Greetings from the Land of Excuse Me While I Dump Ice on My Head, where it is currently Literally Thousands of People Were Hospitalized Because of Heat Stroke This Week degrees.
Not much to report again. (Sorry, I live a boring life.) We had our midterm this Friday, so I spent most of the week either in class or studying. Friday we had our first field trip in Yokohama; we were given our pick of courses (each course going to a different set of places). The course I picked went to the Yokohama Shipping Museum, which was actually more interesting than it sounds. Afterwards I hung out with some of the other students, and we went over to the customs building at Oosanbashi, which is also more exciting than it sounds. It's basically a giant wooden building that you can walk on the roof of. Obligatory picture. We wound up grabbing dinner together afterwards.
Today I spent...basically the entire day in the National Diet Library, because the NDL is the best. Got some stuff copied (although, geez, their copies are expensive--about $0.25 a page), found an article that seems like it'll be really helpful in a technical school manual (I don't even know), and wound up running into another student from the program, who was visiting the library with his wife. Anyway, it was a productive day overall, although I now have abrasions on both my arms. I was taking out huge stacks of books at once, which was good for my productivity ('cause I could flip through six books in 30 minutes and figure out which ones were actually relevant without having to do the whole "flip through a book and then wait for 30 minutes for them to bring me another book" thing), but not so great for my arms, especially since a lot of books I was looking through were HUGE. There was a point at which I was carrying around six encyclopedia volumes plus my electronic dictionary plus my notebook plus two other normal-sized books. At least I didn't have to borrow a cart from the library, like that one guy who was hauling around what looked like 20 encyclopedia volumes on architecture.
Also, I discovered that the NDL has more reference works on "food culture" than it does on Shinto. Yeah.
Also, this is totally unrelated, but on the train today I saw an ad for this TV show, which is apparently about a single mom housewife who fights bullies FOR GREAT JUSTICE. I really hope she fights them with a vacuum. Really.
Anyway, we have a three-day weekend this weekend, so I might be going to the beach with classmates on Monday. Otherwise, not a whole lot of plans, other than maybe catching up on sleep, if I can stop from waking up at 6 a.m. because of the heat.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Monday, July 8, 2013
It is 11 p.m. and 90 degrees Fahrenheit
...so I haven't been writing much recently, mostly because I've been spending a lot of time writing speeches in Japanese, and once you've written a speech in Japanese, you don't really want to do much else. Plus, it's been Hotter Than Entirely Legal, which has kind of been killing all my energy. Seriously, it is currently 90 degrees, and it's 11 p.m. and I strongly object to this state of affairs.
BASICALLY, THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED RECENTLY:
Friday we had a field trip to see kabuki at the National Theatre in Tokyo. It was a special show intended to introduce people to kabuki, so there was a 30 minute introductory lecture followed by about 2 hours of kabuki. Thus, most of the other patrons were middle school children. Unfortunately, the introductory lecture turned out to be cooler than the actual show, 'cause in the introductory lecture they showed us a whole bunch of cool mechanisms they use in kabuki (from puppets to hydraulic lifts in the stage)...which then did not appear in the actual play. The actual play was...not the most exciting piece they could have performed. Basic story: dude discovers that his wife is actual a fox pretending to be his true love when true love shows up at his house with her parents, dude apparently is so distraught by this state of affairs that he goes to sleep (????), fox lady spends 30+ minutes lamenting the fact she has to leave, fox lady finally writes a poem on the sliding doors and leaves, dude feels bad and follows her, fox lady dances around with...dudes in clothes I don't know what they were supposed to represent, THE END. That took 2 hours. Roughly half the audience fell asleep, while one fourth of the conscious audience spent the entire performance poking each other and being super disruptive. So. That was a thing.
Afterwards I went out to dinner with a bunch of my classmates, and then headed home because the rest of them were heading out to a bar.
Saturday I visited the National Diet Library with Danica, who is one of my cohortmates from Harvard. If you ever get a chance to go to the National Diet Library, you should definitely go, because it's awesome. I now have a library card that is good for the next three years, and I think I'll be up there next weekend, 'cause they have a bunch of books I want to look at. The way it works is that you find the book you want in the library system, place a hold on it using the computer, and then you'll get a message when it's delivered to the holds counter. You can take out three books at a time, and you can also get up to 200 pages copied per day (2,000 pages, if you're okay with them delivering the photocopies to your house within 3 days). It's a great system and they have a bunch of interesting books, and I am basically super into it. So, yes, I will be going back there.
