Sunday morning I woke up around seven by myself and then I headed downstairs for breakfast with Okaasan and Otoosan. Afterwards, I started getting ready and then I left around nine in order to grab the next train to Hikone where I was going to meet my friends at the train station.
I met my friends and then we headed took the next express train to Kyoto. On our way, we met another girl who goes to JCMU who was also taking the same train, but she was going to Omihachiman instead. We all sat together and talked and when it came time for her to leave we invited her to come to Nara with us. (She had told us that she had gone to Omihachiman the day before with her frisbee group.)
So, she said yes and the four of us stayed on the train and headed to Kyoto.
Once we got to Kyoto station, we used the fare adjustment so that Katie (that is the girl's name) could get into Kyoto.
Train Note: When you ride the train, you look at a map where your city is in the center. Then, the train lines diverge form your particular city, and each city where you can stop at there is a number. That number is how much it costs to get from the city you are at to the city you want to go to. Once you buy your ticket, if you want to go farther, once you get to your destination you can go to a fare adjustment machine and pay the extra amount needed to get a new ticket. You put your original ticket into the machine so that it knows how much you have already paid, and based on what city you are in, how much more you have to pay.
In Kyoto we got a quick lunch and then headed down to the ATM machines to get some cash. Afterwards, we grabbed an express train to Nara.
Once in Nara, we had some trouble finding Jackie and Jackie's Japanese friend (best friend) Yuri. We went to Nara station, but Jackie was at Nara Station for the local Nara line. We walked around a little bit, before we found them, but the sights were pretty so I didn't mind to much.
It was just really really hot. Thank goodness I bought that fan in Kyoto the day before.
Once we met up with Jackie and Yuri, the six of us headed off to see the Great Daibutsu. Or the big Buddha. He has his own shrine and it's one of the highlights of the entire country of Japan.
We had to pay 500 yen (about $5) to get in. If one wished, one could burn incense before entering the temple. The temple's name is Todaji. I recommend looking it up and visiting if you ever go to Japan.
We say Buddha and lots of amazing statues that just towered above us. We also saw miniature models of other various famous landmarks, such as the five story pagoda. There was also a long line for people who wanted to try to fit into a hole the size of Buddha's nostril. There is a belief that if you can fit into Buddha's nostril then you will get to enlightenment in your next life or something...
I think it's supposed to be a little harder than that.
So, after Todaji, we walked to go see the five story pagoda. Now... once again, (I seem to be doing a lot of this lately) I'm going to go all nerd and connect a 1300 year old city with contemporary anime.
In the anime series, Naruto, there is a family called the Nara family. (Sound familiar??) The two males of the family, (that we know of anyway) names start with Shika. (Shikamaru, Shikaku)
In Japanese, Shika means deer. Nara is really really famous for their deer.
When walking on the cobblestone streets outside of Todaji, or near the busy roadways lined with souvenir shops, you can easily walk into a deer. The deer here are not skittish whatsoever, and will actually attack if you have food. (I saw that happen this weekend.) They walk on the same streets as if they were just like us. It's real cool, and for 300 yen, you can buy deer food and feed the deer.
Nara is also really clean-- the deer eat everything. And I mean everything.
After we saw the five story pagoda, we went to Moss Burger where we had dinner. Moss Burger is the Japanese version of A&W, they make the burgers for you when you order them. It was a really good burger, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Afterwards, even though it was only about six o'clock, the six of us were dead tired, so we headed back to the train station, where the four of us grabbed the train back to Kyoto and then from Kyoto to Hikone. I stayed on the train though, and took it one more stop to Maibara, where I switched trains and took one to Nagahama. I got home roughly around 9 pm.
And that was Sunday. I have plenty of pictures, but they aren't on my computer yet. It's hard to describe Nara because it's such a beautiful place that words and pictures don't do it justice. It's really something that people have to experience and I highly recommend it if you visit Japan.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
京都：舞子になりました！(Kyoto: becoming a Maiko)
Yeah! That's me!
On Saturday, I slept in until about nine o'clock, after which I had breakfast with Okaasan and then headed to Nagahama Eki (Nagahama station) in order to take the train to one of the most fabulous cities in all of Japan, Kyoto!
Language Note: I always remembered the two capitals of Japan because they were just flip-flopped with the names. To-kyo, and Kyo-to. In reality, this isn't true.
The kanji for Tokyo is 東京, which means Eastern capital. On the other hand, Kyoto is 京都. Kyoto means capital city, (even though it technically isn't anymore.)
As you can see, the kanji are not switched, so they are not the same thing! Kanji is so useful in situations like this.
So yeah, I got to Kyoto after taking the train for about an hour. Once I was at the train station, I used a fare adjustment in order to pay for my way from Hikone to Kyoto, (because I already have a pass from Nagahama to Hikone, so I didn't need to pay and extra 230 yen) and then I asked for directions to Yumekoubou.
At Yumekoubou, the lady came over and we started discussing what I was going to do, in Japanese. I decided which package I wanted and we talked about how they could send me the pictures since I was going to be out of the country in less than a month.
At one o'clock, another lady showed me to the other side of the building, where I took off my shoes and put on the slippers provided. I then followed her into the dressing/washing room, and on the way I saw three other girls also dressing up at Maiko.
Oh, maybe I should explain. A Geisha is, in my own definition, a hospitable Japanese woman. They are NOT prostitutes. Please, completely forget the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" because it is not true whatsoever. Geisha play various instruments, do tea ceremonies, dance and other types of entertainment of arts.
