Oga- Home of the Evil Santa

On the second day of Golden Week, a group of merry travelers made a trip to the Oga Peninsula. Christof, Ayaka, Miki, Yakari, and Weston rented a car and made the 2 hour journey to the home of the Namahage. This local tradition is similar to Christmas in the west; both celebrate the New Year and revolve around cleansing people's souls. However, the mascots for this holiday are demons that storm the village and threaten to take away all the bad children... A little negative reinforcement never hurt anyone, right?

On the way to the tip of the peninsula, we visited a seaside aquarium (pictures going up on facebook soon). I've gotta say, I didn't know penguins were so awesome, they can just shoot out of the water and land on their feet, ready to waddle about their business! 

When we arrived at the tip of the peninsula, everyone was starving. We decided to eat at a cheap, traditional sit-down restaurant located at the end of a row of stores. I had some octopus in my Ramen, and a bottle of hot sake to help me enjoy the view. Afterwords, I decided to buy a black, stylized bokken (wooden training sword) and a souvenir for Tianna. 

The tip of the peninsula itself marks the 40th degree north latitude... yeah yeah boring I know. But what's neat is that there are a series of rock formations that line up to mark the latitude line. These rocks are split down the middle, and when you stand in such a way to see through the split on all the lined-up rocks, you know you are standing on the latitude line. 

We were all pretty tired on the return trip, but after returning the rental car we decided to do Purikura! I'll never get tired of these japanese photo booths, they're insane and adorable. Dinner was a sampling of sushi, yakitori (meat stick), fried rice, pizza, and salad (plus sake and ice cream for myself) for about 1000 yen per person. So cheap!

The cab at Wada Station couldn't take all 5 of us back to AIU, so Weston and I saved some money and made the hour walk home. All in all, it was a fantastic day trip and I've pretty much decided where I will retire. My grandkids are DEFINITELY getting a visit from the Namahage a.k.a. Evil Santa.

Beginning of Golden Week in Japan

Today marks the first day of Golden Week here in Japan. Basically, a bunch of national holidays happen to fall within the same week making it the longest time off of work for many people. Government and corporate jobs offer paid time off, and families will travel to visit other parts of the country. 

Today is "Showa Day," and no, it's not about taking showers! This day honors Emperor Showa, who ruled Japan during World War II and is a symbol of unity to the japanese.  WWII ended without extended bloodshed thanks to Showa's decision making the unified spirit of the japanese people.

To celebrate the season of blooming Cherry Blossom trees, I went to a Hanami festival today. As soon as I arrived, a japanese man handed me a beer! I brought some cookies with me, and the whole group of us shared our food and enjoyed the beautiful day. There was also entertainment: a few singers, a pessimistic clown, and... well I got drunk and stopped paying attention haha. 

It still blows me away to see how thankful and kind-spirited the japanese are. It's interesting to notice the physical, mental, and spiritual nature of these people compared to what I'm used to back at home. If I were to generalize from my experiences, I'd say that Americans certainly express a greater degree of freedom (and complexity) of thought/speech compared to the Japanese, and it definitely shows in social interaction. 

Japanese is a complex language to be sure, but one can cling to the (sometimes limited) social norms and live a simple life of friendly, silly, and endearing interactions. And while the culture still feels foreign to me, there is a beautiful harmony that arises from the natural unity of these people. Seriously, if you need help with something, the japanese devote all human faculties to getting the job done.

To compare, Americans quickly become emotional about, well anything (personal issues, television shows, sports, even pets). We have no reservations in expressing ourselves about any issue in a heated, and sometimes hilarious, fervor. Our social norms make it alright to stand out and "be yourself," and a lot of the time it's very entertaining to see different ways of expression (joking, singing, yelling). 

Well, that's enough of sociology for now. Big day tomorrow seeing the Oga Aquarium and doing who-knows-what. I will say, I've got a little homesickness in my time here... but not enough to leave just yet!

R&R In Akita City

I'm now well on the path to recovery from that terrible illness, and I decided to treat myself out to a night on the town. So, myself, Yasuka, Eve, and Katie took a little trip to Akita-city last night. While the ladies joined some other friends for bowling, I took advantage of the onsen right next door. 

