Auuugh, I so miss NPR. In the US I listened to it constantly. In Japan I streamed it online regularly until fairly recently, when I pledged to listen to only Japanese audio.
...But Japanese radio culture is, so far, just not very good. I mean, I'm in Tokyo and get only two stations? Wtf is that.
Strength, Colin. Japanese isn't going to master itself.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
A short book about my trip to Kyoto.
I have various things I want to write about!
But for now I will restrain myself and write about my trip to Kyoto. *cracks knuckles*
I did add a lot of pictures, so most people (*cough* everyone but me) can just look at those and skip the text if they feel so inclined. I hope you're not using dial-up~
On the night of the 22nd Miyamoto (who recently moved out of the dorm) came to the dorm, we talked for a little while, and then he went and spent the night in the MSC room. The next morning we set off.
As previously mentioned, we were using the Seishun Tickets, which are basically unlimited-riding passes for 24-hours on JR lines (but only the two slowest classes of these). For ￥2300 each, they are the cheapest way to travel between Tokyo and Kansai this time of year.
So, we had a laid-back eight hours or so sitting on trains, reading, chatting, dozing, eating 駅弁 (my first time eating on a train), and getting off to change trains every couple hours or so.
The last stretch, the hour and half or so outside Kyoto, was my favorite. The forecast had said rain, but it had been clear most of the day, and we were hoping the whole time that it wouldn't start, but, finally, as we got into Kansai, it did. The sky was gray but not dark, and the clouds scattered and blurred the light so that it didn't seem to be coming from any distinct angle. Also, that train was one with many small benches for two that face one another, rather than the two long benches alone the sides of the car and standing room between, as I usually ride in Tokyo. Because of that, maybe, and because there were fewer doors, which were spaced further apart (also a consequence of the train being used in a different way - not as much need to get so many people on and off quickly), there was a lot of window area, and the inside of the car seemed unusually bright. The scenery was also particularly nice. It was peaceful and very non-Tokyo as the train cut across the rice fields there, with just a little bit of rain on the windows.
One unexpected moment for me was when I heard the conductor announce that the next stop was Hikone. Hikone (not to be confused with Hakone, where I took a trip with AIKOM and a bunch of TouDaiSei and sensei last month) is a sister-city of Ann Arbor, my home town. I applied for an exchange program there when I was in middle school (though I probably never got very close to going). It's also where one of the UM programs is, and where I think a casual friend of mine from high school (and a couple classes my first year of uni) is studying right now. It was kind of strange to watch the town go by and try to imagine what it would have been like to be there instead of Tokyo.
When we got into Kyoto we bought umbrellas, and then Miyamoto went to stop by Tou-ji (one of the bigger tourist temples in the city, a world heritage site, which the high school he went to is inside of), to see if he could get in (it was almost 5 - pretty late for temples) and see anyone he knew. I went off to look for hotel. At first I didn't see it, but I did come upon a temple that was very impressive from the outside. It turned out to be Higashi-Hongan-ji, but it was closed for the day, so I just walked around outside the outer walls a bit, looking. I then went back and did find my hotel, but it was almost time to meet Joon Woo and Miyamoto for dinner, so I went back to the station. Another curious thing happened somewhere in there, however. While consulting the map of Kyoto that Miyamoto and I had gotten at the tourist information center in the station, I happened to see, because it was very near where I thought my hotel was supposed to be, marked on it (very small, and among a thousand other things), the Consortium of Universities in Kyoto Campus Plaza. If I didn't get into TouDai, that was where I almost certainly would have gone. It was my second choice, and where, for the space of an afternoon or so last year, I thought I would be going after getting a confusing email. So that was a little weird, right after Hikone. All these could-have-beens I didn't expect to encounter. Of course, Kyoto was in fact my second choice, and TouDai my first, so it's not a regret at all, just kind of curious. And though Hikone is great for people like the friend I mentioned who's there, who don't speak Japanese, it wasn't what I wanted whatsoever. For that matter, I can't even say Hikone in Japanese; it always comes out jumbled or as Hikoni on my first try.
We had dinner at a restaurant in the station complex, which was very enjoyable, and even included some (a little) "Kyoto food". Afterward we split up and I went to my hotel. I checked in, and was shown to my capsule. I have to say, I liked it. At maybe ￥500 more per night than an average hostel, I had a locker and a personal space (well, a screen that completely closed me off visually, if not audibly). It was really as much space as I needed. And, no surprise, although the "room" was not more comfortable than my room in Mitaka Dorm, the bed (...which pretty much was the room, anyway) was much more comfortable than my bed in Mitaka Dorm. It was still not very late, so I had some time. I finished the manga I'd brought with me (it ended on a cliffhanger, too - why didn't I buy more before leaving? D+) and started on the copy of The Little Prince (in Japanese, so actually 星の王子様） which was hard and involved a lot of dictionary action (I was shocked by how many non-common-use kanji were in this ~children's novel), but was entertaining nonetheless. I slept deeply.
The next morning I got into contact with Wu Di, who, with Chen Ken and Yang Rui, got into Tokyo on the night bus around seven am. They were exhausted and went to rest, however. Miyamoto had gone to his home near Osaka for the night, so took some time to get back to Kyoto, and then went to his high school again for a couple hours. I ate a konbini breakfast and set out for some nearby landmarks that I could reach on foot, the nearest being two world heritage sites, Nishi-Hongan-Ji and Tou-Ji. It was still raining steadily.
Nishi-Hongan-Ji was first. My basic impression of it was that it was デカイ. Big. Like Higashi-Hongan-Ji (to which it's closely related), it takes up more than half a block, with walls and a small moat all around the perimeter of the temple complex. But more than that, the main buildings were just enormous. There wasn't really that much to see, some of it was being worked on, and there was some kind of private event in one of the main buildings, so I couldn't enter. Still, there was very impressive atmosphere about the place. Old, and silent, and not the most popular among tourists, I guess, as there were about five people in the whole, enormous area. The rain was also keeping some people away, I guess.
When I'd had my fill, I went off to the more famous Tou-Ji, with it's five-storied pagoda. As Wikipedia says,
After that, I met up with Miyamoto, and we set about finding lunch. We went looking for an obanzai buffet we'd heard of. Obanzai being traditional home food of the area, it seemed like a very appropriate thing to do while visiting. When we got there we found that they were closed every Wednesday and Thursday (wat), and since it was a Wednesday, we were out of luck. However, decently nearby was another obanzai buffet, which we ate at, and which was excellent.
After that, we headed toward Kiyomizu-dera, another very famous temple and world heritage site. The way up to it was quite interesting, lined with tons of little shops up the sloping street. Kyoto is pretty much surrounded on all sides by mountains, and many of the temples, including Kiyomizu, are on the slopes of the mountains facing the city. Kiyomizu-dera itself was (and remains) the most memorable temple I've been to. The buildings were beautiful, the view back over the city was great, the sakura were starting to bloom (although it was still raining, of course)... We even drank water from "one of the most famous springs in Japan" from silver cups. The entire complex was just gorgeous.
Afterward we walked back down the street, eating free samples of yatsuhashi (a famous food product of Kyoto, sold absolutely everywhere there might be tourists, which is everywhere) and drinking free tea along the way, which was pleasantly warm in the cold damp weather. We sort of wandered north a bit, considering going to Koudai-ji, but eventually stopping by Yasaka-Jinja instead. It was there, at that fairly pretty and large shrine, that Miyamoto taught me (when I asked) the word 朱色 (something like "vermilion"), which became my favorite word (saying something, since I'm studying a lot of words per day right now). It's the name of the color of the red-orange color so prominent on many shrines and temples, the usual color of torii, the red gates at shrines, and a color I've really liked since coming to Japan.
Afterward we were contemplating where to go (so different from Joon Woo and his finely-detailed battle plan of a daily schedule, checking off destinations as he goes), and decided on Sanjuusangen-dou, which was one of a handful of places I definitely wanted to go in Kyoto this time, no matter what. So, we walked across Gion to a station, and went down to it.
Sanjuusangen-dou was another of my favorite places. I don't know if there's much to see at the temple besides the main attraction, but we didn't really look. The main attraction is a very large sculpture of the Thousand-armed Kannon, and, surrounding it, 28 statues that are all national treasures of Japan of other dieties, as well as one thousand life-sized sculptures of the Thousand-Armed Kannon. A thousand. Life-sized. All carved from wood (and covered with metal) by hand in the 11th and 12th centuries. And all with differing facial expression and hand gestures. They were lined up all along this huge hall... It was really stunning. In fact, when after a huge section of them that went on and on, I thought we'd gone past them all when we got to the main single sculpture (much bigger than life-size), and I realized we were only halfway.
It was of course forbidden to take photos inside, but I yanked some from the internet (that I'm using without permission, in the spirit of completeness).
After that, Miyamoto went back to his home in Osaka. He'd come home from Tokyo in large part, I guess, to guide us (or at least me) in our/my tourism, but was apparently told to eat at home with his family at least one night. XD Reasonable enough.
I walked down shijou from around the middle of the city toward Gion. I ended up with some extra time before I was to meet Joon Woo and Team China for dinner, so I walked to the nearby Kennin-ji, mostly because it was nearby. I didn't know it until I got there, but it was (or claims to be) the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, founded by Eisai, who is said to have introduced Zen to Japan. It was very pretty and atmospheric, and also pretty deserted. Kennin-ji and Nishi-Hongan-Ji were really the only places I visited that weren't swarming with tourists (aside from a small amount of swarming I did myself). The buildings were all closed for the day, but the grounds were open, so I wandered around, and also up a neat little street to a five (?) storied pagoda that seemed nearly as large as Tou-Ji's, but which I'm not 100% sure belonged to Tennin-ji (pretty sure, though).
