After our bout in Tokyo we were thankful for a short school week ahead since Thursday (after only two days of classes) was another National Holiday in Japan. We'd had a field trip planned for us by the staff here at JCMU to go to a pottery village to the East of Hikone called Shigarakeshi. So we were jostled from sleep at 7 that morning to board the bus and head an hour away to the village of the pottery artisans. Upon arriving we noticed a trend. Giant Tanuki statues. Tanuki are these raccoon looking animals that are believed to be guardian spirits of the Japanese faith. They were literally every where you looked in this village. You couldn't take two steps one way or another without seeing a line of Tanuki's, and giant one's at that, scattered about. As we reached our destination we were given the choice of cup or plate and a paintbrush with which to decorate with. I had quickly decided to paint mine with polka dots only to find that the curvature of a cup did not allow for the paint to settle and dots turned into streaks very quickly. So I gave up and smeared a wide array of colors around the surface and interior of the cup calling it my piece of modern art. After we finished decorating we were told we had until noon time to get some lunch and board the bus as we would head to our next destination. With next to nothing to see in the village we went to the gift shops and looked for what the Japanese call "Omiyage!!" Bought a small something, it's a pottery turtle and it's painted orange. I bought it for no other reason than that I thought it was cute and it was relatively cheap as well.
After shopping we went to a noodle stand to grab some lunch and wound up with the majority of our group crammed into this tiny little shop, possibly making the quota for the shop keepers for that day with how many people we'd brought. They looked a little frazzled but excited to have so many costumers in their shop as well since we took up all the seats available. After our meal there was nothing left to see or do so we boarded the bus and waited until the trip began for the next destination.
Half an hour drive later we arrived at the Ninjutsu village where we were greeted by men dressed in all black. The first one took our group over to the first house in the village where he began to explain about the ladders, weaponry, and all things that the ninjas of real day history used to use. We then went on to explore some of the traps they would've used and learned the history of what the village that we'd come to visit. Turns out ninja's really did exist and that was once a village in which they'd stayed. After that though things started to get what I'd refer to as touristy as we were told we were going to be put through ninja training. We were given three tasks to complete. The first scale a rock wall, easy done. Second: balance on a ledge and walk across it to the other side. Again not too difficult. Last task we were given was to climb the bamboo wall with hashed footholds in it. Also not too difficult. The difficulty came in on the "surprise" task that everyone had seen upon entering. Walk across water... If it sounds a little biblical than perhaps that will convey the shock on my face when I was told that is what we were going to do as their Japanese translated literally into "walking on water..." It was made a little more clearly and a little easier by that fact that we were given raft like foot holds in which we placed our feet and used a rope to glide across the water. After we'd completed all these tasks we were given little green scrolls and told these were our ninja certificates, many of us joked that we'd just been given a license to kill. We were sent to the gift shop and from there we called it a day, making a comical and exhausting end to our day off.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Tokyo Nights
It was our first extended weekend vacation and we'd been thinking about what to do for several days in advance. My roommate Delia knew for fact that she was going to Tokyo to meet up with some of her friends from Ireland and I decided that it was a good opportunity for me to see the city lights and nights that were so infamous in Tokyo. So that Friday after our test we packed up our stuff and got ready for a four day vacation to what would soon become the biggest adventure of our lives. We grabbed a train ticket to Tokyo after explaining several times that we just wanted the rapid and not the bullet train to Tokyo since we didn't want to pay over $100 to get there. After we boarded our first train, then our second, then our third, and fourth and so on we soon realized we may not have been finding the rapids. Instead we had ridden the local access trains all the way to Tokyo. What should've only taken 5 odd hours or so to get there took us more around 12 hours instead. As we arrived sometime around midnight we tried to find our hostel which was located in the Asakusa prefecture, or no man's land Tokyo as I liked to refer to it. After walking in the wrong direction for a good 15 minutes our weakened bodies and minds decided it best to dish out an extra $12 and take a taxi to our destination. We grabbed our free welcome drink and chatted up with the locals hanging out at the bar in our hostel before using the computer to notify everyone that we'd arrived and going off to bed.
The next day consisted of a trip to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Local access is pretty much blocked off so we got a distant view of the place but an up close and personal with the gardens located around it. After watching Delia's Irish friend offend the Japanese people in some of the worst possible ways (Ie: walking in the little water streams with out his shoes on in a place that strictly forbids it) we decided to leave the Imperial palace and make our way over to Akihabara electronics capital of the world. Now for those who know a little about Japan and Akihabara you know it's infamous for a strip that contains nothing but an anime lovers, manga readers, gamers fantasy. A street designated to everything that is anime, manga, and gaming. We checked out the giant 9 level sega play house awed by the employees cosplay choices (of which we were not aloud to take pictures of) But to give you an image picture school girl uniform and blue hair (for some this may sound like the familiar vocaloid miku, you'd be correct) another with bright pink hair and a maid's costume on. In the gaming world this is acceptable just as it is accepted in the district of Harajuku (a place known for the people that come to dress up and hang out on a bridge, also known for it's incredible shopping, just ask Gwen Stefani, she rather liked it). As the night grew nearer we knew that we had wanted to go to a club in Japan, and not just any club, a club that had been rated in a magazine for it's infamy some time before according to Delia's friend Eoghen. So before we did that we met up with an old Japanese friend of Delia's that had studied abroad in Michigan during her high school years. We sat, ate and drank with Miri and her parents who had hosted Delia during a stay in Japan prior to this. We met the infamous bar owner Masta and ate some of the most delicious and wonderful Japanese food we'd ever tried before.None of it did we pay for as the Japanese way to be awesome hosts is to treat the guest so Miri's mother and Father fit the bill and we continued on with the night with the idea of going to Karaoke in mind. As we got to the Karaoke bar we were checking out prices when all of a sudden several of us were pulled into a room with a bunch of random strange Japanese people. All of which were pretty wasted out of their minds and blasting out notes to an unknown Japanese song. They passed around a giant bottle of sake and after about ten minutes or so we left because the karaoke bar people were getting agitated and wanted us to pay for our own room but we didn't want to spend several hours in a karaoke room since the others really wanted to go to a club. So we hopped on a train to Shibuya where we ran into an extremely unpleasant drunken Japanese man. After taking our friend Miri's can of Sapporo beer the boys stepped in to her aid and began ticking the man off. He spoke no English but that didn't stop Fionne from talking his ear off in his thick Irish accent. After several pictures with the man in which at one point he'd taken my camera and began snapping photos of me and my friends before he finally departed the train at his stop.
