A man, a plan, a bath...an

Okay, so my plan is to catch you up in chronological order i.e. writing about the older stuff first and gradually coming up to the present. The only exception to this plan is an event that occurred during the Nagano trip weekend before last.

So, first things first. Japanese society and culture has a number of fundamental pillars which have influenced the development of the country for many hundreds of years. One of these is Shinto, an animistic religion, which I couldn’t possibly being to describe in this blog post. Shinto has a number of tenents, among the most important being cleanliness. There is a strong link there between physical cleanliness and spiritual cleanliness, which is why Japanese people remove their shoes before entering (most) rooms among other practices. Since cleanliness is so important, hot springs and public baths (and more recently, bathtubs) are central to everyday life. There are a few words in Japanese which have an honorific syllable (o- or go-) attached to them to indicate respect. The bath is one of them, being spelled as お風呂(ofuro, “bath”) in polite company. Times during the day to use the bath are usually upon waking, before dinner, or before bed. As I understand it, those are day-to-day times and when you’re vacationing it’s pretty much fine to go whenever and however many times you feel like.

So I’m in the bath at the retreat house in Nagano having a grand old time. The water is very hot and very relaxing. Japan is far less hung up on nudity than the United States (baths were not gender segregated until Christianity was introduced) so the atmosphere is casual. I’m talking about where I’m from with one of the Chinese students, switching between broken Japanese and broken English when I realize that we have to meet in the lobby for dinner fairly soon. I stand up from the bath and start walking over to retrieve my shampoo when I...

PREFACE FOR FAMILY MEMBERS AND OTHERWISE CONCERNED PARTIES: I am at this time okay with 2 very nicely healing wounds. No other residual damage exists. How are you guys doing?

...fainted. Apparently I didn’t realize just how high my body’s core temperature had become in the bath and, well, good night Gracie. I fell remarkably evenly on my right side, suffering small bruises on my right knee, elbow, shoulder, and jaw. On my hip there is an enormous bruise that resembles a Serat painting as well as a cut on my head, the last point to encounter the slate tile floor. Ouch. Luckily for me, the Chinese student and one of the other American students were there to help me gather my things and make sure I was alright. Ironically, I was the calmest one in the room, having ascertained that I didn’t have a concussion and, considering the head wound, I very small amount of bleeding. Quite a few years ago I broke my collarbone when the defective quick-release on my bike saw me traveling quickly forward and even faster downwards, my front wheel rolling just ahead of the part of the bike that it’s normally connected to. When the fork hit the pavement I basically flew straight over the handlebars into the street (was wearing a helmet, didn’t need it. Funny little world, eh?). I would go so far as to use the word “spectacular” to describe the whole affair.

Anyway, the pain of the event and subsequent recovery sans painkillers (which I was allergic to/didn’t work, don’t know why) ended up being pretty good prep for bashing my head into the floor. So now, when I come back and recount my trip for people, I’ll have an actual, physical scar to show off. Neat, huh?

All that being said, you can bet I’ll be back in the bath next chance I have. Now I know my limits, especially the part where you sit there and cool down as opposed to, you know, hurting yourself.

I’m happy to report that in addition to being physically sound, I’m doing much better in all other areas as they relate to culture shock. I realized after a lengthy discussion with Alisha that my expectations for myself were way way too high and that I just need to pace myself and be unapologetic for what I have no control over. She’s right, too. If I’m in this for the next 7 months, I do need to be more respectful of my limitations. I got to laugh at myself a little, too. I remember, going in to the trip, thinking “I’ll probably have come culture shock, but as long as I take it slow, everything should be fine.” Heh, yeah.

Next time: Osu market and temple.

Sorry, this one's sort of a downer.

Edited slightly for horrendous grammar and over-assertive cultural statements.

