Manga University

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Yesterday we had a guest speaker come to our program to tell us about his business in Japan. It was really interesting because, to start with, the man was American. He came from California, and ended up in Japan as the President/CEO of a small company called Japanime. The things we learned about from him were really interesting, and it consolidated an idea that had been forming in my mind since I arrived in Japan and first switched on the television.
Manga University, a subsection of Japanime, is a small publishing branch concerned with the use of manga (cartoons, comics) as a means of education. His company published some of the famous "How to Draw Manga" series, as well as a series of Kana/Kanji de Manga, which uses comics to teach kids how to read and write Japanese. It seems like the Japanese people already caught onto the idea of using comics and cartoons as a means of education and instruction; since I've arrived, I've lost count of the number of cute cartoon strips and clips directing me about traffic violations, medicine, coffee, railways, candy and many other things. They are easy to understand: even if I can't read the printed words, the characters portray their message in a friendly and memorable way. What was really interesting is that I don't really remember seeing that at home. Or maybe that is just part of the general theme of "everything is cuter in Japan," which also seems to hold true in fields other than cartoons. Or maybe that's just Tokyo.
Other than the guest speaker, not all that much of importance has happened since my last update. I accidentally got on the wrong train once, which was loads of fun, I can tell you. We had our first major test today, quizzes everyday on kanji, and I'm learning more and more about small, everyday things that would seem out of place at home.
For example, on hot sunny days, a lot of women carry around parasols. I mean, I know its hot, but North Carolina is just as hot, and I don't believe I've ever seen anyone walking down Franklin St. with a parasol. But here, women of all ages carry them. Maybe its fashionable? But I asked my host mom about it, and she said that women here want to protect their skin from sunburns. Another strange thing I've noticed is that girls and boys walk differently here than they do in the US (as far as I've noticed). I first noticed the girls, because it is very strange looking. Girls, generally middle or high school age and older, tend to walk with their toes pointed inward. When I first saw it, I just thought that the girl's feet hurt and she was trying to aleviate the pain (they all wear strappy sandals), but then I kept seeing it. Then I found out that its supposed to be cute, to walk that way. The guys with me on the UNC trip said that it just looks weird. After that, it was pointed out to me that a lot of guys seem to respond to the inward toes with their own version: outward toes. I bet one of the first things I look at when I get back to the States is the way people walk.

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