新幹線のきっぷを買った！
I bought the bullet-train tickets!
それに、Ｊｏｏｎ Ｗｏｏのおかげで、茶柱の忘年会は夜６じからたと気がついた。 大阪に行く三人は別々に帰るから、２７日に好きな時間に新幹線で帰ってもいいし、忘年
I realized I can go to the year-end party after all!
今日、Ｚｈｅｍｉｎとぼくは東京タワーに六本木ヒルズから歩いて行った。今日は「特別
See below.
Also, I realized that I never posted about the house I'll be living in next year, which was decided by my friends back in the states (I'd have helped more than the few comment emails I sent, but... I was in Japan). It looks great, the bottom floor of a duplex, and in a great location, actually closer to central than my dorm was the last two years. It looks like seven of us will be living there (myself, Patrick, Brad, Jiaqi, Akhil, Jason and Kushan). It's... Really not much cheaper than the dorm at all. >_>;
But, I'm really looking forward to the experience. +D
It's really hard to believe that we'll be seniors next year... Man. Getting excited about this has also made me miss those guys at home. XD+ Bawww. Should be great, though.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1057/3
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1
There are a bunch more images, but I'm lazy and probably no one cares anyway (and I'll probably take lots when I get there in September, anyway +D)
23 December 2009
Daily photo #200
I like that, unexpectedly, the 200th photo is of Tokyo Tower, and especially Tokyo Tower witha giant heart on it. It seems rather fitting. Zhemin and I were in Roppongi Hills when we saw that the normal lighting on Tokyo Tower suddenly go off. +O But then were was other lighting that kept changing. So, though we hadn't planned to, from there we walked to the Tower. It turns out that on "special days" there's special lighting. This was one such special day, and so we saw the "diamond veil" new special lighting. It was really beautiful! We wanted to go up in the tower, but it was really crowded (due to being a "special day," I guess), so we decided to definitely come back another time, before long. See you soon, Tokyo Tower!
I bought the bullet-train tickets!
それに、Ｊｏｏｎ Ｗｏｏのおかげで、茶柱の忘年会は夜６じからたと気がついた。 大阪に行く三人は別々に帰るから、２７日に好きな時間に新幹線で帰ってもいいし、忘年
I realized I can go to the year-end party after all!
今日、Ｚｈｅｍｉｎとぼくは東京タワーに六本木ヒルズから歩いて行った。今日は「特別
See below.
Also, I realized that I never posted about the house I'll be living in next year, which was decided by my friends back in the states (I'd have helped more than the few comment emails I sent, but... I was in Japan). It looks great, the bottom floor of a duplex, and in a great location, actually closer to central than my dorm was the last two years. It looks like seven of us will be living there (myself, Patrick, Brad, Jiaqi, Akhil, Jason and Kushan). It's... Really not much cheaper than the dorm at all. >_>;
But, I'm really looking forward to the experience. +D
It's really hard to believe that we'll be seniors next year... Man. Getting excited about this has also made me miss those guys at home. XD+ Bawww. Should be great, though.
http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/1057/3
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1
There are a bunch more images, but I'm lazy and probably no one cares anyway (and I'll probably take lots when I get there in September, anyway +D)
23 December 2009
Daily photo #200
I like that, unexpectedly, the 200th photo is of Tokyo Tower, and especially Tokyo Tower witha giant heart on it. It seems rather fitting. Zhemin and I were in Roppongi Hills when we saw that the normal lighting on Tokyo Tower suddenly go off. +O But then were was other lighting that kept changing. So, though we hadn't planned to, from there we walked to the Tower. It turns out that on "special days" there's special lighting. This was one such special day, and so we saw the "diamond veil" new special lighting. It was really beautiful! We wanted to go up in the tower, but it was really crowded (due to being a "special day," I guess), so we decided to definitely come back another time, before long. See you soon, Tokyo Tower!
So, abrupt change of plans:
I'll still be going with Alden, the Chinese girls and Sarah to near Fuji-san on the 28th, but I'll also be going with Zhemin and Mina to Osaka tomorrow through the 27th. This means that I'll miss the Chabashira Bounenkai, unfortunately, but I didn't think of that when we made the last-minute reservations. XD+ Oh well. Osaka! Should be awesome. Zhemin and I are gong to Shibuya to buy the shinkansen tickets shortly.
Monday was pretty much normal... Class, class, class... This included watching the film of Mishima's Patriotism, which was really weird. Miwa wasn't at the only class we have together, unfortunately, but I saw Yamaji and we chatted a bit, and I dragged Yisha and Takao up to back me up giving a short presentation for our group. XD
On Tuesday was the third Japanese exam of the semester's four. I found it harder than the first two, but so did everyone else, it seems, so that's reassuring. Not too bad, anyway. Just one of two short-response questions asking, like, "What does the [word] in [phrase from the passage above] refer to?" ...Where I didn't understand the phrase at all. XD+
Afterwards, I had lunch with Hana, which was quite nice, then came home and bought a potted plant (at last!). A little later I went with Alden to Takaido station (one of the stations I normally pass by everyday on the train to school) and met up with Francesco, Yisha, Mina and Fiona, and we went to an onsen there. It was quite inexpensive (under 1000 yen), and pretty nice. This one, unlike my one previous "onsen" experience was (in half the baths, anyway) natural hot spring water from an on-site spring. XD A couple nice indoor baths, and, what was more exciting, a three nice outdoor baths as well. Since it's in town there were high fences, so no scenery, but it was still nice, in the winter (liek, 50°F/10°C) air. The only thing I didn't like was that there was no slightly cooler bath, so I got a bit too hot at one point and got dizzy. But then, sitting on the benches outside to cool off and seeing steam rising from your own body was kinda neat. XD
And last night a group of us went out to dinner at a little shop quite near the dorm (another place we pass every day) that none of us had actually been to. We were the only ones there, and it was cozy and friendly. XD And delicious. We said goodbye to Sebastien and Francesco, who are going back to their respective countries for a couple weeks, and also to Bastien, who's staying in Tokyo, but with some friends. A few others (Hanikya and Stephan, at least) are also going to thier respective countries, Erika is going to stay with her family in Japan, and Yisha's family is coming from Singapore, so she'll be touring with them. Sigh... I feel like I've known these people much longer than I have. XD+ I don't even want to think about parting come July/August.
