Japanese Diary

2002-12-18T21:29:00.000-08:00

Well, my trip to Japan is almost over. I know I am going to miss it, but I dont know quite what yet. I am sure it will become more apperant once I get home.

I am also going to continue to update this webpage with more information once I get to look at all the pictures I have taken. I have 19 roles to develop so that should job a few more memories of this trip :).

2002-12-17T17:21:00.000-08:00

I finished with Karate yesterday. I have to say that Aikido was much more interesting. Mostly because you could do more hands on things with Aikido than you could with Karate. Most of Karate felt like I was punching/kicking air in a silly manner. We did watch a video for one class period though, and that was interesting. All sorts of wacky things were in it, like people breaking stuff, and this one guy jumping over a car driving at him.

Oh yeah, My Dad would always tell me that when traveling the local people would always be impressed if you try to use their language first. I think this is easier to see in Europe than Japan(A lot more variety in languages). But through talking to people from a variety of Asian countries they are generally impressed if you know where their country is on the globe, and a little of its history. Not sure if this is just low standards set for Americans though...

2002-12-10T06:49:00.000-08:00

I finished with caligraphy class today. It was both interesting and annoying at the same time. The teacher showed us where a lot of hirigana and katakana came from. It was also neat to try my hand at doing some caligraphy at the same time. The annoying part came in that Japanese caligraphy just doesnt look right when done with the left hand. I can try to compensate for this by writing everything backwards(Which I tend to do anyway in English when writing characters), and it works for some of the kana characters, but my Kanji just dont really look right. Ahh well...

I did get YC to do some kanji caligraphy for me, which does look really good. I guess it helps to grow up with the stuff...:)

2002-12-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

Sending out 19 post cards is a royal pain in the butt. Ugh. At least its over now....

Another neat thing about Kyoto:
A geisha who is under 20 years old is called a Miko(Mika, something like that). However, it has become popular with younger ladies in Kyoto to dress up like this and walk around the temple district. So you can see young ladies in traditional kimonos, with the face painted up traditionally, and the hair done traditionally. I thought this was really cool. I had my picture taken with some of them :). Its also really nice to go to the old temples when they are around. It makes it feel so much more traditional.

2002-12-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

I think Kyoto was by far the most interesting Japanese city that I have gone too. To put things in perspective, 1/3 off all the pictures I have taken in Japan are from Kyoto. Now this may drop to 1/4(I need to go buy some more film), but its still really impressive considering the fact that I only spent 2 days in Kyoto.

Kyoto itself is an interesting mix of old and new. There are some really modern shopping centers, and not 5 mins. away you can go to a temple that has been there forever(Or, well..Forever by American standards).

I really enjoyed going to all the different temples, shrines, and the one castle I managed to go too. I was also really lucky that they had two temples open during the nighttime with lighting to make it look really nice. The temples were all really impressive as well. I think one of the ones we visited is the world's largest wooden structure. They must have all coasted fortunes to make.

I also really enjoyed going to a museum about the Meji Revolution. They had a map of Kyoto with super deformed characters showing people what happened. It was neat to see I walked by a place where the Shinsen Gumi assassinated someone.

Seeing so much Shinsen Gumi things was also not something I was expecting. For people who dont know about the Shinsen Gumi this link has some of its history:
http://members.fortunecity.com/roninanime/ronin_shinsengumi.htm
It is however something I really enjoyed. Even if half of the Shinsen Gumi things I saw were Shinsen Gumi Doriamon, or Shinsen Gumi Hello Kitty.

2002-12-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

I went and got my hair cut yesterday. Its been something I have been meaning to do for some time now, but I have been getting distracted by other things. For the most part that hair cut was the same as in America. It did demonstrate that while I have built up some Japanese vocabulary in some areas, in others I still dont know enough.

The Major differences were that you also got a strait razor shave, and a shampoo as part of the hair cut. Also the barber did the entire haircut without use of the overgrown beard trimmer. It also costs about $10 more, but if you had all those services in America its not that bad.

Off to Kyoto this weekend. That should be fun :)

2002-12-04T22:59:00.000-08:00

My Japanese tea ceremony class is now over. It wasnt as boring as some people led us on to believe. It mostly consisted of several rituals where you have to clean the tea implements, make the tea, and then clean everything again. Most things were cleaned with either a cloth napkin that had to be folded in a specific way(And refolded everytime you used it), or with hot water and another cleaning utensil.

If you werent making the tea the most of the ritual involved sitting in seza, eating a piece of dessert(which usually had some form of anko(Japanese sweat bean paste) in it), then drinking the tea. You also had to bow when receiving the dessert and tea. I think the dessert and tea really compliment each other. The tea is a little bitter and the dessert is a little sweet so they mesh together really well.

2002-12-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, if anyone from Japan recognises Milwaukee, all they know it for is beer. I find that really interesting.

2002-12-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, if you are going to do souvenir shopping in Japan, dont go to any formal souvenir store. Go to the different temples and shrines. Every temple or shrine I have been to so far has had a gift shop. Both Buddhist and Shinto shrines have some really neat different souvenirs. I really like the Momori that I have bought at the different Shinto shrines. Momori are little, for lack of a better word(s), shinto protection dealies. Different Momori are supposed to protect you from different things. A lot of the foreign exchange students at least have one on their backpacks. At the Buddhist shrine I picked up a metal abbacus, a Buddhist bead bracelt, and a little metal keychain fish(Which is really really cool).

This was also my first Buddhist temple I went too. The temple claimed to be the oldest surviving building in Nagasaki. Chinese imagrants were supposed to have brought the entire temple over to Nagasaki. My host mother says it is much more of a Chinese style temple than Japanese, which is to be expected. It was also painted mostly red. It had a lot more detailed statues and more gold than I am used to seeing in a Shinto temple.

I also finished all the film I brought with me. Thats 10 roles so far. I need to go buy some more before I head out to Kyoto.

