Giant Dancing Kittens

"The curry is pimped this time!" ~ David


I experienced a wide variety of prototypical "Japanese" things today that I decided to document, such as a giant kitten dancing to happy parapara music at THE most random "museum (???I don't know if it should be called that???)" that I've ever been to. The first floor was half rain forest filled with massage parlors and half Ghost Town. This floor also included Gyouza Heaven, which made up for any and all confusion and hardship caused by moving from relaxation to terror.

I freakin' love gyouza.

The second floor was slightly more confusing as the themes were less clearly defined; it seemed that half was Random Ice Cream Heaven, and half was the American old west. The old west theme managed to incorporate "Engrish" into my day, which is imperative in any stereotypical romp through Japan, including such famous Old West storefronts as "Restaurant Napalm" (that one made me nervous).

Random Ice Cream Heaven was a nice place to wander through, and Eyrun and I even managed to taste some new and exciting flavors. Ice cream is so overdone as a dessert, so we tried out Beef Tongue and Garlic flavored ice creams. I have nothing more to say about that except that it tastes exactly like you'd think it would taste. And that, yes, there were pieces of beef in the Beef Tongue flavored one.

Leaving the "museum (???)", we wandered by a few stores which bring up another important part of the Japanese experience: foreign imports. No one plays traditional-while-still-incorporating-EVERYONE-else's-stuff like the Japanese, and playing around in a Build-A-Bear Workshop and a GAP really help to put that in perspective for me once again.

Being overly-confident about speaking aloud is also important when in Japan; chances are juuuuust slim enough that no one will understand you that you easily slip into not caring if they actually do. Which is why I called out "My bear is gay," while cruising the Build-A-Bear Workshop, and I am still unsure whether or not the small girl who glanced over at me did so because I spoke Foreigner or because she wanted to see my gay bear.

But the largest part of being in Japan is, of course, being confused. So the most definitive moment of the day really was when, after staring at a size conversion chart in the Gap for about 30 seconds, all I could think or say was, "Hm. Centimeters huh?" It had taken me that long to realize that the numbers in front of my face were useless to me.

Thank you, Ikebukura, for summing up the entire last 8 months of my life into one day.

Japan Stories II

"I will sit in front of you for 4 hours. As long as you don't talk to me."

Cori is the only student in her Comparative Religions class, as in she sits in front of the teacher and he lectures -- at her -- for four hours. Naturally, a college student doesn't have the ability to focus for that long, and she actually ZONED OUT only to realize that he had asked her a question and was waiting for the answer.

Just outside the south gate, on Mitaka's main street, there are two ramen shops side by side sending the steamy smell of oily brother wafting down across the sidewalk, momentarily filling the air as we shoot by on our bikes.

Today I got upset when the dictionary.com translator wouldn't translate Icelandic to English.

"You can lie in class, but you have to live with the reputation." ~Ichikawa sensei

"I'm a black person." ~ Z

I think that I made progress in Japanese language today: I found that my roommates and other people from Global House would often speak to me in Japanese and I would completely understand and respond in English. That's a step in the right direction, right? I'm a little hesitant about responding in Japanese because so far I've only learned formal Japanese and it sounds kind of stupid. But tomorrow in class we'll learn short form so hopefully I'll be able to start using it soon.

10/5/08

"Sorry, I'll give the book back as soon as I can."
"I can't read your apologies at night before I go to bed!"
~Me and Erykha

"I wanna be a ... ペンギン。”　(penguin, with Japanese accent)
~Cory

"I feel like we're foreign."
~Eyrun in Shibuya

What the hell is Tokyo Tower? Is it really a copy of the Eiffel Tower? Does it have a function? Are Japanese people proud of it? How does it relate to Western culture?

10/6/08

Eyrun told me all about her culture's (Iceland's) belief in fairies while we were studying last week. They lure people into large rocks, so the government actually builds roads around rocks rather than moving them.
"Never follow a fairy into a rock."
She also said that Santa Clause's mother eats children? And her cat too.

Japan is such a homogeneous, group-oriented society that there are countless grammar structures based solely on asking for agreement. Even giving information in Japanese should be followed by "でしょう” or "I think" (whether you're sure or not) in order to lighten the blow of one person knowing more than another.

