Last weekend I went on a field trip that lasted from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. I took the train from Nishinomiya, where I live, up to a castle town called Hikone, north of Kyoto on the shore of Lake Biwa. There we walked the old highway into the town and visited the castle. It was amazing to have a professor with us who could point out the oldest buildings, what they were used for, and why they were situated the way that they were. Even from 2 kilometers outside the town, all of the buildings and roads were configured to force travelers to show their weaknesses as the came closer to the actual town.
That night a group of us, along with our professor stayed in a traditional Japanese traveler's inn (called Minshuku) in the town of Sekigahara. Sekigahara is the location of the famous battle of Sekigahara which lead to the establishment of the Tokugagwa bakufu and the Edo Period. I have a photo album from my Facebook account of the trip here.
The following Tuesday, I went with a much smaller group to Hieizan, a mountain temple complex on the north side of Kyoto. Hieizan is the focal point of Tendai Buddhism in Japan. We walked up the mountain from Kyoto and took a cable car down on the other side, before taking a train back into Kyoto. Another tiring day but an interesting trip nonetheless. You can find some photos here.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Just some photos...
Here are two links to Facebook photo albums which have photos from the last few weeks:
Shinsaibashi and Arima-onsen
Sanda and Rokko Fall Colors
Shinsaibashi and Arima-onsen
Sanda and Rokko Fall Colors
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Japanese Language
Hola,
It's been quite a while since I've posted, I know. However, the important thing is that I beat Parker and post before he does.
As you undoubtedly know, they speak this crazy language called Japanese here in Japan. For me it's quite difficult, so I'm going to do my best to outline why I have so much trouble with it.
First off, word order and grammar are almost the exact opposite of English. In English, usually the verb comes at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. In Japanese it usually comes almost at the very end. The idea that I wouldn't know what was going on in the sentence until the very end bothered me for quite a while when I first started studying, but I've become accustomed to it. The larger problem for someone coming from English and Spanish to Japanese is that you almost have to think backwards. For me, that is less of a problem at this point. I'm finding difficult to explain how it was so difficult, which I suppose is a good sign.
Particles are another difficult Japanese linguistic concept for non-native speakers. As was demonstrated by my teacher mixing hers up several times, it can be confusing for Japanese people as well. Particles are the short words and syllables which designate the different grammatical parts of the sentence.
For example: sensei (teacher) wa (particle) tomodachi (friend) ni (particle) kami (paper) o (particle) agemasu (gives).
Translation: The teacher is giving my friend a paper.
In Japanese: 先生は友達に紙をあげます。
The particle "wa" designates sensei as the giver. The particle "ni" designates the friend as the receiver. The particle "o" shows that paper is the object.
If you switch the particles the meaning is quite different: 先生に友達は紙をあげる。
"Sensei ni tomodachi wa kami o ageru" in (rough) romaji.
Now the meaning is "My friend gives the paper to the teacher.
A few syllables can change the meaning in practically any language, but the structure of Japanese isn't particularly natural to most native English speakers. The particles are an ever-present part of life, and some get easier. Others, however, are still quite frustrating and the supposed English language explanations can't capture the nuances of the differences between them.
Japanese is taught as a series of grammatical structures which are used depending on a variety of things, but mainly the situation and how it affects the other people around you. From my point of view this leads to a very structured language which is difficult to make flow as English and Spanish do. However, with time certain structures get faster as you use them more often. Then you can add the less familiar ones into your speech. The same may be true of any language, but I find that Japanese often seems to be made of nothing but formulaic grammatical structures combined, spliced, and grafted together to make conversation.
Another common difficulty is counting. Depending on what you are counting the numbers change. Sometimes you just add another word onto the existing numbers (or some form of them.) Other times, the number is recognizable. The number four is either "yon" or "shi". When counting days, it becomes "yo ka".
Lastly: reading and writing. Japanese is made up of 3 different writing styles which are all combined together. The three styles are katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana and hiragana (hereafter referred to as "kana") are syllabaries, meaning every character corresponds to a syllable.
For example (in hiragana): か き く け こ (ka ki ku ke ko)
Now, the same in Katakana: カ キ ク ケ コ
The k sounds look similar in katakana and hiragana (luckily) but others don't look so similar. For example, ro is ろ or ロ。
Now we can add in kanji. Kanji are based on Chinese characters. Some are exactly the same as their Chinese counterparts (down to pronunciation), while others are look nothing like the Chinese equivalent. Kanji are (as many Japanese people reassure me) even difficult for Japanese. (Not at the level I'm at.) There are thousands of kanji. It is commonly said that about 3,000 are needed to read a newspaper. Practically all kanji have a meaning of some sort attached to them and are quite logical when you break them down. For example, 歩く. The first character is kanji and the second hiragana. The kanji is, in this context, pronounced as aru and has the meaning "to walk." if you look at it closely you can divide it into two parts: 止 and 少. You could roughly say it has the meaning of "small stops". Most kanji can be broken down this way and often I can understand the meaning of signs and other writing but have no idea how to pronounce it.