Otherwise, I have mostly been doing homework and writing speeches in Japanese. I led a one-hour discussion class about religion today, because I am all about talking about religion in class all the time. I'm giving YET ANOTHER speech about religion tomorrow morning, because my class is all about speeches all the time. Otherwise, my class has not been terribly exciting; we're reading about the unemployment rate for the forty millionth time in my academic career, because apparently when Japanese classes are looking for "societal problems" to talk about in class, rather than talking about, I don't know, any of the forty million other societal problems we could discuss, we talk about the unemployment rate. [insert loud sighing here]
...so, yeah, that's basically it. It's grossly hot, I want to swim in a pool of ice, I would eat ice cream for 600% of my meals if that were a nutritionally viable option, etc.
BASICALLY, THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED RECENTLY:
Friday we had a field trip to see kabuki at the National Theatre in Tokyo. It was a special show intended to introduce people to kabuki, so there was a 30 minute introductory lecture followed by about 2 hours of kabuki. Thus, most of the other patrons were middle school children. Unfortunately, the introductory lecture turned out to be cooler than the actual show, 'cause in the introductory lecture they showed us a whole bunch of cool mechanisms they use in kabuki (from puppets to hydraulic lifts in the stage)...which then did not appear in the actual play. The actual play was...not the most exciting piece they could have performed. Basic story: dude discovers that his wife is actual a fox pretending to be his true love when true love shows up at his house with her parents, dude apparently is so distraught by this state of affairs that he goes to sleep (????), fox lady spends 30+ minutes lamenting the fact she has to leave, fox lady finally writes a poem on the sliding doors and leaves, dude feels bad and follows her, fox lady dances around with...dudes in clothes I don't know what they were supposed to represent, THE END. That took 2 hours. Roughly half the audience fell asleep, while one fourth of the conscious audience spent the entire performance poking each other and being super disruptive. So. That was a thing.
Afterwards I went out to dinner with a bunch of my classmates, and then headed home because the rest of them were heading out to a bar.
Saturday I visited the National Diet Library with Danica, who is one of my cohortmates from Harvard. If you ever get a chance to go to the National Diet Library, you should definitely go, because it's awesome. I now have a library card that is good for the next three years, and I think I'll be up there next weekend, 'cause they have a bunch of books I want to look at. The way it works is that you find the book you want in the library system, place a hold on it using the computer, and then you'll get a message when it's delivered to the holds counter. You can take out three books at a time, and you can also get up to 200 pages copied per day (2,000 pages, if you're okay with them delivering the photocopies to your house within 3 days). It's a great system and they have a bunch of interesting books, and I am basically super into it. So, yes, I will be going back there.
Otherwise, I have mostly been doing homework and writing speeches in Japanese. I led a one-hour discussion class about religion today, because I am all about talking about religion in class all the time. I'm giving YET ANOTHER speech about religion tomorrow morning, because my class is all about speeches all the time. Otherwise, my class has not been terribly exciting; we're reading about the unemployment rate for the forty millionth time in my academic career, because apparently when Japanese classes are looking for "societal problems" to talk about in class, rather than talking about, I don't know, any of the forty million other societal problems we could discuss, we talk about the unemployment rate. [insert loud sighing here]
...so, yeah, that's basically it. It's grossly hot, I want to swim in a pool of ice, I would eat ice cream for 600% of my meals if that were a nutritionally viable option, etc.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
True or false answers, among other things
Firstly, true or false answers:
True or false: You will very rarely see Japanese people wearing anything that reveals their shoulders, even in summer.
True. It's considered rude to reveal your shoulders. On the other hand, it's ridiculously hot. This leads to some interesting fashion choices, such as wife beater/tank top + scarf.
True or false: In Japan, you stand on the left side of the escalator and walk on the right.
False. In all parts of Japan except the Kansai region, you stand on the left and walk on the right. In Kansai you stand on the right and walk on the left. Basically, Kansai is forever rebelling.
True or false: You can buy all of the following items at convenience stores in Japan: batteries, shampoo, notebooks, sandwiches, razors, fresh vegetables.
True. Japanese convenience stores are basically the best thing ever.
True or false: It's common to hear American pop songs in Japanese stores.
