Tokyo: Harajuku and Tokyo Underground

The next day I woke up at seven in the morning on my own after about six and a half hours of sleep. I took a shower, (a traditional Japanese shower, see, Family Visiting for more information), but I didn't take the bath afterwards. When I finished, I got dressed then headed downstairs where I had breakfast with Bre, the Australian exchange student who is staying with Ayami's family. She currently goes to high school in Japan as a senior, but is taking only her first year of Japanese.

My breakfast consisted of two pastries from the shop where Ayami works, with some peanut/honey butter. It was absolutely delicious, and for drink I had "ochya", or chilled tea. Afterwards, we both headed upstairs where we found Ayami and then got ready to go to Tokyo for the day.

This is the part that I love about the big city and going to Tokyo. When we were planning this out, Ayami had asked me what I wanted to do in Tokyo. My simple reply was "not be a tourist". Despite the fact that I look American (and proud of it), I wanted to go into Tokyo and experience it without a camera. I wanted to blend in, and really experience what people do in Tokyo. So, we did what most teenage girls do in Tokyo on a Sunday, we went shopping, particularly in the Harajuku district.

It took us about an hour to get ready, (not including the shower from earlier in the morning). We dressed in Japanese young adult style. The idea of Japanese fashion, from my point of view, is to cover as much of yourself as possible, while looking like you aren't really wearing much of anything. Short shorts, high heels, tank tops, lace covers. However, at the same time, full leggings are worn underneath the shorts, 3/4 length or long sleeve shirts underneath the tank tops. Heels involve lots of complicated straps and buckles, (but those are just for show, they are very easy to actually put on), and most shirts worn by themselves are extremely big, to encourage the idea that the person is very small. Accessories, such as chunky necklaces, big bowed headbands, "kawaii" (cute) barrettes and socks are also added on.

Make-up is also worn a lot, with focus on the eyes. Fake eyelashes, mascara, eye shadow, and eyeliner (top and bottom) is worn a lot in order to make the eyes look bigger. The Purikura that we did yesterday actually has a special ability attached. Here in the United States, our cameras can get rid of red eye. In Japan, Purikura can adjust the picture to make the eyes look bigger and more open. At the Hyaku Yen (100 Yen) store, you can even find "eye stickers", which can be used to stretch the skin around the eyes to open up the eyelid to give the idea of a more rounder eye. Here in the United States people believe that American young adult women are having problems with tanning. Japan wants everyone to see their eyes. It seems that every country has it's insecurities. (Or maybe it's just a female thing?)

The guys tend to dress really polished. Clean, pressed jeans, tight shirts (Japanese guys are also kind of small) jackets or hoodies. Their hair is usually a little long, but not extreme. Kind of like greasers from the 1960s, except Japanese guys don't really grease their hair back. And man purses. Yes, a majority of young Japanese adult men have man purses. They come in the form of usually a small bag that sits on the shoulder and straps around the body. Sometimes it's an designer bag, like Louis Vuitton or a fancy leather bag. The outside is usually plain though, obviously used more for purpose rather than style.

Food Note: For all of you next summer or next year who want to come to Japan and have high hopes for losing a bunch of weight, don't get your hopes up too much. I talked with my friend Ayami, and she said that it wasn't necessarily the idea that the Japanese eat better, but that Japanese people are just genetically smaller. In fact, the Japanese are pretty famous for their fried foods. "Tonkatsu" (pork cutlets) "tenpura" (fried vegetables and fish), are just a few of a number of Japanese foods that are bad for you. While it is true that the Japanese walk around more, don't expect to lose two size just by walking across Tokyo for one weekend. After talking with Ayami, I looked around and decided that she was right. No matter how many dinners I skip or vegetables I eat, I'm never going to be a size 1 because my bones aren't that small. It's a fact of life. That one girl on the train who disappeared from my view when she turned sideways... she is just really really skinny. (I bet she watches what she eats too, but that's not the complete point I'm trying to make here.)

And for those who are a little over the normal weight, don't worry about Japan. Japan has just as many "bigger" people as America, whether it's kids, teenage boys, adult women or elderly couples. Everyone has a little pudge everywhere. Except young adult guys. They are skinny. But then again, a majority of them are skinny in the United States too. I do have to admit though, I haven't seen any terribly obese people. Overweight, maybe, but no one who is really really obese.

Anyway, once we were all finished, Ayami's dad drove Ayami, Ayami's mom, Bre and I to the station located near Ayami's house. Ayami lives in Ibaraki, what I can describe as the suburbs of Tokyo. It was about a 40 minute train ride, with one train exchange, to Tokyo station. At Tokyo station, I put my backpack in a locker (I wasn't going to return to Ayami's house) and then we went and had lunch at a restaurant on the top floor of a fancy shopping center.

Lunch was a four course meal, that started out with shrimp, vegetables, and something else. (I tend to eat anything these days, and I stopped questioning what type of food I'm eating.) I also had a caesar salad. We then had our main meal, which mine consisted of pasta with Japanese eggplant sauce and squid. It was very tasty, and a small portion as well. After our meal, we each received a small serving of a cheese dessert with raspberry sauce on top. We finished that off with hot tea, and were extremely satisfied by the end of the meal. Cost: only $15.00 per person.

Yeah, that's right.

After our delicious lunch, we all headed back to Tokyo station where we took a train to Akihabara station. From Akihabara (the electronics and anime section of Tokyo) we took another train to the Harajuku district, which is within the Shibuya district that we had gone the day before.

Map Note: You might want to wiki-this or something so that it makes sense. Shibuya is a district in Tokyo is that known for Japanese fashion. Within Shibuya, there are famous sections, the one that I went to yesterday was known as Shibuya. (Think of going to Kansas City, Kansas). Another famous section in Shibuya is Harajuku. Within Harajuku, we went to the most famous street, Takeshita Dori, which is about 400 meters long, with shops side to side selling trendy clothes for a relatively cheap price. (Remember, nothing in Japan is really cheap.)

So, we walked down Takeshita Dori, and entered a few shops. Takeshita Dori is very busy on Sunday, and most sales are also on that day. Some stores had everything 50% off, while others had many signs in the front, but then in the back of the store, the more recent and modern stuff was full price. Average prices were about $25.00 for shorts, t-shirts and shoes, $35.00 for jeans and jackets. Minor accessories were about $5.00 each. At one store, I made my purchase of the weekend, a pair of high heeled sandals for about $20.00. I can't wait to show them off in Southern Maryland.

After Takeshita Dori, we walked around a little more and stopped at a few stores, but didn't buy anything. We then took a train to Ginza, the fancy section of Tokyo. It's filled with famous company stores such as Yamaha Music Group, Sony Electronics and Zara, a really famous Japanese clothes store. We walked up the street and saw the previous Prime Minister's older brother talking to a group of people, while another lady across the street yelled about "crazy liberals". I guess even in Japan you have people on opposite sides in politics. (who am I kidding, that happens everywhere).

Culture Note: I got the lowdown from one of my guy friends a little while back about the Japanese government system, so I'm going to explain what I know about it. The Japanese government is called a Diet. (I don't know why.) A president has to run at least every five years, but usually it happens more often than that because the Japanese equivalent to the Senate gets to decide when to hold elections. Therefore an election usually happens when the "Senate" changes parties. Imagine in the United States, every time the Republicans got in charge, we had another election- which would mean that most likely our president would become a Republican. Then the Democrats got in charge a year later, and then they would decide to have another election. I can see the upsides to this ideology, the people have more of a control over what type of party is in charge of the government, (compared to waiting for four years), but at the same time, for someone who doesn't watch politics a lot, (it's really messy) I probably would wake up one morning and find out that we have a new Commander in Chief from my neighbor.

We went into the Yamaha Music building, where we went up to the seventh floor and saw Ayami's aunt play the Marimba, (traditional Japanese xylophone). I thought this was going to be a long event, but it turned out that her aunt only played on song, so we left after about fifteen minutes. It was really cool though, because the Yamaha Music building is also where they teach music to students. I guess it's on par with Juilliard.

After the Yamaha Music building, we walked into a couple stores. Unlike Harajuku, which was a crowded street with small shops lining the sides, Ginza stores were massive, sometimes four or five stories tall. There were popular brands, such as Forever 21 and H & M, but there were also some Japanese stores as well. It was all very expensive, so I didn't buy anything.

Afterwards, we walked to a small coffee shop and had a small break. I had hot tea, made from real tea leaves and some vanilla wafers. We sat for about twenty minutes and looked on the computer that was in the shop for directions to some book stores in Tokyo. We finally found a really big one, so once we finished our tea and coffee, we headed over in that direction.

When we finally made it to the book store, we walked in and split up to find some books. Ayami came with me and we looked on the computer to see if they had "The Outsiders" in Japanese. Unfortunately, they didn't, so instead I looked at kids books to help me with my kanji and reading comprehension. I have learned that I learn best when I read. I think that's why I can describe things rather well, it's because I read a lot when I was younger. Of course, it also means that I have a runaway imagination as well. I ended up getting a fourth grade book, and I'm already having some trouble with it. I think I may still be third grade level. But I'll work through it.

So, that was the one disappointment of the day. I think that "The Outsiders" is a lost cause. If it wasn't in the biggest book store in Tokyo, where will I find it?

