In Japan

It's been awhile

2007-02-17T13:22:00.000-06:00

Life has been moving, fast.

Since that one weekend in November, people have come and gone, stories and dramas have developed and dissipated. More and more I appreciate my time remaining in Japan - the people I know, the beautiful beautiful and amazing people I have met here. That is what I feel most fortunate about with this experience, the opportunities I've been given to meet and make some life-altering friends.

When I think about Japan, as a country or as a feeling or concept, my thoughts immediately sway towards Shikoku. One of my best friends, David, lives there along with a group of people who make you cry when you think about them because they are just that good. I want to go back and visit Shikoku, at least once before I leave here.

So much has happened. I wonder what tone this blog should take. I've introduced more and more personal things into this little space, so I figure I'll use it that way from now on. If it's boring, I've no doubt you'll know what to do.

One reason for avoiding this blogspace lately is because the way "blogger" updated its web software. I was crushed to discover that some of my photos cannot be uploaded to this blog with the alignment I want. It sounds small, but it's not. The matter is difficult to explain, but I apologize that some pictures will not be aligned properly. I've tried several things to try to fix it, but it appears the problem is in the way blogger's software reads the data from my computer when uploading a picture. But if anyone has had this problem and found a solution, please let me know!

These are pictures from Christmas in Kyoto. I met David, his older sister and one of his cousins. It was the first time for me to go to Kyoto. There is nothing that can really prepare one for the overload of sights there are to be seen in Kyoto. The city itself is quite large, but the density of number of world heritage sites (it almost became a joke because just about every old historic building has a 'designated world heritage site' sign in front of it) is dizzying. It is impossible to see all there is to see in Kyoto.

The Kyoto skyline, taken from a veranda at Kyomizudera Temple (see later picture). As you can see, Kyoto as a city, really doesn't look like anything special. In fact, some have said Kyoto has a particularly unappetizing skyline, due to its weird mix of large and incongruent reinforced concrete structures (Kyoto tower on the right side) with a large number of older, dilapidated areas. In other words, the joy of Kyoto is not to be had by gazing over it from the master eye of an architect, but to enjoy its details while crawling like an ant through the mazes of its back-streets and small neighborhood boroughs where old men and women carry on as they have been for many many years.

Every year in Japan, a group decides on a kanji that best represents the tone or character of the year. This happens around the end of December, amidst the anticipation of the new year and the reflections over the previous year. The kanji of 2006 is this one above. It means life. I heard the reasons for choosing this kanji were mostly due to a few child suicides in 2006 as a result of school bullying. In Japanese class we read a few newspaper articles about this, and in one they had excerpts from a 12 year old girl's suicide note. She said she was unable to cope any longer with the abuse. Her parents did not know she was being bullied. Her father said she was too serious and always studied, always tried to take care of everything on her own. In response to these events, and a fear that Japan's population is diminishing with fewer and fewer people having children every year, this kanji was chosen to remind people that life is precious, it should be guarded and protected, and in Japan's case, to encourage more people to have babies.

Looking at Kyomizudera - one of Kyoto's most famous sites. It is a Buddhist temple, with a gorgeous alter inside. It was fun feeling the anxiousness and slight irritation of myself and others waiting to step up into the alter area, while at the same time taking care that one's shoes were properly and neatly turned in the right direction, and lined up with everyone else's. Then scuttling along in your socks on the cold wooden floor of the raised alter platform, this curious mix of tourists, believers, and all types of shades of people in between threw money into the main offering box, hit one of the largest singing bowls I have ever seen, and posed for pictures. Going to a famous temple in Japan is not relaxing by any means.

This water fountain was located in the Kyomizudera temple complex. I heard if you drink this water it gives you good health and a long life. Alot of temples in Japan have this type of setup. People will bring plastic water bottles, fill them up to take back home or give as gifts. I think because I am from the US, and we don't have this tradition, it's really hard for me to feel comfortable drinking water from the ground. All I can think about are worms, parasites and bacteria eating me alive. Even so, I still like to drink when the lines aren't too long.

As mentioned before, the joy of Kyoto is really in walking around its small streets and seeing little pockets of an old old local life. I stood in front of an old Tofu store and watched a husband and wife prepare tofu for the day. The man was busy making Agedofu, or friend tofu, while the wife moved large blocks of tofu yet to be cut into smaller sections to sell. Later on, I would see a tofu store's carriage, resting on the ground without its driver. Many people used to buy tofu from these men, who pulled carts filled with tofu and either rang bells or yelled out to alert potential customers that tofu was on its merry way to their stomachs. Just like the icecream trucks in the US. Now most people probably buy tofu at the supermarket, but you can still go to a Tofu-ya, or Tofu-yasan, a shop that specializes in all things tofu. This picture above was a general vegetable shop, but it has the same feel.

No matter where I've been in Japan, from Hokkaido to Shikoku, this scene is common. The same materials used to build the same style of warehouse or factory, with the same weathered rust growth, combined with the crosswalk that uses the image of a salary-man with a hat. I've fallen in love with this side of Japan, and feel more at home next to these buildings than I do the new, shiny glassy chic Shibuya bubbles that you can find in the larger cities in Japan.

I really put these next few pictures up for my pops, because I knew he would get a kick out of seeing some amazing tree training. In the garden of Ryoanji Temple, this small patch of trees stands in monument to the incredible patience and dedication that is required to create trees that look like this.

This is a close-up of a base of one of the trees in the previous picture. You can see how many leaders were cut back, in order to create the effect of a single, bare trunk.

I've spent a lot of time out in the backyard of our backyard with my Pops, constructing braces and other forms of support for sagging trees. This example here, a simple triangle base, is pretty simple, but its scale is mind-boggling. Just try to imagine the planning, the construction, and the installation of that...

I thought this was a really good idea, although its aesthetic quality is not as nice as other forms of support I've seen. The idea is simple, a single pole that is centered alongside the trunk of the tree. From that pole extend supporting rope to branches too heavy for their own good, or that need directional training.

This is the legendary Kinkakuji, or the Golden Pavilion. The outside is gilded. It really is a shame I can't figure out a way to upload this picture so that it is vertically aligned. We happened to enter the large garden area where this pond is located late in the afternoon, which produced a nice sun-angle and struck the pavilion creating a warm glow. It was beautiful to share this experience with David and his family, and one of my favorite moments in Kyoto.

Sanjusangendo is this deceivingly small looking hall/temple that is filled with 1000 statues of Kanon. There are 999 life-size statues of Kanon flanking both the left and right side of the main statue, a much much larger Kanon. No pictures were allowed inside, which is a damn shame because it is incredible. This place is for East Asian Art Historians studying Japanese art one of Japan's most beautifully preserved and astounding examples of the skill achieved in fine craftsmanship. Also, it is quite an experience to stand in this hall, looking down its long stretches at row after row of these life-size Kanon statues, each one slightly different, with different facial features. As a Buddhist it was a tad bit overwhelming for me, I've never been face to face with so much statuary in one place at one time. I tend to watch the monks working the gift shop to see how strict the monastic training is, and the monks here were some of the lightest beings I've seen in Japan. At least what I can tell from my poor perception.

Earlier I talked about Ryoanji in the context of the tree training photos, but this is the main gem of Ryoanji Temple: perhaps the world's most famous Zen rock garden.

This garden is probably photographed more often, and used as the defining example as the ideal model for the Zen rock garden aesthetic than any other in Japan.

It was great to sit on this veranda, with other tourists, who knows where from, and all enjoy together the strange and bizarre sense of space looking at this garden makes you feel. There was a natural hush that came over everyone as soon as their eyes set foot on the sturdy wood beams. As if our voices were going to hurt the rock's ears....

