Christmas Report!

Christmas has come and gone, and it was the most unusual Christmas. I didnt see a single family member, or eat some good ol' home cooking. And despite being in a temperate climate, snow didnt fall. But that doesnt mean I didnt enjoy it! I spent most of it with my new friends that I've made up here. Maybe it wasnt my favorite Christmas, but it definitely was not the worst!

Let's start with Christmas Eve daytime. Most unlike America, I went to class on Christmas. I guess it should be expected in a country with a miniscule Christian population (holla, Nagasaki), but it was still weird. Most of the other Western people in that class didnt show up; only the guy from Nevada and the Finnish girl showed up. That class was Family Life in Japan, and isnt that interesting. I dont quite remember what the topic of the lecture was, but I really enjoyed the teacher. She was so airheady! She jumped from tangent to tangent, in a mix of Japanese and hesitant English. I want to know what she's teaching next semester, because I wouldnt mind taking a class with her.

After class, I scarfed down lunch, because I was invited to celebrate one of the Chinese girls' birthday. Since the Chinese and the Koreans stick to themselves, I was very flattered to be invited to go to karaoke with them. Unfortunately, due to my procrastination and disorganization, I didnt get her a birthday present (and now that I think about it, neither did I gift the Russian...more things to do). I was the only person there who didnt speak Chinese, so I was left out of the conversation quite often. Thankfully though, I usually got a summarization of the conversations in either Japanese or English. I really want to go karaoke with these girls again though; one of them has one of the most beautiful voices I've sung karaoke with! They call her the "Queen of Karaoke" because of it. Her rendition of this song made the whole thing worth it! (Well, at least, I think this is the song she sang...)



愛我

After that, I came back to my room to freshen up for the Christmas Party one of the Japanese kids had set up. Unlike most Christmas parties I've heard of, which take place at someone's house, this one was at a local 居酒屋. While I wasnt too keen on drinking up on Christmas, I did want to spend it with friends, so I went. And I did have a lot of fun! We had なべ, which is basically where we cook our own food in this soup thingy. Oh it was so good! And the other stuff we had was really delicious too. There was いか and soybeans, だし巻き卵 and so much more. I really ate up.



After that, I called it a night. The next day, I was invited to one of last year's HUSA students to have French Toast and more fun at his apartment. To be honest, I'm not keen on French Toast, and I wasnt familiar with the movie they said they wanted to watch, but in the spirit of the holidays, I roused myself from my warm bed, and met up with them.

Like I said above, I'm not too fond of French Toast, but I still enjoyed myself. Our sempai didnt use too much egg on them, and I used lots of whip cream and syrup on them, so it was actually really yummy. Of course, I had no idea how the whip cream thingy worked. I ended up squirting some of it out onto the table and someone's glasses. Memo to self: Whip cream comes out when you push DOWN on the button, not across. After brunch, we more or less just hung out, "being dudes", as sempai would say. We played a game of The Game of Things, which is kinda like Apples to Apples. After dinner, when one of our Japanese friends fell asleep on the floor, we decided to say goodbye and head back to the dorms.



All in all, not a terribly bad Christmas. I'll admit, I was afraid that this would be the most unhappy, miserable Christmas I've ever had. I was going to miss seeing my family, eating my favorite foods, HEAT, and the birth of my nephew. But you know what? It was actually a lot of fun. I spent it with some very cool people, who did some very cool things (thanks Mimu and Jeff!!). And I ate tons of おいしい food. So you know what? I think I'll count this as a successful Christmas.

OH! It's not the exact one that I wanted, but I succeeded in getting a Rilakkuma with a mushroom! Chee~!



Now, where to put it...

Game Center Fail

Near the university is a game center that we Hirodai kids visit rather often. It is quite different from American arcades, in my opinion. For one thing, there is always the smell of cigarette smoke. As you probably know, the Japanese enjoy their cigs, and though maybe not every patron is smoking, it happens often enough that they leave ashtrays around for you to use at your leisure. Another thing interesting is that the clientele is strictly male. Most girls in there are girlfriends of the guys playing their; only one of them actually plays the games. One of the HUSA girls figured this out when she used the toilets there: not a one had been used before. And about the guys there: while most of them are undoubtably university students, there are quite a few that are definitely working men, around their late thirties or forties. It has been my experience (which isnt that great) that most arcade gamers are not much older than their late twenties.

