SHUT THIS CHILD UP!
Dear God,
My host family's nephew is over, and I need a quick solution that is relatively cheap and won't make a mess.
Seriously though... I won't have any kids unless I adopt one after age 2. WHY THE HELL IS HE CRYING?!
Ok,
headphones: check
volume up?: check
forget about it?: check
This blog is a long long LONG overdue one. I feel like I should put in an 'effin table of contents... actually that sound's like fun.
Part 01........ Mie Prefecture with Otoosan
Part 02........ I Got This Skirt at the Guy's Section of Avail
Part 03........ So, How's Japan?
Part 04........ I Sorry... The Awaited Lip Ring Update
Part 05........ Puff, Quench, Clap, Clap, Wave
Part 06........ Universal Studios Japan
Part 07........ Coming Home Early?
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Part 01: Mie Prefecture with Otoosan
I went to Mie ('mee-aye) Prefecture with my host father as the title explicitly implies. I went September 20 and stayed overnight with my host family's son, Kaoru. He works for Honda and I only saw him for an hour total (even though we went on a Saturday and stayed all day Sunday...) The majority of the time was spent with Kaoru's wife and kids. His wife is named Tomoko, and he has a 6 year old girl named Mayu, and a 1 year old son named Kei.
The drive there was gorgeous. Imagine a dull gray sky swallowing an emerald green mountain of bamboo and vegetation that delves into a brisk river. On the other side of the river, you drive through a thick bamboo forest with trees on either side and above you. It was really cool and I wish I would have said something like, "pull over, I wanna take a picture," but I didn't. Before arriving to the relatives' house, we stopped at Ueno Castle. The castle is famous for its ninja. It has a sort of educational shrine in which a tour guide will show you trap doors, different techniques for hiding, and plenty of ways for a quick escape. It was interesting and useful for when I become a ninja. The shrine also had glass encasements of ninja toys / weapons (w/e you want to call it.) My favorite was the claw because once you get the claw, shit goes down real fast. It was cute because some little kids dressed up as ninjas before they went and had their plastic swords and whole bodies wrapped up.
The castle itself, though, was really amazing. It was of course surrounded by a moat of water and had a foundation of rock at least 100 feet high till the courtyard. The main castle had another 40 feet of a rock wall before construction had begun. The inside of the castle had been turned into a museum, essentially. Samurai this, pottery that, until the top floor, which is where I took these two panoramic pictures: Panoramic 1, Panoramic 2.
After the castle, we layed down some ninja dust and disappeared into the night. It was actually day, so we just continued to the awaiting family. When we arrived, the rest of the family wasn't there, so Otoosan and I wandered around the yard and I found one ofthese bugs. It is almost like a grasshopper, walking stick and praying mantis all mixed. They are harmless and don't bite, but they sure are weird looking! When Tomoko, Mayu, and Kei got back, we went for a walk to a nearby park. The day before we came, a typhoon had swept through, so all sorts of brush was scattered everywhere. At the park, we fed bread to some big ass koi and returned home for dinner.
CULTURE SHOCK:
Why does a nearly 7 year old girl take a bath with her grandfather? The bath culture of Japan is really different than that of the US. A family can be naked in front of each other until about age 10. My sexuality and culture professor claims that America cannot separate sensuality from sexuality; however, Scandinavian and Japanese cultures can distinguish the two and demonstrate that through their bath culture.
Get the godam can of beer yourself! You may or may not know that I am a pretty hardcore feminist (and I don't care if your lack of understanding of the term creates a negative connotation,) so watching Kaoru (my host brother) sit at the kitchen table and ask his wife for a beer that is four feet away from him when she is on the other side of the counter cooking him food was vexing to say the least. "Western feminism cannot be applied to Japanese culture," is what all the texts say. I didn't believe them at first until I read this one line that said, "The Japanese value consistency over freedom." I really don't know how I feel about that. Coming from America, where freedom means almost literally everything, it is heresy to state otherwise. Not only, though, is consistency valued more, services are gender marked. Getting that can of soda was a service, and Kaoru would have been feminizing himself to do such a womanly chore. I don't buy this for a minute, though, because what happens when she isn't home? Does he end up wearing a dress by the end of the day because of all of the exchanges of "services"? Though it would be funny if he did, it's enraging to know that the men here are keeping such a bearing on the wife to do everything from cooking, cleaning, raising kids, shopping, doing laundry and any other "service" the man sees fit.
