For this blog I'm going to talk a little about the otaku culture in Japan.
I live in nagata, kobe, it is on the western half of town. In the center of town is a district called sannomiya, sannomiya is the place to shop in Kobe. Right next to the station is a big mall like place, I say mall like because it doesn't have exact enclosures besides the roof and doesn't have a definitive beginning and ending, it kind of blurs together with the rest of town. Anyways I've been there several times and for the first few weeks I couldn't find any anime stores until I stumbleded across Gamers in the basement floor.
Now Gamers is actual very close to a store that I originally mistook for Gamers. I don't know the name of the first store but it is a model speciality store. They have gundams, lots of them. As you enter you see very large glass cases crammed with beautifuly assembled super high end gundam models. They have a good half of the store coverd with display casses of models of all sorts. Mecha, sentai, anime, chibi, disney everything. And again its big I wanna say 4-5 times the size of a normal store in a mall. Gamers itself is slightly bigger then the gundam place, and has a good section of gundam themselves. But Gamers has the regular anime stuff, manga, dvds, wall scrolls, collectable figures, all those nick nacks that you can't get outside of a con.
When I found this place I was pretty blown away, but a few days later a friend showed me on the third floor (well first that there was a third floor) even more anime stores. Enormous ones! Anything you can imagine there is a figure of it. And so many diffrent stores, I think we saw like 10 of them or something.
And along all of these stores are pocket change's worst enemy, capsule toys. We have capsule toys in the US but because no one wants to put in two dollars in coin into a machine and the stigma attechted to fandom (I'll touch more on that later) they are no where near what they are like in Japan. What they do is that there are series produced by various companies and stores buy them from them, put in the label and fill them up themselves. For example there would be an evangelion set 1 and it would have shinji, asuka, rei, gendo ikari, and misato. Now you really can't honestly think "oh well which ever I get is fine I like them all" no everyone has a favorite, you are always thinking "I really want rei, asuka is good too but I would perfer that rei" so when you don't get the one you want, the urge to try again is so strong. You didn't have any eva figures before and now you have asuka but now you really really want that rei. Maybe you finally get that rei but now you have 5 out of 6 of them or something, might as well complete the set. But that last one is espically rare, what do you do? You can just buy the one your missing from a store, for an increased price. Yeah its hard to really understand. Stores buy cases of capsule toys, repackage them with simple bags and price them according to thier rarity. Sounds crazy I know but there are entire stores that do nothing but this.
But that raises the question "why the interest in toys? Just because you like a show why buy toys for it?". Its a good question and I think I am beginning to understand. So as awesome as the stores in Sannomiya are, my freind kou showed me an anime store in Osaka. Wow. The girl at the counter was cosplaying for crying out loud. They had the exact sailor mars costume angie made from scratch and soooooo many toys. I found the japanese voltron! it was called lionbots. I wanted to take a picture but kou said I shouldn't. And I also found the gekiranger toys I specifically wanted to buy in Japan. rinlion, gekibat and gekiwolf. So a year from now when I get home I can form the coolest robot name ever geki-rin-bat-wolf-touja! But when I found it I didn't decide right away. I felt really childish buying these toy robot animals, and I didn't want to be super nerdy infront of kou but when I went to pay I saw two busy men buying some anime figures and paying a lot for them. I guess there really isn't any reason at all to feel nerdy or childish about giving into otaku-ness so much, which is a reason I really love this country.
We then went to yodobashi. Yodobashi is one of the world's largest electronic stores. I say that only because I can't possibly imagine a store being much bigger. Imagine the largest best buy and stack 6 of them on top of each other. On the 5th floor of yodobashi is the video game and toy section. They have a regular kid toy section and they have I guess big kid toy section. The big kid toy section had pallets stacked chest height of gundam models being grabbed left and right. Expensive ones $30, $40!
So my working thesis on to why it is ok to send a weeks paycheck on plastic figurines of fictional robots is that Japan never lets things not be cool. Dragonball is the best example of this. Dragonball Z started in 1992 I believe and ended in like 1997. So Dragonball Z is very old but you still see dragonball z figurines, dolls, posters, dvds everywhere you go. The DBZ opening was even playing on the display TVs at yodobashi, you can't escape it! In the US DBZ was cool for a while but then cartoon network stopped giving it prime time viewing, the toys let up a little bit, there weren't many DBZ games out for a while and the fandom died off and moved on, so when it started back up it just couldn't regain its popularity. Since I'm sure the first episode of DBZ there has been capsule toys and DBZ ads in Japan non stop. The DBZ fandom in Japanese otakus is constantly being reinforced. Gundam is much the same way every year a new gundam with new models to buy and because it never lets up there isn't a stigma against liking it past a certain age. It would be an interesting social experiment to see if you ran toy commercials on pre-teen shows if you could get them to stay interested in toys.
Wow I've typed a lot and I haven't even goten to the most important part, I went to Toei Uzumasa Eiga Mura! This was THE thing I wanted to do in Japan and there were a few things that were really cool I'm glad I got to see but the rest was very disapointing. First the good. I saw a kamen rider show. I'm going to upload the video you might want to skip around I recorded like half of it and some parts have long dialog. The fights were so cheesy I couldn't belive it. But thats what the live shows are all about. Kamen rider is famous for his motorcycle but since this is a live show KR Den-o came in on a bicycle. Oh man so silly. They did do some cool flips and a KR kiva did signature poses. Really check out the video its worth it.
Second awesome part I saw the super sentai museum! Again I took pictures of everything but wow the gods from majirangers, were so freaking cool and well just look at the pictures. I think these were the stunt double costumes because they look a little cheaper then the show. They also had the history of J-hero time line starting from the 50s. I wish I could get a printed copy of that or something. After we were done there I felt like my otaku-ness had reached a whole new level. Really blew me away.
But if you aren't staying in Kyoto I don't recommend making a special trip just for this place. It doesn't have enough content to last all day, maybe 2-3 hours tops. They film samurai tv dramas here so that means that large section of an already small amusement park are cut off. They had little presentations like mock sword fighting and sound effects with this ninja battle but they were rather lame, crowded and we only caught the last half of them. There just wasn't anything to really do. Oh there was the, sfx corner and it was a freaking animatronic dinosaur that would come out of the water and spray a mist out of its mouth. The mouth didn't move just the head rose above the water. It was just retarded. I was really expecting some place that you could get lost in because there were so many houses and having tons of extras walking around. There was an episode of deka rangers where they went here and it was just nothing like that. We didn't really get to see much of kyoto but its much more spread out and open as compared to osaka. Kyoto is more like a regular american city I think.