Today I made plans/reservations with Mina and Zhemin, and that's about it. In fifteen minutes or so Zhemin and I will go to Shibuya, as I mentioned before, to reserve our bullet train tickets for tomorrow, have dinner, and then bus to Roppongi to see the illuminations (Christmas lights). Hooray!
22 December 2009
Daily photo #199
Goodbye (for a little while) dinner at the little shop around the corner last night. Quite nice. It took all my cunning and endurance (as well as Francesco's endurance) to get this photo of multiple people eating at once.
21 December 2009
Daily photo #198
This isn't really a photo of anything much... But it seems to be the only photo I took on Monday. I tried to get an awesome one in Boccha-sensei's class, I remember, but my timing was bad, and by the time it occurred to me to take it and I tried to get across the room to do it, it was, liek, 10 seconds too late. Anyway, this is looking out from the edge of Komaba campus, overlooking some astroturf athletic fields, to some big apartment buildings on the other side.
When I select today's daily photo (which will most be likely be taken in the next few hours, in Roppongi or something), it'll be the 200th daily photo. +O
I'll still be going with Alden, the Chinese girls and Sarah to near Fuji-san on the 28th, but I'll also be going with Zhemin and Mina to Osaka tomorrow through the 27th. This means that I'll miss the Chabashira Bounenkai, unfortunately, but I didn't think of that when we made the last-minute reservations. XD+ Oh well. Osaka! Should be awesome. Zhemin and I are gong to Shibuya to buy the shinkansen tickets shortly.
Monday was pretty much normal... Class, class, class... This included watching the film of Mishima's Patriotism, which was really weird. Miwa wasn't at the only class we have together, unfortunately, but I saw Yamaji and we chatted a bit, and I dragged Yisha and Takao up to back me up giving a short presentation for our group. XD
On Tuesday was the third Japanese exam of the semester's four. I found it harder than the first two, but so did everyone else, it seems, so that's reassuring. Not too bad, anyway. Just one of two short-response questions asking, like, "What does the [word] in [phrase from the passage above] refer to?" ...Where I didn't understand the phrase at all. XD+
Afterwards, I had lunch with Hana, which was quite nice, then came home and bought a potted plant (at last!). A little later I went with Alden to Takaido station (one of the stations I normally pass by everyday on the train to school) and met up with Francesco, Yisha, Mina and Fiona, and we went to an onsen there. It was quite inexpensive (under 1000 yen), and pretty nice. This one, unlike my one previous "onsen" experience was (in half the baths, anyway) natural hot spring water from an on-site spring. XD A couple nice indoor baths, and, what was more exciting, a three nice outdoor baths as well. Since it's in town there were high fences, so no scenery, but it was still nice, in the winter (liek, 50°F/10°C) air. The only thing I didn't like was that there was no slightly cooler bath, so I got a bit too hot at one point and got dizzy. But then, sitting on the benches outside to cool off and seeing steam rising from your own body was kinda neat. XD
And last night a group of us went out to dinner at a little shop quite near the dorm (another place we pass every day) that none of us had actually been to. We were the only ones there, and it was cozy and friendly. XD And delicious. We said goodbye to Sebastien and Francesco, who are going back to their respective countries for a couple weeks, and also to Bastien, who's staying in Tokyo, but with some friends. A few others (Hanikya and Stephan, at least) are also going to thier respective countries, Erika is going to stay with her family in Japan, and Yisha's family is coming from Singapore, so she'll be touring with them. Sigh... I feel like I've known these people much longer than I have. XD+ I don't even want to think about parting come July/August.
Today I made plans/reservations with Mina and Zhemin, and that's about it. In fifteen minutes or so Zhemin and I will go to Shibuya, as I mentioned before, to reserve our bullet train tickets for tomorrow, have dinner, and then bus to Roppongi to see the illuminations (Christmas lights). Hooray!
22 December 2009
Daily photo #199
Goodbye (for a little while) dinner at the little shop around the corner last night. Quite nice. It took all my cunning and endurance (as well as Francesco's endurance) to get this photo of multiple people eating at once.
21 December 2009
Daily photo #198
This isn't really a photo of anything much... But it seems to be the only photo I took on Monday. I tried to get an awesome one in Boccha-sensei's class, I remember, but my timing was bad, and by the time it occurred to me to take it and I tried to get across the room to do it, it was, liek, 10 seconds too late. Anyway, this is looking out from the edge of Komaba campus, overlooking some astroturf athletic fields, to some big apartment buildings on the other side.
When I select today's daily photo (which will most be likely be taken in the next few hours, in Roppongi or something), it'll be the 200th daily photo. +O
Written last night (night of the 20th) but not posted for some reason:
I ought to be studying for my exam on Tuesday...
Oh, whatever.