I'm not a hardcore gamer, and I'm pretty bad at most games I play. But there are a few games in there that I love to play, and am not too bad at. My major game is Jubeat Knit (read "yubeat knit"). It's a music based game. On the grid of sixteen squares, you have to touch them in time to the music, when the word TOUCH appears on them. The music you can play on there runs from the regular pop songs (Big Bang's Haru Haru) to crazy hard techno songs. The hardest song I've played there is this song, which is a techno version of some classical music. I posted my favorite song up on my facebook a while ago, but if you didnt see it, I'll link it again. It's a techno song called キラキラ (Kira Kira Sparkles). And tonight, I think I got better at it. My original rating was A; tonight I got it up to S. The highest rating is SSS, and I'm aiming for that. I have a long way to go.

Which brings me to my next point. With the exception of us HUSA kids/foreigners, EVERYONE IN THERE IS REALLY GOOD AT GAMING. And I'm not complaining because someone got a higher score than me. These guys are pros at what they do, taking on the Extreme mode like nothing. And it's not just the guys that play the Jubeat game; I have yet to see anyone play DDR, the Rock Band game, or the taiko game on easy. I'm not sure how they all got so good, but watching them play is just amazing to see. I am always in awe of these guys because they're so into what they do. It's awe inspiring.

Now, what does all this have to do with the title of this blog? As I was leaving the game center, I passed by the grabber games. You know, the one's that you have to use the claw thing to pick up little plushies? You dont have to tell me twice that these machines are very difficult to use, and will take more money than the plushie is worth, but for some reason, I decided to try it. I was aiming for a Rilakkuma holding a mushroom. It was so cute, and I had a few hundred yen coins, so I decided to try it. Unsurprisingly, I didnt get it. However, after one try, one of the workers came up to me and helped to reposition one of the Rilakkuma. And so, I went back at it. However, I still couldnt get it. Before my last play, he repositioned it again. Its legs were hovering over the edge, and it seemed so easy to get to. AND I STILL FAILED TO GET THE DAMN RILAKKUMA. After spending 2000￥, which is around $20, I still couldnt get one tiny little plush doll. You have no idea how pathetic and lame I felt. Especially because the guy moved it twice, the last time being so close to being easy to get. I'm pretty sure that would never happen in America. They'd just point and laugh.

Ah well. I've learned my lesson. I need to stick to the games that I can play, and steer clear from those that'll just suck my money out.


I wanted the one on the right. Image source: http://tinyurl.com/2ermhoy

出来るかどうか分からん

Last week Thursday was the midterm for the hardest class I'm taking this semester. It's the level five Japanese class on kanji readings and grammar forms. The kanji we had to learn ranged from 案山子 (かかし scarecrow) and 胡瓜 (きゅうり cucumber) to 老舗　(しにせ old shop) and　所謂 (いわゆる the aforementioned). Most are words I didnt think had kanji, like scarecrow, or are difficult to use (in my opinion), like 所謂. As for grammar, a lot of them are forms I've never learned in English, like ~がち, which is used to indicate an undesireable tendency, or ~的, which is attached to nouns and make them into adjectives. In addition to this, we learned the (usually very slight) difference between similar grammar points, such as the difference between ~間 and ~うちに (~間 implies a measurable time period, whereas ~うちに is used when a certain state of being is in effect).

Now dont get me wrong, there were many times that I feel I learned worthwhile information. Particularly in grammar, the many new suffixes will allow me to express myself more deeply in Japanese. And as someone who wants to eventually be fluent in the language, I must at least be exposed to every grammatical structure in Japanese.

That Wednesday night, as I used my flashcards to memorize the kanji that I didnt know already, I felt so overwhelmed. The kanji that I was memorising in this class and the other Japanese classes were but the tip of the iceberg. Around 2,000 kanji are required to read a newspaper, and that's only individual characters. They can be added together to create even more words, and those readings are not always obvious. To obtain the reading for 修行, for example, it can be broken into 修 and 行, しゅ and ぎょう. This gives us the reading しゅぎょう or learning. To get the meaning based from component kanji, we can take 若人 and split it into 若 for young, and 人 for person, and get Young Person. However, there are the special readings for 木綿 and 氷柱, both of which are not easily discovered. And while the grammar points are useful to deepen the meanings of the words I use, I must admit that they do not come quickly to the mind. ~かねる is attached to verbs to indicate that the despite how much you want to do something, you cant do the verb that it's attached to. I'm probably more likely to use ~にくい, which simply means "it's hard to ~" than use ~かねる.

