Earthquake

Sorry for those of you who read this. It has taken me awhile to rectify Bloggers error of dumping my previous message.

I Experianced my first earthquake the other day. It was actualy kind of fun. Everything shakes for a bit and then it goes away. I'm sure I'd think differently if it were more serious... or was riding the trains at the time, which shut down completely for an half an hour or so. This is crazy in Japan by the way because the trains are almost never late... EVER.

My homestay mother's brother recently went into the hospital for something. I can't realy tell because of all the Japanese. The word cancer was brought up, but I don't realy know. He is supposed to be quite old; in his eightys. I hope he pulls through.

This incident has left me privy to another Japanese custom: Smileing at adversity. You don't every show unhappyness or anger in Japan ... or at least only at special circumstances. My homestay mother said, with a smile, that her brother had to go to the hospital for a while. I can understand. Afterall I'm a guest and not realy part of the famley so I shouldn't be worried about it or see my host mom upset.

This applys to buisness too. emploies always have a smile on thier face, even if you do something rude or wrong. They also apologise alot. I bet if you hit someone here, they would apologise for thier face being in the way of your fist! Well maby it's not that bad, but still, you get my point.

There was this jerk in my acting class who keeps showing up drunk and making rude remarks to the girls. Even with dealing with this guy everyone is all smiles and giggles. Later they berate him from behind. I think thats just the way it's done here. The avoidence of direct confrontation...

The play is complete krap and everyone I've talked to thinks so too. I'll do my best anyway though...I did pay for this class.

I realy REALY need to get to work!

Jibly

Tomarro I`m going to go see studio Ghibli. (pernounced Jibli) This is Miyasaki`s studio, where he draws his anime. In case you haven`t heard of Miyasaki, he is the maker of the greates Japanese anime of all time... hands down. Some have even called his work the Japanesse bible, because it is full of Japan`s morals and mores. His work includes: Spirited Away, Pricess Monanoke, and My neighbor Totoro. I`m looking forward to it.

I`m finding it difficult to buckle down and do the work that I need to do. I figure I can study in America, I should enjoy Japan. Well I`ll get my work done. I still have time and in the grand scheme of things it realy isn`t that bmuch. Pluss I have so much time now that I`m no longer in choir.

The play is aproching fruition and it`s a piece of krap. I`ll try my best, but I find it difficult to take it seriously when no one else does. I just wan`t that to be over too. I find I don`t want to do this stuff anymore, but without it what would I do.

I`ve got to write that letter...

I`ve decided to damn customs and bring home jap-candy and food stuffs. I can`t leave all the lotte chocolate here and I need a couple gallons of that Japanese mayonaise. Sooo goood. Too bad I can`t bring back coolish (icecream you suck out of a foil bag)...

I`ve lost weight, but that much. And my binge choclating has kept me from falling too far. I wana leave some clothing here, so I don`t have to pack it, but what?

anyway I`ll see ya in another month.

Photos

I finnaly put up some photos you can check them out at the site below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9174700@N06/

New day, new plans

Got some news... So listen up.

I`m doing well. Things have found a routine and life has reached a state of normality, which tends to make these things a little hartd to write. However some things have come up wich have an impact on my stay.

In Japan there is a tradition of taking had ships with a smile, which means that it is hard to figure out exactly how people are doing. My homestay mother`s brother has recently gone to the hospital. There was talk of cancer of the stomach. I was worried for her, but she came home latter and said that it was fine. The man is suposidly well into his eightys and is one of the people that my homestay mother takes care of. I can`t realy understand whats going on and I`ve decided it isn`t realy any of my buisness. Still I wish him the best of luck.

I missed calling dad on Fathers day. Sorry Dad. I ment too but I felkl asleap. I was tired! I called him the next day however. I`m loking forward to coming home. My best wishes to grandma and grampa too.

Me and arron are gonna go see a movie this weekend, Problably 300, and then were going to this place Aaron found out about which is suposed to be a complete Edo town in a dome which changes from night to day every fifteen mins. It should be interesting and I can be rembursed for it too.

Next week Me aaron and three other people are going to go to Fuji san and climb to the top. This is one of my life goals and I`m gonna complete it before I`m 23. I`m realy looking forward to it. We`re climbing up in the dead of night so that we can see the Morning sunrise from the top of the moutain. I`ll try to take video and show you guys when I get back.

Sorry I havent been posting pictures, I`m gonn try to do that tonight.

Not much time left before I come home. 1 more month.

Over the Hump

Well every thing is over... for now.

My midterms are over and I have to admit I did the worst I have ever done on a midterm. I only had one for Japanese, and it was very difficult. I wasn`t as prepared as I thought I was. I even blanked on the Katakana! Oh well... I`ll pass the course, thats certain, and I think that all my classes here are pass fail anyway. Maby not, but it doesn`t realy matter. I`ve never been very good with foregin languages. I think it way have something to do with the way I think. I have a constant internal monolouge that recites my life. And its in english. Not only that but the test was so long (three days of 90min tests) that I just ended up getting tired and writing anything down. I`ll make it up on the Finals.

The choir concert is over and I have to admit, these Japanese singers can pull it together at the last minute. The day of the concert I arived at the place around 10:00 am. The concert was at 5 pm by the way. We spent the day warming up, going over the songs and listening to the other choir that had joined us. Every thing they do was with Military precision. walk on stage in complete silente, stand straight forward, eyes on the conductor. Even the audence never even hinted at claping between pieces. After a choir was done singing there was an abrupt applause. then we marched off stage. Even the music itself had little feeling in it, but it was on pitch, the dynamics were followed, and we followed rythems exactly. The concert itself actualy went realy well. Takuro, my otosan, said that, and I quote, "My heart was washed with clear pure water" which I thought was a huge compliment even though I didn`t exactly knew what he ment. At least not logicaly.

