LETTERS FROM HIKONE

Pictures from Kansai GaiDai

2009-03-23T20:44:00.003+09:00

This is "basashi", or raw horse sushi.
I am standing in the middle wearing the grey sweater and khaki pants. This is the Kamo River in Kyoto, and at intervals there are rocks like these which you can cross the river on. A lot of children were running across when we were there.

A group of Kansai GaiDai graduates.

Megumi, myself and Yui at the graduation.

The campus of Kansai GaiDai

The two girls who wanted to have their picture taken with foreigners.

A Japanese Graduation and More Raw Horse

2009-03-23T20:42:00.002+09:00

This past Saturday, the 21st, I went to the graduation ceremony for my friend Yui with Adam and Kevin, my roommate and Yui’s boyfriend. Yui majored in Spanish at Kansai Foreign Language University, or Kansai GaiDai in the Japanese. Although my friends and I could not sit in on the ceremony (neither could the parents of the graduates), I was able to see Yui afterwards wearing a very expensive kimono.

The trip to Kansai GaiDai from Hikone took over an hour and three different train lines. Once we got out of Shiga Prefecture and into Kyoto Prefecture the trains and the stations uniformly improved. The difference in affluence is striking, and several of our friends who are not natives of Shiga Prefecture bring up the disparity when I gripe about Shiga. However, the suburban sprawl extends all the way between Kyoto and Osaka to for a colossal urban area whereas Shiga has plenty of nature. Kansai GaiDai is located south of Kyoto, and we went to the Nakamiya campus, which is in the city of Hirakata.

I arrived with Kevin and Adam a little after noon, and the bus and train station were crowded with young ladies in kimonos. The campus was full of students, and unlike my graduation in America, there was a distinct lack of families. The kimono were strikingly unique and after spending the week in drab Hikone seeing all the bright clothing was a real treat. About five minutes onto the campus a pair of girls approached our trio and asked to take a photograph with us. I think I speak for Kevin and Adam when I say the two girls totally won us over to Kansai GaiDai.

After walking around and texting, Kevin found Yui along with her cousin, Megumi, and a few others of their classmates. Once we had taken droves of pictures, Yui pushed us off on the free food offered in one of the cafeterias so that we would not meet Yui’s mother. At first, the food looked picked over, but with the help of Megumi, we located food at the back of the cafeteria and staked out a place near some tempura (fried) chicken and shrimp, along with assorted deserts.

Afterwards we left the girls to change into less constricting clothing while we grabbed a train to Kyoto. The weather on Saturday was clear and warm, and with a few beers in hand, we trekked along the riverbanks of the Kamo River until Megumi and then Yui showed up. For dinner we at an izakaya, a restaurant where everyone at the table shares appetizer-sized plates assorted Asian and Western food. I had raw horse sushi again, and I maintain that raw horse is the best tasting red meat ever.

Spring Pictures

2009-03-13T15:00:00.005+09:00

A Korean depiction of the Buddha from the 11th century; considered to be the image which originated every modern image of the Buddha.
The collector, Morimoto-san.

Me holding an ancient shamanistic talisman from Pre-Han China.

Easily over thousands of years old.

Early Pre-Han animistic idols.

A decorative sword with early Chinese letters on the blade. This piece is an example of the origins of the characters used in Chinese and Japanese.

A tomb ornament with an example of the origins of Chinese characters, kanji, on the head.

A Tibetan thangka, a painted or embroidered Buddhist banner which was hung in a monastery or a family altar and occasionally carried by monks in ceremonial processions. This thangka is the largest outside of Tibet.

Another 11th century Korean depiction of the Buddha.

An old picture of me from the summer;

portraying the landing part of the Admiral Perry expedition to Japan.

A canal in Kyoto on a street that I enjoy walking on.

A view of Kyoto from the eastern hills, with the Kiyomizu Temple on the right.

A mobile phone charging machine on the grounds of the Kiyomizu Temple,

a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Plum blossoms blooming at the Kiyomizu Temple.

A view of the street leading up to Kiyomizu Temple on the eastern hills of Kyoto.

A Day of Hiking Up a Hill and Listening to Celtic Music

2009-03-11T19:10:00.001+09:00

This past Saturday, I visited the Kiyomizu temple on the eastern mountains of Kyoto. I have actually seen the temple in a few movies about Japan, so I was looking forward to going. A few of my Japanese friends, and my sensei, were surprised that I had not seen Kiyomizu temple yet; the temple is widely popular. Once I arrived at the base of the hill and began the slow walk up the ever-thinning streets towards the temple the crowd became noticeably denser. The street leading to the temple was full of colorful tourist shops selling stereotypical Japanese wares and other assorted junk. Adam came across a rug with a motorcycle, an eagle, and a Confederate flag as the design. One store was selling a mask of Obama and a statue of Colonel Sanders with the title ‘Uncle Sam’ on the base.

The Kiyomizu temple is a complex of buildings with the showpiece being a temple on stilts on the side of the hill with a promenade offering a view of Kyoto. On a clearer day, Osaka is visible to the south. The multitude of people moving around, and taking pictures, was astounding. There is an old tradition that if a person jumped off the promenade, a thirteen-meter fall, and lived, their wish would come true. Apparently, over eighty-five percent of the jumpers survived, and today the practice is prohibited.

After leaving Kiyomizu temple, we ended up walking north our current favorite bar, the Gnome. The bartender remembers us, and usually tells us when the weather in Shiga prefecture will be like when we are leaving. On Saturday, the Gnome had a band start playing right after we arrived. The Gnome is usually nearly vacant when we arrive, and having the bar to ourselves is certainly part of the draw for us. However, on Saturday the place was almost full for the concert. ‘Shanachie’ is a quartet of Japanese women playing the fiddle, harp, among an assortment of percussion instruments and a melodica thrown for good measure, accomplice by a singing in Japanese, English and Gaelic. I ended up buying a CD, and the band was happy that some foreigners had been at the gig; although I think at first, the band thought we were Europeans.

Nagoya: Castles, Wandering and Chain-Smkoers

2009-02-09T19:41:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday I went to Nagoya for the first time. Nagoya is a small city by Japanese standards, and the avenues and side streets were much wider than in Tokyo and Osaka. However, since the main prewar industry of Nagoya was munitions, most of Nagoya was in ruins by 1945. Consequently, the new city is much less complex than most of the cities I have visited here.

Our group left early in order to make the most of the day, and I was up at seven to shower. I took two trains, and on the first train, office workers were drinking Asahi beer and Suntory whiskey at eight in the morning. I was fortunate to sleep away a good portion of the second, longer, train ride, which brought us into Nagoya. At the main train station, we jumped a couple of crowded subways to get to Nagoya castle. Like Kyoto castle, the construction of Nagoya castle occurred after the end of the civil war period of Japanese history. Therefore, the landscape architecture is grand; an entire park is contained within the outer walls of the castle. The war brought the destruction of the original keep, and the reconstructed keep debuted in 1959. The interior is a five-floor museum topped with an observation floor. I am glad I visited, but I think I like the castle here in Hikone better, as the original floor plan of the castle has remained intact.

After the castle visit, the whole group, now numbering twelve after Shigenori arrived from Hikone, moved to the Sakae district of the city. Sakae is where the main shopping and entertaining is to be found. The women broke off to do some clothes shopping while we men wandered the louder shopping arcades of the Yaba-cho district. The clothing is equally as loud in Nagoya as everywhere in Japan. Adam and I stopped in an army surplus store (of which there are more in Japan than America), to find Nazi SS pins being sold alongside Vietnam era pins. Shigenori lead us to an old shrine, outside of which we bought beer and drank across the street watching the people shopping. I have noticed that the Japanese do not walk and drink or eat, and that only foreigners do this. After talking about this at length with our Japanese friends, we have decided to temporarily curtail walking and drinking. Whether or not that will last is another story.

