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.

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.

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.

A panoramic of the ocean from the park in Matsushima

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.

Holiday Cheer: Disney Style

I'm not sure about you, but back in my day there were 3 major sources of magic as a kid: Christmas, Harry Potter, and Disney. Last Friday, a few friends and I decided to indulge in a healthy combination of two of these.

Quick Statistics:
Tokyo Disney originally opened in 1983, and was the first Disney theme park to open up outside of the US. It today consists of two parks, DisneyLand and DisneySea (see what they did there?), which together welcome roughly 25 million visitors a year. It's not actually in Tokyo, but in Chiba (千葉) which is a little over an hour train ride out of Tokyo.

So three friends and I decided on Wednesday that we should really go to DisneySea to see all of the Christmas decorations before it was too late, and Friday we were off. That's one of the things I love about Japan: you can decide last minute that you want to go somewhere, and with the train system here it takes minimal planning to go almost anywhere. Tokyo Disney sells a pass that just gets you into the park after 6pm, which was perfect since some of us had class that day. That park was fantastic, the decorations were awesome, and for seem reason things just seemed to go inordinately well that evening. I'll let the pictures tell the story though (sorry for the lack of picture-containing posts recently).

The train going to different areas of the Disney resort was pretty well branded.

Entrance to the park 

The enormous Christmas tree in DisneySea.

The Little Mermaid area of the park from afar. At night it is really stunning.

King Triton and his dolphins in holiday garb. 

A room in a castle of the park talking about the motion of stars and planets. Every park should have some science!

A two-tiered Merry-Go-Round in Agrabah

A Christmas Show happening in the park. Don't ask why, but in Japan Mickey's voice is significantly higher than Minnie's.

Sukiyaki and Songs

Within the past few weeks, I have been fortunate enough to have a dish called sukiyaki (すき焼き), not only once, but twice. The first time I had it was with my host family, which starting off is a dangerous game. I was brought up to never turn down food that is put on your plate in somebody else's home, and while this is basically my home in Japan, I've been maintaining that philosophy whenever physically possible. And that evening was no different.

Where the danger comes in, is that sukiyaki is basically moderation's worst enemy. It's a type of "hot pot", where there is basically a big pot of boiling sauce in the middle with all sorts of things thrown in it, and then everybody grabs what they want, when they want it. The signature to sukiyaki is that the sauce has a soy-saucey taste, and you dip everything in raw egg before you eat it. Disregarding the inbred habit of running away at the sight of raw egg, it's absolutely delicious. And it never ends....Ever. The night that we made it, we cooked around 4 pounds of meat, at least 3 pots worth of veggies and tofu, and then when all of that was gone some mushrooms and noodles, because why not? Afterward, I felt pretty incapable of movement, but with enough motivation was able to waddle over to my bed and collapse in a ball of delicious, painful, food-induced exhaustion.

The next time I had sukiyaki I went out with a group of Japanese and exchange students to an area called Ikebukuro (池袋). This is actually where we had stayed during the orientation period of the program, and had been my first time returning there since. Most sukiyaki places in Japan operate as tabe-houdai (食べ放題), which means all-you-can-eat for a certain amount of time. So picture us, 20 college students, sitting down to a 90 minute celebration, a 90 minute challenge of how much delicious your stomach is really capable of holding, and heading in full force. I had a great time with everybody there, and by around lunch the next day I began feeling like my stomach was once again back to normal capacity. There is actually photographic evidence of me having fun with with Japanese people somewhere, but not on my camera. If it ever surfaces I'll be sure to post it.

The other interesting thing about sukiyaki, is that it is also the name for the English version of what is incontrovertibly the most famous song in Japan. The original song, titled "Ue wo Muite, Arukou" (上を向いて歩こう), was sung by Kyu Sakamoto (坂本九) in 1961. It's claim to fame was being the first Japanese song to become known and liked by international audiences, and it remains the only Japanese song to reach top charts in the US. If you've got some time, take a listen. I have yet to meet a single person in Japan, of any age, who doesn't know this song.

