reverie, en route.

'reverie en route' goes to france!

2008-06-26T15:55:00.002-04:00

It's been so long since my last post that I'll have to email all you faithful readers to remind you that, indeed, I'm resurrecting my blog in honor of my return to *the field* after (nearly) a whole year spent stateside! I'll be working in an English-immersion camp for French children, ages 9-15, for the next seven-ish weeks in (very) rural southern France. As most of you know me well and are aware of my affinity for lattes to go, tall heels, and the anonymity afforded by big-city life, moving to a town of 3,000 - and a camp of 60 at maximum camper capacity - this will be a growing experience. In fact, it really ought to rival your reality TV show of choice as a source of summer entertainment.

But the bushwhacking adventures don't begin until Sunday; I'll first be indulging myself with what I like to think of as my 'graduation trip.' I'm spending two days in Paris, and you can bet I'll enjoy every last cafe-sitting, people-watching, window-shopping, velo-riding second of it.

Cheers - et a bientot!

koko wa chiikai post desu.

2006-10-16T08:58:00.001-04:00

Today I was told - upon meeting a new Japanese friend for the first time - that I had ______ teeth. A lively discussion immediately commenced as to whether my teeth were nice, clean, white, straight, big, weird, pretty, beautiful, funny, or otherwise. In the end, the Americans, Australians, British, Germans, and Japanese present reached the diplomatic agreement that my teeth had been described - indeed, complimented - as "good," or "nice." A rather bland conclusion after all the excitement. If I thought Veronica Wolf was reading this, I would say "HA! See, the Japanese don't think my teeth are big - so THERE!!" (Background: Veronica was my sophomore roommate and always insisted I had huge teeth, huge eyes, huge cheeks [this is actually true, lol], huge hair [also true on certain days], a huge mouth [what? ME?]...you get the idea.) Anyway. One more random experience to add to the memory bank!

In other news, I finally emboldened myself to speak with my Japanese professors about speeding up our class. I don't have perfect grades, but I do have NEAR perfect grades - and with the amount of communication ability I possess (which is very little), my grades should NOT look so good. In fact, I would like to have lower grades and more communication skill - which is what I hope I'll gain from a faster-moving class in which more material is taught and tested. Fortunately, the large majority of the class is on my side of the debate, and unfortunately for the 20% that is reluctant to study and progress, I have a feeling the professors are going to make some changes beginning in our very next class meeting. I'm excited. Yes, I'll have to study harder; yes, I will probably make more mistakes once I get a "real" workload; no, I can't WAIT!!! It will be such a relief to finally feel like I'm WORKING hard. My classes on Japanese culture, though dealing with an array of fascinating subjects, are an academic joke. For my language class to also be sleep-walkable is to add insult to injury. It's typical for Japanese universities to be this way - ultra-easy - because Japanese students suffer an excrutiating workload in junior and senior high school as they prepare for university entrance exams. But coming from a system with the opposite idea - easy high school education, rigorous undergraduate curriculum - I was really looking forward to learning some Japanese here, not faking it. And in the interests of scholarship, I think this is one point on which I can be righteously unassimilating!!

To those of you who are wondering: yes, I went to Yokohama last weekend. Yes, it was great. Yes, I did a homestay this past weekend. Hai, kore mo sugoi deshita. (see if you can guess what that means...don't think too hard) No, I won't tell you when I'm going to write about them, because it would ruin the element of suspense (;

To be continued - ::cue dramatic music::

men, meat, and crossing the street.

2006-10-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

Konbanwa! I happen to know that my few but dedicated readers are bored out of their skulls with my lack of recent news via this blog. Gomenasai. I see things all the time and think, "I've GOT to blog about this!" ...and promptly forget. Trust me, it's more upsetting to me than to you because I really want to write about (and remember!) all the tiny little experiences that make up my days and are constantly teaching me new tidbits about the Japanese. I'm surrounded by tiny bits of paper with scribbled notes about something I noticed on the street or spied on from my perch at a corner table in the student center - yet these commentaries are proving rather evasive in terms of their translation into posts. When I do sit down at my laptop to compose, I can't recall the perfect words I had just two days earlier to describe this or that happening. On cue, the inner perfectionist becomes frustrated with her inability to write something satisfactory (never mind that the purpose of this blog is for YOU to know what I'm doing, not for you to have a masterpiece to read or for me to write one) and, more often than not, finds something else to do, promising herself she'll return later and find her "bloggers' block" gone...

Thus, in the interest of making up lost ground, this post will be entirely generated by stream-of-consciousness thought patterns, guided by these scraps of paper with blog ideas that are cluttering my desk and that I really want to throw away.

::ahem::

Japanese boys are shy. So shy. Maybe I've mentioned this before; if I have, I'll reiterate (probably not for the last time, either.) The fact that my study-abroad frame of reference was developed in France and Italy, home to ciao bellas and men making loud kissing sounds in the direction of female passers-by, makes the comparative muteness of Japanese men seem almost unhealthy. Mind you, if I thought they were silent out of respect for me as a woman, I'd be quite content. However, other social situations seem to provide evidence to the contrary. I have been incensed - and I do not use this verb lightly - time and again when I notice women serving their husbands, even in a setting which one (American) might expect would involve an equal burden or shared repose. Example: at the supermarket, I have seen women holding babies AND their basket while their husbands stand there empty-handed. This bothers me a good deal, but fortunately has not occurred with sufficient frequency for me to consider it a rule. However, I have strong evidence that my second example is a social expectation: in kittasen (coffee shops), when a man and a woman walk in (presumably to have coffee TOGETHER), the man chooses and seat and sits down right away. Poor thing, his feet are probably tired after walking in from the parking lot - maybe he'll ask for a massage? But he'll have to wait briefly - I do hope this won't disturb him - because his female companion knows her place and has already scampered off to wait in line, order and pay for the drinks, collect the cream & sugar and serve him wherever he has chosen to recline. Even once they are seated together at the table, the woman must make the man's coffee first (adding sugar/cream/stirring etc.) She makes quite sure that he will not lift a finger but to enjoy his drink. And naturally, when they are finished, she clears the table. Though I am sure this does not ALWAYS happen, I have yet to notice an exception - and the widespread acceptance, and practice, of this routine leaves me absolutely irate. It is more disgusting than watching parents fawn over their ostensibly spoiled children, who I like to fancy might actually need assistance, if not to the full extent that their parents lavish it on them. I am quite confident that Japanese men from age 20-120 are quite capable of making their own coffee; they only need a little practice.

Anyway, that paragraph started out with Japanese boys being shy. So I want to know how on earth they find these overly loyal, servile females to wait on them hand and foot when, at university, guys are girls don't even walk in groups around campus together! Yes, they mix in club settings and such, and in the student center, during the lunch hour, and of course in classes - but when you see friends moving about campus, it's almost always a pair or group of one sex only. Very strange to me. Ideas, anyone?

