A Blonde Abroad in Nippon

No seriously. Don’t hug anyone here.

I tried. And it was a disaster. See, in America, I hug basically everyone I consider a friend when departing. Here, they don’t hug you, they bow or wave. No touchy. No touchy!!!!! 

First time I tried to hug someone it was my, go figure, host mom, when she walked me to campus the first day, and it was the most awkward moment of my life. She didn’t know what to do with her arms, I retracted mine, then felt that because I had already made the attempt I had best go through with it, kind of like got my hands on her shoulders and then pressed away… lots of “oh” and “wha” and “sorry”s were exchanged. It was… horrible.

And just yesterday I was saying goodbye to a recently acquired Japanese friend and I went in for the hug, she had her arms out for a wave, and I was like, oh wait, retracted awkwardly, walked away.

Lesson learned: DO. NOT. HUG. ANYONE.

I hugged my American friend goodbye and it’s starting to feel weird because no one here does that at all, they just bow… argh!

Pedestrians First

The streets here are pretty tiny, but every car I’ve seen has been new and in pristine condition. I note these two seemingly unrelated things because in every tiny road there is usually a hoard of pedestrians (because sidewalks don’t really exist here) en route to somewhere, and no one gets hit, and the cars don’t ram into one another. I haven’t seen a single accident occur and the cars are shiny, smooth, undamaged. 

Shoulders

I’m sure you’ve seen or heard about those super kawaii chicks in Japan in Tokyo who just bro around looking like they’re ready for Paris runways or a tv show. Well let me tell you something - they’re everywhere. Not just in Tokyo. I have never been anywhere where the citizens are well dressed at all times. Boys and girls both, but the girls especially. Dresses all the time. Curled hair, perfect makeup, heels (on campus, at work, walking to the store, on the train, etc.), skirts, high socks, tights, jewelry, Coach bags. Classy stuff right here. Wearing jeans makes you different (if you’re a girl). I wore a tank top the other day and a guy said, “Your tank top! Super cool!” Apparently, I am edgy here. I thought it was because they don’t show their shoulders, but I think I’m wrong… i saw a woman wearing a dress with cutoff sleeves on tv so…

Cellphones

Boss, as I already said, but no seriously, the camera on the phone itself has different color settings, you can change the ISO kind of, you can take action shots, change the speed… I swear, I really really want to use this phone in the US. I do not understand why American cellies don’t have these features on basic models. They do video as well, and the quality is not bad. Not bad at all. Did I mention it has a unit and currency converter??

Poverty

Haven’t seen one homeless person here. Usually in metros/stations you see them (in America) but not here. Nope. There’s probably no space for them anyway, because the stations and trains themselves get so crowded sometimes there’s hardly any room to sneeze comfortably. But if you’re smart like about 1/3 of the population here, you’ll already be wearing a mask over your mouth and nose and it’s totally normal and completely sanitary and no one bats an eye.

Communication Problems

It is really frustrating being unable to communicate more than a small child here. Yes I can talk with people and ask them questions and describe my days and plans and studies, but discussions much more complex than that are a nightmare. It’s frustrating, depressing, and just scary. I pick up products and have no idea what they are. I hear things and decipher a few words and grammar. I am ridiculously excited to start classes tomorrow.

American Photo-Op

Went to a bar, and like almost every store here – which are individual stores, not chains, although they exist too – it was tiny and cute and got crowded fast. Stores and malls are  heaped on top of each other or squeezed and it’s amazing how many stores they can fit in one area, but they don’t have the American mindset. One bar we wandered in to was about the size of a living room and had flashing lights and loud dance music. It was a pretty swanky place for its size. But many stores here have enough room for you to walk in a door and about a foot - yeah a foot - ahead of you is a counter where you drop off or buy your goods. That’s it. Normal.

Anyway, at this bar, my friends and I found that the Japanese are much more social in these settings, when alcohol is involved. Most cafes and restaurants are pretty silent, and trains are traditionally quiet as well. My friends and I took a half consumed drink and went around to other tables, yelling KANPAI, which is ‘Toast!” or the equivalent, and they would try their English out on us and drink and offer us drinks and of course, ask to get photos with us.

Seriously. They wanted pictures with us. 

I don’t know these people.

But we did anyway and they loved it. They are super excited all the time about pictures. If Facebook’s servers ever crash, I’ll put my money on it having been Japan and their absurd picture taking and uploading.

Japanese Sanitation

Masks everywhere, in food places, even regular conbini and goods services. Very clean.

