I think it used to be the joke that Gaijin (foreigners) always sleep on the train....Now, I think it's more accurate to say that they just listen to ipods. I mean.....the majority of the world population listens to their ipods on the train, so now the gaijin don't stick out so bad.
That intro leads to this random snippet from my life today...
I usually listen to my ipod on the way to work, its just a 10 minute walk or so, but that's two songs! At any rate, I usually go to the Daily Yamazaki to get some coffee or something then sit in the plaza if it's nice out and I'm early. I usually have my ipod on for that too...
But today, I didn't have it since the battery was out. So I was actually aware of the world around me. What a novel experience!
One of the other foreign teachers at my school had asked me recently if I had noticed anybody noticing me as a foreigner. I had to say no, and I attributed this to the fact that I'm a woman and much less noticeably foreign than a quite tall, blondish guy. He protested, however, that it would happen. That I'd be on the train and some 5 year old would just....gape at me, open mouthed, like I'm some kind of...golden monkey...and then after a few minutes would turn and tug on his/her parents pant leg and point at me. He did such a good impression that when it did happen last week, it was quite comical. Of course, I'd not be offended by the curiosity of a child anyhow. Rather, I think it's pretty cute. I like waving at them and hoping that they remember the smiling face of a friendly foreigner in their far distant future, when maybe prejudice could have had the upper hand. Inevitably the parents are always quite embarrassed and quash the innocent, inquiring pointer finger as quickly as possible. I have mercy on them and pretend that I didn't notice their child's 'rudeness'.
That was last week though. Today I sat on the low brick wall on the edge of the landscaping, my back to the bushes, glorying in the beauty of a perfectly sunny, early autumn morning when a small group of 3 older Japanese women approached me. One came up to me and asked in Japanese if it was "okay" and then asked if I spoke English. Funnily enough, I responded in Japanese...actually, she asked if I "Eigo....English?" I responded in the affirmative, in combination likewise "Hai....yes." Then...she smiled and said something to her friends, laughing, and off they went. Maybe they had a bet going or something. It was a little charming, I have to admit, to see oldish women acting so schoolgirlishly.
These small incidents come after a couple recent encounters with the potential unwelcoming nature of Japan. I attempted to open my bank account at Mizuho with my Japanese coworker doing the real business for me, but the bank said that foreigners have to live in Japan for a full 6 months before opening a Mizuho account now. This wasn't the case before, and the change is pretty recent, as far as I know. They said something about tax reasons, and when confronted with the fact that this seemed contrary to their previous policies, they said "the past is the past..."
I had no trouble opening my account at a neighboring bank, aside from the pretty normal frustration of dealing with a HIGHLY and senselessly bureaucratic system and mindset.
I have also recently heard that many smaller inns and hotels are not welcoming to foreigners simply because they don't know how to deal with the difference in language. Communication is pretty difficult between languages as different as Japanese and English, but I believe that these same inns and hotels usually change their minds after hosting a foreigner for the first time and finding the joy in sharing their culture with an eager learner.
Anyway. Just a small incident that I thought I might share.
Coming Soon! Lauren's trip to Asakusa, Harajuku, and the Meiji Shrine...
<3 Love!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Weekend Jaunts
(click the links to see the pictures....and click the pictures to see them bigger!)
Last weekend I had no plans, so I set out around my neighborhood to do some exploring. I had heard from one of my students that there is a small shrine near where I live. I hoped to find that, and to explore a bit in the area behind my house, down the other side of the hill, the side I never frequent.
I had no idea where to even begin to search for the shrine. I had only heard that it was in the area, and had no idea what it might even look like. In light of my lack of direction, I decided to begin the day by walking down the other side of the hill past my house. The other side of the hill seems to be mostly residential, with just a few small shops, and was very unexciting...
On the way over, however, I reached the end of a street...I had two choices, follow a man on a bicycle who fearlessly rode his rusty vehicle up the tamped dirt and moss pathway, shrouded by trees and suspiciously alongside a building, like some private drive.....or turn right to continue on the street.
What did I do? What did I do??