Moving from men to meat, now. I continue to have *unpleasant* surprises as a vegetarian in Nihon. You might think eating fish would be an easy out in Japan - but you couldn't be more mistaken, as it turns out! It seems that every culinary creation on the archipelago that falls into the carbohydrate family contains a hidden filling - of MEAT (pork, chicken and beef are all popular.) No matter how small, flat, or otherwise empty and innocent a given muffin, rice ball or pastry may appear, it will shock and disappoint beyond a veggie's worst nightmares. I have thrown away a shameful number of unlucky choices already and expect the count to grow, despite my best efforts to outsmart whoever invented these vile snack and lunch foods. Oh, and if by chance you happen upon a roll with no meat inside - it will probably have a center of solid mayonnaise. Ick! I'm open to new things...but some new things have a frequency limit of ONCE. And that limit decreases to NEVER for items containing meat, particularly if it is concealed. What a low trick on gaijin who are still unable to decipher just what lies beneath those kanji-ridden labels.

Random interjection: anyone remember when I thought I broke my toe after dropping a 70lb suitcase on it during my trek from Tokyo? Well, I did. Break my toe, that is. Because one month later, it's still twice the size of its counterpart on my other foot, and hurts, too. Medical counsel welcome...especially if you can tell me how to take care of this without going to the doctor (because doctor in Japan = hospital, and hospital = TAKAI, which you could probably have figured out meant "expensive" without my translation.)

And now, to close on a brighter note, I would like to share at story that gives me great hope to Japan (sexism and deceiving bakers aside, mind you.) One afternoon earlier this week, I saw my first jay-walking-Japanese. And she was female. Never have I been so overjoyed to see someone defying societal order - though this young woman did so with great poise, looking both directions and then gliding more than running across the four-lane highway. I smiled for about two whole minutes afterwards.

Oyasuminasai!

"my big dream"

2006-10-01T03:35:00.000-04:00

This post is dedicated to my dear, sweet Mariko, who is easily my best friend in Japan. She's a senior at Nagoya U. of Foreign Studies (NUFS) and is majoring in English Studies. She's traveled to Vancouver, Canada as well as New Zealand & Australia, and next year she's doing a one-month homestay in San Francisco! Mariko & I have almost half our classes together - Teaching English in Japan, Traditional Japanese Culture, and Nagoya: Mapping the City - and we've emailed & hung out quite a bit outside of class too. She and her friend Ayako took me to their favorite little Italian restaurant a few weeks ago; this week I'm going to a movie with Mariko, her friend Yuu, and a British student Katie; later in the week, Mariko and I already have a Starbucks date (: (Jen, forgive me, I had to find someone to temporarily fill the void you left in my life!) In a few weeks, I'm going on a weekend trip with Mariko and one of her school clubs, and in December, we're going to Kyoto with Ayako and Yuu! Point made: Mariko is super and we are tight (:

I'd like to share a portion of one of her emails here, as I think she expresses quite precisely the feelings we share about not only the infamous "respect culture" of Japan, but also about living among other cultures and building friendships based on universal humanism. But here, I think you'll agree that she says it better than me:

"I really like other country- such as the U.S. or Canada, Australia, New Zealand... I wanna go out of Japan, I don't like living and staying in Japan. There are lots of reason. When I was staying other countries, I can say what I think or what I wanna do, and I can be relaxed in the park and go to beach, I can kiss and hug with my favorite friends... I like it, but I can't do here in Japan. I'm always care about other poople's feelind and stressful, I'm always busy....
I don't like "respect culture" in Japan. We care about how old is he or she, and we have to respect and use polite words... it makes difficult to make good relationship sometimes. Sometimes okay, but sometimes it makes me stressful.
I wanna go other countries soon but I have to work hard bout 2 years for it..it's hard for me to wait for 2 years, but I can do it! It's my big dream!!"

Wow.

Before I met Mariko, I think my "big dreams" were to pass the US Foreign Service exam, run 3 marathons before I'm 30 and one day work for the United Nations.

Now, I think a new "big dream" of mine is to welcome someone to my country with the same enthusiasm - for sharing her culture and learning about mine - that Mariko has welcomed me.

canada and germany come to japan.

2006-09-26T06:25:00.000-04:00

Tadaima! Sorry for the lengthy vacation I apparently took from my blog...my most dedicated reader (at least as far as comments go!), my former roommate Jen, admonished me for not posting more often. And look, it worked - I'm back!

Actually, I've just been busy getting into classes here - and though the culture courses seem rather routine in terms of workload, my language class is already pushing me to my limits! The linguistic professors here are superior - they are so well-educated, well-traveled, and exceptionally personable, matching their lessons to their students. Which is great, unless you are in a class labeled "beginning Japanese" where YOU want a true beginners' course, and since everyone else in the class has actually studied Japanese previously, the teacher opts for "review of beginning Japanese." It's going to be good for me in the long-run because I'm having to work double-time to keep up - but right now, it's really challenging! Ex: over four days, I self-taught Hiragana reading and writing. Then, over one night, I self-taught Katakana reading and writing. (Each of these scripts has about 46 characters, so it's like learning 2x the English alphabet for each. Hiragana and Katakana have the same 46 sounds, but different characters for each - so it gets way confusing.) My brain is now fried. And it's only the second week of classes! And I haven't even had a quiz/test/exam yet! Oh, boy...

The other reason I hadn't written is that there's not been any *big* news as of late. Nagoya is...far away...and Nisshin, the "city" where NUFS is located, is...uneventful. But finally - and just in time to keep Jen content - TWO things happened!

::drumroll::

1. As I sat practicing Katakana characters in those little gridded blocks (kind of like when you had to practice cursive in second grade) at my desk, I began hearing a ruckus outside my balcony. Now, ruckus is not unusual in the evenings, as local teen bands apparently use the tiny mobile-home-ish sheds behind the I-House parking lot for weeknight rehearsals. But this ruckus was familiar in a way, so I had to open my balcony door and listen in more closely. And suddenly, I recognized - through a painfully flat pitch and awkward Japanese accent - "He was a skaterboy, she said 'see ya later, boy," he wasn't good enough for her..." So, I have been listening to The Best of Avril Lavigne (if you can call it that) a la Japonais for the past hour...and it continues. Right now we've gone back to Skaterboy, which I think is this chick's forte. She doesn't quite have the range for some of Avril's other musical masterpieces.

2. Before I moved on to doing my homework (which obviously I have now stopped in order to write this post...I am SUCH a model student), I was procrastinating by making plans for my first trip since arriving here at I-House. And TOTALLY by accident, I fell into what may be the greatest vacation of my not-quite-twenty-one-year-old life: OKTOBERFEST, IN JAPAN! Is it too good to be true? YES! - but it's still true!!! Yokohama City, Japan's second largest city (and a suburb of Tokyo), hosts its own German-themed festival beginning next weekend. I'll catch the second weekend during my three-day stay in Yokohama. I'm also hoping to check out the jazz bar scene, as the annual Yokohama Jazz Promenade will also be taking place that weekend. Other than those events and the city's downtown attractions, I'm hoping to squeeze in a day trip to Kamakura, a great site nearby for some historical sightseeing. I can't wait. This is definite motivation to survive class for the next two weeks, as well as all sorts of varied musical performances (oh god, they're reprising Skaterboy for the millionth time...Jen, how I long for the days [nights] of karaoke at Christy's when at least "Sweet Home Alabama" sounded halfway in-tune...)

