Japan

Gaijin Win

2008-12-05T09:43:00.002+09:00

So, I finally did it, I actually fell asleep on a train (suprisingly I have never done this before).
I think I have always been too worried about getting lost, missing my stop, etc.
But I totally passed out on my train home and managed to wake up and get off at my stop!!!!!!!!
Mua ha ha, take that Japan, I have mastered one of your impossible Nihonjin skills! Of course it will probably never happen again, or I will miss my stop next time. Oh well, for now I am just going to appreciate that it happened.

My other recent revelation is about guys hair. So I'm sure some of you are familiar with that fact that I always complained about not being able to have a Japanese hairstyle because all the boys here have straight hair... Lies!!!!! In fact, most of the boys here have curly hair, or at least wavey hair. So all those times I complained because I would have to straighten my hair to get it to look like thiers... well, thats what they have to do to make their hair look like that too! Sneaky Nihonjin and their secretly curly hair. Knowing this, I'm still not sure I'm up for blow drying and straightening my hair everyday like they do, its a lot of dedication... but it sure looks good.

Counting down to USA time... ok not really, I'm too busy with shiken (exams) to even think about it. But the 20th is closing in fast...

Versailles

2008-12-01T13:59:00.003+09:00

On Sunday night I went to a J-rock concert! The band is Versailles, they are visual-kei, and they are incredible. These are literally the costumes they wore on stage. The first picture has the outfits they wore for the first half of the concert, then they changed into the outfits in the second picture for the second half of the concert. The concert went on for about 2 hours. The lead singer, Kamijo, had the blonde hair like he does in the second photo. And yes, They are all men, I'm pretty sure at least, haha. The concert was in a venue very much like an American one (but no smoking) kind of clubish and smallish. Lots of people dressed up, some not, and a lot less chaos than at an American live, because Japanese kids are polite... until the music starts. At American concerts everyone is doing there own thing, some people head bang, some people have their arms in the air, etc. However, at a Japanese concert (as with everything) it is a collective experience, and everyone does the same thing. It is a really good feeling actually, you know you are feeling the same way as a large group of people around you, even if you are one of the 3 gaijin in the entire crowd! Everyone would surge forward at certain key moments in the music, creating a sort of wave of people, it wasn't quite moshing but it had a similar push and pull, like a current in the ocean. Also, I also felt like some visual-kei music made me want to have seizures, or seizure like movements, well apparently Japanese kids feel the same way, the rate at which they head bang is crazy. Having a room lit up red, surrounded by convulsing Japanese people, with intense music... surreal. The best is the Lolitas that headbang and convulse in their fluffy dresses and head bows. Also, I'm convinced Japanese kids are born with inate ability to do the growling gravel rocker-yell, because everyone around me seemed capable... either that or they were Lolis yelling "Kami-sama!" in the squeakiest voice ever. I was not dissapointed in his voice either, he could sing just as wonderfully in real life as on the CD, and his screaming was actually better in person. Its like the court at Versailles suddenly turned into vampires and picked up instruments. How they kept their hair up like that though, I don't know, Japanese hairstyles are still a mystery to me, although I am figuring it out slowly. It is good I don't live here, I would have no money, concerts are expensive!!!!!!! My entire body hurts, which is a sign that it was a good concert, and there are bruises on the backs of my legs from being pounced on my small Japanese girls. Good thing: at Japanese concerts it doesn't matter where I stand, I can always see! Overall, I am so happy.

