貴方たちは友だち

In my first summer as a college student, I met a group of Campus Crusade for Christ people. While I did find them interesting for many reasons, one of the things that struck me was how close they were. These kids were picked from different parts of the country, and had really known each other for a few months before I met them, and yet, they were inseperable, and acted as if they had known each other for years. If Facebook is to be belived, they are still quite close. Maybe not as much as they were when I met them, but they do not treat each other as you would a mere aquaintance. At the time, I assumed this was due to them being Christians. In my experience, many Christians are friendly and open. For us non-religious people, I thought, it takes much longer than a few months to develop such a bond. I think I will be proven wrong on this assumption.

To be honest, I was very pessimistic about making friends here. My biggest fear was actually the other Americans. I was terrified that they would be weaboos, or people who are only interested in the most basic of things Japanese. They're the people that think that by watching hours of anime and clearing Japanese 101 they've become an expert on Japan. To be quite honest, I find these people unbearable, and if the Americans were going to be like that, then I wanted to have nothing to do with them. I was planning to have a bleak and rather lonely year in Japan.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when I made friends here. The Americans are not at all what I thought they would be. True, they have an interest in Japanese pop culture, and possibly pursue hobbies which the average 日本人 would never think about. But their interest has far more depth than anything frivolous. Although a lot of it goes over my head (KPop, JRock, host clubs), it is quite clear that this is not just a passing fancy. And I was also relieved at how they interacted with Japanese culture, something that they may or may not have experienced first hand. What really surprised me was when confronted with foods they had never eaten before, only rarely did they pass on it, or declare that it was inedible. Indeed, with only a few exceptions, they have been most enthusiastic about trying new foods. And it is also worth mentioning that at the ゆかた祭り, they embraced it quite openly. They bought yukata that I felt were worth the money that was spent on them, and had patterns that were very attractive. And none of them fought me when I made it obvious that I did not want to see them wearing shoes, or have their hair down, or something else that would make my ancestors cringe in their graves.

Nine months ago, I can promise you I would not have believed you if you told me how important these people would become to me. How, I would ask, is it possible to become so attached to people you've only known for a few months? How could they become important to you, seeing as they're so unlike you? Why would they be so important to you; you will soon become seperated from them, and in some cases, may never see them ever again? I definitely think that all of us having an interest in Japan has a big thing to do with it. That is one of the common interests we all have. If it wasnt for that, I would have never met these people. And below that, there are the less common, but not less important, similarities, whether it be music, food, or people.

But what really ties us all together is that we've all been there together. We've had to stick together to deal with all the crisises that come with living in unexplored territory. We've cried over relationship problems, and we've laughed at the craziness that comes with mistranslations. We've taken the same ridiculous classes, and also shared countless meals. You know the bond that develops between soldiers on the battlefield? It's a bit of a stretch, but we've been soldiers on this battlefield we call 留学, and we are so very close to victory.

I want to stay in touch with all these amazing kids that I've met here. Facebook and tumblr are poor substitutes for meeting in person, but it's better than nothing. I dont know what the future brings, so I wouldnt rule out that we'll move apart, and on in our lives. But I'm going to try my damndest to keep that from happening. These friendships are so precious to me, and that is something I will always treasure. Thank you, my dear, dear friends.

とうかさん Part II

Now for the second part of とうかさん. I meant to write this a long time ago, but procrastination and other things intervened, and I'm writing this long after the fact. But I suppose if you're reading this, this doesnt bother you so much.

The main reason I wanted to go to this festival was because there was going to be a 盆踊り大会 or bon dance every night at the festival. I've been to a few dances in Hawaii, but never one in Japan. What kind of dances would they perform? Which songs would be played? There were many questions I had, and I was excited to finally experience a real Japan bon dance.