In writing, all three of these are combined together. An example comes from a bit of an essay which I wrote for a course recently about American and Japanese styles of comedy. It's probably at about the level of Japanese ten year old, just not as fluent.
日本のコメディーの主人公は若者です。だいたい、高校生とか大学生です。日本の「僕たちと駐在さんの７００日戦争」と言う映画の主人公は高校生です。「ワォーターボーイズ」と「スワィングガールズ」も主人公は高校生です。シコふんじゃったは大学生です。アメリカのコメディーの中では高校生とか大学生の主人公がいる映画が多いけど、これはとても小さい見本です。実は、他のアメリカのコメディーの主人公は若い大人です。
Despite all this, communication isn't always as complex as it appears here and there are lots of borrowed words from English. The trick is to figure out what the original English word was before it was adopted by the Japanese, shortened, rearranged, and thrown into regular conversation.
Now I should actually go do my homework instead of describing what I need to work on.
It's been quite a while since I've posted, I know. However, the important thing is that I beat Parker and post before he does.
As you undoubtedly know, they speak this crazy language called Japanese here in Japan. For me it's quite difficult, so I'm going to do my best to outline why I have so much trouble with it.
First off, word order and grammar are almost the exact opposite of English. In English, usually the verb comes at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. In Japanese it usually comes almost at the very end. The idea that I wouldn't know what was going on in the sentence until the very end bothered me for quite a while when I first started studying, but I've become accustomed to it. The larger problem for someone coming from English and Spanish to Japanese is that you almost have to think backwards. For me, that is less of a problem at this point. I'm finding difficult to explain how it was so difficult, which I suppose is a good sign.
Particles are another difficult Japanese linguistic concept for non-native speakers. As was demonstrated by my teacher mixing hers up several times, it can be confusing for Japanese people as well. Particles are the short words and syllables which designate the different grammatical parts of the sentence.
For example: sensei (teacher) wa (particle) tomodachi (friend) ni (particle) kami (paper) o (particle) agemasu (gives).
Translation: The teacher is giving my friend a paper.
In Japanese: 先生は友達に紙をあげます。
The particle "wa" designates sensei as the giver. The particle "ni" designates the friend as the receiver. The particle "o" shows that paper is the object.
If you switch the particles the meaning is quite different: 先生に友達は紙をあげる。
"Sensei ni tomodachi wa kami o ageru" in (rough) romaji.
Now the meaning is "My friend gives the paper to the teacher.
A few syllables can change the meaning in practically any language, but the structure of Japanese isn't particularly natural to most native English speakers. The particles are an ever-present part of life, and some get easier. Others, however, are still quite frustrating and the supposed English language explanations can't capture the nuances of the differences between them.
Japanese is taught as a series of grammatical structures which are used depending on a variety of things, but mainly the situation and how it affects the other people around you. From my point of view this leads to a very structured language which is difficult to make flow as English and Spanish do. However, with time certain structures get faster as you use them more often. Then you can add the less familiar ones into your speech. The same may be true of any language, but I find that Japanese often seems to be made of nothing but formulaic grammatical structures combined, spliced, and grafted together to make conversation.
Another common difficulty is counting. Depending on what you are counting the numbers change. Sometimes you just add another word onto the existing numbers (or some form of them.) Other times, the number is recognizable. The number four is either "yon" or "shi". When counting days, it becomes "yo ka".
Lastly: reading and writing. Japanese is made up of 3 different writing styles which are all combined together. The three styles are katakana, hiragana, and kanji. Katakana and hiragana (hereafter referred to as "kana") are syllabaries, meaning every character corresponds to a syllable.
For example (in hiragana): か き く け こ (ka ki ku ke ko)
Now, the same in Katakana: カ キ ク ケ コ
The k sounds look similar in katakana and hiragana (luckily) but others don't look so similar. For example, ro is ろ or ロ。
Now we can add in kanji. Kanji are based on Chinese characters. Some are exactly the same as their Chinese counterparts (down to pronunciation), while others are look nothing like the Chinese equivalent. Kanji are (as many Japanese people reassure me) even difficult for Japanese. (Not at the level I'm at.) There are thousands of kanji. It is commonly said that about 3,000 are needed to read a newspaper. Practically all kanji have a meaning of some sort attached to them and are quite logical when you break them down. For example, 歩く. The first character is kanji and the second hiragana. The kanji is, in this context, pronounced as aru and has the meaning "to walk." if you look at it closely you can divide it into two parts: 止 and 少. You could roughly say it has the meaning of "small stops". Most kanji can be broken down this way and often I can understand the meaning of signs and other writing but have no idea how to pronounce it.
In writing, all three of these are combined together. An example comes from a bit of an essay which I wrote for a course recently about American and Japanese styles of comedy. It's probably at about the level of Japanese ten year old, just not as fluent.
