The Senkaku Islands

I know I just updated yesterday, but something has been in the news for a few days now, and I haven't reported on it, so I felt I should acknowledge it here. Some of you may have heard of the recent problems with China and Japan. If you haven't, I'll try to enlighten you here. There are a group of islands called the Senkaku Islands by Japan and the Diaoyu Islands by China. They're south of the Ryukyu Islands in Japan and located in the East China Sea. For people a little lacking in their geography, no worries, here's a map: Senkaku Islands Location.

These islands were never really a problem in the past. Japan acquired them through the treaty at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War from China. During that treaty, China handed over Taiwan and the surrounding islands to Japan. At the end of World War II though, Japan was forced to give Taiwan and other territories it had acquired from China back to China. Therefore, China claims that the islands are actually part of China.

Japan claims that they have been controlling the islands since 1895 though, and since the islands were uninhabited up until 1895, they are therefore under Japan's control. Since Japan had already made the islands into Japanese territory prior to the return of Taiwan to China, Japan argues that they were not included in the prior treaty and that they are part of China.

Taiwan also makes a claim on the islands, but for simplicity's sake, let's just stick with Japan and China for now.

So, we have China and Japan both claiming the islands. Before the 70's, there was no conflict over the Senkaku Islands. In 1969 though, it was announced that there was possibly oil on the islands, and suddenly the dispute broke out. This is also history though. The recent reason for the problem has arisen due to a recent Chinese fisherman who decided to go to the islands. Since he was in what Japan considered its waters, Japan arrested him. Before managing to arrest the fisherman though, he had run into two Japanese Coast Guard boats. The fisherman and his crew were arrested on September 7. Japan released the crew and the boat on September 13. However, Japan refused to release the fisherman.

China of course became angry and demanded the fisherman's release. Japan refused, stating that it was a domestic incident. China then took a dramatic move that no one here expected them to take. They suspended all rare earth exports to Japan indefinitely. By rare earth, we're talking precious metals here. Japan, kind of needing those, was still trying to contain the fisherman, but decided to finally release him. China resumed the exports within two days. However, relations are continuing to sour. The fisherman is being heralded as a hero in his country, and both China and Japan are standing strong.

China is demanding an apology from Japan and stating that if they receive their apology, they will ignore the entire incident. They are also asking for Japan to help pay for the damages to the fisherman's boat. Japan, on the other hand, is asking for an apology and requesting that damages be paid to the Coast Guard's boats. Japan, really wanting to expand trade in China is definitely feeling pressure, but I don't think it's likely that they will give in easily. China is trying to exert its power, so they also will not give in easily. It's really like two little kids arguing over something trivial, but at this point, nothing can be done.

I bring all of this up though because 1. This is going to mark how foreign relations proceed from this point between China and Japan. And 2. It has started to affect the student population. 1,000 Japanese students were supposed to go to China for some sort of world summit. Everything was set, and they were ready to go. This summit is in 2 weeks. About 2 days ago though, China decided to revoke all of their visas. At this point, it is not known if the students will be able to attend the summit or not.

We'll see what happens from here, but at the moment, things aren't looking good.

Michelle

Classes Have Begun and Comments on Japanese Punctuality

Classes have officially begun as of Monday. So everything is going well now. The first day was rather eventful. I was skyping mother dearest, since that's what good daughters do you know. And since I didn't want to be really rude, I decided I would skip breakfast. No big deal there. I never eat breakfast in the US. Let me just tell you that in Japan, you can't skip breakfast. Ever. After my 25 or so minute bike ride to school, I was feeling more than a little woozy. "I'm not feeling well," I told my friends. "Let me sit down for a minute." So I sat down, gave myself just a few minutes, took a sip of water, and felt fine. We went on our way again to the line. That lasted about oh 10 seconds before I felt worse than before. I made it to the wall, sat down, and promptly passed out. Yes, you read that right. Passed out. In the middle of the cafeteria. In front of the line. With every single person there going "What the heck just happened?!" So while my friends were trying to figure out if I was diabetic or not, luckily a nice Japanese student talked with them, and went to buy me a Coke. Coming to, I found not only the three friends I had started out with but also some of the Japanese buddies, who were more than a little flustered. They're checking on me, talking with my friends, and trying to translate to the cafeteria staff what happened. I'm here drinking my Coke, trying to be good when the health center comes in rolling a green chair. I'm not even kidding. You can't make this up. Realizing what's about to happen, I think now is a good time to throw in a couple Japanese words and say, "I'm fine. Really." Somehow I think I'm speaking Japanglish though because the Japanese buddies are still translating. While convincing the health center that I'm fine for me, the buddy is commenting about how terrible I look and that maybe I should go with them. Finally, we get the health center sent away, and since I've had that Coke, I'm feeling a lot better, so we get some food and continue. I then go to my next class where I promptly fail an exam, and finally to my listening & speaking class where I'm just tired and not paying attention. So yes, first day was overall a fail. But talk about a story!

