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So I’ve found some down time at the moment. I’m staying for the weekend with my host-parent’s daughter, son-in-law, and other in-laws out in Mito, kinda like the burbs. By down time I mean that Sarah-chan, the granddaughter has bestowed upon me a momentary reprieve from her mutated version of JanKen (rock-paper-scissors), that for some reason involves the different levels of curry rice. She’s the cutest thing since puppies, making it really hard to refuse. However, as a natural introvert it’s getting to the point where I’m going to need some serious alone time soon or Ill be useless to the world. I think children can sense when you’re an introvert. I’m also extremely tired for some reason, like dark marks under my eyes tired. Not really sure why. Maho-san (the daughter-in-law) who speaks pretty good English thinks it’s because I’m concentrating all day every day to understand what people are saying. In short, I’m mentally tired. This trip has also revealed why I cant understand my okasan: she rarely says anything of relevance. Harsh I know, but watching the rest of the family interact with her makes her seem like one of those cute little grandmothers that reads the billboards out loud while riding in the car. She’s kinda pushy too in that she forces food on people even when they say they say they aren’t hungry. Previously, I always thought she was saying something I needed to know so I didn’t understand her incomplete sentences; now I know she really was just saying obvious things like “this street is narrow so it’s dangerous” and “you like apples so eat them”. I think my main problem is that for the last 3 or so years Ive been getting more and more independent so being treated like a 5 year old for long periods of time is wearing. She’s still a cute old person though so most of this is already forgiven. The family and I took a trip to this amazingly huge park yesterday with a ceramic fair and everything. By huge I mean I have NEVER seen a park in the U.S. this big. It had slides twisting down a hillside that boggle the mind. They have these little mettle rollers like a conveyor belt, and the first time that Sarah-chan and I went down them we didn’t see the little pads you were supposed to use so it REALLY hurt the butt. Sarah-chan, the grade schooler, was the one to find the pads and hand me one. We then had Kuri (chestnut) ice cream which was as delicious as it was strange. Something interesting about rural Japan is that the house clusters look like more modern versions of the old villages in that they are positioned the same (around rice fields and other houses) but they have more amenities. Also, the castles kind of spring up out of nowhere. I glimpsed one through tree on a hillside about a mile away from me, but then I walked three feet forward and it ceased to exist. The forests are also so dense you cant see through them even though they stand in relatively small/thin clusters. After hanging around the family ALL weekend, I’ve decided that I hate infants. My rather scathing dislike of them most likely stems from my annoyance with anything that cannot take care of itself. This of course ignores logical rebuttals of “but its just a child” and focuses instead on methods of tolerance. The last night we were in Mito the family made this massive dinner complete with sashimi, squid, and various other personal favorites. I took pictures, and even though I haven’t posted any pictures like I said I would…I wont say for sure that I will soon…but Ill give the old college try. Ja ne for now! -Spork |
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Hello! Well Im feeling much better now. Don’t get me wrong, Im still tired all the time, but so is everyone else. I think we’re all still adjusting to the amount of walking/standing on the train for hours/climbing stairs that living in Japan requires. I haven’t even gone running since I got here since Im too exhausted by the end of the day from the above activities. Plus, I have THREE HOURS of Japanese class Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 9 in the morning. Followed of course by my other two classes leaves me feeling like an emphysematous. However, the pace of the classes here is weird. It’s a semester system, and compared to a term routine, where by the second class you’re already discussing the midterm, its kinda snail like. For example, at the end of my last War and Peace class he informed us of this weeks homework, at which point I realized I was two readings ahead already. Bikuri shita (I was surprised). So, while the elongated pace is more tango than my strictly tap is used to, my friends and I have been filling in the gaps. Most weekends we visit places that are on our list like