Your 'effing 1 year old does not like cars. I hate how people in all cultures will gender a child so much from day 0 till they they die. If you shove cars in front of a child's face with a smile 8 times a day, 7 days a week, classical psychological conditioning states that the subject will eventually elicit a learned reaction (laughing/smiling) from a conditioned stimulus (car), but to procure that the child innately likes cars, just like his father who works for Honda, is absurd. I'm just going to leave this point alone because I will end up writing an essay. The point, though, is that masculine and feminine are one in many types of genders, and instead of giving a child neutral toys, they give them gendered toys and make the subjective decision that the boy will be raised to become a masculine male, rather than his own individual.
Aside from gendering Kei, they also don't really know how to raise a kid (from American standards.) If he whines because he can't have something, they will give it to him. There is no such thing as teaching your little girl table manners, or manners at all, (like cover your mouth when you cough at, esp at the dinner table, esp when a person is directly in front of you) until around age 10--eating spaghetti out in public with her was embarrassing for a moment until I realized it was normal (the poor kid didn't even know how to use chopsticks in the first place, and trying to use chopsticks with spaghetti was like counting money with no fingers.) Apparently a one year-old knows how to bite off chunks of bread into pieces that he/she can swallow? I'm not going to go into this topic much more either. Japanese childbearing is way different.
Back to the story...
The next day was Mayu's Track Day for school, but because of the typhoon, it was pushed back another day. Instead, we went to the beach and then to karaoke/arcade. At the beach, there was a parasailing-like event going on. A huge parachute was attached to a vest and a group of people would lift up the parachute into the wind as another group of people would hold a rope attached to the vest so you wouldn't fly away. I did that for only 3 or 5 dollars. I'm pretty sure it was a donation for something, but I don't know. It was pretty cool being that high up in the air, though! Right here is me. The beach was SOO dirty! There was just trash everywhere that floated in from sea. There were cool shells though all along the beach; however, it started to pour rain, so we went back to the car to go to karaoke/arcade. That was fun! It was all-you-can drink/play arcade/sing for 3 dollars an hour, which is a really good deal. After that, I returned back home to make s'mores with the marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey's chocolate I brought. It was fun because we had to use the gas stove and kabob sticks to make them. Everyone liked them, especially Mayu (and after I left, a few days later she invited a few of her friends over and together with Tomoko, they made s'mores, ha). Before I left, I mostly played DS with Mayu like Mario Kart and such. About an hour before I left, Mayu got very quiet and began to cry because she knew I had to leave. It was the cutest thing because, first of all, a little kid has never cried over my departure, and second of all, she was absolutely balling her eyes out! Tomoko kept telling her it would be all right, and that we would see each other in a few days, but the waterfall of tears wouldn't stop running. Don't believe me? Look here. Anyhow, I had to leave, but the drive home was TERRIBLE!!!! I wasn't feeling too well because the dinner I had wasn't agreeing well with me, and of course Japan has twisty-turny roads, so when my host father floored it around the corner, I got really car sick. I wanted to say, "SLOW YOUR ASS DOWN!" a few times, but didn't. I really did almost throw up, though. THAT WAS MIE-KEN
I write, now, as Tomoko, Mayu, and Kei are sitting in the room. No, she isn't lulling that demon Kei, she is just letting him sit there crying over nothing... crying crying crying crying crying CRYING CRYING CRYING CRYING CRYING. Jayme, you are lucky... or maybe you're just damn good.
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Part 02: I Bought This Skirt at the Guys' Section of Avail
Japanese fashion is, to say the least, quite different than that of America. A guy can carry a bag that, hands-down, is a purse and not be labeled as feminine or gay. I saw a guy with an ivory bag with gold lacy threads--it was a damn purse! Or my host father's shoes. HAHA. He also has a pair of Nikes that literally have a 2 inch heal.
