Homestay away from home...

Happy Hallowee everyone! It's been quite a while since my last update, although I have been fortunate enough to talk to a number of you, including some of my family in Australia and in America. Surprisingly, I haven't felt homesick at all, probably because I still feel so connected with all of my friends and family thanks to skype and google voice. Because of this, I feel like I have been able to enjoy my time here to its fullest. It's hard to believe I have been here now for almost 2 months!!     p.s. It's raining yet again...

First of all, I wanted to say how thankful I am for such amazing Japanese buddies. Almost every day, I eat lunch with either Aki, Midori, Eriko, or Hisashi. A few weeks ago, Midori came to Meiji Gakuin International Student House, or MISH for short, and we cooked Yakisoba together. She also made donuts for me, which were absolutely delicious!! They also took me out for kaiten sushi. Kaiten sushi literally translates to "rolling sushi". They have places like this in America, but I've never been to one before. Basically, the booths are centered around a conveyer belt carrying sushi. As the sushi travels around, you grab whatever sushi you want, and you pay 90 yen for each plate of sushi that you eat. If, however, you don't see the sushi you want, you can simply order it on the touchscreen and the sushi is conveniently delivered by a mini shinkansen (bullet train). Obviously, I only ordered almost all of my sushi so that the shinkansen would deliver my food to the table in style. On Monday, my buddy Eriko is taking me to Tokyo Disney!

Midori and me cooking dinner at MISH

Hisashi, Midori, and me at Kappa Sushi

Speaking of Disney, I was fortunate enough to make it out to Disney Sea! One of the Meiji Gakuin students that came on the Hiroshima trip with us offered to drive me and two other UC students to Disney Sea. Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea are both in the Chiba prefecture, which would take about 2 hours or more by train from here in Totsuka. Needless to say, I was very grateful that he was willing to drive us. Disney Sea is basically the equivalent of what California Adventure is to Disneyland. Even though it was raining, the park was PACKED! By 9:00 a.m., wait times for the major attractions had already reached 90 minutes, and by the afternoon, some had even reached 220 minutes!! Luckily, the major attractions had fast passes, so we were able to utilize those to minimize the wait times. Disney Sea is a beautifully themed park, and I especially enjoyed touring the streets of Agrabah and the underwater kingdom of Atlantica.

Ken and me at the entrance to Disney Sea

Agrabah

Gyoza hot dog for lunch

The Lost River Delta

Mediterranean  Harbor

One of the perks of the Meiji Gakuin program, is the opportunity to participate in a weekend homestay with a Japanese family. At first, they were unable to find families for me and a few other students to stay with, so I was pretty bummed out. Fortunately, I got a call last Wednesday morning notifying me that they had found a family for me to stay with for the weekend. PTL! (praise the Lord) They are a very loving family and I can't wait to visit them again! I basically spoke in Japanese the whole weekend, with the help of Sakurako's amazing electronic dictionary, but the family was able to help me out when I couldn't say something in Japanese. They live in a very nice apartment complex in a 4 bedroom/1 bath apartment. Right across from their apartment complex is a huge park with a baseball field, gym, track field, and tennis courts. The park was full of cherry blossom trees, but unfortunately they only bloom in spring. The park was still gorgeous though. Throughout the weekend, the food was one of my favorite aspects.

Megumi-san and Sakurako

Friday night after class, I met with my homestay sister, Sakurako, who is also a Meiji Gakuin student, and we both headed for her parents' apartment in Hachioji, which is north east of Tokyo. The train ride took about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Hachioji is sort of out in the country, but it's more of a suburb. It was a nice break from the hussle and bussle of Yokohama. My homestay mother, Megumi-san, greeted us at the Hachioji station. As we proceeded to drive to the house, the car started making weird noises, so Megumi-san stopped the car. Sure enough, we had gotten a flat tire! I seem to get flat tires at just the right times, right Mom and Dad? Megumi-san had me and Sakurako to take a taxi to the house and she joined up with us after the insurance company came to fix the flat tire. I find it amusing that a flat tire in Japanese is called "panku". Later that night, Sakurako's sister, Momoko, also joined us for the weekend. We had fun that night talking over the dinner table and exchanging pictures. For showers and baths, Japanese people have whats called an Ofuro. It's like a gigantic shower and wash room. First, you shower yourself down and then you soak yourself in the bath tub, which is right next to the shower. At their apartment, they had speakers in the ceiling, so of course I listened to classical piano music while soaking in the tub.

