Samurai Chris

An update to tell you.......I'm going to update.

2009-02-27T12:43:00.003+09:00

I know it seems I haven't posted or wrote anything for the last few days (weeks or months actually), but I have been finishing posts in the background to publish at a later date. I just have been so busy and the next week or so I have plenty of time to get this blog up to date. This blog will have around 70 entries (I need to double-check this) when completely updated. I am currently writing a big entry about my first taste into Kyuudo (what my first impressions were anyway) and it was taking up a huge time.

I also went to Hokkaido and South Korea and I have been working on catching up on things and such. This last week will provide the time to work on entries, but I must focus on work and writing my progress report (400 characters min. in Japanese) for the scholarship that I received at Hakuoh from the Japanese government. That's due today, but I've been so busy that I had to wait until today to get it finished.

I now have a ~~micro-stalker-helping~~ social networking account on twitter. It has been added to the side pages.

This is a promise, and not just a "I'm going to say I update, but not" entry. Even if I feel like I can't write something, I am going to try to write it. Now I must get ready to go to school.

Final Days of Classes at Hakuoh:Reflection

2009-01-30T20:19:00.004+09:00

Today was the final day of classes at Hakuoh and had all of Iijima-sensei's finals today. The tests in essence were not completely hard at all. They weren't easy however. Iijima spent most of this semester focusing on correct Japanese pronunciation and by the tone someone used in speaking, you had to determine the emotion involved in the question. Obviously, being here for a while, you know when someone is asking you a question as generally in most languages the final part of the sentence in a question is raised. But, the hardest part of those tests where mainly the words with the same pronunciation in dictionary form. The words with the same pronunciation tend to be pretty difficult even in conversation. I heard that people from Tochigi cannot pronounce the difference between words such as 橋　and 箸　both read as hashi (hah-she), but the first means bridge and the second one means chopsticks. Of course, this example is pretty obvious and easy to figure out, you don't eat with a bridge. But, without the Chinese characters, the meaning is the same in the other writing systems in Japanese....and this is one reason translating from Japanese to English is pretty hard, but I'll make a separate entry for that sometime.

Earlier in the week I had to pull out all the mad rushes. I've been skipping a few of the Intercultural Understanding class just to get projects, speeches, and reports due on time. I should really stop hanging out at the International Center or my friends around these times. I was so literally pressed for time that I seemed to half-ass my way in Adachi's paper for Japanese culture class. I wrote about the Japan-America relations following the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I originally had an idea for the paper, but as I wrote it (writing in Japanese first, one of a few times I have done only that completely straight) it changed mainly that both sides had these perceptions of each other and that the US tried covering a lot of the information from their own people and the Japanese themselves (at least, until 1952 when a plan went in effect and ended most of the occupation). Alc's online dictionary helped great heaps here.

I also had a speech to do for Takahashi's class. I first made my powerpoint slide, and had a lot of materials and such, but didn't feel like translating the slides nor the pictures (which would involve some photoshopping on a few), so in basically one night (and skipping IC again) I translated the entire thing in a word document to give to the class. Business Japanese is not my forte and once again ALC's dictionary, plus several other dictionaries (to cross check a word I choose to make sure it doesn't have any unintended nuances in Japanese) and was able to finish it. Many in the class were surprised that I was able to do it. I also spoke in a mix of Japanese and English (though, my written Japanese was better than my speaking) trying as much as possible of being understood and speaking as much Japanese as possible.

This semester compared to last semester was better. Sure, there were 4 of us (IUPUI students) last semester, but things outside of the classroom and school were just unneeded and were quite disappointing. The classes were more interesting (probably because I understood a LOT more than I previously did) and I already had tons of friends in many different classes. The classes seemed to fluctuate again between difficult and easy again, but with only two American students, matching Keleih or I's level was a lot easier than last semester with 4 students. After the first semester of it's unbalancedness, I basically treated the classes as Independent study and asked quite often a lot of questions that were slightly off topic of the main class work. I think this worked out for me the best in the end because I couldn't just go off to what was being presented before me.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T23:30:00.002+09:00

On the 27th, Tomo, Boss, and I went to a Harvest Walk Viking (Well, in Japanese it is viking, but in English is it known as a buffet) for celebrating of the Thanksgiving Dinner.

A little lesson on Japanese Buffets: The amount varies depending on Lunch or Dinner time (same as the US), the word for buffet in Japanese is indeed viking (basically referring to the meal had either before or after a battle with vikings), and the fact that you are TIMED and usually have 90 minutes to eat at the restaurant (very different than the US buffets). Now, the timing is not like they'll be keeping a watch on you and dog you with a stopwatch, but it's more or less that you pay when you leave and the 90 minutes sometimes is just a rule, but it isn't really enforced. Most people though abide by this rule however, as rules are generally followed in public places in Japan.

We had only 45 minutes when we came in before they start putting everything away and closing for the evening so we had to rush and eat as much as we really could. I shot several videos of that night, but I have yet to upload them somewhere on internet. Anyway, we all ate too much (I'd admit I haven't ate that much since I left for Japan), and Tomo said he threw up several times when he got home. But, other than that, it was a fun night up stuffing our faces like Americans do back at home. Of course, it wasn't without the thankfulness part....we all had something to be thankful for--that we didn't eat the same amount of food in the same amount of time ever again after that.

(Between three people we ate this much)

Nasu Revisited

2008-11-22T23:16:00.007+09:00

Today Tomo, Rin, Gary, Yuu, and I went to Nasu to visit hots prings (onsen) and go to Nasu-dake (or Mt. Nasu). I previously had been to Nasu once before with Prof. Takahashi and such for Golden Week, but that was a while ago previously.

We stopped along the way to see some Kofun in the natural fields along the road to Nasu. I was surprised because I thought that kofun (or ancient burial mounds) only were in the kofun period in Japan, but this one kofun we went to housed one of the Tokugawa clan members.

(This sign points out the 8th spot found of a kofun)

(This sign explains the largest of the kofuns and the history behind this particular one)

(Tomo pointing out kofuns on the map that lists all the ones in the area)

Next, we went to Ashino Hot Spring (onsen) to take a relaxing bath. Onsen (hot spring in Japanese) are public baths in Japan where men and women (usually seperate, though co-ed springs do exist) get undressed and enjoy several natural cold/warm/hot springs. This particular spring had a sauna too, as I tried it because I previously never been in one, and it was suffocating to the point I couldn't spend more than a few minutes in the sauna at a time.

(Tomo pulling a nana (another friend of ours) in this picture showcasing Ashino onsen)

(This is a picture of the sign of Ashino Onsen).

(This is the guardian spring of Ashino Onsen)

After that, we went to Nasu Kougen. We realized small patches of snow were lying around, so we realized that it must have snowed. Sure enough when got to Nasu-dake, there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. It got harder to climb the path near the top of the pathways because of the ice that was on all the paths. Gary and Yuu never have seen snow before so it was very amusing to watch them and we had tons of fun having a snowball fight on the mountain and sliding down the paths.

(A picture of the big Jinzo statues again. People put hats and or clothes on the statues to be respectful. In other places Jinzo represent dead babies/children or aborted fetuses and women whom lost children in childbirth/abortion come and put clothes on the statues.)

(Tomo, Rin, and Gary with snow)

(Each Jinzo statue has a hat)

(It's Gary's first time seeing snow up close)

We later went to a good Italian restaurant for pasta for dinner, another place to sample wine, and then on the way back through Utsunomiya we stopped at Penny Lane and got some bread. Overall it was much more funner this time around as we weren't on some real schedule to go do things on.

Translating

2008-11-16T20:16:00.003+09:00

Today I went to Nogi to translate for a world famous violinist named Janos Mote. Mr. Usui and Miller were wanting someone to be able to do it, and considering my background in classical music (I played the viola for 7 years before finally putting it down before I entered college), they were leaning towards me to do the translating.

When I got there I was picked up by Ayaka, the student that was going to be helping me interpret. I already met Janos Mote before, I went with Fumi and Rin to see him and several other musicians perform at the Nogi auditorium a few weeks previously. So, I had no problems talking to him or anything. I found him to be pretty fascinating myself. Even though he was born in Hungry, his English was pretty good and I could easily communicate with him (despite numerous natives saying my English speaking style has changed since being here).

After formalities were over, we soon started the event. He was going to talk a little about himself and answer questions from the audience, then give some violin lessons to several people that shown up. He was concerned about this because he had never taught beginners or near beginner levels lessons before. Then, the translation session began. At first I thought I was going to be translating from Japanese to English for him, but I realized that wasn't what I was doing and I was actually translating from English to Japanese for the rest of the audience listing to him. Luckily there were only maybe 15 or 20 people there, so I wasn't that much pressured to perform, but my main concern was being understood by audience. For the most part, with my lack of knowledge of more vocabulary (I always feel this), I felt I was understood most of the time. When I did have trouble in finding something how to say, I asked Ayaka about it, and most of the time she was able to figure it out unless it was a special expression in English that most non-natives don't know. When questions came, I translated his responses back into Japanese, but sometimes I didn't know how to phrase something properly (even one guy joked he didn't understand me at all, but I think honestly he was kidding anyway). Afterwards, I watched him give lessons to the people that wanted lessons and it was over.

I reinforced something that I learned a while back with Japanese. Sounding foreign is directly translating from your own language into another language, but you have to utilize the target language in order to be best understood. Especially in Japanese, since the language itself isn't too direct and there's often very simpler ways of saying something.

(Ayaka is on the left, her friend Keko is on the right)

(This is after the performance at Nogi. Janos Mote is on the far right.)

Hakuoh Festival!

2008-11-05T00:21:00.010+09:00

(Me with some of the cast of "Who Moved My Cheese?")

The Hakuoh Festival this year was from 11/1 to 11/3. I don't know of anyone else (a exchange student anyway) that was as busy as I was during the festival, but it was fun, but exhausting.

My preparations began pretty early for the festival. I recently fully joined ESS, but the other members were already going through the final rehearsals of the play. I originally had nothing to do with the play until one day when I was in the classroom ESS sometimes uses for meetings during lunch, Glenn rushed in and told me that Keita (one of the members that is doing the play) was in the hospital with a sore throat and didn't know if he would get better in time for the play. I would probably be the only person that probably could learn all the lines be the time they would have the play (he asked me on Monday and the first performance was to be on saturday of the following week). He later received a call from Iyo saying that he would be able to do the play, so I wouldn't have to replace him. However, I decided to learn his part anyway just in case something happened to him. I decided to attend most of the ESS practices of the play. Considering that I just entered ESS and the play is the main thing they do during the year, they appreciated any help they could get. I shot several practices for them as the practiced with the real stage the day before the play. I only could attend the Saturday performance though. At the last minute, Glenn decided to cast me and another 4 year that also had arrived the previous day before as extras in one scene, though. I was surprised.

(The entire cast including Glenn from Who Moved My Cheese?)

My other involvement was with a club I seem I have "abandoned", Kyudo. I haven't been to a practice once since I had the training camp in September. I don't know if I am actually busy or just saying I do not want to practice, but I really have let myself down in that department. I should go more often when I do get breaks, but of course because I am behind everyone else I will have to work at my own pace. It seems though in the later part of the semester all there really is to do in the club is go to events and have tests or competitions, which because of my level of ability I couldn't bother myself with going, but I should have went anyway.

(Rin taking a shot at the Kyuudo booth. He's kakkoii "cool" in this picture)

Enough is with the past however, I decided to help my original club I entered when I first came to Hakuoh after running into Mitsue and then the group the day before Friday (a holiday to prepare for the festival). Of course, like with most events Kyudo does it's usually at the break of dawn. Basically the kyudo booth had targets and normal people that came to the booth had a chance to use a real kyudo bow to aim at the targets and win prizes. Of course the shooting style for the customers is vastly different than kyudo (and they are not fully pulling the string either). I actually got to use the bow here too, with a bow and arrow. The tension of course was the lowest setting possible for the bow, but yet in the end it was still kind of hard to do.

(A shot from above the kyuudo booth, taking from the room where the play was taking place)

The last club I was involved with was SAP or Study Abroad Programs at Hakuoh. Tomo told me that they wanted Keleih and my help because we are both exchange students from the US and that they were trying to have a Halloween themed party so, we already have had experience with the holiday. The day before the prepping day I carved a pumpkin for the first time. It was strange to never do it before in the states, but to do it here in Japan were pumpkins of a normal "American" size cost $10 or more. I couldn't think of really any costume, so I bought a mask of the great daibutsu and decided to scare the crap out of people using this mask.

(Look at the tools I was using to carve this thing. Kitchen knives. The black is from the calligraphy pen I accidentally used to make my lines, it made a mess everywhere)

(Gary with the finished carved pumpkin!)

(Hahaha, some people and I at the SAP booth. Yes, I was wearing that hideous mask with my kyuudo uniform)

(I really like this picture of Eiko and Yukari; it is also the only one I have of both, as both normally hate having their pictures taken. But, it was a festival~!)

We made a few parades during the course of a few days, and I have to say it was pretty successful for the group. On the last day, there was a fireworks display from the main baseball field and it was pretty amazing. I felt way too busy during the entire time and I should have also helped the Exchange student's booth, but I decided not to. Mostly because I wouldn't have had as much fun if I was only there and instead of doing other things with other people. Plus, with the American exchange students here at only two, and the other student having no connection with anything with the festival, it's kind of hard to enjoy things when majority of the exchange students would be speaking in their native language.

(The sign that was used by the International Students booth)

(Everyone that was helping cooking at the International Students booth)

The foilage of Nikko.

2008-10-27T21:06:00.009+09:00

(A Tree on Chuuzenji-Lake)

Yesterday, Tomo, Rin, Fumi, and I went to Nikko to see the 紅葉　（こうよう）　or the changing of the leaves. We were planning on going to Nasu first to play Disc Golf, but because it rained we probably couldn't have played, so we went ahead to Nikko instead of going to Nasu first.

It was a good thing we didn't stop at Nasu first because on the day we wanted to see the famous Kegon falls, there was some accident up along the famous I-ro-ha road (this road has a certain amount of turns representing good luck I think) and it took us about two and a half hours to get to the top, but after that we had really no problems with the rest of the day.

(A picture of the very long line on I-Ro-Ha rode leading up the mountain.)

We parked near Chuuzenji lake a very famous lake and it was beautiful! The lake with all the trees changing leaves were a very pretty sight! I just wish that cameras had the ability of the human eye because there is no camera around that could have captured the same atmosphere. We goofed around for a while making videos and taking pictures, but on our way to find lunch there were three monkeys on the roof of one of the buildings really close to us! I was surprised because I heard that monkeys are in the area, but I never thought they would be close to human establishment!

(A picture of the lake with the foliage of trees in the background)

(Monkeys!)

We decided to eat at a ramen restaurant and the food was good. More and more am I finding that I am becoming sort of like Brian was to Pan (bread) as I am to Ramen. Ramen is known in the states usually in the form of instant ramen, but real thing is 100 times better. Plus, if you have a cold (which I did at the time) you feel all the better after eating a warm bowl of what is essentially soup and noodles in a bowl. The weather was freaking cold though. Because we spent most of the time near mountains or chuuzenji lake, the wind could be easily felt.

(The road we were on with all the restaurants)

After lunch, we went to Kegon-no-taki (Kegon falls) to see the waterfalls. We picked up some Chestnut ice cream, which I didn't get, but I got to taste it and the taste was interesting. It was like if the ice cream itself was of a peanut like flavor, but the taste was authentic.

