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Those Pandas I Promised

2012-05-22T12:06:00Z

This post's theme is: cafes!

The huge variety of cafes is one of the few things I like about Tokyo. But let me tell you, going out to them too often can kill your wallet. My finances are in dire straits right now, not just thanks to cafes, so hopefully some sort of income source will materialize when I get back to the US... Food is expensive, and coffee is expensive, and guess what my favorite things are? Going to eat food and going to drink coffee.

Now that I've vented my financial stresses, cafes.

First of all, I went to Daikanyama, near Shibuya, with one of my friends, as part of my mission to explore Tokyo for cute cafes. The first place we found when we got there was The Queen's Collection Chocolate Cafe. So, naturally, we had to go in.

Their big thing is hot chocolate. You pick the bitterness of your chocolate, and then you get a candle/fondue pot thing and milk and you heat it up and mix it yourself. I really wanted to try it, but the day my friend and I went it was too hot so... I got hot coffee... because that makes sense. I kinda really want to go back on a cold rainy day and try that hot chocolate.

But look how happy my orange mocha was!

I ordered an orange mocha, and it took me a while before I realized that all of the orange was at the bottom. But after I stirred it it was delicious!

And the cafe was pretty adorable.

Occasionally Tokyo rewards me with places like Daikanyama, where the streets are wider and not that crowded and there are cute cafes everywhere, including places that look like old-fashioned sweet shops on the inside and are devoted to chocolate. Yeah. And then the rest of Tokyo continues to be Tokyo and it figures that the part I end up being charmed by is like... not at all thrifty.

So yeah, I've gotta go back to Daikanyama at least one more time before I leave. Maybe back to the chocolate cafe, maybe someplace new.

Next stop (I promise, the pandas are coming at the end), the giant Gundam statue in Odaiba.
For those of you who don't know, Gundam is an anime series about giant fighting robots, and this one is life-size. So it's really huge. It's also cool because if you get close it has all this stuff like "only assemble by a trained professional" and "caution: not a step" and stuff like that on. I don't think it really says that specifically, but like, those sorts of things...

Detail shot of the Gundam's foot.

After seeing the Gundam, we attempted to explore some of the malls in Odaiba, but we didn't get very far because we couldn't stop eating (lunch turned into Auntie Anne's Pretzels) and then the boys we were with were like... so ridiculously chill that we never got anywhere. And we couldn't get them to stop talking about trading card games. So it was a lot later than we meant it to be when we finally got home. And it was Sunday. Whoops.

But we got to see a nice sunset behind rainbow bridge and check out the lights of Tokyo Tower from the Yurikamome line on the way home. And then we managed to find, from the Yurikamome line platform, what we're pretty sure is the cliche view of the Tokyo streetlights that you see all the time online but we couldn't find in real life. If you're ever going to Odaiba for some reason, you should take the Yurikamome line at least one way. I was turned off by how expensive it was compared to the subway, but it does a loop in the middle for some reason, so it's good for sightseeing. You can get a good look at Tokyo Tower and some cool skyscrapers and stuff.

Rainbow Bridge

Rainbow lights

Okay, now, finally, pandas.

I bought a book of cafes in Tokyo, and one of the featured cafes was panda-themed! I didn't take a picture of the inside of the cafe because I already had it in my book but it was quite adorable and quite delicious.

Sign out front

Small sign out front

Sign at the top of the stairs (the cafe was on the 2nd floor of the building)

Panda table decoration

Panda keema curry

Panda mocha

Cookies and cream ice cream!

Laura and her Panda Set

So that was last Thursday. Then on Saturday my class was cancelled so I went to the Ueno Park Zoo with another friend, and we saw the real panda! And really cute elephants. And lots of other stuff. It was a really good zoo day somehow. We got to see the zookeepers feed a lot of different animals, and they all seemed really active.

The female panda! There's a male one too but he wasn't outside.

The zoo keepers encouraged the elephants to walk around the enclosure in a line like this and then gave them bananas.

Me and the elephants.

Oh, and today I drank this at a cafe in my train station that I keep wanting to try:

Azuki shirotama float

It was kinda expensive considering how much of it was ice but you live and learn, I guess. Now I don't have to be curious about that cafe anymore.

Oh, and of course, it's not related to pandas or cafes, but on Monday there was a solar eclipse over Japan, and I bought the special reflective sunglasses and got to see it. I didn't take a picture or anything, but I woke up at 7 to go check it out and it was well worth it, standing in the driveway looking at the sun through the special glasses and taking a break every two minutes. The moon covered the sun so that it was a perfect ring. I think you could see the eclipse in California too, but I'm not sure. It was really cool to see.

70 days left in Japan, counting today (and it's already 9pm so I suppose I should be done counting today). See you sooner than I can believe, America!

"How do you know that you're right? / If you're not nervous anymore..."

2012-05-18T09:56:00Z

"How do you know that you're right?
If you're not nervous anymore..."

"Bling (Confessions of a King)" by The Killers

You learn a lot of things about your personality when you study abroad. One of the things I've learned is that I have the sort of personality that, for whatever reason, wants me to be continually denying myself something. If something is too comfortable, then maybe it can't be trusted. I've learned to overcome this in a lot of parts of my life - my schoolwork and my eating habits, for example - but it always manages to seep into some other area of my existence. Like English. Not in an "I'm going to challenge myself by only speaking Japanese today" way, but in a "You spoke too much English today. You should feel bad about that" way. There's a fine line between immersion and self-denial that results in the coding of English-language experiences and friendships as inherently less valuable than the same things in a foreign language. I'm not sure that I agree with that value system, but I'm definitely trapped in it.

I've also realized that at the beginning of my study abroad experience, I chose to be a good study abroad student, specifically a good white American encroaching on a foreign country, by deciding to avoid bothering people as much as possible. I don't really recommend this approach. There are other, probably better, ways to be a "good" study abroad student. Ask intelligent questions and engage empathetically with the people around you as much as possible, for example.

Now, as my friends in the US start to prepare for summer vacation, I'm starting to think about my senior year, and my future after graduation. And I haven't the slightest clue what that will be.

But I don't think I want to go right back to Japan. It's not that I'm having a bad experience here, but my family and friends are all an ocean away. There's not much that ties me to Japan except for my desire to master Japanese, though if you asked me why I want to be able to speak and read it, I'm not really sure anymore. I feel very temporary in Japan, and very precarious. There are a lot of political things going on in the US right now that make me want to punch something, but at least there I know where I stand and I feel at home.

But I only feel so comfortable in the US because I am a white, straight, cisgender, middle-class American. I know better than to think that my comfort extends to every American. I know that there are people who are hurt or killed every day in America because of the institutions that make me feel like I have a place there. So that self-denial comes out again. I imagine someone with all the privileges I lack telling me "Oh, poor baby, you don't feel comfortable in Japan? I don't feel comfortable anywhere." There are jobs in Japan that I know I could do, if the only concern I had for my future was financial. English teaching, for example. Knowing Japanese, being a woman, speaking American English, and having a college degree would be great advantages to me in the "teach-English-in-Japan" field. And I wouldn't lose my hard-earned Japanese. So how can I turn that down for an uncertain job future in the US, just because I feel a little uncomfortable with being a gaijin forever and I want to be close to my family?

There's the additional problem that no one can recommend me any career fields anywhere but in Japan. Obviously, being physically located in Japan, people in charge my study abroad program are bound to be most familiar with the opportunities there. But no one knows anything about Japan Study alumni who didn't come back to Japan*. There's this accepted mythology that good study abroad students want nothing more than to live in their host country forever, and the ones who aren't dying to come back are failures. I don't want to be a failure.

I don't want to give up the progress I've made in Japanese. I've finally gotten to the point where I can actually talk with people and begin to read things, and I want to keep improving. But I want to work in America. I don't want the limits I feel placed on myself in Japan, both as a woman and as a gaijin (although I realize that gaijin women are privileged above Japanese women in some fields). In any case, I'm not ready to commit to any sort of two-year teaching contract in Japan right away.

This makes me feel like a bad white American study abroad student for not being "international enough" and sufficiently "culturally flexible," for not loving my host country more than my family, my friends, and my personal comfort, for wanting to take a path I imagine to be both "easier" and less restrictive in the long-run. For not having the sort of study abroad experience programs want to brag about, and for having the gall to write about it on a blog linked from that program's website.

So I'm sorry about all of that.

To my family, I promise I'm not depressed right now. I've been having a lot of enjoyable experiences that you can look forward to in future posts once I find a convenient way to host the photos (Gundams, chocolate, and pandas, oh my!). I'm just trying to work my way through a lot of thoughts, and some of them are stupid and for some reason I want to work through them on the internet in public. Probably in the hopes of advice from people older and wiser than me. Comments and emails are welcome.

*This year's program assistant is in the process of a new reconnect-with-alumni for the sake of her graduate research and the 50th anniversary of the program, so I could have answers soon.

My classes

2012-05-01T09:11:00Z

I realized I never posted about the classes I'm taking this semester.