You're probably better off wiki-ing this, but I'll make it short so everyone can get a glimpse.
Geisha have "customers", or men who basically hang out with Geisha. Whether it's talking or listening to her play koto. In return for her hospitality and platonic companionship, the man pays for the Geisha fees. (Kimonos, instruments and other various knick knacks). Geisha can have several "customers", therefore can have more money to spend on nicer things.
Sometimes, these customer/Geisha relationships become sexual, but that is not the original concept.
So what the heck is a Maiko?
A Geisha apprentice. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geisha
Go ahead and read that.
So anyways, I dressed up an a Maiko. At first I had to take out all of my ear piercings, (those who know me know that I have quite a few) and then I put on a white slip overtop of my underclothes.
I wouldn't recommend this for the completely shy ladies, because this is mostly in public. Granted, it's a women's only room, but you're still taking off your clothes while others are washing their face and others are putting their clothes on.
I also put on the tabi, (or two-toed socks) and then slipped back on my slippers and headed over to the make-up area. There, they put white make-up (that felt like clay at first) on my back, neck and face. They then covered that with white powder. I also had red and black eyeliner, red lips and they darkened my eyebrows so that they looked a perfect shape. Due to not wearing make-up for nearly three days in preparation, my eyes watered a little bit, but they managed to fix that up real easy.
Next, I was brought over to the kimono area where I picked out my kimono. I have blue eyes, so I decided to go with something of a blueish color and ended up with the one in the picture above. Putting on a kimono is tougher than all that stuff they wore in England back in the day.
Okay, first I had my slip. Then I had another thin dress with a red outline. It was tied tightly across the waist. Next was the collar, which was rested on my shoulders and tied across the waist. It's the red fabric peeking out around my neck. Then, I put on the actual kimono, the blue dress that I picked out. It involved lots of wrapping and tying off, (around the waist, once again). Then, I had another belt tied around my waist. Then, they tied the red fabric around my waist, (that's actually not part of the kimono, that's a whole other belt in the picture.) Then, I had another smaller belt tied on, (That's the black one that looks like it has leaves on it). Then, I had an even smaller belt put on, (it's a thin piece with two flowers on the front.)
Last, a big black thing, (I've sat here, trying to think how to describe it) was placed on my back. Part of the piece stuck behind all of my belts so that it would stay. You can kind of see it hanging off my back in the picture above.
So anyways, after all that jazz, I put on some Japanese sandals and walked outside where I met some other girls who were also doing the maiko dress-up. They all looked at me and said "kawaii!" (cute!) and we talked for a little bit in Japanese before the lady who had dressed me took our pictures, and then some pictures of me individually.
Afterwards, I headed into the studio, where a photographer took pictures of me using various props. When I was done, I walked outside, took some more pictures, then went back into the dressing room to take it all off.
It takes about twenty minutes to do everything: to put on make-up, get dressed, take off make-up. To take off the make-up, I was given some wet cloths, and the two ladies helped me with my back make-up. Then, I changed into my regular clothes and headed to the waiting room, where I got to see my pictures. I got to choose which four I wanted to be printed into large size and sent to Nagahama, (within two weeks) and then another one for a postcard, (which I gave to my hostparents) and then whether I wanted the CD or not. (Which I did because I can make more pictures from that on my computer).
After Yumekoubou, I took a random train and ended up in the middle of Kyoto. I had texted my friends, but none had texted back, (scratch that, only one of my friends has a phone) so I decided to explore Kyoto on my own. After living here for nearly six weeks, I have become very comfortable in Japan, and I feel very safe. Of course, I'm smart. I don't go into dingy cafes, and I stay away from dark alleys and I never walk at night unless I'm with someone else.
So, I ended up walking for about thirty minutes before I found this really awesome place called Teramachi Street. It's basically a really really long street of shops, and there I spent the rest of my day, going in and out buying everyone's "omiyage" or souvenirs.
At about seven, I grabbed the train back to Nagahama. I fell asleep right away, but it was probably one of the best days so far in Japan.
More to come soon!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Yokosuka
So, last weekend I took the shinkansen (bullet train) and headed down to Yokosuka to visit a friend who is currently working on one of the ships that is currently docked at the Naval Base in Yokosuka. When I got there we headed back to his apartment where I dropped off my stuff, and then we headed out to dinner.
Dinner was at a lovely place called TGI Fridays. It was very Americanized, and most of the waitstaff spoke enough English so that they could take orders and answer questions. Almost all of the patrons were either from the Naval base, or with someone who was from the Naval Base.
So, for the first time in a month and a half, I had a quesadilla, (and to think I wasn't going to miss Mexican food) and it tasted great. After dinner we headed back and watched Jurassic Park until about ten o'clock. Then, I did some homework since I had a huge test this past week.
The next morning, we went stopped at Starbucks for breakfast and then headed to the train station where we took the train to Kamikura to see the "daibatsu" or "Great Buddha". At first we stopped in Kita-Kamikura, (Kita means North, so we went to North Kamikura) and walked around before we realized that this was the wrong city and then we headed back to Kamikura where we followed the "Buddha" signs until we came to the temple.
The temple was very touristy. There was a lot of picture taking, souvenir selling and even some construction work. The construction work was a little loud, so it kind of put a bummer on the sight of the tall, mint-green statue, but it was still an amazing thing to see. This weekend, on Sunday, actually, I will be heading to Nara where I will see another Buddha.
After Kamikura, we headed up to Yokohama where we hung out, grabbing lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and walking around enjoying the sights.
