Toji Temple Flea Market

In the beginning of my modern Japanese literature class, things seemed to be going reasonably well--the books we read were interesting, and Professor Berry's lectures were reasonably insightful and relevant, even if he did from time to time release his terrible laugh of death. We have now read 4 books (Shadow Family, Gold Rush, Goodbye Tsugumi, and Twinkle, Twinkle) and are on our way through the 5th (one that I had read already, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle). However, I feel that unfortunately, things have really lost their steam over the past few lectures. The readings are still engaging and interesting, but there is just not enough conversation to last though a 90-minute period, which has lead to some uncomfortable silences and many boring, rather irrelevant remarks. Other professors might end class early once the material has run dry, but he seems determined to keep us there to the bitter end. On top of that, the laughing has continued.

On the plus side, Professor Berry is very encouraging of our exploration around the Kansai area and "really experiencing" Japan, so from time to time if there is an interesting event going on, he will let us know and maybe will also give us a map. Those events have, thankfully, proven to be interesting and worthwhile. Last week he told us about the monthly flea market at Toji temple in Kyoto, which I attended last weekend.



Toji Temple

On the 21st of every month, by around 8 am, literally hundreds of vendors begin to show up in the spacious courtyard around Toji temple and pitch their tents and lay out their wares. (Toji temple itself is most famous for its 5-story pagoda, which is the tallest wooden structure in Japan.) Several stands sell typical flea-market goods, like used and somewhat stained clothes, antiques, and old records. There were also stands selling foods like okonomiyaki, takoyaki, udon noodles, and taiyaki (delicious fish-shaped pastries that have pancake-like batter on the outside and usually have red bean paste on the inside), as well as bulk foods for later consumption like dried fish, candied fruit, and mochi.



A view of the market as I entered at 10 am

Since we are in Japan, there were also some very intriguing and distinctively Japanese items. There were a lot of artists there, as well as people selling antique-type art. Many stands sold ceramic items, some of which were really nice, while others sold woodblock prints and calligraphy scrolls. On the more expensive side, there was some Buddhist artwork and figurines, as well as Noh masks that seemed to run around the range of $150-$300. You can haggle for anything, so I bought 2 small brush paintings that were marked at 1,000 yen each (a little over $10) for half price, as well as 4 cute little black-and-white woodblock prints of cats, frogs, and owls for 500 yen.



A ceramics stand

Most interesting, I thought, were the stands selling used kimonos. They had both women's and men's kimonos, and the price and quality ran a huge range. At the bottom end of both, I saw at least 5 stands with kimonos lumped in a pile on the ground, and the top and bottom pieces as a set usually came out to about 1,000 yen (again, around $10). Sometimes they had pieces there that looked like they were once pretty nice, but unfortunately they were generally in pretty awful condition. Most of them were covered with stains, and they were frequently ripped or had snags in the fabric. In the middle range were some okay-looking kimonos that had obvious signs of wear, but nonetheless looked much better than the bottom-level ones. They were usually hung up on racks and cost maybe 2,000-8,000 yen. Alex bought a haori, the coat that goes on the outside of men's kimonos, at one such place. On the upper end were some really beautiful kimonos, which I suspect were new because they were in excellent condition, and they were really attractive. I think some of them must have been wedding kimonos because they were so nice. They came in all kinds of bright colors and often had metallic designs on them, and they all had intricate detailing across the bottom. They were so pretty. I really wanted to buy one, until I found out that the ones that I was looking at were around 50,000 yen, or $500+. (Plus, how many times would I actually have an occasion to wear it?) (I think that if you go to a real kimono store and look for something of top quality, they can cost upwards of $10,000.) Other stands also carried the necessary articles that go with a kimono, such as obi (the sash type thing) and geta (traditional wooden clogs).



People looking through women's kimonos

The flea market was very well-attended. Not only was this a lucky chance where the 21st happened to fall on a Sunday, but the weather was unusually warm and sunny. I ran into a clump of my friends from Kansai Gaidai as well as an acquaintance from Oberlin who happens to be studying abroad in a different program from me, and who I had not communicated with for at least a year. The market was packed with Japanese people of all ages, and I had not seen so many gaijin (foreigners) in one place (off of campus) since I got here.

