A Crash Course in Japan: Archive

Shared Experiences

This is gonna be really short, because it’s basically just here to remind myself of the various things I did this weekend. I would write it out in detail, but I just don’t have time, so I’m gonna write an outline so I can look at this post, which will act as a trigger for everything that happened this weekend. So basically, there’s no reason for you to read this at...

Mar 6th

Running Out

I have very little to say these days. It’s probably because there’s very little to talk about. Life goes on, things become normal, and I don’t really have time to devote to my blog. At this point in life, I feel like blogging about your own life has the ability to detach you from it, to a certain extent. Maybe that’s a good thing; if you need some distance or need to...

Feb 27th

No Back Rooms Involved

Ok guys, here’s the deal. I am a very lazy person, or at least, most of the time I am, and so much stuff has happened in the past two months that I haven’t blogged about, that it would take me a long time to write a lot of it down. So I’m not going to. Basically there’s about three things you need to know: 1) I went on a two week winter vacation around Western Honshu...

Feb 14th

Guess I Should Be Going

What with all the craziness I never got around to writing about my winter break, which deserves addressing since it was pretty sweet. Around the end of my fall break, some of us realized that winter break was about a month off, and that if we wanted to do stuff, we should probably start planning before finals rolled around and hotels started getting booked and stuff. At this point, two of the...

Jan 22nd

Savior of No One in Particular

So, my host mother’s father died last night. This means that I am switching host families, and thus my life as of today involves packing, moving, living out of my suitcase for a little while, and moving again and unpacking. Then comes integration with an entirely new family. So, basically, I will not be blogging that much in the foreseeable future. I have time right now because...

Jan 15th

Clean Up

Hey all. I haven’t updated for a good 3 weeks or so, maybe more, and a lot has happened in those weeks, mostly good, I’m happy to report, so here’s what’s going to happen. Over the next few days I’m going to write a bunch of posts to fill y’all in on what’s been going on here. I figure if I put it into a single post, it would be the length of a short...

Jan 4th

Depression

I’ve been feeling like shit today. It’s because of my host family. This past week I barely saw or talked to my host family because I was ridiculously busy, and this weekend I’ve mostly been out. I got a mail from my imouto earlier tonight saying something like it’s ok if I eat out, but to make sure to tell them properly. The mail felt kinda passive aggressive and it...

Dec 19th

Moving On

While I think I’ll have more to say about Wikileaks in the future, for now let’s get back to the purpose of this blog, which is my time here in Japan. I guess I don’t have much to say today, I’ve just forgotten to catalog some of the stuff I’ve done recently. For instance, around the end of Novermber, the most beautiful temples in Kyoto will light up their grounds...

Dec 11th

Wikileaks

So, this is unrelated to Japan, but I feel like writing a little about it since it’s been on my mind, and seems to be occupying most of my thoughts. How do we make decisions about events? When I was little, I would more or less go with what my parents said and thought was right and wrong, because they were my parents. They knew what they were talking about, right? Well, as we grow up we...

Dec 8th

All in Due Time

Hey guys, another quick one since I have to leave in like, 10 minutes. I’ve been going through a tougher time recently. I think part of it is that I still don’t feel like I’m connecting with my host family. I’ve gotten better at talking with them, but I’m still hesitant some of the time, and it just feels like there’s not much to bring up or discuss. Well, I...

Dec 4th

Too Long

What am I going to do instead of finishing my paper? Write about my break! Don’t worry, I’m on the conclusion, then I just have to edit. My break started out with me doing absolutely nothing at home, which I think is when I decided to start reading these Stieg Larsson books. May I say that they are fantastic. Last Sunday I went up to Kurama, that place where the himatsuri...

Dec 2nd

Quickie

I got back from Tokyo two days ago. I have too much work. I really want to read my book. I’ll update as soon as possible/when I feel like it.

Nov 28th

There *was* no Translation

Hey guys. This is just a quick post, since I really only have one thing in mind. When I got to my host family’s house, one of the first things I did was take a bath. I mean, I unpacked stuff, figured out the internet, etc, but I had to take a bath before going to bed, so that’s what I did, after my otousan had explained a couple of things to me. In the sentou I had been to during...

Nov 19th

Scenery

As much as I may complain about some aspects of Japan, I love this country. There are some aspects that I may never get used to, and may never like, but there are some that I really love and could definitely get used to. Some smaller examples are the trains. The trains here are fucking fantastic. They’re clean, comfortable (when you’re not standing up), and they will always be on...

Nov 18th

IT'S...ALIIIIIIIIIVE

Yes, I’m still alive, I’ve just been busy and haven’t given myself any time to blog. Let’s start a couple weeks back, after Midterms I guess. Since then I’ve…I’ve…Ok, I can’t really remember everything I’ve done. I guess the first thing that comes to mind is my BIRTHDAY. WHOOOO. Unfortunately I had homework on this auspicious...