日本のコメディーの主人公は若者です。だいたい、高校生とか大学生です。日本の「僕たちと駐在さんの７００日戦争」と言う映画の主人公は高校生です。「ワォーターボーイズ」と「スワィングガールズ」も主人公は高校生です。シコふんじゃったは大学生です。アメリカのコメディーの中では高校生とか大学生の主人公がいる映画が多いけど、これはとても小さい見本です。実は、他のアメリカのコメディーの主人公は若い大人です。
Despite all this, communication isn't always as complex as it appears here and there are lots of borrowed words from English. The trick is to figure out what the original English word was before it was adopted by the Japanese, shortened, rearranged, and thrown into regular conversation.
Now I should actually go do my homework instead of describing what I need to work on.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Jidai Matsuri (時代祭） and other somewhat related topics.
Hola,
This last Friday I skipped a class and took off for Kyoto with friends to attend the Jidai Matsuri, which turned out to be the quietest parade I have ever attended. In Japanese, Jidai means "age", so this is literally the Festival of Ages. What it consisted of was a huge number of volunteers walking through Kyoto to the Heian Shrine dressed in period costumes. I think it would have been more interesting if I knew more of the history behind it. It wasn't the greatest for taking pictures, but I'll put up a few below.
Jacky trying to see the ceremony at Heian Jinja.
Which one of these is not like the others?
AH! Foreigners! 外人！！
Relating to the Jidai Matsuri - I've finally found a period drama which isn't incredibly low budget and badly acted. It is an NHK drama about the events leading up to the Meiji restoration, and I was hooked from the opening credits. Here is a subtitled version I found on a French website. This is from the second season. I would like to, if I had time, to start from the beginning in Japanese with my dictionary, but I doubt that will happen. I can't remember the last time I actually finished watching a series.Ryoma Den can be found here.
On Saturday I went hiking near Kobe with some other exchange students. Once we found the trailhead, which in and of itself required some climbing, the hike took about two hours and was quite enjoyable. Did not get attacked by the wild boars the news devotes so much time to.
On the way up towards the trailhead, after asking for directions twice.
Halfway there!
やった！ Made it!
This last Friday I skipped a class and took off for Kyoto with friends to attend the Jidai Matsuri, which turned out to be the quietest parade I have ever attended. In Japanese, Jidai means "age", so this is literally the Festival of Ages. What it consisted of was a huge number of volunteers walking through Kyoto to the Heian Shrine dressed in period costumes. I think it would have been more interesting if I knew more of the history behind it. It wasn't the greatest for taking pictures, but I'll put up a few below.
Jacky trying to see the ceremony at Heian Jinja.
Which one of these is not like the others?
AH! Foreigners! 外人！！
Relating to the Jidai Matsuri - I've finally found a period drama which isn't incredibly low budget and badly acted. It is an NHK drama about the events leading up to the Meiji restoration, and I was hooked from the opening credits. Here is a subtitled version I found on a French website. This is from the second season. I would like to, if I had time, to start from the beginning in Japanese with my dictionary, but I doubt that will happen. I can't remember the last time I actually finished watching a series.Ryoma Den can be found here.
On Saturday I went hiking near Kobe with some other exchange students. Once we found the trailhead, which in and of itself required some climbing, the hike took about two hours and was quite enjoyable. Did not get attacked by the wild boars the news devotes so much time to.
On the way up towards the trailhead, after asking for directions twice.
Halfway there!
やった！ Made it!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
渡辺陽一
Now for some Japanese pop culture:
Watanabe Yoichi is a recent addition to the regular group of gei-nin who frequent Japanese television. His trademark outfit can be seen here.
He is always introduced as "The war photographer" or "The war cameraman." My limited understanding is that he has written a book and also maintains a popular blog about his experiences throughout the world, including covering conflict in Rwanda.
Within the last two weeks he has suddenly become a high demand figure for the type of Japanese variety show which dominates the airwaves. He appears to be popular in part because of his distinctive speaking style, which you can see below:
Don't ask me what he's saying. All I know is he's sharing a film which he watches often/likes. He mentions the English conversation and says that it is an important film. He may speak slowly, but I find his vocabulary difficult to understand.
This last weekend I went to a beautiful place in Japan and was reminded why I like Japan: Facebook Photo Album
He is always introduced as "The war photographer" or "The war cameraman." My limited understanding is that he has written a book and also maintains a popular blog about his experiences throughout the world, including covering conflict in Rwanda.
Within the last two weeks he has suddenly become a high demand figure for the type of Japanese variety show which dominates the airwaves. He appears to be popular in part because of his distinctive speaking style, which you can see below:
Don't ask me what he's saying. All I know is he's sharing a film which he watches often/likes. He mentions the English conversation and says that it is an important film. He may speak slowly, but I find his vocabulary difficult to understand.
This last weekend I went to a beautiful place in Japan and was reminded why I like Japan: Facebook Photo Album
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Some catching up
It's almost been two weeks since my last post, so there is a bit more content here than usual.