Wow, so much I want to write about. I need to catch you all up on what I’ve been doing since conveyor sushi. That same night we went shopping, browsing a bookstore and a clothing store. One of the stereotypes of Japan is that everyone is dressed to the 9’s all the time. There is some truth to this. Indeed, riding the subway day-to-day you will see, without fail, at least one man and one woman who look like they’re dressed for a modeling photo shoot. To give you the whole picture, you’ll see plenty of people who are dressed in what I would consider everyday attire. This stems from a fairly ingrained social construct which dictates a hierarchy of social projection that a person should strive to achieve. The ranking goes: clothing, then food, then living space. Here’s the logic behind it: everyone can see what you are wearing; there is now way to hide that. Some people will see what you eat, but only if they are present with you at the grocery store or in a restaurant. Lastly, the only way a person will see your living space is if you invite them in. So it’s not unusual for a high school boy (who must wear a school uniform with few options) to drop $200 on a pair of shoes or for a young professional woman to pay $200 for a Louis Vitton handbag. After all, the point of these clothes is to create a favorable impression on others. Especially since it’s customary to only interface with people whom you have an established relationship. If a stranger is staring at you on the bus, it could easily be considered strange or even rude to smile at them and strike up a conversation. If you care about their opinion of you, which most Japanese people probably would to at least a small degree, your appearance is the only means by which you can tell them about yourself. As always, this is not a silver bullet for understanding this part of social relationships in Japan. As I’ve said, it differs from person to person and there are always a few individuals who really couldn’t be bothered. But if you’re ever vacationing in Japan and wondering why you’re the only one without an invitation to the fashion show, that’s why.

An interesting aside about clothing: where I am in Japan (I can’t speak for any of the other urban centers), it’s a hugely popular style for woman to wear heels with those little ankle-high stocking, sock-like thingies.

On a more serious note, some of you may have read about or seen on the news that China recently suffered a 7.9 scale earthquake. If you are a resident of the United States, then like me, your idea of China might be that it’s this vague threat existing somewhere outside the scope of what you know but inside the scope of what you care about. It’s a sleeping giant, very powerful but probably morally inferior (you aren’t really sure) and a thing quite different from what you know that should be handled gently lest it wake up. On Wednesday I sat down in the International Center at school where they are kind enough to provide us with the Japan Times (in English) and CNN. In the paper I read that the city of Sichuan has a population of about 10,000 people. Over 8,000 of them are dead. In Juyuan, a three story high school collapsed with 900 students inside. In Shifang, two chemical plants were destroyed, releasing 80 tons of liquid ammonia into the environment, according to Yahoo News. The total death toll rests somewhere between ten and twenty thousand depending on who is reporting.

A simple truth struck me like a hammer on Wednesday: these are all people. They all had names, jobs, families, pet peeves, hopes for the future, you name it. China is an economic superpower and certainly not a force to be ignored. But behind the government, behind the state media, behind the Olympic propaganda, China is made up of people who aren’t all that different from you and me. They are just trying to live their lives and be happy in whatever ways they know how. Sure, you and I might find it strange and maybe even reprehensible to eat dog. A Hindu person would probably see eating beef as a horrific act of violence. No matter how big we get: families, towns, states and provinces, countries, we’re still just practicing tribalism. It’s quite natural as humans to get caught up in how your own tribe goes about life. We all need to remember, though, that the further down you go in the chain of needs, the more and more we resemble one another. What human on earth doesn’t want to be happy? Who doesn’t want to be loved? Who doesn’t want to be safe? Please know that this is not a soapbox admonishment, but simply encouragement. To many Japanese people, I am just as real as China was to me before Wednesday. It’s my hope that I can communicate even just a little bit of my experience to you as a foreigner and an outsider so that maybe we can all reflect a little bit on what our tribe tells us about ourselves and about the other tribes. My calligraphy teacher is Chinese and his pain, which came through very clearly in class on Wednesday, was no less real or strange or different than the pain I’ve felt at my own losses in life. Again, this is not a hippie rant, but rather my own attempt to facilitate a small expansion in our viewpoint. With nearly 7 billion people on the planet, we certainly need it, wouldn’t you say?

Anyway, I’m sorry to dwell on that so long but it was a stunning revelation and also a very sad moment personally. Tomorrow, the International Center is taking the exchange students to the school’s seminar house in Tateshina, Nagano (the province where the Winter Olympics were held in 1998). I don’t know what to expect but you can bet that Alisha and I will take a ton of pictures and write all about it when we return. That being the case, I haven’t even touched any of the subjects on my Post-It-Note o’ Blog Topics so you can bet there will be much for you to read in the coming days.