At SILS:
-Modern Japanese Fiction in Translation
With the same professor I liked for literature last semester. We're reading Meiji and Taisho and early Showa fiction and looking at what it means to be modern and different writers' images of Tokyo.
-Tokyo: Ethnographic Fieldwork and Documentary Filmmaking
I'm not sure this class is actually about Tokyo but our final assignment is to make a 15-minute documentary. I think mine is going to be about two of my friends and their book-buying habits, but I haven't heard anything from my professor after I sent her the topic email. So far I know more than I did about cultural appropriation but I have no idea how to make a film. I feel like I should be starting soon but I don't know what I'm doing with my little digital camera. The only thing I've done so far is asked my friends for permission to interview them and bought a bigger memory card.

At CJL:
-Writing Essays with Volunteers
This is a cool class. We write essays and then we get help correcting them from native speakers.
-something about speaking and writing your opinion
We discuss stuff in class and then we write short essays about them. No homework because all the work is done in class.
-Intensive Japanese 5
I like my professors for this one so it should be good.
-Discourse Grammar in Japanese 5-6
This class is a lecture about grammar and it's hard but it's stuff I need to know, like the difference between は and が

And I'm volunteering in a freshman English class. Which is awkward but fun.
And I'm a member of an English conversation/cultural exchange circle, where everyone is a sweetheart and it's great and I wish I'd started going sooner.

Photo Dump: Minakami etc

2012-05-01T09:01:00Z

Photos from when my study abroad program stayed at Ryokan Tanigawa in Minakami

Room at Ryokan Tanigawa

On the table: a leaf that says "Waseda School of International Liberal Studies: Thank you for your stay!"

Outside the ryokan window

Dinner (sideways)

Me in my yukata

Terrifying-looking yet delicious grilled fish

Breakfast

Going strawberry picking

Strawberry picking in Japan actually means all-you-can-eat strawberries for 30min

Eating Minakami gelato

In Harajuku waiting outside Ben and Jerry's

Cherry Garcia and some kind of ginger flavor

Photo Dump: O-Hanami etc

2012-05-01T08:52:00Z

My host mom's friend, my host mom, and me in Yokohama before my host sister's marching band concert

Chocolate-banana pancakes at Pancake Days in Harajuku

There was a smiley face inside too!

A blimp flies over Waseda

Sakura near Waseda

O-hanami at Naka-Meguro

Takao-san and Shibuya

2012-05-01T08:40:00Z

Yesterday I climbed a mountain, went to an izakaya (Japanese pub), and did karaoke. And somehow managed to come home with a massive headache without drinking any alcohol.

How I managed to do all that is a bit of a complicated story.

I posted on Facebook on my birthday, "Hey, is anyone doing anything interesting tomorrow?" and the only person who responded was Kaori-san, one of the adult members of the English conversation circle I'm in. She said some people she knew from UCLA were going to climb Mt. Takao (referred to as Takao-san from now on) so I should see if I wanted to go with them.

The more the conversation developed, the more it seemed like she was trying to set me up with this friend of hers, but that was pretty much impossible from the moment I met him, since he's like 7 or 8 years older than me and I'm sorry, Kaori-san, but that still matters when you're barely 21.

So, I spent my morning and afternoon chatting with the group, mostly men, from America, Canada, and Scotland, and the Scottish guy's Japanese girlfriend. And, oh yeah, we climbed a mountain. They were all really nice and welcoming and funny, but they're not really the sort of social group I'd want to get stuck in if I were to somehow end up working in Tokyo. I'm not too into bars and joking with high school girls and goofing off in public places...

After we got back to Shibuya from Takao-san, me and the two American guys went to an izakaya and were joined by Kaori-san later. I got interrogated by Kaori-san about what I wanted in a boyfriend and then the guy I'd originally been introduced to decided to turn the tables on her and ask her about her love life, but she kept dodging the question and turning it back on me. I also found out that I prefer non-alcohol cocktails and I like kimchi cucumbers. I also got teased by Kaori-san for acting like I was the exasperated older sister of the two guys.

After we ate our fill of yakitori and kimchi and stuff, the boys couldn't stop singing but one of them had to go home to his fiance, so Kaori-san and the remaining guy and I went to do karaoke. So I got to spend the last of the money in my wallet (going out with people with jobs is expensive!) on a higher-tier karaoke joint than I usually go to.

It was a fun night, but I was so ready to just crash into the pavement when I got home at 11:30 after waking up at 8:30 am, and my muscles still hurt like crazy. Which is why I didn't do anything except update my blog today.

Pictures:

Inside the karaoke place

Club Kitty, where Hello Kitty is the DJ?

Random out of order pictures from Takao-san

Tengu, a crow spirit that I know next to nothing about

There will be more on my Facebook. I figure this is enough for here. The photo uploader isn't cooperating today.

Butler Cafe Swallowtail

2012-05-01T07:55:00Z

For the birthday party I had with friends, I decided to make a reservation at a butler cafe. I was originally thinking about the butler cafe where all the employees are cute foreigners, but that dream was killed when I found out that they don't really speak Japanese. I wanted to be called お嬢様, darn it (o-jousama is a term for a daughter of a wealthy family. I got kinda obsessed with a drama about a butler and an お嬢様 detective so you can't really blame me, right?).

So I decided on Swallowtail in Ikebukuro, which is, I'm pretty sure, the first butler cafe in Japan. Might as well go for the cream of the crop.

The basic concept of a butler cafe is that you are extraordinarily wealthy and you're returning to your mansion for dinner/afternoon tea. The butlers great you with 「お帰りなさいませ、お嬢様！」"Welcome home, my lady!" and take your coat and carry your bag to your table and make small talk with you and serve you tea and generally make you feel like a fantastic person. It's not cheap, but you get really good tea, really good service (where else can you ring a little bell and have someone actually respond to you?), good food, and you can drink out of fancy tea cups in a place that basically looks like a ballroom but is somehow under a Family Mart convenience store.

You aren't allowed to take pictures inside, but luckily I got a flyer when I bought manga at K-Books that had a lot of pictures in it, so you'll get to see those.

Pretty sure our butler is not pictured here but it gives you an idea of the staff.

Inside the dining room. We sat at tables like this.

On the left is little curtained off two person tables. I'm not sure how you get the ability to sit at one of those. And on the right is the set of tea snacks that I ordered. It was way more filling than I expected it to be. It comes with a pot of tea and I ordered a strawberry tea on a whim, ("Hephaistos," I think... the birthday tea for April) and it was amazingly delicious.

Here we all are outside of the entrance, where we were allowed to take pictures. Me in the middle in the blue dress and the 5 friends I could convince to come with me.

The whole experience was really enjoyable, and I can understand how people could get kinda addicted to it. The butlers are super polite and friendly and complimentary. Like, they told us our Japanese was so good that we didn't really need to study, and when our butler told Matt that he was very nice for something he said, I teased him about being so late that we had to run there in order to make it on time, and the butler said that because 旦那様 "danna-sama" the master is so kind, certainly he must have all sorts of errands to run and people he needs to talk to, or something like that.
Like, I wish I had that kind of class, to respond to everything with flattery. Though the butlers do get trained for a month before they can even start work.

My friend commented that in the US the place would be a black tie restaurant, but it manages to not seem that uncomfortable. I think maybe it's the idea that the butlers keep telling you that this is your mansion. That way you don't feel too weird if you eat with the wrong fork or something.

Please ask if you have any questions about specifics. I'm not sure what I should be writing about here exactly, but Swallowtail was a lot of fun, and I recommend it.

Turning 21 in Japan

2012-05-01T07:20:00Z

Warning you all, things are going to be really out of order here in the next few posts because I'm going to blog about what I feel like while I feel like it.

I'm sorry I haven't had a lot I want to blog about lately. I've been busy with school starting up again and I've been wanting to read my Japanese books instead of squirrel around on the computer in English. Because suddenly it's May and I only have 3 months of Japan left and I don't know when or if I'll be coming back.

So forgive me for being out of touch with America and the internet for a while.

I'm currently enjoying my Golden Week break from school. Golden Week is a series of national holidays in late April and early May which means lots of free time. My birthday happened to fall on the Showa Emperor's birthday so even though I didn't exactly take advantage of it, I had a whole national holiday at my disposal when I turned 21.

So, on my 21st birthday I slept till 11am and then cleaned my room and wrote a short essay about marriage for my Japanese class. And then I went to dinner with my host family. It was awkward because my host brother and oldest host sister are apparently in such a big fight right now that they can't stand to look at each other but they both wanted to go. And I ate way too much but drank no alcohol and ended up going to sleep at 10:30 because I had a headache.

But my host family gave me a hanko name stamp for my birthday! If I were to live in Japan I could probably get it registered and use it for official purposes like signing things but for now it's just fun to stamp random things, even though I have yet to figure out how to make it look good.

Hanko case

The stamp and stamp pad part

Test stamping in my planner. It says my name in katakana written from top to bottom.