We arrived at Shibuya and went to what was once called Club Pure, and what was once one of the most popular places in Shibuya, but no more as bigger better things had moved in to take it's place and Pure changed over to what it is now, but the sign for Pure still remains so the new name escapes me. We drank, we danced, and we stayed out until 5 in the morning as the trains stopped running at midnight and didn't start back up until that time. It was around that point that our group had gotten separated with Delia and I taking care of her drunken friend Fionne who was stationed outside the bar at one point asleep on some metallic stairs with a flow of drool coming from his mouth. The adventures ensued as we brought Fionne back to the hostel, one of the other Irish guys was aided by an Englishman to what the Engllishman thought was Asakusa, but was really Akasuka instead, the third Irish friend making it back with his seemingly impeccable skills of navigating the train but only while in a drunken state, our other friend from the JCMU program that we'd brought with us Taylor took Miri home and fell asleep on the train only to be awoken by the police telling him that the train goes no further and he has to get off all the while he'd somehow obtained my purse. So each of us had a story to tell from that night, Taylor's possibly being the most interesting of them all. I was thankful to have my purse back even though it contained nothing of value aside from a few bucks and my sunglasses since I had managed to take the camera and wallet out of there at some point during the night. Thus ending our Saturday night shenanigans.
Sunday rolled around and we woke up to spend the day in Harajuku where we shopped until we dropped. Literally. My feet were so sore from woken around the amazing Harajuku stores that I dropped to my seat on the train when we finally left. We saw costumes, music, clothing, Engrish and t-shirts galore as we looked through the back streets and alleyways of the Harajuku district. We took a few pictures with some people in costumes, watched some groups performing in the park some strange greaser themed dances as well as a group of 50's themed outfits and their choreography. We then headed back to the hostel to nap to prepare for another late night as we had planned to go to the original and best Irish pub in all of Tokyo to watch an Irish football game.
After a nap we headed over to the train station to meet Miri for some dinner and a drink or two. After several hours spent in a local Japanese joint we said our goodbye to Miri and made our way to Roppongi to watch the football match. As the match started at 11:30 we had once again to stay out until 5 in the morning. So we found a club in which we had the whole place all to ourselves and enjoyed spending the night their dancing away the morning. We left around the time the stations opened as we had scheduled an 8 am return bus to go back to Hikone and end our Tokyo Times. Once again we somehow got separated though because as Taylor and I had lead the way to the train station we'd bought and our tickets and as we'd turned around the rest of the group (of 4 people) had all somehow disappeared. One of the Irish guys made it back to the hostel shortly after Taylor and I and said the others were right behind him and should've been there any moment. So we packed up Taylors stuff and headed over to the girls hostel in hopes that Delia would be waiting there with the bus tickets and our luggage so that we could head back. As we got there it turns out no one was there and I was locked out of the room as Delia had the key and our roommate was asleep so Taylor and I sat out in the hall for a while waiting for Delia's arrival. After what was an hour or so of waiting our lack of sleep got to us and we fell asleep on the floor of the hostel hallway using the others shoulder as a pillow. We were woken up when Delia came back around 7:45 apologizing and saying they had gotten on the wrong train going the wrong way and wound up 30 minutes away from where they were supposed to be. As it was 15 minutes till our bus left we decided to go back to sleep in the beds and wait for the next bus around 11. As we got to the bus station we learned that the bus had been sold out until the night bus that evening and with the concern of time on our hands with class the next day at 8:50 we decided it best to just take the shinkansen or the bullet train back to JCMU and get there with plenty of time to nap/study and prepare ourselves for the school week ahead. Thus ending our adventures in Tokyo!