Once we met back up with the women, Shige tried to lead us to a restaurant that served Nagoya food. During that trip, we learned the Japanese word for wandering. I think that we likely wandered for half an hour, and I am certain we retraced our route twice. The restaurant we found was interesting to say the least; the interior was setup like an old Japanese house. We sat on the floor on pads around out table and ate a few different Nagoya takes on fried chicken and pork, all amidst chain-smokers. Towards the end of the meal, the Japanese man behind me turned around and offered me a drink of sake. When I finished the drink, the man loudly proclaimed to the restaurant that I was a foreigner who could handle his drink.

After the meal the group ended up wandering more, trying to find a bar. The girls were tired and I think not that into finding a bar. Nevertheless, I enjoyed wandering and talking to some of the new students who came with us. I am pleased that overall they are a cool group, pretty adventurous and amiable.

A Busy Thursday in January

2009-02-01T17:30:00.001+09:00

On Thursday October 29, Kevin and I were interviewed by NHK. NHK is the Japanese version of the BBC, and has regional offices around Japan. The NHK film crew sat in on classes as well as interviewed students around the building. Over the lunch period, the film crew came into our room to film us eat lunch. After a short tour of our small apartment, I was filmed eating lunch and then participated in an interview. The crew questioned Kevin first, so I formulated an answer while Kevin was talking. Before the filming began, the crew chief made us remove down the Democratic Party of Japan poster that Kevin filched off a nearby building. Apparently, in Japan, political posters are not given to the public, and the crew did not want to film something that was clearly stolen. Kevin and I had a laugh with Tsuchiya-san, the student services coordinator, about the possible political leaning of NHK implied by removing an opposition party poster.

Later in the day, I joined Kevin for a run around Hikone. The usual route Kevin takes goes along the beach, then through part of the town. By the end of the run, I was in poor shape, but I made it and now I am sore from the waist down. I usually travel through the city rather quickly, so running around the city and beach was a nice perspective on the area.

In the evening, I met with my new conversation partner for the first formal meeting. Takyuki and I talked at the restaurant next to JCMU for around two hours. The meeting went well and I am confident that the relationship will be more beneficial for both of us than my last conversation partner.

January Picture Update

2009-01-27T21:55:00.003+09:00

My room for the New Years Party

Pictured with Ryoko, Shoko and Jenee

At the Shiga University Party; pictured with Masa, Ayako and Gereth.

At the Shiga University Party

The restaurant in Osaka where we dined for Kelly and Shige's birthday.

Pictured with Kevin and Shige

On the train to Osaka with Matt and Shige

At the restaurant. From left to right: Matt, Yui, Kelly, Shige, Adam, Kevin and I

At the bar "Rock Rock" in Osaka

From left to right: Back Row: Kelly, Matt, Kim, I, Jenee, Shige

Front Row: Yuuta, Andrew

Three Weeks into January

2009-01-27T15:54:00.000+09:00

My life in Japan right now is going fantastically well; I think mainly because I comprehend much more in class than I was when I left in December. As a member of the returning students, the senseis have looked to me more often to answer questions and voice my opinion. In addition, at this point in my language learning I hope I understand better what I need to do.

The other day Kim, Adam, Kevin, and I went to CoCo Ichibanya Curry House with our friend Shigenori. The curry runs from level zero to ten, and Shige has never eaten level ten. As level ten veterans ourselves, Shige asked us to lunch with him and Kim graciously accompanied us as our photographer. In my opinion, curry is more painful than spicy. Since the spice here is not derived from a pepper, the whole pain experience is different. Shige ended up sweating from the spiciness.

The other day I went to the barber for a haircut. The process of getting a haircut here is fascinating. First, my hair is cut with scissors, then another employee shaves my face and forehead, then I am given a shampoo complete with a quick massage before a final check that includes a device to trim any hair on my ears. The whole experience takes about thirty minutes, uses four different barbers and assistants, and costs ¥1900.

I have been assigned a new conversation partner yesterday, and I have a good feeling about Takayuki. Takayuki is a 27-year-old insurance company worker who plays baseball on the company team. Since Takayuki takes English classes here on Monday and Thursday nights, our meeting time will be sometime after his class ends. I think the process will be a bit more formal than with Akio, since the time slot will be clearly marked. I think I will make talking points as well, to lead the conversation better.

A Few January Weeks In Japan

2009-01-20T16:05:00.001+09:00

The first few weeks in Hikone have gone by well. Japanese class has been a review of material that I have covered, but now the grammar is clicking much better. Overall, my Japanese is improving to the point where there is a bit of nuance. I still have a long way to go, but I am happy I am making progress.

My sensei switched this semester. I now have Kitasaka-sensei as the primary sensei, whereas Aizawa-sensei is the back-up or recitation sensei. The good cop/bad cop dichotomy works very well. Kitasaka-sensei is very methodical and Aizawa-sensei teaches in a rapid-fire style.

I am still not cooking. I still have curry and pasta in the cabinets, along with pounds of coffee and some of Kevin’s tea. Kevin has been doing most of the cooking, making a bunch of Japanese dishes that his girlfriend taught him over break. Yui bought me a fantastic coffee maker because she accidentally broke my old French press, so I am trying out different Japanese brands. Japan has as few major brands such as Ogawa Coffee and UCC, and when I get sick of that, I can just run to Starbucks and pick up coffee I am used to.

The first weekend back in Hikone, I stayed around the dormitory instead of get out of the city. I went to the city of Nagahama, about a ten minute train ride north of Hikone, for a nice dinner with my friends and a few of the new students. I took everyone to a nice restaurant I went to over the summer. The pasta dishes turned out to be very good, but the pizzas that the rest of us ordered were simply cheese melted onto toast. Consequently, at the bar we went to afterwards, “2nd Booze,” I had an order of fish and chips. The bar had a nice European atmosphere and a good number of the beers available were Belgian.

Last weekend the students at Shiga University and Shiga State University threw a welcome back party. Unlike the last two semesters, the students this semester do not seem to be as into partying and more into drinking. Consequently, the number of Americans in attendance was low in comparison to Japanese. However, we all had a good time and had the opportunity to speak to more Japanese students. After the party a group of us went to Mos Burger, a Japanese burger chain, for a meal and then to a restaurant for drinks.

The transition back to Japan was smooth, and I am pleased to be settling in so well.

A train ride across central Japan

2009-01-10T14:30:00.002+09:00

The flight back to Japan was thirteen and a half hours. I fell asleep after an hour or so and spent the rest of the flight in some sort of semi-lucid state. I remember watching two of the films, and periodically reading. I ended up finishing one book and getting a third of the way through a second. Once we arrived in Tokyo’s Narita airport, I made my way quickly through customs and out of the terminal. Any concerns I had had about finding a train station were dispelled by the Japan Rail station in the airport. I purchased a ticket to Tokyo Station and then a Shinkansen (bullet train) ticket to Maibara, the city north of Hikone, for $150. I lugged my bags down to the platform, and found my seat in something of a haze. As the train pulled out of the Narita station, I promptly fell asleep again.

Tokyo Station has been undergoing construction since the first time I visited last summer. The current condition is of barely controlled chaos. I followed the signs for the Shinkansen up escalators and down a maze of hallways, continually carrying more bags than most of the Japanese seemed to think was prudent. However, once I arrived at my platform the train left promptly, and I found myself sleeping in another train car. Sleeping is the best active camouflage for riding Japanese trains. Part way through the three-hour ride from Tokyo to Maibara, I purchased a shot glass of coffee off the attendant for $3.

A ten-minute taxi ride from Maibara got me back to the dormitory. My friends who were spending the evening in the apartment I occupy with Kevin greeted me upon my return. Yui gave me a new coffee maker and Kevin got me a Starbucks tumbler from his trip to Kobe.

I am content to be back in Japan. Hikone feels like home just as much as Michigan does, and being back in classes and having a daily schedule is nice. The group of new students much more sedate and uniform than the last two semesters, but after talking to a few, I have met some interesting people. Kevin cleaned up the apartment and added quite a few posters. We now have two from a Kyoto club, one from the Israeli bar in Osaka, a political poster and a “Jesus Christ = Superstar” poster from when the Japanese version of the musical came to Hikone. Overall, I could not be happier with the state of the room. Now I just have to get to the store where Yui bought the coffee maker for me, as the handle broke off this morning.