Yokohama and Yokosuka, Japan are very americanized. Where here in Nagahama and Hikone, you can barely find a McDonalds, in Yokosuka there are three just on my way to the train station. This is most likely caused by the Naval Base, and the fact that half of the people that one sees in town are from the Western side of the world. It was a nice little break, but I was kind of missing the whole Japan experience.
In fact, back to TGI Fridays, when the waitress came up, she asked, "Are you ready to order?" I hadn't looked through the whole menu yet, (it was all in English) so I said, "sumimasen, mada kimete imasen" (I'm sorry, I haven't decided yet). The waitress almost freaked out. She had this look on her face of complete shock, and then she started speaking to me in Japanese, (my friend, Mike just sat there with his mouth open) and I could tell that she was happy to meet someone who didn't just speak English like that was the only language of the city.
She told me my Japanese was good, (to which I shook my hands and said "sono koto wa arimasen" (No, that idea is not right)) and asked if I was studying at a university, "いいえ、ミシガン州立大学の学生ですけど、今留学生です。彦根で、日本語を勉強しています." (No, I am a student at Michigan State University, but now I am a study abroad student. I am currently studying Japanese language in Hikone). It was real nice.
However, despite the complete Americanization of southeastern Japan, I did get to use my Japanese quite a bit. For one, I had to order a shinkansen ticket back to Nagahama, and then throughout the weekend I also had to ask for directions and translate various signs throughout the cities.
So, on Sunday, I went with my friend to the Naval Base, which is basically like being home. Everything is in English and everything costs money, but in dollars.
Yeah, that's right. dollars. That green stuff that we use in the US.
We walked around, had pizza for lunch, then headed over to the ship where he works. He gave me a tour, and showed me all around and showed me where he works, (he is a welder).
The gate wasn't very secure though. Even though I had to show my passport, security was kind of null. I would be a little worried, especially with North Korea so close by.
Also, when I was getting my day pass, I remembered why I didn't join the military. When I was waiting, a man in front of me went up and showed the people behind the desk (both of them were women, but I'm not going to get into that subject. I don't have enough prior knowledge to really say anything about it. It's just an observation) his papers, and then they said something like he forgot to do this or he needs to get this done with his badge, and he flipped out. He acted worse than the crazy people that we get at Outback Steakhouse every weekend and stomped off in a heat muttering (loudly so everyone could hear) about how he was a Master Chief on leave and blah blah blah.
The ladies jumped up, "Right this way sir."
...
I don't even have anything to say to that.
If you know me well enough though, you can probably guess what's going through my head.
I have a major problem with bullying. Whether its that overgrown kid in fifth grade, high school quarter back or a Master Chief. Just because you are bigger, more popular or have a fancy title, (which I admit must have taken a lot of work to gain) it doesn't mean that you have to be rude to everyone lower than you when you don't get your way. No, I wasn't bullied when I was a kid, I just always found it rude and kind of annoying.
But whatever, that's why I went to college. So I could read books and write papers for the rest of my life.
I've got a little sarcastic streak jumping out at the moment, so please bear with me.
Other little note... but before that I'm going to mention something that I usually don't talk about... politics. This is because I'm going to mention some stuff and I don't want people to get the wrong idea.
I may not completely agree with our President, (whoever it is at the current time) but I will always support him/her because I love the United States of America. I love our flag, our song and our obsession with fried, fatty foods. The United States is just plain awesome.
I just don't want to serve in the military.
I went to the Navy Exchange, where Navy personnel can get stuff for cheaper than back in the states. I was interested in history, so I headed over to the books section to look at a book to possibly entertain myself with. (Because I have The Outsiders memorized cover to cover, so I decided it was about time to try something new.)
Lots of stuff on the American Revolution, and lots of stuff on World War I and II.
Nothing, absolutely nothing on Vietnam.
Except for a small book that was a biography about a war pilot who came from a rich military family and got some medal.
What happened to the working class war? The draft, the protests- my Japanese textbook has more information. (It actually does. One of my kanji readings was about John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, and all of the peace activities that they put on during the Vietnam War era).
Nothing on the Civil War either.
Talk about propaganda and a biased selection.
So, afterwards, we headed back to the apartment where we hung out until we walked to grab my train. It was a rather long ride home, and when I got back it was only the start of an almost entire week of rain.
Other highlights this week:
I have a new toy called a Nintendo DSi. A new game too: Pokemon Soul Silver.
Yesterday while studying for my test, Naruto (one of the few anime series that I watch) came on the television. It was really cool to watch, even though I could only understand a few words. (Which is more progressive than a year ago).
Today, I had my big "shiken" or test. I think I did fairly well on it. I missed a couple vocabulary words, but overall I feel rather solid.
I also had my last "shodo" or calligraphy class today. The next class is the same date as my graduation, so I will have to skip it. It was lots of fun, and sensee (teacher) thought that my "shodo" was very well done. Before I left, she gave me my first shodo brush as a gift. I'm going to have my Okaasan give sensee her gift when she sees her next time.
I can't speak French anymore. I tried to say a sentence the other day and it came out as "Ce denshya wa..." Ce is the only french word in that sentence. It means "this". "denshya wa" is Japanese. (If you thought that was English...)
I haven't had peanut butter in nearly two weeks. I'm on a role.
More soon! Kyoto is tomorrow!
Dinner was at a lovely place called TGI Fridays. It was very Americanized, and most of the waitstaff spoke enough English so that they could take orders and answer questions. Almost all of the patrons were either from the Naval base, or with someone who was from the Naval Base.