Wow wow wow, I talked a lot okay I got to study some kanji bye everyone
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Another week
It's been a week or so since the last post and I guess there hasn't been anything too major happen. After having monday off for senior citizen day classes were in full swing and my frustration of my classes goes all over the place. I'm in the highest Japanese language class somehow and everyday it goes from "I hate life" to "that wasn't so bad". I have two teachers tanaka-sensei and morikawa-sensei. morikawa-sensei is fun energetic person who while speaking difficult Japanese understands that we aren't fluent so tries to talk accordingly. Tanaka-sensei is not as animated as morikawa but for some reason thinks she needs to talk in that high pitched anime school girl voice. It's really annoying, like nails on the chalk board. Tanaka-sensei also just seems to talk completly normal japanese so I have a really hard time understanding here. Sometimes I'll go like 5 mins without understanding anything then she asks me a question and I'm completely stumped whats going on.
The grammar, the vocab and homework are all ok so I know I can get a decent grade in the class atleast but in class it is really stressful. I think I would like to move to the lower class but thats not possible. Because so many people moved from C class to D class that no one from E class can move down to D. Which isn't fair, also I'm getting a little screwed on it because at U of A I get credit for the next two Japanese language classes which use the same text book as C. So even though I am taking a really high level class I am only getting an intermediate level course credit. Oh well I guess.
Oh also I'm going to audit a real Japanese class. Like a class for Japanese students taught in Japanese. It's really scarry, thats an incredibly high language level and I probably wont be able to follow any of it in class or be able to read any of the assignments. But it is an audit so I can't fail it, the teacher can drop me if things get really bad I suppose but I really need to do this becauase its such a rare opportunity. How many people can say they really know what its like to be a Japanese college student. Also great way to make freinds who don't use English a lot.
Oh yeah freinds! I'm finally starting to create some sort of social life outside of the ryugakusei (foreign exchange studnets) I went to this online penpal place and put in a profile saying I live in Kobe, speak moderate Japanese and if freinds want to practice thier english thats cool and I got tons of emails. I made one freind who goes to Konan as well, his name is Kou and he is really cool. He came along with me and some other ryugakusei to sannomiya (I guess the shopping center of kobe) and one guy wanted to get a cell phone and he stuck around for 2 hours while we got it all squared away. Another ryugakusei called Matt is insanely good at Japaneses and he actually did most of the translating but Kou helped here and there, it was really nice of him. Kou's kind of funny because he wants to get an american girl freind but worries he's too shy. I keep telling him that the ryugakusei girls want to talk to Japanese guys and I know in general that those otaku girls LOVE japanese guys. So I'll help him get a girl maybe he'll return the favor.
Also we had a ryugakusei/konan student party. There is this thing called the big brother and sister program where konan students emailed us and we talked throughout the summer. My sister Eriko couldn't come (I've yet to meet her actually) but I spent like 5 hours talking to people in half english half japanese. It was so much fun. And there is one girl named Aya who started to text me last night so thats pretty nice too. One Japanese guy said he was really jealous that all of the ryugakusei get attention from girls just becasue they are gaijin (foreigner). I told him he looks white he should just pretend to not understand Japanese very well.
Also also on Friday I meet with someone from the kyudo club. It was really windy because a typhoon was passing through Japan so practice had been cancelled but he expalined everything to me and two other ryugakusei. He spoke only Japanese so it was a little ackward but we got through the conversation and all of our questions asked. This is an expensive hobby and he didn't know if we should buy all of the stuff if we are only going to be here 9 months. The paper he gave us put the estimate at around $800 for the bow, arrows, hakama, uniform, gloves, casses, stuff like that. We don't have to buy anything at first but I'm thinking I'm okay with buying most of the stuff and maybe trying to rent something or just paying the $800. Because while I'm in Japan I want to do something very Japanesey and kyudo is definately something cool like that, and also unlike kendo, kyudo isn't all that well known in the states so its something extra special
Finally (much longer post then I thought) I went to a No play last night. I could not understand anything that was going on or a single word that was being said. I really thought they were speaking Chinese at first. There was a whole lot of that traditional japanese background sounds, like the stuff you see in a samurai anime or something and a lot of odd jagged movements. Its not something I would ever want to watch again, and I don't think its something that most Japanese people enjoy either because the audience was like 90% elderly people. Most Japanese people aren't that short in reality but the elderly just shrink a lot. So I really felt like a giant there.
Gosh I thought I didn't have anything to talk about this week but I ended up writting tons, whew well see ya later
The grammar, the vocab and homework are all ok so I know I can get a decent grade in the class atleast but in class it is really stressful. I think I would like to move to the lower class but thats not possible. Because so many people moved from C class to D class that no one from E class can move down to D. Which isn't fair, also I'm getting a little screwed on it because at U of A I get credit for the next two Japanese language classes which use the same text book as C. So even though I am taking a really high level class I am only getting an intermediate level course credit. Oh well I guess.
Oh also I'm going to audit a real Japanese class. Like a class for Japanese students taught in Japanese. It's really scarry, thats an incredibly high language level and I probably wont be able to follow any of it in class or be able to read any of the assignments. But it is an audit so I can't fail it, the teacher can drop me if things get really bad I suppose but I really need to do this becauase its such a rare opportunity. How many people can say they really know what its like to be a Japanese college student. Also great way to make freinds who don't use English a lot.
Oh yeah freinds! I'm finally starting to create some sort of social life outside of the ryugakusei (foreign exchange studnets) I went to this online penpal place and put in a profile saying I live in Kobe, speak moderate Japanese and if freinds want to practice thier english thats cool and I got tons of emails. I made one freind who goes to Konan as well, his name is Kou and he is really cool. He came along with me and some other ryugakusei to sannomiya (I guess the shopping center of kobe) and one guy wanted to get a cell phone and he stuck around for 2 hours while we got it all squared away. Another ryugakusei called Matt is insanely good at Japaneses and he actually did most of the translating but Kou helped here and there, it was really nice of him. Kou's kind of funny because he wants to get an american girl freind but worries he's too shy. I keep telling him that the ryugakusei girls want to talk to Japanese guys and I know in general that those otaku girls LOVE japanese guys. So I'll help him get a girl maybe he'll return the favor.