True. Including some wildly inappropriate ones! My favorite example is that Steven, one of my fellow Fulbrighters last year, heard Lady Gaga's "Christmas Tree" (perhaps you should not listen to this around sensitive ears) playing in a convenience store along with other "Christmas" music. I also heard "Starships" (same with this one) playing in a super-girly-lace-and-sparkles-everywhere store, which I personally thought was an awesome juxtaposition. And since I've linked to "Starships," I am now required by law to link to this music video. It is the law.
True or false: All of the following are foods closely associated with summer in Japan: watermelon, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, persimmons, figs.
False. Cucumbers and watermelon are the only ones of the bunch that are strongly associated with summer. Persimmons are a fall food.
True or false: The LDP just lost seats in the Diet.
False. The LDP just gained seats in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly. I should know, 'cause we've been watching news on it all week.
True or false: Wearing a hat is the most common way of protecting oneself from the sun during the summer in Japan.
False. It's much more common to carry a sun parasol. Particularly concerned women will often wear long sleeves or gloves. Sunscreen is a thing, but it seems like not many people use it. There are generational and gender differences, of course--men and older women are more likely to wear hats than carry sun parasols...although young men are much more likely to just not use any sun protection at all.
True or false: Tanning is considered unattractive in Japan.
True. Thus the long sleeves and gloves in ridiculously hot weather. I've had a couple of uncomfortable conversations where people have told me that I should be more careful not to tan, because tanning is unattractive, and I have to inform them that, no, that's just the color my skin is. The weirdest instance was when I had such a conversation in the middle of winter.
True or false: Japanese deodorant is significantly stronger than American deodorant.
False. Japanese deodorant is actually significantly weaker than American deodorant, so if you're planning on visiting Japan, I highly recommend bringing your own!
Mary and Julia tied for first with 7/9, so each of them will be receiving an arbitrary fabulous prize (alternatively an arbitrarily fabulous prize).
In other news, uhhh, not a whole lot to report. Class continues to be class-like. The weather is slowly getting hotter, which I strongly object to. I have discovered the joys of frozen watermelon during summer (seriously, chop up a watermelon and stick it in your freezer RIGHT NOW; you're welcome). I've been assigned my RSEA mentee for the next year,which means I have a minion now mwahahahaha. It looks like I might be going to the National Diet Library with some of my classmates this upcoming Saturday, which should be cool. I submitted my first abstract to a conference.
...yeah, my life is not terribly exciting right now, OH WELL.
I should go do research on Japanese political parties for class right now, so I'm going to end this post here.
Oh, wait, since I promised Julia, here's the speech I gave last week on how not to be super offensive while visiting a shrine:
鳥居を通ってから、「手水舎」という、手と口を洗う場所に行かなければなりません。なぜ手と口を洗うのが必要でしょうか。神道の世界観によると、人間の世界で生きたり、生活をしたりする人の体は「穢れ」という汚いものを持ってきます。聖地に入る前にその穢れを消すために手水舎で手と口を洗わなければなりません。神道を別に信じなくても、聖地を汚さないように手水舎を使ってください。正しい洗い方は次にご説明いたします。最初に、右手でひしゃくを持って、左手を洗います。次に、ひしゃくを左手に持ち替えて、右手を洗います。そして、もう一度ひしゃくを右手に持ち替えて、口を漱ぎます。手水舎の水は飲めない場合が多いので、漱ぐふりした方がいいです。ひしゃくを使い終わってから、握りを洗うためにひしゃくを縦にして、残りの水を握りに浴びせて、置き場所に戻します。
皆さんは観光客として神社に行くので、写真を撮りたいという方 は多いでしょう。撮影禁止というサインがなかったら、本殿の中を除き、どこでも撮影していいという神社が多いです。本殿は「神体」という神様の体を象徴している像や宝が祀られている場所で、そこで写真を撮るのは本当に失礼ですので、ご遠慮ください。本殿はどの建物かというと、参拝者がその前で祈る、「坪鈴」という鈴が取り付けられている建物です。ある神社では撮影コンテストなどがありますので、本殿以外の場所できれいな写真をいっぱい撮ってください。
True or false: You will very rarely see Japanese people wearing anything that reveals their shoulders, even in summer.
True. It's considered rude to reveal your shoulders. On the other hand, it's ridiculously hot. This leads to some interesting fashion choices, such as wife beater/tank top + scarf.
True or false: In Japan, you stand on the left side of the escalator and walk on the right.
False. In all parts of Japan except the Kansai region, you stand on the left and walk on the right. In Kansai you stand on the right and walk on the left. Basically, Kansai is forever rebelling.
