Post 90

Reflection
Three weeks in California, and at times Japan seems like a distant memory. I hit the ground running, and where I had hoped life would let me stop an rest, I found myself moving at full speed just to keep up. This seems more and more to be the case, but I need to carve out some time for myself, to reflect and to think.

You can run around all you want, but sometimes you get what you need when you can't. For example one of the final days in Akita, I had pretty much resigned one of my goals as being impossible, see the snowy sea. I did, however, have the means and support for other people to make a trip to Manga Soko, second-hand pop culture emporium. It was a monday, last full day in Japan, and we ran to the bus at 9:00 in the morning, a group of us, about 8. Member number 9 didn't show up, member number 9 was the guy who knew exactly how to get there. Members number 4 and 7 kinda sorta knew how to get there. A debacle, of truly epic proportions landed us nearly an hour by bus in the opposite dirrection, in the snow, freezing cold, away from any sort of civilization, with a bus stop that was merely a post stuck into 2 feet of snow.

It's like in monopoly when you roll the dice and slowly come to the conclusion that you're about to land on Park Place with your opponent's hotel just waiting there. You think to yourself, "Oh, I hope the bus will come back soon. . . I hope the bus will come back . . . I have no idea where I am, how to get back, or if there'll be shelter tonight."

That's when you stop running, thats when you have a quiet moment to contemplate things. Fortunately, an amazingly kind and friendly Japanese woman saved us, got us out of the cold, and got us ready to catch the right bus in about an hour. We we're way out of our safety zone, so far that we managed to hit the ocean.

Nobody would join me on my venture out to the ocean, but if you ever get the chance to see snow on the ocean, take it, it's well worth it.


Afterwards we managed to get to the shop, and I got many souvenirs. Believe me I got souvenirs, 4 months in Japan and I brought back a head full of souvenirs. I'm glad I've kept a blog to help me remember all my souvenirs.