My apologies again for the long lag. As I said, I’ve started settling into a routine which had the unforeseen catalytic effect of ushering in Phase 2 of Culture Shock, which is sometimes referred to as the “Rejection Phase,” in which one’s negative perceptions of their host culture start to stick out disproportionately. This is the opposite of Phase 1, the “Honeymoon Phase,” where everything is new and awesome. Needless to say, Phase 2 sucks. It hasn’t put a big dent in anything, but it’s certainly no fun- either for me to experience or for you to read about. Believe me. That being said, I’m doing pretty good now and looking forward to the trip this weekend. More when I return!

Stay happy and healthy, and spend 5 minutes gathering in your head what you know about China then try and identify what’s fact and what’s not. Spend another 5 minutes thinking about what it might be like to be a Chinese person. The Internet will help a lot with this question.

So sorry!

Oh, dear. It's been quite a long time since I posted. Sorry! The upside to this is that I will have a novella ready for you to read the next time I write, which should be some time this week depending on homework.

All is well. I'm still working out a few kinks of living here but for the most part I've been moving on to my goal of language proficiency with fewer distractions. More later.

Conveyor sushi

Sorry I haven't posted for a few days. Things have been going pretty well and I'm settling down into more of a routine.

I learned yesterday that many people in Japan believe that clothes dried in the sun are healthier to wear versus machine-dried clothes. Good thing, too, given that space is always at a premium and consumer goods are generally expensive here. Growing up, we had a clothesline that we used about half the time, and I've used one on and off through college. Here, we dry our clothes exclusively on a line and I think I'll continue that practice when I return home. I was thinking about all the lifestyle changes I've had to make here and it made me feel good. That's part of the whole reason why I came here: to see how other people do it and try it myself.

Last night, Alisha and some of our friends went to a conveyor sushi restuarant (a first for the two of us). For those of you who don't know what conveyor restaurants are: you come in an queue for a table just like any other seated restaurant. Within the restaurant are booth style tables with all the little stuff like chopsticks, free green tea*, etc. Once sitting, at about shoulder height, there is a conveyor belt that snakes around every table in the place. On the conveyor belts are individual plates of sushi or other small items (like a hunk of sweet potato cake last night). When an item passes by, you simply grab it and eat it. When you're done, you're left with a pile of plates which will determine your bill. Every item is the same price (dessert was a little more last night), so you know what you're paying and you can eat right up to your level of hunger and/or finances in a fairly precise manner. You're also not constrained by having a large portion of one thing, so it's a snap to try new things, nor are you limited by any linear progression of courses. If you're still hungry after dessert then it's not a problem for anyone. When you're done you just hit a button/ring a bell and they tally your expenses right there. I've greatly enjoyed group dining in Japan so far because (in my limited experience) it's normal for everyone to pay individually.

On Friday we had another little welcoming party. This time, it was to introduce the ryuugakusei to the tutors that will be assigned to help us with anything from homework to translating the electric bill. It was a pretty low-key event with good food and we all did oral introductions which is a little stressful for everyone. I think everyone had a good time.

At the end, we all got together for a group picture. The manager of the international center here, who we discovered is a huge Star Wars/Harry Potter/you name it nerd, got everyone to smile by pulling a Harry Potter wand from his jacket pocket and waving it while saying "Wingardium Leviosa!" I got a good laugh out of realizing that he'd been carrying it around all day.

I also just recently learned how to express varying probability that an action or event will occur. Thanks again to Haruka for helping me out so much. Before coming here, I only knew how to express absolutely that something would or would not happen. Right after I arrived, I picked up たぶん(tabun, "probably") but I still found a need to express a low probability. Things are moving right along.

Not much else to report. The weather here has been on-and-off beautiful and miserable. I'm just waiting for the punishingly humid summer that everyone has warned me about.

*Green tea is the free beverage of choice here. If a restaurant doesn't have free water, they will have free green tea.

Busy afternoon

Whew, long day today. Alisha and I got up at 7:00 for Beginner Japanese in the morning, which is three awesome hours long. (I'm not being facetious; it rocks). We know from doing speaking drills involving food vocabulary that Tabata-sensei is usually hungry before class is even over, so we invited her to go to lunch with us. Near school is a place called Jusco, which is like a shopping mall that is, it being Japan, really damn tall. I can't remember if I've mentioned it on here before, but for lunch we all had oomoraisu ("home rice" I think"Omu-rice" from the French word for omelet. Thanks, Haruka! はるかさんありがとう！), which is seasoned rice and corn with an omelet-like egg sheet draped over it, with the whole mess smothered in a tomato sauce, plus cheese for a little extra. Why, yes, it does taste amazing. We made what little conversation we could with sensei over food, which is to say not a lot but I take a huge amount of satisfaction from communicating anything at all.