The next day consisted of a trip to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Local access is pretty much blocked off so we got a distant view of the place but an up close and personal with the gardens located around it. After watching Delia's Irish friend offend the Japanese people in some of the worst possible ways (Ie: walking in the little water streams with out his shoes on in a place that strictly forbids it) we decided to leave the Imperial palace and make our way over to Akihabara electronics capital of the world. Now for those who know a little about Japan and Akihabara you know it's infamous for a strip that contains nothing but an anime lovers, manga readers, gamers fantasy. A street designated to everything that is anime, manga, and gaming. We checked out the giant 9 level sega play house awed by the employees cosplay choices (of which we were not aloud to take pictures of) But to give you an image picture school girl uniform and blue hair (for some this may sound like the familiar vocaloid miku, you'd be correct) another with bright pink hair and a maid's costume on. In the gaming world this is acceptable just as it is accepted in the district of Harajuku (a place known for the people that come to dress up and hang out on a bridge, also known for it's incredible shopping, just ask Gwen Stefani, she rather liked it). As the night grew nearer we knew that we had wanted to go to a club in Japan, and not just any club, a club that had been rated in a magazine for it's infamy some time before according to Delia's friend Eoghen. So before we did that we met up with an old Japanese friend of Delia's that had studied abroad in Michigan during her high school years. We sat, ate and drank with Miri and her parents who had hosted Delia during a stay in Japan prior to this. We met the infamous bar owner Masta and ate some of the most delicious and wonderful Japanese food we'd ever tried before.None of it did we pay for as the Japanese way to be awesome hosts is to treat the guest so Miri's mother and Father fit the bill and we continued on with the night with the idea of going to Karaoke in mind. As we got to the Karaoke bar we were checking out prices when all of a sudden several of us were pulled into a room with a bunch of random strange Japanese people. All of which were pretty wasted out of their minds and blasting out notes to an unknown Japanese song. They passed around a giant bottle of sake and after about ten minutes or so we left because the karaoke bar people were getting agitated and wanted us to pay for our own room but we didn't want to spend several hours in a karaoke room since the others really wanted to go to a club. So we hopped on a train to Shibuya where we ran into an extremely unpleasant drunken Japanese man. After taking our friend Miri's can of Sapporo beer the boys stepped in to her aid and began ticking the man off. He spoke no English but that didn't stop Fionne from talking his ear off in his thick Irish accent. After several pictures with the man in which at one point he'd taken my camera and began snapping photos of me and my friends before he finally departed the train at his stop.
We arrived at Shibuya and went to what was once called Club Pure, and what was once one of the most popular places in Shibuya, but no more as bigger better things had moved in to take it's place and Pure changed over to what it is now, but the sign for Pure still remains so the new name escapes me. We drank, we danced, and we stayed out until 5 in the morning as the trains stopped running at midnight and didn't start back up until that time. It was around that point that our group had gotten separated with Delia and I taking care of her drunken friend Fionne who was stationed outside the bar at one point asleep on some metallic stairs with a flow of drool coming from his mouth. The adventures ensued as we brought Fionne back to the hostel, one of the other Irish guys was aided by an Englishman to what the Engllishman thought was Asakusa, but was really Akasuka instead, the third Irish friend making it back with his seemingly impeccable skills of navigating the train but only while in a drunken state, our other friend from the JCMU program that we'd brought with us Taylor took Miri home and fell asleep on the train only to be awoken by the police telling him that the train goes no further and he has to get off all the while he'd somehow obtained my purse. So each of us had a story to tell from that night, Taylor's possibly being the most interesting of them all. I was thankful to have my purse back even though it contained nothing of value aside from a few bucks and my sunglasses since I had managed to take the camera and wallet out of there at some point during the night. Thus ending our Saturday night shenanigans.
Sunday rolled around and we woke up to spend the day in Harajuku where we shopped until we dropped. Literally. My feet were so sore from woken around the amazing Harajuku stores that I dropped to my seat on the train when we finally left. We saw costumes, music, clothing, Engrish and t-shirts galore as we looked through the back streets and alleyways of the Harajuku district. We took a few pictures with some people in costumes, watched some groups performing in the park some strange greaser themed dances as well as a group of 50's themed outfits and their choreography. We then headed back to the hostel to nap to prepare for another late night as we had planned to go to the original and best Irish pub in all of Tokyo to watch an Irish football game.
After a nap we headed over to the train station to meet Miri for some dinner and a drink or two. After several hours spent in a local Japanese joint we said our goodbye to Miri and made our way to Roppongi to watch the football match. As the match started at 11:30 we had once again to stay out until 5 in the morning. So we found a club in which we had the whole place all to ourselves and enjoyed spending the night their dancing away the morning. We left around the time the stations opened as we had scheduled an 8 am return bus to go back to Hikone and end our Tokyo Times. Once again we somehow got separated though because as Taylor and I had lead the way to the train station we'd bought and our tickets and as we'd turned around the rest of the group (of 4 people) had all somehow disappeared. One of the Irish guys made it back to the hostel shortly after Taylor and I and said the others were right behind him and should've been there any moment. So we packed up Taylors stuff and headed over to the girls hostel in hopes that Delia would be waiting there with the bus tickets and our luggage so that we could head back. As we got there it turns out no one was there and I was locked out of the room as Delia had the key and our roommate was asleep so Taylor and I sat out in the hall for a while waiting for Delia's arrival. After what was an hour or so of waiting our lack of sleep got to us and we fell asleep on the floor of the hostel hallway using the others shoulder as a pillow. We were woken up when Delia came back around 7:45 apologizing and saying they had gotten on the wrong train going the wrong way and wound up 30 minutes away from where they were supposed to be. As it was 15 minutes till our bus left we decided to go back to sleep in the beds and wait for the next bus around 11. As we got to the bus station we learned that the bus had been sold out until the night bus that evening and with the concern of time on our hands with class the next day at 8:50 we decided it best to just take the shinkansen or the bullet train back to JCMU and get there with plenty of time to nap/study and prepare ourselves for the school week ahead. Thus ending our adventures in Tokyo!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Road to Adventure...
The weekend began with an opening ceremony in which we were forced to stand in front of several prestigious members of the Hikone community and introduce ourselves in what measly Japanese we could muster. Name, major, school and hobby we'd done it all before and all that after sitting through the warmest and longest speeches ever given. Afterwards though at the reception we were shown a slide show from a pottery artisan that we are to be visiting on our very first group field trip. We were also given a chance to try our hand at the pottery in which I was told that I was quite skilled and had very soft hands and made a pretty little rice bowl. The where abouts of this bowl are unknown as I'm unsure as to what he was planning to do with the things we made afterwards but I suppose I will have to find out on our visit to his shop and the local ninja house nearby.
