January Picture Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.