Tokyo

2008-11-26T14:50:00.012+09:00

Ok, so these aren't all of the photos, obviously, but its a few, and I don't have time for more now, gomen!!!!! (sorry). Tokyo was awesome amounts of fun, however... I like Osaka better. Tokyo had an attitude I wasn't too fond of. Also, despite how big Osaka is, Tokyo is bigger, and that was a tad too overwhelming. My darling tomodachi (friend) Caitlin and I took a night bus to Tokyo on Thursday night, so we got to Tokyo on Friday morning cramped and sleepy. We stayed in a hostel in Shinjuku all three nights we were there. It was really nice actually, the beds were wonderful, but I forgot to take a photo of them, bugger. Anyway, photos: Giant Kitty-chan in Shinjuku. The first 6 photos are from Shinjuku. Shinjuku includes the gay club area (Shinjuku 2-chome) and the host/hostess club area (Kabukicho). Lots of big buildings. The man standing in a sea of movement is a host. The women in the sign with a 24 were very very drunk young ladies being highly amusing in the street. This was Friday night. On Saturday we went to Akihabara, the otaku area, so anime, manga, video games, and electronics galore. The next 7 photos are of that area. The funny billboard is supposed to be an animated version of the prime minister. Everything was big, colorful, and involved anime characters. There was an awesome area that was like a maze, it was under a building and each little corridor was lined with booths selling every tiny piece of an electronic you could imagine. You could have bought everything to make a computer from scratch, for cheap too. I found it all incredible, sadly I don't know enough about electronics to fully appreciate it. The next 15 photos are of Harajuku!!!!!! Yes I freaked out while I was there, as you all were expecting. It was impossible to take photos because the crowds were so big and the street was so small, I couldn't find anywhere good to just stand/sit and snap shots. Oh well. Takeshita street was the best area... rows and rows of street fashion stores etc. The square bridge area is the famous Harajuku bridge! And the Nice boy with the Free Hugs sign was standing on said bridge, so I gave him a hug... to which he said "arigato gozaimasu"... erm I was confused by this because it is a rather polite for of thank you very much, and I have no idea why I needed to be thanked. Whatever. Street fashion is awesome, ne? Next 6 are from that night. We had dinner with another girl that goes to our school and goes to Caitlin's home school, plus a Japanese boy who graduated from their home school. We ate shark cartilage in plum sauce, surprisingly tasty, but very odd consistency. His name is Yoshi Suzuki, and after dinner he took us to a locals club/lounge in Roppongi (foreigner area). That was all around hilarious and wonderful. There was a bed in the middle of the club, which in fact is where we hung out. The Japanese kids were doing a famous dance from the 90's which involves standing on a stage/box and waving a fan back an forth. Hilarious. Also, I now have the business card of a piercer in Tokyo and a picture of my face is now probably in some piercing parlor. Of course, famous Tokyo Tower. The next morning, Monday, we went to Ueno, the historic/museum area. We went to the zooooooo! Oh, and had green tea lattes. So, more temple type structures, lots of cute animals, including a capibara which I am obsessed with (long story), and very nice kouyou (fall colors) in front of one of the museums. There were really cool street markets there too, but it was pouring rain at that point, so no pictures. Last but not least, to avoid the rain we went to karaoke! This place was crazy fancy, there were black lights, lasers, shiny things, and the pictures on the walls all lit up when you sang. Then another night bus home, which but us in Kyoto at 6am, then we went straight to school... you can bet I was passed out in the lounge between classes. This weekend is a J-rock concert, Kyoto, and maybe Osaka-jo.

Nara

2008-11-20T09:18:00.009+09:00

Nara! Nara is a beautiful historic part of Japan. Specifically famous for the shika (deer) which are in fact considered to be holy, and the Daibutsu (big buddah). The shika seem cute, but secretly they try and eat anything they can get their mouths on, which can be an issue since they aren't afraid of people at all. We had to sit on a bridge edge to avoid them while eating our yakisoba for lunch. What you are supposed to do is buy little packets of flat starchy cakes to feed them, they are not very tasty as Caitlin and I discovered. The five part pagoda is common in Japan because its five stories represent five elements of nature, earth at the bottom, then water, fire, wind, and air. Also, I'll give you a dollar if you can understand the Engrish sign. It was a long day, we were Japanese and slept on the train. Well, I'm off to Tokyo for 4 days!

All Hallows Eve

2008-11-18T09:25:00.005+09:00

I'm seriosuly behind on blog updates!!! I have done many interesting things since my last post, goen to Nara to play with the shika for example, and gone to see the kouyou at the Imperial Palace. Right now I have some more photos of my and my family to share. The day before Halloween is my sister Yoshiko's birthday, so on Halloween we dressed up and went out to dinner at Universal Studies Japan street with the parents to see my sister Reiko's friend perform (he is a magician), then we met the brother at a bar for further celebration sans parents. We had two cakes, goodness, one at each party. You may recognize the creepy clown as the DJ from an earlier post I made about going out with my sisters. Since I have yet to really mention him/have a picture of him due to his lack of participation in family events, my brother is the one wearing a hat to the far left. Hurray Halloween in Japan!

