The last week of travel

[[This is more or less a copy-paste of notes I was keeping during the trip, edited and enhanced with pictures for your viewing pleasure.]]

7/30-8/4:Kyoto：Rented a bike first day because I couldn't walk from the blisters. Failed epically at maps. Highlight was Kiyomizudera, one of the most famous temples. Two cool attractions there are walking through the pitch-black womb of the buddha, and navigating your way blindfolded between the love-fortunetelling-stones. Lost the bike key at but another visitor overheard me looking for it and had found it--I was told the buddha was watching over me. Awwww.



Next day hit up Ginkakuji, the Temple of the Silver Pavilion--little disappointing, and not even because it wasn't silver. I walked through the whole thing and didn't actually realize which was the main pavilion. The Temple of the Golden Pavilion was much shinier.


(Not even silver.)


8/3: day trip to Takarazuka to see Sabrina Fair and EXCITER! put on by the Takarazuka Revue. Sabrina was a little trite but fun, Exciter was what was really worth it. Ignored the pretext of having a story and instead just focused on all the fabulous dances and lights and extravagant costumes and shinies. There were moments of the Rockettes, Follies style girls with enormous feather fans, and vaudeville all rolled together; sometimes it became so farcical that it was inverted to the point of women pretending to be male drag queens.



Came back to Kyoto, stayed at my buddy Ru-san's apartment (we did HIF together last summer) and lucked on a last minute reservation to go inside the Kyoto Imperial Palace. Usually you need to reserve weeks in advance but I was lucky enough to get a spot the morning of.



8/4 afternoon Nagoya: Visiting Hiro as a stop-over between Kyoto and Tokyo. Had an amazing miso-tonkatsu lunch at Yabaton。Visited the Pokemon Center (narrowly convinced myself NOT to buy the giant pikachu) and then three hours in the world's largest Tora no Ana store, where I bought a manga about what happens when Jesus and Buddha come back to Earth and get an apartment together。 Had delicious chicken wings for dinner (who knew these could be a specialty of a Japanese city?!) and boarded a night bus.




8/5: Elizabeth Igarashi (previously Carbone, but just got married and now lives in Japan) and I had made plans to visit the host families from an exchange trip we did in high school. Had a wonderful time hanging out with Yasuko and Michiko san- went to tea (coffee and lemon tart), the Hakasu Jiro museum (he was a cool dud who stood up to General MacArthur, generally revered for more or less being a hottie) and a nice wafuku tempura lunch before visiting Aoki's house. They continued to force treats and tea on me as we sat in her lovely breezey, 200+ year house and gossiped about Spokane and the people on the NICEA trip this year and who had grown up and who had cancer and who was working where. Then went to Keika's house for dinner- met Kaori, Megumi, and the cats Candy and Pipi (AKA Choitto). Was sad to hear her husband had passed of a sudden heart attack two years ago, but otherwise the home was so homey and happy and vibrant. When we all posed for a group photo on the couch they inserted the photo frame of Keika's husband too. She said such wonderful things about Spokane and my house and family- the “dream” of a garden and dinner on the patio and the enormous kitchen. Mom is both “very japanese” and like keika's own grandmother, in the ways she is very fastidious to detail, always takes care of everyone around her, and can read other's feelings very well. Dad is a very good, handsome person with a good character.



We stayed up talking around the dinner table until I realized it was late enough I wouldn't make it to the hostel somewhere in the depths of Tokyo's Akihabara before the curfew, so Keika reissued her order that I stay there.

8/6 Had a leisurely breakfast with Kaori and Keika. In Tokyo, went to Tsukiji Fish Market, wandered the stalls and had the freshest tuna rice bowl imaginable. Sad the auctions are now strictly off-limits. After that visited the lovely Hamarikyuu Royal Gardens, finally making it to the two places I tried to visit on my last trip but were closed. Also saw the contentious Yasukuni Shrine, then went back earlier so I could have a nice dinner with Keika. Made best friends with her kitty.






8/7: Woke up to find that the cat Candy had expressed her displeasure at my presence (she doesn't like people outside the family. She doesn't like men. She doesn't like tall people... I'm screwed) by pooping in my room. Another wonderful breakfast, this time with Megumi and Keika, and a very leisurely departure- wanted to get some photos with Keika, which then took extra time because the girls were otherwise in leisurely saturday mode--clearly unphotographable. Started the day's travel off at Harajuku (after a nightmare of trying to find open coin lockers in Shinjuku)- succumbed to buying a fashionable jacket, ironic shirt, shiny ring. Narrowly convinced myself not to buy the sparkle tux and the shiny but translucent button-up shirt. Eventually made my way over to Ebisu beer Garden (the buildings were gorgeous!) where I learned some history and drank some beer.

