…at New Paltz, not Nagasaki Daigaku. I wish I were, but I have to try and graduate some time soon. Luckily for me, AIM and LJ work wonders for keeping up with the exploits of friends still in Japan.
I will be taking Japanese 202 this semester, the usually last Japanese class students take. After that, they go off to Japan, or stick around in the Fall for Japanese Conversation, which is a class that prepares you for the different Japanese Language Proficiency tests. This includes ungodly amounts of Kanji (slashy character) learning. I was flipping throught the Kanji section of the 202 book, and I’ll be darned; I know all of those characters. Good chunk of vocab too. I suppose all the time I felt like I was drowning in intensive Japanese classwor, I was actually surpassing the knowledge of the text.
Make no mistakes about it; Intensive Japanese at Nagasaki is hard. Insanely hard. Three chapters each week are covered, in addition to other English language courses, in addition to host family life, in more addition, to making friends and doing actual exploration.

I’m gad to be going back to school however. I’ll come back to Japan when I’m good and ready again, maybe this time less intensively studenty.

Since my time back home, I’ve come to miss Nagasaki Gaidai. I have my wonderful memories to draw from, and who Im particular about are the Profs at NG who teach the English langauge courses (lest you place into such a high level langauge class that it jsut doesn’t work).

Prof Mark Tiederman was the first Nagasaki teacher I met. He met a good majority of the the JASIN students at Fukuoka airport the day we arrived and was able to give us a semi navigation of everything. He also told me that the Japanese dont have an equivlant of ‘bless you,’ for sneezing.

Mark has live in Japan for about two decades.  He started out his career as an intermediary between Platville, Wisconsin and Nagasaki Gaidai. Every year Mark throws the Halloween and Christmas parties. Both JASIN and regular students attend these; the JASIN students longing for home, and the Japanese students wanting to see what Halloween is all about. The Christmas party is less populated as during that time, alot of the Gaidai students are having graduation parties and the assortment.

Mark teaches Peace Studies and Japanese Culture. All the lectures are in English, and textbooks can be bought through the prof or online. There are also some donated copies in the library from former students. Hes a bit high strung but he is very good to know in terms of outdoor hiking aspects and general living as a foreigner mentality.

The other main English speaking Prof Seb Fulluer Sainoo is amazing. Hes a fine British man who has only been in Japan for about 8 years Seb speaks excellent Japanese and his Kanji is impeccable. He spent his college years in a Japanese univeristy learning about archeology, and has a participated in certain historical events. Seb participated in Kunchi Festival, a very old and far reaching matsuri held each and every year, with alternating neighboorhoods, as the first Caucasian/Westerner to do so.

He has impeccable Japanese manners and his sense of humor is engaging (favorite joke: Keeping ‘abreast’ of the situation).  He understands the Japanese people just because he’s been in such frequent and able contact with them for so long.

Seb teaches Japanese History. He’s fairly lax in his teaching simply because he’s so very well versed and believes the students will learn if they want to. Seb is also involved in many conferences around the better part of Asia. He’s a definate favorite of the students at Nagsaki Gaidai by JASIN and regular students. Extra credit is awarded for keeping a scrapbook of the many things you’ve done and seen during your stay in Japan.

 There are other profs of course, but these are the main people, the men with whom you’ll have a lasting association with if you happen to go and travel to Nagasaki throught the NP exchange program.