So, for the first time in a month and a half, I had a quesadilla, (and to think I wasn't going to miss Mexican food) and it tasted great. After dinner we headed back and watched Jurassic Park until about ten o'clock. Then, I did some homework since I had a huge test this past week.
The next morning, we went stopped at Starbucks for breakfast and then headed to the train station where we took the train to Kamikura to see the "daibatsu" or "Great Buddha". At first we stopped in Kita-Kamikura, (Kita means North, so we went to North Kamikura) and walked around before we realized that this was the wrong city and then we headed back to Kamikura where we followed the "Buddha" signs until we came to the temple.
The temple was very touristy. There was a lot of picture taking, souvenir selling and even some construction work. The construction work was a little loud, so it kind of put a bummer on the sight of the tall, mint-green statue, but it was still an amazing thing to see. This weekend, on Sunday, actually, I will be heading to Nara where I will see another Buddha.
After Kamikura, we headed up to Yokohama where we hung out, grabbing lunch at Hard Rock Cafe and walking around enjoying the sights.
Yokohama and Yokosuka, Japan are very americanized. Where here in Nagahama and Hikone, you can barely find a McDonalds, in Yokosuka there are three just on my way to the train station. This is most likely caused by the Naval Base, and the fact that half of the people that one sees in town are from the Western side of the world. It was a nice little break, but I was kind of missing the whole Japan experience.
In fact, back to TGI Fridays, when the waitress came up, she asked, "Are you ready to order?" I hadn't looked through the whole menu yet, (it was all in English) so I said, "sumimasen, mada kimete imasen" (I'm sorry, I haven't decided yet). The waitress almost freaked out. She had this look on her face of complete shock, and then she started speaking to me in Japanese, (my friend, Mike just sat there with his mouth open) and I could tell that she was happy to meet someone who didn't just speak English like that was the only language of the city.
She told me my Japanese was good, (to which I shook my hands and said "sono koto wa arimasen" (No, that idea is not right)) and asked if I was studying at a university, "いいえ、ミシガン州立大学の学生ですけど、今留学生です。彦根で、日本語を勉強しています." (No, I am a student at Michigan State University, but now I am a study abroad student. I am currently studying Japanese language in Hikone). It was real nice.
However, despite the complete Americanization of southeastern Japan, I did get to use my Japanese quite a bit. For one, I had to order a shinkansen ticket back to Nagahama, and then throughout the weekend I also had to ask for directions and translate various signs throughout the cities.
So, on Sunday, I went with my friend to the Naval Base, which is basically like being home. Everything is in English and everything costs money, but in dollars.
Yeah, that's right. dollars. That green stuff that we use in the US.
We walked around, had pizza for lunch, then headed over to the ship where he works. He gave me a tour, and showed me all around and showed me where he works, (he is a welder).
The gate wasn't very secure though. Even though I had to show my passport, security was kind of null. I would be a little worried, especially with North Korea so close by.
Also, when I was getting my day pass, I remembered why I didn't join the military. When I was waiting, a man in front of me went up and showed the people behind the desk (both of them were women, but I'm not going to get into that subject. I don't have enough prior knowledge to really say anything about it. It's just an observation) his papers, and then they said something like he forgot to do this or he needs to get this done with his badge, and he flipped out. He acted worse than the crazy people that we get at Outback Steakhouse every weekend and stomped off in a heat muttering (loudly so everyone could hear) about how he was a Master Chief on leave and blah blah blah.
The ladies jumped up, "Right this way sir."
...
I don't even have anything to say to that.
If you know me well enough though, you can probably guess what's going through my head.
I have a major problem with bullying. Whether its that overgrown kid in fifth grade, high school quarter back or a Master Chief. Just because you are bigger, more popular or have a fancy title, (which I admit must have taken a lot of work to gain) it doesn't mean that you have to be rude to everyone lower than you when you don't get your way. No, I wasn't bullied when I was a kid, I just always found it rude and kind of annoying.
But whatever, that's why I went to college. So I could read books and write papers for the rest of my life.
I've got a little sarcastic streak jumping out at the moment, so please bear with me.
Other little note... but before that I'm going to mention something that I usually don't talk about... politics. This is because I'm going to mention some stuff and I don't want people to get the wrong idea.
I may not completely agree with our President, (whoever it is at the current time) but I will always support him/her because I love the United States of America. I love our flag, our song and our obsession with fried, fatty foods. The United States is just plain awesome.
I just don't want to serve in the military.
I went to the Navy Exchange, where Navy personnel can get stuff for cheaper than back in the states. I was interested in history, so I headed over to the books section to look at a book to possibly entertain myself with. (Because I have The Outsiders memorized cover to cover, so I decided it was about time to try something new.)
Lots of stuff on the American Revolution, and lots of stuff on World War I and II.
Nothing, absolutely nothing on Vietnam.
Except for a small book that was a biography about a war pilot who came from a rich military family and got some medal.
What happened to the working class war? The draft, the protests- my Japanese textbook has more information. (It actually does. One of my kanji readings was about John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, and all of the peace activities that they put on during the Vietnam War era).
Nothing on the Civil War either.
Talk about propaganda and a biased selection.
So, afterwards, we headed back to the apartment where we hung out until we walked to grab my train. It was a rather long ride home, and when I got back it was only the start of an almost entire week of rain.
Other highlights this week:
I have a new toy called a Nintendo DSi. A new game too: Pokemon Soul Silver.
