Friday night I found myself unprepared for the weekend. What should I do? The weather was not that great as it seems it would rain most of the weekend... So, I remembered that I wanted to see some Japanese theater while I'm here. I stumble upon the National Bunraku Theater website, and find that I can get a ticket for Saturday's 4:00 performance for only 2300 yen! It's the very last row, but I'd rather not pay a whopping 4300 (4100 with a student ID, how generous).
In retrospect the 11:00 show might have been more entertaining as the first act had something to do with monkeys. But that was a bit too early for my want of a lazy morning. I met up with Joe on my way to Hirakata and we went and ate in the Yoshinoya at the station, a great place to get delicious, cheap rice-bowl meals. Afterwards we did some shopping and I got a good sweater-jacket, Japanese style. Quite pleased with it. All that's left on my list now is just another pair of pants, a shirt or two, some wooden dishware, and a load of manga to bring back. Getting it all home will be an adventure for another day.
For those of you unfamiliar with Bunraku, it's puppet theater accompanied by chanters and a koto player. It takes 3 people per puppet, one for the body, one for the left arm, one for the right arm and head. It takes 10 years to move from the body to the left arm, 10 from there to the head. The two lesser puppeteers are shrouded in black clothing as to not draw attention to them, and the guy who does the head gets his face exposed for his efforts. Puppets move very lifelike, except when walking backwards they moonwalk... I don't understand that part.
There were some other foreigners at the theatre. I sat behind some who spoke Spainish, I believe. The first act was 二つ蝶々くるわにっき (The Two Butterflies), which contained なんばうら喧嘩 (The Fighting at Nambaura) which was about one Samurai throwing around two smaller ones until they died, and then he may have killed two more then ran away. Under the same storyline was やわたのさと引き窓 (The Skylight), which made very little sense. The samurai from the previous story hides in his sister's house, and his brother-in-law becomes the new deputy magistrate and has to hunt him down. He leaves to search for the samurai while the samurai hides in the house, and his mother and sister cut his hair for him, then his brother-in-law dept. magistrate comes back, throws a dart at his face, and his defining mole is torn asunder? What? Then the magistrate runs away again, comes back, throws money instead of a dart this time, and has him run away? Bunraku stories don't make much sense.
The last three were acts of 八人しゅごのほんじょ (which they gave a different English title, Masakiyo's Loyalty?). なにわ入江 (The Port of Naniwa) featured a pretty boat, where some smaller boat came up to it and asked the fancy court person Masakiyo if he is well, he apparently lies and says he is, then the boat goes away... Another one comes, some weirdo gives Masakiyo a sake barrel, then some ninjas attack and he dispatches them, then the boat swivels around (which was amazing,) and then he cries for about 5 minutes? There was a long koto solo by one of the puppets which was quite good.
かずえのすけ はやうち (Kazuenosuke's Hurried Visit), the next act, was about Masakiyo praying in his room for 100 days straight (Why? we don't know.) Some guy comes by, visits, leaves, then another one comes, tosses a sake barrel at the retainers of the castle, then leaves.
まさきよ ほんじょ (Which now means Masakiyo's Castle... What does ほんじょ even mean?) , was quite long. Basically more people some to visit the castle, and some people from another faction sneak in to Masakiyo's room disguised as rats (using magic?) and attack, and are all thrown about by Masakiyo, then killed by his one retainer. His one friend gets a divorce letter since her husband joined the other faction, so she sticks a knife in her throat and proceeds to die over the next half hour, gurgling about on stage. Then Masakiyo dons some spiffy armor, some guy reveals to everyone that he is in fact someone with a different name which may or may not be important, and they all march off to battle in an exxagerated manner. At one point Masakiyo takes his sword out and a dark cloud floats over him.
There were subtitles for people who can't understand the chanting, as it is difficult, and all the words are in old Japanese, which does have resemblances to the modern kind. I could read some of the kanji, so I kind of new what was going on, sometimes. I maybe got 20% of what was going on, which is pretty good.
I ran into Jesse and James (no, not Team Rocket :P ) , they had a Japanese friend with them, Nanae. I told her what I did and she said "Whoa, you must be really intelligent! Intellectual!" "Haha, no no, I didn't understand it very well at all..." About as many Japanese go to Bunraku as Americans do symphany orchestra or opera. 4 hours is a bit rough... But I didn't fall asleep.
The only other two I want to see now are Kabuki and Kyogen (the humorous side of Noh,) but not Noh. Noh would be too painful. Far too painful. Angela wants to see Kabuki too, so I'll put off on that one for now, I think.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Update
Hey everyone - Sorry I haven't written anything in awhile. Things are fine. I was sick for another 3 days or so, and then I was busy with classes, and haven't been in a mood to sit here and type for an hour - I'm still not, really. But I figure I should write something.
The only exciting things that have happened would be visiting Nara with Yukina. We went to one garden that was free of charge for foreigners, and walked around it a bit, but mostly spent our time walking around the main attractions of Nara without going inside of any other museums or temples due to the fees (I don't think she wanted to pay, nor was she as interested as me in these things, so...) We got to see many deer, which were outnumbered by the tourists. Nara was packed.
It was really good just spending the day talking in mostly Japanese. Later I found out she wants to use more English though, which is fair, so I'm trying to use it a little more with her. It was a really good time.
Before the Nara trip, Gaidai had it's school festival, where all the clubs set up booths selling food for activity fees and whatnot, and tons of demonstrations and concerts are all over the place. It was incredible, seeing how ehtusiastic the Japanese students were, and how good they were at what they like to do - The karate club chopped up cinderblocks and iceblocks, the acapella group was great, the student run jazz and rock bands sounded professional, the food was good... You will never, ever, ever see such motivated, passionate, and dedicated people in America. I'm really embarrased to be an officer of the Japan Club at Gettysburg, since we don't do anything on this scale, nor do any of our members have much motivation to do anything, let alone clean up after themselves when we do have parties. Oh well.
But, honestly, nothing else has been going on. This week is another busy one, and I surmise all the following ones will be too. I don't know if I'll be traveling to anywhere in the near future, probably not so much anymore. I've hit most of the places to go in Kansai, and I don't want to spend the money to go further, nor face the homework and unfamiliar kanji on Japanese tests that would result in doing that.
But we'll see.
The only exciting things that have happened would be visiting Nara with Yukina. We went to one garden that was free of charge for foreigners, and walked around it a bit, but mostly spent our time walking around the main attractions of Nara without going inside of any other museums or temples due to the fees (I don't think she wanted to pay, nor was she as interested as me in these things, so...) We got to see many deer, which were outnumbered by the tourists. Nara was packed.
It was really good just spending the day talking in mostly Japanese. Later I found out she wants to use more English though, which is fair, so I'm trying to use it a little more with her. It was a really good time.
Before the Nara trip, Gaidai had it's school festival, where all the clubs set up booths selling food for activity fees and whatnot, and tons of demonstrations and concerts are all over the place. It was incredible, seeing how ehtusiastic the Japanese students were, and how good they were at what they like to do - The karate club chopped up cinderblocks and iceblocks, the acapella group was great, the student run jazz and rock bands sounded professional, the food was good... You will never, ever, ever see such motivated, passionate, and dedicated people in America. I'm really embarrased to be an officer of the Japan Club at Gettysburg, since we don't do anything on this scale, nor do any of our members have much motivation to do anything, let alone clean up after themselves when we do have parties. Oh well.
But, honestly, nothing else has been going on. This week is another busy one, and I surmise all the following ones will be too. I don't know if I'll be traveling to anywhere in the near future, probably not so much anymore. I've hit most of the places to go in Kansai, and I don't want to spend the money to go further, nor face the homework and unfamiliar kanji on Japanese tests that would result in doing that.
But we'll see.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Long Island; Shrine Island
A shinkansen is a plane without wings, that moves a few inches over the ground. That's basically what a bullet train seems like; I've never moved that quickly over land before.
I made it from Shin-Osaka station to Hiroshima just fine. It took me a little while to figure out where the street cars were, but once again, navigating in Japan is very simple. The street cars were very convenient and cheap as well. You can get day passes for them and the JR train line, plus ferries to Miyajima.
I rushed to the museum because I did not know when our school was going to have the presentation by a 被爆者/ひばくしゃ(Atomic Bomb victim). Trying to inquire about the speaker was difficult since I didn't know the word 被爆者 to begin with, but after saying "speaker" and "Kansai Gaidai" I got the point across and found out I had ample time to explore the museum and grounds before the talk.
The beginning focuses on Japan from the Russo-Japanese war to the creation and deployment of the bomb. All of this was on the walls, and in the middle was a model of Hiroshima before and after the bomb. The next exhibit showed more destruction and the cleanup, along with some of the treatments for victims. Then the third area was on what an atomic bomb is, what current ones are like, who has them and how many, and the need to get rid of these weapons.
Then there's a break with a bookstore, where I bought the first thick volume of はだしのゲン (Barefoot Gen) and 夕凪の街、桜の国 (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms). I wish I got the smaller editions of Barefoot Gen as they were a bit more colorful, and this is kind of bulky... But anyway, they are two important manga that deal with Hiroshima, the former in the initial event and the latter in coping thereafter. I'm looking forward to reading them.
The second half of the museum displays artifacts including disfigured household items, building materials such as warped metals, and many common things that seem as if they were dragged from the depths of the sea. Also this part dealt more with the human suffering, a few models of disfigured people, actual photos, and human remains such as singed locks of hair, finger nails, skin, and tattered clothing. Many people had their skin melt right off of their bodies, and had the skin of their arms hanging tattered from their arms; literally melted off. Incredibly gruesome and ghastly in appearance. People bled from most orifaces or from their skin, begged for water (which was contaminated) and died from awful pain. Of course many were also instantaneously vaporized. Others further out were poisoned, blinded, or burnt.
Our speaker presented to us in English, but was difficult to hear. She was very sick, and had no eyelids due to the blast. She related to us how her and her friends were in a field when it happened, and her good friend was disfigured in front of her. She was burnt as well. People jumped into the water to cool themselves or to drink, and died in the water or in wells. The cries for water were common. She went throughout life in constant physical and mental pain and could never get married, like many surrvivors. She dedicated her life to lecturing, and came to not hate the Americans but war itself, and now fights for not just nuclear proliferation but cluster bombs and land mines.
The museum was very fair and balanced in representation, so there was a very sincere portrayal of a desire for peace from the city and victims of Hiroshima. The speaker said that they should have done a better job with the grave nature of the suffering of the victims, and upon reflection that could very well be true, so I reccomend that if you do go, you should look into literature and documentaries afterwards.
I went to the victims memorial afterwards and it was a circular room with a tile mosiac of the view from the hospital after the bomb was dropped (where the hospital used to stand). Each tile represented a victim. That put things into perspective well enough. There was a fountain inside the room, and one outside the memorial, and the reason was explained in the next room through the stories of three victims. So many people begged and moaned for water, so fountains were built to commemorate them. In one story a man related that he was in the army at the time and his commander would not let him give water to anyone as they thought it would kill them quickly. True, they needed water due to the heat dehydrating them, but the water was also contaiminated. It haunted him forever, not being able to give them water.
After the museum I sat and listened to some Japanese girls playing guitar under a bridge, it put me in a much better mood.
J-Hoppers was an excellent hostel. I made a reservation there and found it with ease. The guy running it, Mamoru, was great in telling me where to go to get great food, other sights, and about a festival that night. I ate at a great restaraunt and then went to a bath house since I didn't bring towels, shampoo, bodywash, and the like. That was my plan, to find something like this or go buy some travel stuff and rent a towel at the hostel.
Right side was for men, the left for women. You could tell due to the gender of the child riding the dolphin on either little cloth flap in the doorways. I got a few stares going in, but my Japanese quickly turned their heads away. The clerk wasn't too surprised. She was about 40 something and had her little pedastal between both sections of the bath house. I paid her 400 to get in, and bought shampoo and soap and a towel for about 100 yen more. You strip right there too; so you immediately see naked guys when you walk in. This would be quite a shock to those apprehensive to the thought, but I've done this before and I don't carry the same American apprehensions... You then go into the bathring room and sit on a little stool and shower yourself off while sitting. Once you are completely clean, you go soak in the hot water in the giant bath. There was a sauna too, but I didn't use it. I just relaxed in the water for a good 10 minutes then went out, dried, and left. It felt so good.
When I got back, I ran into Cata (Catalina) and Kaori, two girls from Kansai who were also staying at J-Hoppers. My plan was to travel alone, but Cata is very outgoing and friendly (a little crazy,) but is one of the few Americans who wants to speak in Japanese and is sincerely interested in the culture. Kaori is just great too, so nice, fun, and of course is Japanese. She studied in Baltimore so her English is great, but we spoke in as much Japanese as we could. I can't even tell you how happy this made me to not be using English constantly. This is one of the reasons I came here.
Anyway, we all went to the Fall Festival that Hiroshima was having at several temples. Good food, cheap beer (300 yen!) and incredible folk dancing. I felt so bad that I left my camera at the hostel so I had only my cellphone for pictures and video. It was some story of a demon attacking some place, then two guys, one with a spear and one with a bow drive it off. The dance was incredible.
Afterwards we went to a mom and pop (literally, Mom and Pop were cooking together) place for okonomiyaki and chatted for a good two hours about being abroad, our cultures and how other people have been coping, and all sorts of things. Cata was adopted and has a Mexican father and an Irish mother. She's lived in Mexico and Washington State, so she has quite a background. Her third language too, very impressive. She and Kaori had facsinating perspectives on things. I love the international community at Gaidai. It's quite enriching, and I think I'll miss it very much.
In the morning we all went to Miyajima island together, since we were all heading there before we met anyway. They slept in a bit and kept me waiting, and I was thinking about going on ahead, but I would have regretted that. I don't even know why I thought that.
We rode the trolley to the ferry, and after a 10 minute ride we were there. It was gorgeous. Deer were all over the place, begging for food, sunning themselves, walking around, and (sometimes) being petted. Smaller than American deer. I pet quite a few since I love animals... We saw Itsukushina, which is the red Tori gate that seems to float over the water at high-tide. Also we visted Goju-no-to Pagoda and Senjou-kaku Temple. All gorgeous.
If I went alone, I don't think I would have done what we did next. We climed the highest mountain on the island. At first the girls got some ice-cream, and we had a deer accompany us for a good while, untill we ran up some steep stairs. Of course the trail was man-made, so there were hundreds of steep steps winding up the mountain. Cata climbs rugged mountains for fun, so Kaori and I were trailing behind, gasping for air.
Almost towards the top we ran into a guy who said he saw thirty or so monkeys at the top. That was another thing I really wanted to see here: wild monkeys. One nearly attacked him though.
We encountered a Japanese girl right before the top, who was descending the trail in high heels. Almost all Japanese girls wear these movement-inhibiting shoes, but... on a mountain trail?
No monkeys at the top though, which was dissapointing. However, the view made it wholly worthwhile. You could see other islands, and all of Hiroshima, and even further out. The weather was perfect. We spent a good bit of time there taking in the sights, but the girls had an appointment to pick up some local snacks for souveniers for friends at a shop, so we had to descend. Great Japanese (and some English) conversation the whole time though.
We took the ferry back and grabbed some dinner at a family restauraunt. To our surprise, 75% of the place was occupied by a british highschool class. Ugh. A little annoying, but the food was fantastic, as always.
The shinkansen ride back was with more conversation, but we became delirious with exhaustion, so I don't even remember what most of it was about. I had a good chat with Kaori on the regular train ride back from Osaka.
Just a great trip over all. Go to Hiroshima and Miyajima if you ever get the chance. The Peace Museum is very important, and the local beauty shouldn't be missed either. This was definitely my best weekend.
Other recent things aren't as exciting, right now it's mid-term week, so I should be studying more than writing here, but I need to. Things are going well though... Japanese is going fine and the Asian Studies courses are dissapointingly easy.
Maybe Nara this weekend? Or perhaps Kobe with some Osaka and a few forgotten emperor's tombs south of Osaka. We'll see.
I made it from Shin-Osaka station to Hiroshima just fine. It took me a little while to figure out where the street cars were, but once again, navigating in Japan is very simple. The street cars were very convenient and cheap as well. You can get day passes for them and the JR train line, plus ferries to Miyajima.
I rushed to the museum because I did not know when our school was going to have the presentation by a 被爆者/ひばくしゃ(Atomic Bomb victim). Trying to inquire about the speaker was difficult since I didn't know the word 被爆者 to begin with, but after saying "speaker" and "Kansai Gaidai" I got the point across and found out I had ample time to explore the museum and grounds before the talk.