Most of the stands started to dismantle and close down by around 3. Attached to the grounds of the market was, of course, the temple itself. Entrance cost 800 yen, and we happened to be there on one of the few days of the year that the pagoda is open to visitors. I'm not sure why it was open, but the inside was very old and intricately designed with Buddhist artwork. There were also 2 prayer halls with bigger Buddha and Bodhisattva figurines, although unfortunately none of them were open to photographers. They were really nice. There was also a garden attached, and I think that it would have been really pretty if it looked more alive.



Imagine that there are leaves on the plants

Apparently there is a similar although slightly smaller flea market at Kitano Tenjin, another temple in Kyoto, on the 25th of every month. I will have to check it out sometime.



On my way from the train station to Toji in the morning, I saw the cutest cat ever. It was sitting in front of the glass front door of a shop, and it was really fat and proud looking. All these people were gathered around it taking pictures on their cell phones, and it just sat there giving people contemptuous stares. It was the best cat ever. I wanted to squeeze it.



People crowded around taking pictures


"yeah, I am the best."

Nara and Valentine's Day in Japan

As they say in Japan, 久しぶりですね (hisashiburi desu ne—it’s been awhile). The past week has been quite busy between exploring, spending time with friends, and of course keeping up with classes and studying. Unfortunately, the fact that I don’t have internet at home doesn’t help with my communications with friends and family back in America, so I have fallen behind on posting. I think the only way it’s going to work is if I type out my posts in a Word document at home and post them once I get to the Kansai Gaidai campus in the morning. I will attempt to catch up this week.

Also, I have at least been better about uploading and organizing my pictures. They are accessible here if you are interested.

Going back, then, the weekend of February 13-14, naturally, featured Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day in Japan works differently than in the US; it is still an overblown romantic holiday featuring chocolate, but here the roles are reversed. Of course, on the US Valentine’s Day, boys are expected to present roses and chocolates to their sweethearts, but in Japan, it is rather an opportunity for girls to give chocolates to any and all boys that they may have a crush on. Then, on March 14th, a month later, there is a holiday called White Day (or as they say, Howaito De) on which boys are expected in turn to give white chocolate to any girls from which they received chocolates, especially if they like them too. Maybe it’s because here I am living around a big city as opposed to small, sheltered, and alternative Oberlin, but it seems to me that Valentine’s Day in Japan is a way bigger deal than at home. Starting a month ahead of time, stores begin to stock up on beautifully presented boxes of chocolates, and many others carry prepackaged kits for making brownies, truffles, and other chocolate-flavored baked goods for that special someone(s). Apparently Japanese girls do not skimp on the presentation of their homemade gifts, either: the entire entryway to a stationary store that I visited was stocked with various kinds of bags, ribbons, and boxes covered in hearts so that your Valentine’s Day gift would be presented in just the right way.

The Thursday before that weekend, February 11th, is a national holiday called National Foundation Day, which I believe celebrates something about Japan’s becoming a modern country with a democratic government. Anyway, we had no classes that day, so I thought I would look around and do some shopping. Every day when I’m on the train to and from campus I pass a big mall called Kuzuha, so that Thursday I decided to finally look and see what they had there. Additionally, I had been seeing ads for something they called a “Valentine’s Chocolate Museum” there, and I wanted to check it out because I enjoy gawking at food.

Shopping around the mall was quite enjoyable and I spent more money than I meant to on gifts for friends and family at home, and in the end I stumbled upon the Valentine’s chocolate area. It was huge. I think that “museum” is an inappropriate word for it, since it implies a degree of spectatorship as opposed to plain consumerism, but nonetheless there was a lot more than I was expecting. It was reminiscent of a very large Macy’s perfume or jewelry department, all very brightly lit and everything, just with chocolate instead of cosmetics, and bigger. It was packed with Japanese women of all ages bustling around and looking at all the displays, and very noisy with the constant shouting of “irasshaimase!” (the customary word that a shopkeeper says when a customer approaches). I had already run out of money by that point and for some reason my debit card only works at the ATM on Kansai Gaidai’s campus, but anyway I don’t think I would have spent much money there because it was quite overpriced. Although the presentation was lovely, I don’t think that my foodie friends from home would have been all that impressed with the quality. Still, it was an enjoyable experience, and I got to eat my share of free samples. (There still weren’t as many as I’d hoped there would be, though.)