After we all met up, we found ourselves between Gion, a very expensive but historic and interesting district, and a cheaper district with an atmosphere more like, as Joon-Woo put it, "around kichijouji station." We decided to try our luck with Gion. The weird thing in Gion was that the streets were really empty. Perhaps because most the restaurants serve only a couple customers per night. We did see what was probably a bonified geisha walking down the street, though (Gion is known for being the place to go to maybe see them). Finally we found a fairly reasonably-priced restaurant that Joon-Woo had even heard of in his famous-foods-of-Kyoto research, so we went there and has the unagi, which it was (apparently... maybe) known for, and it was pretty good.
After that it was back to the capsule, and this time almost straight to sleep.
The next day I was to meet Team China at Kinkaku-ji first thing int he morning, with Miyamoto joining us just a little later (since it takes a while to get to Kyoto, especially northern Kyoto, from his home). At this point it had not yet ceased to rain the entire trip, and this day was colder, though Miyamoto said in a text that it was supposed to stop raining later. I had another konbini breakfast, eating it while hiding from the rain under a ledge at the entrance to Kinkaku-ji while waiting for the girls. When they arrived, we went in.
It was fairly impressive. I should say, Kinkaku-ji literally means something like "Temple of the Golden Pavillion," and is the temple's popular name, not its official name. As that name suggests, the temple is famous for its pavilion that is coated entirely in gold leaf. In the rain it was pretty, though there was some sense that it might be better to see it shining in the sun. The grounds were also among the nicest I've been to.
After that, we went to the nearby Ryouan-ji, where we met with Miyamoto. Ryouan-ji is most famous for its rock garden, built/arranged in the 15th century. Again, being from the non-East-Coast-US, where there aren't exactly a ton of things very old and continuous (that is, still on their original site, and, as in the case of the rock garden and its walls, not even particularly restored), it was pretty interesting. We sat and pondered it for a little while, then walked around the grounds, which were, again, quite beautiful, including a large pond and a lot of really pretty landscaping.
We then had lunch at the obanzai buffet that was closed the day before (I don't know why it was open this day), which was alright, though not as good as the previous day's, I think. Afterward we headed to the opposite end of the city to see Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which is famous not for the shrine itself, but for the mountain behind the shrine, on which are thousands and thousands of torii (the vermilion gates at shrines I mentioned before), all gifts from individuals and businesses around Japan.
We didn't have time for the full course up the mountain behind the shrine, through the winding tunnels of torii, but we went up a little ways. It certainly made quite an impression. In the cold, misty weather (it did finally stop raining by this point), it was even a little creepy sometimes in those long tunnels. Definitely another place I really liked and want to go back to with more time when I get the chance.
A torii tunnel from the outside.
Finally we headed to Nijou-jou, to see it at night, because it was in the middle of a special light-up event lasting a few weeks. It was fun to go with everyone, and we all drank hot vending-machine drinks and looked at the sparsely-blooming sakura (still too early, there), but it wasn't too impressive. The area within the inner moat was entirely closed off, so we pretty much just saw the grounds, which were alright but not exceptional. At the end there was a little area with vendors' booths set up, where Miyamoto and I sampled sake (I always feel awkward accepting samples when I know I won't buy, but not Miyamoto, I guess XD) and the girls bought soba-flavored ice cream, despite the cold.
Finally, we met up with Joon Woo and, surprisingly, Keisuke, who had gotten in from Tokyo just before (his hometown being Kobe, which is fairly nearby to Kyoto). We all had shabu-shabu/sukiyaki (my favorite of all Japanese cuisine). Because it was all-you can eat, we ate mostly meat, of course. XD It was pretty fantastic. I can't remember too much of dinner conversation, except to say that Joon Woo talks and talks like none other when he's had a drink, and my listening comprehension of his Korean-accented Japanese only goes down. XD It was a great meal, though. If I had more money I would eat sukiyaki so often, and get all kinds of cancer and salmonella from red meat and raw eggs. It would be worth it.
But for now I will restrain myself and write about my trip to Kyoto. *cracks knuckles*
I did add a lot of pictures, so most people (*cough* everyone but me) can just look at those and skip the text if they feel so inclined. I hope you're not using dial-up~
As previously mentioned, we were using the Seishun Tickets, which are basically unlimited-riding passes for 24-hours on JR lines (but only the two slowest classes of these). For ￥2300 each, they are the cheapest way to travel between Tokyo and Kansai this time of year.
So, we had a laid-back eight hours or so sitting on trains, reading, chatting, dozing, eating 駅弁 (my first time eating on a train), and getting off to change trains every couple hours or so.
The last stretch, the hour and half or so outside Kyoto, was my favorite. The forecast had said rain, but it had been clear most of the day, and we were hoping the whole time that it wouldn't start, but, finally, as we got into Kansai, it did. The sky was gray but not dark, and the clouds scattered and blurred the light so that it didn't seem to be coming from any distinct angle. Also, that train was one with many small benches for two that face one another, rather than the two long benches alone the sides of the car and standing room between, as I usually ride in Tokyo. Because of that, maybe, and because there were fewer doors, which were spaced further apart (also a consequence of the train being used in a different way - not as much need to get so many people on and off quickly), there was a lot of window area, and the inside of the car seemed unusually bright. The scenery was also particularly nice. It was peaceful and very non-Tokyo as the train cut across the rice fields there, with just a little bit of rain on the windows.
One unexpected moment for me was when I heard the conductor announce that the next stop was Hikone. Hikone (not to be confused with Hakone, where I took a trip with AIKOM and a bunch of TouDaiSei and sensei last month) is a sister-city of Ann Arbor, my home town. I applied for an exchange program there when I was in middle school (though I probably never got very close to going). It's also where one of the UM programs is, and where I think a casual friend of mine from high school (and a couple classes my first year of uni) is studying right now. It was kind of strange to watch the town go by and try to imagine what it would have been like to be there instead of Tokyo.
When we got into Kyoto we bought umbrellas, and then Miyamoto went to stop by Tou-ji (one of the bigger tourist temples in the city, a world heritage site, which the high school he went to is inside of), to see if he could get in (it was almost 5 - pretty late for temples) and see anyone he knew. I went off to look for hotel. At first I didn't see it, but I did come upon a temple that was very impressive from the outside. It turned out to be Higashi-Hongan-ji, but it was closed for the day, so I just walked around outside the outer walls a bit, looking. I then went back and did find my hotel, but it was almost time to meet Joon Woo and Miyamoto for dinner, so I went back to the station. Another curious thing happened somewhere in there, however. While consulting the map of Kyoto that Miyamoto and I had gotten at the tourist information center in the station, I happened to see, because it was very near where I thought my hotel was supposed to be, marked on it (very small, and among a thousand other things), the Consortium of Universities in Kyoto Campus Plaza. If I didn't get into TouDai, that was where I almost certainly would have gone. It was my second choice, and where, for the space of an afternoon or so last year, I thought I would be going after getting a confusing email. So that was a little weird, right after Hikone. All these could-have-beens I didn't expect to encounter. Of course, Kyoto was in fact my second choice, and TouDai my first, so it's not a regret at all, just kind of curious. And though Hikone is great for people like the friend I mentioned who's there, who don't speak Japanese, it wasn't what I wanted whatsoever. For that matter, I can't even say Hikone in Japanese; it always comes out jumbled or as Hikoni on my first try.
We had dinner at a restaurant in the station complex, which was very enjoyable, and even included some (a little) "Kyoto food". Afterward we split up and I went to my hotel. I checked in, and was shown to my capsule. I have to say, I liked it. At maybe ￥500 more per night than an average hostel, I had a locker and a personal space (well, a screen that completely closed me off visually, if not audibly). It was really as much space as I needed. And, no surprise, although the "room" was not more comfortable than my room in Mitaka Dorm, the bed (...which pretty much was the room, anyway) was much more comfortable than my bed in Mitaka Dorm. It was still not very late, so I had some time. I finished the manga I'd brought with me (it ended on a cliffhanger, too - why didn't I buy more before leaving? D+) and started on the copy of The Little Prince (in Japanese, so actually 星の王子様） which was hard and involved a lot of dictionary action (I was shocked by how many non-common-use kanji were in this ~children's novel), but was entertaining nonetheless. I slept deeply.
 Kyoto Tower |  A small gate of Higashi-Hongan-Ji |  Inside the capsule, looking toward my feet |  ...And looking the other way. |
The next morning I got into contact with Wu Di, who, with Chen Ken and Yang Rui, got into Tokyo on the night bus around seven am. They were exhausted and went to rest, however. Miyamoto had gone to his home near Osaka for the night, so took some time to get back to Kyoto, and then went to his high school again for a couple hours. I ate a konbini breakfast and set out for some nearby landmarks that I could reach on foot, the nearest being two world heritage sites, Nishi-Hongan-Ji and Tou-Ji. It was still raining steadily.
Nishi-Hongan-Ji was first. My basic impression of it was that it was デカイ. Big. Like Higashi-Hongan-Ji (to which it's closely related), it takes up more than half a block, with walls and a small moat all around the perimeter of the temple complex. But more than that, the main buildings were just enormous. There wasn't really that much to see, some of it was being worked on, and there was some kind of private event in one of the main buildings, so I couldn't enter. Still, there was very impressive atmosphere about the place. Old, and silent, and not the most popular among tourists, I guess, as there were about five people in the whole, enormous area. The rain was also keeping some people away, I guess.
 Outer wall and moat of Nishi-Hongan-Ji |  Half of one of the main halls |  A roofed passage connecting buildings |  I liked the guys holding up this water basin. |
When I'd had my fill, I went off to the more famous Tou-Ji, with it's five-storied pagoda. As Wikipedia says,
The pagoda of Tō-ji stands 54.8 m high, and is the tallest wooden tower in Japan. It dates from the Edo Period, when it was rebuilt by order of the thir Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu. The pagoda has been, and continues to be, a symbol of Kyoto.
The grounds were quite nice as well, and my favorite was two halls from the 14th century housing bronze statues from the 8th and 9th centuries. Tokyo just kept burning down over time, notably burning pretty much entirely in WWII, so there aren't a lot of actual old buildings here, though the old temples were rebuilt on the same ancient sites. So Kyoto, which has seen relatively little fire, was very impressive in that regard (of course, it goes without saying that I've never seen a lot of very old things or buildings in the US). In the case of Tou-Ji too, of course, the temple was actually established in 796, apparently near were Rashou-mon stood.