So I’m back home and for the most part I have adjusted under the jet lagg and sickness I brought back with me (Diagnosis: bronchitis. This is what happens when Japan likes to waddle side by side with nature, and not heat their houses…). I have also taken note of the so called reverse-culture shock people were telling me about.
Wide roads (IN COMPARISON). Oh man, its scary! Look at all that room! Is this really a four lane road and no one told me?!
Light switches. I feel for the wide flat rectangle to turn off the light, instead I get a nub sticking uop and am like,” ah what is this!?”
The house is warm. As mentioned above, the Japanese like a cold house. Well not like, but have. Hence my illnesses in the chilled months past Halloween.
Carpeting, rather than tatami. I rather liked tatami mats, woven straw mats that gave up equal size of the room.
Closing doors rather than sliding ones. With the exception of my host families front door and some bathroom, all of the doors were sliding. From side to side.
All of the variety of faces to look at. Before in Nagasaki, with its relatively homogenious population, seeing a randomn Western tourist would be like,” Oh man, look! Pink skin! Blue eyes! McSqooooon!”
I was pretty much cured of that being back home after a few days.
Seeing all the signs not in Kanji. I was rather fond of the Chinese characters I could only guess at (with some of them) something their meaning; Seeing the word “EXIT” at the JFK parking garage and not having the kanji DEGUCHI was a little indicative my my Nipon adventure was over.
And indeed it is. Im starting classes in Spring at the New Paltz campus. My friends in the Japanese language courses are all planning to apply for Nagasaki, and in some rarer instances, Kanazawa. I want to inform them all about the proper etiquette of buying their plane ticket, 100 yen shops (which are amazing and should be the standard for them all), Seb and the other Nagasaki English langauge profs (I love the Seb…), and maybe palm my cellphone along. Silvery pink and magic yo. And you dont have to wait for a gaijin card.
I’m thinking about applying to some grad programs at other schools. Meeting the various people I met from other countries and from across the states who take different school programs make me consider the options I have availible.
Its sure is nice to be home. 

Was my last full weekend in Japan. I got my bus ticket for Fukuoka, where Im going to share a hotel room with Rebecca, Texas Chick, and then go home and see my darlings and some other too. Satrurday we went searching for Green Sand Beach. Barbara from Economics told me about it (as the wife of an IBM employee who lives here with her children and is familair with the area), and shes fairly knowledgable. Unfortunalty its far far away and the buses didnt even go there. The trains did but at the cost of 5000 yen. So we were like, noes, but the English speaking infobooth at Eki Mae (Train station) people gave us another fun idea to do. For 980 yen we could take a boat ride to this island, and take a trip to the onsen. You know, the strip down and be naked place? Well, by gender anyways. Unfortunatly, it was raining. Really raining. Like hard core. We walked about two kilometers in the chill and saw a beach resort that had been closed since the typhoon that came a bit around the same time as when we flew in. Lots of sand everywhere. It was interesting. After a romping walk in the chillled rain we set upon the onsen. The water was hot and I stayed five minutes in the sauna (which is more intense than American saunas). I also took an experimental stay in one of the barrel deep tubs. But that was an excersize in, I hate you. As in, when i went in, the displaced water went over the sides, and kept going over there. I could feel the women listening to the (apprently)fat American’s water just going and going and going over the side. And in the end i didn’t even stay in there for long. The water was too hot. This onsen was too damn hot! Atakai yo! Some of the other ones Ive been too have always had different water heat levels; this was just all around hot. No wonder I was lightheaded by the end of my visit. We toured the gift shop which was reasonably priced as apposed to so much of the rest of the omiyagi (gift) shops Ive been too. I bought Mochi. I hate mochi but this one was good. Biwa mochi, which is a sort of summer citrus. It was a three pack and i gave one to my host moms parents and grandmother when we went for dinner there later on. I also gave one to Kou-host fathers-’s mother when she came over and had a parting gift for me. Ino! The 2007 Chinese Zodiac is the boar! But Im getting ahead of myself. After the giftshop we wandered around, waiting for the boat to come around and take us back. The weather was attoricous. All the rain, and the rain, and cold rain. Maybe on Wensday we’ll go back and try to see the other half of the island to where they have cooled lava flows. Sunday was Mochi mashing day. Mochi is pretty much pulverized rice. At one of the local elementry schools, they had set up the fire places outside. There were many many people. After a long winded speech (honestly, it was), and some more speeches, we went outside. The old fashioned cookeries were set up. Cooking on a fire pit makes it take a while to cook the rice and imo, sweet potato. In the meantime, we bonded with the children. I broke the ice by showing off my crazy Rirakuma cell phone straps. I have a large amount of *crap* hanging off my keitadenwa. I plan to transfer it to my American cell phone when I come back. My cell phone strap collection rivals that of Japanese girls and thats saying something. The kids adored how much stuff I had on my phone and we were able to communicate over the cute bonanza of my phone. Me, Raymond, and Yetang took turns being a mashing trio, and later on I gave Yetang one of my Rirakuma phone strap teddies. I mean, later on I quickly had Raymond win me some new ones at Taito Gaming Station where we plaid an expensive hour of Billards. Afterwards there was a barbeque at one of the local prominents home. Mori san and the Togitsu International Circle of friends. It was a who’s who of local celebrities for a few few people and gaijin students. We had a national athlete, a five star chef, my host dad (ha), one of the largest land owners in Kyuushu, and this guy whose travlled to over 30 countries and enjoyed Germany the best. He spoke English very well, and lived in Kingston for a month a few years ago. There was meat at the party. Real meat. And the food was like school festival food. Yakisoba, which I love, and many many other foods. But unfortunatly, since the barbeque took place in the area where you can park about 4 cars… with no walls, it was windy and cold. And it alternatively hailed, briefly snowed, and rained. One side would be raining while the other did not. It was fearsome. There was a buffet line at the industrial sized grill and the mini heater. Oh yes. After a bit we did leave, Ray, Yiten, and I, for the bus downtown. We had fun going downtown in a warm warm place like the bus. Taito, then some crane games, and book shopping and quiet reflection on our last week. Good times, slowly closing to an end…