A picture of a tiny piece of Valentine’s Day preparations at Kuzuha Mall

On Saturday I decided to continue with exploring, as I still really have not seen any of Yawata-shi at all outside of my house and the path that I take to get to the train station. I ended up looking at a shrine in front of a wooded mountain that I pass on the way to the station, and within it I saw a little staircase that led up the mountain and into the forest. I figured it would be a short climb and I’d find some other little piece of the shrine. How wrong I was. I didn’t really understand the signs along the way, not that there were that many anyway, but it turns out that I was climbing a mountain called 男山, or Otoko Yama, Man Mountain. I’m not sure why it’s called that, unless it’s just because you have to be manly to climb it because the staircase was ridiculous. I estimate that it took me about half an hour, although I’m not really sure. Nonetheless I made it to the top on foot, and I discovered not a secret little spot for prayers, but quite a large and crowded shrine called 石清水八幡宮. (I’ll have to get back to you on the reading.) Turns out that you can drive up by car from the other side of the mountain, and also there’s a cable car that runs up and down the mountain for a minimal fee. Oh well. Maybe it was just my partial delirium from having climbed that far, but I felt a strange sense of peace and belonging there that I had not experienced in Japan thus far. It was really nice, and totally worth the climb. When I hear the word “shrine” I usually think of just a little folksy stone gate and maybe a little statue and something set up for prayer, but this was really quite grand.



The entrance to the shrine


The front of the shrine at the top of the mountain

The next day, Sunday, I met my friend Alex and together we headed to Nara. Nara is a very famous historical city accessible by about a 45-minute train ride from where I live. It is known mainly for its numerous shrines and temples, as well as for the deer. In ancient Japan they thought that deer were vessels of the gods, so they were sacred, although most of the deer I saw were plain mean and greedy. We did not have specific plans for where we wanted to go, but I think that Nara is very good for a day trip in that almost everything that you would want to see is contained within about a 1.5-mile radius. We headed in the direction of the main temples as pointed out by a map at the train station, and after awhile we came across a tourism center where they offered free green tea and coffee, and oh yeah also they had free maps of the area (in English!). We managed to hit pretty much all of the main sites on the map and had time to spare before dinner.

I think the highlight of the day temple/shrine-wise was definitely Todai-ji. It is a very famous and historical temple, and I believe it has the largest figure of a Buddha contained in a building anywhere in the world. It was quite impressive. Near the great Buddha they had a little stand where you can donate 1,000 yen (about $10) to cover the cost of one new roof tile, since evidently they need to redo the roof of the temple sometime in the not-too-distant future. Then you write your name, country, and a wish on the tile with a calligraphy brush and black paint that they provide, and they claim that “this will bring you eternal happiness.” I don’t know about the eternal happiness, but anyway Alex and I decided to go in together on a tile. So one of these days my name will appear on Todai-ji’s roof.



The front of Todai-ji


The great Buddha


Me with our tile

The deer in Nara are everywhere. They are maybe at most 3 feet tall at the shoulder, but they’re used to people feeding them, and if you don’t give them what they want, they get aggressive. Shops and stands everywhere sell Japanese rice crackers for the deer at 150 yen for a little packet, and once the deer spot you holding them, they will flock to you in herds and nudge you and mouth your clothing until you feed them. It was cute at first but I got pretty freaked out after awhile, and we spotted more than a few little kids crying and running to escape particularly pushy deer. And there are a lot of them.



A lot of deer


A piggish deer eating a piece of paper...


