Reminiscing: From The Very Beginning

I’m sure you all expected me to do so – think back on everything. I haven’t written here in quite a while now so consider this my “re-entry” blog posting. Please enjoy my reminiscent thoughts.

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Honestly, before coming back to America I went through a sort of difficult and most confusing phase of desperately not wanting to leave Japan and at the same time desperately wanting to go home. Since I’ve come back I’ve had most people, foremost, state “I bet you were happy to come back.” then become almost upset to have me tell them about how I was, and still am, mixed up on that feeling and furthermore that I’m almost 100% set on going back to Japan immediately after graduation. This decision has been met with dismayed silence already by some of my family and friends.

Of course nobody should get me wrong here, if at any point I loved my home country of America most, it was while in Japan. It has certainly become obvious that you begin to truly respect and understand your home country and pride ONCE you have visited another. But simply put, I have traveled extensively throughout the United States and though there is yet more for me to see, the beckoning of the world out there beyond these borders (not just Japan) is even stronger. There just seems to be – as I have constantly told myself since returning – more out there for me to feed my mind with. More learning to be done, more experience to be had, and many more people to meet. Without a doubt I desire to “go international” with my traveling and learning. While in Japan I feel like I learned more in one year than over the course of my entire (comparably trapped) lifetime up to now. And that’s not just language, but about people, culture, and life as well as other subject matter in classes at school (the school which, finally, I have developed a strong opinion about).

But I want to divert, finally, to something which I found buried away in my closet while I was moving out and back to school for this fall semester:

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Some years ago, while still in middle school, I began my light interest in Japanese animation (anime). After about a year spent watching whatever I could catch on TV I was introduced, then in high school, to the world of manga, Japanese comics, which I could find in the back of Walden Books at my local mall. My eyes were opened to a whole new world of Japan which flourished from then on. I began finding more manga to read and eventually began connecting to communities of people on the web just like me and finding more obscure series to watch and read, eventually striking upon genres which most of us like to call “slice-of-life” as well as “school days” genres. These two genres, probably most common in Japanese anime and manga, introduced foreign viewers and readers to an amazing world of Japanese culture via a deep view straight inside. This eventually became my 切っ掛け (an impetus or motive) to begin to study more about Japan beyond the animation. With seeing so many fascinating cultural and historical references, new varieties of humor, and simply lifestyles of a completely different culture, how could I not be compelled to want more? And still to this day, even after a year spent in Japan, I have not run out of such examples of fascinating cultural information to compel me onward into this field of study.

At a time during my final year in high school while having fun socializing and truly enjoying my last semester, I created a list almost in fear that I’d forget (while enjoying myself with other things) why I loved Japan so much. (And yes, I did already love the place nearly four years ago before ever going.) On this list I wrote in the form of just a few words to full sentences some of the reasons I loved Japan (and in many cases, Tokyo). These all pulled straight from scenes in anime, manga, and a few Japanese sitcoms usually called simply “drama.” And well, I just thought I’d share with you all what I wrote four years ago and how to be honest I’ve confirmed it all with my very own eyes and experience to be completely true.

Things I Love About Japan

1) The cross-walk lights for pedestrians in Japan play music when they turn green.
- It’s true, you can even ask my dad. And they play various tunes at different ones too. One in particular has very nostalgic feeling for me and even for many Japanese people. Furthermore, Japan is particularly helpful towards the blind with braille just about everywhere, walking guides on all sidewalks, and many people more than willing to help.

2) The cross-walk bridges with their necessary loving couple.
- The bridges are very common, the couples, not so much. Perhaps played up in my mind by the exposure to romance in anime and manga.

3) The low table sometimes accompanied by its warm kotatsu.
- To get this straight, a “kotatsu” is the whole package: A low Japanese table with a built in heater which you place a blanket over and put your legs under to keep warm in winter.

4) The futons layed out in the evening with the usual tissue box sitting close by.
- Only saw and used futons when we visited Kyoto area. And I donno what it is about the tissue box, but the Japanese always have one close by.

5) The neat two room apartments with their messy Tokyo-life aura.
- Actually one room…and really small – that’s why they’re so messy.

6) The cicadas that signify summer has returned.
- Please refer to my previous post about my soccer class final.

7) The farm buildings of Hokkaido.
- Will Kansai area do instead?

8 ) The beach hotels of Okinawa.
- They have this very run down feel that most of you would probably just call gross. But something about it I love.

9) The massive, multi-story apartment complexes of densely populated Tokyo.
- Doesn’t get much more obvious than that.

