Time to shake the rust off (write, write, write)

I've been busy. I'm still busy. I've created excuses for not being able to write. I’ve told myself I am incapable of writing. I’ve grown layers of anxiety, upon excuse, upon self-doubt, upon lack of purpose, upon fearing my own words. In short, I became an onion. I have writer’s onion. It’s similar to writers block but a little smellier. I’m ready to shed off this husk of smelly insecurities.

I’ve been thinking about whether I need to close this blog for good. This doesn’t mean I stop writing it means that this blog would maintain its focus of discussing Japanese culture and I move on to a different blog to maintain and update more frequently. I hope to have my decision by the end of this entry but first let me explain my decision to update.

I woke up today and found out about the death of Ernestine Kimbro, a faculty member at the Evergreen State College. She was the first contract sponsor I had at Evergreen and an influential supporter in my interest in translation and Japanese studies. I think about the teachers that have made an impact in my life and how Ernestine helped and supported my approach to learning through my writing. She emphasized the value to look for the interrelations in the everyday and things that are seemingly dissimilar. No resource was out of reach or too obscure for her. She was an amazing teacher and friend and I like to think the work I did with her was a precursor to this blog.

I had no idea about the breast cancer or the chemotherapy. I guess deep down I knew something was up with the head wraps she wore but I didn’t bother to ask. Hearing the news of her passing away was like waking up from a deep cold sleep.

Returning to those memories with Ernestine two years ago I’ve realized that I have to keep moving. For my own sake and for the sake of Ernestine and what I learned from her I have to keep writing. Writing has meaning; there’s a purpose in doing this. I can’t promise a lot but I can promise to write and reflect on my life when it is necessary. I thought about closing this blog on account of Ernestine but that would be an empty gesture. I want to write stupid goofy things and serious things and be passionate about life and writing again. This blog stays open!

Thank you Ernestine for holding doors open and being an inspiration in my life.

And now for a long intermission

It has been a few months since I’ve last posted in the ol’ blog but its been up until recently a very busy and fast paced rollercoaster ride back in the homeland. Now the slow down has left a sizable hole needing to be filled. The problem is not finding things to fill the void but simply what to fill it with first.

There is a great bit of story telling in the past months that needs to be done but to cut down on length and to support the power of brevity here is a bulleted list of things learned and experienced in chronological order:

• People in the states are surprisingly wider and taller then I remembered
• Not driving a car for a year doesn’t mean you forget completely and crash randomly
• I have a surprisingly large amount of junk I don’t feel connected to at all
• Reverse culture shock is as real as it is invented
• Unpacking, finding a place to live, moving, registering for classes, taking care of all finances and preparation in under half a week is possible
• Snow in April is disorienting
• Sounds and smells seem to spark memories more profoundly then photos
• I do have a future in animation
• Living without Internet for 10 weeks is doable and healthy
• Klingon and Esperanto have some things in common
• Riding a bike while trying to take a photo can end in epic failure
• Linguistics is not as scary and soul crushing as the term “Universal Grammar” makes it sound
• Learning basic programming methods makes me want to get down and dirty with syntax and some languages I’ve dropped
• I have yet to come to terms with my grandpa dying
• 20 years is a long time in car years
• The greyhound bus is a great place to meet “interesting” people
• A 21 year old bottle of wine is surprisingly good
• your childhood neighborhood may be sprinkled with drug fairies
  
• Doing things is the cure for talking about doing things
• I can survive without a car in Olympia
• House parties at the Finger Complex rock!!!
• Finding a part time job is a full time job
• Riding a bike while trying to talk on a cell phone ends in epic failure
• In search for a job, non-profit volunteer work happen to fall in my lap easily
• Walking is about ¼ the speed of riding your bike somewhere
• I probably saw over $300,000 dollars worth of fireworks this 4th of July
• Any form of role playing games are mind gratingly addictive

It goes on but that is a good chunk of my life in the past few months. In the next couple of entries I’m going to wrap up the Tokyo trip and try and get on to the everyday happenings of life. Stay tuned.

The days are just packed

Having been out traveling for the past two and a half weeks, I've finally come back to my home base in Kobe to settle for a moment while I take in my last few weeks in Japan.

Its hard to think that a year has gone by and I've only posted 28 entries in that entire time. Everything has happened so fast and with less then a month left in Japan its time to start unwinding and get a little more reflective. I have lots of people to say hello to before I leave and a heap of trails to blaze and paperwork to square away. It will be quite a challenge, but I hope to do daily or every other day entries here for the remainder of my time. Some will be short and sweet others long and crafted with an academic purpose in mind. I'd also like to say for those who have been reading, or even those who have just started reading, a big Thank You goes out to you.

To start off I'd like to recap on my Tokyo trip from last month, explaining the intent and experiences of that adventure. I'll be looking at art forms from the Edo, Meiji, and modern time periods and coming to terms with an experience that changed my view on Tokyo. Also, I'll be posting pictures and reflecting on my time with friends in Miyazaki. For those curious in what will happen to the blog after I return I plan to use it for my life. The series Learning Language Corner will probably see a revival and documentation of the ominous and somewhat hovering term "reverse culture shock" will be explored. Anything can happen and I'm looking forward to the uncertainties of these coming months.

I had a lot of strange and worrying thoughts about returning home but I recently found a quote that I had promised myself I would live by but just recently rediscovered it. With it I feel like I can do anything and the anxiety I've been feeling almost melts away. I'll leave you with this quote until a soon to come update. Until next time.