Yesterday I biked to the Tamagawa again! This time I consulted a map ahead of time, and went by a much more direct route to a section of the river closer to home, so it didn't take nearly as long, and I spent more time walking and biking around the banks. Maybe it's just that everything in Japan still feels more enchanted than things in the US, but it was really cool. Of course, I don't live near any large rivers in Michigan, so walking on the dry-at-this-time-of-year part of the riverbed and such was a new experience altogether.
At one point I was taking pictures of some pigeons on a bridge when this older Japanese guy came up, looked at me, reached into his back and pulled out a handful of catfood, which he tossed to the birds. XD It was really cool. I took many pictures, but I wish I had one of him doing that.
Last night was Chabashira's Christmas Party. The main party was a bit expensive (paying for alcohol nomihoudai always sucks if you don't want to drink a lot), but very nice, and great fun. I met lots of new people, as well, which is always good. We also had a gift exchange, where I got a glass chess set (made even more special since I found out that the one who bought it was Yo!)... But I didn't make it home with it. Hopefully I left it at the karaoke some of us went to after the main party, and someone found it...
But, yeah, we did go to karaoke afterward, with quite a large group for karaoke, maybe 30 people or so. I think recently I've had more fun each successive time I go to karaoke. XD Highlights from this time include talking to a fairly drunk Koyanagi in Japanese while he talked (and shouted XD) to me in English, singing Mariah Carey again, singing Sweet Home Alabama in duet with Nicolas who I met earlier in the night ("アラバマに帰りたい！"), and finally singing a Spitz song (Cherry) with Akabane! When we first met, at Kenji's birthday party, Akabane and I kind of hit it off talking about Spitz, a band we both really like, so that was especially nice. +D
Going home, I got what I think might have been the last train from Ikebukuro to Shibuya, and then the last train from Shibuya to Kichijouji (the only train after it being only to Fujimigaoka - a train I've ridden before), where my bike was. From Ikebukuro to Shibuya, though, was the infamous Yamanote line... And holy cats. Last train on Saturday night is crazy. I experienced "manin densha," full-to-capacity train, for the first time. It was actually a little physically painful, being crammed so tight... But I made it, and was just thankful to make the trains in time. XD
I think, if possible, I really want to bike to at least Misawa, or maybe Cape Shiriyazaki (with Misawa on the way) toward the end of the long break. I guess I'll have to see what the schedule and weather is like then... Perhaps I can take a shinkansen home, to make the total trip take less time... But I think walking/biking really is a fantastic way to see a place, and I want to see Japan!
To add to that list of events coming up that I posted recently, it seems that I'll be going with Wu Di, Joon Woo and one other person (...Was it Yu? Was it Clara? Yang Rei?) to see KinKi Kids in concert on the 31st. +O
I'm not a huge fan of KinKi Kids, but it's pretty cheap and I like them well enough, and I partly just want to go experience a concert in Tokyo Dome, anyway... XD
So, another thing to look forward to!
Class tomorrow and Tuesday (including an exam), and then two-week break!
My goals for the break, so far, are as follows:
- Write at least one term paper (even I'm skeptical about this actually happening... But it would really, really good to do...)
- Bike one day to Tokyo Bay
- Day trip to Enoshima and/or Kamakura (maybe)
- Read Wild Sheep Chase (Haruki) and, if I finish that, start on Confessions of a Mask (Mishima)
20 December 2009
Daily photo #197
Pretty slow day; mostly just stayed in and procrastinated and studied. I did, however, get and put up (sloppily, with masking tape) these lights in my window. Later I may put them elsewhere in the room, to add a little incandescence to the slightly cold fluorescent ceiling light... But for now, in the window. Merry Christmas~
19 December 2009
Daily photo #196
Since it was more unique than the Tamagawa photos, here's the Chabashira gift exchange. We all put the gifts we brought on a table when we entered, then they were handed out at random to everyone, and then we played a sort of hot-potato game with them, passing them around only while music played, until we finally stopped and opened them.
I ought to be studying for my exam on Tuesday...
Oh, whatever.
Yesterday I biked to the Tamagawa again! This time I consulted a map ahead of time, and went by a much more direct route to a section of the river closer to home, so it didn't take nearly as long, and I spent more time walking and biking around the banks. Maybe it's just that everything in Japan still feels more enchanted than things in the US, but it was really cool. Of course, I don't live near any large rivers in Michigan, so walking on the dry-at-this-time-of-year part of the riverbed and such was a new experience altogether.
At one point I was taking pictures of some pigeons on a bridge when this older Japanese guy came up, looked at me, reached into his back and pulled out a handful of catfood, which he tossed to the birds. XD It was really cool. I took many pictures, but I wish I had one of him doing that.
Last night was Chabashira's Christmas Party. The main party was a bit expensive (paying for alcohol nomihoudai always sucks if you don't want to drink a lot), but very nice, and great fun. I met lots of new people, as well, which is always good. We also had a gift exchange, where I got a glass chess set (made even more special since I found out that the one who bought it was Yo!)... But I didn't make it home with it. Hopefully I left it at the karaoke some of us went to after the main party, and someone found it...