I'm thinking about writing really formal looking letters to my family in Japanese and including a dramatic translation that has nothing to do with the actual content.

10/10/08

The natives can take pictures of the gaijin!

I started a bucket list last night. It includes so far:

random long-distance bike ride
live in France more than one year
Visit New York
Visit Iceland
Visit Rome +
Learn 5 languages by 30 (at least advanced level)
Finish 'Running' (old story from high school)

The kanji for medicine is in two parts; the symbol for gross and the symbol for fun. o_0

Z dropped a paperclip down her shirt in the middle of class one day and she quite discretely laughed about it and fished it out. I mean seriously, we were sitting in a circle and I was the only one who noticed. Kudos to Z.

The same day as the paperclip incident (I think), I was pretty giddy so as the teacher went around the room showing the class the kanji on her chapstick, I pulled mine our and showed it off to Z who oohed and aahed.

ーせんとうからかえってからごはんを食べます。
lit: bath from returning after food eat
<-----You read it this way in English! <---

I read an article back home arguing that English and Japanese grammar were complete opposites. This amazes me, especially now that I can completely see it!

Global House

So I've been in my new dorm, Global House, at ICU in Tokyo Japan for five days. But it seems more like a month. Classes haven't even started yet, and already I feel like I've been here an entire semester. The week was filled with orientations and orientations and introductions for every part of the campus and lifestyle and programs and clubs and the dorm has meetings every day or twice a day and we're working on an initiation project involving mummy wrap and dancing on a hill during lunchtime for the other students. It's...fast-paced. Add to all of this that I know enough Japanese to introduce myself and talk about the weather, and it's been quite a week. Or five days.

And the thing I find the most annoying is that whenever I send a message or e-mail to someone in the US, I still keep expecting them to reply right away. Time after time, I forget the time difference (^_^), which is 13 hours, which means that right now it's almost 7 p.m. here but 6 a.m. in Michigan. No one will reply to my e-mail!

I have so many friends already; all of the members of Global House tend to stick together, especially the international students. I know almost everyone's name by now (which is amazing, I'm horrible with names), plus there are two French guys who I became friends with and an American girl who went to my home university who I've been hanging out with, so I always have someone to talk to and to do things with! It's weird, because there's so much to do and I'm so used to being bored and doing nothing all day after a summer of idling. The dorm has parties every night!

I already have a Japanese bike, cell phone, and bank account. It just doesn't really seem real...but now it seems so natural. Classes start on Monday and I'm taking an intensive Japanese course; it lasts 6 hours a day, five days a week! I'll improve quickly! A lot of the material, though, is for beginners, so I don't think I'll be too bogged down by material, at least not at first.

So...this is crazy.

Global House

I got two big pieces of information today about my study abroad. One, I received my certificate of eligibility from Japan, which allows me to get a visa which allows me to stay in the country for more than 90 days. Yay! Very important paper. Grand Valley is sending it to my mom's house, so I should have it within a week, then I have to take it to a Japanese consulate either in Detroit or Chicago.

The other thing was that my dad got a package from ICU about my housing. Apparently, I've been accepted into the Global House, which is an on-campus dormitory. It's kinda cool, but I was actually assuming that I'd get an off-campus student apartment in downtown Tokyo...which is what I applied for...I thought...but anyway, the dorm requires a lot more community living (like having chores, group meetings, and wearing giant teddy bear costumes the first week of classes), but I think I'll be alright. I look forward to it.

The Global House is the newest building at ICU. It's also the biggest dorm, housing 64 people. Which isn't a lot in Grand Valley standards. Most of the dorms at ICU have around 24 people. It's insane. Anyway, about half of the people staying in Global House are international students, so I can only hope that I'll be living with people who are going through the same new experiences that I am. We may even have the same classes, since there's only one class for each level of Japanese!

I've been feeling a lot better about going lately. Ever since Kanako-san started e-mailing me (the girl picking me up from the airport and showing me around the first day), I've been much much more at ease about the whole thing. I've even had a lot of good dreams about it. Plus, I've been chatting with this French guy on Facebook who is also going this fall. It's very reassuring to know that I will at least have a couple of connections when I go there. ^_^