10) The haunted construction complex match-making games.
- The match-making game is called 肝試し, “test of courage,” and is usually done in an abandoned building such as a hospital or a building under construction. The forest is also often used. Two people, a guy and girl, are paired up and sent through the winding paths and hallways to make it to a certain place and be first to make it without getting too scared and running away. It’s meant, basically, to make the girl scared and have her cling onto the guy while he plays the hero/savior role.

11) The autumn school festival and its coffee and tea shop.
- We can’t go to those because they’re only a high school thing.

12) The three streets that connect in the middle of Shinjuku.
- This is supposed to be Shibuya, and it’s like five streets – pretty crazy.

13) The giant Sony plasma screen casting its view across Shinjuku.
- Again, supposed to be Shibuya…

14) The four-story high schools.
- Something about seeing these is so nostalgic even though I never attended one.

15) The rooftops of high schools and the fences that surround them.
- No pictures, but it’s true. Some even put their pools up there.

16) The giant double-pane sliding windows of the school buildings.
- I’d like to add mention of the kids that always lean out of them.

17) The crowded subways on the way to or from work.
- I lived through this. Barely…

18) The pleasant cross-country JR Shinkansen rides.
- Really smooth, really nice.

19) The crazed otaku aura of Akihabara.
- A very strange place with many strange things. And otaku is a person who obsesses about something in particular, usually anime or manga but also many other things.

20) Osaka’s “floating” Kansai airport.
- Never went, but heard it was sinking.

21) The comfortable glow of paper lanterns lining streets during festivals.
- Probably my favorite Tokyo feeling.

22) The many beautifully designed yukatas in the festivals glow.
- A yukata is basically a summer kimono – lighter and more airy. Walking around during one of the biggest festivals I attended I was just blown away by how many I saw.

23) The shrine gates leading to the best made wooden structure of its time.
- I love shrines and temples.

24) Tokyo Tower
- nuf sed

25) Clothing hung on lines stretched between buildings.
- The Japanese don’t often use dryers so that they can save on energy and save money. So you can see clothes hung up everywhere all the time.

26) Air conditioning units protruding from the walls of apartments.
- Usually right beside all the hanging clothes.

27) The front doors that open outward.
- At first I didn’t know why, but then it was explained to me that it’s because we take off our shoes inside the door and if it opened in there would be a problem.

28) The public artificial onsen and their not-so-separate changing rooms.
- Never went to an onsen (hotspring), but the mixed bathing ones aren’t so common these days.

29) The streets where people drive on the left-hand side.
- This pretty much speaks for itself.

30) The long and huge bridges that connect between main islands.
- I went across one! But here is a picture of Rainbow Bridge in Tokyo:

31) The glow of a vending machine making its appearance anywhere imaginable.
- And really, some of the places I’ve seen them are pretty hard to imagine.

32) The books in their more convenient right-to-left style.
- Easier for flipping, if you ask me.

33) The Fuji TV headquarters in Odaiba.
- Look it up, it’s a pretty nice piece of architecture.

34) The extensive rows of bicycles lining streets and side-walks.
- They have bicycle parking lots outside of every station. Some of them are double-deck.

35) The small and stylish two-story apartment buildings.
- Not high rise and classy like the ones in central Tokyo. These smaller ones were the style around where I lived.

36) The ryokan with its traditional style and accompanying natural onsen.
- The onsen depends on where you are, and the ryokan (traditional inn) we stayed at didn’t have one. Most often these are accompanied by a cat.

37) The shimenawa and its gohei that surrounds a kami.
- Threw you guys for a loop on this one. Just look at the picture: the shimenawa is the rope, the gohei is the white paper hanging from it, and the kami is the tree.

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It’s as if what is portrayed in their animation and comics is dead-on accurate. I was challenged time and again before going to Japan with the idea that I may, on the other hand, end up disliking it entirely. But through the many things accounted above I have only further confirmed my interest, and my love, for Tokyo and Japan. In a sense the reminiscing I’m doing is reflecting on two times: first on how I enjoyed and miss Japan so much from real experience, and second on how I felt so long ago even before going. My stay in Japan has allowed me to feel nostalgic in ways I ought not to have considering had never experienced those things before. It’s amazing how my past indulgence in Japan has created an almost like-reality experience in memory. Now I feel I can use the Japanese expression 懐かしい “natsukashii” – expressing a feeling of nostalgia or a memory so dear and missed; this particular expression and the feeling can’t exactly be translated into English.

Writing from Charlotte, NC | July 25, 2009

Final Exam Time

Walked into my soccer class at the gym yesterday and the teacher had pulled up a black board and wrote quite simply on it a time frame and “summer.” He then told us to go and take a picture on that theme and be back during that time (about 30 minutes later) to show him the picture and have him grade us. My final. For soccer class. Awesome.