But, yeah, we did go to karaoke afterward, with quite a large group for karaoke, maybe 30 people or so. I think recently I've had more fun each successive time I go to karaoke. XD Highlights from this time include talking to a fairly drunk Koyanagi in Japanese while he talked (and shouted XD) to me in English, singing Mariah Carey again, singing Sweet Home Alabama in duet with Nicolas who I met earlier in the night ("アラバマに帰りたい！"), and finally singing a Spitz song (Cherry) with Akabane! When we first met, at Kenji's birthday party, Akabane and I kind of hit it off talking about Spitz, a band we both really like, so that was especially nice. +D
Going home, I got what I think might have been the last train from Ikebukuro to Shibuya, and then the last train from Shibuya to Kichijouji (the only train after it being only to Fujimigaoka - a train I've ridden before), where my bike was. From Ikebukuro to Shibuya, though, was the infamous Yamanote line... And holy cats. Last train on Saturday night is crazy. I experienced "manin densha," full-to-capacity train, for the first time. It was actually a little physically painful, being crammed so tight... But I made it, and was just thankful to make the trains in time. XD
I think, if possible, I really want to bike to at least Misawa, or maybe Cape Shiriyazaki (with Misawa on the way) toward the end of the long break. I guess I'll have to see what the schedule and weather is like then... Perhaps I can take a shinkansen home, to make the total trip take less time... But I think walking/biking really is a fantastic way to see a place, and I want to see Japan!
To add to that list of events coming up that I posted recently, it seems that I'll be going with Wu Di, Joon Woo and one other person (...Was it Yu? Was it Clara? Yang Rei?) to see KinKi Kids in concert on the 31st. +O
I'm not a huge fan of KinKi Kids, but it's pretty cheap and I like them well enough, and I partly just want to go experience a concert in Tokyo Dome, anyway... XD
So, another thing to look forward to!
Class tomorrow and Tuesday (including an exam), and then two-week break!
My goals for the break, so far, are as follows:
- Write at least one term paper (even I'm skeptical about this actually happening... But it would really, really good to do...)
- Bike one day to Tokyo Bay
- Day trip to Enoshima and/or Kamakura (maybe)
- Read Wild Sheep Chase (Haruki) and, if I finish that, start on Confessions of a Mask (Mishima)
20 December 2009
Daily photo #197
Pretty slow day; mostly just stayed in and procrastinated and studied. I did, however, get and put up (sloppily, with masking tape) these lights in my window. Later I may put them elsewhere in the room, to add a little incandescence to the slightly cold fluorescent ceiling light... But for now, in the window. Merry Christmas~
19 December 2009
Daily photo #196
Since it was more unique than the Tamagawa photos, here's the Chabashira gift exchange. We all put the gifts we brought on a table when we entered, then they were handed out at random to everyone, and then we played a sort of hot-potato game with them, passing them around only while music played, until we finally stopped and opened them.
The week of three essays and a speech to write and deliver wasn't so bad, in the end, though I racked up a lot of sleep debt that I intend to start repaying as soon as I finish writing this.
Because professor Goossen, a guest professor at TouDai who taught an AIKOM class, has to go back to Canada for the start of the semester there, our last films class was this Wednesday. It was a pretty good class, I think. Though I'd only written about half of the shorter one of two papers due Thursday, when it was suggested that we go out to dinner together, I agreed. XD
And we did, and it was nice (yakitori!), and I finished the shorter paper around one, and then managed to write the other paper between classes on Thursday (and write it pretty well, I think. It was actually maybe better as a whole than my paper for the same class last week).
On a similar note, the nabe party with Fiona, Deww, Yisha and Hana was last night (Thursday) was a blast. It was, I realized, the first time I'd been in a Japanese person's residence. I think there's not nearly the same culture of socializing in homes in Japan - it's almost always done out. Anyway, the nabe was delicious, we had very fun conversation, especially about English slang (Hana taking notes), painted on a board his guests paint on, wrote in a notebook his guests write in, and before we realized it we'd been there for five hours. XD
Finished my Japanese speech by two, got up a bit earlier to practice it... And somehow it went it really smoothly today. I suspect it was because I was, for whatever, much more relaxed than usual. My ability to speak Japanese is quite effected by how comfortable I am, I find.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but a couple weeks ago I met with a Japanese student hoping to study at UofM (my home university) on AIKOM exchange next year. I basically told him more about university life there and answered many of his questions. He had actually lived in Ann Arbor as a child, until around the end of elementary school, and it turned out that we had at least one mutual (casual) friend, in my case from high school. XD Anyway, it seems that he got in! Or rather, just like the process I went through to come to TouDai on AIKOM exchange, he was approved and selected over other candidates by TouDai, and still needs to be officially accepted by Michigan, though it's a pretty sure thing. Maybe I'll see you at JSA next year, Tetsuro! +D
I forgot to mention before, but over the last weekend I read (among other things), a famous short story by Yukio Meshima titled Patriotism, as translated into English by Geoffrey W. Sargent. I've found I think all the Japanese literature I've read disturbing or unsettling in some way, and I was certainly not comfortable with the content of this one (the very idea of patriotism is rather alarming to me), but... Wow. Kudos to both the author and translator. In terms of skill of writing prose, it just really stood out to me. Definitely made me think, "wow, this is the level of prose I would strive for if I were to write a book." Mishima is pretty weird, and I so far I generally don't really like his ideas, but I kind of want to read more of his work just to experience the craft of it. Maybe I'll read Confessions of a Mask over the break...
Lately every week seems to go so quickly. I found myself surprised to realize yesterday that this one was almost over... I think I remember having it last year, as well, in November, that sort of bewildered feeling of "It's Friday again already?"
Next week is class only on Monday and Tuesday... And then it's holiday break already? It feels like there was supposed to be another week in between. XD Which is the opposite of how I usually feel about winter break, which usually seems to take forever coming.