Tokyo Pictures

2008-11-28T00:08:00.008+09:00

At the "News Deli" restaurant and bar in Shinjuku.
The News Deli Restaurant and Bar in Shinjuku.
A park next to the Shinjuku Center Building

Akihabara

Samurai armor in the National Museum in Ueno Park

Ueno Park

A performer in Ueno Park

The "pepper" statue in Akasuka, near our hostel.

"Engrish" on a bag in Shibuya

An Asahi poster in Shibuya

At the main bus terminal in Shibuya

The main intersection in Shibuya around 11PM

The bar 'Rooney 2008' in southern Shibuya

The Shibuya station with newly installed art.

Shibuya

A department store sign...

Some Japanese are Obama fans

Get an 'explosive' haircut in Shibuya

Kanye West sunglasses in Shibuya

My favorite clothing store, Uniqlo, in Tokyo

Shibuya shopping district

The busiest intersection I have seen; in Shibuya.

Shinjuku

Harajuku

"Sexy Dynamite" in Harajuku

The Harajuku shopping district

A sign on the subway reminding you not to drink on the train.

Another Lively Friday in Kyoto

2008-11-19T14:26:00.001+09:00

On Friday the 14th, I went to a local grade school again. This time I was at Inae-Higashi, which was considerably farther than the last school I went to; Kawase. Unlike the visit to Kawase, I spent considerably more time with the children than in the principals’ office. I was again ushered into the office upon our arrival, and tea was served. Yire, Andrew, and Braden were much better than the students were over the summer, and the three of them engaged the staff in Japanese unlike the summer group. The principal offered us Japanese sweets and then we went over to the gymnasium to meet the children.
Over seventy-five first-graders were waiting for us. A song from the children greeted our entrance; some played cymbals, recorders, and triangles while some formed a choir. After the song, we played games with the children and then made some crafts. The children all seemed pleased to see us; I had a few children holding each of my hands. Before we left, the class played dodge ball; and I had a blast. There is something great about dodge ball that I cannot really explain; but the kids loved to play. If you were hit, you went behind the other team and then if you were able to catch an errant ball you could strike at the opposing team from behind and get back in. I always had a group of students surrounding me, running and jumping out of the way of the flying red balls. The children never threw at the JCMU students, but we attacked each other and the hit I scored on Andrew drew a great cheer from my team of first-graders.

After a brief rest back at JCMU, I set out with my friends to Kyoto. The Koka Women’s University, a private Buddhist college, had invited JCMU to send students to Kyoto for a party. The Koka people had sent ahead vouchers for the taxi fares, and once we arrived at the university, our contact at Koka gave us gift certificates for ¥3000 to cover the ¥2000 train fare. In short, Koka University paid to attend a party thrown for us where the Koka University fed well and entertained by the members of the English Speaking Society of the university. After eating Domino’s pizza, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a plateful of sushi, we played bingo and a few other social games before the party ended. Taxis drove us back to Kyoto Station where Adam, Kevin, and I set out for dinner. After a nice walk through the eastern part of Kyoto, we met Yui and Kelly and made for an izakaya: a Japanese restaurant style, which serves every types of Japanese food and even some foreign foods. The few izakaya, which I have been, are generally large affairs, occupying a few floors of a building. Usually my group has eaten at a section of a long table, our portion of the table marked by curtains hung for privacy. Yui ordered us raw horse, which was delicious. After a few beers at the riverfront, I caught the last train back to Hikone.

Habituated

2008-11-09T20:52:00.000+09:00

I seem to have fallen into a routine and before I realized it, time has flashed by. I am not ready to think about leaving, but with a four-day break at the end of the month and a trip to Tokyo and maybe Hiroshima in mind I am excited.
During the week, I spend a few nights at Starbucks. One of the office women works there part time and Ishihara-san will usually come by our table for a bit to chat with us. Ishihara-san is young and talking with her helps me practice speaking informally. Besides, Ishihara-san is hysterical and jokes well with us.
The Japanese did not get the memo that the Christmas season does not start until after Thanksgiving. Starbucks plays Christmas music constantly, and I think I may have to buy better earphones to drone out ‘Silent Night’ and ‘White Christmas’. The local stores are already selling Christmas decorations. At Starbucks Ishihara-san pointed out to us that the ‘Chrismas’ blend had been misspelled.
For all the talk about the Kansai region (where I live) having a rude nature, the people overall are very nice. Storekeepers are happy to hear me speak Japanese to them, even thought I am at a low level. One of the Starbucks clerks told me that I was very skillful, which is not true but still nice. Even though storekeepers are generally friendly, it is nice that so many Japanese encourage us.
I have developed an unhealthy addiction to the clothing store Uniqlo. Uniqlo sells everything except shoes, but I have bought a few shirts and sweaters there as well as a snappy looking flat cap. Every time I try on something I am amused that in Japan I wear and XL size shirt.

A Blast from the Past

2008-10-31T14:48:00.001+09:00

So I typed up this post a few weeks back and I didn't get around to publishing it until now:

The weekend of October 10th through 13th

Last weekend was eventful as far as typical weekends go in Hikone. There was another national holiday this past Monday, a Sports Day, so we had a long weekend. Friday brought about the usual relaxing and lazing about. I roused myself around six in the evening to catch a train with Megan to Minami-Hikone, one stop south, where there are two sushi restaurants. We met Adam, Austin, and Shawn at a mall and got sushi at the cheaper, noisier restaurant. Afterwards we blew some money at the arcade. The arcade games in Japan seem to be geared more to the novice player than seasoned experts. I ended up playing a racing game while Adam improved his score in the Gundam game. For those not familiar with Gundam, it is a giant-robot anime from the 1980s. In the arcade game, you sit in a cockpit and get a card that tracks your score for you. The Gundam game is ¥500, which is a little steep for me.

On Saturday, I went with Katherine to Shiga University, where we have our economics class. The director of JCMU, Dr. Reagan, delivered a lecture on one of the feudal lords of Hikone: Ii Naosuke. We joined about ten of our fellow students there, taking up positions in the back of the old lecture hall built in the late 1890s. Midway through the first half of the lecture, Dr. Reagan was bored with the format and decided to have the Japanese engage the students in conversation about the topic of the arrival of the Americans in Japan in 1853. Before Katherine and I could beat a hasty retreat Dr. Reagan saw us, and with my history background, there was no getting away. I’m thankful that we stayed, because my group of five Japanese pensioners was actually very interested in what I had to say. Luckily, two of them spoke English; unluckily my Japanese is still to poor to communicate the concepts I wanted to. I started with Manifest Destiny, and then went into the Mexican-American War and somewhere in there, I got lost. When Dr. Reagan came by to see how the groups were doing, I was able to get him to explain the whole thing. Right after Dr. Reagan resumed the lecture by answering the questions of the group the second lecturer of the day publicly yelled at Dr. Reagan for using English to talk with the American students. Apparently, Dr. Abe was of a different opinion about Naosuke than Dr. Reagan, and the lectures were intended more as a contest between the two viewpoints. Since Dr. Abe is apparently a staunch nationalist, Dr. Reagan offended him by talking about Naosuke as a great reformer by working with America to modernize Japan.

The whole episode had greatly disturbed Dr. Reagan, who really is quite a passive person. In attendance at the lecture were some friends of Dr. Reagan from around Hikone, amongst them were Dr. Reagan’s dentist, Nakajima-sensei, and his wife Tomiko-san. The couple took seven of us, and Dr. Reagan, out to dinner in order to cheer him up. Our group went to a Chinese restaurant, Ryu Rin, in downtown Hikone. Adam and I arrived late since Dr. Reagan came back to JCMU to collect us; when we arrived, dishes had already been placed on the tables and alcohol had been served. Nakajima-sensei and Tomiko-san ordered us food and beer for a few hours. I had some excellent beef as well as some new spices that suite the Asian palate.