The day before my birthday, my oldest host sister invited me to go out to dinner with her and a friend of her's, so we went to this place in Shibuya called the Garden Farm and had cheese fondue in this classy little restaurant where each party was seated in their own individual rooms (Is there a word for this in English? In Japanese it's 個室...). Since it was my birthday the next day, we all got a free cake.

The courses are out of order, but:

Steamed pork and stuff (the steam got in the way of the picture)

Cheese fondue and veggies and bread

My cake!

Arisa and me and the cake

I forgot what this was called.

First course: ebi sembei, edamame, and some sweet nuts

Salad

It was tasty and I appreciated that Arisa wanted to hang out with me. So that was my 2nd birthday party. No one sang happy birthday to me in Japan though... my parents and my little sister were sweet enough to record themselves singing to me and my grandparents wrote the lyrics in an email, and okay, I'm lying, everyone in Japan Study sang to me during our Minakami retreat (more on that eventually) but no one sang on my birthday.

So my 21st birthday wasn't wild and crazy, but wild and crazy isn't really me anyway. Plus all the people I want to drink with are back at Knox. So look out, Galesburg. I might go to McGillacuddys and have one cocktail during Jazz Night or something.

There was one sorta crazy thing I did though, the Friday before my birthday. I made a reservation at a butler cafe. Specifically, Swallowtail in Ikebukuro.
More on that in the next post.

Ryokan and Onsen

2012-04-20T05:15:56Z

Hello hello!

As promised, here I am, writing another blog post within a week of when I wrote my last blog post. Astounding, isn’t it?

I want to tell you all about last weekend’s retreat. This retreat was organized through my study abroad program, and everyone in the program was required to go (although I’m pretty sure we all wanted to go, requirement or not) including those students who began the program in September and are studying in Japan for a year. A few native Japanese students also attended–almost all of them are planning on studying abroad in the US at one of the American colleges represented in our program.

Anyway, for our retreat we went a town called Minakami in Gunma, which is a prefecture north of Tokyo. The town is situated in the mountains and is famous for its onsen, or hot springs. As such, our group spent the night at a ryokan (a traditional style Japanese inn) with a hot spring on-site. According to one of our program directors, this ryokan was given 5-stars by the Japanese Ryokan Association or something like that. And no wonder–my experience at this ryokan was AMAZING. Heavenly, even.

When we arrived at the ryokan, we were at once treated to the soft, calming scent of burning incense. A group of staff members warmly greeted us and told us to select the yukata we would like to wear during our stay.

Yukata are summer kimono–they are light robes (almost like American bath robes, actually) that are tied with an obi (a cloth belt). Typically a ryokan will provide you with a pre-selected yukata to wear, but this ryokan allowed you to choose your own from a selection. There were lots of different colors and patterns to choose from. I eventually settled on a pretty green and blue one, while my roommates all chose the same pink one.

The friends I roomed with at the ryokan, all wearing pink yukata.

Me and my friends dressed in yukata.

After we chose our yukata, we were shown to our room–beautiful, traditional style Japanese rooms.

Our room at the ryokan.

Once we had settled in, we left our beautiful room and went to the onsen. I wish I could show you pictures, but there are no cameras allowed inside the hot spring. Because everyone’s naked.

Generally, Americans don’t get naked in public. It’s not a practice that our culture condones. Why, I have no clue. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being naked. It IS our natural form, after all. What’s so gross or dirty about that?

Other cultures are much more relaxed about removing clothing in public; however, we Americans like to cover up. Why? Is it because the idea that naked=bad remains a vestige of our Puritan heritage? Does our culture subversively encourage the formation of negative body images, which leads us to become self-conscious of the way we look without clothes? I’m not sure myself, but I think it’s interesting that while Americans are so nervous about stripping down in public baths, people from other cultures are have no problem with it whatsoever.

Personally, I have no problem being naked in front of other people. Ok, let me clarify that statement: I have no problem being naked in front of other WOMEN (no worries, parents). I should explain that the onsen is separated into two different sections–one for women and one for men–thus you never expose yourself to any member of the opposite sex. Inside the hot spring itself you can hear faint chatter on the other side of the partition dividing the two sections, but otherwise men and women have no contact.

Before entering the hot spring itself, you must first wash yourself. Which is a great idea–it keeps the hot spring from getting all gross. In the bath area there are rows of hand showers with stools underneath (typically at a public bath Japanese wash themselves while sitting down, standing up only to rinse themselves off thoroughly. At least that’s how the women do it…I guess I can’t speak to what happens on the mens side). At the onsen we went to they provided us with really nice (expensive?) shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. They also provided us with collagen soap that I used on my face, which made my skin all nice and smooth. (Collagen products are a big deal here, I’ve noticed. Collagen is supposed to help reverse aging, so a lot of Japanese women swear by collagen soaps and even collagen drinks. I’m not kidding. There are collagen drinks sold at every convenience store, which I imagine taste awful. Who wants to drink collagen??)

Once you are squeaky clean, you can enter the hot spring. The hot spring is outside while the bath area is inside, so when you first step outside you are greeted by a harsh blast of cold air. However, as soon as you get in the water, you are warm again.

Ahh… so relaxing! In America, I never take baths or go into hot tubs or anything like that. But Japan has converted me into a bath-taker. Enveloped in hot water, you can let go of any worldly tension and drift off to a happier place. It’s bliss.

However, I actually cannot stay in hot baths for too long because I get a little short of breath. So, in the onsen I would come out of the water and sit on the rocks to cool off, and then I would pop back in again for a spell, then pop back out, and then in again, repeating this until I was satisfied.

Leaving the hot spring, your body and mind feel totally rejuvenated. It’s a fantastic feeling. All your stress melts away, and you are left feeling utterly content. Really, everyone should go to onsen.

This post is already really long, but I would be amiss if I didn’t tell you about the meal we had at the ryokan. Often, ryokan serve kaiseki, or a multi-course meal of Japanese food. Everything served was elegantly presented with great attention to detail. What’s more, everything was amazingly delicious.

The initial table setting at kaiseki.

I wish I could accurately describe every food item we ate, but I cannot. Honestly, there were times during the meal when I had no idea what I was eating…but I ate it anyway, ha ha.

Looking at the photo above, I can tell you that inside the wooden box in the middle there are sashimi, shrimp, and roe over a bed of ice. In the pot on the right there are meat and veggies that, as of this photo, have not yet been cooked. After this photo was taken the pot was closed and the food inside was smoked. Soooo good!!

I ate this fish!

I ATE THIS WHOLE FISH. Everything. Even the head. Actually, the head was the best part–it was so salty and delicious :)

Lots of courses came with the meal. There was the first course and then the fish course (pictured above), and then there was another course in which a beautiful box came out and inside the box there was a soft meatball and some other vegetables. And then there was rice and miso soup (of course), and there was even dessert, which was fruity ice cream over gelatin. All in all, this was perhaps the most amazing meal I’ve ever had in my entire life.

Because this post is already so long, and because I should probably get going soon, I’ll have to finish telling you about my trip to Minakami very soon. Until then! :)

What I've been thinking lately

2012-04-20T13:59:00Z

I apologize for the lack of updates. I haven't had a lot to say, and I haven't felt like sitting in front of my computer pounding out a boring list of what I've done lately. It ends up taking up a whole day that I could have spent exploring Tokyo, and the thing is, I'm really starting to feel how little time I have left before I return home at the end of July.

One of the big things I've done recently was o-hanami (flower viewing). The sakura have come and gone in Tokyo, and when they were in full bloom, everyone went out to have picnics under the trees. Don't let anime fool you, cherry blossoms are white, not pink. But no matter what color they are, they're definitely beautiful.

It's midway through April and it's still not quite warm yet. I'm worried we'll skip comfortable weather and go straight back into the awful humidity we had when I arrived in September.

I'm trying to seize my remaining opportunities here, which means less time spent on the internet. Sorry for neglecting this blog for so long.

My study abroad program also took an overnight trip to Minakami, where we stayed at the ryokan where Matt worked I got to see my host family again. It was nice, but it was confusing in light of my recent uncertainty about whether I'll come back to Japan after I graduate. A joke about Matt and me coming back to work caused Suzuki-san to reveal that the city office was actually in the process of making a foreign-tourism-relations sort of job.

I'll have a lot more to say and hopefully a lot less ennui after next week. It's my birthday next Sunday, and on Friday I'm going to a butler cafe to celebrate. Gotta try these things that only exist in Japan.

さしぶりですね～

2012-04-13T01:43:46Z

I think it’s about time for an update!

My life in Tokyo continues much as it has for the past two months (has it really been almost two months since I arrived here?), except for one key difference: I’ve started classes at Waseda University. That’s right! My spring semester has officially begun.

Funny, isn’t it? While most American college students are wrapping up their semesters, I’m only just starting mine. But that’s ok. Since school starts so late here, my study abroad program is extra-long. Which means I get to spend more time abroad than most other Mac students do. Lucky me!