It's difficult to explain the feeling, the light was soft that moment, and the people there were too. Everyone it seemed had some idea of meaning for this experience, and no matter how different or deep their meanings were, everyone was able to appreciate the view.

This is the border of the rock garden.

Inside the gift shop area, the man below was warmed by this portable heater. Since there are very few places in Japan with central heating, these heaters are used in businesses, homes, even on public transportation sometimes. This is the heat of Japan when it's cold.

This man is writing the calligraphy for some protection amulets and prayers sold at Ryoanji Temple.

One weekend in November

2006-12-09T21:44:00.000-06:00

These are photos from a few weekends ago. The school arranged a university exchange day trip. Half the students were Japanese students and the other half were foreign students. We visited a small town called Gujo Hachiman which is the middle of Gifu prefecture. Lately has been very busy with school, I also moved out of my host-family's house into one of the dorms, and am getting ready for finals. I'll explain more about these photos in a few days.

Just a quick run down of the places:
first few photos are from a fake food factory we visited. We toured their little museum and then had the opportunity to make our own food. The two greenish looking things I'm holding is lettuce.

Next we ate lunch in town with some of the Japanese students we made friends with. The town itself was quite old and is famous for its spring water. There were alot of nice wood patterns on the houses and interesting pathways.

We then ventured up a mountain to pay a visit to the local castle. The leaves looked spectacular that day, and made a nice contrast with the white walls of the castle.

Lastly, we went to a highway rest area that had a ferris wheel. It was mostly a place to eat, with alot of little food shops and the best crepes I've ever eaten in my life.

margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/3134/2879/320/575715/DSCF0102.jpg" border="0" alt="" />

麗 (Urara)

2006-11-22T02:55:00.000-06:00

こちらは僕の彼女です。
This is my girlfriend.

麗という名前はちょっと珍しい名前だと言えます。
It can be said the name Urara is a little rare.

麗の漢字にはいっぱい華麗な意味が有ります。
The kanji of Urara is full of beautiful meanings.

これから、麗の漢字のさまざまな意味に関する短いリストを書いて有ります。
Following is a short list introducing the various meanings of the kanji Urara.

艶麗（な）「えんれい」dazzling beauty

華麗（な）「かれい」splendor; splendour; magnificence

佳麗（な）「かれい」beauty

口奇麗（な）「くちぎれい」speaking elegantly; speaking clearly; not coveting food; speaking like an innocent person

絢爛華麗（な）「けんらんかれい」 luxurious and gorgeous; splended; dazzling; magnificent

秀麗（な）「しゅうれい」graceful; beautiful

鮮麗（な）「せんれい」vivid; gorgeous; resplendent beauty; bright

荘厳華麗（な）「そうごんかれい」majestic and splendid

端麗（な）「たんれい」neatly or cleverly made

流麗（な）「りゅうれい」fluent; flowing; elegant

僕には麗と一緒にいる時間が過ごすのは清新になるように感じられます。
When I spend time together with Urara I can feel like I'm being refreshed.

大体、僕が麗の目に見ると僕の心の心で花が咲くように、この世界を有り難く頂く能力を広めるように感じられる。
In general when I look at Urara's eyes, I can feel in the heart of my heart, like a flower blooming, my ability to gladly accept this world expand.

この写真は夜の紅葉、スカイタウィー、イタリア村、泊まって旅館などの写真というものです。
These are pictures of viewing the autumn leaves at night, a building called Skytower, the Italian Village and the Ryokan we stayed at.

今度の会いはいつか分かりません。しかし、どんなに会えない間が長くなっても待ちます。麗ちゃん、名古屋で僕を見つけてくれてどうもありがとうね。

David

2006-11-10T08:23:00.000-06:00

Everyone, please meet David Titterington (www.davidtitterington.blogspot.com). I have a link to his blog page on the right side of this page. He wrote the story of how we met already on his blog, so I will pass on writing it here. Also, his blog is a beautiful display of art and philosophy and I want you to look at it.

David is a JET teacher in Shikoku. Probably most of you know already, but JET is a program started by the Japanese government to bring native English speakers to Japan to teach alongside Japanese English teachers in an attempt to internationalize Japan. David teaches mostly middle school, and travels to over a dozen different schools throughout the month.

I arrived in Shikoku on a Thursday morning just before the school day was set to begin - and was invited to teach alongside David. We taught students about Halloween.

David is also a practicing Tibetan Buddhist. In his hands in this picture is a book called "Integral Spirituality" by Ken Wilber. There is this amazing sense of wonder and charisma that I soak up from sitting across from this beautiful form of flesh and light. He is truly a Bodhisattva - walking around painting images that point out our reality to us.

It's difficult to describe David because it feels like such a shame to use cliche phrases and compliments for him. Once in a great while I meet someone who blows my mind consistently, David is one of those once in a great while people. I think David is also a great mixture of confidence and humor. But maybe the aspect about him I enjoy the most is his flexibility from one situation to another, and the way he literally dances as he moves from place to place.

In almost all public schools in Japan, the students serve each other lunch, and all eat the same food. There are some schools I've been told that have a cafeteria, but it seems more common that students eat lunch in their respective classrooms.

There is also a period eveyday before lunch when students clean the school. This includes mopping the floors, cleaning the windows, cleaning the chalkboards and erasers, etc. On this day David and I elected to spend the cleaning period outside, and found a group of boys sweeping, so we joined them.

After the school day was over, David took me to a secret zen garden he found. This picture-perfect Japanese garden rivals those you can see in Kyoto, and is just tucked away behind someone's rather large zen temple and adjoining house. Aside from the mosquitos, it would be easy to spend a whole day in this place watching the Koi fish swimming in the pond, listening to the water trickling while lying on the thick, cushy moss surrounded by the wonderful joy that is that quintessential Japanesy feel. The next few pictures are from the secret zen garden.

This mossy grass is so soft and thick...it's really what carpet attempts to be.

A cheesy shot of a Japanese maple, with the zen temple in the background.

Did you notice the picture earlier of the thatched roof- open walled hut? This is a closeup of the roof. すごいでしょう。

This was our means of transportation - a most amazing Tandem Schwinn. Coincidentally this picture was taken in a shrine complex that has 1000 year old trees. There are small shrines built into some of the trees. Interestingly while we were there, we came across a group of old men hanging out. I thought, yeah, when I'm old and ready to die, where else would be better to socialize than with old, beautiful wrinkly trees and old friends?

When we stopped at the gas station to get some air for the tandem, the station attendants thought it was so cool so they took it for a spin. Honestly, it's these types of moments in Japan that make Japan feel so magical. There is this playful magic about people just about everywhere you go that if uncovered leads to wide smiles and an extremely fine sense of being.

A good friend of mine, once told me something a good friend of her's had told her. She said, the religion we choose to be is how we choose to walk on this earth. Everyonce in awhile, I think it's important to take a look at my feet and see if my idea of how I'm walking on this earth matches my footprints.

I put this picture up of David's refridgerator in case anyone seeing this back in Lawrence can appreciate the people pictured here. There are alot of very beautiful people who were or still are in Lawrence on this fridge. And others from Japan.

After an amazing vegetarian potluck party at David' apartment that night, we took off the next day for a town called Matsuyama. I met two of David's Japanese friends, Yukiko and Yasu. This is Yukiko, driving us through the Shikoku country-side, and alot of tunnels through the mountains.

Meet Yasu.