On Sunday, I roused myself early and got to Kyoto at ten in the morning. Adam was still sleeping off the round of drinking we held after the dinner at Ryu Rin. I walked for miles along Kawaramachi Street, which runs north to south parallel to the Kamo River. While I did not find the fencing store I had intended to find, I had a great walk and found more shopping districts. I walked down a shopping arcade full of fishmongers, another for fabrics, and a few more arcades selling typical tourist wares. I found a book at the Random Walk bookstore in the Teramachi Arcade and made my way to a McDonalds to wait for Adam, where I promptly fell asleep next to my book and coffee.

Once Adam found me at McDonalds, we called the ladies (Bethany, Caitlyn, Liz, and Megan) who were at the Heian Shrine. There was a festival that Sunday; the temple precinct was full of small stages where student groups performed synchronized dances and cheers. Each team had their own music, choreography, and cheer making the whole festival a loud, confusing, and thoroughly entertaining. At the shrine, Megan ran into our friend Joram and together the eight of us walked south into Gion where we met up with Eleanor and Ryan. Eleanor, Joram, and Ryan are all English teachers for a private company and they spend their weekends in Kyoto as the surrounding Kansai region is boring compared to the city. We spent the rest of the evening hitting a few ex-patriot bars in the city.

The latest photodump

2008-10-31T13:09:00.011+09:00

Katherine, Yuta, Nathan and I at Yuta's apartment.
The JCMU Halloween Party '08
Kevin, Ishihara-san and I at the Halloween Party
Adam, Nathan and I in Kyoto.

Myself, Nathan, Austin and Adam in Nagahama.

Kyoto in the fall of '08.

Adam and I cover 'Journey' at karaoke.

In costume for the 150 anniversary of the first treaty between America and Japan.

At a Shiga University party in the summer of '08.

My summer '08 class.

With the Mekata children Mai-Mai and Ha-Ha and their friends at the JCMU Halloween Party in the fall of '08.

My conversation partner Akio.

Kevin, Yui and I at the Gnome in Kyoto.

With Dr. Reagan and his Japanese friends at the nicest Chinese restaurant in Hikone.

With Shoko at the Toyota Museum at Toyota City in Aichi Prefecture.

Myself, Kevin, Nathan, Adam and Austin drinking in front of a Lawson in Kyoto.

Adam and I on a train to Kyoto.

"The man who writes about himself and his own time is the only man who writes about all people and all time." - George Bernard Shaw

2008-10-10T11:17:00.001+09:00

I’d like to write that more is going on here, but I’ve settled into a routine during the week. My diet now consists almost exclusively of curry, pasta and sweet breads from a bakery down the road. Thankfully my friend Katherine has taken it upon herself to attempt to improve my diet by cooking for me on occasion. Most of my time is consumed by studying Japanese, as I have fallen behind. I’m no longer putting in much time in the library, since I don’t have time to spare.

My class at Shiga University has been fun but rather easy. I’m convinced that the class is billed to the Japanese students as an English-language course and not a business course. The Japanese students in the class are friendly and try hard to speak English, but overall contribute little to a subject that would be difficult if taught at a proper collegiate level. Since very few American students have a background in business most of the input from the JCMU students is painfully bad. Apparently coming from America is enough of a qualification for them to speak at length about American businesses. I don’t have the hubris to think that my own experience qualifies me to speak at length about economics, so I’ve been reading the Economist online. However, the professor does not have a background in the American economy so most of the time the lectures simply praise the Japanese economy and work ethic. I’m disgusted that so many of my classmates have jumped on-board with blindly following the lectures. What I have learned outside the class is that Japan has just as many problems as the Western world.

Last weekend I went to Kyoto for the night, eating at a traditional Japanese restaurant with one of our Japanese friends: Megumi. Afterwards we went to a few bars and a club. The bars we went to were imitation British bars and had live English football games on the televisions. I could have spent more time there if Kevin had not wanted to dance as bad as he did. The club was fun again, but I’m still struck by how disheveled and surly most of the locals appear at the clubs. I’ve been told that clubbing is a foreign concept to the Japanese, so the people who go to clubs are not generally mainstream.

At a party thrown by the Shiga University students a few of our acquaintances got ridiculously drunk and vomited in the bathroom and out front. My friends fortunately shared my disgust at them for doing something like that at a party we were invited to. The rest of the party was useful, as I got to speak Japanese to a few friendly Shiga University and Shiga Prefecture University students. I’m still amused at home many Japanese kids who are under the legal drinking age, 20, do not drink even when offered alcohol.

Most of the ‘drama’ amongst the students has fallen away as people have become more honest with each other. Everyone has pretty much fallen into their own camps, and people like the drunkards get ostracized for embarrassing the school. Everyone has gotten tired of apologizing for them to the Japanese. To many of the Japanese we meet we represent America, and in our orientation the staff reminds us to be good cultural ambassadors for America.

September Round-Up

2008-10-01T14:35:00.000+09:00

This morning there was a minor tremor while I was in class. My first earthquake experience in Japan was mild and uneventful to be sure, but now I can check that off the list.

The last few weeks have been rather eventful. Two weekends ago I went to Kyoto with a Japanese friend of ours who took us to a cool bar and a mediocre club. We drank some on the banks of the Kamo River beforehand. On Saturday nights on the promenade along the Kamo a troupe of fire-dancers used to perform over the summer; a jazz quartet has taken their place. The jazz music changed the atmosphere, instead of drumming and the sounds of the crowd the area feels more relaxed.

At one we went into the Hub Bar. The Hub caters to the expatriate population of Kyoto by creating a fake English pub atmosphere. I cannot help but be jaded to that sort of experience since most of the foreigners there are simply obnoxious. Since Japan seems to tolerate public intoxication more than America, the foreigners drink with a reckless abandonment of judgment. If I had not found Strongbow Cider and the Arsenal game on the TV I think I would have been much more miserable.

Around two everyone had finished the drinks at the Hub and we left to follow our stumbling guide down the street to a club our Japanese friends knew of. I found myself walking down a small side street populated by intoxicated Japanese shuffling between bars, clubs and love hotels. The club I was escorted to, ‘Sam & Dave’, from the outside looked awful. The line of boisterous, rude and surly Japanese and foreigners out front did little to convince me that this club was going to be worth my time or ¥2000. Once I was convinced we rode an elevator reeking of urine and vomit up to the second floor entrance.

My expectations were lowered still when the bouncer searched me for, I assume, weapons. However, the first floor of the club was actually nice. The first floor has a posh bar serving a good amount of American and European beer, some couches and billiards. The second floor was longer and narrower with some tables but predominately open space for the dancing. Any notions I had about Japanese fashion were thrown out the window. Most of the people were dressed like cheap extras in a music video, and the whole place smelled like sweat. However, it was hard to not enjoy myself with the light show and the music once I found someplace to not bump into sweaty Japanese and seedy foreigners. At about five we left the club, had breakfast at a corner restaurant and then made our way back to Hikone once the trains had started to run.

On Thursday my Japanese Economy and Business class took an eight hour trip to the Toyota headquarters in, of all places, Toyota City. Toyota city is an industrial town lacking the usual charm of small Japanese cities. During the factory tour the docent informed us that there are over a dozen Toyota factories surrounding the city in Aichi Prefecture. Nevertheless, the grounds of the factory and the museum we visited afterwards were meticulously clean, with well manicured landscaping. After visiting the museum designed to impress upon visiting employees the greatness of Toyota, my class went across the street to an office building to have an informal lecture with an American about his experiences with Toyota. The lecture was the high-point of the trip, since I was very interested to listen to what Mr. Ostreicher had to say about making the transition to the Japanese corporate lifestyle.

