Oh the places you can go

To be honest, originally I had no idea how busy I would become when it came to the month of my leaving. Basically at the month mark I just got a landslide list of to-do's from myself, friends, the Japanese government and the school (both CMU and NUE).

With everything vying for my attentions it was flattering but has also been kind of exhausting. I have definitely had to prioritize on some things.

For example playing badminton with my Hungarian friend in the dark outside our dorms was definitely a priority, but then again so was going to city hall and trying to understand that they had to adjust my insurance (in my favor), and then on the walk back home I saw a cadaver under sheets that was wheeled right in front of me on a side street that I took.

I am absolutely proud of the amazing people I have met here, locals and internationals alike, and the vast variety of experiences I have had in Japan even up until this point; and I'm not even done yet.

I have one more day left in Nara and I am absolutely continuing to make goals and live ichigo ichie style (similar to yolo but it has a much longer history as a phrase in Japanese).

After my day here is up, myself and the lady Hungarian Horntail will be going to Tokyo, we may see some other international students there or we may not, but we are definitely going to have an adventure or two in Tokyo and then I fly out from Nagoya to Detroit. Then I fly from Detroit to Lansing.

Today is Christmas and personally it hit harder than I thought it would. It seems Christmas is more of a cumulative feeling you get after being around family, getting excited about things and the new year, the good food and people, and the crazy music.

We luckily saw snow last week and it helped to raise our (people used to snow at Christmas time) spirits since many of the Europeans and Americans right now don't feel like it is Christmas.

I tried to watch Home Alone, but that helped a little and then it also made me want to be home even more. In Japan it is almost the opposite with Christmas and New Years. 

They tend to celebrate Christmas more as an after thought and as a couples holiday and it isn't that big of a deal, but oh just wait until New Years-that is a very big deal and families celebrate it together.

I will be home for New Years though so maybe I can have a belated Christmas with family and friends but for the others here they are going to have to enjoy our make-shift international Christmas.

Then later on they can enjoy the Japanese style New Years which is really more like our Christmas as far as how Japanese people spend it with their families.

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So this may be my last post until I return home to Michigan, but I would like to post updates and photos and videos after when I have time so there will probably be more to come. 

`Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Another wave in the rollercoaster, an update

It is now less than a month until I leave Japan to return to America and I really have a lot of mixed feelings, like I knew I would. I knew I would miss people from home, but some of the things on the list shocked me.

For example I didn`t think I would miss my bed so much, that one was a slap in the face the first week here- I didn`t see it coming.

Perhaps the refreshingly large bath tubs and hot spring culture here make up for my missing my bed. If not that, then possibly the abundance of delicious, affordable, filling and healthy foods here.

Thanksgiving and Halloween weren`t what I thought they would be. Originally I believed that Japanese at least knew about Thanksgiving, but it`s not common knowledge which was fine just it was a surprise. And since I organized an International food party it was a nice way to celebrate since none of us had our families.

Halloween is not taken seriously here in my opinion, it isn`t celebrated except in some corners of large cities like Osaka and Tokyo and some people who like to dress up, but it isn`t on the same scale, as far as I have seen. 

What I didn`t forsee at all was the lack of pumpkins. For some reason I thought everyone had pumpkins. I still haven`t seen an actual pumpkin- and the little green gourds (Kabocha) don`t count.

More seriously though,  I didn`t think I would get so attached to the people here. The other international students, the local shop owners who wish me a safe return home each and every day that I see them when I leave for school or when I return home and they welcome me home. 

The lunch ladies here at the university that are so warm, friendly, and love to laugh. The cleaning lady who cleans the dorms or the dorm advisor...all of them so interesting, spunky and welcoming.

I will miss the slurping of noodles in public places, the well-known Kansai people`s overt friendliness, and maybe even the heated seats of the toilets that make it feel like someone was just sitting on it. Maybe not that last one-yeah it still freaks me out a little each time.

I`m going to miss the culture of older people who just keep going, and walking and moving. Getting out of their homes for a walk all the time. I`ll miss the lack of a large population of obese and inactive peoples and think it will be a visual shock when I return home.

There are also many things that top my list of things I will not miss. One of those is the dominance of the `Kawaii` or ubiquitous cute culture here where everything from clothing to mushrooms in the grocery store are cartoonized into `cute` caricatures.

I won`t miss the hot and muggy impossible summer weather, but maybe I will miss the loud call of cicadas that accompanies it. I will not be missing the loud crows that wake me up each morning at 5, but maybe will miss the shrieks of the elk-like deer that are everywhere in our area here.

Aside from the things I will and won`t miss I have of course exams I am preparing for, an independent Journalism class that has been helping me to get off my butt and get out to talk more with various Japanese people that has been keeping me busy.

And now I also have to deal with the tedious things like going to city hall to declare that I am leaving the country soon, paperwork, and more paperwork.

That was one thing that was so nice when I started to finally feel settled I didn`t have to keep filling out forms and going to government buildings and visiting advisors to re-submit forms I could just go on adventures by myself or with others and didn`t have as many commitments. But now I am also realizing just how little time I have to do all the things I would like to accomplish.

It was nice after the first month and a half because I knew my way around Nara, had become familiar with the processes and procedures, could find a train or bus to easily go places, and I just had a nice sense of familiarity and not a huge sense or urgency.

At first I used art, books, movies and nature to cope and then as I got better, I also could adjust with the other international students and relied less and less on the art, books, movies and nature and more and more on group activities and gatherings.