After a slight moment of hesitation...and with cloudy visions of myself being accosted for trespassing wavering, ghostlike, in the back of my head, I cautiously ducked under the lowest arching branches, and made my way up the long, low stretched out earthen steps. I soon found myself on a gravel pathway of new chalky rock, to the right of which I saw this. It appeared to be a very tiny kind of shrine, and as I turned away from it I realized that the suspicious building from behind which I had just emerged was actually the very shrine I had been looking for. The shrine seems to be situated very near the top of the hill, and has two entrances, one from behind, and the main entrance. My house is just behind the shrine, a short walk of a few minutes in a straight path. As it turns out the road goes around the shrine, but many people just walk or ride their bicycles through the land of the shrine. The main building is small, and looks nice, but it was loud while I was there, though it was empty. Apparently they are constructing a new building. The construction area is directly adjacent to the main building and it really diminishes the peacefulness, and overall attractiveness of the shrine, but I suppose improvements must be made. Here is the main building and to the left you can see where I came from, there is a storage area for seasonal objects like portable shrines, and an outbuilding, which is right next to the back entrance I used.
After leaving the shrine, I headed back toward my house, but on the way was distracted by a glimpse of that grave yard I live next to. I decided on a whim to try and find my way down to it, curious at what I might find. I turned back around, back towards the shrine, but this time I made a left at the first available street. This is the view I found, and I thought it would give you an accurate example of the general look of my neighborhood. You'll notice that the houses have little to no land surrounding them, and also the laundry and bed clothes hanging on one balcony.
Just after rounding the curve to the left, I saw a smaller street on my left. I was intrigued, since it was not of the same paved asphalt as the regular road. I decided to turn there and was soon rewarded with the sight of graveyard in the near distance. I ventured further, and found more than I expected. I had expected to find an entrance to the small graveyard next to my apartment, as it turns out the graveyard is rather expansive, but due to lack of space, is divided into small sections, which seem strewn about on the left and right sides of the road, and are stratified like terrace farming due to the incline. As I approached the first section of the graveyard, I saw this fellow, he appears to be welcoming, but whether he is welcoming the living or the dead, I don't know. Underneath him, is actually a tiny building, where I think someone is employed to sell incense to those visiting loved ones, but I visited on a holiday, thus there was no one inside.
In this first section, I found a mixture of seemingly old and new stones. More accurately, I found old stones, and new.....monuments. Here in Japan, the dead receive a veritable shrine to themselves. On these shrines loved ones leave plants, talismans, offerings...in fact, this person seems to have been a fan of the Pepsi...
I was alone in wandering through the cemetery, and I was glad, as I wasn't entirely sure how welcome I was there. Though each section of the cemetery was nearly all concrete and talismans, the general area was quite pretty. The smell of incense was carried about by the breeze. It was evident that someone had recently been there to pray for their dead.
As I ventured further down the hill I saw this awaiting me on the left. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but judging by these...at another location...that they are monuments to children that have died. They are interesting, each is unique, or at least there seem to be different kinds..one is dressed as a monk...and of course they are wearing hats and bibs...even not being sure what they are to mean, they seem to be surrounded with a sense of sadness and loss. Especially these nine who are all in the same location, separate from the other children, and all wearing similar hand made looking items. It's just so terribly sad.
After spending some considerable time with the children, I moved further down the hill to find the end of the cemetery, a gravel parking lot bordered by a bamboo forest, and this ambiguous path. Of course I followed it...trying not to look too suspicious. I had no idea where I was going...if maybe I was walking the path to someone's house...or...a giant snake pit. Turned out to be more graves behind the bamboo forest.
After hitting that path, I went back up the hill to the building I passed up on the way down the hill. It was evident that the graveyard I can see from my apartment was behind this building, and it was really quite beautiful. On the same grounds, it seems, directly to the right of this (what I think is a temple?) is someone's house. I suppose that whoever manages this temple(?) also lives there...I felt strange going there, and I wasn't entirely sure I was supposed to be walking around here either, but I took my pictures quietly and left in good fashion.
