I can’t believe that I’ve been living in Japan for five months already! Things here for me are so normal and  I feel so at home that I don’t really pay attention to time passing. At the moment I’m on Spring Break and my first semester finished around the 2nd week of February. I am relieved to be on break since the end of the semester work was slightly challenging. The only problem I’ve been facing lately is quite honestly, boredom.

All of the international students that live in my building feel the same way, for the most part. We try to organize parties every now and then with Japanese students, and go out with Japanese students, but recently things have been quiet. Since I’ll be out of classes for about 2 months, I figured this would be the perfect time to travel. Many of the other students in the International House have the same idea, so at the moment it’s quiet in my building. Some students returned home for good, others just for the vacation, and some are traveling around Japan and other countries in Asia.

I was fortunate enough to go to Korea last weekend for my birthday. I had a blast! While I was back in SUNY New Paltz I was good friends with a Korean student named Yun Hee, who was at the time an international student at SUNY New Paltz. Before she returned to Korea I promised her that some time in the future I would visit her, and to her surprise I did! She was so happy to take care of me for 4 days, as I don’t speak any Korean (YET!).

The first day I stayed at her home in Cheonan, and her family were extremely kind to be, considering they didn’t speak a word of English. Her mom was a fantastic cook and I am utterly in love with Korean food. The next 3 days Yun Hee and I went to Seoul, only 40 minutes away by subway, and we stayed at a youth hostel. As we walked around sightseeing and shopping in Seoul, Yun Hee translated everything that was going on around me into English. Her English is really good and I was so relieved to be in her company. Although she became sick for some time during my trip, my birthday was still a lot of fun. I plan on visiting her again in the future if I can!

This weekend I’m going to Osaka with three other international students, then doing some sightseeing in Kyoto since it’s very close to Osaka. Hopefully I can do much more traveling during this break!

Taking the Experiences in Japanese Culture was seriously the best choice I made. All of my best pictures/ experiences seem to come from this class,  which I guess is the point. So today was the first class of 2010 and we began our work on Ohi Pottery. Last class, which was in the end of December, we visited The Ohi Museum to learn the history of Ohi Pottery.

To briefly sum up the history: The Ohi family has been making pottery in Kanazawa since the very first generation came over in 1666. Since then, generations upon generations of Ohi pottery has been created by the Ohi family, and my class has been lucky enough to work with the 10th generation, a man known as Ohi Toshihiro. He makes both traditional pottery in the Ohi style as well as contemporary work, and he has traveled all over the world using his talents for university teaching, lectures, exhibitions, and contest judging, as well as being the esteemed winner of countless awards.

Traditional Ohi pottery is made very carefully, and in today’s class we learned this process. One must only use his or her hands and no tools to form and shape the bowl (our class specifically made Japanese tea bowls). Since we are going to meet in Toshihiro’s studio three more times to complete our bowls, today we only formed and shaped bowls.

Demonstration.

Pupil and Toshihiro, demonstrating how to form the bowl.

Pupil and Toshihiro, demonstrating how to form the bowl.

I will admit that forming a fully-functioning bowl was not as easy as it looked. One of Toshihiro’s pupils demonstrated for the class first and we were to follow what he did. Toshihiro told us that explaining the process is not how one must learn, but watching and learning is the best way to learn. While we worked, he also made many bowls and if we were not sure about how to proceed we walked to his workstation and simply observed his techniques, then copied them on our work. It was an interesting way of learning compared to just listening to directions.

We were allowed to make 3 bowls, and even a fourth one if we really did not like any of the first three. The first bowl I made wasn’t that great, but I noticed that the more I did it the better I became. The second bowl was definitely an improvement. Here is a  pictures of the bowls I made:

Center three are my bowls.

The bowl on the bottom left was a freestyle bowl that we were allowed to design ourselves.

All of the bowls my class made.

Next week’s class we will carve the bowls using tools. More pictures to come soon!