It was after a delicious shrimp dinner in which the real fun began. A few drinks with friends and we were off on our bikes to find Japan's infamous past time... karaoke. We stopped by an extremely chill bar first for some of those in the group who hadn't brought a drink along with them (as the karaoke places in Hikone don't serve alcohol , just soda) and after a few rounds it was off to two hours worth of singing our hearts and lungs out at the karaoke place next to the train station. After we'd gotten back it was a free for all in our room in which several others from the dorms decided to hang out with us until 4 in the morning.
Saturday everyone met up for a group picnic with some local Japanese friends on the beach. We played a few rounds of ultimate Frisbee, ate to our stomach's content and then swam for a little before the sun began to set and it was time to return to the dormitories. Off to bed early as we awoke early the next morning only to start out on what would turn into a 40 mile bike ride to the northern side of the lake. I soon learned that 40 miles of road, added with a one speed Japanese bike, makes for an intense work out as well as a literal pain in the ass. If I'd thought our 3 hour tour of Hikone was bad, that was just a drop in the bucket compared to what we experienced on Sunday. But along the way of our trip we were able to see so many things that we'd never had the chance to see had we stayed in that day. In the beginning we stumbled across a large statue of Buddha as well as a zen garden decorated with other statues and what looked to be a temple of sorts. The only thing missing were the monks, but it was a surprisingly large piece of serenity in an outer city.
After that we made several stops along the way until we found a secluded spot of beach where we took a refreshing swim in the lake to wash away some of that days sweat. By that time we'd been on the road for several hours and everyone agreed it was time to head back the 20 some odd miles to home. We stopped and ate a delicious meal at what I would guess was Japan's idea of a rest stop and then made it home. Dragging my tired body up the stairs I took a refreshingly cold shower and curled up in bed to finish some homework and prepare for the strenuous week of classes ahead...
It was after a delicious shrimp dinner in which the real fun began. A few drinks with friends and we were off on our bikes to find Japan's infamous past time... karaoke. We stopped by an extremely chill bar first for some of those in the group who hadn't brought a drink along with them (as the karaoke places in Hikone don't serve alcohol , just soda) and after a few rounds it was off to two hours worth of singing our hearts and lungs out at the karaoke place next to the train station. After we'd gotten back it was a free for all in our room in which several others from the dorms decided to hang out with us until 4 in the morning.
Saturday everyone met up for a group picnic with some local Japanese friends on the beach. We played a few rounds of ultimate Frisbee, ate to our stomach's content and then swam for a little before the sun began to set and it was time to return to the dormitories. Off to bed early as we awoke early the next morning only to start out on what would turn into a 40 mile bike ride to the northern side of the lake. I soon learned that 40 miles of road, added with a one speed Japanese bike, makes for an intense work out as well as a literal pain in the ass. If I'd thought our 3 hour tour of Hikone was bad, that was just a drop in the bucket compared to what we experienced on Sunday. But along the way of our trip we were able to see so many things that we'd never had the chance to see had we stayed in that day. In the beginning we stumbled across a large statue of Buddha as well as a zen garden decorated with other statues and what looked to be a temple of sorts. The only thing missing were the monks, but it was a surprisingly large piece of serenity in an outer city.
After that we made several stops along the way until we found a secluded spot of beach where we took a refreshing swim in the lake to wash away some of that days sweat. By that time we'd been on the road for several hours and everyone agreed it was time to head back the 20 some odd miles to home. We stopped and ate a delicious meal at what I would guess was Japan's idea of a rest stop and then made it home. Dragging my tired body up the stairs I took a refreshingly cold shower and curled up in bed to finish some homework and prepare for the strenuous week of classes ahead...
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and so it begins...
Sunday proved rather uneventful as far as a weekend is concerned. It was spent by many, recovering from the drunken endeavors of the night before and trying not to procrastinate the pile of homework and preparation work for the next day. Monday, however, had its own up's and downs as the first day of classes quickly came upon us.
Classes begin at 8:50 in the morning Japan time, which is the earliest I've ever had a class in my entire college career. Not to say that this is a problem, but with the time it normally takes for one to get over problems and such with jet lag, it's not surprising that waking up at this time would prove rather difficult for most if not all the students here. We were required to complete a long list of work in order to prepare for the three hours of class time that day in which we would be reviewing several chapters from the beginning level textbook. Having already completed this book sometime before and being overly familiar with it I was not keen to study which made forcing myself to do so Sunday evening a rather difficult task. But I had easily prepared enough for Monday's class as I did my part in participation.
After class there was another round of orientation scheduled for us to attend, so we ate a quick lunch before heading out the door to meet back in the big room where I couldn't have fathomed they'd possibly have any more information to tell us. We discussed things like club activities and internships both of which I have signed up to do. As well as various other information I'd heard before and thusly I quit paying attention. One the orientation crap was finally over we had another hour or so before those of us who had signed up to were taken on a tour of the mall/shopping plaza nearby called Viva City. Our tour guides took us on a bike ride over to the train station in the city and from there we made a quick hop skip and a jump over to another part of the city via train to where the giant shopping center was located.