Oh, there were autographed pictures of celebrities as well. I didn't get a look at the price tag, but there were some people like Madonna, Angelina Jolie and Sean Connery. Pretty fancy.

We then headed back to Tokyo Station, where we went back to the same building where we had lunch and we had an early dinner, consisting of "Tonkatsu", or pork cutlets. It was very tasty, but we had only eaten lunch about five hours earlier, and a snack in between so I wasn't that hungry. From our table though, we could see outside and see the Emperor's Castle. Yes, there is still an Emperor of Japan, but he is more a figure head, similar to the Queen of England.

We hurried back to the station so that I could find my train, and when we did, I said good-bye to everyone, before going through the gates and upstairs to the platform. The train ride back was very fast, and I was in Maibara before I knew it. It was downpouring in Nagahama, but I managed to fall asleep almost as soon as I fell onto the bed.

I really really liked Tokyo.

And I think I'm going back.

Tokyo: Shibuya and Tokyo Disney

Wow, what an amazing weekend. The reason for the late update? I simple didn't have enough time to detail all of my experiences in one go! Hope y'all are ready. Grab some popcorn and a coke, because I think this is going to be my longest blog yet!

I started out waking up at six thirty in the morning. I did some last minute packing and then headed downstairs where I had a very delicious breakfast with Okaasan and Otoosan. Then, my host mother drove me to Maibara station, about a fifteen minute ride from the house, but it saved me a walk in the rain, a train exchange, and figuring out the Shinkansen on my own. Okaasan got a small ticket, which allowed her to come onto the platform with me. I was about twenty minutes early, so we sat down and talked (in Japanese) about what I planned to do in Tokyo. Suddenly, Okaasan pointed at the tracks and said "Asoko de" (over there), so I looked in the direction and saw a Shinkansen train coming. It wasn't mine, just another one that was passing through, and as it passed, it was very windy, very loud and very thrilling. It reminded me of being in one of those roller coasters that takes off very fast, like the Rockin' Roller Coaster or the Volcano ride at King's Dominion.

The Shinkansen train (also known as the Bullet train) is an experience that I think everyone should have in Japan. It's very expensive, about $120 each way from Maibara to Tokyo, but the idea of knowing that you have traveled 227 miles in just around two hours is the amazing part. It's about equal distance from Fort Lauderdale to Daytona Beach, Florida. About 3/4 the length of the Florida panhandle. A trip that Yahoo Maps says takes three hours and forty minutes.

On the Shinkansen, a lady usually walks up and down the train every so often with a cart filled with snacks. There is a first class train, normal trains, and a smoking train. Because I bought my ticket last, I had to sit in the smoking train, but it really wasn't that bad. You have a tray table and a place overhead to store your bags. There is also a bathroom car every four or five cars or so, where there is also a "various" room, which can be used for things such as feeding and changing clothes.

I arrived at Tokyo station at eleven ten in the morning, and after some confusion through the phone with my friend, Ayami, we switched to English and she was able to find me. Together, we went back into the station and took a train to Shibuya, a popular shopping district in Tokyo. We mostly spoke Japanese, and I got to practice my short form a lot.

Language Note: Japanese has two main levels of politeness. There is casual, (short form) and polite form (kedo). There are also ways to make your polite form even more polite, but usually the polite form suffices. The only time I have used the super polite form is when I say "Thank you" to a person who has helped me. In which I just extend "Arigatou Gozaimasu" to "Arigatou Gozaimashita".

Japan Note: Tokyo, like New York, has subsections that are known for specific things. For example, in New York, there is the Upper East Side. This is a popular district known for the rich inhabitants and the fancy stores that line the streets. There is a similar district in Tokyo, called Ginza. In Tokyo, there is also Akihabara, the electronics and anime section. Roppongi, on the other hand, is known for the foreign embassies and night life. I was not able to make it to these specific parts of Tokyo, so I will list the other sections later as I visited them.

Shibuya is known for being very crowded and the shopping district that is mostly associated with young people. Shibuya, a little less than ten miles squared is home to more than 200,000 people. That averages to about 20,000 people in one square mile. It's CROWDED.

The somewhat funny part is that you have to factor in the Meiji Shrine. Emperor Meiji (the man famous for the Meiji Restoration which catapulted Japan from an average Asian country to a threat to Western colonization in the late eighteen hundreds) along with his wife, is enshrined at the shrine, which is surround by 700,000 squared meter forest, (about 175 acres) which basically means that Shibuya is even MORE crowded than the numbers first indicated because I doubt anyone is living in Emperor Meiji's forest.

The even funnier part? I wouldn't mind living there. I crave action and the big city feel, which is exactly what you would get in Shibuya, but I would probably have to pass on this one. I just can't see myself paying roughly $2,000 a month for a 25 meter squared studio apartment. And that's starting. If you even want one bedroom, be prepared to go up at least another thousand.

Once we got to Shibuya, I put my backpack in a locker in the station. For one day, and 300 yen, you can leave your bag in a locker, which can only be unlocked by a key which is already in the lock. The only way you can get the key out is by locking the locker. The only downside is that once you open the locker up again, you have to pay 300 more yen. (That way they can stop people from "sharing" lockers). So, if you forget something in the bag in the locker, you have to shell out three more dollars to get it out.

And so, Ayami and I headed to "Ichi-Maru-Kyu" Japanese for "109", which is a famous shopping center in the middle of Shibuya. On our way, we stopped at Baskin Robbins (The Japanese love their ice cream) and we grabbed what we called "hirogohan" (lunch). Then, we walked to Ichi-Maru-Kyu, but we had to take a detour because food isn't allowed in the building. So we walked up and down the street, looking for Purikura, the Japanese photo booth activity. Purikura is really really popular in Japan. It's something that everyone knows and that everyone does. (Even the guys). We didn't find any, and had finished our ice cream, so we headed back to Ichi-Maru-Kyu and went in to do some shopping.

I saw lots of stuff that I liked, and now I kind of wished that I wasn't so worried about money. The shopping center is about ten floors tall and filled with lots of modern Japanese teenager clothes. The one that we went to is for women, while across the street there is another Ichi-Maru-Kyu-2, which is for guys.

We looked at shoes, jumpsuits, pants and more shoes. The Japanese fashion is really cool, and I really like it a lot. The idea is to cover as much of yourself as possible while looking like you're wearing the least amount as possible. High heels with buckles and straps, hair accessories such as bows, headbands and barrettes. Off the shoulder tops with another shirt underneath. Shorts and skirts with leggings. Jumpsuits are really in at the moment, and I'm going to try to find one here before I return home. Also, the Japanese have an insane obsession with cowboy boots. I think I'm going to grab a pair of those too. For Johnny.

We left empty handed, and then explored Shibuya a little more before we finally found a Purikura photo booth. We did that twice, and I have a bunch of pictures that I'll show everyone when I get back.

After Purikura, we headed back to the station in Shibuya, and took a train to Tokyo station. From Tokyo station we took another train to Maihama station, which is where Tokyo Disneyland is located. All together, it took about fifty minutes or so to get from Shibuya to Tokyo Disneyland.

Once we got to Tokyo Disneyland, I put my backpack in another locker and then headed to the ticket station. We showed them our tickets, and found out that it was 100 yen cheaper that day so we were able to get 100 yen back. We then headed towards the direction of Space Mountain, where we were meeting four of Ayami's high school friends.

We finally found them in line and ducked under the rope to join them. We ended up cutting about ten people, which is really not bad because the wait was 2 hours anyway. I don't think we made that much of a difference. Some other people cut later, so I think it is something that happens every so often and people just let it go.

Two hours later, we rode Space Mountain. It was lots of fun, but my favorite part was waiting in line. Now, most of you guys are probably like, "What?!" but while waiting in line, I spoke only Japanese with Japanese college students. We used the most casual form, and a couple slang words as well. We talked about movies, music, America, parties and college life in general.

After Space Mountain, we all grabbed a churro from one of the stands and had a small snack. Then we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain. On our way we took pictures in front of Cinderella's castle. While in line for Big Thunder Mountain, after waiting for a little more than an hour,  a voice came on the intercom. I didn't understand most of what they said, but from the groans and disappointed looks on my friends face, I assumed the ride had broken down. And I was right.

But, for our trouble, we all got fast passes (which allows you to skip most of the line) and headed straight over to Splash Mountain. This was an interesting ride because all of the speaking lines were in Japanese, but once they started singing it was English. It was the same for Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean.

After Splash Mountain, we came out to see that there was a parade going on, which meant that we couldn't move. We eventually managed to join a group, and got led to the Haunted Mansion. It was rather empty, so we got in with the first group. The lady who was working the ride asked me to put away my camera, in English. (Oh yeah, I got pictures of Splash Mountain)

Tokyo Note: That's the one thing I wasn't too happy with in Tokyo, was the English. Granted, Tokyo is Japan's biggest tourist city, and the place where most people go for vacations if they come to the country, but it bothered me that they wouldn't even try to speak Japanese with me. The store cashiers, Disney workers and train attendants automatically assumed that I only spoke English. If I go back to Tokyo, I think I might try to throw someone off and just speak French. So, if you do go to Tokyo, be prepared to be judged. Not in a bad way, but don't be shocked if everyone's first attempt to communicate is in broken English.