Our first stop in Matsuyama was the 51st temple of the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage route. This picture showcases Quan Yin, or Kuan Yin, or Avalokiteshvara, or Kannon or Chenrezig - a rose by any other name is still a rose - the Buddhist diety representing compassion. It is a Bodhisattva often portrayed in the female form, and in this case, riding a huge dragon. Traditionally i think it can be said dragons in the eastern portion of the world are seen as representing wisdom, spiritual power, and are friends rather than foes. Anyway, it was interesting to see the coupling of these two icons.

And by the way, anyone out there wondering what all the fuss is about with that guy named the Dalai Lama, he is in Tibetan Buddhist practitioners' eyes the living incarnation of this Bodhisattva of compassion - Avalokiteshvara. So, it's kind of a big deal. In the Christian sense - it might be equatable to having the holy spirit in the form of a living, breathing human being.
Anyone interested in the Dalai Lama, and his previous 13 existences, there is an entertaining and insightful movie about his training and life called "Kundun." It's also chalk full of interesting tid bits about the historical relationship between Tibet and China during Mao's cultural revolution. The movie made me cry, several times.

This is the main temple building, with a boat lined with prayers written on papers that are tied to its frame. The boat in Buddhism is an interesting icon that is used quite often as a metaphorical explanatory tool. Buddhism is often likened to a boat that is only a tool to help one cross over the river of ignorance and reach the shore of understanding. When the boat has fulfilled its purpose you leave it - let it go - and keep going. You wouldn't carry a raft with you just because you think you might come across another river. In that way, Buddhism is not a philosophy that is an end in itself. It is a means to help people achieve mental clarity through developing a sturdy foundation of morals, along with the tool of meditation to create an attitude of mindfulness and opennesss that allow one to experience insights into reality and the mind that foster wisdom, compassion and what is referred to as "skillful means." I think of skillful means as being akin to knowing what is the most compassionate in each moment - or what Ken Wilber might say as having the greatest depth for the greatest span.
It was a rather beautiful boat, filled with the kind prayers and wishes of other visitors.

I kep wondering if what I was seeing was real. This place was really like a dream.

Doing the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage is a big deal for many people in the Shingon sect of Buddhism here. Even for people who aren't Buddhist, it's a great way to see the island and also see some very interesting traditional aspects of Japanese life.

While we were walking around the temple complex, a man waved us down and told us to come to him, so we did. He motioned to this ledge with the bags and told us to touch them. Each bag is filled with sand from one of the 88 temples. So, even though we weren't able to make the pilgrimage in the space of a few days, we were able to touch each place.

There was so much to see at this temple. Several smaller shrines were located alongside the outskirts of the larger temple rooms. There was also a cave in the back of the temple complex that jutted into the mountain side. Inside were small statues of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and even a small shrine that had an amazing 3D mandala. David's blog has a nice picture of that - so I'll leave it to you to find it. But if you're curious about a mandala, it's a representative image of the order and structure of the universe according to Buddhist cosmology. It's easier to think of it as a blueprint of the mind. It's generally used as a tool for meditators to orient themselves to the Buddhist world view - and gain a boost for how to relate to reality. It's difficult to explain because mandalas serve a lot of different purposes depending on the context and the type of Buddhism. I'm not so confident in my understanding to say anything more at this time.

This is the type of picture my parents have dubbed "a Ricky photograph." Yep, it's a Ricky picture allright.
You must already know, dear reader, that in the daily lives we lead, if we are unable to find any beauty in the most ordinary of ordinary things, how sad it must be. That is why I like to take pictures like this - because it always helps me to appreciate the backgrounds and foundations of experience, the props and stage that allow for the drama to unfold.

There is still some war-time guilt in Japan which has influenced Japanese attitudes of war and nationalism. There are militarists, nationalists, and people who deny Japan did anything wrong during WWII alive and active in the political arena, but are usually small in number and limited in power. The new prime minister Abe-san, or Shinzo Abe, recently published a book called "A Beautiful Japan." Two things about this are worth mentioning.

The first is that a leading politician, in this case the single most powerful political actor (at least on paper) in Japan published a book. There are some Presidents in the US who have published books, but I know of none that have published books before taking office. I also know of none that have published books that outline their hopes and policy goals for their time in office. I give Abe-san a big thumbs up for the effort, and also for the transparency to the general Japanese populace. Honestly, I can't imagine Mr. Bush publishing his own book.

The second is that in this beautiful Japan Abe-san wants to create, one of the key ideas he proposes is educational reform. He wants to reaffirm a sense of nationalism in Japan in young people by reforming the educational system. Young people he says lack discipline and a sense of love for their country. So, to encourage discipline - we should teach young people in school to love Japan. It's an interesting train of logic that I see serving other purposes than simply fostering discipline.

So, with that in mind, seeing this large Japanese flag inside a shopping mall made me wander about that, and what and where this new sense of nationalism Abe-san wants to affect students with will become and lead Japanese society amidst open discussions about aquiring nuclear weapons and revising article 9 of the constitution (the article that forbids Japan from having offensive military capability).

The reason for being in the shopping center, was to watch this guy named Mai, perform. He is really soft-spoken and gentle when he speaks in everyday conversation, but when he performs, it looks like he is channelling some energy that is too intense or too strong to control and his body becomes jerky and jolty with almost a supernatural tension - like he is possessed. I was blown away. It was also my first experience of hearing Japanese folk music with spoken word poetry.

That evening, while still in Matsuyama, we headed down to the very first onsen in Japan called Dogo onsen. The next picture is of the building. Anyone who has been to an onsen can easily understand and appreciate how special onsen time is. There is quite nothing like the experience of getting naked, bathing and soaking in a gigantic bathtub with a group of men, or women. There are some coed onsens in Japan, but it's rather rare. This onsen is rather unique to me in that it had four floors, and there were large sitting areas like this one pictured above where you could sit with your friends, drink tea, eat some Japanese snacks, and enjoy the after-glow of the onsen's bath. I wish you all could experience this - if you get past any feeling of embarrassment or shyness about being naked in front of others - it is one of the most soothing and relaxing feelings I've ever felt.

The next day, a group of David's friends and I went to the tallest mountain in Western Japan. Here we are at the base, getting ready to start the trail up the mountain. Like most mountains in Japan there are local kamis, or dieties, that live in the mountain. Well, it's almost impossible to say where they live - if it's in, on or around the mountain. But there are always places to offer prayers, give money or pray to these dieties. David and I offered a candle, which means safety for one's family, and asked for the protection of our group for the time spent on this kami's mountain.

Along the path we came across this moss-covered tree that was shaped like a hammock. How could you not take a little rest?

The moss was so kissably soft...Japanese moss...

Here is Yasu, and his brother, climbing up one of the sets of iron rings that make it easier to climb up the steeper parts of the mountain. It's hard to get the perspective from this photograph, but it is a vertical cliff.

Another iron ring section.

All of the following pictures are taken from the summit.

Later that night the climbers and some other friends got together for a Saturday night in Saijou, a town not too far away from David's.

I'm still working on the translation - any suggestions? I can't quite figure out the meaning of　”日ぞなき”　and ”すほぬ”.
This was posted at the front entrance of a zen monastery David took me to on Sunday morning for the morning meditation.

The entrance to the zen monastery.

the cheesy picture of the zen rock garden. I wonder though how the circle lines, representing an island and its perimeter in the ocean of life, work into Buddhist philosophy about the nature of the self, distinction and separation? Any thoughts?

