Nothing really of awesome significance is going on.
I did write a paper on the differences between how men and women speak in Japanese for my partially useless Nihongaku class. There are certain speech patterns and certain words that are supposedly reserved for men (making them sound more assertive, direct, and sometimes almost rude) and women (making them sound polite, submissive, and indirect) and it's sort of a big deal if you use words that don't match your gender. For example, I couldn't get away with saying things like "Ikuze!" because the "ze" at the end of that phrase (which means, "Let's go!") is reserved for boys and men. Lame. Because I REALLY like male speech patterns and words. It sounds cool. I clearly watch and read too many shounen (young boys) anime and manga. I blame my brother for my tomboyish ways. With love.
Anyway! In regards to the limitations of how to speak depending on one's gender, things like that are changing, so that's not necessarily set in stone anymore. But sometimes, it is. It's very complicated...but very fun to research.
It's just about June. Crazy, isn't it? In almost two months exactly, I'll be home for a long time. I'll be (hopefully) finishing up my undergrad degree. Then off to graduate school. Yikes. Every time I think about it, I remember how much I don't want to talk about it, so I move on. Just like I will right now.
The other day I went to 7-11 with Elizabeth (we hang out too much, haha, we know, but we always have so much fun!) and as we were passing Fit Care Depot (sort of like a CVS...they often play really random music, ranging from Spice Girls, N*Sync and other 90s gems. I've walked in to hear some sort of hardcore gangster rap...also "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas once. That place is awesome. And the stuff there is cheap too!), a 10 -12 year old boy and his grandma walked out of the store.
They took a gander at the foreigners (that's us :p ) and moved on. Well, at least the grandma did. The boy had no qualms about looking over his shoulder every now and then to look at us. Several times. We laughed about it. We reached a point where we had to wait to cross the street and while we did, we noticed the boy and his grandma walking away along the street. Even as he was leaving, the boy every now and then turned to glance at us.
"If he does it one more time, I'm just going to wave at him," I told Elizabeth, almost hoping he would do it, just so I could do my thing. Elizabeth approved. And sure enough, he did. The moment he did, I smiled and waved and he quickly turned back around. I didn't catch him look at us again - so much shame. Silly boy.
Now that summer is coming, so are the bugs. Whomp whomp. Living in Maryland, interestingly, I've never had too much experience with cockroaches. Unfortunately, they are quite popular here. Elizabeth and I managed to use our Japanese skills and common sense to find some bug spray and we share it between us. It's supposed to keep roaches out specifically. I'm not excited for the giant death spiders to return (please refer to my first album in Japan to see what I'm talking about: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017965&id=1230390045&l=fe935f12ae ) Another friend has showed me the camel cricket that he found in his apartment. Not happy, not happy, not happy one bit. I hate those things. But the thing I hate the most, the very most, are centipedes. Their freakish limbs, their speed....just thinking about them makes me shiver. I will be praying that none come near me, my room, or the ENTIRE dorm (haha, I know I'm going a little overboard). And considering it's Japan, I know they are probably horribly large.
I'm going to stop talking about that too now, considering how uneasy it makes me feel. Isn't it sad that I'm the one that brought up the topic?
Here, enjoy some pictures to take out the horrible images I put in your heads. Or go play some Tetris. It helps, this proves it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8587000/8587211.stm
Silly things abound in this country
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038860&id=1230390045&l=c202a2f738
Covering a variety of sights in one day
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c
Another collection of miscellaneous adventures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c
By the way, for all of my readers, thank you caring enough about me to read my ramblings about this lovely fascinating I-will-never-fully-understand-it-ever country. I'll be soon home soon enough. :)
Monday, May 31, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
A Little Token of Tokyo
This is a brief and awkward experience I had on the train with Elizabeth today.
Now, we were sitting on the train coming home from Shibuya back to Eda. We were just talking and giggling, as usual and at some point during the ride, there was a particular salary man standing across from us. He twists his head around to look at Elizabeth and I, probably noticing us because we were speaking English. After he turned his head back around, a few seconds later, he picks up his bag from the overhead rack, walks over to us, and puts his bag on the overhead rack above us.
And proceeded to stare intently, without a word.
