忘れちゃった！

すみません，皆さん！

Ok quick translation, the title says I have regretfully forgotten, and the words above say sorry, everyone. Basically, I do have lots to talk about it (I had an amazing trip to the very exclusive Moss Temple in Kyoto) but I am leaving to go back to Tokyo in literally a few hours, so you're going to have to hold on for a few days. Big update to come on either Sunday or Monday! Miss you all!

バイバイ!(Bye Bye!)

Jay

Culture Segment: FOOD!

Alright then, like I mentioned last week, I am going to start a few segments on different cultural sects of Japan. Before I begin my food talk though, I want to let you know I spent my weekend doing some Karaoke and exploring Osaka. I stumbled upon this part of Osaka known as Ame-Mura (America Town). Seems like Osaka thinks we're all gangster rappers or love American Apparel, oh international stereotypes. On another note, I stumbled upon another interesting place that needs no explanation, just look below.

So yeah, that is Osaka's Pokemon Center, filled with a bunch of Pokemon goods. Pokemon is actually not even remotely as popular as it used to be, but it is nice to see that it is still thriving. Yeah, that was my weekend, pretty low key, I will be traveling to Ninja town and the moss temple in the near future, so stay tuned!

Back to food now. When I first got here, I was petrified: live fish, chopsticks, rice all the time. These new concepts did not seem overly appealing to my American palette. That being said, I've adjusted really well, and I might even prefer the Japanese food to the food back home (minus mom's home cooking, but does anything compare to a home cooked meal?). Here's a quick rundown of what there is to offer to Japan (note: this is not a full list, Japan's food varies between regions). One other caveat: In Japan, stores basically cook one type of food i.e. a Ramen shop only does Ramen and maybe side dishes of Gyoza (dumplings). There aren't really too many menus with various entrees here, which I'm cool with. Now onto the food! First there is Okonomiyake, which is like a cabbage pancake with delicious fillings inside. Sounds gross right? Well it isn't, actually, it's my favorite dish in Japan! A close second is Ramen. Now I'm sure most of you all have tried some form of Ramen back home, but none of it can compare to Ramen in Japan. Ramen here will knock your socks right off. If you need further proof ask my parents. They were so impressed by a Ramen shop they went to without me that they had to go back the following day to show it to me (and yes, it was incredible). After that, I'd probably say I love a good Omurice (truncated version of Omelet Rice). Basically, it is exactly what the name states: an omelet filled with rice. The kicker is that there are usually many sauces and accompanying vegetables or flavors to choose from, really bringing out the flavor of the dish. Here's a quick picture of Okonomiyake.

Moving on, another popular dish is Yakisoba. Yakisoba is buckwheat noodles accompanied with cabbage, other vegetables, and sauce. It's delicious, but what you see is what you get, you rarely mix things up. Sukiyaki is when you boil meat in a broth and dip in egg before you eat it, sounds weird, but tastes good. Donburi is usually a mix of vegetables and meat over rice, but you can change the meat depending on the type/restaurant. That one is another classic, pending the meet is good. Yakiniku is another awesome dish. You are given food to roast on a grill at your table and dip in various sauces. A bit pricy for the college kids, but definitely worth it. Udon is what you'd expect if you were to go to a Japanese restaurant in the US, only difference is that the broth here usually has a bit more flavor to it. Sushi however, is night and day when compared to home. It is amazing, not to say that the sushi back home isn't good, but I'm yet to have a piece of bad sushi here, no matter what restaurant I go to. Tempura is also what you'd expect from home, nonetheless, very good. Besides that, we have dumplings and man, both similar to dim sum, but incomparable to their versions back home imho. I know I'm forgetting some food, but I'll be sure to edit my mistakes in.


As for the ingredients in the food itself, I have had a pretty easy time eating most of it considering my palette. As most of you know, I'm not a big seafood guy. While I still stand by that, I do like tuna a lot and I've learned to love octopus. Nothing is better than a good piece of Octopus, especially raw. That being said, I find squid to be a little on the chewy side, salmon still doesn't agree with me, and I haven't gotten over my fear of shrimp coming to life and swimming in my mouth. But hey, octopus? Give me some props.