Dear David,
I learn so much from listening to you, seeing your artwork, and experiecing your being. May you have a long and happy life. Thank you for reminding me of some essential things I had forgotten, for helping me look at my footprints. Your joy is like bubble bath soap. A little splash and its little tiny bubbles float around and cleanse whatever they touch. デイビットの程度こそ、四国は天国のように感じれるよ。非常にお世話になりましたね。僕はデイビットに会ったから本当に運がいいと感じるよ。体に心に手にも気を付けて下さいね。

今まま以外になんか知られる？ what else can (you) know besides now as it is?

2006-10-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

Where to begin...

It's Friday night in Nagoya. I'm in bed, in a second floor room my host family prepared for me. It has two windows. One faces the front of the house, with a quiet and narrow street that routinely plays witness to the footsteps and bicycle tires of salary men, students, house wives, and the house dog, not to mention the occassional car. The other window offers a view of the rear of the house. Beyond the fence is a larger intersection with a Phillapino karaoke bar. The sounds of rats climbing in between the walls behind my bed and the sounds of drunk, loud Japanese people floating in with the breeze are my companions at this moment. Of course, the future phantom images of you readers are here - as I wonder what you will think of these pictures.

Some pictures (that have nothing to do with Nagoya, but want to share them anyway)

These are pictures from Aomori, Osoreizan (Mt. Fear), a small fishing town on the coast of northern Honshu and some shots from Tokyo and Yokohama. The last photo is of Hime-chan and Shokora (my host family's dogs in Nagoya). I'll update in the next few days with photos of my new host family and Nagoya.

Going back for seconds

2006-08-23T21:40:00.000-05:00

The first time in Sapporo was wonderful. Partly because I had just finished the first semester of the summer program, and partly because it was also the first chance to get out of Hakodate and explore around Hokkaido a bit. Unfortunately the time in Sapporo was so short I missed getting to visit a good friend named Junko. A little background - Junko is a friend of my brother's, and I met her when my family went to visit my brother in Tokyo about 8 years ago. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Junko during that visit, and we became good friends. Ever since that time we've had communication in spurts, but have managed to keep up with how each other's lives are unfolding. Now Junko is living in Sapporo in her parent's Buddhist temple. Working and living in a temple combined with the chanting and meditating that come along with that arrangement, has created an even softer and calmer color to Junko's being than I remembered 8 years ago. Those reading this that have had the opportunity to spend time around meditation practitioners can attest to this - and lately evidence of the positive effects meditation has on the human brain has been qualitatively documented in an scientific/academic setting. That research is quite exciting - and was even featured in an issue of Time magazine about 2 or 3 years ago. For an introductory article that provides a few sources for further reading, click here.

There is something in travelling alone that creates a condition of openness that I find promotes interesting encounters with interesting people. Sitting next to me on the train to Sapporo was this man. After a short nap, he saw me studying Japanese and we began speaking. After telling me about the beautiful places I should visit someday in Hokkaido, he explained he worked as an engineer in a safety consulting firm. His work focused on the reactor wall's interior shielding and the relative strengths of different materials used to prevent radation from leaking. I learned that there are three nuclear reactors clustered to the north west of Sapporo that are used almost entirely to supply Sapporo's energy. Despite Nuclear Energy's defficiencies, I would prefer to see Nuclear Energy as an energy source over the use of fossil fuels. It's interesting to me how strongly people react to the threats of nuclear energy. It seems to me that the risk perception of nuclear energy is highly inflated - most likely due to a few key incidents - whereas the risk perception for fossil fuels is misunderstood. There is a feeling of safety that comes along with tradition, and the tradition of using fossil fuels I think forces an acceptance of their use. Aside from the carbon dioxide and pollution issues that come along with the burning of fossil fuels are a myriad of other issues related to their extraction, their transport, their storage and the stability of the infrastructure needed to maintain a fossil fuel economy. If you pay attention to the newspaper, you are bound to read a story about leaking natural gas wells in the backyards of homes, or leaking gasoline storage tanks. Both of these are very serious problems that threaten ground water to an extent that harms more people over a longer span of time than any nuclear accident has.

The weekend I visited Sapporo was a bit busy for Junko, but it was the last chance I had to come. Junko was working in a symposium on American political science hosted by Hokkaido University. So, during the days while Junko was at work I would walk around the streets. I spent a good amount of time just relaxing in the big park that defines Sapporo's city center. Because this weekend also coincided with festivals in Sapporo, I was not alone in sitting in the park with a bag of food from a combini for lunch, and a large can of Sapporo beer. Really, when it gets right down to it, it's hard to imagine a finer time anywhere, than sitting in the shade of a large line of trees, with an endless passing parade of new sights and sounds, some amazingly cheap and tasty food and a cold beer. I can think only of one addition to that occassion that could enhance its feel, to sit side by side a lover or an old friend and make remarks about the past or the clouds, or just sit and enjoy together the feeling of being.

There were alot of interesting little scenes. For some reason I wasn't feeling the photography calling that day, but here are a few pictures from various parts of the parades going through the city.

I decided to check out the view of Sapporo from the Sapporo's TV tower (the red tower in the background). When I reached the top there was an interesting fortune telling machine with a miniature Shinto priest doll that said a prayer for me to a Buddhist statue, then a small fortune popped out of the bottom of the machine. I couldn't really understand the fortune though. The view of Sapporo from the TV tower was incredible, but a little later, you can see a picture of Sapporo from Mt. Moiwa, which is a little easier to get a sense of the scale of the city. Because this was a festival weekend there were many people dressed in Yukatas, or summer Kimonos. Men and women both were dressed up, mostly the older generation, but quite a few younger people were dressed in Yukatas too. It was a nice experience to see and feel such a large city celebrating together, and to watch the little children playing in fountains, or eating icecream. It's something so simple, but still amazing.

Later that night I happened to be in Susukino, where a night festival with lots of street vendors and a small parade was going on. I sat down next to the grill, and shared a table with a few passing groups of people. One group was this guy, who works as a host. Most people have probably heard about hostess bars in Japan, usually where businessmen go after work and pay for the company of an attractive young girl. There is a female equivalent of this too, where women can go and be entertained by men. The job seems pretty tough - your job doesn't really end when you leave the club. Your favorite customers can call you, and ask you to meet them at a restaurant or coffee shop, and it's in your best interest to do so if you want them to keep coming back to your bar. This guy was fun to talk to because he was very open about what he did, and the woman he was with didn't seem to mind too much that he was talking to me more than he was talking to her. I asked him what he planned to do after he quit working as a host, and he said he wanted to be a sushi chef.

The next few pictures are of Junko's family at her parent's temple. Her niece and nephew, and her mother. Junko's mother was this jolly, intense woman that makes you feel comfortable immediately. She was also having fun saying what English she could. I also really enjoyed their dog, who seemed to be just as moody as a human. Sentience and moodiness go hand in hand I guess.

Junko and I took the Mt. Moiwa ropeway and went to the top of Mt. Moiwa, which offers a view overlooking Sapporo city. The view reminds me a little of the view from The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku, because all you can see are buildings and concrete stretching off towards the horizon. The main difference between Sapporo and Tokyo is of course size, and with that Sapporo is surrounded by green mountains and lots of forest. Compared to Tokyo's scenery, it's a refreshing mix.

I have to send a big thank you to Junko for meeting me despite the busy schedule, and for inviting me to her parent's temple. It was one of the best weekends I had throughout the summer, and the experiences walking around by myself and meeting and talking with Japanese people also showed me that I was actually learning alot of Japanese. It's always nice to see progress, you know.
Like the picture in an earlier post - I am definately lucky I had the chance to visit this place.