(Rin, Fumi, and I at keggon falls)

After that we went to Ryuutou-no-taki (Or dragon's head falls, because the waterfall looks like a dragon's head). I don't really think the waterfall looks like a dragon's head, but it does look a lot like the normal kanji character for ryuu (or dragon). I think that's where the resemblance comes from.

(Dragon's Head falls, in all it's glory)

http://www.japanesetattoo.co.cc/images/Japanese%20tattoo-kanji.jpg

(Compared to the Chinese Character for Dragon)

We wanted to see Toushougu (it would be my second time seeing it), but because it was getting late as the sun was going down and there are no natural lights around the shrine area, it would have been pointless to go to see everything so we made a promise to go back sometime. I dunno if Tomo and Fumi will return before Rin and I have to return, but I am willing to see the place in the winter (which will probably be 10x worse with the coldness, but I bet more beautiful than it was today.

Tokyo Game Show BABY!

2008-10-11T22:08:00.006+09:00

So, on Saturday I went to the biggest gaming convention in the world, the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba. Let me tell you that if you aren't a fan of congested places, you aren't going to like the convention too much, but most people don't mind because it's the shiny new games they get a chance to play that officially makes up for any short comings to the fact that it takes double the amount of time it should be to get from one edge of the convention floor to the other because of the amount of people that arrived.

Kou-san and I woke up at 4AM to catch the first train to Ueno at 5:10 from Oyama. I was ready for the convention, and despite not having coffee, I was able to withhold from sleeping on the train (yay, taiko no tatsujin) for most of it. We made it to Ueno and had to make a switch to get to Tokyo, which wasn't too hard. But once we got to Tokyo, we had to make a switch to the keiyo line, which was a bitch compared to anything else I have had to do at a station. From the location of the Yamanote line to the Keiyo line seemed to be nearly a half mile. Tokyo station is quite possibly the largest train station in the world and its size is definitely apparent. It took only 10 minutes or so to get to the line (with the help of several people movers and such of course), but it was quite exhausting. On the ride to get to Maruhari Messe the location it was at, I noticed the same line also serviced Tokyo Disney Land (now I know where to go, if I can ever confess to one of the girls I like :-| ). Anyway, the ticket said it wasn't supposed to be open until 10AM, but we arrived a full two hours early. We first went out the wrong exit to the station, but after asking a person handing out fliers, we were pushed in the right direction. When we arrived, I could only think "OMFG, it's so damn huge!" And it is.

http://www.m-messe.co.jp/facility_exhi1-8_e.html (a link to the stats of this behemoth site)

(Front)

(Back)

We got in line, but weren't part of the first set of people in line, so we were a decent distance back. A two hour wait wasn't bad, but that's only because I brought my R4 and some Kirby Super Star Deluxe to keep me entertained while I and Kou-san waited. Earlier I saw some other foreigners there and one of them asked me a question. I was expecting them to probably either speak English or Japanese or something, but instead he asked if I spoke French in French. I was confused because of my previous expectation, but apparently they (as it was a group) went off to some place else. Anyway, the line began to move and I started to see how really freaking massive this building really was.

For some reason, one of the security guys cut off the line just in front of us and allowed the others to continue on. At first I was pissed somewhat, but I figured it was better than crowding, and we eventually caught up with the rest of the line soon after being released. But, I think that had something to do with our failure to be first in the line for some of the hottest games (i.e. Monster Hunter 3 for the Wii). Anyway, funny thing is they made us go all the way around the circumference of the building, but the line was long enough to merit such a reason. We gave our tickets (strange we weren't given any stubs back from them, but I guess it's because of volume) and made our way into the place. It seemed almost a mad rush of people grabbing the broachers and making a bee-line to all the must-play games, but we decided first and foremost (because we had no clue, never being at this convention before of this size and magnitude) to fill out forms for our free game (btw, I am fucked if I get the game I picked, that being Monster Hunter 3 for the Wii, I don't have a Japanese Wii). We should have made our way to play the games we wanted to play first (Monster Hunter 3), instead though.

Monster Hunter 3 was the exception at the entire convention. I'd say within 30 minutes of the place opening, there was already a 1 hour wait at the booth, and within 1 and a half hours, the booth had to start limiting people from trying to get to the game. If only they had the space Microsoft or Sony did at the convention, they could had more machines, but then again, Capcom's booth seemed eclipsed by the Monster Hunter portion. They had far as many people than most other games and that area was a clusterfuck when both a SquareEnix's game and Capcom's Resident Evil 5 both gave special preview trailers at the same time. But, given that it's the 1st (or 2nd, depending on whom you talk to) gaming convention in the world for it's size, I should really not be surprised about the crowding. It's....I am used to having room in my conventions.

Other than that, the convention was good. Our tastes weren't really for a specific game, but I'd say that RPGs had the most dominance of all the items at the convention (duh, it's Japan). Just about every major (and minor) developer had an RPG of some sort (Hudson was lonely without a real one). We barely played much due to the long wait times (and either tiredness or hunger making it a pain to wait), but I did get a chance to play Taiko no Tatsujin for the Wii. Let's just say I want this thing to come to the state side. Considering the Wii's market in the states right now, I'm giving it a 70% chance of coming over here. They just need to work on the drums; I felt that I had to beat them to death sometimes to get them to register the Don (or for all of you that don't know Japanese and/or Taiko, the red notes). Other than that, I hope for downloadable tracks on the Wii (for fucks sake, Hudson is releasing a Joysound Karaoke game for the Wii with nearly 30000 tracks available online, so it's possible to pull off a system like that Namco).

In other news, I am working on acquiring an account on a Japanese blog site where I will post things in Japanese (also, following the format that most Japanese bloggers do, I'll be taking lots of pictures of my meals, shorting the hell out of my speech, and making like 4 posts or more per day.....well maybe ; ) ). Someone suggested this to me a while back, so I finally decided to do it. Maybe I'll have translations on my B-side blog (that would be ridiculous, because I'd be translating my own thoughts xD).

(I thought SNK was dead! Oh, that was in the states. Hopefully, more than half the titles AREN'T fighting games.)

(I so wanted to play this game. I would swear it is like a Tales of game, but Tales of Hearts was already on display at the convention).

(The convention "joystick" blocked all the potential gamers that wanted to play Monster Hunter 3. And, yes this was a picture of the first time we passed by the booth. The sign says in Japanese "We're limiting new entry people")

(Part of Sqaure's booth. They had a gallery dedicated to Crono Trigger, which is set to be released next month. They had a playable version at the show if I remember correctly. Pretty damn popular too.)

(I said capcom should have had a bigger set up for Monster Hunter, but with games like Capcom vs. SNK and Resident Evil 5: Degeneration, it was kind of hard to give up more space).

(Another game I wanted to play, but there wasn't any type of demo around for it. But damn it's going to be a nice addition to my DS when it comes out next year.)

(Proof of Taiko no Tatsujin for the Wii. Damn I am too excited about this game. >__<
(Another nice game that looked a lot of fun. It actually feels much like the MGS game for the PSP
. It too had long lines and some kind of tourney was also taking place.)

(Do you know the IdolM@ster? This incredibly popular game in Japan (with almost the same sized audience as Monster Hunter I'd say) was promoted with a live mini-concert by several of the famous seiyu or voice actors from the series. Took me be surprise that there was even a concert, but the song the sung was one from Taiko no Tatsujin, and I knew it >___>;;;; lol)

More pictures from 2008's Tokyo Game Show can be found here.

Things are getting crazy

2008-10-05T22:27:00.005+09:00

Anyway, going to gradually push more and more previous entries out, I have recently started the next semester and I've been the busiest I have ever been in my entirely here (possibly my whole life) with things. I finally decided to settle on the matter of my love life, but I haven't gotten a chance to confess to the person yet. I've always said in the past my Japanese wasn't good enough for confessing, nor was perfect enough to not make a mistake during confession, but I decided (with also my finishing reading Who Moved My Cheese? that Professor Glen gave me) that I should push for change that I wanted for a while now; to experience a relationship here. Now, I have had TONS of people give me various advice, some from the very supportive, to the "you're should only focus here on your studies". But, what makes this experience better is with friends and possibly a girlfriend. I'll also try to avoid what a previous student did and not use my girlfriend as a crutch for Japanese, but support in getting to learn and getter better at Japanese (that and teach her English, because most girls I know want to learn that or American culture). I currently have two girls on my mind (similar to a situation that happened before I left), but the only thing really stopping me is I have to ask one of my guy friends how I go about asking a girl if she has a boyfriend already or not. Many girls at Hakuoh seem to have boyfriends, but I think the idea of saying you have a boyfriend already to politely turn down a guy seems to be lost here, but I think it's possible it is used as an excuse somewhere. But, I am almost certain the two girls I like are currently not taken. That's not to say they aren't attractive by any means. Mitsue was voted "most moe" (moe meaning kawaii or "cute" used usually by otaku) by fellow kyudo club members.

But, yeah, things haven't been better. My work has gotten more hectic as I agreed to improve a student's current lesson by now constructing dialog for the book-supplemented class. It's not THAT hard, but it's just something that adds to the pot. I have it about 50% done, not considering that I've constructed a grammar or vocab list for the vocab. School is crazy, but not that crazy. Learning about World history in two different classes in Japanese. Which day is the hardest? Monday of course. The business seminar class I am taking is pretty tough and is class that I don't understand the most in (about 30% to 40% understanding on average versus 70% or more in other classes' averages). But, all my classes are fun or interesting for me to continue to take them.

I wonder everyday how I am going to get stuff home, because it seems I always purchase another thing that just takes up room. Recently I decided to purchase a EEEPC, a product from ASUS computer corporation. It's ultra-light and will do good when I want to use a computer on a long train ride (which is never, my DS and MP3 work just fine), but it can be used when I want a computer at school, but my main computer is too big to lug around all day (being at 17", it's insane compared to normal Japanese laptops). I basically have procured in my half-year so far: a compact notebook computer, another external harddrive, a Japanese keitai (cellphone), mp3 player, about 60 volumes of manga, about 50 or so anime figurines, more clothes (including a junbei, traditional clothes for kyudo practice, and soon to be kimonos), a Japanese PS2 (with about 10 games). That's a list of all I want to take back however. Probably should get looking into it. I get called here by people whom seen my room "okanemochi" (rich) because I have all of this stuff and I feel kind of bad about it, especially considering the situation the taiwanese are in with finances. I wasn't always "well off" (probably one of the worse off initionally going into Hakuoh in the spring) but found out about a scholarship I received before I came to Hakuoh. I would get into personal details about how I feel personally about the program, but I'll save that for another entry of importance.

Anyway, next week has many things going on. Wednesday at work, I impliment the kaiwa (dialogs) with Mrs. Miyoko with hopefully good response while I also have to give an introduction in English/Japanese for a video and have a lesson (Hamaguchi's) slightly filmed for a promotion for the language school. On Saturday, Kou-san and I are going to the Tokyo Game Show in Chiba Tokyo. This will be hopefully incredibily exciting and is something I am looking forward to this week. Doubtful much interesting things will be annouced here (maybe more information about the DSi that was just announced last week; I also want to know what the hell is up with a Monster Hunter game for the Wii that will never probably make it to America) however. Sunday, Tomo, the taiwanese, and I will go up to Nasu (i.e. Kuroiso, a place I haven't been to since Golden Week in May), and I am also looking forward to that.

See you all later!

Edit: I promise to add photos to this entry tomorrow! Just too busy right now....

~Samuraikurisu

About Languages

2008-09-30T23:14:00.007+09:00

(Almost everyone at my 21st B-day party at Manekineko)

The fall semester has begun and I could not be any more busier than I ever have at Hakuoh. I am currently taking 10 classes, though I am only supposed to be taking 7. Each class is worth 2 transfer credit hours back at IUPUI. I am taking two business classes I shouldn't be taking, but I am only taking the classes because 1) I have friends in them and 2) I want to improve my listening (and hopefully speaking) in Japanese. The last one is Intercultural Communication, taught by the vice-president of Hakuoh, which reminds me of a lot of culture class mixed with geography and history.

I remember I asked Brian about our language abilities and he compared where I was at in late July to where Matt was at when he left Japan and he considered Matt the second best at Japanese after Kyle. I didn't think that was true, because Brian's command on the language (i.e. his knowledge of vocab and how to use it) was incredible and since I have a terrible habit of forgetting vocab (I consider my range of vocab not where I want it to be) I therefore have a harder time in conversation by having to use simpler words and explanations when I know I could do better. But, in thinking about this, I thought of some things that I've been thinking about for a while in general about languages. I'm sorry if this seems like a rambling, but I need to get this out because it's been bothering me and I can't concetrate on another assignment until I write it.

I'll start with my thoughts on Japanese so far. I've been here for (what will be in 30 mintues) 6 months, and I have felt I've been significant progress to my overall Japanese ability. I have received so many compliments this semester so far from teachers, students, friends all saying "うまく　なった”　and other words in Japanese that express that one has reached levels of decent comprehension. I personally think there's always room for more improvement however. I always refute compliments (it's more Japanese that way, but actually, what's interesting is if you compliment a student, chances are they just say "thank you" instead of being modest and denying it. I don't know if it's because they received it from a foreigner and in general we accept compliments instead of denying them, but I know a LOT of things in "culture" books I've read aren't true at all. At least based on my experience) because I feel myself that I have let myself down in terms of studying before I came here.

Let me explain a little more: when I came here, I couldn't understand anything spoken. Listening (as I knew BEFORE I left the states) was my weakest ability. This just proves that no matter how long you're studying something, if you aren't somewhat serious in it, you can't really say you've studied something for a long period of time. I've "studied" Japanese for 6 years (maybe going on 7, I don't know) as I had it throughout all of high school, but I really only became serious (somewhat anyway) once I got into college. I skipped first year (tested out of it) and had second year Japanese in college. I went from "always A or better" to "steady B man" in the transistion. So, when I came here, I studied.....well....listening. That's what I do a lot of now. Sure, I wasn't picking up meaning earlier when I started listening when I first came to Japan, but I listened to the tv, to my teachers, to my friends and found what words and phrases that were commonly used and such. I wanted to remove my former attachment to the textbook, as textbook grammar teaches the meaning of what it is in English, but not normal usuage a lot. So, I listened well and responded how the Japanese probably would in certain situations. What I found was that my knowledge of vocab and my listening were previously seperate items in my brain. Over time, listening and picking out words, then sentences, then meanings, eventually the two items became connected and I could finally listen well.

My speaking was shaky at first, but got better over time and my response time has gotten a lot more faster and natural. My speaking rate is a lot slower, and I don't know if that's because I don't want to make a mistake or that's how my brain is able to process two languages at once. Brian told me the best way to use and speak Japanese is to abandon English. By abandoning your own native language, you can begin to use another language well. I haven't entirely abandoned it because I use it on a regular purpose (now mainly reading internet things and writing this blog), but I don't speak it much outside of my アルバイト　(part time job) and English language lounge. Brian admired my speaking at a much earlier rate than he did (he said he was too embarassed to speak Japanese when he first came over), but with anything (including dating, but I have yet to encounter that in Japan....yet) you have fail A LOT. And I mean a lot. The thing is, native speakers of Japanese will correct your usage. It's just natural. Lot's of practicing and correcting....that's how one becomes good at languages.