After Haunted Mansion, we headed over to the Teacups. We split into groups of three by playing Jan-Ken-Pon (Rock-Paper-Scissors), and I ended up with two of Ayami's friends. We spun the teacup around really fast, and I had to hold my stomach (not in a bad way) because I was laughing so hard.

After Teacups we walked towards the food area, (we made sure to do Teacups BEFORE we ate), where we had pizza for dinner. I had mushroom and sausage pizza, as opposed to chicken and vegetables pizza.

Culture Note: In Japan, pizza is everywhere. But they put EVERYTHING on pizza. Don't expect plain cheese here.

When we were all full, we headed near the exit as it was nearly 10:00 pm, the time that the park closes. We hurried and grabbed seats real quick on Pirates of the Caribbean, and I was shocked to see all of the new additions. Jack Sparrow is now an active member, as well as Barbosa and Davy Jones. It was quite funny, because you could tell what parts of the ride were new compared to the old parts. The new parts had more detail, because they resembled specific characters and props, while the old parts of the ride where generic pirates. I absolutely loved the movies, but I have to admit, I prefer the older version of the ride.

Finally, we left the park. We did stop by to grab some "omiyage" or souvenirs, (another thing Japan really loves). Then, we grabbed the half hour train ride back to Tokyo station, where we grabbed another train to Ibaraki, the suburbs of Tokyo. I almost fell asleep on the train, almost.

Well, that's Day 1 of Tokyo. I'll update tomorrow!

Birthday in Japan!

What an amazing day! If you don't mind though, we're going to back up a few minutes

Yesterday was my "shiken" or big test on Genki 1 and the first two chapters of Genki 2. To be rather honest, it was fairly easy, with a few problems with various particles and tenses here and there, but nothing to completely fret about. I also had my oral test, in which I "applied" for a job as an English teacher. Yoshida-sensee, who did my oral test, asked me if I could sing songs, cook and write kanji. She also asked if I had taught before. I answered everything very truthfully, which is not normal in an oral test. Usually, you bend the truth in order to use certain grammar structures and because of lack of vocabulary. I stumbled a few times with the pronunciation and word order, (I do the same thing in English half the time) but overall I had a very good feeling about it.

Another note: My Japanese has gotten more respondent and thoughtful fluent. I don't need to translate in my head what I want to say, and when I hear other people talk, I hear Japanese, I think Japanese, and then I respond in Japanese. Reading kanji has also gotten much easier and when I recognize kanji, I think in Japanese as well. Reading is my only slow suit, but with time that should get better.

Yesterday after I got back home, I did my laundry and then my host mom and I made inarizushi, it's little hand made packets of soy sauce and eggs fried in a pan, filled with rice with black peppers. They are really delicious, and it's my favorite Japanese food. After we had finished, my laundry had also finished washing, so I put the clothes in a basket and then took them outside to hang on the line. It was very hot yesterday, so most of my clothes dried fairly quickly, but I started my laundry kind of late, so not everything was able to become completely dry. I brought them back in for the night, with intents to hang them up the following morning.

The next morning I woke up a little later than usual, actually around 6:15 am. I skyped with my mom, which she told me "Happy Birthday", and then I got dressed for the day. My clothes still were completely dry, but I didn't have time to go out to the line, so I just hung them up in my makeshift closet hoping that they would dry while I was in Hikone.

I got to JCMU around 8:15, and I hung out downstairs with some of my friends. Today we visited an Elementary school in Hikone. It was about a 20 minute taxi ride to Wakaba Elementary School. We had already be divided into groups of three or four, with each group going to a different Elementary School.

When we got there, we noticed that there was a gate surrounding the school, and that there was also a pool, which was currently being used by kids who were taking swim lessons. (As part of the school day). We walked into the building, and were generally left alone, so we explored the nearby area, (the lobby and just outside the door) before the principal of the school came to us twenty minutes later, gave us indoor shoes to wear and then showed us to his office.

In his office, two fourth graders brought us Japanese green tea. One of the office ladies also asked us a few questions in Japanese. The kids were very bright and happy, and also asked us questions, though they didn't use a lot of "polite form".

Culture Note: Polite form is normally taught to kids in school, contrary to the order that foreign students learn Japanese. This is because as a foreigner, you always want to be as polite as possible, whereas the kids learn Japanese from home, where the parents use plain form.

After sitting for another ten minutes, the two kids then showed us to the fourth grade classrooms. There we had to introduce ourselves. I said that my name was Kailey, and then I accidentally said that I was 18 years old. I corrected myself, which led the kids to giggle. The four of us then split off into four different groups, where each group attempted to teach us a traditional Japanese game. In each of the four groups, there were three different games. We only managed to go to three out of the four groups, but I'll describe the nine games we had to play.

1: Similar to billiards, only you have to flick your finger and there are only two colors, the object is to get all of the small wooden objects (shaped like a wheel) of your color into one of the four holes at the corner of the box. In order to do this, you have to flick your tan object with your finger and hit your color which should go into the corner. If you accidently hit the "eight-ball" fancy wheel object, you have to take out one of your colors that had already gone into the hole and put it back on the board.

2: Juggling. We each had 2 or 3 hacky sacks and we had to juggle with them.

3: Marbles, only with flatter marbles, like those small objects you get in mancala sets.

4: Similar to Jenga, you have a stack of wooden blocks and you have to use a mallet and attempt to get rid of the bottom block without the whole thing falling over. I was pretty good at this one, and had some of the kids staring in disbelief.

5: This was a card game, where the girl would say a sentence, and we would have to find the card (they had all been spread out among the floor) which matched the first hiragana character that she had said. For example, if the girl had said "Neko..." then we would have had to find the card with the "ne" character on it.

6. Tops and yarn. Fairly simple.

7. Another card game, only instead of finding just hiragana characters, we had to find the whole sentence that the girl said. At first it was kind of confusing, but by the end I managed to just barely win.

8. A game involving a little wooden tool, where there was a stick and a ball attached to it by a piece of string. The idea was to get the ball to land on the stick. (There was a hole in the ball). I was not successful, and none of the other kids were either.

9. Jump rope, only lower to the ground. Once again, with previous knowledge, I managed to do this fairly easily and the kids were very amazed.

I had lots of fun with the kids, and after we left, and returned to JCMU, we met with all of the other groups and apparently they had a lot of fun too. I do feel as though not all of the kids play those games very often. I guess it would have been like shoots and ladders, or that paddle with a ball on the end. Every house has one, but it's not used that often. Which makes Japan in a way, just like America. Regardless, I had fun learning new, (and somewhat familiar) games.

After that, Heather and I headed over to Vidal's, which has become our regular lunch place. It's a small pastry shop, literally about the size of a guest bathroom in a normal American household. All of the pastries are handmade and sold by the lady who also lives in the shop, as it is half her shop and half her house. They are all very delicious. I have tried potato bread, cheese bread, chocolate chip icing bread, pizza and mellon bread, but my favorite is banana bread.

We headed back to JCMU, did our homework and then turned it in. Then we watched The Outsiders, (my favorite movie) in the TV room, and invited other people who were already there to join in. Xiao, (the guy I had already known from China) thought the movie was a riot. In his exact words, as Dallas, Ponyboy and Johnny were scaring some kids across a vacant lot: "American movies are always so funny!" He wouldn't stop laughing, which meant that I wouldn't stop laughing, which meant everyone else laughed, which kind of ruined the tone, but we had a good time anyway.

Halfway through the movie, I went to Nakamitsu-sensee's office to practice speaking. I ended up talking about the movie, and I described it using new grammar structures. In particular, I tried to use noun modification as much as possible. Noun modification is when instead of saying "I bought that book", you describe the noun as "That is the book that I bought". I stumbled a lot, but after I grasped the sentence I would say it again. After a half hour, I was very happy, and Nakamitsu-sensee told me that she would attempt to find where I can buy The Outsiders in Japanese. That really made my day.

Afterwards, I headed back, and we finished the movie. I then left soon after that. I caught the train back and got back to the house just before dinner started. For my birthday, Okaasan made my favorite foods, pizza and potatoes. We also had some meat, a traditional "fancy day" sushi-rice dish, cantaloupe and banana bread from Vidal's for dessert.

And now, I'm finishing up my blog before I clean my room and then get ready for this weekend. I will be heading out to Tokyo tomorrow morning, so I won't write my blog until Sunday night. I will be sure to include pictures though. Don't worry.

See you soon!

Shiken!

So, it's about the middle of week 4, and I have my midterm (shiken) on Thursday.

The midterm covers the last half of Genki 1, (and really all of Genki 1 because you would use your basic fundamentals from the first half of the book as well. It's the way languages work.) and the first two chapters of Genki 2. I've gotten 95% participation points, as well as hundreds on my past view vocabulary quizzes.

I've gotten into the system of waking up around six o'clock in the morning, eating a healthy breakfast, (usually yogurt and a piece of bread) and then walking fifteen minutes to the train station.

I can now read most of the kanji- or at least recognize them. I know which trains to get on in which direction, and what people to look out for to make sure I'm on the right train.

I'm used to the twenty minute bike ride, but now I don't bring my laptop, so my bag (which I actually just use my purse) can easily sit in my basket, so my back doesn't get all sweaty. I don't know about this rainy season. It hasn't really rained much. Of course, saying that I bet it's going to be down pouring tomorrow morning.