The shell of a cicada. He particularly liked this as the Japanese have a big thing about cicadas and other specifically summer stuff. Though I personally liked my friend’s idea more – he took a picture of an air conditioner.

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | July 25, 2009

What have I been doing lately?

That’s right, climbing mountains. Mount Fuji to be exact.

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | July 20, 2009

Learn By Metaphor

Okay, I’ll try to explain this with a kind of allegory. Say you have a bird. You know, with the long neck. A looong necked bird. I can’t think of what it’s called, but you know what I mean right? The bird with the long neck. It just ate a fish. But you didn’t want it to eat the fish and don’t want it to swallow it either. So you grab the bird fast by the neck. And you squeeze and pull up to squeeze the fish out. But if you squeeze too hard you’ll break the bird’s neck “crack”. And it’ll die. You don’t want to do that so you squeeze just enough to get the fish out but not so tight you break the bird’s neck. You get what I’m saying? So now, imagine this type of situation when holding the bow. Apply and you can hold the bow correctly for kyudo allowing it to move freely after a shot.

Roughly translated from Japanese, this was said by one of my teachers in kyudo class. At times like these I remember how priceless life experience truly is. Never in my life shall I forget what he said as an example for gripping the bow. I will hereforth imagine a duck hanging by its neck and gagging as I set up my shot.

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | June 13, 2009

By Night

Just wanted to let you all know I’m still alive and also decided to just show some pics I snapped on my way back home tonight from drinking with Photography Club. Don’t forget to read at the end of the post!

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Heading down the street to the dorm: karaoke on the right and an English cafe on the left.

The yakitori (grilled chicken-on-a-stick) place just a few steps from the dorm lit up with lanterns and vending machines in front.

The ominous low lighting of an apartment entryway.

A single light post in the corner of the parking area at the apartment just across the way.

And finally the view of apartment lights through my bedroom window. Look closely and you can make out the shatter-proof wiring in the glass.

I particularly enjoy the way low lights and such set the mood in this city at night. They don’t overuse heavy and bright night time lighting much like I’ve seen back in cities in the US. Granted it’s much safer here too.

So, recently I’ve been insanely busy! It’s really crazy. But so much has gone on since I last posted so long ago. I’ve attended and participated in a festival (for which I’m still trying to upload the videos to freakin’ YouTube), I was allowed to shoot the bow at kyudo at full length from the dojo and even hit the target for the first time (a most moving experience), I’ve been hard at preparing for and participating in the photo exhibit for photography club this weekend, and finally, school-wise I’ve been running through tons of homework, preparing for a speech on Monday about kyudo, and studying for the three exams in Japanese this week. These next two weeks will literally be hell and I may well not post again during that whole period of time, no matter how much I want to.

Despite the amount of stress I ought to have from all of this, I’m actually regulating my time well and really coming out of it all having a great time and enjoying myself a lot. Kyudo is amazing and spiritually moving. Photography Club is fun and meeting people from the other school’s club has been great too; plus, everyone likes my photos. And though I’m nearly failing Japanese class I’m still nonetheless enjoying learning new things. Staying stress free and enjoying my last two months here in Japan. Wait it out and look forward to my next post everyone!

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | June 6, 2009

Pachinko Pushin’ Geisha

What do we do when our semi-ancient socio-cultural skill no longer serves us in the modern world? Spiff up and get with the times! Throw on a signboard, learn a louder instrument, and sell ourselves out to the biggest hype. Yet another “price to pay” for modernization. Still, it looks to me like the sax player is the most awkward and out of place here. With her normal clothes! And her youthful passion! Bleh!

A friend who was along with me said that these people weren’t even worth a picture, citing it being a shame that this is what these professionally trained geisha are left to. The other (perhaps just as significant) argument being that they may not be trained at all and are simply posing in the geisha look.

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 24, 2009

Infestations and Alleyways

May twenty-first, the year of our lord two thousand and nine. On this dreadful Thursday I woke to receive word that the infection has finally reached Hachioji, a mere seven stops west on my line. It drags at my soul and thoughts to step onto the train knowing that it has just come from that very place carrying with it the risk of spreading. Most certainly the grippe has found a way of expanding via the train lines due to the simplicity of human contact within Tokyo. I have begun to suspect it will be only a matter of days before the whole metropolis is shut down and we are confined to our living quarters left wondering just what is going on outside these walls and shuddering at the slightest cough from our next door neighbor…

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Have I made an accurate portrayal of the overreaction to the recent issue in the world? Sorry for being vague with words for this, I just don’t want my post turning up hundreds of thousands of hits from searches because it has the most searched words at the current time. I’m also gonna leave it out of the tags too. Hope you all enjoyed! Haha!