Three levels of insanity with the upper most level containing a large karaoke place, as well as a bowling ally. The middle, a labyrinth of crane games and whirring games and machines to capture the eye and boggle the mind. A fantasy land set among the various clothing, music, and general shops through out the rest of the building. The bottom a trap to one's sense of smell as it's filled with restaurant after restaurant a feast for the eyes and the taste buds alike. It was an amusement park for the wallet that I was only capable of experiencing for 40 minutes as my tour guide set a meeting time to go back as he had to get home due to prior arrangements. After that a quick trip to the grocery store to end the night with a mound of homework for the next day.
That night brought the first full night of sleep since my arrival in Japan. Although I still woke in the morning feeling as if I'd been run over by a large semi truck, possibly worse than the days when I hadn't slept nearly as much, but I went to class and sat through 3 hours of sincere boredom. It only took a day of review for my frustration levels to rise as I noticed more and more of my classmates were not on the same page and were learning old material rather than reviewing said materials. Material that was supposed to have been learned in the first book, material which I could recite without a second thought as to right or wrong. I calmed knowing that the review process was to come to an end after the following week and continued with the lesson. Classes were followed up with a fire drill in which the local fire department paid us a visit in order to explain what to do if there's a fire in the dorm building and how to use the fire extinguishers properly. Things I was pretty sure we had already familiarized ourselves with in Elementary school, but perhaps Japanese fire extinguishers were different?... Or not so much. But we did get to play around with an over sized super soaker for a bit as they let us practice with extinguishers filled with water so that we be properly prepared in case of a small apartment fire. As if anyone experiencing such a thing is going to stay calm enough to remember that, but my concerns laid not in fires but what I was going to make for lunch that day instead. After a short nap and some lunch it was time for a visit to the dollar store for some supplies. Thus ending the beginning of my week as now all that's left is to finish another mound of prep work for tomorrow's "review."
Classes begin at 8:50 in the morning Japan time, which is the earliest I've ever had a class in my entire college career. Not to say that this is a problem, but with the time it normally takes for one to get over problems and such with jet lag, it's not surprising that waking up at this time would prove rather difficult for most if not all the students here. We were required to complete a long list of work in order to prepare for the three hours of class time that day in which we would be reviewing several chapters from the beginning level textbook. Having already completed this book sometime before and being overly familiar with it I was not keen to study which made forcing myself to do so Sunday evening a rather difficult task. But I had easily prepared enough for Monday's class as I did my part in participation.
After class there was another round of orientation scheduled for us to attend, so we ate a quick lunch before heading out the door to meet back in the big room where I couldn't have fathomed they'd possibly have any more information to tell us. We discussed things like club activities and internships both of which I have signed up to do. As well as various other information I'd heard before and thusly I quit paying attention. One the orientation crap was finally over we had another hour or so before those of us who had signed up to were taken on a tour of the mall/shopping plaza nearby called Viva City. Our tour guides took us on a bike ride over to the train station in the city and from there we made a quick hop skip and a jump over to another part of the city via train to where the giant shopping center was located.
Three levels of insanity with the upper most level containing a large karaoke place, as well as a bowling ally. The middle, a labyrinth of crane games and whirring games and machines to capture the eye and boggle the mind. A fantasy land set among the various clothing, music, and general shops through out the rest of the building. The bottom a trap to one's sense of smell as it's filled with restaurant after restaurant a feast for the eyes and the taste buds alike. It was an amusement park for the wallet that I was only capable of experiencing for 40 minutes as my tour guide set a meeting time to go back as he had to get home due to prior arrangements. After that a quick trip to the grocery store to end the night with a mound of homework for the next day.
That night brought the first full night of sleep since my arrival in Japan. Although I still woke in the morning feeling as if I'd been run over by a large semi truck, possibly worse than the days when I hadn't slept nearly as much, but I went to class and sat through 3 hours of sincere boredom. It only took a day of review for my frustration levels to rise as I noticed more and more of my classmates were not on the same page and were learning old material rather than reviewing said materials. Material that was supposed to have been learned in the first book, material which I could recite without a second thought as to right or wrong. I calmed knowing that the review process was to come to an end after the following week and continued with the lesson. Classes were followed up with a fire drill in which the local fire department paid us a visit in order to explain what to do if there's a fire in the dorm building and how to use the fire extinguishers properly. Things I was pretty sure we had already familiarized ourselves with in Elementary school, but perhaps Japanese fire extinguishers were different?... Or not so much. But we did get to play around with an over sized super soaker for a bit as they let us practice with extinguishers filled with water so that we be properly prepared in case of a small apartment fire. As if anyone experiencing such a thing is going to stay calm enough to remember that, but my concerns laid not in fires but what I was going to make for lunch that day instead. After a short nap and some lunch it was time for a visit to the dollar store for some supplies. Thus ending the beginning of my week as now all that's left is to finish another mound of prep work for tomorrow's "review."
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Ya-ya-Yakuza!!
Friday came and went leading into Saturday. After spending most of the day lazing around the dormitories and enjoying the curry soup I'd made I decided that evening was going to be spent doing something around Hikone. We'd decided it best to stay in Hikone that weekend to allow us the time to get to know the city in which we were going to spend the next 3 months before venturing off to other places. So I got in touch with a few people and we hopped on our bikes and went over to watch the sunset on the beach. After talking we thought about going to Karaoke for the evening. One of the girls mentioned there being a place just down the street from where we were and I suggested we go exploring to see how much that way we could get a group together and go spend the evening stressing our underused vocal chords.