Yesterday while studying for my test, Naruto (one of the few anime series that I watch) came on the television. It was really cool to watch, even though I could only understand a few words. (Which is more progressive than a year ago).
Today, I had my big "shiken" or test. I think I did fairly well on it. I missed a couple vocabulary words, but overall I feel rather solid.
I also had my last "shodo" or calligraphy class today. The next class is the same date as my graduation, so I will have to skip it. It was lots of fun, and sensee (teacher) thought that my "shodo" was very well done. Before I left, she gave me my first shodo brush as a gift. I'm going to have my Okaasan give sensee her gift when she sees her next time.
I can't speak French anymore. I tried to say a sentence the other day and it came out as "Ce denshya wa..." Ce is the only french word in that sentence. It means "this". "denshya wa" is Japanese. (If you thought that was English...)
I haven't had peanut butter in nearly two weeks. I'm on a role.
More soon! Kyoto is tomorrow!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sunday: Friends come to Nagahama
Sunday, the first day in a long time where I didn't have any plans until the afternoon, saw me sleeping in until ten o'clock. Once I woke up, i went downstairs where I had breakfast with my host mother. Then, I started my laundry and got ready for the day. When I was done with my shower and getting dressed, I hung my clothes out on the line. I then received a text message from my friend, Jackie, and I went over to Nagahama Station to meet them.
After I went to Nagahama station, I walked around a little bit and then I found them at the festival. There, we walked down the street, stopping at almost every store on the side of the road. We saw lots of pretty purses and hats. There was also a store that was dedicated completely to chopsticks, and for 600 yen, ($6) you could have your very own pair of chopsticks that were modeled after the Shinkansen trains. Then, we all pitched in a couple hundred yen and got a bunch of food, which we all shared. Afterwards, we walked the road that I take every morning to and from my house to the station. We looked around the Nagahama shrine that I pass every morning and also my house. My host parents were out at the current moment, so we just kept going to the small shopping center down the road.
At the shopping center, we looked around and shopped in a popular store on the third floor. Then, we all did Purikura, with two of our members doing it for the first time.It was a blast and afterwards we all headed back to my house in order to ask my host mom where the "kaiten sushi" restaurant was. She gave Jackie directions, (Jackie is in fourth year and the best at Japanese out of all of us) and then invited my friends in to see the art gallery and my room.
After I went to Nagahama station, I walked around a little bit and then I found them at the festival. There, we walked down the street, stopping at almost every store on the side of the road. We saw lots of pretty purses and hats. There was also a store that was dedicated completely to chopsticks, and for 600 yen, ($6) you could have your very own pair of chopsticks that were modeled after the Shinkansen trains. Then, we all pitched in a couple hundred yen and got a bunch of food, which we all shared. Afterwards, we walked the road that I take every morning to and from my house to the station. We looked around the Nagahama shrine that I pass every morning and also my house. My host parents were out at the current moment, so we just kept going to the small shopping center down the road.
At the shopping center, we looked around and shopped in a popular store on the third floor. Then, we all did Purikura, with two of our members doing it for the first time.It was a blast and afterwards we all headed back to my house in order to ask my host mom where the "kaiten sushi" restaurant was. She gave Jackie directions, (Jackie is in fourth year and the best at Japanese out of all of us) and then invited my friends in to see the art gallery and my room.
Of course, having done laundry that morning meant that all of my clothes were hanging up everywhere, so Jackie and I, (the only girls in the group) hurried to my room and put away all of my clothes before we let the boys come up.
In my room, which everyone thought was amazing because it is about the size of the whole apartment at JCMU. We sat and talked for a little bit before we headed out to kaiten sushi.
Kaiten sushi literally translates to “rotating sushi”, and I'm going to go totally nerd for a minute by pointing out that “kaiten” is the name of the move that the Hyuugas from the Naruto series do when they turn in a circle, creating a small tornado.
ANYWAY…
So we all sat down in a booth, Jackie and Pat on one side. Myself, Tisch and Ang San on the other side. The end of the booth where there is normally a wall there is a two story rotating engineered machine. Premade stuff comes out on the bottom story, and when you see something you like, you simply grab the plate and put it on your table and start eating.
Now, let's say you want some MELON! But, for the past five minutes, you haven't seen any melon whatsoever. What you can do, is you can go to the screen that is mounted on the rotating machine, (but it doesn't rotate, there is one per table) and you go to the menu and order melon. Then, by a cute little Shinkansen train, on the second story of the machine, the train comes with your melon on a plate, just for you! Then, you press the red button, and the train goes back to the kitchen.
Of course, right after you order the melon, some new melons come out on the bottom rack, but it's okay, because everyone wants to use the Shinkansen train food-giver at least once.
Now, how do you pay for this? By the number of plates that you take. Every time you grab a plate from the rack, you eat your sushi/dessert/melon then you stack the plates. Once your done, a server will come by, count the number of plates then give you your receipt. Some things like dessert and melon cost a little more than normal sushi, but just about everything is about a dollar per plate. So, for someone like me who isn't hungry, I only had to pay $6, yet Ang San, who had 17 plates of sushi was paying upwards of $20.
Afterwards, my friends headed back to JCMU, and I returned home, where I finished my homework then went to bed.
Note: I'm really sorry about the lateness of these blogs. I'm stressing out a little about my big midterm at the end of the week, because a brand new grammar structure was just introduced on Thursday, and it's going to be a major part of the midterm. This new grammar structure is called "keigo" and it's honorific language. So, when talking to a friend, the verb "to eat" is "taberu". When talking to a teacher, the verb is "meshiagaru". That's right. The Japanese language has a brand new verb just when your talking to someone that is very important. It's like learning the whole language all over again, except everything is longer and sounds more confusing. (because it's longer).