True or false: You can buy all of the following items at convenience stores in Japan: batteries, shampoo, notebooks, sandwiches, razors, fresh vegetables.
True. Japanese convenience stores are basically the best thing ever.
True or false: It's common to hear American pop songs in Japanese stores.
True. Including some wildly inappropriate ones! My favorite example is that Steven, one of my fellow Fulbrighters last year, heard Lady Gaga's "Christmas Tree" (perhaps you should not listen to this around sensitive ears) playing in a convenience store along with other "Christmas" music. I also heard "Starships" (same with this one) playing in a super-girly-lace-and-sparkles-everywhere store, which I personally thought was an awesome juxtaposition. And since I've linked to "Starships," I am now required by law to link to this music video. It is the law.
True or false: All of the following are foods closely associated with summer in Japan: watermelon, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, persimmons, figs.
False. Cucumbers and watermelon are the only ones of the bunch that are strongly associated with summer. Persimmons are a fall food.
True or false: The LDP just lost seats in the Diet.
False. The LDP just gained seats in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly. I should know, 'cause we've been watching news on it all week.
True or false: Wearing a hat is the most common way of protecting oneself from the sun during the summer in Japan.
False. It's much more common to carry a sun parasol. Particularly concerned women will often wear long sleeves or gloves. Sunscreen is a thing, but it seems like not many people use it. There are generational and gender differences, of course--men and older women are more likely to wear hats than carry sun parasols...although young men are much more likely to just not use any sun protection at all.
True or false: Tanning is considered unattractive in Japan.
True. Thus the long sleeves and gloves in ridiculously hot weather. I've had a couple of uncomfortable conversations where people have told me that I should be more careful not to tan, because tanning is unattractive, and I have to inform them that, no, that's just the color my skin is. The weirdest instance was when I had such a conversation in the middle of winter.
True or false: Japanese deodorant is significantly stronger than American deodorant.
False. Japanese deodorant is actually significantly weaker than American deodorant, so if you're planning on visiting Japan, I highly recommend bringing your own!
Mary and Julia tied for first with 7/9, so each of them will be receiving an arbitrary fabulous prize (alternatively an arbitrarily fabulous prize).
In other news, uhhh, not a whole lot to report. Class continues to be class-like. The weather is slowly getting hotter, which I strongly object to. I have discovered the joys of frozen watermelon during summer (seriously, chop up a watermelon and stick it in your freezer RIGHT NOW; you're welcome). I've been assigned my RSEA mentee for the next year,
...yeah, my life is not terribly exciting right now, OH WELL.
I should go do research on Japanese political parties for class right now, so I'm going to end this post here.
Oh, wait, since I promised Julia, here's the speech I gave last week on how not to be super offensive while visiting a shrine:
今日は神社への正しいお参りの仕方について話させていただきたいと思います。お参りとは、参拝しなくても、神社に行くということです。どうしてお参りのやり方が分かったらいいかというと、皆さんは観光客として神社に行くかもしれませんが、神道を信じなくても、神社は聖なる場所なので、正しい行動が必要だからです。
まず、鳥居の通り方に関してご説明いたします。鳥居とは、神社の領域を示すための大きいゲートです。鳥居を通る時は 、真ん中を歩いてはいけません。なぜかというと、鳥居の真ん中の部分は神様が通るはずの道だからです。真ん中を歩けば、神様の道を阻んで、お邪魔になるという信仰があります。ですから、鳥居を通るなら、右側か左側を歩いてください。
鳥居を通ってから、「手水舎」という、手と口を洗う場所に行かなければなりません。なぜ手と口を洗うのが必要でしょうか。神道の世界観によると、人間の世界で生きたり、生活をしたりする人の体は「穢れ」という汚いものを持ってきます。聖地に入る前にその穢れを消すために手水舎で手と口を洗わなければなりません。神道を別に信じなくても、聖地を汚さないように手水舎を使ってください。正しい洗い方は次にご説明いたします。最初に、右手でひしゃくを持って、左手を洗います。次に、ひしゃくを左手に持ち替えて、右手を洗います。そして、もう一度ひしゃくを右手に持ち替えて、口を漱ぎます。手水舎の水は飲めない場合が多いので、漱ぐふりした方がいいです。ひしゃくを使い終わってから、握りを洗うためにひしゃくを縦にして、残りの水を握りに浴びせて、置き場所に戻します。
皆さんは観光客として神社に行くので、写真を撮りたいという方 は多いでしょう。撮影禁止というサインがなかったら、本殿の中を除き、どこでも撮影していいという神社が多いです。本殿は「神体」という神様の体を象徴している像や宝が祀られている場所で、そこで写真を撮るのは本当に失礼ですので、ご遠慮ください。本殿はどの建物かというと、参拝者がその前で祈る、「坪鈴」という鈴が取り付けられている建物です。ある神社では撮影コンテストなどがありますので、本殿以外の場所できれいな写真をいっぱい撮ってください。
皆さん、今夏、このお参りのルールを守って、たくさんの神社を楽しく見に行きましょうね！
Saturday, June 29, 2013
Kamakura (also, microwaveable rice)
Yesterday afternoon we had our first field trip...to Kamakura! Specifically to Enkakuji, which is a zen temple. There are going to be a lot of pictures and not a whole lot of commentary, 'cause I'm tired, so bear with me.