 Tou-ji pagoda from afar. |  Pagoda with sakura. |  One of the 14th-century lecture halls |
After that, I met up with Miyamoto, and we set about finding lunch. We went looking for an obanzai buffet we'd heard of. Obanzai being traditional home food of the area, it seemed like a very appropriate thing to do while visiting. When we got there we found that they were closed every Wednesday and Thursday (wat), and since it was a Wednesday, we were out of luck. However, decently nearby was another obanzai buffet, which we ate at, and which was excellent.
After that, we headed toward Kiyomizu-dera, another very famous temple and world heritage site. The way up to it was quite interesting, lined with tons of little shops up the sloping street. Kyoto is pretty much surrounded on all sides by mountains, and many of the temples, including Kiyomizu, are on the slopes of the mountains facing the city. Kiyomizu-dera itself was (and remains) the most memorable temple I've been to. The buildings were beautiful, the view back over the city was great, the sakura were starting to bloom (although it was still raining, of course)... We even drank water from "one of the most famous springs in Japan" from silver cups. The entire complex was just gorgeous.
 Me in front of Kiyomiza-dera's second gate |  Miyamoto on the way up the steps to the temple |  Looking back at the main building and the city below |  Looking up from near the spring we drank from |
Afterward we walked back down the street, eating free samples of yatsuhashi (a famous food product of Kyoto, sold absolutely everywhere there might be tourists, which is everywhere) and drinking free tea along the way, which was pleasantly warm in the cold damp weather. We sort of wandered north a bit, considering going to Koudai-ji, but eventually stopping by Yasaka-Jinja instead. It was there, at that fairly pretty and large shrine, that Miyamoto taught me (when I asked) the word 朱色 (something like "vermilion"), which became my favorite word (saying something, since I'm studying a lot of words per day right now). It's the name of the color of the red-orange color so prominent on many shrines and temples, the usual color of torii, the red gates at shrines, and a color I've really liked since coming to Japan.
Afterward we were contemplating where to go (so different from Joon Woo and his finely-detailed battle plan of a daily schedule, checking off destinations as he goes), and decided on Sanjuusangen-dou, which was one of a handful of places I definitely wanted to go in Kyoto this time, no matter what. So, we walked across Gion to a station, and went down to it.
Sanjuusangen-dou was another of my favorite places. I don't know if there's much to see at the temple besides the main attraction, but we didn't really look. The main attraction is a very large sculpture of the Thousand-armed Kannon, and, surrounding it, 28 statues that are all national treasures of Japan of other dieties, as well as one thousand life-sized sculptures of the Thousand-Armed Kannon. A thousand. Life-sized. All carved from wood (and covered with metal) by hand in the 11th and 12th centuries. And all with differing facial expression and hand gestures. They were lined up all along this huge hall... It was really stunning. In fact, when after a huge section of them that went on and on, I thought we'd gone past them all when we got to the main single sculpture (much bigger than life-size), and I realized we were only halfway.
It was of course forbidden to take photos inside, but I yanked some from the internet (that I'm using without permission, in the spirit of completeness).
 Plaza at Yasaka-Jinja |
|  A thousand life-sized, hand-made, unique statues |
After that, Miyamoto went back to his home in Osaka. He'd come home from Tokyo in large part, I guess, to guide us (or at least me) in our/my tourism, but was apparently told to eat at home with his family at least one night. XD Reasonable enough.
I walked down shijou from around the middle of the city toward Gion. I ended up with some extra time before I was to meet Joon Woo and Team China for dinner, so I walked to the nearby Kennin-ji, mostly because it was nearby. I didn't know it until I got there, but it was (or claims to be) the oldest Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, founded by Eisai, who is said to have introduced Zen to Japan. It was very pretty and atmospheric, and also pretty deserted. Kennin-ji and Nishi-Hongan-Ji were really the only places I visited that weren't swarming with tourists (aside from a small amount of swarming I did myself). The buildings were all closed for the day, but the grounds were open, so I wandered around, and also up a neat little street to a five (?) storied pagoda that seemed nearly as large as Tou-Ji's, but which I'm not 100% sure belonged to Tennin-ji (pretty sure, though).
After we all met up, we found ourselves between Gion, a very expensive but historic and interesting district, and a cheaper district with an atmosphere more like, as Joon-Woo put it, "around kichijouji station." We decided to try our luck with Gion. The weird thing in Gion was that the streets were really empty. Perhaps because most the restaurants serve only a couple customers per night. We did see what was probably a bonified geisha walking down the street, though (Gion is known for being the place to go to maybe see them). Finally we found a fairly reasonably-priced restaurant that Joon-Woo had even heard of in his famous-foods-of-Kyoto research, so we went there and has the unagi, which it was (apparently... maybe) known for, and it was pretty good.
After that it was back to the capsule, and this time almost straight to sleep.
 A deserted path at Kennin-ji |  Street leading up to Kennin-ji's (?) pagoda |  A pretty spot in Gion: a canal crossed by little bridges and flanked by sakura and restaurants. |
The next day I was to meet Team China at Kinkaku-ji first thing int he morning, with Miyamoto joining us just a little later (since it takes a while to get to Kyoto, especially northern Kyoto, from his home). At this point it had not yet ceased to rain the entire trip, and this day was colder, though Miyamoto said in a text that it was supposed to stop raining later. I had another konbini breakfast, eating it while hiding from the rain under a ledge at the entrance to Kinkaku-ji while waiting for the girls. When they arrived, we went in.
It was fairly impressive. I should say, Kinkaku-ji literally means something like "Temple of the Golden Pavillion," and is the temple's popular name, not its official name. As that name suggests, the temple is famous for its pavilion that is coated entirely in gold leaf. In the rain it was pretty, though there was some sense that it might be better to see it shining in the sun. The grounds were also among the nicest I've been to.
 Kinkaku-ji and its pond. |  A bowl (filled with rainwater) at Kinkaku-ji that people tried to throw coins into. |  Yang Rui trying her best. |
After that, we went to the nearby Ryouan-ji, where we met with Miyamoto. Ryouan-ji is most famous for its rock garden, built/arranged in the 15th century. Again, being from the non-East-Coast-US, where there aren't exactly a ton of things very old and continuous (that is, still on their original site, and, as in the case of the rock garden and its walls, not even particularly restored), it was pretty interesting. We sat and pondered it for a little while, then walked around the grounds, which were, again, quite beautiful, including a large pond and a lot of really pretty landscaping.
 Walking on the grounds of Ryouan-ji. |  Part of the famous rock garden. |  More Ryouan-ji grounds. |  Pond at Ryouan-ji |
We then had lunch at the obanzai buffet that was closed the day before (I don't know why it was open this day), which was alright, though not as good as the previous day's, I think. Afterward we headed to the opposite end of the city to see Fushimi-Inari-Taisha, which is famous not for the shrine itself, but for the mountain behind the shrine, on which are thousands and thousands of torii (the vermilion gates at shrines I mentioned before), all gifts from individuals and businesses around Japan.
We didn't have time for the full course up the mountain behind the shrine, through the winding tunnels of torii, but we went up a little ways. It certainly made quite an impression. In the cold, misty weather (it did finally stop raining by this point), it was even a little creepy sometimes in those long tunnels. Definitely another place I really liked and want to go back to with more time when I get the chance.
 The entrance to the torii passages |  |  Miyamoto and Chen Ken inside a torii tunnel. |  On these ema you could not only write on one side, but draw a fox face on the other. |
A torii tunnel from the outside.
Finally we headed to Nijou-jou, to see it at night, because it was in the middle of a special light-up event lasting a few weeks. It was fun to go with everyone, and we all drank hot vending-machine drinks and looked at the sparsely-blooming sakura (still too early, there), but it wasn't too impressive. The area within the inner moat was entirely closed off, so we pretty much just saw the grounds, which were alright but not exceptional. At the end there was a little area with vendors' booths set up, where Miyamoto and I sampled sake (I always feel awkward accepting samples when I know I won't buy, but not Miyamoto, I guess XD) and the girls bought soba-flavored ice cream, despite the cold.
Finally, we met up with Joon Woo and, surprisingly, Keisuke, who had gotten in from Tokyo just before (his hometown being Kobe, which is fairly nearby to Kyoto). We all had shabu-shabu/sukiyaki (my favorite of all Japanese cuisine). Because it was all-you can eat, we ate mostly meat, of course. XD It was pretty fantastic. I can't remember too much of dinner conversation, except to say that Joon Woo talks and talks like none other when he's had a drink, and my listening comprehension of his Korean-accented Japanese only goes down. XD It was a great meal, though. If I had more money I would eat sukiyaki so often, and get all kinds of cancer and salmonella from red meat and raw eggs. It would be worth it.
 A pretty gate at Nijou-jou |  Nijou-jou inner moat |  Getting ready for sukiyaki and shabushabu |
Afterward I had a somewhat hurried trip to the station (I didn't realize how far we were, I guess). And... Well, see the previous entry.
When I realized that another seishun ticket (riding trains all day for dirt cheap) wasn't going to work, I contemplated staying in Kyoto for the day and getting a night bus back to Tokyo (a cheap hotel room and another night bus ticket would probably not be more expensive than a shinkansen ticket). But, by that point it was very late, which meant finding accommodation (this is Japan) would be hard, and I also did kind of want to get back to Tokyo to study, lame though that is. So, the next day, feeling pretty terrible from having gotten no sleep, I investigated options for getting back to Tokyo, but ultimately just bought a shinkansen ticket, despite the price. Getting to my bed (hard though it is) in Mitaka at 9:30 am, was worth it.
A few closing remarks, since I don't think I've really worked these in elsewhere:
- Kyoto is a much easier city to navigate than Tokyo!