As we were walking we made it a good 3/4's of the way down the long road when we came upon a group of people. One of the men shouted out in Japanese "Hey what are you doing?" I responded without even thinking that we were searching for a karaoke place. The man laughed signaling down the street before stating that the karaoke place we were searching for wasn't of the youngest of crowds, and that we'd enjoy ourselves more at his bbq. With peaked interest I stated that we would go check out the karaoke, and if it was no good we'd get our friends and join them at the bbq. The man smiled and said he'd see us soon. We walked a little further, and with no luck of finding the place walked back to the beach and talked with our other friends to see what they would wanna do. The decision was almost unanimous. The chance to experience a real Japanese bbq with locals and test out our language skills was not to be denied.
So we made our way back and were quickly greeted with plenty of food and beer and warm welcoming smiles. One of the guys at the bbq started up some conversation asking if we were students at the "Michigan Nihon Center," the Japanese name for JCMU, in which we replied yes. They asked how long we'd been in Japan, I responded just under a week. I asked them exactly what they were eating, and they quickly made me and the others a large portion of meat and veggies with what they called "sarada" (salad) which tasted oddly enough like salsa, and that's when the night kicked off. Four hours of eating, chatting and drinking ensued in which I surprised myself at just how well I could communicate in Japanese. I also received several compliments from the people with whom we'd been invited by. Of course the first three times or so were lies, as it is customary for the Japanese to tell you that you're good at something (especially speaking Japanese) when in fact you're not, because they are a society of "making nice." But after the fourth or fifth time from each one, I couldn't help but think that perhaps I really am somewhat talented at speaking Japanese. Not to mention the compliments from classmates who were shocked to find out that I'd only been placed in level 2.
As the night progressed and everyone became either a little sleepier from a full stomach, or a little happier from the alcohol, I decided it was time to head back. Through out the night, though, I'd been given little hints into the world that these 6 locals had come from. Dragons tattooed on each one of them (tattoos in general are not a "Japanese thing" but that specific design is a stereotypical trait) their mannerisms, as well as several other factors keyed me into the fact that I, as well as six of my classmates, had just had the experience of a lifetime, and had spent several hours enjoying the company of Yakuza members. Yakuza being the Japanese mafia. Sounds dangerous I'm sure, but I can assure you we were not placed anywhere near harms way, except perhaps for my roommate trying to ride her bicycle home and falling off it four times in her drunken stupor, thus skinning her knee. We were all, in fact, completely safe. Although it does make for a story to tell and an experience like no other, not something everyone gets to do when they come to Japan that's for sure...
As we were walking we made it a good 3/4's of the way down the long road when we came upon a group of people. One of the men shouted out in Japanese "Hey what are you doing?" I responded without even thinking that we were searching for a karaoke place. The man laughed signaling down the street before stating that the karaoke place we were searching for wasn't of the youngest of crowds, and that we'd enjoy ourselves more at his bbq. With peaked interest I stated that we would go check out the karaoke, and if it was no good we'd get our friends and join them at the bbq. The man smiled and said he'd see us soon. We walked a little further, and with no luck of finding the place walked back to the beach and talked with our other friends to see what they would wanna do. The decision was almost unanimous. The chance to experience a real Japanese bbq with locals and test out our language skills was not to be denied.
So we made our way back and were quickly greeted with plenty of food and beer and warm welcoming smiles. One of the guys at the bbq started up some conversation asking if we were students at the "Michigan Nihon Center," the Japanese name for JCMU, in which we replied yes. They asked how long we'd been in Japan, I responded just under a week. I asked them exactly what they were eating, and they quickly made me and the others a large portion of meat and veggies with what they called "sarada" (salad) which tasted oddly enough like salsa, and that's when the night kicked off. Four hours of eating, chatting and drinking ensued in which I surprised myself at just how well I could communicate in Japanese. I also received several compliments from the people with whom we'd been invited by. Of course the first three times or so were lies, as it is customary for the Japanese to tell you that you're good at something (especially speaking Japanese) when in fact you're not, because they are a society of "making nice." But after the fourth or fifth time from each one, I couldn't help but think that perhaps I really am somewhat talented at speaking Japanese. Not to mention the compliments from classmates who were shocked to find out that I'd only been placed in level 2.
As the night progressed and everyone became either a little sleepier from a full stomach, or a little happier from the alcohol, I decided it was time to head back. Through out the night, though, I'd been given little hints into the world that these 6 locals had come from. Dragons tattooed on each one of them (tattoos in general are not a "Japanese thing" but that specific design is a stereotypical trait) their mannerisms, as well as several other factors keyed me into the fact that I, as well as six of my classmates, had just had the experience of a lifetime, and had spent several hours enjoying the company of Yakuza members. Yakuza being the Japanese mafia. Sounds dangerous I'm sure, but I can assure you we were not placed anywhere near harms way, except perhaps for my roommate trying to ride her bicycle home and falling off it four times in her drunken stupor, thus skinning her knee. We were all, in fact, completely safe. Although it does make for a story to tell and an experience like no other, not something everyone gets to do when they come to Japan that's for sure...
Friday: Feeling... Fine?
Woke up Friday morning and sat up with the first thought running through my head being, "wow does my butt hurt..." It was around then I realized how true the words biker butt really were. However I needed to leave my behind where it belonged, behind me, and move on to the big event of the day. The placement test...