It already feels so far away

2006-08-20T05:44:00.000-05:00

This has been the fastest and the longest two months I've ever lived. The end of the program came surprisingly fast, and the last test was a satisfying experience. Probably most satisfying was the oral interview portion that helped me see how much I had learned over the past two months and just how much my Japanese had improved. At least the oral interview felt very comfortable as if I was just having a conversation with a friend.

Saying goodbye to the host family was harder than I expected, but I think they were ready for me to leave. I know I was ready to leave. But the hardest person to say goodbye to was Sam. We had become really close friends throughout the two months, spending nearly everyday together riding the trains to and from school, walking through the city, asking each other questions about our homework, eating almost every meal together, etc...I feel fortunate to have made a friend like Sam and experience this time with him.

I'm going to provide a description of some of my experiences now, and post pictures and stories from the experience while I'm in the US. I leave again for Japan August 30. I'll be going to Nagoya city's Nanzan University for a year language program. As Nagoya is Japan's fourth largest city, and is fairly close to Osaka, Kyoto, Nara and a number of historic old villages, I'm hoping to get to explore as much as I can of central Honshu. The intensity of the program should be slightly easier than the summer program. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a slightly less demanding daily work load to have more free time to do things like blog, and hang out with the host family more.

Well, every year Hakodate has a number of large festivals, and there is a string of four days in which every night is a different festival in a different part of Hakodate. The city feels absolutely lovely as tourists, locals and businesses all combine to put on spectacular street shows, fireworks, parades and dances. Unfortunately this year's festival week happened to fall during the same time we had to present our research projects, so I only saw one night. While I'm happy the project presentation went well, I can say I'm a bit sad for missing the other days of the festival.

There was an interesting experience that happened while Sam and I were waiting for the fireworks. Everyone had gathered around the bay, alongside the boat docks just behind the morning market. People were sitting together on the ground, and in most areas the people were scrunched together so that trying to walk through was impossible. Still, some people tried, including a young boy who tried running through the area Sam and I were sitting in. As he passed us, his foot happened to catch Sam's cup of beer sitting next to him, causing it to spill and splash an old woman's leg next to us. The boy first looked surprised, then saw Sam and I were foreigners, and looked even more uncomfortable. The old woman just stared at Sam, as if Sam was to blame for her having what she said now was "stinky pants." The reason I include this story is to highlight that there are some people in Japan that tend to blame foreigners for problems in Japan. Having read English translations of Japanese newspapers consistently for the past year and a half, I have come across a handful of news stories, not editorials, in which the reporter presents the opinion that various ills befalling Japan are largely due to foreigners. There have been some tragic murder cases in the past year involving foreigners, but less than the number of similar cases involving Japanese nationals. This phenomenon is no different than attitudes in the US and racism or prejudice some groups of people here have towards Muslims. I'll leave the conclusion up to you.

That night, the sky had a thick fog. The larger fireworks that were shot high into the air were almost impossible to see, except for the end trails of the sparks. It was rather beautiful in its own way, as if watching the ghosts of fireworks. We would see a ball shoot up, into the fog, hear the bang, and wait until the sparks fell low enough to see the light through the fog.

The remaining pictures are individual shots of my classmates and teacher.

札幌も一回 (Sapporo one more time)

2006-08-07T00:21:00.000-05:00

More to come ~

書道 (calligraphy)

2006-07-26T02:39:00.000-05:00

Today the weather is perfect. It is really clear here, with only a few scattered clouds here and there - which has been a rare thing lately.

I thought people reading this might be interested to see a picture of my classmates, and my teacher, Oda Sensei.

There are also some views from my classroom window.

After class today I went to a 書道 class. At the beginning of the class the teacher held a special demonstration for us. Some of the calligraphy club students demonstrated how to use a very large calligraphy brush. I can't remember exactly how much he said the brush costs, but somewhere around $3,000.

Japanese calligraphy is really hard to do well. Depending on how you hold the brush, the amount of ink in your brush, the amount of pressure, the age of the brush hairs, the quality of the paper, etc....are all variables that masters take into consideration when composing a piece. For us though, it's just about getting the brush wet and slopping it on the paper.

I also threw in some random pictures of the morning market area. I walk through this maze of street vendors everyday to go to school. Apparently people think I'm from Scotland most of the time. Most vendors sell crab both alive and dead. There are also many opportunities to buy live squid. For breakfeast you can eat a large bowl of fish eggs, topped with slices of sashimi (raw fish) for about 6 dollars.

It's festival time here in Hakodate. Starting yesterday the streets are filled with people wearing kimonos, street vendors selling everything from cotton candy and corn dogs to yakitori and donburi mono. Today there is a parade in which everyone does something called the squid dance. I have seen the squid dance, and it looks something like the hokey pokey.
Probably the most humorous thing is seeing the old people getting drunk and dancing. They are lovely.

It looks like I'll also be going back to Sapporo this weekend to visit another friend I missed when I was there over the semester break. Her name is Junko, and is a friend I met in Tokyo about 8 years ago. Being this close and not having the opportunity to meet would feel like such a waste...

I had a nice experience this morning. I was running a little late to school, so when I got out of the train station, rather than taking the 20 minute walk, I decided to call a taxi. It was a nice experience because it made me realize how much my Japanese has improved since coming here. The conversation I had with the taxi cab driver was rather simple, and as my Pops likes to say, we didn't solve the world's problems, but I understood everything he said and he thought I had been living in Japan for a few years. Mostly he asked me about feeling homesick, and what I'll do about my parents if I end up living in Japan and working. So, mom and dad, what do you think? You want to move to Japan??

Hope you enjoy the pictures ~

With only a small bag...

2006-07-19T00:46:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry for the long delay in this post. School prevents me from spending as much time on this as I would prefer...

I never thought I would again feel that middle school rush of getting out of school for the summer, and feeling more free than a rain drop falling to the ground. It’s a time when the free time facing you feels so full of some incredible potential that could change your world for ever and there is nothing to pressure the space behind your eyes but deciding what to do. When I finished the last sentence of my semester exam, it was as if a fire sprinkler system went off inside my body spraying droplets of relief in every direction. I was excited.

(from back to front, left to right: Susan, Sam, Ali, Jeff, me, Toon)

With the small bag I had brought with me that day packed with a change of clothes, Japan lonely planet guide and camera, I left school with a group of 5 other HIF students ands headed to the bus station. Within an hour of finishing the exam, we were on the bus, and as the wheels turned towards Sapporo, the scenery swept the dust away from a mind I then realized had not yet felt the thrill of journey in Japan.

The other travelers were Toon, Sam, Jeff, Susan and Ali.

Toon, whose real name is Bodin Civilize, is from Thailand, but studies at Yale. He is thinking he would like to become an economic theorist, but is still undecided on his major. Toon is the type of person that leaves you with a complicated mixture of tastes on your tongue after sharing time together.

Sam, who I know best in the program because we share the same host family together, is a character straight out of a Russian novel. He carries in most moments a slight tension that generally affects the way he wears his body, and his mannerisms are slightly jolted. He is intelligent and lazy – and often complains about the work load. His long hair, upon first meeting a new Japanese person, invokes a small range of reactions out of them that can be summarized as “you look like a girl.” Sam enjoys the alcohol, and if we were actually in a Russian novel, I have no doubt he would enjoy the vodka granted to him by the good graces of a mightier hand unknown and misunderstood by its characters.

Jeff, like Sam, is from the University of Pennsylvania. He and I are in the same class, and is one of the stronger students in the course. Difficult to see into because walls and uneasiness rise out of the ground like bog gas in a southern Louisiana swamp. He will make an excellent businessman later in life.