Avail is a clothing store close to the Seminar Houses that is very fashionable (?)
but inexpensive. It's divided into two halves: guys' and girls'. On the guys' section, there are various things such as this beaver bag vest thing, some scarves that you wear around your waste to resemble a skirt or kilt (over the pants, of course), some shoes that (literally) prostitutes wear, leopard-print skin-tight shirts, leather pants, and not to mention the pre-made random gothic outfit. On the girls' section, there are lots of really cool clothing and fashion ideas, and girls here, for the most part, are dressed very stylish. However, there are quite a few outfits that, well, are inexplicable. I passed this one layout and said, "Damn! That is soo hobag!" My friend, Jamie, said, "No no, that's something [our friend] Ayana would wear. Ha ha." There was a small pause, but then we both realized that we DID see Ayana wearing something like that! It was a black and jean themed outfit. The shorts were jeans that were really low cut and very short, but they had a fold at the bottom. There was also black nylons and a black shirt with large hoop earrings, and of course hooker boots. It is hard to explain, but if she was walking around in America, she would definitely be asked a price.
Another crazy fashion joke people here like to play is the single shirt outfit. I saw a girl that was wearing only a shirt and nylons. I was really taken back at first because it was like she was naked with only a shirt, but it came down a little past her crotch. I thought maybe it was just her, but my speaking partner, Kayo (below), also wore a shirt thing like that. Although you can show as much leg, and sometimes more, as you want, it is considered rather taboo to show cleavage or anything from the top-half.
Essentially, guys spend more time putting together their hair and clothes than girls do here (at least among the youth at KGU), and girls don't like to wear clothing.
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Part 03: So, How's Japan?
Japan :) Japan >:) Japan :| Japan /:( Japan :(
I get very frustrated in the midst of being happy.
I miss home when I'm alone.
I miss home when I'm with people.
I don't want to go home, I just want to stay here forever!
I want to leave immediately!
My mind is constantly shifting on how I feel about Japan. Some days I hate it. Some days I love it. People here have been great, and assholes, and supportive. There is a program here that arranges us with a Japanese student learning English whom we are encouraged to hang out with and talk to. I signed up for the program and got my speaking partner, Kayo Ikoma. She is really really cool and we are on the same page with a lot of things. She wants to be a tour guide when she graduates and marry when she is of age (25 or so). She knows English very well, but I teach her various idiomatic expressions like the word "stiff," as in "a stiff exam," or "that clerk stiffed me." As another example, the slight variation between "you can come." and "if you want to, you can come," (the first can sound like "please come" while the second is just as it appears, or maybe more polite). We sometimes eat lunch together and go to karaoke together. She shows me around and I practice my Japanese. We hang out about once a week. She is really cool!
The Japanese academic calendar, which starts in March/April, is very different than America's, which starts in August/September. So, their second semester started after we were already there. September 17: population 500. September 18: population 10,000. It was madness! The convenience store floods on the hour every hour. Three cafeterias are open, but all are full with no place to sit but the ground outside. The bike parking lot is like a bike junkyard, with bikes lined up from end-to-end. The CIE is flooded with Japanese people who want to survey English speakers for their classes, or just Japanese people who want to make gaijin (foreigner) friends. It's really cool, though. However, I don't speak fricken Japanese! I come to Japan and 90 percent of my daily speech is English. Since this is a FOREIGN LANGUAGE institution, the students want to practice their English, so they talk to you in English. People will introduce themselves in English, ask surveys in English, converse in English, etc. Even when I bump into someone, I say, "sumimasen" which means excuse me, the response is a timid voice of "sorry." Use your own language in your own country! I came to Japan thinking I could learn the language a lot faster. I think I could learn it a lot faster going to Novi! I had no clue that I would be undermined everyday as a gaijin and reduced to a study method.
I joined a running club. They meet really early in the morning, so I quit. I joined marching band, but they don't have any instruments for me to play, so I quit. Actually, I want to rant about this! They told me that I can play any instrument I want, and I don't have to try out, but when I came back to say, "Ok, I'm here to play the quads," they said that all the instrument positions were full. WHY THE HELL DID YOU SAY THAT THEN? YOU WASTED MY TIME AND GAVE ME FALSE HOPE! I did get to introduce myself in Japanese to a room full of Japanese people who subsequently clapped and cheered for me. It made me feel good about my language skills as well as joining the club; but it's too bad because they don't have any positions left! However, with the help of my friend Mariah and my professor, I started a gender and sexuality film discussion group. We gather once a week to watch a movie about, well, certainly not gender and sexuality in Japan. It's cool, because a lot of people have been coming and it's fun.