Irasshaimase!

2008-11-07T13:08:00.007+09:00

This past weekend was INFES, otherwise known as the international festival. Now, in Japan, festivals happen all the time. Seriously, all the time. I like that about Japanese culture, they like to celebrate things. Regardless, in schools it is very common to have festivals (like the sports festival we had a while back). This occurs in all age groups, so elementary through university, and the students put a large amount of genuine effort into it all. They create booths and sell food for cheap, ahve club performances, actually come out of their shy shells, etc. And, as good sales people do, they yell "irasshaimase" (welcome) over and over in highly irritating voices. Trust me, come to Japan and set foot in ANY store and the clerks will yell, I mean this literally often as not, "irasshaimase!" at you. So, as the Gaidai festival was going on from Friday through Sunday (have I mentioned that they didn't have school from about Thursday afternoon through Monday?) we international kids also set up our festival to share our cultures and talents with the other gaijin as well as Japanese students. Everyone had school off on Monday, because lo and behold, another holiday (cultural day)! Preparing for INFES was a big deal, as I mentioned the large amount of effort Japanese kids put into it, likewise we were expected to as well. I spent the last month teaching two Japanese girls to belly dance to perform in the World Dance Show. I performed three times on Saturday, not to mention walked around being stared at by all the Japanese students! I am under the impression they don't see belly dancers often, not to mention the fact that it is kind of scandalous to show off any of your upper body in this culture. The word "sexy" sounds like "shekshi" when pronounced by a Nihongo (Japanese language) speaker. So my day was filled with "Shekshi!!!!" followed by "Shashin!!!" which means picture. Anyway, everyone dressed up in their traditional clothing, etc., the boy in the interesting clothing is from teh Czech Republic. My friend Ayako looked lovely in her kimono, and the crazy American boy wore traditional Japanese frighting clothes. The girls I taught to dance were named Hiromi and Ayaka (Japanese names are very hard to remember because they mostly sound the same, I have friends named Ayaka, Aiko, Ayako...). My friend Tetsuya, the Japanese boy in the photo, is a yonensei (senior) and will graduate in March and move to Tokyo to work. Overall, it was a compeltely fun experience, my okaasan (mother) said I should stay in Japan and teach Belly Dancing, because it is supposedly getting very popular all of a sudden, who knew I was so on top of the trends?

3rd Annual

2008-10-30T09:30:00.007+09:00

Rainbow Parade! Traditional Taiko drummers (gay men's association), the usual camp and drag, me and Jess, my hilarious professor with a towel on his head (he was video taping), Top Star (the cute girl, that is some how associated with the LGBTQ culture and is recognizable), gay men from America are the same even in Japan, but Japanese gay men often dress like gansters (I am completely serious, they were flamingly gay), the gaijin (foreign) crew from Gaidai, final celebration of letting all the balloons go, more camp and a beautiful back tattoo (yes thats a men, at least originally in the biological sense).

Mainichi - Everyday

2008-10-24T13:29:00.003+09:00

This is my house. I life on the top, the area attached to the roof, which makes me very happy.

To update on how my life has been going... I am ridiculously busy. The past two weeks have been midterms in regular classes and Japanese classes. There may be nothing more terrifying than having to speak Japanese and be graded on it. Along with midterms, I also volunteered to participate in the dancing portion of our International Festival (because schools in Japan like to have lots of festivals, actually Japan in general likes having festivals). What this has turned into is me teaching two Japanese girls how to belly dance... not an easy task by any length seeing as they have never danced before, at all. This has, however, spurred me in the good direction of dancing for at least an hour everyday for practice, although I only meet with them about twice a week. Add this to having to travel home and back, and really I have very little time for, oh, anything. I did find time to take some photos of my surroundings on a pretty day though. It is still really warm here, whereas I have heard that Asheville is quite cold. It is both warm and humid here, for some reason the season has been more wet than usual. I got to experience that first hand the other night at a fire festival, but I'll talk about that incredible experience another time.