Now if I were a character in one of my Japanese dramas this is about the time that some epic background music would begin to play and my voice would start out slow and low as I describe the placement exam. It would then ride in both speed and pitch as I race to the finish of my speech and the music draws to a close with my elongated sentence. Picture this, sitting there looking at a paper with symbols galore. Everything looks like gibberish, your head starts to spin, and instantly your struck with a pain greater than you've ever before known. Instant headache is what they call it. It should come as no surprise then that taking a test with a listening comprehension, grammar comparable to the size of a text book, a reading and writing test that even the Egyptians would've dropped jaws at, and to top it all off, an intimidating interview with the infamous Aizawa-sensei. This was the test that would tell us where our destiny lay. You have to understand that before I came to Japan there had been great expectations placed on me... expectations which I was unfortunate enough to disappoint. But I held my head high as I was placed in level 2 out of 4 levels. This meant I was going to still receive an intense and rigerus training in the Japanese language, but I was still going to be able to what I set out to do upon coming here. Live.
Level 3 received their textbooks and first day assignments of which included a paper to be written in several kanji I did not yet know the meaning of, a test, and several reading assignments. It was then I knew that those in that level were going to spend the majority of their weekends holed up in their rooms studying while the rest of us are going to be out exploring Japan and taking in all it has to offer. Could I have made level 3? Yes. Am I glad I didn't? Oh yea...
Now if I were a character in one of my Japanese dramas this is about the time that some epic background music would begin to play and my voice would start out slow and low as I describe the placement exam. It would then ride in both speed and pitch as I race to the finish of my speech and the music draws to a close with my elongated sentence. Picture this, sitting there looking at a paper with symbols galore. Everything looks like gibberish, your head starts to spin, and instantly your struck with a pain greater than you've ever before known. Instant headache is what they call it. It should come as no surprise then that taking a test with a listening comprehension, grammar comparable to the size of a text book, a reading and writing test that even the Egyptians would've dropped jaws at, and to top it all off, an intimidating interview with the infamous Aizawa-sensei. This was the test that would tell us where our destiny lay. You have to understand that before I came to Japan there had been great expectations placed on me... expectations which I was unfortunate enough to disappoint. But I held my head high as I was placed in level 2 out of 4 levels. This meant I was going to still receive an intense and rigerus training in the Japanese language, but I was still going to be able to what I set out to do upon coming here. Live.
Level 3 received their textbooks and first day assignments of which included a paper to be written in several kanji I did not yet know the meaning of, a test, and several reading assignments. It was then I knew that those in that level were going to spend the majority of their weekends holed up in their rooms studying while the rest of us are going to be out exploring Japan and taking in all it has to offer. Could I have made level 3? Yes. Am I glad I didn't? Oh yea...
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Biker Butt
It was the official day one in Japan seeing as the original day one had been spent traveling to the final destination with groggy eyes and a weary smile. The day begun at the crack of dawn due to a lack of ability to sleep. For as tired as I was there was no rest for the weary as the bed proved to dislike side sleepers. I woke up and chilled on the computer for a while before deciding to take a warm shower in hopes of falling back asleep before our 8:45 breakfast that morning. I was stunned to find that the shower was not as difficult as I was told, that was of course after turning the nob only to find the water was still cold. But with the simple press of a button I was able to turn on the water heat and take a nice hot shower. After all was said and done my roommate, Delia, and I made our way over to the classrooms and enjoyed a breakfast of donuts and fruit before the day begun in full swing.
Orientation kicked off as most orientations due, introductions, long speeches, and yawns of boredom to be had by all. After the usual was done and over with it was time for a 3 hour bike tour around the city. Tsukasa our adorable guide led the way and pointed out various buildings and stops along the way in hopes of getting us acquainted with our new home. Unfortunately I was too busy trying my best to ride a bike in a skirt and not giving everyone on the road a show of my underwear to concern myself with just where we were. An unfortunate event that will be rectified. As the bike tour came towards its end Delia and I strayed from the group to make a quick stop at the grocery store in hopes of stocking up on some food for the next few days. We wrangled our friend Matt into coming along and before we knew it we were stumbling across fine delicacy after fresh food everywhere we looked. We stocked up on a few quint essential items making sure not to get too much as our bike's can only hold so much, before heading back to the dorms and our 4 o'clock meeting.
We were greeted by the president of our program and were asked to tell everyone why we chose to come to Japan. Needless to say no one tried buying a ticket at the impressionable age of 12 using their babysitting money only to discover that $2,000, although it may get you a ticket there, a trip does not make. I received a few chuckles from the classmates at this story and was rewarded with the most interesting story and the ability to confirm the fact that I am truly living out my dream.
After the jibber jabber of a mandatory meeting that wasn't actually mandatory, we stayed afterwards to hang out with some of the local high school students who were taking an English course and were looking to practice. It was a conglomeration of Engrish and Japanglish being thrown around but an hour later I found myself being asked by at least half the students in there to pose for a photo. After several rounds of "se no, cheesu!" it was time for dinner. Heading over to the conbini (convenient store) Lawson's across the street from the school, my roommate grabbed a quick and cheap onigiri (rice ball) to satisfy her hunger and I treated myself to some Gioza (dumplings) that I'd bought at the grocery store earlier that day, with plans of a night filled with studying and beer ahead. Well plans are tentative as I soon learned, because after dinner and a beer I felt the wear and tear of the day set in and decided to take a "nap." The quotations obviously clue you in to the fact that nap turned into sleep and little to no studying was actually done...
Orientation kicked off as most orientations due, introductions, long speeches, and yawns of boredom to be had by all. After the usual was done and over with it was time for a 3 hour bike tour around the city. Tsukasa our adorable guide led the way and pointed out various buildings and stops along the way in hopes of getting us acquainted with our new home. Unfortunately I was too busy trying my best to ride a bike in a skirt and not giving everyone on the road a show of my underwear to concern myself with just where we were. An unfortunate event that will be rectified. As the bike tour came towards its end Delia and I strayed from the group to make a quick stop at the grocery store in hopes of stocking up on some food for the next few days. We wrangled our friend Matt into coming along and before we knew it we were stumbling across fine delicacy after fresh food everywhere we looked. We stocked up on a few quint essential items making sure not to get too much as our bike's can only hold so much, before heading back to the dorms and our 4 o'clock meeting.