The beginning focuses on Japan from the Russo-Japanese war to the creation and deployment of the bomb. All of this was on the walls, and in the middle was a model of Hiroshima before and after the bomb. The next exhibit showed more destruction and the cleanup, along with some of the treatments for victims. Then the third area was on what an atomic bomb is, what current ones are like, who has them and how many, and the need to get rid of these weapons.
Then there's a break with a bookstore, where I bought the first thick volume of はだしのゲン (Barefoot Gen) and 夕凪の街、桜の国 (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms). I wish I got the smaller editions of Barefoot Gen as they were a bit more colorful, and this is kind of bulky... But anyway, they are two important manga that deal with Hiroshima, the former in the initial event and the latter in coping thereafter. I'm looking forward to reading them.
The second half of the museum displays artifacts including disfigured household items, building materials such as warped metals, and many common things that seem as if they were dragged from the depths of the sea. Also this part dealt more with the human suffering, a few models of disfigured people, actual photos, and human remains such as singed locks of hair, finger nails, skin, and tattered clothing. Many people had their skin melt right off of their bodies, and had the skin of their arms hanging tattered from their arms; literally melted off. Incredibly gruesome and ghastly in appearance. People bled from most orifaces or from their skin, begged for water (which was contaminated) and died from awful pain. Of course many were also instantaneously vaporized. Others further out were poisoned, blinded, or burnt.
Our speaker presented to us in English, but was difficult to hear. She was very sick, and had no eyelids due to the blast. She related to us how her and her friends were in a field when it happened, and her good friend was disfigured in front of her. She was burnt as well. People jumped into the water to cool themselves or to drink, and died in the water or in wells. The cries for water were common. She went throughout life in constant physical and mental pain and could never get married, like many surrvivors. She dedicated her life to lecturing, and came to not hate the Americans but war itself, and now fights for not just nuclear proliferation but cluster bombs and land mines.
The museum was very fair and balanced in representation, so there was a very sincere portrayal of a desire for peace from the city and victims of Hiroshima. The speaker said that they should have done a better job with the grave nature of the suffering of the victims, and upon reflection that could very well be true, so I reccomend that if you do go, you should look into literature and documentaries afterwards.
I went to the victims memorial afterwards and it was a circular room with a tile mosiac of the view from the hospital after the bomb was dropped (where the hospital used to stand). Each tile represented a victim. That put things into perspective well enough. There was a fountain inside the room, and one outside the memorial, and the reason was explained in the next room through the stories of three victims. So many people begged and moaned for water, so fountains were built to commemorate them. In one story a man related that he was in the army at the time and his commander would not let him give water to anyone as they thought it would kill them quickly. True, they needed water due to the heat dehydrating them, but the water was also contaiminated. It haunted him forever, not being able to give them water.
After the museum I sat and listened to some Japanese girls playing guitar under a bridge, it put me in a much better mood.
J-Hoppers was an excellent hostel. I made a reservation there and found it with ease. The guy running it, Mamoru, was great in telling me where to go to get great food, other sights, and about a festival that night. I ate at a great restaraunt and then went to a bath house since I didn't bring towels, shampoo, bodywash, and the like. That was my plan, to find something like this or go buy some travel stuff and rent a towel at the hostel.
Right side was for men, the left for women. You could tell due to the gender of the child riding the dolphin on either little cloth flap in the doorways. I got a few stares going in, but my Japanese quickly turned their heads away. The clerk wasn't too surprised. She was about 40 something and had her little pedastal between both sections of the bath house. I paid her 400 to get in, and bought shampoo and soap and a towel for about 100 yen more. You strip right there too; so you immediately see naked guys when you walk in. This would be quite a shock to those apprehensive to the thought, but I've done this before and I don't carry the same American apprehensions... You then go into the bathring room and sit on a little stool and shower yourself off while sitting. Once you are completely clean, you go soak in the hot water in the giant bath. There was a sauna too, but I didn't use it. I just relaxed in the water for a good 10 minutes then went out, dried, and left. It felt so good.
When I got back, I ran into Cata (Catalina) and Kaori, two girls from Kansai who were also staying at J-Hoppers. My plan was to travel alone, but Cata is very outgoing and friendly (a little crazy,) but is one of the few Americans who wants to speak in Japanese and is sincerely interested in the culture. Kaori is just great too, so nice, fun, and of course is Japanese. She studied in Baltimore so her English is great, but we spoke in as much Japanese as we could. I can't even tell you how happy this made me to not be using English constantly. This is one of the reasons I came here.
Anyway, we all went to the Fall Festival that Hiroshima was having at several temples. Good food, cheap beer (300 yen!) and incredible folk dancing. I felt so bad that I left my camera at the hostel so I had only my cellphone for pictures and video. It was some story of a demon attacking some place, then two guys, one with a spear and one with a bow drive it off. The dance was incredible.
Afterwards we went to a mom and pop (literally, Mom and Pop were cooking together) place for okonomiyaki and chatted for a good two hours about being abroad, our cultures and how other people have been coping, and all sorts of things. Cata was adopted and has a Mexican father and an Irish mother. She's lived in Mexico and Washington State, so she has quite a background. Her third language too, very impressive. She and Kaori had facsinating perspectives on things. I love the international community at Gaidai. It's quite enriching, and I think I'll miss it very much.
In the morning we all went to Miyajima island together, since we were all heading there before we met anyway. They slept in a bit and kept me waiting, and I was thinking about going on ahead, but I would have regretted that. I don't even know why I thought that.
We rode the trolley to the ferry, and after a 10 minute ride we were there. It was gorgeous. Deer were all over the place, begging for food, sunning themselves, walking around, and (sometimes) being petted. Smaller than American deer. I pet quite a few since I love animals... We saw Itsukushina, which is the red Tori gate that seems to float over the water at high-tide. Also we visted Goju-no-to Pagoda and Senjou-kaku Temple. All gorgeous.
If I went alone, I don't think I would have done what we did next. We climed the highest mountain on the island. At first the girls got some ice-cream, and we had a deer accompany us for a good while, untill we ran up some steep stairs. Of course the trail was man-made, so there were hundreds of steep steps winding up the mountain. Cata climbs rugged mountains for fun, so Kaori and I were trailing behind, gasping for air.
Almost towards the top we ran into a guy who said he saw thirty or so monkeys at the top. That was another thing I really wanted to see here: wild monkeys. One nearly attacked him though.
We encountered a Japanese girl right before the top, who was descending the trail in high heels. Almost all Japanese girls wear these movement-inhibiting shoes, but... on a mountain trail?
No monkeys at the top though, which was dissapointing. However, the view made it wholly worthwhile. You could see other islands, and all of Hiroshima, and even further out. The weather was perfect. We spent a good bit of time there taking in the sights, but the girls had an appointment to pick up some local snacks for souveniers for friends at a shop, so we had to descend. Great Japanese (and some English) conversation the whole time though.
We took the ferry back and grabbed some dinner at a family restauraunt. To our surprise, 75% of the place was occupied by a british highschool class. Ugh. A little annoying, but the food was fantastic, as always.
The shinkansen ride back was with more conversation, but we became delirious with exhaustion, so I don't even remember what most of it was about. I had a good chat with Kaori on the regular train ride back from Osaka.
Just a great trip over all. Go to Hiroshima and Miyajima if you ever get the chance. The Peace Museum is very important, and the local beauty shouldn't be missed either. This was definitely my best weekend.
Other recent things aren't as exciting, right now it's mid-term week, so I should be studying more than writing here, but I need to. Things are going well though... Japanese is going fine and the Asian Studies courses are dissapointingly easy.
Maybe Nara this weekend? Or perhaps Kobe with some Osaka and a few forgotten emperor's tombs south of Osaka. We'll see.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Namba and the 'Satsu
So yesterday I was riding my bike back from school, and the keisatsu, or 'satsu (police) were outside the Komatsu plant and one motioned for me to stop my bike, so I did and popped my headphones out.
"In Japanese... OK?"
"Oh, yeah, I can understand some."
"OK if I check your bike?"
"Oh, of course."
"Ah! Seminar House One! Do you like Japanese food?"
"Uh, yeah"
"..."
"Just about anything, honestly."
"Do you eat sushi?"
"Yeah!"
"How about [?]"
"Wha?"
"Do you like BBQ?!"
"Yeah!"
"Ok! Your Japanese is good."
"Haha, not really."
"Well, take care. See you later."
"...Bye!"
The police here are not threatening at all. The uniforms are friendlier, I think, and to most of us here the police don't have as strong of a negative image as they do in the States. Usually they try and pull over foreigners to practice their English, which I find kind of funny. Too bad I knew Japanese for that guy, haha.
Today I just had a test on the last two chapters of our speaking class. I did well on all but one of the listening questions, and I didn't too well on the transitive / intransitive verb section, mostly because I didn't bother to study them since the theme was cooking...
"Has it become seasoned yet?"
"No! Not yet! Let me season it!"
In Japanese those are two different verbs, and there is no set conjugation between intransitive and transitive (For example, open the door, VS someone/something opened the door.) So it's very frustrating. You have to memorize them... But the chapter theme was cooking. I don't care about being able to say "I will simmer it" and "It has been simmered / someone has simmered it!" I don't care. I just focus on the transitive ones, the ones that I will use, and then I'll make it sound funky and it'll probably be intransitive (you can kind of guess.) So that method works well enough. It's a good thing I care about learning instead of grades. And it's a good thing I'm in a position where I can afford to, I might add, to not seem aloof.
Today I went to Osaka to get my shinkansen (bullet train) ticket to Hiroshima... one to go on Saturday, and one to get back on Sunday. You'd think it would be two tickets but I got five. One reciept, two fare tickets, two... admission tickets? I don't even know. The student discount form I brought from the school didn't do much, or when I said "Please give me the cheapest seating available" he didn't... About 16,000 yen. Man. I wish I hadn't missed the group ticket meeting, I would have saved a good bit. The hostel I'm staying at is only 2,500 though, which is great; nice looking place too. But, Hiroshima is a very important place, and I want to see more other than just the museum. I'm looking forward to hearing a survivor speak to us (in English) about being in the blast and all of that. It's a very rare oppurtunity. But I plan on seeing a few other places of interest (I don't remember names right now,) but I'll plan that tomorrow. I'm just excited to ride the train too.
After getting the tickets, I had about 3 1/2 hours to do whatever until my class started at 4:00, so I took the subway to Namba to look around. It's a huge shopping / entertainment district in Osaka. And holy crap. So many places to eat at, entertainment centers (pachinko, gambling, video games, bowling, pool, swimming, manga, internet, dancing, clubs) If you can imagine it, it's probably there. Actually, I went between Namba and Nippombashi, so the pictures I have could be from either...
There were a lot of open streets like this lined with restaraunts and stores.
Big enough crosswalk? The entrance to another one of the entertainment "blocks"
The inside... Well, it's open air, with glass roofing for protection from rain.
Hey! The Statue of Liberty outside Kyobashi Station!
"In Japanese... OK?"
"Oh, yeah, I can understand some."
"OK if I check your bike?"
"Oh, of course."
"Ah! Seminar House One! Do you like Japanese food?"
"Uh, yeah"
"..."
"Just about anything, honestly."
"Do you eat sushi?"
"Yeah!"
"How about [?]"
"Wha?"
"Do you like BBQ?!"
"Yeah!"
"Ok! Your Japanese is good."
"Haha, not really."
"Well, take care. See you later."
"...Bye!"
The police here are not threatening at all. The uniforms are friendlier, I think, and to most of us here the police don't have as strong of a negative image as they do in the States. Usually they try and pull over foreigners to practice their English, which I find kind of funny. Too bad I knew Japanese for that guy, haha.
Today I just had a test on the last two chapters of our speaking class. I did well on all but one of the listening questions, and I didn't too well on the transitive / intransitive verb section, mostly because I didn't bother to study them since the theme was cooking...
"Has it become seasoned yet?"
"No! Not yet! Let me season it!"
In Japanese those are two different verbs, and there is no set conjugation between intransitive and transitive (For example, open the door, VS someone/something opened the door.) So it's very frustrating. You have to memorize them... But the chapter theme was cooking. I don't care about being able to say "I will simmer it" and "It has been simmered / someone has simmered it!" I don't care. I just focus on the transitive ones, the ones that I will use, and then I'll make it sound funky and it'll probably be intransitive (you can kind of guess.) So that method works well enough. It's a good thing I care about learning instead of grades. And it's a good thing I'm in a position where I can afford to, I might add, to not seem aloof.
Today I went to Osaka to get my shinkansen (bullet train) ticket to Hiroshima... one to go on Saturday, and one to get back on Sunday. You'd think it would be two tickets but I got five. One reciept, two fare tickets, two... admission tickets? I don't even know. The student discount form I brought from the school didn't do much, or when I said "Please give me the cheapest seating available" he didn't... About 16,000 yen. Man. I wish I hadn't missed the group ticket meeting, I would have saved a good bit. The hostel I'm staying at is only 2,500 though, which is great; nice looking place too. But, Hiroshima is a very important place, and I want to see more other than just the museum. I'm looking forward to hearing a survivor speak to us (in English) about being in the blast and all of that. It's a very rare oppurtunity. But I plan on seeing a few other places of interest (I don't remember names right now,) but I'll plan that tomorrow. I'm just excited to ride the train too.
After getting the tickets, I had about 3 1/2 hours to do whatever until my class started at 4:00, so I took the subway to Namba to look around. It's a huge shopping / entertainment district in Osaka. And holy crap. So many places to eat at, entertainment centers (pachinko, gambling, video games, bowling, pool, swimming, manga, internet, dancing, clubs) If you can imagine it, it's probably there. Actually, I went between Namba and Nippombashi, so the pictures I have could be from either...
There were a lot of open streets like this lined with restaraunts and stores.
Big enough crosswalk? The entrance to another one of the entertainment "blocks"
The inside... Well, it's open air, with glass roofing for protection from rain.
Hey! The Statue of Liberty outside Kyobashi Station!I went into a store that sold noren, which are curtains that are hung in doorways of shops and the like. I bought a large one for doorways for 3,000 yen, featuring The Great Wave off Kanagawa on it. Matt and I are going to hang it in our doorway, even though I was planning on having this in my apartment when I get back. I love it. I also wandered into the kitchenware area and wasted a lot of time gawking at the stylish, yet down-to-earth utensils and furnishings... I plan to come back to get a lot of bowls, cups, and that sort of thing here since they'll be so unique and I love the style. You can't get nice wooden cups like this in the States; the craftsmanship is superb and the style very unique.
I then went to Den-Den Town, the electronics / nerd district and went to a store that sold just figures and figurines. It was massive. Characters from anime, manga, and video games, along with a few other categories were lining the walls. I bought the vanguard monster from Dragon Quest, the blue slime to adorn my desk, and got something for a friend that should surprise him and make him quite happy, Hehe. I also spotted a huge manga store next to it, but I didn't have the time to check it out. I want to find the older, maybe not as popular manga that deal a bit more with history and Japanese culture that I can't find in most stores. Next time I'll look.
Speaking of manga, I started よつばと！, or in English, Yotsuba&!. It's a funny manga about a single Dad and his young daughter that move from I-don't-know-where, presumably not Japan yet they speak Japanese. I'm not sure. At any rate, little Yotsuba, the girl, knows nothing about anything. I can perfectly relate being a foreigner in Japan (albeit not as clueless as a lot of people here are). Oddly enough from reading the first two chapters of this book, I understood 80% without using my dictionary. Only a few words were new, but the grammar was way out of whack. Maybe I'll ask Yukina. But it was a great feeling. You get more into it when you're struggling to understand the meaning of what's going on, so you become more interested in the stories and they mean more to you, plus you pay more attention to detail in the words used, the art, and the emotion behind everything (there are emotional parts in Conan, in Yotsuba it's all comedy). I don't know what to think about becoming to like manga. Of course it isn't all the ridiculous things of giant robots piloted by genious teenages and weirder fantasy, but that's been the stigmata of it, at least in the West. I don't think I would waste my time taking a class on manga though. Go read some, then read a book about manga. Man. Same goes for you, anime!
At any rate, I need to do some studying then hit the hay.
Oh, one more thing:
Elections in Japan are noisy. You get people driving around in vans blaring campaign slogans, then, in busier public squares, politicians will give speeches from megaphones. I've seen one guy do this in the park in Hirakata, and then I ran into this guy on top of his own StraightTalkExpress(TM), so I thought I would take a picture. I didn't have a clue what he was saying, either, haha. Just feel lucky we don't have this in the US.