I just thought this one was really cute

After we had visited everything we wanted to see, we went to a shopping area vaguely reminiscent of Shinsaibashi in Osaka, although smaller, that featured a lot of cute and interesting stores, and ate dinner. The people at the tourism center told us that we were there for the last day of the light shows in Nara. I’m not sure what the lights were for, except for maybe the New Year or something. They had set up a big light design on the side of a hill that they turned on after sunset, and then in a park they hung several lanterns, and had lighted things along the walkway. Not a very good description perhaps, but it was pretty.



My dinner


The lights

Oh yes, and there may have been chocolate involved. ;)

A brief post.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I think it's still Valentine's Day in California...I had a really nice weekend of exploring Yawata-shi (the city where I live), and Nara, home of many shrines and temples, most notably Todai-ji, the temple with a huge Buddha. And also home of some very aggressive and piggish deer.

Coming up for titles for posts is difficult. I need to get more creative.

I have this constant feeling that I'm forgetting to do something. It is frustrating not having internet at home because inevitably once I get onto the train home I remember some email that I've been meaning to send for the past week, and I'll have to wait yet another day...Anyway, while I'm here, I think the most certain way of contacting me is to send an email to my cell phone. If you don't already have my cell phone email address and would like it, please let me know and I will send it to you. I love getting messages on my phone!

I miss my co-op at Oberlin. It is getting started again now and I feel like I'm already missing out on some hilarious discussions. Ah well, it will still be there when I come back. I have not yet begun to crave foods from home too much, but I will say that I very much miss regular salads. Whenever they have salad here, I think it must be made out of finely shredded cabbage or something, and they put pieces of corn and tomato and cucumber on top. It doesn't taste especially great and it always gives me the impression that I'm eating grass, and it's hard to eat with chopsticks. Evidently they do not consume romaine or mixed greens here the way they do at home. Also bread, butter, cheese, and cookies. Cookies! I could go for cookies...

Osaka Trip

Last Sunday I took a trip to downtown Osaka with my friend Alex. Neither of us had ever been there before, and we did not come with any particular plan in mind, so the day started off with a certain amount of aimless wandering. We arrived in Osaka at a little after 11 in the morning and just started walking in whatever direction looked most interesting. That worked for a little while, until we ended up in a rather shady area of town, at which point we turned around and headed back in the opposite direction. There were very few people around, and most of the shops were still closed, which we accredited to the fact that either people weren’t awake yet, or things were just closed because it was Sunday. (Many things in Japan seem to be closed on Sunday.) Eventually we came across a map of the city with various items such as semi-famous temples and points of historic interest pointed out, after which point we finally got some direction.

The points of historic interest turned out to be a letdown; most of them were just little monuments for things that used to exist there in historic Osaka, but the explanations were all in Japanese that I couldn’t really understand, and there wasn’t much else to see. They eventually led us to the famous Osaka castle, which thankfully was really impressive and well-maintained. It was at one point the home of feudal warlords in ancient Japan, and now the interior has been converted into a kind of museum of that era, and from the top floor there is a view over the city. (Japanese history buffs might know that it was built by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the 2nd great unifier of Japan.) We did not want to pay the 600-yen entrance fee, but we did cross the moat and walk around the castle and see pretty much everything there was to see without paying. I definitely plan to go back there at some point to get the full experience, although maybe not until the sakura trees come back to life, which I think would make the image a lot more dramatic and less bleak.



Me in front of Osaka castle

After that we headed toward the commercial shopping area, at which point we finally found where all the people were. First we went to the Dotonbori, a wide alleyway along a river that was home to a sensory overload of lights, shops, and restaurants. It was extremely crowded and noisy, but pretty interesting—it is really what you think of when you think of pop culture in Japan. There were shops jammed together everywhere, and people lined up blocking traffic at stands selling takoyaki and crepes and other foods all over the place. There was even one center open 24 hours a day in which you could use the internet, read manga, etc. (Densha Otoko anyone?), and it contained showers and a tanning booth, so you could essentially live there and still look like you get out! Pretty crazy.



