The Home Stretch

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 =)

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 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

Poster for the mime show. the guy on the right is my professor.

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

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?

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I miss science. A lot. Fortunately for me, Tokyo is an enormous

Classification of stars....in Japanese

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.

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.

My drink with a picture of Doraemon drawn on it.

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.

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).

A stream near the inn where we stayed. And to answer your question:
Of course we climbed to the top.

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?

The original table setting of what eventually became a 4-course hodgepodge of
unidentifiable Japanese cuisine.

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.

A picture taken at the fruit farm, in which I some other group members flying through the air with my immense strength.

Our entire group (as well as a couple guests who were with us) outside of the inn.

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.

Arrival on the mountainside.

One of the several tables in the dining hall in the inn.

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.

Juggling! Wheeeeeeee!

The tallest game of Jenga that I have ever seen.

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.

Final group shot in front of the inn, just before returning back to Tokyo.

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.

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.

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！

A walking, metallic, bird on stilts....Don't ask questions.

A brass band playing every kind of tune you can imagine. 

A diabolo artist who did all of his routines to the tune of an audience-member-driven street organ.

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!