Moving on to the other part of the title here, I was in Kichijouji a few days ago and came upon some back alleyways that I had never seen before but had practically been walking circles around. I friggin’ love alleys here and I snapped some pics and thought I’d share ‘em!

Looked up and thought this overhead view was nice. There are a lot of interesting winding wires and such above when going through the older, tight alleys here.

To the right was a cool little whole-in-the-wall bar on the corner with a wine and laundry detergent shop across from it. (Weird combination, yes.)

Perfect alley atmosphere accompanied by fortunetelling, a jewelry shop, curry and the necessary atmosphere-setting lighting.

A back alley which is not quite as happenin’ but still has that run-down, not-so-upkept feel.

I saved the best for last. This is my favorite alley shot! Lanterns that will create an amazing atmosphere later on at night, racks stacked and full of beer for the oncoming heavy drinking night crowd, the cafe, the yakitori joint and the gyouza joint in the back, all capped with the rafters above. Throw in the part-timer girls and guys running around getting the rustic eateries ready for the evening and you’ve got the perfect alleyway feel.

Hope you all enjoyed this collection of pics and thoughts. I’ve always wanted to do a little something to pay tribute to the wonderful Tokyo alleys. And don’t believe that these are the only ones! There are plenty more scattered about the city – you just have to be in the know! For now I close with this sunset picture from Yotsuya, just outside the school, taken a few days ago.

Take care guys!

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 21, 2009

I Just Want to Write in My Blog

I’ve been thinking I’ve wanted to write here for a few days now, but I don’t really have a one track mind right now and have no single idea I wanted to write about. So, enjoy – my random thoughts spewed below!

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Just remembered when I was in Okinawa and a British couple approached Danielle and I as we were rushing to the shrine just before it closed. The man said “Excuse me, are you English by chance?” (He was polite about it.) But I replied quite suddenly with “I speak it.” I realized only afterwords how rude I sounded. They still asked for our help in finding a garden nearby and I was able to wisp away their minds with my awesome Japanese reading power! They didn’t talk to us much when we bumped into them again… This also is just one of the many times here when I realize how informal and rude my English has become. Now enjoy some pics of me from Okinawa! (And the Oita crew too!)

In Oita, before going to Okinawa, while on the most bumfuck (pardon) road heading out to a shrine in the hills, came across a human sized cone.

Actually before going to southern Japan, I went to an event during cherry blossom blooming time called 花見 (hanami). This literally means “flower viewing” but honestly I don’t think much of that goes on during the event. Primarily people just go to the park, sit under the trees and get trashed. And here is where I got my most disgusting view of Japan. (Not that it’s anything that’s gonna scare me off. I’m a pretty down-to-Earth guy, I think. And honestly when I saw this all I could do was laugh hysterically like a publicly drunk, babbling fool.) Oh, and speaking of publicly drunk, this should kind of allude to you that drinking in public in Japan is legal and furthermore alcohol can be purchased pretty much anywhere, anytime and by anybody. I’ve only been carded here like twice. (I’ll exclude the comparative number of times I’ve gone drinking…)

Anyways, returning to the point: disgusting Japan. I joined two friends from the dorm at the YouTube hanami party in Yoyogi Park near Harajuku. The event was open to whoever wanted to come, so there were tons of people – primarily non-Japanese. Got there, started powering down free alcohol and it hit my bladder FAST. So, I decided to head to the bathroom. Here I saw a huge line where I waited for practically 20 minutes to pee. And by the time I made it to the bathroom I was crouched on the ground clutching at my loins. In line though, I noticed there were people using the bathroom on trees in the back and subsequently decided that was the place for me next time.

First time I went back I tried to be discreet about it, but that’s when I realized just how not-discreet everyone else was – bearing all for all to see and not caring in the least. Among the times I went back to have a pee, I saw every imaginable expulsion of bodily fluids on the ground. The areas behind the buildings and around trees were filling like pools because the ground couldn’t soak up anymore. Girls and guys, number 1 and number 2, as well as a few people purging themselves. The whole time the park is filled with people going to and fro. Man was I grossed out… Here are some far more normal pics from the same day!

As mentioned before, I quit kyudo. But also as mentioned before I have a huge love for it. So, I decided to buy the outfit and I’m going back to the off-campus dojo again to find out how to wear it and of course to stay brushed up on my skills. I also want to continue going in the US at the place in Raleigh. Maybe I’ll make a trip there from time to time – at least once a month. So, it’s not a waste at all. I’ll continue going to the off campus dojo once or twice every week from now on. In the picture is my outfit still fresh and in the bags. My name, in Japanese, is embroidered on the pants in orange.