Flying in no problem
Seeing the sun rise on the first day
walking to campus
getting snacks at the conbini
missing bedding
missing semminars
meeting Ashmore sensei
meeting people
actually getting some writing done
an infinate amount of paperwork
trips to take care of paperwork
Introduction party for new students
Seeing incredible performances at the party
Playing huge games, being incredibly in awe
Kind of being ready to have time to settle in
and not getting it
placement test for Japanese
begginging classes
meeting Hashimoto sensei
being acousted by the Community Outreach services people
pondering whether or not we wanted to participate in the festival
loving cafeteria food
realizing that the people who were helping in orientation were actually students
submitting some writing to contests
wondering when club rush would start
Jessi totally taking the lead for joining clubs
wondering why we we're the only foreign kids at any of the club meetings
Hopping Runners, Yatose, Swing Dancing Club for me
Yatose, Tea Ceremony, Sign language, Choir, Japanese Dance, Swing Dance for Jessi
Going to the mall, loving the mall
Playing the taiko drum game
Being otherwise overwhelmed by the arcade
Walking to Kawabe, and the river, looking for the temples
Seeing the sun set
Celebrating our Anniversary with a Bento Box lunch and bottle of wine
Finding the Shinto Shrine
Dollar store rocking
Grocery store being awesome and overwhelming
Credit Cards not really working, that being fixed
Going to the elementary school and meeting Ellie
Realizing that we want to do a lot more stuff with the local kids
Me becoming a part of the Happo Cho program, and then really only being able to go like 2 and a half times
Japanese class being a good review
Deciding to be super ambitious with my Japanese practice class
Purchasing Japanese board games at the mall
Relizing I don't know kanji
and all of the quizzes were in kanji
Finding out that they serve ramen at the cafeteria
Manga Mania class turns out is filled with fanboys and fangirls
Understanding that Manga Mania will be fun, but also extremely frustrating
Finding people I don't really like
Finding a bunch of people I really like
Finding out slowly which group of people Artjom falls into
Being happy to have a kitchen
Realizing a month had gone by and we weren't even really settled in
Finding out Yatose is incredible
Having a party with Yatose and suprising a girl on her birthday
Going with the Hopping Runners and making a friend
Trying to make friends with a few girls and then can't find them
(these girls told me I smelled nice, and ran about my speed, which was last in the line, it was a weird sort of friendship)
Meeting Japanese conversation friends, which was awkward but turned out well.
Meeting Shoko (my JFC) and sharing experiances
Meeting Shoko's friend who went to the Highschool I visited three years ago, making good friends with her and then never seeing her again.
Realizing that friendships in this setting were going to be a strange endeaver
Jessi getting involved with the fashion show for the festival
Wishing the school would do more to promote foreign and japanese student interactions
Finally deciding to participate in the festival
Meeting Host Families
Jessi going off with her host family that night for dinner
Watching a bunch of movies with Jessi from the library
Starting to get an education on Japanese pop culture
Being Overwhelmed at manga soko
Going to Rammen with Ashmore Sensei
Having the first swing dance practice
Going on a long run with the hopping runners
and being tired and sore days later
Discovering how expensive laundry is
Going to Kappa Sushi
Wandering around Akita
Dragging Jessi around roads less traveled
Glimpsing the Akita Castle Ruins
Getting ready for the festival
Playing card games with Shoko
Finally deciding to do something about the act for the festival
Discovering a lot about games in Japan
Looking for various parts of Jessi's costumes
Looking for the grommit lining fabric that all the costumes were centered around
Not finding it
Watching movies in Komachi lounge
Showing people Hudson Hawk and the Mario Brother's Movie
Going on a trip with my host family for the first time
Going to a dairy farm
Seeing Mount Chokai
Eating homemade sushi
Preparing for the festival
Jessi costume making
So many Grommits, grommiting till my hands bled
AIU Festival, and being entirely blown away
Jessi and I performing our juggling act and blowing everyone else away
Finding good friends through Jessi's costuming venture
Discovering Yatse was essentially over
Having food on a more regular basis with a certain group of kids
Discovering a love for Cafeteria Breakfast
Putting rice in everything
Discovering that the Japanese put corn in everything
Doing a lot of cooking, but everything basicaly coming out as fried dough
Watching Giant Robo,
with the class at first, and then Jessi and I finishing it on our own
Camera starting to not work
Going to a nice dinner in Akita, at a place that became my and Jessi's "place"
Discovering a love of Mario Chocolate Eggs
Buying as many tubes of cookies as possible
Getting a ton of cheap vegetables and produce
Have to say again that the festival was incredibly amazing
Checking out some cool anthologies at the library
Going to Round 1
Reading I am a Cat, gettting about a chapter in
and then Jessi got a hold of it and read it
Really starting to miss certain types of things from back home
Making mochi by myself
Discovering the import shop
Finding out that the Hopping Runners were essentially finished
Otsukimi Party and mochi making
Spending 8 dollars on Baby Bell Cheese
(it was the best 8 dollars I ever spent)
Watching Nadia and the Secret of the Blue Water (secret blue water!!!!!!!!)
Working on Joe Hench
Getting ready for Halloween
Feeling conflicted over friends and work
Halloween Costume making
Discovering that I can actually do a decent job sewing
Performing our Circus act several times
Getting the hang of the bus and train systems
The most amazing birthday and halloween ever
Going to the mall on a regular basis
Camera starting to work again
Preparing for midterms
Watching Tampopo, and falling in love with kiritampo
Guy Fawkes Day/ Bonfire night watching V for Vendetta
Getting drinks at the student Cafe
Another trip to Manga Soko
Christmas decorations going up
Community outreach programs maturing and occuring
Construction blocking major lanes of pedestrian traffic
Watching Bleach the Musical
With Birthday Pudding for Ellie
Going to the ZaZen workshop
Nabe with the Sign Language club
Work for classes ramping up
Planning for Kyoto/Osaka Trip
Seeing Akita Castle and nearly got blown off the replica of a guard tower
Kyoto/Osaka Trip
Midterms
Also Finals
Housing and Ithaca matters
Mad dash to make finals work
Snow and lots of it
Getting $5,000 suddenly and for no reason
Double Day with Host Families,
Museums with my host family Nabe with Jessi's Host Family
Drinking with the Scot and Brits
Muppet Treasure Island
Leaving Party
Final meeting with my host family
Kakunodate and Lake Tazawako
People starting to leave
Getting lost and ending up at the ocean
Final Yatose Meeting
Packing

and leaving . . .

and really there was so much more that happened that giving words to everything that deserves words would drain the ocean that is the English language. It was an amazing adventure and I feel blessed for it to have happened to me, and doubly so for having Jessi with me for the whole thing.