Oct 31st

Gay Jokes Have Mixed Effects on Me

Wow, my last post was a while ago. Here’s the rundown. My last post was about needing to relax. Last weekend I spent most of Saturday watching dumb crap on the internet with friends and watching movies. I rewatched Lawrence of Arabia, which is fantastic. It’s been a while since I watched it, and this time around I got so much more out of it. Anyway, the following day was work, as...

Oct 22nd

Obscure Title

I need time to relax. I’ve gotten better at giving myself time to relax during everyday life, but right now I feel like this weekend I need some time just for myself, because I’ve been surrounded by my peers for a good two weeks straight. There was the fall field trip, then I had a field trip the day after so I saw people that day as well, and then this whole week, which felt really...

Oct 14th

Culture

A couple of cool things have happened in the past few days. Well, actually, the things I’m thinking of took place on Tuesday. First, I had my first practicum class, which was calligraphy. Calligraphy is hard. You think “oh man, that’s probably really easy,” but no, it’s extremely difficult, because you have to really know what you’re doing with the brush to...

Oct 13th

The Bomb, Part Two

The Fall Field Trip was so much fun. We all met at Kyoto Station early in the morning on Thursday to bus to our first destination. After about two hours of driving, we made a stop at this tiny little town called Bizen, I think. This town is famous, or at least known by some, for its pottery. Apparently they use a kind of clay that is only found around that town, and the techniques they use to...

Oct 9th

The Bomb

I don’t have much time because I’m about to go on the Fall Field Trip, which will take us AKPeople to Hiroshima, Miyajima (the place with the torii in the water) and a tiny town called Kurashiki which is supposed to be very pretty. I’m looking forward to sleeping on the six hour bus ride. So apparently Japanese people love Krispy Kreme doughnuts. A Krispy Kreme opened up in...

Oct 6th

Ice Cream

You know what’s weird about Japan? You always want ice cream. No joke. Today started out very strangely. For whatever reason the whole world felt really surreal when I woke up. It eventually went away, but it was a discomforting feeling. Other than that, my day was fairly normal. I went to this really cool little cafe that some friends and I had discovered, and the food was once again...

Oct 4th

Party

Today was so much fun. On one of the first days I was here, my otousan told me that on the 3rd of October we would have a welcome party for me. I got to invite four people from the program to come and we would have a party. I was largely kept in the dark about what was going to happen at this party, except for the fact that we were going to try and barbeque stuff. Well it happened today, and...

Oct 3rd

Week

In the past 5 days I have done many things. I have felt like I was going to get sick. I have gone to the former pleasure district of Kyoto and noticed that it retains none of the professions that used to be practiced there (or so it seemed), I’ve nearly gone crazy due to the jingles they play in large chain stores, and other things of that sort. Life is starting to become normal. ...

Oct 2nd

Heroics

I couldn’t sleep last night. I was up 1:45 or so reading and I probably didn’t fall asleep until 2:30 or so. Meaning I’ve been running on 3 1/2 hours of sleep or so. Addendum: after reviewing this post a bit, it feels more like essay material; like something I could use in class, rather than blog post material, but I’m posting it anyway to make you think. ...

Sep 28th

Reflection

I took the day off yesterday. I studied a bunch of lessons in genki, watched a little anime, and caught myself up on the Colbert Report. It did me good because it gave me time to reflect on things. Did you know that some Japanese toilets have sinks built into their tops? The ones in my house do. But that’s not what I was reflecting on. I mentioned last time that I was in a funk;...

Sep 26th

Title

Been a while, been busy. The first thing of note was that I saw a film on Wednesday. It’s called toilet; it’s Canadian, directed by a Japanese woman, and it’s in English. I saw this film for my course on the “Other” in Postwar Japanese Cinema. Why this particular film? Because it was made by a Japanese person, and it did deal with the concept of the...

Sep 24th

One Man's Trash...

I hate getting up this early. 6 AM, jesus. Yesterday was the first day of Japanese class. Last week was just review, so I’m not really counting that. After class I was a little scared; we’re using a textbook which is entirely in Japanese. I’m scared that the book will use grammar, vocabulary and kanji that I haven’t learned yet in order to teach us whatever it’s...

Sep 21st

Rirakkuma

I love rirakkuma. So, the Japanese word for relax is (romanization here) is rirakkusu, and the Japanese word for bear is kuma. There’s this product, whose name is rirakkuma, and it’s a bear that’s really chill. Get the pun? I love puns, and so does Japan; yet another reason why I love it here. I spent the day relaxing. I woke up and felt bad for not really doing anything,...