This past Saturday I went to Nagahama with Kelly, Adam, Austin, Kevin and Nathan. After leading a group of fourteen around Kyoto, the six of us made a much better group. It was a real delight to crack a beer at the train station and just relax. The weather has just turned cold, and on a bright fall day the cities are much more tolerable than the oppressive humidity of the summer. Nagahama is a tourist city, with a much larger shopping district than Hikone. Unlike Hikone, Nagahama is not a castle town. In 1600 the lord of the Nagahama castle was defeated, and the military presence left the town as Hikone became the regional power until the decline of the Ii in the late 1800’s. Therefore, Nagahama has a much more open and cheerful populace. Nagahama is also much more affluent than Hikone. The streets are cleaner, the landscaping more pleasing and the numerous canals are not consumed by green scum as in Hikone.

Overall my experience this semester is going very well. I’m close with less people, but the friends I have are excellent people and very adventurous. I’ve also gotten Kevin and Nathan to appreciate football, and we spent last Saturday at Yabs watching Liverpool and Manchester United games. Rich will be moving out towards the end of the month, and I’ll have the dorm to myself. Rich is a good roommate, and since he studies elsewhere I rarely see Rich until late at night or early in the morning. Otherwise I’m looking forward to getting a chance to return to the fencing stores I found in Kyoto.

Class at Shiga University

2008-09-19T10:34:00.001+09:00

Thursday I had the first session of my Japanese Economy and Business class at Shiga University. I had been to Shiga U before for field trips and a festival, so I knew my way around the campus and cafeteria. I biked over early with a group of JCMU students to get lunch in the cafeteria, and I had an excellent squash curry. Eating lunch made us late for the class, so I’m going to have to work out something for eating lunch.

The class is about 15 JCMU and 15 Shiga U students. The room was small and hot, but Professor Maeda said we’ll be moved to a bigger room later. Professor Maeda has a master’s degree from Indian University and therefore speaks English well. Unfortunately, few of the Shiga U students seem to have a firm grasp of English. Since we work in groups to give presentations on newspaper articles, I can see the JCMU students doing a lot more work translating for the Shiga U students. Nevertheless, meeting the Japanese kids is a great experience. One of the group members, Shoko, lives at the JCMU and is taking English language classes. The other Japanese student is a kid from Kobe, who makes a 5 hour commute to Hikone. My JCMU partner is my friend Kevin, so that at least will work out fine.

A group of students from Waseda University in Tokyo came out on Tuesday and is staying in Hikone until Saturday. Last night a group of girls came by JCMU and hung out for a while. The program at Waseda is taught in English and all the Japanese students I’ve met are nearly fluent. We’re supposed to hang out with them more tonight, which should be fun. Also, the typhoon heading for Osaka is now going to Tokyo so there shouldn’t be any insane weather this weekend.

Adventures in Cooking

2008-09-17T21:04:00.001+09:00

Tonight Kevin and I decided to eat the steak we bough from Iruha. Marie-Angela provided the recipe and when we seemed to vacillate in the face of cooking such a nice piece of meat she graciously seized the initiative and did the cooking. We fried the steak on a skillet before it went in what passes for an oven in my small kitchen. We put some pepper on the steak before cooking, and Marie-Angela put margarine on it in the oven. The steak exceeded out expectations. If the cut of meat cost less than $18 I would likely be making that every single night.

The Respect-for-the-Aged Long Weekend

2008-09-17T13:32:00.000+09:00

On Friday after a grueling first exam the afternoons’ entertainment was provided by the front office staff. At one Fujii-san, the Shiga Prefecture bureaucrat in charge of the front office gave the student body the safety lecture. We are to maintain our “composure” if there is a fire and leave without causing a “commotion”. There are defibrillators in both the dormitory and the academic building, and Fujii-san instructed us that in the event of a person losing their “conscience” we were to defibrillate the person. Afterwards the municipal fire department visited the center with an earthquake simulation truck. We sat around a table and the truck vibrated up to the highest level earthquake the Japanese have experienced. Hikone is pretty safe as far as earthquakes are concerned, yet the locals take earthquake prevention seriously here. At three representatives of the American Consulate-General for Osaka-Kobe came by to offer us ballots and give a recruiting speech. Since I ought to have a ballot on the way from Lyon Township, I skipped most of the forms they brought. Friday night was relaxing; we hit Yabus’ bar and I nabbed a few Heartland beers before we took off at midnight to get some sleep before Kyoto.

Kyoto is still awesome; while not as big as Osaka or Tokyo, Kyoto is much more manageable. Nate and I guided twelve other students around Kyoto, which was a mistake. I took everyone to the Seibu Burger restaurant on the tenth floor of the Kyoto station. After two weeks in Japan that was a mighty good burger. Once everyone had made it through lunch we went through the station to get a good view of Kyoto, and the off to the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. I’ve decided that before I leave I need to see the Pavilion during a snowfall. The building is stunning in person; pictures do not capture just how neat the Golden Pavilion is.

By the time everyone was through the Golden Pavilion grounds the sun was starting to go down, so we made our way to the Teramachi shopping arcade. The bus ride was long since we had to go from the north-west corner of the city to the south-east, but I found another fencing store in Kyoto on the bus ride. At Gion the group slit up and I took my group to Sukiya, a donburi restaurant. Sukiya is basically a diner; there are only a few items on the menu but everything is tasty. After dinner the shopping arcades were closed but we walked around a bit and enjoyed a few beers on the banks of the Kamo River, listening to a jazz quartet that had setup nearby.

When I came out of the Lawson convenience store with a beer in hand I ran into a friend of Megan’s, an Australian named Jerame. Jerame lives in Hikone and teaches English for a private company. Jerame had a friend of his from the same company with him on Saturday, and both the guys really seem to hate Japan. I met a guy at Yabus’ like this as well. I’m really thrilled to be here, but I’m not contractually obligated to stay in Japan as these guys are. Still, I continue meeting foreigners who don’t really appreciate what being abroad really means. We’re definitely going to be seeing Jerame again, so I’m going to have to pick his brain about why he’s in Japan.

I’d like to say something interesting happened on Sunday and Monday, but I pretty much wasted time and did some work. Nothing remarkable happened. Everyone has formed cliques and after a few weeks I am not surprised. There are a lot more odd people at JCMU this semester than the last, and I’m disappointed. I cannot escape the feeling that the anime freaks bring down the Japanese image of Americans. The summer had a lot more interesting people, but at least the core of my clique is made up of some rather awesome people.

Sayonara

"What we have here is a failure to communicate."

2008-09-11T12:07:00.000+09:00

Toyo-san and I enjoy a bottle of Heartland at Yab's Bar

Last night Kevin and I went over to Yab’s for an evening beer. Wednesday nights are slow at Yabs’; when we got in at 8 there was only one other patron. The Japanese slowly came in and Kevin convinced me to talk to one of the locals. Toyo-san ended up being very friendly, and with two dictionaries and nearly all the other bar patrons we were able to have a pretty decent conversation about the American music videos on the TV.

During the day we found an awesome family-owned liquor store in Hikone: Sazanami. The old man behind the counter offered us some Nihonshu brand sake to try. While he described it as gasoline the sake went down smoother than any liquor I’ve have recently. The nearly two liter bottle was a mere two thousand Yen, and Breanne bought one. Nathan and I stuck to beer. Sazanami has an extensive offering of European beers; mainly Belgian and German but a few British as well. I grabbed a few cans of Tokyo Black, a rich and smooth porter while Nathan is trying the Aooni India Pale Ale. We’ll see if that’s good.

"The Return of the Native"

2008-09-10T10:49:00.000+09:00

Air guitar at 'All Days' karaoke parlour

I’ve been in Hikone now for a little over a week and it is great to be back. The city is the same and the familiarity has been a gat comfort. Several times I have encountered Japanese who came up to me to say it was good to see me, although they’ve all been shopkeepers. When I went back to Yab’s bar the waitress Minami had my usual bottle of Heartland beer opened for me as soon as I walked through the door.

The first few days in Hikone were a lot of fun. Along with my fellow returning students Nate and Katherine, I gave the new students tours of the best spots in Hikone. We’ve already been to a few restaurants I only tried briefly. I got a chance to take the group to CoCo Curry House for dinner, and then to karaoke.