Original (which I prefer)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbH754gScuk

English Version (lyrics are almost completely unrelated to lyrics of actual song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqFkUNqBwMw&feature=fvst

National Health Care, For The Win!

As many of you probably know, I'm really great at being sick. If they had awards for it I might be able to squeeze one out. Usually, at about this time every winter I end up with my standard illness. Sometimes it's just a cold, sometimes it decided to grow into a sinus infection, but it always follows the same progression of steps. At any point I can usually tell what's going to happen next, and so usually I don't think too much of the whole "being sick" thing. Much to my mother's shagrin this also means that I don't usually go to the doctor when it doesn't go away.

However, this morning I woke up without being able to hear as much as I usually can out of my left ear. In the past, this has meant that I have a sinus infection (don't ask my why disabled-hearing = sinusitis, but it does). So I decided what the heck, I'll go to the doctor.

Quick Side Story:
When I was going through the necessary procedures to register as a student resident in Japan I registered for the national health care plan (our program requires all students to do so). Each month it costs my around $15, and by being on the plan it automatically reduces my cost of getting health care by 70%, and I'm not even a citizen!

Anyway, so at 9 o'clock this morning my host mother and I did headed off to the doctor. The place we went to was just a general doctor's office, no specialties. After a brief wait we entered his office, he said "So what's up?", and did the typical quick check that I was still alive. From there, he then sent us off to an ear/nose specialist (it's just ear and nose in Japan, not ear/nose/throat). Turns out this doctor was in the bigger hospital. Once there I had to fill out some more paperwork (there's always paperwork), and then after a bit more waiting we saw Doctor #2. She again asked me what was wrong, and then looked in my ears and nose to find that they were indeed filled with gunk.

Up until this point all of the doctors had been speaking entirely Japanese, and surprisingly I had been able to follow them and describe my symptoms. After poking around my ears and nose I expected this doctor to either ask more questions or deliver instructions, but she did neither. Instead, without a word she just grabbed a funnel, stuck it up my nose and inserted a thing, transparent tube up my nasal canal. She then hit a button, and quite literally vacuumed out all of the general nastiness that filled my nose and ears. It was among the strangest nose-related feelings I've had, although I was definitely cleared out afterward. In retrospect, I'm glad that I wasn't giving a warning, but for some reason it still felt a bit like a cheap shot.

Past-cleaning she sent us off to wait again, until Medical Professional #3 came to get me for a hearing test. Apparently this is standard when you get any sort of head-related illness in Japan, and after the nice little vacuuming I could hear everything just fine. Another wait, and once again we were back at Doctor #2. She said that I probably had sinusitis (thankfully she knew this word in English) and wrote up some prescriptions. A quick stop by the drug store, and I had my medicine within 15 minutes of leaving the hospital.

Overall it was good as doctor's visits go, but what blew my mind at the end of the day was the price. I had seen two different doctors, received a test, had my sinuses completely cleaned out, and filled four different prescriptions. Imagine my surprise when the combined cost of everything was about $50. You can barely fill one prescription in the us for $50, let alone go to two doctors and then some! I have to say, for all the pros and cons that Japan may have, national health care is definitely a pro. Here's to hoping that we get this in the US sometime soon....

Hello Kitty and Midterms

The only defense that I really have for not having written anything in the past two weeks is that this past week happened to be when almost all of my midterms exams fell (most people have them spread out over a couple weeks), so I've been suddenly busy with school work/studying. In the past week I've had 2 tests, 2 papers, 1 presentation and 4 quizzes. Surprisingly though, this stress level was still low compared to the academic rigor at K, but nonetheless I had a lot of preparation to do.

Outside of that however, it's been a fairly regular two weeks. The most interesting occurrence happened last Sunday. Jeric (a good friend and the only other K College student here) managed to acquire two ticket to a symphony concert in Tama-Center, so we hopped on the train and off we went. Upon arriving, I found out that Tama-Center is apparently the homeland of Hello Kitty, and it looked the part. It was almost like being in an amusement park: the buildings were all conspicuously picturesque, decorations and lights abounded, and cute Hello Kitty signs were strategically places throughout the pedestrian streets to point you in the direction of all buildings-of-note in the area. After a bit of exploration, we discovered an actual amusement park, various performance spaces, and an enormous and gorgeous park that was tucked a small stroll off the main area (pictures shown below).