Second day however was a phenomenal success. I ate breakfast! That was already a better start than the previous day. My classes were wonderful as were the teachers. I made a lot of new friends, and overall everything was great. Since that day, classes have been wonderful. So far, I've taken classes in Comprehensive Japanese, Japanese Listening and Speaking, Japanese Studies, Japanese Society, Japanese Economy, and Comparative Historiography (which is comparing Japan, Germany, and the USA and how our history depends on how we've been shaped by governmental and media propaganda). All of them have been phenomenally interesting.

Now, all of this is all well and good, but although it's relevant, it's probably not extremely interesting, so the rest of this post will be devoted to some good old-fashioned Japanese-ness. First, let's cover the concept of time here. Japanese are punctual, exceptionally so. If you're not punctual, you get yelled at by your friends, coworkers, boss, etc. It's just not acceptable to be late. And by late, we're meaning 1 minute late here. We're not on American time anymore, Toto. For example, in orientation, we were supposed to start something at 9:35. Our Japanese orientation leader, realizing that we were about to be late, instantly asked us all to get out our schedules. He then explained that we would regrettably be late, and asked that instead we would be beginning the next task at 9:36. If we would all mark that in our schedules, it would be appreciated. Meanwhile, it was 9:34. Oh Japan, how I love you.

Let's look at another fine example. In the US, we consider our trains, busses, planes, etc. to be on time if they are within a 10 minute window. That means 10 minutes early, on time. 10 minutes late, on time. In Japan, that's blasphemy. Here, things are considered late if they are delayed by 8 seconds. Yes, you read that right. 8 seconds. You can tell too. Those Japanese businessmen, they get out their watches when the train is about to arrive, and they frown. "Will I make it to work on time?" they wonder. "It's almost 9:30, and the train hasn't arrived yet." Meanwhile, the American is absolutely fascinated across the car. 8 seconds! It takes longer to breathe than that! If you don't believe me (and that's understandable. I know this is a radical notion), please refer to this link courtesy of the Wall Street Journal regarding Japanese punctuality: Lessons From Japan for U.S. Train Operator.

Finally, it is getting late, so I'll have to leave soon, but before I go, let me just let you in on a little bit of humor. So, women here end all of their sentences with ね(ne). Ne is sort of the Japanese equivalent of "don't you think?" or "right?" "It's a good day, ne?;" "It's hot out, ne?;" and so on and so on. The other day I actually ranted about this to someone. "It's driving me nuts! Ne ne ne ne ne! Everyone says ne!" And then I noticed that I started doing it. I'm not sure how long I've been doing it, but I've definitely picked up on the habit. It's almost bad in a way. I'm causing myself pain with all of my "ne"-ing. Worst part is, once you put one "ne" in, more are bound to come. Good news is, I'm starting to sound female in Japanese. Bad news is, I'm driving myself nuts. Ah well, to each their own I guess.

Last thing, and then I'm off. I keep talking about how awesome all of the vending machines and such are here. I have a video to share with all of you if you're still interested.

Enjoy!

Michelle

Of Friends and School

Before we begin this post, I wanted to bring up a few things from a previous post real quick. You may remember my brief little blurb about メロンパン (Melon Pan, aka Melon Bread). It really is exceptionally delicious due to the fact that the inside is light and fluffy and the outside is a sweet crispy crust. Well, thanks to a friend of mine here, I now have the recipe to share with you. I haven't tried it myself, but it looks pretty good. You can find it here: Melon Pan Recipe. If you need anything else, or if you have comments on it, please contact me. I hope all of you can enjoy it as much as I have!

Secondly, you all may remember my comments about the shower mirror and the suicide doors the other day. I finally figured out how to use them. Japanese typically look at the mirror instead of looking down when soaping up and such. Men shave their faces in the shower, and women take off their makeup in the shower.

The suicide doors are for the firemen. They mark the easiest place to enter the building in case of an emergency. They can then evacuate individuals and put out the fire faster through the doors. Unfortunately, not as exciting as a glitter firemen's pole, but there's the answer.

And now onto the new information.