Also we had a ryugakusei/konan student party. There is this thing called the big brother and sister program where konan students emailed us and we talked throughout the summer. My sister Eriko couldn't come (I've yet to meet her actually) but I spent like 5 hours talking to people in half english half japanese. It was so much fun. And there is one girl named Aya who started to text me last night so thats pretty nice too. One Japanese guy said he was really jealous that all of the ryugakusei get attention from girls just becasue they are gaijin (foreigner). I told him he looks white he should just pretend to not understand Japanese very well.
Also also on Friday I meet with someone from the kyudo club. It was really windy because a typhoon was passing through Japan so practice had been cancelled but he expalined everything to me and two other ryugakusei. He spoke only Japanese so it was a little ackward but we got through the conversation and all of our questions asked. This is an expensive hobby and he didn't know if we should buy all of the stuff if we are only going to be here 9 months. The paper he gave us put the estimate at around $800 for the bow, arrows, hakama, uniform, gloves, casses, stuff like that. We don't have to buy anything at first but I'm thinking I'm okay with buying most of the stuff and maybe trying to rent something or just paying the $800. Because while I'm in Japan I want to do something very Japanesey and kyudo is definately something cool like that, and also unlike kendo, kyudo isn't all that well known in the states so its something extra special
Finally (much longer post then I thought) I went to a No play last night. I could not understand anything that was going on or a single word that was being said. I really thought they were speaking Chinese at first. There was a whole lot of that traditional japanese background sounds, like the stuff you see in a samurai anime or something and a lot of odd jagged movements. Its not something I would ever want to watch again, and I don't think its something that most Japanese people enjoy either because the audience was like 90% elderly people. Most Japanese people aren't that short in reality but the elderly just shrink a lot. So I really felt like a giant there.
Gosh I thought I didn't have anything to talk about this week but I ended up writting tons, whew well see ya later
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Osaka
Well yesterday was an adventure, we went to Osaka! We all met up at okamoto then took the train to umeada. The train ride wasn't too long maybe 40 mins ish or something like that. In the US when you go between cities you have long stretchs of nothing, this wasn't the case, it was buildings along the entire way, there wasn't a distinct line where one city ends and another begins. We get off at the station, and its much bigger then the one at Sannomiya, we get everyone situated (we traveled in a large group) and headed of to yodobashi electronic store.
Yodobashi is freaking huge! Imagine a best buy, fill it with twice as much stuff, then stack 5 more of them on top of each other. Oh man it had everything, an entire floor for cell phones, a floor for cameras (which everyone was so sure they were getting a better deal there but I dont think so), one for TVs, computer parts, and then one for video game and toys. The video game toy floor was crazy. They had hundreds of gundam models (even a 5 foot tall display by the enterance) and all of the kamen raider, sentai, transformers stuff you could ever imagine. I even found a model for the car voltron ( I forget what it was called in Japanese). I really wanted to buy a lot of the stuff there but it came down to, I don't want to carry it all day and I don't have that much room in my room for little nick nacks and I don't know how I would get it back to the states. But in the game section I found a DS stylus pen that I had wanted and lots of other cool things like the wii neo-geo fighting stick. Also today the newest version of pokemon came out, platinum, came out so lots of kids had those paper burger king esc hats on but for the new pokemon in the game. In the cell phone section I found this really cool cell phone decale. It is the nerve logo in shiny metal and it looks really nice on my phone.
From there we decided to head off ot Osaka castle. We had a little adventure getting a big group of people from varrious stations on the subway but when we got there it was pretty breath taking. Osaka, like all of Japan, is very crowded but in the center is a giant park that the castle creeps up over the tree line. We walk for a while and see many really cool things that I took pictures of but when we finally get to the castle itself, it kind of takes you back how big it really is. The inside is actually a museum, which is still pretty cool. There were lots of things that made me wish I knew more about Japanese history because they had things like THE sword used by some famous samurai. The view from the top was pretty amazing, I took pictures but I dont know if they even do justice to have awesome everything was.
After words we headed back the way we came and got to the umeda stations. The problem with big groups happened as we ended up waiting half and hour because some one got seperated for some reason. I don't quite know two people were kind of taking over as leaders so I was just following along but even with cell phones we couldn't keep track of everyone. I started to read this manga I picked up for 105 yen at that book store and was really impressed with myself that if I don't worry about looking up every word I can have a pretty good reading comprehension. Eventually we all ended up in this shopping plaza and had some over priced food before going up to the ferries wheel.
The ferries wheel was also very awesome, my camera for some reason simply could not take usable pictures at all. It was really cool seeing Osaka from that angle at night, really amazing. From there I just headed back home, it took about an hour from station to station. It was a really cool day.
Yodobashi is freaking huge! Imagine a best buy, fill it with twice as much stuff, then stack 5 more of them on top of each other. Oh man it had everything, an entire floor for cell phones, a floor for cameras (which everyone was so sure they were getting a better deal there but I dont think so), one for TVs, computer parts, and then one for video game and toys. The video game toy floor was crazy. They had hundreds of gundam models (even a 5 foot tall display by the enterance) and all of the kamen raider, sentai, transformers stuff you could ever imagine. I even found a model for the car voltron ( I forget what it was called in Japanese). I really wanted to buy a lot of the stuff there but it came down to, I don't want to carry it all day and I don't have that much room in my room for little nick nacks and I don't know how I would get it back to the states. But in the game section I found a DS stylus pen that I had wanted and lots of other cool things like the wii neo-geo fighting stick. Also today the newest version of pokemon came out, platinum, came out so lots of kids had those paper burger king esc hats on but for the new pokemon in the game. In the cell phone section I found this really cool cell phone decale. It is the nerve logo in shiny metal and it looks really nice on my phone.