As for my classes, I am taking “Intensive Japanese Level 4″, “Look-up and Learn: Intermediate Kanji”, “The Five Roots of Japanese Culture”, and “Classical Japanese Poetry”. Clearly, I will be learning lots and lots about Japanese language and culture this semester, which is totally fine by me. “When in Japan…”, right?

I should probably explain that while my two Japanese language classes are being taught in Japanese (of course), my “Five Roots” class and my “Japanese Poetry” classes are being taught in English. Which comes as a relief to me. At this point in my Japanese-language-learning career, I’m not sure I could handle a Japanese lecture class. I might be able to struggle through Japanese lectures, but it would be an uphill battle all the way, and I probably would not learn as much about the topic as I would if the lecture were in English. Although I might improve my Japanese comprehension skills in such a class, . I’m happy to be learning about Japanese culture in English. I’ll learn more that way.

So far, I am most excited about my Japanese Poetry class. Not only do I find the subject fascinating,, but the professor for this class is a great speaker–incredibly dynamic and enthusiastic, not to mention humorous. Also, he’s wonderfully British, and he speaks in a fantastic accent. I love it.

I am slightly less enthusiastic about my “Five Roots” class, but only slightly. In this class, we are going to be looking at 5 motifs that present themselves in most aspects of modern Japanese culture. These motifs can be traced back to the influence of 5 movements or groups in Japanese history: Shinto, Buddhism, Samurai, merchants, and peasants. I am really looking forward to learning about the ties that bind past and present Japanese culture together. This is the sort of Japanese culture class I’ve always wanted to take.

The only downside to this class is that there are 90+ students currently taking it. Most likely, class sessions will be dominated by lecture–there will be little (if any) class discussion. Also, there is no way the professor is going to be able to give any of us real individualized attention. This is disappointing, but whatever. Speaking of the professor, she’s a little crazy if you ask me. She’s almost seventy, but she is feisty! Sassy, even! For example, this professor originally intended her class to be capped at 30 students. However, because her classroom can accommodate more students, the Waseda academic office increased the class to 3x its original size! Professor Hirota (that’s her name), was NOT happy about this. During class yesterday, she kept harping on how she wanted people to drop the class. “You know, you’re not getting your money’s worth if you stay in this class. You should really just drop it. You’re paying way too much to go to this school to sit in such a huge class!” That sort of thing. Needless to say, class with Professor Hirota should be interesting.

Finally, my two Japanese language classes seem really challenging. Maybe too challenging. For a while, I considered taking “Intensive Japanese Level 3″ instead of Level 4, but upon reviewing the Level 3 textbook, it seemed a little too easy. But then again, Level 4 seems almost too hard! The textbooks for each level are made by a company that creates Japanese textbooks in a numeral series. The Level 3 class uses Japanese Textbook #3, but the Level 4 class uses Japanese Textbook #5! They skip a whole book between the two levels! I probably would have benefited from using the #4 textbook, but of course, such a class does not exist at Waseda. *sigh* I’ve chosen to take the harder class because I’d rather learn new material than review old stuff. But I’m going to have to work my ass off to get a passing grade. My kanji class is the same–I would probably benefit from taking an in-between level class, but none exists.

But I’ll persevere. And even if I get shitty grades, I’ll probably learn a lot. Which is the whole point, right? At some point, learning has to take precedence over grades. Right?

In other news unrelated to school, the cherry blossom season in Tokyo has come and gone. Last week when the cherry blossoms (or “sakura”) were in full bloom, I went to a bunch of different parks and viewing areas and took some really lovely pictures. They aren’t kidding when they say that cherry blossoms are beautiful. The blossoms come in various pretty shades of pink and white. From far away, a white sakura tree looks like a tree covered in snow. And when the wind blows, it unleashes a shower of tiny, delicate sakura petals. It’s a truly gorgeous time of year. No wonder the Japanese love spring so much.

Also, since coming to Japan, I’ve doing quite a lot of reading. I had forgotten how much I love to read. Throughout high school and college, I was so busy with schoolwork and the daily demands of life that I never gave myself time to pick up a book and read for pleasure. But here in Tokyo, I have a one-way 50 minute commute to school, plus I have more free time in the evenings, thanks to less homework.–meaning I have ample time to read! Finally!

So far, I’ve read Norwegian Wood and Here the Wind Sing by Haruki Murakami, Vibrator by Mari Akasaka, and currently I’m reading Sayonara, Gangsters by Takahashi Genichiro. Slowly but surely I’m working my way through a long list of notable contemporary Japanese literature, and I’m loving every page :)

I’m going to sign off now, but I’m going to try to post again soon. And I mean it this time. As I said, I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, and as I have been reading the works of truly excellent authors, I have been reminded of my old desire to become a writer myself. Of course, I’m not very good–no where near as good as the likes of Haruki Murakami–and I really don’t know what I want to write about, but I figure that writing in this blog is as good practice as any for an aspiring author. So I really will make a more conscious effort to update this thing more often. For my own reasons, and of course for the purpose of keeping you guys up-to-date on my comings and goings :)

ttul :P

大変な事

2012-03-27T06:52:02Z

Hello again!

My father has kindly informed me that my blog is dominated by food anecdotes. Whoops. I guess I really enjoy talking about food (almost as much as I enjoy eating it!), but I promise you that there is more to life in Japan than eating. (I would also like to reassure all concerned readers that I have not gained 500 pounds by stuffing myself silly with Japanese food. You might be inclined to think that based on my posts, but it’s not true. Don’t worry.)

So. For a change of pace, today I’m going to talk about something totally unrelated to food. I’m going to talk about feeling frustrated in Japan.

Frustration is one of those emotions that some people are more acquainted with than others. I think I am a pretty easygoing person, so I don’t think that I get frustrated very easily. That’s not to say that I never get frustrated–of course I do! Everyone does from time to time. I’m just saying that it takes more than a mildly challenging situation to upset me.

That being said, since arriving in Japan I have gotten frustrated quite a bit. Usually this frustration stems from running up against a towering language barrier.

For example, my host family and I often have really interesting conversations in the evenings. We talk about all sorts of things, from language to politics to movies. These conversations are awesome–in fact I look forward to them every day. Yet sometimes in the midst of conversation I get a little frustrated. Here we are, conversing on a topic that I am genuinely interested in, a topic that I really want to discuss at length, yet I find that I myself cannot contribute much of value. Sometimes I can when I happen to know the right vocabulary. But other times all I can do is smile and nod and repeat silly phrases like “Oh yes” or “Isn’t that so”. I want to be asking more questions or adding my own opinions to the fray. Except I literally cannot. Even though there is so much I want say, and even though there are a hundred relevant English words bubbling inside me begging to be said, I am at a total loss in Japanese.

(悟さんや夕美子さん: I know you are probably reading this. Please don’t interpret the previous paragraph to mean that I don’t enjoy our conversations. Far from it. I just wish that I could say more. In fact, speaking with every0ne at home、 I learn way more Japanese than I do in the classroom. So let’s keep talking. And I hope that soon I’ll learn the words to say what I want to say.)

I think the language barrier is especially frustrating for me because I pride myself on my strong communication skill. Yet here, stripped of my native tongue, I have the communication abilities of a six year old. When you believe that you are good at something, and then you are thrown into a situation where your ability is totally stripped from you, it can be a little depressing. And no one likes to feel stupid. In class, when I am struggling to form a grammatically-correct sentence in Japanese, sometimes I want to scream, “I’m not an idiot, I swear! I might sound like one, but I’m actually not that dumb!” But of course, I have no clue how to say that in Japanese…

Still, on the bright side, since arriving in Tokyo I feel that my Japanese has been steadily improving. In fact, up until yesterday, I thought that I had made a huge amount of progress…

…and then I took Waseda’s Japanese placement exam, or the JCAT. And I did terribly. All of the confidence I had in my Japanese ability evaporated like tears on hot pavement. It was a jolt back to reality. I might have thought that I was making real strides in learning Japanese, but in reality I have a loooooooong way to go before I even approach fluency.

Oh well. I just need to work even harder now. I just need to continue throwing myself into oceans of Japanese until I learn how to swim. I WILL get better if I keep at it. And so I will keep on learning, despite any frustration I might feel along the way.

An update long-overdue…

2012-03-24T01:22:07Z

Hello, hello, blog-o-sphere!

It’s me again (late to post as usual), here to satisfy your burning desire to know what’s going on with me in Tokyo. That was a joke.

First, I should tell you all about my trip to Tokyo Tower. For those of you who don’t know, Tokyo Tower is, surprisingly, a giant tower in Tokyo. It looks like the Eiffel Tower if the Eiffel Tower were painted orange, and it was formerly the tallest building in the city before it was 1-upped by Sky Tree, which opened this year. But regardless, Tokyo Tower cuts a very imposing figure on the city skyline.