The classes are starting to become routine, and I make sure to listen distinctly and participate as much as possible. I now know everyone's names and who to partner up with and who to try to stay away from. I also know how each teacher teaches and what I really need to focus on during the ten minute break.

I've really settled in Japan- and I love it. The only thing that is a downer at the moment is the fact that I ran out of peanut butter... again.

So, really not much is new. I'm getting ready for my Tokyo trip on Saturday, with laundry tomorrow and  making sure I'm caught up on all of my schoolwork.

I've also started planning my second trip. The weekend of July 17-19 I'll be doing a little backpacking through Kyoto and Nara, two of the most renowned historical cities in Japan, decorated with many temples and shrines, and inhabited by traditional Japanese people such as Geisha and Maiko. I don't have class on July 19 (Monday) because it is Marine Day, so I'll be out of town for three days. It's sure to be a blast. I think that's going to be my traveling extent though, at least this time around. I already bought my Shinkansen tickets, and let me tell you- plan to pay a lot for them if you are coming to Japan. In fact, it may be cheaper to just take the plane.

But at the same time, I've heard that the Shinkansen is a ride that everyone should experience- I'll get back to you on that next week.

And so- yes, not much going on. Every night I usually have an hour long conversation or so with my host mother, as well as practice with my teachers at JCMU. It's starting to get intensive now, as we are starting new material, (for me anyway) so I'm going to be studying and using my resources a little more.

More soon. I'll probably put something else up before I got to Tokyo- and then you can expect a really long one with pictures attached at the beginning of next week!

Mata Ashita!

Family Visiting

Sunday started out with an alarm clock at eight o’clock in the morning. I woke up and immediately went downstairs for breakfast, which was waiting for me like nearly every morning. For breakfast I had an egg, two slices of ham, blueberry yogurt, two bites of cole slaw, tea, milk and a slice of toast with peanut butter cream and sugar topping. It sounds like a lot, but all of it was in small portions so when it all added up, I felt full, but not overfed. Right after I finished eating, I went to wash myself.

Culture Note: I said wash myself because I’m not exactly sure what the American equivalent would be. So, if you are ever asked to take a Japanese bath, then this is what you should expect. First, I have my own bathroom. This is very uncommon in Japanese households, as you will understand later in the note. I go into the bathroom and there is a bathtub, a drain on the floor (not within the tub), a showerhead that can be moved and a small platform. There is also a shelf with various bath soaps and body washes.

I start by filling up the bath about a quarter way. It’s about 40 degrees Celsius, or around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The bath is actually more of a hot tub that a bathtub, because you don’t wash yourself in the bath.

In the description I mentioned a drain on the floor. This is because you wash yourself outside of the hot tub, using the showerhead to rinse off. This includes body wash, face wash, shampoo and conditioner. To prevent from spraying water all over the bathroom, you have to sit on the small platform while you wash yourself. Then afterwards, you also wash the seat.

After washing, the hot bathtub water is for you to relax in. In most Japanese families, the bathtub is only filled once and the entire family shares the same water to reduce wasting water. This is another reason why it is important to wash before you get into the tub. In my experience, since I am the only one who uses my bathroom, the bathtub is only for me. However, if I were to go to an onsen (hot springs) it would be similar in the idea that I would wash myself before getting into the hot springs that are shared by other people.

The Japanese have bathed every day for many years while Europeans only started recently. (Using Europeans because most American families and culture has originated from that continent). Every day, the Japanese would wash themselves then bathe in the onsen. Nowadays, because of cost and lack of resources, I feel as though the Japanese have made their own little modern onsen in the form of a bathtub.

After my bath, I went upstairs and put on my nice skirt and turtleneck. I checked my email and then at ten o’clock I went downstairs with my bag, which included a little bit of homework and my computer, and followed Otousan outside to the car.

Today is Sunday, June 20, and I was going to travel with Otousan and Okaasan to Moriyama, when their son lived with his wife and three kids. It takes about an hour and a half to get to Moriyama from Nagahama by car. We left at ten o’clock and got to Moriyama back 11:30. Otousan drove while Okaasan showed me the map and pointed out various sights along the way. I saw Castle ruins, shrines, statues, and in the distance I could point out a castle near the top of the mountain. The arched rooks peaked out from the tall trees that bordered the road that we traveled.

The three of us had lunch at a Chinese restaurant in Moriyama. We walked in but there was a little bit of a wait so we put our names on the list. And I mean that in the literal sense as well. Otousan wrote my host family’s last name in katakana (foreign script) on the paper and wrote 3 next to 人. (The kanji for people) Otousan then went to the store across the street while Okaasan and I waited for our table.

The restaurant was very loud, but it wasn’t the patrons but the workers. At the same time, I wasn’t the bad type of loud, as they were constantly shouting orders and yelling “ありがとうございます！”“いらっしゃいませ　どうぞ！”(arigatou gozaimasu- formal thank you) (irashaimase douzo- welcome, and another word that can’t be translated.)

Culture Note: Whenever you enter a Japanese store or restaurant, the workers (manager, host, waiters) will say “irashaimase”, which basically means “welcome to the store/restaurant”. “Douzo” can be used in many contexts. I usually used the word when giving someone something, in which it means “please take this”. I have also seen this used often when people who were sitting stood up to give someone else their seat (usually to an elderly person or a woman), and will used hand signals gesturing to the seat. “Douzo” can’t really be translated, but the closest I can think of is “take/try this”. I think another translation that can be used loosely would be “make yourself at home”, but at the same time not really. It’s just one of those expressions that you have to experience in order to use and understand.

On the good side, if you do come to Japan, then you will experience it a lot. It’s one of the most common words I’ve heard here.

It was only about ten minutes or so and then we were given a table. I looked through the menu and the three of us ordered some rice, gyouza (I don’t really know how to describe this but it’s really good) miso soup and another dish that had a bunch of seafood, rice, sauce and vegetables in it. Then, we all shared everything. The water was already on our table so that we could refill it ourselves.

Culture Note: You don’t tip in Japan. The waiter/waitress usually does very little work, especially compared to the average waiter/waitress in the United States. Most of the time, you get your own water, and fill it up yourself. Sometimes, you have to get the soup yourself as well. The waiter/waitress takes your order and brings it out. Even if you try to tip, they will refuse it. Most of the time anyway, you pay at the cash register in the front of the restaurant.

After we finished, we headed to Masao-san’s house. (Their son) When we got there, I noticed they had a door that opened up (rather than a sliding door) and they had two cars in the driveway. (Most Japanese families only have one car, as you have to be 18 to get your license, and the train system is very efficient to get to work or school.) Inside, I met Masao-san’s wife (okusan) Tomoko-san.

Language Note: There are certain suffixes added to names. The suffix “san” refers to Mr./Ms./Mrs., and is used at the end of generally every name. Wife in Japanese is “Okusan”. In addition, “kun” can be used for boys and male teenagers, “chan” for small children, and “sama” for important people in a hierarchy.

The family also has three children, ages 10 and under, two boys and one girl. We sat at a traditional Japanese table, introduced ourselves, (more like I introduced myself and tried to remember all of the names), and had a few small snacks that Tomoko-san gave out. I also gave Masao-san and Tomoko-san two pins from Outback that I had brought with me from Japan as a thank-you gift. It led to many questions (which I was happy to listen to and respond in Japanese) about my part time job, and what American food was like.

Culture/Interesting Note: Food here in Japan is not like “Japanese” food in America. “American” food in Japan is not like American food back home. Chinese food here is different than Chinese food in America. (And according to my friend Xiao it’s different in China too). It’s now on my list to find a Mexican restaurant here and see what Japanese Mexican food tastes like. That would be an interesting culture mix.

After snack, Tomoko-san invited me to go shopping with the family. We all went, except for Otousan, who stayed to watch the baseball game. It was about a twenty-minute drive to the shopping center, which we passed by asking and answering questions in Japanese. Tomoko-san asked me what I was interested in and what I liked about Japan. I asked if they had ever been to America, and pointed out various things on the side of the road to increase my vocabulary.

Note: Scarecrow in Japanese is “kakashi”.

When we got to the mall, Masao-san and his family went to the pet shop (I think they are thinking about buying a dog sometime soon.) while Okaasan and I window-shopped. We eventually went into a bookstore, and I attempted to find my copy of the Outsiders, with no success. I also looked at various Japanese history books, but to be honest, I really need to increase my kanji knowledge before I can hope to get through one of those.

Afterwards, we headed into a small cute litter shop, where I bought some leggings (they are very, very popular in Japan) and Okaasan bought an umbrella. After that, we called Tomoko-san to find out where we should meet. We ended up meeting at the Baskin Robbins and I officially ordered an ice cream cone in Japanese. After that, we headed back to the house.

At the house, we sat around while Tomoko-san made dinner. Dinner consisted of green beans, fried chicken, black throat fish, squid, fried tofu and fish paste in the shape of buses. It was all very good, and I had a fun time talking with Tomoko-san about food in America and Japan.

The table that we sat at was low to the ground, so we had to kneel while we ate. (This is what I originally had thought I was going to do at my own homestay family’s house.) Even though I really enjoyed practicing the traditional way of eating Japanese dinner, I have to admit, I am really thankful for the high dining table where we usually eat. My knees were killing me within twenty minutes of the meal. I had to keep switching sides to null the throbbing in my kneecaps.