Now, onto the subject of English. Until I came to Japan, I really....REALLY took my native language for advantage. Recently, I envied the new taiwanese exchange students on their spoken Japanese and kanji reading ability (yes, it's INCREDIBILY good). Really, to any native of English, mastering Kanji is something that can only result in something positive but it is also the hardest skill (remembering wise) for us English natives. But, like I said in an earlier entry, while they understand the meaning of the kanji (because it basically remains unchanged from the chinese kanji parts) the 読み方 or reading of it is very different and causes problems for them too.

I envied the skill of kanji rememberization (I HATE making lists for rememberizing and doing them because I either forget and bastardize the ひらがな　or I rememberize the list, but can't use the word in daily conversation or use it in conversation at all), but what was more envied by the new taiwan exchange students (espeically Katie and Rin-kun whom speak English really well) was having the ability of speaking and understanding like a native in English. English is the world language now and is important for technology, business, and diplomacy. Japan is trying to get its ability in English to where Taiwan and Korea currently are approaching in the study of English. I do think it's a lack of effective programs for teaching English as students are putting so much effort into it and sometimes not getting enough out of it. I mean, I know friends of mine that practice/study English so well that it puts me to shame to most of the studying I have ever done in Japanese. But, in general, it is generally agreed that American students aren't as serious as most students in Asia or other parts of the world.

That aside however, I came across some interesting points in researching about English...comparied to Japanese (and some other important Asian lanaugages like Chinese and Korean):

-Japanese has 2 phonetic systems each consisting of about 48 characters and kanji (chinese characters) approaching around 2000.
-English has 1 phonetic system (i.e. alphabet) consisting of 26 characters.
-The Japanese phonetic systems originally came from kanji, which have meaning.
-The English phonetic chacters have no meaning in the sense of now (I am sure they had something at the time when the language was like greek or latin). T is a t, and has now special meaning .
-The number one mistake for Japanese people speaking English is pronouciation (second: intermediate grammar usage-- like runned instead of ran). The reason: English is much like Chinese. Chinese is more tonal than English, so by saying a vowel with a raised tone at the end changes the word's meaning entirely. English....well, we don't have sounds that all represent the possible combinations of pronouciations of words. For instance, my popular example of ロード (pronounced roudo) while having the pronounciation for the Japanese in カタカナ, it has four meanings in English. The first is the obvious "road". The second is "load" (Japanese in general have problems with l's and r's). The third and forth are "rode" and "rowed". Say these four words. Don't they sound similar (outside of load)? They do, to the Japanese students. The accidents that seperate the prounouciation are very slight.

I could continue on with observations I have observed, but several things have distracted me and I forgot some parts I was going to comment on. Perhaps, that can be saved for another entry sometime. Sorry that this post is another "wall of text", but I promise more interesting writing (and pictures!) in future entries. My last comment about languages is I am currently considering taking up Chinese, but I haven't mastered Japanese decently enough yet to merit a huge percentage jump in my time. Now, I am off to finish a 文書！お休み～！　

Short entry...>__>

2008-09-12T15:12:00.003+09:00

http://idiotbydefault.blogspot.com/ is the new B-Side blog of this blog. I'll post occasionally short translations of songs/other things, and talk about other things besides normal things happen in my daily life here in Japan. Yes, this was an older blog that I originally planned to use for when I went to Japan, but I think this one is a WHOLE lot cooler than the old one.

Anyway, just dropping a link. Working on the Nagano entry and other things right now. Should be doing Kyudo today like I planned, but that got thrown out the window pretty quickly. >__<

Look forward to more updates soon!

Btw, I have internet again, if you haven't already figured out. XD

Edo-Tokyo Museum

2008-09-07T20:30:00.003+09:00

(A Kabuki actor statue in the museum)

I got back from my trip in Nagano on Friday, but on Sunday I decided to travel with Keleih and Keleih's twin sister Robin to the Edo-Tokyo Museum in Tokyo. This museum is dedicated to the 400 rich years of the city of Edo, which in the modern period would become known as Tokyo (or Eastern Capital).

We did many things, and this museum is huge. I think it was the same person that designed the Tokyo Big Sight, but that's just a hunch.

(This is a replica of the original Nihonbashi bridge that's in the museum that everyone can walk across. The museum is huge enough for this bridge, many replicas of homes, and a replica of an edo-period kabuki stage which is huge in itself.)

(Here's another replica of the nihonbashi bridge on a smaller scale. This scale model is the largest in the museum of something at this size. The bridge was an important part of one of the main roads into Edo of its time.)

(A picture of the life-sized replica of a kabuki theater in the museum)

(One of the first brick buildings in Tokyo built during the early Meiji-period. This building housed one of the first newspaper companies in Tokyo. It is unique because up until the 20th century, words written in kanji were written from right to left instead of how they're written today, from right to left when written horizontal.)

(This is the type of incineration bomb used during WWII. This bomb (a replica is on display for obvious reasons) was found underneath the museum as it was being built and the photograph shows them removing the actual dud bomb)

(This is a typical Japanese home in Tokyo in the later stages of WWII. The windows are all taped up so that when bombs exploded nearby the windows would not shatter.)

(This is the picture of the Sumo stadium and museum, but I have yet to go)

After visiting the museum, I wanted to go to the Sumo museum, but on Sundays the museum is closed to the public (as it is connected to the actual stadium for Sumo tournaments).

We went to Akibahara next to look for some good deals in electronics. I picked up another external hard drive for real dirt cheap (a 500GB for $100 dollars roughly). Robin looked exhausted so we decided to meet up with a friend of Keleih's, Dob, and meet him around the Shinjuku area. We later went to a small live venue and listened to Japanese Indie Rock bands. It was really nice and I bought a CD later of one of the groups that performed that night.

(This band was called Aie and it was unique as that everyone (including the keyboardist) could play a guitar....and did for parts of most of their songs)

(Insert pictures)

Nagano Part 2.

2008-09-05T22:30:00.003+09:00

This is my summary of my trip to Nagano. It was from August 31st and we got back to Oyama on September 5th. I could write a detailed entry, but actually, it's a bit easier to do it in some organized bullet format. It could make it a pain to read, but in essence, it's not a wall of text (and I am going to use pictures when I can).

Kyudo Wise:
- On the third day there, I was able to use the real bow. Each day, the number of members that had to help me decreased by half. On the last day of practice I was able to draw it under my own strength.
-I found out a lot about myself mentally and physically from the experience. I learned that time is what is required to move past the limitations of one's body and mind.
- I found out much more information about my fellow club members and I will always remember those fun times had OUTSIDE of practice.

People Wise:
- I got to know a lot more about various people in the club.
- I absolutely rock at Jinga. Did not suffer a batsu game until the last night we were there, and we weren't even playing Jinga, we were playing the takenoko game with like 10 people. Inagawa sempai created the batsu game rules, and many (whom were already drunk) didn't understand them.
- I am an evil person in batsu games because I add things to make them worse (like adding 30% alcohol items to concoctions that people whom lose at batsu games have to drink, thereby making everyone drunk really fast.)
- The notion is, if you're already drunk and you're going to play batsu games, you're going to lose a LOT more.

Strange Wise:

-Apparently, I found the president's winter home here in Nagano.

-It comes with it's own Statue of Liberty (fuck yeah Coke represents America. You can find it in the deepest regions of the Amazon)

-I found Mikan pocky! It was so Delicious~!

-I went to an arcade at one of the other resort hotels and they had a 4th edition Beatmania machine (1999 folks) and a Take Me Higher (I think that was what it was named) basically a remodeled DDR machine. I played it and the game was very picky about timing, but I passed all the songs.

Anyway, I had a fun time, and I have lots of memories from it. Of course, like usual, if I don't immediately blog about them, I have less and less to actually put down in writing, but in other areas, I could tell stories.

(This is a rare photo in the sense it has everyone from kyudo club in it (minus Takahashi sempai because he left earlier).

Nagano Part 1.

2008-09-05T12:10:00.007+09:00

This is perhaps verbatim of what I wrote in a notebook when I was in Nagano. I knew I would be away from a computer, so to capture my thoughts of that day, I wrote entries in a notebook so I would remember how I felt about a particular day. This entry will be followed by a entry as summery of the experience of Kyudo training at Nagano.

I only wrote maybe 2 or 3 of the days I was actually there, so it's not a complete view on the rest of the days. The next entry though will include a summery of the experience.

----------------
8/30/08:
Today is the day before training camp at Nagano. It seriously is one [a training camp], judging from the schedule as each day we spend nearly 11 hours practicing. I can only improve and this is for the better. I thought I could have moved on [to the bow] today, but in reality I needed more practice before I could actually be able to move onto the bow. I hope we get time to do a little sightseeing, but it appears that we might do other training (like outdoors) as only the afternoon practice is in the main hall. I am excited, but I wish I could express more than what I can now in words to my Japanese friends/club members than just "This food is tasty" or "I'm cold". I feel that I need to work on my speaking. My listening of course has come a long way and is better than my speaking. I can understand a lot more words than I can use. Anyway, hopefully there's something I can learn from this and hopefully don't cause the Nagano Kyudo dojo members any problems because I doubt they have had foreigners come and train at the dojo. But, I want to continue [learning kyudo] despite being behind everyone else in ability because it's something that teaches a lot about many different things besides just Kyudo. A lot of things I have never really put thought into before. And that's important.

(Here's us meeting on that Sunday at 8AM)

8/31/08 - Day one of 合宿。

(Mitsue's fingers as we were being bored waiting at the rest stop for the bus to return for 5 hours)

(The place we were staying at "Alpha")

(Brutal Batsu Game Jinga. We had 8 one-block tiers in this shot, but we had 12 in another game, and that was crazy.)

Today I woke up at 5AM. I haven't had to do that since I left for Japan. I had all my clothes mostly ready to go, but I decided I packed a lot, so it was very hard to ride my bike with my bag, so I had to walk to school which nearly took an hour, but I did it. In the end, it robbed me of my strength I could have had for the day. I slept for a good portion of the trip until tunnels and mountains woke me up. We were in Nagano [prefecture, not the city], but had bus trouble that delayed us getting to our distination for 5 hours. We finally arrived just before dinner was going to be served. This place we're staying at (あるふあ　or Alpha) is pretty nice. It caters to people whom want to do Kyudo because it has its own dojo included in the building. I am sore from a few moments of practice and from having to carry my bags all the way to school, so I couldn't practice more today/tonight. Tomorrow hopefully be better, the view is amazing and I couldn't ask for a better place to train. Just like one westerner could imagine, this would be an ideal spot to train for a traditional Japanese art.

9/2/08-9/03/08: Day 2 and 3.
The reason [of why] I didn't write yesterday was because I spent most of the night playing Batsu game jinga with many of the other members downstairs last night. Yesterday was horrible until I had a talk with Suzuki, Yuki, and Takahashi sempai. Sometimes I want to master things at a faster pace than my body will allow (or others will allow). I focused mainly on my mindset that day because Kyudo is a martial art and in that self, it is the mind and body working in perfect unison. Having on without the other will spell disaster. However, once I warmed up to people here (I am more better with speaking Japanese with way smaller groups than with large ones) it has become more fun. That's not to say I wasn't warmed up before, but yesterday I was pretty discouraged. Like Japanese however, you really got to move on [at] your own pace. You can't sit there and say "Oh well, so and so is better than me, so I want to be like them." In some cases, it's natural to do so, but don't forget that with anything, it takes time. Anyway, on another note, I moved on somewhere between a practice bow and the real bow. I actually got to use it [the real bow], but I couldn't draw it completely most of the time under my own strength and at times I had 6 people helping/correcting me at once; it was pretty interesting. The more and more this camp goes on, the more I relax, have fun, get better, and become exhausted. Here's to more practice and good times~!

---------
After this, I didn't write any more entries. I am not sure why, but I think it involved me sleeping before writing anything or I was playing more batsu games late into the night (I finally lost the last night we were there and I had to drink a pretty massive concoction of cocktail/wine/wine coolers).

I fell off the face of the internets!

2008-08-22T00:49:00.006+09:00

For a while I will be without steady internet of my own. Brian left Japan yesterday for Taiwan and took his internets with him. So, I won't be able to update much for a while. So, the real question is, exactly how am I am typing this now? I am at an internet cafe. But, not the typical kind that are in US coffee shops everywhere. This is Japan, so it has special ones dedicated to serving people. This one I am particularly at offers manga, video games, pool (or billiards if you're Japanese), darts, computers and such for use. They also feature a free drink bar for members of this place. It's pretty nice. What's not nice about this place? Using a Japanese keyboard. Finding everything mixed and jumbled up I'm used to, but some things are just horrendous (okay putting the apostrophe above number 7 is okay, but making it so that to capitalize something, I either have to spam the shift key a whole bunch of times or hold shift and press the caps lock is pretty ridicilious).

Other than that, things are going alright. It's also a lot quieter now too with all the people that had to return to their home countries except for Kyuu, but she leaves next Monday . It'll be a month before the new Taiwanese come to Hakuoh, and I am looking forward to meeting them. I feel like I want to do a lot more with the general populus of the school, which is something that has never happened to me before. If I don't get lazy when I get back to the states, I can see myself getting more active in various student groups catered to study abroad. It's a great experience and I suggest anyone to go do it if they have the means to go.

Edit: I will be back up on the internets hopefully on September 6th. Look forward to it! (And my entry about the Nagano trip thing.

Off and On and Randomality.

2008-08-16T12:47:00.004+09:00

So, for the past two weeks or something, I've been busy doing a lot of random things. Some days I went with Marco and Keleih to Toys R Us,

another day I went with them to go play board and card games at Yoyogi-Uehara after stopping in Akibahara first

, I saw a taiko concert live on Wednesday

, and I worked some days. Too many things that I have done that I don't think should require a separate entry, but should just be lumped together.

Still haven't seen Brian much or any of the Taiwanese this week. Didn't even get invited to some of the going away parties for people because of a Japanese custom that guests are NOT allowed to bring guests because it would be rude, despite the fact I KNOW whom the party is for and know of most of the guests. It's the only thing (culture wise) that I am at odds with most of the time because that has kicked me out of doing things several times here. But, I am planing a bowling party thing that will take place tomorrow, and of course I going to let the Taiwanese and some of my other friends join in because this is a rare time where I think the American custom, no matter how it might bring obnoxious guests to an event/party, is way better than the Japanese custom that tries to keep group harmony, because the Japanese one seems to be pompous and elitist to me (and excludes people that actually know MOST of the people at a said event). I may look at this entry down the road and realize how stupid of me was to make a comment about this, but it is something I realized before a lot here, but only recently has been confirmed. I am not really upset, I understand the custom, but it is just strange to me. I think there's times in America which would be like the Japanese custom, but it's still more acceptable for inviting guests I guess. But, then again, I haven't seen the Taiwanese or Brian much for the last two weeks. That could explain a lot more than a custom would.

Working, thoughts, and Tokyo.

2008-08-08T00:25:00.007+09:00

"A view atop of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building's Observatory Deck"

Got home from Shinjuku today. I've only been to Tokyo 4 or 5 times since being here, but I think during this summer break, I may go more times either by myself or with someone else (perhaps Hiro when he gets back from Hokkaido or Mitsue maybe ^^). I am reading Lonely Planet's guide on Japan (don't get me started on how Lonely Planet treat things in the book, because sometimes it's pedantic, elitist, and sometimes plain silly and wrong, but that rant could be a seperate entry in itself) , and there is so many things I want to see in Tokyo and the surrounding area, but have yet to go to.