Ginza, Shibuya, Shinkjuku, Harajuku, Odaiba, and so on. Additionally, we’ve been exploring the wonderful night life of Tokyo college students, namely bars. The Hub is right next to the station everyone uses to get to campus (Takadanobaba Eki), and if you’re smart like my friends and I you preempt the exorbitantly pricey drinks at the bar and visit one of the many liquor stores on the way. This last Friday I experienced Ume (Plum) Liquor for the first time and damn. A bunch of us, including my new Midwestern friends went to Hub and had an AMAZING time…Ill tell you about it when your older. Speaking of new friends, I didn’t realize that international student really meant INTERNATIONAL. In my Post-Colonialism class there are people from Malaya, Pakistan, Nigeria, China, Korea, Missouri, the list goes on. It’s amazing talking to these people; Im learning so much, changing my perceptions of the world every time we interact. I’ve also made friends with the majority of the Midwestern group from the U.S. including people from Missouri, Tennessee, D.C., and so on. One of my new best friends is Michael, the gay Kenyon student who recently loaned me a game for my DS. We like to hold little squeal sessions whenever we see a buff Japanese construction worker wearing hakama (those airy pants seen in samurai movies) So this last weekend, after a quick recovery on Saturday from Friday night, Maddy, David, Ken, and I went to Ginza for some exploration. First we went to the Sony building where Maddy’s tourist book said we could try out some free virtual reality games. Well, we walked up and down all 7 floors experiencing some amazing technology in high definition, but no virtual reality. There were a line of cameras with TV screens recording us behind them, which suddenly started flashing lights in our eyes, taking our pictures rapid fire and posting them on the TV screens. Scared the crap out of us. Then we walked all the way to the Godzilla statue, and turning the corner onto his plaza, we discovered that he looks much bigger on TV. Ill send pictures later, but lets just say that Maddy and I played patty cake with him. We then spent about half an hour walking in circles looking for this purportedly beautiful Jinja (shrine) in the middle of Ginza. Much like virtual reality, it seems we need to be Asian for them to appear on our radars. After walking to the biggest fish market in the world, which as our luck would have it was closed, we went to this massive park that some Shogun had set up years and years ago. Now that was fun. It was beautiful and HUGE even though it was right in the middle of Ginza. Ill send pictures of it later. As we were leaving we stopped to watch this really neat performance of two women in kimonos doing various balancing tricks involving those paper umbrellas, twine balls, cups, and wooden blocks; all accompanied by a man playing a samisen. I built up the courage, with a little boost of confidence from Maddy, to ask them if we could take a picture with them and they were nice enough to not only take a picture with us but to pose us with their umbrellas and such. The two women were so cute! Ill end this post with a reminder that while I am far away I am still the same person subconsciously. I had a couple dreams recently: The first was one were I was walking around in public with a couple people and Tim wouldn’t stop “revealing” himself to the world. I was also in possession of luggage labeled “Freed Slavery” on it. Even outside of reality Tim is a weirdo : p The second dream involved one of my friends trying to avoid doing something they deemed lame. So, when they tried to run away on a motorcycle I performed a flying movie-style kick, launching them off the bike. And on that rather personal reassurance of my, er, continuing Lynette-ness, Ill bid you adieu. Ja ne! -Spork |
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I’yo! This update will start off with a personal confession: I’m in love. With Japanese food that is. Ikayaki, udon, ramen, tacoyaki, and the fact that they spice and serve fresh vegetables at breakfast and dinner. Even their convenience store food is amazing! They have every kind of bread you can possibly conceive of (melon pan is gods gift to mankind). I still have over 6 months to go on this adventure and I’m already worried about what I’m going to do about food when I come back. At least I’ve started to help my okasan with meals occasionally, and she enjoys teaching me the various dishes. Okay, where did I leave off last time…Ginza, right…hmmm. Yosh’, I’ll skip the rest of the week up til the next Friday, since the weekdays consist of me hanging out with friends while we do homework our just chat on campus. Speaking of which, the time I spend hanging out with people is at least triple that of when I was Eugene. Must