Udon and Pocket Monsters

This week I've been pretty busy with homework and haven't done a whole lot of interest. But on Wednesday I went with my host mom to an udon restaurant which was pretty cool. You chose what you wanted from a menu then picked out other things you wanted as you went down the counter before paying at the end. The udon came in a big wooden bowl from which you transferred a bit at a time into a smaller bowl with tasty broth in it. In my case, I also had tempura and dipped that in the broth as well.



I didn't do a whole lot after that or on Thursday because I had ludicrous amounts of homework to do. We're doing about six chapters of kanji and ten or so new grammar patterns a week now. And of course, there are quizzes almost every day and always homework. But since today was Friday, I went with Dai and the British guys to the Pokemon Center which was about 35 minutes away by subway. It was fairly interesting and had a Japanese Poke-rap playing that named all or most of the Pokemon. Most of the stuff was pretty expensive though so I just looked and got a cheap folder, which are different from American ones because they are connected on the left and bottom sides so you can slide papers in from the right or top. Outside, as with everywhere, they had overpriced capsule dispensers. They're like the things we have in America with stickers or little toys in them, except they're everywhere in Japan and cost 200 yen for something that's small and could be one of several different things. The big shopping centers like the one that the Pokemon Center was in have a lot of stores but they all usually have somewhat overpriced stuff. New DVDs are especially expensive, often priced at 3,300 yen. Luckily for me, I don't have much interest in DVDs since they are region locked and would not play on American DVD players. Console games are the same way, though it's possible to play them with hacked consoles.



Anyway, besides that, not much of interest happened today. I just went home and worked on some homework for Monday. Tomorrow I'll be going with my host mom, Nick, and Mackenzie to make mochi!

Gyoza party

Whew... today's Japanese class wore me out. We did a lot of new grammar, which was fine, but the kanji review in class made it impossible to hide how bad I am at kanji and it's always embarrassing and stressful to show off your stupidity in front of the class, even if my class only has two other people. And there's a lot of homework due too, so I don't have much time to actually study the kanji more either.

After that was over I ran over to yet another Book-Off with a few people and got a couple games that aren't available in America: Pokemon Green (for GameBoy, only 105 yen), a Wonderswan (a handheld system that most people haven't heard of, only 400ish yen), and "Tingle's Rose Colored Rupee Land" for DS (a Zelda spin-off that looks ridiculous and which I probably won't be able to understand, 910 yen).

After the movie class, there was a gyoza making party, which I arrived at late because of my class. It was a fairly normal thing; we just made gyoza, ate it, and talked. I met more people whose names I've forgotten and talked more with my gamer nerd friend Iwao about games and game music. And I watched people play Twister. Overall, it wasn't that eventful of a day, but there was enough to post about.


As always, I periodically add pictures to my albums (usually the main Japan 2011 one) that I don't post here, so if you're interested, keep checking the albums every now and then for new photos.

International Camp - Followup

The additional videos I mentioned last time are now up! I put all youtube videos related to this trip in a playlist which you can find here.

But for those who can't be troubled to click a link, I'll embed them here too:






Also, I couldn't really take pictures in the onsen for obvious reasons, but I did find the website of the place we stayed at and there are pictures there. Check it out here.

International Camp - Ainu museum, Onsen, Edo Wonderland

International Camp was neither international nor a camp, though since foreign students from America, Korea, the UK, and China, along with a bunch of people from HI-C came and since we spent the night at a hotel, I guess it was close enough. We all got on a bus at the college around noon and headed out, first to the Ainu museum which was a small recreation of an Ainu village. Basically Ainu were/are the "native Japanese" as native Americans are in the United States. Their dances, music, and clothes bear similarities to some of that of native Americans too. The first thing written on the brochure/map as an introduction was "This large island of Hokkaido was once a land of freedom for our ancestors," so it sounded like there might be some lingering bitterness between Ainu and other Japanese even though Japan was settled by "outsiders" for-freaking-ever ago (I think). It seems to go both ways though as I've heard that discrimination against Ainu is fairly common. The first and most interesting things there were a giant statue of an Ainu chief and an enclosure with dogs and bears which the Ainu apparently kept... though I really wonder what they used the bears for. The buildings had a unique and old-fashioned style to them but the illusion of being in an Ainu village was broken by modern objects like rubber boots hanging up, a truck, tarps, and new doors on "old" buildings. Overall the place was kind of small and looked as if it had been an interesting attraction at one point but now was falling into slight disrepair. We also saw people perform Ainu dances and play Ainu instruments and afterward we were able to carve our own instruments. Though I should use the word "instrument" loosely as all they really did was make a "boing" sound. Seemingly they were the simplest instrument in the world to play but no one in our group could actually get theirs to make a sound.