Susan is a red-haired, cigar-smoking 19 year-old from Tennessee, and has the accent to prove it. After sharing a few fleeting conversations about Buddhism I see in her the earthly goddess, rooty and rich like dark black soil earthiness in her heart. She knows more than she thinks she does.

Ali, in her early twenties studies at the University of Chicago. Genuinely sweet and kind, she is a nice person to share snacks with and talk about the day.

Not to sound arrogant or like a mr. know it all, but these are the impressions I receive from these people. In no way is it meant to be who they actually are, but just how their sounds, light and energy interact with mine.

Travelling along the highway, we played hide and seek with the ocean as we would dip beneath hills, and pop out of our hiding place to see the ocean patiently waiting, always there as if to say “shhhh, don’t worry.” It was beautiful.

Apparently in Japan there is quite a lot of concrete being made every year. So much so that engineers have thought up creative ways to use it. For example, concrete pylons line the coastline of most of Japan, placed with the said purpose of protecting the coasts from erosion. In a way, I thought it was cute, yet, can’t help but feel the ocean would look the way it was supposed to without them. As they say in Japanese, “it cannot be helped.”

In some moments you feel so close to destiny’s ideal track that you can almost feel the pulse of the heartbeat of the hand of time.

We arrived in Sapporo and quickly thanked the city-planners for designing one of the easiest street systems to navigate. Every block is labeled according to its distance from the city center in terms of North/South and East/West. No matter where you are in the city you know exactly how far you are away from the city center.

At certain key moments in life, people appear that are living on such a different plane of existence than yourself that you call into question nearly every pre-conceived notion you had about life. Meeting Alexandro, 19 year old from Mexico, was like that.

Alexandro had planned his trip to Japan for four years. He decided to come to Japan for 6 months knowing very little of the language, and with the desire to see and experience as much as he could. He had already been in Japan for a month when we met him, and he had just returned from hiking some of the tallest mountains in Hokkaido. He said at one point, when he was climbing the tallest mountain, and he fell off the path and slid on the snow about fifteen meters down the slope of a cliff, catching himself on a tree, “what the hell am I doing here?” I said, I ask myself that everyday.

For some reason, the loudness of one’s being feels amplified in Japan. It’s almost as if the vacuum that surrounds you created by the collected conscious effort of a culture sensitive to “surprising” loud sounds acts like a microphone. At least, I feel that a group of foreigners speaking in Japan tend to do so with about 10 decibels more amplitude than needed.

I was able to meet a friend named Takao who I met at KU, but who is originally from Sapporo and living there this summer and working. Takao is the picture of the Japanese guy with the beer, with a slight pensive look. He took us to an Izakaya, which is a Japanese style restaurant where you can usually pay a single price and drink as much alcohol as you want, and sometimes for another fee eat as much as you like. The food is great if you like meat. You can order liver, gizzards, chicken, pork, beef and squid on skewers that are grilled and then dipped into a variety of sauces. They are served super hot and fresh and taste great with beer. It’s funny to me that a year ago, I would not have imagined having this experience.
The next day we headed out and had breakfast on an old tree stump in a park, next to a pond with several lotus blossoms. The picture of the reflection of the pond with the radio tower with lotus flowers at the top is meant to be a visual metaphor for the Buddhist path. Often in Buddhism the metaphor of the lotus flower is used to describe the ascending of the spiritual path as one rises, like the lotus flower, above the murky, muddy mess of Samsara (cyclical life). As one extinguishes desires that cause suffering, one is free from those stains or blemishes that cloud or hide one’s Buddha nature. If I were a lotus, I’d be stuck in the mud probably to be used as fertilizer for the next bloom.

We spent the day combing through Sapporo’s streets, and found the old Ramen alley. Basically, it’s a narrow alley that is nothing but small Ramen shops. If you are thinking Ramen noodles, you’re close – but think about 100 times more delicious and satisfying. Sapporo is famous for its Miso Ramen, which is a miso soup base (miso soup is made from soy bean paste). Miso Ramen is usually spicy, and because the Ramen cook (usually there is only one in a store) makes everything to order, the soup is also steaming hot. It’s hard to say what burns more, the spice or the temperature, but either way part of the fun is slurping the hot noodles, sweating a little and having your nose run. It’s also fairly cheap, which for us, always means good.

I somehow became navigator and we luckily made it to the Hokkaido Museum of Contemporary Art without getting lost. They had a special Buddhist art exhibit that contained Japanized Tibetan Thangkas. Thangkas are Tibetan scroll paintings of various Buddhas, deities, Bodhisatvas, and Buddhist stories or sutras. Unfortunately I couldn’t understand very much of the exhibition because it was all in Japanese…

The picture of the trashcans is to show the most simple trashcan set you can find in Japan. Trash is complicated in Japan, for obvious reasons, but all trash can be divided into two categories, burnable waste (some plastics, paper, food scraps, and various oddities of packaging) and non-burnable waste (plastic bottles, cans, glass, metals, batteries, etc.). It is also a bit challenging to find public trashcans, at least here, but you get used to it. In fact I plan my walking routes to and from school sometimes just to throw a plastic bottle away. Oh, and when you throw away gum, or used q-tips, you are supposed to wrap them with a tissue first. I’ve spent some time trying to decipher my host family’s trash schedule. Every city publishes a trash schedule that lists what items will be picked up on what day. For more exotic items, like batteries and old pots and pans, there is a special drop off center. If you don’t properly sort your trash (there are special trash bags for different types of trash) you can get fined. And, you can expect to be audited at least once per year, from what I’ve been told, just to make sure you aren’t sneaking in a plastic drink bottle into the burnable waste.

The picture of the air conditioner units on the side of the building isn’t that aesthetically pleasing I know, but I thought it was an interesting example of something I learned while rummaging through articles about Japanese building codes. Because property tax is based upon the internal area of a building, essential things, like air conditioners, that can be placed on the outside of the building usually are. The resulting product is like the picture. One of the most often cited complaints about Japanese architecture is its lack of appreciation for maintaining a uniform aesthetic – due to the lack of building codes and regulations that stipulate what can be attached to the ceiling and sides of buildings. Of course, special buildings, like museums and government offices are usually beautiful works of art…but the average apartment building is less than appetizing. Yet it still has its own charm, and the interplay of the lines of the ducts, the rows and symmetry created, and the rust stains, at least for me, help make Japan feel like a homier place.

Earlier in the day I read in my Lonely Planet Guide about a Shinto Shrine that was described as being surrounded by a forest so thick you forget that you are in a city. So after the art museum, Toon, Sam, Susan and I set off to find it. It turned out to be a great find. There were actually several smaller Shinto Shrines along the road to the main Shrine, and all of this was located in a huge city park. We walked about 45 minutes and covered only a small corner of the park. I finally experienced a moment in Japan in which I felt how incredibly universal the experience of being human really is. Kids playing soccer on one side, and a group of mid twenties friends playing guitar and drinking beer held a scene on the other side of the path. I think mostly, just to be around nature again with the soft feel of the raw earth under my feet, was exactly what I needed.

After one-by-one saying our prayers and communing with the local Kami-samas (Gods in Shintoism) we decided we couldn’t miss going to the Sapporo Beer factory. It was glorious. The shots of the graffiti and Japanese people, and night time shots, are from an area in Sapporo called Susukino. It is the nightlife hotspot. We found a bar named “Rad” that is the foreigner hangout in Sapporo, and was the first time here I had seen a sizeable number of foreigners in Japan not associated with this program. I was surprised at how many people are still out and returning home at 5 am when the last of the bars close.