I started working on Tuesday, with Mr. Nagao and Mrs. Yukie at Starbucks at Ustunomiya station. At first I was worried when Mr. Nagao didn't appear to show up as early as I thought, but he strolled in right at 4 when the lesson was supposed to start. His English is okay, but it takes him a while to put sentences together. He's a anesthesiologist. Strange thing is, Japan seems like a socialist society sometimes. In America, anesthesiologists are among the highest paid doctors in the profession of medicine. However, in Japan, they make the same amount of money as surgeons and other lower specialties do. It's more about the amount of years you spend in one field that determines how much you make. Kyle (a previous student of Hakuoh's program) told me tonight he watched a program that comes on occasionally in Japanese TV that compares prices of salaries among different professions. Dentists starting out make 40k a year, but 20th year (meaning, working for 20 years as a dentist) dentists make 800k or something a year. That's a huge difference. However, this "age = wages" system is breaking down in Japan, but not as quickly as once thought in most professions. Mrs. Yukie, my 6 to 8 PM student, on the other hand had decent English skills and seems to have taken a liking to me because we both enjoy Astronomy as a hobby. She's even read books I've read (Like Cosmos by Carl Sagan) about that field. I later found out on Wednesday's lesson that she's an accomplished figure skater and has been practicing for 20 years. That's pretty cool.

On Wednesday, I had 6 classes, but only had 5 because one student canceled the lesson at the last minute. My first lesson was with Ms. Rie and her English is okay. She spent some time in Australia and Norway/Sweden so her ability was pretty good. This lesson I discovered that teaching the Japanese how I (and other non-native speakers of Japanese) learned Japanese, she was better able to understand how to translate things she wanted to say into English. The next lesson was with two women, Ms. Eri and Ms. Ae. Both women's English ability was decent. Ms. Ae really surprised me though, as she is the oldest of my students about double the age of Ms. Eri. She loves to travel, and she says her travel English is the best of her English, but outside of that, she doesn't know much. She also said that it's "never to late to do anything" and that's very admirable. Next I had about a 2 hour break. I walked from the school (I just received my bike rental card, so I couldn't use it that day) to a Tsutaya bookstore and was impressed with the amount of books and magazines available compared to Oyama's bookstores. I later went to an arcade which was cool as shit because it was an old school arcade (I am talking about an arcade with a laundry place attached to it). Japanese arcades never cease to amaze me, and I'll do another entry eventually just for them.

After that, I walked back and had Mr. Hamaguchi. His English is okay, but he wants to practice mostly his listening because he too is also a doctor and he attends medical congresses where there are foreign speakers giving seminars. He occasionally wants to ask me if I can read a part from medical journal at a "normal speed" (i.e. my natural reading speed) aloud so he can practice his listening. My pronunciation with new words seems to be great in English, but with these medical terms and such, my speed is sometimes hampered at trying to maintain my speaking rate. After that, I had Mrs. Rie again. We talked about 天文学の単語　(Astronomy Vocabulary) in English. I knew of most of the planets were called in Japanese, but because Mercury (水星）　and comets (彗星）　have the same pronunciation in Japanese, specialists and hobbists of Astronomy call Mercury (すいぼし） or Suiboshi instead of Suisei. My last lesson was canceled so I was able to go home early and not on the last train.

I hate working though until 8 (or past 8) sometimes at Utsunomiya, despite I've only worked 2 days so far. On some days I may want to do shopping or go hang out at an arcade somewhere like I do in Oyama sometimes, but the major shopping areas close at 8 or start to close at 8PM in Utsunomiya. I still can't get over that fact that places that could have a lot of business because people just start getting off work at that time close, and have to resort to cobinis and such for food (and possibly reading material on the way home for the commuters). I am so used to that if say a mall closed down at 9PM in America (which they do), then I could go to a Target or Wal-Mart to get any shopping I needed done, and Meijer and Wal-Mart are 24-7 shops. Don't get me wrong, I am used to the system here, but a LOT of the crap that is said about Japan being "convenient" and "timely" is mostly incorrect (meaning, not all the time true).

Take for instance, trains. Japanese trains are a popular stereotype of timeliness in America. I am also guilty of that one. I would have to take the Indy Go bus system to get to school when I had classes, and would have to time it out because I figured the bus would come usually 10 minutes behind schedule. I dreamed of a public transportation system that would be like Japanese trains, so precise and timely. But, the reality is, Japan trains aren't ALWAYS on time. In times of big events and regular commutes, trains are packed. Even if the train came on time, there might be a time where you might not be able to ride one train because it was packed to the brim with people. There's also times of natural disasters (your train being more likely to fail after the line being struck by lightning than being derailed because of an earthquake) or the lesser talked about person whom committed suicide by jumping in front of the train (this DOES happen, but it usually is treated like the rest of the problems that can go wrong and is just referred to as "so and so train line is stopped" only). But, for the most part, trains are pretty precise in most other times.

Another thing is that ATMs are NOT 24 hours here. They are usually open from 8 to 7 on weekdays and 10 to 5 on Saturdays and during certain holidays (like Golden Week) they are closed (going from ATMs in Oyama experience). Banks close at 3PM here. They are NOT open on weekends or holidays PERIOD. Post offices usually have ATMs in them as well, but are usually open for the same length as the rest of the ATMs in the city. Banks and ATMs are one of the major disappointments of "convenience". The only thing that is always convenient is the cobinis, but they HAVE to be convenient. It's in their name.

Sorry to go on a rant, but that's just a few things I've noticed since being here. I like to share this with you all, so that if you're ever in Japan, you know what to look out for.

Before I went to Shinjuku today, I bought a new digital camera at Yamada-Denki. It has 4x optical zoom and 10.1 megapixels (uploading time to flickr increases because each picture is now between 1.8 and 2.5 MB in 10 megapixels). My last camera cracked the LCD screen when I had it in a really tight pair of jeans with my wallet in the same pocket. So, I forged ahead and bought a $37 dollar protection case. I found it weird that they didn't have many off brand protection cases, just the main ones from the manufactures of the cameras themselves. I thought it was a rip off having to spend that much for a case, so I just used my built up points on my Yamada-Denki card to spend towards that puchase which knocked $50 dollars off that price. America would NEVER have a points system similar to the Japanese systems found at many stores,grocery stores, bookstores, etc . Card point systems are pretty much 1 point = 1 yen, so it acts like REAL money. America would be content with just giving shoppers a percentage discount, rather than a 1 point = 1 cent kind of deal. This kind of points system in Japan ENCOURAGES more people to buy things so they can save up and knock down a huge chunk off the price of like an I-phone or something.

I went to Tokyo today to meet up with Kyle and Shrida. We ended up meeting at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku. The view from the observation deck was amazing and I got to try out the new camera I bought today. The pictures turned out pretty awesome, except for the occasional glare from the windows you can see in the pictures. The zoom pictures are okay, but with the glare from the windows, it messed with the zoom pretty bad.

We later headed to one of only 2 Mexican restaurants in Tokyo, one being in Shinjuku. The inside of the restaurant was pretty amazing and the food was alright. I also discovered riding home with Kyle, a train line that goes directly from Oyama to the heart of Tokyo (i.e. Shinjuku), allowing me to bypass the fuckhole that Ueno station can be sometimes during rush hour. That's awesome.

Next time going to Tokyo is this Sunday with Keleih to meet up with Marco and play some board and card games in Akibahara. Saturday is the Oyama Fireworks Festival (actually "big event" 大会、but same thing) and I should get plenty of pictures of the festival and such. I heard it can be as crowded as Utsunomiya's matsuri I just went to in Oyama, so that should be interesting to see (Oyama isn't a big enough city I think to hold 100k+ people all at once, but eh). So, see you all later!

Utsunomiya Matsuri

2008-08-03T23:30:00.004+09:00

(A portable Oomikoshi in the streets of Utsunomiya)

I returned to Oyama around 3PM so I could take a shower and get ready for the Utsunomiya Matsuri with Mitsue. Normally, I wouldn't bother with such things as taking a shower, but seeing how this is a girl I like and the weather in both Ashikaga and Oyama was like 88F with 80% humidity, I was sweating like a dog in the heat of Japan.

I stopped by Keleih's to meet up with Shirida, an IUPUI student that is thinking about taking the Hakuoh program next semester. We talked with her for a bit and she gave me two things of pop-tarts from home. It's the ONLY thing I can't find here in terms of food here. But, Shirida and I had to leave pretty quickly and I wasn't able to answer personally all her questions. Maybe, I might see her again in Tokyo before she heads off back to America.

I went home, showered (after putting at the lowest temperature setting I have ever put the thing), and left. I arrived just at 6 and waiting for me outside the gate was Mitsue, her mom, and Mitsue's friend Miki. I was surprised to meet Mitsue's mom (and her cute miniature dog), but apparently I asked later and Mitsue said she's a "big fan" of me and wanted to meet me. Whatever that could mean?

If the humidity was worse in the day, there were so many people packed into the streets it was unbearable sometimes. We saw some dancers and Mikoshi, then we decided to go to a shrine up a long flight of stairs. I wanted to get some sort of fortune, but we decided to head back down and eat some Matsuri food. I am notorious for picking the things I normally like and eat, rather than try new things like most foreigners do when they come here to Japan, but I had a bit of 大阪焼き　which was Osakan take on okonomiyaki (which was called something else in the form it was, but I forgot what it was) and it was good. It was so packed in the streets that we had to go into a shopping mall several floors up to get the peace and space to actually eat.

(It was this packed around the streets and up to get to the shrine on this hill)

After dinner, we decided to go and take　プリクラ。　プリクラ is short for (picture club). We had fun doing that as we had some funny shots. However, the mail message picture you can receive on your cellphone never came (Mitsue's mail address is really long, so she could have made a mistake) so we were out of luck there. Later, we went into the open-air mall and got snowcones. As usual, I have two main enthusiasms here (with still more to probably come). My first is sampling all the different types of 自動販売機　(vending machine) and コンビに coffee there are, but the other is playing 太鼓の達人　(taiko no tatsujin) and trying to get at least one high score for a song on each machine I play on. I have at least one record on EVERY machine that is in the immediate Oyama area, so I wanted to spread out my bases. Figuring that Utsunomiya's population is like Indy's and such, places like arcades, ESPECIALLY in the open-air mall, would be frequented daily. And here it seems, you are either really good at the game, or you don't play it (and consequently suck) at the game. But, it's something interesting when a foreigner begins to play it. I am no wear near good, but I like playing it (the DS games help me out with rememberization). So, I played Taiko for Mitsue. I chose my usual pick of songs, but because it was a summer matsuri, I decided to start with the aptly named ”夏祭り”　, followed by リンダリンダ　and then ドラゴンメロディー.　I did alright at all the songs, but I felt I wasn't at my best.

After that, we sat down and admired the 七夕　decorations that were strung up for the approaching festival in Sendai. I was going to take Mitsue and some other friends too, but a lot of my friends were either low on cash (It's like $80 one way by Shinkansen) or were vacationing/working/returned to their hometown temporary. I could probably still go with her to it, but I might decide to spend Thursday with Shirida before she goes back to America. I don't know.

In short, Utsunomiya's Matsuri was fun, but packed. I was hoping to see the normal, crazy traditional loin-cloth-wearing dancers, but that apparently was for Saturday and not today. Oh well, those matsuri are more amusing and interesting in the winter anyway.

(Me and Mitsue at the shrine)

Hanabi in Ashikaga

2008-08-02T19:30:00.003+09:00

Today I skipped out on Kyudo practice because of the Ashikaga Fireworks festival and would probably be the last time I would see Laura here in Japan. She would be leaving Monday after off and on (meaning traveling back and forth home and other places) living in Japan for 3 years.

I was in sort of a panic because I hit the bottom of the barrel sort of speak when it came to money today. The money that was deposited I wasn't able to withdraw, and I worried that my bank would fuck up my account until Monday like it did previously before once. So, I thought I wasn't able to go, but apparently I forgot that they don't credit deposits until the next business day, so I had to wait until 1PM (or Midnight in EST) before I could withdraw anything. So, because I didn't go with Beth or Brian, I had to go off of Laura's directions to get to her apartment. I am surprisingly good as a guy in directions, but there were several buildings that could have fit the description of what her building was like. I eventually found it (after getting it confused with the Art Museum below the apartment) and made my way to the top floor of the building.

She has the most amazing view of the sky and Ashikaga from her apartment. It's really nice. Laura, Kyuji, Beth, and Keleih were all there and Yoshiko was apparently away with Brian buying the Obi that she forgot from her kimono. After a little while Yoshiko and Brian returned, Kyle came, Ritsuko and her friend from Taiwan came, and Yoshiko's friend Akira came as well. We were there for the fireworks, but really it was because this was Laura's last weekend in Japan. The fireworks later on were really something and it's amazing how many people can come into the tiny town of Ashikaga.

After the fireworks were over, several of us departed ways, but Kyle, Laura (of course), Yoshiko, I, and Kyuji all stayed for a while and several of us stayed the night over at Laura's apartment, but it would be my last time as she was leaving that Monday to go back to America. We talked about several things about life in general and I received Kyle's information as with Laura leaving and all, she was our only real connection to him. But, with her gone, Karaoke and other trips to places would never really be the same again.

Arubaito and Nomikai

2008-07-31T23:30:00.001+09:00

(Picture above the tracks at Oyama station)

Today, I went with Brian to go have an "interview" (more like a test) of teaching a student that wanted to start taking classes at his part-time job (アルバイト）. It was with a woman named Mrs. Naka. She likes traveling the world and has home stayed in Australia. Her English was pretty basic, but she could carry on a conversation. I wasn't sure at first if I could teach a beginner, but as the lesson went on, I became more comfortable. That's usually what happened. After the lesson was over, Brian's boss gave me the okay to basically replace him next week as this was his last week of lessons.

Later on I had Nomikai (drinking party) with my Kyudo members. I went to practice to meet up with them to find out where the location of the Izakaya. I did fine in there, but we did a game to change the seating arrangement and it became harder to order and find to conversate with someone. I normally do better talking to girls in Japanese and guys for some reason (which is the opposite I think in English), so being surrounded and near Akiba sempai, I really didn't know him all that well. Come to think of it, outside of Suzuki-Sempai, Shori-Sempai, Mitsue, Miwa, and Chihiro, I didn't know many people that well. This was the first time I actually questioned my involvement in the club. I wanted to join a club to become better at speaking and listening Japanese, but still I had lots of trouble sometimes following the conversation. Normal conversation is like a variety show on Japanese TV, without subtitles, it makes a poor study tool at lower levels because of the quickness of changing the topic at a drop of a hat. Also, I think the outfits are cool and everything, but for some reason, on days hotter than hell (or very cold for that matter) I didn't like wearing the clothes for practice. It makes it difficult sometimes. But, the thing that was bothering me was that I didn't know a lot of people already, despite 3 months into the club. That was partly blamed on my schedule of not being able to attend practice, but a little bit as well blamed on my lack of Japanese ability. It was warming up faster now, but it isn't at a level I find sufficient at all, which is my motivation to continue to only improve. But, still....I should have gotten to know more people.....

Hakuoh Survival Guide Post 1

2008-07-27T13:53:00.003+09:00

"The lone matsuri float near Oyama Station"

Okay, this is first in a series of posts I decided to do because I love you guys. But seriously, the real reason is that finding out all these things is because it takes forever to find out these things on your own, and seeing how I feel this blog is 2/3 my experience blog, 1/3 tell people about life with the Hakuoh program, the whole purpose is to share the experiences I had.