Oh, and we did eventually go see the symphony play. The repertoire was all over the place: Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, but it was pretty good. Also, it was the first time Jeric had ever been to a symphonic concert, so he enjoyed at least getting the experience, and we both agreed the Tchaikovsky was cool. 

One of the streets

The Amusement Park: Saurio Puroland

One little section of the enormous and beautiful park

みかんや家族 (Clementines, Family, and the like)

This Sunday I went to a town called Yokohama (横浜) which is wear the majority of my host mom's family lives. My host brother had a competitive soccer-related event and my parents went with him, so it was just my host sister and I. We left the house at a refreshing 7:45 in the morning on Sunday and after a few train transfers and roughly 1.5 hours, we arrived at our destination.

We were greeted at the station by most of the people who I would end up seeing that day. For the sake of convenience, I will refer to familial relations as if I were actually a member (ie. Kaho will now be referred to as my "sister", host-mother as "mother", etc.). So here is the group that met us at the station:

Aunt: I can't remember her name, but mom's older sister picked us up there
Hasashi: Uncle, mom's younger brother
Ayane: Cousin (Aunt's daughter), son's birthday was yesterday, providing the occasion for us to visit
Haru: Cousin (Uncle's daughter), approximately 12 years of age
Sou: Cousin (Uncle's son), approximately 7 years of age
Ukyou: Second cousin (Ayane's son). Turned 5 yesterday

Don't worry if the family tree seems difficult to keep track of: it is. Either way, the underlying point is that we had quite the group to greet us upon arrival.

The very first thing we did after that was head to the mikan (みかん) fields. Mikan are essentially clementines (I'm actually not sure if there is a difference, they taste about the same), and apparently Yokohama is famous for them. It's rather reminiscent apples in Michigan actually. There was a big field absolutely field with clementine trees, and everybody was given a bag and free reign to run through and pick/eat whatever they wanted. As we entered, we ran into an older gentleman who seemed to know a lot about clementine horticulture: signs of sweetness, which trees were best, and so on. As we were picking he came by us at one point and mentioned that the clementines at the top of the tree were always the sweetest.

Now, given this new tidbit of information, how else was I supposed to respond than by immediately climbing as high as I could in the tallest tree I could find? What else would we do, have sub-optimal climentines!? I think not (although fortunately for me, clementine trees are rarely more than 10 feet tall). If I had photographic evidence of this adventure I would share it; it must have looked rather humorous. Regardless, it was a lot of fun, and the high-up clementines sure were delicious, although I can't be sure if they actually tasted different of the struggle just added to their sweetness.

The clementine field in Yokohama.

After clementine-picking, we went to a variety of seemingly-unrelated stores that together formed an errand-running excursion for Ukyou's 5th birthday party. We eventually went back to Ukyou/Akane's house and began getting everything ready. As preparations were being made I met a few more people: Grandmother (who's name I never learned), Akane's husband Yuta, and a seemingly-unrelated high school boy name Reika (or something like that (in case you haven't guessed yet, I'm bad with names, particularly Japanese ones)). The party consisted of a barbecue, other general foods, and typical family mingling. It was very small scale, by no means elaborate, and yet really nice. We all sat around the food while chatting and enjoying the company (I also lost a few times at arm wrestling to the other men in the room). Everything continued on in this fashion until the time came for us to head back, at which point we hopped on the train, I immediately fell asleep, and then a few hours later we arrived home.

All in all everybody was very nice and interesting to talk too. I realized that yesterday was actually the first day I've been in Japan were I haven't spoken more than a sentence or two of English. While I only speak Japanese with my host family, I'm almost always speaking English at school or with my friends in the program. Yesterday, however, it was all Japanese (minus a few sentences of English when talking politics with the uncle). It was a great way to spend a Sunday, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next chance I have to visit them all again.