Basically, an onsen is a large public bath. There are procedures to be followed: first, strip down completely and place all your personal items in the locker. In your exposed state, walk past all the other naked dudes and find an open stool at the scrubbing station. Then give yourself a nice scrubdown using their body soap, shampoo, and hot water. Once you are nice and clean, go find an empty bath or hop in the steamroom. 

I'll admit, I was slightly uncomfortable at first. However, the whole activity was pretty normalized and all the older men seemed not to care.. so why should I? I could tell though, this was definitely an activity for men in their 40's-60's. I saw nobody my age in the bathing areas, and I spotted some hair oil for older men to use.

There's a lot more to do besides bathe, if you have the money. Massages, pedicures, and facials can cost from 2000-7000 yen, depending on how long and which type of treatment you want. There's also a restaurant or vending machines if you'd like a snack afterword. Next time, I'd definitely bring some more money for at least a beer, if not a massage.

There's also a lounging area filled with reclinable chairs and shelves upon shelves of manga to read. I took a copy of Naruto and tried to read it... mainly looked at the pictures haha. I believe the second floor also had karaoke and Nintendo Wii's to play...

I also bought my first sushi dinner! The group of us ate a ton, I had 10 whole plates and drank a bottle of saki to boot! The bill wasn't bad either, only 1300 yen for me.

[Update: Last night I went to an all-you-can-eat style restaurant. For 2,000 yen you have access to unlimited sushi, ice cream (soft serve and scoop), crapes, cotton candy, soup, and an assortment of cold meats (including yakitori and cow tounge) sea food, and more. Some of the food is cooked by you, on a small grill that is installed right in center of the table. The atmosphere of this restaurant was made complete by the silly "selection music" that played the whole time... it sounded like electronic elevator music]

First Week of Classes, Influenza Fight

Things here at AIU have settled into a familiar rhythm (By the way, Phil never got in trouble for the party haha). Most of the faces I see around here are pretty familiar, and I know a lot of names at this point. This college is really small, I'd but the numbers somewhere around 400-500 students. There are maybe 90 international students, and girls definitely outnumber the guys by a 3:1 ratio. 

I've signed up for all my classes, clubs, and most extracurricular activities. This semester I'm taking: Intro to Biology, Environmental Science, Japanese 101, Intro to Japanese Performing Arts, and History of Japan. These are all pretty simple classes, all 100-200 level. My clubs include: Environment and Ecology (we plant food and grow it in a field), Judo (the art of tossin' foo's), Hopping Runners (not sure why they're hopping... just a running group), and Tennis. 

It seems that during my first week here, I caught a pretty nasty fever. After a few days, I finally decided to go see the school nurse about it. Unfortunately, she doesn't speak any english! So, after some time, patience, and eventually some help from the student admin. staff, I was told that I should go see a doctor because my fever was so high and had lasted so long. 

So, I took a bus to the local doctor near Wada Station. The bus driver let me off right outside of the office, and I was grateful for it because I'd never be able to find the place by myself. Inside, it was clean and orderly like any doctor's office. The nurses did not know much english, but thankfully the doctor could make coherent sentences. I went through the motions: check health insurance, please wait, come this way, few initial tests, please wait, see the doctor, answer questions, few more tests, please wait, stick a long q-tip up my nose and scrape my brain with it, please wait.

Finally, the doctor calls me back into his office to tell me I have Influenza B. It'll be a few more days until I'm better, and I should avoid being in public (ie. going to classes). I'm given some pills for the fever and the cough, and then I'm whisked back out to the front desk to pay for the visit. All in all, it was a pretty routine visit and I was most suprised by the cost. In Japan, health insurance will cover 70% of the cost for ANY medical service. So in my case, I only had to be 30% (2,000 yen) for this visit. Not bad!

I ended up walking 45 minutes to get back to campus (just missed the freakin bus) and I told student services of my situation. They advised that I be assigned a separate room away from everyone so I would not get students sick, and I agreed. Within the hour, I was moved into what I like to call "Quarantine Room," basically a handicap-friendly Global Village Apartment. 

The room itself was pretty nice, it already had furniture, internet connectivity, remote controlled heating and lighting, a kitchen, and a full bathroom (with the special toilet too!). 3 times a day my food would be delivered via a helpful worker-san. Otherwise, my time was spent sleeping or trying to watch Naruto online. Unfortunately, the internet in the room is pretty spotty, and so my time online was limited. 