From there we decided to head off ot Osaka castle. We had a little adventure getting a big group of people from varrious stations on the subway but when we got there it was pretty breath taking. Osaka, like all of Japan, is very crowded but in the center is a giant park that the castle creeps up over the tree line. We walk for a while and see many really cool things that I took pictures of but when we finally get to the castle itself, it kind of takes you back how big it really is. The inside is actually a museum, which is still pretty cool. There were lots of things that made me wish I knew more about Japanese history because they had things like THE sword used by some famous samurai. The view from the top was pretty amazing, I took pictures but I dont know if they even do justice to have awesome everything was.
After words we headed back the way we came and got to the umeda stations. The problem with big groups happened as we ended up waiting half and hour because some one got seperated for some reason. I don't quite know two people were kind of taking over as leaders so I was just following along but even with cell phones we couldn't keep track of everyone. I started to read this manga I picked up for 105 yen at that book store and was really impressed with myself that if I don't worry about looking up every word I can have a pretty good reading comprehension. Eventually we all ended up in this shopping plaza and had some over priced food before going up to the ferries wheel.
The ferries wheel was also very awesome, my camera for some reason simply could not take usable pictures at all. It was really cool seeing Osaka from that angle at night, really amazing. From there I just headed back home, it took about an hour from station to station. It was a really cool day.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Things are good but...
I'm feeling a little pessimistic right now but try not to take it as not being grateful for this really amazing experience but I do have a few complaints to vent.
The first is with my host family. They are really nice people, Okasan is willing to do anything to help me out and does all of the housework. However I can't get much of a conversation going with her. The language barrier is one thing, speaking Japanese is by far my weakest point and I'm really disappointed with myself in that regard but I think if she spoke English we wouldn't talk all that much more either. She's just one of those people that like there isn't a huge personallity click or something. Like I feel like I'm living with an astranged aunt or something. So when I hear how much people are having with their host familes, playing games, talking a lot, doing things, etc I get really jealous.
This jealousy wouldn't be so bad if I could meet some Japanese people, which leads me into my second point. The foreign exchange program is offset of the regular school schedule by 3 weeks. That means until like the 19th or something the school is pretty dead and none of the clubs have started up. I appreciate that we could have some time to get to know the campus before it became crowded but I think it was a pretty annoying move on the schools side. I do have 2 penpals that I have talked to for like 3 months and both of them are too busy to hang out. I'm getting pretty frustrated about that I mean I flew 14 hours to get here and you can't take 2 hours out of your day to show me around this foreign city?
That ends my rant but I do have more to talk about. By some bizzare stroke of luck I somehow managed to get into the highest difficulty Japanese class. Seriously I don't know how it happend. The first day everyone took the same test. The next day 7 people took test 3 while everyone else, myself, took test 2. If you took test 3 you were supposed to go to class D or E and test 2 people were A B or C. I'm really confused about it. This class is advanced Japanese, we are reading news articles, I don't know if I can do it. I never actually took an intermediate class, I only read the book for it. In the class I am for sure the bottom 3 on speaking ability, like I know I can study well enough to score high on the tests but in class it is stressful. We have two teachers, because its too many hours a week for one teacher to have or something like that, and they are both nice but one talked much simpler and slower then the other. Also there are two French guys there who are near fleunt (pera-pera) but their French accent is so strong I can not understand anything they say.
I got a cell phone and opened a bank account. Cell phones are really weird in Japan, you get a really crappy amount of out going calls but get unlimited incoming. Also everyone emails rather then SMS because SMS only go the company your on. I ended up going with AU because the only other feasable one, softbank, could only do a one year contract at a single store in sannomiya and you had to buy the phone right out. I really wanted a nice TV phone or something like that but I ultimately decided that for 9 months it wasn't worth the money to get a cool phone. Oh also two cool things Japanese phones do, the first is that they have a barcode reader. In Japan on advetisements you see square barcodes, you use the camera on your phone and the phone will display information like a web link, phone number, etc and you can store that in your address book right away. The second thing is IR sending. You can send info about your phone, such as number, name, info, picture of you, birthdate to someone by just point the phones at each other and pressing send. Its way easier then typing it all in and creates a sort of social event of collecting phone numbers.
Well I've talked too much and should get back to studying, bye everyone
The first is with my host family. They are really nice people, Okasan is willing to do anything to help me out and does all of the housework. However I can't get much of a conversation going with her. The language barrier is one thing, speaking Japanese is by far my weakest point and I'm really disappointed with myself in that regard but I think if she spoke English we wouldn't talk all that much more either. She's just one of those people that like there isn't a huge personallity click or something. Like I feel like I'm living with an astranged aunt or something. So when I hear how much people are having with their host familes, playing games, talking a lot, doing things, etc I get really jealous.
This jealousy wouldn't be so bad if I could meet some Japanese people, which leads me into my second point. The foreign exchange program is offset of the regular school schedule by 3 weeks. That means until like the 19th or something the school is pretty dead and none of the clubs have started up. I appreciate that we could have some time to get to know the campus before it became crowded but I think it was a pretty annoying move on the schools side. I do have 2 penpals that I have talked to for like 3 months and both of them are too busy to hang out. I'm getting pretty frustrated about that I mean I flew 14 hours to get here and you can't take 2 hours out of your day to show me around this foreign city?
That ends my rant but I do have more to talk about. By some bizzare stroke of luck I somehow managed to get into the highest difficulty Japanese class. Seriously I don't know how it happend. The first day everyone took the same test. The next day 7 people took test 3 while everyone else, myself, took test 2. If you took test 3 you were supposed to go to class D or E and test 2 people were A B or C. I'm really confused about it. This class is advanced Japanese, we are reading news articles, I don't know if I can do it. I never actually took an intermediate class, I only read the book for it. In the class I am for sure the bottom 3 on speaking ability, like I know I can study well enough to score high on the tests but in class it is stressful. We have two teachers, because its too many hours a week for one teacher to have or something like that, and they are both nice but one talked much simpler and slower then the other. Also there are two French guys there who are near fleunt (pera-pera) but their French accent is so strong I can not understand anything they say.