School continues to shuffle along. Last weekend my host parents' daughter (technically my host-sister, I suppose) came to visit, along with her husband. It was refreshing to have different people in the house, especially people closer to my own age, although they are about 6 years older than I am. Because I need to leave for class soon, here are a bunch of pictures from the last two weeks and a video I took this morning. All the pictures were taken in the city where I live: 兵庫県の西宮市
And a quick tour or the house:
School continues to shuffle along. Last weekend my host parents' daughter (technically my host-sister, I suppose) came to visit, along with her husband. It was refreshing to have different people in the house, especially people closer to my own age, although they are about 6 years older than I am. Because I need to leave for class soon, here are a bunch of pictures from the last two weeks and a video I took this morning. All the pictures were taken in the city where I live: 兵庫県の西宮市
And a quick tour or the house:
Monday, October 4, 2010
Week 3
Unfortunately, not much to say this week in terms of my own experiences. Went to Kobe on Saturday and Osaka-Nanba area on Sunday. More ugly Japanese city.
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| Now with more Rain! |
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| and anime stuff I don't understand. |
However, on Saturday a second stranger came up and asked if I wanted to meet sometime to help with their English. The first time was on campus, now while I was waiting at a stoplight. I'm the only one I know who this happens to. My theory is that it's because I'm the most stereotypical a foreigner can get: tall, blonde, big nose, etc.
Here are two random links about odd Japanese things:
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Week 2
At the close of my second week in Japan and my first week of classes, I thought it was time for a quick post before a bit of studying and then bed.
The first week of classes was not particularly difficult. I think it will get harder as the homework starts to stack up, but the only class that has so far offered the same amount of work as a UBC class would is one of my various Japanese classes. However, this work is doable, and much closer to my level than the UBC Japanese classes. In other words, the class is not designed to be challenging to Korean speakers (who already speak a language with a grammar often analogous to Japanese) and Chinese speakers/readers (who, despite many differences in the languages, have a leg up when it comes to reading and writing.)
But enough about my frustrations with UBC Asian Studies. This last Thursday was a holiday of some sort, so I took a day trip to Takarazuka, which is about 20 minutes to the north on the local Hankyu line. Takarazuka is known for the Takarazuka Revue, a musical featuring an all female cast which has five different rotating casts. Apparently they are well known, and I believe I saw someone in a commercial for a food product of some sort who used to be in the production.
Takarazuka is also known for the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum, devoted to the creations of the Osamu Tezuka. You may not know the name, but you would probably recognize his character (in English) Astroboy, if you saw him:
He also created a variety of other characters, and the franchises he created are continuing to release successful films, including this one:
The character was created long before Disney's The Lion King, but a film based on the manga was released several years after the Disney film. The adult lion is named Kimba, and the manga and Japanese film feature many characters and sequences that correlate to the Disney version.
On Saturday I wasn't feeling so great so I spent most of the day in the house. I did venture out to finally buy the newest Kamelot album, Poetry for the Poisoned.
I was also informed via facebook that Jardar bought the CD and was listening to it as well. We live in a strange globalized society where I in Japan and my second cousin in Norway buy the same CD by a (mostly) American band on the same day. But enough about that...
Today I went to Kobe-Sannomiya with friends. The day consisted of wandering through various stores, some more disturbing than others. (Creepy, super expensive dolls with big eyes and clothing that costs more than mine is all I need to go into.) It was a bit of a culture shock, to say the least.
Next was Kobe's Chinatown. Kobe's Chinatown is essentially a tourist trap designed to trick you into buying somewhat Chinese (inspired) street food and various apparel featuring pandas. Needless to say, Vancouver's Chinatown, or Richmond, or UBC club days, is a much more authentic Chinese experience. Because of the proximity of the Autumnal equinox we were able to witness a bit of the Tai-Chi performance, in which my friend Jacky participated. (Guess which one is a Canadian student)
We then took a limited express bound for Umeda, detrained at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi where I separated and walked home for a teppan dinner: Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba.
I also watched most of a program about a family in Okinawa which has something like 12 kids, which is pretty much unheard of in Japan for the last hundred years or so. The father lives in Aichi prefecture (north of Nagoya and south of Tokyo) while the mother cares for most of the kids in a big, old style house on Okinawa in what appears to be poverty. Kind of strange, especially for a country like Japan which generally doesn't mix home life and public life. Needless to say, there was conflict which makes these sort of programs interesting.
Lastly, my friend who is pictured above keeps a videoblog of his time in Japan. I appear semi-frequently in the videos. We have different focuses but if you are interested the link to his channel is here: Youtube Channel Jakumi
The first week of classes was not particularly difficult. I think it will get harder as the homework starts to stack up, but the only class that has so far offered the same amount of work as a UBC class would is one of my various Japanese classes. However, this work is doable, and much closer to my level than the UBC Japanese classes. In other words, the class is not designed to be challenging to Korean speakers (who already speak a language with a grammar often analogous to Japanese) and Chinese speakers/readers (who, despite many differences in the languages, have a leg up when it comes to reading and writing.)