Sep 20th

Burns

I’m burned in two senses; I’m burned out from so much walking and hanging out with people and shtuff, and I think I have a sunburn on my face and shoulders from walking around today. Yesterday I went to the Manga Museum. The museum did not live up to my expectations, I am sad to say, but it was still pretty cool. Pretty much every wall that they didn’t have a specific purpose...

Sep 19th

Placement

Long post is loooooooooooong (4200 words @_@). Let’s start from yesterday. What the hell did I do yesterday? Oh yeah. I woke up and ate breakfast. Then I slept some more. I slept for about 2 hours extra because I can’t go to bed before 10, so that gives me less than 8 hours of sleep. I can do that on a regular basis at Oberlin, but not here, because when I’m not in class,...

Sep 17th

Keitai Denwa

Means cell phone. I don’t have one yet. After writing my post this morning I headed to Imadegawa early so I could do some exploring. I got to the campus and I headed north. I decided to take turns that looked like they might lead somewhere cool, and for the most part I ended up walking around a residential district. Although, at one point I ran across a series of what appeared to be...

Sep 15th

Morning After

All connotations aside, this post is late because last night I had work and stuff to do and it was getting too late to write a post. Despite having to wake up at 6, I had about 2 1/2 hours in which I didn’t have to do anything, so I finished my book (so good). I got to Imadegawa with time to spare and talked to people. But then everybody started whipping out their phones and I felt...

Sep 14th

Shorter

I swear this post will be shorter. Waking up at 6 suuuuucks. I hit the snooze a couple of times but got up in time for breakfast. Strangely, I was the only one eating… My first class of the day was at 9, so I had some time to kill, but I decided to go early just because. I mean, I didn’t have anything to do at the house. There were tons of people on the train, I mean, considering...

Sep 13th

Sundays

I tried to get up in time for breakfast today, but it was not to be. I ended up reading a bit of my book and fell asleep shortly after midnight, so you can understand how a 6 AM alarm was not a fun prospect. I ended up getting up around 9 instead, and I tinkered around in my room a little. I know I know, I should be interacting with people, blah blah blah, but I was tinkering for just such a...

Sep 12th

Home

I slept in today. The air-condtioner in my room has a cool function where you can set it to go off after several hours, so say you get in bed and you want to go to sleep; you can set the air-conditioner to turn off after a several hours so you can fall asleep. This is cool in that it lets you get to sleep, but the downside is that once it’s off and morning comes, it gets really warm...

Sep 11th

Host Family

WARNING: This post is another really long one. I apologize, but a lot happened today. Hopefully you’ll find it interesting. Today has probably been the longest day yet, so I’ll do my best to fit in everything. The day started with me not wanting to get out of bed until 7:45. I guessed that people were going to meet up for breakfast at 7:50 since we had to meet as a group at...

Sep 10th

First Impressions, Part 3

September 9, 2010 I didn’t sleep as well last night as I did the night before. I woke up around 6 and couldn’t fall asleep again. I lay in bed for a while and eventually got up and studied a little. I met up with a group in the lobby around 8 and we went for breakfast. We went to a place in Kyoto Station that served various kinds of toast. Not like, tiny pieces of toast, really thick, fluffy...

Sep 10th

First Impressions, Part 2

September 8, 2010 WARNING: This post is really fucking long. I mean, goddamn, if I hadn’t written this, I probably wouldn’t read all of it it. But please read it anyway! I feel icky. I’ve spent most of the day walking around in 80s weather (it felt that hot) and humidity like none I’ve ever known. And yet I’m getting used to it, kind of. Apparently this is the best weather they’ve had all...

Sep 10th

First Impressions, Part 1

September 7, 2009 I have no internet in the Kyoto Tower Hotel, so I’m writing this post in word, then posting it later, once I figure out how to secure an internet connection. Right now I’m really excited. I’m in Japan. I can’t really put my finger on what it is that’s so exciting; maybe it’s the prospect of adventure, a new country, new conventions, a new language, all of that stuff, I don’t...

Sep 10th

Excitement

Two weeks ago I hung out with a friend of mine from Oberlin who spent a semester in Japan and her boyfriend, who’s been to Japan a number of times. Most of the time we spent hanging out was spent talking about Japan and the various things that I have to do, places I have to go, etc. Before that time I was really anxious, because I didn’t know what to expect, I hadn’t done that...

Sep 4th

Preparation

The title of this blog more or less explains my circumstances, so I’ll just add a little detail by saying that I’ll be in Kyoto starting early September, 2010, continuing through until late April, 2011. I’ll be attending classes (taught in English) at Doshisha University and staying with a host family. I’m keeping this blog because I’ve been told that it’s a...

Aug 19th