The Dotonbori


Outside Dotonbori at sunset

After that we ended in Shinsaibashi, which is a mile-long covered alleyway full of stores and restaurants. It was much narrower than Dotonbori, but still pretty crowded; if you did not stay on the left side of traffic, you would probably get trampled. Most of the stores were fashionable women’s clothing places, but there were also some more quirky ones, such as a chopstick store and a store selling expensive clothing and individually packaged treats for your yappy lap-sized dog. Once we got to the end of Shinsaibashi we ate dinner and went home.

I finally got to experience the 2 famous Osaka specialty foods that I had heard so much about, takoyaki (pronounced tako-yaki) and okonomiyaki (oko-no-miyaki). You can buy both of them at stands and in convenience stores pretty often, but now I got to have them “for real.” I got the takoyaki on the grounds of Osaka castle, where there were multiple stands selling takoyaki as well as ice cream, soft drinks, and such for tourists. Takoyaki are balls of dough with a piece of octopus in the middle, and when I got mine they were served with benito flakes (dried fish) and something green on top. (Dried green onions maybe?) They cool down on the outside deceptively quickly, but the inside stays molten and painfully hot for a long time after. For the first takoyaki that I ate, I popped the whole thing into my mouth, which was a big mistake. Major pain. I think the key is to bite them in half and let the second half cool before you put the rest into your mouth, although even so it is still pretty explosive. It was not until I had gotten to the 6th or 7th one that they were actually acceptably warm and I could eat them without my eyes watering and face turning red.



Takoyaki!

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Hanamaru for okonomiyaki. Finding the restaurant was a completely lucky chance—we had just exited Shinsaibashi and were on a somewhat poorly lit and not-so-crowded street when we saw the plastic food.



The plastic food

Since we were looking for any place that served okonomiyaki, we decided to go in through the humble little door. It turned out that the restaurant was in fact rather large, very long and narrow, and it was really pretty nice. The floors were all wooden, and you take off your shoes at the entrance and put them in a little locker with a key. The tables were low and were covered with a hot grill, and customers sit in front of them on cushions and put their feet into a lower heated recessed area. It was a much more traditional Japanese design than I had experienced at any of the restaurants I’d visited since I arrived. The back page of the menu was devoted entirely to different kinds of okonomiyaki that you can order, such as beef, shrimp, etc. Not knowing which was best, Alex and I both decided to order the “Hanamaru special” okonomiyaki, which I believe contains all of the possible toppings. They arrived at the table pre-made, and the waitress slid them off of a plate onto the grill where they immediately sizzled, and then we cut them up with little metal spatulas that were provided and ate them.

It is hard to describe okonomiyaki in a way that makes them sound appetizing...they are shaped rather like pancakes, and I think that the basic ingredients include egg, flour, and cabbage, and they are always topped with barbecue sauce and mayonnaise. Since we got the Hanamaru special, they also contained beef, pork, shrimp, octopus, onions, scallops, and I don’t know what else, and like the takoyaki, were topped by benito flakes.

I would like to take a break here and say that benito flakes are extremely creepy. They are really popular in Japanese cuisine, and they are used to top a variety of different foods as well as to flavor broths. They seem pretty innocent; they pretty much look like flesh-colored thin pieces of sawdust, but the thing is that when they are heated/exposed to steam they writhe in an extremely creepy and insectlike way, moving slowly and deliberately back and forth in directions apparently independent of their neighboring flakes. I am not sure why they do that. I heard that benito is made by compressing fish meat really tightly and drying it out and then shaving it, so there are definitely no nerves or anything like that left in there. Anyway. Creepy. But they still taste good.

Ever since I got to Japan, I decided that I better just eat whatever is in front of me and stop to think about it later. No matter how weird looking it is, or whether I would have absolutely refused to eat it if I saw it at home a year ago, I just swallow it and put it out of my mind. For example, my host mother sometimes bakes entire fish and then puts the whole things, eyes, tail, and all, on a plate and serves them. Each person gets their own individual fish so it’s not like she’ll cut it up for you at the table. Just don’t think for too long and chew. The same philosophy applies in the case of the okonomiyaki; although I surely would not have eaten that if I were at home, I did in fact quite enjoy it, and it wasn’t one of those the-first-time-you-eat-it-you-will-hate-it-and-only-when-you’ve-gotten-used-to-the-flavor-after-the-10th-time-you-eat-it-you-will-learn-to-enjoy-it-foods like natto (fermented soybeans that I dislike, but apparently will come to like if I eat them enough times). It was really pretty good. The description sounds totally bizarre, but it is famous for a reason, and all I can say is that you have to try it to appreciate it.