From there we went to the hotel with the onsen (hot spring / public bath). We had Japanese style rooms with tatami floors and a low table. For beds we laid out futons on the floor; and since there were four other people in my room, actual beds definitely would not have fit. Most of us went down to the pool first and volleyed balls back and forth until supper. Supper was a buffet and had a variety of Japanese foods to choose from like noodles, curry, and rice. After that was the main event, the onsen. Everyone changed into yukata and slippers in their rooms (with just underwear underneath) and brought two provided towels down to the onsen, which was divided by gender. The first room had a bunch of baskets where you could deposit your clothes and bigger towel, along with some sinks and mirrors with hair dryers and combs for fixing up your hair afterward. From that room, we went naked (except for the strategically placed second towel) down to the main, large onsen room. I was surprised by how big it was; it was definitely bigger than the one I went to on my May trip in 2010 and felt like something the ancient Greeks would have. In the center was a large steaming pool of milky colored water which had various minerals and things added to it to apparently be good for your skin. Around the edge were showers with stools in front of them to sit on while you clean yourself. Optionally, you could fill a tub with water and dump it over yourself to rinse off. Once showered and clean, there were several things to choose from: the main pool for soaking in the center of the room, a small pool with jets of water that massage your neck, a small pool of cold water for soaking in, a sauna, and an outdoor pool much like the one inside. When entering any of the pools, you were not supposed to get your towel in the water and could either fold it and put it on your head or set it to the side. I tried everything multiple times and actually stayed for over an hour since more people kept coming in that I wanted to hang out with. The British guys and I amused ourselves by the challenge of completely submerging in the cold water after being in the sauna. When we were all finished, we showered off again and headed up to dry off and change. Interestingly, a female employee came into that first room to tidy up, whether there were naked men there or not.

Later in the evening, we had a room with low tables reserved and spent a couple hours drinking and hanging out. Once again I didn't drink very much at all and almost everyone else went a bit overboard, but I was still able to chat a bit and observe everyone else. I fear that our group might have made a bit of a mess there and in their rooms though, besides being pretty noisy late into the night. I managed to get to bed around midnight and only woke up when the rest of my roommates came back early in the morning.

In the morning, I took another quick dip in the onsen and then had breakfast, which was also a buffet. After we packed our things we got on the bus for Edo Wonderland, basically the Renaissance Fair of Japan where a town from the Edo period was recreated. It was much nicer and bigger than the Ainu town and had shops, various attractions, and events. We first went to the ninja maze which had rooms that seemed flat but were actually slanted, secret doors, sliding panels, and the fear of someone else in our group hiding around the corner to scare you. Then there was a cat shrine which on the surface just had a bunch of cats displayed but was actually a sort of haunted house that you walked through with giant cats that popped out from things and scared you. Next door was a building that had various old Japanese monsters from legends that you could push a button and watch them reveal themselves creepily. There were evil umbrellas, a woman with a long neck, a giant spider grabbing a woman with web, creepy one-eyed people, and a kappa that popped up and shot water at you from behind a window. For shows they had two different ninja performances which had a back story that we couldn't understand and then epic fight scenes which were very cool and sometimes funny. There was also a history theater which I didn't go to but which seemed to be a short and funny play that none of the English-speaking people could understand. There were also gift shops and food shops too which served food from the old days, though it wasn't all that exotic because people in Japan still eat food from the old days regularly (like ramen and dango). It was definitely a memorable trip overall and I was quite tired by the end of it.

Check out the full International Camp album here! And keep a lookout for more, longer videos on my YouTube channel. I'll link to them on the blog too when they're up.

Down with the Sickness

The cold I thought I was getting on Sunday never really got that bad, but I still randomly cough, sneeze, and have a runny nose out of nowhere and at the beginning of the week I was sore for no apparent reason. But it was mild enough that now I'm not sure whether it was a cold or just allergies. Most of the other students have gotten colds by now though, mostly thanks to their almost weekly all-nighters. But in general, it seems like a lot of the Japanese students have been sick too, but maybe that's just because it's more obvious when Japanese people are sick because of the masks they wear. Wearing a mask to help stop from spreading your cold seems like a good idea, but judging from how many people are sick, I wonder how much it actually helps. It's probably just hard to avoid catching something when you're hanging out with other sick people.

As for the cold medicine, when I told my host family I thought I was getting sick, they offered me some and I found out that cold medicine in Japan is Chinese style medicine, medicine in powder form that I assume you pour into your mouth and wash down with a drink or just mix it with something. My cold wasn't bad enough that I needed any, but now that I know what it is I might try to avoid taking it more. I still have bad memories of eating crushed up medicine mixed with apple sauce as a kid...

Lately not too much of interest has been going on. In class I had a conversation test which went fairly well. Then today we reviewed for the big grammar test on Monday. But over the weekend a bunch of blog-worthy things are planned. Everyone (BCA students, British students, Korean students, Chinese students, a bunch of people from HI-C) is going to "International Camp", though I'm not sure why it's called that. It's a trip to Noboribetsu, south of Sapporo, where we'll be going to an Ainu museum, an onsen (a hot spring), and Edo Wonderland (basically the Renaissance Fair of Japan). Last time I came to Japan I went to an onsen and a different Edo Wonderland, so I know pretty much what to expect, and it should be fun, but I'll post more about that once I've done it.