Plus, I need to review all 200 kanji that I have learned, and the millions of verbs, adjectives and nouns that can just come out of nowhere. Oh, and the readings from the kanji review sections, (which could show up word by word on the test) which vary in topics from Hiroshima to Doraemon (an anime character) to Yoko Ono, (John Lennon's wife).
So, to be honest, I'm going to combine my entire past weekend in Yokosuka into one blog that will probably come out on Friday after my test. Then, I will hopefully get back on track until my final in the first week of August.
書くなくてすみませんでした！
(I'm sorry for not writing!)
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Saturday: Osaka and Shopping
Saturday morning I woke up early, took a shower, ate a quick breakfast then hurried to the train station. Once I got there, I hopped right on the train (perfect timing) and then rode the train to Hikone, where I met one of my friends and we both then bought our tickets to Osaka and got on the next train south.
The trip to Osaka is about two hours long and twenty dollars each way. We got on the train and talked, and when we finally arrived in Osaka, we noticed that it was pouring out.
The worst monsoon to ever hit Japan!
Okay, well, I don't know about that last part, but I sure wasn't excited to be walking all around Osaka in heels in the rain. Thank goodness I brought my umbrella.
Oh yes, Osaka is a modern city, kind of like a mini Tokyo, so my friend and I decided to dress up in normal Japanese clothes. See my Tokyo blog for more information.
When we got to Osaka, we decided to first to a small lunch, which consisted of two tiny waffles and some tea at a teahouse. Once we finished, we looked around the shops in the train station then braved our way outside.
We crossed a very busy street and started walking down the sidewalk, but eventually, we were getting a little too wet for our comforts (we even had our umbrellas) so we turned back around and decided to stick relatively close to the station.
First, we went to a very big shopping mall right next to that station. It is about 10 floors, with the top floor being a restaurant, and a majority of the center one particular store: Comme Ca. (Which is French for "like that") I liked a lot of stuff, but I wanted to stay relatively on a budget, so I ended up not buying anything from there.
We went to this one store, where I ended up buying a vest with a fringe and a pair of shoes with really high heels and some fringe. For some reason, the Japanese love Native American style clothing. Fringe, leather and feather. Then, they also like cowboy clothing. Cowboy boots, floral dresses and jean jackets. There are more American clothes here than in America. Yet, it's very Japanese.
To be completely honest, it doesn't make that much sense to me either.
After our first purchase, we headed up all of the floors and mostly just looked around. After we had finished the entire mall, we then headed back to the station and then found the "Chika Umeda" or the Underground Umeda shopping mall. There, we explored the vast two levels that were just filled with various shops and restaurants. We did some more shopping, including some more "Western" clothes, another pair of shoes and then we also went to a store that reminded me of Claire's. It was a store with lots of accessories such as jewelry, headbands and bracelets. I got some stuff there, and then we both decided that we were wiped.
On our way back to the station, we saw a McDonalds, and decided to celebrate July 4th, (again) and ordered ourselves some cheeseburgers and fries.
Second best burger in my life!
After McDonalds, we headed back to the train station, and we just managed to make it onto a train that was heading back to Hikone. The train was already going much slower than usual, and at a random city, the train stopped completely. We sat on the train for nearly an hour until we started moving again. We never found out the reason for the stop, (or maybe we did, but we couldn't completely understand the conductor) but I would like to assume that it was because of the heavy rain. The trains have always been a little late when it's raining really hard.
And so, after another three hours on the train, we managed to make it to Hikone. my trip wasn't over yet though, I swiped my paid ticket, then went back in with my card that I use to get from school to home and vice versa. Once again, I just managed to jump on a train before it left, but once again because of the rain, the train went very slowly and took twice as long to complete the trip.
So, Osaka was great, even though we didn't get to experience much of it. I plan on focusing most of my time on Kyoto and Nara for sightseeing, which will be happening within the next few weeks.
More soon. Sunday was just as exciting!!!
The trip to Osaka is about two hours long and twenty dollars each way. We got on the train and talked, and when we finally arrived in Osaka, we noticed that it was pouring out.
The worst monsoon to ever hit Japan!
Okay, well, I don't know about that last part, but I sure wasn't excited to be walking all around Osaka in heels in the rain. Thank goodness I brought my umbrella.
Oh yes, Osaka is a modern city, kind of like a mini Tokyo, so my friend and I decided to dress up in normal Japanese clothes. See my Tokyo blog for more information.
When we got to Osaka, we decided to first to a small lunch, which consisted of two tiny waffles and some tea at a teahouse. Once we finished, we looked around the shops in the train station then braved our way outside.
We crossed a very busy street and started walking down the sidewalk, but eventually, we were getting a little too wet for our comforts (we even had our umbrellas) so we turned back around and decided to stick relatively close to the station.
First, we went to a very big shopping mall right next to that station. It is about 10 floors, with the top floor being a restaurant, and a majority of the center one particular store: Comme Ca. (Which is French for "like that") I liked a lot of stuff, but I wanted to stay relatively on a budget, so I ended up not buying anything from there.
We went to this one store, where I ended up buying a vest with a fringe and a pair of shoes with really high heels and some fringe. For some reason, the Japanese love Native American style clothing. Fringe, leather and feather. Then, they also like cowboy clothing. Cowboy boots, floral dresses and jean jackets. There are more American clothes here than in America. Yet, it's very Japanese.
