Things of Note

Some interesting things I've noticed about Japan:

• Sometimes 2 liter bottles of water completely surround wooden powerline poles. I learned from my host family this is to deter stray cats from using it as a scratching post.
• The Japanese really REALLY like mayonnaise.
• Umbrellas are everywhere; even at my house there are about 20 umbrellas in the closet. People seem to buy them every time it rains, and then forget about them and just leave them somewhere. When it is raining, stores will provide plastic slips to put over your umbrella so that you won't drip water all over the place.
• At car intersections without stoplights there are mirrors placed so you can see whether or not someone is coming from the other directions.
• In Japan, your bike can get towed at your own expense if you park it in the wrong place.
• Even if the speed limit says 20, everyone drives between 40-50 mph. I have been scared more than once going 50 around a 90 degree turn with maybe an inch between me and the other car (this is with my host famiy driving)
• Wherever there is room there is a garden or a miniature rice paddy growing. I ride my bike past two small rice fields everyday.
• There are 100 Yen stores in Japan, the equivalent of the dollar store.
• As a foreigner you attract attention (what we call the gaijin/foreigner stare). When there is a whole group of you, schoolgirls shout from windows and secretly snap pictures of you in supermarkets.
• Children like to say "hi" and "bye" when they see you are a foreigner.
• To have a bank account in Japan first you have to have a Hanko: a rubber stamp of your name.
• Japanese television isn't the best... a lot of shows revolve around cooking/eating/talking about food OR physical pain and humiliation OR glorifying Japan. There is anime on sometimes, usually after school gets out.
• I saw a Japanese beer commercial in which a Japanese woman unzips this giant bottle of beer and blonde haired blue eyed children come dancing out of it and go dance with the woman through rainbows and stuff. Talk about advertising to the youth.
• There are tobacco and beer vending machines. Anyone can use them, but they say that everyone honors the rules so much no one underage uses them.
• When you are shopping, salespeople are constantly yelling. They yell welcome, goodbye and other things I don't understand. For some reason they have to do this in as high and annoying voice as possible.
• As I have mentioned before, there is a sink about the toilet tank that you wash your hands in, and the water is recycled into the toilet.
• The bathwater is also reused to do laundry.
• The bath/shower room is completely seperate from any toilet. The toilet has its own room.
• Japanese-style toilets are hard to use! Here is a website that explains it all : http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~AD8y-hys/movie.htm
• There are a huge variet of Kitkat bars in Japan, I have tried strawberry and white chocolate so far.
• Pocari Sweat is the name of a popular sports drink.
• English is constantly butchered. I see signs/clothes/instructions all the time that are spelled wrong or have bad grammar.

Thats all I can remember for now : ) I will add more as I think of more.

My Daily Life

So today I realized I have only offered you a small window into life in Japan. Therefore in this post I will draw you a picture of the more mundane aspects of what I do everyday.

Everyday I wake up around 7 and get dressed. I get my school bag together, then go downstairs. I always say "ohayo gozaimasu" (good morning) to my family. Then I have breakfast. Every morning I have some juice (which is much sweeter than in America) some type of fruit, and then one piece of toast. The bread they use is an inch thick, so one piece is pretty filling.

After breakfast I leave for school and say "ittekimas" (I'm leaving and will return) and my host family says "ittarashaimasu" (google it). I ride a bicycle for about 5-10 minutes to a bicycle parking lot. The bike ride can be a little scary, because the roads are narrow and the cars are usually going pretty fast, not to mention the other bikers, pedestrians, and motorbikes.

I park the bike at the special bike parking lot. Then I walk about 5 minutes to the train station (densha eki). I use my train pass to get in then wait about 5-10 for the next local train to take me to school. Usually I am on the train/at the stations for about 20-30 minutes. Once I get to the station near school it is about a 5 minute walk to Osaka Gakuin.

Right now, I have been showing up early for class. Now that I am more used to the route to school I won't leave the house so early from now on. My Japanese classes are everyday of the week for a little over two hours. In the evenings several days a week I am taking a Japanese film class and a Japanese theatre class.