The Japanese have tow words for shopping place. ‘Ya’ and “mise.” “Ya” is the more commonly used one and can get tacked onto any word to turn it into, that kind of store. “Hanaya” flower store, “Ramenya” Ramen stand, “Honya,” bookstore. Id like to talk about hte speciaity store since those are the ones which are the coolest. Im not talking about any grocery store, no siree. Ramenyas, as I stated before, are ramen stands, or sometimes, actual ramen restuarants. I like the portable ramen stands myself. They seem more intimate, the owners and their wives (in the background) seem more authentic than some guy worrying whether or not his rent is due. They also adore foreigners, or at least the ones I’ve come across in my day. Its good conversation practice. The way a ramen stand is set up, unless i missed something vastly radical in my time, is three sides are devoted to patron sitting. There are usually just benches, and they sit around the center where the boiling water, and boiled vegatble bobble about in their broth. The fourth side is a tall drawered area, where he goes for his spices and whatnot. There is also a mini TV situated at the very top, playing an animal documentary. Always. Its written in the Nippon Ramen Association contract. “Must show footage of lioness chewing unidentifiable mass or else strainer will be confiscated.” Around the side on the outside, are flaps of durable clothe, proclaiming in their katakana’ed glory, “Ra” “Me” “N.” Ramen stands are beautiful, and they certainly taste better than anything Nissin or Top Ramen cooks up back home. In addition to wonderful noodles, you also get a half boiled egg, two pieces of meat (Pork?), long stringy vegtables I’ve yet to find an English name for, and a woderful sense of comradery. Just you, the Ramen-ka and his wife, and the business men not quite drunk enough to stagger home just yet. Yakitori-ya. Yakitori means literally “grilled chicken.” For the most part it is. But you can also get varieties of vegtables added to it or other meats and its just a wonderful site to behold. This is a yakiniku, “grilled meat,” truck that parks outside of selected areas and sells meat made right in front of you. Its immensley popular as a way not to have to cook, since its relatively inexpensive and really tasty and fully Japanese. The setup is that the grill area is built right into the trucks. They unfold them around 4 pm, roughly the right time to snag the hungry kids inbetween regular school and cram school, as well as the wives trying to feed them. Ditto on the tacoyaki-yas, but those are fried octopus dumplings rather than land faring meat. Conveyer belt sushi. I know theres a Japanese word for these things, but I forget at the time of this writing. I adore conveyer belt sushi. It is exactly what it sounds like. A store wide looping belt zips food along while people at tables or booths just reach out and grab what they want to eat. Avoid things covered under a plastic dish in the middle of a slow day; its been there for a while. Usually, most of the sushi pieces cost 100 yen for a set of two nice fish ones, or six vegitarian. You can also order things like miso soup and an unlimited drink bar at a bit of a higher price. Green tea is free and easily provided. You can even order slightly American things, like “Ha-mu” which is actually piece of fatty salami slapped atop some rice, or “Weina,” a halfed hot dog done up in much the same way. Oh, and krinkle cut fries. Usually when a group of us JASIN students come in, someone specially orders one set, and then they alllll order for the nostalgia. Or if not, the conveyer belt will then be filled with bowls of fries along side the tradiaitonal Japanese fare. I dont think the native populus really enjoys the invasion. Hon-yas. These are book stores to the max. They have manga and thick anthologies of popular comic hits and regular books in one specialized area. What makes these noticable is that there will be oddles of people just standing there reading. Seriously. They haven’t bought the manga or book yet, and they probably won’t. They just stand there and read. Most stores have a problem with their abuse of merchandise but these hon-yas are pretty good in leaving you to your reading. And on a similair note, Book-off. I adore Book-off and to a greater degree, the sister, Hobby-off, and a much lesser extend, Hard-off. They are ‘Eco-Recyle’ places. Pretty much used merchandise stores, only these are worth going to. Hard-off is a lot of hardware and such, cameras, dvd players, TVs, ancient laptops from 1989, guitars, video game systems and games. Hobby-off is a pop culture idea area filled with figures, hand towels, keychains, phone straps, most under 300 yen or so. If you want an anime or a media icon figurine, keychain, card, playing cards, full scale models, Hobby-off is for you. Not that I know or anything ::puts away cell phone and the cyptic jingle, as well as purse, littered with the stuff:: Book-off sells used manga and books at a 100 yen and up. Sometimes you find really old series, sometimes the latest issue of Naruto. They leave their books unsealed and just as with the Hon-yas, there are crowds of people standing around and reading. Unlike most of the Hon-yas, people readily buy these becuase the books and manga here are relatively inexpensive considering the already cheap price of manga. Books are so-so priced to begin with. The competitor, Bookbank is less popular considering their books arent as cheap or readily availible as Book-offs. They shut their books closed with plastic wrap and tape. Their figurines are expensive. Bookoff is so muh better than Bookbank and I dare anyone to fight me on this ::rubs hands::. Anime-yas. Since Im on this fangirl roll, I’ve really only discovered one anime place for all those fun manga and bubbly eyed goods. That would be Animate in Hananomachi Arcade. Its half books store, half I-want-to-blow-all-my-money-here-omg-its-so-cute-I-want. The popular series have lots of merchandise such as plushies, pillows, calanders, figureinges, posterboard, pencilboard, keychains, stat-books, mugs, Tshirts in some instances, and wonderful other things that make my toes curl and my wallet slim with the idea “Im only in Japan once.” Fairly cool place and I have purcased … some things from them. Pachinko. Eww. Why is this mob run industry on this list? Lots of myth, waste of money, questionable and smokey insde. Friend Morgan compared it “Walking in, giving them a 10000 yen, smiling, saying Arigatou Gozaimasu (Thank you), and walking out.” Omyiage-shops. Omiyage, the art of giftgiving means there are alway going to be stalls set up hocking wares and that from which ever area you visited. Nagasaki’s prime omiyage is the Kasutera cake, a sweet mixure of sugar, egg, and flower. It ranges from inexpensive gifts to “Well, I’m in Japan once,” sort of logic. Every hotel has the omega of all ift sops in each of its lobby. All the JASIN student with host families were told the first outing to bring back their host family a little something of where theyve been. The ones in dorms rejoiced.