Last Friday some high school students from Maibara, the city one train stop north of Hikone, came by the JCMU to speak English. The two girls in my group ended up knowing very little English, so I got a chance to practice my Japanese. The one girl kept lying to us, stating with a straight face that her father was a professional golfer and that her family owned four cars. The lying students’ friend was in complete hysterics over my skepticism. The other American student in our group was a first year, and had only studied Japanese for two days, and had no idea what was going on.

Yesterday another group of English language students came by, but this group was mainly college students and adults. I spent most of the time talking to a middle-aged housewife who was not confident speaking in English. I helped her translate the ice-breaker questionnaire and then we talked about sports; she plays golf and I explained fencing to her. The other housewife nearby kept told us we were very “attractive young people” and invited us all out to dinner sometime soon.

On Saturday we went for brunch at the coffee shop across the road. For a mere 950 yen I got one cup of coffee and two pancakes! Never again…

On the top floor of a local mall I found a museum to feudal Japanese horsemanship. Models of horses decked out in 16th and 17th century military armour decorate the room, and there is a fantastic view of the city from that floor. I got a chance to use my Japanese with the docent who attempted to explain Japanese riding to me with limited success, yet I think it was a rewarding experience.

Right now the biggest shock for me is that the students have already split up into cliques. Over the summer the cliques seemed larger and much more permeable, now there are distinct groups. I think this may be because there are a lot more otaku, the slang given to fanatics of Japanese anime and culture. I’ve not gotten into any arguments with these people yet, but they irk me. I feel like their complete adoption and emulation of the strangest fashion trends casts all foreign students in a poor light.

However, I’ve found a group of pretty interesting and adventurous students. I’m looking forward to exploring the local area more thoroughly. Starting next week I’m taking a class on the Japanese economy at the local Shiga University. I’ll be in the class with some local students who I’ve already met before, so getting better acquainted with them will be nice.

The Latest Pictures

2008-07-11T18:29:00.000+09:00

The Daibutsu or Buddha Vairocana
The Sika Deer at Nara
Petting a friendly deer
Lauren, Will, myself and Jon at a local festival. Lauren paid good money for her yukata, I got the male version for $15. No one told us only foreigners wear yukata to the festivals here...
Horyu-Ji in Nara
Horyu-Ji in Nara
The group before the Horyu-Ji gates. I'm in the back under the guy with his arms spread.

A Saturday of Sightseeing

2008-07-11T18:23:00.001+09:00

Last weekend most of the JCMU took a field trip to Nara to see two of the primary temples in the city. July seems to be the hottest month here, and we were fortunate to have an air conditioned coach. This was the second time I rode on a chartered coach here, and both times the coaches had chandelier like crystals from the ceiling along with mirrors. I was informed that the reason for the gaudy decorations is that sometimes the coaches are rented for drinking parties. The trip to Nara took a few hours, and I fell in and out of sleep. My friend Steve is adamant to take as many pictures as he could, and every so often I would wake up to him shouting in surprise at finding a particularly nice shot. The drive to Nara was the first time I saw vast Japanese forests. The hillsides were wild and covered in pines.

About halfway between Hikone and Nara our two JCMU coaches stopped at a highway rest station. I made my way into the huge bathroom facility to find only two western toilets. Many of the Japanese bathrooms have one western toilet and one traditional trough in the floor. Besides the oddity that causes the environmentally conscious bathroom planners neglect to install towel dispensers. I was lucky to find a useful air blower to dry my hands, but I have noticed that many Japanese carry handkerchiefs with them to use.

The first temple we stopped at was the Todai-Ji temple. The grounds surrounding the temple are home to sacred Sika deer. Hawkers sell special crackers to feed to the deer. This is a bad idea. I watched one of my classmates surrounded by hungry deer which actually hopped into the air to grab the crackers from her. Steve conned a deer into running in a circle after him to get a cracker, but his plan was foiled by another group of deer. Our student services coordinator had her itinerary eaten by one of the deer.

The Todai-Ji is a large complex of temples and monasteries. As we made our way to the Great Buddha Hall, the group came upon a sight rather out of place. A group of Mexican high school students was performing dances in traditional Mexican costumes before one of the closed gates to the Great Buddha Hall. The whole sight was rather surreal and truly out of place. The Great Buddha Hall is home to a colossal Buddha statue. Entering the temple, surrounded by the smell of incense, is an awe inspiring experience. The hall is dimly lit, and the smell of wood and incense permeates the whole building. After leaving the Todai-Ji we walked around the nearby streets, bought some curry for lunch and then headed out to the second temple on our trip.

The second and last temple we visited was the Horyu-Ji, also in Nara. The temple was commissioned by the legendary Prince Shotoku and one of the buildings in the complex is an air conditioned museum displaying artifacts over a thousand years old. The grounds are immaculate; while we were there an army of attendants were sweeping paths and tending to the grounds. The Horyu-Ji is a sprawling complex of buildings, and walking through them gives a taste of a much older architectural style.

Our coach left the heat of Nara and made an hour long trek into Kyoto. I got out at Kyoto station, and a few of our number made their way inside to travel to Osaka. A group of JCMU ladies jumped into two cabs and headed to the Gion district to see the apprentice geisha, the maiko, who walk around the streets wearing gorgeous kimonos. Jason, Nathan, Scott and I planned on going shopping in Terumachi. The director of the JCMU, Dr. Reagan, accompanied us to Kyoto and the five of us grabbed cheeseburgers on the eleventh floor of the Kyoto station before Dr. Reagan translated our directions to a cab driver and saw us off.

I visited Terumachi street covered arcade before, but with a different group of friends. Nathan was looking for a pair of shoes, and we went into some rather wild shops until he found a pair of blue and green Puma sneakers. The shops in Terumachi are a neat assortment, and I regret that I wasn’t able to make it into the English language bookstore on this particular trip. I’m halfway into a book I purchased on the last outing, a translation of a historical fiction written about samurai. “The Samurai Banner of Furin Kazan” has proved to be a quick read. Terumachi Street was half closed when we arrived, so after moving through a few other arcades we made our way into Gion.

The four of us walked along ‘Third Avenue’, Sanjo, into Gion. The streets are packed with trendy Japanese bar hopping and listening to street performers. The musicians on the streets bring out amplifiers and blast pop music at small crowds of admirers in an attempt to land a recording contract. The Gion bars didn’t appeal to us that night, so we walked along the Kamo River, beers in hand. The sidewalk next to the Kamo is really a wide pedestrian boulevard packed with people at night. We sat down on the banks to drink and chat. A Korean businessman who knew English talked to Jason for a while. A group of performers setup nearby, and we watched them dance while twirling burning spheres of pitch on chains around their bodies accompanied by drumming.

After watching the fire dancing we found a small street full of people and walked back to the station to catch the last train. The street that ran parallel to the river had a few bars along it, and the patrons walked down the street dressed up in riotous clubbing attire. One bar had a stuffed bear in the window holding a sign reading: “My name is beer. Come on a my house.”

On the train ride back to Hikone we found a man passed out on the floor of the car we were in. At first I was worried, but once he started snoring we decided he would be fine. The passengers stepped over him and shared a laugh, and a conductor woke him when our express stopped at Yasu and we changed to a local.

Osaka

2008-07-06T11:17:00.001+09:00

Somewhere between Hikone and Kyoto, on my way to Osaka, I was struck by how the scenery racing past our train car was an uninterrupted urban landscape. In Hikone, the city is broken by rice paddies and rivers, yet the area is entirely urban sprawl. The train ride from Hikone to Osaka is nonetheless beautiful. The cities here in Japan are situated between picturesque mountains that provide a green contrast to the concrete skyscrapers.

The train terminal in Osaka is nothing like the grand main station in Kyoto. The Osaka station was even larger than the Kyoto station, with trains and subways arriving on many different levels. The chief difference is that the Osaka station is no where near as pleasing to the eye as Kyoto. Immediately after disembarking in Osaka my group of eight was pulled along in a sea of Japanese. The train station was overwhelming in the morning. Thankfully Jon and Ryan had read through a guidebook and navigated us to the local terminal where we caught another train.