The 2 okonomiyakis grilling, waiting to be eaten

After eating an extremely limited amount of meat over the past several years, it’s been a bit of a shock having it served at almost every meal, usually as the main course. I appreciate meat when it is well-prepared, and I can taste good quality, but I have to say, I think I’ve just lost my taste for it. Although I liked the okonomiyaki, I think if I get it again I’ll ask for one with just vegetables. All I want to eat now is vegetables. Lots of vegetables. Especially leafy greens. And fruit. I have no desire to eat any more meat of any kind. Don’t tell anyone, but this morning when my host mother served me sausages at breakfast, I secretly wrapped them up in plastic and threw them away later. (Then I felt bad. Maybe I should tell her to stop serving them.) Just not appetizing.


On a completely different note (and I do realize this post is getting long), I think the thing that struck me most about downtown Osaka was the presence of religion and spirituality. The 2 main religions in Japan are Shinto (literally, “the path of the gods”), and Buddhism. Their influence is visible everywhere, yet almost every Japanese person that you meet, especially among the younger generation, will claim (rather determinedly, I might add) that they are not religious at all and believe in no god. I guess that the religions are more a lifestyle and mindset than an actual religion, then; neither of them is really the same as the Western sense of religion, consisting of distinct activities in your weekly schedule devoted to the religion that are separate from the rest of your life, such as attending Mass on Sundays. Particularly with Shinto, Japan’s indigenous religion, there is no clear way in which you “practice” the religion, and rather, it has subtle effects on your daily activities. The main idea is that there are kami (which lie somewhere between being gods and spirits) everywhere, and if you are kind and respectful to them, then they will positively influence your life in an ambiguous but meaningful way. Thus, even the supposedly non-religious Japanese will sometimes go to shrines and pray to the kami in the same way that you might throw a coin in a wishing well and believe, in a way, that it will give you good luck, although I’m sure I am over-simplifying a complex matter. Praying at shrines is the most distinguishable practice of Shinto, but it has effects on the Japanese lifestyle in other deeper ways that I can’t describe right now because it’s late and I’m tired. The same goes for Buddhism. Generally only the older generation of Japanese actually identifies as Buddhist, but it is really quite widespread. My host parents both actively practice Buddhism (and identify as such), but their practice is less differentiable and more integrated into their lifestyle than one would picture. As with Shinto, almost all Japanese will turn to the Buddhist deities in some complex way when they are in need. Maybe this should be the subject of a later post. Anyway, my point is that despite their outward beliefs, most Japanese in fact practice a combination of Shinto and Buddhism on a daily basis.

What brought all of that up is that in spite of the fact that Osaka is a bustling city full of stores and restaurants and skyscrapers, it is choc full of shrines and temples. (The difference between the two is that shrines are Shinto and temples are Buddhist.) They are everywhere. Almost every block or two there will be a little gap in between two office buildings, and behind a stone wall there will be a quiet and serene garden that anyone can freely enter and leave, and a traditional-looking Japanese building behind in which religious activities are carried out. When you are in the garden, it is hard to believe that you are in the middle of a major world city. It is just quiet and peaceful, and it is everywhere. Different shrines and temples have different purposes. I think that we stumbled upon a shrine for a business kami, because in it there were several pieces of cloth painted with names of local businesses that were obviously praying for prosperity. One of the most interesting ones, I thought, was a little shrine in front of a really modern-looking building. In front of the building were a little pond and a bridge that spanned it, like they sometimes add to make buildings seem less industrial, so I thought I’d walk across the bridge for kicks because it was there. When I got to the middle I suddenly discovered a small shrine inside what I thought was just post-modern-looking sculpture. Inside of the shiny metal casing were incense and candles and a little figurine and a bell attached to a rope that you pull to get the gods’ attention. It was so unexpected, yet awesome.



