帰るぞ

yep, I’m comin’ home. Read above message.

An Email to Rotary

I sent a little update email to Rotary back home yesterday, and decided to put it up here for everyone.

Hey! Oh right, I forgot that I live somewhere other than here. Haha.

Sooo, I finally moved to my new family, after six months. It seemed
such a long time! I liked my last host family a lot, because I was
able to see a lot of Japan and it was really easy to get to school,
and my host mom was very nice. But this new family is totally
different. It’s different enough so that I can’t really compare the
two. First of all there are two kids, both in elementary school. The
family is very nuclear, reminding me of home a lot. The younger boy
and the elder girl are both really funny, and have bee really nice to
me. I think that it’s because their older sister is in America,
exchanging with me. Her and I actually have been having some online
conversations, which is good, because she gets back before I leave.
The parents have also taken me in. My host mother makes me bento (box
lunch) twice a week, and last night my host dad and I build a plastic
model (it’s a gundam model, in case you wanted know, but I don’t think
you will know what that is… ). I think that the fact that I’ve
really begun to get a grasp on the language helps a lot too.

I live in the middle of town, a 5 minute bike ride to Japanese class,
a 2 minute ride to the ocean, and walking distance to the bus stop.
Moving to a new family is kind of like doing a mini exchange; there
are new culture learning experiences, re-re-evaluating my way of
thinking, and discovering new roles and patterns that define one’s
life. For example I now have a bike I can use freely, whereas in my
last host family I had to rely on my host mother to get somewhere. Now
I have the freedom to go places, and the places to go to too.

One of the backwards things about Japan is the school year. It ended
in March and started on the 4th of April. I got to see a Japanese
graduation ceremony (again, very different from ours, yet it is
practically the same in all of Japan) and even a college entrance
ceremony. And even more, because the teachers are all regulated by the
government, every school changes a few teachers every year. One was
our archery teacher, which was sad because she was one of the coolest
teachers in the school. Starting on the 1st of April in all of Japan
is the new fiscal year too, so actually a lot of people lost and
changed jobs at that time, including the International School’s
Australian Principal and a Korean woman who worked at the town hall,
both of whom I became friends with.

During spring break I went with the other Rotary Exchange Students
(the current ones and the ones going out this year) to Tokyo for an
Orientation. We did a whole bunch of things, including going to the
famous Akihabara, also know as the Electric Town, and Tokyo Disney
Sea. Pretty much Akihabara is where all the anime and technology geeks
gather and where tons of cool stuff is sold. And Disney Sea was
awesome; two hour waits (it being a holiday weekend and all) and a
grand total of 2 rides. I learned some great Japanese bored games as
we waited. I think it was pretty helpful for the Outbounds to be
hanging around the Inbounds a bit because they got to see a little of
what it might be like for them, and also get to ask questions and
stuff so that they are only mostly overloaded when they get to their
destinations.

Then this weekend I went up to a city called Mutsu for a Rotary
Inter-City Meeting, in which I was the only student there, and they
told me 30 minutes beforehand that I was going to introduce myself.
The guy with me helped me by asking me a bunch of questions I should
answer, but alas I forgot most of it, and ended up telling them about
what had shocked me when I first came to Japan: horse meat is not only
eaten here, it is eaten as sashimi, or raw. What shocks me more now
though, is that if presented with horse meat, raw or cooked, I would
probably try it. That being said, I would probably try a lot of things
that you might be baffled to hear about, including whale and a special
Hokkaido dish in which a still-living oyster is cooked and eaten.

There are things here that I have grown to love too. First is rice. I
eat it every day, breakfast and dinner, and sometimes lunch. It is the
staple food of Japan, and it is going to be very odd going home and
not having rice and fish and miso soup every day. They say you gain
weight when you go on an exchange but I think I will when I get home,
back to the meat oriented culture. And then there is the cell phones,
which are way higher quality than the ones back home. Possibly the one
thing I’ll miss the most, though, is the Japanese bath. I think I’ve
already explained it before, but it is truly one of the greatest
things that won’t make it to the Western world.