To be completely honest, it doesn't make that much sense to me either.
After our first purchase, we headed up all of the floors and mostly just looked around. After we had finished the entire mall, we then headed back to the station and then found the "Chika Umeda" or the Underground Umeda shopping mall. There, we explored the vast two levels that were just filled with various shops and restaurants. We did some more shopping, including some more "Western" clothes, another pair of shoes and then we also went to a store that reminded me of Claire's. It was a store with lots of accessories such as jewelry, headbands and bracelets. I got some stuff there, and then we both decided that we were wiped.
On our way back to the station, we saw a McDonalds, and decided to celebrate July 4th, (again) and ordered ourselves some cheeseburgers and fries.
Second best burger in my life!
After McDonalds, we headed back to the train station, and we just managed to make it onto a train that was heading back to Hikone. The train was already going much slower than usual, and at a random city, the train stopped completely. We sat on the train for nearly an hour until we started moving again. We never found out the reason for the stop, (or maybe we did, but we couldn't completely understand the conductor) but I would like to assume that it was because of the heavy rain. The trains have always been a little late when it's raining really hard.
And so, after another three hours on the train, we managed to make it to Hikone. my trip wasn't over yet though, I swiped my paid ticket, then went back in with my card that I use to get from school to home and vice versa. Once again, I just managed to jump on a train before it left, but once again because of the rain, the train went very slowly and took twice as long to complete the trip.
So, Osaka was great, even though we didn't get to experience much of it. I plan on focusing most of my time on Kyoto and Nara for sightseeing, which will be happening within the next few weeks.
More soon. Sunday was just as exciting!!!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Friday: Shodo and a Festival
Here we go...
Friday morning I woke up early and like usual grabbed the train to Hikone, from where I rode my bike for about twenty minutes to get to JCMU.
At JCMU, I took my normal classes, but because it was Friday, class was only until noon, which after we had free time. Instead of hanging out with my friends like I normally do, I headed out directly after class to make it to the train station.
First, I stopped at Vidal's, which is a small bakery run by a woman outside of her home. She makes/sells pastries for really cheap, and it's a great lunch when we are tired of ramen and rice. The size of the shop is about the size of my closet (literally), but it's really nice. Recently, my friends and I have been saying "Tadaima!" when we arrive.
Culture Note: When the Japanese ever leave the house, they say "Ittekimasu", which literally translates to "I will go and come back". When this happens, the people within the house say "kiotsukete" which translates to "be cautious/ have a safe trip". I say this to my Okaasan and Otoosan every morning when I leave for school.
When the Japanese return home, they say "Taidaima" or, "I'm home". In response, the Japanese say "Okaerinasai" or "Welcome home". It's a neat little culture thing that I will probably bring back to teh United States. (In English of course).
After Vidals, I hurried to the train station. When I parked my bike, I looked at my watch and saw that I had a decent amount of time until the next train so I decided to treat myself to an early 4th of July celebration. That's right, I went to McDonalds.
I ordered a plain cheeseburger and fries off of the hyaku-yen menu, (100 yen/ 1 dollar). I took my bag with me to the train station, sat down between an old man, a mother and two school girls and ate my burger.
Culture Note: It's kind of rude to eat in public.
Culture Note part 2: The Japanese and foreigners use a term called "gaijin smash". "Gaijin" is slang for "foreigner", the actual word for foreigner being "gaikokujin". It usually carries a negative connotation, but because we're actually foreigners, (and we use it on each other and ourselves rather often) we're pretty chill with it. Besides, we know that we are foreigners and we are always going to look like foreigners. Might as well go along with it.
So anyways, one day the term "gaijin smash" was created. Basically, this means that we use the fact that we are an obvious foreigner to our advantage when it comes to culture and social ethics. We know it's wrong, but we pretend to not know and just go along with it. It sounds really bad, and to be honest, I have been staring at this sentence for ten minutes and I can't really justify it why we do it. I think it's because I get stared at every day anyway, I might as well have a burger to go along with it.
For example, I got a burger at the McDonalds, but I wanted to make it to the train. So, I got the burger to go and then ate it in the station even though it's considered rude and impatient to not wait until I was on the train or back home to eat my burger.
Because I'm an obvious American and foreigner, they totally ignored the fact that I was eating a burger and just left for their trains when they came. Win-win situation. The Japanese ignore the (already) painfully obvious American eating McDonalds, and I get to relish in a little bit of home.
Just to let you know: it was the best burger of my life.
So, I finally grabbed the train back and then I met my Okaasan at the train station. From there, we made a small stop at the grocery store, and then we went to Shodo class, or traditional Japanese calligraphy.
Traditional calligraphy involves ink, pens, brushes, thin paper and lots and lots of dedication. When I come back, I plan on bringing back many papers in with calligraphy and I'll be happy to show everyone too. In fact, it's on my to-do list to pick up some calligraphy materials. Eventually, I would like to get into traditional English calligraphy. I like writing and making everything look organized and pretty. Calligraphy is just that. It's art in words. (literally).
For the first two hours, I practiced writing a cursive script with a pen. From far away, the words looks like one letter that just bled all down the paper, but if you look close enough you can pick out various hiragana. I also practiced writing my hiragana with a pen. Writing calligraphy is different than writing normally. In order to make all of the characters one stroke of the pen, you have to hold the pen lower on your hand. Otherwise, you'll have to stop every now and then, readjust the pen then continue where you left off.