"Never be afraid of the beginnings or endings, embrace all life with joy."

Freed on a Fleeting Friday

A dog can has cheeseburger too: a photo taken from the Osaka design major school

Last Friday was the last day of classes at the University of Hyogo to which there was a very quite and dull hurrah from the students in general. Its sort of interesting that the School year ends in February and begins in April. It makes summer vacation seem so much stranger. What I mean by that is the school year as I’ve known it ends in summer and begins in fall meaning there is a definite break up between school years. However the college system here starts in April and ends in February making the college experience itself feels more fluid or constant. This is all good but then summer vacation seems strange and unnecessary. Not saying I would ever give it up though. The thing is you start school for a couple months and then in the middle of July you get a two month vacation in the middle of the school year. The year is broken up into semesters but how are you suppose to keep the energy and the mindset of being in the same school year and going to the same classes after a two month vacation? Anyways that's all in the past and the end of classes has opened my eyes to the handful of small realities I will face and should face. One of them being that I will soon be off this little island heading for the landmass across the ocean I call home. I think another thing was that being a student at the college and spending my time in classes there has left me with so many things left that I want to do. I wouldn’t necessarily call it regrets but the monotonous pace of school life and the piling on feelings of struggle and being lost in a familiar place were a giant relief to break free from. It was also a break I took rather violently because on the day of my final class I rushed to the station to be whisked away to Osaka.

titled : 菰野石仏 (2006)

piece titled: 申賀の里 (1989) (sorry, I'm not translating these)

My reasoning for going was I had been informed of an Art Museum there that I had been meaning to check out. My idea for this quarter has been to study the arts and to try and gain a vocabulary or understanding of how people speak about art in Japanese. I guess in a nutshell, and this could be said for most of my time here, trying to fill the desire to be lost and confused. I have spent a little time checking out museums and some of the older art forms but I wanted something that was a little more modern. Well if I had done my research properly I would have realized that the museum I was going to is for contemporary art. Not that this bad though, in fact it wiped a way a very strange general conception I placed on visual art in Japan. That cutting edge modern or pop art is oozing from all pores of the art world. This I have my study of advertisement and my trip to Tokyo to thank for this generalization I think.

The unique, not at all dangerous looking, Umeda Sky Building (photo courtesy of Google photos)

The show on display was of an artist named Muragishi. His work on display was breathtakingly realistic and his paintings had a very rough texture to them. I kept thinking that they were done with oil pastels or charcoal but was amazed to hear that some of the paintings were done with traditional Japanese brush and paper. I’ve never worked in that medium so I could only wonder as to how it was done. The curator asked me what I thought of the exhibition and I said back to him well actually I came here today to learn how to say such things. He was very kind and told me what he knew about the artist and talked about some of his work while also suggesting some other places to visit. The experience in general was refreshing and thinking from the start of this trip that I’d be studying art made me feel like I was finally returning to something I had left behind.

Browsing the gallery took a lot less time then I thought so I decided to do a little exploring in a city I don’t frequent very often. Being near the Osaka station you can see the strangely formed Umeda Sky Building. I had heard it is well known for its overrated and inaptly named “Floating Garden Observatory” and decided it couldn’t hurt to go and check it out. Getting there I passed through some of the industrial areas right next to the train tracks. It’s really a side of Japan that I’m very unaware of a lot of the time. The cackling/sleeping homeless people in public spaces are another thing. On my way there I took a double take as I spotted a little design college. I walked inside to look at their student gallery and snapped a few pictures.

When I finally made it to the Umeda building I walked inside and got in line for what I thought was going to take me to the top but instead brought me into something completely different. Apparently the building was having a museum display titled “Mysteries of The Human Body”. To give you an image of what it was like just imagine hundreds of people staring at dissected, trisected, and pretty much cut up cadavers put behind glass. It was amusing and fitted pretty well with my coming to reality thoughts of late. The exhibit makes you feel really self-conscious and well, human, bound by the limbs, organs and tools we are born with. However, it doesn’t answer why we are built the way we are or how that has seemingly nothing to do with who we are and what we do and in fact make those questions stronger. To see cadavers is an interesting event in itself because being the conscious reflective beings that we are we can recognize the mass in front of us as human but it no longer moves or functions like one. Therefore, looking at it we associate with a cadaver as if it were an object. So what about somebody you know? The difference between a living breathing person and a dead body is so earth shatteringly significant that its got me and a lot of the rest of the world believing that we have to be beings with souls. Just one of many reasons I might add.

Above the Osaka sky line

I finally got myself in the right direction and got to the top of the building, which produced another awesome aerial view of the never-ending city that is the OsakaKobe area. It was a good spontaneous day and I think there will be quite a few more before I make it back.

学園祭 School Festival

Been pretty busy lately. Last weekend was the fall school festival that is held annually at the Shodai Campus. Schools from around the area and locals come to sell fair goods. Families were selling used goods at the front of the school kind of like a flea market or a massive garage sale. From there you had vendors selling food and prize booths. These tents were run by school clubs or groups to raise money for club treasuries. For the most part it seemed like not a whole lot of money was made but all in all it was a good time for everyone. They had live bands (mostly student bands), what appeared to be a popularity contest, photo galleries, and a booth where you could have 15 minute Chinese lessons. I've been to a few festivals since I came to Japan but this was the first one I got the chance to participate.