The unexpected shrine in front of an office building


A temple in the middle of the city

Okay, I’ve written enough for now. I think there was something wrong with the conditioner that I used tonight. I just took a shower but now my hair feels sticky and weird. Um.

Address

By the way, in case anyone happens to be interested, my mailing address is as follows:

Mariko Meyer
c/o Center for International Education
Kansai Gaidai University
16-1 Nakamiya higashino-cho
Hirakata City, Osaka 537-1001 Japan

I'm not expecting anything, of course, but there you have it in the off-chance that anyone was curious. ;)

I had a lot of fun this weekend--I sang karaoke for the first time with my host mother, and went on a long exploratory trip through Osaka...post to come!

Classes, and the Academic Side of Japan

This week marked the beginning of classes in our program. The winter vacation actually just started a week ago today for all of the regular Japanese students at Kansai Gaidai, so the campus has not been so crowded as it was before. Nonetheless, we international students here are working hard. I decided on the following schedule:

Japanese speaking 6
Japanese reading & writing 6
Ceramics
The Intersection of Fantasy & Real Life in Modern Japanese Fiction

I was excited to be placed into upper level Japanese classes (there are 7 levels total, and the speaking and reading/writing are separate), and although I think that they will be a challenge, I feel like I'm at about the same level as most of the other students in my class. I'm sure that I will learn a lot this semester. Since I'm only taking 4 classes, of which only 3 are academic, I think I'll really be able to focus on getting better at Japanese and exploring.

My 2 Japanese teachers both seem really good so far. I first met with my reading/writing professor, Yuki-sensei, and she is a very tiny and cheerful lady. That class focuses mainly on learning kanji, although we will also work on writing compositions about current events. R/W meets 3 times a week for an hour. After that, I had my first class with the speaking professor, Shikaura-sensei. She also seems very knowledgeable, although a little older and maybe not quite so 元気 (energetic). Still, I think that I will like her class, and definitely I will be much better at speaking by the end. I am not so confident in my oral skills so far, but already we have given speeches and taken 2 quizzes in her class, as well as learning 12 new grammar patterns, and we have another speech on Monday. There will definitely be a lot of practice. Speaking meets from 11-12 every day.

As for the other classes, I knew for sure that I wanted to take ceramics, since I really enjoyed working with clay in the past, and I figured this is a good chance to get a lot of intensive instruction. The class meets for 8 hours a week at times arranged around my other classes. The teacher is very stereotypical of what you would think of as the older Japanese art master type--he really heavily emphasizes learning the basics really well, exactly right. For example, on the first day of class, we spent the first 2.5 hours wedging the clay (kneading it to make the texture even and to get rid of air bubbles). Although it seems rather trivial, he taught us a technique that was pretty hard to master and which I still can't do quite right. Today we spent more time wedging clay, and eventually we got to use the wheel for the first time. Naturally, we spent the whole time practicing his technique of centering the clay...in spite of the amount of time spent on not-super-exciting activities and the resulting soreness of my wrists, we have gotten to make a few small pieces, and I am happy to know that at least I know I am doing things right.

I spent a long time debating about the 4th class I would take. Basically I was trying to choose between this modern literature class and the Kansai art history class. I attended both, and they seemed pretty equal, both having their own pluses and minuses. I was really interested in the readings for the literature class, but then the art class takes interesting field trips. I have heard very mixed reviews about the literature professor, some quite positive and some quite negative, while I heard nothing about the art professor. In the end, of course, I decided to go for the literature class. It has been a long time since I got to do intensive reading, and regardless of my views of the professor, I will at least like that part. So far my only major complaint about the class is that the professor has a horrible laugh. If my laugh sounded like that, I'd keep that thing inside. Perhaps over the semester I'll learn to see it coming so I can plug my ears beforehand...

At the moment, I have 9:00 classes 3 days a week, and 10:00 classes for the remaining 2 days. Getting here on time hasn't been much of a problem so far. Classes here run a lot later than Oberlin's classes, which always end by 4:30, but I'm usually out by 3. I hope things will go well this semester...