- Kyoto has an amazing number of foreigners (presumably mostly tourists)! It makes me more aware of how few there are even in Tokyo.
- Going with Miyamoto was great! Besides very materially guiding me around, as in showing me the way and helping me navigate, he constantly told me all kinds of things about the area and stories and history connected to it. And, more than anything else, despite his high level of English, he patiently talked with me in Japanese the whole time. Despite my constant difficulty in understanding and difficultly in saying what I wanted to say. In that, he was a true saint.
When I realized that another seishun ticket (riding trains all day for dirt cheap) wasn't going to work, I contemplated staying in Kyoto for the day and getting a night bus back to Tokyo (a cheap hotel room and another night bus ticket would probably not be more expensive than a shinkansen ticket). But, by that point it was very late, which meant finding accommodation (this is Japan) would be hard, and I also did kind of want to get back to Tokyo to study, lame though that is. So, the next day, feeling pretty terrible from having gotten no sleep, I investigated options for getting back to Tokyo, but ultimately just bought a shinkansen ticket, despite the price. Getting to my bed (hard though it is) in Mitaka at 9:30 am, was worth it.
A few closing remarks, since I don't think I've really worked these in elsewhere:
- Kyoto is a much easier city to navigate than Tokyo!
- Kyoto has an amazing number of foreigners (presumably mostly tourists)! It makes me more aware of how few there are even in Tokyo.
- Going with Miyamoto was great! Besides very materially guiding me around, as in showing me the way and helping me navigate, he constantly told me all kinds of things about the area and stories and history connected to it. And, more than anything else, despite his high level of English, he patiently talked with me in Japanese the whole time. Despite my constant difficulty in understanding and difficultly in saying what I wanted to say. In that, he was a true saint.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
My first time in a 漫画喫茶
It is 2:33 am, and I am sitting in an internet/manga cafe across the road to the south of Kyoto station.
How I got here:
With help from way-too-gracious Keisuke, I reached the station about fifteen minutes before the night bus I had booked to take back to Tokyo was to leave (at 11:00 pm). Unfortunately, I then misunderstood the way it worked, and figured it out at 10:58, which was apparently slightly too late to get on my bus. I asked, but there the rest of the buses for the night were booked full. Being 11 pm, hopping on a shinkansen for a big gob of money was not an option, which left me definitely stuck in Kansai (and pretty much stuck in Kyoto) for the night.
Which left the question of what to do until morning. I thought about walking back to the capsule hotel I stayed in the last two nights, which is closeby, but, it being already 11pm, I remembered that, even if they had vacancies, which I didn't think they did, the reception was already closed.
So, I figured I'd go find a Gasuto or something, a 24-hour McDonald's a the least, and just chill until morning. And then, lo, right across the street from the station (south side - facing away from town) I saw a "24時間" sign, and then saw that it also advertised manga and internet. This is actually my first time in a manga/internet cafe, but I'd heard from many people about staying overnight in them, so it seemed like a good idea.
What a manga/internet cafe is:
Normally open 24 hours, a place where you pay a certain amount of money for access to whatever library of manga (Japanese comics) they have, and a cubicle of your own. In an internet cafe there is also in the cubicle a computer with an internet connection. And, as I'm told is common, there is also, at this particular location, an all-you-can-drink softdrink bar (in the US free refills on many softdrinks are a matter of course, but not so in Japan). You can pay by the hour, but I chose a night pass, which gives me the above-listed amenities for 1500 yen (about $16 USD) for seven hours, which is all I need to get me to the first train.
It's pretty embarassing to have missed my bus, and getting back to Tokyo is gonna be a lot more expensive now (probably around 8000 yen, plus the 4000 I already paid for the bus, fff), but it's been interesting, anyway.
How I got here:
With help from way-too-gracious Keisuke, I reached the station about fifteen minutes before the night bus I had booked to take back to Tokyo was to leave (at 11:00 pm). Unfortunately, I then misunderstood the way it worked, and figured it out at 10:58, which was apparently slightly too late to get on my bus. I asked, but there the rest of the buses for the night were booked full. Being 11 pm, hopping on a shinkansen for a big gob of money was not an option, which left me definitely stuck in Kansai (and pretty much stuck in Kyoto) for the night.
Which left the question of what to do until morning. I thought about walking back to the capsule hotel I stayed in the last two nights, which is closeby, but, it being already 11pm, I remembered that, even if they had vacancies, which I didn't think they did, the reception was already closed.
So, I figured I'd go find a Gasuto or something, a 24-hour McDonald's a the least, and just chill until morning. And then, lo, right across the street from the station (south side - facing away from town) I saw a "24時間" sign, and then saw that it also advertised manga and internet. This is actually my first time in a manga/internet cafe, but I'd heard from many people about staying overnight in them, so it seemed like a good idea.
What a manga/internet cafe is:
Normally open 24 hours, a place where you pay a certain amount of money for access to whatever library of manga (Japanese comics) they have, and a cubicle of your own. In an internet cafe there is also in the cubicle a computer with an internet connection. And, as I'm told is common, there is also, at this particular location, an all-you-can-drink softdrink bar (in the US free refills on many softdrinks are a matter of course, but not so in Japan). You can pay by the hour, but I chose a night pass, which gives me the above-listed amenities for 1500 yen (about $16 USD) for seven hours, which is all I need to get me to the first train.
It's pretty embarassing to have missed my bus, and getting back to Tokyo is gonna be a lot more expensive now (probably around 8000 yen, plus the 4000 I already paid for the bus, fff), but it's been interesting, anyway.
Monday, March 22, 2010
京都へ行ってきます！Off to Kyoto for a few days.
The last two days have been really fun, though I didn't really get much studying done. I somehow kept up with my SRS (review), though, so it's tolerable. I haven't studied much today, either, but I will next after this.
To keep it short (maybe):
Two days ago I went to Shinjuku Gyouen (a really famous and really nice large park near, yes, Shinjuku) with Joon Woo, Team China (Yang Rui, Wu Di, Chen Ken and Yu Chen), Francesco and Etienne of AIKOM 15, plus Sarah and Park. The idea was for it to be half "welcome back to Japan" picnic for Sarah and half hanami (kinda hard to succinctly explain, but basically a very common annual Japanese pastime of picnicing under the blooming cherry trees [sakura] and enjoying the view [hanami literally means "flower viewing]). The sakura weren't blooming all that much yet, but here and there there were some nicely pink trees. We were really lucky in that we got an usually warm day. It's been usually around 13° or so most days recently, which is nice, but it was more like 20 that day; I didn't even wear a jacket. Anyway, that was glorious fun.
After that I went to a Chabashira-organized birthday get-together. Originally it was "the March birthdays," but it ended up being just Koyanagi who had a March birthday and could make it. There were only five of us (Koyanagi, Misato, Patrick, Tore, and myself) but I had a really great time. At the risk of sounding like I'm using people for their language abilities, it was especially good to spend time with Koyanagi, who doesn't speak much English (though I have made it my new policy recently to be more predatory in my attitude about Japanese, and take what others know). He even deliberately taught me a few words... But, they're rather colorful words, which I will probably (hopefully) not have occasion to use. XD+
Eventually Tore had to leave, but Akabane joined us, and we went to another izakaya. All in all, a very fun day.
(By the way, 非公式 is such confusing kanji. I was all, "uh, does that mean I should ask permission to go?" before I entered it into the dictionary, just in case, and found out that it means not, as the kanji would lead one to believe, "non-public" but "informal").
And yesterday~
Mara, my senpai from Michigan (that is, the person from UofM who went on AIKOM last year), arrived in Tokyo apparently the day before yesterday. She's just visiting for now, and only here for a couple weeks. I don't know about last year, but this year really only Joon Woo and I of AIKOM 15 participate in Chabashira. Mara, however, also did, last year, so we have many mutual friends and acquaintances there. As a result, not just from the few AIKOM 14sei I've met, but also from Chabashira, I've always been hearing about Mara... But I had never actually met her. XD We'd talked a little through Facebook, but that was all.
Anyway, yesterday I had dinner with Taiga, Akabane and Kenji, and then Kenji took me to meet Mara. She even had homemade chocolate chip cookies from the US, a kind of cookie that does not really exist in Japan (but is the cookie by which all other cookies are to be judged). We talked for a bit where they were having dinner, and then went to karaoke, which was great fun. Karaoke in a group of about that size (five people) is perfect. I'll definitely have to spend more time with her before she goes back.
The next three days, however, I will not meet Mara, nor will I be studying, because I'm going to Kyoto (and maybe a little bit of Osaka, etc.) with Miyamoto!
It had seemed that there would be others, but I think it's just us, for the most part. Joon Woo and Team China are also thereabouts somewhere, but I'm sure how much we'll see of them. Anyway, with just Miyamoto and I it'll be very easy, I think, so I'm quite happy. (And to return to the slightly uncomfortable theme of talking to Japanese natives for personal gain, Miyamoto is great because he patiently speaks Japanese with me even though his English is pretty good).
Tomorrow Miyamoto and I will use Youth JR Rail passes to go to Kyoto. This means being on the train for eight hours or so, but it's the cheapest way to go. I actually kind of like long rides (see: driving around the perimeter of the eastern continental US a few years ago; me being a little disappointed at how fast the shinkansen was on the way to Osaka), at least on the way to someplace (not as much coming home), so I'm looking forward to it. Miyamoto will be fun company, there'll be various scenery, and the train probably won't be very full most of the way.
Originally Joon Woo and I were thinking of staying at a hostel or a Korean-operated guest house together, but in the end we didn't. As a result I'm staying in, yes, a capsule hotel. ...Sort of. Not exactly the 本物, made for salarymen who can't get home for the night and sometimes used by low-budget travelers, but rather a quasi-hotel built to imitate those, geared toward foreign tourism. Still, I'm looking forward to it; it should be novel. XD It was slightly cheaper than any of the hostels with space I could find (with sakura blooming and many Japanese schools on break right now, it's peak season for Kyoto), and looks nicer (if perhaps less interesting) than a normal capsule hotel for the same price, so~
Anyway. I should probably talk about that more after I get back, rather than before I go (although we know how that turned out with Hokkaido... and Hakone...)