A view of the campus during the fair

I was working two booths The English club and the mountain climbing club that were both selling various foods. My job was to stand in front of the booth and try and get wandering eyed customers to come and buy the food. Holding signs and shouting politely if customers would be interested in the various delicious hand made products actually began to get tiring after awhile. I began to feel like the annoying people who stand in the busy streets of Sannomiya shouting at everyone if they'd like to go and sing karaoke. I actually began to pity them because its extremely hard to get anyone to take the sale. The use of polite form makes everything you say so much longer too so you have to speak really fast to get it all out before someone walks by.

making takoyaki!

On the last day there were very few people who came. I don't know who's thought it was a good idea but to have a festival for three days and the last day its on is a regular working Monday doesn't make a lot of sense. Besides some retired folks and wandering children, the majority of the day was slow. That's when things began getting interesting. Since there were was no one to sell to the vendors began trying to sell to other vendors. Promises were made, "if you buy our food we'll come buy yours" and deals were carried out, "Here's some free ____ now promote our booth!". An interesting problem we had over at the mountain climbing club was the confusion of the food being a little different from the usual festival fare. At the festival you usually can get what is called takoyaki Its a dish made from a flour based batter fried into little balls that you put octopus in them and cover it with a sauce and other ingredients. Well in replacement of octopus we used squid; ikayaki. Before the festival I asked what we were making and I was told takoyaki, it wasn't until the day that I found out it wasn't octopus but squid. Which made for a little confusion when we were making the banner.

my drawing of an Octopus. At the top of the banner they wrote: "octopus is not added in"
to which I added "actually it is added in" to which they crossed it out and wrote "its not added in!!!"

Rain...

Unfortunately on the last day we got rained out and things began to get a little crazy. In desperation to sell something a lot of the booths dropped their prices. The foreign exchange group had all you could eat Chinese food for 100 yen (less then a dollar). People started giving away food out of shear kindness. It was insane and I wish more people knew about it or had a minute to stop by and eat practically for free. I ate pretty well this weekend (even if it wasn't exactly healthy) while making some new friends.

Back to Toyooka aka 鼻から牛乳第２回 (Milk coming out the nose part two)

9/24/07 the host family (bottom left) and friends

About a year ago I made my first trip to Japan to a little town called Toyooka. There I stayed with a host family for about three weeks taking in the scenery, visiting sights and city officials, and teaching English on the side. It was probably one of the most memorable moments to date and definitely the first time experiencing a foreign country where communication barriers and cultural barriers where so acutely visible. Everything about that trip was better then I could of asked for. I remember the last thing my host father said to me, please come to Japan again. It was a kind thing to say and easy to understand for a discombobulated foreigner. However, I don't think I realized how seriously I would end up taking that sentence.

A little less then a year later I wound up in Kobe Japan, a completely different experience altogether. Big city, support for international students, crosswalks a quarter of a mile wide and half a mile long,things I had never experienced. I knew I would eventually make it back to that little town but the question was when. After a couple letters and emails to my host family it wasn't until the end of the summer that I made a phone call and got a hold of Masae the mother of the household. After a good talk I was invited over again and we planed on a week long stay. I took the Hamakaze train north to Toyooka with freshly bought gifts for the family. I get there late at night and Ryushin, the priest and father wearing his casual clothes, and the two kids, Yurika, who has just joined the basketball team as it's shortest member and Yoshihide a continuing soccer team member (also the shortest), are waiting for me at the station. We get back to the house up on the mountain where Ryushin proceeds to show me the beer keg and tap he has rented. We quickly get to drinking and start talking about the past and whats happened in the last year.

To be honest it wasn't a sight seeing and event filled trip but instead an extremely relaxing, for the most part, low key stay. I felt more like a part of the family and less like an intruder or a helpless foreigner. I helped with chores, learned about the family and their past, played with the kids, and even helped clean the temple. For those who don't know Ryushin is a Buddhist priest for the Shingon sect. He's nothing like what you would expect a Buddhist priest to be. Try and picture a man who drives a BMW mini, smokes, drinks, and enjoys red meat and see if that matches up with what you thought a Buddhist priest was.

I met up with the Japanese teacher, Hashimoto Sensei, who gave her time to the 5 of us who came last year, to talk about the city and how its changed in the past year. The city of Toyooka is famous for its oriental white storks and the effort being made to save them from extinction and return them back to the wild. For several years they've been trying to get them to breed with no success. Last year there was a ceremony for the release of one of the storks that was attended by Japanese Royalty. Not long after the research facility had successfully mated the storks and the news went national. This little town was all of a sudden on national news. As time went on it became a destination for new housing. With a newly build hospital and new shops sprouting up here and there thinks were changing in Toyooka. Hashimoto Sensei has been keeping busy teaching Korean and working at the local radio station, FM-Jungle, as DJ Hershey. There is one other teacher Yoshi, who I regrettably didn't get a chance to see, who has his has own radio show. Ryushin, my host father as well has his own talk show on topics about Buddhism. Everyone's a radio personality in Toyooka!

Hashimoto Sensei! She does interpreter work too

Yurika, (bottom center) Shin chans wife (top center) and Friends (sorry I was briefly introduced to the other two...)

On the last night Ryushin hosted a big party in which through out the week he was constantly calling up friends and literally running into people he knew and asking them to come. It was way more then I was expecting and I think a lot of the people who came thought the same. It was a very warm group of people, friends, and the host family. I felt very welcome and at home. I was even given a gift by Shin chan and his wife, a friend to my host father and the other Buddhist priest who is a part of the radio show.