Going to all the meetings and sessions related to study abroad that I had to go to before coming here, everyone always talked about how much it changed them. And I have to say, I already feel changed. I think I am more positive, more proactive... I can't really put it into words. But there's some kind of attitude of humility and positivity and openness and gameness that I think is necessary to a successful study abroad. In a foreign country there's a very difficult language barrier, and more difficult, or at least more potentially frustrating and upsetting, I think, there's a culture gap that's so much greater and more subtle and pervasive than even someone very interested in it like myself can ever realize without going, I think. In response, you can kind of withdraw, go on the defensive, and reject the new, or you can take a more humble approach, try to just do the best in each situation... Yeah, I really can't express it well yet, though I've been thinking about it for at least a month. I think if you take the first approach (and I've seen a couple people do it, to some extent), you'll be miserable while abroad. I just hope I can keep this positive openness when I go back to the US.
Anyway, rambling entry... daily photos. All related to dinners...
I may rewrite the captions later. Or if not here, when I repost them, anyway.
18 December 2009
Daily photo #195
Today was Ayu's birthday! In AIKOM style, we had a party, though this time int he MSC room. It was great fun, and we had great food, cooked and/or purchased by the AIKOMsei. Here she is with the main cake, back-up rollcakes in the background. アユいつも可愛い顔してるね☆
17 December 2009
Daily photo #194
Hana scooping some veggies into the nabe pot at the nabe party on Thursday. Oishisugiru!
16 December 2009
Daily photo #193
Our dinner on Wednesday with Goossen Sensei, after the last class of Films. Good food, good conversation and good company.
Because professor Goossen, a guest professor at TouDai who taught an AIKOM class, has to go back to Canada for the start of the semester there, our last films class was this Wednesday. It was a pretty good class, I think. Though I'd only written about half of the shorter one of two papers due Thursday, when it was suggested that we go out to dinner together, I agreed. XD
And we did, and it was nice (yakitori!), and I finished the shorter paper around one, and then managed to write the other paper between classes on Thursday (and write it pretty well, I think. It was actually maybe better as a whole than my paper for the same class last week).
On a similar note, the nabe party with Fiona, Deww, Yisha and Hana was last night (Thursday) was a blast. It was, I realized, the first time I'd been in a Japanese person's residence. I think there's not nearly the same culture of socializing in homes in Japan - it's almost always done out. Anyway, the nabe was delicious, we had very fun conversation, especially about English slang (Hana taking notes), painted on a board his guests paint on, wrote in a notebook his guests write in, and before we realized it we'd been there for five hours. XD
Finished my Japanese speech by two, got up a bit earlier to practice it... And somehow it went it really smoothly today. I suspect it was because I was, for whatever, much more relaxed than usual. My ability to speak Japanese is quite effected by how comfortable I am, I find.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but a couple weeks ago I met with a Japanese student hoping to study at UofM (my home university) on AIKOM exchange next year. I basically told him more about university life there and answered many of his questions. He had actually lived in Ann Arbor as a child, until around the end of elementary school, and it turned out that we had at least one mutual (casual) friend, in my case from high school. XD Anyway, it seems that he got in! Or rather, just like the process I went through to come to TouDai on AIKOM exchange, he was approved and selected over other candidates by TouDai, and still needs to be officially accepted by Michigan, though it's a pretty sure thing. Maybe I'll see you at JSA next year, Tetsuro! +D
I forgot to mention before, but over the last weekend I read (among other things), a famous short story by Yukio Meshima titled Patriotism, as translated into English by Geoffrey W. Sargent. I've found I think all the Japanese literature I've read disturbing or unsettling in some way, and I was certainly not comfortable with the content of this one (the very idea of patriotism is rather alarming to me), but... Wow. Kudos to both the author and translator. In terms of skill of writing prose, it just really stood out to me. Definitely made me think, "wow, this is the level of prose I would strive for if I were to write a book." Mishima is pretty weird, and I so far I generally don't really like his ideas, but I kind of want to read more of his work just to experience the craft of it. Maybe I'll read Confessions of a Mask over the break...
Lately every week seems to go so quickly. I found myself surprised to realize yesterday that this one was almost over... I think I remember having it last year, as well, in November, that sort of bewildered feeling of "It's Friday again already?"
Next week is class only on Monday and Tuesday... And then it's holiday break already? It feels like there was supposed to be another week in between. XD Which is the opposite of how I usually feel about winter break, which usually seems to take forever coming.
Going to all the meetings and sessions related to study abroad that I had to go to before coming here, everyone always talked about how much it changed them. And I have to say, I already feel changed. I think I am more positive, more proactive... I can't really put it into words. But there's some kind of attitude of humility and positivity and openness and gameness that I think is necessary to a successful study abroad. In a foreign country there's a very difficult language barrier, and more difficult, or at least more potentially frustrating and upsetting, I think, there's a culture gap that's so much greater and more subtle and pervasive than even someone very interested in it like myself can ever realize without going, I think. In response, you can kind of withdraw, go on the defensive, and reject the new, or you can take a more humble approach, try to just do the best in each situation... Yeah, I really can't express it well yet, though I've been thinking about it for at least a month. I think if you take the first approach (and I've seen a couple people do it, to some extent), you'll be miserable while abroad. I just hope I can keep this positive openness when I go back to the US.
Anyway, rambling entry... daily photos. All related to dinners...
I may rewrite the captions later. Or if not here, when I repost them, anyway.