That's why, after 4 days in that room, I've broken quarantine and snuck into the library to get some internet before most people wake up. I also had to get out of that room because I'm smelling some weird smell today, and I can't pin down what it is! At first I thought it was my body odor, then maybe last night's dinner, but now I'm starting to think that my nose is a little tweaked and I'm going to have this smell-bias for a while.

[Edit: The salad-dressing smell is gone. I have no idea what that was all about. Also, I move back to my room tomorrow. Everything is A-Okay!]

First Party at AIU- they CAN dance! Also, martial arts = man

On Friday night, we held a birthday party for two students at the university. The faculty actually let us have a dance party using the student center. Phil DJ'd for the event, and the only requirement/rule was no underage drinking... BAHAHAHAHA!

At first the party was pretty lame. The stage was set, the music was moving bodies, but none of the japanese students were dancing. They just formed a big circle around the room, like they wanted to watch but not participate. We were warned, the japanese students are very self-conscious about such outlandish behavior as dancing... so me and a few guys started grabbing girls from the outskirts of the dance floor and dragging them into our insanity. Pretty soon, the whole room was a mass of dancing bodies! (There was one Hungarian student who was an awesome sight to behold. Picture the 1970's disco scene; he was that guy wearing the tight white clothing and busting out pelvic gyrations and mini-kicks that made all the guys laugh, but all the girls want him). 

Phil did get in trouble by the end of the night because of the underaged drinking, and we'll find out the repercussions tomorrow. The japanese are strict when it comes to these laws, but Phil cannot be held responsible for their actions, especially since he announced the school's drinking policy twice.

Otherwise, this has been a pretty tame weekend. I slept a lot last night, bought a crazy multi-hangar and some sponges at AEON, and found a new abomination in fast food. This one is called the "Mega Mac," McDonald's heart-attack between buns that is only offered in Japan. It consists of 4 spiced meat patties between 3 buns, with delicious special sauce and a side of fries + drink. I was in a food coma afterwords.

Here's something interesting worth mentioning. I went to the library today to do some homework and go online, and while resting my eyes from the computer screen I spotted something on the bookshelf. It was like my mind told my eyes, "Hey, check this thing out RIGHT HERE." The spine of the book simply said "Martial Arts," and I decided to snap it up. I turn to the forward, and this is what I read:

"The Martial Arts cannot be practiced as a form of entertainment or distraction. They are a serious undertaking which does not necessarily mean a sad one- far from it. You cannot approach them tentatively with your fingertips, with a mere touch of the lips, or with superficial layers of thought or heart. It would be better never to become involved, but if you do, it is essential to carry on to the end, until one's being is regenerated to the point of being made man again- a real man."

The journey continues.

The First Week in Japan

Since I arrived at school, I've been keeping a journal in one of those black and white speckled Composition Books. You may ask, "Why keep both a journal and a blog? That is a lot of repetition!" This may be true, but I may be writing secrets about you in this journal, along with my own personal feelings and thoughts. I don't want the internet to keep track of these things, and besides, this blog is more about sharing my impressions of the Japanese culture with family and friends in the west.

The first few days of school were for orientation, which was a long and arduous process. I met a ton of kids, both international and native japanese. I'll say that I definitely feel the language barrier here when the students have conversations in japanese (or any other language). I try to listen intently to what they are saying, and maybe I'll pick up some key words, but otherwise it is still overwhelming. So I sit in my blissful ignorance and know that one day I'll be voicing my thoughts and opinions in nihongo. 

Along with the jetlag and language adjustment, I would say that I've been adapting to the culture quite well. Everyone is so polite and cute! I find myself bowing when saying "arigato" (thank you) and greeting passing japanese students with "ohayio" or "konbanwa" (good day/evening). I'll even say little things to express subtle feelings, like "kusau" (damnit!), "uri" ("i'm confused" sound), "yari yari" (used for different situations, can mean "I'm tired" or "Let's fuck em up!"), "men doksai" (what a pain), and the simple "hai" (means yes, used for acknowledgement of something or someone). The japanese spirit is accommodating, humble, and enriched with a sense of honor that is rare to see in America. My impression is that they do not express their true feelings or emotions in an extroverted way, but rather keep them within and sort it out in private. 