2002-12-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

Something really cool I have seen is roadside produce stands. The most common thing they have for sale is Japanese oranges, but I have seen all sorts of fruits and vegatables offered. The interesting bit is that they dont have anybody working at them. They have the produce in bags, and then they have the price listed, and then there is just a little strongbox to put your money in. I doubt this would work in America, for a lot of reasons, but its still really cool to see in Japan...

2002-12-01T18:56:00.000-08:00

Two smaller observations today:
I find it really funny when I get explained the meaning of katakana words in Japanese. I know I dont know all katakana words(They arent all english words, or the word has been changed in some way), but I still enjoy being told what a barucodo is.

Also on every burnable garbage day I see lots of books being thrown out. Usually whole piles of em. I just feels wrong to waste printed things in that way to me. I would guess most Americans would have very negative connotations with burning books as well. Seb agrees that when you hear "burning books" what springs to mind is Nazi's. Especially the scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where he goes to Berlin.

Not that I havent burned a book before. I did it once. With a $.99 book. To tease Gilby. It was only Orson Scott Card's Enders Game so it wasnt like I burned anything worthwhile. ;)

2002-11-27T04:06:00.000-08:00

Ive talked about how Japan doesnt have brandname store saturation like America. But I have been thinking about other form of store saturation that it has. It sometimes feels like you cant throw a rock without hitting a pachinko parlor. I would also bet that Nagasaki city has more Arcades than the entire state of Wisconsin. I would be curious to see how Tokyo matches up to the entirety of the United States that way.

2002-11-27T00:03:00.000-08:00

My host family took me on a bus tour of Kyushu this weekend. The basic tour was that you were driven to some nice spot, hiked around for a while, took some pictures, and then were driven to the next spot. In a group of course :). They also gave you a little badge to wear so that you knew what group you were on. But enough about that.

The wilds of Kyushu are really beautiful. Especially the plateau's and mountains. Its really cool to see those. I think I get the best view of this at a spot which showed off the 5 mountains. They were supposed to look like a Budda resting on his back and I think I can see that.

I also saw some of my first rivers in Japan that didnt have concrete sides and bottoms. I dont know why every other river in Japan that I have seen does, but it seems a awful waste of resources to me. Especially considering that you dont see the concrete on the bottom anymore.

But those were really beautiful as well. Especially because of the rocks in the water forming watefalls and whirlpools.

And all...Because I am seeing it now, and saw it on the trip. Fall in Japan is really different from Fall in Wisconsin. Here a minority of the trees shed their leaves so that the forest looks more sick to me. Its like looking at a forest where every tenth tree is dead. Individual, some of the trees have some really great colloration to them, but the overall effect is slightly off putting. Of course I would really like to hear about what the Japanese reaction to the opposite happening is.

2002-11-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

The foreign exchange students had lunch and then spent a few hours with some Japanese elementary students. It was fun to play a little basketball and soccer with them. They also showed us a talent show. The part that I found interesting about the talent show was that they were always doing things in groups. Even if it was readily apparent that only one student had any skill in what they were doing, they still had a few other students up there doing stuff with them.

They also asked some questions to the students. Things like what was the first Japanese word you learned, what Japanese food do you like, and what Japanese animie is popular in your country. Tonari no Totaro is apparently really popular in Korea.

2002-11-21T22:32:00.000-08:00

This monday I went to see the Mitsubishi factory. We toured their motor building factory, their tv and monitar building factory, and their air conditioner factory. I expected to see more polite smilling workers working quickly. It was more of a slow paced workers quitely working with themselves. The lack of talking or music was the really surprising part. I was expecting to at least hear music. I guess that comes from working at the Roundy's warehouse were every worker listened to music.

It was however much more clean than I remember Roundy's being. And not just in the electronics, but everywhere was cleaner. The workers didnt look as ragged as Roundy's workers either. I think a dress code where the company gives you the clothing may help this.

2002-11-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

This last weekend I went to Fokouka with three other American students. You dont know how small Nagasaki really feels until you actually go to a bigger city. We went to some interesting places in Fokouka. The Shinto shrine that is outside of the city is much bigger and much more colorfull. It was especially cool because there was something going on there on the day we went so there were a lot of people dressed up in traditional wear. Lots of kids dressed up this way. I bought more protective Shinto dealies(cant remember their name). They are little charms made out of fabric that are supposed to be good for different things. Fokouka also has some very good Ramen. It was the first decently spicy food that I had in Japan(Much spicier than the Korean food). We also went to a traditional Japanese bar. I guess I am getting more used to drinking Shochu because it doesnt taste that bad in hot water any more.

The next day we went out to Fokouka dome, and tower. It looks really different from Tokyo tower as they put glass on the outside so it looks more like a skyscraper. We also saw a really nice Chinese Junk in the sea. We had lunch at Hard Rock Fokouka. Better than Wendys and its nice to get some American confort food every now and again.

It was also interesting to see the Fokouka nitelife again. Someone needs to bug Seb until he posts the "Pocky" flyer that I found. He kept it as a souvanier.

Shopping Fokouka also reinforced some thoughts about Japanese malls. These malls were more like American malls in layout but they didnt have any standard chain stores like I see in every American mall. I think to find what you want to buy in Japan sometimes realy requires a Japanese person helping you.

2002-11-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

I also cooked Jambalaya(Thats how the Japanese MS Word tells me to spell it) for my host family a few weeks ago. It was slightly modified from the normal recipe in that I didnt have any spicy sauce, and that my host mother cooked the rice seperately in a rice cooker. I think it turned out pretty good. My host sister asked for me to cook it again some time.

The most interesting part about it was being on the other end of the ittedakimasu and the gochisosama. I never really thought about how those were really thanking the cheif more than anyone else whan you say that...

2002-11-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

Well the School Festival was last weekend so I figure I should eventually write something about it. For the most part it was different student groups selling food, and some really really bad bands. The food wasnt bad. However, I think half of it was sold to friends who were talked into buying it. And vice versa. The Korean food was pretty good, and slightly spicy. I had a form of Korean Okonomiyaki, and some sort of Korean rice dish. The Chinese students were making some sort of boiled dumpling that wasnt that bad either.