Elizabeth and I noticed. It was very uncomfortable (and funny, in a "this shouldn't be happening!" sort of way). Our nervous laughter was uncontainable. Elizabeth asked whether she should look, and after I quickly looked up to notice he hadn't averted his eys and awkwardly made eye contact with him, I suggested it would be best not to.
The fact that he blatantly stared at us is one thing. I'm not saying I'm used to outright staring, but I've gotten used to laughing it off. But to move from one perfectly good spot, to in front of us so he could have a "better look" is what bothers me the most. So creepy! We weren't even wearing anything revealing.
I hope I never see him again.
But on a lighter note, here's my album of silly things I find in Japan:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30688634&l=ee9618d64d&id=1230390045
Now, we were sitting on the train coming home from Shibuya back to Eda. We were just talking and giggling, as usual and at some point during the ride, there was a particular salary man standing across from us. He twists his head around to look at Elizabeth and I, probably noticing us because we were speaking English. After he turned his head back around, a few seconds later, he picks up his bag from the overhead rack, walks over to us, and puts his bag on the overhead rack above us.
And proceeded to stare intently, without a word.
Elizabeth and I noticed. It was very uncomfortable (and funny, in a "this shouldn't be happening!" sort of way). Our nervous laughter was uncontainable. Elizabeth asked whether she should look, and after I quickly looked up to notice he hadn't averted his eys and awkwardly made eye contact with him, I suggested it would be best not to.
The fact that he blatantly stared at us is one thing. I'm not saying I'm used to outright staring, but I've gotten used to laughing it off. But to move from one perfectly good spot, to in front of us so he could have a "better look" is what bothers me the most. So creepy! We weren't even wearing anything revealing.
I hope I never see him again.
But on a lighter note, here's my album of silly things I find in Japan:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30688634&l=ee9618d64d&id=1230390045
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Ano hi mita sora, akaneiro no sora wo, nee, kimi wa oboeteimasu ka?
Well, Golden Week is good and gone by now but I managed to do something on the last day (May 5th/Cinco de Mayo/Children's Day). With Andra and her two friends, we had a full day of being complete tourists.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038001&id=1230390045&l=4b514798df
The first spot we found was a shrine we hadn't intended to go to, but it was nice anyway. We happened to catch a wedding. I found it a little odd that it was so open like that, because there were so many random people not associated with the wedding around (like us). But I guess that it's custom? I'll have to ask someone or do a little more research on that.
After that, we decided to find the shrines on our to-do list. The first was Kanda Myojin, which we found by accident actually. I'm not really interested in Shinto whatsoever, but I love shrines. They're beautiful to me. This will be super cliche, but whenever I go visit them, it feels like I'm stepping into the past. It's pretty cool.
We got a little lost finding the station to take us to our next destination, Yasukuni Shrine but in the end, we managed to get there. One thing to know about Yasukuni Shrine, it's known for controversy. It is dedicated to Japanese soldiers who have died in combat. And from this point, I'm copying and pasting (and by copying and pasting, I mean, typing out...) from my guidebook because I'm too sick to think on my own about these things (yes, by the way, I've caught a cold from Cat. Yay.):
"Although the shrine dates back to 1869, in the years leading up to and during WWII, it was chosen as Tokyo's chief shrine of State Shinto. During this time, Yasukuni Shrine became the physical representation of the Japanese government's jingoistic policy. Needless to say, the Asian countries that suffered under the harsh grip of Imperial Japan are less than ecstatic when heads of state stop by and pay their respects.
....Despite a post-war constitutional commitment to the separation of religion and politics as well as a renunciation of militarism, 1979 14 class-A war criminals (as determined by the US-Ied International Military Tribunal for the Far East) including Hideki Tojo (infamous WWII general) were enshrined here amid worldwide protests....Leading Liberal Democratic Party politicians have made a habit of visiting the shrine on the anniversary of Japan's defeat in WWII (15 August)."