But then again, I suppose that I should have been prepared for this. Human beings express themselves via language, and use it to paint descriptive pictures of themselves, their surroundings, their feelings. Everyone's got a story, and language is how we present that story to others. In this world, we are surrounded by complex situations and feelings. The only reason that I find it easy to express myself in English is because I grew up speaking it. In the same way, Japanese is easy to a 日本人 because they've grown up speaking only it. And I'm sure they get perplexed by some English quirks and oddities. I'm sure the practice of capitalizing certain words is confusing to them. And the way that English changes its endings to indicate plurals often seems to be so random and aribtrary. So I guess it's a give and take kind of thing. While I have been born into the English speaking world and can use it to its fullest degree, I must work hard to reach the same level of ability in 日本語.

A friend of mine who had already done a study abroad in Japan gave me some advice that, to be honest, I never really tried hard to follow. He said that I should constantly work on kanji. At lunch or on a train, I should always try to read what was written. I finally tried to do that, just a little bit, this weekend. When I was waiting at the bus stop, there was a notice from the bus company. It basically said that because of terrorist attacks, if any mysterious object is found near the bus stop, to contact the company or the next bus driver. Using the dictionary on my iPod touch, I was able to look up the readings and meanings of all the words on the notice. I think I ought to start being a little more proactive with this. I have a few magazines here, and I bought them mostly for the pictures. Perhaps it would be more useful to me if I were to translate these articles?



Can you read this?

Thanksgiving

Yesterday was the fourth Thursday in November, and in America, that would be Thanksgiving Day. Because of my study abroad here in Japan, my Thanksgiving has been perhaps the most surreal, and not-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving ever.

First of all, it didnt even feel like a holiday at all. The Japanese day for giving thanks was on Tuesday, and while we had the day off from school, there was no celebration in sight. On the calendar day of Thanksgiving, I had school, and also no special food, no nothing. Even on facebook, you wouldnt have known the date by the status posts, because in America (or at least Hawaii), it was still Wednesday, November 24th. Today, when I signed onto facebook and saw all the "Happy Thanksgiving!" or (most enviable) "Home sweet Hilo!" statuses, I was like, No, that was yesterday. The only upside is that school was out today as well, to let the high schoolers take their entrance examinations.

But the most jarring was the fact that I was missing out on the whole holiday experience. Turkey and stuffing is hard to come by here in Japan; in fact, I heard from another HUSA that it's about 90 USD to buy a turkey in Korea (they substituted in a chicken). I remember what stuffing tastes like, and I havent had it in so long, Thanksgiving notwithstanding. And more importantly, I'm missing my family. I havent seen or spoken (verbally) with anyone who was related to me for about two and a half months, and I probably wont have a chance until next August. My family isnt as big as some people's, and I really enjoy having everyone together. This is the first Thanksgiving I havent seen any of them.

So how did I celebrate Thanksgiving in Japan? Another American and I went with a British and Finnish to a Japanese restuarant, and later went to an arcade. Really traditional, right? I dont even know where the other Americans went. And it's not even like we could make our own Thanksgiving type things. Only dorm residents are allowed in the building, so we couldnt have a party together. And like I said, it's so hard to track down the necessary ingredients here, so there really was no sense in even trying.

Dont get me wrong, I'm thankful for my parents for sending me here, and I'm thankful for all the friends and memories I've made up here. But I'm not going to lie, it's so hard not to be with my family. Isnt that what holidays are all about? I guess, then, I'm thankful that last year, I took a bunch of pictures to show my Japanese penpal about American Thanksgivings, so I have something to look at.


Oh JESUS it looks so good.

On the one hand, I'm not depressed and crying on my bed, missing my family. But on the other hand, something is missing from this vital time, and I cant replace it. Haha, Christmas is going to be FUN. (Memo to self: Be sure to plan something Christmas-y with the other Americans. Include tons of happiness and cheer [AT ANY COST])

Identity Crisis?

Japanese people from Hawaii should probably not study in Japan by themselves. At least, this Japanese from Hawaii is regretting that he didn't go to Tokyo with a bunch of other UHM kids, or the previous years when his friends went to Japan. They had told me that we would be treated differently because we look Japanese, but don't speak Japanese, but I didn't know it would be so hard. To be quite honest, I can't stand it.

Obviously, I am not 日本人 or Japan Japanese. I was born and raised as an American, I speak English, I am prone to ignoring other viewpoints. I talk loudly, unlike my soft-spoken relatives, and act much more flamboyantly than they. And yet, I'm not fully American. I have straight black hair, with slanted eyes, and a yellowish complexion. I eat rice whenever I can, and have heard Japanese in some form all my life.