As for the bands, I dont know if the Japanese knows what feedback is. Every band that attempted playing had major feedback problems. This wasnt just a problem with the bands either. At one point, during some traditional dance some students were putting a microphone by the cd player to get it to play louder. It wouldnt be so bad but the American tent was about 5 meters away.

Will try to post more thoughts later...

2002-11-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

There is another Sebastian at Gaidai. However, he is a prof and from England. Its is kinda cool talking to him about Japanese culture sometime. He verified my belief that dark humor isnt a Japanese thing. Or at least not Dark humor like I know it. I also learned that Brits like to make fun of Italians in the same way that Americans make fun of the French(Not to say that they dont also make fun of the French). It was fun to swap French WW2 Jokes for Italian ones. He also showed me a webpage which is the British version of the Onion. Its called the Brain Trust, and its located at:http://www.thebrainstrust.co.uk/ . I like the article about the UK calling for a Regime Change in France. The comments after the articles are interesting as well.

There is also a student from Kenya at Gaidai. His name is Peter Ngingi I think. He speeks a lot of languages and can speak English really well. Its just more proof that growing up with a ton of languages really helps you learn languages. He also notices accent differnces between the Americans. I didnt really notice any. Other than the continuing Soda/Pop/Soda Pop debate.

2002-11-12T23:03:00.000-08:00

Watching Sumo review ruins the whole reason for watching Sumo. The sport itself is really simple compaired to western wrestling during play. There arent as many moves, and matches tend to be over very quickly. The interesting part about Sumo is the mind games the two wrestlers play with each other before the match begins. This is really interesting to watch and they eye each other up several times before actually beginning a match. Just watching the matches cuts out this very important bit. It just doesnt feel as fun to watch anymore.

It also cuts out all the traditional bits. Which I also find interesting to watch...

2002-11-10T22:59:00.000-08:00

It is getting colder in Japan. Not as cold as winter in Wisconsin. If its not raining, more than half the time I would still consider it shorts weather in Nagasaki. Especially if the sun is out. Not so for the Japanese people. Most people I see are dressed appropriately for the dead of winter in Wisconsin. I get asked if I am ok about once every 5 mins if I am in what I consider appropriate wear.

There is the flip side of the coin as well. Yasuko, my host sister, likes her bath at a temperature, which I would describe as the human lobster level of bath water.

2002-11-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

With some of the Japanese students there is a game we kinda played. It started as a joke.

Basicly you ask them if what country does it look like an American is from. So far Seb is the only one who looks truly American. Ben looks English. I look German. I guess it could be worse. Don(ald) is supposed to look French. He isnt very happy about that.

2002-11-07T17:48:00.000-08:00

Gaidai (The college I am attending) has a security guard. He has his own little guardhouse, and it is right next to the superfluous school gate. It's interesting to see him because he is always so cheery. Always. He always smiles and says Hello or goodbye to every student passing through. However, for the most part it is study abroad students who respond to him. Most of the Japanese students just ignore him.
It is also interesting because he has a bachelor's degree in economics and can speak English pretty well. I think he can also speak some other languages as well. I wonder why he is working as a security guard....

2002-11-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah...

I have also been looking into traveling a little around Japan. I think I will be trying to go to Foukoka, and Kyoto. However travel in Japan is incredibly expensive. A round trip bus trip to Foukoka isnt bad at about $40, but a round trip overnight bus trip to Kyoto costs $200. I would really like to know why it costs so much.

It was also fun talking to my conversation partner about this. She was really amased at the $20 gets you anywhere in the Country sale that Greyhound buses have had.

2002-11-04T20:59:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah...Last week was one of my Japanese teachers birthdays. She said she wasnted going to be doing anything for her birthday(Which really sucks...) so Seb bought some candles and I bought a piece of cake. We then wrote Happy Birthday, and How old are you on the board in Japanese before class started(Of course that question never got answered).

It was really fun to watch her reaction to the whole thing. She didnt erase the message on the board the whole class, and just kept writing more and more notes around it.

All in all, for 200 yen for a piece of cake it was well worth it...

2002-11-04T20:55:00.000-08:00

This last weekend my host family took me to a traditional Japanese seaside BBQ. Each restaurant "stall" has a little wood BBQ stove you sit around to eat your meal. It also wasnt much of a restaurant by traditional standards. It had used small rocks for the floor, and was basicly a roof over the customers heads. All the shellfish are also given to you alive. It was kinda interesting to see clams open and close as they are being cooked.

The food itself was pretty good. There is a definite taste difference between a fully cooked shellfish and one that was just heated up. Different amounts of juices in it as well. They shellfish are also eaten with soy sauce and lemon juice.

The final cool thing is that during the cooking process parts of the shells would sometimes explode. Not enough to hurt anyone, but it would still send little white flakes flying a good distance. It would also make some rather distintive sounds.

2002-11-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

I have been looking for TM Revolutions new single Invoke since the 31st of last month. Its been sold out everywhere I've been too so far. I didnt expect a new single like that to be sold out everywhere, especially one day after its release. But I bet knowing how long Japanese fads last that I will easily be able to find it at Book Off by december.

On the topic of music...My host sister Yasuko likes watching Japanese music variety shows. I get the impression that for a Japanese band their performance is as important or more important than their actual music. I think that is why you will see groups with so many members like Morning Masume.

On another side note, I was told that I should bring home a CD of Morning Masume. Not because they are good, but because it is the perfect example of Japanese Music.

2002-10-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

Studying Economics in Japan is kinda interesting. The more I look at it, the more it appears that what helped the Japanese become a economicly competative very quickly is the same thing which is holding them back right now. It reminds my of Samuri getting stippends from the goverenment. Everyone knew that system no longer worked in the Tokugawa Era, but they also knew that they couldnt change it without destroying their current government/economy.