But enough about my frustrations with UBC Asian Studies. This last Thursday was a holiday of some sort, so I took a day trip to Takarazuka, which is about 20 minutes to the north on the local Hankyu line. Takarazuka is known for the Takarazuka Revue, a musical featuring an all female cast which has five different rotating casts. Apparently they are well known, and I believe I saw someone in a commercial for a food product of some sort who used to be in the production.
Takarazuka is also known for the Osamu Tezuka Manga Museum, devoted to the creations of the Osamu Tezuka. You may not know the name, but you would probably recognize his character (in English) Astroboy, if you saw him:
He also created a variety of other characters, and the franchises he created are continuing to release successful films, including this one:
On Saturday I wasn't feeling so great so I spent most of the day in the house. I did venture out to finally buy the newest Kamelot album, Poetry for the Poisoned.
I was also informed via facebook that Jardar bought the CD and was listening to it as well. We live in a strange globalized society where I in Japan and my second cousin in Norway buy the same CD by a (mostly) American band on the same day. But enough about that...
Today I went to Kobe-Sannomiya with friends. The day consisted of wandering through various stores, some more disturbing than others. (Creepy, super expensive dolls with big eyes and clothing that costs more than mine is all I need to go into.) It was a bit of a culture shock, to say the least.
Next was Kobe's Chinatown. Kobe's Chinatown is essentially a tourist trap designed to trick you into buying somewhat Chinese (inspired) street food and various apparel featuring pandas. Needless to say, Vancouver's Chinatown, or Richmond, or UBC club days, is a much more authentic Chinese experience. Because of the proximity of the Autumnal equinox we were able to witness a bit of the Tai-Chi performance, in which my friend Jacky participated. (Guess which one is a Canadian student)
We then took a limited express bound for Umeda, detrained at Nishinomiya-Kitaguchi where I separated and walked home for a teppan dinner: Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba.
I also watched most of a program about a family in Okinawa which has something like 12 kids, which is pretty much unheard of in Japan for the last hundred years or so. The father lives in Aichi prefecture (north of Nagoya and south of Tokyo) while the mother cares for most of the kids in a big, old style house on Okinawa in what appears to be poverty. Kind of strange, especially for a country like Japan which generally doesn't mix home life and public life. Needless to say, there was conflict which makes these sort of programs interesting.
Lastly, my friend who is pictured above keeps a videoblog of his time in Japan. I appear semi-frequently in the videos. We have different focuses but if you are interested the link to his channel is here: Youtube Channel Jakumi
Monday, September 20, 2010
Osaka and Nishitani Village
This last Saturday I took a trip with friends to Osaka Umeda, which is probably the central hub of Osaka. There Osaka Umeda station is located there and Shin Osaka Station is nearby. The trip was surprisingly easy. I walked to the nearest station, which luckily is a hub for the Hankyu trains. I met my friends there, and then boarded and Limited Express for Osaka Umeda. The trip took about 12 minutes and cost a little more than 200 yen. It can add up if you commute or have to make multiple transfers, but I was surprised at how cheap it was to travel between cities.
The next day I traveled to the complete opposite of the concrete jungle which is Osaka. With a small group of friends I took part in a trip to Nishitani village. It was essentially a rural sightseeing excursion put on by a "fieldwork" class interested in economic revitalization projects for the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo-ken. On this day trip we took the train out to the meeting place, then boarded a bus which took us up and out of the lower lying cities of Kansai into the "mountains." (We would probably call them hills.) As soon as you get out of the cities the roads start to wind around mountains and rice fields start to appear. (Well, they appear more frequently than they do in the city, although I do pass several on the way to school.) The style of houses becomes more traditional and the houses triple in size. It also, luckily, cools off a little bit. We visited several two shrines and Buddhist temple which is part of a Kansai area pilgrimage. We had a translator so I now understand a little more than I did before about the religions.
This trip also provided a chance to practice my Japanese. I found that when trying to explain complicated subjects, I easily confuse both myself and the person I am trying to speak to. This is probably because English grammar and Japanese grammar are structured in almost the opposite way. If this wasn't complex enough, when you support a statement (using the equivalent of "because") the "because" part of the statement comes in a complete phrase before the actual point you want to make. I find this to be counter intuitive.
Yesterday was my first day of class at Kwansei Gakuin Daigaku. I only had one class so it was a bit underwhelming, but it was fun class and I like the people in it. It is the speaking, listening, and composition component of the intensive Japanese program. Assuming I find my way to school again, today I will have the reading and writing parts of Japanese, followed by a Japanese history course. For the lunch break between I will meet up with one of my "Nihongo Partners", a student who volunteered to meet with me and help me work on my Japanese.