To day a present my 60$ gift and take my leave. I hope they don`t make a fuss, I could realy use the extra time.

This weekend I have a chance to go see an actor`s studio here in Tokyo. I`m excited about it, but I could realy use a translator. The guy who runs it was a friend of Takuro`s sister, whose musical I went to go see (it was fun-about the japanese firefighters that live in rural areas) I was sitting with him at dinner and asked him If I could see his studio and maby ask a few questions. That reminds me I have to e-mail him tonight and let him know I still plan on comming. His name is kurisu (Chris) and I don`t know much else about him, but he seems like a nice guy. I plan to film and take some pictures.

Arron and I might go to Tokyo Disney next weekend to, if it doesnt rain. We`ll see.

well thats all for now

The last days of choir

I have decided to leave choir, for various reasons.

First is that choir is very, very expensive. Instead of charging people to come see our show, we buy out every seat. that means it costs us 50 bucks to put on a show. on top of that I have to rent a suit (which doesn`t fit) for a night and buy a tie, for another 60 dollars. then theres choir fees which are about 20 dollars a month. I would simply like to spend my money on other things.

Second is that the hours are long, and I don`t realy enjoy choir. Our styles are just too different and I cannt understand what`s going on or being said. I`m a freshman here, which is a little grating and a foriegner. I enjoyed my time there, but I think it`s time to leave.

Finnaly, our june 9th performance is the last one for the semester. The rest of the year will be conncentrated upon the december performance that I will not be here for. I don`t think it`s right for me to add my voice to the ballence, just to take it away mid stream.

I miss wesleyan choir. I don`t think I will be singing after collage, which is just as well. Maby I`ll join a church choir or some thing.

Hiroshima

Last weekend was the CIEE Hiroshima trip. I have to admit I felt a little weird being in Hiroshima, but ill get to that. Here is one weekend breakdown.

We took the Shinconsen from Tokyo to Hiroshima. It was a four hour train ride that had allot of leg room. However I kind of preferred the bus. The bus had allot more room, it went slow enough for you to see the sights, and it stopped every few hours or so. The Shinconsen is pressurized so it feels like an airplane. However you most certainly don't book it like you do on the Shinconsen. I don't think I've ever been on a faster land vehicle.

It was evening when we arrived and we checked into the hotel. Man I liked that hotel. Single rooms, comfy bed, internet conception, working shower. Small but cozy. The next day we split into groups and went to a mountain on an island. I forget the name but it is sacred island to the Japanese. There are these dear, which are also sacred, that aren't afraid of people and just roam the streets. They eat anything and one took a bite out of my map. It was sticking out of my pocket and, BAM; deer took a bite out of it. I had to shoo him away with my beeping camera.

Later we took a couple of cable cars to the top of the mountain, and then I climbed to the peak. Then I climbed around and saw every single shrine up there. There was a fire that was lit by a priest over 1200 years ago and is still burning today. I however should not have climbed around for so long because I was supposed to meet up at the dock at four o'clock. Oh well at least there was a 4:30 ferry. After that we checked into a traditional ryokan which had a spacious interior and a wonderful view, even though it was a view of the A-bomb dome. For dinner we had traditional Ochonomiaki which is an egg, meet, noodle, pastry dish served on a heated table and slathered in a kind of bbq sauce. It was scrumdidlyumptious and I hope to have it again.

There was a festival in Hiroshima, but it was packed to the point of not being able to move so we decided to go to a foreign food store, grab some beef jerky and A&W root beer and head back to the room. We watched some south park that somebody had on his computer then hit the sack.

The next morning I took a shower in the most confusing shower to date, which is saying something because the showers in Japan are exceedingly complicated, and then had a great breakfast. Then we gathered in groups again and headed to the peace memorial park.

Being an American in Hiroshima comes with it a certain degree of guilt. Yesterday we discussed why the bomb was dropped and if it was justified. Generally it was considered that the bomb was going to be dropped, whether it was justified or not. The Japanese seem to have come to terms, somewhat, with the past. If you ask a Japanese person what they think of the incident, they tend to blame their superiors for the atrocity over America. They say that Japan was the aggressor in the war and if they had had the bomb they would have used it too. But still there is great emotion still about Hiroshima, more so among the old than the young, that is not shown to Americans and I can' help feeling a little awkward.

Anyway we saw the memorial grounds, which was a nice park close to the hypo-center of the blast. We saw the mass grave for those that were never found or were never identified. The A-bomb dome which is one of the few buildings that survived the blast. The ever burning flame that is supposed to be extinguished when all the nuclear weapons are purged from the world. I have to admit I teared up a few times. In Japan there is a strong focus on the personal narrative of those involved in the blast. The effects of it were far reaching and truly terrible. It may have been necessary, but we should never do it again.

We listened to an American professor who gave us a spiel about the current state of nuclear weapons in the world and the view of the atomic age from the American and Japanese perspectives. Then we had a nice Obento lunch and came back and listened to a survivor tell us her story of the blast. She spoke in English, but she had trouble with it. It was an undeniably sad story, but I won't go into it here. I video taped most of it, so I can show you if you know me personally. We were given time afterward to reflect and cool down.

Then we went to Hiroshima castle where we ate Ice cream and I did the entire tour in about 3min because that's all the time we had left. I ran back down and we grabbed the next trolley to the train station and caught the Shinconsen home. That was my trip to Hiroshima.