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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 by explaining the Saturday before hitting the parks to interview and all of that…. So Saturday I was able to meet up with Levi, Levi’s buddy Shin, and Tsu for some Korean dinner by Hirakata-shi ... read more

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 strawberry kiwi juice. Oh, and everything cost about 50% less than Japan so that was a major plus. Mass transportation was pretty good, but hard to compare against Japan who has just completely made getting ... read more

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 of sumo, but if this happens to interest you then check out Japan-guides site at http://japan-guide.com/e/e2080.html... Basically about three hours of bouts take place between wrestlers representing an East and a West side. Warm-up before ... read more

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. This past weekend I took the Friday night bus with Levi from Umeda Osaka to arrive Saturday morning in Shinjuku Tokyo, where we would then ride the JR trains to the neighboring, but almost blended ... read more