Today has several links and will talk about general things dealing with things around Oyama along with places where you can buy food at (not restaurants).

Here's a link to the map of Oyama. It's in one of the Japanese online map sites, so if you can't handle the Japanese for some reason, I'll pull up what google maps has on the region.

http://www.mapion.co.jp/c/f?el=139/48/12.215&scl=70000&uc=1&grp=all&nl=36/18/41.346 (The Japanese online map site)

Not really a link, but by typing "日本栃木県小山市" into Google Maps search engine, you should be able to get a similar (but not as detailed as the Japanese site's one) map of Oyama city.

Other links relating to the city:
The wikipedia (oh how lovely) on Oyama, Tochigi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyama,_Tochigi

http://www.city.oyama.tochigi.jp/ (Oyama's website in Japanese)

http://www5.city.oyama.tochigi.jp/english/sitemap.html (An English site that has links pertaining to Oyama)

http://web.hakuoh.ac.jp/index.html (Hakuoh University's Website)

http://web.hakuoh.ac.jp/english/index.html (Hakuoh's English website, which is a far cry from the Japanese one)

--------------
Anyway, my post will talk about several things to keep in mind that take a bit of exploring to figure out.

First off, cobinis (convenience stores) can be your friend. All are open 24 hours and have various products that can be purchased at those places. You have three major ones in Oyama to choose from: Family Mart, 7-11, and Ministop. Family Mart is average in terms of what convenience stores offer, but it's also the closest cobini right near the men's dorm (to the left of Toys R' Us. Ministop has a wider variety of foods and also has tables in most of it's stores so you can sit down and relax or eat in the store. However, me being an enthusiast of coffee knows that ministop's offering of coffee is pitiful versus the other two convenience stores. 7-11 by far is usually the best. They have about the same offerings as the competition, but they also are the only one I trust (because I know I can do it, thank you Takahashi's class) that I can pay my bills at. Yes, you can pay any scan bar bills you receive at a 7-11 in Japan. Makes it handily nice. There are other cobinis in the Oyama area, but they are rare (I found a Am and Pm the other day near the station, and they had the biggest selection I've seen a cobini have of books) or are specialty (like the ones in train stations or platforms).

For those that cook (or can deal with the prices of cooking), there are several stores in the Oyama area you can go to. There's a grocery mart in Oyama station that has a wide variety on things. Fruit is sometimes extremely expensive here. The good thing is, this store (and other stores like it) have pre-made foods ready for the consumption. Wait until about 7:30 PM here and you'll notice they'll mark down all the pre-made items half-off. You can get dinner for the next three days for like 600 yen or something. Just be sure to refrigerate it.

There's an import store near the post office called Marche that sells a lot of imported food from America, but it's pretty expensive. They however have probably one of the better pre-made food areas of most of the other grocery stores in Oyama, but it comes to be a little bit more expensive in price though.

There's a shopping center called harvest walk a little away from the station. They have a bus near the station that comes every 15 minutes to go to Harvest Walk. At Harvest Walk, there's a Ito-Yokado which is pretty big and has lots of available items. They have a limited portion of imported food, but it's expensive.

There's also another Ito-Yokado near the station right next to Yamada Denki. It has about the same fair as the one at Harvest Walk does.

I do a lot of my shopping sometimes at a drug store called Welcia that has a decent selection of what you would find at a grocery store. No fresh vegetables or anything, but it has the lowest prices on drinks like milk, coffee, and juices than most of the other stores in Oyama.

I'll try to make a map later pointing out various locations in Oyama.

Dual Audio.

2008-07-23T23:36:00.007+09:00

Well, looks like I am bored in Japan again. My dad once made a comment that within one month of being here in Japan he read my message on facebook saying that I was bored and he responded "You were anxious to go to Japan, and now that you're there you're already bored of it?" Exactly. Well, it's the start of my summer break, but it is getting off to a slow start. I want to go places and do things with people so I don't hit a plateau over the summer in my Japanese ability. There's only so much time I can spend on my computer before I go insane. Japan....broke the spell that the computer had over me. I used to not want to go outside at all. But, now I try to find ways to get outside of the apartment. Doesn't help that occasionally Oyama is like Indianapolis. Not a lot of things to do at all. If you do the Hakuoh exchange, I'd advise making lots of Japanese friends so you can go do things with them and get out every other weekend and go to Utsunomiya or Tokyo. Preferably Tokyo, but one-way costs nearly 2000 yen. And...most of my Japanese friends have finals this and next week, so I have to wait a while before I can do things with them.

Anyway, I re-watched Lost in Translation tonight (I somehow stumbled upon the article for the movie on wikipedia from searching for the names of songs in Taiko no Tatsujin). It's strange how much I recognized pop-culturally from the movie and how much of the Japanese that was spoken in the movie I was able to pick up. Well, given that it has been since 3 year Japanese in high school that I actually watched the movie, it has definitely been an improvement. After watching it, it made me realize about many different things and re-sparked feelings I had when I first came to Japan nearly 4 months ago. I remember that I definitely had more knowledge in Japanese language and culture than Bill Murray and Scarlett Johannson, but some of the feelings felt were similar. I couldn't understand anything that was spoken to me when I first came here. During the student orientation, I felt like I was being led around on a leash. I remember dreading or joking about my "broken Japanese" any time having to give a "Jishokai" (a self-introduction) because chances are from my early experiences trying to speak Japanese were horrible I couldn't make myself look intelligible. Textbook Japanese is not usually used, and I have a bad habit of forgetting vocab sometimes. I understood many customs already, but some I either forgot or were new--I forgot some etiquette when me and Rin went to the Onsen and I was surprised and amused when I was asked by a employee to take off my shoes before entering a dressing room at Sano Outlet mall. I used to get annoyed when people would encounter me and say "hi" or some other phrase, as the only English they knew. I thought they assumed I couldn't speak any Japanese. When I first came here, there were many situations where I was forced to use only English. I wanted to speak Japanese, but couldn't. I even had one person say to me "Please only speak in English" to me. I was shocked and somewhat upset at the time.

But, now is definitely something different has come about. I noticed it around late June but even closer in early June. I started to use dual audio (my explanation for bilingualism). I more and more got used to normal speaking rate and how an average Japanese person speaks. I picked up more vocabulary. And by getting in more and more "Japanese only" situations, I was reinforcing the vocab I knew and I was studying for JLPT. I purposely put myself in the situations because I wanted to relate and meet new people, and make friends, but also improve my Japanese. The point I started realizing that I was getting better was when I translated several of the Hawaiian exchange student's request at karaoke. I didn't want it to sound too completely rude, and I felt it somewhat did, but it eventually got the situation under control for everyone. But, before this moment, I was realizing more and more I was able to hold conversations with people better and on my own than I previously had. I eventually stopped carrying my electronic dictionary everywhere (first my DS, then the electric I bought to replace it). I became more dependent on myself and using the explanations of others to explain words and concepts. I still use my dictionaries if I want to look up a particular word to say in Japanese, but usually I rarely use it in most situations. From the start, I watched a lot of Japanese TV. I read a lot of manga I bought without a dictionary, and even if I couldn't understand the meaning of a word or what it meant, from the action going on and the expressions on peoples' faces, I could understand a lot more than just the words (Fred Gallagher from Megatokyo suggested the same thing, but with anime). It feels weird to start becoming more and more bilingual. As usual, the more you avoid and stop using your native language, the more you lose of it. My losing of English has been more gradual at best as my extents on the internet reinforce what I am losing. But, honestly it has happened in my speech sometimes. I also notice a lot more in my spelling. I told Hiro the other day Sweden was spelled "Sweeden", but after looking it up in katakana in a katakana dictionary, I discovered I had an extra e. Another really cool thing is that you can go back and forth between languages pretty decently easily once the seeds of bilingualism are planted. One minute you're speaking to your English speaking friend and then you meet a Japanese friend of yours and you start speaking in Japanese. It's really cool, and I wish I could do it in more languages. But, the "use it or lose it" way are brain tends to be as we get older makes it harder to do so. But, immersion is the best way to get into and learn a foreign language. But, it also takes more and more to abandon your language. I am more and more thinking in Japanese, but there's also times whether or not I don't know what language I am thinking in, I am just speaking what's on the tip of my mind. And that's where I want my ability to be.

So, I could tell you how to get decent bilingual in Japanese, but it really depends on your own way of how you think and your ability at the language when you arrive. I wanted to meet new people and make friends and test and continue to grow in my language ability, but your goals might be different, or you might have your own problems to deal with. But, at the same time, I use "dual audio" rather than bilingualism to represent where I am at (yeah, I used bilingual more in my post than dual audio, so go sue me). It takes years to reach what I truly feel where bilingual would be. But, I should be decently fluent by the time I leave here. And that's one of my hopes at the end of this program here.

Anyway, on another topic, I got sideswiped by a car today (more or less she hit me slowly from the side as I passed, but she was already slowing down which caused my balance to buckle and fall in slow motion) and landed on my right palm, which hurts only a little now, but hurt like a bitch earlier. With two in the past, I know how broken bones feel, but I felt that this feels more like how you legs would feel if you jumped off a two story building and landed exactly on your feet. That force pitch or force impact stings for a while. I should be okay, but if the pain is dull and lasts for more than a week, I'll go to a doctor. I am typing just fine right now, so it should be nothing to really worry about.

And wow, and earthquake is occuring right as I am typing this. It feels like a 3.0 on the Richter scale here in Oyama. Oh wow, it was a 6.8 in the northern part of Japan.

And here's a picture:

"This is a statue guardian in Toshougu in Nikko"

Gion Matsuri

2008-07-20T23:30:00.002+09:00

"The taiko drumists"

Well, today was Oyama's Gion Matsuri. I wasn't too entirely sure what it was about, so I searched for it online. Apparently, there's a bigger one that is in Kyoto that lasts most of the month of July.

Here's what the wikipedia article said about the Kyoto festival:

"This festival originated as part of a purification ritual (goryo-e) to appease the gods thought to cause fire, floods and earthquakes. In 869, the people were suffering from plague and pestilence which was attributed to the rampaging deity Gozu Tennō (牛頭天王, Gozu Tennō?). Emperor Seiwa ordered that the people pray to the god of the Yasaka Shrine, Susanoo-no-mikoto"

Interesting that it seems a "former" emperor (Tennō in Japanese) would be causing havoc to the people. But, the word Tennō makes more sense with that is what the people call out that carry the portable shrines (mikoshi).

Anyway, I went and arrived. Hiro always likes to make the point that I need friends or a girlfriend or something because I am always going places by myself. And, that is usually true. I had NO idea where everyone else was at the time except for Keleih whom was at Shingo's funeral and Beth whom was performing dancing in the matsuri. I later met Satomi and her boyfriend, so we went around the matsuri looking at things at the festival.

The taiko drumists were awesome. I hope I get to see more of that at Oyama's next matsuri in two weeks from now. It's definitely something to stay in town for. You begin to realize how many people you've seen in the city participate in the festival. I probably would have but 1) I saw the sign up sheet once, and never saw it again and 2) I am somewhat borderline sick, so I don't think that would have helped me much. But, there were other gaijin in the matsuri along with the strong showing of Brazilian Japanese.

This week.....looks like to be boring. Nothing to really do or go any places. I confused the last entry and thought it was the last week in July, but it's not. I need to find something to starve off boredom....

And the summer starts!

2008-07-19T18:02:00.005+09:00

A few things have happened over the few days worth mentioning. But, first I must peddle out my idea that I will actually have time to update more often and catch up on updates I needed to do in the past. I am done with finals and anything associated with them, so I have tons of time to sit here and be lazy in the land of rising sun.

Anyway, to actual updates.

My finals I felt went really well because Iijima-Sensei added some things to the exams that just made it easy for the American students to comprehend (peeved at the fact that she said we would have to study, but then when the grammar means were given, it made it feel like time I wasted studying). My report (paper sort of speak) was kind of more difficult, and my corrector (aka Hiro) having little time to correct said paper. So whom knows what is going to happen about grades.

I finally got around to having a talk with the teacher that runs the ESS, and I realized that I like that system a lot more than the forced system that the language lab seems to be. It took previous students (from IUPUI) only a month or two to figure that out, but with everyone being busy and me being the only one (out of Keleih, Beth, and I) that knew the location of said ESS office, I would have been the only one to do something about it. But, I avoided ESS like the plague. I knew about ESS and where it was at within the first few weeks of being here, but around that same time with "you must only speak in English" type of situations I experienced, I avoided it (ESS) like the plague. I really wanted to improve on my ability in Japanese, so I avoided it. But, against most odds, when we were told to use as much as English as possible in the language lab, I refused. I felt if I relied to much on my own language, I felt I would never be able to speak and understand another one. But, at ESS, I was proven incorrect on some notions. I don't necessarily have to speak always in English in/at ESS, but it's more about making a personal connection with students--students that want to enjoy learning English and meeting people from other cultures and learning about them. The message of ESS I really enjoyed.

Despite not knowing about ESS, we realized that making students come 5 times a month to the language lab wasn't the answer at all. Many came in with groups because they were afraid to use what English they knew. But, we spruced up the place and had fun with the students there to make sure that they would come back, perhaps on their own volition instead of their teachers. But, generally that didn't happen. But, I guess that really can't be helped. So, I (and I am sure Keleih too) next semester will make more of an effort to attend ESS and be around in general for more students. ESS's message has inspired me to work harder at teaching English, but to relate and have fun with more students than I could have been in the past.

Other than that, currently working on a video to show at my sister graduation open house today. I need to figure out how to boost the volume that the mic catches sound. I didn't want to skip out on Kyudo today (third Saturday doing so), but I feel a bit sick today. Figures the first time I am sick in Japan, I would have to be in the Summer. This humidity is crazy. Tomorrow is the Oyama Gion festival (not sure what it's about), but if I am better, I probably participate. Monday is Uminohi and I might go somewhere for that maybe. 30 dollars is expensive to go anywhere though. Tuseday is Brian's and the other Taiwanese formal going away ceremony. Wednesday, I have my first trial session with a potential student at the language school. Wish me luck!

"This is a picture of the classroom where the foreign exchange students have classes"

So.....

2008-07-09T21:18:00.003+09:00

Yesterday's post I said I was going in for my final interview, which, I got the job. Yay for that! However, I also have to teach English at a really basic level, and I am not really sure if I can completely do that. Well, I also want to be perfect the first time, which I know isn't going to happen and it will take some time to get used to things. I start in August, once Brian steps down from teaching.

The strange thing is during my mock interview is that I feel that I made too many mistakes, and if it weren't for the fact that I was 1) a foreign native-speaker of English and 2) she had no one else to ask/give it to, that she overlooked the mistakes and gave me the job. If I would have done the same in America, I probably would have been not offered the job. I don't know, I really think it's a cultural difference in the fact that if I "try my best" things will be good.

Other than that, that is the only update worth mentioning right now. I have several things to get done before the end of the school semester, so I am working on them now (also on working on getting the blog up to date). But, first, I have to go and help Hiro (a Japanese friend of mine) write an English report (in English) for a presentation. If it is anything like last night, Hiro, Rin, and I will be up until 3AM working on and off the report (i.e. 10 mintues studying, 30 minutes ADHDing on random things) with me being really sleep deprived (I'm good as drunk when I am really sleepy, but can't sleep). But, I did get free dinner out of it. Yay, conbini (convenience store) food!