To keep it short (maybe):
Two days ago I went to Shinjuku Gyouen (a really famous and really nice large park near, yes, Shinjuku) with Joon Woo, Team China (Yang Rui, Wu Di, Chen Ken and Yu Chen), Francesco and Etienne of AIKOM 15, plus Sarah and Park. The idea was for it to be half "welcome back to Japan" picnic for Sarah and half hanami (kinda hard to succinctly explain, but basically a very common annual Japanese pastime of picnicing under the blooming cherry trees [sakura] and enjoying the view [hanami literally means "flower viewing]). The sakura weren't blooming all that much yet, but here and there there were some nicely pink trees. We were really lucky in that we got an usually warm day. It's been usually around 13° or so most days recently, which is nice, but it was more like 20 that day; I didn't even wear a jacket. Anyway, that was glorious fun.
After that I went to a Chabashira-organized birthday get-together. Originally it was "the March birthdays," but it ended up being just Koyanagi who had a March birthday and could make it. There were only five of us (Koyanagi, Misato, Patrick, Tore, and myself) but I had a really great time. At the risk of sounding like I'm using people for their language abilities, it was especially good to spend time with Koyanagi, who doesn't speak much English (though I have made it my new policy recently to be more predatory in my attitude about Japanese, and take what others know). He even deliberately taught me a few words... But, they're rather colorful words, which I will probably (hopefully) not have occasion to use. XD+
Eventually Tore had to leave, but Akabane joined us, and we went to another izakaya. All in all, a very fun day.
(By the way, 非公式 is such confusing kanji. I was all, "uh, does that mean I should ask permission to go?" before I entered it into the dictionary, just in case, and found out that it means not, as the kanji would lead one to believe, "non-public" but "informal").
And yesterday~
Mara, my senpai from Michigan (that is, the person from UofM who went on AIKOM last year), arrived in Tokyo apparently the day before yesterday. She's just visiting for now, and only here for a couple weeks. I don't know about last year, but this year really only Joon Woo and I of AIKOM 15 participate in Chabashira. Mara, however, also did, last year, so we have many mutual friends and acquaintances there. As a result, not just from the few AIKOM 14sei I've met, but also from Chabashira, I've always been hearing about Mara... But I had never actually met her. XD We'd talked a little through Facebook, but that was all.
Anyway, yesterday I had dinner with Taiga, Akabane and Kenji, and then Kenji took me to meet Mara. She even had homemade chocolate chip cookies from the US, a kind of cookie that does not really exist in Japan (but is the cookie by which all other cookies are to be judged). We talked for a bit where they were having dinner, and then went to karaoke, which was great fun. Karaoke in a group of about that size (five people) is perfect. I'll definitely have to spend more time with her before she goes back.
The next three days, however, I will not meet Mara, nor will I be studying, because I'm going to Kyoto (and maybe a little bit of Osaka, etc.) with Miyamoto!
It had seemed that there would be others, but I think it's just us, for the most part. Joon Woo and Team China are also thereabouts somewhere, but I'm sure how much we'll see of them. Anyway, with just Miyamoto and I it'll be very easy, I think, so I'm quite happy. (And to return to the slightly uncomfortable theme of talking to Japanese natives for personal gain, Miyamoto is great because he patiently speaks Japanese with me even though his English is pretty good).
Tomorrow Miyamoto and I will use Youth JR Rail passes to go to Kyoto. This means being on the train for eight hours or so, but it's the cheapest way to go. I actually kind of like long rides (see: driving around the perimeter of the eastern continental US a few years ago; me being a little disappointed at how fast the shinkansen was on the way to Osaka), at least on the way to someplace (not as much coming home), so I'm looking forward to it. Miyamoto will be fun company, there'll be various scenery, and the train probably won't be very full most of the way.
Originally Joon Woo and I were thinking of staying at a hostel or a Korean-operated guest house together, but in the end we didn't. As a result I'm staying in, yes, a capsule hotel. ...Sort of. Not exactly the 本物, made for salarymen who can't get home for the night and sometimes used by low-budget travelers, but rather a quasi-hotel built to imitate those, geared toward foreign tourism. Still, I'm looking forward to it; it should be novel. XD It was slightly cheaper than any of the hostels with space I could find (with sakura blooming and many Japanese schools on break right now, it's peak season for Kyoto), and looks nicer (if perhaps less interesting) than a normal capsule hotel for the same price, so~
Anyway. I should probably talk about that more after I get back, rather than before I go (although we know how that turned out with Hokkaido... and Hakone...)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
大泉高校
Today I went to Ooizumi High School (大泉高校） and talked to two classes for 50 minutes each about myself and the US. I was kind of nervous going into it, but it was pretty fun. I tried hard to impress upon them that I wanted them to participate, but they were still pretty shy. The teacher I'd been in contact with had told me to try to use English and Japanese. Although he had said something like 「高校一年生だから英語が。。。できる」 （They're first-year high school students, so they can speak English) I was kind of skeptical of the actual level of Japanese 16-year-olds' English. At first I tried to talk in English about half of the time, but they didn't seem to follow very well, so I went to ~85% Japanese after about the first half of the first class. I was very happy, as well, because some of my jokes actually came across in Japanese. That feeling of "yesss, I actually made sense."
From time to time here in Japan I have moments where something that someone says is so unexpected that I assume I didn't understand (a reasonable assumption, really), even though, in fact, I did. For example, the first time I met Minami, I started talking in Japanese and he said something like 「えっ？なんでしゃべるの？」（"Huh? Why can you speak [Japanese]?）. Why? Why? Just because I'm a westerner, jeez... (though the perception that foreigners necessarily cannot speak any Japanese is, in my experience, pretty pervasive, and is maybe a topic for another discourse). Anyway, I had such an experience today. "If you were a girl, what would you want to do?" One of the students asked me this in English, but had a strong accent, so I asked him to repeat it a couple times, before, starting to accept what my ears had heard, I rephrased it in Japanese, and he confirmed it. XD+ Maybe it was my fault for saying, in my desperation when no one would raise their hands, that anything at all would be okay. I said something dodgy like "Well, I think boys can do pretty much anything girls can do, so there's nothing, really..." and then I asked him the same question, to which he replied that he would wear a dress. XD
After the classes ended, I ate a bentou they provided for me with a couple other international students who had come to talk at the same time. Only one other, from Malaysia, was from Toudai. It was kind of fun to talk to them. Three from Vietnam, one from Iran, one from Bangladesh and one from India, I think.
Although I prudently left the dorm with plenty of time in the morning, I got all the way to Kichijouji station (cycling and then walking, of course) before I realized I didn't have my wallet or any money, and thus couldn't get on the bus. Fff. The first time I get past the dorm gate without my wallet since I've been in Japan and it's the one day of break I really don't want to be late. But I biked like the wind back to the dorm and then back to the station/bus stop, and got on the bus at about the time I was supposed to get to the school. I even parked my bike illegally on the side of the sidewalk at Kichijouji for the first time, so that the walk (actually run, in this case) from there to the bus stop would be shorter, to save time. Although hundreds of people do this every day, I was pretty sure the world would end and my bicycle would disappear forever. But, luckily, it was still there when I got back, without so much as a ticket on it. XD
I was supposed to meet the principal and such at nine and then start with the first class at 9:30. By means of literally running from the bus stop to the school and then up the really long entryway to the school building, I got there just before 9:30. So, at least the students hopefully didn't know I was late. I think I'd never really run in a necktie before. It's pretty silly, with it flying all over the place. XD
All in all, a very good experience, though. I would definitely do it again. I was also glad to have to have the chance for several reasons. One part was just curiosity - I pass Japanese schools all the time, but of course I can't just go in and see what they're like. And, though I didn't think about it ahead of time, it was one of my first experiences talking with anyone younger than a first-year university student in Japan, which was interesting.
From time to time here in Japan I have moments where something that someone says is so unexpected that I assume I didn't understand (a reasonable assumption, really), even though, in fact, I did. For example, the first time I met Minami, I started talking in Japanese and he said something like 「えっ？なんでしゃべるの？」（"Huh? Why can you speak [Japanese]?）. Why? Why? Just because I'm a westerner, jeez... (though the perception that foreigners necessarily cannot speak any Japanese is, in my experience, pretty pervasive, and is maybe a topic for another discourse). Anyway, I had such an experience today. "If you were a girl, what would you want to do?" One of the students asked me this in English, but had a strong accent, so I asked him to repeat it a couple times, before, starting to accept what my ears had heard, I rephrased it in Japanese, and he confirmed it. XD+ Maybe it was my fault for saying, in my desperation when no one would raise their hands, that anything at all would be okay. I said something dodgy like "Well, I think boys can do pretty much anything girls can do, so there's nothing, really..." and then I asked him the same question, to which he replied that he would wear a dress. XD
After the classes ended, I ate a bentou they provided for me with a couple other international students who had come to talk at the same time. Only one other, from Malaysia, was from Toudai. It was kind of fun to talk to them. Three from Vietnam, one from Iran, one from Bangladesh and one from India, I think.
Although I prudently left the dorm with plenty of time in the morning, I got all the way to Kichijouji station (cycling and then walking, of course) before I realized I didn't have my wallet or any money, and thus couldn't get on the bus. Fff. The first time I get past the dorm gate without my wallet since I've been in Japan and it's the one day of break I really don't want to be late. But I biked like the wind back to the dorm and then back to the station/bus stop, and got on the bus at about the time I was supposed to get to the school. I even parked my bike illegally on the side of the sidewalk at Kichijouji for the first time, so that the walk (actually run, in this case) from there to the bus stop would be shorter, to save time. Although hundreds of people do this every day, I was pretty sure the world would end and my bicycle would disappear forever. But, luckily, it was still there when I got back, without so much as a ticket on it. XD
I was supposed to meet the principal and such at nine and then start with the first class at 9:30. By means of literally running from the bus stop to the school and then up the really long entryway to the school building, I got there just before 9:30. So, at least the students hopefully didn't know I was late. I think I'd never really run in a necktie before. It's pretty silly, with it flying all over the place. XD
All in all, a very good experience, though. I would definitely do it again. I was also glad to have to have the chance for several reasons. One part was just curiosity - I pass Japanese schools all the time, but of course I can't just go in and see what they're like. And, though I didn't think about it ahead of time, it was one of my first experiences talking with anyone younger than a first-year university student in Japan, which was interesting.
