Long Live the Weekend

Konichiwa Minna-san!
Well another weekend has come and gone (for the most part) and it was another interesting weekend in Japan. If I've learned anything in the past two weeks it's that I really don't have the grasp on the culture that I thought I would have when I left for home. Granted, I still know a fair amount, but I am left in shock and awe when I realize how certain things (whether it be the people, the customs, or even the architecture) are just so totally different than in America. Oh, and the picture above is Osaka, not the best picture, but just check out all those bright lights! I think I am actually starting to feel a sense of culture shock, but not a bad one. I'm just really beginning to notice how for the first time in my life, I'm not surrounded by people who can speak my language or automatically know my customs. I cannot tell you how many times I've had to explain what a fraternity is or what student government is. It truly is a different world over here. OK, enough of the philosophical rambling and let's get down to business.

Friday night was a lot of fun. I was able to meet up with my buddy Jason from Tufts and hang out doing Karaoke with his group of friends, who all seem really nice. I'm really enjoying meeting new people, especially cause a lot of the people here are from across the world. Currently, I've only met one other person from the greater Boston area, and while I wouldn't mind a few more of my Bostonian compadres here, I really like the fact that by attending this school and studying abroad here, I've been able to meet people and make friends with kids from countries I probably wont ever visit. Oh and on a personal note, I just have to say that one of the things I love about Japan is Karaoke. Now if you know me (and by goodness, if you dont, why are you reading my blog? =P) you know that I love singing, so naturally, I am a little biased. No where else in the world though will you find such a devoted social practice. These Karaoke "parlors" give groups their own rooms to sing in for up to eight hours, which is flat out crazy. The act of it in theory seems quite odd: sit in a room with friends and sing songs for multiple hours. That being said, as time passes and people put on songs that everyone knows, the carmaraderie really flourishes. I just love that there is a second (and in my opinion, better) option for the social scene here, minus the stuff you'd get at home. Oh and if any of my Tufts buddies are reading this, we are totally doing Karaoke next year, I'll show you all how awesome it can be.

Anywho, then came Saturday night, where my friend Greg and I decided to go to a club to see what they're like in Japan. We went to this club that was known to have Gaidai students regularly, so we figured it'd be fine. Now I have never gone to a club before, so this was an entirely new experience for me. Basically we got there and danced for a solid 4 to 5 hours, and it was really intense. Only problem was, is that we should've come in a larger group, that way we would've known more people in the grander scheme of the night. It was really cool to see who came, as it seemed to be about 40% foreigners and 60% Japanese, so it was definitely a different way to meet new Japanese friends. This was another time when the culture shock began to take place. Due to the loud atmosphere it was really tough talking to people, not to mention even harder to speak Japanese, but my friend and I were able to meet some nice people so we had a really good time. Oh, another thing, the DJ was awful, but I had no control over that haha. Nevertheless, this was definitely something I'd like to try again, and it'll be interesting to see how different an American club is, especially when all I have to base it on is the Japanese club scene. Enjoy a picture of Greg and myself, I wouldve gotten a better shot of the club itself but it was wicked crowded.

Anyway that's it for this time, sorry I did not give more details on Osaka, but I'm going to need to explore it more in depth after I've gone to visit again. We actually have a holiday on Wednesday this week, so hopefully I will be able to go on another misadventure of sorts to share with you all. In the meantime, my recommendation of this post is to go find the the song Clair De Lune, a masterpiece of the piano instrument, download it, and love it. Until next time, Ja mata!


P.S. Johnny, thanks for all the comments buddy, hope school is treating you well!

Classes and Miscellaneous

Hey y'all
Hope everything is going well wherever you are. Not a whole lot has happened this week so far minus the beginning of classes. I figured I'd give you a rundown of how those are going right now. First, I have Spoken Japanese. I ended up placing into a spot a little lower than I expected, mainly because I asked to "consolidate my skills in a lower course" on the placement test. As a result, my class has been pretty easy so far, but it might be a little too easy. I'm probably going to talk to my Sensei to decipher whether I should be in the level above me or not. The same goes for my Reading and Writing Japanese class, although I'll probably stay where I am in that class because I think I should make sure I have all the basics covered. Moreover, I would be able to challenge myself in one Japanese class while I could review in the other. I know that I could take both courses at the lower level and enjoy a semester of review to get ready for Tufts next year, but the overachiever inside of me is slightly eating away at my innards. I think in the end, I'll leave the decision up to my Sensei. Either way though, the Japanese classes have been really fun, and it feels really good being one of the more knowledgable students in the room. Oh, and I forgot to put this up but here is a picture of my room. I don't think I'll ever get used to sleeping on the floor. I'm a notorious cover destroyer (phrase?), so every morning I wake up with a blanket on my left, a blanket on my right, my sheet at the end of the bed, and my pillow somewhere else altogether. No worries though, it keeps me honest by making my bed everyday (I know you're loving that Mom and Dad).