But where does this leave me? Sometimes I'm part of one group, and sometimes I'm part of the other. When we eat, I'm usually on the Japanese side. I have yet to run into anything I've never seen before, or something I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. When one of the white people says "There's shoyu in that? I'll pass", or "Yuck, there's SEAWEED in here!", I am confused as to why they are offensive. A few of them refuse to drink tea, which baffles me because we haven't had any strong teas; in fact, at one restaurant, the tea was so weak I thought it was water. However, I'm on the American side whenever I have to talk to Japanese people. My vocabulary is incredibly weak, and if not for someone's electric dictionary, I wouldn't be able to carry on a conversation. Although a few times, the words I don't know are big words, there are simple ones that I can't comprehend. It's so embarrassing to be the only one confused in a class of freshmen. These kids, straight out of high school, are speaking more eloquently than I, a third year college student!

And then there's the third place where I belong: that mythical land Hawaii. The old Japanese used to call Hawaii 天国 (てんごく), or "Paradise". To many, it still is Paradise; it's a floating island in the middle of the sea, unreachable except to a few lucky people. It is composed of white, sandy beaches, and a multitude of palm trees. There are only Hawaiians in Hawaii; no one else lives there except them. I imagine that this complaint is familiar to those who study on the mainland, but I haven't had to deal with it ever. We've come into the habit of calling people by their country of origin; the girl from Austria is "The Austrian", or we refer to "the Koreans". Logically then, I should be called one of the Americans, or something, right? Nope. I am always referred to as "the one from Hawaii", or (if I haven't already told them not to) "the Hawaiian". Some people are always surprised to hear that I'm from Hawaii, but not a Hawaiian. That I speak English, and only a few words (no sentences) of Hawaiian. What really hurt was when one of my professors quite deliberately ignored me in class. In the first class, when he called roll, he tried to greet everyone in their native language, or asked them how to do so in their home country. When he got to me, he just noted down my name and continued on with the lesson. The next week, we were discussing major cities in our country. The Chinese were asked, as were the Koreans, the Finn, the Austrian, and the Indonesian. When it came to the Americans, his attention was obviously centered on the white Americans. Even when he asked about the different states, he did not ask about Hawaii. He ended the discussion and moved on.

I suppose part of it is because I've never left Hawaii, so I've never had to deal with being the only one from Hawaii. And I knew that going into the program, that it's quite unusual to be from Hawaii. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of who I am, and where I'm from. And yet...I will not deny that I find it difficult to not be considered either an American or Japanese. While I am thankful that one of the other HUSAs is willing to listen to me bitch and complain, I wish I did have other Hawaii people to talk to. It would be easier to be part of the Hawaii "group", and spread out the stereotype. It's difficult when you're the only one.

I can only grow from this adversity. In my application for this program, I wrote about how I wanted to tell more people about the history of the Japanese in Hawaii. By challenging and attacking people's preconceived ideas about Hawaii, perhaps I can fulfill that goal. And I am learning about how true that oft said statement is: "Lucky you live Hawaii!"

Sake Matsuri Part I

I'm in Saijo, a town of the larger city of Higashi-Hiroshima, in Hiroshima Prefecture. Riding the bus from Hiroshima Airport here made me realize how country it is here. However, during the weekend of 9th and the 10th, there were so many people here! Why did they come? To take part of Saijo's 酒まつり (sake matsuri), or Sake Festival. Sake is one of the major products made here, and has been for a while, as far as I can tell. On the first day, I went to the main center of the festival, which is around the train station in Saijo proper.

I met up with a friend of mine at the station, and we walked around the station, going on tours through several sake factories. I dont really remember a lot of what was going on there, mostly because it was all in Japanese and I was lazy to make my brain think. But it was interesting to see the process of sake brewing. I imagine it's the same as beer, because they take the rice and have it ferment with a certain bacteria or fungi. And then they let it sit some more, and take the alcohol as sake. But the most fun part of the tour was that they gave out samples of their sake! The various sake that we had ranged from one that had no burn and a slight fruity taste, to one that was so strong I needed to eat something to get the taste of alcohol out of my mouth. But my favorite was 甘酒, or sweet sake. Still not sure if it has any alcohol in it, but I dont really care. It's made out of the leftovers of sake brewing, and is more viscous than regular sake. That is, it is an opaque white, not the clear liquid that's usually sake. Although I dont really care for sweet things, 甘酒 isnt so sweet. I did enjoy that one a lot.

The other draw of the sake festival is the 酒ひろば, or "sake space". For the one time fee of 1800￥ (or thereabouts), you get to enter the hiroba and have as much sake as you can. That's right, the Japanese have a practice of 飲み放題, which is the fee you pay to drink all you can. As you will come to see, 飲み放題 isnt exactly my friend, and I'd much rather have its food version, 食べ放題. You'll see what I mean.