So I've been placed into Intermediate level Japanese here. Considering that's where I should be, I'm pretty content. There are two intermediates: lower and upper. I'm in lower. Hopefully I should be there, but we'll see. I'm excited to begin class though. All classes meet for 1.5 hours here. My Comprehensive Japanese class meets 5 times per week, Japanese Listening and Speaking meets twice in a week, and Japanese Studies meets once a week. I'm also looking at taking three cultural classes to have a total of 15 credit hours this semester. We'll see if that's too much or not. I'm interested in taking Japanese Society, Japanese Culture, and either Japanese Economy or Foreign Relations of Japan. Japanese Economy and Foreign Relations look really similar. They both meet really late though 4:10-5:50. Japanese Economy meets on Tuesday though and Foreign Relations meets on Friday. If I take Foreign Relations, I'll be in class from 10:40-5:50 on Friday. That's rough, so I'm going to try for Japanese Economy. Hopefully I'll do ok. Most classes in Japan meet once a week by the way, so it's a little different than the US.

The other day, I had the best night with people. We got all of the Japanese buddies with us to all go to okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki is a type of food that's a little hard to describe. It looks somewhat like a Japanese style pancake. It's egg, cabbage, and whatever else you put in it. In our case, we had squid, pork, and a mixed one. They you put on Kewpie mayonnaise (a sweet mayonnaise) and oyster sauce. Finally, you sprinkle on some dried bonito flakes and some nori (dried seaweed). It's all made on a huge sort of grill, and it's really good. Now, our Japanese buddies kind of forgot that we ate about 4 hours earlier, so they decided that foreigners eat a lot and that we needed three large okonomiyaki and an order of soba (a type of noodle).

We were so full about half way through, but we couldn't let all of the food go to waste, so we had to keep eating. Now keep in mind all of that food and the fact that the six of us had just eaten lunch a four hours earlier. And now, I think you'll be able to appreciate this next picture a little bit more.

That's right. We ate all of it. We were so full; we were almost sick in fact. We were supposed to head to a nomihodai with our group of about 150 people, but we didn't have bikes, and the bike ride was about 45 minutes. If we went by foot, it'd take us an hour and a half. Considering how much we just ate, we thought we'd be sick if we even thought about a nomihodai. Nomihodai are an interesting idea actually. You pay a set amount, let's say 1100-2000 yen (11-20 US dollars). For the next 90 minutes, it's all you can drink. If they did this in the States, they'd go out of business, but somehow it manages to work in Japan. Now, keep in mind "all you can drink" in Japan is a little different than back home. I can honestly say that it would mean serious binge drinking and getting sick in the US. But the Japanese normally bike everywhere, or take trains and busses. They have to get home somehow, and the idea of being drunk in public is completely unacceptable here. So "all you can drink" is normally done within reason. Still though, we thought we'd be sick, so we skipped on the nomihodai idea and instead went to something called an izakaya (a standard bar) to just go talk and have a drink before splitting up. It was really nice. I enjoy the drinking scene here more actually. The emphasis is always on the group here, rather than on the individual. So people go to a bar more to see other people than to honestly drink.

The next day we went exploring to a huge shopping area along with a famous market. The market is called Nishiki. It's known for having some crazy food like cow's tongue and octopus on a stick and such. Honestly, we went there because one of our buddies had mentioned that cow's tongue was delicious and that we needed to give it a try, but we couldn't find it unfortunately. Instead here's just a couple pictures of a dried bonito flakes machine and some sweets.

Michelle

Of Things That are Confusing and Yet Wonderful

So things here in Japan are going splendidly. The people are wonderful. They are very kind and understanding of difficulties with their language. Every day, I have to ask for help on kanji, but I am improving. Understanding people is getting easier. When I first came I could completely miss everything that was said in a conversation, but now that happens rarely. I may not always understand the subject, but I can understand what people are saying about it, and that's a vast improvement. Unfortunately, I still have so much farther to go, but if I keep talking with people constantly and working on my kanji, then I should improve over the next few months. Right now, I find the hardest thing to be speaking. It's frustrating in a way because people will think you don't understand, so they'll try to switch to English, but it just takes a moment to reply. But as I said before, most people are very understanding, and if you put in enough "Ah, I understand's!" and "Is that so?'s" then you normally can get enough time to reply. This will come with time though.

Anyway, onto the point of this post. I actually intended for it to be a little more on the lighter side. Sorry, I haven't been anywhere cool lately, so you don't really get any fun pictures, but hopefully words themselves will suffice.

Before we begin though, let's get a few things cleared up.