The children were all very fun, and we had an interesting time pointing out various foods and learning the English or Japanese counterpart. Afterwards, the three kids and I play Wii Sports Resort. I got to practice my katakana, as well as my bowling (100 pin), archery, table tennis and basketball. They even encouraged me to make my own Mii, which they added under “Mabuchi” family. Awww… I really enjoyed those kids.

Around 7:15 we left, after saying “arigatou gozaimasu” (Thank you) and “Mata Aimashou” (let’s meet soon). We got into the car, and then headed off back to Nagahama.

On our way back, we stopped at Nagahama station and I bought my Shinkansen ticket for Saturday. This Saturday I’ll be heading out to Tokyo to hang out with my friend from Ibaraki (just north of the capital city) and enjoy my nineteenth birthday.

Thank you for sticking with me! We’re about to start week four and it will be a blast!

By the way, I have more pictures, but I’m going to put them up later. I’m about to go to bed since I have to wake up early tomorrow to say Happy Father’s Day to my dad.

Mata Ashita!

Homestay part 1

Monday and Tuesday went as usual, waking up in the morning, going to class, having a great time and learning lots of new things. After class I hung out with friends and did homework.

I also got my first weeks scores, with 3.8s across the board. That basically means that I’m doing as well as possible in my class, (because a 4.0 is perfect, and I am having a few problems with pronunciation and such.

However, Tuesday afternoon is when it started to get a little interesting.  Right after class I headed upstairs to begin packing for my homestay. Once I had gotten a decent amount done, I headed out to take my bike to the train station so that it would be there for me the following morning. With a small map, I managed to make my way to the station, but due to my limited kanji knowledge I had to ask where the bike parking station was.

Once I got to the bike station I was met with some language barriers. I still don’t completely understand what they said, but I got the idea that I wasn’t able to pick up my bike later that day, only the day after. I took my bike to my section and dropped it off, then walked back out of the bike parking area to the train station, where I hung around for a few minutes finding various gates and grabbing a map of the train station. After that, I walked to the bus station (bus is in katakana, the symbols for foreign words, so I was able to read that fairly easily.)

I waited on the bench next to an elderly Japanese lady, and when the bus came, I let her get on first (which I would have done in America as well) then I got on, showed my JCMU I.D. to the driver and then grabbed a double seat next to the window to watch the light drizzle of rain fall from the sky and land on the bus windows.

Taking the bus was easy, as I knew that the station where I wanted to get off was the Hotel View, which is right next to JCMU. (In my first batch of pictures, it is the tall building next to the water.) The walk from Hotel View to JCMU is about five minutes, and I managed to get back into the building before the downpour really started.

I worked for the rest of the evening, cleaning up my room and packing up everything that I had left. The minute hand for four o’clock came and I hurried downstairs with my luggage. There, with one of the ladies from the JCMU administration was my host mother. We greeted each other, and then several of the other guys in the lobby helped me carry my bags to the small silver Toyota parked just up to the door. I got into the front seat (opposite side here in Japan) with my purse and my host mother got into the driver seats. We then left for my new home (for the next month and a half anyway) driving along Lake Biwa, passing a statue of Buddha, the Maibara train station, and a little shopping market on the side of the road.

In the car, my host mother told me that I could address her as “Okaasan” (mother) and my host father as “Otoosan” (father).

Japanese Culture Note:   There are at least two different ways to represent family relations in Japanese. I would refer to my own mother as “haha” and my own father as “chichi”. However, if I were to talk about someone else’s parents “ryoushin”, I would say “Takeshi no okaasan” (Takeshi’s mother). Immediate relationships have different words compared to outside relationships. By calling my host mother “okaasan” I am referring to the idea that she is my “mother” for the time being, but she is not my official mother, therefore it would be awkward (and kind of rude to my mom) to call her “haha”. Some other family relationships are listed below. The personal form is first, followed by the general form.

Grandma: sobo, obaasan

Grandpa: sofu, ojiisan

Aunt: oba, obasan (notice the short “a” sound)

Uncle: oji, ojisan (short “I” sound)

Older brother: ani, oniisan

Older sister: ane oneesan

Younger brother: otooto, otootosan

Younger sister: imooto, imootosan

When we arrived at the house, I found it to be a very traditional Japanese house on the outside, and a little more modern on the inside. My room is very big (about the size of the entire apartment at JCMU, with a cot rather than a futon.

Note: Futons in Japan are very popular, but it isn’t what we call a futon in the United States. In Japan, a futon is a very thin mattress that can be rolled up every morning when it’s not in use. Blankets are used on top, as well as a small pillow. This is compared to the United States where we generally have couches that can be unfolded into a bed. My cot is a cross between a futon and a bed. While it is off the floor, it is still a very thin mattress with blankets. The other thing is that I don’t have to roll it up every morning. (I still make my bed though).

Okaasan then showed me around the house, which is three times larger than most Japanese houses. The stairs lead only to one room, which is mine, and then, when going down the stairs, one is led into the guest entrance as well as the entrance to the Art Gallery. My Otoosan is a retired teacher and painter, and now puts his works on display in the left section of the house.

Through a tiny hallway, one is led to a door that is slightly hidden by two white lace curtains hanging down. Through the curtains is the dining room as well as the living room. It is a small, somewhat cramped space, but it is the place where we spend most of our time. There is a low couch, a low table with lots of magazines and a mirror. Then, there is a high table, which we sit at to eat. (Traditional Japanese tables are low to the ground). There is a television adjacent to the table, which can be used to watch the news, weather forcast, sumo or samurai dramas.

Behind the dining table is a cabinet with many glasses, some old and some new. There is also another tiny hallway that leads to a very small kitchen, but it is obvious that the kitchen is used often.

 The last third of the house is the traditional Japanese room. It is made almost completely of tatami mats (originally rice straw, but now made mostly of wood chip boards), and has several traditional Japanese items inside.

There is a Shinto (traditional Japanese religion) and a Buddhist shrine, as well as my Okaasan’s koto, which she played when she was a child. A koto is a stringed instrument and there is a similar instrument that was played in China. There are also pictures of my Otoosan’s parents and grandparents. Both his father and grandfather were teachers and interested in fine arts. My Okaasan told me that this means that the family would be known as an education family. In addition, she told me that the Emperor of Japan gave Otoosan’s grandfather an award. This would be prior to World War II when the Emperor was still seen as one of the highest people on Earth. Though the Emperor is still seen today as the connection to Heaven, prior to World War II this was taken much more seriously. You can compare this to Queen Elizabeth II today and the power of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16^th century.

After I was shown the house, I went back upstairs to unpack all of my stuff. I put all of my clothes away and relished in the moment, looking at my room.

My room is about the size of my entire apartment back at JCMU. There is another section which can be sectioned off by a curtain so that the room can house two homestay students at once. At the moment, I am the only homestay student, therefore I have the entire room to myself. I have a closet, a shelf, a desk, one chair, one clock, three mirrors, one cot for a bed and a low table on a square tatami mat. The low table also comes with a cushion, which I can kneel on when I get ready in the morning.

Afterwards, I headed back downstairs for dinner at 5:30. Dinner consisted of an “obento”, which is usually used for lunches, but this one was bigger and more suited for dinner. Obentos are boxes with divisions in them to separate food. My dinner consisted of “nasu” (eggplant) “shiitake” (mushrooms) “ebi” (shrimp) “yasai” (vegetables) “gohan” (rice) “ochya” (tea) two slices of an orange, a piece of fish and onions. It was a very healthy dinner, and the portions for each food was small, so at the end of the meal I felt very relaxed and healthy.

After dinner, I got my “shukudai” (homework) from my backpack upstairs and did my homework on the table while Otoosan watched the news on the television and Okaasan worked on finances. I finished it all fairly quickly with no major problems and then I watched the TV for a little bit. I understood various words that were being said and the grammar context, but I didn’t understand most of the newscast. They did have subtitle underneath though, (in Japanese, not English) so I tried reading as well, but I found my lack of kanji knowledge to be particularly frustrating.

And so, I went to bed that evening very happy. Already I feel a small change in my Japanese language capabilities. It will be interesting to see what happens at the end of the summer.

I apologize for the lateness of my blog entries. I’ll try to catch up as much as possible this weekend. As you will read and find out, my entire week has been busy and full of fun opportunities. More tomorrow, it’s about 12 am Japan time and 11:02 in the morning in Maryland.

In addition, some people wanted to know my address at JCMU. The address is

JCMU

1435-86 Ajiroguchi

Matsubara-cho

Hikone, Shiga 522-0002

JAPAN

If you are going to send me something, please put my name on the front as that will be the only way that they can tell who the mail goes to.

Thank you again!

ありがとうございました！

Festival Labor?

Sunday was a day that started out rather frustrating, but turned out to be not so bad. I woke up early, around half past six in order to start my laundry before I had to catch the bus to the festival. I had all my laundry already in my bag from the night before, so I slipped on my slippers and walked downstairs to the laundry room to start my laundry so that it would be finished washing just before the festival. Then, I figured I could hang it up to dry, catch the bus, and then when I came back eight hours later, everything would be dry so that I could put it away.

As stupid as it sounds, I completely relied on the total naivety that Japanese washer machines would be similar to those in America. As well, I figured that if it wasn't, I could just read the directions. Not even going to lie, I was momentarily shocked when I saw everything in kanji. Right away I knew this could turn out to be very disastrous.