I then went to Den-Den Town, the electronics / nerd district and went to a store that sold just figures and figurines. It was massive. Characters from anime, manga, and video games, along with a few other categories were lining the walls. I bought the vanguard monster from Dragon Quest, the blue slime to adorn my desk, and got something for a friend that should surprise him and make him quite happy, Hehe. I also spotted a huge manga store next to it, but I didn't have the time to check it out. I want to find the older, maybe not as popular manga that deal a bit more with history and Japanese culture that I can't find in most stores. Next time I'll look.
Speaking of manga, I started よつばと！, or in English, Yotsuba&!. It's a funny manga about a single Dad and his young daughter that move from I-don't-know-where, presumably not Japan yet they speak Japanese. I'm not sure. At any rate, little Yotsuba, the girl, knows nothing about anything. I can perfectly relate being a foreigner in Japan (albeit not as clueless as a lot of people here are). Oddly enough from reading the first two chapters of this book, I understood 80% without using my dictionary. Only a few words were new, but the grammar was way out of whack. Maybe I'll ask Yukina. But it was a great feeling. You get more into it when you're struggling to understand the meaning of what's going on, so you become more interested in the stories and they mean more to you, plus you pay more attention to detail in the words used, the art, and the emotion behind everything (there are emotional parts in Conan, in Yotsuba it's all comedy). I don't know what to think about becoming to like manga. Of course it isn't all the ridiculous things of giant robots piloted by genious teenages and weirder fantasy, but that's been the stigmata of it, at least in the West. I don't think I would waste my time taking a class on manga though. Go read some, then read a book about manga. Man. Same goes for you, anime!
At any rate, I need to do some studying then hit the hay.
Oh, one more thing:
Elections in Japan are noisy. You get people driving around in vans blaring campaign slogans, then, in busier public squares, politicians will give speeches from megaphones. I've seen one guy do this in the park in Hirakata, and then I ran into this guy on top of his own StraightTalkExpress(TM), so I thought I would take a picture. I didn't have a clue what he was saying, either, haha. Just feel lucky we don't have this in the US.Monday, October 13, 2008
A Much Needed Update
Sorry for not writing anything for nine days.
My Father recently came to visit for a week... from the 5th to the 12th. I got to see him Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and then Saturday. Having classes that end at 5:30 made things a little difficult in visiting with him, though.
When going to see him at the airport, I accidentally went to the Osaka one instead of Kansai International. I think this is because I noticed that a monorail goes to Osaka, so I became all excited and focused only on how to use it, where to get on it... instead of where it went. It was fun seeing Osaka by monorail though! I ended up waiting around in the hotel for him studying kanji.
Tuesday we met in Hirakata Station and went to Kyoto. We got off at Sanjo, I think, and grabbed a bus to Kinkakuji. My Dad wanted to see the Osaka Peace museum, which was near Kinkankuji, so I got him to go see that as well, which was a good idea I think. I've been wanting to go see the Golden Pavilion Temple that Yoshimitsu built. It was gorgeous, with a picturesque pond in front of it. There were interesting mushroom and little bowls to throw money at along the path afterwards, but we unfortunately rushed through it to make it to the museum, so I can't really say what significance it had, nor can I about the little statue on an island in the middle of another pond.
The Osaka Peace Museum is great, if you happen to be Japanese or have near native reading-capacity. A few things were written in English, but only broad explainations of maybe 5% of what there was to see. Most of the museum focused on Japanese militarization and the horrors of the first half of last century, but had some newer conflicts and atrocities, including a bit on the Iraq war.
Thursday we just had a good chat over dinner and then went to a coffee shop. I haven't had coffee that good in months, I remember that much. Mostly talked about politics, the state of the world, job prospects for me...
Saturday we met again in Hirakata, and chatted some more in the Starbucks. I then showed my Dad around the department store for gifts and other interesting things. Japan really is a consumer paradise. So many wonderful, trendy, useful, useless, superfluous things. Following along this same route we took the train to Kuzuha for the mall and looked around there... My Dad was impressed with it and thought everyone at work would be too and took pictures. I suppose he was right - the brooding teens and "Joe six-packs" were abscent, it was clean, and classical music was playing instead of whatever crap MTV churns out. Everyone was well-dressed and there were no obese people. My Dad offered that perhaps since people don't have ridiculous car payments or because more people live in apartments, they have more exposeable income for fashion. That might be right, but apartments are probably more expensive here - that and there are probably other cost differences... But I like to think that the American way of spending money you don't have stays in America... Even though reflecting upon recent events, it affects the whole world eventually. Oh well.
We then went to the 100 yen store and bought a lot of stuff for gifts. I'm going to hit a bunch of these for dishware and the like for my apartment. I'll just box it up and mail it. Cheap and unique. We went to a good Chinese restaraunt (where they have chinese food suited for Japanese tastes - nothing you'd find in a chinese place in America if you're wondering,) and then parted ways. My Dad left his Japan travel / guidebook here, so I'll flip through it soon to find interesting places nearby.
Aside from his visit, I can't think of too much else that has happened. Last night I went on a good bike ride at night and found a good ramen shop across from the Fresco I shop at for groceries. I might go there more for dinner. I need to head back to Osake-dojo soon too, and try talking with the old guy there and maybe the customers if they seem willing. Old guys here are hard to understand, with that rough, guttural style of speech. It's awesome to chew someone out in, but scary if they're using it on you; thankfully I've only seen it on TV.
Anyway, I'm still loving the bike rides. I was thinking about maybe getting a good bike when I return to Gettysburg, but the cars would hate me, people would scream at me to get a job so I can buy a car, and people on the sidewalk would be baffled if I rode there (you should if you can here,) and for some reason it's illegal too I think. Who would have thought I'd be pro-bike after coming here? It's ridiculous to try it in America, but if the roads and transport system wasn't so car-focused... Why is the American train system so pathetic too? Two trains crashed due to a conductor texting. How the hell does that even happen? Set up a good system like in Japan, and the jobs it would make, and the cars it would take off the roads... It'll never happen.
But this weekend was mostly just relaxing in the dorm after rushing around and hurrying homework to spend time with my Dad. Working on new grammar and kanji (I need to do more, heh.) Today was a day off due to it being Health and Sports day. More relevant than "Columbus Day"... I studied in the Starbucks and got a lot done, then did some shopping where I got two more issues of Great Detective Conan and some food.
I want to find places other than Starbucks, but I've been reluctant to try them. I should fix this. One up the road from here, Petit Cafe seems to only be open at night. Coffee at that hour isn't a great idea, plus it might be sketchy... we'll see. On the way to Hirakata City there's a place called Mr. Pug Cafe with a pug's face on it for novelty. Today in the city I spotted one place that said it has "Bird Friendly Coffee." I really hope he just mixed up the noun and the adjective there, or maybe you're allowed to take your parakeet in for some espresso. From hearsay, Mr. Donuts has free coffee refills, but I don't want to study in a place where people scream "Irasshai!" (welcome!) constantly while little kids wail for their mothers to get enough donut points for a Pon deLion toy (I kind of want one too).
A funny thing comes to mind for some reason. This was outside the CIE student lounge one day:
My Father recently came to visit for a week... from the 5th to the 12th. I got to see him Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and then Saturday. Having classes that end at 5:30 made things a little difficult in visiting with him, though.
When going to see him at the airport, I accidentally went to the Osaka one instead of Kansai International. I think this is because I noticed that a monorail goes to Osaka, so I became all excited and focused only on how to use it, where to get on it... instead of where it went. It was fun seeing Osaka by monorail though! I ended up waiting around in the hotel for him studying kanji.
Tuesday we met in Hirakata Station and went to Kyoto. We got off at Sanjo, I think, and grabbed a bus to Kinkakuji. My Dad wanted to see the Osaka Peace museum, which was near Kinkankuji, so I got him to go see that as well, which was a good idea I think. I've been wanting to go see the Golden Pavilion Temple that Yoshimitsu built. It was gorgeous, with a picturesque pond in front of it. There were interesting mushroom and little bowls to throw money at along the path afterwards, but we unfortunately rushed through it to make it to the museum, so I can't really say what significance it had, nor can I about the little statue on an island in the middle of another pond.
The Osaka Peace Museum is great, if you happen to be Japanese or have near native reading-capacity. A few things were written in English, but only broad explainations of maybe 5% of what there was to see. Most of the museum focused on Japanese militarization and the horrors of the first half of last century, but had some newer conflicts and atrocities, including a bit on the Iraq war.
Thursday we just had a good chat over dinner and then went to a coffee shop. I haven't had coffee that good in months, I remember that much. Mostly talked about politics, the state of the world, job prospects for me...
Saturday we met again in Hirakata, and chatted some more in the Starbucks. I then showed my Dad around the department store for gifts and other interesting things. Japan really is a consumer paradise. So many wonderful, trendy, useful, useless, superfluous things. Following along this same route we took the train to Kuzuha for the mall and looked around there... My Dad was impressed with it and thought everyone at work would be too and took pictures. I suppose he was right - the brooding teens and "Joe six-packs" were abscent, it was clean, and classical music was playing instead of whatever crap MTV churns out. Everyone was well-dressed and there were no obese people. My Dad offered that perhaps since people don't have ridiculous car payments or because more people live in apartments, they have more exposeable income for fashion. That might be right, but apartments are probably more expensive here - that and there are probably other cost differences... But I like to think that the American way of spending money you don't have stays in America... Even though reflecting upon recent events, it affects the whole world eventually. Oh well.
We then went to the 100 yen store and bought a lot of stuff for gifts. I'm going to hit a bunch of these for dishware and the like for my apartment. I'll just box it up and mail it. Cheap and unique. We went to a good Chinese restaraunt (where they have chinese food suited for Japanese tastes - nothing you'd find in a chinese place in America if you're wondering,) and then parted ways. My Dad left his Japan travel / guidebook here, so I'll flip through it soon to find interesting places nearby.
Aside from his visit, I can't think of too much else that has happened. Last night I went on a good bike ride at night and found a good ramen shop across from the Fresco I shop at for groceries. I might go there more for dinner. I need to head back to Osake-dojo soon too, and try talking with the old guy there and maybe the customers if they seem willing. Old guys here are hard to understand, with that rough, guttural style of speech. It's awesome to chew someone out in, but scary if they're using it on you; thankfully I've only seen it on TV.
Anyway, I'm still loving the bike rides. I was thinking about maybe getting a good bike when I return to Gettysburg, but the cars would hate me, people would scream at me to get a job so I can buy a car, and people on the sidewalk would be baffled if I rode there (you should if you can here,) and for some reason it's illegal too I think. Who would have thought I'd be pro-bike after coming here? It's ridiculous to try it in America, but if the roads and transport system wasn't so car-focused... Why is the American train system so pathetic too? Two trains crashed due to a conductor texting. How the hell does that even happen? Set up a good system like in Japan, and the jobs it would make, and the cars it would take off the roads... It'll never happen.
But this weekend was mostly just relaxing in the dorm after rushing around and hurrying homework to spend time with my Dad. Working on new grammar and kanji (I need to do more, heh.) Today was a day off due to it being Health and Sports day. More relevant than "Columbus Day"... I studied in the Starbucks and got a lot done, then did some shopping where I got two more issues of Great Detective Conan and some food.
I want to find places other than Starbucks, but I've been reluctant to try them. I should fix this. One up the road from here, Petit Cafe seems to only be open at night. Coffee at that hour isn't a great idea, plus it might be sketchy... we'll see. On the way to Hirakata City there's a place called Mr. Pug Cafe with a pug's face on it for novelty. Today in the city I spotted one place that said it has "Bird Friendly Coffee." I really hope he just mixed up the noun and the adjective there, or maybe you're allowed to take your parakeet in for some espresso. From hearsay, Mr. Donuts has free coffee refills, but I don't want to study in a place where people scream "Irasshai!" (welcome!) constantly while little kids wail for their mothers to get enough donut points for a Pon deLion toy (I kind of want one too).
A funny thing comes to mind for some reason. This was outside the CIE student lounge one day:
The above is a bar-code message you scan with your cellphone. These are usually on ads or pamphlets or in stores or where-ever. Someone just hung it up, and I scanned it with my phone. The message (in Japanese) read: "Gaijin (foreigner) Aquarium: There aren't many, so please just pick one. Good luck!" Someone left a translated version beneath it. Then it was ripped down and only the barcode block was there. Then neither were there. A few other foreigners saw it and thought it was hilarious (I did too,) and I had my speaking partner Yukina scan it and she liked it too. I mentioned it to Lauren, a girl from my dorm and it made her angry. She said a foreigner did it too, which was unfortunate. The lounge has one wall made out of glass entirely, and foreigners hang out there, and Japanese come in a talk to them, or meet their speaking partners there. It basically is an aquarium. Funny stuff.
Those are all the fun stories I can think of.
Future plans include going to Hiroshima this weekend. I need to plan for that, but they are taking too damn long giving us information about it so I can get my shinkansen ticket. I may look for a hostel to stay in too, so I can see more down around there. It's definitely an important spot, plus our class will be getting to listen to a Japanese woman who was present at the Hiroshima bombing who will talk in English about it. We were told not to use flash when photographing her, due to the flash of the bomb being in her memory... I can see insensitive Americans doing bad things. It seems odd to photograph her too, in some respect.
After Hiroshima I'm going to eventually go to Nara and check out the deer park, the huge Bhudda, and take a bus to Horyuji, the oldest wooden temple in all of Japan, and I think the oldest wooden structure in the world.
Also I'm going to see when the cheap Kabuki and Bunraku (puppet theatre) are being performed, since I really want to see those badly. I'm avoiding Noh since I don't require an extravagant nap.
That's about it for now though as far as traveling goes.
I'm getting worried about job prospects for someone who knows Japanese in the USA. Over the weekend I spent several hours (2 1/2 tonight) being absorbed in reading my manga, Great Detective Conan. Figuring out what it says and understanding more and more is such a great feeling. Now I'm thinking about looking into translation jobs, so I'm researching that a bit. I am by far a manga / anime otaku (nerd, and bane of the Japanese Studies major, or at least should be,) so that might be a boon in the job interviews. When learning English as a kid, I read constantly, and devoured new vocabulary, and I loved to read and write. I still love reading if I can find the time, and I still love running into new words. Maybe I can try this with Japanese? And translating things other than manga, anime, and videogames. Novels and other books would be great; I'd love to get to read Japanese novels in Japanese at some point too, the covers of them just scream out at me in the bookstores. I don't know if I have a strong enough urge for this though. Searching for jobs online and finding nilch has me worried though. Living abroad isn't an option either... But I don't want to be working in some shitty retail position after school. I wouldn't last a week in something like that.
Well, I have a year and a half.
Those are all the fun stories I can think of.
Future plans include going to Hiroshima this weekend. I need to plan for that, but they are taking too damn long giving us information about it so I can get my shinkansen ticket. I may look for a hostel to stay in too, so I can see more down around there. It's definitely an important spot, plus our class will be getting to listen to a Japanese woman who was present at the Hiroshima bombing who will talk in English about it. We were told not to use flash when photographing her, due to the flash of the bomb being in her memory... I can see insensitive Americans doing bad things. It seems odd to photograph her too, in some respect.
After Hiroshima I'm going to eventually go to Nara and check out the deer park, the huge Bhudda, and take a bus to Horyuji, the oldest wooden temple in all of Japan, and I think the oldest wooden structure in the world.
Also I'm going to see when the cheap Kabuki and Bunraku (puppet theatre) are being performed, since I really want to see those badly. I'm avoiding Noh since I don't require an extravagant nap.
That's about it for now though as far as traveling goes.
I'm getting worried about job prospects for someone who knows Japanese in the USA. Over the weekend I spent several hours (2 1/2 tonight) being absorbed in reading my manga, Great Detective Conan. Figuring out what it says and understanding more and more is such a great feeling. Now I'm thinking about looking into translation jobs, so I'm researching that a bit. I am by far a manga / anime otaku (nerd, and bane of the Japanese Studies major, or at least should be,) so that might be a boon in the job interviews. When learning English as a kid, I read constantly, and devoured new vocabulary, and I loved to read and write. I still love reading if I can find the time, and I still love running into new words. Maybe I can try this with Japanese? And translating things other than manga, anime, and videogames. Novels and other books would be great; I'd love to get to read Japanese novels in Japanese at some point too, the covers of them just scream out at me in the bookstores. I don't know if I have a strong enough urge for this though. Searching for jobs online and finding nilch has me worried though. Living abroad isn't an option either... But I don't want to be working in some shitty retail position after school. I wouldn't last a week in something like that.
Well, I have a year and a half.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Studying and Laying Low
Nothing has really been going on lately, to be honest.