Still tired of people staring at me on the train and leaving the seats beside me empty until the train gets so packed that someone has to sit down. It makes me think back to the previous five minutes to be sure I didn’t accidentally fart without realizing it. Being in classes with more Japanese people and being around Japanese people more often this semester I’ve begun to notice a bit more discrimination towards me and also have noticed since coming here, more and more I’m treated like a child and told what to do, what to say, and when to do it. I hate how the people taking my order at restaurants cut their Japanese down to informal because I’m a foreigner. They know very well how disrespectful it is and yet they think they are doing it to help me, not realizing of course that I learned text book Japanese – the respectful language. Of course I wonder if some just use it simply to be disrespectful back to the already disrespectful foreigner who eats and drinks and farts on the train. (Scratch that last one, I only did it once. On accident. Really!)

EDIT: One final point on the discrimination issue I forgot to mention when I first posted. A fun little story of what happened on the train. There was a guy and three girls and he was talking on and on about whatever and carrying on and making them laugh. (In Japanese, yes of course.) He finally made it to the subject of piggy flu and decided to throw the word “America” in there too. I donno what he was talking about, but I found it a nice chance to shoot him a nasty look just to see what kind of “Oh crap!” reaction I could get out of them. Unfortunately his back was to me so one of his female friends opposite him instantly got the brunt of the blow. Her face changed from a big smile to very apologetic and almost scared as she started shushing him saying 失礼！失礼！(That’s rude! That’s rude!). She indicated me, the foreigner, on the opposite side of the car from them. I kinda laughed it off for the most part mostly because I was having fun with it in the first place. I was even considering starting to fake cough near him just to freak him out a bit. Thinking back to it, it was indeed pretty rude and presumptive of him and kind of makes me angry. But what can you do? Just be you.

Recently I’ve been staying just regularly busy. Lots of homework and studying for Japanese class. It really is intensive but I can already tell I’m learning SO much more than last semester and it’s FAR less boring too. I haven’t gotten out much for leisure time and hanging out except with my girlfriend. But the two of us do fun stuff together too. We even checked out the old Arakawa line I had been dying to ride for so long and saw an old early Showa era 商店街 (shoutengai; shopping arcade).

Still, I have a number of places I want to see and things I must do before heading back home. Can you all believe I only have two and a half months left here? I’d like to think it’s a long time, but it sure is flying by. Things are gonna get more and more hectic by the end of the semester with exams as well as my JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test). So bear with me guys! And I’ll be sure to take a few pictures of my room at its finest and put them up on here before I start packing things to send home.

Thinking of going home is the craziest confused process on my mind. I’m happy and sad about it. I wouldn’t mind staying here but would love to be back home. Recently I’ve even been experiencing my most serious bouts of homesickness. Then, the next day, I won’t be able to even consider going back home without feeling sad about leaving here. It’s tough, but I’m surviving just fine. Keep reading and looking forward to next time everyone!

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 17, 2009

Kyudo

It’s been awhile, and for that I apologize. But honestly, I’m really not sure how many of the hits my blog is getting are actually people who are reading my blog. The only comments I get recently are spam and so I have even less motivation to write in the blog. So, seriously, friends, family, random readers, everyone, comment more! Otherwise you can’t complain I’m not telling you what’s going on with my life.

~

So, moving to the primary point here: Kyudo! For a simple introduction, kyudo (弓道) is a traditional Japanese style of archery which focuses more on “targetting your inner self” rather than the target itself. There are also a number of specific forms and motions associated with the proper and formal way to set up the bow, approach the target, fire a shot, etc. Basically, from before you step into the dojo to the moment you leave there are a number of formal rules and such for the tradition of kyudo.

A one-semester study abroad friend of mine here in the dorm was just a week from heading back to the states when he decided to go and check out an archery store in the north part of Tokyo, off of the old Arakawa line I mentioned briefly in my last post. When we got there the English-speaker for the shop asked my friend Rob if he had any experience with kyudo. Rather than selling a bow to him simply for the sake of making money, he instead recommended us to a place on the other side of the tracks a short walk away where we could go and get lessons for pretty cheap. So of course we went and checked it out. They taught us some forms and let us pull bows but not actually shoot any arrows. It was a truly interesting experience and I was quite happy be sucked into another strange situation by Rob. (That would often happen with him wanting to try out something new but not having the strong Japanese language ability. In the end it always ended up interesting. Cool guy, that Rob.)