There are hundreds of temples in Japan. I’m sure I’ll be visiting many during my stay, but here are some pictures of Tamahime Temple. My Japanese friend Mina took me and my friend Chris to the temple, where we watched a traditional doll performance illustrating the story of the Tamahime Princess. I was not able to take pictures inside the temple, but I can confidently say that I have never been blown away by the extravagance of a temple before visiting Tamahime Temple. It was absolutely magnificent. There were statues of prominent religious figures that towered over me, the sweet scent of incense filling my nostrils, and traditional Japanese chanting of prayers playing in the background. The environment was stunning and I couldn’t help but think, ” This is why I came here. To experience what I’ve read about in textbooks firsthand.” It was truly a moving experience for me. The pictures I have here are mostly of the exterior of the temple.

Mina, me, and Chris in front of the Japanese dolls used in the Princess Tamahime performance. (The only inside picture that was permitted.)

Purikura is photo booth photos taken to the most extreme level! In Japan purikura is a teenage girl’s dream. Not only can you take pictures with all of your friends using the most hi-tech photo editing tools such as skin color alteration and eye widening tools, but after the pictures are taken you can move into a smaller both and spend time decorating the pictures with hundreds of decorations, drawings, etc. You can then print the pictures out and distribute them or put them on your cell phone or send the pictures directly to your cell phone and share them online. Naturally, I completely fell in love with purikura and try to do it with my friends as much as possible! Here are a couple purikura pictures of me and some other international students in my program here at Kanazawa University.

My cellphone with some purikura pictures! I had a lot more before but they all fell off..

My friend Chris, another student here with me from SUNY New Paltz, is an English tutor for a Japanese man in Kanazawa. This man also happens to be a Noh Theater performer. Noh Theater has been treasured by the Japanese for many years as a musical form of theater, where the actors were very intricate costumes and perform scenes  with masks, the men playing male and female roles. Chris received two tickets to a tea ceremony and a Noh performance in Kanazawa, so we went together. Here are some pictures from that day:

This was right outside the tea room. This small garden was so serene and beautiful.

Next to the tea room that we all had tea in there was a traditional tea room from many many years ago. This room is still intact but is only used for viewing purposes. The room was extremely small and had to be entered by kneeling and people inside usually sit on there ankles and do not stand.

More views of the traditional tea room.

The room where we actually drank tea.

These ropes are put on many trees in Japan to stop the snow from breaking their branches. I think that it adds a special something to the tree itself.

Before the performance, the man that Chris tutors demonstrated the complicated process of dressing a Noh performer.

The audience was consisted mostly of older Japanese men and women, the women dressed in kimono.

The actor was being dressed for the part of the God for the performance.

The musicians are on the left, both women, playing the taiko drum and the Japanese bamboo flute.

This group of men sing during the Noh Performance. The style of singing was nothing like I have ever heard before. I can describe it as a cross between chanting and wailing, each syllable and note conveying the emotion being performed by the actor in costume on the stage. The singing in combination with the taiko drum and the Japanese flute is, in my opinion, the exemplifies the essence of traditional Japanese culture.

And finally, the performance began…

The actor entered from the far left, walking down a long corridor in very slow, specific steps that synced with the music and singing of the chorus.

Another exciting day in my Experiences in Japanese Culture class! We went to the Gold Leaf museum in Kanazawa. Kanazawa is famous in Japan for it’s gold leaf lacquer and other goods adorned with gold leaf. Learning about the process that goes into making gold leaf goods was really interesting. In the museum there were also really beautiful pottery pieces decorated with gold leaf. My class had the opportunity to decorate various pieces. I chose a jewelry box. Here are some pictures:

The jewelry box before I started, with a border of tape.

Next, created the design with thin tape. Then, I applied glue to the top cover.

With the glue on top, I took a sheet of gold and also silver leaf, crumpled it, and dabbed it on the top repeatedly in different places for effect. Then more glue was applied to the top.

After the glue dried I removed the tape and this is the finishing product: a beautiful gold leaf jewelry box!

