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Golden Week May 2nd - May 7th Golden week is exactly that - a golden week filled with consecutive holidays such as ‘Constitution Day’, ‘Children’s Day’, and the ‘In Between Day’ giving many Japanese people the chance to travel and take a break each year from the stressful lives they lead. This also then allows for me, the exchange student in Japan, to also take a final break before last minute papers and Japanese finals take place. I wasn’t about to let my last dance in Japan (as an exchange student) be a boring one, so I made sure to fill [View Full Entry]

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In the very near future I will be preparing to write a research paper for my Contemporary Issues in Japanese Culture and Society class. The topic I have chosen is Japanese flower viewing, which is called Hanami. This past weekend accompanied by Tsukasa (a fluent Japanese speaker - just in case I chocked under pressure) I interviewed approximately 15 groups at Maruyama-Koen located in Kyoto. The temperature was perfect, the Sakura were in full bloom, and I was attempting to figure out the ins and outs of what makes Japanese people act so ‘un-Japanese’ during this time. So let’s start off [View Full Entry]

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I can not believe it’s already April and I am now down to less than two complete months left in Japan. Midterms and spring break have come and gone as has most of the cold weather. Yesterday was a very beautiful day, slightly cloudy and windy, but better than the snow that we’ve had recently. This year’s Sakura (Cherry blossoms) are a little bit past the budding stage, but have not yet reached their full potential of beauty that I’m guessing will be happening one week from this time. Hanami, flower viewing, is the celebration of these Sakura, the national flower [View Full Entry]

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So actually spring break was two weeks ago, but I’m just going to write down some notes to let you know some of my impressions of this little, but incredibly condensed island. It made me picture Japan like Pennsylvania. Yeah, it was bad. Taiwanese food is along the lines of the Chinese food I was able to eat when I spent a week in Beijing, but everything was a little greasier and a little heavier when it sat in your stomach in comparison. Everything was pretty delicious. A few favorites were Chinese burgers, Chinese dumplings, Oyster pancake, and some incredibly delicious [View Full Entry]

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Today I was lucky enough to view my first college graduation ceremony, which just happened to be a Japanese ceremony. The rain that has been falling everyday recently, put a little damper on the day, but everyone was still shining - Girls wearing traditional Kimono and even some Guys wearing traditional male garments was undeniably a nice little cultural twist to the ceremony. Unfortunately I only had possession of my cell phone camera, so I am relying on the kindness of those who graduated today to show the scenes and fashion of today. Let’s hope they manage to send them… [View Full Entry]

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This past Sunday, many thanks to Vo-san for purchasing tickets, a group of about 25 Gaidai exchange students embarked from Hirakata for the opportunity to watch Japan’s traditional sport of Sumo. Six tournaments are held every year, each one lasting 15 days. Three of the tournaments are held in Tokyo, and one in Fukuoka, Osaka, and Nagoya. Of course because I am representing the Kinki region I waited until March, which happens to be the month Sumo storms into the Kansai region. For the sake of the reader I won’t go into too many details on traditional Shinto-related aspects and rules [View Full Entry]

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My how the semester goes so much faster once you are adjusted to living in a foreign country. This week marks the start of our Japanese midterms, but it seems like winter break was just finished a couple weeks ago. Finally settling in, getting used to classes, I now am preparing for oral interviews and kanji quizzes and spring break travel. Oh that reminds me… Assuming something doesn’t go down until next Tuesday (oh please oh please go smoothly) I will be arriving into Taipei, Taiwan accompanied by Tsukasa. We sill be spending a week in the ‘Chinese’ province area place [View Full Entry]

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So just incase anyone is still actually reading this blog after my long winter break hiatus and recent tendencies of writing a Japanese blog on a completely different site and even using Japanese on this site, I will bring forth a little bit of writing to those dedicated enough to possibly be still be hanging around. Oh let me quick start off by saying that recently my University back home in Pennsylvania has published my article I wrote back yonder about the Momiji in Kyoto, thus if you never have read that maybe you should! Alright let’s get this show started. [View Full Entry]

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Japanese Only - Sorry Ⅰｗant to practice！ 皆様久しぶりですね！今日長野から帰ってた。一昨日からめっちゃ忙しくて楽しかった！ ２６日　（日）　８時間バス乗ったの後やっと長野に着いた。バスの中あんまり寝なかったからもう疲れた。それに雨が降ってたからその日はリフトは出来なかった。そしてあんまりスノボーも出来なかった。残念だね。 皆はちょっと悲しくなったけどお風呂に入った後は皆はまた元気になった。外のお風呂は雪のとなりはめっちゃすごい～気持ちよかったな！日本のお風呂はいいなぁ！その夜皆で飲み会やった。りーばぃはワインを飲んだ。りょうじと僕はビールを飲んだ。女達はチュウハイを飲んだ。またゲームを遊んだ。少し飲み過ぎたけど楽しかった！ ２７日　（月）　７時早い起きた！体はとても筋肉痛あった。びっくりした！多分スノボーは初めてだから。朝ご飯の後ゲレンデに歩いて山写真を取った。天気はよくなったから一日中スノボーを出来た。時間がなかったら止められなかった！本当に楽しかった！体はめっちゃ痛いですけど！たくさん転んだけどスノボーをなれた！また直ぐに行きたい！皆ありがとう！ [View Full Entry]

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