18 December 2009
Daily photo #195
Today was Ayu's birthday! In AIKOM style, we had a party, though this time int he MSC room. It was great fun, and we had great food, cooked and/or purchased by the AIKOMsei. Here she is with the main cake, back-up rollcakes in the background. アユいつも可愛い顔してるね☆
17 December 2009
Daily photo #194
Hana scooping some veggies into the nabe pot at the nabe party on Thursday. Oishisugiru!
16 December 2009
Daily photo #193
Our dinner on Wednesday with Goossen Sensei, after the last class of Films. Good food, good conversation and good company.
Against all reason (considering the Japanese speech the next day), I agreed without hesitation to a nabe party this Thursday with a few AIKOMsei and Hana. I had just been thinking earlier today that I hadn't seen Hana in a while, and then, bam. There's no way I could say no. Should be great!
Some AIKOM friends are taking a day trip to Enoshima this weekend, but I can't go. But, that's because it's the same day as the Chabashira Christmas party, which I'm looking forward to. +D
...And I think I'll take a trip to Enoshima some time during the 2-week break, to make up for it, anyway. XD+
Classes end (with a bang in the form of an exam) on the afternoon of Tuesday the 22nd, a week from today.
Not yet completely sure what I'm doing on Christmas, but it will probably involve going to see Christmas lights and eating chicken with AIKOMsei and maybe some others who have no other plans. <#
The 27th is the Chabashira Bounenkai (end of the year party), which will, of course, be my first bounenkai (though I don't know how different it really is from a new year's party in the US XD).
The 28th-29th I'll be going with Joon Woo, Alden, Sarah, Wu Di, Chen Ken and Yang Rei to the touristy area near Mt. Fuji. I've yet to even see t. Fuji from a great distance, so I'm excited about just that. XD We'll stay overnight in a hotel/onsen resort near one of the five large lakes there, and tour around the town and maybe part of a tour of part of the famous forest there ("Sea of Trees"). Fff, awesome. First overnight travel, yes~
In Japan, one officially comes of age and becomes an adult at age 20. But, the way it works, traditionally, is that you count your age on the new year. So, everyone who turned 20 this (which includes many friends of mine here) year has lots of special parties this time of the year, and then a special holiday, 成人の日 (Coming of Age Day) on the second Monday of the new year (the 11th of January, this time) for them... Of course, I turned 20 this year, but there's none of that for me, which I found a little sad. But yesterday I got an envelope from Mitaka City (where I live) congratulating me on my coming of age this year, and inviting me, as a resident of the city who turned 20 in the last lunar year, to participate in a ceremony on Coming of Age Day. Which I thought was really nice. Not sure if I'll go yet (maybe if I can get Miwa to come as my interpreter...?).
In the meantime, for this week, one paper down, two to go (both tomorrow - shouldn't be too hard) and another Japanese speech... Oh, TouDai.
Daily photos:
15 December 2009
Daily photo #192
Today the AIKOMsei were invited to a yakimo party in a park just outside campus (Komaba no Kouen), held by Saki, an AIKOMer who went on exchange from TouDai to UofToronto a few years ago, and who is now the TA for the one class that's compulsory for AIKOMsei. Yakimo is where you bake semi-sweet potatoes in the ashes of a fire. Unfortunately, it seems that of the AIKOmsei, only Alden, Francesco, Zhemin and I went, and we all had to leave pretty soon... But it was still nice. I don't even like potatoes, but it was pretty good. +D Here we see Alden and a girl whose name I didn't catch eating marshmallows roasted on disposable hashi.
14 December 2009
Daily photo #191
Yesterday after class we put off our looming schoolwork and got on the bus from Shibuya to Roppongi! We went to the Mori Art Museum and City View, which is a viewing deck on the 52nd (iirc) floor of a building. It was utterly breathtaking. I could have just stared and watched for an hour, easily, I think. My carpy camera couldn't take even half-decent photos of it, but here's this, anyway. I definitely want to go back.
13 December 2009
Daily photo #190
This is actually the only photo I took all day. It's a sign on a fence outside what I think is a preschool that's on my daily bike ride to the station. The text on top says "Chikan ni chui!!" meaning something like "Watch out for molesters!" ...For all the talk about people in Japanese talking in circles around things, there are certainly some things that they say much directly.
Some AIKOM friends are taking a day trip to Enoshima this weekend, but I can't go. But, that's because it's the same day as the Chabashira Christmas party, which I'm looking forward to. +D
...And I think I'll take a trip to Enoshima some time during the 2-week break, to make up for it, anyway. XD+
Classes end (with a bang in the form of an exam) on the afternoon of Tuesday the 22nd, a week from today.
Not yet completely sure what I'm doing on Christmas, but it will probably involve going to see Christmas lights and eating chicken with AIKOMsei and maybe some others who have no other plans. <#
The 27th is the Chabashira Bounenkai (end of the year party), which will, of course, be my first bounenkai (though I don't know how different it really is from a new year's party in the US XD).
The 28th-29th I'll be going with Joon Woo, Alden, Sarah, Wu Di, Chen Ken and Yang Rei to the touristy area near Mt. Fuji. I've yet to even see t. Fuji from a great distance, so I'm excited about just that. XD We'll stay overnight in a hotel/onsen resort near one of the five large lakes there, and tour around the town and maybe part of a tour of part of the famous forest there ("Sea of Trees"). Fff, awesome. First overnight travel, yes~
In Japan, one officially comes of age and becomes an adult at age 20. But, the way it works, traditionally, is that you count your age on the new year. So, everyone who turned 20 this (which includes many friends of mine here) year has lots of special parties this time of the year, and then a special holiday, 成人の日 (Coming of Age Day) on the second Monday of the new year (the 11th of January, this time) for them... Of course, I turned 20 this year, but there's none of that for me, which I found a little sad. But yesterday I got an envelope from Mitaka City (where I live) congratulating me on my coming of age this year, and inviting me, as a resident of the city who turned 20 in the last lunar year, to participate in a ceremony on Coming of Age Day. Which I thought was really nice. Not sure if I'll go yet (maybe if I can get Miwa to come as my interpreter...?).
