How I keep myself out of trouble

I have lots of pictures of flowers I really should get on posting, but classes have started full force here and I have been a little... less than focused on blogging. It looks like each week we will be needing to memorize upwards of 70 new kanji (Chinese/Japanese characters that represent ideas and words). One teacher alone requires 40 new kanji and 120 compounds derived from those kanji per week... it's going to be tough. I'll keep going though, I just need to get into the swing of things.

Anyway, below will give you a taste of how I keep myself busy without internet in my dorm room. The project is a kusudama, which in origami terms is a modular flower ball decoration. Kusudama derives from the term for an incense brazier carried by a priest to smudge the place of worship (thanks Jason).

We will likely be traveling more soon, so I should have some more interesting things to post on! Next week it looks like we will be visiting the ocean and eating sushi as big as my head.

Making a Kusudama

Make 60 of these

Glue 5 of the 'petals' together to make each flower:


You end up with 12 flowers like this:
Glue 6 together:

Glue the next 6 together and lay a string through the middle:
Glue the two halves together, and you are done!

This was the first I made, and I've since found it is a little easier to not glue the two halves together, just to build the module piece by piece. Anyway, here is the finished product hanging in the international student lounge.


You can find directions here. Thanks to the wonderful person who took the time to draw out and post them!

ジェーソンの誕生日です

Happy Birthday Jason!

I'm sorry, I am way too lazy to post anything else right now.

Petunia, the Cheese Bike

Yes, you read that right. I, 25 years old, have just purchased my very first bicycle. I'm a big girl now. Why 'Petunia'? No idea. Sometimes these things just name themselves. Why 'Cheese'? That's easier to explain.




Those of you who have studied French will recognize that 'fromage' means 'cheese'. I have no idea why the heck it says 'cheese' on my bike, but it does. Anyway, it's a good height for me, and was only about $100. Now I just need to learn to ride it. *Sigh*

Anyway, I promised Engrish this post, and I will deliver. Let me preface this by saying that I cannot help but find Engrish amusing. However, I am well aware of how... 'special' I sound when I speak or write Japanese, and accept the fact that I am probably a great source of amusement for the people I meet here. So, I feel it's okay to laugh at Engrish in a good natured way, as long as we understand that it's equally funny in the other direction. Imagine how a Chinese or Japanese person must feel looking at all the incongruous kanji tattoos in the U.S.

This first one almost killed Jason and I. This toilet brush has some rather lofty ambitions.

And then two notebooks below:



These next three are not Engrish per se, but they are a good illustration of culture difference. I picked these up at McDonalds... it's a flyer announcing the addition of cups of sweet corn to the menu. Corn. At McD's. Not fried. I really need someone to explain to me why corn is such a big deal here. I love corn, don't get me wrong, and veggies at McD's is a great thing. But corn is EVERYWHERE. It almost gets treated like candy here.



That's all for now. Next I'm going to post some pics of my latest craft project.

You all knew I was batty....

Took a quick film of the bats at dusk near my dorm. I may be the only one who thinks this is fascinating, but here you go anyway.


While I'm at it, the cherry trees have been beautiful the past couple of weeks. The ones along the river near campus are in full bloom now and amazing; those are the pinker ones in the slides below. I also took a couple of pictures to show you the drifts of sakura petals piled up around campus. It's really quite a sight.

Next post: Engrish!

Vending machines

As you read the following post, I want you to imagine a short, stocky foreigner running around the college campus, looking like an absolute dork snapping pictures of vending machines. This place is either amazing for my self esteem or horrible for it. No clue which yet. I did chicken out of asking the guy wearing the 'F*** yeah Obama/Yes we can!' shirt if I could take his picture.

We need to get on the hot coffee vending machines in the United States. Then again, maybe not, I’ve been dropping money like crazy at drink machines here. It’s easy to do, they are EVERYWHERE. I easily pass at least a half dozen drink machines on my way to campus. Only drink machines, though. Eating and walking at the same time is considered rude here… I haven’t seen a single snack machine since I’ve been here. I’ve seen beer, cigarettes, ‘family planning’ aids, but no snacks. Just as well, the drink machines are sucking up enough of my cash. I take that back, since I started this post I did find a machine that vends cuppa-noodles, and there are ice cream machines as well.

As I mentioned, many of the drink machines here provide both 暖かい(warm) and　冷たい(cold) beverages. Most of the warm beverages are coffee or coffee drinks, and they aren’t just lukewarm, either. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality. Aside from having too much cream and sugar (I have yet to pick a black coffee) for my taste, I’d rate it better than Starbucks, but not as good as Dunkin’ Donuts. Below is a picture of the amazingly complicated and awesome coffee vending machine on campus that actually pours you a cup mixed to your taste. It’s a lot like the ones you see in the states, except for the fact that it works.