The Culture class's teacher is not very Nihonjin-Ron. Which means he believes Japanese Culture can be studied by the West, and doesnt have anything "mystical" about it. Reading the culture book really makes me wonder about certain parts of Japanese culture. Like the schools. Having your schoolbooks approved by the government just seems like a little too much governmental control. When the government also tries to cover things up. I feel the same way everytime the state of Georgia decides to fly in the face of logic. Its also not surprising that Japanese students arent as creative if a good chunck of their school system revolves around memorization. Ugh :(. Having college be really easy seems like a bad idea to me too. I want the dumb people who want to be Doctors or Engineers weeded out. I think Japanese schools primary purpose is to create good citizens for a society, not to educate its students sometimes.

2002-10-29T20:47:00.000-08:00

Lit 2 is my class studying Japanese Literature from WW2 to the present era. This class is being tought by Mark Tiedemann. I also recently finished my 6 page paper for this class(Its why I have been slightly lax in updating this Blog). Its weird being done with your final project in a class half way through it. Japanese Literature also changed a lot in the recent time period. A lot of the stories we have been reading can actually take place anywhere, and dont have a lot of Japaneseism in them. If they do its usually one or two small ones.
For the most part we have also been reading Murkami. Murkami is like a watered down Neil Gammann. Not in a bad way, hes just not so out there.

My Japanese language class is different as well. I have three different teachers for the class, each teaching on different days of the week(Ono sensei teaches twice a week). So far I havent hit many new things in class, but it is really cementing in a foundation for my Japanese. I also watched the movie The Water Boys in class, which was really funny. I think we are going to be watching the Japanese version of the Ring next.

2002-10-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

I decided to take 16 credits worth of classes in Japan. I have been trying to explain what I have been doing in my cultural classes, but I havent written much about my other classes yet. Again, they are different in lots of ways from American classes. Not having a sylabus and not being given handouts about what teachers expect in papers is kinda annoying. Especially when I have four 6 page papers that I have to write while I am here...

Lit 1 is my class studying modern Japanese Literature. By modern I think they mean from the meji period to WW2. I it is being tought by a german proffesor. So far the class has been interesting for two reasons. First it is kinda neat to finnaly understand some more Japanese refrences more. For example, in the Kenshin OAV's when Kenshins sensei is telling him why sake tastes good, that is actually a old Japanese poem by a priest named Dogen. That and the Hellboy comic that takes place in Japan actually starts like a No play should. Second, every class that we have had the students have gotten the teacher distracted on one subject or another. Not in a bad way. Its always interesting and its always something about Japan.

2002-10-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

My host family has switched the house over to the winter style. What this means is that at night time they slide another panel over the windows in the front of the house. They also switched the table in the living room. The new table is made up of three parts. First is the table frame. Next is a electric blanket. Finnaly there is the table top put on top. Japanese houses dont have central heating. I dont understand why the pipes dont freeze. Its not cold enough to really bother me yet, but its still nice coming into a warm house.

2002-10-23T19:54:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of American actors who do advertisment in Japan. For instance I cant walk 5 ft without Ewan McGregor trying to sell me something. Coffee and I think cell phones usually. He isnt the only actor I see, but he is definelty the most common.

Oh yeah, I think it is very suprising to most Japanese women to hear that American men can cook. Or even do cook in the household. Where I doubt its common, but its not unheard of for men to do cooking in America. Especially with something like BBQ. I bet more men BBQ than women in America. In Japan, the most they may do is cook the meat after its all prepared.

Its also interesting hearing the Nancy, a Asian American, and WaiSz(Y-C), from Hong Kong, talk about how they didnt know how American, or Chinese they were until they came to Japan. This is even after WaiSz spent a year in America. I wonder if its easier for most European Americans to see how American they are in Europe, rather than in Asia...

2002-10-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

So far in Japan I have also had several women mention that I have really beautiful eyes. When this happened once, I was just getting to leave it at that, but.... I guess having only brown and black eyes, and black hair in Japan really makes you appreciate those other colors. In fact right after telling some other Americans at a party that this kept happening to me it happened again. It's especially interesting because they have been described as everything from translucent to emerald.

People dying their hair is also really popular (It seems you either dye your hair, or dress up like a American gang member...). However it always seems to just be highlights, or bleaching. I haven't seen anyone go any further than that in the whole hair dying process. I wonder if those contact lens that change your eye color would be really popular here. I keep thinking of those every time I see a Japanese Ad with a model with blue eyes.

2002-10-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

Trying to figure out how to wear a Kimono for the first time really reminded my of my first few attempts to tie a tie. Getting the actual "bathrobe" part of the Kimono on isn't difficult; it is the piece of fabric under the obi, and the obi itself that are a pain to do. Especially because they showed us several different styles, and methods to actually tie the things but we only tried each method once.

Kimonos though are decently comfortable once you have them on. It's kind of like a big bathrobe in some regards. They also really explain the Japanese method of sitting, and probably why sitting cross-legged is slightly impolite.

2002-10-17T19:38:00.000-07:00

Another little Japanese oddity are these roaming salesmen. I think the basic idea is to load a bunch of goods in a truck and then slowly go from block to block with a microphone saying what you have to sell. Ive heard them try to sell everything from food, to tatmi. Its like having a telemarketer outside your house with a microphone at random hours of the day. I think the earliest I have heard them at was at 7-8am and the latest I have heard them at was 6-7pm. I guess it would be more annoying if I could understand what they were saying so it would be harder to filter out.

2002-10-17T19:31:00.000-07:00

I finnaly played some Arcade games yesterday. Seb and I went out to the Namco arcade in Sumiyoshi. The Arcade(Or 'game center') in Japan are pretty cool. Most of them that I have seen have slots and crane games on the first floor and the real games up on the second. Most games here cost 50 or 100 yen to play, which is a little expensive if you arent good at them. This is also the arcade with the Capcom Gundam game(And Zeon flag). Someone needs to port a 4-player version of that game to a game console. The only really bad part about the whole arcade experience is that smoking is allowed inside the Arcade. Ugh :(

I spent most of my time playing Capcom Vs. Snk 2. Seb and I played a few games then I finished my game Vs the computer. I managed to get 2nd place on the high score list which seems kinda sad. Especially because I was rusty, and using K groove. I really wanted to play some Japanese players, but no-one there was playing CvsS2.