In the meantime, for this week, one paper down, two to go (both tomorrow - shouldn't be too hard) and another Japanese speech... Oh, TouDai.
Daily photos:
15 December 2009
Daily photo #192
Today the AIKOMsei were invited to a yakimo party in a park just outside campus (Komaba no Kouen), held by Saki, an AIKOMer who went on exchange from TouDai to UofToronto a few years ago, and who is now the TA for the one class that's compulsory for AIKOMsei. Yakimo is where you bake semi-sweet potatoes in the ashes of a fire. Unfortunately, it seems that of the AIKOmsei, only Alden, Francesco, Zhemin and I went, and we all had to leave pretty soon... But it was still nice. I don't even like potatoes, but it was pretty good. +D Here we see Alden and a girl whose name I didn't catch eating marshmallows roasted on disposable hashi.
14 December 2009
Daily photo #191
Yesterday after class we put off our looming schoolwork and got on the bus from Shibuya to Roppongi! We went to the Mori Art Museum and City View, which is a viewing deck on the 52nd (iirc) floor of a building. It was utterly breathtaking. I could have just stared and watched for an hour, easily, I think. My carpy camera couldn't take even half-decent photos of it, but here's this, anyway. I definitely want to go back.
13 December 2009
Daily photo #190
This is actually the only photo I took all day. It's a sign on a fence outside what I think is a preschool that's on my daily bike ride to the station. The text on top says "Chikan ni chui!!" meaning something like "Watch out for molesters!" ...For all the talk about people in Japanese talking in circles around things, there are certainly some things that they say much directly.
- Music:Clap Your Hands - Pale Young Gentlemen
( Thing from Emma. )
Also, not sure if I mentioned it before, and I don't imagine there's a whole lot of point in mentioning it here, but just in case...
Since many people at home requested that I keep a blog while abroad, and I normally keep a blog here but didn't really want to link them all to seven years of entries, I put up this blogspot blog. The content is basically entries I've written here, pasted and slightly edited. I'm not sure if these are pros or cons, but the main differences are that there is no daily photo included in that blog, and, since I actually read through the posts once before posting them there (not so with this blog), most of the typos get corrected, and the posts on a larger, content/organizational level get a little more polished and streamlined. Also, every entry gets a title, which I haven't been doing here since I started doing daily photo or so.
Speaking of daily photo, I guess today's will have to go up later, since I seem to have misplaced my camera at the moment and am too lazy to conduct a more thorough search than looking under the papers within arm's reach on my desk.
Also, for the first time, I think I'm going to start keeping paper near my bed to write down details about my dreams when I wake from them.
Also, not sure if I mentioned it before, and I don't imagine there's a whole lot of point in mentioning it here, but just in case...
Since many people at home requested that I keep a blog while abroad, and I normally keep a blog here but didn't really want to link them all to seven years of entries, I put up this blogspot blog. The content is basically entries I've written here, pasted and slightly edited. I'm not sure if these are pros or cons, but the main differences are that there is no daily photo included in that blog, and, since I actually read through the posts once before posting them there (not so with this blog), most of the typos get corrected, and the posts on a larger, content/organizational level get a little more polished and streamlined. Also, every entry gets a title, which I haven't been doing here since I started doing daily photo or so.
Speaking of daily photo, I guess today's will have to go up later, since I seem to have misplaced my camera at the moment and am too lazy to conduct a more thorough search than looking under the papers within arm's reach on my desk.
Also, for the first time, I think I'm going to start keeping paper near my bed to write down details about my dreams when I wake from them.
Last night involved a nabe party out last night with Sarah, Joon Woo, Yisha, Zoe and Eriko and Ryoko of Chabishara. Sukiyaki and Shabu-shabu tabehoudai... Holy cats, so good. I have no idea when the last time I ate so much meat was. I barely touched my rice and ate a fairly minimum amount of vegetables... Ohh, so many tabehoudai meals...
Annual Fellowship Party between Mitaka dorm residents (such as myself) and Mitaka citizens this afternoon. I skipped the lecture given by a Toudai professor at the start (partly because it was in Japanese, so I'm not confident I could follow it, and partly because I didn't want to get out of bed). The party/reception afterward consisted of having food thrust upon me by the (senior-)citizens of Mitaka, going manically between three languages in order to chat with them, and being very thankful for nametags. There were also some performances, including one by part of the Toudai Ouendan team. Ouendan is like Japanese cheerleading, only completely unlike cheerleading. Where Cheerleading in the US is done pretty much exclusively by girls, Ooendan was the most over-the-top macho thing I've seen in Japan, by far. It was really something to see. XD I also met several really nice Toudaisei I'd never met before, including a friend of Takafumi's and Miyamoto's, and one of the Ouendan guys. XD
Afterward, Sarah, Joon Woo, Wu (Kinoko) Di, Yang Rei and I went to karaoke, which was great fun. Wu Di and Yang Rei are really good, liek whoa. Not that the other two weren't, bu I already knew that, so. I sang some Juanes, Masayoshi Yamazaki, and... Mariah Carey (it's December 12th and someone has to sing All I Want for Christmas is You).