be because so much happens to each of us every day that we never run out of things to say. Aaanyways, so on Friday we decided to explore Shinjuku before hitting the bars. Snuck into this back alley ramen shop that was absolutely amazing. After ingesting our liquid rhapsody, we trudged around for a bit went into a huge arcade and proceeded to embarrass ourselves all over a few fighting and shooting games (how do I choose a weapon?! There’s no buttons!) Later in the night we returned to Takadanobaba and went to the Hub, the watering pool for greater Waseda University. Go there on a Friday night and you will invariably meet up with EVERYONE you know at some point. I also made new friends via Michael and Heinz, my new best friends. They showed up to the Hub in the company of their recently joined university club, Glow (kinda like Waseda’s GBSA, gay bi straight alliance). Those guys are absolutely hilarious. One of them, having learned English through Victorian literature apparently, introduced himself using such phrases as “I would be honored if…” Another guy, Haru, chatted with me awhile, inviting me to their club activities, later emailing my phone very cutely. I cant wait to hang out with them again. I also promised to help Heinz get a Japanese boyfriend. I received an adorable smile and a hug in return. Totally worth it. On Saturday we went to the Kawagoe Matsuri (Kawagoe festival), supposedly one of the three largest festivals in Japan. It was HUGE. There were booths lining basically the whole district of Kawagoe. Ive never been around so many people in one area at one time. At one bottle neck, Soton and I became personally acquainted with a whole block of people. We could have lifted our feet and been carried along. As expected, the food was orgasmic. We walked around til they closed up eating, watching the various performances (pictures pending), and staring curiously at the booths with raffles running (model gun booths?) Apparently, there’s a prevalent stereotype concerning Americans, but I’ve never even fired a gun much less owned one. Next time it comes up Ill just admit to using my pistol, back home, to open tomato soup. I begged off the tea ceremony I had intended on going to with a few people on Sunday; I really needed a day to chill. I stayed in all day doing homework, translating my manga, and sleeping. I only emerged for breakfast and dinner. A nice relaxing day was just what I needed, and the curious behavior from my host parents during dinner merely amused me rather than irritated me. Im laughing as I write this. My okasan calls her daughter all the time during meals for some reason, during which she is often invited to talk to her grandson, Kai, who is not even a year old. So repetitions of “Kai-kun. Kai-kun. Oi. Kai-kun. Kai-ku.” for about a full minute are a common occurrence. Also, my otosan proceeded to “SCRAPE. SCRAPE. SCRAPE.” his plate for an extended length of time during a deeply dramatic, very quite moment in the samurai drama we were watching. Well think that’s it for now. Ja matta! -Spork |
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Wow. I haven’t updated in awhile, but I have a good excuse (excuse pending). So much has happened in the last week that I think I’m going to have to write two emails. Where to start. First off, Ill make a personal declaration like I did at the beginning of my last update. Before we left for Japan and upon arrival all the veterans and advisors continually told us that our morale would fluctuate along fairly straightforward progression during our stay. We were informed that in the beginning we would experience a steep upward curve of excitement and wonder with our new situation, which would take us through the first 2 to 3 months. Following this is a slight plateau with moderate growth toward its end reaching the maximum of the curve simultaneously with the half way point of our stay. Then we experience a sharp decline as homesickness and irritation with conflicting cultural practices overwhelms us. The decline levels out somewhere between extremes towards the end of our stay, leaving us happy but troubled by culture shock occasionally. This is complete bullshit. I experienced the entirety of this graphically plotted course during the first DAY of my stay here. Confirmation from the other overseas students continues to solidify my conclusion that becoming an overseas student is a like developing a severe bipolar/schizophrenic disorder. Some days Im high as a kite over the fact that Im actually IN Japan, and then I hit a roadblock of Japanese idiosyncrasy that plunges me into confused irritation for the rest of the day. They should make special Prozac for the overseas program. Personal declaration finished! Level Complete! You scored a 75! Save now? Yes No