Shin chan's gift a Japanese fan (扇子、sensu)

Later in the night the group began to dwindle and then swell again as we moved to a karaoke bar. People sang, danced on tables, and had a good time. For some reason Hashimoto Sensei kept saying that Shin chan the priest, was a Yakuza mobster , jokingly but repeating it enough to the point I thought she was serious. Then Ryushin, began singing the song. This song's title is チャラリー鼻から牛乳 meaning milk coming out the nose. For some reason or another it became an inside joke with me and my host father the last time I was there and the absurdity and strangeness of this karaoke tune was again brought out again. It actually says a lot about his personality I think, wild, out of the norm, and hilarious. It will probably be one of the few karaoke experiences I would say was great in every possible way (which says a lot because I wouldn't be caught dead doing karaoke in the states.... again).

On the last day I packed my things and found another giant bag of fruits, snacks, and other assorted food stuffs from Masae, a truly amazing women and host mother. She kept asking me to come back for the winter break which I willingly said yes. We drove to the train station and they waved me off as I tried to stumble out my appreciation for them and how I can't thank them enough (always seems hard when you have so much to say and so little time and then there's the language barrier..). A couple final waves and the train pulled out of the station to take me back to the busy life of Kobe.

The familiar sites of Toyooka and the slower pace to life were all welcoming sights, especially unlike last year I wasn't completely trained from teaching and going to classes. I think what I'll treasure most about this trip was the ability to converse with my host family that wasn't possible a year ago. That and just being able to see them all again. They are truly genuine people who can take the negative energies out of anyone (well at least me). It makes you think about all the stereotypes about Japanese culture and people, the comparative studies and cultural research and just blows a giant hole in those thoughts and all you see is a family and friends. I've learned so much from the Amao family and they have done nothing but give and give again. All I can say is: Thank You, and if possible I would be happy to babysit for the kids again.

A life learning language corner #1: Me, Myself and I

This is a new part of the blog that you'll be seeing more of in the coming weeks and months. Its about time I started talking about language and what effect it has on my reality. The hardships, the successes, and the continuous confusion will be analyzed and the everyday experiences will be explored. Some of the comments I make are from personal experiences and others from excessive studying. However, I also state my opinions and realize that I’m not going to get things right on the first try essentially. This I can say is the beginning of a gathering of ideas and thoughts I have been holding onto for some time.

I can remember back to the first days of language class where I learned my first words in Japanese. Words like ‘book’, ‘sun’, ‘Japan’, ‘library’ and ‘I’. I remember very vividly my first Japanese Sensei in high school telling all the boys in the class they’d be referring to themselves as ぼく (boku) and the girls as わたし (watashi). Immediately I begin to believe there’s a male and female form for addressing oneself. “Not to worry”, my Sensei said, “When you grow up (or if you want to sound like an adult) then you can use watashi”. This was how we began to structure some of are first sentence like ‘I like Japan’ and ‘Today I am going to the Library’ thinking we had it right saying boku and watashi with every sentence. Well there are a lot of things they don’t teach you in textbooks. It turns out that addressing yourself and others with English speakers call pronouns is quite a different thing all together in Japanese. First off you don’t need to say “I” and “you” especially when its implied or context sensitive. If you’re talking about yourself, family, etc. it is implied after the onset of the conversation, which is why missing the beginning of a conversation can lead to huge confusion. One of the things I come across the most when correcting English paper from native Japanese speakers is leaving the subject out of the sentence when grammatically it is impossible to finish the sentence without one. The subject is not important if it’s already known what is being talked about. However, English is subject crazy. I can remember back to the elementary school days when the teachers would ask you to find a way to write a paper without starting every sentence with “the” or “I”. It got to the point where I was to believe that you weren’t suppose to refer to yourself at all in Japanese or as little as possible, which also lead to confusion and people wondering if I was talking about myself or someone else. So obviously there is a middle ground for how these words should be used.

So another problem I’ve had is how to refer to others. There are various ways to say you but unlike the word you they imply a relationship with who you’re speaking with. I remember really early on in my stay here talking to a friend of mine using the word あなた (anata) and being told to stop. The reasoning was is that the word is rarely used and can have the connotation of addressing one’s lover. It was kind of a surprise because when I learned this word that was never explained. At this point I’ve given up on using these types of words and just sticking with people’s names. There is another form 君 (kimi) that is an informal way to refer to "you" and is also used as a title following the name (kun) usually for males, and boys (12/8/07 thanks for the correction Justin). Maybe the most confusing form is the he/she form referring to someone 彼、彼女 (kare, kanojo) which can refer to a formal way to refer to someone at the same time it also has the meaning of boyfriend or girlfriend. This right here is enough to stop me from referring to others with out creating confusion about the relationship of the person I’m talking about.

When using these words something interesting happens. Instead of just saying “I”, “me”, “you” one has to think about the relationship he/she has with the listener. There is the very informal male form of “I” 俺 (ore) which can be offensive to some people (I've actually heard that some women don't like guys who to refer to themselves this way) and the very formal non-gender form わたくし (watakushi) that’s purpose is to place you below the listener. To be straight, none of these words translate and are really quite numerous if you count some of the more archaic forms and honorific forms (more on honorifics another time).