Today it might rain but the internet still predicts a temperature of 34C (93F). Luckily, on Thursday it's supposed to drop down to 26C (78F). I for one am looking forward to it.
The next day I traveled to the complete opposite of the concrete jungle which is Osaka. With a small group of friends I took part in a trip to Nishitani village. It was essentially a rural sightseeing excursion put on by a "fieldwork" class interested in economic revitalization projects for the city of Takarazuka, Hyogo-ken. On this day trip we took the train out to the meeting place, then boarded a bus which took us up and out of the lower lying cities of Kansai into the "mountains." (We would probably call them hills.) As soon as you get out of the cities the roads start to wind around mountains and rice fields start to appear. (Well, they appear more frequently than they do in the city, although I do pass several on the way to school.) The style of houses becomes more traditional and the houses triple in size. It also, luckily, cools off a little bit. We visited several two shrines and Buddhist temple which is part of a Kansai area pilgrimage. We had a translator so I now understand a little more than I did before about the religions.
This trip also provided a chance to practice my Japanese. I found that when trying to explain complicated subjects, I easily confuse both myself and the person I am trying to speak to. This is probably because English grammar and Japanese grammar are structured in almost the opposite way. If this wasn't complex enough, when you support a statement (using the equivalent of "because") the "because" part of the statement comes in a complete phrase before the actual point you want to make. I find this to be counter intuitive.
Yesterday was my first day of class at Kwansei Gakuin Daigaku. I only had one class so it was a bit underwhelming, but it was fun class and I like the people in it. It is the speaking, listening, and composition component of the intensive Japanese program. Assuming I find my way to school again, today I will have the reading and writing parts of Japanese, followed by a Japanese history course. For the lunch break between I will meet up with one of my "Nihongo Partners", a student who volunteered to meet with me and help me work on my Japanese.
Today it might rain but the internet still predicts a temperature of 34C (93F). Luckily, on Thursday it's supposed to drop down to 26C (78F). I for one am looking forward to it.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Orientation - Owari!
I've been on the ground for almost one week now but haven't really adjusted to the Japanese/Exchange student lifestyle. Hopefully that will start to happen soon.
As mentioned in the title, today we finished up the orientations. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip of sorts to Nara, which is east of Osaka.
I had some extra time today so I wandered with friends around campus. For some reason I still haven't gotten my bearings in the city yet. It is layed out in more of a grid in the south near the station so I have very little trouble there, but anywhere around campus I am completely lost. Part of our explorations today were to attempt to find where our classes, which begin Monday, will be located. I also noticed the view for the first time:
It is always surprising to look around and realize that you can see the Umeda district of Osaka from school. The campus is very beautiful (rated the most beautiful in Kansai by some survey.) It looks like I always have imagined universities in the southern parts of California to appear: Mission style architecture with some palm type plants which don't survive in Washington or BC.
We also took a walk out to one of the stations near the school.
As the sign suggests, we were on our way to Nishinomiya Kitaguchi station, which is the main station in the area, although it is privately owned and operated by Hankyu, I believe. To the south of Nishikita (or whatever the slang used is) lies a large, new shopping mall called Nishinomiya Gardens. (I think). Anyway, it is a really big mall but there were a shocking number of exchange students from Kwansei Gakuin there. We visited two stores as most of us were going home for dinner. The first was called "Loft" and carried a variety of home goods, books, accessories, etc. (Phil - you should start watching One Piece because you can buy One Piece everything and I haven't seen ANY Naruto yet.) Next we went to a department store with an electronics section my friends are looking for cell phones. I took this last picture on the way home. I tried to improve the colors but gave up because and just made it black and white because then I know it isn't purple.
As mentioned in the title, today we finished up the orientations. Tomorrow we are going on a field trip of sorts to Nara, which is east of Osaka.
I had some extra time today so I wandered with friends around campus. For some reason I still haven't gotten my bearings in the city yet. It is layed out in more of a grid in the south near the station so I have very little trouble there, but anywhere around campus I am completely lost. Part of our explorations today were to attempt to find where our classes, which begin Monday, will be located. I also noticed the view for the first time:
It is always surprising to look around and realize that you can see the Umeda district of Osaka from school. The campus is very beautiful (rated the most beautiful in Kansai by some survey.) It looks like I always have imagined universities in the southern parts of California to appear: Mission style architecture with some palm type plants which don't survive in Washington or BC.
We also took a walk out to one of the stations near the school.
