An exercise in juxtaposition.

Because I accrue pretty pictures far more than I actually post, the photos of the following post will bear little if any relation to the body text. If you like to analyze my every post as unique bodies of art, think of this one as surrealism. Or not. It's up to you.

This elephant is advertising "White Lover" candy. I think this is what they would call me here if I spent less time studying and more time lovin' up on the ladies.

Tomorrow is the semester final exam, so clearly I am being very studious right now. As soon as I got home today, I got upstairs to my bed and promptly passed out, my legs dangling over the side because I failed to get on the bed all the way. I was later awakened by the giggles of the host sisters at my door as they watched me sleep (thankfully I stayed dressed, they told me one of the previous year's ryuugakusei slept in the nude and they saw him). I think semester break is coming at a good time.

Okaasan! (内藤　直子） She is so sassy. Also featured, my sigma chi bro James and his host okaasan, さざきさん. This was the day parents came to class to watch us give speeches on where we want to travel, and then had parent teacher confereces. Just like kindergarten!

Over the break (and by break I mean slightly longer weekend) I'll be traveling to some more obscure locations in the northern parts of Hokkaido, to see some Ainu villages, volcanoes, and the like.
Con: doing this trip (organized by HIF) means submitting more of my autonomy to the regimented elementary school approach of the program, which is generally my biggest gripe.
Pro: This trip goes pretty far off the beaten track, and isn't nearly as mainstream as going to Sapporo, as most students are making plans for themselves.
Con: not going to Sapporo. I didn't know much about Sapporo when I decided on the alternative trip, and there's lots of fun stuff there, including a thriving scene for singles bars. No yellow fever (I have the vaccinations to prove it) but I'd really like to try flirting in Japanese with native speakers close to my own age.
Pro: the trip I'm doing is in conjection with local University students, which is the big draw for me. Associating with people my own age! What a novel concept. I love my host fam, but 9 year old girls and a host mom are very different from college students.

Buddhist temples are pretty. Last week we visited one of these close to the school. Unfortunately I paid more attention to the four cats (FOUR CATS!) than I did to the historical significance.

Trying to interact with people my own age has also been a big draw of the Judo classes for me beyond the visceral excitement of beating up mofos. I've tried to go to all of them regularly, with the aim of winning first the respect and eventually the friendship of the regular judoka. By my third class I managed the backward roll into a handstand, and I am SO FRICKIN' CLOSE to being able to somersault into horizontal splits. But I've gotten the impression they don't want newbies around to slow down practice, and apparently since they've got some big tournaments coming up I won't be permitted to go their practices for a while. But since Okada-San, one of the administrators of the program, knows I'm really into the judo classes, she found me another class. I missed the finer points of her explanation, but apparently there's some classes at a jail (?!) but it's not with the criminals, and its safe, and children can go too. I guess just using those facilities? Or taught by security guards or something? We'll see starting next week.

When we visited Asahi Elementary school, I saw some posters the children had made about eating onigiri (rice balls). Their artwork sometimes frightens me. OM NOM NOM

Fun fact: in Japanese the common word for uvula is ”のどちんこ”. I'm pretty sure this means "the throat's little penis". Nobody I've spoken to knows the scientific/medical term for uvula.

And speaking of MORE CATS, a bunch of us visited Brown-san's okaasan's quilt show. This cat on a quilt is gettin' crunk.

Anyway, as of tomorrow I'm half done with the language program. I've griped about how I'm treated like a child, and not being actively engaged in class, and I've wondered how much this summer will actually matter for accomplishment. Like, in applying for the Light Fellowship, I had to discuss my future goals / career ambitions for Japanese. Being nebulous and unclear about my future in general, I crafted some interesting possibilities that would sound a little more tangible, with the hope of interning in some aspect of sustainable and efficient city management for a place as dense as Tokyo, or maybe even the US Embassy in Tokyo. And now I doubt even with the progress from this summer and another year of Yale study after that if I would be anywhere near proficient enough to be useful in such a position. So long-term, what do I get from investing this much into Japanese study?

I had the pleasure of explaining to my host mom why candy called カラッパ(english sound: crapper) is funny.

There's a semester's worth of classes left, which probably means four more chapters of fill-in-the-blank excercises out of a shoddy textbook. What can I accomplish in that amount of time?

Pokemon cut-out nori. This means you can put pikachu on your rice balls. Best idea ever? Why yes. I think so. If I can accomplish something as awesome as making pokemon out of seaweed, I will be happy.

BUT, not to come off as too nihilistic, things are actually on a great upswing now. Before I left the States, I saw all the graphs of projected enjoyment for study abroad, and thought it was BS. Although now in analyzing my experience, I certainly had the initial rush of "Woo Japan kawaii omg" followed by a major crash of feeling stifled and frustrated with academics. I hung out in the valley of lameness for a while, but this week has been much better. I've been talking with my host mom more, which I think has really made the difference. I even had a conversation on Sunday with two Nihonjin driving by where I didn't realize they were asking me questions in English until halfway through the conversation. Even class has gotten a little more interesting, with more discussion and less fill-in-the-blank (although trying to debate about convenience stores wasn't very successful... "um, yes, I too think that they are very convenient"). Things are looking good, though I wish I could better articulate why; there's not often a lot of time to reflect, because taking time off for anything else sometimes gets in the way of other things. Like right now studying for the semester final. Oops.

The view of the city from the base of Mt. Hakodate. It is full of hope and change, and dreams. Dreams for the future. And hope. And peace. And change and youth and hope.