Also, Christmas lights are out in full regalia. Come folks, buy your cakes and your KFC! Christmas tradition you.

Ok so I’m back from my trip around Nagasaki’s Kyuushu Island. I learned several new Kanji, mostly associated from the towns names, saw some really awesome stuff, took nearly unlimited pictures with Raymond’s camera (mine is still broken from the Rekishi tour a while back).

I’ll put things in minute bullets, to emphasize points.

* Nagasaki is wonderful, but all the other towns are so much cooler as they don’t specialize in gajin travelers. Ie, some things arent in English which gives us a real run for our Nihon-go learned money.

* I spent lots of money on Omiyagi. Or I think they were; I could just be getting them to plaster my parent’s home, when I go back, with soviener things.

* Omiyage is when you get everyone plus their mom a gift from where you went. I am specializing in really nice things from Kumamoto, since its amazing.

* Kumamoto must be named Center of the Universe, as it posseses many many interesting dealies to look at shop at, stare at, observe, contemplate, and hte like.

* Kurashima-ken was equally amazing. Holy Heck!!! I was buried in hot sand!!!

* I went to a hot sand bath on the ocean touching the Pacific Ocean; it required a yukata (casual robe) to keep sand off my naughty bits, and a towel to keep it out of my hair. I was allowed to keep the towel. Snerk.