I got a cell phone and opened a bank account. Cell phones are really weird in Japan, you get a really crappy amount of out going calls but get unlimited incoming. Also everyone emails rather then SMS because SMS only go the company your on. I ended up going with AU because the only other feasable one, softbank, could only do a one year contract at a single store in sannomiya and you had to buy the phone right out. I really wanted a nice TV phone or something like that but I ultimately decided that for 9 months it wasn't worth the money to get a cool phone. Oh also two cool things Japanese phones do, the first is that they have a barcode reader. In Japan on advetisements you see square barcodes, you use the camera on your phone and the phone will display information like a web link, phone number, etc and you can store that in your address book right away. The second thing is IR sending. You can send info about your phone, such as number, name, info, picture of you, birthdate to someone by just point the phones at each other and pressing send. Its way easier then typing it all in and creates a sort of social event of collecting phone numbers.
Well I've talked too much and should get back to studying, bye everyone
Monday, September 8, 2008
Starting to get used to this place
Well it seems like life here is starting to normalize. Nothing incredible amazing happened this weekend. I did spend a lot time inside watching TV with host-mom, only news type shows but all of Japanese tv is weird. Also I went to Sannomiya by myself on Sunday.
I gotta say something about the tv first. Non stop the news has been covering a story about this one particular sumo wrestler and I couldn't figure out what he did until I asked kasan(host mom) and she said he test positive for marajuna use. I was pretty shocked. Like in America I'm pretty sure only possesion is a crime and tons of celebraties and politicians have admited to trying pot and here in Japan the fact that a somewhat famous person used pot is big enough news that it needs 24 hour coverage. Just crazy.
Getting to Sannomiya it self was pretty easy, I took the kobe line from maruyama station to shinkaichi station (last station everyone gets off) then follow the signs towards Osaka and get on. Sannomiya is a really nice shopping center with hundreds of small and large stores very close to each other. I checked out a book store and thought it was a pretty small one or something but was really surpised when I saw that it was 6 stories tall and each floor was enourmous. I think in all it was bigger then the u of a library. The manga section was also huge, like atleast 10 giant isles just jam packed. I ended up getting shounen eesu (one of those various manga in one giant book things), a faimatsu magazine (gaming) and terebikun (tokusatsu magazine designed for kids). I also went to an electronic store and found a really cool video game section with a giant MGS4 old snake statue and all sorts of new and old games and I also saw that the TVs are like twice the price here, I don't get that.
On the way back I did get lost because from sannomiya station I did take the wrong direction train, realized it then got off after a few stations waited for the one going back the right direction found one, got on it then it stopped again at sannomiya. I waited a bit then it went backwards to the wrong direction again. I got off at the first station and asked this japanese girl and she was really helpful, apparently you have to take the express train to go back, I don't know how I'm supposed to know stuff like that but oh well.
I gotta say something about the tv first. Non stop the news has been covering a story about this one particular sumo wrestler and I couldn't figure out what he did until I asked kasan(host mom) and she said he test positive for marajuna use. I was pretty shocked. Like in America I'm pretty sure only possesion is a crime and tons of celebraties and politicians have admited to trying pot and here in Japan the fact that a somewhat famous person used pot is big enough news that it needs 24 hour coverage. Just crazy.
Getting to Sannomiya it self was pretty easy, I took the kobe line from maruyama station to shinkaichi station (last station everyone gets off) then follow the signs towards Osaka and get on. Sannomiya is a really nice shopping center with hundreds of small and large stores very close to each other. I checked out a book store and thought it was a pretty small one or something but was really surpised when I saw that it was 6 stories tall and each floor was enourmous. I think in all it was bigger then the u of a library. The manga section was also huge, like atleast 10 giant isles just jam packed. I ended up getting shounen eesu (one of those various manga in one giant book things), a faimatsu magazine (gaming) and terebikun (tokusatsu magazine designed for kids). I also went to an electronic store and found a really cool video game section with a giant MGS4 old snake statue and all sorts of new and old games and I also saw that the TVs are like twice the price here, I don't get that.
On the way back I did get lost because from sannomiya station I did take the wrong direction train, realized it then got off after a few stations waited for the one going back the right direction found one, got on it then it stopped again at sannomiya. I waited a bit then it went backwards to the wrong direction again. I got off at the first station and asked this japanese girl and she was really helpful, apparently you have to take the express train to go back, I don't know how I'm supposed to know stuff like that but oh well.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
Host Family
Firday the 5th of September
This has been the scariest day of my life but at the same time the day that I realized that I am the luckiest guy in the world. Today was the day that we met our host families. We ate breakfast as normal then went back up to get dressed for the party. I asked the front desk for an Iron, which I should have done in Japanese because the guy seemed to have a little bit of trouble understanding, then started getting ready. We all finished up and packed up all of our stuff and I called maintenance to pick up the iron, I did that in Japanese but it didn't go as smoothly as possible. We then went from a few different rooms and had some of the KIEC staff tell us some things about being polite to the host family and what not.
Then came the big moment where we gathered in an line and they called the host family and us. I was getting so nervous. I don't know why I have spoken to people who only know Japanese before but it was really getting to me. Then I finally got to meet Otoshi-kasan. She scared me a little bit because she, and I mean this in a nice way, has kind of a crazy old lady look to her. The conversation at first was a little rough and difficult but then the party started and we could mingle and eat. She talked a lot with all of her friends and at this point I was kind of thinking “oh jeez what have I gotten myself into” After the party we got into her car, which is really nice, and we drove to the ward office.
Along the way we said a few things but this language barrier was getting rough. Well I mean it was possible but I was nervous and bumbling with my speech left and right. I got to see a really nice view of Kobe though. Anyways we go to the court house type thing, uh municipal office maybe? And we got my gaikokujin paper work thingies and there was one girl who talked amazingly fast. I could not keep up. It was a normal office but everything being in japanese it was just so new and ,of course, foreign. Oh another thing I noticed, Japanese people always seem to back up into a parking spot, usually at great effort. When we got the house she backed up with her side next to the wall then got out the passenger side.
The house though, this was what made me realize how lucky I am. Its freaking huge for a Japanese house and really good size for an American one. My bed room is a 6 tatmi size room which, if my family is reading this its a little smaller then Jessie's room. Next they have a freaking HUGE tv. Probably a 52 lcd or something. And Japanese TV is almost all HD, I really like that. Also we talked about the rules and the only thing she cares about is that I tell her when I'm coming home each day. If I'm going to eat dinner with friends just call her by 4 or 5 so she wont make as much and if I'm going to stay later then normal just give her a call. She also said I could have parties here. From the start of the day my nervousness was at an all time high and by dinner it had dropped quite a bit, until I finally understood about Stephan. Stephan stayed with them as a foreign exchange student 2 years ago and became such good friends he lives with them while he works as an English teacher. So I have an emergency person to talk to if I have to, and it shows just how freaking awesome they are.
