Exploration and Earthquakes

Pictures: Man in fish tank in Umeda Station, Osaka; Pokemon Center in Osaka; strong wind room at the Kyoto Disaster Prevention Center; Earthquake experience room at the Kyoto Disaster Prevention Center; Jumping at the Imperial Palace, Kyoto; Officer Jenny teaching us a bicycle workshop; View of mountain from the Imperial Palace, Kyoto.

Again my blog is updated belatedly, but this time it’s my fault! It’s easy to get caught up in life and not write anything immediately after the fact, especially if the fact happens to be a long day of walking, exploring, and general adventuring. These three things, especially the last, can result in a certain degree of discomfort. With the walking—especially when one becomes to dressing as though it’s February in August per appropriate Kyoto female attire—comes the sweating. Kyoto in September, which resembles a particularly warm New York mid-August, can be sunny but cool on some days but the next be cloudy and muggy. Kyoto residents of course do not seem to notice or perspire.

Exploration requires a pair of cushy shoes. Again in an attempt to emulate the residents of Kyoto, who appear to have a never-ending supply of beautiful and perfectly arranged clothing, I have forfeited, say, sneakers. Instead I prefer a slouchy pair of boots, which, for the most part, keep my feet content despite the humidity. Admittedly, a comfy pair of old sneakers would most likely better suit my tendency for temple tromping, but I digress

Adventuring is my favorite bit, but can also be the most awkward, uncomfortable, and at times humiliating aspect to study abroad and especially life for a foreigner in Japan. No matter how hard one tries to keep quiet on the train or walk on the left side of the street, certain habits, as in any culture, are ingrained in the mind. An American is always taught to use their please-and-thank-yous, whereas in Japanese culture, greetings are more important. Sometimes it is even more important to know when to not use them. One of my professors explained today that in France it is customary to greet the owner of the establishment you are entering as a means of thanking them for their service. In Japan, it is the other way around. The clerk is there to take care of you, and you must show them respect by allowing them to greet you. In Western culture, please-and-thank-yous focus on the individual goodness. By being polite, you are bettering yourself. By greeting others in Japan, it is for the comfort of others, not your own. Of course I am now painfully conscious of the number of times I have thanked or greeted clerks in Japan since my arrival!

Once in a while, I admit, it is fun to play the gaijin card. Just today I bypassed a line to go up the stairs on the left by plowing through on the right side! I of course do not intend to make a habit of it, but once in a while it is nice to earn the stares I get.

On to events! Thursday afternoon we headed off to the Kyoto Disaster Prevention Center as our language professors graded our language placement exams. The Kyoto Disaster Prevention Center was (if I remember correctly, which is always a gander) created after a huge earthquake struck Japan in the 90’s, taking many lives and homes with it. In the center, visitors are trained in how to deal with earthquakes, fires, typhoons, and Godzilla. Ok, so not Godzilla…but the running-away-from-a-large-sea-dwelling-dinosaur-simulation would be epic. The first simulation my group did was the earthquake simulation. In the simulation you sit at a table in a typical Japanese kitchen. When the room begins to shake, you leap under the table, latch on to one leg of the table with one hand and cover your head firmly with the other. Once the tremor subsides slightly, you go and turn off all the electronics in the room and open all available doors. You then leap back under the table and hold on until the quake is over. I took a video, but as the internet at Doshisha is somewhat wonky, I don’t think I will be able to post it for a while. Anyway, after that we went to the strong wind room where one dons goggles and experiences wind up to 33 km/hr winds similar to those of a typhoon. After that we headed up to a small set they have that resembles the hallways of a hotel. They fill the room with non-toxic smoke (that is, it has no carbon dioxide) and actually smells of chocolate and vanilla. You follow the exit signs, but make sure not to go near the fires. All the while you hold something cloth to your mouth and use the wall to find your way until you come out the other side. After this they taught us how to use fire extinguishers, which we got to actually use on a simulation screen of a fire! While we were all a little nervous before each simulation, I know I at least ended up having a wonderful time!

Friday marked the first day of The History of Kyoto, which I can already tell I will love. (Tomorrow we have our first scheduled weekly field trip.) We ended up walking all over the Imperial Palace, which is across the street from Doshisha University. The area holds history from many periods but perhaps most advertised is the birthplace of Emperor Meiji. Tourists may enter the palace for free by showing their passports and are then given another day to come back. With any luck, I can coax my friends in to joining me for a weekend excursion to the palaces of which there are two! In the complex is also a Shinto shrine and a free museum, which gave a distinctly Heian Period feel while walking on the outer walkway of the building, which, if I understand correctly, has been preserved from the Edo Period.

