. Just another example of how absolutely everything done in Japan has some kind of meaning behind it.
Once the actual event started all of us made our way into the enormous ballroom. The festivities began almost exactly on time (I'm convinced that this only happens in Japan), and as is typical of pretty much any ceremony it started with a speech or two. I was actually able to understand most of the speeches. The covered your standard topics for such an event: follow your dream, work hard, take responsibility, thank those who have helped you grow. There were also several beautiful spreads of food, tables setup around the area, and probably over 1000 seijin.
The food was absolutely delicious, and we had a group of exchange students that had slowly grown throughout the event. At one point I was actually approached by a girl from Denmark who was there alone and asked to join us. And come on, who's gonna deny that? So she joined our motley crew and we all had a great time.
Today also happened to be the first snow of the year in Tokyo. And we aren't talking a flake here or there. It was absolutely pouring snow for the duration of the day, which was great except for the fact that there was a commute to be had to the seijinshiki and back. But hey, it felt homey, and when I got back my host family and I went out and played in the snow, so I've got no complaints.
While I don't necessarily feel any more grown-up, it was great to go see how coming of age is celebrated in Japan, and to get a familiar taste of "real" winter....although just a taste will suffice.
In Japan, the official age at which one becomes an adult is 20, and today was Coming of Age Day (成人の日). While obviously not everybody turns 20 on the second Monday in January, that's the day that the hold the celebration. Every city holds its own, government-sponsored festivities, and so I was invited to the seijinshiki (成人式) for Shinjuku Ward (新宿区).
Typically, a seijinshiki involves all of the 20-year-olds gathering in one place, listening to a very long speech, and then being rewarded for their step into adulthood (and resolve for listening to the whole speech) with some sort of very nice gift. However, that ain't exactly Shinjuku style. Shinjuku is one of the biggest commercial areas in Tokyo, it houses the busiest train station in the world, and has the densest population of foreigners in Tokyo. So how does one come of age in Shinjuku fashion?
One has a party.
This afternoon all of the "seijin" (成人) of Shinjuku gathered at the Keio Plaza Hotel to have what was essentially an enormous mingle-party. Registration opened an hour before the actually festivities began, and so of course I arrived their five minutes early for registration. However, the hotel was already absolutely bolstering with activity. As I later discovered, the seijinshiki is quite frequently a huge reunion between individuals and their high school classmates, and so by the time I got there hordes of laughing friend groups had already formed. The hotel was completely overrun with seijin, and the first thing you notice is the sea of girls dressed in kimonos.
Now I'm not quite sure what you think of when you think of Japan, but kimonos are rare to come by these days, particularly in Tokyo. They're incredibly expensive, and typically only worn on special occasions, and a seijinshiki is one of them. Also, the kimono that is worn for seijinshiki usually has incredibly long sleeves (like, almost down to the floor), and apparently once you're married you can't wear a kimono like that. Just another example of how absolutely everything done in Japan has some kind of meaning behind it.
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| Note that all of the females are wearing kimonos |
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| The sea of seijin |
Today also happened to be the first snow of the year in Tokyo. And we aren't talking a flake here or there. It was absolutely pouring snow for the duration of the day, which was great except for the fact that there was a commute to be had to the seijinshiki and back. But hey, it felt homey, and when I got back my host family and I went out and played in the snow, so I've got no complaints.
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| The (as of today) Winter Wonderland known as the street corner by my apartment. |
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Train Tracks in the Tokyo Tumult
This past week hasn't been particularly exciting. I've spent some time with friends, and classes have started again. I always enjoy going back to school, mainly because it means seeing a lot of people on a daily basis, but I usually enjoy classes as well. Other than that though, there has been nothing of note really. So today due to the lack of interesting adventures, let's take a look at trains!
Train System Layout
I usually joke that the map for the train system in Tokyo was drawn by a 5-year-old. It would be funny...except for the fact that I absolutely believe it. If you need proof, just take a peak at the map. Keep in mind, this is the "simplified" map, it's actually a little bit messier.