It was four months of my life, and when I've returned, my dad askes me, "Waht do you miss?". And I think long and hard, and honestly can't come up with anything more meaningful that snacks or rice. However, I managed to get so much of Japan, had my goals and accomplished them that there's not a lot that I "miss". There's a lot that I want to do, should I return to Japan, there's a lot that I feel awkward about being back in my home country. So much of what I wanted, I received, so since I have it, I don't miss it. As always, it boils down to the people, and the food.

I made a lot of friends, I had a lot of experiances. Japan was an incredible experiance, and I am a stronger person for having studied there.

-Mack

Tomarrow and the next day

Screaming towards the finish line

So tomarrow is our last day, we ship out the day after early in the morning. There's so much to cover I'm simply going to have to wait until after I get home to post it all. However, we are safe, everything's under control, we are home sick, we are stressed, and it's going to be quite the reprieve to get on that airplane and know that we managed to get through Japan without any catastrophies.

There's so much stuff that couldn't make it up on the blog, and probably wont, but if you are interested I'd be glad to recount the stories and share the pictures and videos with anyone interested enough to sit through something like that.

I think I've only got one post left (probably) and it'll be a recounting of the entire trip and impressions as well as some of the stuff that I've missed but is too important to not throw up here. Overall I've taken about 20 Gigabytes of pictures and video of this trip. An amount I believe that lives up to my dad's suggested strategy of "take three steps and then take a picture".

I want to thank all of you for giving me a solid reason to keep this blog going as prolifically as I have, the written record of it all will be an excellent help when I start trying to sort my pictures and realize I've given none of them names and I'll look at them and not know what they're of.

Next post will likely be coming from Stateside.

さよなら、　日本

-Mack
-マック

It's Snowing

Winter

So three days ago it started snowing



and it kept snowing



and it's still snowing . . .




We're looking at about a foot of snow in 3 days, and it doesn't show signs of letting up anytime soon. The snow, however,is white and fluffy and awesome!


-Mack

Juggling in Japan 2: Otedama

The Entertainer
In my time here in Japan Jessi and I have performed for an audience about 4 times. I've performed a solo act for an audience twice, and have spent a good deal of time doing little tricks here and there for elementary school. As I've talked to a even greater number of people about Juggling, I've heard otedama come up more and more.

When I visited my host family for the first time, I brought my juggling balls to show them. After I showed them a little bit of juggling, my host mom brought out a bunch of otedama that she had made from kimono fabric. They were absolutely gorgeous, and not filled nearly so much as a western juggling ball, so they make a bunch of noise when you use them. She knew a little otedama, but hadn't done it since she was a little girl.

When I met Hiroko my host sister recently, my host mom made me a set of otedama made of kimono silk. They're bright orange and filled with azuki beans. The stitch on them is actually quite amazing. They are really well made.

It wasn't until we went to Jessi's host family house that we were really schooled in Otedama culture. When I showed her host parents the otedama that my host mom had made me, Jessi's host mom was really excited and nostalgic. She hadn't done it much since she was a little girl, but she got the balls flying nonetheless after a little bit of practice.

Otedama looks like what everyone expects juggling to look like, it's the circle pattern. Toss high ones over with one hand, and make small quick passes with the other hand. Looks just like when Bugs bunny shows off juggling. They also do two with one hand. The interesting thing is, that there are songs associated with otedama, which is why the balls make so much noise; it's to keep the beat of the song.

"Don don pan pan, don don pan. don don pan pan, don pan pan. dodopan dodopan don pan pan"

This was the chorus that her mom had us learn. It was an Akita folk song, and it's incredible to think that we were able to learn it.


-Mack

My Dorm Room 3 Months Later

Its self explanitory.


Swine Flu update: Still not sick, seveal people released from quarantine who weren't actually sick. Doesn't look like they'll close the school.