So, before Rob left he went back once more and thoroughly persuaded me to continue with it. So, I did. After I finished traveling for my long break I started going back on Sunday evenings. At 550yen I can use any equipment they have that I need and get a one on one lesson for three hours. In fact, it often turns into lots of people there helping just me, haha! So I figured how can I go wrong. Then, once school started back up I decided to join the kyudo club. From there it got pretty damn fun! Every kyudo club meet involved yelling and keeping the spirit moving combined with formalities to the whole situation as well. This was three days a week for nearly three hours a day. Combined with my Sunday lesson I was getting four days a week of straight on kyudo. Needless to say I learned a lot and fast. Lots of arm use left my arms pretty sore but much stronger and lots of seiza (正座; a traditional Japanese way of sitting) left my feet often numb. I learned the forms for kyudo and memorized them by name and took lots of notes like Rob often did for his martial arts classes. Overall I truly enjoyed myself a lot!

But, this semester I decided to take Intensive Japanese 3 (15 hours of class time in Japanese per week) plus two other classes and a soccer class. In the end, three of the four classes I’m taking this semester are in Japanese. This ended up being more than I expected to take but in the end it will definitely be better for my Japanese and will definitely give me more to spend my time on and less to spend my money on this semester. So, with the intense course load and homework from Japanese class (as the name implies) I have been left with absolutely no time for kyudo. I decided to quit. It really sucked. And didn’t help to have some of the other club members telling me I was the best and that they were losing their best translator for the other foreign members (hahaha, flattery!).

To quit kyudo really did turn something inside me. At that point I think I fully realized how life is full of these tough decisions. One thing or the other. Fail classes or quit kyudo. I enjoy the classes and kyudo, but also appreciate being able to keep my sanity. Even now that I’ve completely quit I write about kyudo in my notebooks because as I close my eyes I can envision the forms and the technicalities recited over and over in my head in Japanese. And when my time is freer and easier perhaps I will one day start going back to the off-campus dojo once or twice a week for a kind of refresher. For now, I’m full up on things to do for classes. I apologize for not being able to fully express here my level of soul-deep, quickly found love for kyudo – I’m afraid if I think too deep it might hurt too much.

“For them the contest consists in the archer aiming at himself – and yet not at himself, in hitting himself – and yet not himself, and thus becoming simultaneously the aimer and the aim, the hitter and the hit.”
~Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | May 4, 2009

Go Go Tokyo! Part Two!

So, long since the last part of “Go Go Tokyo!” a LOT has happened. And a lot of it I haven’t written about at all. But, I thought I ought to delve deeply into a few points like school and classes while grazing over the general life experiences to answer questions such as “What was Christmas like in Japan?” as well as those crazy questions like “Oh man, did you get a Japanese girlfriend?” or “Did you find the used panty vending machine?”… Okay, maybe not so much that last one.

Hey Jon, what’s your problem? Why aren’t you writing in your blog often? Well, that’s because I tend to go into long, thick description of things (in case no one noticed) and take quite a while hacking at the keyboard to convey my feelings just-so about my time here. In reality I wanted to put much, much more on this blog – like a short post every day or two if possible – but I too am quite saddened by my inability to do so. Another factor in this is one you can take light in – I’m having so much fun in Tokyo that I have quite literally almost no time to write on here. Finally, the HTML editing and such as well as (especially) the photo editing I have to go through to put pictures in my blog is honestly quite a painstakingly drawn out process.

But, moving on to more important matters I thought I’d talk a bit about Sophia University and my classes. Honestly it’s not like I have all of the best things to say. Taking light in the fact that semester one is out and semester two is soon upon us I will go ahead and elaborate some on my schooling though. First off, I have received my grades for last semester and they are looking quite surprisingly wonderful! Which…well…surprises me. A lot. I sulked and sulked throughout the semester worried about the horrible midterm grades I was getting and in the end for four classes I got three Bs and one A. I’m blown away! But not complaining. My classes last semester included: Visual Methods in Anthropology, one of the most fascinating and interesting classes I have ever taken; Cultural & Social Anthropology, the class instructed by the most misandrist female I’ve ever met; Japanese, the most boring Japanese ever with one pissy teacher and one strange happy one; and Japanese Linguistics, the most boring class I have ever had and the first to ever actually put me too sleep repetitively. With as bipolar a selection of classes as this you might be able to understand my reaction to life at Sophia Univeristy.

Sophia University from the station

The only class taught in Japanese was the Japanese class – which by the way, I don’t know a proper level to list for it but it’s shown as “M2″ and sits at level 4 out of 6 levels total. I even had to write a report in Japanese for that class. It was tough and in the end it definitely helped improve my Japanese skill though one teacher was just irritating and nagging. I was originally placed in a faster moving class but decided to drop down to the slower moving for a number of reasons – primarily an issue of credit transfer. C & S Anthro. is not really worth talking about. Honestly, the information in it was just grazed and the instructor really pushed the idea of simply knowing authors names and how one negated the last and so on. The professor of Japanese Linguistics was truly a funny guy when he was trying to be, but 90% of the time he droned on in a monotone voice that was like NyQuil paired with booze. Just two grades; both take home papers. If you know how to copy word for word from a book it’s no problem! Saving the best for last we have Visual Methods. Like I said, one of the most amazing classes I have ever taken. We often spent our time analyzing magazines (especially Japanese ones) of every possible genre and origin and taking into consideration the use of language and visuals to convey a particular feeling upon readers. We discussed lots of interesting points of linguistics, psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Lots of new big terms and concepts of these. My final grade was heavily based on a rather rough (in my opinion) 20 page final paper.

