Thanks for all the comments on the last post...it was interesting to read what everyone's REALLY thinking about. Also, most of get home the 31ST OF JULY.
So I'm quite behind. I still have yet to blog about a few days of walking/collecting station stamps (current count is at 36, which is kinda impressive because that means we walked to that many stations...however, there are 77 to be had...) I also went to Nikko for a day (known for monkeys and waterfalls and temples and things...it was super nice and pretty and HUMID, probably due to all the thick forests around) and celebrated July 4th this weekend (we had good food and went to a park to set off small fireworks). I'm trying to catch up with a lot of things that I've yet to do in Japan, now that my days are quite numbered. It's hot though! Rainy season is over so now we welcome the outright heat and humidity. Whoo and boy it's hot. I forgot how hard it is to sleep when you're sticky and the hotness just won't go away. Walking around with a fan and sweat-wiping towel is definitely smart. I'll be trying to climb Mt. Fuji with UVA folks this weekend, and visiting my old host family soon too...and traveling to Osaka my last weekend. Apparently the people there are amazingly open and friendly, much different from Tokyo-ans, so I want to meet them! Class ends around the 22nd, and we have some finals and then I'm home-free!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Happy Independence Day!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Nonai Maker
I read about this Japanese web app and tried it out, and it's kinda neat. You put in your name and it shows you an image of your brain, like what kind of thoughts your brain is preoccupied with. Here's mine...it seems rather accurate for my time here in Japan...
For my full name in Japanese:
Try it out here. You can type in English too (I didn't like my brains as much when I typed in English :P They were full of worry and troubles and 'H', whatever that is.)
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Fun with Japanese!
Today in Kaiwa class, we actually did something rather enjoyable! Well, we talked about NEETs a bit and then Kobayashi Sensei said we were going to move on and the class hurrah'd. He started asking what would be considered a long Japanese name, maybe about 6 hiragana characters (like Ke-n-za-bu-ro-u), and then he handed us a sheet of paper with the longest supposed name in Japanese history. It comes from a well-known 'rakugo' or comic story, and then we watched this female rakugo teller tell the story, and it was good and funny. It's a rather traditional art, dominated my males (Kobayashi said there are maybe 10 females total here), and the style that we saw was the teller dressed in kimono, kneeling on the ground. They change their voice and tilt their head a different direction to represent different characters in the story. This one involved two parents trying to decide a name for their child, so the wife suggests the husband go to the nearby temple and request the monk or someone to help them out. The father wants a long name (maybe that is more prominent-sounding) and one that has history and meaning behind it. So the monk tells him a name and the father asks what it means and then comes to like it a lot, and then asks if there are any others. In the end, the monk writes out all the names that he gave and asks the father to choose, but instead the father wants to use them all for his child's name. And then the rakugo teller goes through scenes and it's just funny because the name is so unnecessarily long and sounds funny too and...maybe you have to watch it. The second rakugo teller we saw was just this guy showing how, with imagination, you can turn a fan and a handkerchief into anything, and he used them to represent a hamburger, sushi, apple/peeling, smoking, etc.
Anyway, here's that long name!
寿限無 寿限無 五劫のすりきれ 海砂利水魚 水行末雲来末風来末 食う寝るところにすむところ やぶら小路の藪柑子 パイポパイポ パイポのシューリンガン シューリンガンのグーリンダイ グーリンダイのポンポコピーのポンポコナーの長久命の長助
In hiragana:
じゅげむ じゅげむ ごこうのすりきれ かいじゃりすいぎょ すいぎょうまつうんらいまつふうらいまつ くうねるところにすむところ やぶらこうじのやぶこうじ パイポパイポ パイポのシューリンガン シューリンガンのグーリンダイ グーリンダイのポンポコピーの ポンポコナーのちょうきゅうめいのちょうすけ
And don't worry, I can't leave those who don't know Japanese out of the loop:
Jugemu jugemu gokou no surikire kaijarisuigyo suigyoumatsuunraimatsufuuraimatsu kuu neru tokoro ni sumu tokoro yabura kouji no yabukouji paipopaipo paipo no shuurigan shuurigan no guurindai guurindai no ponpokopii no ponpokonaa no choukyuumei no chousuke
Can you figure out the funniest part?