Surprisingly, there was enough of an overlap between Japan and Hawaii that I wasnt completely lost. Of the songs they played, I knew 花火音頭, 昭和音頭, and ドンパン節 to name a few. But as to be expected, the かた that they used to dance here in Japan are very different from the ones in Hawaii. ドンパン節 was the closest to what we do in Hawaii; I had almost no problems with that one. But 昭和 and 花火 were quite different. They clapped when we didnt, or used different poses than what we used. It was a bit difficult to get used to; once you get so used to dancing a certain way, it's hard to break that frame of mind, you know? But you'll forgive me if I say that I quickly picked it up. Naturally though, there were songs that we dont do in Hawaii. A few, like まりと殿様 and 日本チャチャチャ I am vaguely familiar with because I've seen this video before (not quite the same, but similar かた), but there were others that I've never heard before. But it was fun! What struck me was the difference in structure in the dance. I'm not talking about which かた are used where; but how the かた are structured, or which ones are used. (This might get technical, so I wont be mad if you skip the remainder of this paragraph.) The biggest difference was that in Hawaii, we use the moon かた　and あけかざし a lot. You very rarely dance very long without it. But that was not the case here. There was a lot of that hand-holding かた and the open かた (similar to moon, but not round). Another difference that struck me was that they did not respect symmetry in the dance. In Hawaii, if you do something on the right, you do it on the left. And if you repeat, you repeat once on the right, and once on the left. Or when it comes to walking, if a multi-step かた takes you to the right, you repeat towards the left. But here, they did not do that. In Hawaii, there is a かた in which you use your right hand to present and turn around. I automatically assumed that when you switch to your left hand, you go back the way you came; not so in Japan. It was difficult, but after a while, I noticed that they would switch to the left hand, but complete the circle. That was such a curveball. Of course, there were others, but since I dont know the proper names, explaining it is a bit difficult. But trust me, my mind was open to ideas that I have never thought possible in the world of bon dance.

During one of the many breaks, I happened to sit next to an older woman. This was partly coinicidence, but from what she said, I imagine it would have happened anyway. This woman was one of the ladies in the center, which I rightly assumed meant that she was a leader. She mentioned that she had seen me dancing, and was curious as to why I was so good (a lie), and where I was from. I mangled up my response, but she got the gist of what I tried to say: that I was from Hawaii, where we have bon dance too, which is where I learned it. Surprised, she called over a bunch of the other ladies and told them my story. Unfortunately, they didnt introduce themselves, so I have no idea what their names are, but I learned that they're the 日本民謡研究会 or the Society for Research on Japanese Folk Music (lofty, arent we?). They're based out of Nagoya, but there was a branch in Hiroshima. The leader of which, I was amused, looked a bit like the leader of my dance group in Hilo. I would like to join their group, or at least go to a few practices, if only to learn dances that I dont already know, but unfortunately, I did not grab any contact information for them. Googling did give me a hit, but according to the map, it looks like it's a bit out of the ways. Furthermore, I only have a little over a month left. ugh, more decisions to make!

After the dance, I meant to talk to the ladies again, but the following happened. As I was walking towards the ladies, I was approached by several people. Basically, it was the same stuff as usual; Where are you from (ハワイ？！), why can you dance so good, blah blah blah. But one guy was a little...more forceful. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, 「ちょっと話聞かせてくれない？」 or "Can I ask you something?" I put a little more faith in ちょっと because his 話 was anything but ちょっと. After the usual stuff, he asked me directly if I would like to go to some island in the Inland Sea for a real country bon dance. Since it was so far away, I was invited to stay at his wife's parents house. Now, I dont know if it's an American thing, or if it's a Hawaii thing, or what, but generally speaking, I dont stay in the homes of people I'VE NEVER EVEN MET. Dont get me wrong, that was awful nice of him, but really? I had never met the guy before, and I was not about to go to some island in the sea with him. He tried to get me to agree, saying that the bon dances there were unlike any I had ever seen (盆踊りは趣味じゃないですか), and that it would be a great thing to experience. After I said I'd think about it for the millionth time, he gave me his business card, and took my phone number. I must admit, he did have a point; any bon dance in Japan would be different from any I have actually been to, a country one even more so. But to be quite honest, it sounded a little too "Burning Man" or something. I dont want to be murdered or something! I still havent contacted him, but I am thinking that I will have to send him something saying I must decline his invitation. Perhaps if I knew him more, I would go, but a complete stranger is something quite different.

My bon dance experience in Japan was both good and bad. It was good in that I was dancing songs I never would dance in Hawaii. And even the songs we do in Hawaii, we do differently. And dont tell anyone, but it was nice to be complimented by Japanese people. And I was invited to a country bon dance, where I'd probably be doing dances not done anywhere else in Japan. The bad was not getting contact information and being invited by strangers. But that's life, isnt it?

This concludes my blogging regarding とうかさん 2011. Back to our regular programming.

あそぼう

Today I went to a local preschool to play with the kids there. A former HUSA staffer was looking for volunteers to help sing English games, and since I had nothing else planned, I told her I'd go. I dont really care for children; the only experience I have with them is teaching them to swim, and even that I'm usually on edge. Although I was worn out from playing with the kids, I had a lot of fun, and wouldnt mind going again.