1. Is Japan different than the US?
Yes, people act differently here. In some ways, it's a positive thing. Less talking on phones all the time, more noticing people around them. It's quieter here despite the fact that there are more people in this city than in some states in the US. People are very understanding of language barriers, and definitely will try to work with you. In other ways, it is a negative thing though as well. Foreigners are well, always seen as foreign, even if they've lived here for a long time. They're treated a little differently. At the same time though, let's not say anything rash. Japan is different from the US, but so are a lot of other places. And different doesn't mean anything bad here. Different is just different. In some ways though, Japan is also very similar. There's a bunch of techies here. People love their phones. The Japanese love their clothing, and name brand items. There are good people and bad people just like anywhere else.
2. Is Japan really weird like all those things we see on tv?
No, and let me make this a strong no. There are some things that are exceptionally strange here, like cat cafes or dog cafes, where you pay to sit in a room and have little kittens and puppies run around your feet. People do dress in some crazy clothing, and there are foods and such here which you just go, "What on earth is that?" But, let me be honest and tell you that in Japan those things are seen as strange as well. For some reason, Japan gets this rap as this crazy country when anything leaves its borders, but it's really not like that. In fact, it's very conservative.
3. If you have any other questions, I'll be glad to answer them as best as I am able.

And with that in mind, let's continue.

Japan has some of the coolest baths I've ever seen. I know, you're thinking, "Michelle, be realistic, a bath is a bath." But it's not. Not at all. These baths are like little versions of paradise just plucked up and put in homes. When you get in them, you can possibly here the angels singing, and see the sun coming out, and maybe a small baby forest animal or two. For reasons of "It would be ridiculous to take a picture of a bath," I don't have any. And unfortunately, I can't find any either. If you search "Japanese Bath" on google, you get all these hot spring pictures. Useless. These baths though are definitely the coolest thing since sliced bread. You press a little button on the outside, and the machine says something like. "Please wait. Your bath will be ready soon!" in some cute little voice. While you're taking your shower outside, you then hear a little *ding* "Your bath is ready now." And no joke, you pull back the cover and it's full of hot, steaming water. Best of all, it's set to a permanent 42 degrees Celsius or so (about 105 F). Whenever I have my own place, I'm getting one of these. I don't care how much it costs to ship it. They're amazing, and I love them.

On the subject of bathing, but on a more confused note is the concept of mirrors in showers. So you have your little shower hose, right? And you rinse, and soap up, and rinse, and repeat and all that jazz. You normally sit yourself on a little stool to do all this. It's all very pleasant. But for some reason I still haven't deciphered yet, the Japanese have decided to put a mirror next to every little shower hose, so that you can watch yourself showering. I mean, I'm not going to say that I'm not vain once in a while, but honestly? What purpose does it serve. If you stand up, you only see your chest down. If you sit down, you see yourself sitting down and you just look plain ridiculous. For the time being, I've decided I'm not facing the mirror, or I'll just take out my contacts or off my glasses or something. I can't figure it out. The only reason I can find is that you never have that "Oh, I didn't wash out all the soap from my hair" problem. You can see that you washed everything and that you're squeaky clean. Sweetness.

Let's walk a little down the hall now to the toilet. Yes, it's down the hall. Toilets are dirty and should be in another room from where you get squeaky clean. Personally, I like this practice. Now, keep in mind this is not all toilets, but there are a fair number of them here. You may have heard of the Toto toilet before, and if you have, kudos to you. If not, let me enlighten you. Toto toilets are like toilets as much as the bath is like a bath to us in the US. Therefore, let's take a look, shall we? The Toto toilet is outfitted with all kinds of cool gadgets. Heated seat, change in water pressure, bidet, something like a bidet but not a bidet, automatic raise and lowering seat, music for those long times in the bathroom, and for some reason a flushing sound button. The flushing sound button really confuses me to be honest. It just plays the sound of flushing over and over and over again. Apparently, it's supposed to relax the person and not let them be embarrassed if they have to flush the toilet over and over again, but personally, I find it more unsettling to hear the flushing sound from the stall next to me. Then you *know* something bad is going on. People don't just press it for fun. Unless you're foreign and can't read the kanji. Then you press it because you think it's the actual button to flush the toilet, but no, alas, it's not. I spent 10 minutes trying to shut one off the other day. I'm sure the other people in the bathroom were thinking, "Wow, what is she doing?" And then when this tiny little 100 pound soaking wet foreigner came out of the stall they were like "What *was* she doing?" Yeah. It's me. The foreigner. I can't read all of your stinking kanji. Deal with it. If you're uncomfortable, I'll press the button again. What? You're good. Good. Glad we got that sorted out.