I also played a little Metal Slug 4. Metal Slug games are contra like games but have a more Rambo feel to them, instead of the aliens in Contra. They are always fun to play.

I also tried a top down shooter which was kinda interesting. I dont think I understood how to play the game fully, but a large part of the game was about switching between black and white shields.

Finnaly, I still want to play KOF 2k2, and Soul Caliber 2, to actually play someone other than Seb in CvsS2.

2002-10-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went out to Mark Tiedemann's house for the sports days festival and for a little party.

The sports day festival is actually a nation holiday, so this was actually a three day weekend. Most of the sports festival seemed to be different team sports events, with some cultural events mixed in. There were lots of baton races. There was also some interesting drumming, and some chearleader like tricks(Including one huge human pyramid). Most of the sports events were also all age groups. Different parts would be done by people at different ages. So you would see some 20-30 year old run really quick, then some grandparents get along as fast as they could. They were also divided into neighborhoods and kept a running tally of who won how many events. We also had a nice Japanese style picnic. And I bought some shaved ice cream. Which had a really mediciny like taste to it.

They also gave out prizes to everyone who competes in a event no matter how you do. The thing is all the prizes are off the really practical variety. Like a bag. Or something to hold soap in your bathroom. Not something that I would consider a prize. I guess I want my prizes to be impractical.

2002-10-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Well I have had two flower arranging classes as part of my Japanese traditional arts classes. We did the same thing for both classes. Basically the teacher shows us what is a good way to arrange the flowers that we were given, and the students did their best to copy. We seem to get 4 types of flowers to arrange as well. Usually something more like wood. Which you try to bend with some water and place at the outside of the arrangement. We usually also get some rose like plants which are placed in the center with some ferns. We also then usually get a distinctively oriental flower, which is usually placed somewhere to draw the eye.

The teacher is really good at this as well. She showed us a brochure from the flower arranging school she comes from and there are some really nice arrangements there.

I have also taken pictures of all this....

2002-10-14T22:33:00.000-07:00

I have also had a limmited exposure to Korean food while in Japan. My basic impression of what I have seen so far is that its kinda like Japanese food but much spicer. What I have had so far has been Korean romen, ground beef wrapped in cabbage, and what I really like Kimuchi.

The best way to think of Kimuchi is a Korean version of sauerkraut mixed with a hot sauce. It is usually eaten with the cabbage dish mention above. It is also not cut up like sauerkraut into small chuncks but there are visible leaves in it. Ben, another American study abroad student, said that it also comes in a variety of styles in Korea. From ungodly spicy to red sauerkraut. It makes me really want to explore Korean food some more.....

2002-10-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

I bought a Cell Phone!

I bought a little orange(only color they had) clamshell prepaid cellphone from J-Phone. It has a color screen, email, a digital camera, a midi editor, calander, notes, english menus, etc., etc....

My number is : 09066395827 and my email address for the phone is : 09066395827@jp-q.ne.jp
Please be aware of the time difference if you are going to call me.

Oh yeah. I went to about 5 J-phone dealers and never found a pre-paid phone. Seb found a store that sells them in the back of a big shop in the Arcade.

2002-10-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

O Kunchi was pretty interesting....

O Kunchi is a local Japanese festival, I guess kind a like Saint Patricks day. However instead of a centralised parade they have events spread all throughout Nagasaki. I started at You-Me-Saito where I saw some of the portable pogadas, and then wandered around the fair atmosphere they had set up by the warf. The carnies have different ways to try to fleece you of your money. The most popular one I saw was a game where you drew pieces of paper from a box, and those papers would tell you what prize you won. I saw lots of PS2 and Gamecubes as prizes, but all I won was a portable fan.

Next I wondered down to the Arcade shopping district and saw several performances. There were the big boat on wheel floats that had drummers in them. They would go to from place to place, and do performances. They would stop somewhere and either play the instruments(drum likes things mostly), or do this performance which manly involved spinning the boat thing around. Sometimes they would get one of the kids on the boat to fish for plastic fishes they set up with a net.

The other type of performace was people dressed up in traditional clothing, or old characters and do a little performance to traditional music. At times it got really packed around performances.

Of course the event that really tied O Kunchi together was the bus ride home. There is nothing like being stuck on a completely packed bus about a foot away from a drunk guy. Unless its like being stuck on a completely packed bus about a foot away from a drunk guy who just threw up in the bus's entrance(Which is in the back of Japanese bus's). Who then proceeds to get his head stuck between the folding door and a pole on the bus at the next stop. For a bus that was so packed it was interesting to see how the high schoolers at the back suddenly thought it was a good idea to let the guy sit down. That and the rest of the bus completly ignored the whole goings on...Even if they could smell it wafting up from the back of the bus.

Ah well. I am sure some Americans are no better on Saint Patricks day...Or New Years eve..

2002-10-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

So far I have read 5 1/2 books while in Japan. I finished Angel Mass by Zahn(Alright...Icarus Hunt was much better), the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy(Which I did find a character I like:Foramir....Bormiars brother), Endgame Enigma, and now A Mature Women. At this rate I will easily be out of books within a month. Though I think I will be checking out a book for my Lit 2 class to read over this 3 day weekend.

I have also started trying my hand at translating various Japanese books. I have two Japanese RPGs I am working on translating, and I am screwing around with some other books as well. I am thinking of going down to the local Book Off and picking up some good cheap Manga to try and translate. I find when I actually try to translate books certain Kanji just stick now. Especially if I see them several times.