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
3 Months...?
I don't think people really go back to see comment pages on old posts, so I'll reply to some people in a new post.
Jeremy: Papercrafts...they are hard indeed, my clumsy 6-year-old-like fingers were not well-made for them...I've got the perfect one for you though!! You'll have to wait and see!
James: I'm impressed that you read through my G-Splash entry haha. I do think some parts of G-Splash could be considered better than Mahogany. The level of dedication is obvious. Everyone truly wants to improve so needless to say, they are ALWAYS practicing, even when there is no practice or we have a short break. This girl sprained her ankle a bit before our performance but she still continued to show up for our practices even though she couldn't do anything...I was very impressed by that, and also jealous, because I don't think there's anything that I am so attached to and involved in that I would continue to participate in even if in reality, I couldn't do anything. Structure of practices and rehearsals (as I mentioned, the whole critique thing was incredibly ingrained in them). Practice is the same way. We always started out the same way and did the same stretch and warm-up routine, which definitely created a good atmosphere, because it was organized, you always knew what to expect, and when the senpais couldn't be there to lead us, someone else easily could take over and we'd get the same stuff done. Along the same line, the discipline is incredible. We worked on the same moves every practice to get it to perfection, to be able to do the moves smoothly without even thinking about it. We'd do the moves until everyone was sweating and until our muscles ached so badly, but everyone held on until the end. And one last point, the sense of togetherness I suppose. By the performance, our ichinensei hip-hop group was pretty tight. We sat down together that last week and went around expressing our feelings about G-Splash, the performance, or anything in particular, and a bunch of girls cried trying to say how much the group meant to them and how they daisuki-d everyone. In addition, there were always occasions to hang out with your fellow dance buddies outside of club, meaning nomikais usually, but that gives you a chance to get to know everyone in the club on a different level, and that encourages much deeper friendships, which is a good thing when you're doing a group activity.
Oh, and I don't know why Domo-kun doesn't have arms...good question.
...
Another walking trip!
Starting around Kinshicho, I think.
More cuteness to keep us moving!
Sumidagawa. Pretty river/area. And on the barrier to the river, they had these designs of sumo moves! So now I'm a pro!We decided to stop at Tokyo Station for lunch, and look what we found!
Pho! It was different than what I've had at home though, like the noodles and flavoring, though I did get the spicy one. It was exciting though. And then we found bubble tea! And it was REALLY good! They make it like Taiwan...mmm...
Hello Kitty Hato bus near the station!
An awesome Sun-Kus (one of my favorite conbinis (convenient stores) here)! We stopped for choco melon pan (one of my favorite snacks/breads here)! Don't mind the dude digging in the trash...
Holy moly! Pokemon standing in the windows! What have we stumbled upon??
So we've got businesses, restaurants, and...POKEMON CENTER!!
You go through this one door, and here you have a battle stage! People can hook up their Nintendo DS to the big screen and battle their Pokemons!
How can anyone not love this face?! If only this was my bedroom wall... :PThen we went inside the main part and it was filled from ceiling to floor with Pokemon stuff, but unfortunately the majority was newer version Pokemons so I didn't really know about any of them... We spent quite a while in there though. Plus, 3 kids celebrated their birthdays while we were there, so we got to watch a cute little Pokemon happy birthday video and applaud.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Fate!
Wow, so today, Daniel and I were in the computer lab. And we didn't notice, but the girl sitting next to us was Haruka, the student from Sophia who just spent this past year at UVA! Crraaaazyyy! But awesome! It was really good to see her, it was like having a part of home come here in a way. It was also sad though, because it reminded us how we would be out of school. :( And also, she was sad because she's from Osaka, and being back in Tokyo for a week, she's already depressed again (the city really does it to you!) And we asked her if she likes Sophia or UVA better, and she said 'I don't know.' I think that goes to say a lot about Japanese college when Japanese students feel no loyalty or attachment to their school, and that kind of spirit is fostered in nearly everyone in the U.S. Anyway, we all exchanged keitai (cellphone) info and hope to meet up because we can all relate to each other, having experienced both schools now. As Daniel said, maybe we can all get together and cry.