I'm going to take a walk now. Between Katakana and Avril, I've got to get some peace of mind back before continuing on the homework (: Matane!

purpose > shoes.

2006-09-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

I just read The Washington Post for Tuesday, 19 September. It was absolutely packed - I mean, to the brim and overflowing - with the human rights questions on which one of my summer courses in DC focused. For its obvious applicability and pertinence to current world affairs - and resulting challenge - this course was arguably one of the best I've taken in my life. I'm at once thrilled and terrified that, two months ago, I wrote a position paper identical in theme, message and even occasional wording to Colin Powell's recent letter to Sen. John McCain, concerning the loss of U.S. moral credibility in the war against terrorism. This encourages me to work all the more diligently in the pursuit of a federal service career, because it validates my stance on top issues; yet simultaneously I find the U.S. position on many of these topics alarming, and almost certain to lead the country into increasingly perilous times. And just then, my serious contemplation is shattered by an article on some frufru Georgetown political consultant (who I think we can safely assume is incapable of going to the ladies' room unassisted) and the 371 (or 372? she did mention she had just bought a new pair) pairs of shoes she owns. Most of which, naturally, cost over 1K.

So, Ms. Selfish Materialist and all the readers who would rather turn over to the entertainment page than face (or assist) the rest of the world and its real problems, I have only two things to say:

1. Please, find a charity.

and

2. "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain...AND SHOES*." -John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, May 12, 1780. (*CAPS addendum by Andrea England, in a post for anyone who's reading, September 19, 2006.)

KAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-14T02:26:00.000-04:00

Today was one of the most unique I've had so far: I learned what it is like to be a celebrity. Yes, me, Andrea, who never in all my previous performing days acquired any level of fame.

My new status was awarded me at the university welcome party for the new exchange students. After a brief ceremony with important NUFS officials, including an address by the president (can you imagine Nancy Zimpher doing this for our new exchange students each year? ...yeah, exactly. Now you know why I feel like the welcome here has been incredible) and a class photograph, we were joined by NUFS students representing their clubs and organizations. Several groups gave brief presentations, including the cheerleaders, the English debate club, the Kendo club, another traditional martial arts club whose name I can't remember, the International Communication Club, the French club, and the a cappella group. I had been thinking I might join the French club and the a cappella group, but after the presentations, I also want to do the International Communication Club! (They plan a lot of events that sound great, plus their meetings sound really cool because they basically just like to facilitate cross-cultural communications...which is exactly what I love!!) So the entire time the presentations are going on, I'm thinking, "Wow, it's going to be so hard to choose activities here..." Hold this thought, it's important later on. When the presentations ended, all the students - exchange and Japanese - were just encouraged to mill about the food and chat with each other. I was more or less attacked before I could walk towards the center of things. Basically, the next three hours of my life consisted of the same scenario, repeated over and over: Andi is by herself for a moment, Andi is attacked by a group of 3-5 bubbling Japanese girls gushing "KAWAII! KAWAII!!! OH, KAWAII!!" (in Japanese, this is like "OH MY GOD LOOK HOW CUTE!!! SOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!" In fact, Japan is kind of known for its obsession with "cuteness." But that's another story for another time...this post is about their apparent obsession with ME.) Continuing the pattern - Andi explains she speaks no Nihon-go, Japanese girls continue to say "Kawaii" which Andi does understand, Japanese girls ask if they can take a picture with Andi, Andi is like "Uhhh of course," girls shriek, Andi laughs, more kawaii's all around, 800 pictures are taken on 800 different cameras/phones, more kawaii's, and - REPEAT. One of them told me I looked like a movie star. One just couldn't get over staring at my eyelashes - "They're so long!!!" she kept saying. (I told them it was mascara, and they were no less amazed.) You can imagine the madness that ensued when I gave out my email address.

The Japanese girls who win for being the most crazy just about talking to me are HANDS DOWN the cheerleaders. At one point, all the beginner Japanese students had to step out of the party to meet with one of the teachers to go over placement test procedures (since the test is in Hiragana, a Japanese script, and several of us wouldn't even be able to take the test!) Anyway, as we were meeting with the teacher, cheerleaders started to filter out into the hallway. I didn't really notice them because I was listening to our meeting, but when I was dismissed and got up to walk back in, I was stopped in my tracks by four girls who were literally bouncing off the walls with excitement. I told them I like their presentation and that I used to be a cheerleader - and then they went INSANE. So, basically, I got suckered into joining and I am going to my first practice on Monday morning. And it's funny, because cheerleading is the LAST thing I thought I'd do in Japan - but I think it'll be SO much fun! (minus getting back into shape...that's gonna be tough!) But this will be a great opportunity to do something fun where I can learn a lot of Japanese just by hanging out with these girls and learning from them. Oh, and it our little placement-test meeting, I found out that I am going to be in the super easy classes - so, while I'm sure I'll study enough that they won't seem like a total breeze, I think I can handle a fair amount of club activity ;) Or at least, I hope so, since now I'll be cheerleading but I still want to do the ICC, French club, and maybe the a cappella club! It's going to be a CRAZY busy semester!

I can't wait to post the pictures from today - I have never taken so many pictures of the BEGINNING of something! I always take pictures like mad at the END!!! At any rate, I can say the welcome I've received at NUFS has been absolutely unparalleled. And tongiht, our first karaoke outing (for REAL this time) will no doubt be the same (;

adventures with green tea.

2006-09-13T02:13:00.000-04:00

Matcha: a staple of Japanese life. Yet try as I may, I cannot bring myself to enjoy it, in any way, shape, or form.

My first green tea drink was probably my first full day in Tokyo. I wanted to try it right away because literally everyone around me was toting it to work, ordering it in restaurants, checking out with it in kombinis (the handy cognate for convenience stores) or otherwise singing its praises. I got through the first few sips before I felt entirely nauseated and, disappointed in my inability to branch out, sheepishly purchased a Diet Coke. Since then, I've avoided the stuff like the plague.

Today I circled, took a deep breath, and reapproached the enemy. I purchased matcha ice cream, matcha muffins, and a peach matcha drink. I thought, surely in its less-concentrated forms, I will enjoy this.

Matcha ice cream? Negative. Tastes exACTly like the tea in liquid form, only frozen and creamy - blech! Matcha muffins? Well, the saving grace of these curious little treats was supposed to be the raisins on top - but when these turned out to be red beans (should have guessed it...), the muffins went downhill fast. Actually, the matcha flavor was not so unpleasant in the muffins; but the red beans basically ruined any positive experience I might have otherwise had. Fortunately, even with the likes of green tea, the third time's still the charm - peach matcha is a lovely, lightly sweet drink that I am happy to announce will henceforth serve as my official matcha substitute for the duration of my Japanese tenure.

Oh, and the REALLY amazing news? I haven't had Diet Coke in...days. I don't even remember when my last one was!

extra! extra!

2006-09-11T08:42:00.000-04:00

Greetings from-at long last!-Nagoya! Though it seems I've been out of touch for the past week+, I have in fact been thinking of everyone back home and have been blogging in Word in the absence of internet access. Now that wireless is up and running in I-House, my new residence, I'm anxious to share my experiences of the past week with you! These are chronological, but scattered, entries. They begin with last Wednesday, when I traveled via regional railway (densha) from Tokyo to Nagoya. Bonne lecture a tous!