Dunno, why I am using this photo for this post, but....this really doesn't have a picture that suits it.

(Several friends in Kamakura at a Okomiyaki restaurant)

The last one of these filler "I need to catch up on all previous posting" entries....for now.

2008-07-08T20:47:00.005+09:00

Yes, I have four, count them, FOUR entries that are filler that basically say among the lines that "I need to catch up on posting I have never did/have finished, because tonight is the night I am neglecting all other duties (except sleep and food of course) to actually catch up on previous posting. With my way of taking 1 hour per post, it will be impossible to actually catch up. My first entry will be finishing my Fourth of July post that I didn't finish (>__>) and from there, working on entries that were in the past that the longer I dwell and dillydally on them, the harder it will be to remember what happened later.

This really isn't a filler, as I have basically other things to say than just "filler!".

For instance, I learned a fun card game today from Saori and some other girls in the language lab today. Basically it involves famous mukashibanashi (fairy tales) in Japanese. You lay out a deck of playing cards in a circle (or a doughnut as was explained) and someone decides on the game. For instance, in the game Shichigosan (also name of a Japanese holiday) you are looking for sevens (shichi), fives (go), and san (3) that are drawn. The order of whom goes first is decided by janken (rock-paper-scissors), and each person in turn takes a card from the circle and reveals it in the center of the ring. Whatever game you're playing, when one of the cards that you're looking for is revealed, you slap your hand on the card. You want to be quick, because the slowest person (i.e. last person) to touch the card gets the card. The winner is the person with the least amount of cards.

I have learned since being here other Japanese games to pass the time. But, that will be for another entry.

Tomorrow, I go to Utsunomiya for my final interview for a English-teaching job, so wish me luck!

In keeping with the fact that this will probably be a "photo" journal, here's a picture for you. The most random picture because this post doesn't have a picture the suits it.

This is at the top near the Tokugawa Ieyasu's shrine. A all green tea vending machine.

Speed Go!

2008-07-05T23:31:00.003+09:00

Okay, so I just got back from the movie Speed Racer which came out today in Japan. The reviews were mainly thrashing the movie and with some good reason. But, I'll talk only a little bit on impressions of the movie and more of the day and some things I found interesting about Japanese cinema.

Originally, it was Yoshiko, Laura, Beth, and I, but Yoshiko had things to do and was recovering from being sick, so she left slightly before after dinner. When the rest of us got to the movie theater, we found out that the showing we picked only had Japanese dubs. Beth decided to go home and I like listening challenges sometimes, so I decided to stay with Laura to watch the movie. We entered the theater, and it was really small and narrow. The interesting things I noticed were that at this particular theater, the curtains were strung over the screen until the pre-movie ads/movie started. About a minute before the started, a chime played signaling moviegoers to get in their seats. I thought that was amusing, because it was exactly like the chime or tune that is played when a train is about to leave a station.

Anyway, from what I understood of the plot is that Speed was the next upcoming star and this guy wanted to sponsor him. However, this other guy did shady deals with another guy that was the main bad guy in the movie, but speed declined before all that is shown. The racers that are sponsored cheat like hell, and this Rex X guy decides to help Speed and this other dude to form their own team against the bad guys. Yes, I didn't remember names real well because of the fact that it was dubbed in Japanese. Nor did I understand why the bad guy was doing things sometimes. But, other than that, I can understand general plots of American movies. Especially, one as pretty straight forward, packed with action and less storyline. The art was pretty amazing in the sense it was like I was on LSD or something. Lots of bright colors and such. After the movie was over (omg, it ran over 2 hours long), Laura had to catch her last train, so we left. It was amusing to note that the lights in a movie theater in Japan don't come back on until the very end of the credits. Nor do Japanese people leave before the end the credits. I was confused. Maybe it is out of courteously or something, but I felt we take for granted movies and we didn't really care about the names of actors that actually were in the movie. I don't know, but it was interesting to see anyway.

Anyway, planning on going to see another movie tomorrow called 花より男子 or Hana yori Dango (Boys before Flowers) a romantic movie based on the best selling manga with Yoshiko and possibly Keleih. Another thing to note is that Japanese movies can be expensive and don't usually change prices depending on what time of day you go. At least not the movie theater at Oyama station. It's 1200 yen normally or 1000 yen if you show your student ID.

Happy アメリカの建国記念！

2008-07-05T00:47:00.001+09:00

The title basically means "Happy America Foundation Day" (literal translation) or "Happy Forth of July!"

I was going to make two separate entries for the past few days, but I decided to combine the two.

First off, I went to Utsunomiya Wednesday with Brian to his English conversation school he works at. His last working day is only in a few weeks as he prepares to leave to go back home and his employer is looking for another person to potentially replace him when he leaves. So, basically the job consists of just having English conversation with people. It's not teaching English per say, but if a "student" has questions about English and such, we are supposed to answer them. She's looking for a someone to potentially teach/converse with people from the beginner level and up as Brian is currently not teaching beginning level students right now. So I go in next Wednesday for a "final interview" where I show my "teaching" ability to the employer. I don't know how well I can simplify myself as I have the "technical" mindset, but I'll see how hard I can try.

Anyway, for today's entry, it's officially the Fourth of July in Japan, and what way to celebrate that is with fireworks (hanabi). Everyone seemed to have their own separate plans, but Rin, Hiro (michan) and I were trying to round up people for a fireworks show on the Omoigawa River. Beth, Akira, and Kyuu would also be along, but we were trying to see if Brian and Yoshiko also had any plans. However, we assumed they had plans already, so we decided to go to the track next to the Omoigawa River and near the school to light off fireworks. We went to family mart to purchase the fireworks, but we decided to wait until Akira got off work. When we finally got to Omoigawa River and started launching fireworks, it was about 11PM. The fireworks weren't too incredibly powerful, but did the trick. One of the bigger fireworks was a dud, but Hiro nearly burned most of the casing off and it could have exploded on it's own. Beth and I realized that we were incredibly cautious around the fireworks when Hiro, Rin, and Akira were pretty involved and were doing things with fireworks that could have been bad (like aiming the flames around other fireworks not set off already). Anyway, it was fun and it's strange to celebrate something so unique to your culture and life in another country.

Back logs and things are getting expensive...o_o

2008-06-30T23:18:00.003+09:00

I'm way behind as usual for blogging previous entries, but I'll promise to get the ball rolling on previous entries as I push in July. I have so much to blog about that I probably will spend the next few days between studying for finals (the week of July 18th or around that time) or other tests and writing for the blog, for one of my culture classes and something for my business class. The thing about classes here is that the hours and classes are so spread out that it doesn't feel like I'm taking 14 credit hours like I am.

So, besides that point, nothing of interest today. Planning ahead for Uminohi (Beach/Sea day, believe it or not is a Japanese holiday), studying for Iijima's (teacher, not office Iijima) final exam, and I have a potential job lined up for me after the 31st of July. That's Brian's last working day, so I am potentially (I say this because I don't know if it is certain or not) taking over his job. The hours are later in the day, however, but the students (well, people you speak to, not students per say) are above an average level of students at an eikaiwa (English teaching school). And it's 2000 yen per hour. Not bad.

The "things getting expensive" part is part of that I successfully received two bills at once today. First, was my first AU bill,ignoring the fact it was delivered 5 days after the due by date, which I heard was always the most expensive of the bills at about 7700 yen. Ouch. The second was the usual, Upflow, downflow of water and gas bill (note to all male students wanting to go to Hakuoh, you pay that bill by ringing the bell at the Ooyasan (landlord)). This month's bill ran 6200 yen, and the majority of that was once again gas. Gas is expensive here, compared to electricity. A major reason is a lot of electricity is nuclear powered over here. Well, it seems anyway. I am watching the news and it commented that gas and electricity prices will rise in July, which is common in the states around the time that consumption tends to be highest. Also, Japan has been dealing with gasoline prices nearing 180 yen/liter. I did a conversion of that into what would be equivalent in the states and it came to (with yen prices as of today):

1 gallon of gasoline in Japan is 681.37 yen or $6.43 USD.

That would sound absurd in the states, but yet again it's the US that I'm talking about. We have some of the best oil prices out of countries not producing a majority of the world's oil and such. But, just to clarify for you all, the world is experiencing problems, just not the US and itself alone.

So, I leave you all the ponder what the world is getting to, and the picture of the gas hog in my apartment.

(This controls the water temperature of the entire apartment's running water. The gas hog of the apartment. The electricity hog is the erakon (air conditioner))

Too tired to post.

2008-06-23T00:07:00.002+09:00

I've done a LOT of things in the past 2 days. I just got home and am too tired to comment on any of it. However, lots of things are to come! (Also, additions to more older things that have happened as well.)

Btw, I hate rain. Hate. It. >___<

(This was the fruit of my labors in the rain. In the rain)

Stupidity and the randomness that Japan (or luck) can bring you

2008-05-23T21:48:00.003+09:00

Yesterday, I finally decided on the class I want to replace with Adachi's culture class. I decided to take Takahashi's class since it would be a different experience than what I normally take back at home (Japanese or Engineering usually) and that I could find out more about Japanese Business and what all cultural things related to it.
I was in a hurry though to get to class and catch the next bus, so I rode my bike to the station and forgot to lock it.

Bad decision really on my part. I returned to the station and it was gone. I searched for 2 hours in the area around the station and everything, but it was gone. However, somewhere in my mind said I would find it eventually.....and sure enough what prediction that can bring.....

The next day, I told office Iijima san about what happened and she made me file an official report with the police. She said Usui-san was on vacation until Monday, but I could borrow one of the school bikes until Monday. So, after what seemed to be an hour shifting through all the bikes the school owned (which were a lot), we found one in good condition and I borrowed it. For about five minutes. Sure enough, once I had parked the bike and went on to class, I found my bike parked, right near Chea Moi at school. The lock was still in the basket. I was baffled at this. I rushed back to Iijima to tell her about the good news, and locked my bike after the incident.

Yoshiko thought some youths probably took it, but I figured someone else must have mistook it for their own bike. It's kind of hard to do that because my left handbar was flipped upside-down from clipping a pole, the seat had a hole in it and the basket was kind of torn. Doesn't sound like something that would get easily confused with another bike. Anyway, the randomness of Japan kicked in again and it seemed just a coincidence that the same person that took my bike was a student at the same school as I am. Japan is NOT completely a crime-free country, as you should watch yourself if you're in unfamiliar areas. You should also as general practice keep your property safe, no matter how busy you are. Yes, it's true that you can leave things in the basket of your bike here and go into a grocery store and come out with your stuff still there, but it's better safe than sorry.

(The area around the station)

Big Earthquake in Tokyo, Small Japan

2008-05-08T02:50:00.002+09:00

Today something happened that was unusual in the sense because it was something I never experienced before. An Earthquake. Sure, I experienced one during the Kunigawa new student orientation, but nothing is more different (and kind of scary) experiencing one in one's own home. It was going on midnight to Thursday (and getting back to staying up late on days I don't have school) when I felt some small tremors. Normally, it's my heartbeat or me rocking in my chair that makes me think that there's an earthquake, but I know I can always check the string pull on my room's lamp to see if it is twitching. Chances are, if it is, I know there's an earthquake, even if I couldn't directly feel it. But, the tremors kept getting more violent and stronger, but would eventually stop. However, around the time I decided to go to bed (around 2AM) a strong 5.0 on the JMA's earthquake scale was felt in my room. I wasn't really asleep yet, but when strong vibrations where felt in my room I got dressed as quickly as I could and got up and ran for the door to hide in the doorframe. In Indiana, which is a place that RARELY gets earthqukes, I remember well when we had earthquake drills in elementary school. At the time, I thought "why the hell do we practice for an earthquake when we don't even get them in the first place?". But, now, if you ever move to a place that has them, you have something to use.

The mecca of all things pop-culturally around the world, Akibahara

2008-05-06T22:30:00.005+09:00

On the 5th of May, Keleih and I along with one of the students we met at Hakuoh Yuuhei and some of his friends all went to Akibahara in Tokyo. I was excited because this was the first time outside of going outside of Tokyo that I would be going to Tokyo and that is was the world capital of everything Geeky, Akibahara.

From the time I started learning Japanese, I always wanted to go to Japan. But, when I found out about Akibahara from some articles I read when I was a Sophomore in high school, I really wanted to go there. I always imagined a place that had many stores dedicated to anime, manga, and video games, places dedicated to the audio/visual nuts, and places with really cheap electronics. As much of that guess, it was true. Also, to have a chance riding on the famous Yamanote line (okay, well it's not that famous, but it does connect all the major areas in downtown Tokyo together), I knew it was going to be awesome.

When arriving in Akiba (from here on out, it will be shortened to what the Otaku call the place), you'll see a sign right after getting off of the Yamanote line that reads "Electric Town exit". Essentially, that's what Akiba is, a part of Tokyo where you can buy cheap electronics. Now, speaking for myself as to someone that has been there several times, I would suggest going away from the station to get the best deals on merchandise. The duty free shops are for the people that can't speak Japanese, but to really get the best deals, you have to either have a native (or someone that knows Japanese) show you around or know Japanese yourself. I came looking for a R4 in Japan at this time and I went to the first store I remember that was openly selling the device for which was around $100 dollars. But, this device online sells for half that price and even other stores had it down to $70 dollars, but these stores were much farther away from the station, the one I bought mine at was a stone's throw away from the station. So, in short, to get the best deals, try to shop at stores farther away from the station and away from all that duty free crap.

Anyway, there was many places to shop at! We went to a place called Animate first and I picked up some figurines. This store was non-stop in terms of anime merchandising. There's everything from manga, anime DVDs, figurines, towels, keychains, cell phone straps, stickers, pens, what would be the equivalent of porn, posters, and too many things to mention. We later checked some gaming stores, and there is too many to mention. Some specialize only in old-school gaming while the others are more like modern gaming stores. There's even one where you can buy the old circuit boards and parts for arcade machines and basically create your own arcade! There's also a store called "Gaming Hollywood" which imports US consoles and games. Of course you'll have to pay a premium, but if you didn't bring a Japanese console with you to Japan, you'll be much appreciating this store. Just to note that handheld gaming systems are universal, so games you do buy for the DS and PSP will work on the American version of the handheld (PSP UMD movies however are region encoded so be careful when purchasing them).

I next got to finally play some DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) at a Game center (the Japanese word for arcade) in Akiba. I had a whole bunch of Japanese watching me (as they were taking a rest from playing from earlier) and I could feel that I haven't played the game in a while so I was really tired after just one go.

Before we left, I got to go to the most famous store in all of Akiba (thanks to Fred Gallager's MegaTokyo), Gamers. Gamers is a store that specializes in anime, manga, and video games, with floors dedicated to certain pursuits and hobbies. Just the amount of stuff in the building astounded me. I bought a majority of the figures that I have now at that place, but anime DVDs tend to be on the expensive side (plus, it's kind of not fair that most anime DVDs do not have Japanese subtitles so you cannot use them to learn Japanese without watching them many times over and over to catch what they're saying), so I did not buy any DVDs or videos. You can find Gamers very close to the station, it's the south exit after taking the electric town exit. You should know if you've taken the right exit because you should come out to an L shaped street.