My room

The next morning, we woke up really early and headed off to Mt. Takao, which is a famous for its hiking and shrines. On the way up the mountain, we stopped off at the monkey park. The monkeys are native to the mountain, but they have a park set up where they keep a few in captivity. One of the trainers took out a baby monkey and I got to hold and play with it. At the top of the mountain, we enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch prepared by my host family. To reward ourselves for hiking up the mountain, we took the ski lift down. After returning to Hachioji, my host family took me to an outside chopstick store. They bought me a really cool pair of chopsticks with my name engraved on it in Hiragana. They also spoiled me with some cake, bread, and tons of fruit during the weekend. Once we returned home, Momoko taught me how to play Othello. I know we have it in America, but it might go by a different name. For dinner that night, we made gyoza and sashimi for dinner. I also tried nato for the first time. I expected it be a  lot worse from all the horror stories I've heard, but it wasn't that bad. Since the father works in Nagano, he was not able to make it home for the weekend, but he did, however, want to talk to me over the phone. He called the family and they passed the phone to me. I was super nervous since my Japanese hearing is so poor, but I made it through the conversation without too many hiccups. That night, I used the ofuro again, but this time I listened to American pop music!

On the way up

Monkey!

Picnic lunch with the homestay family

View from the top!

Sakurako and me taking the lift down

Cooking gyoza

The next day, we woke up early again to pick up Sakurako's friend, Ayano, from the train station. Ayano lived in New Zealand for three years so she is basically fluent in English. It was nice to finally be able to communicate with my host family because she could translate much better than the electronic dictionary. The three of us headed off to a tea ceremony. In an earlier post, I mentioned that another participation in a tea ceremony would be highly unlikely, but they're starting to grow on me. Once my legs fell asleep, it was really enjoyable. I also found that if you bow a certain way, you can take the pressure off of your legs for a few seconds and help with the blood flow! There was a very nice elderly lady sitting next to me on a chair. During the tea ceremony, she kept asking me, "Are you okay? Do you want a chair?" but I politely declined. After the ceremony was over, I talked with her again, with a few minor problems. First of all, I told her that I was practicing the way of tea and then I proceeded to tell her that I'm going back to America on December 33. Surprisingly, she still seemed to understand me.

During the Tea Ceremony

After the tea ceremony!

For lunch, we went out to kaiten sushi again (I'm really going to miss this). Afterwards, Sakurako, Ayano, and I headed off to Showa Kinen Park. This was the biggest park I have ever seen. Imagine Huntington Central Park, but ten times bigger. It has everything from a children's water park, to a museum, to a sports area, to flower gardens, and Japanese traditional gardens. In the center, is a vast open field with a tree in the middle that is more than 100 years old. I especially enjoyed the Japanese style garden and the flower hill. Literally thousands of purple, pink, and white cosmos lined an entire hill of the park. After the park, we returned home for a delicious meal of pork katsu. Sadly, I had to say goodbye to my host family, but I hope that I will be able to return another weekend.

The open field

Flower Hill

This is why I need an SLR!

I still have a few more things to cover, but this is it for now. It's long enough already. I just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow when I go to Tokyo Disney!!

A day in the life of a Japanese person

On Saturday, all of the UC students attended a cultural day, which included traditional Japanese activities and ceremonies at Mejiro Garden. We started off the day with demonstrations for the Ikebana and Calligraphy and then ate lunch in the BEAUTIFUL garden. These pictures don't really do it any justice.

Mejiro Garden 

This is where we ate lunch.

The ceremonial house where we had the tea ceremony, calligraphy, ikebana, and calligraphy.

There's a waterfall in the background.

秋(Fall)　

After lunch, we got to wear traditional Japanese style kimonos. The kimono that I am wearing is called Hakama. We paraded around the garden and took lots of pictures.

Kimono wearing

After the kimono wearing, we headed back into the house for the tea ceremony. We had to sit on our knees like this for about 30 minutes, but it seemed like much much longer. The tea ceremony instructor informed us that the typical tea ceremony lasts for about 5 hours. It took me about 2 minutes to stand up after sitting like that for only 30 minutes. One can only imagine how badly it would hurt after 5 hours... After the ceremony ended, we practiced making the tea for each other. The tea was very bitter, so I wasn't excited about having to drink the tea again. The bowl has to be oriented in a certain direction when you pass the tea. Apparently bowls here have "fronts" and you're supposed to pass the bowl with the front facing the person. When they receive the bowl, however, the person turns the bowl 180 degrees so that they do not drink from the front. It was a really fun experience, but another participation in a traditional tea ceremony for me is highly unlikely.