6 September 2006

Some highlights of today’s travels included:
• Transferring trains five times, not including two transfers on Japan Rail lines within Tokyo to catch a regional JR train out of the city, just to travel roughly the distance of New York City to Washington, DC (Please remember that at each transfer, I had to go through the agonizing process of mobilizing my weight in luggage and, more excruciating still, find the next train by saying the equivalent of, “Excuse me, train Nagoya? Nagoya train please?” Ouch.)
• Breaking my left “ring” toe (you know, the one just in from your pinkie toe) first thing in the morning after dragging my 69-lb suitcase all the way up a subway stairwell. On the very last step, I missed and crushed my toe. And it’s funny how you laugh at people who make a big deal out of breaking their toe, until it’s you and you realize how damn hard it is to walk without even one toe.
• My taxi from Nagoya Station to Nagoya University cost more than $60.00 USD. Could we have a moment of silence for my bank account, please?

Some highlights of today’s super(PRICEY)market experience:
• Sandwich bread tastes like it has butter in it—yummy, but has to be bad for you—and wheat bread doesn’t exist.
• “Peanut cream” isn’t a bad translation for “peanut butter.” Actually, it’s a bad translation for “peanut-butter-flavored goop, similar to gel toothpaste in consistency and opaqueness yet not as pleasing as toothpaste in taste.” Oh, well, won’t make that mistake again.
• I cry a little inside looking at the tomatoes here. Not just because their cloudy, pinkish coloring could only top a mealy fruit, but because as unappetizing as they appear, I still want to buy them—and can’t afford them!
• Finishing my first round of the produce section, I had approved only green cabbage as being satisfactory in both value and appearance: so on the second round I lowered my standards. Bananas, always my least favorite fruit, are now the only fruit I own. Miniature eggplants were on sale, so I got a few of those; and carrots, though not outrageously priced, are outrageously sized (the only HUGE thing I’ve seen in Japan, besides everyday prices and Tokyo skyscrapers!) so my first attempt to cut them up will be an interesting one…involving one heck of a kitchen knife.
• Okay, Japan, you’re good with fish and noodles and tofu…so how about just not trying to make cheese? I mean, everyone’s got their talents…and cheese would be one of Switzerland’s, France’s, and Italy’s. Not yours. Please consider selling only imported cheese and immediately destroying all the domestically-produced flavorless gunk that is presently sold—at no bargain price—under the guise of “mozzarella.” I plead on behalf of all cheese-loving expats in your country, that their innocence might not be shattered as mine has.
• Itte rasshai, Diet Coke—this phrase literally means “I’m leaving, but I will return!” which is what my soda habit will do whenever I’m back in the States. For now, a liter bottle is too big to fit in my mini fridge, and at least tonight I was unsuccessful in finding smaller bottles. (I’m going to try to develop a taste for green tea, but so far this has been difficult…as in it makes me feel a little bit sick. I’m so disappointed by this, too, because I want very much to enjoy it!)
• Grocery-bagging is European-style (do-it-yourself), but with the distinctly Japanese additions of time efficiency and wasted packaging. To accomplish this, the cashier reloads your cart or basket with your items after scanning them, takes your money, and then sends you to the bagging stations that line the front of the store. Here, you take as many small plastic bags as you want (wasteful) but you don’t continue to hold up the line behind you (efficient) by competing with the cashier for counter space (which, not surprisingly, is scarce.) In my ever-present French sub-consciousness, where my brain says “Not in America. Uhhhh…must be in…France!!” I made a noble attempt to hold up the line by bagging my groceries a la francaise. I was thwarted/rescued by a guide from Nagoya University (they knew the foreigners would butcher the first trip to the store, so they sent Japanese students to save us/beg for forgiveness in the wake of our damage) who directed me to the proper bagging locale.

Some highlights of moving into the Nagoya University of Foreign Studies (NUFS, hereafter) International House (I-House, hereafter):
• This is truly a house and not a dorm. There are only two floors, and the rooms line the building leaving a spacious two-story common area. Kitchens are also shared and in the open. The resulting space is an architectural masterpiece in that it creates a tangible friendliness about the house: it’s so open! (The downside of course will be hearing everything that happens anywhere else in the house, as there’s nothing to soak up sound anywhere.)
• My room is very comfortably sized, with a HUGE closet and three HUGE shelving units plus a desk and bed. I also have a good-sized balcony, my own air-conditioner, my own mini-fridge and my own bathroom—though, with everything else being big, the bathroom had to be tiny (; But it’s got a bathtub/shower, sink, and toilet!
• Oh, here’s something: it’s heaps bet-tah t’have some blokes ‘round who speak English, right? But I’m going to bloody forget how to speak proper American! I am seriously surrounded by Brits & Aussies here—and I am actually having a bit of a time understanding their English, just because it’s so different from the accent of the Asian students here who speak English as a second language. Basically, my head is just spinning all the time because I’m trying to remember my Japanese, remember my French (there are at least a handful of French students here and I’m soooooooooooo excited!!!), and interpret everyone’s English per their accents. Recipe for pleasant but continuous insanity, I believe.

7 September 2006

Ohio! I learned today that the sort of casual counterpart of “ohiogozaimasu,” good morning, is to shorten it to “ohio.” Another double-meaning word for me is “yes,” which in Japanese is “hai,” pronounced “hi”—so every time someone says “yes,” I want to wave and go “hiiiiii!” I am so much the stereotypical awkward, weird, can’t-do-anything exchange student. For example, I’m drinking instant coffee from a bowl which I stirred with a fork. This is because I brought coffee with me, but not a cup/mug (or bowl, for that matter—I found this one abandoned in the kitchen available for use at the price of a good washing) nor a spoon. Again, forks or chopsticks only in the kitchen, probably because everyone safeguards their own spoons. I guess this means today I need to venture into the home goods stores.

8 September 2006

And now it’s time for a rather momentous post: my first official verdict on Japan and the Japanese. After living here only one week, I’ve already been able to make some candid observations of repeated occurrences in everyday life and suspect my audiences outside Japan would rather enjoy some comparisons to the Western world. Still, a caveat: this is somewhat of a “pretest,” my first impressions of Japan, while the “final exam” will be my perceptions in several months.

I’m going to organize this simply by topics. Some are more weighty and culturally related, and others are just little tidbits of interest and/or confusion.