As for my lecture classes, they have also been quite enjoyable. The cinema class has a ton of great movies lined up for the semester, and I actually just saw Kurosawa's Stray Dog earlier today and it was terrific. Par for the course for Kurosawa though. Only downer for that class is that the professor is a little out there, and I haven't heard fantastic things about him. That being said, with my favorite Japanese movie of all time (Ikiru) coming up next week, I look forward to having lots of insightful discussions since I know a lot about it. My sexuality class is wicked awesome. We are basically going to go through the semester examining how social practice in Japan creates sexuality and identities, which sounds amazing. Not only that, but the professor seems very invested in the material. Finally, after introducing myself and telling him that I took a sexuality course last semester, he asked me to discuss it with him sometime in our spare time, sweet.

Besides that, not much else is going on right now. I hit the gym to polish the guns (vomit) and what not. I had sushi for the first time here too! It was at this restaraunt where the sushi goes around all the tables on a conveyer belt, and you pick up the type you want. It's pretty insane. Sorry, but I forgot my camera so I don't have a picture for you, next time I go I'll definitely get one though. I also had another rendevous with my speaking partner Ayuna today! I had emailed her a week ago and she hadnt responded so I figured she was either busy at home or done with the whole speaking partner thing, and then today as I'm walking back to the student lounge she ran up and grabbed me to say hello. Turns out her mother is in town, and she really wanted to introduce me to her. Her mom was really nice, and since she couldnt speak English I was able to practice my Japanese a lot. I think the three of us will be getting dinner within the next week so that'll be fun. I would've got a photo, but I've been pretty bad at remembering my camera, especially because now I have a cell phone, I have no room for my camera >_<

This weekend should be fun though. I think tomorrow night I will be either going to my friend's homestay for a little bit (we might go to a whale restaurant, and while I don't condone killing whales, how many opportunities will I have to try it?) and do some Karaoke, but those plans aren't concrete yet. Saturday will be spent in Osaka, checking out the city during the day and what the nightlife is all about in the evening so be sure to check back on Sunday morning for a much more exciting post. To make up for this somewhat bland episode, enjoy a picture of my puppy Evy! Talk to you all soon!

Kyoto and Karaoke!

What's up everybody?
Well my first weekend in Japan has come and gone, and it was quite a fun first foray into the culture of Japan. Let's start with Friday: Friday was raining a lot, but our tour of Kyoto was still on. However my group decided that we'd be better off shopping than exploring the temples with the rain and all. This decision turned out to bite us back as we got lost in a Japanese mall for approximately 4 hours. That being said, we did have some hilarious moments, I'll enclose a photo of my friend and I for your viewing pleasure, hopefully you'll enjoy. I mean, how often will I have the opportunity to wear a kimono right? The look on my pal Greg's face is pretty priceless as well.

Then came Saturday, which started out pretty low key. I decided to go jogging around the suburbs of Japan and it was actually a lot of fun. It was a little cold, but nothing like Boston, so I actually got a pretty good workout. Moving on, the rest of the day was spent hanging out, getting groceries, etc. That is, until nighttime when we decided to round up a group to go to Karaoke. We actually bumped into a group of 4 other guys who wanted to go, and merged our groups together for a Karaoke jam session. For 2000 yen ($20.00), we were able to get two hours of uninterrupted Karaoke in our own room. Now it may sound kind of odd because it was seven guys, but trust me, it was a blast! At first we were all a little apprehensive to sing in front of each other, but as soon as everyone had tried it at least once we were all having much more fun. By the end of our two hours we were all singing along to every song, instead of just solos. We ended with the song shout, which was a really great note to end on. After karaoke, we booked it back to our houses to make curfew. It actually turned out to be an awesome Saturday night in Japan.


So in other news, classes start tomorrow. That being said, I only have Spoken Japanese, so it's a little anticlimactic to only have the one class. Actually, I'll only be taking 4 classes this semester (Japanese Cinema, Japanese Sexuality, Spoken Japanese, and Japanese Reading and Writing) so this will be considerably less than the perennial pounding I've been putting myself through at Tufts. I was actually considering going for 5 classes again this semester (mainly because I love putting myself through extra work?), but one of the professors who spoke during one of orientation briefings said that we should take 4. I mean, I only have so much time in Japan so I'd like to fully enjoy it for what it's worth. I'll be sure to check back in a few days with updates on my classes. Until then, try to console yourselves by enjoying the Super Bowl, since I'm going to have to watch it here at 8 a.m. oof. Or for fun, go pick up a copy of Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it has the short story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in it and would be an excellent read. Talk to you soon!

A New Day Dawns

Konichiwa minna-san!
So a few days have passed since my last post and I figured I'd update you all on the happenings around here. So far things have been mucho busy with choosing classes and such, the Japanese system can be very strenuous at times. The banking session may have been the scariest thing I've ever gone through, everything must be translated from your passport to your banking account, including uppercase and lowercase letters, with absolutely no differences. Like this was scarier than taking a final, kids would say, "oh no I messed up" only to have their application torn up in front of them, forcing them to start over. As for classes, I had an awful number, but still managed to get the two lecture classes I wanted. I'll be taking a class on Japanese Cinema from 1949 - 1987 (which features my favorite Japanese movie ikiru) and a class on how sexuality creates pleasure and identities. They both seem very interesting and I'm looking forward to starting them.