Monday, March 15, 2010
73°F/22°C
Holy cats, it's beautiful outside. 73°F/22°C and sunny, the warmest day of the year so far. In fact, it's so nice that I think I'm gonna hole up in the library and study like I do every day.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
"I get around like 寿司 on a 回転"
It's 12:30, which is past the time when I normally try to go to bed, but unfortunately I had a one-turned-four hour nap this afternoon, so I'm not really sleepy yet...
Today's meeting with HNF (the foundation that gives me my scholarship) went quite well. My main anxiety was that I don't feel like my Japanese has improved sufficiently since last time, almost five months ago, but this time, rather than being alone with the foundation staff there were two other scholarship recipients (from Ireland and Norway) there, and my Japanese was as good as one, and better than the other. They were also both at about their ~5 month mark, so I felt decent about it. The big boss guy's way of speaking was as hard to understand as I recalled, but I didn't have any major difficulties, which is in fact a step up from last time. Hooray!
The most ridiculous (on my part) moment was when he (the boss) asked one of the other students, then the other, how many kanji they knew. Having recently sunk, liek, 100+ hours into RTK, I was, in my head, all "ask me ask me ask me ask me," but he didn't. But then, a few minutes later, he did! So I had the satisfaction of saying that I can write and usually understand (if not always give the yomikata) about 2060 characters. Oh yeah.
Today's the first day in a long time that I didn't get a lot of studying done. I did review via SRS and entered two chapters of Tobira into Anki, but no strictly new material, besides a couple kanji not in RTK that I encountered, looked up, and entered into the RTK SRS. Ah well, that's okay. Meeting with HNF was surprisingly tiring.
Tomorrow is supposed to be really warm ("Around 17°...Did I just think in Celsius? ああ、アメリカ人失格だ! D:"). If it's sunny I think I'll have to spend some time outside. Hm. Inokashira Kouen? Just biking to campus? We'll see...
Besides all that,
使う
使用する
利用する
用いる
Really, Japanese Language? This is getting out of hand.
Today's meeting with HNF (the foundation that gives me my scholarship) went quite well. My main anxiety was that I don't feel like my Japanese has improved sufficiently since last time, almost five months ago, but this time, rather than being alone with the foundation staff there were two other scholarship recipients (from Ireland and Norway) there, and my Japanese was as good as one, and better than the other. They were also both at about their ~5 month mark, so I felt decent about it. The big boss guy's way of speaking was as hard to understand as I recalled, but I didn't have any major difficulties, which is in fact a step up from last time. Hooray!
The most ridiculous (on my part) moment was when he (the boss) asked one of the other students, then the other, how many kanji they knew. Having recently sunk, liek, 100+ hours into RTK, I was, in my head, all "ask me ask me ask me ask me," but he didn't. But then, a few minutes later, he did! So I had the satisfaction of saying that I can write and usually understand (if not always give the yomikata) about 2060 characters. Oh yeah.
Today's the first day in a long time that I didn't get a lot of studying done. I did review via SRS and entered two chapters of Tobira into Anki, but no strictly new material, besides a couple kanji not in RTK that I encountered, looked up, and entered into the RTK SRS. Ah well, that's okay. Meeting with HNF was surprisingly tiring.
Tomorrow is supposed to be really warm ("Around 17°...Did I just think in Celsius? ああ、アメリカ人失格だ! D:"). If it's sunny I think I'll have to spend some time outside. Hm. Inokashira Kouen? Just biking to campus? We'll see...
Besides all that,
使う
使用する
利用する
用いる
Really, Japanese Language? This is getting out of hand.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
「このミッキも酔ってます」
Okay, so living in 90% Japanese/10% English instead of 60% English/40% Japanese has been going pretty well, but I think if I don't just write in English I will just never write, since writing in Japanese is so much effort. >_> So, for LJ/Blogger, I guess I'll permit more English.
Not that I have that much to write (well, we'll see - I can probably still make this long), since all I've been doing all day, every day is study\. I've been to Gusto four of the last five days, each time for at least five hours, to study (see this entry for a short list reasons I find Gusto suitable for studying/schoolwork, although i notice that it fails to mention that Gusto is a lot warmer than my room, which is also very important).
Y'know what? In the name of organization/readability, today's entry is gonna have headings.
About what I've been doing the last five days (studying):
I finished going through Tobira today. I had hoped to do it in three days, after doing the first third in one day, but, as it turns out, the book really does get harder/have more content per chapter as it goes on, as I remembered (not just the way I perceived it), so it ultimately took me about four and a half days. I've got of 2/3 of it (that is, of the parts of it that I didn't already know solidly, which was, liek, 2/3 of the list content of the book) entered into my SRS (flashcard system). In each chapter there are two or three (or four) readings, which have an accompanying vocabulary list of words that appear in the readings, to help you understand the reading. Only a subset of the words on those list were mandatory to memorize when we used the book in class, so of course I only memorized those words (and then, only the kanji of a large subset of those words were required). This time, however, in the spirit of getting as many words as possible (especially since information about the words is already conveniently gathered for me, and in a source I trust), I memorized the entire lists and all the kanji. This meant learning some weird words with English translations like "Batter being hit by a pitch (in baseball)," but it was fun.
This might be immoderately nerdy to say, but reviewing Tobira was amazing and, for an activity that meant sitting and studying for 25 hours or so, really exciting. This was partly because it was a lot of stuff I sort of vaguely remembered and which thus pushed "oh yeah!" buttons in my brain, but, more than anything, it was because I've completed RTK1 now. What's exciting, specifically, is how different studying Japanese is now to how it was before. It would be a gross exaggeration to say it's transparent now, but it's definitely a whole lot more translucent. I just notice so many things about words and the way they're connected and things... It's really amazing. And so much easier. Plus, Tobira really is good for a textbook (a medium which I am increasingly coming to doubt as useful to language study).
About a criminal apprehended at Mitaka Dorm:
In other news, notably: Mitaka Dorm (where I live) was in the news! But not in a good way. T
My translation of the article I just linked to:
Scary! In general, Japan is very safe (much more than the US), and Mitaka is kind of an upper-middle class suburb that's quite nice, so such an event is really surprising.
Koutaro messaged me after he saw it on the news and told me about it.
Actually, I saw the camera man from the news crew today filming from outside the dorm grounds as I was leaving today, but didn't really think much of it. Koutaro was asking me if there were a lot of police here, but I was out most of the afternoon yesterday and didn't see anything.
Plans for the near future:
Some people are going to Kamakura tomorrow... Fff, I really want to go (I still haven't been!). But I have to meet with Heiwa Nakajima, which... Well, I don't know how that'll be. 9_6 Well, hopefully I'll go to Kamakura when it's warmer, anyway.
I think I'll go to Kyoto with Miyamoto in a couple weeks! He's from the area, so he offered to guide me. Needless to say, I I'll lodge with Joon Woo, who will also be there, to save us both a little money, though Joon Woo will probably be doing his own thing during the days. I'll probably only stay two nights, to save money and time, but I'm really looking forward to it! Kyoto is pretty much the only place I knew I wanted to visit no matter what since before I got to Japan, and going with Miyamocchan is such a lucky opportunity. Wu Di, Chen Ken, Yang Rui (and maybe Yu Cheng?) are also going to be in the Osaka/Kyoto at the same time, but I'm not sure if we'll rendezvous with them or not.
Other plans: study. Continue reviewing RTK and Tobira via SRS, and next dive into the JLPT Level 2 study material. After that... I dunno. I guess I'll probably just buy a bunch of books and manga to read and rent/stream a ton of video. I'm not yet there, but I do sense that I'm approaching a point (mind you, I'm going really fast right now) where I'll need to put down the lists and just plug myself into having as much native Japanese as possible flowing through my brain. Not sure if I want to go through the J5 textbook lists... I'm sure there are a lot of good words, but the book is not so great, and I came to be really distrustful of the vocabulary list translations last semester. If I go through the JLPT Level 2 list, that'll probably cover most of it, anyway...
Still no entry on Hokkaido/Hakone, but,
After completing RTK I gave myself a night off to compile this video that I took on the Hakone trip. As for some of it... Well, maybe taking video on a trip with Boccha sensei wasn't the best idea, and I hesitated to tag people... But, ah, no sense worrying about it. XD To paste the description I wrote on Facebook:
Video I made of AIKOM and Friends trip to Hakone, 22-23 Feb 2010.
Thanks to everyone for being a good sport and letting me film them! I tried to get at least a little of everyone in, but I know there are a couple people I missed.
Some stats on this video:
Number of jokes about Takao Kasei's name and 高尾山: 2
Number of times I get accused of tousatsu: 3 (plus two that didn't make the final cut)
Accurate descriptions of Hakone Sekisho: 2
Fictional descriptions of Hakone Sekisho: 2
Not that I have that much to write (well, we'll see - I can probably still make this long), since all I've been doing all day, every day is study\. I've been to Gusto four of the last five days, each time for at least five hours, to study (see this entry for a short list reasons I find Gusto suitable for studying/schoolwork, although i notice that it fails to mention that Gusto is a lot warmer than my room, which is also very important).
Y'know what? In the name of organization/readability, today's entry is gonna have headings.