My final night, I met up with Hiro again, and we polished off my sake sitting on a curb in a dark back alleyway, in preparation for AnisonMatrix (a series of DJs presenting remixes of Anime theme songs) at Club Mogra. We knew we had arrived when the first person in line (who we had earlier mistaken for a hobo) had a PSP and enormous headphones. It started off slow, but eventually we got the crowd going- we single-handedly taught them how to fist pump, conga line, and spin in a circle. Omega was only moderately successful, although it probably would have caught on if I kept at it. Our two friends who were too cool and didn't “look” like the Otaku crowd were super chill and danced with us a bunch. Actually it was way more fun than I expected, but turns out 6 hours of clubbing is too much.

8/8: gruuuuuumpy. I guess that's what happens when you club straight through the night. Go to Narita airport. Try to stay awake until its time for me to PTFO on the plane. Forgot about all the liquid omiyages I had, got in trouble with security. But I guess its okay when you arrive seven hours early on a surprisingly not busy day! Finally made it back to the states, on the second 8/8.

Update on JR Pass

[[Again, this was written a while ago, just didn't have a chance to post it while traveling.]]

My JR Pass (unlimited use of the bullet trains for a week) was epic. Perhaps even too epic. I hit up 9 cities in 7 days and it wiped me out. Here are a couple of highlights-

After Osaka, starting on the 24th...

Nagasaki- went to an Episcopalin service in Japanese with Gabe, and the sweet old ladies of the congregation invited us to have lunch with them afterwards. The Peace Park in Commemoration of the Atomic Bomb was deeply moving—even more so because the original Japanese text carried a lot more feeling than the English translations.



Kumamoto- we had been thinking this city would make for a fun night out, but perhaps the guide book exaggerated the night life. Basically not a lot else but shopping arcades here. We tried to visit an exhibit on the house of Lafcadio Kearn, which was closed on just that day.


We did find a hipster wearing wafuku. It's kinda hilarious.

Kagoshima- we went swimming on a white sand beach (swimmable coastline is extraordinarily rare in Japan) with a view of the active volcano Sakurajima. Timing was a little bad because it was the only clouded day we had all week. I had the most amazing dinner of “black pork” made with a sauce from black sugar and garlic—a lot like the sauce on Peking duck. And then we got kidnapped a little bit? Oops.



Beppu- hit as many Onsen in as short a time as we could, although the string of unlucky timing continued as our special target of Beppu's famed “sand bath” was closed only on the 4th Wednesday of the month... exactly the day we went. Also visited “the Hells”, a series of geysers and hot springs full of strange colors and properties from different minerals.



Takamatsu- Not gonna lie, we mainly went to Takamatsu so we could check off the island Shikoku from the to-do-list. With that, I've been to all four major islands of Japan, something a surprising number of Japanese people haven't done. But we did have a nice time at Youritukouen, a garden for the feudal lords of Shikoku back when it was still called Sanuki. Also found amazing chocolate pancakes on the way.



Kotohira- The first destination after my companions and I went our separate ways, in Kotohira I spent an afternoon to climb Konpira-San, a shrine known for its arduous climb to the top—something like 1400 steps. The ascent is lined with places that rent walking sticks, hold on to your bags, and offer to ship home any of the baubles you buy. The city itself felt creepily deserted, but I think Konpira is probably my favorite shrine in Japan.
~Interestingly, this is also the only city in which I've ever encountered an unhelpful employee. My ticket buying excursion went like this:
Elliot:“I want to go as far as Hiroshima.”
Douche:”But due to rain the train may be delayed and you can't book that train.”
Elliot: “Then how do I get to Hiroshima?”
Douche: “If you go to Okayama first, you can possibly transfer there.”
Elliot: “Okay, well then I'll book a ticket for Okayama.”
Douche: “But that train's delayed too so you can't go there.”
Repeat ad nauseum. It somehow worked out, and despite his naysaying I took the ticket and got on a train direct to Hiroshima exactly as scheduled.



Hiroshima- The tragic thing that struck me about the city—aside from the heart-wrenching exhibits in the Atom Bomb Peace Memorial—is that even though the city has rebuilt itself into a prosperous and bustling commercial and living center, it will never be known for any history, culture, or image apart from the site of the world's first use of the Atomic Bomb as a weapon.




Himeji- I knew “the most magnificent castle in Japan” was under 5 year construction, so I had been avoiding the day-trip from Osaka. But the trip was in between two major stops and free with my JR Pass, so I decided to go for it this time around. Underwhelmed. It may be Japan's most majestic castle, but at the time it also suffered from Japan's most spitefully placed scaffolds.



My final evening with a valid JR Pass (7/30), I made it as far as my hostel in Kyoto, stumbled in the door, and passed out. At that point I was very happy to abandon the two-sometimes-three-cities-a-day model of travel and actually stay in the same place for more than a day at a time.

End of school, start of travel

((Last post of the big bunch written on my first bullet train- I hope to post at a more casual rate from now on, with more of the pretty pictures I've got))

School is all wrapped up and I've said my goodbyes to the two months in Osaka. Now I'm writing this aboard a bullet train, en route to one of the longest trips I've ever taken.