I put my whites in one washer and everything else in another washer, then looked at the kanji translation sheet. I compared each kanji and managed to figure out each button's meaning. However, that still didn't help me understand how to actually work the washer. After ten minutes of staring at the sheet and the washer, I eventually came back up to my room and shamefully knocked on Jackie's door.

Jackie came down with me and showed me what to do. Japanese washer machines weigh the amount of clothes in the washer for you, an automatically puts in the correct amount of water as well as listing the amount of detergent needed. I had to press the button for "on" to turn on the machine, and then "start" which swished my clothes around in order to weigh them. Then the swishing stopped and water started to pour into the washer machine. A little screen showed me how much detergent to put into the machine, which I had already done, and then I closed the lid and let it wash.

I came upstairs, took a quick shower and got dressed, then went back downstairs to check on my laundry. The amount of time it takes to wash clothes in Japan also depends on the amount of clothes in the machine. (One of my loads was 47 minutes and the other was 51 minutes). When I got down there, the machine said that I still had ten minutes which didn't work because in ten minutes I was supposed to get on the bus to go to the festival. Once again, I went upstairs to Jackie's part of the apartment and asked if she could take out my laundry and put it in the dryer. I left some 100 yen coins on the table and hurried to catch the bus.

Thank you, Jackie!!!

The bus ride was at 7:40, and we left at 7:45 for Mount Takatori. There was a driver as well as a person who was from the festival to help us. He didn't speak much English, and tried to communicate with us through Jess's translating. (The guy from Texas). The bus eventually stopped at another stop and four Japanese university students got on. During the half hour ride to Mount Takatori, all four of the (somewhat reluctantly) introduced themselves. They were not from Shiga Daigaku, but another university within Kansai.

When we arrived at the festival, I was shocked to find out that everyone was going to be hiking. Because of my laundry, I wore only what was available- a skirt, button down shirt and sandals. Those are not hiking clothes. From the flyer, I had assumed that we were going to be abel to choose what we wanted to do, and mostly walk around the area looking at Japanese culture and talking with the Japanese people.

The festival actually reminded me of a mini Fourth of July picnic. There was ice cream, little booths with food, a chainsaw carver, games for children, a pavilion for eating and small crafts tables. There were lots of children there as well.

Back to getting off the bus, the man divided us into three groups. Four people were in the ice cream group, eight (including myself) were in the pizza group and everyone else was in the hiking group. We then went to our stations and got to know the people in charge of specific tasks.

None of the fourth year students were with us, and only a handful of the third year students were there as well. In addition, everyone at the festival spoke very little or no Japanese. One of the first years ended up attempting to translate what the woman in the pizza building was saying. The woman said something, and for some reason the girl said "Wakarimashita" (I understand). All of the Japanese people then sighed and were all very happy. I had originally been standing at the back of the group, trying to get a feel for the festival, but after the Japanese reaction, I headed up to the front to figure out what was going on. I turned to the girl who said "Wakarimashita" and said to her:

"What did they just say?" in an attempt to find out what she had agreed our group into.

"I have no idea."

What?!

Tip in case you go to ANY foreign country: If you are talking with a group of people, particularly in a place where there are no liasons (none of the teachers or JCMU faculty came with us), and you don't know what they are saying, don't say "I understand" to whatever they say. Draw pictures, move your hands, do something, but don't just say "I understand".

So what had we gotten ourselves into? Apparently, we knew that we were going to be staffing the festival.

That part was not on the flyer. However, because "we understood", we had to work for the day at our respective locations.

Our group was full of a bunch of grumpy people by that time (it was starting to rain) but Drea and I decided to make the best of it. We got our group together and both took charge, telling everyone that we were there until four o'clock anyway, we might as well learn and try to have a good time despite the weather and situation. We're in Japan- speak Japanese with Japanese people while making American pizza (we even made a Chicago-style pizza for kicks).

For three hours, we helped people by showing them how to stretch the pizza dough (kiji) how to spread the sauce (in a circle) and taking the pizzas to the brick fire oven. In order to make a pizza, one first started out with a piece of aluminum foil, with which one folded the sides over about half an inch. Then, the name was written on one of the sides (there were lots of Japanese children trying to write their names by themselves, very cute). Then, the pizza dough was stretched, sauce was put on it, and then the person's choice of toppings out of onions, green peppers, corn, cut up hot dog and cheese. Afterwards, we put the pizzas four to a tray and then sent the tray to the brick oven where it only took about two minutes to be made into a pizza.

There were three groups in the morning, one group of people came at 9:30 to make pizza, another at 10:30 and the last group at 11:30. We then had lunch break and then helped two more groups at 1:00 and 2:00.

After the first hour of working with pizza we walked over to the ice cream group with whom we talked about the unfortunate situation. (The ice cream group had partied a little the night before, not really good conditions for working). However, the four people in that group had done nothing for the first two hours that we had been there except to sit outside the pavilion occasionally feeling rain drops on their heads from the trees above them.

Note: Rainy season in Japan has started, and the rain comes and goes very rapidly here. It could be sunny, pouring, and then drizzling in a half hour time frame.

Eventually, the ice cream group got pulled away to work (that sounds really awful, but they just had to go inside to make ice cream) and we continued helping people make pizza. After the second break, I grabbed my bag and got some yen in order to buy some Karaage (Japanese fried chicken). It was my first meal of the day and it was delicious.

During our lunch break, we were given lunch! It was rice and tea. The standard lunch here in Japan. The entire group of us who came from JCMU took up a decent amount of the pavilion and talked. It was kind of refreshing to hear all of these stories about the hike and making the ice cream group. The ice cream group actually ended up not making ice cream. They just washed tables and cleaned up after each group came in.

The rest of the day went as the morning did, and most of us jut stayed in our original groups. While some of the other students went to play games, I hung around with the Japanese University students and practiced my Japanese. All of the JCMU students were eventually able to make a pizza (My pizza had cheese, corn and green peppers, tasty) and after the last group around 2:30 we all hung around, talking about our day. Eventually around 3:30 in the afternoon the bus came back to pick us up and we headed back to JCMU.

That night, I made dinner and did some homework before going to bed like most school nights.

Okay, I love Japan. It's great, a completely different culture and I still can't get over the architecture. I'm really happy for this opportunity and the intensive program here at JCMU. It's something that I've wanted to do for a long time.

However, I feel as though JCMU helps us to stick out as foreigners. Even though Japan is a country where less than one percent is not of Asian descent, half the time I feel as though I'm back in East Lansing or Maryland. It wasn't just this particular day, either, but the past week I have been feeling as though I am only halfway experiencing the country and the study abroad experience.

In the dorms, everyone speaks English and living on the outskirts of Hikone, I feel as though we are somewhat separated from the Japanese population. I also feel as though we are somewhat discriminated not necessarily by the Japanese people, but by the administration faculty of JCMU since though they know that we are foreigners and therefore assume that we don't want to try to experience some of the culture first hand. Even as freshmen in South Africa, I feel as though we were given more liberty with the general public after class and at night.

JCMU has a great program, with intensive learning and wonderful, dedicated teachers. But I feel as though I am missing out on the whole "immersive" part of the program. I haven't been able to interact with many Japanese people, and when I have, I have been put into a situation where I obviously stick out as a foreigner, or more so than I originally would have.

That's my two cents.

Viva City!

Saturday morning, I slept in, gathering as much sleep for my adventure as possible. I woke up around ten and made myself some ramen and peanut butter toast for breakfast, and also cleaned up the kitchen. It was a rather productive morning, and I even started to get my laundry started, but then I realized I didn't have any detergent, so that was a moot point.

Around eleven, Jackie woke up, and we just hung out in the apartment for an hour until Pat came over. He asked us when we would be interested to leave (we had originally planned for about noon) and we eventually decided on leaving around one o'clock.

Just after Pat left, Niki came over, and we let her know about going to Viva City. After about an hour of getting ready, putting on sun screen, and figuring out the small map that we had we managed to get on our way.

Now, many of you are probably wondering what Viva City is. Viva City is the main shopping mall in Hikone. However, remember, I am in Japan, so it's bound to be different somehow.

We started biking, and first biked near the train station. We then went a little farther south until we didn't know where we were. There were plenty of signs around, and even I could read most of them, but the map that we had only showed the roads that we needed to take, and didn't have any specific road names or signs that would let us know how far to go. (Point: The map that we were using was a homemade map given to us by JCMU, not all maps in Japan are like these ones).

Eventually, we found a rather busy street, think Main Street USA only with a Japanese twist. I hope to go back there sometime by foot, and I plan to take tons of pictures so everyone can see. It was very hot out, but because of the conservative nature of Japan I was wearing jeans and a short sleeved t-shirt. I saw many students riding their bikes in their school uniforms. If I remember correctly, Japanese students go to school six days a week, but Saturdays are only half days. I saw many girls wearing gym shorts under their skirts while they ride their bikes. I guess minds think alike, because that was what I had assumed I was going to have to do when I start commuting every day from my homestay starting next week.

We weren't exactly sure where we were at that point, so Jackie went into one of the small shops to ask for directions. Once she came out we discovered that we were on the right track, but this time we knew how much farther we had to go and where we were at the point in time.