We were basically a gaijin swarm that took over the train and made everyone very confused.
(My main sensei is the guy wearing the white shirt.)
Yes, that is exactly what it looks like.
Big gate!
Miscellaneous pictures from around the grounds:
Yes, those are carved out of tree chunks. Yes, people have left a ton of coins on them.
Anyway, we wound up doing zazen, which is sitting meditation. We did three sessions: one that was 3 minutes, one that was 10 minutes, and one that was 15 minutes. That might seem like a pretty short time, but remember that you have to sit cross-legged with your feet on top of your knees and your back straight and then NOT MOVE AT ALL. (Oh, and you have to breathe really, really slowly. That's the bit I have the most trouble with.) A lot of other people were in pretty bad pain by the end, but my feet and legs just went completely numb. I couldn't feel my feet for a good five to ten minutes after we finished.
Also, the monk in charge actually whacked someone (with the whackee's permission) with the scary whack-y stick. (You get whacked with the stick if you break your posture or you obviously aren't doing zazen properly.) It was REALLY LOUD, and apparently did hurt quite a bit, despite the fact that he said he was only hitting at half strength. Moral of the story: Don't do hardcore zazen if the idea of being whacked with a stick freaks you out.
Anyway, after that was over, we wandered around the temple grounds for a little bit, and then someone had the bright idea of hiking to the Daibutsu (the giant Buddha statue in Kamakura). Someone (and this person is now refusing to come forward) said it was "a stroll" to the Daibutsu, which was how we wound up accidentally climbing a mountain (or four) to get to the Daibutsu.
This cool gate was on the way.
It's hard to tell from this picture, but that's a sheer cliff that we had to climb down next to.
Hahaha, "a stroll."
There was a shrine along the way, so I got to show everyone how to behave properly.
Husband and wife rocks tied together by a rope covered in five yen coins. It was an enmusubi (marriage) shrine.
Anyway, after that, we headed off in the direction of the Daibutsu again.
You can't tell from this picture, 'cause the contrast on my camera isn't good enough, but that first picture is actually a picture of Mt. Fuji.
I told you we climbed a mountain.
Stairs, are you drunk?
(It's worth noting, these were some of the better stairs on our hike.)
Anyway, we finally arrived at the Daibutsu...4 minutes after the gate closed. GAH.
We did get to see this exciting tsunami sign, though.
Anyway, we wound up walking back to the station and taking the train back to Yokohama, where I had dinner with a couple other folks from IUC and then headed home to crash.
Today has mostly been a chilling and homework day, but I finally took pictures of the dreaded microwaveable rice.
DUN DUN DUN.
Worth noting: This does not have to be refrigerated.
You peel the top covering back to the dotted line, and then put it in the microwave for 2 minutes.
When it comes out, it looks exactly the same.
Except it is rice.
And it is entirely indistinguishable from normal rice.
If this doesn't freak you out, you are made of much stronger stuff than I am.
(And then I put my dinner on top of it.)
We were basically a gaijin swarm that took over the train and made everyone very confused.
(My main sensei is the guy wearing the white shirt.)
Yes, that is exactly what it looks like.
Big gate!
Miscellaneous pictures from around the grounds:
Yes, those are carved out of tree chunks. Yes, people have left a ton of coins on them.