In Negotiation we had our Hospital vs Citizenry negotiation... Right from the start it was a disaster as the leader of the citizens was so hostile and unreasonable... But eventually things cooled down and the citizens got absolutely everything they wanted. This would not happen in real life, as in our mock negotiation neither side had real numbers to go by, such as budgets, income, population numbers, etc... So the hospital would naturally give in since they had no real reason not to. No money or other real worries to get in the way of the decision, unlike in the Commons exercise we are doing where grades are "on the line" (I think he's making it up to get us to care). Either way, it was interesting.
Also on Friday I got back and ran into Jesse and Joe, who were headed to Hirakata to see a travel agent about a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo for the Tokyo Video Game Show. I was originally going to do that but my Dad scheduled his trip here during it, and it would be rude to go to that. I tried to help them with the tickets at the agency but I was only half-listening... It seemed that they might have said that it was too close to the date to book the tickets, so they had no luck. Anyway, we also picked up James and Tiffany, two other people from our dorm who came here as a couple, apparently... Both studying Japanese at their home university. They're both really nice, but sometimes it's annoying to see people being lovey-dovey when your own other-half is on the other side of the world.
Anyway, after the agent's we went to look for a place to eat... We picked a small restaraunt and split into two groups, Jesse and I, and the Joe, Tiffany, and James... Joe decided to be the third wheel, heheh. The waitress used quite a bit of keigo, a more polite way of speaking Japanese that changes most of the verbs and has certain set phrases; I was a little confused at times. I tried to say that I only rememberd the bit of the name of the thing that looked tasty in the window, but that went nowhere quick. I just picked some udon (a thick noodle) set that came with a tonkatsu (pork cutlet) rice bowl, and a bottle of beer (for 500 yen... why?). This was the first time I had ordered real udon noodles, and they were delicious. So was the pork with egg ricebowl, and whatever the two smaller dishes of vegetables that I added to the udon. The beer was good as well and complemented the noodles very well, but the beer alone doubled the price of the meal.
Having eaten we went to Mr. Donuts (misutaa dou) and I helped Joe get a donut card so he can rack up points for various donut-related merchandise. I'm on the fence for this as it's about 120-130 yen per donut, but I do want a mug or a donut-animal (perhaps the donut-headed lion). We then went to the arcade, then the bookstore, where I bought another Detective Conan for 105 yen (manga is cheaper than toilet paper!). I was suddenly really tired, so I decided to head back since they were planning on karaoke or something else at some entertainment center. I think alcohol makes me sleepy; well, of course it's a depressant, but I just want a good nap after drinking a good bit of it. I slept wonderfully though.
And today I mostly just studied kanji. About 130 or so for Monday's test, then three or so grammar points. I have to review the grammar for speaking too, though. I never use it in what little Japanese conversation I have so I forget it or mix it up frequently.
Not having much Japanese conversation is troubling me, but Yukina and I are going to be meeting twice a week for an hour or so to help eachother in our languages, so that might help. I was thinking on joining a club before I got here, but it's hard to get into them as I've heard, plus your Japanese needs to be good unless it's the band or something... That and their meetings are sometimes during my later classes. Oh well. The only one I would have joined was the ballroom dancing one for swing dancing, but I'm really not that enthusiastic of a dancer anyway.
I don't really want to go to clubs (as in "clubbing") as I don't do that kind of thing anyway, plus it's too expensive. My roomie, Matt has been going to small music houses / cafes in Kyoto but the entrance fees and any kind of food or drink is pricey too... Too loud to talk anyway.
I can't really just grab a Japanese person on campus either to just talk too, haha. Ah well. Doing the INFES (whatever that stands for) culture expo would have been fun too, where each country has a booth and shares things about their culture... Only there are 250+ Americans here.
I realized early though that I shouldn't feel bad for not being able to connect with other Japanese in society here, since, well, it isn't easy for Japanese either. So many are lonely and don't even know who lives in the apartment down the hall. Social networking isn't as good as it was in the past either, and the local news emphasizes it with the recent arsons in a movie dive and a karaoke place. I've been thinking about looking for coffee shops, but the coffee is overpriced and people probably just go there to be left alone and read anyway... seating real-estate is valuable too. We'll judge it better after trying it anyway.
Anyway, I have to get back to my kanji. Tomorrow my Dad gets here and I have to get some work out of the way and really familiarize myself with the new grammar since I'll be trying to do things with him this week. Tuesday I have the whole day off after 10:00, so I plan on showing him around Kyoto, I think. I'm not sure what, yet though. Maybe Ginkakuji and Nazenji, and the Heian Jingu shrine that I somehow missed on both of my trips. Maybe Fushimi Inari too.
In Negotiation we had our Hospital vs Citizenry negotiation... Right from the start it was a disaster as the leader of the citizens was so hostile and unreasonable... But eventually things cooled down and the citizens got absolutely everything they wanted. This would not happen in real life, as in our mock negotiation neither side had real numbers to go by, such as budgets, income, population numbers, etc... So the hospital would naturally give in since they had no real reason not to. No money or other real worries to get in the way of the decision, unlike in the Commons exercise we are doing where grades are "on the line" (I think he's making it up to get us to care). Either way, it was interesting.
Also on Friday I got back and ran into Jesse and Joe, who were headed to Hirakata to see a travel agent about a Shinkansen (bullet train) to Tokyo for the Tokyo Video Game Show. I was originally going to do that but my Dad scheduled his trip here during it, and it would be rude to go to that. I tried to help them with the tickets at the agency but I was only half-listening... It seemed that they might have said that it was too close to the date to book the tickets, so they had no luck. Anyway, we also picked up James and Tiffany, two other people from our dorm who came here as a couple, apparently... Both studying Japanese at their home university. They're both really nice, but sometimes it's annoying to see people being lovey-dovey when your own other-half is on the other side of the world.
Anyway, after the agent's we went to look for a place to eat... We picked a small restaraunt and split into two groups, Jesse and I, and the Joe, Tiffany, and James... Joe decided to be the third wheel, heheh. The waitress used quite a bit of keigo, a more polite way of speaking Japanese that changes most of the verbs and has certain set phrases; I was a little confused at times. I tried to say that I only rememberd the bit of the name of the thing that looked tasty in the window, but that went nowhere quick. I just picked some udon (a thick noodle) set that came with a tonkatsu (pork cutlet) rice bowl, and a bottle of beer (for 500 yen... why?). This was the first time I had ordered real udon noodles, and they were delicious. So was the pork with egg ricebowl, and whatever the two smaller dishes of vegetables that I added to the udon. The beer was good as well and complemented the noodles very well, but the beer alone doubled the price of the meal.
Having eaten we went to Mr. Donuts (misutaa dou) and I helped Joe get a donut card so he can rack up points for various donut-related merchandise. I'm on the fence for this as it's about 120-130 yen per donut, but I do want a mug or a donut-animal (perhaps the donut-headed lion). We then went to the arcade, then the bookstore, where I bought another Detective Conan for 105 yen (manga is cheaper than toilet paper!). I was suddenly really tired, so I decided to head back since they were planning on karaoke or something else at some entertainment center. I think alcohol makes me sleepy; well, of course it's a depressant, but I just want a good nap after drinking a good bit of it. I slept wonderfully though.
And today I mostly just studied kanji. About 130 or so for Monday's test, then three or so grammar points. I have to review the grammar for speaking too, though. I never use it in what little Japanese conversation I have so I forget it or mix it up frequently.
Not having much Japanese conversation is troubling me, but Yukina and I are going to be meeting twice a week for an hour or so to help eachother in our languages, so that might help. I was thinking on joining a club before I got here, but it's hard to get into them as I've heard, plus your Japanese needs to be good unless it's the band or something... That and their meetings are sometimes during my later classes. Oh well. The only one I would have joined was the ballroom dancing one for swing dancing, but I'm really not that enthusiastic of a dancer anyway.
I don't really want to go to clubs (as in "clubbing") as I don't do that kind of thing anyway, plus it's too expensive. My roomie, Matt has been going to small music houses / cafes in Kyoto but the entrance fees and any kind of food or drink is pricey too... Too loud to talk anyway.
I can't really just grab a Japanese person on campus either to just talk too, haha. Ah well. Doing the INFES (whatever that stands for) culture expo would have been fun too, where each country has a booth and shares things about their culture... Only there are 250+ Americans here.
I realized early though that I shouldn't feel bad for not being able to connect with other Japanese in society here, since, well, it isn't easy for Japanese either. So many are lonely and don't even know who lives in the apartment down the hall. Social networking isn't as good as it was in the past either, and the local news emphasizes it with the recent arsons in a movie dive and a karaoke place. I've been thinking about looking for coffee shops, but the coffee is overpriced and people probably just go there to be left alone and read anyway... seating real-estate is valuable too. We'll judge it better after trying it anyway.
Anyway, I have to get back to my kanji. Tomorrow my Dad gets here and I have to get some work out of the way and really familiarize myself with the new grammar since I'll be trying to do things with him this week. Tuesday I have the whole day off after 10:00, so I plan on showing him around Kyoto, I think. I'm not sure what, yet though. Maybe Ginkakuji and Nazenji, and the Heian Jingu shrine that I somehow missed on both of my trips. Maybe Fushimi Inari too.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
A Put Off Post...
I'm still alive!
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Classes and daily life have been so busy that I've been putting this (and other things that I should be doing) off.
Well, my last post was on Thursday... Friday, I believe was a normal day except I went out bowling with two girls from the dorm, Lauren and April, and three other guys; Sean, Ryan, and Justin. It only cost 200 yen per game with the student ID and the shoes were 300. Not bad at all. That was all we did since Ryan needed to get back to the dorm since a blister popped in his foot while bowling... I think I bowled a 76 then an 88. I'm so good.
Saturday I woke up at about 10:00 and biked to Makino Station and took the train in the opposite direction of Kyoto, to Osaka. My goal was to find Den-Den Town (Nihonbashi?), the electronics district of Osaka to see how that would be, and Osaka-jo, the castle. That and I planned on getting lost and finding other cool things.
I took an express train that skipped most of the local stops, but there weren't any seats left, so I stood. I didn't mind though since it felt like the train was just gliding over air, I've never ridden on anything so smooth, it was amazing. So quiet too.
After arriving at Kitahama station in Osaka, I followed the signs to the subway and eventually figured out which station I needed to take from there; it was pretty easy too... And I popped out right in the middle of Den-Den.
Den-Den is filled with old and new videogames, toy stores, electronics stores, and... porn. I popped into a few of the game stores to see if anything interesting was there, and they mostly had everything that was ever made.
The biggest electronics store, which was about 6 floors, they had everything... Robots for a few thousand dollars, robot / car kits, new laptops, old laptops (old ThinkPads for 300 yen, Dad,) and tons of accessories. I bought a webcam since I left mine at home, so I can video-chat with a certain girl over skype.
I went into some toy stores too. One it seemed like you can sell to them the 100~200 yen vending machine figures that you don't want and buy the ones you want. Typically anime, manga, or video game characters, or Japanese folk characters. I tried looking for a big bookstore too, for some manga that I wanted to buy, but no luck... The ones I want aren't popular since they aren't about giant flying robots piloted by teenagers with magical powers being chased by victorian vampires, or what-have you.
I did spot a sign for a Maid Cafe. Lonely dorky guys go to them to be served by girls in elaborate maid outfits (not the dirty kind,) and they be overly nice to you while you sip an $8 coffee. This is what I've read about them though, I don't have any desire to go into one... I doubt they would know what to say to me, haha.
After that I grabbed some food and then asked for directions at the Subway for Osaka Castle... with grains of rice on my chin. Oops.
It was a bit of a walk from the subway, but I first ran into an NHK building, with an old storehouse that was preserved outside of it. Was pretty cool.
First I entered the castle garden and marveled at the giant moat for a good while. I met a Korean guy and we took pictures of each other in front of it. I looked around at a shrine in another part of the grounds and then the Castle popped up over the trees... It was amazing. First I had to make it through some gates though, where I ran into the Korean again and we took pictures in front of a gate, haha. His Japanese was a little better than mine though.
The Castle cost about 600 yen to go in. When I got in, I was a tad dissapointed to find that it was a museum that looks like a castle... You couldn't tell that you were inside of this magnificent looking building once you got inside of it. It had some interesting artifacts and it recounted the many seiges that have befallen the castle... But I suppose I should've done my homework and gone to Himeji instead. The view at the stop of the castle was spectacular, however. You could see all of Osaka. I spent a good deal of time up there.
I should also point out that I took the stairs instead of waiting in line for the elevator (I would have done stairs were there no line,) and on the way down I counted 217 or so steps from the top. Phew.
I then went straight back as it was about 5:00 or so and getting dark... No problems on the ride back to Makino. When I went to get my bike though I nearly tore off another similar bike's parking receipt... And on my way out the parking guard noticed this, but didn't say anything... oops. My keychain also got stuck in the spokes and flew off into the road... luckily I found it, while confusing a few bystanders.
My bike's name is "Battle Home". Maybe the bike comes from a long line of strong bicycles, or maybe it picks on me and thinks that every time I try to bike home, it's a real battle... I'm not sure. It's a good bike though. I must say that I absolutely love biking to and from school, and to and from the grocery store most of all. Its just fun riding it around and now I'm not bad at all, so I can weave with other bikes and deftly avoid obachans (Grandmas) and the little metal poles that are sticking up everywhere. It's a shame you can't do this in America, since everyone HAS to drive due to how everything is planned out, and when they do implement bikes they do it wrong... Plus only the maniacs who bike ridiculous lengths to and from work who just drive everyone else insane give bikers a bad wrap... Oh well.
Sunday I mostly studied and rested my feet. Monday and Tuesday it just rained.
Today the rain finally stopped and it was great outside. I found the cafeteria behind the library that is less crowded... You go to two vending machines, put money in, and get a ticket for whatever food item you want... then you give it to the ladies behind the circular counter / kitchen and you get your food. Not a bad place.
In Negotiation we started a fun new exercise about a private hospital, where the white, middle-class people in the area are moving out and poor immigrants and minorities and just poor people in general are moving in. The residents want better access to the hospital and need more assistance, while the hospital wants to concentrate on research and their amazing open-heart surgery program. The hospital then buys land for a new research facility with nurse dorms and the citizen's group storms the office and does a sit in, and now both sides need to negotiate. Tracy asked who in the room reads Ayn Rand, Marx, or who is a hardcore Capitalist... and then made people join the side they most likely didn't want to join. It was pretty funny. He then had the hospital people go somewhere, presumably a classroom since he said that us concerned citizens could not meet in a private building, only public spaces. And then he said we'd negotiate on Friday and class was over, an hour early.
I love things like this, the smell of uncertainty, fear, and anticipated chaos in here, with grades precariously dangling on the precipice of it all... Our side went to talk outside of McDonalds and then eventually went into the cafeteria, scaring Japanese students away. Two leaders emerged (one who just wants people to shut up and get things done, and the other one, an obnoxious, uncertain chatterbox...) and we picked the one who wanted to get things done. We split into various factions such as local religious leaders, school board members, lawyers, etc... A Japanese girl, a girl from Singapore, and myself represented minorities in this... And they had some fun preconceptions about the USA since that's where this case is based. "No, not many Buddhists or Muslims... Yeah, Protestants, Catholics, all Christians..." That and the fact that our countries do healthcare differently confused them, and we had a hard time thinking of what other groups we could call on for assistance since they don't have issues like this...
And the last thing of interest concerns cooking. Last night I realized I had bread that was unused, and two eggs left. So I made Eggs in the Basket, or Toad in the Hole, whichever you call it. It was quite good. Good with the huge bread slices here too. Today I bought two 32 yen bags of noodles, more eggs, an onion, and a carrot, and 220 yen worth of bacon-ish beef. I fried it up in a pan with some paprika, a pepper mix, chili powder, and salt, and it was really good! I was surprised. I have leftovers now too... This is something I could easily make back in the US too, although I'd have to make my own noodles. Spaghetti is a bit different... So that made me feel better after the chili incident.
But that's about all for now. Check out new pictures of Japan here!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041799&l=1feff&id=19304454
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. Classes and daily life have been so busy that I've been putting this (and other things that I should be doing) off.
Well, my last post was on Thursday... Friday, I believe was a normal day except I went out bowling with two girls from the dorm, Lauren and April, and three other guys; Sean, Ryan, and Justin. It only cost 200 yen per game with the student ID and the shoes were 300. Not bad at all. That was all we did since Ryan needed to get back to the dorm since a blister popped in his foot while bowling... I think I bowled a 76 then an 88. I'm so good.