I really enjoyed decorating my jewelry box, which I now use everyday. Here are some other pictures from the Gold Leaf Museum:

Hideki Matsui, New York Yankees MVP 2009 and from the Kanazawa area!

I’m taking a class called Experiences in Japanese Culture, where the students go on excursions and participate in Japanese cultural events. It is such a fun class! Today we did Ikebana, which is the Japanese art of flower arranging. We went into the mountain and collected materials (branches, berries, flowers, etc.) and brought them back to arrange them into beautiful pieces. Here is my creation:

My Ikebana

I’m not sure if I captured the essence of true beauty in Ikebana, but I had a great time trying!

In the previous class we experienced tea ceremony. It is a very intricate event in which people quietly sit in a traditional Japanese style tea room on their shins and politely offer each other tea and sweets. There is a rule for every single movement during the process, from the way in which you hold the sweets on a special type of napkin, to the way you drink the tea. The tea has a bitter taste that slightly shocks the senses but cleanses the soul and the sweets, or wagashi, have a delicious taste.

One phrase that I used often during tea ceremony was “Osaki ni,” which means “I’m going before you,” and it’s used when you are about to drink the tea. There are also other phrases used to show respect to the tea maker, the people sitting with you, and the tea itself. If you ever plan on visiting Japan you absolutely need to experience tea ceremony. It is one of the many beautiful aspects of Japanese culture. Here are various pictures from that day:

The beautiful tearoom

Napkins for the sweets

Pot where tea is made

Small courtyard in tea house

Another Courtyard

Wagashi (Japanese tea sweet)

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the tea itself but if you’ve ever seen wasabi that’s served with sushi, it resembles that green color. Truly an interesting experience.

Five weeks of class and more than one month later, here I am. Living in Kanazawa, Japan as an international student at Kanazawa University. Speaking Japanese every single day. I never thought I would actually be here. I am living my dream and loving every second of it!

Sitting in front of Kanazawa University's famous rock sculpture

I had studied Japanese for two years at university level before coming to Japan. Although this may seem like a long period of study I feel that I only scratched the surface of the language. Coming here to Japan was the best choice I made academic and career-wise. In order to reach near-fluency in language I believe that one must live in the country for a period of time. Speaking and listening to Japanese every single day has immensely helped my proficiency. Before coming to Japan I did not have many opportunities to speak Japanese. This impeded  my progression in the spoken aspect of Japanese proficiency. Now that I’m here I am more confident in speaking Japanese and improving more and more everyday. Although I am faced by life’s little challenges on a daily basis I am learning from them.

For example, the very thought of entering a Japanese bank and opening an account would have seemed impossible to me before coming to Japan. About three weeks ago I did open an account and I don’t think I did as badly as I thought I would. The bank employees even asked me how long I studied and where I was from because they thought my Japanese was good! I quickly responded in Japanese with “Not yet, but thank you,” which is the golden response for a foreigner who is complimented on their Japanese proficiency. A small victory to some, but situations like this happen often to me here, where I don’t think I can speak to Japanese people properly and when I succeed both the listener is surprised and I am as well! I can only hope for more of these pleasant situations during my stay in Kanazawa.

Eating lunch with my Japanese friend, Mina

Now that it’s been a little over a month I can say that I have grown accustomed to living here. University life in Japan is similar to my university life in New York. I wake up early for classes and spend evenings studying and doing homework, but I believe that the true abroad experience takes place outside the classroom. Once I have finished my studying and homework I try to do a little exploration. Heading into the center of Kanazawa City is a great way for me to experience Japan. Being around Japanese people or getting together with Japanese friends is also another way in which I experience Japan. The restaurants here in Kanazawa are numerous and absolutely delicious. There are also many places to shop and have an enjoyable time. Before I came here I thought that Kanazawa would be more rural but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Kanzawa is a bustling city. I couldn’t be happier with my choice. Life in Japan so far has been a challenge but I am thoroughly enjoying myself!