Well, I should get to sleep soon. Tomorrow I’m taking off school to
help my host mom who volunteers in the fields. I think I’m going to be
pulling up potatoes. So, じゃね！See ya!

Dakota has actually gotten tired of going so many places. Maybe it’s cause I’m a country boy, maybe I’m just not the kind of person to travel like I have been. But I am glad now, there are no plans for trips in the near future.

The move has changed a lot of things. I don’t want to compare the last and current host family, but I feel more at home here. Maybe it’s cause there are people closer to my age (although still quite far away) or a little more ‘nuclear’. Yeah, I think that’s it. However, i am grateful for all the places and things I was able to see with my last host mom too.

I know I’ve been a little lazy when it comes to blogging (among other things), but I haven’t really had the will to write anything worthwhile. I would think of something good I could write, but then it would slip my mind or be good enough for a few sentences. I have lived through too much schooling to dare write in disconnected paragraphs, but I have a duty to fulfill to those who have made this happen and those who support me through this. And I know I am being supported, if even by mere thoughts. I get an average of about fifteen views a day, which may just be my mother fifteen times a day but I don’t think so.

For instance, let me tell you a little story, but you must read it with the utmost objectivity. This culture is different from the American one, and in some respects seems less developed. The other day my host father asked my host brother, Yoh, to go to the store and get cokes, some snacks, and two packs of cigarettes (possibly the one thing I wouldn’t like about the family, but I don’t really mind that much). Of course, I’m much too used to odd things now, and was more humored than surprised. You know those books about the forties where the same thing goes on between father and son and the son is so happy because the father is entrusting him to do something adventurous or something like that. Of course there are laws against selling to kids, but things work a little different here. Enter vending machine; to him, cigarette card. A pretty smart way to go about it, methinks. So dad gives the kid 1000 yen and a little laminated card and lets him off, excited to be able to run an errand for his father. And I get coke.

So in retrospect it was more than a few sentences, thus I have proved myself wrong. However I am spent for writing, for lack of a good memory and the fact of it being past midnight. But that aside, I feel a little better having made an attempt at fulfilling my duty.

*whistles* (little big update)

well, I know. I fail at updates. It being the only thing that connects my family and friends to me, I ought to keep it up. The thing is, I’ve been extra busy. So busy that I’m going to pack a lot of what I’ve done over the past few weeks into a few paragraphs. It’s unfortunate, but I’d rather put something out than try and write about something only to have it outdated by another thing.

First I went to Kyoto two (three? it was that long ago…) weeks ago, during which I got to watch and participate in Tea Ceremony. It was very pleasing, as I remembered so much from Stahl’s class. However from then I was being whisked around getting ready to change host family’s.  I witnessed my school’s graduation ceremony (which was terribly long and boring) and then my host sister’s (which was even longer, thus more boring). I did get to hang out with the other exchange student who goes to the same school Mari did though, and we happened to get lost on our own by way of Bus. Long story short, we wanted to go to point B from point A using method x, but apparently the only method to get to B is y, where x is the bus and y is the train. Eventually we got back to point A and walked around the shopping area.

And then I finally switched host families! It was both sad and exciting at the same time, but I know that it is going to be very different here. It is the house of the girl whom I’m currently exchanging with. I’ve now got a little brother and sister who are in elementary school, so I expect to be a little more active then usual! I’ve never really been a “big” brother before with all my family being around the same age, except Sol. It’s going to be a learning experience that I didn’t expect I would get from going to Japan! Also I get to watch more anime.

I also helped out in the International Fair on Saturday, because there are like 13 or so foreigners in Rokkasho. That’s because of the Fusion Center thing-a-ma-science in town, so there’s some people, and then an International School for the scientists’ kids, and international teachers. Thus an International Fair. I helped make hats for the kids with the other American, Gabe. I also ended up dressing in a kimono as some form of flagbearer for a fashion show… You may or may not get the lucky chance to see those pictures…

Other that that, I’ve been too busy being amazed by the Japanese to write about them, but maybe someday I’ll tell you about my theories on their culture. I have no time because the bus drops me off at 7:15, and I get time to eat, bathe, and do some homework/study before hitting the sack. So I might not be making as many updates as usual (which is not very usual anyways!) and I hope you’ll forgive me for that.