Onward to my favorite part, dessert! Right above you is Taiyaki. These are fishcakes that are thankfully not filled with fish but instead various fillings. Fillings include custard, creme, chocolate, caramel, strawberries, etc. Do I even have to say whether this is any good? Other desserts include cakes that are perfected in every slice. I really appreciate the Japanese care for perfection in food. Moving on, Ice cream is OK, but there is no way I'm going to be a fan of Green Tea Ice cream, gomenasai Japan. There is also mochi, which are rice cakes with good fillings as well. There are also different candies (such as hi-chew, which is like one specific flavor of starburst) that can be gobbled up in seconds. It's amazing to see how popular candy and sweets are in Japan considering just how small the average weight is of a Japanese person. There has to be something genetic going on here, that being said, I think all my friends and I have lost weight since we've been here, score for us!

Finally, the liver and onions of Japan i.e. the stuff I haven't loved. While it may be wildly popular in Japan, I just cannot seem to like Takoyaki. Takoyaki are small balls of batter with a piece of Octopus stuff inside. Like I said, I love octopus now, but this combination does not sit well with me. Furthermore, fish flakes (or bonita flakes) may be my new least favorite food. While a few may taste OK, if there are too many on a dish, it totally overpowers the rest of the food, and you get an obnoxious fish taste in your mouth, which I just can't handle. Finally, there is Pizza here. While I wouldn't classify it as something I've disliked, there is no comparison to the pizza back home. Moreover, they have really weird stuff on the pizza here such as bacon and eggs on one, and corn on another. Bacon and eggs? Kinda gross. Corn? Kinda awesome. People have asked which food I like more, and it's a really tough call, so I'm going to go with a draw, but I do love those first two dishes up there a whole heck of a lot. Now all I need to do is find a country where I can get the majority of the food here, a good pizza parlor, some steak action, and my mom's cooking, and then forget about it, I'd be good for life.

This post turned out to be longer than I expected, so I'm going to cut things off here, hope you enjoyed. To my loyal readers, feel free to send an email or a comment if there is any sort of souvenir you'd like from Japan. I'm going to start doing souvenir shopping after my next trip to Tokyo. Thanks a lot, talk to to you all soon! For the picture of the week, I'm going to a goofy purikura shot, I know you'll enjoy, mata ne!

What a World, What a World

Sorry for the lack of posting! Last week I had a few tests, and I've been really under the gun until today, so I've been unable to keep in touch. I'll try to start from last weekend though and work my way back. So if I remember correctly, the big highlight of my weekend was a trip to Kobe on Sunday the 5th, and what a highlight it was. As most of you know, Japan hasn't had the best relationship with China in history and such. That being said, in Kobe there was an awesome Chinatown which had the best dim sum in the world, no doubt. Moreover there was a cool tower of Kobe, and I had the pleasure of going on a harbor tour to see the city. Kobe is one of the biggest import/export cities in the country, so it was no surprise that everything was on the harbor. Moreover, as I'm sure you'd all guess, Kobe beef is famous here, and after having some, I see why. Granted it was only a quick bite, but it was some delicious stuff, very sweet. All in all, Kobe was cool, but I doubt I'd go for sightseeing back unless I wanted to get some beef.
This past weekend was a lot of fun as well. Friday I spent the evening with my speaking partner Ayuna and her group of friends at a hanami picnic (cherry blossom viewing). Now I wasn't really into flowers or foliage when I was a kid, but in recent years I have really enjoyed the foliage in New England. Now I found my springtime equivalent: Japanese cherry blossoms in April. No disrespect to this country, but during the winter the scenery seems downright bleak at times. Then, towards the end of March, something amazing happened. All the cherry blossoms start blooming and time slows down for the students to enjoy the sights. It really is an incredible feeling when you are standing in a park when a breeze blows cherry blossoms all over you, surreal almost. This may be off topic, but last year I took a class in Japanese culture where we looked into the study of evanescence and form. At the time, I didn't really comprehend the full meaning (and still managed a good grade, heck yeah), but I feel like having these moments watching the beautiful blossoms die in front of me is showing me the meaning of that class and evanescence in general. It really shows how beautiful and fragile life is, that we don't have much time here so we must enjoy it for what it's worth. Anyway, enough of my life affirmation talk, back to sightseeing. Oh but first, enjoy the photos!


So those were great cherry blossoms, and like I said, the only thing akin to it is fall in New England in my eyes. Oh by the way, I also saw a Shinto shrine honoring Thomas Edison and another one honoring airplanes...oh Japan, you slay me. Anyway, later that weekend there was more Karaoke (as always, god did I miss singing a lot), but on Sunday I went on a trip with my speaking partner and friends to Universal Studios Japan. It was a lot of fun and actually surprising how similar it was to American version. That is, minus the Japanese introductions haha. It had Spiderman, ET, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, a great new roller coaster names "Hollywood Dream", and a cool parade at the end.

