Tajimi

Well, I'm actually sitting down to update this thing. I've been quite remiss about updating this. I'll be better from now.

Last weekend I went to Tajimi city in Gifu prefecture. I had been there once before about 5 years ago, but it was just in passing and I was dead tired since I had walked 12 kilometers there. This time was quite different. For starters I participated in an International Day at a Junior High School. That was a lot of fun. Although it felt like I had stepped into the ending scene of Star Wars as when we walked into the gym we were walking down a line of students much like Luke and Han did. All we needed was a Wookie.

So basically after the opening ceremony we were all divided up amongst the classes and went to their rooms. We played games and talked. I was surprised at how well the students spoke English. They should definitely be proud of themselves. After that we had a closing ceremony and then met our host families.

My host mom was the head of the group who put this together. She was very nice and accomodating. I felt a bit out of sorts and didn't want her to fuss over me. She made an awesome dinner of tenpanyaki. It was awesome. Then she and her husband took me to a hotsprings. It too was great. The dad was so cool. He knew a lot about Japan. He also did the Japanese equivalent of Peace Corps. It was interesting listening to his stories.

On Sunday morning after a great spinach omelette my host mom took me sight seeing. I got to see the Tajimi city ceramics hall (with a great view of the city). We then hit this old Catholic church and then a great temple. The temple has an awesome bridge and a small cliff with several Buddhist images carved on it.

From the temple it was on to lunch. I had a great Taiwan ramen and some fried chicken. Honestly great stuff. Then we got to go to a free classic music concert. It was indeed a perfect weekend.

Yoshihiko

So last Monday I decided to take a walk to the local shrine. This shrine isn't a normal shrine it's one of the great shrines of Japan. It also houses one of the three sacred treasures of Japan: the Grass Cutting Sword. Oh, the name of the shrine is Atsuta Shrine.

I get there and wander about for a bit and then a very friendly looking Japanese man approached me and cheerfully said "Good morning!". I responded in kind and we began talking. Very soon he asked if he could lead me around the shrine. Of course I couldn't pass up this opportunity for knowledge so I gratefully accepted his offer. I'm glad I did. He took me around the entire shrine and I learned about Shinto and other aspects of Japanese culture and lifestyle. It was a very fascinating experience. Especially when he began discussing his philosophy on life and how it is intertwined with Shinto and Buddhist thought. It was great. It was probably the best conversation I had with a Japanese person in probably 3 or 4 years. I'm very happy to meet him and I hope to meet him again in the future when I again wander about the grounds of Atsuta shrine. His name is Yoshihiko and is one of the coolest Japanese people I've ever met.

It is experiences like this that makes being a foreigner such a great thing. Sometimes people really want to share their culture with you and are very happy when you listen. This is one of the reasons why I encourage every college student I meet to do a study abroad. You get to meet people like Yoshihiko and you get to learn about your host country in more depth.

Karaoke

So last night was the first of what is sure to be many trips to the local karaoke box. It started off as a bit of a logistical nightmare, but after everyone got to the place the good times flowed like booze. We basically did a nomihoudai which means "all you can drink". And drink all we could. There are usually different kinds of nomihoudai menus. Ones with beer. Ones with soft drinks. Ones with mixed drinks. And ones with everything. We did the mixed drink one. So every few minutes I'd get up and shuffle to the bar and grab another drink. I discovered anzu sake. Not quite sure want anzu is, but it was tasty.

I belted out some Blue Hearts and some old Japanese songs. And then I did my rendition of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK, complete with Johnny Rotten style voice. A friend did Blitzkrieg Bop and someone else did Don't Stop Believin'. It was overall a great night.

I'm off to Kyoto today. Going to attempt to do the low budget travel thing since my funds have been brutalized by the horrible exchange rate.

Arrival

So I arrived on Friday night tired, sweaty and really thirsty. My fellow Memphians and I got some ramen and I of course got a beer. After waiting at the airport for about 2 hours or so we finally went to the school. After a brief meeting with current students I went to sleep.

Sleep was something that would not come easily. I was fully awake at 0530. Not wanting to wake my room mate, I went for a walk. I explored a lot of the surrounding area of the school and eventually found my way to the ward office and Atsuta shrine. I bought a map book and I found my way back to school.

Tired as I was I went shopping with the rest of the exchange students...In the pouring rain. After a 30 minute trek and being thoroughly drenched we made it to the store and proceeded to shop. I picked up most of the necessities: soap, shampoo, beer, etc.

After shopping I cleaned up and went to meet my old friends Yutaka and Miki. We met up and went to a little yakitori place. We ate and drank and chatted most of the night. We ended up at two different yakitori places. It was a great time.

Sunday was much more sedate and I only went to okonomiyaki and then the Setomono matsuri. It was fun.

The night before

So I'm trying to stay awake all night in order to sleep on the plane. Problem is is that I'm rapidly losing energy. I'm tired and I want to rest, but I do have stuff I need to do. Things that need to be sorted through and put away prior to my departure.

I'm also filled with thoughts about the upcoming year. What kind of things will I see and experience? Will this time through be more rewarding than the last time? What will my roommate be like? Will the teachers be stricter with me now? It's all very interesting, but can also be frustrating. I really don't want to have any pre-existing notions or ideas about this trip. I just want to go and enjoy to the fullest extent.

Another worry on my mind are the luggage regulations. I'm concerned that they'll try to bust me on the number of bags I have or if one is too heavy. I might go through my stuff one more time to try to weed something else out.

The end of one chapter and the beginning of another

So this is my new blog. In it I hope to relate my journeys and adventures while an exchange student in Japan.

I would now like to provide you, my readers, with a bit of my background. I am soon to be 28 and have been out of college for over four years now. I previously studied in Japan back in 2004 and subsequently lived there as a teacher for almost three years from 2005 until 2008. I decided to return to academia to pursue an education in history, more specifically in Japanese history. So far everything has worked out. I have completed one more year of undergraduate work (which will lead to two more degrees) and will soon head to Japan again to further sharpen my Japanese in the hopes of entering graduate school next Fall. I intend to do my best while in Japan and to study hard and get the most out of my remaining time as a student.