  Recently, I have finally gotten used to living in a dorm setting, with a bunch of women on one side of the street, and then if I walk across the street I can hang out easily with the guys at their South dorm, and the variety of personalities at both dorms to me is just so cool I know it will be hard to do without in the future.

I really love having midnight chats about politics, culture and our future goals. Fun and harmless gossip about the other international guys and women, and our triumphs and inadequacies in Japan. It has all helped to build strong social bonds that make living in a foreign place feel so much less foreign and much more like a place I feel at home with.

Now, just as I have become pretty well adjusted (I knew it was coming-really it`s ok), and my room is finally cozy, I have to get going and start preparing for my return home.

I`m ready, but part of me isn`t ready, just like when I came here. 

But I will fill out forms, pack, get things done ahead of time and last minute, and spend time with friends just like before only this time I know that the people I leave behind I probably will not see again except for maybe on Skype or Facebook.

Minpaku; National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka field trip

Friday I and two other CMU students went with a group of junior high school students to Minpaku, or National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka for a field trip. 

Large display in the Oceana section.

We were on our own each on a different bus and told to speak English with the students, but personally it was hard to just communicate in English with them so I cheated and spoke a mixture a lot.

After the bus ride where I was asked all sorts of questions about my favorite music, and whether I had a boyfriend or not, we made it to the museum. 

The grounds of Minpaku are gorgeous and show a great deal of detail, and was especially inviting for a museum.

Replica of early Australian rock paintings.

I went around the museum looking at the various world areas such as Oceana, Southeast Asia, Europe... as shown in the websites video.

Display of Native American foods.

After looking at and interacting with the many intricate, numerous, highly informative and interesting artifacts, displays and such we all had lunch in the park area together. 

One of my favorite displays. This one about Mexico's skull culture.

The park, just like the museum was huge. I just couldn't believe how large the museum was and how much it had packed inside.

 I would love to go back again and just spend as much time as I like wandering around and I love that they allowed photography in nearly every location inside.

Entrance to the European section.

This was from floor to the ceiling.

It was amazing to be able to have access to some of Japan's Anthropological side.

 In their record collection.

Display of Guitars near the Woodstock section.

The Woodstock area in the music area.

One of the many masks on display.

In the India Exhibit.

From the India exhibit.

In the park we played dodgeball, volleyball, soccer, jump-rope and frisbee while we walked around enjoying the beautiful fall weather and the changed colors on the trees.

In the India exhibit area.

From the India Exhibit.

In my group thethe volley ball was either lost in the river or in the top of a tree three times until a student climbed up the tree and got it out, and from the river area they had to wait for the ball to get on the other side to resume playing again.

But it was great fun and I was happy to get out and have fun doing something so free.  

Students finishing their field trip notes in the park.

I was also happy to see they had much more freedom on their school trip than the international students at my University had on our field trip in some ways (it was still fun but I wanted that freedom that the junior high school students had).

A view of the river area in the park.

A view from the top.

After we were done playing in the park we left to walk through the woods and then to a wooden tower structure where you could see for a long ways.

This one was NOT the large tower, this one is a baby in comparison.

This one was the big one.

An example of the gorgeous fall colors in Osaka.

After everyone had had a chance to climb up and get a view we returned to the bus area thanked the students and teachers for having us and then chose a bus to ride back with the students.

On the walk back to the bus area.

Kyoto, Fall colors, and Finding Starbucks

Eikan-dō Zenrin-ji

I recently took a trip to Kyoto looking for beautiful Autumn colors and found them. 

A group of Japanese students and international students decided to go to Kyoto, and I joined them.

The interesting architecture and inclusion of gardens, koi ponds, bridges and stairs in the shape of a dragon were really calming. 

It was a perfect way to embrace the season. Now it has gotten colder and winter is coming- perfect weather to curl up with a book and a hot cup of tea or talk with friends.

It's getting closer to the time for me to return home to America and I am getting a little nostalgic since I've met so many cool cats here. I really do like the Kansai people and many of the internationals here, and know I will miss them.

I will be happy to be home, see my boyfriend and family, and quite frankly there are things I like and dislike about both countries, so I feel like I am having to say goodbye to more than just the people.

For example I love Japan's food culture, but find the 'cute' culture (emphasis and constant use of 'cute' things) to be irritating and ubiquitous and do not feel like I will miss it.

American's are known here and among the internationals as basically doing what we want regardless of the rules and I think that is partially true with us especially compared to Japanese who have a lot of legal and social rules and structure compared to America, which is a vague statement but emphasizes my current feelings.

I really do love the mountains and scenery and emphasis on nature that is prevalent in Japanese culture especially in the Nara and Shiga area.

Finding Starbucks

The last time I went to a Starbucks in Japan was 2 years ago, and it took forever walking around in the pouring rain.

This past week there was a Starbucks grand opening so I asked some internationals if they wanted to go. Little did we know it was going to be a long night searching for the place. 

We even saw a tower that looked like a mini Tokyo Tower, and finally found the mall after about an hour of looking and walking through the city and then the country side area.

After we found the mall, we discovered just how enormous it was, 3 floors and packed with stores.

Then we found Starbucks which was really neat, but the selection of food was really small and expensive, so we ate at a Viking or all you can eat buffet that had various types of foods. 

Yamato Koriyama area is well known for goldfish that were raised by Samurai as a part time job.

We looked around the mall a little and then took a bus to the train station. Then we took a short train ride home and then walked from the station to do all night Karaoke.

It was nice but I didn't even realize it was 5am when we were walking home- I thought it was maybe 11 at night or midnight, but was surprised when an old lady said goodmorning.