The two locations out group seemed most interested in visiting were the Outback Steakhouse and a street called Den-Den Town. Our navigators were unable to find the Outback Steakhouse, but Den-Den Town was much easier to locate. Den-Den Town is the epicenter of anime fandom in Osaka. The street is lined with anime souvenir stores of all sorts. I found action figures, models, t-shirts, caps, mug and costumes. Costumes of female anime characters were found at every store. My friend Jon bought a costume of a character from Final Fantasy X for $130. The worst part of the Den-Den Town is how unbearably seedy the street is. Every block contained a store selling pornography. For the first time in Japan I saw homeless and litter on the streets. Even at night, Den-Den Town is still an ugly street bath in a neon glow.

At this point Lauren, Jon, Steve, Scott and I left the other three guys we came with at a maid café and made our way to the shopping-arcades around Dotombori. A maid café is a restaurant where the patrons are served food and chatted to by women dressed in scanty French maid costumes. The five of us were not into that sort of thing so we moved on. Dotombori contained many shopping arcades; these covered streets are one of the coolest features of Japanese cities. Even the small hamlets surrounding Hikone have a covered arcade or two. The arcades in Osaka were even busier than the few I visited in Kyoto.

After our walk around Dotombori we walked across Mido Avenue to Amerika-Mura, the epicenter for finding foreign fashions in Osaka. The Lonely Planet guidebook described Amerika-Mura as a “…concrete park with benches where you can sit and watch the parade of fashion victims.” I doubt I could have said it better. Amerika-Mura is filled with colorful stores selling vintage American clothes, gothic maid costumes and urban hip-hop paraphernalia. I am still amazed at what a high price an old college t-shirt can fetch at a boutique in Japan. After seeing the sights in Amerika-Mura, we got back to the train station for the long ride back to Hikone.

My Morning as a Giant

2008-06-29T12:35:00.001+09:00

On Friday the JCMU students were sent to elementary schools. The trip was planned into the program, and at the usual time class started we lined up in the lobby according to the school we would go to. I went to Kawase, a school on the edge of the city. Our professors lined up and wished us luck. My feeling is that the trip was supposed to teach us that even second-graders know more Japanese than we do, which turned out to be the case. However, I took some consolation in the fact that for the morning I was a giant amongst Lilliputians.

We arrived at the school after a cramped taxi ride and changed our shoes for slippers. Every student here leaves their street shoes at the door and puts on school slippers. We were given the generic burnt orange slippers that seem to be everywhere and only fit half my foot. The principal and vice- principal met us at the door, and showed my group of five into the principal's office. Inside the office a secretary brought us green tea and the principal told us about the school. Kawase is going to be graduating the 119th class this year. On the office walls were black and white pictures of the principals dating back to the founding of the school.

Soon three second-grade girls arrived at the office to take the five of us to the gymnasium, where we were to play with the kids for a few hours. As we walked through the school the children in class would pause and point at us, with surprised looks on their faces. In the gym the 76 second-graders were lined up in neat rows on the floor while a teacher played the piano. We were ushered into five chairs up front while one of the girls read an introduction thanking us for visiting the school. Then the whole class sang a song in which they asked us to play with them, or something of that nature. By this point I had realized that I wouldn’t be able to understand anything the kids were saying except that we were Americans.

After the song we introduced ourselves. The first girl in my group was Katherine, and the Japanese loved to pronounce her name. As she moved around the room, the children would try to say her name as best they could. Grace, Jason and I have names that were soon forgotten. The last guy in my group was Michael. When the teacher asked the calls to repeat his name we heard a chorus of “Mikey,” come children muttered “Michael Jackson” and giggled a lot. Michael was not pleased but took it well.

Once we had finished introducing ourselves the students set up games around the gym. I went to a marble game, a ball on string game and then Othello. Grace and Katherine played at origami and bean-bag sacks with the girls. The children picked up on the fact that I had no idea how to play the marble game, and through gestures I was surprised that they were able to teach me. The children at Othello did pretty well, but I asserted by college-educated skills to only beat them by two pieces. Once the structured games were over the class was split into six teams and the teams lined up across the gym from each other in pairs. The other JCMU students and I were distributed through the groups. The game was a variant on rock-paper-scissors. Each team started at an orange cone, and the two contestants would run out to meet in the middle, then play rock-paper-scissors. The winner ran past the loser, trying to reach the opposition cone to score a point. I figured this out by watching, since the teachers threw us into the game.

The children in my group were more interested in my height than in the game. None of the children were taller than my waist, and they delighted in jumping to see if they could be as tall as me. One of the boys tied to jump on my back, so I picked him up and he yelled at his friends that he was now taller then the rest of the class. After that he pointed at my nose and called me Pinocchio.

After the games were over each of the JCMU students was given a bag with the origami that was made as a souvenir. The contrast in origami was hysterical. I’d watched the little girls make beautiful cranes and swans, while the boys had stuffed about twelve paper airplanes into my bag. A friend of mine even got three paper-airplanes taped together. The children all called out “bye-bye” in English as we left.

Back in the principal's office the secretary brought in delicious iced apple tea. The principal tried to entertain us until our taxi arrived, but a few of the students were more interested in talking to each-other. Michael and I talked with the older man, who sprinkled English in with Japanese. Apparently, the principal had visited Ann Arbor years ago as an exchange student. He had gone in the winter and said that the city was nice but too cold for him. Once the taxi arrived we were shown out with a lot of formal bows while the children waved at us from the windows.

"Engrish" Update

2008-06-27T14:05:00.001+09:00

This is not where I am going to get my hair cut...

JCMU outings

2008-06-27T14:02:00.000+09:00

At a party hosted by students from the local university.

At karaoke, in uniform
"And I would walk 500 miles..."

The best bar in Hikone

2008-06-27T13:59:00.000+09:00

I’ve found possibly one of the coolest bars ever in Hikone. The place is called Yab’s, “Food & Sports Bar Guts Wrench” is the motto. The place is small, a long bar with about twelve stools and a few tables. One wall is covered by markers with messages from the previous patrons; many of the notes are in English. The reason is that Yab’s is one of the few bars we have found to be foreigner friendly. Some of my fellow students went to a local Reggae bar and were asked to leave. The staff at Yab’s are a colorful bunch who sprinkle English into our interactions. Such phrases as “pick your poison” and “pay me motherf***er” are the norm at Yab’s. The proprietor, Yabu, has a notebook of pick-up lines which he asked us to add to. Ours were clean compared to some of the crude entries, and Yabu admitted that he learns his English from the patrons. One of the bartenders, Patrick, is from Ottawa and helps us translate our slang into Japanese. The menu is half in English and on the cover is printed “Let’s get s**t-faced!” in bold colors. The TV plays a mixture of soccer, basketball and American music videos. The JCMU students have really taken to Yab’s as our bar, and I enjoy going there weekly.

More pictures of Kyoto

2008-06-27T12:47:00.000+09:00

On the grounds of Nijo castle in Kyoto.
The main gate of a temple in Kyoto

The Kamo river in Kyoto
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto

My good friends here: Jon, Steve H., Lauren, Justin and I.
Jon and Steve H. preparing to throw me into the moat at Nijo castle.

The gate to the interior of Nijo castle
The Golden Pavilion needed more pictures

The train station in Kyoto

The Kyoto Tower

Signs

2008-06-20T18:35:00.000+09:00

I found this sign in what I believe to be the "red light" district of Hikone.

Pictures of the river in Kyoto

2008-06-18T08:06:00.000+09:00

Kyoto

2008-06-17T20:54:00.001+09:00

Last weekend we made a trip into Kyoto. We took the express train into Kyoto station at nine in the morning, and the second largest train station in Japan was already busy. The buses were full and after a few stops we were packed in. At one point the driver had to ask people to stop getting on the bus because the doors wouldn’t close. The first stop we made was at the Kinkaku-ji; the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. The Golden Pavilion is on a small lake surrounded by trees, far enough from the main road that if it were not for all the tourists you could really feel like you were in the wilderness.