If you head outside and you see some tall buildings, there's another thing that kind of confuses me here. There are some of these which have big red arrows on their windows, and they open up like a door does. No kidding. They have handles and are door sized. So far, I haven't gotten a satisfactory answer to these things yet. Any Japanese I ask I get the response, "They're for emergencies."
"How?" I ask. "The doors open in the middle of the building. If you walk out of them, you'll fall to your death. Look, the little red arrows even point where you'll go. Down. To the ground. To your death."
"They're for emergencies. For fires and such."
"Do you know how they work?"
"No, I've never used one."
So we now have emergency doors that open in the middle of buildings and although they're for emergencies, no one knows how to use them. Maybe this is a little counter-productive? I might have covered that in a weekly employee meeting or two.
My current theory is that

1. They're to let the smoke out or something.
2. Some magical firemen's pole of glitter and sunshine and/or a rope ladder is thrown out of them to let people climb to the ground.

It's a work in progress.

Finally, before I go, let me leave you with one thing that is both oddly different and yet strangely wonderful. And that's melon bread (メロンパン). It doesn't really taste like melon, but it's not normal bread either. It's sweet in a way, and very delicious. I had it for the first time tonight, and I think I could eat it again right now, even though I just ate it like a couple hours ago. I think I'll be developing a fund called the Melon Pan and Bathtub Fund. If you want to donate, I'll gladly accept anything you have to offer. One penny toward my fund is more than I have now, and it will make me very happy.

Later!

Michelle

金閣寺と龍安寺(Kinkakuji and Ryouanji)

So I know I just posted, but I couldn't help it. I figured I should post up a few pictures of my trip to 金閣寺(Kinkakuji) and 龍安寺(Ryouanji). First though, a little background info. Kinkakuji is the common name for the temple. It translates roughly as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, but the proper name is Rokuonji. In the 1220's, it was actually the villa of Kintsune Saionji, which honestly, I'd love to have a villa like this. It's beautiful. There's a huge walk-through garden, and an amazing pond. Anyway, to keep things short, basically we have a former shogun who decided to build the place, and upon his death, it was made into a Zen temple. There are 3 styles to the temple. The first floor is done in the palace style, the second in style of the samurai house, and the third in the Zen temple style. The second and third styles are all done in gold leaf.

Ryouanji is most famous for its Zen rock garden. This garden contains only rocks and white gravel, which is swirled into different patterns. It's oddly breath-taking, and I could easily sit for hours just looking at it. It was created around 1500 or so. Ryouanji also has a huge pond which is called Kyoyuchi Pond. It was known for having many mandarin ducks. When we went though, we actually saw a crane in the middle. It was beautiful.

So, with that basis, let's continue. We biked to Kinkakuji, which was about a 45 minute bike ride from the dorm. When we got there, it was in the heat of the day, so we took a quick break for some green tea ice cream and some water. There were a lot of vending machines around, and honestly, I think that any person reading this blog should see them. Vending machines here are pretty cool. They have everything from tea to coffee to soda to water. You can buy cans, or bottles, or individually filled cups. They also sell cigarettes and alcohol, though you need to be able to prove your age for those. No worries for the younger generation there! Here you see pictures of the row of vending machines and an instant ramen vending machine.

Next, you can see the reason why I'm having such a hard time finding my way around Kyoto. Kyoto is difficult in a way. Tokyo has identifiable places on every corner. Kyoto is full of green space, so you can get lost easily. There's also a lot of hills, so you can't see ahead of you. And for this reason, my sense of direction is absolutely gone.

I also decided to include my ticket to Kinkakuji. I thought it looked kind of cool.

And now for the moment you've been waiting for, your view of Kinkakuji itself. Note how beautiful it is. The lake is a greenish color, but you can see the temple perfectly beneath it, which is the reason it is often called Mirror Lake.

And now for some foreign absurdity. I believe these were a group of businessmen being shown around by their Japanese guide on one of their off-days. They decided they wanted to make a temple. They explained it to their guide about 10 times, but he really wasn't getting it. Being a good sport though, he tried to do what they wanted.

I believe these are Buddhas. People tried to throw coins into the bowl in the middle. Although we didn't completely understand, we believed that they figured it was good luck.

At the end of Kinkakuji is the temple to the God of Fire. Individuals swing large ropes in order to strike the gong. Although there as nothing preventing us from doing so, most of us did not engage in this practice. It just didn't feel right for us to participate in something that we had no part in. You see the picture of that temple and the incense below.