That all said I’ll move on briefly to my general idea of Sophia. For the most part, I’m not very happy with the university. I’m happy to say “Hey, I went to one of the top schools in Japan!” and also to know that alone could help quite a bit with obtaining a job in Japan or America in the future. But I don’t care much for the mood there and the way of thinking. Quite frankly the rich elite kid atmosphere isn’t the one for me. In the end I feel these people all think the same way as anyone else except they just have more money and fancier handbags. Not to mention a general social structure throughout Tokyo that I’ve seen so far is that of girls hanging out with only girls and guys hanging out with only guys – that being, the distinct separation of genders and roles. This is something that most certainly stops happening in America around middle school, I think, and for me has been perhaps one way or another the most difficult difference impeding my progress with life here.

While at Sophia during my first semester I joined two clubs. In fact I left one about half way through and joined the other at about the same time. The first of these was 歩こう会 or The Walking Club and the second was (is, I suppose) 写真部 or Photography Club. In the first club I was met with a number of issues primarily linked with social structure and Japanese thought process not really fitting well with mine. In the Walking Club I joined them for just one trip to a place called Hakone, a resort town near Mt. Fuji. Though Hakone was packed with tourists, the trip was lots of fun, tons of food and alcohol, and the coolest looking Japanese-style bath I’ve been in. After no longer going to Walking Club meetings I started to attend Photography Club meetings along with the photographer who I mentioned in a previous post about fashion photography. (On a side note, him and I no longer talk.) This club was very laid back and didn’t do any traveling or gatherings. They all seem to be more of a gathering of friends than of a club of shared interests. This coming semester I don’t intend to join Walking Club again and am not strongly considering staying with Photography Club. I’m going to look for more options in sports clubs such as kyudo (Japanese traditional archery), soccer, or tennis. Gotta stay fit! As for classes, I’m going to try to work it out so that I am taking only two – intensive Japanese and a cake-walk.

The inn we stayed at in Hakone

The beer towers we quickly demolished.

The view from the Hakone inn

So, actually, the situation regarding me leaving the Walking Club also has a bit to do with a question I mentioned above that I’m often asked: What’s Jon’s love life like these days? And though most of this is primarily personal to me, there is a bit of general info that I can at least bring to light. Not always feeling too ready to throw my personal life onto the web though. I mentioned in a previous post (probably Part One) that I was greeted by a rather bouncy girl upon arriving in Tokyo. Well, this girl quite quickly “fell in love” with me. I could write for hours probably on the hypocrisy of her and this whole situation. In order to kind of avoid that I’ll simplify it all here. A friend of mine (who arrived with me the same day) liked her though it turned out she liked me. I had very little interest in her from the start. As I gradually began to realize her flighty nature I grew even less interested in her company and even the sight of her and her actions would make me angry because of the way she objectified foreigners and acted like a pervert. (I guess in just the same way there are foreigners objectifying Japanese girls too. Especially with statements like “Do you have a Japanese girlfriend?” She puts the whole situation back in balance.) The obvious way this links to the Walking Club is that she is a member. So I ditched the club also to be able to avoid having to see her on a daily basis. To be honest after that I’ve not seen her but once or twice. Chances are this is also because if she sees me she likely avoids me before I catch sight of her – that’s the way she rolls. So with that! Ended those days.

Later on I realized I was chasing another girl I would never be able to have the affections of. Perhaps she simply wasn’t interested in having a boyfriend or something. I spent Christmas with her (which is a big deal in Japan) and we went to see the Sophia chorus along with a few friends. You’d be pretty amazed to know about the place I actually went to to eat Christmas dinner! A jail-themed restaurant called The Lockup where they scare the crap out of you during your meal. About this time I made a good friendship with the girl’s friend and since then she has definitely been one of the best Japanese friends I’ve made since my arrival here. Nothing came of the girl I hung out with around Christmas and we haven’t really talked much since then. I began to realize I was chasing girls and love instead of simply enjoying the other qualities of life and waiting for love to find me. I felt pretty bad about all of this, to be honest. But, unfortunately, I didn’t act on these thoughts until later.