The next day, my host father picked Sam and me up and took us to a town about an hour and a half drive outside of Sapporo. From there we met other members of the Tenrikyo church, loaded up coolers of food, camping gear, etc and headed off to a wilderness protection area. I never imagined I would camp in Japan. Someone brought a keg of Sapporo beer, and after the tents were all set up and the opening speeches were said, everyone picked their chair for the evening and drank, ate lots of grilled and smoked food, and relaxed. Sam and I tried our best to keep our Japanese conversation as interesting as possible.

On Sunday we returned to Hokoto-shi and I went to the Sento, or public bath house. I’m going to try to take a picture of the inside if I ever am there when no else is around because it is a wonderful wonderful place. There is usually one large room, and several small stalls to wash your body. After you’ve had a thorough scrubbing, you can get into either a Jacuzzi or a large bath. The water is about 100 or more degrees, but feels amazing. The feeling of first walking out of the sento in the fresh open air is the cleanest feeling in the world.

The last few pictures are pictures of the area around my house. This area is usually super quiet, and reminds me of small town Iowa, but Japanese style. I can’t help but think about my brother when I’m walking around the streets, and wishing I could share that with him (because we’ve spent many a day walking around in small town Iowa).

The break ended just about as quickly as it started, and classes did a power take-off on the first day. This is the second week of the semester, but I feel like it’s been a good month since the break. But, my Japanese is slowly improving bit by bit, and hopefully before the end of this program I’ll be able to turn in a page of homework without having a majority of it covered in red ink…one can learn a lot from a picky teacher.

Naka Yasumi (Semester Break)

2006-07-12T01:46:00.000-05:00

(electronic dictionary = life saver [especially at 2 am and you just want to finish your homework and go to bed])

Everyone here is saying they thought they were going to lose weight when they came to Japan. While you can eat very healthy here if you want, it's not that easy. Most affordable restaurants serve either Ramen noodles or some type of curry, which is about the equivalent of a liquified fast food meal on rice. It's delicious, but I don't think your heart is supposed to hurt after you eat something, you know? Just joking, but at times the food selection here can feel surprisingly limited - most likely because we just don't know what is actually going on with the food situation here. The picture is of a meal bought at a combini store. A small cup of miso soup, rice, deep fried shrimp, and the true source of power and inspiration for a nation of 120 million people: curry.

The other night my host father's younger brother, two friends, and the host father's grandparents came to visit for a few days. The house now has 12 people living in it. It's really great actually - so far every night the adults sit in the kitchen and make alot of food, drink alot of beer and sake, and laugh and laugh and laugh...Last night I hung around and tried speaking with a guy named Toshige San. The first time I met him he was wearing a blonde wig. He is always making jokes and knows how to make anyone laugh. He is also very good at calligraphy.

The pictures are of the front of the house, and the one of the spider is a big spider that has taken over a section of the backyard.

One thing I often heard in my Japanese classes at KU is that Japanese has no cuss words. haha.

Tashige San has been teaching me many very colorful phrases in Japanese. Well, they are actually pretty tame compared to American standards, but it still never ceases to make the host family laugh when Sam and I say one of the words. Of course they are also adamant about telling us several times that we shouldn't use those words in public. Actually it's perfectly acceptable to use these words when speaking about yourself, but direct, confrontational speech is usually avoided in Japanese culture. That's not to say it doesn't exist because it certainly does, but usually people are a little more tactful with their insults.

The kids in the family like to play video games. They also like bringing their friends home after school. Then the friends try to talk with us in super fast Japanese, and when we say something, their eyes get really big and they run around and laugh and yell. As far as I can tell, that is the most common reaction the foreign students here receive from elementary school kids when we say something to them in Japanese. It makes your heart warm up, and feel thankful to see such a lovely display of pure innocent curiosity.

Last night, someone had the idea that Toshige San should write Sam and my name in Kanji (Chinese characters). That created a family unified effort to take the sounds of our names, and try to match them up with kanji of the same sounds that when put together, have a desirable meaning. Once again, the electronic dictionary pulled through. My name in Kanji, at least that picked by Toshige San, means I am a world traveller.

There have been some very interesting things written about power lines in Japan, but I'll save that for another time.

Oh, I put up a picture of the Japanese dictionaries written by Dr. Makino (see the previous post). It also shows my new haircut. My hair became long enough to donate it to lochs for love, so I thought why not - getting a hair cut in a foreign country in a foreign language is a fun time.

So tomorrow is the end of the first semester of this program. We've covered five chapters in four weeks. That's the same amount of material a Japanese class at KU covers in a semester. Tomorrow we have a three hour exam. I am about ready to collapse on my computer right now my brain and body are so tired...but exactly one hour after the exam ends, a group of five students and I will be a bus heading to Sapporo for a few days. Pictures to come...

Aaa, sou desu ka.

2006-07-04T01:31:00.000-05:00

That is my favorite, and most commonly used, Japanese phrase. Its has many subtle meanings depending on the context, but basically means "I see." It carries with it an exceptionally large emotional understanding that can either reinforce the speaker's position, or be used to politely distance yourself away from the speaker. For that reason, it can be challenging to understand what is actually meant when a person says "sou desu ka," and is a relatively safe expression to use in a variety of situations.

"Nihongo Dake" rule = you can only speak Japanese.

The language school offers quite a few Japanese culture classes, like Japanese sweets making or the tea ceremony - and this is a picture of the nearby middle school's tea ceremony club who taught us how to do a tea ceremony.

Today we heard a lecture by Dr. Seiichi Makino who is a Japanese language and culture professor at Princeton. He wrote the Dictionary of Elementary Japanese Grammar and the Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar, and edited the Japanese text book we use at KU. In other words, he is an exceptionally well known figure in the Japanese language teaching world, and is a highly respected cultural anthropologist. In Japanese culture and language a well known concept is "uchi/soto" or "inside/outside" relations. How one sees oneself in relation to other people and objects significantly influences the way one

speaks, acts and behaves around those people or objects. For example, one's home is called "uchi" in Japanese - which refers to one's internal core. It should be a safe place and where the restraints of acting and speaking politely in the external world or "soto" breakdown. People inside the family unit share a common uchi, but friends build a feeling of uchi together, as well as coworkers who go drinking after work. Because the Japanese language is a hierarchical language with several levels of politeness, understanding one's place in the relationship with another person, and where one falls in the "uchi/soto" view of reality is critical for correctly navigating the complexities of ever changing Japanese relations and social situations.

For example, when two similar aged people meet for the first time, usually they will speak in polite speech out of a feeling that the other person is in one's "soto" world. Over time when the familiarity and trust increases, the relationship creates a shared sense of "uchi" or closeness. At that point the speaking style switches from polite to casual. This is a relatively simple example of "uchi/soto" implications on speech and behavior in Japanese society - and is a source of never ending frustration for students like me.

I couldn't have asked for a better homestay experience. My host family are very kind and flexible people. The father works for a religious organization called "Tenrikyo" and is a type of Shintoism. In the house is a "shinden" which is a temple room - and there are three shrines for three different "kami" (gods). Everyday about 4 times a day the host mom and dad perform a religious ceremony, and members of the church come to the shinden.

So it is not very unusual to walk into the house and hear them performing Gagaku (Japanese court music from 600 years ago) and singing songs of praise to the Father Kami. The religion is very peaceful and believes that everything comes from the same God, and so everyone are brothers and sisters. The purpose of life is to live a joyous life. When one's path falls away or differs from what God has in mind for us we may experience sickness or some other type of experience that helps draw us back toward our true purpose in this life.