As a tourist attraction, it functions much as the Empire State Building does in New York City–people ascend the tower up to an observatory and take in a striking view of the city. Which is exactly what we did last week. And it was awesome. We chose to go right at dusk so that we were able to see sprawling Tokyo during the day and night, which was a really good decision on our part. The cityscape was impressive during the day, but it was even more extraordinary at night–all decked out in ALL of the lights (cue Kanye). We tried to take pictures, but it was hard because of the dim lighting. As it happened, my camera died right as we were entering the tower, so I took some half-decent photos with my phone camera…but I haven’t yet figured out how to upload them to the computer. When I do, I’ll post them here/ on Facebook.

Also, Tokyo is MASSIVE. Looking out over the city from lofty Tokyo Tower, all you could see were buildings as far as the eye could see. It was almost as if Tokyo had consumed the entire world. It was an incredible sight.

After we went to Tokyo Tower, we went out to an all-you-can eat Yakiniku restaurant–a restaurant where you order cuts of raw meat and grill them yourself on this little grill at your table. Vegetarians should skip ahead at this point. We ate chicken and beef and pork and even little hot dogs, and it was all DELICIOUS. I ate more meat that one human being should ever consume in one sitting, and I was very happy about it.

Fun fact: Yakiniku is Korean in origin, which I didn’t know until now. Back in New York when we would go to Yakiniku in St. Marks Place, I thought we were going to a uniquely Japanese-style restaurant, but nope. Korean. However, Yakiniku is really popular here in Japan, and the word “yakiniku” is Japanese for “fried meat”, so how were we supposed to know that the Koreans invented it? Whatever. It’s tasty regardless.

Speaking of food, last week my host dad, my siblings, and I made homemade takoyaki, which, for lack of a better explanation, are batter-fried balls filled with bits of octopus. (I originally wrote “batter-fried octopus balls”, then realized my grave error.) Takoyaki is essentially Japanese street food–bite-sized morsels of fried delicious goodness that are fun to eat…and fun to make! My host family owns a little Takoyaki grill-press, which at first glance looks like a waffle iron placed over a burner. Except inside the grill rather than a waffle pattern there are maybe 10 takoyaki-sized holes. You pour batter all over the holes and then drop tako (or octopus) inside each one. Then, using a little tool, you scrape around the edges of the holes to lift the batter that is frying on the sides of the holes, and then push those half-cooked bits into the equally half-cooked takoyaki. Little by little, the takoyaki puff up and become little round balls, and once they are golden brown they are ready to eat! Yum! They are even more delicious when paired with yakisoba and beer, which was our dinner that night :)

Let’s see…what else is there to report? School remains dull as ever. Although we are learning some kanji and vocab, we are receiving no grammar instruction, which is really, really unfortunate. I am looking forward to ending this “intensive Japanese language class” and starting my Japanese class at Waseda. I think this next class will be much better.

Finally, yesterday our group went to the Tsukiji Fish Market, which is the really, really huge, famous fish market in Tokyo that is featured in the news sometimes. While we couldn’t get into the main market, we did visit some of the many smaller fish mongers and shops in the surrounding area. Many of these shops offered free samples of their wares, which we gladly accepted. I had bits of fried egg, some green tea, some octopus, some dried fish, and some duck with wasabi.We also received some free nori from a really kind Korean shopkeeper, who was really enthusiastic about us gaijin visiting Japan.

Also, some of us stopped at this little stand and ate some fried whale. Yes, you read that correctly. Whale. I tried a bit of my friend’s piece–it was actually pretty good. It tasted more like red meat than fish. Was it morally right for me to eat whale? Probably not. But it was there, and I was curious.

After our fish market adventures, we had a really delicious sushi lunch at a nearby restaurant. Everything was so unbelievably fresh and delicious. Nothing compares to authentic Japanese sushi. Not a thing.

Then, we went to Ginza and I went to the Uniqlo flagship store there with some friends. I ended up buying a cardigan and a tunic dress. I couldn’t help myself. I love Uniqlo. Is it the best clothing store ever? Probably. Super fashionable clothing that’s also reasonably priced? Yes!

Alright, I better get going. Sorry about how long this post is. I’ll try to update again soon :) Mata ne!

Last day in Osaka, Kansai trip part 4

2012-03-22T13:29:00Z

We weren't totally sure where to go for our last day in Osaka, so we turned to my Japanese guide map again (so glad my reading ability has improved to the point that I could skim that thing. It was way more helpful than English resources that came to hand). We ended up picking two interesting looking areas, Tennouji and Nanba, to explore.

First, Tennouji. Tennouji ends in the kanji for temple, but we couldn't find one anywhere. We did find a park with a nice Japanese garden and a zoo (we didn't go because it was rainy and the surrounding park was depressing enough).

Outside Tennouji station

The park outside Tennouji Zoo. Check out that lion's pathetic face.

As cool as it was that there were flowers on these zebras...

Look at those eyes.

Not at all sure what this hippo was supposed to be doing.

I'm not sure what the history behind this tower is (Japanese guide book) but we needed to take a picture with it.

In the Japanese garden.

More Japanese garden.

We found ourselves wandering out of the Tennouji Park area and into Shinsekai. I've never felt so awkward in Japan as I did in Shinsekai. There were people everywhere trying to lure us into their restaurants, to the point where we couldn't make a decision, and one guy even grabbed Laura's arm to get her attention. Then when we finally got to the restaurant where we tried kushi-katsu (fried stuff on skewers), one of Osaka's meibutsu (famous foods), we were stared at the whole time and our waiter forced us to read an English menu and waited at our table until we ordered instead of giving us time to think it over. I had to go to the bathroom at one point, and apparently everyone made Laura feel really uncomfortable while I was gone too. I'm not sure why, but there was a seriously uncomfortable atmosphere. Then after we paid, one of the waiters followed us out of the restaurant calling Laura's name and said something about her Waseda sweatshirt, and we don't know how that guy knew her name. It was super-creepy. We came, we tried kushi-katsu, and we booked it out of there.

Even though Billikens are not at all Japanese, they're all over Shinsekai (and the rest of Osaka to a lesser extent. Somehow the idea of an imaginary god who will grant any kind of wish if you rub his feet really caught on here).

Me with Kushi-tan, the mascot for kushi-katsu. His sash says "double-dipping in the sauce is prohibited!"

When you eat kushi-katsu (I was too hungry and awkward to take a picture) you have a big tub of sauce and a big tub of cabbage leaves. If you don't get enough sauce on your first dip, you have to use the cabbage leaves to pick up the sauce.

More Shinsekai pictures:

I'm not sure if this sign was supposed to be like this or not.

After we left Shinseikai in a wave of discomfort and confusion, we headed to Namba and Shinsaibashi, which is basically back in the same area as Dotonbori. We walked around the mall in Shinsaibashi, where Laura bought a really cute shirt and I bought a dress for 315 yen and we found a candy store that had 55 yen water bottles, so we stocked up for the next days bus ride. We also finally found another famous landmark of Dotonbori, the Glico running man sign (it was hiding behind a wall the first night we were there), and I ate some takoyaki. That was basically the last night in Osaka. We found a place to eat in Umeda, but I forgot my camera so I couldn't take any pictures there. It was interesting though, because you did all of your own ordering on a touch screen computer. It was super convenient. No one was staring at you waiting for you to make a decision (Ahem, kushi-katsu place, you could learn a thing or two). I had yakisoba and an avocado-sashimi salad and I decided to flaunt my ability to order alcohol and try kiwi-peach sangria. If Laura hadn't owed me for her portion of the kushi-katsu, it would have been an expensive dinner (stupid sangria). But the computer thing was really cool.

The Glico man! Finally.

Dotonbori canal

Shinsaibashi shopping mall

Takoyaki!

Looking up at the Umeda Sky Building, where we caught our bus home to Tokyo

The whole trip was a lot of fun, and I think that if I moved to Japan in the future, I'd want to live either somewhere in Kansai or somewhere like Minakami. It's a cliched line, but Tokyo is not the real Japan, and it's important to go lots of places and see that. I was able to come back to Tokyo feeling refreshed this time instead of trapped, and that was a really good thing.

Kansai trip day 3: Kyoto!

2012-03-22T09:47:00Z

Our next mission was a trip to Kyoto. Before heading to Osaka, we made a reservation with the kimono rental shop Sensho Kitamura, so we had to wake up and head out early enough to make our 11am reservation. Luckily it's only like 45 minutes from Osaka station to Sensho Kitamura, but we got lost, so we were late anyway.

The process of getting dressed up in the kimono is completely bizarre. Apparently in the past, when everyone wore kimono every day, everyone could dress themselves, and they'd just shrug them on no matter how they hung on their bodies, tie on their obi, and get to work. Now, though, kimono are for getting dressed up fancy, so having the garment line up correctly with your body is important. Curves are no good for kimono. As the ladies at Sensho Kitamura kept telling us "Nice body" isn't good for kimono.