As an aside, I realized yesterday that no matter how tired or cranky I am, speaking Japanese has yet to feel like a chore. Sometimes the written homework gets a little tedious, which is unavoidable, but I've been so pleased to realize that this language makes me feel good about myself and is a valuable skill to boot.


After lunch, we parted and Alisha and I went to go look for a 書道の筆 (shodounofude, calligraphy brush) for me. We ended up wandering through most of the store, just to get an idea of what all there is in the store. We bought some school supplies that we were lacking, but also stumbled across fitted sheets! This is a big deal, because when you're in a country where most people sleep on a futon but your International Student Center staff have kindly provided you with a western style mattress, finding a fitted sheet for it is no easy task. I also bought my first, and certainly not last, t-shirts with humorously misused English on the front. Alisha got one, too, and they're awesome. Photos aren't up quite yet, but will be in the future.

While Alisha was trying on her shirt, I was looking around at the clothing section we were in. I got a small chuckle over the jeans selections: loose cut, baggy cut, and boots cut. Also, I was treated to a J-Pop* rendition of "Walk This Way" by Aerosmith. I must admit that Steve Tyler has a little more punch than the unknown-to-me Japanese woman singing in the song, but that's just my own cultural bias showing through.

Overall a good day, and I was able to ask a clerk what floor I could find aforementioned brush on in Japanese. I realized after walking away that I phrased it poorly, but that's what mistakes or for.

*J-Pop is a contraction of Japanese Pop, referring to a very wide musical genre.

Party! パーティ！

Last night, all the ryuugakusei were invited to a party at Makoto Tone's house, the manager of the International Center at Chukyo Univeristy. Alisha and I got on the subway early to make sure we were there on time, and arrived a little bit early to be greeted by a Chukyo alumnus. While we waited for the others to arrive, we introduced ourselves to Seiji, who was kind enough to speak as much English as he could to us, and the rest in very slow Japanese. Everyone showed up in short order and we all had a great evening of great food, drink, and dessert. We learned that Tone-san is a huge nerd (just like us, yay!); check out Alisha's Flicker stream for a picture of his almost life-sized R2-D2 DVD player. Many other fun pictures are up, as well. I had a great time, and also learned through observation how to eat sushi with chopsticks. I already knew how to eat onigiri sushi (seaweed wrapped sushi), but now my table manners are even better.

Oh, yeah, I also had salmari schnapps for the first time ever. Wow.

Seals and mushrooms

Don't worry; it will make sense in a few minutes. First, seals:

So, Alisha and I live in minato-ku, which is on the meiko-sen (Meiko subway line). On one end is 金山駅 (kanayama-eki, Kanayama Station), on the other 名古屋港駅 (nagoyako, Nagoya Port Station). Alisha and I have noticed that sometimes when riding the subway, every time the doors open, over the speakers are played seal noises. This is a fairly regular occurrence, but I still haven't quite gotten used to hearing ocean animals on a train 50 feet underground. We've been trying to figure out the reason for it, and the best we've been able to come up with is the fact that the end of the line is Nagoya Port where there might be seals (I haven't been there yet). I'll keep you all updated when I find out if there are actually seals or if it's just one of those things that sets this country apart from my own.

Next, mushrooms:

On Fridays, Alisha has no class so I ride the subways by myself. This morning, I think I left shortly after a school near my apartment let out. Behind me were 4 little girls, all decked in brightly colored clothing with equally clashy umbrellas. What made this so humorous is that each girl, who couldn't have weighed more than 60 pounds or exceeded 3 feet tall, had adult-sized umbrellas* which from my viewpoint at just under twice their height, made them looked like a brightly colored clump of mushrooms scurrying down the sidewalk. Their high-pitched chattering only made them more endearing but I did worry a little when they all started running full bore down the very wet sidewalk.

*Japan doesn't seem to sell anything but decent, useful, reasonably constructed umbrellas. I have yet to see any of those umbrellas that allows you to keep your legs or your head dry, but not both, that seem so prevalent in America.