And if I hear, “Irrasyaimase!!” again I’ll shoot myself. They not only say “Welcome” at the entrances to stores/by their kiosks/ etc but WHILE YOU’RE SHOPPING TOO. I was in an aisle where I got rounded by a worker and told, “Irrasyaimaseee!!” then left that aisle only to find another worker who told me the same thing. Over and over again. Aye aye aye.

Electronics

Not that much different in price than over here.

Have yet to find cheap clothes in the price range of American Eagle. Individually owned shops are really expensive and I haven’t yet identified any mid-level chains. Then again, I have a hard time spending more than $20 on an item. Sometimes.

Cellphone

Japanese cellphones are boss. Not just super kawaii and all that jazz, but boss. I received a pre-paid phone (in white!!) today and its capabilities surpass those of any American pre-paid and damn near rival a legit contract phone. My friend has a fancier pre-paid he got from his brother and it streams television. Streaming television meaning, no buffering, no waiting, no lag, nothing. Your cellphone transforms into a mini television, and on the little flip phone the clarity was unbelievable. The pre-paid also only cost me like $30 bucks, and it has thusfar been worth every penny. The phones come with an e-mail address that is actually more frequently used than the actual number. AND even these pre-paids have an infared feature so you can transfer information between phones (like Bump for Android). Plus a full kanji/japanese/english dictionary, notepad, task reminder, camera, and more. All of these features are a given.

However I must note, the email addresses people pick are, well, ridiculous. My host-mom’s for example, a woman in her fifties, is (her name)happy-dog@theserviceprovider.ne.jp.

Happy-dog. And this is not unusual. On one club flyer I picked up, an email address was o.r.a.n.g.eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee@whatever.ne.jp.I didn’t typo. There are 16 ‘e’s. 

Hyaku-en Stores

These are not your standard shitty dollar store variety of America. The Daisyo store, hyaku-en store, is huge and has almost every item you can think of, and they’re a pretty decent quality at that. You can also buy Pocky here, so now I’ve just confirmed for every Pocky-loving otaku that $5-7 for a single pack of Pocky is a jip. Sorry.

There is also an incredible amount of Engrish on packaging, I’ll be sure to take more pictures of when I find it…

Sake!!

I can legally drink in this country. Tomorrow, it begins (safely, with a ton of my gaizin friends, it’s okay guys…)

Clubs, Circles

So at KGU there were a ton of people passing out flyers for clubs and circles. I collected a whopping 32 and received many “Sankyuuu”s and “Herro”s.

Anyway, here, picking a club is like, determining your social group for the rest of your college career. They’re like frats. They exist for soccer, dance, badminton, music, etc., anything and everything. Circles are a less intense version. When not practicing their named sport/activity, they have o-hanami’s, where they hang out and drink and chill together. But they hang out all the time in general. I plan on joining two if possible…

Candy

I bought cola flavored gum today. I think I’ll stick to mint.

They have almond coated Pocky here and it is magically delicious.

Squid

Yeah, I ate it. It was like steak, very chewy, with a seafoody fishy light flavor. I only ate one piece because I was just getting over the fact that it was squid, but it was actually pretty good. I’ll eat it again in the future.

McDonalds

They are so much better tasting here, and it’s really fresh, and every worker is really polite. Young people flock here, or at least I always see it full of them hanging out and eating. I would consider eating a Big Mac in this country.

Less than a week in and:

Things I Miss

1. Cheesy noodles. In Japan I’ve seen cheese in noodles in a soupy kind of broth, but nothing like actual mac n cheese… 

2. Cereal. My host mom doesn’t have any so I’m not saying this country is completely devoid of delicious sugary oats, but I haven’t yet come across any…

3. Cheese in general. WHERE IS THE CHEESE. Thanks to my friends back at home I was on an almost daily diet of cheese and  _____, here I no longer have a regular dose. Sadface. 

Things that are Interesting

1. Refills. So in America, if you run out of shampoo, you go buy another bottle. But in Japan, you just buy these bag things full of shampoo and refill your existing bottle. And get this, the refills are CHEAPER!! Novel idea, no? They do this for basically anything you keep in a plastic bottle, like soap and stuff.

2. French. For every 5 items of Engrish I see 1 in French. They love this language. And surprisingly, they use it correctly (can’t say the same for the English though…)

3. Morning shows. While a segment is playing, there’s a tiny window in the corner that shows the faces of the show’s hosts, the WHOLE TIME. It seems awkward because they’re just reacting to the segment, and they have to pay attention for the entire thing. Their shows also use a lot of text, like writing what people say or descriptions on the screen. Which is kind of good for a Japanese learner but just strange to visualize in any other context but a Japanese one.