All of this has made me realize that my life has pointed me down this amazing path by all of the things I thought were misfortunes in the past. Not being able to move to Florida, moving back in with my parents, not being able to be a foreign exchange student right after transferring to U of A, all of that put me on the path of having the best possible experience in Japan and probably the most amazing thing I will ever do in my life.
This has been the scariest day of my life but at the same time the day that I realized that I am the luckiest guy in the world. Today was the day that we met our host families. We ate breakfast as normal then went back up to get dressed for the party. I asked the front desk for an Iron, which I should have done in Japanese because the guy seemed to have a little bit of trouble understanding, then started getting ready. We all finished up and packed up all of our stuff and I called maintenance to pick up the iron, I did that in Japanese but it didn't go as smoothly as possible. We then went from a few different rooms and had some of the KIEC staff tell us some things about being polite to the host family and what not.
Then came the big moment where we gathered in an line and they called the host family and us. I was getting so nervous. I don't know why I have spoken to people who only know Japanese before but it was really getting to me. Then I finally got to meet Otoshi-kasan. She scared me a little bit because she, and I mean this in a nice way, has kind of a crazy old lady look to her. The conversation at first was a little rough and difficult but then the party started and we could mingle and eat. She talked a lot with all of her friends and at this point I was kind of thinking “oh jeez what have I gotten myself into” After the party we got into her car, which is really nice, and we drove to the ward office.
Along the way we said a few things but this language barrier was getting rough. Well I mean it was possible but I was nervous and bumbling with my speech left and right. I got to see a really nice view of Kobe though. Anyways we go to the court house type thing, uh municipal office maybe? And we got my gaikokujin paper work thingies and there was one girl who talked amazingly fast. I could not keep up. It was a normal office but everything being in japanese it was just so new and ,of course, foreign. Oh another thing I noticed, Japanese people always seem to back up into a parking spot, usually at great effort. When we got the house she backed up with her side next to the wall then got out the passenger side.
The house though, this was what made me realize how lucky I am. Its freaking huge for a Japanese house and really good size for an American one. My bed room is a 6 tatmi size room which, if my family is reading this its a little smaller then Jessie's room. Next they have a freaking HUGE tv. Probably a 52 lcd or something. And Japanese TV is almost all HD, I really like that. Also we talked about the rules and the only thing she cares about is that I tell her when I'm coming home each day. If I'm going to eat dinner with friends just call her by 4 or 5 so she wont make as much and if I'm going to stay later then normal just give her a call. She also said I could have parties here. From the start of the day my nervousness was at an all time high and by dinner it had dropped quite a bit, until I finally understood about Stephan. Stephan stayed with them as a foreign exchange student 2 years ago and became such good friends he lives with them while he works as an English teacher. So I have an emergency person to talk to if I have to, and it shows just how freaking awesome they are.
All of this has made me realize that my life has pointed me down this amazing path by all of the things I thought were misfortunes in the past. Not being able to move to Florida, moving back in with my parents, not being able to be a foreign exchange student right after transferring to U of A, all of that put me on the path of having the best possible experience in Japan and probably the most amazing thing I will ever do in my life.
Oh Japan
I've seen the weirdest and coolest thing today on the train. It is an automatic window fogger. Not a window defogger but one that will fog up on purpose. We were looking out the window at the city view and all of a sudden the window was too foggy to see out of. I was confused but thought we passed by some steam vent or something like that but before I could think about it, the window was clear again. I kept my eye on it and realized that at specific times it instantly fogs up then instantly clears. The reason I believe is that certain houses want the extra privacy so when the train gets to a certain area it prevents the riders from seeing. Its cool and awesome but at the same time not entirely necessary. Very Japanesey.
Today we had a tour of downtown kobe with Ryo, Yuki and Mai. They all were very friendly but our Japanese and their English skills held back the conversation a little bit. But Kobe is a huge city! It has those giant crosswalks, it has a china town and it has giant sky scrappers. I wish I could take the time to take pictures of everything. Thats kind of becoming a problem that there is so much cool new stuff that I want to take a picture of and share with everyone but I simply don't have the time for everything.
Today we had a tour of downtown kobe with Ryo, Yuki and Mai. They all were very friendly but our Japanese and their English skills held back the conversation a little bit. But Kobe is a huge city! It has those giant crosswalks, it has a china town and it has giant sky scrappers. I wish I could take the time to take pictures of everything. Thats kind of becoming a problem that there is so much cool new stuff that I want to take a picture of and share with everyone but I simply don't have the time for everything.
Also I wish I could get some more internet time. Just a few minutes today after lunch was just enough to update a blog and send everyone messages. I have so much I want to tell everyone its a little frustrating being held back.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The rest of the first day
(8:22 pm)
Uh lets see where did I leave off? Well we met up after that little break in the schedule (thats when I posted the last one) and we headed over to this Japanese style restaurant. It was a very unique experience for sure. We entered this building on one of those business alleys that aren't exactly crowded but wide-ish. We enter it then go up a lot of stairs and enter this room with three long tables low to the ground. We take off our shoes and put them in a shoe locker then sit down at the tables, the floor is sunken there so it felt like sitting normally but you weren't. Also in the center, sunken into each 1/3 of each table was this wok type thing with cabbage and what i think is chicken.
The waiter came in and turned on the gas oven below each to get it start cooking. We didn't know what to do exactly, like when it was ok to eat so we just waited a while until someone took the initiative and grabbed some. It was good slightly spicy. There was also a salad that had lemon rines in it. I don't know if the rines are supposed to be eaten or not, it tasted terrible (I only took one bite). Then he brought out what he called pizza but was basically a cracker with corn and tiny fried whole shrimp. The shrimp part of that was weird to see but didn't have any really texture when you ate it. The little shrimp looked like dead bugs so you had to make sure not to think about that part of it too much. Then he brought out this pasta which was like spaghetti but um cold and like I guess a little bit more of a fresh taste.