• Tissues. When I checked into my hostel, they gave me my linens and a pack of tissues. Odd, I thought, but useful nonetheless. When I went to the post office and received complimentary tissues with my stamps, though, I really started to wonder. And when a street advertiser handed me tissues instead of a flyer for their business, I knew something was up. What is it with the Japanese and their tissues? Turns out (and I had to look no further than my Lonely Planet guidebook to discover this) tissues are a common form of advertising or hospitality here, as public restrooms do not often include toilet paper. Europe, take note: since your public restrooms are often similarly (un)stocked, you should consider adopting this custom.
• Manpurses. Outside of salarymen, all the millions of whom seem to wear identically boring black suits and white shirts, the Japanese—men and women—are much more fashion-conscious than Americans. So I suppose carrying a manpurse is just part of the ensemble. Still, if you’re a straight guy, doesn’t it feel a little strange to be holding a Louis Vuitton clutch? Maybe not. The guy sitting next to me on the train didn’t seem uncomfortable with his stylish manpurse. I guess this might have been because it clearly surpassed my oversized hobo in taste and cut…and femininity.
• Scary skinny. I think the tally is now up to seven: number of Japanese men who almost broke in half trying to lift my suitcase. This is because, while most were about 4 inches taller than me, they could not have weighed much more—everyone here is so skinny it’s almost ridiculous! Sure, there are those who are more filled-out (or just normal) than others, but the average person would definitely be considered sickly-looking by Americans. In Europe, the average person is no doubt thinner than the average American; but they are still healthy! I have a hard time believing that these skeletons have the longest lifetime of any country in the world. Obviously, they’re doing something right…but a great deal of them look like they would snap if they fell in the street. If you’re having a hard time visualizing this, I’ll put another spin on it—I wear a women’s medium to large here. Yeah. Wow.
• Fashion. While we’re on the note of clothes, I have been quite attentive—well, moreso in Tokyo than now that I’m in a suburb of Nagoya—to Japanese fashion. Like most high-fashion cities, Tokyoites have among them those who tend to overdo it. I think haute couture is all about marrying extravagance to simplicity, and the biggest Japanese designers have this down; it’s just that wearing the affordable versions of their work can cause people to pick too many crazy pieces for one outfit. Basically, for every well-dressed Japanese I observed (far more women than men in this category, since men resign themselves to the ubiquitous aforementioned business uniform), I saw one and a half fashion disasters. However, even the cluttered fashionista-wannabes rate higher in my book than the disheveled, teeshirt-and-shorts-sporting Americans that look like they haven’t been past their front door in thirty years. (I’m being unnecessarily cruel to the American stereotype, but I believe it’s my prerogative since I am myself American for better or worse.)
• Women. Yes, my feminist side has been lying in wait for the past week, and its debut comes only after careful calculation of how history and tradition factor into present-day society’s view of the female gender. The role of these components cannot be exaggerated in explaining how Japan, one of the most developed nations in the world in economic terms, remains primitive in its views and treatment of women. Sure, women are in “the workplace”—if by workplace you mean any and every service venue, from barely-beyond-prostitution “hostess clubs” to everyday service in restaurants and shops. Men are rarely, if ever, employed in these unskilled labor posts; they occupy the professional positions and earn the accompanying wages (thus salaryman, not salarywoman.) I feel like women, though treated with respect in public, are severely pressured to always be dressed as sex objects (thus their incredible obsession with fasion) because they are still inferior to men and mostly exist for men's pleasure. I think this is disgusting, even though I like some of their cute outfits (; It's just saddening to me that I think this theory may be even halfway correct.

Oh, well, that's enought depressing pondering for now...comments? hope? anyone?

later on 8 September 2006

I’d like to dedicate this post solely to the fabulosity of the other students living at I-House. While I admit I’ve bonded most closely with the Anglophones United (the English-speaking mass of Aussies, Brits and Americans who have pooled their strengths in order to far outnumber any other linguistic persuasion in the program), I’ve also quite enjoyed getting to know the Francophone students—both Francais and Quebecois—as well as some Chinese students. Additionally, the Japanese students from Nagoya University who participate in “Japan Circle,” a club dedicated to promoting Japanese culture and studies, have been immensely helpful in guiding us around the neighborhood and introducing us to the university. In short: the people, no matter their nationality, are absolutely fantastic. Yet another reason I love my area of study—it draws such fascinating and fun characters. I’m at once thrilled for the next few months and wistful for what I’m sure will feel like their premature close. So, kampai (cheers!), my friends!—and may our time together, however brief, be filled with many wonderful memories.

9 September 2006

Tadaima! Actually, I don’t think I can start a post with that—it means “I’m back,” but I think only when it specifically refers to one reentering the house after being out, ie at the end of the workday. I’m getting lots of good practice on these phrases since there are always people watching the flow of traffic in and out of the house (it’s almost overbearing at times—the caretakers for I-House, three otherwise extremely pleasant young women, are always asking where I’m going even if I just want to go out for a little walk. I know they are just trying to look out for me, especially since I don’t speak Japanese, but there’s nothing to do at the house right now so I’ve been bored! Argh. Anyway.)

Things are going fine, though we’re all just sort of waiting for orientation to begin so we can do something…anything…right now we can’t even log on to the computers for internet because we don’t have accounts. Rumor has it these won’t even be set up until after orientation. I seriously hope this rumor is wrong, or I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself. I need a bicycle, but I can’t communicate with the head caretaker, who speaks only Japanese but also has the used-bike hookup. Four of the guys—two from UC, one from Clemson and one from Australia—and I trekked into Nagoya yesterday, but it’s about a 10-minute walk to the bus station, then a 20 minute bus ride to the rail station, and then a 30-minute subway ride downtown, so any trip to the city automatically requires two hours of commuting there and back again. All we did when we got there was wander the same block for two hours and then end up eating at McDonalds. McDonalds?!? Are you kidding me? Having come from a family of three daughters, I never cease to be amazed at the things that boys do. Yesterday I learned that boys, even really cool ones, can actually have bad taste, a terrible sense of direction and be extremely inefficient. Oh, well, there will be many other chances to go into Nagoya…with other girls along as well, next time, to create some gender balance!

So the past few days have basically amounted to new students arriving continuously, many trips to the supermarket and hyaku yen store (dollar store), many card games in the evenings, and many different types of beers tasted. Tonight the I-House caretakers are having a bring-your-own-beer welcome party for us, so I’m sure that will present further opportunity for Japanese drink show-and-tell. Imported beverages are available in the supermarket (and, but Japanese beer is cheaper and there are so many varieties that we are all finding something we like. My favorite beer label thus far is Sapporo, and their best drink in my book is Chu-Hi—kind of a mixed drink that comes in citrus flavors. (For those of you who either know Chu-Hi or know me well, you’ll understand if I say I also love Chu-Hi for its cans—I think the design is really pretty!) (:

Okay, so for the update, it’s now post-party time and I had some delish (“oishi,” in Japanese!) sake punch. It really needed a mixer for a bit more flavor because it was so weak, though…but I suppose that RAs can’t serve anything too concentrated, even here (; It’s been a fun night regardless, and I think I’ve met just about everyone in the house, though I admit I spend my time just about evenly split between the Anglophones United and the Français. However, since these two groups collectively encompass nearly 90% of the I-House residents, I don’t feel too terribly guilty for it.

I’m having quite a time of making myself sit down and do the rest of the work to apply for spring semester at the American University in Dubai…first, working on the application takes time away from me spending it with the other fabulous students here; second, it’s hard for me to want to make any conscious effort to leave here earlier than I absolutely have to; and lastly, applications are just a lot of work, and coordinating this one (with recommendations and transcripts still overseas) is proving complicated, particularly without reliable internet access. I can still only log on for as long as someone else is willing to share their I-House network password with me—which is why I’ve blogged my past week’s entries in Word on my laptop, and which is why they will all appear under the same date on my blog when I am finally able to get internet on my own computer. ::sigh:: Random thought for the day: one of my new Aussie friends, Lana, thinks I look so much like an American cheerleader. Fantastic.