After my languages classes I have lunch with the other exchange students and Japanese students. We have been going to different places everyday for lunch trying new foods.

Right now the evening classes haven't started yet, so after lunch I have gone out with various ofther exchange students to explore Osaka. I have been out shopping and sightseeing etc.

Usually I try to be home by 6:00 for dinner. When I get home I say "tadaima" (google it) and whoever's home says "okaeri" (you returned). My Host mother has thus far made something different for dinner every night, sometimes I try it and can't eat it but for the most part I have enjoyed her cooking. After dinner I do homework and visit with my Host parents and Host brother Akinori. Around 9 I take a shower, brush my teeth, say "oyasuminasai" to my parents (goodnight) and go upstairs. I don't actually go to bed until midnight, so during my free time in the late evening I go on the internet and update all my stuff, check emails, skype, etc.

And then I sleep : )

My life is actually pretty routine now, but I do plan on going on a lot of weekend trips as well as longer trips on my holidays.

The reason I emphasize the daily greetings is because they are important in every day life. The way I've had it explained to me is that the daily greetings (aisatsu) are a way to show respect and to acknowledge one another in everyday life.

Jya Mata

Autumnal Equinox

Today is a national holiday called the Autumnal Equinox and it is a celebration of the changing seasons. I didn't have class today because of it, and instead my family took me out sightseeing. I went to a museum, the top of a mountain from which the view was amazing, a traditional Japanese garden, and an old burial site. It was all very interesting and beautiful, but now I am sooo tired!

On Sunday (to backtrack a little since I haven't updated this) I went shopping with fellow exchange students in Ibaraki shi, and went to see Gake no Ue no Ponyo at a Japanese movie theatre. The theatre was called Loco Cinema and the tickets were 15 dollars (1500 yen) and that was after the student discount. Everything is very expensive here.

On Monday I started classes and after class went to get a cell phone. I went to Umeda at the Yodobashi tower, which is a huge multi level electronics building. My cell phone is from Softbank, a Japanese company, and it cost about 35000 yen (350 dollars). Like I said, everything is expensive, but I can watch tv on my phone : ) It is really cool, so be jealous! j/k

Well, I'm too tired to remember what else I have done, so gomenasai! I'm sorry! It is late here and its been a long day. Sayonara!

Jazz in Japan

Saturday night I had the best experience so far in Japan. After I made my Homestay family dinner I was surprised to find out that my Host-Mother Hisako was going to take me out to a concert. However, it was much much more than just a simple concert. I did not really know any details, but I could not refuse such a generous offer.

The concert was in the back room of a tiny traditional Japanese shop tucked away in Ibaraki, the town next to mine. The building was very old, and in the traditional Japanese style. When I saw the outside of the building I became very excited, because I knew this was no ordinary trip. I was led to the back of the shop, and inside there were less than 20 people sitting in a traditional Japanese room decorated with old kimono, artwork, scrolls, and so on. I think I may be the only foriegner ever to come to this event. According to my Home-stay mother, who is friends with the owner of the shop, a small private concert is held once a month. Only those who knew about it were invited. On this particular night a small, all girl, Jazz band was playing. Not only is that a rare thing in Japan, but they also wore traditional Japanese kimono and hairpieces while playing. My Home-stay mother ordered me red wine and I just sat back and enjoyed Jazz music and the incredible atmosphere. This was the side of Japan I was hoping to get to see.

Since I was a foreigner, I naturally attracted everyone's attention in such a small space. One of the songs was sung in English by the waiter, and during the intermission he asked me if I could understand his English when he sang. I was approached by the band members as well and chatted with them for awhile in a mixture of English and Japanese. It is hard to describe the mood that permeated the evening, but it was without a doubt one of the best experiences I have ever had. At the end of the night, I was invited by the band to sing a song in English accompanied by them next month. How could I say no? So in October I will maybe (we'll see) be taking them up on the offer : )

Right now, it is pouring rain outside. And I have been procrastinating since I should be reviewing grammar before my first class tomorrow... oh well! It is late here and I am just going to go to bed!