No, Really

2008-10-22T14:08:00.003+09:00

A few years ago a large black man came to Japan to teach English, an absolutely infamous blog was created called Gaijin Smash. Below is the link to the archive of said blog. I will admit, although I am sitting here cracking up hysterically in a public computer lab (getting stared at as usual no doubt), it may be less funny for people who haven't experienced Japan. Regardless, I would request that you go towards the bottom of the archives and read the entry titled "Gaijin Smash" because if you read that you will truly understand what my daily life is like in Japanese society.

I think I might need a anime super hero name.

http://www.gaijinsmash.net/archives.phtml

Shinsaibashi

2008-10-17T13:24:00.007+09:00

I have been super busy at school with midterms! Watashi wa isogashii desu. Hence why I haven't been blogging recently. I wanted to blog today about my absolute favorite place in Osaka, Shinsaibashi. Shinsaibashi is a district filled with J-fashion, J-music, and generally alternative people. I like it there because I feel the least uncomfortable, there are other people that look like me (and far more extreme than me too)! It has some of the biggest designer stores I have ever seen, an Louis Vitton tons of stories tall for example, and two Dolce & Gabbana stores on one street. As interesting as all that is, I like Shinsaibashi because of the back streets. The back streets have parks, J-fashion stores, second hand stores, funky people, skateboarders, live music on the street, like home in Asheville, only Japanese. My other favorite part of Shinsaibashi is the highly touristy part, but that is only because of the water and the bridge surrounded by neon signs reaching to the sky. The first time I went there I felt like such a country girl, because I was standing there staring up with my mouth hanging wide open. Now I am used to the giant buildings and signs, used to the high fashion boutiques, used to the massive groups of people walking down the street (very slowly I might add).

These are all photos of Shinsaibashi, some night, some day, some in the back streets, some in the big city part. Also, some random anthropological photos of people walking around, because I enjoy looking at them. And my food obsession continues, with Caitlin and I sharing a plate of Takoyaki (octopus balls) in the park, and a photo of lychee fruit, which I love. Here is a video of a band that was playing on the street, they were actually really good. love that live music can just happen here, you don't have to have a permit, or anything. Well then, off to study! Jaa, benkyooshimasu! Sayonara!

Model

2008-10-08T13:08:00.002+09:00

http://ameblo.jp/trois-yoshiko/

This is my sister's bog about their new boutique!

I have appeared twice thus far (which is hilarious)

Also, it is good to look at if you want see what current high fashion for stylish youth is.

Woohoo!

Fushimi Inari

2008-10-02T13:43:00.005+09:00

Fushimi Inari, part of Kyoto, and the shrine to the god Inari.
Inari is a fox god that has many specialties, but the one called on most often is good luck in business. Inari holds the key to our heart's hopes and wishes, and as you can see, Inari is often portrayed holding a key, and you could also purchase the equivalent of a good luck charm shaped like a key at the temple. Fushimi Inari is famous for its rows and rows of tori gates. Tori gates are a shinto symbol and always appear at the entrance to shrines. You can purchase a tori gate to have placed in the rows at Fushimi Inari. The name of your buisness, most often, is carved into the tori gate, then painted, and as long as the gate lasts (generally about 20 years) you will have good fortune. When one gate rots and falls apart it is taken away and its space will eventually be taken by a gate purchased by someone else (they are very expensive). The picture where I am holding a stone symbolizes me holding all of my future hopes in my hands. If the stone is too heavy for you, if it is heavier than you expected, then your hopes and wishes will not come true. It was heavy, but as you can see I could handle the weight of my future... or something like that. I also want to explain the photo near the bottom with all the tiny statues with white faces in the room with lots of gold, this was a shrine for aborted fetuses, each statue represents a fetus that the mother did not decide to keep, in a country where the abortion rate is so high it is good for the women to have a shrine to go to if they are feeling any sort of unrest about their decision. In this way they can remember the child's spirit. The frog is a god of good fortune as well, specifically financial I believe. The proverb goes something like, "what you give shall be returned to you", so give the shrine a lot of money and you will get lots of good fortune in return. I like Kyoto because you can pretend Japan was never modernized, there are always women in kimonos. I could say soooo much more, but I need to go to class.