About what I've been doing the last five days (studying):
I finished going through Tobira today. I had hoped to do it in three days, after doing the first third in one day, but, as it turns out, the book really does get harder/have more content per chapter as it goes on, as I remembered (not just the way I perceived it), so it ultimately took me about four and a half days. I've got of 2/3 of it (that is, of the parts of it that I didn't already know solidly, which was, liek, 2/3 of the list content of the book) entered into my SRS (flashcard system). In each chapter there are two or three (or four) readings, which have an accompanying vocabulary list of words that appear in the readings, to help you understand the reading. Only a subset of the words on those list were mandatory to memorize when we used the book in class, so of course I only memorized those words (and then, only the kanji of a large subset of those words were required). This time, however, in the spirit of getting as many words as possible (especially since information about the words is already conveniently gathered for me, and in a source I trust), I memorized the entire lists and all the kanji. This meant learning some weird words with English translations like "Batter being hit by a pitch (in baseball)," but it was fun.
This might be immoderately nerdy to say, but reviewing Tobira was amazing and, for an activity that meant sitting and studying for 25 hours or so, really exciting. This was partly because it was a lot of stuff I sort of vaguely remembered and which thus pushed "oh yeah!" buttons in my brain, but, more than anything, it was because I've completed RTK1 now. What's exciting, specifically, is how different studying Japanese is now to how it was before. It would be a gross exaggeration to say it's transparent now, but it's definitely a whole lot more translucent. I just notice so many things about words and the way they're connected and things... It's really amazing. And so much easier. Plus, Tobira really is good for a textbook (a medium which I am increasingly coming to doubt as useful to language study).
About a criminal apprehended at Mitaka Dorm:
In other news, notably: Mitaka Dorm (where I live) was in the news! But not in a good way. T
My translation of the article I just linked to:
On the 10th in Mitaka [yesterday], a 24 year-old man (unemployed, with no permanent address) was caught in the act of trespassing inside a building of Tokyo's University of Tokyo student dormitory, and arrested. It seems that what appears to be the remains of an infant were found in his bag.
According to police headquarters, on the afternoon of the tenth, the man was discovered trespassing on University of Tokyo Mitaka Dorm's grounds by staff, who reported him to police. The man was arrested there, and in his rucksack what appear to be the remains of an infant were found. They were severely decayed, and the man is saying that it's the remains of a child of his own that was born five or six years ago. Additionally, a woman who knows the man living in the area of Tokyo said at police headquarters is saying that she gave birth ten years ago, took care of the child at home, and then handed the child over to the man.
The police are still getting more detailed information from them.
Scary! In general, Japan is very safe (much more than the US), and Mitaka is kind of an upper-middle class suburb that's quite nice, so such an event is really surprising.
Koutaro messaged me after he saw it on the news and told me about it.
Actually, I saw the camera man from the news crew today filming from outside the dorm grounds as I was leaving today, but didn't really think much of it. Koutaro was asking me if there were a lot of police here, but I was out most of the afternoon yesterday and didn't see anything.
Plans for the near future:
Some people are going to Kamakura tomorrow... Fff, I really want to go (I still haven't been!). But I have to meet with Heiwa Nakajima, which... Well, I don't know how that'll be. 9_6 Well, hopefully I'll go to Kamakura when it's warmer, anyway.
I think I'll go to Kyoto with Miyamoto in a couple weeks! He's from the area, so he offered to guide me. Needless to say, I I'll lodge with Joon Woo, who will also be there, to save us both a little money, though Joon Woo will probably be doing his own thing during the days. I'll probably only stay two nights, to save money and time, but I'm really looking forward to it! Kyoto is pretty much the only place I knew I wanted to visit no matter what since before I got to Japan, and going with Miyamocchan is such a lucky opportunity. Wu Di, Chen Ken, Yang Rui (and maybe Yu Cheng?) are also going to be in the Osaka/Kyoto at the same time, but I'm not sure if we'll rendezvous with them or not.
Other plans: study. Continue reviewing RTK and Tobira via SRS, and next dive into the JLPT Level 2 study material. After that... I dunno. I guess I'll probably just buy a bunch of books and manga to read and rent/stream a ton of video. I'm not yet there, but I do sense that I'm approaching a point (mind you, I'm going really fast right now) where I'll need to put down the lists and just plug myself into having as much native Japanese as possible flowing through my brain. Not sure if I want to go through the J5 textbook lists... I'm sure there are a lot of good words, but the book is not so great, and I came to be really distrustful of the vocabulary list translations last semester. If I go through the JLPT Level 2 list, that'll probably cover most of it, anyway...
Still no entry on Hokkaido/Hakone, but,
After completing RTK I gave myself a night off to compile this video that I took on the Hakone trip. As for some of it... Well, maybe taking video on a trip with Boccha sensei wasn't the best idea, and I hesitated to tag people... But, ah, no sense worrying about it. XD To paste the description I wrote on Facebook:
Video I made of AIKOM and Friends trip to Hakone, 22-23 Feb 2010.
Thanks to everyone for being a good sport and letting me film them! I tried to get at least a little of everyone in, but I know there are a couple people I missed.
Some stats on this video:
Number of jokes about Takao Kasei's name and 高尾山: 2
Number of times I get accused of tousatsu: 3 (plus two that didn't make the final cut)
Accurate descriptions of Hakone Sekisho: 2
Fictional descriptions of Hakone Sekisho: 2
Saturday, March 6, 2010
負けないから！
Written on 06 March (I'll backdate this entry to match)
春休みのが始まる前に、僕の案は毎日３、４時間勉強して、その後に遊ぶということだった。その時、４時間はすごく長そうだった。だって、授業のために、今まで、たいていあまり勉強しなくても成績がよかったから、四時間とか勉強したことあまりなかった。でも、最近、自分の日本語の下手さが理解するようになった。なぜ最近まで、日本に住んでいても、気づいていなかったか言えないけど、結局、箱根への旅行から帰ってから、毎日七時間以上勉強している。「時間が足りない」という感じだな。今、急がなくちゃならないと思っている。
昨日Ｈｅｉｓｉｇ’ｓ ＲＴＫ１をついに終わってしまった！２０４２字の漢字の書き方とその漢字の一つの意味を覚えてしまった。毎日１００－１５０字を勉強したこと、自分も少し信じられない。もちろん、ＲＴＫの復習が毎日続くけど、習った字はこれからの勉強のとてもいい基本になると思ってる。 これからも毎日、ほとんど一日中勉強したいと思う。ちょっと楽しくなそうだけど・・・いや、実は、全然大丈夫。急激に、この世界で一番欲しいものはぺらぺらな日本語になったから、ちょっと不思議だけど、何よりも、今やりたいのは、勉強だ。
今日から、単語や文型を学ぶために、Ａｎｋｉというソフトを使っていく。ＡｎｋｉはＳＲＳというシステムの一つだ。ＳＲＳは、言語を学ぶ方法として色んな方に薦められて、実は、「ＳＲＳ」という言葉知らなかったけど、ＲＴＫで勉強していた間に、ずっとＳＲＳのサイトを使っていた。様々なＳＲＳのソフトがあるけど、なぜかＡｎｋｉを選んだというと、オフラインでもオンラインでも使えるからだ。オフラインは、時々インタネットがない場所で復習できることがだいじで、オンラインのことは、自分のパソコンだけじゃなくて、学校のパソコンなどでも使いたいと思っている。
ＳＲＳを使用して、今のゴールはできるだけ速く「とびら」の教科書のまだ覚えていない単語と文型を全部覚えて、同時にこのサイトの単語リストも全部覚えるということだ。ちょっと多いけど。。。時間なら、何時間ぐらいかかるかな。。。毎日がんばれば。。。一週間にできるかな？ま、よく分からないけど。今までの勉強はほとんど漢字だったし、いくつのたんごが教科書に入っているか分からないから。とにかく、できるだけ速く習いたいから！
信じれば、できらから！
おととい、熊さん、木の子さん、お母さん、烏竜茶さん、バスちゃん （ここまで全部ニックネーム）、のりさん、イシャさんと「人間失格」の映画を見に行った！映画は・・・ちょっと分かりにくくて、つまらなかったと思ったけど・・・生田斗真(イクタ・トマ － 映画の主人公）を見るのがいつも好きだし、小説を考えて映画を見るのがおもしろいから、お金の無駄づかいじゃなかった。それに、映画の後で、皆とケーキを食べに行った！値段が安くて、ケーキが美味しかったから、とてもいいレストランだったと思う。熊さんのお勧めだった。また行きたい・・・
来週、二回目の奨学金の財団とのランチだ。何か、ちょった緊張だな・・・
I don't get out that much lately... But it's okay! I want fluent Japanese so badly.
I finished RTK1 yesterday! I can now write over 2050 kanji. Awwww yeah. Feels good. This just proves to me that it's true - 信じれば、できらから！ If you believe, you can do it! Of course, from here I review RTK ad infinitum, but that's fine too.
With a solid kanji foundation now underfoot, I have proceeded to begin my new study of vocabulary and sentence patterns. As with RTK, I've set a high goal, and, as with RTK, I hope (and intend) to achieve it in an unheard-of short time. Spaced Repetition Systems (plus all-day studying), banzai!
The Ningen Shikakku movie wasn't great. Kinda boring... But Ikuta Toma was the main character, which was fun to watch, and it was kind of interesting to think about the novel while watching it, anyway, so it wasn't a waste. Afterward we all went to a cake restaurant (there in Shibuya) recommended by Joon Woo (who always researches the best and most famous places to eat in Tokyo). It was cheap and delicious... I'll definitely go again.
Also, I didn't mention before, my second meeting with my scholarship foundation is coming up next Friday~ Slightly nervous, for some reason.