It's an amazing place, and if you are into the geeky pursuits, I would highly suggest going there. Outside of shops and such, however, there's not much to really do. There are maid cafes, but they are very popular and usually have waits for them. A new phenomenon is with performances by "famous" maid cafe employees and other services where they put on a show and performance (sing and dance) for their fans. This can get pretty wild sometimes as the die-hard fans are really into the music and the singers and such. But, if you aren't really into the anime/manga/video game scene, then Akiba might not be the exact place for you. Yes, there are many shops selling electronics and such, but there are way more stores for the geeky pursuits than one's that would cater to a non-geek. But, if you want to experience an interesting part of Japanese subculture, I would suggest going here.

A note about the June 7th Akiba massacre that left 7 people dead:

I wasn't in Akiba at the time, but Keleih was there the day before, and luckily she wasn't there the day that it took place. I think the international media would have taken it more beyond what it was if a foreigner was also slain during the massacre. However, the response of the people on the street was almost instantaneous and very profound. To experience some random happening that left people injured or dying myself, I know how the first responders have to react to grasp the reality of the situation at hand.

Much of the International and Japanese media blamed the killer on the fact that he was formerly obsessed with the pursuits of a Japanese otaku and that he thought he was fired a few days before he went on this rampage. Much of the otaku culture in Japan is concentrated in Akibahara and online at popular websites as 2channel. Mostly, people that are going to commit a crime sometimes post what they're about to do on such websites (or other blog and cell phone posting sites) and usually hope that they are going to be caught before the crime takes place for the sake of the potential victims. This seems really self-defeating in a since coming from my background, but perhaps because these people feel they have nothing left to really live for and might as well take someone down with them, I think they also fear about the consequences of their action on other people.

This action caused police to take more a look at these websites and have arrested several potential "copycat" killers from their supposed threats made on websites such as 2channel. Japan has quite a few social problems like anywhere else in the world, but they're less pronounced than many other places until events like the akiba massacre bring the problem back into the forefront. And this is a testament that needs to be realized not just in Japan, but in the world in general, if we ignore society's problems, we are all going to feel those consequences in the end.

Shrines, Tea Ceremonies, and Golden Week, oh my!

2008-05-03T11:25:00.000+09:00

(The shrine we went to)

So, this week marks the REAL start to the Japanese Holiday (or holidays) called Golden Week. It consists of a week because of several holidays that are right after the other one. It actually starts with Showanohi "Hirohito's Birthday" celebrated on April 29th. But, on Saturday it is the true start of the holiday.

We (all the exchange students we hang out with except for Kyu) went to Usui-san's house in Ashikaga. After everyone arrived, we ate dishes that were prepared by some of Kyoko-san's (Usui's wife) English learning students. It's impressive how much of a hold they have on English in a little less than 1 to 3 years.

After that we went to a Tea Ceremony. We entered a traditional style courtyard for houses that specialized in Tea Ceremony and were led to building to have the Tea Ceremony in. Apparently, this was just for the formalities and not the full part of the ceremony. I remember reading from somewhere that you actually get part of the tea leaves and you have to wisk them by yourself. The entire ceremony could last nearly an hour. However, we were handed the tea already pre-made and ready to consume. We weren't there nearly as long.

The steps go something like this (from yesterday):

-Handed a piece of sweet candy or some other sweet food to consume because the green tea will be bitter.
-Handed the bowl and bow to thank the person that brought it
-You place the bowl to the left of yourself and say "I'm going to [drink] before you." (this is a ritualistic polite phrase when spoken in Japanese and does not express well enough in English)
-You place your left palm underneath the bowl, and with your right hand on the right side of the bowl, you turn your bowl in your hand left (towards you) twice.
-You are ready to consume!
- Once you're finished, turn the bowl right (away from you) twice and (tea ceremony rooms use a certain tatami mat style) place the bowl in front your line on your mat to symbolize the fact that you're done with the bowl.
-Bow again to thank the person that will receive the bowl.
-Bow to thank the guests and the hosts.

It's a pretty formalized process.

After that, we went to a shrine. This was my first time going to an actual shrine in Japan. Shrines and Temples are of different religions or beliefs. In Japanese, Jinja (shrines) are associated with Japan's native religion Shinto. Shinto is animistic in the sense that practitioners believe that everything has a soul or spirit (plants, people, animals, natural features like mountains and waterfalls). According to shinto, when you die, you have the ability to eventually become a god. Temples (otera in Japanese) are associated with Buddhism. Buddhism deals with what happens after death, and Shinto deals with things that happen during life, but either one can also deal with the other one. It started raining, so we didn't get to actually go into the central shrine hall, but were able to go up to the offering box and pray. We also got a shrine fortune from a box on the side. Everyone except for Rin got some form kichi (luck) from the fortune. I'll translate what my fortune said for a later time.

We went to a temple after the shrine. Here, you get to announce to the spirits that you're going to make an offering by taking the hanging rope and ring it against the the bell. The temple was having a Matsuri for Golden Week, so lots of shops and stalls were all around. Keleih tried a fish capturing minigame, there were tons of good food, and a group of guys we saw earlier in the day were street dance performing 60's/50's rock songs were just some of the things at the temple that day.

(This was the group of street dancers dancing to 50's and 60's rock songs. They also all had matching slick 50's hair styles, just like Elvis).

We returned to Usui's house after that and snacked a bit until Keleih, Yoshiko, Brian, and Usui got back from taking Keleih to a pharmacy. Most of us tried this crazy Sake that smelled like rubbing alcohol. It was pretty strong. Yoshiko was a little drunk from just a few shots! xD She's just right about having smaller organs. Anyway, after that, we left Usui's house for the train back to Oyama. Tomorrow is "KEITAI GET!" day, so I won't be stuck out of the loop anymore with everyone else that already has one. Wish me luck!

Just to inform you all.....>___>

2008-04-25T09:37:00.002+09:00

There will be at least one entry representing every week I've been here, perhaps even separate entries representing days I've been here coming within this weekend (today, tomorrow, or sunday). I've just been enjoying Japan and forgetting to even blog about my experiences, something I can look at (and you all too) after I'm back studying in the states. I'll see if I can adjust the dates on individual entires to make them look like I made them earlier in the month, but if I can't do that, I'll just type the date of when the events in the said post occurred.

Gaijin Cards and having an identity in Japan

2008-04-23T21:37:00.002+09:00

(This is outside of the International Exchange Center).

Today after school, Beth, Keleih, and I went and got our Gaijin Cards effectively ending the annoying habit of having to carry my passport around with me. This marks the point of when we can finally truly start living in Japan as citizens. Beth and Keleih want to get Keitai (cell phones) soon as possible, but considering that I am still without the Hakuoh scholarship for another week.

Classes are finally picking up speed and in one of them, the culture class is getting to be too much. I can't understand really much in the class and I find myself getting really sleepy because my brain is trying to comprehend everything at once and I become tired. But even then, I talked to Kyuu (one of the Taiwanese) and even though she has been here since last September, she also has trouble with the class and has to translate and look up a lot of the stuff in the handouts. But, I still wish I could understand more in the class.....maybe I have to give it up. Beth and Keleih already came to the solution because Adachi wasn't trying to make sure everyone had an equal footing in the class. Expecting us to understand everything well in the first few weeks is nearly impossible. Also, expecting us to do research in the library would be impossible because most of the books we could use for research were in Japanese. I am talking about books where you would have to pass the second or first level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test to understand, but even then you might have trouble still comprehending it. Not sure exactly what to do though....do I drop it....or do I not?

Indy Japan 300

2008-04-19T23:18:00.001+09:00

Today was the student trip to go to the Indy Japan 300 race at Twin Ring Motegi. All the exchange students along with Yoshiko and quite a few students went along for the trip.

When we arrived, I was surprised at the vastness of the track. It was only 1 1/2 miles, but still it was quite a distance. We first went to see Asimo, a robot developed by Honda that is supposed to have balance resembling a human.

We later had lunch, and I found it interesting one of the restaurants had American style burgers. I also found the coke in a carton interesting.

We later made our way down to the track. We had really good seats for our tickets; we could see the field pretty well and were a little off from the finish line. However, problems arose from the track as a leak in one of the turns delayed the start and it started raining right after they fixed the leak so the race was delayed until the next day, but our tickets could still be used.

The first....of many...about...food.

2008-04-18T21:54:00.005+09:00

Such a rainy day today. It always seems that whenever it rains, the day just seems to get crappier. The job I thought I was getting fell through, as they only needed one person to actually teach the employees at the company because having two different people would be complicated to deal with the lesson plan, which should be continuous throughout. It was a complexity of those issues (I would like to think I wasn't chosen because my lack of formal experience once again biting me in the ass, but I really have no means to even think that) that lead to the decision, but I'm fine with it. I'll have plenty of chances to teach someone English here and make money (and more friends) on the side. At least Hakuoh will help me find a job, so if I need it.

But, yeah, that was a considerable bummer. I'm still waiting on the JASSO scholarship, so I am relying solely on funds that I am getting from back home. I should hear something about that within the next few days, so should be okay. Hopefully I don't have to wait until NEXT month for the funds to arrive, as it could put somewhat of a financial strain on my family and I.

"This has nothing to do with Lotteria, but it emphasizes that I must talk about food now."

So, considering that it was an appropriate day to go and look for something decently comforting, I decided to go to Oyama Station and try the Japanese take on fried American-style foods. There's not much in terms of American style food restaurants in Oyama station, but I did find a place near the front entrance of the station called Lotteria. The name looked misleading, as it was not an Italian restruant, but a weird version of perhaps either what would be Wendy's or Rally's in the states. I decided it would be best to try out some of the burgers, so I tried the "Ebi" burger or "Shrimp" burger, as I only know of this as when I got it, it wasn't chicken as the picture leads you to believe it is. I also got something called "snack chicken" which basically was chicken nuggets in a smaller form than say what you could get at McDonalds.

Anyway, the burger itself wasn't that bad. I know for a fact that Japanese love putting manganze on a lot of American food, but this burger had only a little on it. It mainly had a kind of cocktail sauce in it (Henz makes the best kind I think) and the shrimp was pretty good. I would definitely go back sometime and eat there again.

The day I try the MegaMac (the bastardization of burgers as a huge amount of meat put into a sandwich that McDonald's Japan is offering) will be a seperate entry within itself.

If you're a foreigner in Japan, and your skills at the language aren't completely great, most restruants have menus that include pictures of some sort. This allows for the simplisity of just pointing to said item you want to eat, and the understanding is simple and well put. Places where menu's aren't available are usually fast food joints, and chances are have something that has picture on a main display or are written in some shape or form in Katakana, so those with some ability in Japanese (because Kanji can be daunting sometimes) can make youself heard.

Anyway, this is the first of many entries about food in general. I'll promise to blog more about different subjects though, because my writing ability isn't limited to food alone.

(This entry is dated about a few days due to being too busy to finish it)

Dormitory Party and Kyudo

2008-04-12T23:30:00.007+09:00

Before I came to Hakuoh, I had decided on entering one of two clubs. I wanted to try my hand at either the wind orchestra (as I have already had musical experience before) or a more traditional Japanese club on campus, Kyudo. Today, I decided to check out Kyudo to get a better perspective on the club and what they do.

When I arrived, many were surprised that a foreigner had shown up (later, I would learn only one other westerner has ever came and practiced with them). It was my second week here and I still couldn't understand much of what was being spoken to me, though I have made efforts in my speech and I got my point across using what I knew or what I could look up in my dictionary on the DS. There were a lot of first years that were learning the trade so I got to see the training practices that they go through.

Basically (this is also research from my later experience) this is the levels of training you go through:
1. You start with basic training of the movements involving stance, the way to get the bow leveled, how to pull back the bow, and what you do after you fire the bow, all without using any equipment.
2. The next level is where you use a gumibow or a grip that has a rubber "string" that mimics the actual pull on the real bow. You practice again all the movements with a few new movements done to add the bow.
3. The third level is actually using the real bow. You learn the full movements regarding the bow including entry to the positions of kyudo along with the exit positions. The gumibow does real well in mimicking the real bow, however, but the real bow's weight is not like a western bow and is slightly lop-sided and you must adjust for that.
4. The forth level combines the bow and the arrow, but you cannot enter the normal firing positions yet until you master firing the arrow. You practice mainly the arrow and bow positions in this level; the goal being you successfully firing the bow in such a way that it will not go astray. To help with this, your target is a straw mato (target) that is within 20 centimeters of the end of your bow when you fire the arrrow, therefore always insuring a hit.
5. The fifth and final level is where you have gotten to a good point with the arrow and bow and are ready to enter the normal firing positions. The targets (not straw, but paper) are about 25 meters (80 feet) away.

The firing positions are also have a certain custom to them:
Normally there are five firing positions, but there can be many has there are targets and few as 3 if needed.
The positions are always from right to left. It might be based from how Japanese kanji were read during the early Meiji period and before.
The positions are (from R-L): omae, mideki, naka, ochimae, ochi. Mae means before or first as in the case with the first position being omae and the position before ochi being ochimae. Naka means middle, as it is the middle position. Mideki, I am not sure what it means exactly.

During the firing process, the person that is writing down the score will announce the position about to fire and add the suffix "pon" to it, the counter for counting long thin things in Japanese (arrows fit into this group). Everyone that's not firing repeats whatever the scorer says. After the scorer sees the position in full stance ready to fire, the scorer yells "saippon" or "ready to fire". This I think more or less stems for safety reasons than old ceremonial practice. If a target is hit, everyone will yell "Hit!" (sha). You sometimes get times where an arrow grazes a target and everyone will try to decide whether or not it is a hit. The people in the firing positions fire a total of 4 arrows per round with a specific grip that allows them to hold two arrows at once. Once all positions are done with firing, the archers that just completed firing all step back together and the scorer calls "Please verify the results" (kakunin onegaishimasu) with the lead runner (someone that leads a group of people equal to the amount of targets that yells out the hits) clapping twice and responding with "I will enter the range" (hairimasu) and leads the others to the end where the targets are located. Each other person (not the leader) kneels in front of the target with the target clearly visible as the lead runner points to the targets and confirms each hit by saying how many hit the target. After that is over, the runners grab the arrows and returns to the dojo.

I had a few things to do before I could join the club (I had an entry fee of around $100 for insurance and bow rental fees, then would have to pay for my uniform down the road), so I couldn't quite join yet. But, it looked fun so I decided on joining as soon as I could.

After the match I was over with, I returned to the dorm to find out that the dormitory party was already underway. D'OH! I really forgot about it! Brian was already there and he showed me where I could find my name tag. Most of the good sushi and food was already gone, but I found some karaage and french fries still left so it was all good. I couldn't understand a lot of the guys that were talking/talking to me, but a guy named Yuusuke came up and talked to me in a mix of Japanese/English and it was pretty interesting. Slowly but surely I am really getting used to life here. After the party was over, Yuusuke, some other guys, and I took the remaining chuuhai and ran off to our rooms with it without letting the landlord know! It was one of those "Everyone was doing it, so I could too" situations that are infectious among the youth here. Definitely feels like home in that aspect.

Something tells me.....that I'm going to be doing this a lot in the future.

2008-04-09T21:20:00.003+09:00

(A picture of one of the karaoke machines)

On the Saturday we got back from Kunigawa, Yoshiko and Laura (a former Hakuoh exchange student from IUPUI) invited us to Monekineko (the name of karaoke place) for Karaoke.