So how did they fix Laura's and my nice bodies? Towels. Lots and lots of towels padding our upper bodies so that the kimono would hang properly. Eventually I got used to wearing it all, but it was heavy! We also wore leggings and a sort of kimono-sweatshirt (like a "shrug" - are people still wearing shrugs? A short sweater that doesn't close in the front- with sleeves just short enough to be hidden by the under-kimono) under it all so we wouldn't get cold.

After we got all dressed up in our kimono (we're living the proverb I linked in the last post: 京の着倒れ、大阪の食い倒れ - Kyou no kidaore, Oosaka no kuidaore, "Overindulge in fine clothes in Kyoto, overindulge in food in Osaka"), the ladies at Sensho Kitamura also did our hair and we got to borrow a purse to take our valuables with us. Then we set out to explore the city.

We didn't get much exploring done, because it takes forever to walk around in kimono, and to find anything by bus when both of you forget your bus maps at the kimono shop.

But all kinds of people wanted to take pictures of us!

My hair

The back of my kimono

Laura and I in front of Sensho Kitamura

People who wanted to take pictures with us:

(favorite picture of the entire day)

Every single one of those high school boys wanted to shake our hands afterwards. It was the most confusing experience. Something about shaking so many hands made no cultural sense. Like, I think lots of Japanese people are like "I'm meeting an American! They shake hands there! Look I know that!" but you don't normally shake hands with people to thank them for a photo, do you? (the fact that I don't know the answer to this question scares me. Like how I can eat noodles with chopsticks but I can't eat pasta with a fork. My pasta skills have never increased, whereas my noodle skills have gotten a lot of use and improvement.)

We were like celebrities. Everywhere we went someone wanted a photo. Even if we were eating ice cream.

Here's the run-down of the sightseeing we managed to do.

In front of the entrance to Kiyumizu-dera

We stumbled across this really cool dragon procession thing at Kiyumizu-dera, but I have no idea what it was about. I bet you a quarter that most of the people watching didn't either.

Koi no ishi, the rock of love. Of you can walk with your eyes closed from this rock to another one a little ways away, you'll have good luck in love. Or something.

I made it. This means something.

I actually photographed Laura in action instead of posing afterwards, so her pics are cuter.

And Laura made it too.

There's the famous view of Kiyomizu-dera you usually see.

Kiyomizu-dera

The "waterfall" at Kiyomizu-dera. Supposedly drinking the water here means something (one stream is wisdom, one is strength, one is something else?) but Laura couldn't remember so I just picked one at random. And strangers photographed us.

Next we got lost in the bus system somewhere around Gion and headed for Heian Shrine. We made it there right as it was closing.

It was basically closed, so there was no one there. "Look how big it is!"

Walking back from Heian Shrine, trying to find the bus to Sensho Kitamura

So, after being lost on buses and walking about in kimono for many hours, Laura and I finally made it back to Sensho Kitamura, got redressed in our previous clothes, although our hair remained in its kimono style. The ladies at Sensho Kitamura took our flowers and hair sticks, but our hair spray, elastics, and bobby pins stayed right where they were. I'm pretty sure I heard someone who was sitting behind me on the bus back to Kyoto Station commenting on this. He had a good look at the back of my head, which, in it's updo, did not look like someone's everyday hair, and he was saying "Yeah, sometimes foreigners dress up in kimono and go to Sanjusangendo and stuff like that."

We overheard a lot of people talking about us in Kyoto, but it wasn't rude, like it usually is in Tokyo. It was interesting, though. When we were standing in front of Kiyomizu-dera, we heard some boys saying "Nanpa shite ikou ka?" which made us crack up because it means "Should we go try and pick them up?" Mercifully, they kept our distance. Waiting in line to drink from the "waterfall" at Kiyomizu-dera, we heard a group of girls glancing our way and saying "with us," questioningly in English. Laura looked over their way and was like "Shashin torou ka?" (Should we take a picture?) and they got really flustered but really excited that we could speak Japanese. They told us "later" in English and we met up after we had all gotten through the line. When we were leaving Sensho Kitamura, a couple who was walking stepped to the side so we could pass them, saying something like "Ashi nagai kara ne" (It's because they've got long legs, I guess) and I brightly told them that we had been wearing kimono all day so we could finally move our legs properly. They laughed and said we must have looked great.

My host family also told me that Kyoto people have the reputation for being really friendly, but that means they're terrifying when they're angry. Osaka people bluster and yell, but Kyoto people get quiet and stay friendly. Yikes.

After walking around Kyoto, we still had our half-hour train ride back to Osaka, and we were exhausted and starving. We weren't sure what to eat, but then I remembered a review I saw in the Japanese guide map I picked up at J-Hoppers. It was for Critters Burger, the representative burger of Kansai. They were open till 11:00 and they didn't look too hard to find, so we decided to go for it.

And oh boy, was it worth it.

I'm hungry for dinner now, mind you, but my stomach is getting happy just remembering the place. We had root beer floats, which were awesome because root beer is stupid-scarce in Japan, and oh man, the burgers. Our guide map had a coupon for one free topping, so I got an avocado bacon cheese burger but didn't have to pay for the avocado, and Laura did the same with an avocado burger. Even though Japanese bacon is just not American bacon, it was a dream.

Root beer float

I only wish I had more fries.

I should have taken a picture before the ketchup carnage. But they had American mustard! And there was butter on that top bun under the avocado. I never realized I wanted butter and avocado on bread so bad.

Here's the outside of Critters. I'll find you directions if you want to go there. Gotta find my Critters Freak sticker that I picked up at the register.

It was a beautiful, beautiful burger experience, and I wanted to share that with you all. I was moved by flavor.
The kimono thing was pretty cool too.

Osaka Part 2（very picture-heavy)

2012-03-22T07:14:00Z

The next day in Osaka, Laura and I followed the recommendations of some of the J-Hoppers guests we met yesterday and headed to Minoh, a town in Osaka prefecture that's about half an hour away from Osaka city. We were on a quest for a beautiful waterfall and some hiking. Turns out it wasn't that simple.
We followed what we thought were signs to the waterfall, and they ended up leading us straight up a mountain towards an unknown destination.
Normally, I enjoy a good hike, but mountain climbing isn't exactly my forte. I've never taken so many breaks while walking. It was pretty pathetic how tired we were.

Taking a photo of another Hankyu train out the window of our train. I was trying to photograph the river we were crossing but all I got was train and land.

Notice how this map has a straightforward path with the waterfall at the top? Yeah, shoulda paid more attention to that.

Minoh meibutsu: Momiji Tempura! Yep, I ate fried maple leaves. They were sweet and crunchy and you're jealous.

Starting up our misguided hike up the mountain.

We were starting to realize what we were in for, but we were too giddy from the smell of actual dirt and trees to turn back. Tokyo will do that to you.

TREES

Yep. Hiking straight up a mountain.

And up and up.

There, that's the facial expression I was going for.

And we sit down on a bench for a while.

Our hike took us up to this pretty cool view of (I guess) Minoh city. So I guess that was worth it.

After our misadventure in mountain climbing, we turned back the way we came and started searching out a place to eat. We ended up at a chain cafe on the other side of the train station, but it was pretty good and not too expensive, and we could sit down, which were all huge pluses. Then we decided to head to follow the main road and assume it lead to the waterfall.

This was also a decently long hike, but at least the signage was much clearer.

There it is, a big red arrow pointing to "waterfall." You can't miss that.

And sure enough, we finally arrived at the waterfall. I should mention that I managed to get a blister on my foot and do something weird to my hip muscle before we left Tokyo. So this was some intense walking.

"Look at how big this thing is!"

After successfully scouting out the waterfall in Minoh, we headed back to Osaka. Osaka's a great place to stay if you go to Kansai (western Japan). You can take day trips to Kyoto and Kobe, plus cool places like Himeji castle (originally part of our plan but we heard it was under some serious construction) and Minoh, and you could even jot on over to Takarazuka to see the all-female revue on its home stage (though there's a Takarazuka theater in Tokyo too).

Our mission in Osaka was dinner. And what better place for dinner in Osaka than Dotonbori? Dotonbori is a street known for its wild signage and restaurants that used to be a theater district. It really only takes a brief trip to Dotonbori to realize that Tokyo may have big buildings and bright lights, but it doesn't have a soul. I think you'll see what I mean in a moment.

Welcome to Dotonbori.

This crab sign is one of the famous landmarks of Dotonbori, according to wikipedia.

It turns out the "Bikkuri Donkey" is a chain, but their name (Surprised Donkey) and signage amused me.

I like how this sign combines takoyaki and Universal Studios (the other thing Osaka's known for)

Fugu (blowfish)

There are four of these ramen places in Dotonbori and they're recommended on the internet, but I didn't come to Osaka to eat ramen... I came for okonomiyaki and takoyaki. So we never checked them out.

This place had all-you-can-eat okonomiyaki, so we ended up going there.

The giant tanuki on the sign above the restaurant.

Coolest glass I've ever drunk oolong tea out of.

Making okonomiyaki (kimchi-squid flavor)

Laura mixing up her okonomiyaki (I forgot what flavor)

Grilling the okonomiyaki

Outside the restaurant after dinner.