That was it for the weekend, I have really done a boatload of sightseeing up to this point, I think all that's left for me is Ninja Town and Hiroshima, with maybe some other bits of debauchery along the way, not to mention my triumphant return to Tokyo in two weeks. What I'm saying is that because I've done a significant amount of sightseeing up to this point, I won't have a whole heck of a lot to report scenery wise in the coming posts. That being said, I do have a ton to report about the culture, so I still intend to keep updating as often as I can. Last but not least, enjoy a terrific picture of the week, mata ne!

Tokyo Part 2

I apologize that I have not updated recently, things got kind of busy here and I don't have a ton to report on. Before I get back to Tokyo travels I did want to mention I saw Sumo wrestling with my folks in one of their last days here. It was wicked exciting and a lot more fun to watch than I expected. The sport is so raw and gritty that the crowd gets really into it. If I were in a part of Japan in the future where I could watch another tournament, I definitely would, it was that much fun. I also went to Takarazuka, which is an all female musical troupe. It was a very interesting experience noting who the patrons were. Seeing how the women played the males and such, one may think that males dominate the audience; however, this is quite the contrary, as the male students on my trip were the only male patrons in the entire theater. Either way, it was a pretty good time, the show was difficult to understand, but the pit band was out of this world.

Now back to Tokyo! On my parents first full day in town, we decided to go to the Imperial Palace for a tour. Although it was a very pretty establishment and we found it cool to enter the most guarded place in all of Japan, it felt a little underwhelming. We were expecting more of a showy set of architecture, but the buildings and living quarter were more grand in size and space, and more plain in terms of amenities. Nonetheless, it was pretty amazing to see where the the Emperor himself lives, now if only we could've gotten a picture with him...

The next exciting place we went to was Tokyo Tower. Much like going to the Prudential (or any other really tall building) there were some amazing views of Tokyo. We learned one very important thing at the Tower: Tokyo is HUGE. We didnt see anything but buildings and more buildings, even at the top of the tower. I'm pretty sure Tokyo is bigger than even New York actually, which makes sense considering how busy it can be sometimes.

Finally, one of my highlights during the trip was going to the Tsukiji fish market at 6 in the morning. This is one of the most popular and thriving fish markets in the entire world and it was packed with different vendors running amuck. My father and I literally had to dodge out of the way of vehicles, as we were told they care much more about their fish than they do about our lives. That being said, it was AWESOME seeing fish get gutted, put out on shelves, and sold. Enjoy the pictures to see exactly what it was like!

As for the food, I have to say I was slightly disappointed with Tokyo in comparison to Osaka. I did have some excellent donburi and ramen in my first few days, but as time went on, I found the food to be kind of bland. However, we did find some delicious Chinese food and some great Yaki-niku. Yaki-niku is basically all you can eat meat for a set price. You cook it yourself, put the meat in an array of sauces, and go wild. Only problem is, in Japan the meat is occasionally fatty. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed it a ton!

So that was Tokyo, the shinkansen ride to Kyoto was awesome and quick, but wicked expensive. Since I loved it so much, I will be returning to Tokyo at the end of this month for our week off from school. Hopefully for more sightseeing and more nightlife research ;-). I really enjoyed the time I spent with my folks and I miss them a bit. Now that I've been here for over two months, I feel like I've really gotten to know Japan, inside and out. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a clueless kid lost in translation most of the time, but I feel adjusted to Japan. I feel like I could grow into this culture and adjust naturally to living here. There are still some customs I need to learn/figure out (if Japanese people don't understand sarcasm, how do they make jokes?), but I think I could live here and I would really like to work here for a year or two in my future. I really do enjoy interacting with the Japanese people, although I am left to wonder what my place really is in there society. I'll tell you one thing though, middle aged Japanese guys love talking baseball with me. With my knowledge of the Japanese players on the Japanese teams and of course, Dice-K and company back home, I made a lot of Japanese friends during the World Baseball Classic Tournament. One other really cool thing about people here is how well informed they are when it comes to subjects they can be proud of. That may have sounded a little odd, but if you watched the World Baseball Classic you may have seen an excellent Japanese pitcher named Yu Darvish. This guy is lights out and will be in the states in two years tops. Interestingly enough, every single Japanese person knows who he is. The country really takes pride in the best of the best, it reminds me of home :-)

Ja Matta!