* When all the women are nake in the women’s onsen, it becomes logical to not even think you’re butt naked in a room full of strangers (ie, symptons include parading around naked, jumpng, dousing water on yourself, and the like).

* Thank you McDonalds food Coupons.

* Thank you Ramen Stands. In Japan you are nearly infinate.

* Dear Jolly Pasta. I wish to try you one day.

* Attempt to travel without older women who complain about sleeping on single beds bunked with another person, eating at McD’s, and zooming zaggy roads. The bohemian college student life is not for them.

* I’m so freaking tired.

* I can now fluently ask if a lodging place has a double room for the night.

* Ferrys are inexpensive ways to get your time-saving butt around the mountainy points of Japan. Inexpensive in terms of gas and irreplaceable time otherwise spent getting through those mountains.

* Travel with people who know how to wake early.

* You will find people who speak English with fluidicy in strange out of the way hamburger places (Non-McDonalds that is).

I suppose I havent really introduced my host family. Most students in the JASIN program go to host families, though the ones who are here for more … base purposes, drinking and girls who love foreigners, chose the (male) dorm to stay at.
My host father is Kou Ishida, or Kou-san when I see him. Hes often away at work, which conviently for him and the family, is right downstairs. Kou is a designer of signs and advertisements. Around town one aternoon we took a short trip in the back alleys and saw some of the little projects he had done for area business. Not bad, Kou-san. He also created the centerpiece in Togitsu Machi’s Illumination, a sort of Christmas lights show, a 12 foot pyramid structure made out of PET bottles (reycleable plastic 500 mL bottles) flashing off lights that are blue, white, and silver.
Nami Ishida, Nami-san, is the mother and the one I spend most time with when I’m home. Her job is a Nurse at the Red Cross Blood Center, but she gets transported all across Nagasaki-ken when she works. In addition to her nursing job, she also raises twins and an exchange student. Mega props to her.
As far as Japanese couples go, Nami and Kou are very Western, very modern, progresive. That is, Kou-san kicks in with the child rearing, cooking, gaijin-explaining every now and then. One reason for this is that both parents are young; only 11 years older than me. They grew up in the influence of Western (:American) beliefs like equal sharing of the household. They both hold progressive jobs (Kou isnt a salary man!), married on the same level (both 32, though Nami is older by six months), but still keep some older values. Nami also holds a job which gives her leverage in the family. This takes away from the whole past attitude that is prevalant in some of my friends own host stays (”It’s 89 year old Gramma’s duty to clean up after you, male-exchange-student”).
The children who I live with are Nana and Mimi Ishida. Mi-chan and Natchan. They’re both actually their mom’s namesake (Nami can split into Nana and Mimi). Nana is a very popular Japanese name. The calls of “Natchan!” are common in Japanese malls. Nana is the older twin, by a minute, which matters vastly in Japanese society, where the ie system is observed. Every older girl is “Onne-san” and boy is “Onni-san.” Due to a mispronounciation on my part, my host family though I was talking about my older sister for several days until I brought out the pictures! My host kids, who were told my real name when I first got here, forgot it, as I am referred to as, and in reference to, as “Onne-chan,” or big sister. My twins are 6 years old, identical, and cute when not in hellion mode. Due to a mishap her great-grandmothers house, Mimi now has a burn across her chin which makes it easy to pick up who’s who.I think before, it had something to do with the type of hair cut, but since they are both jet black, I couldnt really tell. Even their mom has trouble sometimes. “Nah-” quick check over some identifiable-to-mother-only trait “-Mimi-chan!” Mimi is the more assertive child, Nana is the cry baby, and favors her mom, while Mimi all about dad. Onne-san is the one to play with. Because they were born a month preamature, they still rather small for their age and are being held back one year from elementry school by their parents. Rather, they go to preschool and do all the wonderful preschool things. This includes oragami, learning songs and dances, counting, Hiragana and Katakana, and civic code learning. Kids learn how to behave as a group through school, where the other children are expected to browbeat the other outstanding child, or ostracize if that doesnt work.
I’ve met a lot of my host families extended family. All the grandparents, some sisters, the cousins, and a few random others. My favorite is the twins great-grandmother, Hiba-chan. Woman is 88 years old, cooks a feast, and talks cozy to the foreigner guest. She also has a kohatsu, the wonderful lil Japanese invention of a warming table with a long blanket underneath which people snuggle up to into the cold of winter (as Japanese houses have no central heating). She lives above her daughters Japanese pizza shop in her own small apartment (about two blocks from where we live), and below a floor to her other granddaughter, the unmarried one whose name I never learned. Japanese pizza, if you’re wondering, is no deep dish. Soba noodles, no cheese, shrimp (terrors, as I’m allergic), and often cold, lest you ask for it hot. Hiba-chan, if you’re wondering, has lived in the area all her life. That means shes seen two World Wars, an atomic bombing (it is Nagasaki-ken after all), everything that came after that, industrialization, renounciation of the Emporer’s God-status, bare bones equal rights for women, the Japanese economy bubble boom and subsequent burst. I only wish I had enough Japanese skills to even begin to broach some of the things shes done, and as about them before this National Treasure is gone.
But rather, that ends my family segment. Good people, good meat, oh goodie, lets eat. ^_^v