2002-10-07T22:36:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I also had Yakisoba. My host mother called this the Japanese pizza, but it is much more like a Japanese version of Egg Fu Young. It is still really good though. Eating Yakisoba also forces you to learn how to cut food with chopsticks. I think my chopstick skills have been improving, but it was a plus to have some clue how to use them before I came over here. Oh yeah, the sauce that is used with Yakisoba is half mayo and half something kinda like Tonkatsu. I swear the Japanese put mayo on everything. I even saw a TV show about other uses of Mayo.

I also found a food I balked at. I will not eat whole small dried fish. I woudntl do it when my mother brought them back from Hawaii and I still dont feel like doing it. I guess I just prefer most of my meat to not look like the animal it came from. Especially with parts of the animal like the head.

I cant remember if I said this before or not, but I would like a comparison of the exchange rates between countries figured in with how much the money in the country will buy you. For example the Lord of the Rings DVD in Japan costs $43, in America you could get it free with the test drive of a Kiya.

Seb says he has finnaly found the downtown Hard-Off(A used electronics store). Hopefully he will be able to find it again, and I will be able to see if these is maybe a third Hard-Off. I think the next time I am downtown I may purchase a pre-paid cell phone. I also managed to find my to two Ings...

I think I want to go to the Chinese Museum next...

2002-10-03T18:53:00.000-07:00

Japanese Food for the most part has been good. It is different than what I saw in America in several ways. First is that certain foreign foods are relatively popular. I think curry and hot dogs (Sigh...someone should have brought over brats instead of their lesser cousins). Are relatively popular. It is kind of weird to get a little hot dog in a bento box. I don't want bad American food with my Asian food. I think I tend to separate food types as well. So, I wouldn't want rice with a thanksgiving dinner, but mashed potatoes are appropriate. I don't think the Japanese have these preconceptions about food like Americans do. I have also seen this in some quite clever takes on western food that were really good, so it's not all hot dogs where there should be more chicken or squid.

Also Sashimi is much better here than in the states. In the states you would just get a big piece of raw fish. In Japan you get lots of smaller pieces of raw fish (usually with the skin still on the fish), and several sauces/juices to put on it. Lemon, Soy sauce and Wasabi are the most popular. My philosophy towards Japanese food has been if my host family can eat it than so can I. For example, raw shellfish (don't know the species. My host sister had picked them with some of her kindergarten students) is pretty good.

2002-10-03T07:51:00.000-07:00

Classes continue...

They all look interesting so far. They are also subtely different from American classes. The hardest thing to get used to is that they are about 100 mins long. Its not as bad as it seems though. The sensei doesnt usually start teaching till about 5 min after when the class should have begun, and I have gotten out 10 mins early twice now. Also, other than Mark Tiedermans class(a American) I havent gotten a syllabus. Also for most of my classes my grade is determined by a single paper at the end. Which the sensei has yet to hand out any information about other talking about a general subject and telling us the length.

I also had a Akido class yesterday. We had to take a bus to a middle school and there some Akido senseis showed us a few things. We started by watching a movie or two. Part of which showed someone who looked like O-sensei. The sensei is also supposed to be a third generation from O-sensei blackbelt. After this we practised rolling and tried out a really simple move or two. He really seemed to place emphsis not forcing anything, and just kinda flowing with it. Which I guess kinda works. But only if the aggressor holds your rist really tight. I think the Korean hapkido is more practical( :p Kevin).

I have also met with my converstaion partner twice now. Her name is Mahako...I think. I have it written down somewhere so I can look it up before I meet her. She seems nice...It just a language barrier again. And this time there is the Nagasaki dialect, and more shortcuts I havent heard of/slang to deal with. I find it easier to understand other Americans speaking Japanese than I do Japanese people speaking Japanese. Hopefully the converstaion partner will help me speak Japanese better. I also think that while you may only have one converstation partner, they will usually bring along up to 5 of their friends. I dont know if the guys do it as well, as I think all Americans got female converstaion partners this time. Hopefully my attempts to go around town, ask people questions, and order things in stores will also help my Japanese. I have also been studying out side of class a little each day. Either reading the Genki language book, or going through the dictionary for words I want to know.

Japanese bus's are also kinda interesting. They dont seem to mind being as tightly packed as American bus's, and they also seem to bunch up in the front. Which can be kinda annoying being a big gajin stuck in the back. They also have a slidable rate so the longer you stay on the more you have to pay. Densha are much better to get around town with.

Oh yeah...I was going to try to use a spell check for this post, but Microsoft Word decided that while it could technically work it needed to be installed. So I got to look at a fully functional word screen while it tried to install itself. Will work on that later...

2002-09-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well classes began yesterday. So far I have only had my Japanese Language classes and one of my two literature classes. I decided to take about 16 credits so I have my Japanese Language Class, two literature classes, two one credit culture classes, and a History/culture class.

So far all my teachers have been good. The Japanese language class is a little below my skill level, but we still touch upon things that I never saw in America. A lot more weird shortcuts, and some new words. Oh well. It should go fast enough.

My literature class I have had so far is actually being tought by a German women. It is Japanese litereature during their "modern" period. I think this period goes from before Edo to WW2. I really hope I get to read some Japanese Mythology.

I feel pretty confortable getting around Nagasaki now. Especially with the free bus to take me to SumiYoshi and from there I can get a street car. Yesterday I went out to Ume-Saitoh, a shopping mall because it has a really big nice book store. I bougth a book for my literature class(Monkey Brain Sushi), a pocket dictionary, and ordered two other Japanese books(Cant remember their names now...). I think I also want to get a Kanji dictionary/learning tool.

Oh yeah...Mochi(or maybe Machi)(at any rate dumplings) are really good in Japan. You can get them from most 7-11 type stores for about $1. They are kinda kept in this steamer so they are always really hot and really fresh. I keep wondering I am eating the Japanese equivelent to the Gas station Hot dog....

I also think I want to go to a 100 yen store sometime. I really need a coin purse...As my wallet doesnt have one(My host fathers does). I also want to get some MD disks, and try to find a water bottle as the Japanese dont believe in bubblers.