...No, that's completely untrue. I totally wanted to sing it. XD The whole afternoon was great fun.
And then, coincidentally, another nabe party, but this time in the MSC room. This was was low-budget, so it was almost all vegetables with minimal meat. XD So I guess it balances out. Stayed there until just before writing this.
This coming week will be another long, tough one, in terms of schoolwork. Bleeeeh. I guess I'd better actually do some work tomorrow. I had so much fun playing all day today, though...
12 December 2009
Daily photo #189
So, as I said, there were some performances at the fellowship meeting between Mitaka Dorm residents and Mitaka City residents. One of them was (ゼミン兄ちゃんのせいで） us, the 12 or so AIKOMsei that participated, singing the song we sang at the Ongakusai, Sangatsu Kokonoka, again, accompanied by Sarah on piano. We of course practiced a decent amount before the performance at the Ongakusai (back in October, that was), but before this... We practiced for all of five minutes outside, before going in. This is some of the girls practicing, reading Shun's somewhat dodgy romaji print-outs. Oddly, in some ways this time we were better, I thought, if not quite as together at some points.
11 December 2009
Daily photo #188
Second photo in one week with Eriko in it... And not the best photo of Yisha. But look at that spread. Look at those plates of meat. Awww yeah.
10 December 2009
Daily photo #187
A kind of continuation on the thought of the previous day's photo. There are so many things that I've gotten used to and really don't even see any more, even if they're in front of me, that used to make me stare. When I first got here, I had a hard time conveying to people just what it was like for me, just how new everything was. Things look different in Japan, and things also look different in a megalopolis, so the two together had my eyes and jaw stuck open. But now it's completely different, and the scenery of Tokyo is generally fairly familiar feeling. Nevertheless, occasionally something manages to shake me out of this, and make me see something in that kind of fresh way again. On Thursday I walked with Francesco to the area of Shibuya on the other side of the train station. Something about how, despite being in Shibuya usually multiple times per week, I'd never before seen this huge area that was so close at hand was really jarring. And, in that area, I saw this with fresh eyes again. Being from the small city (small town?) of Ann Arbor, this kind of thing used to really make me stop and look.
Annual Fellowship Party between Mitaka dorm residents (such as myself) and Mitaka citizens this afternoon. I skipped the lecture given by a Toudai professor at the start (partly because it was in Japanese, so I'm not confident I could follow it, and partly because I didn't want to get out of bed). The party/reception afterward consisted of having food thrust upon me by the (senior-)citizens of Mitaka, going manically between three languages in order to chat with them, and being very thankful for nametags. There were also some performances, including one by part of the Toudai Ouendan team. Ouendan is like Japanese cheerleading, only completely unlike cheerleading. Where Cheerleading in the US is done pretty much exclusively by girls, Ooendan was the most over-the-top macho thing I've seen in Japan, by far. It was really something to see. XD I also met several really nice Toudaisei I'd never met before, including a friend of Takafumi's and Miyamoto's, and one of the Ouendan guys. XD
Afterward, Sarah, Joon Woo, Wu (Kinoko) Di, Yang Rei and I went to karaoke, which was great fun. Wu Di and Yang Rei are really good, liek whoa. Not that the other two weren't, bu I already knew that, so. I sang some Juanes, Masayoshi Yamazaki, and... Mariah Carey (it's December 12th and someone has to sing All I Want for Christmas is You).
...No, that's completely untrue. I totally wanted to sing it. XD The whole afternoon was great fun.
And then, coincidentally, another nabe party, but this time in the MSC room. This was was low-budget, so it was almost all vegetables with minimal meat. XD So I guess it balances out. Stayed there until just before writing this.
This coming week will be another long, tough one, in terms of schoolwork. Bleeeeh. I guess I'd better actually do some work tomorrow. I had so much fun playing all day today, though...
12 December 2009
Daily photo #189
So, as I said, there were some performances at the fellowship meeting between Mitaka Dorm residents and Mitaka City residents. One of them was (ゼミン兄ちゃんのせいで） us, the 12 or so AIKOMsei that participated, singing the song we sang at the Ongakusai, Sangatsu Kokonoka, again, accompanied by Sarah on piano. We of course practiced a decent amount before the performance at the Ongakusai (back in October, that was), but before this... We practiced for all of five minutes outside, before going in. This is some of the girls practicing, reading Shun's somewhat dodgy romaji print-outs. Oddly, in some ways this time we were better, I thought, if not quite as together at some points.
11 December 2009
Daily photo #188
Second photo in one week with Eriko in it... And not the best photo of Yisha. But look at that spread. Look at those plates of meat. Awww yeah.
10 December 2009
Daily photo #187
A kind of continuation on the thought of the previous day's photo. There are so many things that I've gotten used to and really don't even see any more, even if they're in front of me, that used to make me stare. When I first got here, I had a hard time conveying to people just what it was like for me, just how new everything was. Things look different in Japan, and things also look different in a megalopolis, so the two together had my eyes and jaw stuck open. But now it's completely different, and the scenery of Tokyo is generally fairly familiar feeling. Nevertheless, occasionally something manages to shake me out of this, and make me see something in that kind of fresh way again. On Thursday I walked with Francesco to the area of Shibuya on the other side of the train station. Something about how, despite being in Shibuya usually multiple times per week, I'd never before seen this huge area that was so close at hand was really jarring. And, in that area, I saw this with fresh eyes again. Being from the small city (small town?) of Ann Arbor, this kind of thing used to really make me stop and look.
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