Anyway, we wound up doing zazen, which is sitting meditation. We did three sessions: one that was 3 minutes, one that was 10 minutes, and one that was 15 minutes. That might seem like a pretty short time, but remember that you have to sit cross-legged with your feet on top of your knees and your back straight and then NOT MOVE AT ALL. (Oh, and you have to breathe really, really slowly. That's the bit I have the most trouble with.) A lot of other people were in pretty bad pain by the end, but my feet and legs just went completely numb. I couldn't feel my feet for a good five to ten minutes after we finished.
Also, the monk in charge actually whacked someone (with the whackee's permission) with the scary whack-y stick. (You get whacked with the stick if you break your posture or you obviously aren't doing zazen properly.) It was REALLY LOUD, and apparently did hurt quite a bit, despite the fact that he said he was only hitting at half strength. Moral of the story: Don't do hardcore zazen if the idea of being whacked with a stick freaks you out.
Anyway, after that was over, we wandered around the temple grounds for a little bit, and then someone had the bright idea of hiking to the Daibutsu (the giant Buddha statue in Kamakura). Someone (and this person is now refusing to come forward) said it was "a stroll" to the Daibutsu, which was how we wound up accidentally climbing a mountain (or four) to get to the Daibutsu.
This cool gate was on the way.
It's hard to tell from this picture, but that's a sheer cliff that we had to climb down next to.
Hahaha, "a stroll."
There was a shrine along the way, so I got to show everyone how to behave properly.
Husband and wife rocks tied together by a rope covered in five yen coins. It was an enmusubi (marriage) shrine.
Anyway, after that, we headed off in the direction of the Daibutsu again.
You can't tell from this picture, 'cause the contrast on my camera isn't good enough, but that first picture is actually a picture of Mt. Fuji.
I told you we climbed a mountain.
Stairs, are you drunk?
(It's worth noting, these were some of the better stairs on our hike.)
Anyway, we finally arrived at the Daibutsu...4 minutes after the gate closed. GAH.
We did get to see this exciting tsunami sign, though.
Anyway, we wound up walking back to the station and taking the train back to Yokohama, where I had dinner with a couple other folks from IUC and then headed home to crash.
Today has mostly been a chilling and homework day, but I finally took pictures of the dreaded microwaveable rice.
DUN DUN DUN.
Worth noting: This does not have to be refrigerated.
You peel the top covering back to the dotted line, and then put it in the microwave for 2 minutes.
When it comes out, it looks exactly the same.
Except it is rice.
And it is entirely indistinguishable from normal rice.
If this doesn't freak you out, you are made of much stronger stuff than I am.
Okay, I am going to pass out now because I am too tired for everything GOOD NIGHT.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Extremely short post
So it turns out that microwaveable rice is actually edible and entirely indistinguishable from regular rice.
I'm not sure whether this freaks me out more or less than the alternative.
In other news, tomorrow we have a field trip to a temple to do zazen, i.e. sitting meditation.
True or false answers (as well as pictures of scary microwaveable rice) going up at some point in the future.
This post was brought to you by Dana's class-fueled exhaustion and the gelato store in Landmark Tower, which is probably going to steal all my money.
I'm not sure whether this freaks me out more or less than the alternative.
In other news, tomorrow we have a field trip to a temple to do zazen, i.e. sitting meditation.
True or false answers (as well as pictures of scary microwaveable rice) going up at some point in the future.
This post was brought to you by Dana's class-fueled exhaustion and the gelato store in Landmark Tower, which is probably going to steal all my money.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Class, class, class
Not a whole lot to report on, since I've just been in class all the time the past few days. I'm currently writing a two minute speech on how not to be an offensive person when you're sightseeing at shrines, which I might post here once I turn it in. Otherwise, it's been a lot of reading and memorizing vocabulary and watching the news and pounding my head against things because I don't know much political vocabulary. (The election was this week, and LITERALLY ALL THE NEWS has been about that.)
Since I am a boring person with nothing particularly interesting to talk about, let's have a true or false! Anyone who gets all the right answers will get...a fabulous prize to be arbitrarily decided upon by me. Yaaaaay.
True or false: You will very rarely see Japanese people wearing anything that reveals their shoulders, even in summer.
True or false: In Japan, you stand on the left side of the escalator and walk on the right.
True or false: You can buy all of the following items at convenience stores in Japan: batteries, shampoo, notebooks, sandwiches, razors, fresh vegetables.
True or false: It's common to hear American pop songs in Japanese stores.
True or false: All of the following are foods closely associated with summer in Japan: watermelon, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, persimmons, figs.
True or false: The LDP just lost seats in the Diet.