I’m quite well settled in now and have decorated one wall of my room with black and white calendar scenes of Paris—doesn’t look half bad, actually. Calendars work beautifully for cheap, disposable decorating (; The pillows here are more or less beanbags—and miniature, on top of that—so half the time I opt to sleep without it. Other than that the only interesting note about my room is the trash separation! Most other students just throw all theirs together and sort it in the kitchens or downstairs, but I’d rather sort it in my room because it can get really messy if you don’t. You have to sort by burnable, nonburnable, plastic recyclables, special Pet bottle plastic recyclables (label-free, cap-free and rinsed, of course), glass bottles, cans, and I think one other category that I can’t remember. Basically, it’s a bloody mess. (Oh, sorry, did I just lapse into British?)

10 September 2006

Today we finally broke out of I-House again (woooooo) for a gaijin-en-masse rampage (Japanese and French for a huge crowd of foreigners) of Big Camera in Nagoya. I think I’ve touched on what Big Camera is previously, but as a review: it’s an enormous neon-to-the-umpteenth-power electronics store with I think 12 floors in Tokyo and at least 4 or 5 here in Nagoya. Oh, and they sell liquor there, too…random side benefit of any Big Camera trip that the guys are sure not to let us forget. However, since this Nagoya trip involved two lovely Aussie girls (read: I was [insert-sigh-of-relief-here] not the sole female on this trip), we decided to leave the boys at Big Camera after about thirty minutes. We went window-shopping around the Nagoya Station indoor shops, and then went to Oasis 21, a crazy-awesome postmodern-looking station/shopping center/concert hall/park combination just adjacent to the Aichi Performing Arts Center. Both are a few stops away from Nagoya Station by rail at Sakae. Mel, Rachel and I had lunch at one of the best types of sushi restaurants on the market: conveyor-belt sushi. The kitchen is in the center of the restaurant, and as chefs serve up all kinds of delicious (oishi!) sushi, sashimi, and other raw delicacies, they are placed on color-coded plates to indicate the price and circled around the restaurant via conveyor belt. Each table has access to a part of the belt, and you simply take off what looks good to you! Your bill is totaled by the number and color of plates left on your table…and I challenge even the most seasoned traveler of this country to find a fresher, tastier, or more filling sushi meal than what you can get a la conveyor belt. (According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, this is a safe bet—it can’t be beat!) My oishi and oh-so-filling meal included raw octopus on rice, crab salad sushi, okra sushi with dried fish flake topping, and nato sushi (made with fermented Japanese soybeans). Total damage? 504 yen. (Just for a comparison, the ice cream cup alone I bought at Baskin Robbins afterwards cost 525 yen.) So, by all measures, lunch was fantastic.

After sushi, Rachel & Mel and I decided to head back to I-House to rest up for what was supposed to be our first karaoke experience—however, later in the evening, this was vetoed after a) looking at our orientation schedules to see we had a full day beginning early in the morning, and b) deciding it was just too much trouble to go out again. I-House is just down the street from NUFS and a short walk from two supermarkets, two large home centers and a number of convenience shops and restaurants, but it’s sooooooooooo miserably far from the city. For Ohioans: it’s like living in, maybe, Lebanon, and wanting to go into Cincinnati via mass transit. Yeeeah. For Virginians: it’s like living in, maybe, Dublin, and wanting to go into—oh wait, there aren’t any cities anywhere! It’s Dublin! (: And the worst part is that the last bus to our remote stop (still half a mile up the road) leaves the other end of the line at 10:45pm. So every night, we say “okay, tonight will be our first karaoke night!”—and then we end up deciding unanimously we’d rather stay here and create our own fun. That’s okay with me for maybe one weekend, but next weekend, karaoke or no karaoke, I can guarantee you I will not be at I-House the majority of the time. My time here is too short to be spent here, even as nice as this place is!

11 September 2006

Today was the first day of orientation; which must have run much more smoothly than expected, given the lengthy breaks between sessions that resulted! In the morning, we had a general paperwork session, with a welcoming open by the president of NUFS and an introduction to the Japanese Language Institute by Momiyama-san, the director, with whom I’ve been in communication via email for months. He was very kind, funny, and spoke excellent English, so my I-Housemate sitting next to me, Fishman (you may as well be officially introduced to this kid by name, as I’m sure you’ll hear more crazy stories about him), didn’t have to translate for me. The rest of the session was completing forms and signing up for our post office account (simple bank accounts run by the postal system are the cheapest and simplest way to get an account in Japan, apparently), our alien registration cards, etc. We finished all this early, so I ran back to I-House for a little break and some lunch. Our first after-lunch activity was a campus tour, which was pretty brief and unexciting—the NUFS campus is tiny—but at least reassuring that it will be virtually impossible to get lost. The campus tour finished extra early, so we all hung out in the student center, whose official name is “Communication Plaza,” shortened to “kamipura” by the students. It reminds me a bit of UC’s Tangeman Center, somewhat postmodern with light wood furniture in a curvy-ish design (wow, the DAAPers reading this are in serious pain at my architectural/interior design descriptions!) and assorted signs, ceiling-hangings, etc. in various abstract shapes and bright colors. I made friends with the two students from Japan Circle—and NUFS Club for Japanese students who are interested in promoting Japanese language and culture by assisting exchange students—who gave our campus tour. Their names are Akane and Mai, both girls, who were very sweet despite speaking only a tiny bit of English. To my surprise, I communicated with them as effectively as any of the other students at our table…only because long after the other exchange students had taken to talking amongst themselves in English, I was still trying to go back and forth with these girls in some crazy mix of English and Japanese! I’m determined to make Japanese friends here, no matter how hard it is for me, because once I make a good connection with a few other students they will be able to show me “the real Japan” in a way that I will never discover it with my I-Housemates, no matter how fabulous they are. Also on the note of exploring Japan with the Japanese—I found out today I can apply for a homestay program, though it entails (at its longest) only a one-time weekend visit. Still, two days and one night with a Japanese family would allow ample time for a friendship to be built, and I know it will make for an unforgettable weekend! I’m signing up to do it on the only date available to students in my program, which is coming up in just a month—October 14 & 15. So, if you read this blog no other time, be sure to check for a post the following week…should be quite worth your while (:

Okay, I still haven’t figured out how to make the Internet work despite having received my password information today at the final session of orientation…so I’m going to go get our awesome I-House assistant caretakers (NUFS students who happen to be fantastically patient and cool with weird international students!), Kayo, Gucci, or Chie, to help me with this (: Itte rasshai!