Only vague plans so far, with mostly only train passes, a Lonely Planet Guidebook, and a handful of hostel reservations sprinkled over the 17 day span. The first week is focused on going as far south as possible, to Kyuushuu, so that for bragging rights I can say I've been to all four of the main Japanese Islands (there's a surprising number of Japanese people who haven't). Here's what it looks like so far:

24th: Nagasaki (lots of historical sites pertaining to WWII)
25: Kumamoto, (apparently has super cheap clubs with no cover charge. Aw yeah.)
26: Kagoshima (beaches)
27: Beppu (famous for Onsen baths)
28: A single night (somewhere?) in Shikoku. This is vague, because Shikoku is a large island with many many places.
29: split up with traveling partner Gabe. He goes to Yokohama, I go to Kyoto? Or maybe first Hiroshima then Kyoto? For an unspecified number of days? Either way, after the 30th, I lose the magical money saving powers of the JR Pass that gives me unlimited use of the bullet trains, so I'll be traveling at a much slower pace after that.
...
8/3 Takarazuka. I have a ticket for Takarazuka Revue- a famous all female troupe that's vaguely based on Kabuki except transformed into western musicals. The current show is an adaption of the Billy Wilder film, Sabrina. I emailed my professor who taught a film studies course on Ernst Lubitsch and Billy Wilder last semester to let him know this was going on, and apparently he's already super knowledgable about the Takarazuka troupe and recommended a couple documentaries for me to watch on my return. I <3 Ron Gregg a whole bunch. :D
8/4: to Tokyo! This is the point at which I buy tickets for the ghetto overnight highway bus in lieu of paying for lodging and train tickets.
...
shenanigans?
...
8/8 afternoon: board a plane at Narita (Tokyo), 4:10 pm
8/8 morning, many hours after I have left, at 9:20 am of the same day, arrive in Seattle. International date lines confuse me.

~ ~ ~

By the end of these two months, I was very ready to be done with class and my living situation, and a lot of things about the CET program.

The small group of American students (12 in total) had a surprising concentration of divas. Not that there was active drama, but more like continually high maintenance personalities. When I was describing the situation to a friend over skype, he wisely commentated “It's like a soap opera! Except with Japanese roommates and oral hygiene!” There IS a reason for the oral hygiene comment, I swear, its just a longer story. :p

But I don't want this to sound overly negative. There are still elements that were very satisfying, some people who were incredibly warm and welcoming during my time living in Osaka. Chanho-san, who I expected to not be very sentimental, had a hard time saying goodbye when I went to his bar for the last time on Thursday. Squid Ball Granny (I was never formally introduced but always referred to her as たこ焼きばあちゃん) was as friendly as ever when she gave me my last plate of Takoyaki from her stall—nearly twice as much as the amount I had actually paid—and invited me into the gossip circle of all the neighborhood grannies while I waited.

And then there's Mik-kun. Sometimes I'd see his full name (Mitsutoshi) and nobody would recognize it was his name because everyone always called him Mik-kun; it just fit him so well. The “kun” suffix is kind of like a more intimate, buddy-buddy sort of feel for a guy, and it was perfect because Mik-kun always had the most congenial of dispositions.

Example: On his birthday, I sent Mik-kun a brief little phone mail in Japanese wishing him a happy birthday. He sent me the following in English:

Oh~~, Eaton!!
thank you for celebrating my BIRTHDAY (*^_^*)
I'm very happy.
I'm a happy man, now//（笑）

Thank you for sending e-mail.
Have a nice day [music note] ('o')/

えいぶんあってるかな（笑）

Is that not the happiest text message you could ever receive? I would sometimes pull it out whenever I needed to smile. He also spent hours hand-crafting bracelets to give to all the American students at the farewell party, saying it was a memento of how we could always be together. I'm wearing it now and don't intend to take it off anytime soon. Then, he skipped work today so that he could see everyone off. What a chill bro.

I speak words sometimes

One of the light fellowship prompts of the week: “With each new language one gains a new personality”. To a large extent, that's been true for me. In general, I'm much more reserved in Japanese than I am in English, but some of those mannerisms have started to carry over into my English personality as well. There's the slightest bit of a head bow anytime I say thanks, and I continuously respond with a little nasal “uhn” to demonstrate that I'm listening to what the other person is saying.

There's a lot of little things- like how its better to apologize rather than say thanks when receiving a gift you didn't expect—if you say thanks, that implies you were expecting it, and that's just conceited. I used to think these kinds of examples were shameful and continually negated the self, but now that I've become more comfortable with their usage I can appreciate how it maintains a pleasant social environment. It's like the gleeful statement of “Let's put all our hearts into expressing our remorse!” in this parody of Japanese methods of apologizing. You might need a little more familiarity with Japanese “NATIONAL CHARACTER” (imagine me making big air quotes when I say that) to appreciate how brilliantly the video parodies it, but aside from the polite way of rephrasing any direction into a cheerful invitation, the video shows the Japanese linguistic expectation that places consideration on the other. And maybe a little bit of that style has infiltrated my English brain too.

