Changing Impressions

my university: Kansai Gaidai

I would say most of my first impressions are still true but that right now I’m reflecting more on the whole semester. 

I’ve been studying in Japan since August and it’s hard to come to terms with the semester ending. One of the best things about studying at Kansai Gaidai is that it’s so international and you get to make friends from all over the world. So even though I’ll be here next semester a lot of my friends are leaving at the end of next week. I’m also in the apartment style dorm so I live with 7 other unit mates but half of them are moving somewhere else next semester or going home so I’m nervous about living with other people next semester. I’ve become so close with the other girls I live with so its become our Kansai Gaidai family almost. 

Thanksgiving dinner with my Kansai Gaidai Family

Of course this whole semester I’ve been exploring Hirakata and the Kansai area with these international friends. I got to see so much and share those experiences with my friends. Kansai Gaidai is also a great place to meet the Japanese students who are interested in other cultures. It’s probably most interesting to talk to the Japanese students about their own culture and how they perceive it. Unfortunately, I hear Japanese students say they don’t like Japan (mostly because of rules and things of that nature). I think after these students go abroad though they will appreciate their own country more.  I've learned and seen a lot in Kansai during this time. 

Below are some pictures of random places I've been with my friends. 

Kobe

cat cafe in Kyoto

Kaiyukan in Osaka 

At Osaka Port

I went down to Cosmosquare in Osaka earlier this week to go to the Immigration Bureau. If you plan to leave the country during your stay under a student visa you have to get a re-entry permit. Getting the re-entry permit was pretty easy and didn’t take much time. Since my friend and I were already at the Cosmosquare stop we decided to go to the Osaka Maritime Museum down the street. The museum only costs 600 yen for admission. The museum building has a unique design-its a dome that is sitting in the water with windows that reflect the sunlight like the surface of the water. The entrance was really fun; you take an elevator down and walk through an underwater tunnel to the museum escalator. When you’re riding the escalator up the replica of a Japanese trading ship is right overhead. 

the exterior of the museum

in the underwater tunnel

fish chilling in one of the skylights in the tunnel

entering the museum and seeing the giant trading ship above us

The trading ship is in the middle of the museum and the three floors surround it so you can see it from all different levels. There are a lot of exhibits about international seafaring and traditional Japanese ships and ports. This museum would be a lot of fun for kids since there are a lot of hands on things to do. In one room you can use sextant to find the latitude of the museum and there were photo spots where you could pretend to be steering an old Japanese boat from the Edo era. Unfortunately the yacht simulator we wanted to try was off limits for some reason. There were a lot of dioramas of what Osaka port used to look like before modernization and the museum seemed like it had a lot of information in the exhibits but it was all in Japanese. 

looking down at the trading ship

the yacht simulator we didn't get to try

You can also go on the trading ship and walk around. You have to wear a plastic helmet with a light on it though so you can see what’s down below. My friend and I had a lot of fun at the museum but since we can’t read Japanese fluently we missed out on a lot of information-especially in the Osaka port history exhibit. It was a fun short trip to see a different part of Osaka though. 

in our helmets after exploring down below

The museum’s website in English: 

http://www.jikukan-ogbc.jp/english/index.html

Hikone Castle

I went to visit my friend Aiko’s (from my portrait of a Japanese person post) town a couple of weeks ago. Aiko lives in Hikone, Shiga prefecture. Hikone is famous for Hikone Castle and my friend’s house is within close walking distance so we went!

First we went and walk around the gardens across the street from the castle. In the center of the garden is a huge pond with teahouses facing it. There are a lot of beautiful trees on the path around the garden, if we would have waited to go the leaves probably would have been changed to lovely colors. We did a little tea ceremony in one of the tea houses which used to be a guest house for visitors of the Hikone clan. Outside the garden along the road were some sakura. Aiko’s mom told us these sakura bloom twice a year! 

Next we went to the actual castle. Its built on a hill so we had to climb tons of stairs up. At the top there is a fantastic view of Lake Biwa-the largest lake in Japan. The castle itself is only three floors but the interesting thing about it is parts from three other destroyed castles were used in its building. So despite the castle being smaller than others in Japan its design is beautiful with different types of windows and roof designs and gables. The castle is surrounded by a couple moats and you can take a ride in a traditional boat (yakata-bune). 

  

After visiting the castle we walked around the souvenir street that was filled with items with the mascot of Hikone castle-Hiko-nyan (a cat wearing a samurai helmet). 

When you buy your tickets you can get some brochures in English or Japanese that tell you a bit about the castle and the gardens. 

You can learn more about Hikone castle (and other castles in Japan) here. 

http://library.thinkquest.org/C001119/tour/parse.php3?src=hikone

School Festival

My college just held its annual school festival. School festivals are held in Japanese schools from preschools to universities. 

Student clubs and organizations work for weeks before the festival. Students make food booths, cafes, live houses with student bands performing. 

School festivals also have performances done by students throughout the day. This year my school had a Miss Gaidai Contest, a fashion show blending Western and Japanese styles and the cheerleaders performed. 

Maru Maru Mori Mori!

The cheerleaders incorporated some of the Maru Maru Mori Mori dance into their routine. Maru Maru Mori Mori is a dance that the two child stars of the drama Marumo no Okite performed during the closing credits of the show. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWV_rx5PYD4

Kansai Gaidai also had a guest performer come on the second day of the festival. Shimizu Shota is a famous singer so my friends were really excited to be able to see him in person on their college campus. He's a soul singer of types and has even performed in New York. 

http://www.shimizushota.com/index.html

The theme of the festival this year was My Treasure. I think it was supposed to be copying the One Piece manga with nautical imagery like whales, skulls, and compasses. 