Then came the thing that really threw me off, he brought french fries, onion rings and rice cracker like thing. The rice thing looked like styrofoam but tasted like a regular rice cracker thing. There was also three more dishes a fish something in a light soup, yakisoba, and something closer to pizza but had weird japanese twists on them. I had a piece of the potato one myself. It was really cool eating like that, but I would have enjoyed it more if I was just feeling like myself. I'm tired and my stomach keeps acting up.
We walked then took the JR line to sumiyoshi then at that station transferred to rakko-liner and road that for four stations until island center. We got back and I checked out the 100 yen store, I was surprised by the quality of stuff they had. They had belts and hats and slippers, I was really surpsied. I bought a hankerchief because bathrooms don't have paper towels and one of those colapsible fans because geez the humidity just destroys you, oh yeah and also a DS screen protector (I need to see how that one goes).
I also tried to find some place that I could buy aspirin or some sort of stomach relief. I tried the family market and they didn't have it but they did have some really cool dragon ball items like a big dragon ball pillow and a Bulma statue and chibi goku plushies for 200 yen. If I was at a con and saw those for 2 bucks I'd buy them all but I had to stop myself because I need to be very cautious with my money until the jasso money comes in and where would I put something like that. I went to the mall thing again looking for somewhere to buy some medicine, and I found a pharmacy but it was closed, I continued walking in it but then all of a sudden I was back in the hotel. It was really confusing.
Japan has a weird night life it looks like. From what little I have seen it appears that people have specific destinations that they go to in the evening and thats that. By 8pm most people on the street are just a few stragglers trying to catch up. Well I sure wrote a whole lot for one day. I guess as my first full day in Japan it wasn't too bad. It could have been much better if my stupid body would just work with me here but I've seen more new things in one day then I did all of last year.
Well I'm here
Okay wow got so much to talk about I don't know where exactly to start. Lets see so the rest of the plane ride was really long and so uncomfortable. I could not get a wink of sleep. I don't want to ever do that plane ride again, it was terrible. I was worried about the customs with my dvds so what I did was I just took a new form and said that I didn't have anything that violated prohibited items and the guy at customs just took my paper and said "ganbatte". I guess they check that stuff before I get it anyways. The whole immigration, if thats the write word, was very professional and strict feeling. Also the airport had a very contemporary look to it.
So I get out of customs and find the staff from konan holding a sign, one of them recongized me right away. I then messed around with the calling cards to tell my family I am ok. It took a while I think someone was using the phone at 11pm because I ended up having to call dad's cell phone. We then waited around for the bus to come and take us to the shearton hotel on rokka island. The view of Osaka was amazing. I tell you I've never seen anything like it. The roads were so clean and organized and the city was mixed with giant apartment complexes, traditional houses, a castle, golf driving ranges, and industrial sites. There are also giant and amazing looking bridges. Each one was a diffrent color and design. I said that the red bridge must be the leader of the bridges.
So we get to the hotel and it is amazing. The nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. They gave us a packet and we were free for the night. I made plans to go out with my roommates because I didn't want to get lost in Japan on my own. It took a while to get everyone together and ready but when we did, man I don't even know what to say about this place. There is such a varriety in architecture and there is this sense of order around everything. There were a few children playing by themselves at night and none of the bikes are locked. Like entire bicycle parking lots full of bikes that aren't locked because no one is worried about theft. There were even bikes that had locks but the owner must have felt it wasn't worth the effort. We walked around these really spacious and empty feeling malls or shopping center, I don't know what to really call it. We stopped in a comic store for a bit, that was awesome. We then went to a restaurant and ordered in Japanese, which we didn't do that well but the fact that we did is pretty impressive. I had katsu don, oh man was it good. We then went back to the hotel and called it a night. The hotel is very western but they did provide us with yukatas which are really comfortable. Oh and the toilet! The seat warmer and water spray sound silly but once you use them your sold.
The next day my stomach ache that has been coming and going every since I left Tucson hit me pretty hard and I was up pretty early because of it. Once everyone was up and ready we went downstairs to this breakfeast buffet, they gave us passes for it, and I went for the more japanese type food. I don't know what I ate but it was all pretty good except for the natto. I first tried it by itself and it was this weird sticky type web between each soybean and it wasn't repulsive tasting but there is just no way you could eat it by it self. We ultimately mixed it with rice and soy sauce and it became do-able.
We then headed out for Konan university. We all gathered up and walked over to the train station where we bought a ticket to sumiyoshi and then transfered to something yamamoto. The trains are pretty good quality, nice and clean. They did have signs saying to not use your cell phone while on the train, which is something you wouldn't see in America. The school is about 15 min walk from the station. I wish I could take the time to take more pictures, it really is just a sight to behold.
We then were in a classroom for a few hours going over various things and doing introductions. We had to introduce our classmates infront of everyone. Most people did theres in English but I did mine in Japanese. In my mind I knew exactly how I wanted to say it but when I got up there I got a bit of stage fright and messed up and skipped stuff. I think I am in the upper middle of language ability in this group. There are some people who seem to really know there stuff and others who know hardly any at all. I'm actually really excited about starting class and learning more Japanese. My stomach ache was a real problem here as well. I knew this was going to happen so I brought some pepto bismol but I put in my luggage that was sent to my host family. Somehow I've manged to survive it all but this day would have been much better with out it.
We then had a guided tour of the school by some Japanese students. They spoke English but we were able to have a good mixed language converstation. The cafeteria is something I think I'm going to like, most dishes are under 300 yen and are a very good portion. I noticed a big difference right away between American restaurants and Japanese, the drink. At the cafetria you could get a juice box but there was no soda, can or fountain to befound. Instead there was a stack of small cups and water jugs behind the register. Even though the cup was small it felt like enough, its weird.
We then went through more information sessions were we got computers working at what not after that we went to a club demonstration. One of our teachers is not quite a master or anything like that but really skilled at that Japanese dance where it is very slow specific movements. It was really amazing but if I was feeling well I know I would have appreciated it more. We then saw a kendo demo and a kenpo demo. Kenpo looks cool, it looks like much more practical fighting styles. Its 6 hour a week of practice so I dunno if I want to do something quite like that. We then saw a demo from the music group and one of their freinds I guess was wearing a cardboard gundam costume with a costume horse head. It was really weird but cool at the same time. I really wanted to get a picture of that.