Here's the kicker: that map is only the trains that are operated by the government-run Tokyo Metro system. There are also the trains run by Japan Railways (which are equally as numerous), and a handful of other privately owned lines that snake all throughout the city.
After living in Chicago this summer, I thought I had trains down. However, going from a system with 7 or 8 different colored trains to one that has more colors than I even know how to say in Japanese was quite the leap. Turns out it can be hard to determine which of 3 different shades of blue represents the train that you actually want to get on....
But you know what's even crazier about the psychedelic ball of yarn that Tokyo calls a train system?
It works. Tremendously well. It's the single most effective, well-oiled, convenient transportation system I have ever seen. All of the trains usually run every 3-10 minutes depending on the line and station, and are almost never late. Ever. It's absolutely incredible, and once you figure out the diagrams you can know exactly how long it will take to get to your stop, and which car of the train to board in order to be closest to your transfer just by glancing at a sign as you walk by.
Train Etiquette
In some ways train-goers in Japan are much more polite than in the US, and in some ways getting on a train can be the most stressful part of your day.
First for the polite part. On trains in Japan, absolutely nobody ever talks on their cellphone. It doesn't matter of the emperor himself calls you, you do not answer your phone on a train. Nor do you eat on the train, or do anything that could generally be perceived as disturbing. Because of that, riding the train can be a really pleasant experience, and everybody is usually very cordial in the way they respect the other passengers.
That is, except during rush hour.
Despite popular belief that you have a "personal bubble", no such thing exists on a train in Tokyo. The only restriction to how many people can fit on a train is how hard the station attention can shove people in. Literally, the attendants will start literally packing people in when necessary. Fortunately I never cared much about personal space, which is good because on a rush hour train, you ain't gettin' it; you're lucky if you have wiggle room for your nose.
Tickets
The only thing more efficient than the trains themselves in Tokyo is the ticketing system. Instead of buying an actual train ticket, almost everybody has an RFID card that you swipe when you enter and leave a train platform. Fares are based on the distance that you traveled, and are automatically deducted from your card. All you have to do is charge it up, and you can literally use that card to get to the other side of Japan.
Despite the moments of insanity, overall the train system in Tokyo is astounding. It's wicked efficient, connects all major areas of the world's biggest city, and has a color spectrum that could give the rainbow a run for its money.
Train System Layout
I usually joke that the map for the train system in Tokyo was drawn by a 5-year-old. It would be funny...except for the fact that I absolutely believe it. If you need proof, just take a peak at the map. Keep in mind, this is the "simplified" map, it's actually a little bit messier.
 |
| The Tokyo Metro train network map. |
After living in Chicago this summer, I thought I had trains down. However, going from a system with 7 or 8 different colored trains to one that has more colors than I even know how to say in Japanese was quite the leap. Turns out it can be hard to determine which of 3 different shades of blue represents the train that you actually want to get on....
But you know what's even crazier about the psychedelic ball of yarn that Tokyo calls a train system?
It works. Tremendously well. It's the single most effective, well-oiled, convenient transportation system I have ever seen. All of the trains usually run every 3-10 minutes depending on the line and station, and are almost never late. Ever. It's absolutely incredible, and once you figure out the diagrams you can know exactly how long it will take to get to your stop, and which car of the train to board in order to be closest to your transfer just by glancing at a sign as you walk by.
Train Etiquette
In some ways train-goers in Japan are much more polite than in the US, and in some ways getting on a train can be the most stressful part of your day.
First for the polite part. On trains in Japan, absolutely nobody ever talks on their cellphone. It doesn't matter of the emperor himself calls you, you do not answer your phone on a train. Nor do you eat on the train, or do anything that could generally be perceived as disturbing. Because of that, riding the train can be a really pleasant experience, and everybody is usually very cordial in the way they respect the other passengers.
That is, except during rush hour.