We were greeted by the president of our program and were asked to tell everyone why we chose to come to Japan. Needless to say no one tried buying a ticket at the impressionable age of 12 using their babysitting money only to discover that $2,000, although it may get you a ticket there, a trip does not make. I received a few chuckles from the classmates at this story and was rewarded with the most interesting story and the ability to confirm the fact that I am truly living out my dream.
After the jibber jabber of a mandatory meeting that wasn't actually mandatory, we stayed afterwards to hang out with some of the local high school students who were taking an English course and were looking to practice. It was a conglomeration of Engrish and Japanglish being thrown around but an hour later I found myself being asked by at least half the students in there to pose for a photo. After several rounds of "se no, cheesu!" it was time for dinner. Heading over to the conbini (convenient store) Lawson's across the street from the school, my roommate grabbed a quick and cheap onigiri (rice ball) to satisfy her hunger and I treated myself to some Gioza (dumplings) that I'd bought at the grocery store earlier that day, with plans of a night filled with studying and beer ahead. Well plans are tentative as I soon learned, because after dinner and a beer I felt the wear and tear of the day set in and decided to take a "nap." The quotations obviously clue you in to the fact that nap turned into sleep and little to no studying was actually done...
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Jump to Japan
September 2, 2010: It was a long flight and it was a dream ten years in the making but I've done it... FINALLY!! The story starts in the airport in which I was able to snag a 1 pm flight time from Cleveland Hopkins stopping in Minneapolis (where I made it just in time to start boarding) to Tokyo, then to Nagoya. The trip started on August 31, 2010 at noon, and ended on September 1, 2010 at 8:45 PM Japan time. It was then a two hour bus ride from the airport to the school in which I will be studying in Hikone, Japan, of the Shiga prefecture. All of this means little to someone who hasn't heard me talk about it before so I will, quickly explain. JCMU stands for Japan center for Michigan Universities. It is a 4 level intensive course of studies in the Japanese language that is through Michigan State University.
As I arrived in Nagoya it became clear rather quickly that most of the students had all started in the same area as they were all chit chatting, but never one to be deterred by such frivolous things, I jumped right in introducing myself as the foreigner. I received many confused looks and I explained that seeing as the vast majority of them are from the Detroit area or Texas it would appear I am the only Ohioan, making me the foreigner among foreigners. This of course was comical and someone from Detroit quickly asked if I'd seen the hastily made Cleveland tourism videos on Youtube, and I replied with an enthusiastic "OF COURSE!!!" This got everyone laughing as I continued to say how true it was too, and then had to retract my statement and be like minus the ending. This received another chuckle because through out the video it is made to seem as if Cleveland is the worst city to ever inhabit the states, but at the very end they come back with a but "hey at least we're not Detroit!!" Everyone replied that it was true though and I was on the fast track to making nice with my soon to be classmates.
We made the trek to the dorms and arrived at around midnight Japan time (minus 13 hours for the Ohioans reading this) were given an orientation packet, room assignments, and a thing of water and cup noodles to hold us over till breakfast the next day. I quickly retracted to my room anxious to see if I'd gotten the Japanese roomate I'd requested. I was not graced, however, with such luck as to receive a Japanese roommate but I did receive Delia. She's a very nice girl from the Detroit area who came over from Dublin Ireland, instantly giving us some common ground as little over a year and some ago I had visited Dublin on my adventures through Europe. The night ended with the beginnings of unpacking as my larger of the two suitcases was shipped over and should be arriving any minute now, and facebook notifications before bed. It's only day one of my dream come true but I have a good feeling.
-No matter the distance in miles, there is no distance between you and I in my heart-
As I arrived in Nagoya it became clear rather quickly that most of the students had all started in the same area as they were all chit chatting, but never one to be deterred by such frivolous things, I jumped right in introducing myself as the foreigner. I received many confused looks and I explained that seeing as the vast majority of them are from the Detroit area or Texas it would appear I am the only Ohioan, making me the foreigner among foreigners. This of course was comical and someone from Detroit quickly asked if I'd seen the hastily made Cleveland tourism videos on Youtube, and I replied with an enthusiastic "OF COURSE!!!" This got everyone laughing as I continued to say how true it was too, and then had to retract my statement and be like minus the ending. This received another chuckle because through out the video it is made to seem as if Cleveland is the worst city to ever inhabit the states, but at the very end they come back with a but "hey at least we're not Detroit!!" Everyone replied that it was true though and I was on the fast track to making nice with my soon to be classmates.
We made the trek to the dorms and arrived at around midnight Japan time (minus 13 hours for the Ohioans reading this) were given an orientation packet, room assignments, and a thing of water and cup noodles to hold us over till breakfast the next day. I quickly retracted to my room anxious to see if I'd gotten the Japanese roomate I'd requested. I was not graced, however, with such luck as to receive a Japanese roommate but I did receive Delia. She's a very nice girl from the Detroit area who came over from Dublin Ireland, instantly giving us some common ground as little over a year and some ago I had visited Dublin on my adventures through Europe. The night ended with the beginnings of unpacking as my larger of the two suitcases was shipped over and should be arriving any minute now, and facebook notifications before bed. It's only day one of my dream come true but I have a good feeling.
-No matter the distance in miles, there is no distance between you and I in my heart-
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