Saturday took a distinctly modern pace as I hopped on the Hankyu to Umeda Station in Osaka, about 30 minutes from where I live. Several AKPers wanted to pick up the new Pokemon games (remakes of Gold and Silver) and I absolutely wanted to tag along for the ride! I ended up purchasing some school supplies and gifts for people from the US. The most notable of the purchases is probably Pokemon jam. Adam is calling it Snorlax jelly, which makes it sound utterly inedible. In fact, it looks rather delicious! One is strawberry jelly with Snorlax on it with Pichu sleeping on his belly and the other is peach jelly with…wow I can’t remember it’s name, the orange one that flies. Dragonsomething. Anyway Pichu is sleeping on his back! CUTE. I also got a Pokemon Halloween themed folder for my Japanese language whatnots. We also headed to the Disney store where they actually had Beauty and the Beast as well as Alice in Wonderland and Winnie the Pooh memorabilia, which is somewhat impossible to find in the US.

Sunday passed quietly, watching The House Bunny in a TV room in the Doshisha library with Kyle, Krystal, Jenna, and Adam. Monday after school, Jenna, Kyle, and I went to a temple within walking distance from my home. While the complex is rather massive, the majority of it was under construction and so we were only able to see two buildings. What we saw, however, was absolutely beautiful! Of course, taking pictures was not allowed, so I only got a few blurry shots! I will, obviously, post them anyway. After going to the temple, we hit up my local Book Off, where I was able to purchase about 10 books for $10 (the price of one manga in the US) for reading comprehension practice. One series has no furigana (hiragana over the kanji), so I hope to use that to my advantage and get good at either figuring out kanji by their radicals or using my kanji dictionary.

Thus that has been the past few days of my life in Kyoto. Please enjoy the pictures, despite the blurriness!

Likely to come: Kyoto Art Festival, field trip to somewhere delightfully historic, Arashiyama, Toji Temple market, trip to temple with host mother and her entire (and I mean entire) family, hanging out with the Kyoto Cosmopolitan club.

Pictures of Room

Wow! Two updates in one day. I know I talked about my room the other day, but today I didn't get a chance to update my pictures!!! Thus....picspam!

Pictures: View from room, view of room, close up of curtain outside room, whole curtain, detailing on door, detail of the top of the wall.

I discovered a Heian court scene behind my bookshelf which I'll take more pictures of this weekend!

School Finally Begins, a Bit of History Nerding, and, of Course, Shopping

Pictures: Kabuki Kitty, beautiful gifts from host mom, phone charms, phone, view near home, giant crab on restaurant in Oppa at Shijo.

So, if you can’t tell from the extensive updates, I finally had internet yesterday! Of course, I didn’t have time to take out the notes-to-self or add in the pictures of my room, so I’ll hopefully get a chance to do that sometime today! Any other mistakes you notice, send them my way!

Yesterday after the first morning of class, we headed over to Shijo station from which we walked to Oppa, which is an enormous shopping district. The stores go on for a long while, curving off to the right out of sight. More streets still spring from the main shopping avenue—free of cars. There appears to be a lot of fashion there. I don’t just mean being sold. Everywhere you look there’s another amazingly dressed young lady with impeccable hair and perfect make-up. Large groups of school kids, mostly middle school and some high school, thumb through clothing whilst chatting with their friends. Starry-eyed foreigners such as myself wander in and out of stores displaying impossible to wear heels and hair extensions. In most of the stores you will hear the usual いらっしゃいませ！（ welcome!) but sometimes the clerks are too cool to say such a thing to a foreigner or sometimes not to anyone at all! Walking in to one particular store by the name of Spinns, Jenna and I knew it was for us. Upon entering they played a track of a Japanese man yelling in random English to the Star Wars theme. Immediately following was The Beasite Boys. Of course, it also helped that an impossibly adorable young woman greeted us upon entering. Anyway, we danced like the gaijin…lunatics that we are despite the odd looks we received from the other shoppers. Totally. Worth. It. I ended up purchasing a skirt and dress (which makes me look pregnant sans belt) for $25. Japan is expensive, but not if you look in the right places!