Tea ceremony

After the tea ceremony was over, I managed to walk over to the Calligraphy table. We got to pick any word we wanted, and write it on the kanji paper. I chose the word "shinpai", which means "worry". The instructor gave me a weird look as the other UC students chose words such as power, love, and peace, but I have my reasons for picking that kanji. For one, the kanji used to write "worry" mean to disperse one's heart. I think that is a very cool definition of worry. Secondly, it is a good reminder for me not to worry. God has really been putting it on my heart to trust in him more. Being in Japan has been sort of overwhelming, and this will be a good reminder that God can do anything. Honestly, who am I to doubt Him?

Calligraphy

The Ikebana was more fun than I thought it would be, partly because the instructor was really nit picky about the angle and placement of my flowers and leaves. After I finished my ikebana but before this picture was taken, she rearranged everything to her own liking. Personally, I think they both looked the same, but either way, it was a really fun experience.

Ikebana (Flower Arranging)

The paper craft was also super amazing. We constructed a paper box, equipped with its own drawer! All we had to do was tape and glue stuff together, but the final product looks legit! The paper craft instructors were very friendly. They were laughing at me when I attempted to say "Sorry, I am very slow" (gomenasai, watashi wa osoi desu) but what I actually said was "Sorry, I am very thin" (gomenasai, watashi wa hosoi desu).

Japanese Paper Craft

Overall, the day will probably be one of my favorite memories in Japan. We were very fortunate to be able to wear the kimonos because that normally costs a lot of money. The typical kimono in Japan costs around $7,000 dollars. Basically, I was wearing Steven's 2000 Acura Integra. All of the instructors were very kind, generous, and welcoming to us. I am very thankful to have this opportunity to experience traditional Japanese customs that have been practiced for many many generations. 

Relentless Rain Again

A lot has happened since my last post. School has started and a typhoon has paid another visit. I wouldn't mind the rain so much if it didn't come at me from every direction, rendering my umbrella useless. A poncho would suit me much better,but people don't need any more reason to stare at me.

The UC students started class 3 days before school actually started. We had to attend this class called the foundation course, which is basically about contemporary issues in Japan, such as Japan's economy, foreign relation problems, and current issues in politics. The class continues throughout the semester. One of the perks of the class are the guest speakers. We also started our intensive Japanese classes, which are 4 days a week compared to the normal 1 day a week class. There are only 2 other students in my Japanese class, so I'm getting a lot of practice and I'm learning a lot!


Before school actually started, we wanted to do one last big event with the other UC students and Japanese buddies. We planned a clubbing event in Roppongi, which is a district in Tokyo similar to that of Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. One of the Japanese buddies was hosting an event at a club called Lex (It might have been Rex...) But anyways, we had a great time hanging out and dancing. We also went to Akihabara, which is famous for its anime and videogame stores and also for its maid cafes. Also, we celebrated a birthday by going to a local karaoke bar. Of course I sang a song in Japanese.

Akihabara

At the karaoke bar

Walking through campus is quite an adventure in itself. Now I don't mean this in a conceited way, but I can feel everyone staring at me, and I'm not just talking one or two people. I even catch people in classrooms on the second and third floors staring at me through the large glass windows as I'm walking through the courtyard. (Mom and Dad, you're always saying how paranoid I am and how much I exaggerate, but you gotta take my word for this one) You would think they've never seen a tall white boy. The cafeteria is even worse. I don't like going in there because I feel like everyone is judging me, but a man's gotta eat.    p.s. I like how I'm complaining about getting attention.

The Saturday after school started, I joined an event in Asakusa hosted by a club called The Bridge. Asakusa is one of the most popular tourist sites in Japan. It was basically like a picture scavenger hunt. We got paired off into groups of 5, with at least one UC student in each group. The remaining students were from various colleges in the Tokyo area. The event was planned to bring together foreign exchange students with Japanese college students. In my group, they only spoke Japanese because they wanted to help me practice. I learned that it is too difficult to walk and speak Japanese at the same time. It just takes up too much concentration that I would normally use to avoid small people. It was a really fun, but pretty draining day.

Asakusa Shrine and Pagoda

My scavenger hunt group

The giant paper lantern.

The first full of week of class was really exciting. The classes are a mixture of Japanese and UC students, which makes the experience really interesting. One of my classes is Japanese Religion and Society. The teacher teaches in both Japanese and English and it's really interesting hearing the Japanese perspective from the Meigaku students. The class also involves some field trips to different shrines so I'm very excited for that aspect of the class. I am also taking Aid and Development and Contemporary Ethical Dilemmas. Oh, did I mention that I have no class on Mondays?