Laura and I with Kuidaore Taro, one of the famous landmarks in Dotonbori. My head got too close to his arm and he almost drummed on me. Yikes.

This is the front of the Dotonbori Hotel.

I wish I knew who these guys were. They're definitely creepy, with their little feet and big noses and no bodies...

It was delicious, and an interesting adventure. Lots of fun to look at all the signs and then stuff our faces. Next time, Kyoto!

Osaka Part 1

2012-03-21T13:09:00Z

I just got back from a trip to Osaka and Kyoto with one of my friends, so at my family's insistence, and because it's my duty as a blogger, I'm going to attempt to relate the major points of interest.

We stayed at J-Hoppers Osaka near Fukushima station, one stop away/a twenty minute walk from Osaka station and Umeda.

There's a Mister Donuts right by Fukushima station. We patronized it for breakfast twice. I should get to 150 points on my MisDo card before the end of my time in Japan.

J-Hoppers Osaka

J-Hoppers was really nice. Laura and I had a double room for only 3000 yen a night, and they had a kitchen so we could cook breakfast to save some money. They also had free tea and coffee.

We took a highway bus to get from Shinjuku in Tokyo to Osaka, and it took most of the day. The first night, neither of us were really hungry, so we walked around a bit and found a little bar that had takoyaki. I had kimchi, rice, potato salad, and takoyaki, and I think Laura just had rice and takoyaki. But the takoyaki was good.

The next morning, J-Hoppers was holding a tour, led by one of the staff, Mr. Yanno. Mr. Yanno was an interesting character. He spoke "little, little English," but he still wanted to use it as much possible. Which, you know, normally, I'd admire his resolve, but he didn't really listen when he was speaking English. On the tour, it wasn't such a big deal, but that night, we also made the poor decision to go to the Mr. Yanno Party at a nearby izakaya (Japanese pub), and I ended up sitting next to Mr. Yanno who had his elbow in my space the entire time while trying to perform stupid magic tricks and make idiotic puns in English and Japanese. I did get to try hot sake because he bought some for the group, but it wasn't all that great.

The tour was of an area (I think it was called Tenma) that used to be a black market after World War II.

Apparently this wall is like 100 years old.

The black market area

More of the black market area

Stopping at a street stand to eat okonomiyaki. From front to back, Mr. Yanno, Laura, me.

Another stop was the Tenma shopping street, which I think Mr. Yanno said was the longest in Japan.

The group from J-Hoppers, in front of a shrine

And then Mr. Yanno took us to a maid cafe. :/

The maid cafe was bizarre. It was small and sorta creepy. It was more like a bar than a cafe. There was a bar and then there was a square booth set into the corner and that was it. There was karaoke and anime targeted at young girls (Cardcaptor Sakura) on the TV. The bar tender (wearing a maid dress) performed some karaoke and a dance for us, and when she gave us our coffee/tea, she mixed the sugar and cream (I had coffee) into it and said "oishikunare, oishikunare, motto, motto, oishikunare. Moe moe kyun!" and made a heart with her hands (rough translation, make it delicious, make it delicious, more and more and more delicious! Moe moe kyun! "Kyun" is like, a cute noise, and I don't want to have to explain moe so I'll let TV Tropes do it for me.)

The whole thing was honestly a little pathetic, and though she could sing and dance, our maid didn't seem that into her role, which made it really awkward. I kinda felt like she wanted to be somewhere else. Then again, she had to deal with Mr. Yanno every time he gave a tour, so I can understand.

The tour ended there for Mr. Yanno, but he gave us maps of the area, and we decided to do some more exploring as a group instead of splitting up.

We passed the building for one of the TV broadcast stations in Osaka and took this bright and happy picture.

Next stop was Tenmongu Shrine, where the ume (plum) trees were blooming!

After looking around Tenmongu Shrine, we decided to check out Osaka Castle, because Issei, the Japanese guy among us, told us there were more ume blooming there. It was fun getting to talk with everyone from the hostel. Some people were from Australia, one guy was from California, Issei was from Kyuushu, and I can't remember where the other guy was from. But it was a cool group.

Statue of Toyotomi Hideyoshi at Osaka Castle

The J-Hoppers group in front of Osaka Castle. From left to right, Japanese, Australians, Americans.

Naturally I was extremely hungry this entire part of the day. We grabbed some food when we got to Osaka Castle, but it wasn't enough. My stomach is so expensive to travel with... :/
But it was all worthwhile because Osaka Castle really did have a beautiful ume garden. The trees were all in full bloom, and after a month in snowy Minakami, I was so happy to see signs of spring!

Those are all ume trees.

Osaka Castle overlooking the ume garden.


I tried ume ice cream too. It was kinda sweet but kinda sour. I got to try sakura flavor in Minakami and then again in Kyoto and I liked it better.

We cut through the NHK building on our way back to the subway station.

Inside was a set for the drama "Carnation" which is on for 15 minutes at like 7:30 am. I happened to end up watching it most mornings before work in Minakami.

Laura, Me, Issei, Kevin

"Carnation" is about fashion design, so they had a display of some of the costumes.

And a sign, advertising the Carnation exhibit.

JR train at Fukushima station. They're orange in Osaka! As opposed to grey with a stripe of color on them.

And that was basically the first day in Osaka. Expect more updates soon!

Things I Have Noticed About Japan

2012-03-17T02:36:01Z

1) The Japanese really like hot dogs (pronounced wee-nah, or wiener here). For breakfast we often have little bits of hotdog with our eggs, and at Yakiniku restaurants someone always invariably orders wieners. In fact, my friend Miwa-san has professed to REALLY LOVE wieners. I did not expect this. I thought hot dogs weren’t eaten outside the US.

2) Tokyo is very, very clean. DESPITE the fact that there are hardly any trash cans to be found on the streets. In New York City, there are literally trash cans every 5 feet, yet New York is covered in litter. I imagine that Tokyo is cleaner because the Japanese are (generally) very conscientious and respectful–most people do not want to inconvenience or disturb others by leaving their trash in public places. Whereas we Americans are generally a little more self-centered–we tend to think about what is most convenient for us over other people’s feelings. *Disclaimer* Of course I am making generalizations here. Each individual is different. I am merely commenting on what I perceive to be cultural differences that lend themselves to behavioral differences among Japanese and Americans.

3) Japanese women really, really care about their appearance. The females of Tokyo are decked out. No matter the weather, they are wearing high heels, dresses or skirts, expensive coats, and designer accessories. Since arriving here I have been putting a lot more effort into my appearance too, just to feel like I fit in. For example, I rarely wear jeans–instead I’ve been rocking skirts and tights most every day, I have taken to wearing heels at least 3 times a week, and I never go out without a decent amount of makeup. Still, these Tokyo ladies put my attempts to shame. Part of me wants to look as cool and as put together as they do, but (a) I don’t have the money to pull off the polished Tokyo look, and (b) Do I really support the notion that women must constantly dress to the nines to be accepted? Japanese men also put more effort into their appearances, but not nearly as much effort as the women do. Women seem to feel pressure to look flawless all the time. Why? Who are they trying to impress? The men of society? Plus, appearances are important, but some of these women take it to a whole ‘nother level. I constantly see ladies on the train, fretting over their makeup, retouching their eyebrows, even curling their eyelashes while standing in a crowded car. Looking good is an obsession. It all strikes me as vain and superficial and unnecessary…yet I’ve still gotta admire Tokyo style. Tokyo women are incredibly oshare, or tasteful.

4) Japan might be more commercial than the US. EVERYTHING here has some kind of product tie-in for sale. Fr example, I wrote about going to Asakusa in an earlier post and visiting a famous Shinto shrine. Perhaps when you think of visiting a shrine, you think of going to a tranquil place teeming with spirituality, a place that is sacred, a place that is NOT trying to sell you any tangible item. Well, you’d be wrong. The shrine in Asakusa had booths inside the shrine itself, RIGHT NEXT TO THE ALTER, where you could purchase good luck charms or buy a piece of paper that reveled what kind of luck you’ll have for the year (which, admittedly, I bought into). And then right outside the shrine there are literally 100 shops selling all kinds of “traditional Japanese goods”. Another example: recently I went to Tokyo Tower (I’ll post again and tell you all about it, but hear me out for now), and you could not walk 10 feet without someone trying to sell you something, whether it was food or memorabilia or what-have-you. And near the station close to Waseda, there are people everywhere advertising their businesses. Very often I am handed a free pack of tissues with an ad inside extolling the greatness of what-his-face’s manga cafe, etc. Which is a great idea, actually–handing out free tissues with ads inside. People take them. People always need tissues. It’s great! I never have to buy tissues ever! However, I am bombarded with a zillion ads, but oh well. A small price to pay for free.