My host mother handed me more lovely gifts today! Three handkerchiefs from Takashimaya. Everything she has given me has been so amazing! I don’t know how I can ever properly thank her in the end. My room is wonderful, she does my laundry and folds it every day, she vacuumed my room today, she makes every meal for me when I am home, and she in addition gives me beautiful gifts. I think the three ice cream bars I brought home today for dessert might not quite say “thank you” enough!

We are still reviewing for our placement exams, which begin on Thursday with an interview and then the written test on Friday. The schedule is a little unclear for the next few weeks. After a few weeks of sit down language instruction, we move on to other useful instruction such as how to cook in Japanese or how to read a news paper. Today, however, I began my first English taught class. I will be taking the Doshisha Joint Seminar. This means that for the rest of September, my class will be just AKP students. Starting in October, however, we will be joined by a roughly equal number of Doshisha University students. I am looking forward to meeting them very much. This years seminar is on common knowledge in literature (and how it makes people who they are), mostly pertaining to children’s stories comparable between Japanese and American culture. Our professor has encouraged us to drop the ideas of there being two cultures (she believes the Japanese have “orientified” themselves which I believe, in part, is true); but how many Americans do you know have read anything by Natsume Soseki or The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter? I certainly hadn’t even heard of Soseki until taking a Modern Japanese Literature course in college. Of course, I cannot generalize, as I’m sure it is by far not the least well-known Japanese written novel in the United States. (My professors have certainly heard of it!) Anyway, we will be comparing literature including some of my absolute favorite children’s stories, authors, and fairytales. For example we will be comparing Aladdin and Doraemon—a children’s cartoon about a boy with a magic robot cat who can produce just about anything the boy can think of. Sound like anyone you know? (If you thought “genie”, you get a cookie. An internet cookie…which means you probably want to erase it soon, anyway.) Bad jokes aside, I really cannot wait to meet the Doshisha students!

My other class, which I begin today, is on the History of Kyoto. Being in Kyoto, I suspect we will be going on a significant number of field trips. As I am still about six-years-old at heart, I am enthralled! In addition, I have always been a little bit in love with history, though not enough to ever before really sit down and study it. I have a feeling, however, that in the case of studying Kyoto, I will devour it. I have always held a particular fascination (as, I suspect many people have) with the Heian period in Japanese history. The name “Heian” refers to the Kyoto back in the day when it was called Heian Kyo. At the time, Kyoto flourished considerably, chock full with nobles weeping on their sleeves; and taking considerable time to write about it (for which I am grateful). It was the capital of Japan then, which was only just beginning to twinkle with national consciousness.

Also, here is my crazy keitai:

If you thought “Oh, man…is that Kabuki Kitty?” Then, yes. IT IS. Kabuki Hello Kitty! Hurrah!

Tentative plans for the weekend: Nara, Osaka, Kyoto Art Festival. We’ll see what actually happens!

Just Like Fruits (Final Delayed Update)

First a note! I'm sorry that the layout is a little strange right now. I currently have a rather...interesting internet connection, so I'm happy just to be able to post! Please excuse it for the time being. I will be editing the layouts as soon as I get a connection that doesn't die every five minutes.

Walking around and seeing all the amazing clothing in this city is wonderful. The Japanese truly know how to layer clothing. Especially on the weekends, everyone is dressed to the nines. The shoes in particular are especially nice! I will most likely splurge on a pair of nice shoes around Christmas time! However, with the way they’re dressed, you’d think it wasn’t 90 degrees with humidity! In addition, behind every well dressed young lady in Kyoto is a hard working お母さん. I am quickly learning this as I sit here watching my host mother assiduously iron my favorite button down shirt. Every inch, including the thin straps that keep the sleeves rolled up to the elbow have been pressed to perfection! I was very glad when she allowed me to help clean up after dinner by drying and putting away the dishes after dinner. After only two days I feel very much a part of the family. Yesterday I spent settling in, putting my things away and cleaning my room (shocking, I know). Today I slept in before having a quick breakfast with my host mother and brother before heading out with my host brother to inner Kyoto. First I take the Hankyuu, which is similar to Metro North, but much cheaper. Then I transfer after a few stops to the 地下鉄 (subway) for a few stops to 今出川 (Imadegawa) which is where my college is. Today, however, I exited the train at Kyoto Station to meet with a few friends (Julia, Kyle, Krystal, Sam, and Becky) for shopping and snacks. Afterwards I decided that I wanted to try getting home by myself. Boy was that a disaster! Taking the trains was easy, as I’m already accustomed to taking the subway. However, after exiting the train and first going in the right direction, I turned around and walked in the complexly wrong direction for about twenty minutes before calling my host mother and brother for directions. Still lost, I finally managed to make it back to the station to meet my brother, who took me in the right direction. I certainly got a lot of walking done today!