Partially for adapting to these notions of proper behavior and partially for linguistic limitations, I've been uncharacteristically taciturn this summer. I've even been told I've gotten more reticent in English, which is something I'm not thrilled about and will probably be working to undo once I return to the states.

That's not to say I totally suppress myself in Japanese anymore, which I definitely used to do under the notions of “this is Japan and therefore I must aspire to the ideal of what the Japanese want me to do”. I have some jokes, and some humor, just a much smaller scale of jokes that I recycle with more frequency—I'm particularly fond of the chestnut and squirrel joke, and my own personal invention “riding the bus”. (For any students of Japanese reading this: say “chestnut and squirrel”, word-for-word, in Japanese. If you need help, chestnut isクリ. squirrel is リス、 Say it in front of other people if you can. Keep on saying it until you figure it out. I take no responsibility for the end results.) But in fun social settings, as I've advanced in my language proficiency I've become increasingly sociable and outgoing with meeting new people.

I've digressed, but I think the point of this is that I feel like I've started to appreciate the words that remain unsaid, and appreciate the value of silence a little more. In visiting the Nagasaki bomb memorials, I found myself increasingly irritated with a traveling buddy's questions of “ooh what's this word mean?” and requests for group photos. Both of those are expected and more or less good things for studying abroad, but in that context I couldn't help but feel a little more quiet contemplation would be in order.

the internet is the secret to all treasure

There are many things I should be doing other than this, the night before the final and with many preparations yet to do for moving out, leaving Osaka behind, and traveling 18 days, mostly on my own.

But hilarious thing- you know the pop-up ads that say you've won an iPod? Or a bunch of money, if you can only answer the question right?

Japanese ones offer the chance to win a GREENCARD to America, if only you can correctly identify the president.



I'm dubrious.

it's a good thing i was studying all weekend. oh wait... i wasn't.

[[[Note: This is the part where I started writing at the end of the program but had no time, and then started traveling and wrote on the train but never was able to put anything up. So you get the special privilege of reading WAY TOO MUCH all at once.]]

(Actually from 7/20)
As we approach the final week, there's an enormous amount of stuff I have to do to prepare for the final exam, the final presentation I'll be giving in front of the whole program and guests, and the travel itinerary for the following two weeks. So clearly I did none of that and traveled to close-by cities instead, the kind of day trip I promised myself I would do but haven't for nine weeks.

After Gion Matsuri in Kyoto on Friday night, I visited two of the districts within Osaka that are pretty famous but I've barely seen. Started off at Tennouji, saw a bunch of historical temples, then visited Namba and the infamous ドン・キホーテ(the sound of the store is Don Kihoute... Don Quixote? I don't really get why.)

I spontaneously trekked over to Kobe Sunday morning. I started off with the 白鶴 White Crane Sake factory tour (with free tastings!) and then made my way to Kitano, the district of Kobe that used to be the western style mansions for early western traders, diplomats, and missionaries. Also a surprising number of mosques and halal supermarkets, although maybe that's a more recent thing. The lavish 異人館 (literally "houses of different people") are built on the highest land near the base of the mountain. Oh hey there western imperalism!

The western buildings and abundant churches on the mountain were oddly reminiscent of Hakodate, where I spent last summer. But by the time I got off the gondola at the top of the mountain, all the architecture had turned into some bizarre semblance of a swiss mountain house? Confused. Thinking to enjoy the great outdoors, I took the hiking trail back down, but apparently no one else ever uses it--I clearly followed what the sign said was the hiking trail, but it was so overgrown that I often didn't know where the trail was. I'd then come out of the deep wilderness into some pleasant pocket where nice elderly couples were enjoying picnics, before plunging back into deep mountainy jungley doom. I have no idea how the pleasant old people got there. After a climb a full two hours longer than I had planned for, I came out on the edge of civilization- with a clear, cool river trickling beneath the subway tracks! Salvation.

I thought I'd stroll the streets looking for a nice dinner place but gave in to the first Nishinoya (the McDonald's of rice bowls) I saw. Didn't realize until after the meal how disheveled I looked, with a dirty sunburnt face, over-scruffed beard, and hair still dripping from the river. Maybe that explains all the weird looks I got.

And then... discovered I gave myself massive blisters from walking up and down the mysterious mountain of doom in inadequate shoes. Let's see how I continue to aggravate them over the next two weeks of walking around Japan!

Faux Pas, and How I Made Out with Lady Gaga

There's an excessive, hilariously polite expression I sometimes use jokingly use to brush off compliments or to convince the other person I'm good at Japanese: お褒めごとを預かって,恐縮です (Literally, "I am shrinking in fear from having received your honorable words of praise). But sometimes the cheeky tone gets me in trouble.