There were us four Americans, one Frenchman, and the guy from Indonesia. When we arrived at the preschool, I was amazed. It was the most ornate preschool I've ever been to. My preschool (Kaumana Baptist Keikiland in case you were wondering) was a very small one by comparison. There were maybe three classrooms, a kitchen, and a playground. Because it was run by a church, there was also a sanctuary, but we hardly played there. It was a tiny little place, and a bit on the old side. On the other hand, the preschool we went to (I dont remember its name) was a huge building, with two floors. After entering the genkan like area, there were a few rooms that I could see, as well as the staircase to get to the second floor. The second floor had multiple classrooms as well, and also a reading pit, where I suppose you could gather the children for a presentation of some sort. I've never gone on a preschool viewing trip, but the preschools I know are hardly comparable.

The structured part of the visit was rather short. We were told to introduce ourselves, saying our name, country of origin, and how to say "こんにちは konnichiwa" in that language. As Americans, it was easy, because most everyone speaks English these days. But I think French and Indonesian really threw them for a loop. After that, we sang some songs. One was about animals, and the different sounds they make. In case you didnt know, animals make different sounds, depending on what language you speak. For example, English speaking dogs say "bow wow" or "woof", but a Japanese dog will say "wan wan". Then we sang "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes", which was fun. I dont know if any of the kids learned any English from it, but it was good to move around, I suppose. Finally, we ended with "London Bridge is Falling Down", which I havent done in a long time. And when I say "I havent done it", it's because we were eventually included in the game. It was a bit uncomfortable, having to squat down to pass through the arms of the little children, but at least I only had five feet and four inches to deal with. One of the Americans is a lot closer to six feet than I am, and I have no idea how he managed to get down there.

After all that, the American I mentioned above read Momotaro to the kids. Because only one person was needed to read, the rest of us sat amongst the kids. This was the beginning of the hardest part, for me. I can read, sing, and even make crafts with kids with relatively little problems. But I dont play well with kids. I dont want to accidentaly drop a kid, so I dont pick them up, and in my old age, I just dont know what to do with kids. While we were sitting down, one of the boys decided I looked like a comfortable chair, and just sat on me. He wasnt heavy or anything, but with adults, you cant just sit on someone. And when you sit on them, you surely cant lean back into them, and force them into a reclining position. And yet, that's what the kid did to me. One of the Americans next to me mentioned that I looked terrified, and that was a pretty good description of what I was feeling. It's a good thing I know how that whole story goes, because I didnt hear a word of it. I was too busy trying not to scream about the kid sitting in my lap.

That concluded the structured part of our visit. For the next half hour or so, we were allowed to play in the playground with the kids. Although we all went willingly, we were more or less dragged there, with maybe two kids on each arm, and a couple more on various parts of our clothes. It was here that I learned an important lesson: Children are very difficult to understand if they speak a language you dont know. We later found out they wanted to play tag with us, but while they were trying to explain the game to us, none of us could understand what they were saying. As one of the other Americans pointed out, it didnt help that they didnt try to rephrase what we didnt understand, so it was the same jumble of sounds every time. I got a little frustrated because of this. Not angry, of course, but c'mon, these are kids, these arent exactly verbose soliloquies. I managed to get away from these group of kids because I was dragged to the jungle gym type thing. I watched them climb here and there, my heart skipping a beat every time one of them jumped down. I was so afraid that they would jump down and break a bone or something, but they really did enjoy themselves. While we were playing, they asked me all sorts of questions, like how old I was, or if of us were friends. A couple asked about my earrings, and were in awe of my industrial. I havent been a kid in such a long time, it was refreshing to spend some time with these children. Alas, the time came for us to leave, and we sadly did depart. As we put on our shoes, the kids asked us, "Will you be back again?", or "Please dont go!". I left a lot more reluctantly than I thought I would.

To answer their question, I dont think I will ever go back to the preschool. The staffer that organized this short little trip will soon be moving away from this part of Hiroshima, so she wont be going back. And the preschool itself is quite a bit aways from the university. I am told that my predecessor here enjoyed these trips so much he eventually became a volunteer there, but I dont think that will happen to me. While not an unpleasant experience, because it isnt so easy to get there, I dont think I can commit to making the trip very often. But I am happy that I took a chance and went along this one time. I had a lot more fun than I was expecting, and I'd like to think that I made some new, if tiny friends, at the school.