And here's a video from the elementary school that I didn't post before:

And here's a link to my other youtube videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/Linkums

Children's Stories

Today I went with my host mom to a children's meeting hall, basically a preschool or daycare except that the children's mothers come along to play with them. It seems to just be a good place for young children to meet other young children and play and be read picture books. My host mom goes there once a month to read a picture book and today I read it with her. Before us, another woman read a picture book that was about a rabbit who wanted to go to the moon (because in Japan, instead of the Man in the Moon, there's rabbits on the moon that make mochi). After that, one of the employees (though it's hard to tell who actually gets paid and who's just volunteering since a lot of women seem to volunteer, especially my host mom) demonstrated her skills with a kendama, a wooden Japanese children's toy with a ball attached to it by string. The goal is swing the ball up and catch it in various places on the handle part. She was pretty good at it, and was also good at top spinning, which she popped up into the air with a string and caught, still spinning, on her hand.

The picture book we read was about the different sounds that animals make and was in both English and Japanese, depending on whether you started from the front or the back, and it met in the middle with a combination of both Japanese and English animal sounds. We read from the English side, taking turns, with me reading in English and my host mom replying in Japanese. At the end we had the children make the English animal noises. Some of the different noises in Japanese were: nyaa nyaa for cats, wan wan for dogs, mee mee (may may) for goats, and ko ke kokko for roosters. Saying "cock-a-doodle-doo" was definitely the hardest for everyone, including the adults.

For lunch we ate at a place that looked distinctly Japanese. At the door we were greeted by a woman wearing a kimono who took our shoes and put them in the cubby holes while a waiter showed us to our table. The tables and chairs (which were luckily actual chairs and not just cushions on the floor) were actually a small step down from the path to get to them. The menu was unusual too because it was really long (not tall) and had even the prices written in kanji, which isn't really that abnormal in particularly Japanese restaurants. As usual, we were given washcloths to wipe our hands with and a cup of tea. When we were ready to order, we just had to push a button to call the waitress back. I got some rice with crab on top which came in one container with a wooden lid from which you would scoop out the rice and crab into a separate bowl and put the lid back on to keep the rest warm until you needed more. There was also a bowl of soup and little plate of vegetables as usual too. At the end, my host mom let me have her mango pudding, which was extremely good.

In the afternoon, we went to a nearby elementary school to give copies of pictures to a couple kids I met at the Sports Day and to hang out with some of my host mom's friends who volunteer there. From the outside the school looked pretty much like an American school, though there was an enclosure in front where the school's pet rabbit lived. Inside though, was probably the biggest difference, which was an entry way for taking off your shoes and putting them in cubby holes for the day. There were also slippers to wear around the school too. We just went to the school library and hung out with my host mom's friends, who were painting and drawing pictures from a picture book. At one point, they made this "paper plane" that was cylinder shaped with a diagonal slice out of it which when thrown was supposed to drift back down at an angle, though we couldn't really get it to work most of the time. It seemed to be somehow related to the story of Princess Kaguya, who was found inside a stalk of bamboo (since the paper plane looked like a piece of cut bamboo). We also discussed what I would put on my inkan (a family seal/stamp that is often used instead of a signature) if I had one. Simply writing my name in katakana would probably suffice, but they also thought of ways to write my name in kanji. We only really talked about my first name though since my last name would be longish and especially un-Japanese sounding. We settled on either 来安 (Come + Peace of mind) or雷安 (Thunder + Peace of mind), both of which could be read as "Rai + an" (Ryan).

And that's about it. My sister requested I take more pictures of food, so there will probably be more of those popping up in the gallery. If there's anything you'd like to see more of, let me know in the comments.

College Festival

From Japan 2011

I went to the Hokusei's college festival yesterday. Basically, it was a bunch of tents set up and reserved by student clubs that were mostly selling various foods that they were grilling in the tents. Nick was hanging out at the HI-C tent where they were selling mochi wrapped with bacon. All of them called out to whoever was passing by, advertising what they were selling and the price. One place that was selling takoyaki had a basket of little papers which you could grab from and get a possible discount, and everyone I talked to did get a discount. There was also a bingo game and people handed out bingo cards to a whole bunch of people. First prize seemed to be a DVD player and there were several other prizes as well. Participating in bingo seemed to be free so I'm not sure how they paid for the prizes. It also seemed as though almost everything was student run and I didn't notice any teachers walking around or helping with things. After bingo, I took a video for Julia who was participating in the cheer leading club's performance. After that... it started pouring rain for most of the rest of the day.

For a while, nothing interesting happened but at 3:30, my host mom came and we went to see her youngest son, who I haven't met yet, perform with his school's yosakoi dance team. It was pretty cool and reminded me of going to my sister's band competition even though it was totally different. They danced and shouted to music that sounded both traditional and modern. You best ones seemed to be most synchronized and often pulled away some of their costume mid-performance to reveal a totally different color. One team even did this twice with the same costume: from green to white to orange. Anyway, the files were kinda big so I just uploaded the two videos of Yosakoi dancing to youtube (but there are a few pictures from the day in the Japan 2011 album. The first one is just the first team that performed, though they were one of the better ones too. The second is the one that my host brother was in.