春休みのが始まる前に、僕の案は毎日３、４時間勉強して、その後に遊ぶということだった。その時、４時間はすごく長そうだった。だって、授業のために、今まで、たいていあまり勉強しなくても成績がよかったから、四時間とか勉強したことあまりなかった。でも、最近、自分の日本語の下手さが理解するようになった。なぜ最近まで、日本に住んでいても、気づいていなかったか言えないけど、結局、箱根への旅行から帰ってから、毎日七時間以上勉強している。「時間が足りない」という感じだな。今、急がなくちゃならないと思っている。
昨日Ｈｅｉｓｉｇ’ｓ ＲＴＫ１をついに終わってしまった！２０４２字の漢字の書き方とその漢字の一つの意味を覚えてしまった。毎日１００－１５０字を勉強したこと、自分も少し信じられない。もちろん、ＲＴＫの復習が毎日続くけど、習った字はこれからの勉強のとてもいい基本になると思ってる。 これからも毎日、ほとんど一日中勉強したいと思う。ちょっと楽しくなそうだけど・・・いや、実は、全然大丈夫。急激に、この世界で一番欲しいものはぺらぺらな日本語になったから、ちょっと不思議だけど、何よりも、今やりたいのは、勉強だ。
今日から、単語や文型を学ぶために、Ａｎｋｉというソフトを使っていく。ＡｎｋｉはＳＲＳというシステムの一つだ。ＳＲＳは、言語を学ぶ方法として色んな方に薦められて、実は、「ＳＲＳ」という言葉知らなかったけど、ＲＴＫで勉強していた間に、ずっとＳＲＳのサイトを使っていた。様々なＳＲＳのソフトがあるけど、なぜかＡｎｋｉを選んだというと、オフラインでもオンラインでも使えるからだ。オフラインは、時々インタネットがない場所で復習できることがだいじで、オンラインのことは、自分のパソコンだけじゃなくて、学校のパソコンなどでも使いたいと思っている。
ＳＲＳを使用して、今のゴールはできるだけ速く「とびら」の教科書のまだ覚えていない単語と文型を全部覚えて、同時にこのサイトの単語リストも全部覚えるということだ。ちょっと多いけど。。。時間なら、何時間ぐらいかかるかな。。。毎日がんばれば。。。一週間にできるかな？ま、よく分からないけど。今までの勉強はほとんど漢字だったし、いくつのたんごが教科書に入っているか分からないから。とにかく、できるだけ速く習いたいから！
信じれば、できらから！
おととい、熊さん、木の子さん、お母さん、烏竜茶さん、バスちゃん （ここまで全部ニックネーム）、のりさん、イシャさんと「人間失格」の映画を見に行った！映画は・・・ちょっと分かりにくくて、つまらなかったと思ったけど・・・生田斗真(イクタ・トマ － 映画の主人公）を見るのがいつも好きだし、小説を考えて映画を見るのがおもしろいから、お金の無駄づかいじゃなかった。それに、映画の後で、皆とケーキを食べに行った！値段が安くて、ケーキが美味しかったから、とてもいいレストランだったと思う。熊さんのお勧めだった。また行きたい・・・
来週、二回目の奨学金の財団とのランチだ。何か、ちょった緊張だな・・・
I don't get out that much lately... But it's okay! I want fluent Japanese so badly.
I finished RTK1 yesterday! I can now write over 2050 kanji. Awwww yeah. Feels good. This just proves to me that it's true - 信じれば、できらから！ If you believe, you can do it! Of course, from here I review RTK ad infinitum, but that's fine too.
With a solid kanji foundation now underfoot, I have proceeded to begin my new study of vocabulary and sentence patterns. As with RTK, I've set a high goal, and, as with RTK, I hope (and intend) to achieve it in an unheard-of short time. Spaced Repetition Systems (plus all-day studying), banzai!
The Ningen Shikakku movie wasn't great. Kinda boring... But Ikuta Toma was the main character, which was fun to watch, and it was kind of interesting to think about the novel while watching it, anyway, so it wasn't a waste. Afterward we all went to a cake restaurant (there in Shibuya) recommended by Joon Woo (who always researches the best and most famous places to eat in Tokyo). It was cheap and delicious... I'll definitely go again.
Also, I didn't mention before, my second meeting with my scholarship foundation is coming up next Friday~ Slightly nervous, for some reason.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Still not about trips~
これから、残っている春休みには、できるだけ、このウェブログなど以外、英語を使わないようにする。 日本語がぺらぺらなったアメリカ人の言語の習い方についてのウェブログを昨日読んだから決めた。
Aside from blogging (a primary form of communication with the motherland, so English is necessary - but I'll try to do it in both languages) and ZI, I'm going to try, as much as possible, to not use English for (at least) the next month. This is as a result of reading about language learning methods from people who have achieved fluency.
後は、
・明日、ＲＴＫを終わりたいと思っている！思ったより一日間早い。＾＾
・今日、ドンキでラジオを買ってしまった。そのウェブログによれば、わからなくても「インプット」ということが大事だから、できるだけ、何時間も聞いた方がいい。言語を始めて習っている赤ちゃんみたいね。だから、今、いつでもラジオや日本語の音楽を聴こうにする。実はけっこう分かるけど。。。最読んでいるブログによると、言語を習うことは、実際に、「習う」というより、「慣れる」ということがだいじだからな。
・十七日に、高校でアメリカについて僕は話すことになった！五十分も話すらしい。本当に五十分って、できるかなと思っているけどな。 でも、ちゃんとじゅんびすれば、大丈夫なはずだ。 英語の授業で話すから、英語でも日本語でも話してくださいと先生に言われて、話題も別になでもよくて、好きにしてもいいと言ったから、あまりプレッシャーとかなさそうだ。これもいい経験になるし、楽しみにしている！
In other news:
・I'm hoping to finish RTK tomorrow, a day earlier than I thought I would. +D
・Today I bought a radio at DonKi. According to the blogs I've been reading (about language learning), "input" is really important. Even if you don't understand, it's important to just listen (to natives) for... Well, thousands of hours. Like a baby first learning language. Per recommendations of people who've had success, I'm going to try to have (talk) radio or Japanese music playing at all times now. I do already understand a decent amount (above or below 50%, depending on the program, so far), of course, but very far from all. According to my readings (and it makes so much sense to me), language is not so much about "study" or "learning" as about "getting used to." So, as much as possible... Radio on!
・ I'm going to be talking at a high school about the US on the 17th! For... 50 minutes. That's.. Really long, which is a bit intimidating, but I'm sure it'll be fine as long as I prepare enough. It's for an English class, so the teacher asked me to speak in both English and Japanese, and said I can pretty much talk about whatever, so it's not too high-pressure or anything. I'm sure it'll be a good experience for me, and I'm actually quite looking forward to it!
よし！止まらない！きっと勝つ！
Aside from blogging (a primary form of communication with the motherland, so English is necessary - but I'll try to do it in both languages) and ZI, I'm going to try, as much as possible, to not use English for (at least) the next month. This is as a result of reading about language learning methods from people who have achieved fluency.
後は、
・明日、ＲＴＫを終わりたいと思っている！思ったより一日間早い。＾＾
・今日、ドンキでラジオを買ってしまった。そのウェブログによれば、わからなくても「インプット」ということが大事だから、できるだけ、何時間も聞いた方がいい。言語を始めて習っている赤ちゃんみたいね。だから、今、いつでもラジオや日本語の音楽を聴こうにする。実はけっこう分かるけど。。。最読んでいるブログによると、言語を習うことは、実際に、「習う」というより、「慣れる」ということがだいじだからな。
・十七日に、高校でアメリカについて僕は話すことになった！五十分も話すらしい。本当に五十分って、できるかなと思っているけどな。 でも、ちゃんとじゅんびすれば、大丈夫なはずだ。 英語の授業で話すから、英語でも日本語でも話してくださいと先生に言われて、話題も別になでもよくて、好きにしてもいいと言ったから、あまりプレッシャーとかなさそうだ。これもいい経験になるし、楽しみにしている！
In other news:
・I'm hoping to finish RTK tomorrow, a day earlier than I thought I would. +D
・Today I bought a radio at DonKi. According to the blogs I've been reading (about language learning), "input" is really important. Even if you don't understand, it's important to just listen (to natives) for... Well, thousands of hours. Like a baby first learning language. Per recommendations of people who've had success, I'm going to try to have (talk) radio or Japanese music playing at all times now. I do already understand a decent amount (above or below 50%, depending on the program, so far), of course, but very far from all. According to my readings (and it makes so much sense to me), language is not so much about "study" or "learning" as about "getting used to." So, as much as possible... Radio on!
・ I'm going to be talking at a high school about the US on the 17th! For... 50 minutes. That's.. Really long, which is a bit intimidating, but I'm sure it'll be fine as long as I prepare enough. It's for an English class, so the teacher asked me to speak in both English and Japanese, and said I can pretty much talk about whatever, so it's not too high-pressure or anything. I'm sure it'll be a good experience for me, and I'm actually quite looking forward to it!
よし！止まらない！きっと勝つ！
Monday, March 1, 2010
Someday I'll post about the Hokkkaido and Hakone trips. Really I will.
Also of note:
1. I'm wearing UofM socks right now, courtesy of my father who sent them with my kendo bogu. Hooray~
2. I biked to campus for the first time today. It's not that far (liek, thirteen kilometers, I think?), but unlike longer rides I've done, not an easy route. Tokyo is the hardest city to navigate on foot, sometimes. Want to go in a straight line? Too bad, there are no straight lines. Having now (8 pm auuugh) completed my self-study for the day, I'm debating whether I should just take the train/bus back and get my bike tomorrow, or bike back and risk getting lost. Not that getting lost in Tokyo is terrible - there's always a koban you can ask for help at, but it might take time, and I'm a little tired. Hm.
Also of note:
1. I'm wearing UofM socks right now, courtesy of my father who sent them with my kendo bogu. Hooray~
2. I biked to campus for the first time today. It's not that far (liek, thirteen kilometers, I think?), but unlike longer rides I've done, not an easy route. Tokyo is the hardest city to navigate on foot, sometimes. Want to go in a straight line? Too bad, there are no straight lines. Having now (8 pm auuugh) completed my self-study for the day, I'm debating whether I should just take the train/bus back and get my bike tomorrow, or bike back and risk getting lost. Not that getting lost in Tokyo is terrible - there's always a koban you can ask for help at, but it might take time, and I'm a little tired. Hm.
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