The stairs were decorated with a wave and skull motif. 

Some of the most interesting booths to me were the jerk chicken booth, cotton candy booth, and tempura ice cream booth. The jerk chicken booth had a whole DJ set up and was blasting Bob Marley while they were grilling up chicken for people. One of my friend's clubs did cotton candy but they had flavors like melon and mango which we don't have in America so I was pretty excited. The most popular booth was the tempura ice cream which was so delicious, I wish we had it on campus everyday. They had an airline theme too and a guy dressed like a pilot told you when your order was ready. Students put so much work into their school festivals and really show their creativity. 

Keihan Line Station-Fujinomori

 

The Keihan train line goes between Kyoto and Osaka so its convenient for a Kansai Gaidai student in the middle of the two cities. I almost always use the limited express to get to Kyoto and Osaka though so I haven’t really seen the stops in between. 

For this post I went to a small station called Fujinomori in Kyoto prefecture. To get to Fujinomori you have to transfer at Tembabashi to the local line for two stops. 

 

I asked the station master for the history of the station but he said that he didn’t know. Right next to the station are a couple of apartment buildings and some schools so it seems like a quiet place. 

 

The station only has two platforms and four small entrances/exits. Most people seem to use the station to get to Tembabashi and then transfer to the limited express there. 

While I was at Fujinomori station a local elementary school got out and the platform was filled with little kids on their way home. 

 

The teachers came to the station to help the students get on their trains. So many kids took the train to school but it stilled surprises me to see little kids on the train by themselves. I would be so nervous to see a child walking around and using transport by themselves in the States because it seems so dangerous. It reinforces the idea that Japan is a safe country. 

Before the station got really crowded with students. 

I saw the school’s English teacher, probably from the JET program, on the train talking to his students in English about the music on his iPod. It was nice to see that the teacher interacted well with the students outside of school. 

 

Outside the station there was a nice little river surrounded by houses. Fujinomori is a small station is in a residential area so its not very lively but seems like a nice neighborhood. 

Portrait of a Japanese Person

Aiko!

Aiko is a gorgeous Japanese girl with a sweet,funny personality. 

  

Aiko is a RA in the seminar house I live in. We live in the same apartment unit so I’ve gotten really close with her and gotten to know her well. 

Aiko loves to laugh and have fun but she’s really diligent and hard working as an RA and a student. Aiko has a lot of stress from trying to prepare to study abroad for two years but she’s still happy and upbeat. 

 

Aiko’s style is fashionable but also has a bit of cool hip hop personality to her. She used to dance in the hip hop circle at Kansai Gaidai and can do some break dance moves. The dance pop culture Her personality reflects a bit of dance past in her stance and demeanor. Aiko is cute but also a lil G. She asked one of our roommates about style in the US and one of the styles she said was ghetto, Aiko said she knew it and then spelled out G-H-E-T-T-O really proud. 

Aiko also likes Abercrombie a lot so I gave her the shirt in the pictures as a gift. 

 

I know Aiko deals with a lot of stress because of her job and school but she handles it so well and always has a happy face on. 

When I was taking pictures of Aiko it was fluid but we were also laughing a lot since we get along so well. I’m really glad I ended up living with her in seminar house and we became friends. 

My Japanese Neighorhood

 

Manhole covers in Japan have designs that reflect the city on them, in larger cities some even have color!

I live in one of my university’s dorms but it’s located in a residential neighborhood so I see Japanese families, people walking their dogs, and little old grandmas on bikes everyday. Most of the time I’m just trying to avoid bicycles and cars on the narrow neighborhood streets.

Even though I live in a Japanese neighborhood I feel like I’ve gotten used to the sights I see everyday or at least don’t focus on them anymore.  

When I was walking around taking pictures I realized that since I’ve been here that my gaze has always been centered on right in front of me or low and not I’m not really looking around. 

 

 

I looked at the sky and how the clouds and sunlight looked against the buildings. I felt like I was seeing the neighborhood differently and really taking things in for once. There’s a little bridge that I cross to get to the grocery store where all the little shops and restaurants are. I looked off the bridge to the little creek and houses and was impressed by the water, greenery, and mountains. Looking up around the neighborhood there are so many power lines that create interesting patterns and look so different from power lines in America. I like how jumbled they look and how some are older than others. 

 

I started trying to look for some nature in my neighborhood since I feel gray and brown kind of define the neighborhood. Rice fields occupy small packs of land right next to houses and apartments. It’s nice to see the bright green fields just along sidewalks. 

Focusing on looking beyond buildings allowed me to view where I live in Japan differently and see some beauty that I thought was covered away. 

Early Impressions

This is my second time doing an exchange in Japan. The first time was when I was in high school in the Kanto region. In Kanto, I have host families and friends and a feeling of a hometown in Japan. I was worried about starting over in Kansai and how different it might be. Of course I was wrong to be worried and I’ve met so many great people in such a short time. I’m already regretting having to go back home at the end of this school year. 

view from balcony of my room

My dorm is located in a residential area of the town where my university is. There’s rice fields, traditional houses, and temples on the way to school.  Even through I’m not doing a homestay I still get to live in a typical Japanese neighborhood. 

I’m looking forward to exploring Osaka, Kyoto, Nara, and all the other areas in the Kansai region. There is so much history and culture here to see so I feel lucky to be doing my exchange here in this part of Japan. I can’t wait to travel around Japan. when I was here before I didn’t get to do as much as I wanted, I want to do as much as I can here. I’m already dreading leaving Japan at the end of my exchange. 

downtown Osaka