After the first two hours, we then had a Japanese snack. It consisted of green tea and some treats. The treats weren't may favorite because they all had chocolate on them, but in order to be polite, I ate one of each. Sensei, (teacher) was really nice and we had a stimulating conversation about Japanese history, which involved me looking over at Okaasan for a translation (individual words, not sentences) only a few times.
Okaasan and I then went home after I got some words from Sensei to practice with. First though, we stopped at the bakery shop and picked up a coffee cake. (It's really good over here).
After dinner, Okaasan and I went to the festival in town. It was raining and baseball was on the TV so Otoosan stayed in. Okaasan and I drove a little bit into town, then walked a little to the actual festival. It wasn't really much, just a bunch of Japanese festival food and some small booths that were mostly rip-offs. We hung around for about a half hour and then we headed back where I practiced some shodo and then went to bed.
More coming soon!
Friday morning I woke up early and like usual grabbed the train to Hikone, from where I rode my bike for about twenty minutes to get to JCMU.
At JCMU, I took my normal classes, but because it was Friday, class was only until noon, which after we had free time. Instead of hanging out with my friends like I normally do, I headed out directly after class to make it to the train station.
First, I stopped at Vidal's, which is a small bakery run by a woman outside of her home. She makes/sells pastries for really cheap, and it's a great lunch when we are tired of ramen and rice. The size of the shop is about the size of my closet (literally), but it's really nice. Recently, my friends and I have been saying "Tadaima!" when we arrive.
Culture Note: When the Japanese ever leave the house, they say "Ittekimasu", which literally translates to "I will go and come back". When this happens, the people within the house say "kiotsukete" which translates to "be cautious/ have a safe trip". I say this to my Okaasan and Otoosan every morning when I leave for school.
When the Japanese return home, they say "Taidaima" or, "I'm home". In response, the Japanese say "Okaerinasai" or "Welcome home". It's a neat little culture thing that I will probably bring back to teh United States. (In English of course).
After Vidals, I hurried to the train station. When I parked my bike, I looked at my watch and saw that I had a decent amount of time until the next train so I decided to treat myself to an early 4th of July celebration. That's right, I went to McDonalds.
I ordered a plain cheeseburger and fries off of the hyaku-yen menu, (100 yen/ 1 dollar). I took my bag with me to the train station, sat down between an old man, a mother and two school girls and ate my burger.
Culture Note: It's kind of rude to eat in public.
Culture Note part 2: The Japanese and foreigners use a term called "gaijin smash". "Gaijin" is slang for "foreigner", the actual word for foreigner being "gaikokujin". It usually carries a negative connotation, but because we're actually foreigners, (and we use it on each other and ourselves rather often) we're pretty chill with it. Besides, we know that we are foreigners and we are always going to look like foreigners. Might as well go along with it.
So anyways, one day the term "gaijin smash" was created. Basically, this means that we use the fact that we are an obvious foreigner to our advantage when it comes to culture and social ethics. We know it's wrong, but we pretend to not know and just go along with it. It sounds really bad, and to be honest, I have been staring at this sentence for ten minutes and I can't really justify it why we do it. I think it's because I get stared at every day anyway, I might as well have a burger to go along with it.
For example, I got a burger at the McDonalds, but I wanted to make it to the train. So, I got the burger to go and then ate it in the station even though it's considered rude and impatient to not wait until I was on the train or back home to eat my burger.
Because I'm an obvious American and foreigner, they totally ignored the fact that I was eating a burger and just left for their trains when they came. Win-win situation. The Japanese ignore the (already) painfully obvious American eating McDonalds, and I get to relish in a little bit of home.
Just to let you know: it was the best burger of my life.
So, I finally grabbed the train back and then I met my Okaasan at the train station. From there, we made a small stop at the grocery store, and then we went to Shodo class, or traditional Japanese calligraphy.
Traditional calligraphy involves ink, pens, brushes, thin paper and lots and lots of dedication. When I come back, I plan on bringing back many papers in with calligraphy and I'll be happy to show everyone too. In fact, it's on my to-do list to pick up some calligraphy materials. Eventually, I would like to get into traditional English calligraphy. I like writing and making everything look organized and pretty. Calligraphy is just that. It's art in words. (literally).
For the first two hours, I practiced writing a cursive script with a pen. From far away, the words looks like one letter that just bled all down the paper, but if you look close enough you can pick out various hiragana. I also practiced writing my hiragana with a pen. Writing calligraphy is different than writing normally. In order to make all of the characters one stroke of the pen, you have to hold the pen lower on your hand. Otherwise, you'll have to stop every now and then, readjust the pen then continue where you left off.
After the first two hours, we then had a Japanese snack. It consisted of green tea and some treats. The treats weren't may favorite because they all had chocolate on them, but in order to be polite, I ate one of each. Sensei, (teacher) was really nice and we had a stimulating conversation about Japanese history, which involved me looking over at Okaasan for a translation (individual words, not sentences) only a few times.
Okaasan and I then went home after I got some words from Sensei to practice with. First though, we stopped at the bakery shop and picked up a coffee cake. (It's really good over here).
After dinner, Okaasan and I went to the festival in town. It was raining and baseball was on the TV so Otoosan stayed in. Okaasan and I drove a little bit into town, then walked a little to the actual festival. It wasn't really much, just a bunch of Japanese festival food and some small booths that were mostly rip-offs. We hung around for about a half hour and then we headed back where I practiced some shodo and then went to bed.
More coming soon!
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