DJ Debut

2008-09-30T08:36:00.003+09:00

Finally, pictures of my family. Then first photo is my host mother, whom I call mama, and my host sister Yoshiko. The next picture is Yoshiko, my other host sister Reiko, me, and my host brother's girlfriend. If you haven't noticed, men don't really participate in family domestic activities, such as cleaning up after dinner, which is what we were doing. We had a big fancy meal that night, at 10:30, because my family has a tendency to eat super late in the evening. We had expensive crab, and I got to have an authentic Japanese experience, drinking hot sake out of a crab shell. I will admit that hot sake with bits of crab floating around in it is not the most delicious thing I have ever had. In fact I will avoid that experience if possible from now on. The other night I went out to dinner with my sisters and a girl who was their host kid about 5 years ago. She still lives in Japan, but is from Miami, and was very sweet and told me I could think of her as a sister too. The picture at the bottom is us at a little bar/resturant where they have DJs and music. Reiko wants to learn to be a DJ, and was I suppose friends with the DJ that night, so we all go to listen to the music on the DJ headphones and watch him play with the records and knobs and buttons. Reiko called it my DJ debut... She is very silly. Well I have a test now, blog later this week hopefully about Fushimi Inari.

Cake

2008-09-22T13:01:00.006+09:00

This is what a Starbucks looks like in Japan. However, since youth culture feels the need to shorten words, they call is "staba". My friend Caitlin (American) and I shared a Matcha Frappacino. Matcha is Japanese tea, otherwise known as Green tea. It is basically a green tea milkshake, and it is oishii (delicious). Also, it is a beautiful color. This is my keitai (cellphone) which it is impossible to have a social life in Japan without. I have a cheap prepaid plan, calling is expensive, but I can text as much as I want (as can everyone else here) so I look like any other Japanese youth now, texting at the speed of light where-ever I happen to be (I am still very bad at texting and walking). The thing to do here is to put kawaii (cute) little dangling things on your phone (mine is a funny little bird). Everyone has at least one thing on their phone, some people have tons. Also you put purikura (short for something like "pretty picture") photos on your phone, which are these insane photo boothes with all these personalization options that you do with your friends (I have a picture of Rebecca and myself). If you ever come to Japan you need to do it, but its all in Japanese, so be careful.

Here is video of the Kishiwada Festival. I am sorry about my bad camera skills, I forgot that the video will appear sideways if I hold the camera sideways... The festival itself was incredible. We ended up getting swept into the heart of it and parading along with the floats. There was a festive spirit to everything, and luckily the people in the parade were happy to have forigners to practice their English with, so they were very friendly and helped us be part of everything. We were given food, drinks, fans, and all for free. Despite being beautiful, this festival is very dangerous, and every year at least one person dies. If you could see the speed with which these giant floats (especially during the day) whiz down the road only being controlled by a group of humans... not to mention the guy that stands on top and literally jumps around like a monkey while the cart is going full speed around a corner. In general it is good to see Japanese people being festive and not in their normal silent business state.

Rebecca and I spent the day exploring around Kyobashi. She ordered pancakes (which first of all is hilarious to see in japan in general, it is so western) but she did not realize they would be American style, which she was unfamiliar with, she just stared at me and asked what she was supposed to do with the butter and the syrup. Speaking of Western food, there is a bit of an obsession with Western style gourmet cakes. We indulged in such at the end of the day, and as you all know, I can't resist a cute baked good. Sadly I am yet to find any cupcakes. The station where I live always has people outside it play live music, these two boys are some of the many musicians. They were, however, very good actually. They both had beautiful voices (They happened to set up in front of me). Also, a giant fish head! It was sooooo huge. Soon to come, family photos.

Festival

2008-09-19T15:37:00.004+09:00

http://www.city.kishiwada.osaka.jp/danjiri/english/index.html

I will post a video later, but it takes to long to load and I need to go to my class now. Look forward to it! And sorry the photos are in reverse order (night to day).