Hahahaha. Just kidding though. Don't worry, parents, I'm doing fine! :) hehehe
Life is just very different here. And I'm learning a lot to that extent.
Whoo, sorry for all the sadness lately (Daniel said my post about being sick and things was really sad), but I do miss homeeee!! (You hear that parents??! I have feelings and think about home!!) It surely is not all fun and games here!
G-Splash!
So two Saturdays ago was our G-Splash performance, nicknamed Haru-pa (Spring Performance). The weeks leading up to the performance were INTENSE, more so than they had been. Not only did we begin practicing for 3 hours EVERYDAY, but we also met on weekends for the WHOLE DAY, basically. 11am-8pm, sometimes 9am-5pm...but yeah, all day. I didn't think I was really getting out of it what I put in, so as of now, I'm not really a part of G-Splash.
Anyway, the performance was at a club in Shin-Kiba, called Studio Coast, or more popularly-known as Ageha. (Madonna performed there in 2005! Thanks Natalie for that fun fact!) The doors opened at 1230 and the show started at 1330. The format for the show was 3 smaller shows (just to give us a break in between, since the show was scheduled to end at 830), with guest performances from special groups. G-Splash started the whole show off! And there were two other Sophia dance groups in the first show; otherwise, it was tons of dance clubs from other schools all over and dance teams (privately assembled dance groups?). And surprising, many of our senpai from G-Splash performed with other dance teams. How they had time for all of that is beyond our comprehension...
Natalie and I ended up leaving early...as in around 6pm, because we just couldn't do it anymore. I had a 5-page linguistics paper due the following Monday, plus a test and other things to study for, so my heart really wasn't in staying the whole night. And it was tiring because there were no seats, so you sat on the ground or had to stand. But there were some amazing showcases, truly truly, though for me, the highlight was the Black Starz (which included G-Splash's breaker Shougo) who dressed up in short denim shorts and rollerbladed around the stage. ...Believe me, it was quite the spectacle. Otherwise though, some dances were super creative and really told a story (this one about a railroad crossing gate thing who got to turn into a boy to meet up with this girl who always passed by whom he loved, and he wanted to be with her but she was kind of dating this other guy who didn't treat her well, and in the end the gate tried to separate them but the bad guy ran past the gate to chase after the girl (then it went into slow motion) but a train was coming and was about to run over him but then the gate pushed him aside and sacrificed his own life to save the bad guy, and he 'died' and then the girl was really sad, and then he went back to being a gate again and the girl kissed him on the cheek. How they did that in a relatively short dance, you can only imagine...it's hard to describe in words obviously. But it made me tear up in the end), others really went over-the-top in terms of outfits/colors and props, but most were extremely talented (not all). It was a really cool experience, though my mind was still focused on school.
[I stole a bunch of these pictures from facebook (courtesy Stephanie) because her photographer self brought her fancy camera.]
Jeannette, Natalie, me, D(iana)-Bang, StephanieWe are Hip-Hop and Lock.
My Ichinensei (First Year) Hip-Hop group! Doing a little 'Goooo Us' cheer during a practice.
All of G-Splash doing a 'Goooo Us' cheer. Masa, the club president, stands in the middle and everyone just tries to touch his head. I got it once!
We exchange students and Yujiro (in the upper right corner, the cool Japanese guy who liked to associate with us and had trouble with Japanese...) on the stairs leading down to the club.
Before the show started, everyone was just dancing on the main floor of the club, and of course a circle formed and people would go in the middle and show off. Finally, a G-Splash representative went in! And it was exchange student, Anson, no less!
Inside.
The stage and people. There were a lot of people. This picture probably shows half of them. The rest are behind, in balconies and such.
Watching performances.
G-SPLASH!!Though I complained about it a lot, and it caused me a lot of stress (especially around midterm time), I'm glad I did G-Splash(?). I got a lot closer with my UVA and other exchange student friends because we had so much to bond over and spent so much time together. It was my exercise, and was it ever good exercise. I definitely felt myself get fitter over the course of the club.