We finally made our way to the end of Japanese Main Street as I call it, when we turned left onto our final road. Near the end of our trip, a highway crossed the road so there was a lit tunnel that went underground specifically for bikers and persons on mopeds. Once out of the tunnel, we crossed a small two-lane road and parked our bikes next to the Japanese Toys "R" Us. All together, I would like to say that our trip lasted about an hour- which included the time that it took for us to go the long way around to Main Street and to stop and ask for directions.

Japanese Toys "R" Us is a lot like the US, except for the fact that there are a lot of Japanese-like toys involved. While the layout and style is similar, instead of Spongebob lunchboxes, there are Rilakumma Obentos. (Rilakumma is a very popular character here in Japan, I have various folders featuring him. An obento is a square lunchboxes that most Japanese take to school every day.) Anime is very popular as well, with some American-themes as well. In example, the Japanese people love Hawai'i, therefore Stitch is a very popular character here in Japan.

We also went to the Nintendo aisle, where they had some of the new Gameboy items on sale. The Gameboy DS is very popular in Japan, as well with some of my friends not just because of the games, (actually, the games are the minor attraction) but because the DS can do much more in daily life. One of the newer models that is coming out in a week features a camera which one can take pictures with. In addition, there are various "game" cards that one can buy for the DS such as a Denshi Jisho（でんしじしょ）. (Denshi　電子 is Japanese for electronics, Jisho　じしょ is dictionary). While it is not as high-tech as some official Denshi-Jishos', it is still very useful for Japanese learners. There are also many games for younger Japanese children to practice their kanji, and other languages such as English and French. I was very shocked, I had no idea a Gameboy was so universal.

After looking around at Toys "R" Us, we headed to the actual mall. Walking in, we immediately were in the middle of the food court, which was similar to a food court in the US except for the lack of tables. There were also mini fruit stands, and other stands that held more Japanese dishes, such as tenpura and sushi. We eventually came along to a book store, which we went into to look at. Pat found a copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in Japanese. Jackie found two books for the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) and looked through those. I, on the other hand, was unsuccessful as I could not find a copy of the Outsiders in Japanese, (my favorite book) but then again, it was a rather small store and had an even smaller foreign book section.

Afterwards, we headed over to the food court to grab some lunch. It was about three o'clock at this point, and all of us had had either a very small breakfast or none at all. I ended up ordering Karaage（からあげ）, which is Japanese deep fried chicken as well as french fries (I know, way to go bold) but to be honest, I couldn't read anything on the sign, except for Soba, so I decided to play it safe, especially since I was extremely hungry. I figured, I was going to be staying at a homestay soon anyway and my trip has only just begun. The Karaage was very good, however, and I think I may have had it before, only with sauce on top of rice (donburi).

Eventually, we finished eating and we went up stairs to explore the shopping part of the mall. Now, this is where the mall is different than the US. In the US, each store is separated by walls, as each store is it's own individual space with various style, interior design and music. In Japan, it is almost like one big department store, with each store individualized by a sign hanging above various racks of clothes. Everything is also very packed, with lots of clothes on hooks and bags on shelves. Checkout counters, however, are almost identical. The only question is which checkout counter belongs with which store.

Another note: for being on a small island, the Japanese are very resourceful about space. The houses are tall, not wide, cars are narrow, tunnels are underground instead of creating separate bike lanes on an already "wide" highway. Parking garages for shopping malls are also on top of the mall itself. (Viva City had four levels. The first level was for food and restaurants, the second level for shopping, and the third and fourth levels were both parking garages.

I tried on a pair of overall shorts, which gave me my first trip to a Japanese fitting room. Before going into the fitting room, I had to take off my shoes, which I left just outside the door. The room was discreetly in the middle of the store area, and just big enough for a single person to comfortably try on clothes. I ended up buying a bag that was on sale. It's something stylish, yet not too catchy. (I wasn't interested in walking around Tokyo or another major city with my Coach purse, but at the same time I didn't want to carry around my Michigan State bag that is literally held together by duct tape.)

After a while, we ventured outside to see what else was around. After a short walk, we came back to Viva City via another entrance. This entrance led us to a huge arcade place. There were lots of Purikura（ぷりくら） booths (Those are the photo booths that I mentioned before- I messed up the name), and we did one of those. This particular one was different that the one from the Hyaku yen shop. In this Purikura booth we took twelve pictures then chose six. There were also two cameras instead of one, with one camera in front of us like normal and another one near the top of the booth for aerial shots. It was also a lot faster than normal, and the decorations weren't nearly as good. Afterwards, we checked out the other booths (There are different booths with different themes. Also, some vary with picture styles, such as placement of cameras and how many you can take.) There was one Purikura where boys were not allowed, so we had to skip that one since Pat was with us.

We saw three girls dressed in kimono costumes. I wasn't exactly sure why they were wearing them (Think of a situation where someone is wearing a prom dress in a shopping mall, hair and shoes included) but they were very pretty kimonos. I hope to try one on sometime in my life.

Afterwards, we hung out a little more, and Jackie went to the cell phone shop to see what was wrong with her cell phone (it wasn't receiving messages or something). Pat and I got ice cream, and then we started on our trip home.

We stopped at Tsutaya, which was supposed to be a very good book store (I was still looking for my copy of The Outsiders), but this particular Tsutaya ended up being only DVDs and games. At that point, Jackie had wanted to go back to a Hyaku Yen shop that we had passed, so her, Niki and Pat left to go to that store while I returned home to get some homework done before my busy day on Sunday.

It took me about half the time to get back. I basically kept the Hikone Castle within my sight and headed in that general direction. (It really is a great landmark). Once I reached the bridge to Hikone Castle, I took a left which took me almost directly to the supermarket where we buy our groceries. From there, it was a straight shot home.

As soon as I got home I made myself some dinner and worked on my essay that is due on Monday. Knowing I was going to get up early in the morning to start laundry before I had to go to the festival I turned in early to go to bed.

Thanks for staying with me. I'm going to try as hard as I can to stay on task with this blog. がんばります！

I Want to Go Home...

Just so I can come back AGAIN!

I am having a fabulous time here in Japan, and I am really liking the culture, food, language and way of life here. I've been a little busy the past couple days, but I told myself to write my blog before breakfast and laundry.

Thursday morning, I woke up around 7 o'clock in order to study. We had our second kanji quiz that day, and so I looked over the kanji and practiced the forms in my kanji workbook. I also had to reviews 11 and 12 for the day.

I got to class a little later that day, but I was still the first person there. I sat one seat over than normal so that I could see the cards that the teachers put up.

For class exercises, the teachers will often put up cards with a picture on it (a person eating, or two friends meeting) which represents a verb. We then apply the verb to the picture (rather than memorization) and then conjugate the verb based on what type of conjugation we are practicing/learning as a class. After we go through the entire set of verbs as a class, the teacher will then call on individual students to conjugate the verbs by themselves. It's very effective and a great way to learn a language.

We also practiced the Lesson 11 dialogue during our first class, which was with Yoshida-sensee. Our second class was also with Yoshida-sensee and we studied the kanji of the last three chapters of Genki 1 (Chapters 10-12). The entire class was dedicated to reviewing kanji, and to do so we played a kanji game, which the cards with the kanji on it were placed on the floor. Then, the entire class (Fifteen people now) would race against each other to grab the sheet with the appropriate kanji when it was called. I didn't get many because some of the other students would get a little pushy, but I made sure to focus and pay attention to when a particular word was called.

After the game, everyone had at least one kanji, and so each person would then say a sentence with the appropriate kanji, and then the rest of the class would write it down on a personal whiteboard. (I really love the whiteboards). The goal of this exercise was to recognize various kanji and then be able to use the kanji in a sentence. It was very effective.

For our third class we had Aizawa-sensee. He came in and we started right off the bat with our lesson 11 kanji quiz. The entire previous class had been dedicated to reviewing these kanji so I felt very confident. We had also gotten our kanji quiz back from the day before. I missed a half point because I had one stroke on one of the kanji facing the wrong way. To prevent this, I made sure to note every direction of every stroke for lesson 11 kanji.

After the kanji quiz, we went over the reading with Aizawa-sensee. The reading corresponded to the reading from the day before so we often had questions that tied both readings together. (The previous reading was a newspaper classified ad and the second reading was a letter response to the ad). These readings also correspond directly with the kanji that we learn in each chapter. For example, the reading that we had due today was part of the kanji exercises from chapter 11 kanji. The reading for yesterday used kanji from chapter 10.

After our third class, Heather, Niki, Pat and I all met and went to Coco's for lunch. Coco's is an American-style restaurant with American food and a Japanese twist. It reminded me much of Friendly's or a Bob Evan's type of atmosphere. I picked the special of the day, which was orange chicken, rice, and salad. It was very tasty. We also get a 300 yen discount when we go to Coco's, so that was another reason why we were interested in going there. I was a little unhappy how American-stylized Coco's was, (I was thinking I might be able to get some Tenpura or something) but it was good food for a rather cheap price.

Afterwards, we came back for our last class with Nakamitsu-sensee. We went over the vocabulary for Lesson 13 in Genki 2, (We had received Genki 2 textbooks and workbooks earlier) practiced then entire dialogue for Chapter 12, and then did exercises for Chapter 12 dialogue 1, which we had to memorize the night before. Time flew by and before we knew it, classes for the day was over.