Tomorrow review begins before we have our language interviews on Thursday and our exams for class placement on Friday. Lucky me, we don’t have to be there until 10:45 and I don’t have any afternoon classes! I told my host mother that I’d be home, but I have a feeling that I’ll be exploring if I have the energy (and actually posting this to my blog)!

Shimogamo Shrine

During orientation, AKP took us to Shimogamo Shrine in order to pray for a good year. There are two words for such religious establishments. The first お寺 (otera) refers to Buddhist temples while 神社 (jinjya) refers to Shinto shrines. You first take your shoes off, as much of Shinto pertains to cleanliness. Padding through the wooden hallways, we first went to sit and the priest did what I think was a cleansing ritual, however it was in Japanese, which, if you can’t tell, I so far have a limited knowledge of. The second was the ritual to pray for a good year. They asked who wanted to sit in front and, as usual, my hand shot up on its own, so I hunkered forward completely unsure of what I was supposed to do! I sat in front of the group, which sat on benches behind me. Towards the end of the roughly five minute ritual, the priest came over and had me kneel before a small table and then handed me a sprig of laurel with folded white papers often used in Shinto. He gestured for me to bow my head to it, turn it, set it down, and bow a few times. He spoke some words that I again did not understand and we bowed some more. I then stood and sat back down. The whole time, NHK (one of Japan’s major television networks) had been filming and afterwards interviewed me! They asked about why I was interested in Japan, how long I was saying, and what I thought of representing the entire group in the ritual. To tell the truth, it was overwhelming! It was, of course, the one day I decided to not put on any make up or give any thought to my appearance. One of the AKP staff members actually saw the program on TV! Next step, idol.

The Magical Combini

I have had many friends, when telling me of their travels in Japan, attempt to explain the combini to me. Combini is simply a Japanese-ified term meaning “convenience store”. The combini, however, is not at all like the 7/11 of America. While there are of course the aisles of prepackaged, high calorie, somewhat perplexing is-this-food food, combini also has meat buns (and pizza buns…think hot pocket but in a plush, bread-like substance…very strange), onigiri (rice triangles with tasty surprises within, wrapped in nori—dried seaweed), and even full meals; All this for incredibly cheap prices. Japan is expensive, often stunningly so, but food doesn’t have to be. In fact many restaurants here serve dishes less than half the price of New York City. Everything I have tried at the combini—most without knowing exactly what it is—I have enjoyed.

This brings me to money. As always, it is difficult to convert to another monetary system. (I also have to convert to military time, Celsius, and, of course, the dreaded metric system) Just when I think I’ve got it, I mess something up. For example, I was shocked when I thought my new phone charger cost $115 when in fact it was only $11.50. Of course, this isn’t surprising when the cheapest phone offered at most companies is upwards of $200! They even play it off like they’re giving you a deal, though I suppose comparing with most other phones, which are $500 or more on sale and up to nearly $900, they are. Getting a cell phone (携帯電話 keitai denwa) is rather difficult for a foreigner in Japan. You need to provide every single form of ID you have (alien registration, health card, student ID if you have one, passport, visa, anything else you can think of? Bring it.) and even then they might give you trouble! (This is mostly because I only had the receipt for my alien registration, as the actual card doesn’t arrive for another few weeks.) While it is becoming more and more common in the United States, I still find it incredible that I can surf the web on my phone. In addition the internet is incredibly fast, faster than I’ve seen any iPhone move. Furthermore, Japanese cell phones have infrared technology (like the iPhone) which allows you to simply beam your number (and all associated information) to someone else’s phone within seconds. I live in the future!

Walking and Walking and Walking and Walking

AKP does their best to spoil its students as much as possible. As such, we are privy to 1 to 2 student guides who not only help us get from school to our homes, but they also help us go sign up for our alien registration and health forms as well as getting cell phones and showing us a shrine nearby the hotel. Of course, Kyoto is a rather confusing city to walk around and as a result, my student and I got hopelessly lost! Unfortunately that rather long day of taking train after train, walking to my house, awkwardly meeting my host mother for the first time, and doing an epic amount of walking to the registration center doesn’t make for the best story, but it was nice to meet Bamboo (my Doshisha student guide) and explore!