Yesterday, we (JASIN students, Japanese former Seattle exchange students, and Seattle students who came to Nagasaki for unspecified purposes) went looking around different temples in the pouring rain. A walking tour. With Goverment sanctioned tour-guides. So freaking much rain. Why God why?? The trip wasnt cancelled and i got sicker feeling (a result of previous rain walking). The (illegal American) Suddafed does nothing!! Poor Seb forgot his umbrella, so he was one wet Brit prof. Alternatively, he would be offered his space under our umbrellas. We were able to see his families plot at one of the temple and shrines. Or at least, his wife’s family plot. He married into a very promient family. The Sainoos. When asked what would happen when he died, he idly suggested that his ashes would be tossed into the sea. Or he’d buy a new one. Which would be expensive. Land in Japan is but a dream.
I made a giant faux pas by standing on the wooden barrier between the inside of the shrine and the ‘outside’ world and was promptly manhandled off to avoid enraging the monks. Apprently you dont stand on the mid section of any such thing, such as shrine or between two rooms. Be warned people!
Yesterday was also a National Japanese holiday. We didnt have class, which is how we were able to go on tour. Im not sure what it was. I asked host mom and she did tell me, but alas I forgot.
Reports are due.

One month to go before I go home. How depressing.

Im alltead out. I had some coffee in the morning, and then sadou kurasu, tea ceremony class, where we made two cups of tea the tradtional Japanese way, and some o-kashi, Japanese pastries to knock down some of the bitter taste. Then when I went home for the evening Host Father Kou-san made more green tea. While it was nice to wrap cold cold hands (Japan is in the 56 degree tempature marks now, you know) around a hot cup of tea, it was still like,” I JUST DRANK YOU.”

Theres only 35 days left in my trip. Im still not sure about the trip to South Korea, my non-American citizenship might make it troublesome. Maybe Mike can come to Tokyo and I’ll fly out there? Anything for a true visit.

Just some cultural points I’d like to make about Japan. The tubs of butter comes with a hole in the side that you punch out when you purchase it. A butterknife goes there and stays there. Seaweed grows everywhere, including drainage pipes, but people will still buy it from the store. Growing rice is a weekend warrior deal. No one can resist the sight of a foreigner playing with an affectionate shrine cat (I can testify). Everything is written in Japanese but with English subtitles underneath. Due to the increased globalization, there is a lack in what the net people call “Engrish.”  However, you will still find a sign in the Pengie Acquariuam that says “No Flush.”

 Thank you ‘n goodnight. Also, please see photobucket site for all the magic

… I’m planning a trip to visit my friend Mike in South Korea. Mike just graduated from SUNY New Paltz in the Spring, and he went to South Korea to teach English (which is what a philosophy degree prepares you for obviously) in August. He has extended an invitation to visit to the only one of his friends in his general time zone. So now the questioned begged, should I go? I considered the fact that visiting him at this time is going to be a lot cheaper now (while Im in Japan) than in a few months from now (when I return home). I feel confident in being able to book a ferry for under $300 for a weekend trip. Oh yes, and of course I miss Mike. Hahaha.

It makes sense to visit at least one foreign country while I am here. I’m close by, I have enough spare cash, and less than seven weeks left in Japan.

I’ll let everyone know what goes on.