I just realized I forgot to talk about my experience at a baseball game. Now, I really don't care for baseball at all, but this was one of the most fun times I've had here in Japan. We went to a baseball game during our trip to Hiroshima, where we got to watch the Hiroshima Carps play. The Japanese fans are so energetic and we made friends with the crazy drunk guys behind us. I had a lot of fun participating in the cheers, which I will more than willing demonstrate when I get back to America.

Go Hiroshima Carps!

Tomorrow we are attending a cultural activity at the Mejiro garden, full of Ikebana, calligraphy, tea ceremony, kimono wearing (even the guys!!), and paper crafts. Needless to say, I am VERY much looking forward to all of those activities. Last side note, please be praying that I can find a church!

Nonstop Hiroshima

Whew! I badly needed these last two days of rest and I'm looking forward to one last day tomorrow before school starts. I know, I know. Woe is me, but trust me. Read this post and then you can tell me if I'm just being a divo.

Shinkansen

Tuesday we embarked on our field trip to Hiroshima via the shinkansen, also known as the bullet train. For those of you who may be a little rusty on your history like I really am, during World War II, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6 at 8:15 am. I was honestly a little worried about going to Hiroshima, knowing that my nation was responsible for the destruction of their city. Upon our arrival, I was pleasantly surprised by the people of Hiroshima's spirit of peace. The Peace Memorial Museum and Park was a serene location that strongly advocates the abolition of nuclear warfare from the world. They recognize that the real enemy amongst all of this is war and that world peace cannot simultaneously exist with nuclear warfare. We also listened to the testimony from an a-bomb survivor. Her story was very moving and I admire her devotion to her ideals. I have mixed feelings about all of this, but my journey here definitely gave me a new outlook on the situation. I can probably go on and on about the ethical debate, but luckily I don't want to get too serious.

Peace Memorial

Atomic Bomb Dome

The next day we headed off to Miyajima-guchi to catch the ferry to Miyajima Island. On our way to the tram, however, I was bombarded by Japanese elementary school children in groups of 4. They handed me a sign that said, "Hi. We are learning about English and Hiroshima. We would like to ask you a question." First, they handed me a map of the world and I placed a sticker on where I was from. Then, they handed me a clipboard and I wrote down how I felt about Hiroshima. Even though our whole group is from America, I'm the only white person, so it's good to know that racial profiling is alive in Japan. Our UC director was getting angry with me for stopping so many times, but I couldn't say no to the children. I filled out a bunch of those things and ran to catch up with the group.

Filling out the questionnaires

 Miyajima Island is famous for the Miyajima Shrine and Daisho-in. It was erected a long time ago to appease the goddess of the island so the fisherman would be blessed with their catch. They also don't have any hospitals on the island because they don't want sickness, death, birth, or anything to contaminate the sacred place because it might anger the goddess. After visiting the shrine, we hiked up to the highest point on the island called Mt. Misen. 2.5 kilometers didn't seem to be that bad, but we soon learned that it was 2.5 km of steep stairs AND it was muggy so we all sweated like crazy. The view from the top was breathtaking as well as the trail up to the top. However, we wimped out and just took the ropes course down. It was kinda like the skybuckets at Disneyland.

Miyajima Shrine at sunset

On the way up Mt. Misen with the Daishoin in the background

View from the top of Mt. Misen

On Thursday, we took another ferry to Okunoshima, also known as poisonous gas island. I was a little worried by the name, but we were assured that it was safe. Apparently, it's home to a vacation resort or something like that. We ate lunch at the hotel and I was scared to drink the water. Anyways, the island is famous because it was the site of mass production of biological weapons, especially during World War II. Everything on the island was kept top secret and much of it was destroyed during America's occupation of Japan following World War II. A few buildings remained today as a reminder of the atrocities of war. Biological weapons have since been banned, but nuclear weapons have not. Our tour guide walked us around the whole island, pointing out old storage containers or barracks and gave us a very detailed history of the island. It kinda got boring at times, and I was thoroughly distracted by the cute and VERY friendly bunnies running everywhere. They used to test the poisonous gases on the bunnies (sorry Celene). For some reason, after the island was shut down, they brought over bunnies to occupy the island. We got to feed and play with the bunnies, which were not afraid of humans at all!