That brings things up to speed I suppose, we are going to a restaurant as a group from here then back home. I'll write soon .
Also very important I now have my japanese pictures up so check it out
My Picasa account
So I get out of customs and find the staff from konan holding a sign, one of them recongized me right away. I then messed around with the calling cards to tell my family I am ok. It took a while I think someone was using the phone at 11pm because I ended up having to call dad's cell phone. We then waited around for the bus to come and take us to the shearton hotel on rokka island. The view of Osaka was amazing. I tell you I've never seen anything like it. The roads were so clean and organized and the city was mixed with giant apartment complexes, traditional houses, a castle, golf driving ranges, and industrial sites. There are also giant and amazing looking bridges. Each one was a diffrent color and design. I said that the red bridge must be the leader of the bridges.
So we get to the hotel and it is amazing. The nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. They gave us a packet and we were free for the night. I made plans to go out with my roommates because I didn't want to get lost in Japan on my own. It took a while to get everyone together and ready but when we did, man I don't even know what to say about this place. There is such a varriety in architecture and there is this sense of order around everything. There were a few children playing by themselves at night and none of the bikes are locked. Like entire bicycle parking lots full of bikes that aren't locked because no one is worried about theft. There were even bikes that had locks but the owner must have felt it wasn't worth the effort. We walked around these really spacious and empty feeling malls or shopping center, I don't know what to really call it. We stopped in a comic store for a bit, that was awesome. We then went to a restaurant and ordered in Japanese, which we didn't do that well but the fact that we did is pretty impressive. I had katsu don, oh man was it good. We then went back to the hotel and called it a night. The hotel is very western but they did provide us with yukatas which are really comfortable. Oh and the toilet! The seat warmer and water spray sound silly but once you use them your sold.
The next day my stomach ache that has been coming and going every since I left Tucson hit me pretty hard and I was up pretty early because of it. Once everyone was up and ready we went downstairs to this breakfeast buffet, they gave us passes for it, and I went for the more japanese type food. I don't know what I ate but it was all pretty good except for the natto. I first tried it by itself and it was this weird sticky type web between each soybean and it wasn't repulsive tasting but there is just no way you could eat it by it self. We ultimately mixed it with rice and soy sauce and it became do-able.
We then headed out for Konan university. We all gathered up and walked over to the train station where we bought a ticket to sumiyoshi and then transfered to something yamamoto. The trains are pretty good quality, nice and clean. They did have signs saying to not use your cell phone while on the train, which is something you wouldn't see in America. The school is about 15 min walk from the station. I wish I could take the time to take more pictures, it really is just a sight to behold.
We then were in a classroom for a few hours going over various things and doing introductions. We had to introduce our classmates infront of everyone. Most people did theres in English but I did mine in Japanese. In my mind I knew exactly how I wanted to say it but when I got up there I got a bit of stage fright and messed up and skipped stuff. I think I am in the upper middle of language ability in this group. There are some people who seem to really know there stuff and others who know hardly any at all. I'm actually really excited about starting class and learning more Japanese. My stomach ache was a real problem here as well. I knew this was going to happen so I brought some pepto bismol but I put in my luggage that was sent to my host family. Somehow I've manged to survive it all but this day would have been much better with out it.
We then had a guided tour of the school by some Japanese students. They spoke English but we were able to have a good mixed language converstation. The cafeteria is something I think I'm going to like, most dishes are under 300 yen and are a very good portion. I noticed a big difference right away between American restaurants and Japanese, the drink. At the cafetria you could get a juice box but there was no soda, can or fountain to befound. Instead there was a stack of small cups and water jugs behind the register. Even though the cup was small it felt like enough, its weird.
We then went through more information sessions were we got computers working at what not after that we went to a club demonstration. One of our teachers is not quite a master or anything like that but really skilled at that Japanese dance where it is very slow specific movements. It was really amazing but if I was feeling well I know I would have appreciated it more. We then saw a kendo demo and a kenpo demo. Kenpo looks cool, it looks like much more practical fighting styles. Its 6 hour a week of practice so I dunno if I want to do something quite like that. We then saw a demo from the music group and one of their freinds I guess was wearing a cardboard gundam costume with a costume horse head. It was really weird but cool at the same time. I really wanted to get a picture of that.
That brings things up to speed I suppose, we are going to a restaurant as a group from here then back home. I'll write soon .
Also very important I now have my japanese pictures up so check it out
My Picasa account
I'm on the plane
Its either 3:43 pm or 7:43 am right now I'm not quite sure. The excitement of this great adventure has kind of dulled out on this plan trip. Holy shmolly its so hard to get anywhere near comfortable in this plane and I know I need to sleep and I want to sleep but for the life of me I can't. If I want to do some job in the future that requires a lot of travel back and forth between us and Japan I'll need to figure out some sort of secret to making this bearable. I filled out a landing card and it was really confusing. It had one question about bringing prohibited items and it just mentioned something about intellectual property violations, which could be some of the burnt dvds I brought. Granted some of them I netflixed and copied but others are just copies of movies I own so that I can both leave the original at home and remove the region protection on them so they can play on japanese dvd players. Lets see how that goes, kind of scarry. Oh yeah and looking out the window is something else just ocean and clouds forever. Really gives you a sense of the vastness of this world.
Monday, September 1, 2008
The day has come
Its 5:36 am my plane leaves in 1 hour and I am freaking psyched. I'm going to Japan! I really am! Its happening! This is the greatest thing ever! I'm listening to some J-rock and my excitement level is...its... ITS OVER 9000!!!! I was so worried that something was going to go wrong that this wasn't going to happen but here I am with a ticket to Osaka! Wow this might be the greatest day of my life, well maybe not today itself because I'm going to spend it all on a plane but oh man, life rocks!
It was a really sad goodbye to my family though. Most of us in the family have had experience saying bye at airports to people but Chris and Julie were so sad. Just seeing them cry I couldn't hold back my own tears. I am so close to those two and I'm really going to miss rough housing with them. Aw thinking about that slightly dropped me down from my Japan high, I better listen to some more awesome Japanese music.
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