The food has been pretty amazing so far. I'm a big fan of Donburi, which is a meat of sorts with extra vegetables served over rice. It is delicious and very filling. I also had Beef Udon at this mom and pop restaurant right near our dormitory. Not only was the food great, but the hostess/chef asked me where I got my hair the way it is, and I told her I got it like this in America, and then called it pretty. Naturally, that made my day. I must mention that on this picture to the left, there is a meal of yakisoba I ate, with a very interesting drink. You see, I went on a tour of our town Hirakata, and our Japanese student tour guides took us to a grocery store. Feeling adventurous, I asked our tour guide what was the weirdest drink in the entire place, to which he replied the drink you see in the photo. Turns out this drink is a Fanta brand of Grape Jelly soda, that is there is soda partially in there, but there is also jelly. I know it sounds awful, but trust me when I say it was AWESOME. I've already bought two more since then, and I want to bring them back to America with me haha. Anyway, figured that would be a good, crazy story you'd all enjoy.

Hmmmm let's see what else is going on? The people here are great, but you can definitely tell who has been here already fora semester and who's new. All my friends here (minus my friend from Tufts) are new kids, and while the kids who have already been here aren't cold or anything, they don't actively introduce themselves. This leaves the new kids in a panic to make friends before classes by introducing themselves to every single person on the street (or at least I'm guilty of that) so that they have a core to hang out with. I have made a nice core of friends though, my closest friends being from Alabama, Indiana, and New Jersey, which I just find awesome. It's a little weird because our home stay friends leave on Sunday, but I think things won't be too bad once we all get phones. I also saw Ayuna again today! We could only meet for a little while because I forgot I had another mandatory meeting for school. I think my Japanese is improving when we chat, but I have to stick to either informal or formal speech, since for some reason I switch a lot with her. Enclosed is a better picture of the two of us that we took today. Finally, I think I'm going to have dinner with her and her mother sometime soon, so that should be exciting and helpful haha.

OK so that's it for this time. I'm going to Kyoto tomorrow (along with some Karaoke debauchery later) so hopefully I'll have another cool post for this weekend. Like last time, please leave a comment or drop a line, I love hearing from people back home!

P.S. 先生、コーメントを書いてくれてありがとうございました！来週日本語を書きたいです。タフツ大学はいいといいですね！

And so it begins...

Hello all! After a grueling 18 hours in the air, I finally landed and am now living life in Japan, and wow, it is awesome here. Last night was pretty fun, not a ton happened but we got a tour of the different supermarkets so now I know where to go buy food that I don't understand the packaging for...sweet. I met some people here too, pretty nice overall, it's just weird because we cannot communicate with each other right now due to the lack of phones haha.

As for Japan itself, things are pretty intense. The people are friendly and on bikes all the time, the streets are really narrow with the houses like right on top of each other, kinda reminds me of the north end minus the honking cars. It's really nice here too, in the 50's degree wise. All the Japanese people are saying it's freezing and I'm about ready to put on a T-shirt and shorts. The most interesting thing I've found so far though is that is really quiet. Walking around last night and today I noticed how there was never any superflorous noise, which is so different than what I'm used to in Medford/Boston.

Finally, I met my speaking partner Ayuna for lunch today and she's pretty cool. I had some chicken don for lunch which was delicious as well. Enclosed is a picture of Ayuna and I with her friend and speaking partner and a picture of my wicked lunch. Thursday I think we're getting lunch and going to do some Karaoke, so naturally I'm pumped. Sorry for lack of articulation in this post, but not surprisingly, I'm in a rush. Tomorrow I have my placement test, and I have to deposit all my fees in order to get my registration lottery number, it should be fun though. I actually have to get ready because I have a tour of Hirakata in an hour but I hope you enjoyed this first post. As for the Japanese version of the upcoming posts, I think they'll start after the insanity that is Orientation, hope you don't mind Sensei! Thanks for reading everyone! Send me a comment or a message and let me know how home is!

Welcome! いっらしゃいませ！

Hey everyone! This is my blog for my forthcoming adventures in Japan, thanks so much for visiting. I am leaving for Japan on the 25th (this Sunday) and I will not be returning for 4 months, so I hope to regale you all with stories of what life will be like in Japan. Moreover, I will be posting pictures of Japan, specifically those with me in them, for your viewing pleasure. Although I do not have much to say today, I have met my speaking partner Ayuna for the semester. She seems really nice and we will be getting lunch the day after I arrive, so I thankfully already have something to look forward to. Besides that, I'm just doing my final preparations here, getting Yen and such (which is awesome, by the way).

Anyway I'll quit boring you all and let you get on with your lives, I promise the next entries will be more entertaining. Just so you don't feel like this was an entire waste of time, go download the song "Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown on a Bad Bet" by Fall Out Boy, or go watch Slumdog Millionaire, both are awesome. Sayonara!

P.S. To all my Sensei (s), after this introductory post I intend to write all my other entires with a second version of the same entry in Japanese, feel free to critique!