Last weekend I visited a bar for New Half--a Japanese euphemism for transsexual--to conduct informal interviews for my research project on attitudes towards crossdressing TV celebrities. When I entered, I was the only customer there.  The employees were a little surprised that I looked so... not a transvestite.

We chatted for a while, and when the barmaster (mistress?) mentioned that I looked straight, I chuckled and said thanks in that over-the-top manner for affirming my normal masculinity. The bartender kind of muttered "I don't know that that was a compliment..." Oops. Maybe that wasn't the best audience for a joke that unintentionally implied a standard definition of masculinity (and passing for straight) as the desirable alternative.

We got over the initial awkward hurdle, and I did make some good progress on my research.  But a later discovery in the bar piqued my interest in the mundane-yet-enthralling topic of bathroom decor. I can't really think of any establishments in the US where the bathroom strays from the decorative style that the whole place has, but a number of Japanese bathrooms stand out.

What would you expect to find beside the bathroom sink of Strawberry Times, the bar catering to businessmen who just want to wear a dress after a hard day at the office? Probably not a level 5 Super Sayan.


But the discovery just confirmed a pet theory that all shops in Japan must have bathrooms that provoke deep thoughts. For instance, a noodle shop in the Umeda district has posters of political candidates for the Reform Party. This is normal enough, except that they watch you urinate. A veiled statement about Big Brother?


My favorite gay bar, Bacchus, features a much younger and much less clothed shot of the owner, Chanho-san.  Also watching you naked.


And Lady Gaga's favorite bar in Japan, FrenZ, has... actually I have no idea how to describe it.


But its okay, because its the place colloquially referenced as the Lady Gaga bar.  They can do what they want and its "performance art".

That moniker for the bar came from an incident that is now local legend.  After Lady Gaga performed in Osaka last year, she came in disguise to this bar FrenZ. But she sang karaoke of her own songs, so people eventually figured out it was her, and cheered her into an encore concert. The bartender showed me pictures of where she jumped on the table to perform Just Dance -- I was sitting at the exact same spot.

 

And then, the bartender pulled out the bar's greatest treasure: the lipstick Lady Gaga dropped and left behind. He told us to be careful with it, as it contained "Precious DNA".  My drunky friend insisted on rubbing the lipstick all over my lips... meaning my skin cells have been brushed with those from the puh-puh-puh-po-poker face itself.

We basically made out.

I'm not sure whether using the Secret Treasure should be placed on my ever-growing List of Social Trespasses, but it was totally worth it.

Me, My, and Eaton

Quick update of logistics: busy week. Did a company tour of Panasonic, presented a point/counterpoint speech on Japanese eating habits, took test number three, finished a 3000 character draft of the final project. Two weeks left of class. Now have a JR Rail Pass but not yet an itinerary of where I'm going.

But the main topic... So... yeah. Identity n' stuff.

As something trivial I didn't expect to still have trouble with- how do I refer to myself in Japanese? One of the first things anyone ever learns is 私の名前は＿＿＿＿です。Watashi no namae ha ____ desu. My name is _____. Of course, contrary to any introductory text, nobody will ever say "watashi". It's just kind of implied in the introduction.

Prior to this summer, I hadn't actually used "watashi" in probably four years, instead relying on the more masculine 僕（"boku"), because I am obviously so manly and masculine. （笑）Watashi felt too polite, too neutral. I never dared to say Watakushi, the more formal equivalent of Watashi. From my outsider perspective, the politer, humbler form of "I" previously came with the flavor of "I... (am a little bitch)". Boku was simple and jaunty and I liked it.

I had an 俺 ("ore") phase at the start of the summer. I had originally learned this as another masculine form of "I", but with a rougher, more assertive edge to it. Too impolite for most situations, so better just stick to Boku. In Tokyo, though, apparently no young men really use boku anymore, and ore has lost the impolite nuance, though my own experience in Hokkaido it was the opposite.

The first day of class when we did formal self-introductions, I got scolded for using boku. Sensei said that boys use it up until about high school and then outgrow it. So for the most part I've adopted Watashi in class, if not the full on formal watakushi, although years of experience make it hard to completely eliminate boku from my self-reference. Despite what Sensei said, I've seen Boku used by adults on television dramas, talk shows, even a congressional meeting. I think my host mom (???) even used it a couple times last summer. I still bust out Ore on occasion, though, mostly just when having guy talk.

I just find it strange that after years of Japanese, I still only barely understand the nuance of what seems should be an elementary concept. And I'm not even touching the "wareware", "washi", "waga", "oira", or any other forms of simply saying "I".