Amazingly, I'm pretty much caught up on my massive photo backlog. I'll probably have some pics for you soon of my current origami project.

Onsen trip

There is nothing like a school-organized outing to make you feel like a kindergartener, and apparently this is even more true in Japan. The school took us on the orientation trip with the freshmen. I cannot begin to imagine a school in the United States taking 1300+ students to a hotel for an overnight orientation. There were 12+ buses! I didn't care for the lining up-bedtime-organized part, but the onsen (hot spring spa/nice public bathhouse, in this case as part of a hotel) was lovely. I didn't really care much for introducing myself to the entire freshman class... it is a rather intimidating, but I am really becoming one with my introduction speech, since Japan seem MUCH bigger on the formal introductions that the US. I swear, I've introduced myself about 20 times formally, including three just today. At least I'm learning the other foreign students names... I'm so bad at remembering names that the repetition helps.

Anyway, I posted the link to the Asaya hotel's website already, but here are some (hopefully functional) slideshows of my own pictures. It really was a beautiful place. Taking a hot bath outside in the crisp spring air is an experience I recommend to everyone, even with the communal nudity.

The hotel itself: This includes some shots of the hall we ate in and the food they served. We got a chance to eat very traditional Japanese fare at both lunch and dinner. The presentation was beautiful. During dinner, they actually lit a stone burner at each place to cook thin slices of pork with mushrooms. It was impressive, and of course yours truly forgot her camera.

Some mugshots of the kind of riff-raff they let in to the hotel. Please note the expert camerawork in the last two slides. Be amazed at my ability to shoot Jason and myself in the mirror. I would label the other girls if I could write any of their names other than Sirida's.

There were several of these pictures around our floor. If you look closely, the landscapes are made entirely of dried and pressed flowers. If anyone has tips for taking better pictures of things behind glass, please let me know. They were really stunning pieces.

This display was in the lobby of the hotel. Every year Japan celebrates a Boy's day and a Girl's day. I am too lazy to look up the Wikipedia articles for you now, forgive me. Anyway, on both occasions, families set up tableaus for sons and daughters, with your typical 'boy's stuff' and 'girl's stuff'. The display below is fairly representative of the stereotypical Boy's Day table.

Below are some shots of the various adorable things I was tempted to buy in the gift shop, and some wider shots so that you can see what the gift shop looked like. Japan has a strong cultural tradition of gift-giving. When one goes on vacation, one brings small gifts, preferably somewhat representative of the destination of the trip, to important people at work, in the family, and to one's friends. It can be a vicious and costly cycle, since you must also buy 'omiyage' to anyone who has brought you an omiyage in the past. Anyway, the stacks and stacks of beautifully wrapped foods you can see in the pictures are probably marketed towards people shopping for these gifts. This is one occasion in which I feel lucky to be a stupid foreigner who can't be expected to know polite customs. I do buy omiyage for my landlords, however, since they are a very nice couple who speak no English, and I am continually ashamed of my inability to understand them. They do try to help me understand, and since they farm they also grow a small plot of veggies which they set out free for the tenants, the gifts make me feel a little less useless.

Questions are more than welcome. I'm rapidly establishing a habit of vomiting a whole bunch of pictures at you instead of explaining in detail, so comment asking anything else you want to know.

Next up (or last if you're reading this blog newest-oldest) will be vending machines!

Scenes from the neighborhood

A few pictures here from Oyama and the neighborhood around campus.


This sign (left) is for a store selling a favorite of mine, unagi (cooked freshwater eel). I love the aesthetics of it. The sign on the left is also for unagi, and I love it because you can see the white lettering is in the shape of an eel. The word in Japanese is うなぎ, if you look closely you can see these letters. I love it.


Some people describe Japan as a paradise, and while it is wonderful, I wanted to share this picture because it shows that things are very much the same everywhere. I've posted a lot of pictures of wonderful things, and it really is lovely here. Still, they still have the problems we have at home here in many cases.


This shrine is less than a five minute walk from my dorm. It is very beautiful.


Recycling is a little mind boggling at first here. You have to separate your trash carefully. There's burnable recyclable trash (cardboard), burnable nonrecyclable trash (garbage, scraps, etc), nonburnable recyclable trash (cans and bottles), nonburnable nonrecyclable trash (plastic wrap, styrofoam), hazardous waste (batteries, etc)... yes, I do need the chart they gave me to figure it all out. I'm getting the hang of it though.



I will make this cat my friend. Right now it runs when it sees me. Most cats seem to be strays or at least very skittish here. I'll get it yet though. I bought some dried fish to make it like me. Not too many animals other than birds run around here, but we did see bats over the stream on our way to the 7-11 last night. They were flying around by the cherry trees, which are blooming, and it was a beautiful sight in the half-darkness. I think what I enjoy most so far about being here is all the little pockets of natural beauty mixed in with the urban, modern buildings and conveniences, like wildflowers around the street signs.