After class, I returned to my room and studied, preparing for the next day. I also watched part of a movie and talked with some friends via skype. For dinner, I borrowed some rice from my friend, Niki, and made my first rice in the rice cooker. For my first time making rice, as well as using Japanese directions, the rice turned out to be pretty good.

Later in the evening, my friend Tisch, who is also in second year, came over and we did our last sheet of homework. The directions on the homework were a little unclear, but we managed to work out what we had to write about.

I eventually went to sleep a little later then usual, with the intent of waking up earlier than usual, but I figured that the next day was Friday, so it was okay.

I woke up early to try to skype with my parents. I also studied a little bit more before class. We had our first Tango Tesuto- Vocabulary quiz, but I had already studied the chapter at MSU so I wasn't too worried.

For our first class, we went over all of Lesson 12 and the dialogue. We also turned in our homework to the teacher. Yoshida-sensee stayed with us through our second hour class, which is when we had our vocabulary quiz. It was fairly easy, and I'm sure I did well on it. We also started getting into the Genki 2 textbook. Starting next week we won't need to bring our makeshift textbook of Genki 1 to class. For reviewing, we went through half of a textbook in one week. I'm really excited for this type of intensive course.

We also got our schedules for next week, we should be done with chapter 13 by Thursday, and halfway through chapter 14 by the end of the week. On average we are looking at about a chapter and a half each week. This involved, vocabulary, kanji, reading, 2-3 dialogues, and an expression note for each chapter. It doesn't look like there will be a chapter test, but we are supposed to have a midterm and a final, so everything will probably just be tested in the midterm and final.

For our last class, Nakamitsu-sensee came in and we reviewed the new grammar structures that we had learned in the previous class. We practiced those as a class and then moved on to the first dialogue for chapter 13. This particular dialogue had a lot of tongue-twisters in it, so we would often have to say it over and over again before it sounded correct. At the same time, we got lots of laughs out of the class.

Afterwards, I headed upstairs to my dorm where I made some ramen for lunch. I looked over my notes then had to leave a little before two for my homestay meeting. There, Kitamura-san gave us our bike and train passes and explained on a map how we would get from where we were living to JCMU. Today (Saturday) I will find out how to get to the train station from JCMU.

We also talked about living in traditional Japanese homes. There is a lot of stuff involved, but I'll make a brief mention here, and then full details when I move in on Tuesday. Apparently, the bathrooms are completely different, as well as the laundry. Dinner time as well as etiquette is also very different compared to the US. It should serve as an interesting blog. Look out for Tuesday and Wednesday (my time).

When the homestay was finished, I went to talk to Iga-san the student services coordinator about my trip to Tokyo in two weeks. For my birthday, I will be traveling to Tokyo to visit my friend, Ayami, and then we are going to Tokyo Disney for on Saturday, and then hanging around Tokyo on Sunday. Ayami is one of my friends from Japanese Conversation hour from MSU. I will be taking the Shinkansen (Japanese Bullet train) to Tokyo Saturday morning, and then coming back Sunday evening. The Shinkansen is rather expensive, but my roommate, (who studied abroad for a semester) tells me that it is an experience that everyone should take once.

Jackie (my roommate) and I then left to go to the super market to get some last minute things before my homestay starts. We picked up some rice and steak, and we had also hoped to get some tenpura, but it was already sold out. Jackie stayed to study a little bit outside of the center, so I rode my bike back to the center just at the sun was setting.

Once I got back, I made myself some dinner with the steak that I just bought. My head was hurting a little bit (my excuse for not writing last night) so I went to bed around ten in the evening.

And so, those are my updates of here in Japan. Today my friends and I are going to Viva City, so I'll write more about that later!

American Breakfast for Dinner with Japanese Friends

Wednesday- the middle of the week, but one of my favorite days so far.

I have officially gotten used to sleeping in Japan. I now sleep when I want to, and wake up at normal times. The past week has been a blast, and I'm sure it will be only more fun later and as time goes on.

I started off the day around 6:30, a little earlier than usual because I wanted to study the kanji a little more today as we were to have our first kanji quiz today during the first class period. I made myself a piece of toast with peanut butter on top for breakfast before sitting at our table in the kitchen to review everything before class today.

Note: The idea of "you don't miss it until it's gone" can apply very well here with my stay in Japan. At home, I never ate a piece of toast with peanut butter on top- then as soon as I get here it's just about all that I eat. Yes, I am slightly embarrassed to say that I have been here a week and a half (one week with my luggage) and already I am just about done with my jar of peanut butter. This also happened in South Africa. I don't know what it is, but peanut butter tastes really delicious in foreign countries, even if it was bought and brought with me from the United States.

Some of you may be wondering why I don't just go out and buy more peanut butter. Peanut butter is very expensive here in Japan. Real expensive. A pint costs roughly about $5 here, which is ridiculous. If I ever live here, I'm probably going to have to add that expense to my budget.

And so, I went to class about twenty minutes early so that I could study without the distraction of my laptop. In addition, Lance (Armstrong) and myself are competing for the chair up front. I managed to get there first today, so it was mine.

First class was with Yoshida-sensee. We went over the dialoguefor Chapter 9 and we also reviewed Lesson 10 in the textbook. It was a rather simple review, but Chapter 10 involves a lot of tongue-twister like sentences, so I was falling over those for a little bit. We also had our first kanji quiz. I knew every kanji on the quiz and all the words and kanji forms that I had to write when changing from hiragana, so I felt really confident, but I should get my official grade tomorrow.

Our second class was with Nakamitsu-sensee. We went over a newspaper article from the book where four people were looking for friends in the classified sections. I volunteered as much as possible, and even did a small skit with Heather. The skit was where I called her after she had placed an ad in the newspaper. We said that we both liked movies and agreed on a time and day. However, barely a single person in the class could answer Nakamitsu-sensee's questions regarding our skit. (What type of movie did I like, what day we decided to go, etc.) In the end, I felt as though I gained a lot from reading and listening.

Aizawa-sensee came next, and like normal started shooting off questions right form the get-go. We covered a lot of stuff from the book, such as previous grammar structures and the dialogue for Chapter 10. The thing that I liked most of this class was the fact that we never really knew when he was going to switch topics. He combined all the focuses in the class into one big conversation that kept going for fifty minutes. In example, he would have us change parts of the dialogue to allow us to use various grammar structures that we had just reviewed or reviewed on Monday. It's a very applicable way of doing things and it helps us with our Japanese listening skills as we always have to be ready for anything that we have ever learned, not just what is in the chapter.

After our third class, we had our lunch break, but for the first twenty minutes, I met my conversation partner. There were a lot of JCMU conversation partner applicants for the summer program, so I am sharing my partner with Grace. We talked for a little bit, our partner in English while we would respond in Japanese. Our partner has a son who likes Japanese anime as well as Japanese history, (which is what Grace and I put down as our interests, respectively) so she asked us if it would be okay if she gave our e-mail addresses to her son. This way, we have two conversation partners, though we will be practicing more Japanese and English with her son.

We agreed to meet every Monday and Wednesday during lunch for conversation hour. However, we are starting the hour next week, as this week we hadn't planned ahead and pre-made lunch. next Monday I will let you know how it goes. She seems extremely nice though, and I am excited to work in two languages at one time.

Afterwards, I returned to my room, had a cup of ramen, and then returned early to the classroom once again in order to go over Chapter 11 before our fourth and final class of the day started. While looking through the textbook I had to admit that Chapter 11 was really easy for me. If I am correct, that was the one test that I did really really well on this past semester in Japanese 102.

Our teacher was Yoshida-sensee again, (we have her twice a day, every day) and I was able to participate a lot more than the first hour with her. In fact, the entire class was extremely active and even some of the slower students were catching on. I guess I wasn't the only one who thought that Chapter 11 was easy.

Afterwards, I was exhausted after a day of reviewing so I came upstairs and took a "conscious nap", as I like to call it. It's where I just lie on my bed and while I'm not sleeping, I'm not responsive to noises that I hear or the minutes that I feel passing by. I was "awoken" about an hour later when Jackie knocked on my door. She said that there was a fire drill going on (I had heard something on the loud speaker, but I really just toned it out.) and so the two of us headed outside into the warm sunshine on the Wednesday afternoon where a bright red fire truck was sitting on the cobblestones outside JCMU.

The four firemen explained to us (in Japanese, with one of the office workers for JCMU translating) what to do in case of a fire. We then all got to practice with the fire extinguisher, which Xiao and I had a great time with. (I mentioned that I could probably start a fire with a fire extinguisher.) Xiao was in my Japanese class first semester and so we often practice our dialogues in class together. He is a really funny guy and tries to make everyone laugh at least once a day.

Afterwards, I returned to my room and finish my "nap". After a half hour or so, I woke up and started on my homework, finishing a good portion of it before I headed over to Niki's dorm to make a huge American breakfast. Pat, Heather, Tisch, another guy from JCMU as well as one of Heather's friends from Shiga Daigaku. We made a bunch of pancakes, eggs, bacon (which turned out to be just pork), and nearly forgot about the rice in the rice cooker. (That was our dessert.)

Today was filled with a bunch of laughs, from fire extinguishers to pancakes to Xiao being Xiao.

Thanks for reading! More to come tomorrow!