After we left the Kinkaku-ji, our group endured another cramped bus ride to get to Nijo castle. The castle grounds are immaculately manicured; while we were there the grounds staff was trimming the bonsai trees near the keep. I have found that the Japanese pay a high attention to maintaining the landscape architecture of their castle.

After leaving Nijo castle we hopped another bus and made our way to the Gion district. Although the temple we found to be open was unimpressive, the streets were full of people. Cutting through Gion is the Kamo River. Between Third and Fourth Avenues there are a series of large blocks in the river, and we made our way out to get a spectacular view of the shoreline. People lined the river lounging in the afternoon, and houses and restaurants had balconies which lined the banks above the pathway.

After leaving the river we wandered around the streets of the Gion district. The small streets were only a car width wide, and shoppers filled the road after cars went past. We found a slew of boutiques which sold overpriced, vintage clothes from America. One shop sold antique wood-block prints for hundreds of dollars. I was thrilled to find an English-language bookstore, where I bought a translation of a best-selling Japanese author. To my chagrin I have discovered that Starbucks is even more expensive in Japan.

The streets of Kyoto at night were surprisingly deserted. I really enjoy walking around Japan after dark, because most places are surreally quite. The train station was still busy at ten at night, and we made our way home on another packed train to an empty Hikone train station.

Pictures of Kyoto

2008-06-17T20:44:00.000+09:00

"Engrish" Update

2008-06-17T20:10:00.000+09:00

In Kyoto I found polo shirt which read "Detroit Kill City 1968" for a mere $144.

I am a samurai!

2008-06-16T22:59:00.000+09:00

Cartography

2008-06-16T21:40:00.001+09:00

Hikone is the star in the center of the map on Lake Biwa. Hikone is situated in Shiga Prefecture, and together with the surrounding provinces we are in the Kansai region.

I fought the law, and the law won...

2008-06-16T21:22:00.000+09:00

I landed in a rainy Osaka. I had to ride a tram from the terminal to the customs depot where I made my first mistake in Japan. I was blissfully ignorant of the fact that a stay of six months would require a Visa; on the entry form I ought to have written two months. At the immigration station I was redirected away from the other students and into a holding area. No one spoke English. I tried to show my paperwork to the officers and had my whole bag searched through by a very diminutive Japanese lady. I was held in the room for half an hour while the Japanese tried to ascertain who I was. Finally, a customer service representative who spoke fluent English showed up and quickly found the JCMU representative who was waiting for me.

The grand solution to my problem was to cross out the “6” and replace it with a “2”. I rushed through customs to the JCMU group; who I found had not even made it through the kiosk to have our luggage shipped to Hikone. I ended up waiting another half hour until we got on the bus and made a three hour bus ride from Osaka to Hikone through the rain.

The last few days in Hikone

2008-06-09T19:17:00.000+09:00

On the flight to Osaka Kansai Airport the seat next to me was occupied by a very chatty native Osakan woman named Kaeko. If I wasn’t sleeping we were talking; mainly about what I would encounter in Japan that would be radically different from America, but also about Kaekos’ time in America. Listening to a Japanese perspective on living in the west was fascinating, especially since Japan has a very low crime rate and Kaeko had lived in New York City. One of the enduring points Kaeko made was that the Japanese are obsessed with “cute”. Kaeko had a bright pink cell phone with a long chain of charms hanging off it. In Hikone we have a samurai cat as the official mascot of the city.

On Saturday we went to Hikone castle. The castle is in the heart of the town and has an incredible view of the city. However, to get to the castle you have to climb up a long ramp that twists and turns around guard parapets. Greeting us at the top of the ramp was a souvenir stand selling the Hikone cat on shirts, towels, glasses etc. Although seeing the tourist stand was odd, the castle is gorgeous. Inside Hikone castle there are very few signs and the grounds are very sparse. In order to get to the keep we had to climb up a few sets of nearly vertical stairs. The group was standing at the bottom of a set trying to figure out how best to climb up when a pair of little, old ladies simply went right up; we couldn’t live down the shame of not going up if the elderly in Japan could do it.

On the castle grounds were a set of period actors. A man was dressed as a samurai while a pair of women were wearing kimonos and taking pictures with the tourists. When the samurai saw us across the yard he waved us over and offered to take a picture. Afterwards one of the women came up to me with a dagger and stabbed me. The dagger was a theatrical model and the blade slid into the hilt, but the Japanese found this to be really hysterical. As if to make up for it the samurai drew is katana and offered it to me for a picture, then drew his short sword and we got a few great shots.

"Engrish" Update

2008-06-08T21:57:00.000+09:00

Today we saw a t-shirt at the mall which proudly declared "Mayonnaise is the new core".

The first week in Hikone

2008-06-07T16:57:00.000+09:00

I’ve been stalling to start writing a journal until I did something truly noteworthy. Japan has been amazing thus far; there are so many little touches here in Hikone that are different from the States. The JCMU is right on Biwako (Lake Biwa), and I’m a minute walk from staring across the water at the hazy shoreline on the other side. Out my window I have a view of the parking lot and across the road the Hotel Ride, a love hotel where you can pay by the hour. I’ve biked daily along a road to downtown Hikone which runs right along the beach. The view is only marred by the tiny cars which race along the same road at speed which seem indecent at the least. Classes have been going very well. I’m taking the 100 level class which has not as of yet required much effort. My study time is spent working with the other 100 level students and that has proven helpful. The professors are very enthusiastic here; Aizawa-sensee and Ohasi-sensee both barely stop moving throughout the entire 50 minute class. The main challenge has been to respond with the speed I ought to be at right now. Sadly I have been eating a lot of American food. There is a restaurant attached to the JCMU which serves primarily American fare mixed in with various Asian dishes. The other favorite restaurant is a place called “Joyfull”, which also serves American food. The amount of English is surprising; the convenience store across the road from us is a Lawson, for instance. My breakfast food has been the pastry brand “A taste of the BREAD” which I do not know how I have gone twenty three years without.

Last night the JCMU students were invited to a party held by the students of the Shiga University, the local college in Hikone. For $10 we were given all the sushi we could eat and all the beer we could drink. I ate a lot of sushi, none of which I could identify but all of which was drastically different. The flavors are sweeter and tangier, while the texture is a bit rougher than back home. The students of Shiga University were incredibly friendly. Most of the students were very fluent and those that were not could usually make sense of my broken Japanese. The music was exclusively American hip-hop and rap, and everyone I asked claimed to love it. None of the students who were under 20, the legal drinking age in Japan, consumed any alcohol. Those who could drank copiously with the JCMU students. I was never without a beer, and when I had my fill they kept asking if they could get me something. By the end of the night, before the exceeding polite police asked us to leave, I had drunk straight from a liter bottle of sake surrounded by chanting Japanese. After the party was broken up, most of the students went to Yabs’ bar. I ended up with a group who were too drunk to ride their bicycles. The rest of the students riding outpaced us quickly and we ended up getting lost in the narrow residential streets. Just after we had turned back to go home we ran into another group of students who had left the party late. We ended up being directed by a Japanese student named Yuta, who led us on foot for over an hour to the bar.

Before we got to Yabs another group intercepted us and told us a few people had gone to a karaoke bar; which is how I ended up at my first Japanese karaoke parlor. The Japanese take their karaoke very, very seriously. We were shown into a small room with couch benches along the sides and a table in the center full of glasses of water and sake cocktails. The screen at the far end showed the music videos behind the scrolling song lyrics. One of the funniest things of the whole experience was that none of the English songs had a music video to accompany them; there was simply a film of the same scenery of Washington D.C., Rome, and San Francisco. The Japanese students there were unbelievably enthusiastic about singing every song, even the English ones. We kept it up for hours before we had to leave. The karaoke parlor experience ranks up there with the top parties I’ve ever been too, with so much mirth and drinking and thankfully we could all manage our bikes home.