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Part 4: I Sorry... The Awaited Lip Ring Update
I had been taking out my lip ring / earrings for a few days. I'd stuff them in my pocket on my way out the door, and shove them in when I got to school. Likewise, I'd take them out before I got home, or go straight to my room before saying hello in order to remove them. After a couple days, my host mom didn't say anything about my earrings, so I decided to make up some drama to bring up the situation. I said that my friends at school couldn't figure out what was different about me--haircut, hair dyed, shaved beard. I then said that it was because I had no earrings or lip ring that they said so. My host mom said... actually I don't remember what she said, but it was kinda like "Oh, hmm, huh. Okay." After a couple more days of playing Bruce Wayne/Batman, my host father, at the dinner table, said that I could wear the piercings if I wanted; though, he likes my face as is. I wasn't too surprised because my host mother seems very sane, and as though she can talk sense into someone. He explained "because she works at a nursing home, she comes into contact with newer ideas, like dyed hair and piercings," (I had no idea at this point what he was talking about) "but I am not used to that. She works with young people more often," (ahh, that makes more sense) "like when they come into her work as volunteers with the elderly. I didn't understand. I'm sorry, and you can wear them if you'd like."
Of course this is all in Japanese, but there was a little English phrase at the very end which was kinda cute: he said "I sorry." I was a little confused about what to say, but I knew that I should respect other people's opinions, especially if I'm living with them. So, in response, I said, "I won't wear them. If you don't like them, then I won't wear them. It's not a big deal."
However... after a few more days, I kept forgetting to put them in, so my ears were starting to heal up. I didn't want that to happen, so I left them in a couple times. Then a few more times. And then I left them in at all times. I guess I wanted to respect his sole desire, but I didn't want my ears to heal up, so now I wear them all the time. And it seems like I spited him, because I got some new shiny black ones that are even larger than the ones before (oh well). I think he doesn't care, and what does it matter, anyway? I'll be gone in a little bit.
I'm glad it's not a big deal though, anymore. It still baffles my mind, though.
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Part 5: Puff, Quench, Clap, Clap, Wave
I went to Osaka the other day. There is a place called Shinsaibashi that can only be described as a short Times Square. It is full of lights, water, people, hosts, weirdos, restaurants, and has the ever-famous Glico sign. I went with Kayo and her friend Miho to do some walking around in Amemura (or American-town) as well as other parts of downtown Osaka. It is really cool in Amemura. There are both foreign (white) store-workers and a Japanese one. The shops all target the alternative scene in the states, with punks and underground music. Even as I was walking into McDonalds, I wasn't sure if it was a dance club rave or a fast food restaurant. There was also one huge store that was a few stories and had really cheap body jewelry, and, of course, fashionable clothing. After wandering around Little America, we went shopping and stopped at Shinsaibashi. I had picked up a 40 dollar tripod that is seemingly worth much more, and stationed it on the bridge flooded with people. The illuminated signs filled the night and my camera lens. I guess it's as pretty as advertisements are going to get. After taking in the scenery, we went to an okonomiyaki restaurant (okonomiyaki is a pan-fried batter cake with various vegetables and meets added). I knew there was something that tasted awful in takoyaki (fried octopus balls), but I couldn't put my finger on it. However, the same taste was in the okonomiyaki as well. I could only eat half of mine before I felt ill. Come to find out, however, one of the main ingredients is pig heart and coagulated pig blood. Actually, it isn't that, it is a thing called dashi, which is essentially dried kelp and aged tuna, and used in many Japanese dishes... too bad, though, I think I could choke it down easier if it was the first.
After we finished eating we went to another area where the host clubs are. Host clubs, in case you didn't know, are places where prostitutes, hostesses, or very ritzy females go to drink away their misery, essentially. People come to the clubs to meet a host who tells her she's pretty, serves her drinks, and parties with her. The women pay handsome amounts of money one champagne and of course the hosts themselves all for a date (with sometimes the assumption that they will have sex later on in the evening). People who go to host clubs often spend from 300 to 5000 dollars a night, and some have even spent nearly $40,000 in ONE night. Here is a wikipedia page explaining it all. Anyway, we went there because hosts are the prettiest things your eyes will ever lay on. They have the most flowing hair, intricate accessories, exotic perfumes, and thickest foundation you have ever seen. When you pass them at Kyobashi station between the JR line and Keihan line, you KNOW it. They have an aura that eminates golden rays from their broad shoulders... or maybe I just get high from all the hairspray they use and I start seeing things. BUT, it is really funny how they collect customers. They are smoking a cigarette, toss it on the ground and smolder it, clap twice, and then raise their hand: Puff, Quench, Clap, Clap, Wave. Surely, Westerners think Japanese people look alike, and wonder how I could tell hosts from other people... but trust me... when you see a host, you KNOW it's a host. ANYWAY, we walked down the street to just see all the humor of it. Men, who look like women, but are considered very manly, selling their time on the streets of Osaka. It was interesting, to say the least...