When you enter the 酒ひろば, they give you your own little ちょこ, which is basically a sake shot glass. I'm not sure how good an idea this is, but whatever. It's kinda cute, I think. Around the hiroba are various stands that have sake from all over Japan. They're grouped by their location, and I think they're supposed to be very expensive brands. But what did I know, right? My Japanese friend and I met up with more of his friends, and we started to drink. Since there was a group of us, we started having a few people get everyone sake by carrying it, but after we cleared a box of senbei, we used that as a tray. And if you think that's slightly crazy, that's nothing; there were people that had real trays, the laquered variety, and were using that to get sake. The Japanese came PREPARED. Not everyone was sitting on tarp and eating cookies like us; some people had chairs and were pulling out the bento to eat.


This is the group of people I was with. There were many more.

Now I can just hear the $64,000 question: Did you get drunk?! Answer: Not really. Sorry for the letdown (LOL), but no, I didnt get drunk. However, at the rate we were going, it was unsurprising that I would end up tipsy. I remember everything that happened, so I can tell you that I started slurring my words, and it was very difficult to walk. Also, I became so happy! I remember smiling so much, and I think I hugged everyone there. According to many people, I turn into a cute, happy little Asian boy. Another thing I found out is that I dont get Asian glow! I know it's not a good thing to be proud of, but that makes me feel better about drinking and my body. My older half brother enjoys beer, and he drinnks often enough. My parents and sister, although not heavy drinkers, have engaged in the practice, with few ill effects (that I know of). So I figured I could handle it. And what do you know, I really could! Granted, I did get more messed up than I was planning, but it's not like two sips in and I turned red and passed out. Not quite sure how many times I got sake, but it was enough.


One of many people I hugged. Note lack of Asian glow.

So Sake Matsuri Part I was a whole lot of fun. I have a better appreciation for sake, and also made a lot of happy (and tipsy) memories. Definitely a good part of the program so far!

Matsuri!

On Sunday, the HUSA students went to Yoshiura to see the 吉浦かに祭り (Yoshiura Kani Matsuri), or Yoshiura Crab Festival. One of the main teachers in the HUSA program, Tsunematsu Sensei, is from Yoshiura. It was a small festival, but very enjoyable. I had lots of fun, seeing the different みこし (mikoshi [portable shrine]) go up to the shrine, and of course enjoying the wonderful food for sale there.

The festival is to celebrate the harvest of the year. Yoshiura is near the sea, which gives the word "kani" to the festival. It means "crab" in Japanese, and is one of the things they harvested from the sea. One of the mikoshi that were carried was in the shape of a boat, while a few others had crabs as decoration. It was really quite something. Each ward of the city is responsible for its own mikoshi, and each mikoshi is paraded through the town. It gets carried up the steps to the shrine, where they parade it around there. That part was very exciting, because one of the mikoshi was spun round and around, changing mid way in rotation. Another was rocked back and forth. That one was really scary, because there were four kids hitting the taiko on the inside. To be quite honest, I'm not sure how they stayed in without falling out. The guys holding the mikoshi were jumping up and down on the handles, it was rocking so much. The ship shaped mikoshi was also really interesting. They would charge the shrine, bringing as much of it into the shrine as they could. The energy of the matsuri was just so exciting!





After watching the mikoshi part, the girls I was with decided to walk around the shops in the streets. I love Japanese festivals for this reason. In the little alleyways, they open up various kinds of shops. Many were for kids, in that they had toys and other kinds of prizes available. A few were by chance: you paid your 300￥ and got to pick a small cardboard thing. If you pick up the right number, you get a prize. Others were games, where you had to fill up a bucket thing with balls out of water. That's how I won my tarepanda. And of course, there were food stalls! I loved the karaage, which is basically fried pieces of chicken. I also enjoyed some fruits that were covered in hard candy syrup. But I think my favorite stall was a yakitori stall. The old man running it started a conversation with me. But it was really hard, because I didnt fully understand what he was asking me and everything. He asked me what my father did, but I couldnt answer him fully because I didnt know how to say that he's an engineer for the federal government (of the US). He also asked me if I had a girlfriend because I was with three girls. Even though all of that, I really enjoyed him. His yakitori was so good. I got a picture with him, to remember him.