Finally, the last place at Kinkakuji was this rope with pieces of paper tied to it. These are fortunes. If the fortune is good, you take it with you. If it is bad, you tie it to the rope and leave it here.

Finally, we move on to Ryouanji. I apologize for the lengthiness of this post, but there's a lot to say. The first picture is describing the history of Ryouanji. The second and third pictures are actually the Zen rock garden itself. This is the reason why Ryouanji is so famous. It is so peaceful here, and it really gives you time to think. Although my camera died during this session, Ryouanji is located right outside the gates of Ritsumeikan, so I'll be able to visit it again in the future. Maybe after class or something.

Finally, if you look inside, you'll see all of the painted walls. They're absolutely beautiful in their intricate details. Past the rock garden and around all of the other walls is this moss. It's absolutely surreal.

And so that concludes this post. I'm off to bed.

Michelle

Of Kyoto and Temples

I arrived in Kyoto yesterday, and let me just say that it's been a blast. Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited. Unlike a lot of big cities, there is green everywhere. And even though you know it's a big city, it feels a lot smaller due to this. Don't get me wrong. I loved Tokyo, a lot. It's a really great place, but I think some of the other large cities like Tokyo, Chicago, and New York could take a page from Kyoto and add a little more green space to their city.

Actually, arriving here was a little interesting. I left Tokyo, which I didn't really want to leave and boarded the Shinkansen for here. The conductor talked very quietly. When I could hear him, I could understand him no problem, but if he was too quiet, then I had no idea what station we were at. So actually, I tried to get off a station early, but there was no way to exit the train. So I waited another 20 minutes or so, and finally got off.

When I finally got off, I went searching for a taxi, which wasn't that hard considering all of the signs. It was a little far, but these stations are huge in Japan. They make our big airports like Chicago O'Hare look small. I've never been to Grand Central Station in New York, but I think it could probably fit easily inside some of these train station and have some extra room. Anyway, so I finally got here, found a taxi and got in. I handed the taxi driver my address, but he couldn't find it in his GPS. So he pulled out a map, but he couldn't find it on the map. So I searched for a phone number, and after about 20 minutes, I found one. He called the dorm, and after some very polite どうもすみません-ing, we headed off. In this context, it comes across as both I'm very sorry and Thank you. Really, it's a little difficult to translate, but I think it'd come closest to, "I'm very sorry to have troubled you on my behalf. Thank you for everything you have done for me."

The taxi driver and I struck up a great conversation, which is really strange considering the fact that normally you never talk with the taxi driver here. He acted as my guide, pointing out historic sites, and telling stories of the mountains, movies, and McDonald's. All McDonald's here are required to be brown. The city didn't want them to stand out and look ugly compared to the rest of Kyoto. Actually, I saw some brown, and quite a few black McDonald's in Tokyo, but it's interesting that it's a law here. If you were wondering, apparently KFC doesn't have the same requirements. Their buildings are a blinding red. Anyway, after that, we talked about movies. He really liked American movies, especially Arnold Swarzenegger ones. Overall it was a great taxi ride, and we finally arrived at my dorm safe and sound.

That day, I filled out some paperwork, unpacked, and met people in the dorm. I explored the main street of our area of Kyoto that night, and we found supermarkets, convenience stores, ramen shops, and bakeries. It was a good experience and it helped me to get adjusted a little bit.

Today, I woke up late unfortunately. I thought our meeting was at 9:30, but it ended up it was at 9. I had just woken up and sadly I had to go before I'd done more than the basic hygiene sort of stuff. I met three of our student buddies. They took us by train to Ritsumeikan to fill out paperwork for the Alien Registration Card and for Japanese Health Insurance. It will be two weeks before all of that is done. Personally, this seems little a counter-productive. Japan is trying so hard to attract foreigners as it increases its presence in the global economy, but it makes it very difficult for people to be here.

The buddies were very helpful and a lot of fun though. We talked mostly in Japanese, though there was some English every now and then. They want to practice their English as well of course.

After we headed to Rits, we went to the ward to go turn in the paperwork and to get some of it processed. Until all of this is done though, it's a little difficult to get a phone. Oddly enough, I ended up translating at the ward. One of the girls here was having difficult with Japanese, and she knows English much better. Unfortunately, she was talking to a government official who really didn't know English. So, I was asked by one of the buddies to go help her. It ended up that the official was confused because her hometown and the hospital that it stated where she was born were different. After listening to her, I did my best to explain to the official and to the buddy standing next to me. Then, he clarified just a couple things for her. I was really proud. Right now, I still feel that my Japanese is miserable, so it was nice to know that I'd been understood and that the official knew what I was talking about from my explanation.