And then, to make things better, is the Yuushuukan - the museum (apparently, Japan's oldest museum dating back to 1882) located at the shrine. As you can imagine, it's a war museum, going through history and documenting battles, rebellions, conflicts, etc. between Japan and other countries and amongst itself. We weren't allowed to take any pictures. Of course. Japan always seems to know when I'd like to take pictures the most, because they'll tell me I can't do it. It's especially frustrating because I cannot recall all of the English explanations and that's what made things interesting. Seeing things from another point of view a.k.a. Japan's is very interesting. Unfortunately, once the Meiji Era starts, the West (mostly America) is looking pretty bad. One of my favorites (sarcastic) was about how "Japan was forced into attacking Pearl Harbor due to American and British foreign policy of the time." Oh, and also, "The US had no interest in bringing the war to an early end."
What? <- our reaction to this and many situations described in the museum.
Yeah. By the time we finished walking through all the exhibits, we were a little...shocked? Maybe that's too strong of a word. But something along those lines. We stayed at the museum of have a late lunch. Right as we were about to leave, a little old Japanese man turned to talk with us in English. He seemed very thrilled that we were in Japan, as American exchange students, studying Japanese, eating Japanese food and visiting the country's many sights. He told us how he had been to America (Hawaii and California) a few times on group tours. He was very sweet and eventually, let us go as his food was getting cold and we were obviously on our way out.
While in the exhibits, again, I felt more self conscious being an American (more than usual) and was almost uncomfortable. But leaving the exhibit, and sort of in a way, coming back to the present (I don't know how to not make that sound cheesy, sorry) and having the man talk with us, it made me feel much better. I'm glad that despite the violent past, we can still make peace with one another.
A little less profound, we found a garden with a koi pond. I noticed that we could feed them so I impulsively bought a box of koi food and then we all fed them. A Japanese man randomly came up to me and asked in English whether I was from India. His next guess was America. He then told me that the fish were called koi and we agreed on how beautiful they were...and then he left.
I'll miss moments like this when I go back to America.
Anyway, we finally made our way to Roppongi and sort of loitered around Roppongi Hills (shopping and entertainment center) until it was dark outside. Our next destination was Tokyo Tower, which is the best after dark. It. Was. Awesome.
We only went up to 150 meters because it was cheaper and there wasn't a 40 minute wait. It was all we really needed anyway. Oh, and for some reason, Tokyo Tower is brimming with Michael Jackson paraphernalia. When we came back down, the shops were playing Michael Jackson music. I couldn't stop dancing and lip syncing. I caught a woman smiling at me.
That was all the festivities we planned for that day and Andra and her friends were going back home on the night bus that evening. At some point, I'll have to visit them in Kansai. I want to go back! I want to go to Kyoto too.
----
I meant to post that *points up*, within a few days of it happening, not a week later. >.> Oh well.
Currently, I'm stuffy, tired and coughing. Because Cat wasn't feeling well, she asked whether I'd come to the doctor's with her. So I did. The very same evening, my throat was sore. :(
No good deed goes unpunished, Elphaba would say (Wicked the musical reference, for those less savvy :P ) At least it's the weekend and I possibly have time to recover. I was just getting over being allergy ridden too...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038001&id=1230390045&l=4b514798df
The first spot we found was a shrine we hadn't intended to go to, but it was nice anyway. We happened to catch a wedding. I found it a little odd that it was so open like that, because there were so many random people not associated with the wedding around (like us). But I guess that it's custom? I'll have to ask someone or do a little more research on that.
After that, we decided to find the shrines on our to-do list. The first was Kanda Myojin, which we found by accident actually. I'm not really interested in Shinto whatsoever, but I love shrines. They're beautiful to me. This will be super cliche, but whenever I go visit them, it feels like I'm stepping into the past. It's pretty cool.
We got a little lost finding the station to take us to our next destination, Yasukuni Shrine but in the end, we managed to get there. One thing to know about Yasukuni Shrine, it's known for controversy. It is dedicated to Japanese soldiers who have died in combat. And from this point, I'm copying and pasting (and by copying and pasting, I mean, typing out...) from my guidebook because I'm too sick to think on my own about these things (yes, by the way, I've caught a cold from Cat. Yay.):
"Although the shrine dates back to 1869, in the years leading up to and during WWII, it was chosen as Tokyo's chief shrine of State Shinto. During this time, Yasukuni Shrine became the physical representation of the Japanese government's jingoistic policy. Needless to say, the Asian countries that suffered under the harsh grip of Imperial Japan are less than ecstatic when heads of state stop by and pay their respects.