During the course of the day, there were two cases of my identity being mistaken that I will probably always remember. The first was really actually kinda nice, but the second was not so nice. When all of the HUSA students first got to the matsuri, there was like a mass of white people (the Koreans and Chinese blended in a bit). A nice little obachan pulled me to the side and asked me basically, what are all these white people doing here? I explained that they were foreign exchange students studying at Hirodai and all of that. She told me something about her daughter or something studying at Tokyo University and stuff like that. And then she asked me, 「あの外人たちの通訳ですか。」 That is, "Are you their interpreter?" I had to laugh. I explained that no, I was actually a foreign exchange student myself, and that I was studying Japanese. She seemed a bit surprised, but thanked me for coming to visit their matsuri. She was such a sweetie. On the other hand, there was the woman who was running a toy stall. I didnt really hear, but the girls I was with did. They said that the woman was talking with a bunch of kids that were hanging around, and telling them to talk to the girls. They were apparently very afraid. But to me, she said that I was probably a Chinese! When I heard that, I got really upset. I really wanted to go back and correct her or something. I realise that I dont look 日本人, but really? Am I so different that it is impossible for me to look 日本人?! I ended up just yelling and looking really upset, which perhaps was better than making a scene. idk, I guess I should just file it somewhere under learning about other people's perceptions of me. It just took me by surprise, I guess. I thought I looked Japanese, and I thought that Japanese people would at least recoginize that maybe I'm not one of them, but I'm certainly not like the other Asians around.

Anyways, all in all, it was a fun and memorable trip. While I did not like getting drizzled on, slightly muddied, and mistaken for a Chinese, I had lots of good food to eat, and saw a most wonderful sight. The 吉浦かに祭り was a success!

Dinner at Ajishin!

For better or for worse, Hiroshima University (Hirodai) does not have cafeterias like how the University of Hawaii Manoa (UHM) does. There are places called 食堂 (shokudo), or cafeterias on campus, but these are more like school sponsored restaurants. I guess you could think of it as Campus Center Dining. There's a variety of foods available (and I will probably go over that really soon) and it's run by the school, but students are not required to get their food from them and they are closed on the weekends. The last point is particularly vexing for me, as I dont have pots, pans, or anything by which I can cook myself (but just so you know, if I had them, I could cook). This was my first weekend up here, and I wasnt really sure what I was going to do for dinner tonight. Earlier, I passed by a restaurant that was advertising 親子丼　３００￥, or "Oyako donburi for ~$3.00", which is a steal even in Japan (the school's 親子丼 is about ５００￥ or so).

The restaurant is called 味しん (Ajishin) and is located near the university. On a side note, I passed by a ramen shop and an okonomiyaki place. I will probably blog about them too. They advertise the staples in (Japan) Japanese restaurants: soba, udon, and donburi.



Their menu is posted outside of the store, and all of the food looked pretty good. In addition to the above, there was pork shogayaki and (amusingly) loco moco. However, what really intrigued me was the チキン南蛮定食 (chicken nanban teishoku). I thought it would be somewhat similar to what I make, which is called chicken nanban zuke. For those of you who have made it, you know that it's fried pieces of chicken which have been soaked in a sauce made of shoyu, leeks, and mirin. Well, what Ajishin makes is way more おいしい then mine!

I wasnt going to explain how I ordered, until I thought that it may be interesting to those who have never been to Japan. Instead of telling a waiter what I chose from the menu, I ordered a ticket from the machine in the front. Some restaurants in Japan sell their food in a way to their famed vending machines. After putting in my 五百円玉 (500￥ piece) into the machine, I selected the　チキン南蛮定食. And out popped a little ticket with チキン南蛮定食 written on it, which I gave to the man at the counter. I then paid for my bottle of Qoo (juice) [which I probably wouldnt have, if I had looked around and noticed the water and cups] and sat down.

I waited for a while, watching the television and being hungry. But after a while, the man called my order, and I could eat. It was a pretty standard 定食: the main dish, a bowl of rice, another bowl of miso soup, and some pickles.



The words I will use to describe the food cannot possibly impart the fullness of the experience. This is one of the things you need to experience in person. The chicken was crisply fried to a golden brown and was so crunchy. Not like karaage crunchy, but like, KFC chicken crunchy (and not fatty!). The sauce that was drizzled on it was not vinegary like the sauce I use to soak my chicken in (crunchy!); rather, it was more salty in flavor, and a bit thicker in texture. Not to say that it needed rice to make palatable. I guess you would say it was a shoyu based sauce? The crunchy texture on the outside might make you think that the inside would be a little tougher. But quite the contrary; the chicken was so soft when I bit it! It did not resist being cleaved by my teeth, falling apart at the least pressure I applied to it. Thank the heavens for letting me come across this shop! It could have been because I was so hungry, but I enjoyed this チキン南蛮定食 so very much. I do intend to come here again.

