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Published: August 26th 2004
Osaka
There are some interesting buildings.Yesterday was very enjoyable, if tiring. After doing some more administrative duties, we went on an optional tour of Osaka. We were broken up into small groups and paired with Japanese students, who took us where we wanted to go. In general, it seems that in Japan, everyone travels by train and subway. It can be quite expensive -- and it was confusing for me -- but if one is used to it, I can easily see how it is convenient, given all of the congestion in Japan. Everyone I met was very nice. There were two Americans, including me, there was one Filipino, and there were four Japanese girls. Getting to Osaka required a
lot of walking, and riding multiple trains. Along the way, we talked amongst ourselves about Japanese and English, and other various things. It is very funny to see a Japanese person attempt to explain the difference between "wa" and 'ga," two parts of the language that Westerners notoriously have trouble with. It is intuitive for them, so they have difficulty explaining the difference. Mai, one of the Japanese students, when I asked her, laughing, said, "wa is...is...wa is...different." She asked some other the other Japanese students,
Crab
I'm told that this crab is famous. It moves... laughing, and finally gave me an interesting explanation that I shall omit here. All of the Japanese girls were very, very short by American standards. While in Japan, I don't feel particularly tall, but these girls were about 5 feet tall -- maybe. Again, though, they were extremely nice, as was everyone else. I got a couple of e-mail addresses from two of the other foreign students, and I e-mailed them the pictures that I took.
When we arrived in Osaka, Mike, the Filipino student, who is also a computer science major, wanted to go into an electronics store. I nodded in agreement. It was about 6 stories high, and we went to the game store. I bought 3 new Sega Saturn games for 300 yen (less than $3). We also went in a mall, which, unlike American malls, is somewhat outside. There is a covering over the top of the mall, but it is still technically outside. It was very humid, so I didn't particularly take to this style of mall, but it was still nice. We also took some fun pictures in some interesting photo machines. The interesting thing about Osaka is that, since most people either aren't
Bright
Little need be said. observing us or are ignoring us, people very rarely stare at us. We also went to a restaurant, where I had
okonomiyaki for the first time. It's some sort of combination of various foods, but it was quite good. The most difficult part of the trip was the walk back to the seminar houses (dormatories), because none of the Americans were accustomed to walking quite this much, and we forgot how to get back. That is funny, in retrospect.
Traveling around Osaka was a very enjoyable experience. Today, I shall go on a similar trip to Kyoto. Mai, one of the Japanese students who took us to Osaka, said, "Kyoto is good." I'm looking forward to it. Today, at 9:00, is the opening ceremony of the class for Fall 2004 at Kansai Gaidai. It is expected that I'll wear a suit. Normally, I wouldn't mind wearing a suit, but it is so incredibly humid that even the lightest clothes leave me sweaty and sticky. Add this to the 20 minute walk to get there, and why I'm not relishing this becomes immediately obvious. Compounding the issue is the fact that I will have to walk back to the dorms to
Our Group
Everyone seemed very nice and agreeable. change before the Kyoto trip. Maybe I can get by with khakis and a polo shirt. We'll see.
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Webbster
Konnichiwa!
Hello there! I'm another student at Kansai this term. I've been keeping a blog too, and one of my former teachers sent me an e-mail with your blog address in it to see if I knew you. Actually, I think i mighta stood in front of you at class registration. Were you number 407? If you wanna chat sometime just let me know. My blog is at http://chaseinjapan.blogspot.com Jyane!