Sayonara!

I'm in Japan!

おひさしぶり です ね! It has been a long time hasn't it!

I have only been in Japan two days but it feels like much longer!

So much has happened I don't know where to start. The 14 hour plane ride was long and uncomfortable as expected. However, the views from the plane were breathtaking, especially when we finally arrived at Osaka. The moon was glowing pink in the sky and the bright lights of the city stretched on as far as I could see. Before coming to Japan it was hard to fathom that Osaka was one of the largest cities in the world, but now I know how it is first hand! St. Paul could fit in it 20 times I think. From the airport to my home stay family's house it took 70 minutes by bus. To travel through Osaka by car it would take at least a several hours.

Even though I had been awake for 24 hours straight I could not feel anything but exhilarated at seeing all that was going on around me. Lights and buildings and flashing signs made it impossible to see the stars in the sky. When I finally met my home stay family it was awkward for me, because I was so exhausted I couldn't think of what to say in Japanese, but they were very nice and when I got to my new home I took a shower in a Japanese style bathroom. That is not that easy to do, but it is hard to describe without showing a picture! Maybe sometime when I am the only one home I will take pictures of all the rooms. I have not taken a picture with my home stay family yet either, but I will when everyone is home.

My home stay family are the Shoda's and their house is two stories. My bedroom is on the second floor and is quite spacious. I have my own desk, bed, closet, dresser, mirror, and kotatsu (a heated table that you put a special blanket cover over in the winter so your legs can stay warm when you sit at it). The first thing that I had to "figure out" was the bathroom. Above the toilet there is a small sink (probably 8x7 in.) and when you flush the toilet water comes out of the sink! I thought at first that it was the dirty toilet water! But I found out today that after you wash your hands in the sink the used water fills up the toilet tank again for the next person who uses it. It is a way of cutting down costs.

Probably my favorite thing about my first day in Japan was when my home stay niece in 3rd grade made me ham and cucumber sushi with her "easybake-esqe" sushi set. That same night my family made me okonomiyaki, which is a traditional Osaka food. It is sort of a cross between an omelette and a pancake. It had eggs, bacon, a special batter, grated radish, and is topped with mayonnaise and a sauce that I don't know but is good. I don't really like the mayonnaise though, so I ate around it.

Today I went to Osaka Gakuin for the first time for orientation. My homestay mother went with me to show me the way to school. First there is a 5-10 minute bike ride to a bike parking lot, where I bought a pass to park my bike. Then I walk another 5 minutes to the train station. I bought a 3 month pass there and road the train to school, which took another 10 minutes. I am lucky because most students have to ride for an hour or hour and a half.

At OGU there are only about 25 exchange students, and they come from all over. Finland, Germany, Philippines, Taiwan, Mexico, Holland, and other places I'm sure I'm forgetting. I met a lot of great people and I can't wait to get out around town and have fun with them. Tomorrow and Saturday I have more orientation and then I start class on Monday.
Well I have to go now! Dinner is almost ready and I should go downstairs to visit with my お母さん and お父さん (mother and father)

じゃ また 明日 See you later!
リンズィー

Pre-Flight Jitters

It is exactly one week before my departure to Japan!

Everyone always asks me "are you excited?" or "are you nervous?"

The answer is inevitably "both". But now that the departure date is so close, I feel not so much nervous or excited as incredibly impatient. Impatient to get to Japan and not have to answer those questions anymore! There are only so many times a person can explain and re-explain the mixed feelings one has about any significant event. It is almost to the point where it feels like people I barely know think the extremity of the event (or the distance being travelled in this case) is an excuse to ask personal questions they are not entitled to answers for!

Sorry to sound harsh, but sometimes it is nice to just be wished "happy trails!" without a "how are you going to keep your relationship going?" thrown in the mix...

But that is enough of that. To continue, I am in the midst of the tiresome tasks associated with any duration of travel, such as informing credit cards, buying travellers checks, etc. Having to do these things only adds to my impatience to have everything DONE, and be able to enjoy the experience without any unecessary trappings.


じゃ また 明日,

リンズィー