Fun fact- the cute girly form of Watashi is Atashi. The flaming drag queen version of "I" takes it one step further to Atasui. A friend tried to convince me this was popular among young guys and I should use it all the time. I saw through his connivery. :p

I used to think Keigo was demeaning to the speaker, because one has to change all the verbs and vocab regarding oneself to be humble in the presence of the superior other. But as I'm gradually figuring out how to use it more smoothly on the fly, I've begun to enjoy it purely for the academic excitement of advancing a new skill. I can focus on the way it shows respect for the other rather than thinking it belittles me. So now if I bring out a Watakushi in talking to a sensei, I give myself a little mental high five.

And then there's also the question of names. I'm the only in class to still go by last name- Eriotto doesn't really cut it for me, so I always introduce myself as Eetohn. In English, I'm really not a addressed-by-last name kind of guy; even when I was rowing crew and the coach called out most of the team by their last name, I was still Elliot. So now if I get called Elliot-kun in Japanese, or called Eaton in English by the other students, I get confused.

My best friend and barmaster Chanho hadn't realized this at first, because I had been going to his bar for several weeks and always making the introduction as Eetohn. His reaction at discovering the truth, in flawless English: "Oh, Eaton's your last name? I thought that was a fucking weird name."

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Not a very good photo, but this is Chano Kim. I now call him my Japanese "お父ん", the Osaka dialect for dad.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Gabe and I put together a little アメリカの独立記念日パーティ for the Fourth of July, introducing our Japanese roommates to the "traditional American snackfood" s'mores. We didn't have a campfire, so we improvised.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Oh no! What are they teaching in that kind of school?!

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

The "Business Park" at Kyouhashi station, where we went to visit the Panasonic central headquarters' showroom and talk about the possibilities of foreigners working for major Japanese corporations.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

My class took a study tour to Nara on Wednesday after presenting our speeches. I somehow stuttered my way through. But Nara was a great way to unwind from that- here's 東大寺(Toudaiji temple),

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Toudaiji is home of the famous Mega Buddha. (I translate that lightly). Scale doesn't really come across here, but he's 15 meters tall while sitting. I can factually crawl through his nose--there's actually a pillar near the base with a tunnel the shape and size of his nostril, which is supposedly lucky if you can fit through?

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Also famous in Nara, the deer. They're pretty chill about hanging out with humans, especially the ones who buy 鹿煎餅--specially made deer crackers!

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Getting mauled by deer is the cutest wild animal attack ever.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

I know this is warning me about serious risk, but it's just too adorable. I especially like the graphic for headbutting.

Pikachu n' stuff

As something I've resented for years, well before I attained the legal bar-hopping status of adulthood, I resent being made to feel like a child. Like when the project class spends hours having us discuss the difference between です・ます体 and だ体 (for the non-Japanese speakers, that's a topic mastered in first year Japanese). Or when we spend hours of class time to learn how to input data into an excel file, with Mori sensei hawkishly watching over our shoulders and telling us how 上手 we are--when we're given instruction sheets in Japanese for a skill any student whose ever touched a computer could figure out, there's no reason we need our hands held. If anything, doing the same task on our own would be a valuable exercise to read Japanese and follow practical directions.

In many ways, though, I'm limited to the speech of a child. While from certain perspectives, I've learned the particular vocabulary to play through a text heavy videogame or read an article on Japanese politics or take a stand on a nuclear nonproliferation treaty--ways of receiving and analyzing information--my adult perspective on these things is limited by how naturally I can string together words to sound like I'm actually speaking Japanese. My skill set is like I skipped a couple developmental stages- I'm trying so hard to run before I can walk steadily. So I'm increasingly realizing the importance of small and seemingly unimportant conversations, the kind that are totally everyday and trivial, as a step to master all the little things like intonation and smoothness and accent that no amount of high level textbook study will teach me.

And now to backtrack on this whole "I'm an adult wah wah wah" theme: I went to Pokemon Center Osaka today and it was the cutest thing ever. I bought a Pikachu plush toy. I chose this particular size and pose of Pikachu (over the other 5 bajillion options) because of his expression. Its a dumb sort of vapidness, having no idea whats going on but its okay because everything is easier when you're cute.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

I can relate to Pikachu.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Please appreciate that this is probably the creepiest t-shirt design I've ever seen. The front says "Slumber Party". Stop stealing children, Hypno!

Even though its beyond my ability, I'm trying to stretch myself to tackle complicated topics: for the project class, I'm investigating a topic that I hope would prepare me for my senior thesis, which will somehow pertain to the the topic of gay rights and identity in Japan.

In brief, Japan is weird about the gays. Its not an active or violent discrimination like in American history, but the adult and professional worlds tend to remain super closeted and passively discriminatory through corporate job structures and marriage pressures. But then there's all sorts of contradictions, aside from the way popular male fashion screams out fey to a western perspective. Drag (both cross-dressing straight comedians and transgender celebrities) is everywhere, and it seems like its not treated as a big deal. So though its among the topics that polite people don't ever talk about, drag has a privileged place of respect(?) (fame?) (notoriety?) in the media world.