Saturday I woke up at about 10:00 and biked to Makino Station and took the train in the opposite direction of Kyoto, to Osaka. My goal was to find Den-Den Town (Nihonbashi?), the electronics district of Osaka to see how that would be, and Osaka-jo, the castle. That and I planned on getting lost and finding other cool things.
I took an express train that skipped most of the local stops, but there weren't any seats left, so I stood. I didn't mind though since it felt like the train was just gliding over air, I've never ridden on anything so smooth, it was amazing. So quiet too.
After arriving at Kitahama station in Osaka, I followed the signs to the subway and eventually figured out which station I needed to take from there; it was pretty easy too... And I popped out right in the middle of Den-Den.
Den-Den is filled with old and new videogames, toy stores, electronics stores, and... porn. I popped into a few of the game stores to see if anything interesting was there, and they mostly had everything that was ever made.
The biggest electronics store, which was about 6 floors, they had everything... Robots for a few thousand dollars, robot / car kits, new laptops, old laptops (old ThinkPads for 300 yen, Dad,) and tons of accessories. I bought a webcam since I left mine at home, so I can video-chat with a certain girl over skype.
I went into some toy stores too. One it seemed like you can sell to them the 100~200 yen vending machine figures that you don't want and buy the ones you want. Typically anime, manga, or video game characters, or Japanese folk characters. I tried looking for a big bookstore too, for some manga that I wanted to buy, but no luck... The ones I want aren't popular since they aren't about giant flying robots piloted by teenagers with magical powers being chased by victorian vampires, or what-have you.
I did spot a sign for a Maid Cafe. Lonely dorky guys go to them to be served by girls in elaborate maid outfits (not the dirty kind,) and they be overly nice to you while you sip an $8 coffee. This is what I've read about them though, I don't have any desire to go into one... I doubt they would know what to say to me, haha.
After that I grabbed some food and then asked for directions at the Subway for Osaka Castle... with grains of rice on my chin. Oops.
It was a bit of a walk from the subway, but I first ran into an NHK building, with an old storehouse that was preserved outside of it. Was pretty cool.
First I entered the castle garden and marveled at the giant moat for a good while. I met a Korean guy and we took pictures of each other in front of it. I looked around at a shrine in another part of the grounds and then the Castle popped up over the trees... It was amazing. First I had to make it through some gates though, where I ran into the Korean again and we took pictures in front of a gate, haha. His Japanese was a little better than mine though.
The Castle cost about 600 yen to go in. When I got in, I was a tad dissapointed to find that it was a museum that looks like a castle... You couldn't tell that you were inside of this magnificent looking building once you got inside of it. It had some interesting artifacts and it recounted the many seiges that have befallen the castle... But I suppose I should've done my homework and gone to Himeji instead. The view at the stop of the castle was spectacular, however. You could see all of Osaka. I spent a good deal of time up there.
I should also point out that I took the stairs instead of waiting in line for the elevator (I would have done stairs were there no line,) and on the way down I counted 217 or so steps from the top. Phew.
I then went straight back as it was about 5:00 or so and getting dark... No problems on the ride back to Makino. When I went to get my bike though I nearly tore off another similar bike's parking receipt... And on my way out the parking guard noticed this, but didn't say anything... oops. My keychain also got stuck in the spokes and flew off into the road... luckily I found it, while confusing a few bystanders.
My bike's name is "Battle Home". Maybe the bike comes from a long line of strong bicycles, or maybe it picks on me and thinks that every time I try to bike home, it's a real battle... I'm not sure. It's a good bike though. I must say that I absolutely love biking to and from school, and to and from the grocery store most of all. Its just fun riding it around and now I'm not bad at all, so I can weave with other bikes and deftly avoid obachans (Grandmas) and the little metal poles that are sticking up everywhere. It's a shame you can't do this in America, since everyone HAS to drive due to how everything is planned out, and when they do implement bikes they do it wrong... Plus only the maniacs who bike ridiculous lengths to and from work who just drive everyone else insane give bikers a bad wrap... Oh well.
Sunday I mostly studied and rested my feet. Monday and Tuesday it just rained.
Today the rain finally stopped and it was great outside. I found the cafeteria behind the library that is less crowded... You go to two vending machines, put money in, and get a ticket for whatever food item you want... then you give it to the ladies behind the circular counter / kitchen and you get your food. Not a bad place.
In Negotiation we started a fun new exercise about a private hospital, where the white, middle-class people in the area are moving out and poor immigrants and minorities and just poor people in general are moving in. The residents want better access to the hospital and need more assistance, while the hospital wants to concentrate on research and their amazing open-heart surgery program. The hospital then buys land for a new research facility with nurse dorms and the citizen's group storms the office and does a sit in, and now both sides need to negotiate. Tracy asked who in the room reads Ayn Rand, Marx, or who is a hardcore Capitalist... and then made people join the side they most likely didn't want to join. It was pretty funny. He then had the hospital people go somewhere, presumably a classroom since he said that us concerned citizens could not meet in a private building, only public spaces. And then he said we'd negotiate on Friday and class was over, an hour early.
I love things like this, the smell of uncertainty, fear, and anticipated chaos in here, with grades precariously dangling on the precipice of it all... Our side went to talk outside of McDonalds and then eventually went into the cafeteria, scaring Japanese students away. Two leaders emerged (one who just wants people to shut up and get things done, and the other one, an obnoxious, uncertain chatterbox...) and we picked the one who wanted to get things done. We split into various factions such as local religious leaders, school board members, lawyers, etc... A Japanese girl, a girl from Singapore, and myself represented minorities in this... And they had some fun preconceptions about the USA since that's where this case is based. "No, not many Buddhists or Muslims... Yeah, Protestants, Catholics, all Christians..." That and the fact that our countries do healthcare differently confused them, and we had a hard time thinking of what other groups we could call on for assistance since they don't have issues like this...
And the last thing of interest concerns cooking. Last night I realized I had bread that was unused, and two eggs left. So I made Eggs in the Basket, or Toad in the Hole, whichever you call it. It was quite good. Good with the huge bread slices here too. Today I bought two 32 yen bags of noodles, more eggs, an onion, and a carrot, and 220 yen worth of bacon-ish beef. I fried it up in a pan with some paprika, a pepper mix, chili powder, and salt, and it was really good! I was surprised. I have leftovers now too... This is something I could easily make back in the US too, although I'd have to make my own noodles. Spaghetti is a bit different... So that made me feel better after the chili incident.
But that's about all for now. Check out new pictures of Japan here!
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041799&l=1feff&id=19304454
Thursday, September 25, 2008
どうやって勉強すればいいかなぁ…
This morning I felt like the living dead; getting up was so difficult. I barely had much time to study for the vocab quiz I didn't plan for... It went okay though, after the trial that Reading / Writing was. A bunch of us were asked for the last time if level 4 is okay though, so it was good to see that others were where I am, and I think the others agreed to stay... I hope. Still I have a ridiculous amount of words and kanji to know by next week, plus there's a speaking test on Tuesday... I don't have the new grammar down too well from the last two chapters. I need to get that done on Sunday, since Saturday is for traveling, experiencing culture, and not school-work.
Lunch was good since Yukina invited me again! She had a friend too, a guy who goes to Kyoto University and is studying to teach middle schoolers electrical engineering. I think he said he wanted to do this because of an awesome teacher he had in school at some point... A lot was lost in trying to communicate. I tried to explain that not everyone in America has a gun, just the rural folk. That and explaining that I'm not rich because my Dad has a lot of old Mercedes, or bentsu. Also I explained how we have bears near us, and the time I hit a deer and the hunters behind me took the body and most likely ate it. This surprised them, and Yukina especially since she lives in Nara, where deer are kept in gardens / shrines and are fed and petted... Very small deer though. Haha.
It was a lot of fun communicating, but you have to keep yourself in high-spirits, since it can be frustrating not knowing how to get a point across, or a nuance, or just not knowing the words, or in actual practice your studied grammar patterns flutter away out of reach. You have to be mindful of it though. Trying to explain my opinions of American politics didn't quite work, neither did trying to explain why Americans keep the toilet and bath/shower in the same room, which seems odd keeping a dirty thing and a clean thing in the same room; how do I say Americans are afraid of nudity and would rather do all of the "naked things' in one room? "Moral cleanlines" is more important than actual cleanliness, and I am highly exxagerating the former...
Dinner was had at a restauraunt that I need to learn the name of... 600 yen for three huge peices of fried chiken with gravy, a slice of ham, two eggs, all of this on noodles and sprouts, and you get a mountain of rice, some miso, and pickled radishes. Man. Joe, Jesse, and Sean, a guy from the dorm who is also in my Negotiation class came with. The place is run by a nice couple, and maybe a son or daughter of theirs helps or some hired help... The husband came out and gave everyone in the place some odd candy to be nice, which was really cool. All of the locally run joints are really the best, the people there are so nice, generous, and try to be more intimate, which makes it more enjoyable for everyone and more profitable in the long run for them. Anyway, the treat was something like sweet bean-curd in cookie-dust that you pour a little bottle of syrup over. That's not at all what it actually was, but it's the best I can do to describe it.
The title of this entry is something along the lines of "I wonder what way to study is good...". At least I hope so. I say this because I'm having so much trouble lately motivating myself to memorize a new batch of words after barely commiting the old ones, and the new mess of kanji just looks painful.
However, I just dived into reading more of the detective manga, 名探偵コナン and I'm having so much fun reading it. Every sentence understood is a little victory and it fills me with excitement and joy understanding it, even more so when I come upon a new word, look it up, and see it later and understand it immediately... I read at a very slow rate though, although using this computer as a dictionary makes it quicker; a paper dictionary would take longer... But due to my reading speed, I spend more time thinking about what is being said, paying more attention to the character's emotions and thoughts, and the artistic style being used too. All of this makes me appreciate the manga more I think, and I doubt I would feel the same way if I was flying through this in English. I've tried it before and I could never get into a manga and it would be over so soon.
Maybe this will change my outlook on manga for good. I'm surprised that I was excited at the thought of picking it up and reading it tonight, and spent a good two hours or so when I maybe should've been working on vocab. It'll take me hours to get through just one book, or volume I suppose. So the 250 yen spent on one of these goes a long way... I'm conflicted between reading them through because I'm so into the story and characters or if I should try and master the words in it to read more smoothly... We'll see how long I last before moving on, haha.
Tomorrow I'm going to plan a bit for Osaka, but I'm considering just winging it and I might just plan only how to get there by train and do whatever once I'm there. I can ask people what direction to walk in, and maybe a bus with have some familiar kanji, we'll see. It'll be an adventure no matter what.
Lunch was good since Yukina invited me again! She had a friend too, a guy who goes to Kyoto University and is studying to teach middle schoolers electrical engineering. I think he said he wanted to do this because of an awesome teacher he had in school at some point... A lot was lost in trying to communicate. I tried to explain that not everyone in America has a gun, just the rural folk. That and explaining that I'm not rich because my Dad has a lot of old Mercedes, or bentsu. Also I explained how we have bears near us, and the time I hit a deer and the hunters behind me took the body and most likely ate it. This surprised them, and Yukina especially since she lives in Nara, where deer are kept in gardens / shrines and are fed and petted... Very small deer though. Haha.
It was a lot of fun communicating, but you have to keep yourself in high-spirits, since it can be frustrating not knowing how to get a point across, or a nuance, or just not knowing the words, or in actual practice your studied grammar patterns flutter away out of reach. You have to be mindful of it though. Trying to explain my opinions of American politics didn't quite work, neither did trying to explain why Americans keep the toilet and bath/shower in the same room, which seems odd keeping a dirty thing and a clean thing in the same room; how do I say Americans are afraid of nudity and would rather do all of the "naked things' in one room? "Moral cleanlines" is more important than actual cleanliness, and I am highly exxagerating the former...
Dinner was had at a restauraunt that I need to learn the name of... 600 yen for three huge peices of fried chiken with gravy, a slice of ham, two eggs, all of this on noodles and sprouts, and you get a mountain of rice, some miso, and pickled radishes. Man. Joe, Jesse, and Sean, a guy from the dorm who is also in my Negotiation class came with. The place is run by a nice couple, and maybe a son or daughter of theirs helps or some hired help... The husband came out and gave everyone in the place some odd candy to be nice, which was really cool. All of the locally run joints are really the best, the people there are so nice, generous, and try to be more intimate, which makes it more enjoyable for everyone and more profitable in the long run for them. Anyway, the treat was something like sweet bean-curd in cookie-dust that you pour a little bottle of syrup over. That's not at all what it actually was, but it's the best I can do to describe it.
The title of this entry is something along the lines of "I wonder what way to study is good...". At least I hope so. I say this because I'm having so much trouble lately motivating myself to memorize a new batch of words after barely commiting the old ones, and the new mess of kanji just looks painful.
However, I just dived into reading more of the detective manga, 名探偵コナン and I'm having so much fun reading it. Every sentence understood is a little victory and it fills me with excitement and joy understanding it, even more so when I come upon a new word, look it up, and see it later and understand it immediately... I read at a very slow rate though, although using this computer as a dictionary makes it quicker; a paper dictionary would take longer... But due to my reading speed, I spend more time thinking about what is being said, paying more attention to the character's emotions and thoughts, and the artistic style being used too. All of this makes me appreciate the manga more I think, and I doubt I would feel the same way if I was flying through this in English. I've tried it before and I could never get into a manga and it would be over so soon.
Maybe this will change my outlook on manga for good. I'm surprised that I was excited at the thought of picking it up and reading it tonight, and spent a good two hours or so when I maybe should've been working on vocab. It'll take me hours to get through just one book, or volume I suppose. So the 250 yen spent on one of these goes a long way... I'm conflicted between reading them through because I'm so into the story and characters or if I should try and master the words in it to read more smoothly... We'll see how long I last before moving on, haha.
Tomorrow I'm going to plan a bit for Osaka, but I'm considering just winging it and I might just plan only how to get there by train and do whatever once I'm there. I can ask people what direction to walk in, and maybe a bus with have some familiar kanji, we'll see. It'll be an adventure no matter what.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Osake Dojo
I thought I would update due to a unique experience.
For the past two weeks I've been hearing a few guys around the Seminar House talk constantly about this place called "Jackie John's". Always they would come back stuffed and raving about this little restaurant, saying how cheap and amazing it is, and also that it's quite small and a little dirty. They said it was just on the way to Makino Station. I've tried looking for it twice but I could never find it.
Well today before Negotiation I ran into Jesse and a bunch of other Seminar House I folks and he said he was planning on going there tonight, so I asked if I could join him and he said "Sure." So I met up with him at about 6:30 in the dorm and there was a whole mess of people going, about eight or ten from our dorm. One girl was upset over this and just ran into the kitchen all flustered... Apparently we might not all fit. Oh well. Half of us took bikes and the other half walked, in order to not overwhelm this place, which I then learned is run by only one guy.
I remember my first time walking back from Makino Station. There was this ridiculously tiny shop that was open serving some food and beer. It's a long counter with just sitting room on the other end of it. If you lean back you would hit the wall. It looked just a little dirty though... I entertained the thought of trying it but I thought the locals might be annoyed with a foreigner eating in such a place that clearly had... well, local color written all over it.
Never did I think this was the same place. Once I got inside it wasn't just a little dirty, but dirty as hell. Left to the stove the wall and windows were caked in black grease. Various cooking instruments piled the counter, wires hung all over the back wall, the ceiling, the walls, all was pretty grimy. A Buzz-Lightyear clock adorned one of the support beams and ticked away under the caked flourescent lights.
The real name of it is O-sake Dojo, not "Jackie John's", which some other guy must have come up with; why I don't know. The old guy was refered to as "Taisho-san" but I think that's a general term for at least sushi chefs, but I guess maybe it works for single male chefs as well. Anyway it was packed (and not just seemingly so due to the size,) so he could only do a few dishes at a time. The only two meals that I know he makes was yakisoba (grilled noodles) which he makes his own sauce for which is apparently the best ever, and "Take Five" which is something he must have made up, which was rice, onion, some meat, noodles, and spices all fried up. Ordering here was confusing, and I think he either assumed three of us wanted take-five or just had it waiting... The three of us who were planning on it just grabbed it and ate. It was delicious. For such a dirty place the food was great, and a huge plate of this was only 500 yen. It could serve two! I think I'm bringing tupperware next time.
Here's a picture I took with my phone.
For the past two weeks I've been hearing a few guys around the Seminar House talk constantly about this place called "Jackie John's". Always they would come back stuffed and raving about this little restaurant, saying how cheap and amazing it is, and also that it's quite small and a little dirty. They said it was just on the way to Makino Station. I've tried looking for it twice but I could never find it.