Tokyo, my Second Favorite City in the World

Alright, as I'm sure you've already noticed this post is going to be all about Tokyo. First of all let me tell you my initial reaction: I loved it. It is undoubtedly my number two city in the world, the first being Boston due to natural biases haha. Truthfully though, I had an amazing time with my friend and family, and I would do anything and everything in my power to relive last week again :-). Now that that's out of the way we can get on to what I did in Tokyo. Oh, and from here on in, I'll show a picture of the part of the city I'll be writing about in the paragraph below, enjoy!

I took the night bus (from 10 pm, to 630 am) to Tokyo on the 14th which may have been the most detestable travel experience I have ever had to deal with. Running on little sleep, my friend Greg and I explored all of Akihabara, which is best known as Tokyo's electric town. Filled with electronic goods, arcades, and action figures from wall to wall, we had a blast getting our geek on. Although I do not play games as often as I used to when I was younger, seeing arcades really thriving was a lot of fun. It made me nostalgic for playing the X-men game in the old arcades, you all remember that right?

Next was Shibuya, Harajuku, and Shinjuku. These places are all well known for their fashion, so my friend and I had a good time checking things out. We both intended to pick up some cool Japanese clothes, but the clothing tends to be a little on the weird side. The shirts have way too much english on them, most of which doesnt make sense. Moreover, since we're in Japan, which is known for its skinny population, our American bodies were having trouble fitting into the pants haha, even though we've both dropped some pounds since we've been here. However, there was also some historical sightseeing to be done I went to the Meiji Shrine, which is one of the most famous shrines in Japan. It was huge and was really serene, I had another one of those moments where I forgot I was even in a city for a brief time. I went there twice, once with my friend and once with my family, check out the pictures above of Shibuya and my parents and I (a particularly good looking family if I do say so myself) right inside the shrine. On the second time in Harajuku we were lucky enough to see some infamous Harajuku girls who dress up in crazy costumes and hang out. I got an awesome picture with my Dad, but it's on his camera, so that will have to wait until next time!


Next up was Ginza to meet up with my family. Boy, you do not realize how much you miss someone until you see them for the first time in a while. Granted it had only been two months, but this is the farthest I've been from my little house in Walpole and it can be semi-intimidating. Plus, I think I mentioned this last time, but is there anything better than a welcoming hug from Mom and Dad? I think not. Oh yeah, it was nice to see Jeffrey too who gave up his spring break to come chill in Japan :-P. As for Ginza, it was more of a Western fashion disctrict, with a ton of really high class stuff. I had heard Tokyo was wicked expensive, but seeing some prices were some jaw dropping moments. Above check out one of Ginza's busiest streets, and then a photo of Jeff and I having a good time at one of the local restaraunts we went to. Good looking pair of bros if I've ever seen one. Unfortunately, this post has already gone on way too long, so I'm going to have to finish my Tokyo travels another time. I still have to report on the Tokyo Tower (the first picture above), the Tsukiji fish market, the Kabuki theater, and the food, so stay tuned.

One last thing, no picture of the week this time, but today I went to the Sumo tournament going on in Osaka, and it was wicked cool. Seeing big fellas running straight into each other really is a sight to see, and I wish I had more time to go see them in action. However, I'm in midterms now, so enjoy the video of Sumo below that I took today, let me know your thoughts, and I'll be back to finish my Tokyo travels soon!

More Thoughts

Sorry to report, but not a whole heck of a lot happened this weekend. My Kobe trip got canceled due to rain so I ended up just enjoying a weekend around Hirakata. Nothing major happened, did some karaoke action, went to a birthday party for a friend, picked up a kimono, all that fun stuff. It was actually really nice to relax for a weekend. That being said, I can't wait for Tokyo this weekend! I'm heading up with a friend for the first few days, and the meeting my family on Tuesday. I'm really excited to see them all, especially since it's been kind of difficult to keep in touch with the time difference. Moreover, this is probably the longest I've gone without seeing them all, so it will be great to finally see them. Plus, who doesn't love a hug from their parents? I also get to act as translator while they are here, and I love doing that, it's a great way to practice my Japanese.