Finnaly, what do people think of my blog so far? Anything I need to change fix? Anything you want to see/hear more about? Email me or just leave me a message on ICQ!

2002-09-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

There where also several other things that I did at the Onzen other than bathing.

The groups as a whole had to take classes. Everyone did some practise with prenounciation. My group did some more basic japanese, and also did some caligraphy. YC(A study abroad student from china) can do this really well...But in a different style than the Japanese.

The group also did some karioke, which is much less embarising in a group than by yourself. I think the Koreans really enjoyed "I will survive". After Karoke I went to a room party by the koreans. It was kinda BYOB, and since the only place to get alchol was from the local beer and wine vending machines it was kinda expensive. I also tried some Korean ramen, raw, and I think they were surprised that I enjoyed it and that it wasnt that spicy. On a side note Asahi beer is quite good. I have had it several times now, and its a lighter beer sorta like a german weise.

Also some time during the night I did my best to talk to a Korean student named Young-Sik. He is a computer science major whos favorite series is Gundam. In fact he says he enjoys almost all Sunrise series, and also likes fighting games. However, he is a Kyo player to my own Iori. I agreed to go to some Game Center some time and play him in CvsS2. Hopefully my skills wont have degreaded completely.

2002-09-29T16:57:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went to a Onzen. Onzen for those of you who dont know are the big Japanese baths that are usually fed from springs. This Onzen was up in the mountains, and was about 2 hours away from Nagasaki. I think it also was Japans first national park.

As for taking the bath itself...The water wasnt as hot as I expected it to be. I thought it was going to be much hotter. The Onzen itself only slightly smelled of Sulfar. However the sulfar really does get into your skin. And you can really smell it when you sweat after being in a Onzen. It is also not a bad thing to be able to take off your glasses when in a japanese bath.

Also at the Onzen's hotel I did Karoke for the first time. It is much less embarrising to do karoke in a group, compaired to doing it by yourself. I think the Koreans enjoyed us singing "I will Survive" gotta run...

2002-09-27T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I continued my exploration of Nagasaki. The Densha are actually relatively easy to use, and rather cheap too. I really cant wait for the free school bus to start running so that I can easily get out to Sumiyoshi(Where the Densha start, yesterday I walked out there with Ryan). I took the Red Densha out to Megame Bridge and walked around there for some time. Megame Bridge is a decently old bridge that has its design orgins with the Romans. I dont think the bridge itself is the cool part, but the river with the different carps, and storks in it which was interesting. I really went down there to look for the downtown Hard Off but I guess that can wait....As I couldnt find it anywhere close to Megane Bridge. Finnaly when I was wondering around, I stopped at a Book/CD/Video Game store. While looking at a Mecha Model Magazine I saw that there is also going to be a new Maccross OAV out. Wether its going to be more like Maccross 7, or Maccross Plus I cant say...

I did find a Hard Off in the opposite direction from the school that Seyu is in. A little farther down there is also a relitevly new building called Best. It like a Best Buy mixed with a hardware store. Kinda interesting to go to, but still kinda pricey.

Finnaly, I think my next trip it is going to be out a bookstore. I cant remember the full name of the store but part of its name is Saitoh.

2002-09-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the mess below..

I need to remember to use br not just to hit enter...Ah well

2002-09-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Well...Some more reactions...

So far I have really enjoyed all the food that I have had so far. I think I like Curry Tonkatsu the best. It is Curry Rice with pieces of Tonkatsu mixed in. My host Mother made it one night. Also Squid, and Eel are quite good. Squid has a interesting texture and tastes good. Especially with food like Chompon. Eel is slightly sweat, and I really like the effect that eel "juices" has on rice.

What else....I went on a guided tour of Nagasaki with Seb and two Japanese students on last Saturday. I think we first went to the peace park. The first part was kinda uplifting with the Giant Statue and moving water. However, the museum and epicenter were much more solem. I think Seb said something about how it was wrong to see Steal that was bent by wind.

Next, on a much more pleasant note, we went to Showo Shrine. This was realy cool. Before we got to the shrine we bumped into some older gentleman who actually showed us around the whole thing. It is a lot bigger than just the main Pagado. There are actually a lot of interesting rituals and hidden corners of the different parts of the Sowa Shrine.

Other than that I have been screwing around finding my way around town. I think I have figured out how to get around to most places, and its kinda cool to go to some places:
Book-off: A used book store that has a lot of Managa and other books for only $1 a piece. They also have a lot of LDs, some DVDs, VHS tapes, and even some games.

Toys-R-US:The remote control tank model for $15 that could actually fire was cool. Also the remote control mecha was also cool. I think most of the toys are actually from anime series.

Mc Donalds: The largest Japanese size is the standard american size. They also use a differetnt oil on the fries which makes them taste slightly different. For some reason the oil makes me think of some sort of sea weed.

Oh yeah...One more difference between Japan and America. In japan things start out really expensive, and then suddenly get much less expensive. Used things seem to be really cheap. Dont know if there is some sort of stigmata there. While in American items all start out cheaper and slowly get cheaper over time. It works out really well. I know Seb has gotten a bunch of $1-$3 cds of groups he wanted because they were out of vogue.

Finnaly...I know there are conversion rates...But I would like to see not only a converstion rate between money, but what that money can buy you in its country. At least compaired to Japanese prices, I think Americans have it good....(For example a new DVD of the Gundam F-91 movie is $60 in Japan...Where I bet in American it would be $20-$30).

2002-09-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

We finnaly got into Nagasaki, I think last week wensday by bus. Once at the college we had a lunch which was rice with a variety of other things. It was pretty good...In fact I have enjoyed all the food I have had in japan so far. We had a little class time where they talked about Japan, and the different things, and then the host family picked me up.

The next few days, it was basicly go to school, take bus home(Easy, after the first time....) and fall asleep early. I kept waking up in the middle of the night, and I just finnaly forced myself to stay up really late to get over jet lag. I remember jet lag being easier to get over when going to turkey....