My (as-of-yet-unsubstantiated) theory is that gayness in Japan is acceptable so long as the individuals involved still fall into clearly defined masculine and feminine roles. As in, a transgender relationship wouldn't be perceived as bad, so long as a man made a clean transition to a female role and avoided that gray space of two masculine men together. So even if you have transgender beauty pageants and Oprah-style talk shows where cross-dressing Miwa Akihiro tells straight celebrities how to handle their feelings, the man-as-woman persona can be safely compartmentalized into existing gender roles, a benign place where it doesn't challenge the definition of straight men and their expected relationships. That way it can be enjoyed purely for its entertainment value without considering it too seriously.

For the project class I'm conducting some research into how people feel about trans and cross-dressing on TV, including whether they think this kind of gender performance in the media world has any connection to sexuality, and whether its appropriate to label this stuff as "gay" or "unusual" or something else altogether. Distributing surveys to random students during lunch was awkward because...
a) intruding on randos to take a survey is worse than the usual ostracism of being an outsider in a lunch room that already resembles Mean Girls, and
b) because my topic is more challenging(?) (off-putting?) (outside these students' frame of reference?) than other topics, and
c) people will inevitably make assumptions about me and my interests based on the questions I ask.

So I distributed a bunch of surveys today, and there was only one table of people I actually knew somewhat. The guy I knew best at that table, one of the other Japanese roommates for the program, gave me a cheerful "はい、お釜” as he returned the survey. I think my friend said "here you go, fag". I don't know how he meant it, and I certainly don't get the subtleties of many terms. I think he said it jokingly with the assumption that I didn't understand? Granted, I often mishear things, plus it was one of those moments where you don't entirely hear what someone says at first but your brain replays the sound clip two or three times and then comprehends it once the moment has passed. So really I'm no more than about 40% sure that was even the word he used. I don't know how I feel about this vague event. Am I bothered? Am I creating an incident out of what was probably nothing?

Either way, the Japanese Senseis have been obnoxiously glib about it when I tried to discuss it with them. The first teacher's reaction was 「それだとしたら、ひどい！」 (if it were that, that's mean!" and then the second didn't respond much beyond 「ああそうですか？」 ("oh really?"). I would've imagined they'd be a little more righteously indignant on my behalf. It's not as if this a damaging experience, but maybe this indifference says something about the broader lack of awareness towards gay subjects in Japan.

And now a number of unrelated (but pretty!) pictures. Blogger's been hatin' recently and won't let me upload photos through its own interface, so I'm resorting to increasingly ghetto methods of getting them to show up in the post.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

At HEP 5, we found a wall for hanging little 短冊 cards for 七夕祭り (Tanabata Festival, 7/7). I enjoyed that these two wished for "world domination" and "to grow to 170 cm", respectively.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Would you believe me if I told you there's a place in Japan with the best Indian food I've ever tasted? Nom nom nan.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

The nom nom nan team from Friday.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Also a tasty shot of sushi from the 懐石 feast we had with the visiting Yale teachers performing site visits.

The land of karaoke

In other news, I apparently have no sense of whether something is sincere in Japanese, because lyrics to pop songs (especially love songs) that could only be pure cheese in English make me melt when I hear the song in Japanese. PRIMARY EXAMPLE:
嵐：Monster


The lines that get me everytime--
"I'll be by your side until we see the dawn /
Even if all my memories were erased /
and I were reborn, I'll seek you out again

"I'm not what you see, hold onto your heart /
On the night of the full moon, I found you"


Cheesy, right? But I love it. And have memorized the lyrics so that I'll be ready to pwn when I finally go out to karaoke eventually.

2時を少し過ぎる頃(OH No!)残酷なMonster
月明かり草木眠る頃(OH No!)甦る

君の叫びで　僕は目覚める
今宵の闇へ　君を いざなう　Monster

凍りつく夜が創り出す(We are)
君の後ろ　Who？
気付いたときはもう閉 じ込める
(Monster)逃げ場は無い

(Just One)君の手を(Two)愛の手を
(Three,Four＆Five)抱 いて眠りたい

あなたがいたから生まれてきたんだ
夜が明けるまで近くにいよう
僕の記憶が全て消えても
生 まれ変わったら　また君を探す
見かけじゃなくて　心を抱いて
満月の夜　君を見つけた　
Monster

ドアのない 部屋に迷い込む(No Way)
誰か見てる　Who？
足音が徐々に近くなる
(Runaway)でも動けない

(Just One)このスリル(Two)止められない
(Three,Four＆Five)怖がらせたい

だけど本当は　君が好きなんだ
朝が見えるまで　隣に居よう

一 万年の愛を叫ぼう
生まれ変わっても　また君を探す
Monster


12 時を少し過ぎる頃・・・　
月明かり草木眠る頃・・・　

君の涙で　僕は目覚める
今宵の闇へ　君を連れ出す

僕 の記憶が全て消えても
生まれ変わったら　また君を探す
見かけじゃなくて　心を抱いて
満月の夜　君を見つけた
Monster

There's a lot of JPop and JRock I would absolutely not listen to were it not for the goal of language practice, but there's a couple groups growing on me- especially the aforementioned "Arashi" (storm) and "Funky Monkey Babies"... they were big in the 90s?