But not before going around to the back and climbing this hill where I knew some small alter to be...I can see the tops of these torii from my apartment as well. They seem a bit run down, but I like them.
I left in good time while the neighbor was gardening, and under the watchful eyes of sleepy, shy cats. I headed home and took these random pictures on the way, some of some quite lovely flowers, and this one of a convenient home storage solution for those with too many cars.
It was a nice day out, and after I did some grocery shopping.
Whew! Long post! It took too long to put this together and post it, and I think it will take you too long to read it and look at all the pictures. In the future, I may divide these outings into more than one post. And in fact, I am one weekend behind, as it is now Friday, and I haven't even emptied my camera of the pictures I took from last weekend at Asakusa, and around Tokyo....[just a preview of coming attractions!] and I need to do THAT so I have space on my camera for this coming weekend.
I have plans to go see some gardens around Tokyo as well as Tokyo tower with a Japanese coworker who wants to introduce me to his friends...haha. Apparently one of his friends wants to meet a foreigner. Hahaha. Also, on Monday, one of my students invited me to join her for some Ikebana (flower arranging). I'm not sure what we'll be doing, I'm under the impression she is heavily into this...so I hope that will be fun. I'm interested in learning it!
And apparently according to some other students who frequently attend tea time to chat, I have a small face.
Which...is...apparently a good thing that they are jealous of.
And here I always thought I had a rather large face....
<3!
(wow! thank goodness for my new highspeed internet connection! the second half of this post took so much less time! i managed to set my new internets up all by myself! with directions and account info only in japanese!)
Last weekend I had no plans, so I set out around my neighborhood to do some exploring. I had heard from one of my students that there is a small shrine near where I live. I hoped to find that, and to explore a bit in the area behind my house, down the other side of the hill, the side I never frequent.
I had no idea where to even begin to search for the shrine. I had only heard that it was in the area, and had no idea what it might even look like. In light of my lack of direction, I decided to begin the day by walking down the other side of the hill past my house. The other side of the hill seems to be mostly residential, with just a few small shops, and was very unexciting...
On the way over, however, I reached the end of a street...I had two choices, follow a man on a bicycle who fearlessly rode his rusty vehicle up the tamped dirt and moss pathway, shrouded by trees and suspiciously alongside a building, like some private drive.....or turn right to continue on the street.
What did I do? What did I do??
After a slight moment of hesitation...and with cloudy visions of myself being accosted for trespassing wavering, ghostlike, in the back of my head, I cautiously ducked under the lowest arching branches, and made my way up the long, low stretched out earthen steps. I soon found myself on a gravel pathway of new chalky rock, to the right of which I saw this. It appeared to be a very tiny kind of shrine, and as I turned away from it I realized that the suspicious building from behind which I had just emerged was actually the very shrine I had been looking for. The shrine seems to be situated very near the top of the hill, and has two entrances, one from behind, and the main entrance. My house is just behind the shrine, a short walk of a few minutes in a straight path. As it turns out the road goes around the shrine, but many people just walk or ride their bicycles through the land of the shrine. The main building is small, and looks nice, but it was loud while I was there, though it was empty. Apparently they are constructing a new building. The construction area is directly adjacent to the main building and it really diminishes the peacefulness, and overall attractiveness of the shrine, but I suppose improvements must be made. Here is the main building and to the left you can see where I came from, there is a storage area for seasonal objects like portable shrines, and an outbuilding, which is right next to the back entrance I used.
After leaving the shrine, I headed back toward my house, but on the way was distracted by a glimpse of that grave yard I live next to. I decided on a whim to try and find my way down to it, curious at what I might find. I turned back around, back towards the shrine, but this time I made a left at the first available street. This is the view I found, and I thought it would give you an accurate example of the general look of my neighborhood. You'll notice that the houses have little to no land surrounding them, and also the laundry and bed clothes hanging on one balcony.