As for the host family, they are really nice. I came home to the son playing Metal Gear Solid 2 on the families PS2(Which they bought because it could play DVDs not for the games). It was kinda nice they could speak english as well as they do, because being stupidly tired didnt help me remember japanese at all...

Well, I think that is enough for one sitting...More later..

2002-09-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

Well, after the flight, and after I picked up my luggage(see two posts ago), we were met at the Airport by Mark Tiedaman(sorry...dont remember how to spell it correctly). From there we took a subway to the Green Hotel Number 2.

Once we were checked in and showered, the group decided to go to the local 7-11. Which was interesting. No big gulps, and it looked like they had a lot more fresh food. I think I bought a Poccori Sweat, which is like a Melon Gatorade drink.

Also during the time it took to shower, people had come by the town and had hung up porn ads everywhere. They kinda plastered a large part of the town we were in. They were also all gone by morning.

2002-09-23T17:27:00.000-07:00

I am going to try and break these down into smaller posts...But here goes for some of the differences Ive noticed so far.

1. No ground plugs.
Well kinda. In some places there is a little circle by the plug where you can run the wire from the plug to the circle to groud it. But these are rare. It is especially weird because they dont even have ground for the larger appliences, or for their computers. Maybe its a good way to keep the electronics industry fruitfull.

2. No Bubblers.
The reason for this is, I believe, the japanese dont trust their water supply. So instead of trying to purify it localy, they just dont have bubblers. This is driving my crazy because I am used to drinking water all throughout the day. I need to buy a water bottle somewhere....

I also dont think that the japanese drink as much water as americans do. I remember being told several times that you should drink 8 galsses of water a day...I dont know where the japanese get thier water intake from.

2002-09-19T20:55:00.000-07:00

Well...This should be a pretty long update. Some of this is going from a few days memory now as well. So here goes:

Really long flight. really long. Though the plane was sorta neat. It was one of the new planes that has the built in tv screen on the back of every seet. So you could watch movies starting at certain times, or tv shows. I watched Spider Man, and some japanese game show. Some guy who was sitting three rows or so in front of me watched spider man the whole way over here. He would watch the movie, watch something else in the time before they showed it again and then switch back. I think he saw it 4 times.

Getting through Norita wasnt as bad as I thought. My only problem was that I was getting pretty tired by this point. The wait at the terminal, which was really a wait at a place for a bus to take me to the plane was the worst. Especially because it would get kinda fummy in there when a bus would arrive. I also met the other Don, and Nancy there...Which was good. And I managed to fall asleep on the plane to fukoka, which was really good. Even though the plane was like a Midwest Express, but instead of all luxuary they went all economy.

As a general note...I think my japanese has gotten really rusty over the summer. Every now and then I will remember something, but past that its pretty much a blank. I bet being stupidily tired doesnt help much either.

Well got to get to class update more later...

2002-09-11T15:57:00.000-07:00

It is officially weird to not be in school yet....I can talk to, and do things with people who are in school but I dont have the serious time suck that I always did at school. Maybe its just being in EE...
I am now also done with work for the summer, so I just have to finish packing, and deal with a few other minor issues(Like what to do with my car).
Also, thanks for linking to this site from the SPAMM forum Jason. Hopefully this will get a little more intersting once I am actually in Japan.

2002-09-09T19:15:00.000-07:00

Well...I think I done packing all I can really do right now. Packing didnt take as long as I thought it would..Once I cleaned and folded all my clothing. I also hope that I am taking enough clothing and toiletries with me. I am sure I will be able to purchase more in japan, but I would prefer not too.
I have also been thinking of what I would like to bring to read with me. I was thinking of bringing the Hellboy TPB, but the size to time it takes to read through one ratio is way to high. So...I will settle for a Hellboy book or two. I think I will try to bring the Lord of the Rings Trilogy with me. Its something that I have never gotten all the way through, and probably should have. At the very worst if I need to sleep on the plane I can read it, and at best I may really enjoy it. Though, I highly doubt that it is as good as the Song of Ice and Fire series.
I just have a few more days of work to get through. 16 more hours or so of it to go ;)
I also still need a better name. And Ive even had a few good ideas....Just need to work them out...

2002-09-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Whoo-hoo...Now that I have it working I really need a title...
My current thoughts include:
Naming it after one of the Castles in hellboy...Not really on topic, but I like it ;)
Naming it after one of the asteroid fortress in gundam...
Naming it something in Japanese....

Need to go think....

2002-09-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah...I am having technical difficulties right now, but once I get this silly thing working, I would like to get ideas of a good title for this blog...

That is all

2002-09-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone...
After hearing about Siegs typing up his Japanese diary, and how much a pain that could be, I decided that if I was going to study abroad I would just post it in a blog. As a bonus other people could see it online, and I wouldnt have to worry about losing it. I just need to make sure that I update it when I am over there.
Well, so far I am signed up to go to Nagasaki Japan for a semester. I am still not "excited" about it yet...I guess. Its been slowly building. It honestly feels kind of like when I first went to college. Not a really nervious feeling, just a feeling like I dont know what is coming up next. Oh well, too late to change my mind now :)
I have also talked to my host family. They seem like a nice couple. They were also 5's host family, which put me more at ease. Its kinda nice to know that I will be staying with a good host family. There have also been some emails between some of the other students who will be going to Japan. Hopefully we will get a Tokyo trip together.
Past that all I have done so far is turn in forms to get to go on this adventure, and done some of the things the forms have required(Like the chest X-ray). That and reading some books on Japanese culture, and listening to some Japanese language tapes.
I also havent really been watching anime this summer. I watched a little, I just havent had the motivation to really watch any of it. It never really came to mind as something to do over the summer. Not having money for the first half of summer didnt really help buying DVDs either though. But I still had a lot of anime that I needed to finish watching.
As a side effect of this though, I found I really enjoyed Hellboy, Watchmen and Rising Stars. Hopefully this break from anime, and some American comics recharges my anime "batteries". Oh well...Thats all for now...

Donesh