As the sign suggests, we were on our way to Nishinomiya Kitaguchi station, which is the main station in the area, although it is privately owned and operated by Hankyu, I believe. To the south of Nishikita (or whatever the slang used is) lies a large, new shopping mall called Nishinomiya Gardens. (I think). Anyway, it is a really big mall but there were a shocking number of exchange students from Kwansei Gakuin there. We visited two stores as most of us were going home for dinner. The first was called "Loft" and carried a variety of home goods, books, accessories, etc. (Phil - you should start watching One Piece because you can buy One Piece everything and I haven't seen ANY Naruto yet.) Next we went to a department store with an electronics section my friends are looking for cell phones. I took this last picture on the way home. I tried to improve the colors but gave up because and just made it black and white because then I know it isn't purple.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Nishinomiya Gardens and Nihongo Partners
On my first full day in Nishinomiya my host father and I walked to Nishinomiya ACTA building to see about getting a phone sorted out. It's not a very long walk. Along the way he pointed out buildings that were destroyed in the 1995 earthquake (basically all of them), which was reassuring.A year or so ago my host mother got a new phone so their exchange student at the time started using her old one. They just added a small plan onto their family plan. This has several huge advantages. The first is I don't have to buy a phone or enter into my own contract. Also, it is cheap and I get free contact with others in my family. The only drawbacks are that the phone is a little bit older (but still light years ahead of my Canadian phone) and there are some passkeys in strange places that are inconvenient because several other people had the phone before me.
After they figured that out, (And I sat and nodded at the Docomo salesman as he went into intricacies of phone contracts in Japanese) we went out to eat on the top floor of Nishinomiya Gardens. Nishinomiya gardens reminded me of a slightly smaller, but much nicer, version of Metrotown in Burnaby, BC. We went to a Teppanyaki restaurant on the fifth floor, where I had Okonomiyaki.
Anyhow, they are patient with my horrid and strange Japanese. Ritsuko spent a year in Canada so when I get totally stuck we can usually find a common word in English and then translate it. This afternoon they were given the task of helping me with my alien registration card. We took the bus to the city hall, filled out a form, helped the bureaucrat deal with my English handwriting, and were done in fifteen minutes. As we were finishing, a group of about ten other Kangaku students came in. I'm not sure how as we were all waiting at the same bus stop together.
My communication felt like it was improving so I was quite happy when I got home to study some random vocab dealing with university that I was given in an orientation session. I then watched some Sumo, some baseball, the news, (no suprise that Ozawa lost) and now I'm remembering some Canadian companies that I need to pay, such as Koodo and BCRS.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
How not to travel in Japan
Yesterday I managed to get from my hotel to the meeting place where I collected my orientation packet and was picked up by my host family. It was not an enjoyable experience. First off, I had two very large bags. Maneuvering them was difficult to say the least. Secondly, it was about 35 degrees C, or 95F and very humid. Here is a picture I managed to take out the window of my hotel. Osaka is not the prettiest city.
I started from my hotel after going over the directions one last time with someone at the front desk. This was in part because they only had maps written in kanji (Chinese derived characters) which I did not know how to read. With that I set off for the first train station. The station was part of the Osaka subway line, but in an elevated segment. I put my money in the machine, guessed what my fare would be, collected my ticket, and passed through the gate. When a train arrived the air conditioning was a huge relief. I rode my two stops and got off. When I got back to street level I put my ticket in the gate in order to exit again, and it stopped me. I'm not entirely sure why, but I may have bought a ticket for the wrong line. (I may have bought an outbound ticket instead of an inbound ticket. I went up to a window which was luckily staffed, apologized, and expalined that I had no clue what was going on. The attendant looked at the ticket, and then waved me through. I'm sure that I paid enough, I just probably bought the wrong ticket.
Now the next challenge presented itself in finding the station for the Hankyu line. I walked out onto the street into the full bore of noise and heat which gets trapped in the city. I spotted the station about a block away and hauled everything down the street and up the steps. I faced a new machine. This one had no button for English, but that had been so little help last time that it didn't really matter. I checked the fare to the station I wanted, paid and received a ticket. For a moment I thought I was at the wrong station, because it wouldn't let me select the line I thought I wanted, but I read the signs again and was reassured that I was at least going the correct direction. (Towards Kobe, not Kyoto.) After just one stop the driver made several announcements which included mention of the station I wanted. I was uncertain, in part because the train said Umeda, instead of Kobe or someplace in the direction I wanted. I got off the train to take a closer look at the signs and try and figure out what to do. Upon closer examination of the station, I realized that there were 5 platforms I could choose from. The next train that came to the platform I waited on said Umeda as well. However, I could see on the next platform over a mention of the station I was bound for.
I made the decision to cross over and check the signs. I follwed the signs for the furthest platform and waited there. The next train to come in was a limited express for Kobe-Sannomiya. A quick check of the chart showed that one of the only other stops it made was Nishinomiya Kitaguchi. I grabbed my bags and pulled them onto the train with me. After about 15 minutes we arrived at Nishinomiya Kitaguchi. I again took my bags and headed out into the heat on the platform. I hauled everything up the stairs and headed for the North exit (luckily I can read some basic stuff). As I came down the stairs I was greeted by Sean, the coordinator of the Kwansei Gakuin exchange program, and Anin, another UBC student I knew from a Japanese class a few terms earlier.
It took me quite a while to stop dripping sweat on everything after I got inside. I was soon introduced to my host family and ushered down to the parking garage before we made the 15 minute drive back to the house.