Well today before Negotiation I ran into Jesse and a bunch of other Seminar House I folks and he said he was planning on going there tonight, so I asked if I could join him and he said "Sure." So I met up with him at about 6:30 in the dorm and there was a whole mess of people going, about eight or ten from our dorm. One girl was upset over this and just ran into the kitchen all flustered... Apparently we might not all fit. Oh well. Half of us took bikes and the other half walked, in order to not overwhelm this place, which I then learned is run by only one guy.
I remember my first time walking back from Makino Station. There was this ridiculously tiny shop that was open serving some food and beer. It's a long counter with just sitting room on the other end of it. If you lean back you would hit the wall. It looked just a little dirty though... I entertained the thought of trying it but I thought the locals might be annoyed with a foreigner eating in such a place that clearly had... well, local color written all over it.
Never did I think this was the same place. Once I got inside it wasn't just a little dirty, but dirty as hell. Left to the stove the wall and windows were caked in black grease. Various cooking instruments piled the counter, wires hung all over the back wall, the ceiling, the walls, all was pretty grimy. A Buzz-Lightyear clock adorned one of the support beams and ticked away under the caked flourescent lights.
The real name of it is O-sake Dojo, not "Jackie John's", which some other guy must have come up with; why I don't know. The old guy was refered to as "Taisho-san" but I think that's a general term for at least sushi chefs, but I guess maybe it works for single male chefs as well. Anyway it was packed (and not just seemingly so due to the size,) so he could only do a few dishes at a time. The only two meals that I know he makes was yakisoba (grilled noodles) which he makes his own sauce for which is apparently the best ever, and "Take Five" which is something he must have made up, which was rice, onion, some meat, noodles, and spices all fried up. Ordering here was confusing, and I think he either assumed three of us wanted take-five or just had it waiting... The three of us who were planning on it just grabbed it and ate. It was delicious. For such a dirty place the food was great, and a huge plate of this was only 500 yen. It could serve two! I think I'm bringing tupperware next time.
Here's a picture I took with my phone.
My photo doesn't do much justice but maybe just to illustrate the counter and the wall across from it. Nor does it show the grime and dirt in this place. Justin, another guy who is crazy about this place brought two girls one time and they both just walked away disgusted. I really enjoyed watching this other girl look at the place for the first time, quite a look of surprise, but at least she stayed.
Aside from O-Sake Dojo (which foreigners have been going to for years, a google search proves,) Negotiation was interesting today. We are doing The Commons dilema or something along those lines. This counts as a test grade. You have Cooperators and Competitors. The total number of Cooperators divided by the number of participants multiplied by 89 is your score as a Cooperator. Competitors get that number +25. What you end up with finally after 8 of these rounds, one per week, is a test grade, about 10% of the total grade. See the dilema?
Now, everyone could Cooperate, but then we all get 89's. If everyone did, people would be tempted to Compete and get an extra 25 points, so if only one person did they would get 85+25 = 100, an A+.
Immediately people were upset, and trying to get everyone to Cooperate, and no one was thinking this through, even though calculators were being used in a frenzy. Why are we doing this in a Negotiation class? Isn't this more suited for statistics or economics? One guy took charge and said we should all Cooperate, I'll collect your actions at the door to hand in to the professor. Of course not everyone was asked about their opinions, which makes this action somewhat hostile and inconsiderate. So a few Competed, and even funnier, did so after watching everyone else write "Cooperate". Oops. Guess he never thought that out.
My idea, which I'll bring up next week after class if I can, is that we all Cooperate. However, this is a Negotiation class. And it is a class. We should all collectively negotiatiate with the professor about how unfair it is to consider this a test, as it's all about screwing people over to get a grade. Personally I think this is totally fair, and a great idea due to how fun this is, but it's the best argument. There are more of us, despite him being old-hand at this. I personally think he would love us wanting to negotiate with him (which is the point of this which people don't understand.) That would put him in a good mood, and would help us seal the deal while giving in some minor concessions like writing an essay or something.
We'll see how that goes.
Aside from O-Sake Dojo (which foreigners have been going to for years, a google search proves,) Negotiation was interesting today. We are doing The Commons dilema or something along those lines. This counts as a test grade. You have Cooperators and Competitors. The total number of Cooperators divided by the number of participants multiplied by 89 is your score as a Cooperator. Competitors get that number +25. What you end up with finally after 8 of these rounds, one per week, is a test grade, about 10% of the total grade. See the dilema?
Now, everyone could Cooperate, but then we all get 89's. If everyone did, people would be tempted to Compete and get an extra 25 points, so if only one person did they would get 85+25 = 100, an A+.
Immediately people were upset, and trying to get everyone to Cooperate, and no one was thinking this through, even though calculators were being used in a frenzy. Why are we doing this in a Negotiation class? Isn't this more suited for statistics or economics? One guy took charge and said we should all Cooperate, I'll collect your actions at the door to hand in to the professor. Of course not everyone was asked about their opinions, which makes this action somewhat hostile and inconsiderate. So a few Competed, and even funnier, did so after watching everyone else write "Cooperate". Oops. Guess he never thought that out.
My idea, which I'll bring up next week after class if I can, is that we all Cooperate. However, this is a Negotiation class. And it is a class. We should all collectively negotiatiate with the professor about how unfair it is to consider this a test, as it's all about screwing people over to get a grade. Personally I think this is totally fair, and a great idea due to how fun this is, but it's the best argument. There are more of us, despite him being old-hand at this. I personally think he would love us wanting to negotiate with him (which is the point of this which people don't understand.) That would put him in a good mood, and would help us seal the deal while giving in some minor concessions like writing an essay or something.
We'll see how that goes.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Routine Update
Since I'm not posting, you must know it means nothing interesting has been happening, which is pretty much true.
Sunday was just a day for studying. I've been reading more of 名探偵コナン(Great Detective Conan) and I'm surprised that I'm really enjoying a manga. I've learned a few useful words, phrases, and sorts of things from it. I'm surprised at how much I can understand with my dictionaries, which means my biggest hurdle now is just vocabulary acquisition. Not bad, eh?
I think I cooked for the first time on Sunday too. I attempted to make haluska, but with some kind of lettuce rather than cabbage. Why? I don't know. I probably was just rushed in buying things that I didn't look hard enough, or I got flustered and didn't want to spend forever in the store. This happens a lot when I have to find groceries.
It turned out just fine though, and I was very much so pleased.
Monday was a four-class day... I have decided to stick with Writing / Reading level 4 since I've been studying the new kanji pretty well, and in class I could beat most people to the readings of them. Also several of my classmates are having the same troubles as me, so I don't feel as bad.
Speaking was funny, since we ended up watching a video of a detective-game-show to see if we could understand! Odd how I start reading a manga of the same theme... It did give me a slight upper hand even though I didn't solve the murder, haha.
I checked my mail, and the convenience store's Softbank booth was advertising that the White Plan, the expensive plan I have will not be available after Sept. something-or-other, and Pre-paid will be available after that date! My only thought was "くそッ!" which roughly translates to "shit." Of course they told me that pre-paid would never come back to get me on the damn White Plan. Oh well, $100 down the drain.
On the plus side, a travel agency gave out flyers and they have really cheap rates. I might see if I can get a more reasonable flight to Elmira in December, but prices will shoot back up by then I bet. I'm not looking forward to flying to China, since they aren't known for quality lately. What with all the airport disasters going on in Spain, Russia, etc, I've been worried about it a little bit. Probably just silly of me.
I got to have lunch with Yukina though, which was nice. It was really enjoyable to talk with her, bouncing between Japanese and English. It worked out pretty well. She's awfully busy with Kansai Gaidai classes coming up, and she's doing a business course at a schooling-company, plus her job cooking at a bar and the fact she lives in Nara, which is a a good hour or so away.
After talking with her, I had Intercultural Communication, where we brainstormed ways to communicate safely and effectively with a culture in a first-contact setting. I stressed using pictures through drawing them or a picture-dictionary, and not just babbling in English, but my words weren't heeded. 4 people were selected to leave the room and the rest of us had to be this culture... Our only rules where to ignore people taller than us and say "yes yes yes" if the person smiled at us, and "no no no" if they did anything else. Body language was open, but no one used it for some reason, probably since we didn't want to break the rules. The 4 people failed at communicating, but they guessed our values and reactions to things after awhile. It was interesting...
Japan-China was alright. Scott usually doesn't mention our readings and just goes off on political discussions which are quite interesting. We did watch a horrible 1960's reel that Encyclopedia Britanica made about China, and were appalled by the lies, misunderstandings, and ignorance of it all. It was just a load of crap about anti-communism... I'm not well versed in Chinese history at all but I at least do know that the communists suceeded because Mao was the only one who could give stability to China. What do you think people wanted? Ugh. I don't remember to many of the other stupid examples in it, but it was ridiculous.
Another note on China, I just bought the album Monkey: Journey to the West which is a modern opera based off the Chinese myth of the Monkey King. It's pretty good if you like electric / symphony music with Chinese lyrics. Good studying music.
Today was a National Holiday, the Autumnal Equinox, established in 1948 as a day to remember your ancestors, kind of in response to O-bon. we had no classes due to this, but I was hesitant to travel anywhere since I didn't know if things were open for regular business. Turns out they were, which I learned when it was too late to do anything interesting. I ended up just doing a short bike ride around town and buying some beans to try and make chilli.
Chili was a disaster. I read somewhere that boiling them for 5 minutes then soaking them for an hour would be like soaking them for the 6 hours that I needed... Wrong. I didn't have time to wait for this anyway, since I couldn't wait. I found my beef had a hole poked in it due to some careless fridge-mate, so I defrosted it and cooked. The meat, an onion, 5 small green pepers, the kidney beans, a can of tomato paste, some ketchup, pepper, paprika, chili-powder... Brought it to a boil then let it sit on low heat for 15 minutes. I put it over rice and found it to taste... bad. Plus my stomach did not feel well after eating this. So I mostly ate breadrolls with butter. Yum. I have two plastic containers filled with all this chili that I was anticipating to feed me for a few nights and now how do I dispose of it... I may just chuck them out in the containers to not be rude to everyone else. Only 100 yen each. I had to lay down for a bit to recover from the food, haha, but I was full...
Maybe I should stick to easier things, research more, or just try restaraunt hopping... That's been cheap and effective so far. Haluska's been the only economic thing I've made since there's more in the fridge now.
But that's about it. After hearing about Matt's day in Osaka I'm a little dissapointed in myself for not going yet... Bailing on going anywhere after not getting contact from Joe about traveling or not wasn't a good idea. Man.
This weekend I'll definitely go somewhere, 90% sure it'll be Osaka. I want to do the Castle and the Sky Tower, then some stores. Maybe try America-Town too, haha.
Take care.
Sunday was just a day for studying. I've been reading more of 名探偵コナン(Great Detective Conan) and I'm surprised that I'm really enjoying a manga. I've learned a few useful words, phrases, and sorts of things from it. I'm surprised at how much I can understand with my dictionaries, which means my biggest hurdle now is just vocabulary acquisition. Not bad, eh?
I think I cooked for the first time on Sunday too. I attempted to make haluska, but with some kind of lettuce rather than cabbage. Why? I don't know. I probably was just rushed in buying things that I didn't look hard enough, or I got flustered and didn't want to spend forever in the store. This happens a lot when I have to find groceries.
It turned out just fine though, and I was very much so pleased.
Monday was a four-class day... I have decided to stick with Writing / Reading level 4 since I've been studying the new kanji pretty well, and in class I could beat most people to the readings of them. Also several of my classmates are having the same troubles as me, so I don't feel as bad.
Speaking was funny, since we ended up watching a video of a detective-game-show to see if we could understand! Odd how I start reading a manga of the same theme... It did give me a slight upper hand even though I didn't solve the murder, haha.
I checked my mail, and the convenience store's Softbank booth was advertising that the White Plan, the expensive plan I have will not be available after Sept. something-or-other, and Pre-paid will be available after that date! My only thought was "くそッ!" which roughly translates to "shit." Of course they told me that pre-paid would never come back to get me on the damn White Plan. Oh well, $100 down the drain.
On the plus side, a travel agency gave out flyers and they have really cheap rates. I might see if I can get a more reasonable flight to Elmira in December, but prices will shoot back up by then I bet. I'm not looking forward to flying to China, since they aren't known for quality lately. What with all the airport disasters going on in Spain, Russia, etc, I've been worried about it a little bit. Probably just silly of me.
I got to have lunch with Yukina though, which was nice. It was really enjoyable to talk with her, bouncing between Japanese and English. It worked out pretty well. She's awfully busy with Kansai Gaidai classes coming up, and she's doing a business course at a schooling-company, plus her job cooking at a bar and the fact she lives in Nara, which is a a good hour or so away.
After talking with her, I had Intercultural Communication, where we brainstormed ways to communicate safely and effectively with a culture in a first-contact setting. I stressed using pictures through drawing them or a picture-dictionary, and not just babbling in English, but my words weren't heeded. 4 people were selected to leave the room and the rest of us had to be this culture... Our only rules where to ignore people taller than us and say "yes yes yes" if the person smiled at us, and "no no no" if they did anything else. Body language was open, but no one used it for some reason, probably since we didn't want to break the rules. The 4 people failed at communicating, but they guessed our values and reactions to things after awhile. It was interesting...
Japan-China was alright. Scott usually doesn't mention our readings and just goes off on political discussions which are quite interesting. We did watch a horrible 1960's reel that Encyclopedia Britanica made about China, and were appalled by the lies, misunderstandings, and ignorance of it all. It was just a load of crap about anti-communism... I'm not well versed in Chinese history at all but I at least do know that the communists suceeded because Mao was the only one who could give stability to China. What do you think people wanted? Ugh. I don't remember to many of the other stupid examples in it, but it was ridiculous.
Another note on China, I just bought the album Monkey: Journey to the West which is a modern opera based off the Chinese myth of the Monkey King. It's pretty good if you like electric / symphony music with Chinese lyrics. Good studying music.
Today was a National Holiday, the Autumnal Equinox, established in 1948 as a day to remember your ancestors, kind of in response to O-bon. we had no classes due to this, but I was hesitant to travel anywhere since I didn't know if things were open for regular business. Turns out they were, which I learned when it was too late to do anything interesting. I ended up just doing a short bike ride around town and buying some beans to try and make chilli.
Chili was a disaster. I read somewhere that boiling them for 5 minutes then soaking them for an hour would be like soaking them for the 6 hours that I needed... Wrong. I didn't have time to wait for this anyway, since I couldn't wait. I found my beef had a hole poked in it due to some careless fridge-mate, so I defrosted it and cooked. The meat, an onion, 5 small green pepers, the kidney beans, a can of tomato paste, some ketchup, pepper, paprika, chili-powder... Brought it to a boil then let it sit on low heat for 15 minutes. I put it over rice and found it to taste... bad. Plus my stomach did not feel well after eating this. So I mostly ate breadrolls with butter. Yum. I have two plastic containers filled with all this chili that I was anticipating to feed me for a few nights and now how do I dispose of it... I may just chuck them out in the containers to not be rude to everyone else. Only 100 yen each. I had to lay down for a bit to recover from the food, haha, but I was full...
Maybe I should stick to easier things, research more, or just try restaraunt hopping... That's been cheap and effective so far. Haluska's been the only economic thing I've made since there's more in the fridge now.
But that's about it. After hearing about Matt's day in Osaka I'm a little dissapointed in myself for not going yet... Bailing on going anywhere after not getting contact from Joe about traveling or not wasn't a good idea. Man.
This weekend I'll definitely go somewhere, 90% sure it'll be Osaka. I want to do the Castle and the Sky Tower, then some stores. Maybe try America-Town too, haha.
Take care.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Typhoon #13 and Other Dissapointments
It seems I've been putting this off once again. Sorry... I just haven't been in the mood to sit down and write with classes and all of that.
Thursday was one of my four-class days so that is all that day pretty much consisted of. Nothing to speak of that I can think of.
Friday we were supposed to get hit by Typhoon #13! I got warning emails on my cellphone about what happens if classes are canceled and all of us foreigners were just getting excited. We all want to experience typhoons and earthquakes at least once, but not on a scale where there are casualties and extensive property damage... Just enough to say we've experienced it.
I don't know if I can say that about a typhoon. It basically just rained a good bit through the morning and then died off in the afternoon, and the rest of the day was nice and sunny. Kind of a disappointment.
I think I also went out with Joe to Zenya, a place up the road for dinner. I had a small meal of yakitori (grilled chicken) and yakionigiri (grilled rice cakes) and tried warm sake for the first time. It was under 500 yen so I wonder if being kind of cheap (for sake?) was why I hated it so much. I've had tastier Nyquil. Again I can say I've experienced it...