The host mom is very very kind and puts up with me and the other student staying with the host family named Sam. There are three boys, Haru, Naru and Teru - who all play baseball, and as far as I can tell, are probably some of the best behaved young boys I've ever seen. Haru is the oldest and doesn't like to study much, so the family is always joking that he won't get into a good highschool. In Japan you have to test into highschool.

(a sample dinner)

A couple weekends ago the school took us to a nature park called Oonuma. While the Japanese version of natural parks is different than those in the US - it can be said Japan is a country of awe inspiring natural beauty. The weekend was organized to help the new students get to know each other better - and after buying out all the alcohol from the hotel's vending machines and renting a Karaoke room - I'm pretty sure we all got to know each other a little bit better. The hotel also had an onsen - which is a natural spring hot water bath. It functions as a public bath and is an interesting experience in Japanese culture to share the act of bathing together, walking around naked and soaking in a super super hot bathtub. These pictures are from Oonuma.

Another weekend Sam and I were picked up by Sakaruya San, another exchange student's host mom. She took us to a Buddhist church of some kind I couldn't figure out, and we listened to a two hour lecture on environmental issues in Japanese. The only thing I could really understand was when the speaker was talking about how much energy could be saved if Americans would carpool more - and also Japanese people. After the lecture the younger people at the church held a barbeque and had my first taste of Hakodate squid. Hakodate is famous for its squid - and there are hundreds of squid manhole covers dotted around the streets in this city. You can also try squid flavored ice cream here - which is actually just like really sweet cream.

School keeps me busy - everyday about 4 or 5 hours of homework. By the end of the week my mind feels like its been through a food processor and is a big mish mashy gloop of incoherent Japanese particles and kanji radicals. I'm enjoying it.

I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the pictures. Most of these are taken around the school. Vending machines are everywhere here, and the one on the right is my favorite - it serves some of the best hot chocolate I've ever tasted.

It's time to study....jaa ne.

Second time...

2006-07-03T04:38:00.000-05:00

At this internet cafe you have to use one of their computers, and with everything in Japanese, I apparently clicked on the wrong button and deleted my post...so, I`ll try this again.

Unfortunately though I don`t have much time left, and I`ll have to wait until tomorrow...

But this picture is of the street where my school is - it`s called Hachiman-Zaka and is apparantely very famous for its view of the harbor.

This picture of a crow is for my friend David Titterington in Shikoku. I always think of you when I see them flying around here. They are also my 4 am alarm clock every morning.

The school here takes good care of us - and last weekend they took us to a national park called Oonuma. I`ll post more pictures tomorrow...

All is well, Japan is fantastic except for the fact I can`t understand the kanji on the computer, and well, I have to catch my train to get home for dinner. mata ne...

Tsuita!

2006-06-18T22:36:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone. I am here, sitting at my language school in Hakodate, Hokkaido. The classroom has a view of the ocean to the right, and a view of a huge mountain covered by mist and pine trees to the right.

The host family is great, but I will write more about them later. I have to get off the computer because there are 120 students and 8 computers, but I will find an internet cafe soon.

Oxford

2006-06-09T21:25:00.000-05:00

(Derek's flat)

So far in Oxford I've managed to be kissed by a random guy on the street and received his blessing. I've watched and become sucked into the pop culture hit that is Big Brother. I've witnessed firsthand the madness of an English pub. Watched a parade of religious worshipers from all faiths promoting unity and have seen a number of curious looking individuals wearing tuxedos who look like they would be perfect as the next James Bond. But mostly, I just sit at a desk across from Derek as he revises for his exams while I study Japanese.

Derek took me for a lovely tour of central Oxford. Some of the oldest buildings of Oxford are located there, including the Bodleian Library. It is an amazing building and houses one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections. Unfortunately, like every other university building here, you must have a valid student id to enter.

One big point of difference I see between the buildings here and those in the US is detail. Everywhere you look are different textures, joints and fittings that are decorated with a relief or crest. The visual information is just too rich to take in and at some point I feel saturated. Of course the modern buildings lack the detail of the old - I'm sure it would cost too much and take too much time. Actually Derek's college, St. Anthony's, is a slightly hipper version of Wescoe Hall at KU (think parking garage - cement - abandoned and converted into classrooms).

This Sunday we are planning a punting excursion. Punting is taking a small boat and pushing oneself with a long oar from the bottom of a river or canal. The most popular way to go punting is with a group of mates and a bottle of sparkling wine and strawberries. I've heard it's harder than it looks, so I'll probably crash into something while Derek and his classmates are revising - in between drinks of sparkling wine...

Meanwhile, I'll be looking forward to learning what becomes of Nikki and Pete's new relationship on Big Brother and hopefully mastering about 250 more kanji (Chinese characters) in 2 days. Yeah, right. Goodnight, and goodluck.

Actually...

2006-06-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

I'm in England now visiting my brother in Oxford. He's busy studying for his final exams next week, and I am preparing for Japan by reviewing all the Japanese I've forgotten in the past year.

Oxford is an interesting place. A strange mix of super intelligent people, lots of tourists, and the locals of various classes. I keep hearing from Derek that England is a capitalist society on speed that exploits the people ruthlessly. I'm not able to make any claims for or against such a position, but I can say that several people throughout Derek's history have labelled him as a Marxist.

Tonight I was granted access inside the highly gaurded compound walls of St. Anthony's College for the last meeting of the Oxford Wine Tasting Society. Tonight's menu featured five sparkling wines derived from grapes from France, California, and some other places. I learned that Champagne is to be used exclusively for sparkling wines that come from French grapes, specifically those of the Champagne region. Otherwise, it is proper to call champagne sparkling wine. There are two main types of champagne, vintage and assembly presses. A vintage press indicates the sparkling wine is the product of a single type of grape from the same year, while assembly presses are sparkling wines derived from two or more types of grapes. I also learned that I would rather just drink a beer, or a nice dry merlot than experience the fizzy, soft explosion of carbonated wine.

Speaking with Derek's friends is like listening to a foreign language I can't understand even though they are speaking English. Since everyone is busy studying for the finals, and most of the people I've met are part of Derek's classes, the conversations always deal with possible exam questions. It is interesting to hear the product of two years of training about Russian foreign policy and history be hammered out in the last week of the program - Oxford is intense. Here they call it revising instead of reviewing for the test and vacuuming is called hoovering.

I can't say much about the city, other than it is small, fairly quiet and innocuous. The architecture is a little bit too gothic for my tastes, but it is still charming. Mostly when walking around on the streets I try to remember which direction to look at to check for oncoming cars.

Because the city is so small they bike alot here. The cars are also very small. I haven't seen an SUV yet. But I did see a Lotus.

They also drink alot here. Actually binge drinking is quite a serious problem in the UK, and Derek likes to point to this fact as a sign of an oppressed people. Rather than religion, it is booze that is the sigh of the oppressed. Last night we watched a tv show where an English bloke with a five-day a week cocaine habit, and drinks the equivalent of 20 glasses of wine a day, gets a type of medical make-over from a small grim-faced and loud talking female Asian doctor. She first analyzed the guy's body and determined his life expectancy if he were to maintain his current habits to be 57. Then the program showcased his transformation and at the end of 9 weeks of daily exercise, no cocaine and moderate alcohol use, his life expectancy increased to 78. In any case, it is not uncommon to see people vomiting on the streets here, and many of the Oxford students are alcoholics or on their way (or so I am told).

I'm not sure who all is going to read this, but please feel free to leave any comments. They are always nice to receive. I also hope that this blog will be interesting enough to check regularly, and I'll try my best to keep updating with pictures and events that are more intriguing than what I ate for dinner yesterday. Good night, and good luck.