I've had a blast trying new things in Akita-city and the neighboring AEON shopping mall. We are pretty far from anything here on campus, so taking the bus to these places for 150 yen is how we stave off a lot of boredom. The city is quite clean, and I love how cartoons are so intermixed with the culture. You can't turn a corner without seeing an anime character on something. In AEON, my favorite activities include: getting a giant parfait, exploring Utopia Arcade and playing their 500 yen Gundam Simulator, buying a yakitori (meat stick) for 50 yen and carring the stick around in my mouth, watching japanese people and notice their coy glances at the curious "gaijin" (forigner), taking ridiculous pictures in japanese photo booths. 

I've found the greatest fun-zone on earth, and it's name is Round One. You pay an entrance fee of 2200 yen, for access to 3 floors of ridiculous fun! Here's a list of what they have: coin-less arcade, bowling, batting cages, volleyball, soccer, football, archery, mini golf, badmiddon, tennis, riflery, skating, mini-bikes, kiddy ball pens, boxing, pool, karaoke, massage chairs with WALLS of manga. Oh, and you can spend the night. This place is a short cab ride from AIU, so you can wake up and get back in time for classes... This place is heaven for everyone's inner child. 

I've met so many friends here, each one is unique and awesome. The campus community is very close, almost tribal in nature. Information and indeed gossip about people and events travels very quickly and to everyone. The japanese students are fun to talk to, because we are both just as excited and confused about each other. This international university will be a challenge to both my character and my social skills.

There has been a little romance already, but I won't say too much there because things are still up in there. I will say that she is sweet, kind, smart, cute (but not too cute), and japanese. She likes anime, manga, video games, and she's japanese. I know I said that already, but she gets bonus points because of it haha.

Arrival to Akita

I've finally gotten the internet situation under control, so here's a preliminary update on my journey so far. When I first arrived in Tokyo, I was surprised by how clean and orderly the airport and train areas were. Surrounded by Japanese people and words, I had to get a train ticket from Narita Airport, through Tokyo Central Station, and on to Akita Station in the far north. I was directed to an English-speaking ticketing counter, and had to shell out 20,000 yen for the train ride (that's about $200).

While on the Narita Express to Tokyo, I met a lovely woman named Yuki who was in her older 20's. We discussed some common interests (movies, anime, karaoke) and what were are both doing in life. She works at the airport 5 days a week and commutes from her apartment in Tokyo. If I can make a trip to Tokyo in the future, I would definitely like to go do some karaoke with her!

When we arrived to Tokyo station, I was unprepared for how hectic it would be. It was a sea of japanese people in a multileveled maze of escalators! Yuki helped me out by showing me where to go and buying me a ticket for the Akita Shinkasen (bullet train), also called the Komachi. While waiting for the train, I bought some sushi for 550 yen and watched people as I ate. 

A 4 hour train ride/nap later, I arrived in Akita-city. It was past midnight local time, and the train to Wada Station would not operate until morning. So, I found a taxi and managed to communicate that I wanted to go to Plaza Crypton (the hotel located right next door to AIU). Though it was dark outside, my first car ride on the LEFT SIDE OF THE ROAD was certainly a sightseeing adventure. 30 minutes and 4,800 yen later, I made it to the hotel.... but it was locked! I found a night-call buzzer and thankfully the man working the night-shift answered the door. He was extremely hospitable, handling my room key and the money I gave him like sacred objects. I was shown to my room with haste, and thats when I began to celebrate! I had a few post-travel cigarettes outside and did a little dance to express my happiness/keep warm in the cool night air. I was so overwhelmed that I couldn't help but shed some tears of joy. YATAH!

Yes, I am in Japan!

Words cannot express how overjoyed I am to be in this country! Everything is so different, but it feels so friendly and accommodating despite the language barrier. I was so overjoyed the first night that I cried in the hotel room! I am both at peace here, yet my heart is fueled by so many new friends, observations, and experiences. I've been keeping a separate (and more private) journal of this whole trip, because I consider this blog to be more of a social uplink to the West.

I apologize for the delay in updating, but things have been very busy here with orientation and spotty internet connections. When I get some stable internet later today, I'll put out some notable stories of my adventures here so far. There are lots of pictures to show too!