Sushi and Kyobashi

2008-09-16T11:16:00.004+09:00

So, pictures of where I live! There is a long street mall of sorts that is roofed in right next to the train station, so Wes (another homestay student in my area) and I went and walked around. They had a tank of blowfish, which as you may know are deadly is not prepared the correct way. There is a resturant that specializes in it with this big tank of them out front. We walked to Osaka Castle and took lots of pictures. There is a beautiful garden around the castle, all of which is open at night. For those interested in local Osaka culture, the Osaka Castle garden seems to be the place young couples go to be alone... we were unaware of this until we had the suprising experience of encountering a number of these couples. The view of the city from right outside my bedroom on the roof deck right when I get home at dusk is one of my favorite things about my house. I took pictures so you could all enjoy the view too. I regularly go otuside just to look around from the roof and enjoy the breeze. Another very important experience to have is conveyor belt sushi. You go the the resturant and sit down at a table, then eat as much as you want. It is about 100 yen a plate, sometimes a little more. You can also special order any type of sushi you want and it will come out to you on a special train or a special tray. I have gone twice, once with friends and once with my family. I do not like raw squid or nato. The little balls are takoyaki, octopus balls, which are very famous in Osaka, on top is dried and shredded fish skin. To be honest, they are really tasty. The sushi is also very pretty, so I had fun taking pictures. This weekend I went to a HUGE festival, so I will have to post about that tomorrow or the next day. I miss everyone so much!!!!

Kyoto

2008-09-12T13:47:00.008+09:00

Here is a big photo dump from our trip to Kyoto. Kyoto is one of the most historically perserved cities in Japan. There are still Geisha and lots of people walking around in traditional dress. There are also lots of shrines and traditional theatres and traditional candy shops. Before you go into a shrine you are required to go through a very long hand washing ritual (left hand, right hand, left hand, then rinse mouth with water from the left hand, wash left hand again, then pour water down your arm to wash your right hand). The shrines were beautiful. People write their hopes and wishes on little wooden pieces and hang them up, or they write them on little pieces of paper and tie them to trees. Walking around the streets was lovely, a nice change to see lots of trees and plants (there are NO plants in Kyobashi where I live now). If you haev a specific question about a photo, feel free to ask.

Homestay

2008-09-08T15:28:00.003+09:00

Wow. I am now living with my homesaty family and they are very unique. Sadly, I do not have internet at my house that I can use on my laptop, so you will have to bear with me until I bring my laptop to school and then there will be more photos of orientation week and karaoke. My host family is composed of Mama, Papa, Tomoichi (big brother), Reiko (big sister), and Yoshiko (big sister). They are rich, or so it seems, we all live in a four story house in downtown Osaka, in a part called Kyobashi, and the house has an elevator. Mama owns three designer clothing boutiques, and my sisters are about to open their own store. In fact they are all, minus Papa, going to France tomorrow to select clothing for their store.
I really like my sisters and mama, they speak enough English for me to converse with them. Papa, who I am going to be living alone with for the next 10 days speaks no English, so that will be an adventure. They are all very nice to me and smile a lot, but they are also all very busy so it is a little hard for me to feel at home yet. Mind you I have only been there for one night. Today I found my way to school all by myself! I have to walk to Kyobashi station, then take a train to Hirakata-shi, then walk to school. I have discovered that Japanese people do not like to walk if they don't have to, everyone was shocked that I would walk 20 minutes instead of pay a ton of money for a bus pass. I had to use one Japanese sentence today though, because the people at the train station did not speak English, Kansai Gaidai wa doko desu ka? Where is Kansai Gaidai?
My host family says I speak very beautiful English, they were surprised that I was from America, papa kept asking if I was from United Kingdom or South America, heehee. Also mama says I have good intonation and am an natural Japanese speaker. I hope that means I can learn quickly. I am only worried about feeling lonely at my homestay, it is really hard when you don't speak the same language, and they are so busy that I am afriad I will never get intigrated into the family fully. I am, however, going to model designer clothing for my sister's website. Woot.
I have class now, Sexuality and Culture in Japan. Sayonara!