For Saturday (today) was planning to go to Osaka to try out Den-den Town and maybe try to see Osaka-jo, the Castle. I was going to go alone but then I got a text from Joe asking if I would like him to come... I sent him a "yes", but the dorm has spotty cellphone coverage (but this is Japan!) so he never got the message so I waited around for too long. There wasn't enough time to go, so I hung around here for the afternoon and then eventually we became bored and biked to Makino, took the train to Kuzuha, and went to the mall and a few other stores outside of it.
Earlier I looked up some manga (comics) to buy that might be good practice for reading and building vocabulary (plus understanding informal Japanese.) This is hard, as most manga deal with schoolgirls / boys with magical powers, giant flying-robots, or romance (or a combination of all three!) I want something that is a tad more serious and that doesn't have obnoxious ammounts of sex and violence. I'm really looking for just stories of people or views of everyday life in Japan.
One called 東京うばすて山 (Abandon the Old in Tokyo) sounded good, quote the website: "...working class male protagonists in gritty urban settings dealing with poverty, alienation, sexual dysfunction and a general disconnection from society." Sounds interesting. Another one, モンスター (Monster,) is about a doctor who saves a young boy in his clinic before the mayor, and the ramifications of it which drag him into a dangerous situation. That one sounded realistic and interesting. 夕凪の街 桜の国 (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms,) deals with a family coming to terms with Hiroshima in 1955. よつばと！(Yotsuba&!) is about a weird little girl that knows nothing about everyday life, as in what things are for and how things work, so I think I can relate perfectly as a foreigner here. And last, 名探偵コナン (Detective Conan) which is about a highschooler who runs into crime much like Angela Lansbury but is somehow turned into a little kid and has to deal with that along with his hunger for crime-solving. It sounds silly but a number of respectable people have told me it's quite good, haha.
So of course there are some good ones out there, you just have to know where to look.
Anyway, I bought some donuts from Mr. Donut and they should be quite good. I need to get a card from there so I can rack up points to get a Pon De Lion toy (their donut-faced lion mascot) or a nice mug. I also got a pastry with a hotdog inside of it because I must explore this infatuation with hotdogs here. Why?!
I'm getting good at riding my bike as well! I can manuver through those little death-poles quite well, and I haven't gone into a death-ditch either (almost!).
But that's about it. Tomorrow I'm just going to study, go for another bike ride, and maybe go to a bookstore I know to try and find some of those other manga, Detective Conan was the only one I bought so far. Going to go work on that now!
Thursday was one of my four-class days so that is all that day pretty much consisted of. Nothing to speak of that I can think of.
Friday we were supposed to get hit by Typhoon #13! I got warning emails on my cellphone about what happens if classes are canceled and all of us foreigners were just getting excited. We all want to experience typhoons and earthquakes at least once, but not on a scale where there are casualties and extensive property damage... Just enough to say we've experienced it.
I don't know if I can say that about a typhoon. It basically just rained a good bit through the morning and then died off in the afternoon, and the rest of the day was nice and sunny. Kind of a disappointment.
I think I also went out with Joe to Zenya, a place up the road for dinner. I had a small meal of yakitori (grilled chicken) and yakionigiri (grilled rice cakes) and tried warm sake for the first time. It was under 500 yen so I wonder if being kind of cheap (for sake?) was why I hated it so much. I've had tastier Nyquil. Again I can say I've experienced it...
For Saturday (today) was planning to go to Osaka to try out Den-den Town and maybe try to see Osaka-jo, the Castle. I was going to go alone but then I got a text from Joe asking if I would like him to come... I sent him a "yes", but the dorm has spotty cellphone coverage (but this is Japan!) so he never got the message so I waited around for too long. There wasn't enough time to go, so I hung around here for the afternoon and then eventually we became bored and biked to Makino, took the train to Kuzuha, and went to the mall and a few other stores outside of it.
Earlier I looked up some manga (comics) to buy that might be good practice for reading and building vocabulary (plus understanding informal Japanese.) This is hard, as most manga deal with schoolgirls / boys with magical powers, giant flying-robots, or romance (or a combination of all three!) I want something that is a tad more serious and that doesn't have obnoxious ammounts of sex and violence. I'm really looking for just stories of people or views of everyday life in Japan.
One called 東京うばすて山 (Abandon the Old in Tokyo) sounded good, quote the website: "...working class male protagonists in gritty urban settings dealing with poverty, alienation, sexual dysfunction and a general disconnection from society." Sounds interesting. Another one, モンスター (Monster,) is about a doctor who saves a young boy in his clinic before the mayor, and the ramifications of it which drag him into a dangerous situation. That one sounded realistic and interesting. 夕凪の街 桜の国 (Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms,) deals with a family coming to terms with Hiroshima in 1955. よつばと！(Yotsuba&!) is about a weird little girl that knows nothing about everyday life, as in what things are for and how things work, so I think I can relate perfectly as a foreigner here. And last, 名探偵コナン (Detective Conan) which is about a highschooler who runs into crime much like Angela Lansbury but is somehow turned into a little kid and has to deal with that along with his hunger for crime-solving. It sounds silly but a number of respectable people have told me it's quite good, haha.
So of course there are some good ones out there, you just have to know where to look.
Anyway, I bought some donuts from Mr. Donut and they should be quite good. I need to get a card from there so I can rack up points to get a Pon De Lion toy (their donut-faced lion mascot) or a nice mug. I also got a pastry with a hotdog inside of it because I must explore this infatuation with hotdogs here. Why?!
I'm getting good at riding my bike as well! I can manuver through those little death-poles quite well, and I haven't gone into a death-ditch either (almost!).
But that's about it. Tomorrow I'm just going to study, go for another bike ride, and maybe go to a bookstore I know to try and find some of those other manga, Detective Conan was the only one I bought so far. Going to go work on that now!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
BICYCLE! BICYCLE!
Sorry I haven't posted yesterday.
Speaking went okay yesterday as it was the only class. We went over how to say things like "-ish." As in "childish, sexy-ish, gangster-ish, forgetful-ish" and so on. Then a little bit of a new form which is something like "with even [subject 1], [subject 2]." the context is confusing due to the tense of the verb in S1... But to detract from grammar specifics which I'm sure you love, everything else was good. I understood everything and it went great!
Yesterday was also busy due to little tasks piling up. One of them being finally getting a bike! I walked to the 7/11 outside the main campus gate (15-20 minutes from Seminar House I on foot,) and took some money out of the ATM there (which was right next to the pornography. I swear I averted my eyes.) The smallest bill you could get was 10,000 yen, or $100. I'll use the post office around the dorm from now on... Less porn there too.
At the bike shop I picked out a nice crimson bike, with good brakes, a bell, a light, and a black basket. 7,000 yen, so basically $70. It rides very well. So much better than the crappy bike I got in America at Walmart (well, duh) for $65. I like having a bike without gears to shift too. Right after I bought and registered the bike (with the country) two more foreigners came in and I had to help one of them by mediating between him and the shop-keep-lady (who was so nice) since he knew no Japanese at all. He was a rather large fellow too so it was hard finding a strong enough bike...
We then rode back to campus to register our bikes there for 100 yen. You had to go get a sticker out of a vending machine. This guy whom I was with was complaining about the bureaucracy of it all, since it's so difficult to walk to the next building over and buy a sticker. Then all you had to do was fill out another sheet to register your bike with the school, get it stamped, and you're good.
As far as riding went I was still a little shaky since I was never that great to begin with having just learned how to ride... last year? Not long ago at all. But here there are treacherous ditches about 4 inches wide and 6 deep. That and random metal poles on the sidewalk to prevent disenfranchised salary-men from driving on the sidewalk to take out pedestrians. It was an awkward ride back but I'm getting better now. Riding on the left isn't as weird as it sounds, but I'm always careful when turning or changing lanes; I just stop completely and wait... I don't want to take any chances, since even being on foot can be dangerous. I swear if I wasn't standing still on some occasions scooters and motorcycles would have clipped me by now. I'm just waiting for one to get my bag caught on it and that'll be a great time for everyone.
Laundry and other things took up time, and then I just studied vocabulary until 0:00. 48 new words...
The next morning (today) I studied in the lounge in the morning then had Writing / Reading. We had our review test, which is sort of like another placement test. I suppose there were things you could do to study for it, but you're supposed to already know the things in it, hence the "review". However, our school does not use Genki, so 90% of the student base knows slightly different things and can usually speak better / know more kanji. Needless to say the test went horribly. I don't beat around the bush with tests or worry about them like most people do in school (which annoys me.) If I say I did bad, I did; I didn't get a B+ or something like that, such as in the case with people obcessive about grades. Ugh.
Tirade aside I'll probably be bumped down to level 3 for writing but I'm okay with that, considering I didn't know the material on the test. I dislike this class very much so far.
I then went to Speaking an hour early and another guy from my class did too; we saw eachother and thought "Oh yeah, he's in my class... I guess we go in." We thought everyone was dropped or something when we got in with different people. We were then laughed at and left. I took this oppurtunity for a short nap in the lounge while meditating on new Japanese words.
Speaking was fun, we practiced new grammar and I understood everything! I then had from 12-14:30 off so I screwed around for a bit... And went to the Center for International Exchange to ask why everyone but me from Gettysburg already got their stipends (I ran into Caitlin at a restaraunt last night and ate with her an her friends and learned of this.) The office worker's English was better than my Japanese (but not enough,) so I didn't get a clear reason why, other than seeing a paper with all the 4 girl's names on it with signatures of confirmation, and no blank spot for me. Hopefully an email to Gettysburg will shed some light on this, since It hurts watching my own savings dwindle. I'd totally work a job here if I could, but I wouldn't be able to until next semester, when I won't be here. And I don't want to be deported now.
Intercultural Communication was good. We discussed what the class is, and all related to our own experiences here. It's unique in that we're all from different cultures experiencing one new culture, so the different opinions and norms are fascinating. I think the two Japanese students in the class must enjoy listening to us at times, but I wonder if they refrain from cringing other times...
Negotiation was good too, we looked at the mock negotiation we did over selling / buying pistons and learned some things. I did horribly by being nervous and rushing things, plus I couldn't work my cellphone calculator yet... Anyway I'll be thinking more next time. It should be and interesting class... We'll see if I utilize any of this later in life. It could be useful in business, but I honestly have no idea as to what I want to do or where I'll fit in after school... Speaking Japanese but not living in Japan... What else will I have going for me? What do I even like to do, that isn't irresponsible and earns money, but that I won't hate? Questions for another day.
The rest of the night was okay. I was going to go eat out with another guy I met, Jesse, but he doesn't have a phone so we never met, and I ended up going there alone, to find I should have just knocked on his door instead of waiting in the lobby... oops. When I got there, there were already other foreign students, 4 girls and two stupid guys. Having sat down I somehow found it subconsciously proper to immediately pour water on my pants, so I was off to a good start. The food was great though; you get a heaping pile of rice, miso soup, and two meats of your choice over noodles / sprouts. Only 550 yen! One of the dumb Americans left his watch behind and I chased him out of the store with it to give it to him... I really hope the lady waitressing didn't think I was dining and dashing (eat and escape in Japanese, although I forget how to say it.)
And now I'm here writing this up.
Other interesting things: I find that I am actually missing some things:
Speaking went okay yesterday as it was the only class. We went over how to say things like "-ish." As in "childish, sexy-ish, gangster-ish, forgetful-ish" and so on. Then a little bit of a new form which is something like "with even [subject 1], [subject 2]." the context is confusing due to the tense of the verb in S1... But to detract from grammar specifics which I'm sure you love, everything else was good. I understood everything and it went great!
Yesterday was also busy due to little tasks piling up. One of them being finally getting a bike! I walked to the 7/11 outside the main campus gate (15-20 minutes from Seminar House I on foot,) and took some money out of the ATM there (which was right next to the pornography. I swear I averted my eyes.) The smallest bill you could get was 10,000 yen, or $100. I'll use the post office around the dorm from now on... Less porn there too.
At the bike shop I picked out a nice crimson bike, with good brakes, a bell, a light, and a black basket. 7,000 yen, so basically $70. It rides very well. So much better than the crappy bike I got in America at Walmart (well, duh) for $65. I like having a bike without gears to shift too. Right after I bought and registered the bike (with the country) two more foreigners came in and I had to help one of them by mediating between him and the shop-keep-lady (who was so nice) since he knew no Japanese at all. He was a rather large fellow too so it was hard finding a strong enough bike...
We then rode back to campus to register our bikes there for 100 yen. You had to go get a sticker out of a vending machine. This guy whom I was with was complaining about the bureaucracy of it all, since it's so difficult to walk to the next building over and buy a sticker. Then all you had to do was fill out another sheet to register your bike with the school, get it stamped, and you're good.
As far as riding went I was still a little shaky since I was never that great to begin with having just learned how to ride... last year? Not long ago at all. But here there are treacherous ditches about 4 inches wide and 6 deep. That and random metal poles on the sidewalk to prevent disenfranchised salary-men from driving on the sidewalk to take out pedestrians. It was an awkward ride back but I'm getting better now. Riding on the left isn't as weird as it sounds, but I'm always careful when turning or changing lanes; I just stop completely and wait... I don't want to take any chances, since even being on foot can be dangerous. I swear if I wasn't standing still on some occasions scooters and motorcycles would have clipped me by now. I'm just waiting for one to get my bag caught on it and that'll be a great time for everyone.
Laundry and other things took up time, and then I just studied vocabulary until 0:00. 48 new words...
The next morning (today) I studied in the lounge in the morning then had Writing / Reading. We had our review test, which is sort of like another placement test. I suppose there were things you could do to study for it, but you're supposed to already know the things in it, hence the "review". However, our school does not use Genki, so 90% of the student base knows slightly different things and can usually speak better / know more kanji. Needless to say the test went horribly. I don't beat around the bush with tests or worry about them like most people do in school (which annoys me.) If I say I did bad, I did; I didn't get a B+ or something like that, such as in the case with people obcessive about grades. Ugh.
Tirade aside I'll probably be bumped down to level 3 for writing but I'm okay with that, considering I didn't know the material on the test. I dislike this class very much so far.
I then went to Speaking an hour early and another guy from my class did too; we saw eachother and thought "Oh yeah, he's in my class... I guess we go in." We thought everyone was dropped or something when we got in with different people. We were then laughed at and left. I took this oppurtunity for a short nap in the lounge while meditating on new Japanese words.
Speaking was fun, we practiced new grammar and I understood everything! I then had from 12-14:30 off so I screwed around for a bit... And went to the Center for International Exchange to ask why everyone but me from Gettysburg already got their stipends (I ran into Caitlin at a restaraunt last night and ate with her an her friends and learned of this.) The office worker's English was better than my Japanese (but not enough,) so I didn't get a clear reason why, other than seeing a paper with all the 4 girl's names on it with signatures of confirmation, and no blank spot for me. Hopefully an email to Gettysburg will shed some light on this, since It hurts watching my own savings dwindle. I'd totally work a job here if I could, but I wouldn't be able to until next semester, when I won't be here. And I don't want to be deported now.
Intercultural Communication was good. We discussed what the class is, and all related to our own experiences here. It's unique in that we're all from different cultures experiencing one new culture, so the different opinions and norms are fascinating. I think the two Japanese students in the class must enjoy listening to us at times, but I wonder if they refrain from cringing other times...
Negotiation was good too, we looked at the mock negotiation we did over selling / buying pistons and learned some things. I did horribly by being nervous and rushing things, plus I couldn't work my cellphone calculator yet... Anyway I'll be thinking more next time. It should be and interesting class... We'll see if I utilize any of this later in life. It could be useful in business, but I honestly have no idea as to what I want to do or where I'll fit in after school... Speaking Japanese but not living in Japan... What else will I have going for me? What do I even like to do, that isn't irresponsible and earns money, but that I won't hate? Questions for another day.
The rest of the night was okay. I was going to go eat out with another guy I met, Jesse, but he doesn't have a phone so we never met, and I ended up going there alone, to find I should have just knocked on his door instead of waiting in the lobby... oops. When I got there, there were already other foreign students, 4 girls and two stupid guys. Having sat down I somehow found it subconsciously proper to immediately pour water on my pants, so I was off to a good start. The food was great though; you get a heaping pile of rice, miso soup, and two meats of your choice over noodles / sprouts. Only 550 yen! One of the dumb Americans left his watch behind and I chased him out of the store with it to give it to him... I really hope the lady waitressing didn't think I was dining and dashing (eat and escape in Japanese, although I forget how to say it.)