Just after rounding the curve to the left, I saw a smaller street on my left. I was intrigued, since it was not of the same paved asphalt as the regular road. I decided to turn there and was soon rewarded with the sight of graveyard in the near distance. I ventured further, and found more than I expected. I had expected to find an entrance to the small graveyard next to my apartment, as it turns out the graveyard is rather expansive, but due to lack of space, is divided into small sections, which seem strewn about on the left and right sides of the road, and are stratified like terrace farming due to the incline. As I approached the first section of the graveyard, I saw this fellow, he appears to be welcoming, but whether he is welcoming the living or the dead, I don't know. Underneath him, is actually a tiny building, where I think someone is employed to sell incense to those visiting loved ones, but I visited on a holiday, thus there was no one inside.
In this first section, I found a mixture of seemingly old and new stones. More accurately, I found old stones, and new.....monuments. Here in Japan, the dead receive a veritable shrine to themselves. On these shrines loved ones leave plants, talismans, offerings...in fact, this person seems to have been a fan of the Pepsi...
I was alone in wandering through the cemetery, and I was glad, as I wasn't entirely sure how welcome I was there. Though each section of the cemetery was nearly all concrete and talismans, the general area was quite pretty. The smell of incense was carried about by the breeze. It was evident that someone had recently been there to pray for their dead.
As I ventured further down the hill I saw this awaiting me on the left. I'm not entirely sure what it is, but judging by these...at another location...that they are monuments to children that have died. They are interesting, each is unique, or at least there seem to be different kinds..one is dressed as a monk...and of course they are wearing hats and bibs...even not being sure what they are to mean, they seem to be surrounded with a sense of sadness and loss. Especially these nine who are all in the same location, separate from the other children, and all wearing similar hand made looking items. It's just so terribly sad.
After spending some considerable time with the children, I moved further down the hill to find the end of the cemetery, a gravel parking lot bordered by a bamboo forest, and this ambiguous path. Of course I followed it...trying not to look too suspicious. I had no idea where I was going...if maybe I was walking the path to someone's house...or...a giant snake pit. Turned out to be more graves behind the bamboo forest.
After hitting that path, I went back up the hill to the building I passed up on the way down the hill. It was evident that the graveyard I can see from my apartment was behind this building, and it was really quite beautiful. On the same grounds, it seems, directly to the right of this (what I think is a temple?) is someone's house. I suppose that whoever manages this temple(?) also lives there...I felt strange going there, and I wasn't entirely sure I was supposed to be walking around here either, but I took my pictures quietly and left in good fashion.
But not before going around to the back and climbing this hill where I knew some small alter to be...I can see the tops of these torii from my apartment as well. They seem a bit run down, but I like them.
I left in good time while the neighbor was gardening, and under the watchful eyes of sleepy, shy cats. I headed home and took these random pictures on the way, some of some quite lovely flowers, and this one of a convenient home storage solution for those with too many cars.
It was a nice day out, and after I did some grocery shopping.
Whew! Long post! It took too long to put this together and post it, and I think it will take you too long to read it and look at all the pictures. In the future, I may divide these outings into more than one post. And in fact, I am one weekend behind, as it is now Friday, and I haven't even emptied my camera of the pictures I took from last weekend at Asakusa, and around Tokyo....[just a preview of coming attractions!] and I need to do THAT so I have space on my camera for this coming weekend.
I have plans to go see some gardens around Tokyo as well as Tokyo tower with a Japanese coworker who wants to introduce me to his friends...haha. Apparently one of his friends wants to meet a foreigner. Hahaha. Also, on Monday, one of my students invited me to join her for some Ikebana (flower arranging). I'm not sure what we'll be doing, I'm under the impression she is heavily into this...so I hope that will be fun. I'm interested in learning it!
And apparently according to some other students who frequently attend tea time to chat, I have a small face.
Which...is...apparently a good thing that they are jealous of.
And here I always thought I had a rather large face....
<3!
(wow! thank goodness for my new highspeed internet connection! the second half of this post took so much less time! i managed to set my new internets up all by myself! with directions and account info only in japanese!)
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Interim Update
Ah, an update!
Yes yes, I'm sorry. When it comes down to it, I guess updating a blog can be a very involving thing to do. It demands sorting, editing, and uploading pictures and a devotion of time...not to mention time!
But, I must remain devoted!