True or false: Wearing a hat is the most common way of protecting oneself from the sun during the summer in Japan.
True or false: Tanning is considered unattractive in Japan.
True or false: Japanese deodorant is significantly stronger than American deodorant.
You have until whenever I post my next post to pick your answers. 皆さん、頑張って！
Since I am a boring person with nothing particularly interesting to talk about, let's have a true or false! Anyone who gets all the right answers will get...a fabulous prize to be arbitrarily decided upon by me. Yaaaaay.
True or false: You will very rarely see Japanese people wearing anything that reveals their shoulders, even in summer.
True or false: In Japan, you stand on the left side of the escalator and walk on the right.
True or false: You can buy all of the following items at convenience stores in Japan: batteries, shampoo, notebooks, sandwiches, razors, fresh vegetables.
True or false: It's common to hear American pop songs in Japanese stores.
True or false: All of the following are foods closely associated with summer in Japan: watermelon, eggplant, squash, cucumbers, persimmons, figs.
True or false: The LDP just lost seats in the Diet.
True or false: Wearing a hat is the most common way of protecting oneself from the sun during the summer in Japan.
True or false: Tanning is considered unattractive in Japan.
True or false: Japanese deodorant is significantly stronger than American deodorant.
You have until whenever I post my next post to pick your answers. 皆さん、頑張って！
Saturday, June 22, 2013
First days in Yokohama
A lot has happened the past few days, so let me catch you up.
Thursday was our first day at IUC. It wasn't a full day, since we only had a two-hour placement test in the morning and then the afternoon free. That was just as well, since a couple of the people in our program arrived at 2 a.m. on the day of the test. Apparently their flight had been horribly delayed, and thus they literally came straight from the airport to the center. Ouch. Additionally, a lot of people had flown in the day before and hadn't gotten over jetlag. I guess I made the right decision in doing my visiting before classes started!
Anyway, as much as I despise placement tests, this one wasn't as terrible as I was expecting! Although apparently my interview was ridiculously hard compared to most other people's. My classmates got asked questions like "What do you study?" and "Please introduce yourself," and I got "What are the features of Japanese New Religions?" and "What makes certain religions 'Sect Shinto'?" Uh, lemme just summarize 50 years of academic debates for you... Otherwise, the test wasn't awful--even the listening section, which involved differentiating accents (something I can actually do!).
After the placement test, I went to Daiso with a couple of other students from the program to pick up necessities like toothpaste* and laundry detergent and hangers. I also got a "cooking set" from the apartment front desk, which basically means a pan, a pot, a hot plate, and some various cooking utensils and plates. I now have the world's tiniest kitchen. I'm still trying to figure out how to do rice--one of my senpai** at Harvard recommended buying the microwaveable rice packets from the grocery store (she says they taste like normal rice), but they kind of sketch me out and I'm not sure I've quite reached that level of desperation. I may just wind up eating a lot of noodles this summer.
Friday we received our class assignments and had orientation, which included a long segment on what to do if there's an earthquake/tsunami/typhoon/fire/other natural disaster. I'm in a class of 8, and 6 of my classmates are men, which is kind of unusual as far as Japanese classes go. (I'm used to either a male-female 50/50 split or predominantly female Japanese language classes. Not sure why they usually wind up like that.) The majority of my classmates are studying business, law, or international relations, which means that I am, as usual, the weird one out. OH WELL. Our homework load seems...weirdly heavy, but we'll see if it decreases as the weeks go on.*** Two of our textbooks (for kanji and for keigo****) are books I've used before, which means that those sections will probably wind up being review.
We had a "welcome party" in the afternoon, where I met a bunch of the other students, including a guy who is a graduate from my program (and is now at University of Texas) and studies Japanese folk religion. I think there are a total of 4 people studying religion (plus 1 studying Japanese Buddhist art history), although I'm the only person doing Shinto, as usual. Still, it was cool to talk to other people and hear about their research projects.
Today has mostly been a stay-at-home-and-do-homework day (partially because of the weather and partially because I'm feeling under the weather*****), so not much to report on there. I'm going to make delicious food for dinner and watch my news broadcast and do some more reading, probably, because I live an exciting life like that. (Well, that and get increasingly hysterical emails from my friends about the Hannibal finale. I haven't even seen the show, but apparently people just have a lot of feelings about it.)