But then there's others that are just so happy and cute... even if you acknowledge its terrible music, you can't help but squee because its full of cute little Japanese girls being princesses and flying and singing about love. 気まぐれ「ロマンティック」("Romantic" by "On a Whim") is perhaps the best example: mad props to Nick Rosenbaum for originally introducing me.



And then of course, there's all the strange and unfathomable ways in which Japanese "news" programs misappropriate popular western songs. Watching TV while writing this, I just heard an arrangement of the Star Wars Imperial March on banjo and nose flute. Umm... yeah.

Wisdom from the bottle

I spent last Friday night at my favorite bar in the 堂山町 (Douyamachou) district, about ten minutes walk away from the JR Osaka station. I've been to Bar Bacchus once a weekend and am on friendly terms with a number of the regulars (does that make me a regular, too?) and especially the bar master, Chano-San. He recently shared with me the adage "苦労無くして、前進なし”, which is fairly literally "no pain no gain". Chano-san repeated it to me, half-scoldingly and half-encouragingly, as I started to waver about why I'm continuously working so hard.

By the wee hours of the morning, when it was just me and bar-masters Chano and Goro, (I guess KenKen was there too, but he was, erm, "taking a nap") we got to talking about personal histories and where I was going with this whole Japanese thing. Chano-san likes to brag to other customers that I'm 賢い because I go to Yale and I'm gonna be all important doing 外交 at the 大使館, and I had to confess, that whole thing about going to work in foreign service and diplomacy is mostly to have a satisfying answer when people get curious about why I'm interested in Japanese.

I started to realize at their questions that I have a hard time justifying when people ask "why are you majoring in Japanese?" I kinda waver around it with a long-winded explanation of my defiant urge to be good at the language, to prove myself capable of thriving in their culture. "Why did you choose Japanese in the first place?" I weasel all over the mulberry bush with a rant of how I don't want to fulfill the world's image of the ignorant, mono-lingual American. "Yeah, but why Japanese?" Reasons citing food and video games don't really cut it anymore. Is it enough to just think it's kinda neat?

I confessed to Chano my belief that even if I worked in Japan for a year or two at some point, I could never really be an ex-pat for a whole slew of reasons about me not belonging or not fitting in, not in Japan. He thought most of my excuses were kind of silly. This infinitely wise, moderately inebriated middle-aged man gave me a heart-to-heart explaining exactly how I was holding myself back with all the assumptions I've made depending on being accepted by others' systems.

But this week, I've been able to begin (gradually, painstakingly) shifting myself out of self-deprecating Yalie study mode, obsessed with all the reasons I'm treated differently and barred from ever fully integrating into Japan. I have little patience to deal with non-native speakers of English, yet somehow I've been fortunate enough to make a number of older friends here willing to sit and talk to me for hours, continually correcting my word choice and grammar and politeness and intonation, and then buy me drinks to boot. Even if I'm not finding that connection as much within the student group, the fact that strangers have been so kind and welcoming to me does a lot to undo the damage Ive dealt to myself by focusing on all the ways I'm not accepted.

I was told by a friend, in English, after a series of email exchanges in Japanese: "I could see your heart because you were the first foreigner to write so many word to me..." (awwwww) "...with so many mistakes." (crap).

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

If only happiness were really that simple. And a little bit stylish.

In other fun news, I have a cellphone! I hesitated for the first couple weeks but ultimately its been instrumental in allowing me to get out of the apartment and make plans with new friends I meet. If you're ever just so despondent you need to hear my voice, I receive calls for free at (International code 81) 080-3825-2476. I also have email on my phone- works a lot like texting if you write to roll.you.up.into.my.life@softbank.ne.jp. It is a fact that all Japanese young people must have obnoxiously long email addresses that can not easily be conveyed through spoken conversation, so I followed suit.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

I found some broskis- Tim came up with some friends from Yale Summer Session in Tokyo. We fratted hard by going to the aquarium.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

FISHY. WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Most terrifyingly large crabs ever. They make Alaskan King Crabs look pretty docile. They also have like five layers of claws inside their mouths. ナニコレェ〜？！

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

The enormous Ferris Wheel overlooking Osaka Harbor.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Little prayer cards at a temple in Umeda.

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

I found Waldo! Who knew he was at the novelty omiyage store the whole time?!

From Summer 2010 OSAKA

Please note that when the class went on a study tour to the corporate office of Leo Palace, they had an enormous projection of Lady Gaga playing continuously in the lobby. This is the one aspect of the tour that could possibly make me want to work a corporate job in Japan.