As I have been recently telling some of you, after some uncomfortable feelings about living over here all alone, I'm finding myself opened to a very bright coming year. It all seemed a bit overwhelming at first, but now when I think about it, living here in Japan seems a little mundane...
Mostly, I think, because I'm not here as a tourist, but I'm living and working here so there isn't a lustre and the entertainment of a tourist. However, over the past few days, I have been coming to realize that there is the lustre, it's just spread over a years worth of appreciation and experience.
Work is coming along quite nicely. I am starting to remember my students, and have begun getting to know them as individuals and that is making the job highly enjoyable. I am also enjoying getting to know my co-workers. I hope that we will be able to really do some fun things together. I seem to be falling into the pattern at work naturally. It doesn't seem strange at all to me to be at a 'real person' job. A...career kind of job...It seems just like every job I've always done, just..at a new company. And the very fact that it doesn't seem strange, is the strange part. I always thought that having a full time career job, not being a student, or anything else, would feel strange, but alas...it is not so. And I like it.
Of course I miss being a student. The friends, the four years of experiences, going to class, reading in the campus cafe, staying up too late in the RA office, meetings, overly busy schedules, ski trips, over night paper writing, wing night....those are all things that will live forever in a thick mixture of collegiate life in my memory. I believe the crisp autumn weather will always remind me of the first weeks of the new school year, especially of those particular four that I spent in New York. I'm glad to have graduated, and moved on from school, but there is a sadness in knowing that I can't go back. That time is over now. And what a short, but lovely, time it was.
But in saying goodbye to one stage of my life, I am slowly awakening to a new stage. I have only a year to see as much as I can of Japan. Only a year of weekends and holidays. I must get myself busy!
All in all, I'm feeling pretty comfortable here. For the time being.
It has helped that I've gotten a bit more settled in to my apartment. I finally found suitable curtains and I purchased a small, inexpensive sofa from Ikea as well. It will be delivered on Sunday some time and that is going to be a major part in making my apartment more comfortable. I will have a place to sit to read, compute, watch movies rather than on my bed on the floor. In a couple more weeks, hopefully they will have restocked the rug I want, that will match my curtains quite well, and I can forsee that my apartment will look quite fantastic.
This past weekend I did a little more local exploring, but I hope you'll excuse my not talking about that, or posting those pictures tonight. It is already passed my bed time.
I am putting together an account and photo albums on Flickr so that I can link you to those photos and so you can see more pictures. Since posting photos is a hassle on blogger. That is taking some time however, so please endeavor to be patient for a few more days...
I'll be off now!
Love!
Yes yes, I'm sorry. When it comes down to it, I guess updating a blog can be a very involving thing to do. It demands sorting, editing, and uploading pictures and a devotion of time...not to mention time!
But, I must remain devoted!
As I have been recently telling some of you, after some uncomfortable feelings about living over here all alone, I'm finding myself opened to a very bright coming year. It all seemed a bit overwhelming at first, but now when I think about it, living here in Japan seems a little mundane...
Mostly, I think, because I'm not here as a tourist, but I'm living and working here so there isn't a lustre and the entertainment of a tourist. However, over the past few days, I have been coming to realize that there is the lustre, it's just spread over a years worth of appreciation and experience.
Work is coming along quite nicely. I am starting to remember my students, and have begun getting to know them as individuals and that is making the job highly enjoyable. I am also enjoying getting to know my co-workers. I hope that we will be able to really do some fun things together. I seem to be falling into the pattern at work naturally. It doesn't seem strange at all to me to be at a 'real person' job. A...career kind of job...It seems just like every job I've always done, just..at a new company. And the very fact that it doesn't seem strange, is the strange part. I always thought that having a full time career job, not being a student, or anything else, would feel strange, but alas...it is not so. And I like it.
Of course I miss being a student. The friends, the four years of experiences, going to class, reading in the campus cafe, staying up too late in the RA office, meetings, overly busy schedules, ski trips, over night paper writing, wing night....those are all things that will live forever in a thick mixture of collegiate life in my memory. I believe the crisp autumn weather will always remind me of the first weeks of the new school year, especially of those particular four that I spent in New York. I'm glad to have graduated, and moved on from school, but there is a sadness in knowing that I can't go back. That time is over now. And what a short, but lovely, time it was.