Some of these pro-noun like words have contextual meaning that paints an image to the listener whether to show the speakers affection or pique towards another. One of these words has changed quite a bit in the recent past. お宅 (otaku) once a very formal form of you is now used to describe someone who is obsessive or nerdy. The form is not only a reference to another person but can also mean that person’s residence. Another mystery to me is the use of the word うち (uchi) usually used by women referring to themselves, their possessions, or family members kind of like the word "my" in english. The mystery is is this the same uchi that refers to house or home? One source says yes and another says no. If the answer is yes then a sense of self and a sense of family or household could be one and the same. Another thing I’ve noticed is a tendency for some women to refer to themselves in the third person. This makes me question what is the sense of self that these people hold and how is it different from how other people think.

I do think that studying Japanese makes one rethink how they think about themselves and others, or at least how to rephrase sentences without the pro-nouns. It leads me to think a lot about English and so much of it seems to be about “us” and “them”, “you” and “me”, “mine” and “yours”. I’m reminded of the various seminars at Evergreen where giving an opinion seemed to be so confrontational. The delicate way of phrasing how you have an opinion differing from someone else’s will seemingly come down to a my opinion vs. someone else’s. Those tension thick discussions I have yet to witness in any of the seminar classes I’ve had while being in Japan. I can’t say that it has to do with how people phrase their sentences but its definitely a different attitude.

行っちゃった、 Gone (regrettably so)

Lanterns at Osaka Castle

Today marked the last day for the two exchange students from China, Lok and Vivi, who returned home as of this afternoon. It was like any other day spent with them only shorter and a little bittersweet. We didn't talk much but there wasn't much to speak of that had already been said. Lok was ready and stead fast about leaving early and on time, he cried out his desire not to return home in the funny annoyed way that he does most things to let you know he's going to be alright in the end. Vivi, as usual, was not ready till the last possible second when the hard decision had to come between taking and leaving some precious memento. She left a little later, dragging luggage twice as heavy as herself. She proceeded to freak herself out and everyone at the bus station by thinking she had lost her ticket minutes before the bus arrived (of course she had it). After they had both left the reality of it seemed to wash over me like a bucket of ice water. They were both amazing friends and when it came to problems of any size or shape they were always willing to help out if they could. It's hard to imagine what the first half of this year would have been like with out them or where I'd be right now. To Lok and Vivi, Thanks.

I'll miss ya guys

As for me I continue the fight and have approximately one month until school starts again and half a month until I must turn in my contract for next quarter. Of course this means operation one is seek out some fun before summer ends! That is after writing up this contract. Also getting a job. I Still have some explaining to do I guess with what I've been up to which will come soon enough.

Some things come supersized

Walking down the street I feel pressure on my foot and a soft rustling sound. I've accidentally kicked something. That something: a corn dog sized cockroach...
(not a dead cockroach... other dead bugs happened to be falling from the sky at the moment)

The days have gotten a little hotter recently. With summer vacation under way the plans, opportunities, and possibilities seem to be endless. While I have began to make plans and be busy with trips there are moments that seem to be mind numbingly slow and open. On one of those slow days, with the feeling of loneliness being more powerful then usual, I decided on a whim to head out to Nara. Nara is one of Japan's bigger attractions that is definitely an experience to share with someone else. However alone it takes on a completely different feeling of being an observer in a strange place. First you have the deer which are everywhere and have absolutely no regard or fear of people. Just as plentiful are the people, from every country in the world feeding said deer. Also the temples, shrines, parks, and ruins are enough to keep you occupied for a day or two. One everyone talks about is the 東大寺 Todaiji; the largest wooden structure in the world housing the 大仏 Daibutsu or Big Buddha.

Impressive, check out the guy in the robes for comparison

Its interesting that for a country that gets picked on for being small it sure has a lot of big things. Biggest statue for example. I actually took a very few amount of pictures, just trying to take in everything and well as melodramatic as it sounds pictures don't do any of it justice. It does have an other worldly kind of feel to it, like many times and places before.

Well to end the theme of big things I finished the day off with a little fast food. Mcdonalds. As much I detest going to a McDonalds or avoiding it at all cost but you have to make a stop when such a mementos occasion as the "Mega Mac". Yes a hamburger so vile so huge they won't sell it in America.

(Self indulgence or Self violence, either way I think I can hear my arteries screaming to stop)

For a limited time only McDonalds in Japan is selling this to an X amount of customers per day. Why its being sold only in Japan I have no idea but if its to try and catch up with fat America its got to be a bad idea.

大阪から宮崎まで From Osaka to Miyazaki (part 2)

Updates before stories. It is officially summer vacation (finally, having to go to school on the fourth of July was confusing torture, my body was just not up for lectures and language tests). Hopefully there will be lots of stuff to experience and share, I'm also looking forward to more random updates. With that I should mention that I finally, FINALLY feel like I've gotten settled in and gotten use to life here (little before the half way mark; not bad), which is great because I feel like myself.

So back to Miyazaki. Only about 200 miles away from Kobe but seemingly thousands away is Miyazaki University. Here is where the other half of the exchange students end up, which couldn't be any more different from Kobe. We reach Shaun's dorm and the first thing I notice when we walk in is the off and on flow of people walking by shouting greetings at you. I couldn't help thinking "holy crap people talk to you around here!" Overall I found the talkative level to be higher. Call it southern hospitality but people in Miyazaki like to talk. We get to Shaun's room and well, there's not a lot of space; bed and desk lie between a straight away from the door to the balcony. Any remaining floor space happened to be my bed. I worried at first that we would kill each other by the end of it but no blood was shed. The community in the dorms is great and coming from various different countries and backgrounds. The stories about the mess are true however, something about having a shared dorm kitchen with fresh college students (sometime even veterans) just spells mildew.