I will attempt not to forget my camera so much (just got a 2gig SD card), so that at least you’ll know I’m doing stuff, and you know the saying about the amount of words a picture takes up.  ~^. ^~

Dakota

Skiing and When a culture doesn’t get all the facts.

So you’ll all hate me for this, cause Makata (actually that’s probably not what it’s called, but I can’t remember right) Onsen/Ski Resort was super beautiful (I mean, who can see the ocean from a ski hill everyday?) but I forgot to bring my camera. Actually, I told myself that I probably shouldn’t bring it because I don’t want it to get broken, but oh it would have been so worth the risk.

Friday I went on a school trip to Makata Ski Resort.  It was pretty fun, even if the mountain was really a hill and it was more of a lesson than free skiing. But the instructor gave us some freedom to have fun and stuff, so it was a blast. Except for the rain that came in around 10:30 or so. That sort of sucked. It never stopped me before.

If I had pictures, I would have pictures, but I don’t, so that’s pretty much it for the Ski Trip. If I go next, I’m so going to Hakkoda, which is the best in Aomori, and it sounds great.

For the sake of making this post somewhat interesting, and slightly longer, I will tell you a bit about Valentine’s day, and its oddities in Japan. First, like most people, they have no idea what Valentine’s truly means, which isn’t entirely unusual. However, from what I’ve seen, they have a tendency to fall for misinformation. I was told today that Saint Valentine sent chocolate to people in need, and that’s how Valentine’s Day started. I tried to explain that Saint Valentine was put into jail for marrying Christians in Roman times, and even from his jail cell he would marry them, until he was martyred by Emperor Claudius, but my Japanese isn’t that good yet and I don’t think he would believe me anyways.

Secondly, Valentine’s Day, like the other Western holidays that have been integrated into this culture, began as a marketing strategy. The Japanese people then took the holiday and made it their own. At first it was a day for girls to give chocolate to someone they wanted to express a liking for, but then it expanded to girls giving to friends, coworkers, family, etc. It is always girls, and always chocolate, or something chocolatey. I think that when the day first came to Japan, the marketers thought that it was unlike men to give chocolate or express “femininity” so they only advertised to women. So where to the boys and men come in? It is called White Day. Ever heard of it? Neither have I. Well it is on March 14, one month after Valentine’s day, and it is when those who recieved chocolate to give back to the people who gave to them. Why it is one month after, and why it is called “White Day” is mysterious. It could be that men need time. It could be called “White Day” because we are not supposed to give chocolate (or non-white chocolate) back. I don’t think there is a set reason anymore.

Everyone was really surprised when I explained that there weren’t any rules for Valentine’s Day in most other countries. Or America at least. It seems strange to me that there are rules for such a thing. That got me thinking about Japanese culture. Why do they need rules for everything? It is true that almost anything, down to the simplest matter as taking notes (they all do it the same… it’s creepy). It seems to be a mix of uniformity and paradigmism (not a true derivative of the word, but I couldn’t think of the right one). And I think that the origin of this model-making may relate to much farther back to the Chinese influence, but the its current strain leads back to the end of the Shogunate and the beginning of a sort-of *democracy-but-officially-”Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy”. To explain, I believe that because Japan did not revolt and make itself into a pseudo-*democracy, it was not entirely ready for it, and still holds onto the ideals of a Monarchy. Those ideals would be this paradigmism, group-thought, and filial piety, to name a few. (The fact that Japan, Iraq, and other newly *democratized countries did not choose this path on their own, as opposed to America, Rome, and Greece’s Athens, surmises that this is a different sort of *democracy that we didn’t learn in Three Democracies).

So I’m done for now, because you are likely bored out of your skulls (“I wanna hear more about skiing!”) and I’m tired and have tests for the rest of the week (finals woo). So goodnight, and I just remembered that Carthage must be destroyed.