But in saying goodbye to one stage of my life, I am slowly awakening to a new stage. I have only a year to see as much as I can of Japan. Only a year of weekends and holidays. I must get myself busy!
All in all, I'm feeling pretty comfortable here. For the time being.
It has helped that I've gotten a bit more settled in to my apartment. I finally found suitable curtains and I purchased a small, inexpensive sofa from Ikea as well. It will be delivered on Sunday some time and that is going to be a major part in making my apartment more comfortable. I will have a place to sit to read, compute, watch movies rather than on my bed on the floor. In a couple more weeks, hopefully they will have restocked the rug I want, that will match my curtains quite well, and I can forsee that my apartment will look quite fantastic.
This past weekend I did a little more local exploring, but I hope you'll excuse my not talking about that, or posting those pictures tonight. It is already passed my bed time.
I am putting together an account and photo albums on Flickr so that I can link you to those photos and so you can see more pictures. Since posting photos is a hassle on blogger. That is taking some time however, so please endeavor to be patient for a few more days...
I'll be off now!
Love!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Thursday is the new Wednesday...
It's true.
Since Monday is my Sunday, my Monday is really Tuesday...
So I get to think the week is half over on Thursday....and when it's Wednesday, and it SHOULD be the middle of the week, and it feels like I just started the week....it makes me happy to think: "ahh, it's already Wednesday, but it feels like the week has just started!"
That probably doesn't make any sense.
I'll be honest with you...I just looked up the word "doesn't" on dictionary.com, because Blogger seems to think I've misspelled it, and I suddenly began to doubt whether or not I've spelled it correctly...I think Blogger is just experiencing a small glitch.
This is really a nonsense post. I'm warning you that you'll most likely get nothing at all out of reading this.
Also, I thought I'd share with Robert (because only he will find this even remotely interesting) that today was a Speech day in one of my classes...where the students prepare a very short speech on the topic given and we work on giving speeches. Clearly. That's not the story...sorry...Anyway, the topic was something shocking that happened to you. And one of the men wrote that his shocking event was when he won a PS3 in drawing. It was a good story, and at the end of the speech the audience gets to ask questions and someone asked about his other video games, and apparently he loves and owns many other systems...then I asked him what his favorite game of all time is.....
Robert...
I kid you not..
The man said...... SPACE CHANNEL 5
space.channel.5.
It made me laugh and he loved that I knew about the game, and the long and short of it is that now that entire class of 5 business men all think I'm a video game freak.
And that was the best part of my day.
Since Monday is my Sunday, my Monday is really Tuesday...
So I get to think the week is half over on Thursday....and when it's Wednesday, and it SHOULD be the middle of the week, and it feels like I just started the week....it makes me happy to think: "ahh, it's already Wednesday, but it feels like the week has just started!"
That probably doesn't make any sense.
I'll be honest with you...I just looked up the word "doesn't" on dictionary.com, because Blogger seems to think I've misspelled it, and I suddenly began to doubt whether or not I've spelled it correctly...I think Blogger is just experiencing a small glitch.
This is really a nonsense post. I'm warning you that you'll most likely get nothing at all out of reading this.
Also, I thought I'd share with Robert (because only he will find this even remotely interesting) that today was a Speech day in one of my classes...where the students prepare a very short speech on the topic given and we work on giving speeches. Clearly. That's not the story...sorry...Anyway, the topic was something shocking that happened to you. And one of the men wrote that his shocking event was when he won a PS3 in drawing. It was a good story, and at the end of the speech the audience gets to ask questions and someone asked about his other video games, and apparently he loves and owns many other systems...then I asked him what his favorite game of all time is.....
Robert...
I kid you not..
The man said...... SPACE CHANNEL 5
space.channel.5.
It made me laugh and he loved that I knew about the game, and the long and short of it is that now that entire class of 5 business men all think I'm a video game freak.
And that was the best part of my day.
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