)*:

2006-09-03T18:14:00.000-04:00

Well, I suppose it had to happen sooner or later...but I had a pretty bad day yesterday! I felt sick all morning, which did not work well with the fact that I had intended to rent a bicycle but couldn't find the bike rental shop and ended up walking all the way to my destination. It was probably comparable to walking half of Manhattan. Normally I love walking - but my stomach was not very agreeable to that change in plans yesterday! Once I got to the park & gardens surrounding the Imperial Palace, I thought "Oh, lovely, how beautiful, this will really make me feel better." Unfortunately I got thirty bug bites within the first three minutes of being inside the gardens. It's so unfair - bugs find me no matter what continent I try to hide on. It took me awhile to find my way out of the huge park to escape the bugs, after which I enjoyed a cooling respite in a gorgeous fountain (DC friends, notice a theme here? I really like wading in fountains!!!) along with a bunch of like-minded children AND, to my relief, otherwise-responsible looking adults as well (; Little did I realize that I had been outside in direct sunlight from 8am to the present time of 1pm...with no sunscreen, probably the one essential that I forgot to bring. Oh, at this point I also had blisters from my beloved flip flops, too - since any shoe can rub blisters after five or six miles of walking. I limped to Tokyo Station and, thanks only to the friendliness of a random Japanese student who wanted to use their English, found the train I needed on the Japanese-characters-only maps. I was going to Hirai, where my guide Koji had told me there would be a traditional Japanese street festival around 2pm yesterday. Unfortuantely, when I arrived, I could find nothing of the sort. I'm sure there was indeed a festival, but it was nowhere near the station - I walked the surrounding streets for 2 hours trying to find signs, clues, etc of a festival and turned up empty-handed (and only more blistered and sunburned.) So, exhausted and dirty, I came back to my youth hostel as early as they opened their doors for the evening, took a shower, and crawled into bed with a wet washcloth on my sunburned shoulders. I slept for a splendid ten hours.

Oh, I forgot to add the promising gem of the story - yesterday on my way back to the hostel, I became very angry and determined to use the energy to find that bike rental shop. I found it. And as I am on my way there now, today is already going to be better! (:

so happy, i have no words in english.

2006-09-02T19:09:00.001-04:00

It's an all too common situation that I am unable to express myself in Japanese. However, you know something has really touched me when I can't even find the words in English - and that is exactly how I feel following my Saturday spent with a volunteer from Tokyo Free Guides.

I suspected Koji was going to be a great guide before I even arrived in Japan because he assisted me in finding English maps to get to my youth hostel, among filling in other essential gaps in my knowledge of Tokyo! But after meeting him, I truly feel I have a friend and not just a helpful contact here. He described himself at one point as "every Japanese man" - a 30-year-old business consultant, a "salaryman," who enjoyed sports and travel. I would agree that he gave me a very pertinent perspective on the life of young professionals in Japan; but because of his great kindness and willingness to share his life with me, just some random American, I would imagine his character could hardly be ubiquitous, even in a country as welcoming as Japan!

Koji met me at my hostel yesterday morning, where I rented a bike so we could enjoy the lovely weather. Fortunately, Saturday saw auspicious blue skies and sun in the place of Friday's steady rain! (I did get a huge kick out of the fact that, late in the day, Koji noticed my cheeks being a little pink from the sun and he asked very politely if I was concerned about getting too much sun. I just had to laugh and explain that in America, tan is the vogue, unlike Japan where women often carry parasols during the summer to avoid spoiling their prized paleness! I think he thought I was rather wild for a woman - not only did I travel alone, but I could keep up with him biking through the city and I liked sun on my skin!) Anyway, back to our day. We began at Asakusa, where we visited a Buddhist temple and numerous Shinto Shrines, at which Koji explained to me the proper way to pay respects to the gods. We then walked through the traditional Japanese shops in the area and had Japanese ice cream sandwiches, which are 1) half the size of the American version, 2) served on a rice cracker product (a lot like a less sugary vanilla wafer), and 3) come with a variety of crazy ice creams, like sweet potato, green tea, red bean, and sesame seed. (I wimped out and went for vanilla - but only because I had tried a vanilla ice cream on Friday and it is so delicious here!!)

After Asakusa, we biked over the Sumida River to the Tokyo-Edo Museum, a huge museum dedicated to Japanese history, with an emphasis on the Edo period. It was quite fascinating and provided a good chance for me to have the input of a modern-day Japanese guide - Koji was a lot like me in, for example, the American History Smithsonian - I would have a general idea of American history but the museum would still provide many opportunities for me to learn and comment on how history relates to present-day life in the US. His respective insights on Japan made for great conversation. Our late lunch was a special treat - we went to a restaurant whose name I can't pronounce and whose menu I couldn't read, and it was fantastic!!! Koji said it was a fairly common type of restaurant that is usually opened by retired sumo wrestlers, because the menu is based on the food sumo wrestlers eat (en masse) during their careers. (No need to be alarmed though, I won't come home weighing in at 210 lbs; when eaten in normal portions, even sumo fare is healthfood!) In Japanese restaurants, food is almost always cooked at the table by the guests; only drinks and bowls of ingredients are served to the table by the owners of the establishment. Koji and I shared what I can only describe as a noodle and seafood hotpot or soup type meal: it included clear "fiber noodles," as Koji called them; bean sprouts, celery, and a Japanese vegetable for which Koji couldn't find a good English translation; tofu and a delicious miso broth; and shrimp, some kind of silvery fish, and some other unrecognizable and delectable seafoods. I loved it. Oh, and I was terribly proud when Koji praised my chopsticks skills - soup and noodle dishes aren't exactly a "piece of cake" - yuck, yuck.

Refueled, we again mounted our bikes and took a longer ride back across the Sumida River and south towards Tsukiji, the famous Tokyo fish market, and Ginza, the ritzy neon insanity of Tokyo's classy shopping district. On our way we crossed countless small bridges - reminded me of Venice's scenic canals with uniquely Japanese characteristics! - and several large ones that provided spectacular views of the city's endless skyscrapers. In other big cities, I commented to Koji, there might be one well-known bridge from which an excellent view of the city skyline is available. But in Tokyo, there is one after the next after the next - this place never ends!!! Our 40ish minute bikeride was fabulous - just as I experienced renting a bike in Paris, I felt very much a part of the rush of the city while riding through it dodging pedestrians, pets, bikers, cars and other random objects alike. Great fun, really. And none of these nonsense helmet laws in Japan! (I mean, clearly it isn't dangerous or anything...) The highlight of the ride, other than the bridge views, had to be a near catastrophe when Koji and I screeched to a stop outside a congested supermarket. Bikes were strewn every which way along a 20-foot stretch of sidewalk facing the store - maybe 60 in all! Koji's explanation: "Typical Japanese...lots of illegal parking outside supermarkets." Illegal bike parking? Wow. That was a priceless moment.

Our next stop was Kabuki-za, the best Japanese kabuki theatre in the country (I think...at least the best in Tokyo.) We grabbed standing-room-only spaces for one act of the running play and joined a crowd of maybe 300 in a very cozy (and warm, due to an aging air conditioning system!) but beautiful traditional theatre. The funniest part was that at the conclusion of the act, I had understood more than Koji! Kabuki is performed in oldstyle Japanese language, so it would be somewhat similar to attending a Shakespeare play without any prior knowledge of the plot or the real meaning behind the spoken words. I had the advantage of an English audio-guide that, in plain vernacular, pointed out the basic message every time an actors delivered a line. Like many Shakespeare plays, the themes were love, loyalty to one's master, and military strategy, the combinated of which resulted in treason, betrayal and ultimately death for one of the characters. Yay kabuki!