Despite popular belief that you have a "personal bubble", no such thing exists on a train in Tokyo. The only restriction to how many people can fit on a train is how hard the station attention can shove people in. Literally, the attendants will start literally packing people in when necessary. Fortunately I never cared much about personal space, which is good because on a rush hour train, you ain't gettin' it; you're lucky if you have wiggle room for your nose.
Tickets
The only thing more efficient than the trains themselves in Tokyo is the ticketing system. Instead of buying an actual train ticket, almost everybody has an RFID card that you swipe when you enter and leave a train platform. Fares are based on the distance that you traveled, and are automatically deducted from your card. All you have to do is charge it up, and you can literally use that card to get to the other side of Japan.
Despite the moments of insanity, overall the train system in Tokyo is astounding. It's wicked efficient, connects all major areas of the world's biggest city, and has a color spectrum that could give the rainbow a run for its money.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
What Happens in Akihabara...
Recently, I feel like my posts have been about things that have some sort of cultural weight to them. So today, I'm just going to throw in a funny story from last night. Why not?
So last night, the other K College student who is in Tokyo, our friend visiting from Kyoto, and I went out for to see The Hobbit last night. Beforehand though, they wanted to go to a maid cafe (a cafe where you are served by cute women dressed in maid outfits, it's a fairly popular thing in Japan, sadly); not exactly my cup of tea, but they seemed excited for it, and I'm sure it's a Japanese experience to be had. We headed off to Akihabara (秋葉原), basically the managa/anime/video-games geek enclave of Tokyo, and therefore where most such cafes are to be found. On the way we realized one problem that would to dominate the hunt for dinner that evening though: Because of the new year holiday (which is still going on), all of the post offices are closed until the 4th. Not a big deal right? Well, the only ATMs that consistently accept debit cards from foreign banks are inside post offices...and not having anticipated this, none of us was carrying much money.
However, 7/11 ATMs will often take American cards, so after spending about 15 minutes hunting for a 7/11, we found one and thought we were in the clear. Low and behold, that for some reason this 7/11 wasn't feeling particularly patriotic, and left us with the same small sum of cash that we had before.
But that's not so bad right? We'd just get a cheaper dinner. Well.....thing is we didn't know if the movie theater would take credit cards (because a lot of places don't), So for the safety of the movie we had to eat somewhere that would take credit cards. Turns out that maid cafes don't accept credit cards (no surprise there), so we just decided "You know what, let's just go to McDonalds": it's cheap, and it's almost got to accept credit cards. Almost. Apparently it doesn't.
There was however, one place that I knew, without fail, was open every hour, of every day and did accept credit cards: the convenience store (called a conbini [コンビニ] for short in Japan). So what had originally been plans for a dinner filled with cute women resulted in us three guys standing on the street eating rice balls.
Sometimes, life just happens.
So last night, the other K College student who is in Tokyo, our friend visiting from Kyoto, and I went out for to see The Hobbit last night. Beforehand though, they wanted to go to a maid cafe (a cafe where you are served by cute women dressed in maid outfits, it's a fairly popular thing in Japan, sadly); not exactly my cup of tea, but they seemed excited for it, and I'm sure it's a Japanese experience to be had. We headed off to Akihabara (秋葉原), basically the managa/anime/video-games geek enclave of Tokyo, and therefore where most such cafes are to be found. On the way we realized one problem that would to dominate the hunt for dinner that evening though: Because of the new year holiday (which is still going on), all of the post offices are closed until the 4th. Not a big deal right? Well, the only ATMs that consistently accept debit cards from foreign banks are inside post offices...and not having anticipated this, none of us was carrying much money.
However, 7/11 ATMs will often take American cards, so after spending about 15 minutes hunting for a 7/11, we found one and thought we were in the clear. Low and behold, that for some reason this 7/11 wasn't feeling particularly patriotic, and left us with the same small sum of cash that we had before.
But that's not so bad right? We'd just get a cheaper dinner. Well.....thing is we didn't know if the movie theater would take credit cards (because a lot of places don't), So for the safety of the movie we had to eat somewhere that would take credit cards. Turns out that maid cafes don't accept credit cards (no surprise there), so we just decided "You know what, let's just go to McDonalds": it's cheap, and it's almost got to accept credit cards. Almost. Apparently it doesn't.