Finally, after that, I made another trip to the supermarket, which I visit every day. Ingredients are fresher this way, and I'm just starting to get used to. Then, I headed off with a bunch of other people from the dorm to go tour temples. There are tons of them here, and it's only right to go visit them. We went by bike, which was something of an adventure because I'm pretty much the only one in the group whose biking skills are probably at that of a 5-year-olds.

First we headed to 退蔵院 (Taizou-in). We didn't enter the gardens at the time since we really didn't have much cash on us, but it was still a lot of fun. This temple is very famous for a painting called 紙本墨画淡彩瓢鮎図 (Catching Catfish with a Gourd) which is now in the Kyoto museum, and as a very old Zen Buddhist temple. It was rebuilt, but it is still very beautiful, so I thought you'd enjoy a few photos. If you still want more information, you can check the temple's link here: Taizou-in.

There were a lot of other temples around the area as well, so we visited them as well. The images below were on the same path, but they're from different temples.

As always, there's more to tell you, but I think I'll end this post here. It's getting a little long, and some things can wait until later to tell you. I'm planning to head to 金閣寺(Kinkakuji) tomorrow, which is known as the Golden Temple. Pictures will be up soon of that if that's the case.

The placement test is on Tuesday, so right now, I have to head off.

Later!

Michelle

Touring Tokyo

It's another hot and humid day in Tokyo. So far, my time here has been wonderful. I've really been enjoying it. Right now, I don't have that many pictures to share because

1. My camera wasn't charged at first.

2. I forgot to carry my camera.

3. I forgot to take pictures

4. Some places it's really not acceptable to take them

That being said, I do have a couple to share with you now.

I've been sightseeing so far at Ginza, Shibuya, Harujuku, Sangenjaya, etc. Each of these sections of Tokyo are legitimate cities themselves. Ginza is known for being a very affluent area. It's famous for shopping and for big businesses. Shibuya is more for younger people, as is Harajuku. Sangenjaya is one of the really nice residential type areas around here. What's interesting is that each of these cities actually look different. The buildings will vary in height and design. For example, Ginza has huge glass buildings, but Sangenjaya doesn't really seem to have much over 4 stories.

To give you a better idea, I've collected just a few pictures.

The entrance to Ginza

Ginza

Harajuku

The amount of people here is amazing. Literally, there are millions of people around, but yet things are extremely safe. I mean, people will lock their bike's wheel or something, but not chain them to anything, and nothing is stolen. It's pretty impressive actually. I can honestly say that wouldn't stop anyone in the States.

For example, let's look at one of the busiest intersections ever. This is only one part of the intersection. There are several crosswalks mind you.

All of those people cross in 1 minute. You only see about 1 crosswalk there, but there are actually around 4 if I remember correctly. And this was during the time of day when it wasn't considered "busy."

Carrot tower (seen above) is just an example of one of the exceptionally tall buildings in the area. It's about 26 stories, though when I commented on the fact that it was huge, people kind of shrugged it off as average. The bottom mostly has banks, but there are also some businesses and other things in here as well. The top has a radio station and a restaurant as well as a bunch of windows to look out from. The picture below is just an example of some of the city.

The place on the left with a little green on the rooftop, a banner, and a courtyard is an elementary school. There were actually children outside, likely doing P.E. or something along those lines. If you're seeing any green rooftops it's because the government is trying to encourage people to put plants and other things on the top to lessen the energy consumption of the city and to cool it down some. One of the buildings (not pictured here) actually had a pool on top.

Finally, I'm going to leave you with a little gem. Since I definitely wasn't supposed to take pictures here, and I got yelled at - which really means very firmly chastised - for doing so, I think it's kind of lucky that I was allowed to keep it. There's at minimum a 7 floor Abercrombie & Fitch here in Tokyo. The prices are ridiculous. Around $220 US for a shirt that would sell for about $40 back home. It's a brand thing though. Anyway, the bottom floor had a very muscular guy posing for pictures. On every floor above that had people dancing around the stairwell balconies. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get them, but I did get a somewhat blurry picture of one of the many paintings that go up the entire building all around the stairwells. These pictures had men doing everything from just posing to Olympic sports. It was very interesting. I apologize for the blurriness, but I wasn't able to use flash considering that I knew I probably wasn't allowed to go shooting pictures in here.

And on that note, I'm over and out.