The view from Shaun's pad in the international dorms on campus. Mountains? Yeah whatever.

Time slows down and faux boredom sets in that feels so natural and unrestrained. I could sit and look at the scenery all day. Straining the limits of what can be done in a small town, we go around, seeing the local sights, meeting friends, eating at local restaurants and just kicking it Miyazaki style. Shaun's friends drive us around from time to time making the impossible easy. There was even a time when two complete strangers drove us back to the campus because it was on the way. The random encounters and friendly faces had to be the most surprising thing about the trip. That and the one car trains that looked to be about 60 years old. The tram, train, whatever you call it, traveled through picturesque mountain scenery away from anything that resembles human civilization. It was as if the quite mountains were real and the noisy foreign object or train we were riding in was fake.

After seeing some sights one day we were invited to a farewell party for some English teachers.

A BBQ party. I have to say barbecues seem to be more popular in Japan then in the states. Also you're not cooking half a cow your cooking half a cow cut up into bite size pieces. Who ever came up with that gimmicky marketing ploy that bite size = fun size probably has been to a Japanese BBQ

Neither of us knew anyone there except for one or two people but we were immediately greeted as if we were long lost friends. First off these were all people had been abroad and/or had interest in English. We heard from the departing teachers there experience in the remote areas of Kyushu. This community that I was apart of for that evening was very different from community as I have experienced it back in Kobe. For one, formalities where thrown out the window and the feeling and conversation flow seemed to focus on the interpersonal connection everyone had to the collective. Naturally everyone had something to relate about so it was a rare occasion altogether I think...

Collectivism can refer to society being like minded, working together, and putting the importance of community above the self. However in a big city like Kobe I think collectivism can also refer to the common fact that everyone is collected together in the same space. I'm not saying that people in Kobe do not have high regards for their community, they do. When you see something like a group of volunteers picking up trash around the town people do care about the collective. However does the collective value the collective first? Are people in Kobe more individualistic? I can't answer that.

The adventure proceeds at its nice and tempered pace as a day or two passes. I'm given a bike and some time alone to explore the area. I ride pass field after field of rice patties and do a loop around the area. The architecture is pretty interesting on the way to the school actually.

Woah! "A" frame apartments, pretty slick looking, I wonder what its like living on top.

After that Shaun takes me to a small, out of the home, family run restaurant in the neighborhood. They give you a ridiculous amount of food, enough to feed 1o starving orphans for only 500 yen (about 5 bucks). I guess the missing link between Miyazaki and Kobe is family. Something that's constantly playing in the background, family in Miyazaki takes center stage. From this little restaurant, to relationships, to community and events I saw family where ever I went.

Killer rain, giant bugs, and a little pizza and beer later, I've come to my last day in Miyazaki. We take the day to go and visit Heiwadai Park.

This ancient ruins of a Mayan civilization that accidentally wound up on the small islands east of Asia... actually the structures about 70 years old, the same age as the kindly gentleman who explained this to us. Its created out of ancient stones from various countries including China and Korea.

The park is filled with replicas of what are called Haniwa, clay figures that originate from the Kofun period or beginning in 3rd century Japan. They were apparently buried with the dead. The stylistic forms they take on are really fascinating and mysterious. As a faint picture of a society long ago they bring up more questions then they answer. Seeing them before in museums was fun but having them in the park made for better photo ops.

This is the happiest Haniwa in Miyazaki... look at him he's so full of himself.
Posing with the Haniwa while unfortunately having eyeballs, makes it hard to fit in with them.

That's Better

After that it was about time to return, Shaun takes me back to the station where we chat for a bit, slowly but surely after five days, conversation became smoother and less awkward. Unfortunately that's when we say farewell, back on the ferry I went to Osaka and to my nice soft bed. I'd like to thank Shaun for sticking with me the whole time I was there and with out him I doubt much of it could have been possible.

I'd like to add on the way back to Kobe I was in Osaka when I must have taken the wrong exit off the subway because I ran into morning rush hour traffic. This was a first seeing as what I've qualified as traffic all my life takes the form of cars was now suddenly transformed into people. A constant flowing river of people walking deep into the underground stations. I have to emphasize that there were no waves no let up just a stream, as if all of Japan were trying to ride the subway. Swimming upstream for about ten minutes I finally make it above ground to the city air and return to another world as dream like as the one I just left.

大阪から宮崎まで From Osaka to Miyazaki (part 1)

If you notice a change in the way I'm titling Blog entries don't worry this blog isn't going to suddenly transform into all Japanese. Any Japanese will obviously have a translation to it and I'll do it to the best of my ability. Speaking of translation I just finished a novel called Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. Ever since I started last year at Evergreen reading novels translated from the Japanese is like working out some intricate puzzle in reverse. As I read I catch myself trying to picture what the original must have looked like, if anything was purposefully left out or put in. Often times where I am left scratching my head is when some colloquial phrase is used like "Jeez laweez" or the decision to use the term dollars instead of yen when talking about money. The dollar/yen exchange I can easily figure out as well as the reason it may have been preferred for easy understanding but I can't begin to think what "Jeez Laweez" could have originally been. Living in Japan with the names of places, food, etc. fresh in my mind makes the story easy to relate to at times, making the book even better. Last but not least, much respect and thanks go to Philip Gabriel a translator of Haruki Murakami's works.