Okunoshima Island

Abandoned factory on Okunoshima

The friendly Okunoshima bunnies

The next day we headed off to Edajima, which is home to a naval academy. We got a quick tour of the campus and the war museum and traveled to Kure, which was and still is the site of a big ship port and manufacturing site. During World War II, the battleship Yamamoto was built here, so the city has a lot of naval base operations history. In Kure, we visited an abandoned underground factory where they manufactured parts and equipment during the war. Finally, we were done with our trip. By this time, everyone was pretty much a zombie. Luckily, we had a nice 4 hour nap on the shinkansen back to Tokyo, but we weren't looking forward to the 45 minute subway back to Totsuka or the 20 minute walk back home with our luggage. I think we got back home around 10 pm.

Now on to the food. I very much enjoyed trying out the food in each city. Hiroshima is known for its Okonomiyaki. It's basically like this Japanese pancake that is filled with amazingness, such as bacon, egg, and some other stuff that I'm not really sure, BUT it tasted absolutely amazing. The chef cooked it in front of us and then we simply ate it with a spatula on the grill. Miyajima-guchi is known for its anago, which is a special cooked eel that melted in my mouth. Again, I could go on and on about the food, but these two were my favorites on this trip. If any of you ever make it out to Japan, these two foods are a must!

Eating Okonomiyaki in Hiroshima

Anago from Miyajima-guchi

I can't say it enough. I am SO blessed by God on this trip. I know He is with me each and every day, guiding me in the right direction. Continue to pray that God will give me His eyes and the right attitude to learn. Classes begin this Friday so I'm excited for what lies ahead!!

Let it Shrine!

The rain/typhoon has finally passed! Well, technically it passed a few days ago, but I've been keeping very busy. Tonight has been the first night where I've been in my room before 10:30 pm and not downstairs talking with people. That's partly because we have to get up at 6:45 am to catch the subway to the shinkansen (bullet train) and we HAVE to be on time because the shinkansen only stops for 1 minute. Tomorrow we are headed for Hiroshima. By the way, I'll be posting a few pictures in this post that corresponds to earlier posts because  I just figured out that I can put my memory card straight into my computer. Go figure. Sorry Mom, Dad, and Steven but thanks for sending out my camera cable anyways.

 Our Japanese buddies have come over almost every night to play games and hang out with us. Half of the people are playing crazy drinking games while another half has been playing cards. It's been really fun mixing with the nihon-jin (japanese people). I taught them spicy uno and they go absolutely nuts!! I also got to meet Ariko, Aki, and Midori, who are my three Japanese buddies at Meigaku. They showed me around campus today and we had lunch. Their English is very good, but still limited. I hope that I will get to practice my Japanese a lot with them. I also took my Japanese language placement test, which was a another adventure in itself. I don't do well in interviews, especially in Japanese. Here's how the conversation went. Luckily, the interviewers found me very funny so I hope that's a good thing!

Interviewer: Why do you want to study Japanese?
Me: I really like Japan and I watch a lot of anime and read a lot of manga.
Interviewer: Ah, I see. Which anime do you like?
Me: Naruto.
Interviewer: Why do you like Naruto?
Me: Because I want to become a ninja.

This whole weekend we have gone to a different city. Friday we went to Yokohama, which has a huge ferris wheel. It's considered the date town here. Saturday we ventured off to Kamakura town, which has a giant Buddha (Daibutsu) that we got to go inside.Also, we visited Tsurugaokahachimangu shrine. At the shrine, we got to witness a beautiful traditional Japanese wedding.

Daibutsu 13.35 meters.

Tsurugaokahachimangu

Sunday, we went to Harajuku. I think it looks a lot like New York, except for the fact they have a beautiful shrine just outside the city called Meiji Jingu. We also went to Yoyogi park. It was very lively there.

Meiji Jingu

Yoyogi Park

After Harajuku, we hopped on the train to Shibuya, which is a huge busy city. Shibuya has this famous intersection where once the light goes green for the pedestrians, everyone scatters in every direction to cross the street. It was very entertaining.

After

Before

Needless to say, my feet have taken a beating from all the walking and I'm getting in really good shape! I have been having the time of my life. I thank God each second of every day. He has provided me with loving people and a great opportunity to grow. Even though most of these places were created in the name of another god, I still see the glory of God because everything comes from Him. It's hard to believe it has only been ONE week and I still have 3 months and 1 week to go!!! I'll update again as soon as I get back from Hiroshima. I'll get into my classes and such later. As a farewell, here are a few pictures from the last two posts.

 Meiji Gakuin International Student House.

My futon bed and tatami mats.