********Note: I used the term “democracy” extremely loosely, for I believe that such a thing does not truly exist and never can. Japan is not a true monarchy, in that the emperor is not a nominal executive power, and it contains many values that it integrated from America and other countries that are “democratic”, but it does lack many essential elements of a “democracy”.********

stuff

So I’d like to say I’ve been doing some crazy awesome things in the past few weeks, but I don’t think you would find them as great as they are to the person experiencing them. For me, everything is normal. I’m not a tourist anymore, or even a foreigner to my friends. I still have exciting things going on, it’s just probably not that exciting for my dear readers.　These exciting things are the jokes that I share with my friends, teaching useless, probably immoral English, trying new things, and having conversations with new people. You probably don’t, or shouldn’t in certain cases, want to hear about that.

Nevertheless, I must keep you updated on my life, lest you think the worst of me. I’ll start with the fact that there are some new pics up about archery. They are two sets, one of a practice and another of a meet, or whatever you call it. I didn’t compete cause I don’t have a card yet. That shall come in April. I’m having a lot of fun doing that.

Next is that my host sister passed her college entrance exams and is going to Kyoto for college! So we get to take a little trip next week to see her dorms and stuff. Yay! I think we might be doing a little more than just that though, so I’m looking forward to it.

Also next week: tests! and the end of school preparation. I’ve got music, chemistry, Kanji, Math A and Math II. It is nearing the end of the school year, too, so I am going to become a senior (before all of my classmates! hahaha!) and have all new classes and not pay any attention to the college seminars and such. Also I’m going skiing on Friday! It’s with the school, and a pretty small mountain, but it’s skiing all the same. I haven’t had much outdoors time this winter anyways.

See, there isn’t all that much going on, yet. I’ll have more exciting news soon. In the meantime, look to the links secton and play the Dinosaurs and Hiragana game to practice your Japanese skillz.

じゃ、気をつけて！

Today is…

THE OFFICIAL 5 MONTH MARK OF MY SOJOURN! LESS THAN FIVE SIX MONTHS TO GOOOOOOOOOOOO!

(to be exact, assuming I leave on the 9th of August, which in the middle of the currently pending departure dates, then the halfway point was the 16th, but yeah)

EDIT: I fail at math. That would be next month, the sixteenth. My host aunt pointed this out to me today. This post is somewhat useless, except I realized I’m still not halfway through my exchange yet. Sorry Mom and Dad.

Another wonderful trip to Tokyo

Did a little trip to Tokyo last weekend. Here’s the scoop:

Friday Night: First impression, umbrellas and homeless. Was reading Walden on the Shinkansen, where he says that humans need food, shelter, clothing and fuel. In the 2-minute span between the station and the taxi, I noted all but fuel being used in a variety of manners. Also in the news there seems to be a big thing going on about the homeless. See these two links if you’re interested. Next, it is good to note that it was not raining. Now, we were going to leave tomorrow morning [that is, last week's Saturday morning] but it looks like bad weather. Thus we attacked the Eastern Capital preemptively by leaving this evening. This is my third trip having ridden the Shinkansen. Also, we are staying at the Hotel Seiyo Ginza, which doesn’t appear to be very close to the Ginza (see farther down) but does appear a little expensive. However, I haven’t watched news in English in a long time.