So anyway I just wanted to comment quickly on comparing abroad experiences. A lot of my friends are in Europe and tell me about their experience often. Basically, it's the polar opposite of Japan: No rules, lots of traditional architecture, etc. Something I also noticed was in looking at photos, all my friends in Europe look really old, or more adult-like. Now I don't mean to be insulting in any way, shape or form, but I really feel like that would bog down my experience. Although there are moments in Japan where it feels like I'm living through High School 2.0, there is something so wonderfully innocent about Japan. For everyone who knows me, I'm basically a 12 year old trapped in a 21 year old's body, so I really enjoy this playful culture I live in. Granted, it is also very serious with school and work for the Japanese people, but there is definitely an overarching theme of innocence or at least a facade of some sort. I've said it once and I'll say it again, I wouldn't trade my time here for anything else in the world :-). I implore you to consider coming to Japan, there is just too much to love here.

Ok so with the trip to Tokyo coming up, it looks like I will not be back to post for a little while, unless I get a hold of a computer sometime in Tokyo. Hopefully I'll have some great stories for you all. To bide your time, go buy the new CD "Love vs. Money" by The-Dream. If you like R&B music, you'll love it. Ja matta

Daily Life in Japan

Well, I figure since I update constantly about the places I've gone to or what I've been doing for fun, I figured I'd take a second to reflect on what a typical weekday is like here in Japan. Basically, I wake up every day around 9 a.m. to get ready for the day. I then go on a 20 minute walk to school for Spoken Japanese class. I love this class. Not only is it a good clash to refresh my memory on older grammar patterns, but I'm learning brand new things in it too. Moreover, there has been a myriad of vocab I've already learned, most of which are great for everyday situations. I also love my classmates, but I feel like in most Japanese classes I've taken, I've had a lot of fun with my classmates. Next is Japanese Reading and Writing. While I find this a bit less entertaining than Spoken Japanese, the readings have been very useful as well. For example, last week we read a sample email a foreigner would send to a Japanese company requesting a meeting or interview. Then I usually get lunch at the cafeteria or a nearby restaurant with friends, and then prepare for my afternoon lecture. My film class has been pretty decent so far. The movies have been great, but the discussions are a bit lacking in comparison to Tufts. The same goes for my Popular Culture class. That being said, my culture Professor is pretty intelligent, so I enjoy his lectures. Then I head home or to the gym, grab some dinner, hang out with friends, and do some homework. All in all, a pretty simplistic schedule, but I'm really enjoying meeting and getting to know all the people here.

As for the Japanese people, there are moments where I've noticed some interesting things. There is obviously sometimes a little bit of indifference or distaste toward the foreigners from the older generation (represented by the word gaijin/foreigner), but I really haven't encountered too many issues with it. Once I begin conversing in Japanese, all sense of being a clueless foreigner is forgotten, and I feel like the Japanese accept me a little more for learning their language. The Japanese students are amazing too. Most of them are fairly quiet at first, but as long as you are willing to put yourself out there and say hello, they love it. They love meeting the study abroad student and hearing where they come from, and I love hearing more about their culture, especially what large differences there are between Japan and America.

So what does this all mean to me exactly? Well here it is: basically, I could see myself living in Japan in the future. There are so many amazing and interesting things in this country that I'm still yet to see or even comprehend. I feel like even though I've only been here for a month, I could really become a part of this culture. Whatever aspirations I may have had about working abroad sometime in the future have been solidified by my experience here to this point. I almost feel bad in a way that I'm enjoying this experience so much that I feel like I will need to be back her sometime in the future (and no, there's no girl involved, so don't get any ideas). You can do research, take classes, read books, watch documentaries, but until you have fully thrown yourself into a culture that isn't your own, you'll never fully understand it. I love the fact that I get to be a student both inside and outside of the classroom, my only regret is that I haven't been here before now.

That's it for my life chat, I hope you all enjoyed per usual \^o^/. As always, I love hearing from you all, so feel free to give me some news. As for future plans, I may be going to Kobe on Sunday, so that should be interesting. Next week is the week before spring break, so it should be a little hectic, but nothing too serious since classes have been so sweet up to this point. Then I'm heading to Tokyo for spring break, which will be insane. Plenty to look forward to if you're enjoying my blog! BTW, the picture right above is called Purikura, basically it's like hopping in a photobooth, but you add all the extra stuff in the background and such after taking the pictures. Sounds weird or boring right, but it's actually a lot of fun. Until next time!

P.S. T-sull, what's going on kid? Of course I heard about Vrabel and Cassel, I check the sports section all the time online. I like the trade, Cassel needed to go and although I love Vrabel, he is getting older. Now they have a bunch of picks, hopefully it'll pan out. What'd you think of the B's deal?