5) Japan is very environmentally-conscious about some things, but TERRIBLE about other things. For example, the Japanese have great water economy. In my family, everyone uses the same bath water (which isn’t gross, because everyone washes themselves completely before entering the bath). And then afterward, the bath water is recycled as water for laundry. How excellent is that? But then on the flip side, the Japanese are suuuuuuuuuuuuuper terrible when it comes to paper and plastic waste. EVERYTHING here is individually wrapped, and while people recycle, it is not wide-spread. Which is disappointing and frankly surprising to me. I always thought of Japan as being more environmentally friendly than the US, but now I’m not so sure…

More to come soon! Stay tuned :)

Asakusa and Tofu

2012-03-14T13:12:25Z

Once again, I apologize for not updating the blog more. I have a feeling that I’ll be starting the majority of my posts in this way…

Anyway… since my last post,my life here in Tokyo has continued on in routine fashion. Monday through Thursday, I wake up at 6am and go for a run by the river near my home. When I return home, I shower, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day. Sometimes I study a little before catching the train around 9:00 to Waseda. I have my “intensive Japanese language class” from 10 – 3pm (this so-called “intensive” class is actually a huge joke). Afterward, I mill around the Waseda area for a bit, perhaps embarking on a short outing with friends before returning home for dinner. I am generally able to finish my homework before we eat, which is really nice. After dinner my host parents and I chat until it’s time for bed. And so it goes.

HOWEVER, this routine falls apart once Friday comes. Weekends in Tokyo bring with them a multitude of fun opportunities. On Fridays, my classmates and I take field trips to various places around Tokyo. This past Friday we went to the Edo Museum, where we observed some really neat artifacts and treasures from the Edo period of Japan and learned more about the history of Japan prior to the Meiji Restoration. After, we went to Sensouji, a large and famous temple in Asakusa, Tokyo. We were able to pray at the temple if we wanted to (I did). There is a certain way people pray at Buddhist temples. First, you ring a huge bell to announce your presence to the gods. Then you offer a coin or two as an offering, bow twice, and clap your hands twice before praying. When you are done, you bow a final time.

At Sensouji, some of us drew our fortunes at an adjoining stand. You pick up this cylindrical container and shake it while making a wish. Then, a thin stick pops out of a small hole in the side of the container. A number is written on the stick, and you match the number on the stick with a corresponding drawer before you. You open the drawer and take out a sheet of paper, which details your fortune and what type of luck you will have for the year. I got good luck! Yay!

Also, in front of Sensouji are a huge number of omiyage (or souvenir gift) shops. A bunch of us chose to peruse these shops after we finished at the temple. I got little presents to bring back home to my host family: a rubber toy kunai (ninja weapon) for my little host brother, a turtle phone charm for my host sister, and some rice-crispie-like sweets for all of us to share. The gifts were very well received. All in all, our trip to Asakusa was very enjoyable. As for our trip this week, I think we may be going to Tokyo Tower, but I am not sure…

Also, this past Sunday my host family and I took a walk in a really beautiful park nearby. The park has tiered levels, and if you go to the very top level, you can look out over the city of Tokyo and take in the skyline and the nearby river. It’s pretty spectacular. My host family and I brought onigiri (rice balls) and sweet bread to the park with us, and we sat at a little table on the top tier of the park and ate our snack and took in the view.

When we got back home, my host mother and I made tofu. Yes, you read that correctly. We made our own tofu from scratch. It was soooo awesome! I documented the entire process via photo: check them out below :) The homemade tofu was absolutely delicious–almost sweet, and full of rich flavor. Making tofu has definitely been one of the coolest things I’ve done here in Japan so far.

I wonder what this weekend will bring???? I’ll find out soon enough!

Also, as a side note, as I was writing this blog post, a Level 5 earthquake hit Japan. However, where I live it only felt like a Level 3 earthquake. Don’t worry: I’m totally fine. It was actually kind of cool. The whole house shook for 10 seconds, and then it was over. No one was hurt. Nothing to worry about :)

Stay tuned for more soon!

Click to view slideshow.

Minakami Adventures

2012-03-11T13:43:00Z

Between visiting the high school and going to hang out at the city office before the presentation, Suzuki-san had mentioned to Matt and I that since the weather was good, maybe he should take us to Mt. Tanigawa, but there wasn't enough time, so maybe after the presentation...

After the presentation I reminded him of his promise, however vague it might have been, and he took us, along with Dyron, our resident director who came up for the presentation, on a drive up into the mountains.

We passed this snow panda on the way up the mountain.

The scenery was really beautiful. Since I come from a state with absolutely no mountains, I never get tired of looking at them. It's funny though, because Japanese people I've met can't imagine a place with no mountains and no ocean. When I say there's no mountains in Missouri, they tend to ask me "Is it hot? Is it near the ocean?" Nope, none of those things.

Suzuki-san drove us to the cable car station and when we went inside, he used his city hall tourism office privileges to lend us VIP passes that got us a free ride on the cable car.

Matt, enjoying the cable car


Me, taking a dorky picture of myself in the cable car, and rocking my bright yellow VIP pass.

As a side note, something strange has happened to my contacts prescription, in that when I put them in my eyes I can't see properly, so for the rest of the time here I'll probably be a glasses-wearer. This is why you bring lots of vision options when you pack for a study abroad trip! Sometimes your prescription changes for no explainable reason. Either reading lots of kanji will destroy my eyesight or it took reading lots of kanji to make me realize my eyesight was getting worse.

The beautiful, beautiful snowy mountains

At the top of the mountain, there's a ski lodge. Matt and Dyron, as a snowboarder and a skier respectively, got super excited and wouldn't stop talking about how great it was and how much they wanted to try boarding/skiing here. Suzuki-san revealed that the passes we were wearing would also get us onto the ski lift, so Matt was like "can we go now? Why don't we go right now?" I have a feeling if the gear rental place at the top of the mountain hadn't been closed, they would have gone skiing off into the distance and I never would have heard from them again.

The ski lift going up to the very top of the mountain.

Dyron, Suzuki-san, and Matt. I think that these three should go skiing here together for real when Dyron takes us back to Minakami as a program instead of just talking about it.

And the version with me in it.

We literally came right from the presentation, and Dyron wasn't expecting it at all, so he kept talking about how strange it was to be on a mountain in his suit. It was strange for me too because I was wearing my dress pants and Sperry's, so not exactly snow gear. Come to think of it, Suzuki-san was in dress clothes too...

View from the ski lodge

VIP status got us treated to a cup of coffee in the ski lodge, as well as an awesome view. Then it was time to head back down the mountain because Suzuki-san had to take Matt and I home and then get back to work. On the way down, though, I caught sight of (but didn't get my camera out fast enough) a Nihon Kamoshika. Interesting critter. I really thought it was a wolf from the back. While I was in Minakami I managed to see all the weird critters: kamoshika, two monkeys, and (I'm pretty sure) a tanuki. In Tokyo, I'm amazed if I see a dog bigger than a Pomeranian.

On the way back from the top of Mt. Tanigawa, Suzuki-san showed us Doai Station. It was built in 1967 and it's still in operation, but it looks like the setting of a zombie movie. There are 486 steps down to the platform heading to Niigata, because the train goes under the mountains.

The station, looking ridiculous under the snow, and the corner of Matt's face.

Dyron starting to walk towards the platform

And whoooo, that's a lot of stairs. We did not climb down them, but supposedly there is a train platform down there.

Me, Matt, and Dyron pose in front of the abyss.

When you head back towards the exit you see this sign.

The translation: "You must be tired from such hard work. (Stair count: 462) There's only 143 meters left, with two staircases for a total of 24 steps. Please hang in there. - JR Doai Station."

Back up those 24 steps.

The very top stair, 486.

Platform 1 is the 486 stairs. Platform 2 is above ground and goes back to Minakami and eventually Ueno.

Here you can see the tunnel we walked through, leading under the earth.

It was a really fun afternoon. We all felt like we were in some kind of travel TV show. My face actually hurt from smiling and saying "awesome!" (sugoi!) over and over again. I really hope I thanked Suzuki-san enough to let him know how much I appreciated it.

After that, I only had one day left in Minakami. I spent it working my last day at Yushinkan, and then Yuki was supposed to take me out to sushi, but due to various un-forseeable circumstances, we ended up missing last order at the sushi place and going to an all night family restaurant instead. That ended up being okay because we had a long conversation about anime, cosplay, and I finally found someone in Japan who can understand what I'm talking about when I say one of my favorite anime series is Cowboy Bebop. Thank goodness. It was a good time.

Here's the picture I took with my host family before we drove to the shinkansen station.

Yuki, me, host mom

Last picture in Minakami. Posing with the Hina-matsuri decorations at the station.

I'm sad to leave Minakami and I'm already having issues adjusting to Tokyo life, but hopefully everything will get better with time and patience. I'm so thankful for Suzuki-san and Yuki and my host mom and Fang Fang and Abe-san and everyone in Minakami who helped make the experience great for me.

The great news is, Dyron is arranging a trip for us all to come back to Minakami in April or May. Hopefully we'll get to go rafting, and see Minakami in the spring time. So it won't be too long until I'm back again.