There was however, one place that I knew, without fail, was open every hour, of every day and did accept credit cards: the convenience store (called a conbini [コンビニ] for short in Japan). So what had originally been plans for a dinner filled with cute women resulted in us three guys standing on the street eating rice balls.
Sometimes, life just happens.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Winter Travels
Having been used to the 7-week long winter break at K, the fact that our winter break here is only 2 weeks is actually rather refreshing. This past week (from Christmas Eve until now) was the first half of break, and I spent it with my host father and brother in the northern part of Honshu.
Geography of Japan
To those of you who have ever asked me anything about geography, you know I'm not the best person to be giving a geography lesson, but we'll give it a shot.
While Japan is an archipelago consists of over 6,000 islands, the main area of Japan consists of four: Honshu (本州), Hokkaido (北海道), Shikoku (四国) and Kyushu (九州). Where I have been, and will be for the vast majority (if not the entirety) of my stay in Japan is Honshu, which is the big, central island of Japan (it's the shape you think Japan is). Most of the places in Japan that you've heard of are on Honshu: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, etc.
Don't get me wrong, there are notable places on the other islands as well, but Honshu is where the significant majority of cities and people can be found.
Means of Transport
Christmas Day the three of us packed up and headed up to Sendai, which is some ways north of Tokyo. My host dad actually works up in Sendai during the week, so we were just heading for his apartment. Our departure also meant the first time that I would get to ride a shinkansen (新幹線), or "bullet train". I've got to be honest, it's actually pretty awesome.
One of the many great things about trains in Japan is you can almost always buy your ticket the day of travelling, whether it's just going throughout the city of going across the country. That morning we just rolled our bags to the station, picked up some tickets and were on our way. Also, you just take your bags with you on the train, regardless of however many you have or how heavy they are. Let's see here, with a shinkansen you get:
- Unlimited luggage that will never get lost
- Same day ticket purchasing
- Almost no delays, absolutely no cancellations
I could take trains and avoid airlines for the rest of my life I'd be set. Granted, I think the train is only a little less expensive than flying, but it's infinitely more convenient in my opinion. It was also the single smoothest and most comfortable train I have ever seen. Granted, I got used to the noise of Chicago trains this summer, so my standards are pretty low, but the entire ride you could barely hear any noise from the train, and it was incredibly fast.
My host dad had to go straight to work (they only get the day of Christmas Eve off here apparently), so my host brother and I went to the apartment and just putzed around all day. If it were left completely up to him, I'm pretty sure we would have spent the entire weekend in that apartment watching TV and playing video games (although I'm sure I had a similar opinion when I was 12). However, much to my enjoyment we did actually go places!
Travel
The first trip we took was to the area of what once was a city, but had been destroyed by the tsunami on March 11, 2011. I think the best description of the experience and the place is sad. It wasn't life-altering, it wasn't emotionally unhinging, it wasn't terrifying. It was sad. These days, it is basically an open field, lines by a small handful of dirt paths, dotted with cement rectangles that once formed the foundation for buildings, and absolutely uninhabited. The only other people we saw the entire day were construction works who would occasionally drive by. No buildings is one thing, but no people is a completely different kind of empty.
The only other place that we traveled to during out time up north was a city called Matsushima (松島). It isn't particularly large or anything, but it is a coastal town, known in particular for having over 260 islands in the nearby waters. That day it was just my host brother and I, and we really just played it by ear. We ended up walking through a park that went be the sea shore, going to a history museum about a significant historical figure from the Sendai area, and then riding a boat that went by some of the islands. Although English signs were provided in most cases, I thought I'd be ambitious and try reading all of the Japanese signs in the history museum. That lasted until I hit the second sentence on the sign I was reading, and realized I didn't know a single character in it. My reading has definitely gotten a lot better....but museum terminology is an entirely different story.