Depending how I spin it this could be a pretty long story but I'll go at my own pace. The story starts out at school at a time where I'm about ready to pass out from exhaustion and desperately want to get away from classes. Its then when something unexpected happens. Loud speakers audible from anywhere on campus on a Tuesday afternoon politely address the students telling them to leave the campus. Four students have caught the measles and the entire school has to be closed for ten days. Of course I rejoice and can't get off of campus fast enough. However, a quarantine over measles? Just seems strange to me. Up till that day there had been a lot of scare over the はしか　or measles with large posters warning of symptoms. This was all in response to the nation wide "epidemic" that had other universities and schools across the country closing their doors. All of this seemed strange and unnecessary. I mean come on its just the measles. Apparently there was a period of time when vaccination were not mandatory, leaving a predicted 6 million people with out vaccinations.

So with this twist of fate I decided to pack my things and take a vacation to Miyazaki. I made a call, reserved a ferry ticket and headed off to Osaka. On my way there I had a nice lunch with Susan, my Professor in Kobe and killed some time walking around Osaka. Osaka has its share of dirty streets, homeless people, and entertainment districts. I was walking around and decided to drop into a video game arcade which by western standards, are advanced by leaps and bounds. However, there are exceptions to the rule for example this game I found...

The Typing of The Dead! Educational video games just got a little scarier!

type type type! take that you zombies!!! All the standing machines are actually sit down machines with comfy benches. Also notice they provide ash trays at every machine.

I had a good laugh as I played a view rounds of this game mashing the keyboard. One thing that's surprising is even though there is a bevy of new futuristic games coupled with pachinko and slot machines (blurring the line between arcade and casino) a good chunk of the machines are from a decade ago. For example the fighting game Street Fighter II that came out in 1991 is still a staple to the arcade scene in Japan.

With that I traveled on a maze of subway lines to the ferry terminal, got my ticket and past the time in a waiting room with the drone of the news on TV along with old people dressed for adventure and truckers on a regular business trips. I get on the boat and put in a room with wide open floor and cubbie holes with blankets and pillows. Here is where I would be for the next 13 hours. Unlike a bus or plane I had some space to lie down and could get up and walk around if I wanted. I met a nice man who was situated next to me named Sawada. He was traveling to Miyazaki for a school reunion but had made the journey before for business. He lives and works in Osaka and is in and out of retirement, taking up part time jobs when cash is low. He was really nice offering me his number and a place to stay if I ever got into trouble. "Just don't ever ask for money" he said. What made this so funny is he payed for my breakfast and bus fare to get to Miyazaki station without me asking for anything.
Finally I've made it to the paradise that is Miyazaki...

Palm trees included of course

The first step off the ferry had the air sticking to me in the humid climate. The buses, buildings, people were all different and time flowed in a slower relaxed pace. "Slow enough to induce a comatose" as Shaun put it. Here's around the time I find my friend Shaun, fellow Evergreener and exchange student, waiting for me at the station. We take a quick tour of the deserted down town area and head back to the station where we bought tickets from a real person and had them stamped by real people. Passing us by where fields, gardens with flowers, and tiny neighborhoods. We get off at what I think is a station which is actually just a box in the middle of nowhere. We then head for Miyazaki University where I'll be staying for the next five days. Overall it was the first time I had a chance to relax.

(to be continued)

田圃 rice patty field

About two years ago when I first started seriously thinking of coming to Japan I would constantly think about the terrain and what it was like. From what I was told and saw in books it was a very crowded place with cities and skyscrapers. A claustrophobic nightmare. I was aware of the importance of mountainous nature and the importance of agriculture in Japan but it just struck me as not fitting into the image I had as I held my breath and prepared myself for being elbow to elbow with the people around me. That said it was drilled into me very quickly on my first visit that nature is not a missing part in the ecosystem of this country as the photo above suggest (photo taken in Miyazaki, more on that soon).

So we have the country side and the city pretty manageable, easy to describe areas. This works right? Well not exactly...

On a field trip with Professor Mitsumata and his seminar class we had the opportunity to plant rice in a rice patty field. Where you ask? In the city. Tucked away in a neighborhood where houses are placed what seems like inches away from each other facing a busy street lies a patch of land submerged in water just big enough to place a house on there lies a rice patty field. Before I can ponder on its apparently out of place nature, I'm knee deep in mud planting rice next to screaming girls (Prof. Mitsumata failed to tell me his entire seminar class was female). The screaming is because of the mud and the host of intimate critters living there. One of them is called the Kabutoebi or "helmet shrimp". The experience is a lot less complicated then I ever could have imagined. Trying to make straight even rows you plant clumps of rice grass into the mud making sure they are not completely submerged and capable of standing on there own. After I get the hang of this its the most relaxing thing even with the sound of cars passing by and an old man taking photos.

Afterwards we have lunch and interview the old couple in charge of the little plot and there struggle to keep it. One problem they experience is garbage. Roadside drivers and walkers often throw trash into the plot of land, requiring them to go in and clean it out. There is also pressure from the housing industry to sell the lots for housing. Additional problems are getting water to fill the lot, and draining it. I couldn't understand much else of what was said but it was obvious to me that what these two elderly people and there family were doing was not easy, trying to keep a tradition in the face of change. I was curious if pollution was an issue for these crops that were so close to a busy roadway where exhaust fumes were plentiful, but didn't have time to ask or form this question.