Food

2008-09-06T14:38:00.014+09:00

This is part of my campus!!! Pretty much all the buildings are big and brick... I guess they are appealing in their own way. I am not getting lost so far because all the international students pretty much stay in one building. As you may also have realized, my English is getting worse the more time I spend with all of my international friends. I have friends from all over the world, which is really awesome, but it also means that I spend a lot of time speaking slowly and in a simple broken way at times to get other people to understand me. Being an international student is odd, I finally understand how the kids at Wilson feel. We are kind isolated and our lounge is like a fishbowl, all glass and easy for people to stare at us in. We start class on Monday, but the Japanese students don't get here until the 21st, I guess that will change everything. My school is in a district of the country known as Kansai, kind of like the Triangle in NC, and specifically the school is right outside of Hirakata-shi (Hirakata city). Hirakata-shi station has a train that takes you to Kyoto, Nara, or Osaka in pretty much 30 minutes to any of those. The other day I went on a tour (organized by the school) to Hirakata-shi to learn how to get there and to have some fun walking around. Here is a picture of my tour group. To be honest, I can't remember all teh Japanese student's names because I meet so many. So from left to right, a very sweet Japanese girl, my friend Erin (from Huston, we get aong really well), me, an awesome Japanese guy, and Wes from Missouri. We went to a Ramen shop for dinner, which is competely different than the instant thing we call Ramen. Ramen comes in a huge bowl filled with your choice of type of broth and meat and egg if you want it. I got miso broth with meat and an egg, the egg soaks up the broth and turns a funny color and a funny taste, but it was yummy. As soon as I got home from being in Hirakata-shi I was dragged off to Karaoke with my roommate and some of my other friends. Supposedly the best way to get over jet lag is to go out and be social, or so people keep saying. Karaoke is a custom I am not sure how to explain. There are not karaoke bars like in America, but rather you get a room for you and your group of friends. In the room is a TV or two and you use a touch-screen controller to pick songs or artists that you want to sing. It is a huge socia thing here, it is the one time people are allowed to be loud and crazy, because in Japanese culture being quite is valued. The "proverb" I am going by is that fact that you should never be the loudest person on the bus, it is considered to be incredibley rude to speak loudly. However, at karaoke everyone lets loose. In the picture of the group from left to right is Fanny (France), Havi (Chile), Audrey (Spain), Jhorje (Mexico), and Claire (Belgium). In the front is Taka-kun, he is one of the Japanese students that lives in our Seminar house (he is a goof-ball, can you tell?). Yes, I sang karaoke. Claire and I sang Queen together (Fanny helped too). It is very fun. At the end of the night we got the two boys who were working there to take a group photo, they were kawaii (cute), and spoke no English, so it was pretty amusing trying to understand eachother.

Like any orientation to a college you have to have the opening ceremony and a big dinner afterwards. We, of course, had to get dressed up for it. In the picture from left to right is Sebastian (technically Finnish, but he lived on the border to Sweden and goes to school in Sweden, so he'd tell you that he is Swedish), Lin (Vietnam), Rebecca (Sweden), and Havi. I have been spending most of my time for the past several days with Sebastian and Rebecca. Unfortunately it is HOT and HUMID here. It is like the hottest part of the summer in Wilmington. So, getting dressed up and then having to walk is not fun. Luckily Mishka (Australia) gave me a ride on the back of his bicycle, he owed me because I helped him with al his registration stuff. Most people here have bikes and most bikes have racks on the back, perfect for sitting on. For those if us in homestay who don't have bikes it is a good walk in super hot weather, so it is always nice to find someone who will give you a ride. Anyway, continuing on, dinner was incredible. There was so much food it was impossible to take photos of. They really like custard here, and all the custard is very much like flan, so thats what the pretty little cups are. Also, before you can eat a big meal like this you pour the person to your left a drink, I'm not sure why, then you all say kampai (cheers) and clink glasses. The beverages here are so much more unique than the ones in America. Have I mentioned the vending machines on every block? I need to take pictures of that soon. More photots of my friends and I being ridiculous soon to come, as well as photos of Kyoto.

Orientation

2008-09-04T10:44:00.013+09:00

Picture Time (click on them to see full size)

This was the first thing I saw as I rode over the bridge from the airport to Osaka, a huge absinthe green ferris-wheel. It was a good reminder of how colorful Japan is. Seeing that made me feel far more excited than I had been, because I was still a little dazed and nervous when I got off that plane and had to find a hotel all by myself.