....Despite a post-war constitutional commitment to the separation of religion and politics as well as a renunciation of militarism, 1979 14 class-A war criminals (as determined by the US-Ied International Military Tribunal for the Far East) including Hideki Tojo (infamous WWII general) were enshrined here amid worldwide protests....Leading Liberal Democratic Party politicians have made a habit of visiting the shrine on the anniversary of Japan's defeat in WWII (15 August)."
And then, to make things better, is the Yuushuukan - the museum (apparently, Japan's oldest museum dating back to 1882) located at the shrine. As you can imagine, it's a war museum, going through history and documenting battles, rebellions, conflicts, etc. between Japan and other countries and amongst itself. We weren't allowed to take any pictures. Of course. Japan always seems to know when I'd like to take pictures the most, because they'll tell me I can't do it. It's especially frustrating because I cannot recall all of the English explanations and that's what made things interesting. Seeing things from another point of view a.k.a. Japan's is very interesting. Unfortunately, once the Meiji Era starts, the West (mostly America) is looking pretty bad. One of my favorites (sarcastic) was about how "Japan was forced into attacking Pearl Harbor due to American and British foreign policy of the time." Oh, and also, "The US had no interest in bringing the war to an early end."
What? <- our reaction to this and many situations described in the museum.
Yeah. By the time we finished walking through all the exhibits, we were a little...shocked? Maybe that's too strong of a word. But something along those lines. We stayed at the museum of have a late lunch. Right as we were about to leave, a little old Japanese man turned to talk with us in English. He seemed very thrilled that we were in Japan, as American exchange students, studying Japanese, eating Japanese food and visiting the country's many sights. He told us how he had been to America (Hawaii and California) a few times on group tours. He was very sweet and eventually, let us go as his food was getting cold and we were obviously on our way out.
While in the exhibits, again, I felt more self conscious being an American (more than usual) and was almost uncomfortable. But leaving the exhibit, and sort of in a way, coming back to the present (I don't know how to not make that sound cheesy, sorry) and having the man talk with us, it made me feel much better. I'm glad that despite the violent past, we can still make peace with one another.
A little less profound, we found a garden with a koi pond. I noticed that we could feed them so I impulsively bought a box of koi food and then we all fed them. A Japanese man randomly came up to me and asked in English whether I was from India. His next guess was America. He then told me that the fish were called koi and we agreed on how beautiful they were...and then he left.
I'll miss moments like this when I go back to America.
Anyway, we finally made our way to Roppongi and sort of loitered around Roppongi Hills (shopping and entertainment center) until it was dark outside. Our next destination was Tokyo Tower, which is the best after dark. It. Was. Awesome.
We only went up to 150 meters because it was cheaper and there wasn't a 40 minute wait. It was all we really needed anyway. Oh, and for some reason, Tokyo Tower is brimming with Michael Jackson paraphernalia. When we came back down, the shops were playing Michael Jackson music. I couldn't stop dancing and lip syncing. I caught a woman smiling at me.
That was all the festivities we planned for that day and Andra and her friends were going back home on the night bus that evening. At some point, I'll have to visit them in Kansai. I want to go back! I want to go to Kyoto too.
----
I meant to post that *points up*, within a few days of it happening, not a week later. >.> Oh well.
Currently, I'm stuffy, tired and coughing. Because Cat wasn't feeling well, she asked whether I'd come to the doctor's with her. So I did. The very same evening, my throat was sore. :(
No good deed goes unpunished, Elphaba would say (Wicked the musical reference, for those less savvy :P ) At least it's the weekend and I possibly have time to recover. I was just getting over being allergy ridden too...
Monday, May 3, 2010
Isn't it Nice to Know that We're Golden?
Speaking of golden, it's Golden Week here in Japan. Golden Week is a three-day holiday (technically, a five-day weekend considering Saturday and Sunday) in Japan because it has three holidays in a row. Constitution Memorial Day (today), Greenery Day (tomorrow - which apparently, is supposed to be in honor of the Emperor Showa's love for plants....), and Children's Day! Lucky me, it's a six-day weekend because I don't even have school on Thursday! :D
Unlike most people for Golden Week, I'm not going anywhere in particular. I'll look through my guidebook and see if there is anything close that I can go to for a day-trip sort of thing. So I can seem like I'm not wasting my holiday.