Another reason why I wanted to mention this shop is because of how romantic it was. But I dont mean to say that the interior was decorated with pink florals and hearts, or that I saw hundreds of couples making out in there. But rather, the staff seems to be only a man and a woman, who I suppose is his wife. I think that is the cutest thing I've ever seen. There are many restaurants like this in Japan, that are run by a couple and only the couple. There are some that may say that it's like eating at family establishments like Cafe 100 or Kawamoto, but I must disagree. Those places still feel like businesses, and as nice as the service may be, you know that the workers view their workplace as that, a workplace. They get there when their shift starts, and maybe they interact with the regulars, or they make close friends with their coworkers. But when their shift is over, they put away their stuff and head home, or to their other friends. That's not so in the kind of restaurant that Ajishin is. This store is the hardwork of this man and woman. It is an extension of their home, perhaps also a physical form of their love. I guess you could say it's their baby. I find this situation to be so full of love and happiness, that I want to experience it for myself (not that I'm complaining about what I do have with Curtis!!). Ever since I first saw it in a drama, and actually gone to them in Japan, it's been a silly dream of mine to open such a shop with the person that I love. I suppose there is a hard side to it (working with your spouse means you never get away, so I dont suggest this for couples that fight!), but in my little fantasy world, it's the most sweetest, romantic business venture ever suggested.

There were many things on the menu, and I so enjoyed the meal that I had here. 本当にご馳走だったよ！ And not only that, but I love to support small businesses like this, and if I get to help give satisfaction to a couple, then hey, that's just a bonus. I'm not sure when, but I will definitely visit this restaurant again!

Getting Started...

It's hard to believe, but I've been in Japan for five days. That's almost a week! Maybe it's because I dont have any distractions here (schoolwork, internet, friends), but time has been passing so slowly. It honestly feels like I've been here for so much longer. So far, it's been pretty good. I'll admit, there were some things which really irritated me, and there are some things that were really unfortunate. However, on the whole, things have gotten off to a wonderful start.

I think this was the first time I ever cried at the airport. I've been lucky to go on many trips: to Washington DC, New York City, Texas, and Japan. However, this is the first time that I was so sad to go, and actually cried. I was very happy that my mother, sister and her husband, and Curtis were there to see me off. If I had gone to the airport alone, I probably would have started bawling. That hour before departure was so comforting to me, even if all we did was stand around and talk about aimless, boring things. As I was passing through the security checkpoint, I saw less and less of my family and Curtis. It was at that time that it really hit me: I'm not going to physically see them for almost a year. Holy fucking shit. This is what mainly made me cry off and on during the plane ride to Narita Airport.

(The following story about the flight to Tokyo may make you think twice about flying on a plane. And I dont blame you. Perhaps this is one of the things that you shouldnt think much about.)

The flight to Tokyo took about eight hours. And it was so boring. Like, amazingly, incredibly boring. The only interesting thing that happened to me was the random nosebleed I got halfway into the flight. I woke up from the nap I was taking because my nose was really runny (or so I thought). But I only figured out that it was blood, and not hanabata flowing from my nose when I realized that hanabata is usually viscous, and doesnt flow like water. Sure enough, I started tasting the blood in my mouth. In retrospect, it probably looked like a murder scene: Blood drying on my mouth; some blood on the fold out table; and a huge blotchy spot with a few drips of blood on the blanket. Shout out to UHM Dining Services: if it wasnt for them, I wouldnt have had anything to stop the flow of blood besides the blanket. I quickly shoved some napkins up my nose and put pressure on the vein. (In retrospect, I cant imagine what the Japanese people around me were thinking. What do you do when someone two inches away from you starts bleeding? What about when you see the blood on the blanket?) After what seemed like ages, it finally stopped. While it is pathetic that the only interesting thing on the flight was bleeding, it is a good story, with a good moral: Ask the stewardess if they sanitize the blankets. If it's a no, there might be blood on it.