The Japanese are very serious about saving energy. In the hotel room you had to put your key in this slot to turn on the power in the room. It took me a while to figure out, so I kept taking the key out after I slid it in, and the lights kept going off. It took me a while to figure out you had to leave the key in the slot. Silly me. My dorm room also has certain switches and buttons you have to push to get the lights and air conditioning to work and you must always turn off all the power in the room when you leave it. Also, you mustn't leave the air conditioning on at night, not only does it waste power but it is also bad for your internal organs to get cold... supposedly. They told us that you can never leave the heat or air conditioning on at our homestay houses.

These are two of the boys I went to dinner with my first night at the Seminar House 4. My roommate is very social and has dragged me around with her, which is actually awesome. The boy on the left is Chris, he fixed my computer last night, thank goodness (because my language settings weren't on Japanese, etc.). They are both American but can speak Japanese well enough and can read katakana (one of the written alphabets) fairly well. Chris and I shared chicken katsu, which is like a breaded chicken, and then noodles, rice and miso. The next night I went to the bath house with some of the Japanese students and some of the other girls from my dorm. It is called sento, and it has many different hot tubs and a sauna and showers. You go and get naked, then shower and scrub for a good long time, then you can go in the baths. There is also a cold cold tub so you can pour cold water on yourself when you get too hot. Three of my new friends are in the next picture, this is right outside of the bath house after we were al nice and hot and clean. From left to right is Rebecca (from Sweden), my roommate Lizzie (from New Orleans), and Havi (from Chili).

This is a picture of my room in the seminar house. It is 8 tatami mats large (floors are measured by tatami mats) which is a good sized room. As you can see, it is in a more traditional Japanese style, tatami mat floor and low table. At night we roll out our futons and sleep on the ground. The other picture is the view I get when walking back to the seminar house from school. The brick building on the left with the windows is my seminar house. To the right is a park and a library. It is about a 20 minute walk, but it is not bad at all, the sidewalks here are awesome, but you aren't allowed to cross against the stop lights, even if there aren't any cars coming. Well, I have to go meet my speaking partner now, I'll post about my experiences in Hirakata Station and at Karaoke later.

Love.

Arrival

2008-09-01T19:56:00.003+09:00

JAPAN!

I had a smooth arrival (other than almost having a panic attack when the plane was about to land in Osaka). I got my bags, which weigh a ton, and managed to get them and myself to a hotel without any trouble. I also changed money and got a cheap phone card so my mother would know I was safe. I felt very independent, but mostly just in too much of a daze to think about it. I didn't fit under the shower. First experience with the being super tall thing. Also, watching Japanese TV is super fun. In the morning I went back to the airport to meet the Kansai Gaidai shuttle, and for the first time since I arrived I got to actually have a conversation. Mind you ti was with a thai girl named Jan (who was very nice), but at least it was in English. I think I will learn Japanese quickly, because it is that or suffer.

I am official in Hirakata (A district of Osaka) in a Seminar house (otherwise known as dorm) in the computer lab. It must be about 7:00am in North Carolina right now, its about 8:00pm here, and I just got back from a lovely dinner of chicken katsu. I went to dinner with my current roomate, Lizzie, and some of the other students by bicycle. I bet we were quite the sight, six non-Asian college kids on bikes, two of us on the backs of them. Luckily, the boys can read, so the menu was not totally a mystery. The unfortunate thing is that I know what Japanese food dishes are, I can use chopsticks nearly perfectly, but none of that does me a bit of good if I can't read what the food options are in the first place. Oh well. The dorm rooms are set up in a traditional Japanese fashion and are a little small, but very nice.

I have photos, which I will put up as soon as I have access to internet on my own computer.

Love you and Miss you!!

Start

2008-08-29T11:25:00.003+09:00

Packing, packing, packing!!!
Tomorrow I go to Raleigh, and then on Saturday I fly out.
Everything is happening so quickly now, I can't keep up.
With the starting of this blog I hope to keep all of you informed of my life in Osaka, Japan through pictures and words. I hope that I have enough free time to do so! I imagine my next entry will be from Japan once I am settled in some way, probably during orientation week at Kansai Gaidai University. I hope excitement kicks in soon!

Well, I'm tired, and have a big day of packing tomorrow.
Goodnight.