And now I'm here writing this up.
Other interesting things: I find that I am actually missing some things:
- YouTube and other video capabilities
- Using Hulu.com for the Daily Show / Colbert Report (can't outside USA)
- Being able to torrent TV shows like Eureka, and soon Heroes...
- Being able to use Pandora online radio (copywright issues outside USA)
- Cheap coffee
- Cheap peanut butter
- People who scatter the damn bathroom slippers. Make it easy for the rest of us to get our feet into them! I find myself doing awkward yoga positions to get into slippers sometimes.
- Dumb foreigners (typically Americans) drinking beer in the park and looking creepy. People want to exercise or play there at night when it's cool. Go to a bar!
- Not having Japanese friends. My speaking partner is great practice for texting in Japanese. I really hope this obscene phone plan was worth the pain it
- The forklifts that play the "Mickey Mouse Club" song at random intervals.
- Cold coffee being cheap as water (but tasting more like chocolate milk.)
- Cheap, healthier food
- Being able to walk anywhere, bike anywhere, bus anywhere, take the train anywhere... Man does public transit make sense here. We're all slaves to our cars in America, and doesn't that make city/suburban planning just beautiful? Who doesn't love strip malls and identical chain-stores... Okay, enough ranting...
- People being polite and helpful.
- The people in my dorm. Mostly all nice! Only a few idiots, but they're dumb in the sense that they're wasting their time doing karaoke and the like all the time. No one mean. The two Koreans and the South African can cook like no one's business.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Studying...
Nothing exciting to report. I spent the majority of the day studying 6 new grammar... grammars? Can I say grammars? Anyway, learning 6 new things from a book in one day isn't easy, so I'm hoping we had to read about these for preparation so that we're familiar with it. The new things were:
～っぽい (-ish or like)
～ぐらいで (even with x, it's y!)
だけあって（さすがに）(because of x, no wonder it's y)
いくら／どんなに (No matter how x the y is, z)
ところを見ると (seeing x, it seems to be y)
だけで (Just given x, y)
And then on the last page of the reading it it made two of the above seem to be the exact same thing... All throughout studying this I came across so many words I didn't know, or some that I knew but not the kanji reading, or both... I've filled up a 150+ page flashcard booklet now with words I wonder if I'm already supposed to know for level 4... Man. I need to practice this grammar for it to work, but in class I'm always intimidated by, well, everyone else but one guy (who speaks in English whenever he can...)
Only Speaking tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. That and how the second placement test went. I'll be a little dissapointed if I have to drop to level 3 for easy material, even more so having to waste money on a Genki textbook. I feel I can handle the new material if we just formally start on something already.
～っぽい (-ish or like)
～ぐらいで (even with x, it's y!)
だけあって（さすがに）(because of x, no wonder it's y)
いくら／どんなに (No matter how x the y is, z)
ところを見ると (seeing x, it seems to be y)
だけで (Just given x, y)
And then on the last page of the reading it it made two of the above seem to be the exact same thing... All throughout studying this I came across so many words I didn't know, or some that I knew but not the kanji reading, or both... I've filled up a 150+ page flashcard booklet now with words I wonder if I'm already supposed to know for level 4... Man. I need to practice this grammar for it to work, but in class I'm always intimidated by, well, everyone else but one guy (who speaks in English whenever he can...)
Only Speaking tomorrow so we'll see how it goes. That and how the second placement test went. I'll be a little dissapointed if I have to drop to level 3 for easy material, even more so having to waste money on a Genki textbook. I feel I can handle the new material if we just formally start on something already.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
The Philosopher's Walk and Temple Hopping
Well, my second foray into Kyoto went well enough, I think. I wanted to go alone this time so I could explore at my own pace and it would be okay if I get lost. Traveling in groups can be fun sometimes, but you miss out on a lot.
My destination was Ginkaku-ji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion,) since that's where the Philosopher's Walk starts, which is a pleasant walk along a crystal-clear stream that goes along a large number of temples. I left the dorm and walked for maybe 15 minutes to Makino Station and took the local train headed to Demachiguchiyanagi. I was pleased that I finally figured out how the train system works (the Keihan Line anyway,) and now I'm feeling confident. I made it to my stop without any trouble and as soon as I left the station I saw a bus headed for Ginkaku-ji! Quite lucky, that it was there and that I can read the kanji for Ginkaku-ji （銀閣寺）. I'm glad I happened upon the bus since it would have been a very long walk from the station to there.
I guessed where to go from the bus and found the long walk up to the temple. It was very much so the same set-up at Kiyomizu-dera in that it was a long path uphill with little giftshops and restraunts to eat at. I stopped in at one and had katsu raisu (a pork cutlet with curry rice) and then looked around at some of the shops. There were some funny parodies of Japanese products in a few, where they made fun of drinks like natchan, Qoo, and Boss Coffee. Qoo turned into Boo, a pork flavored beverage. I nearly bought a mug of it. They made the Boss Coffee logo, the "boss-like" person with his pipe into a yakuza. Oddly enough when watching TV on some day I saw a commercial for the new mountain blend that was being sold by Tommy Lee Jones? In the commercial he was in a Japanese mine with trapped miners, then an explosion saved them, they were all crying with delight, and drank a small can of coffee...
It cost 400 yen to get into Ginkaku-ji. Sadly though, the actual pavilion was under construction. Quite sad. However the moss gardens were beautiful, having over 30 different mosses. Koi ponds were also there, and there were many nice paths and you could see all of Kyoto from one hill. Near the entrance were some amazing sand sculptures by the monks.
The garden area where you first walk in.
Moss. 30 different kinds. Some signs said things like "Moss: The Interrupter."
"Very Important Moss: Like VIP"
Moss just coated the ground. It was amazing. So soft too.
Ginkaku-ji under construction...
I wandered back down from the temple and bought some gifts. Something for you, parents, when you get it, and a nice scroll of the main attractions of Kyoto for myself.
I then found the Philosopher's Walk and, well, walked. It's a great little path along a clear stream with streaming green plants beneath and the occasional fish or two. All along it were houses and little shops, and various temples were along it. Every once in awhile a sign would pop up with directions (it did help knowing Japanese for these.) It got this name from a Kyoto University Professor, Nishida Kitaro whom used the path for meditation. It starts at Ginkaku-ji and ends at Nyakuoji-jinja.
The Path. You walk along the left side, this was taken at the end of it.
From here on there aren't any more photos since I can't upload them for some reason; I'll include some in a link in a future update, sorry.
Anyway, after seeing all this I tried to figure out how to take the bus back to a station, but I couldn't figure it out. I walked for a bit, then took another bus and got off it too early. So I got a good amount of walking in. I just headed west, away from the eastern mountains since I knew I would hit the main strip with stations lined on it. Forunately I remembered the kanji name of the road the Demachiyanagi station was on so I found the same station! I took the express train back to Hirakata (express meaning it didn't stop at two or three of the local train's stops) and half-slept. I was exhausted.
Once in Hirakata I found Mos Burger (Mushroom Burger?) and had a pork-cutlet burger + a salad and an orange juice. I didn't understand much of anything the clerk said besides the price... Oh well. I learned the kanji for "change" while I ate though. I fiddled with my cell-phone to make it look like I'm a foreigner with lots of friends, haha. I do that a lot in restaraunts now. I then bought supplies at the grocery store such as pizza and croissants, and another sausage-bread-thingie. A picture of one in the future, I promise!
That's about it for Kyoto. Today I didn't do much but recooperate and write this up, with some kanji study. I went out to eat at a place I never tried, I think it was called Zanji? I'm not sure. It looked like a good place for friends to go out and eat, so I'll invite people some night to try it. I had pork kimchi and a beer. I don't know why I got the beer as it was 350, more than half of what I paid for the kimchi. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I can ever see myself drinking more than one glass of the stuff ever. Only with food...
Well, take care! Tomorrow not much will be going on. I'm going to plan a trip to Osaka, to Den-Den town which is the freaky-electronics district. Weird pictures and stories will come from there that you should look forward to, concerning the weirdness of modern Japan.
My destination was Ginkaku-ji (Temple of the Silver Pavilion,) since that's where the Philosopher's Walk starts, which is a pleasant walk along a crystal-clear stream that goes along a large number of temples. I left the dorm and walked for maybe 15 minutes to Makino Station and took the local train headed to Demachiguchiyanagi. I was pleased that I finally figured out how the train system works (the Keihan Line anyway,) and now I'm feeling confident. I made it to my stop without any trouble and as soon as I left the station I saw a bus headed for Ginkaku-ji! Quite lucky, that it was there and that I can read the kanji for Ginkaku-ji （銀閣寺）. I'm glad I happened upon the bus since it would have been a very long walk from the station to there.
I guessed where to go from the bus and found the long walk up to the temple. It was very much so the same set-up at Kiyomizu-dera in that it was a long path uphill with little giftshops and restraunts to eat at. I stopped in at one and had katsu raisu (a pork cutlet with curry rice) and then looked around at some of the shops. There were some funny parodies of Japanese products in a few, where they made fun of drinks like natchan, Qoo, and Boss Coffee. Qoo turned into Boo, a pork flavored beverage. I nearly bought a mug of it. They made the Boss Coffee logo, the "boss-like" person with his pipe into a yakuza. Oddly enough when watching TV on some day I saw a commercial for the new mountain blend that was being sold by Tommy Lee Jones? In the commercial he was in a Japanese mine with trapped miners, then an explosion saved them, they were all crying with delight, and drank a small can of coffee...
It cost 400 yen to get into Ginkaku-ji. Sadly though, the actual pavilion was under construction. Quite sad. However the moss gardens were beautiful, having over 30 different mosses. Koi ponds were also there, and there were many nice paths and you could see all of Kyoto from one hill. Near the entrance were some amazing sand sculptures by the monks.
The garden area where you first walk in.
Moss. 30 different kinds. Some signs said things like "Moss: The Interrupter."
"Very Important Moss: Like VIP"
Moss just coated the ground. It was amazing. So soft too.
Ginkaku-ji under construction...
I wandered back down from the temple and bought some gifts. Something for you, parents, when you get it, and a nice scroll of the main attractions of Kyoto for myself.
I then found the Philosopher's Walk and, well, walked. It's a great little path along a clear stream with streaming green plants beneath and the occasional fish or two. All along it were houses and little shops, and various temples were along it. Every once in awhile a sign would pop up with directions (it did help knowing Japanese for these.) It got this name from a Kyoto University Professor, Nishida Kitaro whom used the path for meditation. It starts at Ginkaku-ji and ends at Nyakuoji-jinja.
The Path. You walk along the left side, this was taken at the end of it.
I believe the next temple I came upon was Honenin, formally turned into a temple-area in 1680. Various Amida Buddha items are enshrined within, which were not to be seen today. To enter, there were large steps that led up to a long, serene forest path, where you then had to pass under a thatched gate covered in moss. Inside there was more moss, much like at Ginkaku-ji. Very beautiful, and yet again, serene. There were more sand-sculptures here as well, also in a rectangular shape.
The path to Honenin
Inside Honenin
More moss.
The path to Honenin
Inside Honenin
More moss.
I actually got a little lost looking for Honenin and came upon a cemetary that runs along side of it. I took a quick picture for those of you unfamiliar with Japanese cemeterties. Everyone in Japan is cremated, and typically families have their own grave, which costs quite a bit.
It was in a really secluded area with high trees. You could only hear the semi.
It was in a really secluded area with high trees. You could only hear the semi.
Anraku-ji was next but it was closed, unfortunately. I guess I came at a bad time.
A smaller shrine, O-toyo was open. It had a nice path leading up to it and was quite small, consisting of 4 buildings or so. On the way up I passed 8 Kyoto University students, 4 guys in baseball jerseys and 4 girls in kimono.
The path leading to O-toyo
The outside of O-toyo
A smaller shrine, O-toyo was open. It had a nice path leading up to it and was quite small, consisting of 4 buildings or so. On the way up I passed 8 Kyoto University students, 4 guys in baseball jerseys and 4 girls in kimono.
The path leading to O-toyo
The outside of O-toyo
After O-toyo I came upon another large temple that was also shut down and under construction, which I think was Nanzenji / Kouunji? Also there was a large grave/tomb outside of it which I cannot identify either, since there was no way to get to it and a google aerial view has done nothing either. While trying to enter the shrine I came upon a weak kitten, all bony and wary of humans. I wish I had some food for it. When I saw it I immediately though of how Buddhist priests usually drown puppies and kittens when they come into their care since no one else can care for them. I think this one won't have anything to do with priests or monks though, since it would be bad for tourism if anything were to happen to it. It will have to live on the streets.
Nanzenji (through the gate)
Anyone know whose this is?
Nanzenji (through the gate)
Anyone know whose this is?
Next I came upon the end of the walk, and I found a little shrine, Nyakuo-ji. It was over a nice little bridge but among a few other houses. It seemed to still be used for community services, there was a van outside and a father came to collect his son from inside. It was only a smaller shrine though. It had some benches with vending machines where I had a drink with someone else who had already drank quite a bit...
Nyakuo-ji
I guess he was tired from religious fervor that ensues from praying to Asahi-Buddha.
Nyakuo-ji
I guess he was tired from religious fervor that ensues from praying to Asahi-Buddha.
I then walked along some more and found Eikando which was more impressive than Ginkaku-ji, only because you could walk around its grounds while monks were meditating and chanting. It was very unique as it was my first time in an actual temple complex, so I could see what I've read about and I sat and wondered what it was like before tourism, when people worshiped here earnestly in isolation. Such a beautiful place, and ideal place for such esoteric thoughts to be born since you cannot even describe the physical beauty of this place; no wonder Buddhists tended to look down upon language for its inadequacies.
You had to take your shoes off to enter, and inside there was a open garden pool with koi, lily-pads, trees, and moss. Near that were rooms with hundreds of years old screen paintings. Further in was another sand sculpture, and in front of it the main meditation area where I was tempted to break the rules and secretly record three monks chanting to a hammer. All throughout the complex a bell would toll every so often making it even more... sacred, or eerie. A combination. Another building housed various Buddhist artifacts, and a shrine that was under construction. After seeing all of this I strolled through it's garden where there were many koi, ducks, and turtles. It was also very serene. Nothing like it in the US, Japan definitely works nature well into it's architecture, as opposed to our lovely strip-malls and lame parks.
You had to take your shoes off to enter, and inside there was a open garden pool with koi, lily-pads, trees, and moss. Near that were rooms with hundreds of years old screen paintings. Further in was another sand sculpture, and in front of it the main meditation area where I was tempted to break the rules and secretly record three monks chanting to a hammer. All throughout the complex a bell would toll every so often making it even more... sacred, or eerie. A combination. Another building housed various Buddhist artifacts, and a shrine that was under construction. After seeing all of this I strolled through it's garden where there were many koi, ducks, and turtles. It was also very serene. Nothing like it in the US, Japan definitely works nature well into it's architecture, as opposed to our lovely strip-malls and lame parks.
From here on there aren't any more photos since I can't upload them for some reason; I'll include some in a link in a future update, sorry.
Anyway, after seeing all this I tried to figure out how to take the bus back to a station, but I couldn't figure it out. I walked for a bit, then took another bus and got off it too early. So I got a good amount of walking in. I just headed west, away from the eastern mountains since I knew I would hit the main strip with stations lined on it. Forunately I remembered the kanji name of the road the Demachiyanagi station was on so I found the same station! I took the express train back to Hirakata (express meaning it didn't stop at two or three of the local train's stops) and half-slept. I was exhausted.
Once in Hirakata I found Mos Burger (Mushroom Burger?) and had a pork-cutlet burger + a salad and an orange juice. I didn't understand much of anything the clerk said besides the price... Oh well. I learned the kanji for "change" while I ate though. I fiddled with my cell-phone to make it look like I'm a foreigner with lots of friends, haha. I do that a lot in restaraunts now. I then bought supplies at the grocery store such as pizza and croissants, and another sausage-bread-thingie. A picture of one in the future, I promise!
That's about it for Kyoto. Today I didn't do much but recooperate and write this up, with some kanji study. I went out to eat at a place I never tried, I think it was called Zanji? I'm not sure. It looked like a good place for friends to go out and eat, so I'll invite people some night to try it. I had pork kimchi and a beer. I don't know why I got the beer as it was 350, more than half of what I paid for the kimchi. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I can ever see myself drinking more than one glass of the stuff ever. Only with food...
Well, take care! Tomorrow not much will be going on. I'm going to plan a trip to Osaka, to Den-Den town which is the freaky-electronics district. Weird pictures and stories will come from there that you should look forward to, concerning the weirdness of modern Japan.
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