Overall, the break was a good combination of travel and rest. I had way more downtime than I am used to (and am definitely glad to be back in the big city), but it was time to catch up on some well-needed sleep, a good chance to get to know my host brother and father a bit better, and an interesting excursion to a different area of Japan.
To those of you who have ever asked me anything about geography, you know I'm not the best person to be giving a geography lesson, but we'll give it a shot.
While Japan is an archipelago consists of over 6,000 islands, the main area of Japan consists of four: Honshu (本州), Hokkaido (北海道), Shikoku (四国) and Kyushu (九州). Where I have been, and will be for the vast majority (if not the entirety) of my stay in Japan is Honshu, which is the big, central island of Japan (it's the shape you think Japan is). Most of the places in Japan that you've heard of are on Honshu: Tokyo, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Osaka, etc.
Don't get me wrong, there are notable places on the other islands as well, but Honshu is where the significant majority of cities and people can be found.
 |
| Map of Japan (Lonely Planet, Accessed Dec 31, 2012, http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/asia/japan/) |
Means of Transport
Christmas Day the three of us packed up and headed up to Sendai, which is some ways north of Tokyo. My host dad actually works up in Sendai during the week, so we were just heading for his apartment. Our departure also meant the first time that I would get to ride a shinkansen (新幹線), or "bullet train". I've got to be honest, it's actually pretty awesome.
One of the many great things about trains in Japan is you can almost always buy your ticket the day of travelling, whether it's just going throughout the city of going across the country. That morning we just rolled our bags to the station, picked up some tickets and were on our way. Also, you just take your bags with you on the train, regardless of however many you have or how heavy they are. Let's see here, with a shinkansen you get:
- Unlimited luggage that will never get lost
- Same day ticket purchasing
- Almost no delays, absolutely no cancellations
I could take trains and avoid airlines for the rest of my life I'd be set. Granted, I think the train is only a little less expensive than flying, but it's infinitely more convenient in my opinion. It was also the single smoothest and most comfortable train I have ever seen. Granted, I got used to the noise of Chicago trains this summer, so my standards are pretty low, but the entire ride you could barely hear any noise from the train, and it was incredibly fast.
My host dad had to go straight to work (they only get the day of Christmas Eve off here apparently), so my host brother and I went to the apartment and just putzed around all day. If it were left completely up to him, I'm pretty sure we would have spent the entire weekend in that apartment watching TV and playing video games (although I'm sure I had a similar opinion when I was 12). However, much to my enjoyment we did actually go places!
Travel
The first trip we took was to the area of what once was a city, but had been destroyed by the tsunami on March 11, 2011. I think the best description of the experience and the place is sad. It wasn't life-altering, it wasn't emotionally unhinging, it wasn't terrifying. It was sad. These days, it is basically an open field, lines by a small handful of dirt paths, dotted with cement rectangles that once formed the foundation for buildings, and absolutely uninhabited. The only other people we saw the entire day were construction works who would occasionally drive by. No buildings is one thing, but no people is a completely different kind of empty.
 |
| One of the few structures still standing in the tsunami-stricken area. |
The only other place that we traveled to during out time up north was a city called Matsushima (松島). It isn't particularly large or anything, but it is a coastal town, known in particular for having over 260 islands in the nearby waters. That day it was just my host brother and I, and we really just played it by ear. We ended up walking through a park that went be the sea shore, going to a history museum about a significant historical figure from the Sendai area, and then riding a boat that went by some of the islands. Although English signs were provided in most cases, I thought I'd be ambitious and try reading all of the Japanese signs in the history museum. That lasted until I hit the second sentence on the sign I was reading, and realized I didn't know a single character in it. My reading has definitely gotten a lot better....but museum terminology is an entirely different story.
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| A panoramic of the ocean from the park in Matsushima |
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| The sign welcoming us into town. |
Overall, the break was a good combination of travel and rest. I had way more downtime than I am used to (and am definitely glad to be back in the big city), but it was time to catch up on some well-needed sleep, a good chance to get to know my host brother and father a bit better, and an interesting excursion to a different area of Japan.
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