Basically at MonekiNeko, there's a student special for students going to Hakuoh. We still did not have our cards from the school yet, but someone was able to produce a card and we were able to get the Hakuoh special for 2 hours. This includes all you can drink from their drink menu. I previously only been to Karaoke twice , one time that was at a restaurant we went to primarily had Chinese and Korean songs, not much of a selection of American songs and the second one was open mike night at a cafe downtown, but the karaoke versions were vastly different than the actual song.

We got into the karaoke room and we were given mikes and these touch screens that allow you to select songs. There's also different versions of each machine that have slightly different selection of songs than the other machines. I was really surprised at the selection available to sing, it was amazing at the entire selection. They even had several obscure artists like Sonata Artica, a band that Keleih likes. The timing was really decent and for the most part with the exact song. I sung primarily from artists I know like Oasis and Bowling For Soup.

I have a feeling that I am going to get a lot more singing time in the future....

Classes begin

2008-04-07T18:00:00.005+09:00

(The sakura are in full bloom on the campus)

Today we started classes at Hakuoh. I wasn't too sure on where the classes where, but the class actually was right next door to the International Exchange Center. So, it was very convenient.
The first class had most of us with the rest of the exchange students in it. It's slightly hard to follow sometimes in the class, but with everyone from a different background in the class, it makes it entirely easy to enjoy and is pretty interesting. The second class is just one with the IUPUI students in them (as we are the only students that don't have to take the JLPT to get into Hakuoh, so we have intermediate-ish Japanese courses). The classwork seems almost a step down from Genki, but it's also really hard for Adachi to teach all of us because we're all at different language ability levels. Brian has already been there for over a half a year, Beth has had experience abroad, and Keleih and I are kind of in the same boat as with language ability (except everyone has already been to Japan at least once, and I am the one one that is my first time here). So, I have a feeling this class is going to be easier in general, but I don't know. I mean, it's only the first day.

I finally set up wireless internet in the International Exchange Center. I don't really think the school even knows that there's a ethernet connection in the lounge, but there is, and I think it would benefit everyone if it was plugged into a wireless router and not just the old, junky Dell laptop that has been in the center for god knows how long.

After lunch, Usui-san took us to the recycle shop to look for items to purchase for our dorms. Nothing is really high up on my list for purchasing things yet (also, I was watching my money until I could start receiving my Hakuoh scholarship), so I forgone not purchasing anything, but they sure had some interesting items available for purchase (anyone for a slightly-used vending machine anyone?) After that though, we went to the bane of my existance (in terms of pop-culture and everything) the Bookoff store in Oyama. It had tons (and I mean TONS) of manga usually around 105 yen, but sometimes running up to 1000 yen (really high-quality paper with older, popular series). They also had a second floor part that sold video games, DVDs, old computers, and anime figurines. The name aside ("Hardoff" thankfully not "Hard on"), this seems it would be an otaku's paradise.

(There's even a 24 hour Internet cafe next to the Bookoff. Now THAT'S convenience!)

(Note: This is an afterthought on my first week of classes. It doesn't entirely reflect on my entire opinion on them because I have typed and finished this post months after it already occured. However, I will try my best to remember the exact mood of the time. ~9/28/08)

Fuji-Q Highland

2008-04-06T23:30:00.005+09:00

Today, I got up decently early (it was really easy considering my Jet Lag) and met Yoshiko, Brian, Akira, Rin, Keleih, Beth, and Yuka to get on a train to go to Tokyo and take a bus to get to an amusement park near Mt. Fuji called Fuji Q Highland. Not sure why the Q was included, but I guess it works. Anyway, instead of buying a normal pass to Tokyo (which I wouldn't know much how to buy them since I am not used to the train terminals at all) we bought something called a "Holiday Pass" This pass can be used on times of National Japanese Holidays or weekends at a cost of 2300 yen. Living in Oyama, we are lucky because it is the northern most station you can buy/use the pass as you use it to ride any train (but the shinkansen) to get to Tokyo. I would later find that it would be a very useful pass. Sure, a one way ticket to Ueno is 1250 from Oyama, so in essence the savings would only be 200 yen, but if you decide to ride any of the JR lines in Tokyo, it saves more money.

Anyway, we got into Shinjuku to the bus hub around 9AM. This was the first time I have seen Tokyo since I arrived in Japan. The streets were pretty crowded and many of the buildings seemed familiar as several were featured in various movies I have seen that took place in Japan. We stepped aboard the bus bounded for Fuji Q Highland after I went and decided to try the water "Pacari Sweat". I knew about the strange name before, but unlike what the name says it tasted nothing like sweat. It's more sweeter than most bottled waters I have ever had in the states.

We later took the bus to Fujiyama. It was about a 2 and a half hour ride, but I did get to see some really excellent sights on the way to Fuji-Q. We passed by Tokyo Disney Land and the location of Square Enix's downtown Tokyo headquarters. From about 2 hours in however, you can really see how big Mt. Fuji is from a distance. At 3,737 meters (over 12,000 feet) it is Japan's tallest mountain. Not any mountain is completely safe, but during the official climbing season (July to August), as many as 3,000 people climb the mountain everyday. It's the most climbed mountain in the world. Japanese people do it, foreigners do it, I wouldn't be surprised if animals do it too.

We arrived around noonish, and departed off the bus to hand in our tickets at the booth. For some strange reason however, when we handed our entrance ticket in we received another ticket to be taken to a series of booths where your picture is to be taken and printed on a special ticket. This seems to be the norm here and I thought it was really interesting. I guess it prevents people from giving their tickets to another person whom is coming into the park.

The lines were really long for just about everything, so we got in line for the closest roller coaster (called "jet coaster" in Japanese) Dondonpa. The wait was about an hour, but the line had various crazy signs printed just about everywhere in the park. I would later look back at all the pictures I have taken and say that they are indeed pretty crazy.

After that we split into various groups because some of us wanted to not ride the other roller coasters while as the others wanted to ride other things in the park. In the end, we had a fun time. Before the bus came we had a good chance to take pictures during the sunset with Mt. Fuji. It was very cold, but it was a fun experience I would never forget.

(Insert pictures here later)

I thought trains ran through hotsprings?

2008-04-05T20:46:00.000+09:00

Today I had to arrive early enough to Hakuoh in order to be taken to the freshman orientation at Kunigawa onsen. Kunigawa is famous in Japan for them and ANY new experience in Japan sounds like and idea to me.

But....I was the oddball out again. Despite staying only a day, everyone else seemed to bring stuff to change into except for me. Riding with extra materials in my basket (or on my back) is ridiculous enough to get my killed (ie. read yesterday's post), so I decided not to bring things. And I was okay.

Anyway, we got on the bus (one of many) and were required to do self-introductions. Yay, another chance for my broken Japanese to shine! Kidding aside, the ride there wasn't that exciting until we started getting towards the more mountainous parts of Tochigi. I don't know, I've seen mountains before in my life, but something about mountains in Japan makes my photographer locked up in a cage inside excited.

(Lunch)

So, after lunch, we were funneled back into the buses to go to a main hall for freshman orientation. There, they preceded to show a video about Hakuoh, and then a demonstration by most of the major school clubs on campus that lasted 2 hours. It was entertaining though, despite the language barriers. After that we went back and went and had dinner. During dinner though, a loud shaking of the building occured. I was confused because it was like the sound of an train passing by in a station, but no such train existed near where we were at. This was an Earthquake. My first one anyway.

We had the option of going into the hotsprings earlier than everyone else for some reason, but Brian declined to go, so it was just me and Rin. Both of us never went to one before, and it was a while since I looked up etiquette involving them. I am sure we broke some of them, but it was decent. In order for a westerner to go to one, you pretty much have to leave any dignity you may have at the door. That and also know that there's not going to be any people that are looking at you. Everyone is in the same boat really.

The morning after wasn't that fun filled, except for a rarity in Japanese food occured. I thought I would never see it again, so I took a picture of it.

"This is the rare coffee flavored Jelly."

Later on, there was seminars about various things, including anime/manga, which I went to, and helped out with the English teacher's seminars about speaking English and such.

The bus ride back was uneventful, except for the realization the Tom and Jerry seems to be a popular choice among the students here.

Yay for breaks!

2008-04-03T23:00:00.001+09:00

So, at about noon today, I got up to meet Yoshiko and Brian in front of the dorm for some bike training. As mentioned in a previous post, I have never ridden a bike before. We had to go by bike to get to the station at least in order to get to school on time for the medical exam. At first I was really shaky, and none of what they were saying was actually helping. It mainly was just that explaining it in words is harder. After finding out the front wheel controls the balance and direction, I was set...at least for now.

The medical exam was oddly confusing, at least for someone that has just been in Japan for 2 days now. The language was still escaping me and I was thrown with Rin to be "experimented" on, which is what the tests seemed more to me than for medical purposes.
In the first room, we had our height and weight checked. Pretty standard for medical reasons. Next, our heartbeat was checked. Again, something done by most doctors. We next had a eye exam. It was easily enough to do this in Japanese (oh how hidari (left), migi(right), shita (down), and ue (up) make their way into my broken Japanese ~!). We later had to go outside for chest X-ray exams. As much as I have had x-rays done in my life, I don't need anymore radiation plastered to me. After this test, the real "exam" occured, the electrocardiogram (go Firefox for recognizing my misspelling the first time! :D) exam, which seemed out of a horror film, rather than reality, on a white bed, in a classroom, in Japan. First, the electrodes were attached (about as long as the average tentacle monster's appendage) to my chest and body, and some untold amount of electricity was passed through my body. Didn't really feel anything actually, so it must not have been like what happened to Bill Murray in Groundhog day with the toaster.

After that, we were told to go on our separate ways, but we were supposed to be meeting up with several people later that day for a hanami (cherry blossom viewing) party at Oyama Park. We later rode with Brian and Lin to go register for our Gaijin registration cards. After that, I rode around on my bike for a while...

...then it happened, I was making my way back to the apartment when I was ran off the road by a taxi driver, and I reacted quickly enough to hit a wall. Well, it was a chain link fence, but it was good enough anyway. A reflector broke so I had to go back and explain to the landlords in broken Japanese about what happened. By now I had a comfortable handling on my bike, but the insisted on for 15 minutes to practice riding the bike in front of the dorm. I later left with some knowledge of where the park was but took a wrong turn and ended up on a different bridge. By the time I got to the park, it was going on dark, but everyone was glad to see me at least. Food, beer, and wine followed.

"It seemed deserted when I got there..."

The first full day begins

2008-04-02T20:30:00.002+09:00

"BWAHAHAHA! I flash my light in the face of ALL Jet-lagged foreigners!"

So, the first full day in Japan began today, and I was greeted by the sun earlier in the morning. Apparently my Jet Lag doesn't let me sleep past 6AM, so I woke up at 5AM this morning and the sun was barely peaking in the west.

Last night I was told to wake up at 9 so I could get orientation into the dorm done. Sure enough, at 9:30, two guys from the dorm (my "sempai" apparently) came up with the female landlord and were explaining various things about the dorm to me. As usual, I still couldn't understand the landlord, but had a better time with the other two guys. They showed that I could adjust the water temperature with the device right across from the fridge, when and what trash was being picked up, and showing me how to open my post, and showing which bike was mine.

Of course, they did not realize that I could not ride a bike. I never had a bike before in my life, and no one bothered to show me how to ride one. So, that in itself was going to be a hard process. But, it's my first day in Japan, so I decided to leave the learning for another time. Next my landlord (remembering I didn't pack much items for dorm living conditions) was kind enough to give me a basket full of pots, pans, and dishes. I knew I wasn't going to cook for a while (as that process would take longer to learn than riding a bike would), but still, in case the need arise, I would have items available to me.

I later met Brian and Rin at the station. Rin is one of the several students from Taiwan here. We waited on for the Hakuoh Bus at Oyama station.

"Apparently, the peace sign is a contagious disease over here."

We made it on campus and seemed a decent size (but no where near the size of IUPUI) and the sakura were in full bloom. It was really nice. We had a meeting with Usui-san and Miller-sensei. I am able to leech off of a internet connection nearby, but Beth and Keleih aren't able to. We suggested getting full wireless in the dorms, and Miller-sensei said he'd try to pull some strings and get that done. In the meantime, I said I would bring in the wireless hub that was just left in my room when I arrived here. We later went to a Italian restaurant at the station, and I had my first experience with melon soda. It was so frothy and good! Anyway, Yoshiko said that later tomorrow that she and Brian would show me how to ride a bike. I'm excited! Anyway, more about that later.

A night's view of Tokyo.....

2008-04-01T23:30:00.010+09:00

From the plane approaching in Narita airport, I really wish I had a window seat. It was going on 7PM as the plane was trying to land at Narita, but strong winds were creating fierce turbulence like something else. I've been on boats, cars, and roller coasters, and I have never gotten sick by just sitting down and doing nothing, but this turbulence succeeded in every way of making me feel sick. I blame the capacity of the plane to rock in 8 directions in a 3D area (basically since it was in the air, it could rock in every direction.

(Photo courtesy of tsu from wikipedia commons under the free distribution license of GNU)
"It looked something like this, but only with 2 being open at 8PM"

We got to Narita going on 7:30, but the line in immigration was 45 minutes long. It was a long wait to get past immigration, but once you got to the new immigration procedures it was only a 2 minute process. Except for me. Why? Because they expect gaijin to be 5'5" not at 6' or above.

(An immigration officer shows a traveler how to use a digital fingerprint reader at Narita International Airport on Tuesday. AP PHOTO)
"The system includes fingerprinting and picture taking. Apparently a 'really tall machine' would have been out of the Japanese ethic of making things fit evenly and compactly on surfaces."

I think I caused problems when they had to adjust the camera twice to capture my face correctly. Anyway, after that, customs was kind of a joke. Practically just got our bags, gave the customs official our claims ticket that we filled out on the plane, and left for the main entrance. Yoshiko and Brian had been waiting on us for over an hour. We got on the van that was specifically taking us to Hakuoh, and it was a decent 3 hour drive, but Keleih and I were exhausted from the flight. Sleep was nearly impossible on the flight, I had to use a blanket to cover up my eyes from any strands of light and continue listening to the J-Pop/Rock station to block out other crazy sounds.

The night view of Tokyo from the point of the highways was pretty amazing. I heard that Tokyo really isn't a 24 hour town, but just an 8 hour town, but with various things opening and closing within an 8 hour time frame. Anyway, we saw Tokyo tower in the distance and the rainbow bridge with the yugata boats passing buy beneath us.

We got to Oyama around 10PM and since it was too late to go out to eat, we stopped by a convenience store to get some food from there (school was paying for it anyway). Considering it was my first day there, I had no idea what half the food said or was, so in the coming weeks it was going to be a trial. I was surprised that Japanese convenience stores had so much stuff available. Bread, food, snacks, milk, coffee, manga, magazines, porn, and anime figurine model kits are just a few of the available stuff you're able to purchase from a convenience store.

After that, Usui-san dropped me off at my dorm room. I couldn't understand anything my landlord was saying, so I just worked off gestures and kind of followed her lead.

(Front entrance to dorm room)

"It's sad when your arms, not even fully stretched can touch both walls widthwise"

My room was pretty decent to begin with. It has a kitchen, bathroom, bed, desk, fridge and TV. Basically all the comforts of a home. I don't know HOW much Hakuoh is taking the bill on in terms of rent, but it has to be something at least. I basically unpacked a few things, spent a few hours on the computer trying to find a connection to leech off of then went to bed.