*Japanese toothpaste is...not the greatest, but I unfortunately underestimated how much toothpaste I would go through while away from Boston. OH WELL. The stuff I got this time is way better than that...other stuff...I got in Kyoto.
**Students ahead of me in the program. The opposite of this is "kouhai." Someone in the second year of the program would be my senpai and I would be their kouhai.
***To give you an idea, our homework load for this week is: 2 lessons in our keigo textbook, 4 essays to read (each roughly 10 pages long), 5 20-minute news broadcasts to watch, 1 10-minute presentation on aforementioned news broadcasts, 1 2-minute presentation on "whatever we want," 4 vocabulary quizzes, and however many kanji tests we can get through this week.
****Honorific and humble speech. Basically, the bane of everyone's existence. And, yes, "everyone" includes Japanese people.
*****YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?
Thursday was our first day at IUC. It wasn't a full day, since we only had a two-hour placement test in the morning and then the afternoon free. That was just as well, since a couple of the people in our program arrived at 2 a.m. on the day of the test. Apparently their flight had been horribly delayed, and thus they literally came straight from the airport to the center. Ouch. Additionally, a lot of people had flown in the day before and hadn't gotten over jetlag. I guess I made the right decision in doing my visiting before classes started!
Anyway, as much as I despise placement tests, this one wasn't as terrible as I was expecting! Although apparently my interview was ridiculously hard compared to most other people's. My classmates got asked questions like "What do you study?" and "Please introduce yourself," and I got "What are the features of Japanese New Religions?" and "What makes certain religions 'Sect Shinto'?" Uh, lemme just summarize 50 years of academic debates for you... Otherwise, the test wasn't awful--even the listening section, which involved differentiating accents (something I can actually do!).
After the placement test, I went to Daiso with a couple of other students from the program to pick up necessities like toothpaste* and laundry detergent and hangers. I also got a "cooking set" from the apartment front desk, which basically means a pan, a pot, a hot plate, and some various cooking utensils and plates. I now have the world's tiniest kitchen. I'm still trying to figure out how to do rice--one of my senpai** at Harvard recommended buying the microwaveable rice packets from the grocery store (she says they taste like normal rice), but they kind of sketch me out and I'm not sure I've quite reached that level of desperation. I may just wind up eating a lot of noodles this summer.
Friday we received our class assignments and had orientation, which included a long segment on what to do if there's an earthquake/tsunami/typhoon/fire/other natural disaster. I'm in a class of 8, and 6 of my classmates are men, which is kind of unusual as far as Japanese classes go. (I'm used to either a male-female 50/50 split or predominantly female Japanese language classes. Not sure why they usually wind up like that.) The majority of my classmates are studying business, law, or international relations, which means that I am, as usual, the weird one out. OH WELL. Our homework load seems...weirdly heavy, but we'll see if it decreases as the weeks go on.*** Two of our textbooks (for kanji and for keigo****) are books I've used before, which means that those sections will probably wind up being review.
We had a "welcome party" in the afternoon, where I met a bunch of the other students, including a guy who is a graduate from my program (and is now at University of Texas) and studies Japanese folk religion. I think there are a total of 4 people studying religion (plus 1 studying Japanese Buddhist art history), although I'm the only person doing Shinto, as usual. Still, it was cool to talk to other people and hear about their research projects.
Today has mostly been a stay-at-home-and-do-homework day (partially because of the weather and partially because I'm feeling under the weather*****), so not much to report on there. I'm going to make delicious food for dinner and watch my news broadcast and do some more reading, probably, because I live an exciting life like that. (Well, that and get increasingly hysterical emails from my friends about the Hannibal finale. I haven't even seen the show, but apparently people just have a lot of feelings about it.)
*Japanese toothpaste is...not the greatest, but I unfortunately underestimated how much toothpaste I would go through while away from Boston. OH WELL. The stuff I got this time is way better than that...other stuff...I got in Kyoto.
**Students ahead of me in the program. The opposite of this is "kouhai." Someone in the second year of the program would be my senpai and I would be their kouhai.
***To give you an idea, our homework load for this week is: 2 lessons in our keigo textbook, 4 essays to read (each roughly 10 pages long), 5 20-minute news broadcasts to watch, 1 10-minute presentation on aforementioned news broadcasts, 1 2-minute presentation on "whatever we want," 4 vocabulary quizzes, and however many kanji tests we can get through this week.
****Honorific and humble speech. Basically, the bane of everyone's existence. And, yes, "everyone" includes Japanese people.
*****YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?
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