After arriving at Narita Airport, I took the bus to Haneda Airport. At Haneda Airport, I checked into a Japanese flight by myself for the first time. And what a time it was. Mostly because I apparently had overweight baggage. The poor clerk at the counter didnt speak fluent English, but from what she did speak (which was much better than the average Japanese), the max weight limit on All Nippon Airways (ANA) flights is twenty kilograms. I had twenty one. Somehow, that meant a ￥7500 fine. I paid it, but only because I needed everything in my suitcases (incidentally, that's not even all of the stuff I wanted to bring). And I'd like to say this for Japanese travellers: HOW DO THEY TRAVEL. The tiny bags most Americans just carry onto the plane? That's what they were checking in. I even saw some old guy check in an umbrella. How do they do it?! I'm lucky if I can fit a weekend's worth of clothes in my smallest suitcase. Curtis' suitcases could eat those suitcases for breakfast. That is apparently another thing I need to learn while I'm here.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we had our Hiroshima University Study Abroad (HUSA) Program orientation. It was the longest, most grueling, orientation that I've ever been to. While I suppose I did learn a lot about what to expect, and it was good to meet my fellow HUSA students, there were some times that I was like "OMG I WANT OUT". There were so many forms to fill out! We had to fill out the Alien Registration Card form, another one for the National Pension Plan, and yet another for the National Healthcare thing. It was only three forms, but it felt like more. Maybe it was because of all the kanji that we had. Or maybe it's because, with the exception of the first one, they (hopefully) dont apply to me. That is, I dont plan on living in Japan long enough to withdraw from the national pension, and I hope to stay healthy the whole time I'm here. I wonder if it's difficult to become a registered alien in the United States?

I think making new friends is the hardest thing for me right now. One of my new friends is Kawauchi-san. He's my tutor, appointed by the HUSA program to help me with whatever I need while I'm here in Hiroshima. He's actually a grad student in cultural anthropology. And he's been super helpful. Even though he doesnt speak much English (he likes to say "Okay", "Sorry", and "Let's go!"), he makes up for it with enthusiasm and the amount of help he gives me. On the first day, when I had to go buy the basic stuff for my dorm, his car was so helful in carrying all the stuff I bought. Especially because it was raining. I can only imagine how difficult it was for those who's tutor only has a bicycle or something. But yeah, he says that I can call him at any time if I have any difficulties or questions. His car's mobility is also quite attractive, as it means that I can get anywhere I want to go pretty quickly. I'm trying really hard not to abuse this. One of these days, I'm going to try out the bus system in Saijo.

His friend Yuko-san is also another friend that I've made here. She's also a cultural anthropology grad student. From what I gather, she's done the whole tutor thing many times before. She speaks so good English! If there's something I dont understand in Japanese, or something Kawauchi-san doesnt understand in English, she translates, which means we have only a few communication problems. Her experience as a tutor is also wonderful because she knows more or less what to expect. She said that last year, she waited five hours to help the HUSA students get a cell phone, because everyone arrived and tried to get their phone all at the same time. On her advice, we went to the phone store (softbank, in case you were interested) a few days before to learn what different phones they have there, how much they cost, and how much the plan is. We waited only about two hours today, one of which was the actual act of buying the phone and plan.

I realize that buy staying inside and not socializing with the otherHUSA is really not helping my friendless situtation, and I will try to remedy that after this week. I feel that I have little in common with the other HUSA. The Korean and Chinese students stick together, and I would have a hard time talking to them because our common language is Japanese, which is spoken at various levels of fluency. For the white people though, I feel like I have little in common with them. The ones who have not been to Japan before are amused and enjoy the smallest things which I barely bat my eyes at. Plates full of rice, excellent service, and tea are what I've come to expect from Japan, but are amazing to them. The ones who have been to Japan before, though, I feel as if they're still amazed with the culture. That is, the food, language, culture, it's all still alien to them. It's not a part of them, like it is with me. I mean, I'm not 日本人 (and I will probably never be), but honestly. Oyako donburi, chicken katsu, taking my shoes off? Yeah, I do that already. Nothing special. But for them, it's still "Oh wow, I dont do that at home!" Having said that, I'm trying to strike up conversations when I can. In particular, I've talked to two girls that came from Minnesota University quite a bit. And on Tuesday, I talked a lot with the Austrian girl, and the China girl. And the French guy that speaks better Japanese than me? Whenever we run into each other, we talk. So I guess it's not a hopeless cause. But it is still something to work on. If I dont have friends, I'll end up only talking to Kawauchi-san and Yuko-san, and will probably miss out on doing something fun and learning more about other people. One of the things I wrote in my application essay was how I havent really been exposed to many cultures. Yes, I live in Hawaii, the mixing pot of the Pacific, but realistically, we're all "Local". How many American mainlanders am I friends with? Do I know anyone in Europe? I have no Korean friends. The only way I can truly learn about these peoples is if I make friends with them, and talk to them. It's difficult, but I will try to do this. It'll probably be easier once classes start, and we'll have something obvious in common.

Homesickness hasnt fully kicked in yet. I honestly do miss my friends and family in Hawaii, but I'm still enjoying the crisp air, the endless rice paddies, and the constant Japanese. The beginning has been rough, but that just means it can only get better. I still dont know if I'm ready to experience a Japanese university, but I am ready to try.