Michelle

Arrived

I've arrived in Japan safe and sound! Right now, I don't have much to report. I'm hoping to get some pictures soon, but I'm not sure when that will be.

Just a few first impressions before I leave.

1. Japan is a beautiful country. There's nothing like seeing the rice paddies. The countryside easily rivals any other places I've visited.

2. From what I've seen so far, the city is extremely clean, especially considering the age of a place like Tokyo.

3. All that being said, Japan easily has the worst humidity I've ever had the misfortune to experience. There's something wrong with walking outside and feeling like you're covered in sweat instantly. At the same time though, you aren't really sure how much you're sweating, and how much is just the ridiculous amount of moisture in the air.

4. People-watching here is fun. It's interesting to see people walking around looking like they were taken right out of some pop star fashion magazine. With all due respect though, I'm enjoying it. I love casual clothing as much as anyone else, but it is kind of nice to see people a little dressed up in a way.

5. Sunrise and sunset. Sunrise here is about 4:30 in the morning. I woke up thinking I'd slept till noon, and it was only 7:00. Sunset is also very early, around 6:00. When I woke up from my overcome-jetlag nap, I thought I'd slept till midnight because it was so dark, but it was only about 6:45.

6. One of the most amazing things I've noticed so far is how quiet it is here. Don't get me wrong. In the main part of the city, there's definitely noise, but it's much quieter than most of the big cities I've been to. You have millions of people here, and at the moment, it's completely quiet. It's a pleasant surprise.

Till next time!

Michelle

A Mummy and Lots of Missing People

5 days until my departure to Japan. Sweetness.

Well, winter clothes are packed in a box. I'm allowed to send one in advance. And I bought a slightly larger suitcase to pack everything else, so I think I'm set. The only thing that I don't have in yet is those new glasses that I ordered. I'm really hoping those come in soon.

My new yen is in too by the way, which is good because now I'll be able to afford things like books and a bike and other spiffiness. What is not spiffy is the current exchange rate. 85 yen to the dollar. Rough. Come on US! Let's get the dollar stronger because perhaps I'm a little selfish and I'd like to have a good exchange rate. ;)

I'm beginning to realize how boring this flight is going to be. I think I'll have to make friends with whatever person is sitting next to me.

In other news, I'm not sure how much everyone is currently keeping up with the Japanese news, but there's been a lot of talk about ridiculously elderly people receiving money. Now, don't misunderstand. I'm a fan of the elderly. They tell those awesome "When I was your age" stories. They're great. Anyway, back to the point. We all know about pensions. In Japan, it's been taken to the extreme lately. Family members have been hiding the truth about their elderly members' status. People who should within all rights be dead are still receiving pensions. We're talking about people who are 124 years old here. Considering this is physically impossible, I think we can call this a little absurd. This all started when government officials discovered the mummified body of an individual who had been receiving pensions for years - 30 years to be exact. The family members had left the person in the bed, and had been instructed not to enter the room for any reason. Now, without food and water, any person is going to pass. I don't care who you are. The stories have been ridiculous and the situation is a mess. The Japanese are extremely proud of their elderly population and to suddenly lose all of these centenarians is a shame. Japanese officials are now looking at everyone 100+ and trying to figure out their status. You may be asking, "How on earth did they not notice? 124 is pretty dang old." Yes it is. Well, to answer you're little question, let's look at it this way.

An official shows up at your house and asks to see your 100 year old grandmother. Grandma doesn't like to be disturbed, right? She's 100. Honestly, when you near triple digits, you sort of get the right not to be bothered for trivial little things like an official visiting the door to see if you're alive or not. So, you tell the official, "Grandma's taking a nap in the other room. I promise she's doing great, but can we please not wake her up?" That seems polite enough. So the official leaves. Great. But how do you do this for years? Well, there's a simple enough explanation for that too. When the official comes again, you just mention that grandma went to visit other relatives. If it's out of of the province, the official can't really go to the next one to check on grandma. It's out of his jurisdiction. And this is exactly what has been happening. Birthdays have just been tallied up and no one has really looked at them until they found the mummified body of that one individual. When they went out searching for what they thought was the oldest woman, 113 years old, they found that her address had been turned into a park quite a while ago. Now, Japan is desperately trying to save face and to find these missing people, but it doesn't look good. There's some serious pension fraud going on here, and we'll see how it plays out. Here are a few links if you're still interested:

When Scores of Centenarians Fall Off Radar

Adachi Mummy's Kin Arrested

Elderly Living Alone

Cities Scrambling to Find Centenarians

Till next week!

Michelle