4. In my previous post I noted how the Japanese have great opening show theme sequences. The one for a show called “Liar Game” is like that, because the entire show, and so far all two seasons of it, take place in a…. BOWLING ALLEY that glows in the dark and is the equivalent of Cosmic Bowling. There’s like ten people on the show, and they don’t actually go bowling, but for some reason I haven’t yet decoded, they are stuck there and their lives are in danger but occasionally a dude will be fixing the ball return or something…

5. Heated toilet seats. Because I can’t stay up past 9pm anymore and usually wake up before it’s over 30 degrees, having to go potty in the morning is no longer a problem because the SEAT IS ALREADY WARM. I’m also using strawberry scented toilet paper. I know this is all very fascinating…

Started the day off at approximately 5am Osaka time… I am having a hard time staying up late anymore, the days are really exhausting! I haven’t walked so much in my life: this morning I went to the train station by myself and when I got off at my station I was lost temporarily and was worried because I don’t have a cellphone yet… then walked up the most epic hills with a horde of other people in light drizzle… got to the university and watched a movie called Toilet which was actually kind of interesting but we didn’t finish… ummmmm… then met up with our Nihongo Partners WHO I LOVE. They are the cutest and nicest people ever. Had lunch, and today the university students were passing out club invitations, I really want to join one, maybe badminton? I just want to meet people and not be a gaizin who hangs out with only other gaizin. The weather needs to warm up though, I can hardly function in cold, and today there was a typhoon that was kind of fun at first, but made me very wet and very very cold. My Nihongo Partner Rina lent me a few CDs and I am going to burn them, so excited…

On a side note, Japanese TV shows (their dramas, action shows etc) are so strange… however, their editors make fantastic opening theme sequences. I’ve seen a few Japanese music videos too, and they’re quite clever and cool, but the songs themselves are meh…

It is still super hard to understand spoken Japanese, and most written too… I’m excited for classes so I can get better, because it is so intimidating not knowing how to communicate effectively.

Another note, the style here is so awesome. Not the cosplay stuff and crazy Harajuku style, but in general what the girls wear here is very cute. Pretty. I love almost every outfit I see and I am positively dying to go shopping (for only a few pieces of clothes, can’t spend too much) with my new friends. I keep wearing denim and it makes me feel very foreign, because hardly anyone here wears it, oddly enough.

Very excited. Need it to warm up. ASAP!!!!

Also, I get a cellphone tomorrow. Probably the most exciting thing ever… then I can text my friends!!! Ahhhh!

Here with the host fam, they’re very nice. The weather was awful yesterday but I went to a shopping mall place and got a few notebooks. Been studying a lot of kanji, nervous about the placement test tomorrow at KGU. I can’t read most of the magazines here which is frustrating, and watching TV is hard to understand too, but I hope that in time it will all work out. Skyped my family back at home and that was eventful as usual :p they’re a crazy bunch.

Hoping to go outside and check out the city for a bit today. Maybe alone, I don’t know what my host sisters are doing, maybe one will be willing to go out?

Flight was pretty good, Economy class was really hard to sleep in though…

Customs wasn’t scary either, they didn’t pilfer through my bags like I thought they would.

I met up with some USAC students at the hotel we went to (I got extremely lucky, my own hotel room with a queen size bed!) and we went exploring the area. Vending machines are a-plenty and it seems everything closes here really early. It also took us a while to find a place to eat, but that’s probably because we all had a hard time deciphering the kanji. I keep forgetting that I can’t use English but I get a real kick out of going in stores and saying “Arigatou gozaimasu!” when I leave.

Today I meet my host family and have orientation. Super excited, nervoustown too. I am determined to study a lot to make this experience even better for me.

In California, but I can’t breathe its beachy, free airs. Locked in the airport. I’m already confused as to what time it is in the world. Nervous about customs when I get to Japan… I brought a 6oz can of Old Bay with the final destination of my host family’s dinner table. They better not jack that from me…

In other news, airports rock. Expensive… but pretty nice in general. United is a really nice airline, everyone has been very helpful. Haven’t gotten lost yet… praying my baggage didn’t get lost… still pretty sleep-deprived (the plane was the worst to sleep on ever).

Using the Wi-Fi in San Fran and still amazed I will soon be in Japan…

Fear of the Japanese language still setting in, as is excitement for being abroad in general. I hope four months will be enough. I’ll give it all I got. 

I just visited the following Japanese website: http://www.aozora.gr.jp/

I do not know 70% of those kanji, or at least their new combinations.

I will be totally dead in Japan.

Fear settling in…