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Part 6: Universal Studios Japan
BLAH, I'm lazy. I went to USJ with Kayo, Chika, and my friend Pat(rick). Pat had never been on a roller coaster (he's scared of heights and from Vermont), and it was one week from Halloween. The whole place was themed like Halloween and I'm just going to streamline the basics...
arrived
took pictures
ate at Moss Burger (OMG, it's the closest thing to a REAL American cheeseburger)
actually entered the park
waited in line for Spiderman for more than the advertised 30 mins
Spiderman was the freakin' shit with 3D glasses and heat/wind/mist
checked out some Halloween-ish things around USJ
went on a Jaws ride that was kinda corny, but it had oil tanks that "blew up" but it was really just a ton of propane that was lit on fire, it was really cool because i've never seen that much fire in my life
went on the Jurassic Park ride which is one of the largest water rides in the world. Kayo said I'd only get a little wet... bitch. I got her back by repeatedly screaming and grabbing her and Chika both.
they ate giant turkey legs like we were at the Rennaisance Festival.
went on the one actual roller coaster there. Pat was scared, but we didn't hesitate the second round.
watched a weird performance with a bunch of star-impersonators from the movies.
went home
It was surprising how much Japan celebrated Halloween, especially considering it isn't even a national holiday. I went to Cedar Point last year for the "Halloweekends" but it was nothing compared to the detail USJ put into theirs. They hired actual gaijin (white guys) to be the monsters and scare everyone. The costumes were wonderful, even though it was pretty dark.
DONE
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Part 7: Coming Home Early?
That's right, bitches. I'm closing shop and heading home on December 17. Being here makes me realize how badly the world treats women, and I want to fight for women's rights in many places. Asian studies won't get me very far, so I changed my major to women's studies. I'm scheduled to fly in from Tokyo to Toronto, then Toronto to Windsor. Any relatives want to volunteer to pick me up? I get in at midnight... :D
Seriously, though... I came here to learn the language, but I find myself speaking English way more than Japanese. I come home from school, and because my host family doesn't talk to me, I just go straight to my room and sit at the computer till dinner, come down and sit at the silent dinner table where my host father watches TV while drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, wash the dishes, and return to my room. I have small talk at dinner, but it's not enough. I don't want to be the pessimistic exchange student, but I unfortunately don't have much to be optimistic for. I see some people be put in Morman families and I wonder why I couldn't be. I feel bad reciprocating the boredom, but I've given up. Only a month more to go, and I'm free from THAT GODAM DOG THAT WAKES ME UP ALL THE FUCKING TIME. It barks and barks and barks and barks and barks and barks and barks and they DON'T TELL IT TO SHUT THE HELL UP! Only the occasional soft-spoken "You're annoying," gets muttered from someones mouth.
Besides that... KGU doesn't offer any courses in women's studies, so I would be wasting my time here. Women's studies, btw, isn't just the study of women. It focuses on the real-world problems that gays, lesbians, trans-gendered, and racial/ethnic minorities face everyday, whether going out to get the mail or running for president. I applied to the University of Michigan the other day in hopes of enrolling in their women's studies department as well as the Asian studies one. I want to further educate the world on everyone's issues and help bridge the gap between the privileged and the oppressed, and staying in Japan won't get me nunny-where.
Thoughts of Japan today...
I sat in my room all day and did nothing. Though it's a Tuesday, there was no class because it was the school's birthday--I DON'T QUESTION POLICY! I don't really have an opinion of Japan today, other than that my family didn't even call me down for dinner... maybe they thought I was sleeping or out. I'll just shrug it for now...
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Pictures from Facebook:
Mie Prefecture
Osaka 1
Universal Studios Japan
KRP pt.1
KRP pt.2
Plus+
Panoramic Pictures
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