I started from my hotel after going over the directions one last time with someone at the front desk. This was in part because they only had maps written in kanji (Chinese derived characters) which I did not know how to read. With that I set off for the first train station. The station was part of the Osaka subway line, but in an elevated segment. I put my money in the machine, guessed what my fare would be, collected my ticket, and passed through the gate. When a train arrived the air conditioning was a huge relief. I rode my two stops and got off. When I got back to street level I put my ticket in the gate in order to exit again, and it stopped me. I'm not entirely sure why, but I may have bought a ticket for the wrong line. (I may have bought an outbound ticket instead of an inbound ticket. I went up to a window which was luckily staffed, apologized, and expalined that I had no clue what was going on. The attendant looked at the ticket, and then waved me through. I'm sure that I paid enough, I just probably bought the wrong ticket.
Now the next challenge presented itself in finding the station for the Hankyu line. I walked out onto the street into the full bore of noise and heat which gets trapped in the city. I spotted the station about a block away and hauled everything down the street and up the steps. I faced a new machine. This one had no button for English, but that had been so little help last time that it didn't really matter. I checked the fare to the station I wanted, paid and received a ticket. For a moment I thought I was at the wrong station, because it wouldn't let me select the line I thought I wanted, but I read the signs again and was reassured that I was at least going the correct direction. (Towards Kobe, not Kyoto.) After just one stop the driver made several announcements which included mention of the station I wanted. I was uncertain, in part because the train said Umeda, instead of Kobe or someplace in the direction I wanted. I got off the train to take a closer look at the signs and try and figure out what to do. Upon closer examination of the station, I realized that there were 5 platforms I could choose from. The next train that came to the platform I waited on said Umeda as well. However, I could see on the next platform over a mention of the station I was bound for.
I made the decision to cross over and check the signs. I follwed the signs for the furthest platform and waited there. The next train to come in was a limited express for Kobe-Sannomiya. A quick check of the chart showed that one of the only other stops it made was Nishinomiya Kitaguchi. I grabbed my bags and pulled them onto the train with me. After about 15 minutes we arrived at Nishinomiya Kitaguchi. I again took my bags and headed out into the heat on the platform. I hauled everything up the stairs and headed for the North exit (luckily I can read some basic stuff). As I came down the stairs I was greeted by Sean, the coordinator of the Kwansei Gakuin exchange program, and Anin, another UBC student I knew from a Japanese class a few terms earlier.
It took me quite a while to stop dripping sweat on everything after I got inside. I was soon introduced to my host family and ushered down to the parking garage before we made the 15 minute drive back to the house.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Arrival
9-11-2010
Traveling to Japan by the numbers:
-hours since I woke up in Vancouver to go to the airport: 32
-hours I have slept since that: approximately 4
-hours in the air – 11
-Pages of Steig Larsson read since takeoff: 445
-number of times I have been asked if I wanted something hot or cold: 2
-number of times I have understood: 0
-hours of Japanese television watched while not sleeping: 5
-number of times I have seen the commercial for the new Tsunami movie: 3
-supposed temperature inside my hotel room: 21C
-temperature outside: 34C
That seems to sum up the highlights of my traveling. I’m reorganizing my bags once again before I brave the train system to go the meeting point for the university. The front desk gave me instructions last night on how to get there so I think I have it figured out. We shall see.
Traveling to Japan by the numbers:
-hours since I woke up in Vancouver to go to the airport: 32
-hours I have slept since that: approximately 4
-hours in the air – 11
-Pages of Steig Larsson read since takeoff: 445
-number of times I have been asked if I wanted something hot or cold: 2
-number of times I have understood: 0
-hours of Japanese television watched while not sleeping: 5
-number of times I have seen the commercial for the new Tsunami movie: 3
-supposed temperature inside my hotel room: 21C
-temperature outside: 34C
That seems to sum up the highlights of my traveling. I’m reorganizing my bags once again before I brave the train system to go the meeting point for the university. The front desk gave me instructions last night on how to get there so I think I have it figured out. We shall see.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
This is a test...
With 4 days remaining until my departure for Japan, I thought it time I put together a blog in order to share some stories, pictures, and perhaps videos with friends and family.
Currently, I don't have much to share. Last Thursday I visited the aquarium in Seattle.
I'm also working on a little bit of packing. I'm beginning to pile up the stuff on my list in a corner of the house. After I have everything on my list, I will discover that it doesn't fit in the bag I have selected. The next step will be to start thinking deeply about whether or not I actually need my Japanese language textbooks and snowboard goggles.
Currently, I don't have much to share. Last Thursday I visited the aquarium in Seattle.
I'm also working on a little bit of packing. I'm beginning to pile up the stuff on my list in a corner of the house. After I have everything on my list, I will discover that it doesn't fit in the bag I have selected. The next step will be to start thinking deeply about whether or not I actually need my Japanese language textbooks and snowboard goggles.
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