Crap. I have to go help my okasan with dinner. Somehow, even though Im paying them for my breakfasts and dinners I’m still expected to help make them. However, this doesn’t really upset me since I really want to learn how to make these dishes so I can smooth the transition once I return to the states (basically eat exactly the same as I do here). F.P.S. (Faux Post Script) Osenbe, a Japanese snack that is actually pretty easy to find in the states, is one of the best confections that I have become orally fixated on during my stay. You should ALL try it, look it up if you have to, but for gods sake don’t deprive yourselves. Ja’, I’ll return during my “post consumption” period. Aaa. Food so good! Okay, so the other day I walked the hour or so path to Asagawa and explored the little outdoorish mall they have there, a weekly thing I usually do. However this particular excursion was doomed to failure. I had wanted to visit the Book Off (Japan’s version of Powells) there, but being chronically early as usual I had to walk around the city for about an hour waiting for it to open. After about half an hour of aimless wandering, a middle aged guy on a bike rides up to me, stops his bike, dismounts, and staring at me intensely, points to my feet and says, “ASHI” (leg or feet depending on context). I stare at him while he kneels on the ground by my feet loudly stating “ASHI” over and over. Sometimes it was a question. Then, when he was actually holding my feet (alternating between them while I balanced on one leg) he started mixing in “NUZU. ASHI. NUZU. NUZU!” I looked “nuzu” up in my dictionary later, but the closest thing I could find to it was “nusu” which means “theft” or “to steal”. Apparently I had unwittingly stolen feet. My feet. Or I was going to in the near future seeing as how Japanese doesn’t have a future tense it could be either one, depending on emphasis. My reactions were textbook confounded foreigner. I agreed they were my feet. I asked if everything was okay. I asked if HE was okay. Then I politely as possible extricated my feet from his grasp and excused myself from his presence. All in Japanese, yay me. He biked off with a worried glance in my direction, and I walked off with a worried glance at the people staring at our little display. He probably does that to all the blond haired, blue eyed foreigners. I should have made a grab for his feet. Oh yeah, the Book Off didn’t even have the cheap mangas that the other Book Off near campus does. So yeah, total failure. Hehe, spell check keeps telling me that “mangas” should be “mangos”. So on my way to finish this email and use the internet on campus today, was abruptly reminded of the 125th Waseda Anniversary that is going this weekend. It was abrupt because I found myself crammed in with about 22,000 other people on campus. Query: Why do I suck at school/team spirit? I really tried this time I swear! I WANT to care about my school. When I talk to other Waseda students who are into wearing the colors, cheering the team on, etc. all I can do is present the minimally acceptable school spirit so they wont get angry. Its been like this for as long as I can remember so I don’t know why I would suddenly start painting my chest while throwing batteries at our rivals. I blame it on my existential psychological tendencies. While I was making my ever so slow way through Waseda’s clogged arteries, I was descended upon by this random chubby 20 or something. He engaged me in conversation taking my “I understand Japanese” to mean that I was fluent. I understood a lot of what he was saying, but I had no time to respond. The stupid crowd kept us awkwardly pressed up against each other as I desperately tried to make my way to the library without giving this guy my phone number. I ended up giving him my Waseda email (which I never check) before he left me alone. Why cant blond hair attract 6 ft. beautiful Japanese males instead of rotund young adults who chatter my ears off or the accusatory mentally challenged? I need a drink. This email was supposed to be about my trip to karaoke and NHK studios, but I think it’s long enough already. Ill save it for next time. Peace out! -Spork |