So, on New Year’s Eve I went and partied big city style at a club in Roppongi. I brought in the New Year to some amazing house music (which seems to be the most common and popular in Tokyo), a little bit of alcohol in my system, screaming loud with tons of unknown people at the club, hand in hand with a girl I had just met.. That’s ominous, but not to say the whole time wasn’t fun. We exchanged contact info and were officially a couple just a week later. The feelings of being the chaser again returned this time accompanied with the guilt of having made a choice while under the influence of alcohol. So throughout this relationship I was covered in such a shroud of gray feelings toward it and a mild longing for perhaps another person still in my heart. I realized day in and day out my feelings for this girl weren’t changing or growing. After a heavy conversation with her in which she opened my eyes to many things while at the same time portraying more traits in her I was happy to be rid of, we stopped “dating” just a few weeks after it started and haven’t talked since then. This was coming up on the end of the semester (the last week in January / first week of February) and the weight of the stress of knowing I was dating a girl I had no feelings for was gladly lifted. I managed to squeeze my final papers and exams in and finish with quite an amazing feeling of release.

I was happy to be wisped away to the Kansai Region of Japan the very next day during which I truly had a huge self realization and finally put into action my desire to live and enjoy life traveling and seeing and enlightening myself not being concerned with the thoughts of others about who I am or constant worry of having/chasing a girlfriend. This little bit is definitely not enough to accurately describe my feelings throughout the Kansai visit and I had actually intended to write a whole separate series of entries about the trip. Again, consider the number of pictures I have though…

The bullet train that wisped us to Kansai

Feeding the greedy deer in Nara

The most awesome shop and owner ever!

Kyoto Fushimi Inari Shrine - thousands of gates!

Glico Running Man sign at Dotonbori, Osaka

A bit of a set back during the spring break after my return from Kansai left me sitting around watching anime until late and not waking up until the middle of the day. But I was happy doing it. I ended up not going to Korea (uh, for reasons…) but also realized I was wasting away my days sitting around when I could be getting up early, eating dorm breakfast, getting exercise, and going out for walks around parts of Tokyo. During this time I realized how much Tokyo has to it and MAN is it amazing! I was left just speechless by most of what I saw. I did a lot of walking and bike riding. (Did I mention I bought a bike!?) Saw the Tama River in the south, winding Tokyo streets, rustic back alley houses with equally antiqued bikes, small shrines stuck into little nooks, the hidden beauty of eastern Tokyo (Old Edo) inside the Yamanote line, an Inari shrine with probably 100 torii (gates), humongous Tokyo University’s amazing architecture and recognizable centerpiece clock tower, festivals and their food and smell that greets you from far away, the huge Yakata graveyard with its many cats and the Tokugawa family grave, the early 1900s look of the Arakawa line train, and a visit with my friend to Odaiba to have some fun and chat over the night view. (Some of these involved riding a train then walking a lot.)

Kanda Shrine, Tokyo

Ochanomizu Station, Tokyo

Then my dad arrived in Tokyo. On a few of the days he was here we did many things I had never done – so it was like a joint first experience. We rode the Yokohama Ferris wheel, saw Tokyo from the top of Mt. Takao, checked out a night view of modernly beautiful Odaiba, and even got to walk down to the Pacific Ocean’s edge in Kamakura. I felt like he got a very good view of my town – Tokyo – before heading home. But Tokyo is so huge that it would take a lifetime alone just to see it all and many more to appreciate it.

Yokohama Bay from the ferris wheel

Mt. Takao - these kids LOVED my dad!

Kamakura and the ocean shore

Odaiba, Tokyo - most beautiful at night

After my dad left I started seeing my old friend a bit more often, though by this time she had moved back home (which is much farther from Tokyo than where she was – in Tokyo). The same friend who I hung out with in Odaiba and who consoled me from long before about issues with “Christmas time girl”. Honestly, though we had always thought of eachother as “just friends” (and very good friends too), I think we both deep inside had a stronger longing for eachother from long before. And so, just before taking my next big trip to Kyushu and Okinawa (by this time the first week in April; I’ll put up a post about that sometime… maybe), we became a couple. I think I couldn’t be more happy with it and in no way do I feel any regret. At the same time I also wouldn’t have minded staying as the closest of friends forever. My love is still there either way. I think at this point I’ve become a babbling lovestruck mess to you guys so I’ll close here!

Well, thanks a ton for reading so much! I really do hope it was able to keep your interest and I think I’ve managed to answer the above questions and then some. Even if most of this was just general, the primary points were school life, love life and just life! Oh, and about the panty vending machine, I’m still on the hunt for that. Later guys!

Nice shot, dad! Hahaha! (Okonomiyaki is delish!)

Writing from Koganei, Tokyo, Japan | April 12, 2009