I got to experience Japanese college club life, which is unique to this country, but I also don't like it too much. It's expensive and time-consuming. I don't like how you can't just participate in them to the extent that you want to, but have to conform to what they want out of you, whereas at UVA, you can be a part of as many clubs as you want to and participate in them however you want, if it means just showing up to special events or occasionally attending meetings or whatever. It also seemed like it would be hard to stretch yourself and be good at multiple things at the same time...as in...here, it seems like it'd be difficult to be a GOOD student AND a GOOD club member AND hold a job, etc. You seem to have to devote yourself to one of these things because they ask so much of you. Or you become some of those people who go to class during the day, do club practice, work through the night, don't get much sleep, and start all over again. Maybe it's just that I'm an exchange student and kept thinking 'well, I'm only here for so long...' that I really just couldn't feel any real emotional attachment to the club. I just kept longing for Mahogany and couldn't understand why a club was causing me so much stress and taking up so much of my time (ESPECIALLY when my part of the dance was only 4 8-counts long).
Another thing that became hard to take, and that was strongly held in G-Splash, is the Senpai-Kouhai (senior/junior) relationship. As first years in the club, though most of us exchange students are actually older than the people in this club, we had to maintain a subordinate position to the president/vice-presidents and those already in G-Splash. We were expected to speak in polite form to all our seniors, and always greet them whenever we saw them, even if they didn't greet us back (which was an often occurrence). When we began having extra practices in classrooms, we had to clear the rooms and put them back, even if we were not the ones who would be using the room. I just began having trouble respecting their system, even though it's a huge part of their culture, because I just don't get it. My hip-hop senpais were really cool, though, I really came to like them, but afterwards I found out that they are like, 18 years old...
I was also frustrated with the lack of communication/information; maybe it was being an exchange student again...but it seemed like Japanese people communicate telepathically or something (though with their technology, I wouldn't put it past them). I usually didn't find out about extra mandatory practices until the night before and I would've already made plans for that day, so that was stressful. We didn't even find out details about our performance until the night before and day of. We always started and ended practice with meetings too, so I just didn't understand why they couldn't ever TELL us anything.
Oh, and one night, Masa called out the names of everyone who had been late to rehearsal and they had to stand up and let us acknowledge that they were late. Then after the group meeting, my first year hip-hoppers had to call a meeting too to talk about feelings and stuff, and then the people had been late just had to all long-windedly apologize to us. I don't care! You're just taking up my time! I didn't feel disrespected by you! What you do is your business! And then, on top of that, they had to text us later and apologize some more. Agh. It's excessive.
When we were getting close to performance day too, we did run-throughs and everyone else would watch our dance. After we performed, we sat down and said "please (do us the favor of critiquing us)" politely, and the head person for each group would take notes and accept critiques from the audience. After anyone said something, the whole group had to say 'Yes' to acknowledge it (and if there was no response, the head person would say "Let's respond together!" or just "Respond.") And then afterwards, we bowed and said thank you to everyone. And when alumni came to watch, we had to just sit through them telling us what they thought and give their advice, and some of them were SO TALKATIVE. Since when Japanese people spoke so much, I had no idea... So instead of practice ending at 8pm, they would let us change and whatnot and we'd meet again outside at 820 and then with all of this, it'd last until past 9pm, meaning I wouldn't get home until past 10pm, and THEN I could eat dinner and do homework/study, and finally go to sleep when I really just couldn't stay up any longer.
Obviously, this all just kept piling up. I was really tired of being so tired everyday, and not being able to eat dinner until 9 hours after I ate lunch, and having to carry clothes and shoes to school with me everyday. So Natalie and I decided after the performance we would quit. And now, it feels so nice to just have TIME, even if I do waste it, it's doing something I want to be doing. Though...they're having trouble understanding that we don't want to do their club anymore...
Hm. I didn't mean for that to be so long. But the truth has to come out.
My New Hobby
First, to start off, here's a picture a friend of mine took a while back on a train, and it NEVER fails to make me and anyone else who sees it crack up. But, as every Japanese person who has seen it has said, this is NOT 'typical' Japanese, it is a very rare scene. Nonetheless, it is HILARIOUS, so I hope it brightens your day.
HAHAHAH! YES, HE'S ASLEEP!
Mario!
Ness!
MegaMan!
Marshmallow Man!
Evolution of Bat!
Domo-kun (mascot of NTT Docomo) and a monkey!