Saturday: We whisked around the city, utilizing every popular form of transportation (except bicycle, which would have been very fun) from taxi to train to bus, to our own two feet. First stop was the business stop. 亀戸土神社, or Kameido Shrine, meaning Gate of the Turtle. It is auspicious for 受験生(jukensei) or students preparing to take their college entrance exams to go and pray at that shrine. Later this week my host sister Mari will go to Tokyo for these reasons. Her exams are on the 17th [as in, today, like, as I'm typing]. Then we went to the Tokyo-Edo Museum、which covers the history and society of Tokyo from the Tokugawa shogunate to WWII to modern times. The “big” things were two large buildings inside the building, one a traditional upper class house and the other a western-influenced building, and between the two was one large Japanese bridge (you know, the red ones). After that, we took the train to Mitaka, in which we toured an open-air (and therefore cold, I had left my jacket at the hotel) architectural museum. That was cool because they had taken real buildings from pre-modernized Tokyo and relocated them at this site. So there was an old police box (kouban, as they’re called, are indigenous to Japan, I think, and the reason it is so safe at night) and some old shops and houses, and a public bath house. One of the shops, a stationary shop, if you look at this picture, and love quality anime (I’m NOT talkign about that yaoi otaku crap that Janice and Noni like to watch – weirdos..), then you’ll recognize it, and you’ll know where I’m going next. Those faithful readers who guessed Studio Ghibli, go treat yourselves to some high quality Top Ramen! And who knows the name of the character associated with this room? I’m not telling, but I’ll be proud if someone does! Now for those who are entirely lost: Ghibli was started by 宮崎駿 (Miyazaki Hayao) or as Westerner’s call him, Hayao Miyazaki. He’s the artist who made movie’s such as もののけ姫(Princess Mononoke)、天空の城ラピュタ(Castle in the Sky)、魔女の宅急便(Kiki’s Delivery Service)、隣のトトロ(My Neighbor Totoro), ハウルの動く城 (Howl’s Moving Castle), 千と千尋の神隠し(Spirited Away), and most recently 崖の上のポニョ, or Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, although I don’t know if it’s available in the US yet. He’s made movies wel known around the world, and many are based on stories and places, for instance he made a Wizard of Earthsea movie. In Mitaka there is an Art Museum of Ghibli, which is the coolest, oddest building you will ever see on the edge of a forest in a park. We were welcomed by a giant Totoro [see pictures] and there are no set paths in the museum, contrary to popular custom, and much like the theme of Ghibli. Unfortunately, no picture taking allowed inside (;-_-) But, there is a giant robot from Castle in the Sky on the roof. The final sight of the evening was definitely a sight. Tokyo Tower, a brightly lit orange with the new “2009″ printed on the side, shoots you 150 meters (think, one story is about three meters) for a panoramic view of the city. It was already dark, and the full moon was high, which merely added to the mix of the city and the sky. From the thirty-third floor of the Marunouchi hotel we could watch the Tower’s constant vigil from the opposite perspective. Another thing being seen from our room: The Daily Show, with John Stewart, global edition. Oh how I miss political satire.

Sunday: On the final day of our excursion, we began again with a trip to a Buddhist temple, 浅草寺, or Shallow Grass Temple. We went, along with a few thousand other people. Steve, you were right about one thing in your Youth Group sermons, at least. Seeing as Japan is one of the most secular societies today, why is it that people, nationals and foreigners alike, swarm to places like this? One could write books trying to answer that question. After managing our way through the crowds, we took a walk through the shops around the temple, which were equally full with people. For lunch, we did something I’ve always wanted to do. You know those little shops that barely hold 8 people? Yeah, I had some oishii ramen in one of those. If I ever lived in the city, I would want to live near a little family owned shop (cough, Perellie’s, I miiiisss you) that’s been around for generations, one that is only known by the locals and the food is better than what you find in the gourmet ¥4,000-for-a-steak restaurants. After a wonderful meal we set off for the grand finale, The Lion King the Musical! Hakuna Matata, shimpai nai sa! It was amazing theatrics and singing and dancing, but I especially liked the costumes. As opposed to anthropomorphisms, they used puppets in creative ways to get as close to the actual animal form as possible, with the exception of the the lions. And, with the exception of “the circle of life” line in the opening song, it was entirely in Japanese, of course, and I half understood it, remembering probably 8 years ago when I last saw the film. And that concludes the most recent adventure of my life. I have officially decided that I don’t want to go home. (well, a little, the whole Mufasa dieing scene in the musical made me miss my papa… ) While Tokyo was sunny the whole weekend, it supposedly was a blizzard up north. At the current time of writing, I am on the shinkansen, and the forecast is clear skies. Didn’t mention the ground…

There you go. Current news: school’s started, there’s snow, I watched “L: Change the World” last night, and I start the next Japanese textbook on Tuesday. That would be number II. Also there’s some oddball pictures up on picasa, those are from my good friend Mr. Sakamoto-san. That ‘Mr.’ was redundant. My faithful reader’s of my life, keep reading, and keep well in this beautiful winter weather.