This post is getting really long and my hand is falling asleep, so I will be brief in summarizing the rest of the evening. We proceeded by bike to Ginza, where we walked around the famous department store whose name I have now forgotten and, more notably, Bic Camera, the favorite electronics store of all Tokyoites! Koji said that the normal family works and goes to school Monday-Saturday, and comes to Bic Camera on Sunday to buy appliances. I can definitely see how you could do this every Sunday of your life and never own everything. There is a Japanese gadget for everything you can imagine, from tiny dishwashers to miniature portable stove units to robot-operated vaccuum-type cleaners (just hit go and come back later, it will clean the entire house for you) - and that's only in household items. The other 10 floors cover everything else. It was seriously too much to take in!

From Bic Camera, we went back to Tsukiji (fish market area with many good restaurants that are open later, though the fish market is only early in the morning) and met two of Koji's friends, Miyuki and Akiko (both women) for dinner. Again, we cooked at the table; and this time we enjoyed a several-course meal beginning with a cabbage and noodle appetizer, followed by a mixed seafood dish (shrimp, scallops, octopus, squid, and more), followed be a westernized course of tomatoes, cheese and cabbage, and finished with a Japanese pancake of egg and vegetables. I also got to have my first Japanese beer (Asahi, I believe - it's like the ever-popular Bud Light of Japan), something kind of cloudy-looking that might compare to a cream soda with alcohol, and plum sake - very light and delicious! Koji's friends were, like him, incredibly friendly and very well-spoken in English. Miyuki had worked for two years in Australia and, like Koji, traveled to several major cities in the US - Akiko, though she had never visited the US, was a very dedicated university student ("I was drinking too much sake," Miyuki laughed when saying Akiko was quite the scholar) and had an impressive ability to articulate in English the very specific details of Japanese history and culture. It was a wonderful meal and even concluded with a rite of passage: my first opportunity to use a Japanese toilet. Thanks to numerous internet sites dedicated to the how-to's of this terrifying contraption, I survived. All you need is a little balance and some courage - so while I may have been running out of the former after those drinks, my new friends had given me more than enough of the latter to compensate (:

By the time we left the restaurant, it was nearing the lockout time at my hostel, so Koji kindly accompanied me on the 45 minute bike ride back. I was so excited after such a wonderful day that it took conversations with two Israelis, two Germans, one French, one Korean and one Chinese guest for me to wind down and finally be ready for bed (: An amazing day by any measure. I can't wait to start a similar organization to Tokyo Free Guides in an American city...that is, if I can live in one long enough to begin it. I am having such a fabulous time in Japan I may just have to live here first!!!

attn: gaijin in tokyo!

2006-08-31T19:45:00.000-04:00

Konnichiwa from Asakusa, Tokyo! I am finally here and have finally slept (and showered, and had coffee - you know, all the essentials in life.) My flight went smoothly from Chicago and as our Boeing 747 had many empty seats, it was quite pleasant despite a 2-hour hold on the runway (had to fix the brakes...no, of course that didn't make me nervous, why would you think a thing like that?!?) followed by the 13-hours flight. Oh, by the way, Dad - I am a vegetarian - just a heads-up for future plane tickets where you have to specify the meal option! ; ) It wasn't so terrible, one meal and one snack were vegetarian anyway, and the other meal I just had to eat rice and fruit and dessert since there was chicken in the vegetable curry and turkey on the salad. Certainly not the end of the world - but I got a kick out of the fact that naturally my carniverous father forgot that detail! (love you, Dad!!)

Once I got out of Narita, things got interesting. The airport itself was incredibly clean - it literally shone, it looked like it was brand new! - and easy to navigate with many English signs. However, once I purchased a chikatetsu (subway) ticket to go into Tokyo, I got very very sleepy...and was afraid I had missed my stop after being on the train for an hour and a half!! Turns out that Narita is just really far away and I was not on any sort of express train, so we stopped at every stop. I got off at the Ueno Station, lugged my 69lb suitcase, hiking pack and gigantic purse (yes, Mr. Terry Jones, these items collectively equalled at least the weight of "Little Bits" herself) up above ground, and crossed the street to enter the Japan Rail station to take another subway line. I had one more transfer (so two ticket purchases and three escalator-less stations to manage) before reaching the stop for my hostel. I admit, I did struggle with my bags - but fortunately the men in Japan are incredibly chivalrous, even to gaijin (foreigners), and in each station one man offered to take my bag for me. So I can really only claim to have done half of those stairs...about halfway through each flight, someone offered to help. I love Japan already! Too bad Japanese boys my age are about as mature as American boys my age...because when I reached my hostel and was assigned a room on the fourth floor, none of the boys who witnessed me heaving my bag up four flights of stairs offered a hand. ::sigh:: Oh, well, guys in their early twenties must be a universal disappointment! ; )

My hostel is absolutely adorable (other than not having an elevator.) My room has four beds and spaces between them too small for me to even lay down my suitcase. It also has rice paper walls and tatami floors - very traditional look, despite the western-style cots. The bathrooms are also a mix of western and traditional: western-style toilets (so I get to further delay my fear of Japanese holes-in-the-floor) and sinks, but decorated elaborately and complete with toilet shoes, of course. I have been such a mess trying to wear the right slippers everywhere: when I enter the hostel, I must put on slippers provided by the hostel (and it's a good thing I have small feet, because only about 10 pairs of slippers are larger than my size 6 foot, and about 20 pairs are smaller!!) - then to go in the bathroom, there are different slippers provided at the door of the bathroom. It is definitely a good system, though: this place is spotless. And to be in Tokyo and cost 3000 yen per night, it is an amazing bargain!

Today I am planning to visit the local yubinkyoku (post office) for stamps and to use the ATM (these are very hard to find in Japan, and are open limited hours only!), and then rent a bike and explore the historic areas of Asakusa and Ueno, as well as what I have been told is a lovely path along the Sumida River, which is very close to my hostel. Tonight I think I will be less of a loner and go to a karaoke bar. I mean, karaoke is half of the reason I came to Japan in the first place, right? Must check it out right away!

I am doing well and have absolutely loved hearing from so many of you since I sent out the link to this blog. Please keep your comments coming - I will email more of you individually over the weekend! Tokyo is already incredible and I am so impressed with the friendliness of the Japanese people. This experience is going to be fabulous. Dewa matane! (Well then...see you later!)

leavin' on a jet...train?

2006-08-13T21:40:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I know, very bad joke. But right now I'm really wishing I was going to fly back to DC, instead of taking a train through the night! I am currently in the (staggering metropolis of) Groton, Connecticut, where I've been visiting a friend from UC who is co-oping for Pfizer. We've filled a long weekend with trips to Rhode Island beaches, Stonington Vineyards, the Mystic Arts Festival, and Manhattan (specifically, MoMA). The best part of this weekend has undoubtedly been the INCREDIBLE late-summer weather...highs not topping eighty farenheit with clear skies, zero humidity and a crispness in the days that is uncommon before mid-October. I hope this lovely weather pattern follows me back to Washington, where the three H's have been truly unbearable over the past few weeks. It would be oh-so-nice for my last few days in town to be pretty!

Time to get my things together and head to the train station. Cheers to an anticlimactic first post!