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Nihonkara Ohayo, First off, tired. I somehow managed to sleep in today, god only knows how, and now Im even more exhausted than before. Stupid body. Im pretty sure no one in Japan sleeps. Everyone who lives here has the most ridiculous sleep schedules; like 4 hours a night if that. I die if I get less than 6. Personal declaration: Blond hair attracts strange men. Much like my recent run ins with Mental Man and his sidekick Chub Boy (ref. last email), two similar battles against evil fell upon your caped wonder this last week. Stay tuned! So the first one happened as I was walking to campus from Takadanobaba station. I usually enjoy the 20 minute walk by listening to my ipod, but on this particular outing I was drawn into an awkward conversation with a Japanese salaryman (the word “salaryman” in Japanese basically means a Japanese male working for a nonspecific company. Physical description: always seen in black suit.). This guy would have been cute if he wasn’t just a tad too short for me. His English was good but rather stilted, and he decided to accompany me then entire way to campus talking about when he graduated from Waseda. Somehow my love of Shinjuku (place) came up and he asked if I had been to the massive park there yet. I stated that I hadn’t, to which he responded, “Oh, well on this weekend we go together maybe.” I quickly employed the gaijin (foreigner) card, pretending I didn’t hear/understand his English, and, in a masterful stroke of segue, changed the subject to something else. That card is so useful, versatile too. He eventually left once we reached campus, but not before writing down his phone number and email for me. I said I didn’t have my phone with me ß blatant lie. The second battle for justice happened last night on my way home from the Hub. I didn’t drink, just hung out with English and Japanese friends chatting in Japanese until about 10. I accidentally made eye contact with this guy on my train platform, and he apparently took that as his cue to come over and talk to me using the three English words he knew. He was Peruvian and had been in Japan for about 5 years working as a chef at this massively expensive restaurant in Shinjuku. He gave me a coupon for it. We boarded the train and continued our extremely awkward conversation in Japanese while I silently prayed for an act of god to end the ordeal. Unlike Generic Salaryman #1, Peruvian Man saw my phone and asked to exchange numbers. Authors note: exchanging numbers in Japan is like shaking hands with them. The phones are also more advanced in that to exchange information all you do is point two phones at each other and push a button. During the exchange he managed to miss his stop and so got off on mine with the intention of backtracking via the next train. Before we parted though he gave me his business card, like all the others, and then shook my hand. Then, before I could even react, pulled me in to brush a small kiss against my cheek. I still cant decide if it was a greeting/goodbye kiss or an it-has-been-decided-that-we-will-hook-up-kiss. I walked away thinking, “WTF?!”. He sent me two emails after I got home saying the usual, “I liked talking to you”, “lets get together”, etc. etc. I already blocked his number. In a city of this size Im not overly concerned about running into any of them again, but I am thinking about making a scrapbook. I did have non-strange-man fun recently as well. The Midwest crew and I hung out again and went to karaoke for one of their, Brittany’s, birthday. Since it was the day before Halloween we decided to semi dress up for it. Only one person dressed up, like a pirate, and I merely wore a short skirt and high heels, but we still enjoyed ourselves immensely. The karaoke room was tiny, the drinks were ridiculously expensive, and the English songs sounded like bad midi versions. However, singing loudly and badly in a large group to classics is REALLY fun. The following are some of the songs we belted out: Like a Virgin Twist and shout Obladi Oblada Chumbawamba Tainted Love Its Not Unusual Twist and Shout is the best karaoke song hand down, end of discussion. Although, Obladi Oblada was great too, but Im probably biased. Skipping down the middle of the street at the beach with a group of friends, boombox screaming the song, has marked it for me forever. After karaoke we went to a conbini (convenience store) for some ice cream bars and drinks. Author’s Note: Convenience stores in Japan are all purpose stores. Like tiny Fred Meyers, they have literally everything you could possibly need. We took our assembled goods somewhere else to eat, and Michael, who had at this point donned the pirate ensemble (funniest pirate ever) started in on his Mango Cocktail. He hummed in delight after the first gulp, we laughed at him, and he proudly stated, “I love anything with the words “mango” and “cock” in it.” God I love that boy. And he loves me now that I showed him around Ikebukuro, specifically the street with all the gay manga, books, etc. (not sex shops mind you but legitimate book/media stores). My Oregon crew and I stumbled upon it the last time we were there, but I was the only one with the stones to explore them. Curiosity trumps shame every time. Ugh. Think Ill go take a nap. Ill leave the trip to NHK and the Waseda vs. Keio baseball game for next time. Ja, matta kondo! -Spork |