Advertisement
Karaoke
Karaoke on Thursday, after the party. A Busy Week
------------
Instead of pointing out that I have now been here for a month, and since the primal forces of nature make delightful tropes for development and growth, I would like point out that the biting winds of Japanese winter have abated, replaced by comforting temperatures and cozy breezes, the land has turned lush from the rain, and the rice newly planted in the paddies near my house have already matured remarkably quickly. But before I can comment on my first month in review, I should report a little on a rather busy week.
It began with a class-free Monday due to Aoi Matsuri, one of the three main festivals in Kyoto. This one celebrates the beginning of the flowering season of the hollyhock (aoi) tree, and accordingly commemorates such a poor excuse for celebration with an equally mediocre festival. Although we didn't have Japanese class on Monday so that we could go see the parade, it was one of the more bizarre / depressing things I've seen in Japan. No one in the parade was having fun, making noise, or celebrating. I took an eerie video of the affair which is basically silence punctuated by
Aoi Matsuri
Aoi Matsuri. Note all the people, but note the lack of color and confetti and such. the clomping of a bull (not having fun) pulling an ox-cart-kinda-thingy with marching people next to him (not having fun), surrounded by a crowd of people anxiously watching (in silence). A strange affair.
Apparently, though, they save all their energy for this massive festival called Daimonji Okuribi , where they literally light the hills that surround Kyoto aflame in the shape of friggin' huge burning kanji . That should be an unholy sight to behold, and more than worth the solemnity of a hollyhock festival.
Tuesday was the last date I'll have with Kanako. Mike, Han, and I went out together with our respective dates and I feel I should comment a little on the deal with dating people in Japan / people who don't speak your native tongue. All the usual subtleties of dating are utterly incomprehensible when you try and date across cultures and no one really has any idea what's going on. For example, they asked for that date to be on Tuesday - but what exactly is the meaning of this? Is it simply that
Kanako and I
I bow to popular demand. Here is a picture of Kanako and I on Tuesday. it is okay in Japan for Tuesday to be a dating day? Do they want an excuse to go home early? We have no idea.
In another personal change, despite being worried about having a five-minute interview in Japanese a month ago, we had like a three-hour dinner date that was almost exclusively in Japanese (although all three girls are English language majors). Finding things to talk about is hard, but not impossible - a lot of the basic small talk I've been perfecting carries equally well across cultural boundaries. It's also quite useful to have a cache of a few questions, phrases, and a couple of stories that you can reuse. It really doesn't take much vocabulary to tell an amusing story, provided that you exhibit appropriately exaggerated hand gestures, and laugh boisterously when it's over. You have to take a step back; everything is funny, because if it weren't you'd realize how unbelievably surreal / awkward the situation is. The opportunities for misunderstanding are profound.
So, just smile and laugh.
Mostly, the disappointing thing I've found about dating Japanese girls so far is that they aren't terribly interesting. Japanese girls tend to focus on
Circle Shack Part I
Circle Shack Part I - note the scorched ground, random tarps, scaffolding, and abandoned chairs. learning English because it offers so many female career paths in Japan, and ultimately dating a girl whose main focus is to learn a skill which you already innately have makes for lackluster conversation. Of course, it depends on who you meet - someone who goes to Waseda, for example, likely would be quite interesting (among others, Murakami Haruki is a graduate - and you can definitely tell from his writing that he is well-versed in all types of literature). On the other hand, it's nice to stand out in Japan. If I walk into a room full of Japanese people, everyone notices me. I don't have to wear ridiculous clothes or be loud and noticeable - my face alone makes me unique and exotic. Which is cool, for a change.
Thursday we had a party thrown at the center for all the Stanford students and the Doshisha, Kyodai, and other university students who are participating in our classes. I spent the first third of the party doing EE homework in a small group (>_<) because we had a massive amount of work coming up for the following week. After we got to the party, it was pretty fun
Circle Shack II
Within the circle shack, a band (one guitarist and no less than two drummers) practice. Note the cool wall mural. and a great way to meet students that don't have classes with you. Quite a bilingual affair, really, and I think I might've mastered the self-introduction and beginning small talk in Japanese after all that practice. Plus, it was delightful for my ego to get a ton of phone numbers in one night.
I also made it a focus to talk to a lot of Japanese guys as well, because I've somewhat neglected that. Taku, who is amazingly metro in typical Japanese fashion, promised to show me the real Kyoto next week, so I'm looking forward to that. We all went to Karaoke afterwards, but then I had to go home - I felt tired, and definitely worn down by the intimidating pile of homework that was accumulating in my mental to-do list.
Friday I went to the center and simply did homework from when I got there until the time it closed (inefficiently, of course, surrounded by all my friends, a TV, the internet, and a sound system). We headed out briefly afterwards and wandered around, but we weren't in the mood for a late night of partying, because -
Saturday there was a Kansai (the
Circle Shack III
Sang and Mike play ping-pong on a semi-functional table. The thing you can't see from this angle is that the net is a piece of cardboard held up by milk cartons. region Kyoto is in) Stanford Alumni party at the center, starting at 10:30. I set my alarm for 9 a.m., woke up, deftly activated the "Off" button - and slept until 1:30 in the afternoon. And felt great. At this point, I decided to head back to the center and do some more homework, and took the roundabout path that took me past an ice-cream store, yet another beautiful river, and quiet trees swaying. I finally got there at around 3:30 to discover that the alumni were still there and quite inebriated.
It was a good thing I went because Bessho-sensei, my boss for the summer internship (and also inebriated), was a Stanford alumnus and present. He gave me a packet of neuroscience preparation material, and then arranged for me to do something with him. What task shall I perform? I have no idea. From the arrangements I made, it seemed like I will be going up into the hills and catching something - something which dies out by the middle of June - and it is imperative that we acquire aforementioned creatures swiftly, without delay. I can't imagine what I will be doing for the progression of neuroscience.
Circle Shack IV
It's hard to get a complete picture of this place because there's so much stuff everywhere. Note the rockin' green couch, though. Saturday evening I returned home, but not before going to Pikkuri Donkey , an amazing faux-Americana chain of diners. They have a fake wood construction and serve hamburger-steaks over rice that you eat with chopsticks - yet another example of a Japanese import which has been altered and now kind of misses the point of the original invention. It's good, but not quite right somehow. On the other hand, it's really tasty (kind of like hamburger meatloaf with cheese on top) and you can get a hefty 300 grams of meat for like $8.50 (a good deal here).
To wrap up, one thing I'd like to describe is the way I feel when I move through the city now. Japanese life is no longer a weight that ties me down and prevents me from living, blocking me from buying food, meeting people, and traveling around, but rather a known system through which I can maneuver. When I go to school, I glide through the crowds - able to overhear them, respond to commands, ask questions, and essentially adopt the persona of a decently capable Kyoto citizen, or I can play the role of the stupid gaijin
Circle Shack V
Another pic of the interior. See the racks of handmade airplane wings? Neat-o. and ignore all conventions and simply do whatever I like. I'm physically larger than the average adult male here, and compound that with the extraordinarily low violent crime rate, and I can roam anywhere at any time.
I've never felt like there are places I shouldn't go, or felt like I'm in danger. All my belongings in the world right now fit into two suitcases. I am completely unfettered.
~Danny
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 7; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0564s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
di
non-member comment
okay, not gonna lie
. . . but i must admit i am a tad disappointed. c'mon. you're danny.