If anything the experience threw out my idea of the country side and the city being separate places. This rice field in the middle of a busy crowded neighborhood is one of the many moments where I lose my sense of place. The definition of a city and a rice field which I think are so grounded fall apart at this sight. My expectations of this little patty field to be deep in the country side, away from the convince stores and vending machines, the traffic lights and the taxi cabs, was completely disobeying my preconceived notions. A garden in the backyard is one thing but to own plots of land around the neighborhood for growing rice destroys my thoughts on farming agriculture. Definitions and encyclopedia entries can not describe these sorts of things and most often you have to see them to believe them.

Another example I guess would be my first trip to Japan, when I was staying with a Buddhist priest surrounded by nature and mountain sides. On a visit to the mall with his family I remember being in a video game arcade watching this 40 year old Buddhist priest dressed up like a 25 year old playing arcade games and trying his best at the claw machines. This shouldn't be weird but I make it out to be. "We're in the country side but how did we make it to this seemingly futuristic Mall? and why is my host father dressed like a kid?" These were the times when I asked "Where am I?"

Caught in Suspension

Lately I've been feeling like I'm on top of the world (literally). As if soaring through the sky like some sort of majestic bird. Those days are followed by ones where I'm free falling, plummeting down to earth as I catch fire. I'm holding my breath and seem to be waiting for the end but it never comes. I can't quite reach the ground. Gravity doesn't seem to be working properly so I float in mid-air pondering my recent fall before taking off into the sky again.

This past weekend I went mountain climbing and camping at Mt. Seppiko with some people from the rock climbing club. It was refreshing and the first time I'd ever done any serious mountain climbing. The paths were well traversed but some were extremely steep and hard to get across, with ropes and ancient, rotten, log bridges. It was an adventure within an adventure with crazy bugs, leeches, and a group of friendly faces.
I realize that I'm sorely falling behind on posts and keeping up to date with day to day activities. This year seems to be going by so fast and life finally seems to have an even pace. The first quarter is wrapping up and summer vacation is on the horizon.

So what am I missing... There was a trip to Miyazaki, and before that planting rice in a rice paddy field. Sure there's a lot more missing but both of these are just around the corner on the post list.

I leave you with my on going hypothesis that bugs in Japan are not concerned about being enormous in a country who has a consistent culture of miniaturizing things.

Convience or how my curiosity caved into candy

85 steps, an elevator trip, and 30 stairs away from the door of my apartment is a convenience store. Now there is convenience you can measure. Sometimes though I think that maybe its a little too convenient.

To explain a little better to the uninformed, Japan is covered in a sea of convenience stores. These stores bare a resemblance to 7/11 but then again they are a little different. Well actually no, since when I say the word convenience store I include 7/11 and there are 7/11's here in Japan. So maybe what I meant to say is the products sold inside are a bit of a treat for the curious foreigner. Put plain and simply I've gotten a sweet tooth since I came here.

So not only are the convenience stores plentiful but the vending machines too. Now vending machines only come in the variety of drinks (hot and cold), ice cream, cigarettes, alcohol, porn, vegetables, eggs, instant food and video games, (these last five are a little harder to come by, with vegetables and egg vending machines I've only seen in rural towns, the instant food in dining halls, and porn and video games? well I haven't seen them yet but I know they exist). Yet there are no snack vending machines. I would imagine unless you are without a pocket full of change and a working limb you would never go thirsty in Japan. Its interesting to note too that a lot of other services in Japan take on vending machine forms. For example high traffic fast food restaurants get rid of the ridiculous cashier job and instead have there entire menu displayed on a vending machine. Put in some money. Push a button. Out drops a ticket which you then hand to the person in the kitchen who makes your food. Makes me wonder, if every service, store, and interaction was just a massive wall of shiny buttons to press and choose what would life be like? Would there be any reason to speak at all? In fact I'm doing it right now, just pressing buttons.

Anyways back to the vending machines, here is one of the more interesting products that can be found in the drink vending machines.

Flan in a Can! Well on the label its called pudding but its the same texture as flan and just look at the picture.

Heres another interesting product, Calpis

If you've ever encountered Japanese junk food are been hit in the head with any form of modern Japanese culture, then you are probably aware of the famous candy called Pocky: Chocolate covered pretzel sticks buts whats this???

Men's Pockey??? So why is there a need to make gender targeted candy?

Despite searching high and low I couldn't not find any clues or the original story I heard that I guess can only be considered a rumor: Glico the Company that makes Pocky had trouble selling Pocky to Men, who saw it as a frilly snack not to be trifled with. Thus Men's Pocky was created. As far as gender targeted products go this is one that seems to confuse. Candy is candy, how did it become masculine or feminine in the first place?

Then theres one of my favorites,

Koala Match!!!!!
Chocolate filled crackers with pictures of Kola bears on the front.

Well that concludes a peek into Junk food in Japan, and the super convenience that surrounds me. If I really wanted to I could eat every meal of the day from the convenient store, they have all sorts of meals and boxed lunches precooked and ready to eat. After one meal however I can instantly feel my insides telling me if you eat here again theres a chance you won't live to see 40. The problem with this super convenience is people can work themselves to the bone, never learn how to cook, and eat instant food from convenient stores. If you'll excuse me I think I need to go eat a salad or something.