あけましておめでとうございます！

EDIT: Pics are up.

sooooo, this was definitely the quietest Christmas I’ve ever had. No last minutes, no crazy shopping sprees, lack of old, weird clay-mation movies on TV. Nope. In that way, it was almost boring. Even on Christmas I had archery and Japanese class, and a test! But Christmas isn’t exactly the big holiday of the end of the year. The New Year is. And it was definitely interesting! The first taste of the new year traditions was on the Sunday, the 28th. I went of to a friend’s house to make mochi, which is rice that you pound into . . . well, mochi. It’s hard to explain, really soft and chewy, but delicious, especially with hot sweet bean paste. It’s not really sweet in itself, but you can add it to anything, I think. Soup, soba (pasta), or add anything to it, like anko, or the sweet bean paste. I really like it, but it’s not very common I think, because it’s difficult to make. First you heat up a big wad of special mochi rice, and get it nice and soft. then it goes into the log, as I call it, because it looks like a large log with bowl carved out of the top. But it’s also a hot log, and it must come from the inside, so it’s not really a log. Then the husband/uncle/grandpa with the wooden mallet proceeds to squish and crush and prod and mold the rice while the wife/aunt/grandma sits by and applies water to the large blob. At some point it is decided that the squelching is finished, I think when each piece of rice is sufficiently not a piece of rice. From thence begins the whacking process. From outside, a passerby would probably hear “whupht, mizu!, whuff, mizu!, whu-pPHT, ahhh!” and think to themself, mmm, mochi. My favorite New Year’s pastime. You see, dear reader, there is a specific sound which is the best sound to hear when making mochi. What the holder of the mallet (and those watching) wants to hear is whu-pPHT, the final PHT being the sound of the mallet and the log’s contact. That usually induces the ahh’s and ooh’s from the family. This is what I inferred in my first experience making mochi.

Is that the sound it's supposed to make, Yumi-san?

The same day, I experienced another custom of the Japanese New Year. Oo-souji, AKA The Big Clean.

The next exciting thing to happen was New Year’s Eve. Actually, it wasn’t all that exciting until my host mother asked me to do the special Shinto prayer thing, which (I think I already said this way back) is two claps, two bows, one clap, one bow. Then we had dinner, special New Year’s dinner. I also received the traditional monetary gift from the grandparents then. After dinner we watched the New Year’s special on TV, which was not so different from the Times Square one. It was actually a music contest, pitting the male musicians against the women. People watching TV from all over Japan could rate through their remotes. The guys won by nearly twice as much. After that was over, around 11:30, okaasan, my host sister Mari and I waited until midnight to eat soba noodles, and then went to the nearby shrine to pray for the new year. I was sort of weird seeing a bunch of people up and doing stuff in the middle of the night, and I even saw one of my friends from school.

Finally, yesterday (the 3rd) was the family New Year’s party, in which I finally got to meet my family all at once. Here’s the count: Grandma and Grampa, who live in the house, have three girls, in which my host mother is the middle girl. My older aunt is the one who comes to the house often to look after obaachan and ojiisan, and she has two kids, a son and a daughter who now live in Toukyou. They are both really funny and interesting. Then there is my host mother and Mari. My younger aunt and her husband live in Hachinohe, the same city in which Mari goes to school. She also had two kids, a girl my age and a 13 year old boy. Turns out both of them and their father, Mari and I, and Youichi (the elder aunt’s son) are all otaku. At dinner everyone got pretty drunk (with the exception of anyone under 20, of course) and we all had a good time. We got about four more of those New Year’s gifts, and I really don’t know what to do with the money… Then we kids merrily, and somewhat raucously, cleaned up. It was overall an entertaining night.

So that’s my New Year’s excitingness! I’m done, gotta finish my English homework (which is ironically the hardest homework I’ve got) Wheesh!

Dakota

ahem.

So, Mom’s been bugging me about posting up here, so I decided to post and say that I’m currently in the process of writing a New Year’s blog, along with trying to finish my homework and a new year’s report for the village. So be patient. Mom.

love,
ダコタベンジャミン　(^. ^ )/“