Swine Flu and Final Weeks

Winding Down

December is upon us, which means only 17 more days of Japan. My feelings are mixed. There is still a lot left to do here in Japan, but as we approach the end of the semmester final projects and tests are begginging to bind my hands. There's a sense of constant urgency among everyone who is leaving, and it's stressful.

I plan to see the ocean again before I go, and I want to make some daytrips by train to see the cities and towns around Akita. I also want to spend a good deal of time playing arcade games. Those things feel very doable within the time frame, and I think if I accomplish them I should be able to leave Japan feeling satisfied. The full experiance of Japan has truly been something I'll remember the rest of my life. Even if I don't manage to really do much in these final weeks it'll have been a truly incredible experiance.


Also . . .
As far as plans for these couple weeks go, the decisions may be made for me. So far 50ish kids have been quarantened for swine flu (or the likelihood of swine flu). No one should worry though, the ony reason swine flu's been in the news is because there isn't much of a vaccine for it, not because it is particularly terrible. I've met a few people that had it a while before they came to AIU and it pales in comparrison to the regular flu.

As far as quarantene goes, if they find out you've been closely associated with someone who has Swine flu, you're quantened for 3 days in a special quarantene room. If after that they find out you have swine flu, you're quanatened for another week. Thing is the capacity for sick people isn't very large on campus, so there's talk that if too many people catch it, they'll shut down the school. Possibly even quaratene the entire campus and just keep the virus from spreading. I'll keep you guys updated.




(A journey through our trip to Kyoto will happen, untill it does here's the raw video)
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheAuthorM#p/u/20/5bvSv8u7Dzo

Jasso Scholarship

Luck is a Lady with a Sack full of Money

It's possible that people who know me wont be suprised by this. I've been known to be a very lucky person at times. Right-place-right-time, what-are-the-chances-of-that, couldn't-do-that-again-if-I-tried sort of stuff. I don't expect it, and it certainly doesn't mean that I don't put all my effort into what I do anyway. However, it's nice when things tend to work themselves out. To quote my Uncle, "I'd rather be lucky that good anyday."

So about 5 days ago, I received an e-mail from the office, not anymore detailed than "someone cancelled their scholarship, you've been nominated for a Jasso, come to the office so I can explain". I thought to myself, "awesome, but I'm leaving Japan in less than a month."

A few of my friends here at AIU have Jasso scholarships. From what I'd heard they have a pretty hefty monthly stipend asscociated with them. However, like I said, I only have something like 3 weeks left in Japan. While I'm not going to refuse a months worth of scholarship, I figured that it was more likely that they'd simply missed that fact in the paper work, I'd tell them I was leaving, and they'd apologize and give the scholarship to someone who is here for a full year.

Apparently that is not the case. I went to the office to get the whole situation clarified. A slim Japanese guy with pretty good English informed me that I was more than nominated, I was selected for the Jasso and would be receiving the scholarship. Not just for this month, but the Japanese Government was going to retroactivly fund my entire trip to Japan, at $800 a month for 5 months, with an additional $800 scholaship on top. The man asked me for my bank information so that they could transfer close to $5,000 dollars into my account.

Flabergasted is a good word, because suprised simply wont do. The best I could do was ask "wha?". Most often Jasso scholarships are awarded either before you come to Japan or in your first month of being here. However, one girl that had received her scholarship before coming to Japan had cancelled her trip. Which left an open scholarship open for someone else. Apparently I was nominated for that scholarship, and now, 3 months later, the paperwork is just beggining to finish up. Why me? A writing major who has as much bussiness in Japan as he would in any other country? Apparently it came down to grades, my 3.7 at Ithaca impressed someone I guess.

So on December 11th, 11 days before I leave Japan, five thousand dollars will drop out of the sky onto my head. If you don't include room and board at AIU (which is cheaper than Ithaca) I have spent roughly five thousand dollars in Japan (including Air Fare). Which would mean that (if I didn't plan to go out and buy lots of shiny things with this money) I came to Japan for a semester for free.

Course it's not like I intended to come to Japan for free, so this means that everyone's souvenirs got a whole lot better. Additionally just because I got lucky doesn't mean I'll slack off. If anything it's taught me that hard work in school does actually pay off. Though, like my uncle says, "I'd rather be lucky than good anyday."

-Mack