But recently, my friend Andra from UMD has come up from....I forgot where she lives, but it's between Osaka and Kyoto. Anyway! She came up to Tokyo with a couple of her friends and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with her again! We've had Japanese classes together since our freshmen year (not counting this year, obviously) so, we go back a few years (it's weird to think that, by the way). It's so awesome hanging out in Japan with her. Something we talked about with great anticipation in the past and now it's a reality! We've been having tons of fun lately, going out to eat, going to karaoke, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. Here are pictures of my most recent adventures in Japanland.
(The First Set of Spring Pictures)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033379&id=1230390045&l=1ef4d8c9bd
(Another Picnic by the River)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037411&id=1230390045&l=9a1c14765c
(Miscellaneous Fun)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c
Unfortunately, now that it's spring, my allergies have been acting up. Especially now that the rain has decided to let up for a bit. Maybe that's why I hadn't felt like I was suffering before - all the rain washed it away. But this week is supposed to be without any water for the most part, so my nose, throat and head are feeling it the worst. I do have tons of Zyrtec, so fear not. Also, the Japanese custom of passing out tissues on the streets has been so beneficial. I've never been more grateful.
Oh. Another thing. I dropped my super cool cellphone into the toilet the other day; one of those darn Asian toilets. Incredibly lame. I was able to go to Softbank though and get a replacement while they try to fix mine. It's interesting because it's not as nice as my phone, but at the same time, it's little bit better. The one thing I'm thinking of is the "Relaxation Time" function. It just plays music and the the keypad lights up in a pattern. It's incredibly addicting to watch (not to mention cute and pretty). I put on the "Sleep" one last night before I went to bed and it put me to sleep instantly. A fun and not completely useless function - definitely a plus.
I'm going to miss it when I have to give it back to Softbank.
Unlike most people for Golden Week, I'm not going anywhere in particular. I'll look through my guidebook and see if there is anything close that I can go to for a day-trip sort of thing. So I can seem like I'm not wasting my holiday.
But recently, my friend Andra from UMD has come up from....I forgot where she lives, but it's between Osaka and Kyoto. Anyway! She came up to Tokyo with a couple of her friends and I've had the pleasure of hanging out with her again! We've had Japanese classes together since our freshmen year (not counting this year, obviously) so, we go back a few years (it's weird to think that, by the way). It's so awesome hanging out in Japan with her. Something we talked about with great anticipation in the past and now it's a reality! We've been having tons of fun lately, going out to eat, going to karaoke, enjoying the sights, sounds, and smells. Here are pictures of my most recent adventures in Japanland.
(The First Set of Spring Pictures)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2033379&id=1230390045&l=1ef4d8c9bd
(Another Picnic by the River)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037411&id=1230390045&l=9a1c14765c
(Miscellaneous Fun)
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037709&id=1230390045&l=88436beb0c
Unfortunately, now that it's spring, my allergies have been acting up. Especially now that the rain has decided to let up for a bit. Maybe that's why I hadn't felt like I was suffering before - all the rain washed it away. But this week is supposed to be without any water for the most part, so my nose, throat and head are feeling it the worst. I do have tons of Zyrtec, so fear not. Also, the Japanese custom of passing out tissues on the streets has been so beneficial. I've never been more grateful.
Oh. Another thing. I dropped my super cool cellphone into the toilet the other day; one of those darn Asian toilets. Incredibly lame. I was able to go to Softbank though and get a replacement while they try to fix mine. It's interesting because it's not as nice as my phone, but at the same time, it's little bit better. The one thing I'm thinking of is the "Relaxation Time" function. It just plays music and the the keypad lights up in a pattern. It's incredibly addicting to watch (not to mention cute and pretty). I put on the "Sleep" one last night before I went to bed and it put me to sleep instantly. A fun and not completely useless function - definitely a plus.
I'm going to miss it when I have to give it back to Softbank.
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