Below are some more pictures of the area around campus. You can check the album for more info. Classes have started here, but we're still learning the ropes. Our actual language class should be good. It's just the English speakers, and the sensei seems keen to tailor the class to our abilities. The other class we've had was difficult... the instructor writes in a lot of kanji and scribbles, and he speaks very quickly. That class we have with all the foreign students, including the extremely intelligent and skillful Chinese and Taiwanese students who speak very good Japanese. We'll catch up, though. We've been spending a lot of time studying, but I am annoyed at the inability to get internet in my dorm. It may well be another month, and I am quite ticked, since that means I cannot use my WordChamp flashcards at home... or play WoW. One step at a time I guess. Enjoy the pics!

Pictures from the local park

Sorry it's been a couple of days. We had overnight orientation with the freshman at a nearby onsen (hot spring). Honestly, it was not very orienting since it was all in Japanese and directed at the Japanese students. It was confusing, and there were bedtimes and lining up and all sorts of things that made me feel like a kindergartener. The presentations by the school clubs were hard to understand... some of them not because of the language barrier. The traditional sport and art presentations were fascinating, but there were also students in doraemon costumes, and I still have no idea what the men in black body stockings were all about. They were funny, just... well, we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto, as they say.

The onsen was fantastic. Once the disrobing challenge was over, it was easier that I thought it would be to hang out and chat in the buff with the other girls. I could get used to the public bath scene. The water is so relaxing, and when you get too hot you can run to the cold tub to ice down. It's painfully cold, but after a couple of times switching back and forth, I got this amazing open feeling in my chest. It was definitely worth all of the confusing 'disorientation' institutional events. The food was amazing as well. I have some pictures which I will post later, but for now, you can check out the website for the onsen here. There's no English that I can find, but you can get some good pictures if you just click around.

Anyway, here is a slideshow of pictures from the local park ("kouen"). It is gorgeous. Lots of gnarled and tangled old trees, vendors, beautiful cherry trees just about in full bloom. I'm eager to go back now that the cherry trees are more in flower. I loved the ancient feeling of the trees. Apparently the site is home to the ruins of Gion Castle, dating back 5-600 years (maybe). Not much is left, but some of the trees have to have been there when it stood. I was amazed at the care taken to keep some of the oldest trees standing. If you look carefully at the pictures, you can see some are up on crutches or bound to keep the trunks intact enough to carry nutrients up from the roots and CO2 down from the leaves. The pictures don't really do the place justice, but this was the best I could do.

Lots of updates pending, but the lounge will close soon and I need to go study.

Bathroom Highlights

Yes, you read that right. I have your attention now, don't I?

Much to my relief, all of the dorm rooms have their own bathroom. It's much more like being in an apartment block than an American dorm. No hall meetings, no mandatory fun... everyone has their own door to the outside, kitchenette, and bathroom with shower/tub. Not being nostalgic for sharing a restroom with 20 other young people, I was relieved to find I'd have my own little private restroom.

I wanted to share a couple of points of interest from the bathroom with you. First of all, for those interested, there usually hasn't been much difference between American and Japanese bathrooms, with a couple of exceptions. One, as I mentioned in a previous post, is the floor drains. I suspect that this has to do with the Japanese custom of washing before bathing. It is common for a family to share bathwater, with the senior member getting the first bath. Therefore, everyone gets clean before hopping in. Usually, this means sitting on a shower stool beside the tub and washing off. This also explains the removable shower head.

The toilets in the dorm are for the most part normal toilets. No high-tech bidet attachments (although there was one in the hotel we stayed in our first night), and no squat toilets. Many of you know that in many countries, squat toilets are still prevalent, at least out side of the cities. This is true of India, Japan, and many parts of Europe. There ARE squat toilets on campus, and for the record, they are as clean and modern as the western-style public restrooms. It was a little surprising to all of a sudden find myself in one, but we are out in the countryside, and part of the intercultural experience is being open to new things. I'll just say, using one habitually must be great for the legs.

Anyway, my toilet in the dorm would be at home in any American home with this exception:

On the leftof the knob, do you see where it says "大" (big)? On the right, you can see the character "小" (small).　It means exactly what you think. If you turn the knob to the right, you get a very weak flush. Turning the knob to the left gets the more efficient strong flush. Mine can be a little cantankerous, but I really like the idea... most Americans probably would not take well to the thought of quantifying their 'business,' but it's a very clever way of saving water in the bathroom.





Also, and this touches on the fact that squat toilets are prevalent in this area, the toilet tank has a placard displaying directions for using the toilet seat.

Now you know more about my bathroom than you wanted. In my experience, most of us never grow out the urge to ask what bathrooms are like in other countries, but we do grow out of feeling comfortable asking. So now you know.

Aren't you glad to know me?