The third day of the trip was definitely the best so far, although due to very sore feet that are that way directly because of all the walking done today, things will probably be condensed a bit. Although every time I say that, I end up ranting quite a bit anyway, so we'll see if irony strikes again. Considering I managed to have a hotel elevator door hit my arm as I tried to get in, I imagine karma may continue to be a jackass and force me to ramble some more, much like I am right now.
Yotsuya
Today's itinerary in Yotsuya had very little do with Sophia University, unlike previous days, as well as tomorrow. Instead, the focus was primarily on touring Chiyoda-ku, the ward in Tokyo which Yotsuya is a part of. I'm not afraid to take back what I said yesterday about the area being somewhat bland; after learning that the area actually has quite the fascinating political history behind it, as well as some very lovely parks I somehow managed to avoid before, I think the area is pretty nice now. The details given on the tour are too many to list, but I will mention that I really liked our tour guide, a Mr. Akira Yoshida, an older man who was a native to the area. He was very charismatic and seemed to enjoy showing us around at least as much as we did getting to know it. A few people in the group, myself included, took the opportunity to practice our Japanese. I know that native speakers are often prone to praising anybody who can speak even just a bit correctly, but receiving praise for using some of the more complex grammatical points for me personally was something that made me feel good. My main issue with Mexican Spanish was that I had a really solid theoretical understanding of it in writing, but when it came to speaking, I just had no real world practice. Hopefully, with any luck, I'll manage to avoid those same pitfalls with Japanese in the end, even if I won't be around so many native speakers for a year.
After concluding the tour with a subway ride back to the university, we all ate bentous, highly iconic boxed lunches that are common in Japan. The fact that I was able to eat one in its native country made a world of difference in terms of taste. Everything from the lotus roots to the rice to the marinated chicken just tasted a whole lot better than most anything I could get in Colorado. After all, living in a land-locked state like mine essentially means that I have to sacrifice freshness and at least some "soul" if I want Japanese food. But in its native land, I have to make no concessions when it comes to the food and I'm beyond glad I don't have to. It really was marvellous food.
Post-lunch primarily involved more orientation stuff, none of which was particularly fascinated and can be skipped. That said, let's move on to the second major part of today for me: Akihabara.
Akihabara
It's a bit difficult to explain the significance of visiting Akihabara for the first time to someone who doesn't have the right tastes from the get-go. In a nut shell, Akihabara is an electronics-heavy district in Tokyo. There are probably shops for most everything you could possibly need, from electronic dictionaries to refrigerators and everything else in-between. But that description doesn't really convey the charm of the area that well at all. Akihabara is special in that it unflinchingly flaunts its nerdiness with regards to how it presents itself. It's an area where a lot of anime, manga, and video game fans go if they want to satisfy whatever hungers they have pertaining to their hobby and Akihabara doesn't hold back at all in telling you that's what it's there for. Flashing lights, maids, and arcades are seemingly everywhere and it makes for a sight that, while potentially seizure inducing, is really unique when compared to the rest of Tokyo. So, knowing that I am indeed quite the coinosseur of video games, I knew I would end up in the area sooner or later and it turned out that the first time would be today.
This first run to Akihabara was spent visiting predominantly two places: Club Sega and Super Potato. Club Sega is essentially a multi-floor arcade run by the mega game company Sega, best known in the States for its Sega Genesis and Dreamcast consoles, as well as its mascot, the blue Sonic the Hedgehog. Different floors at Club Sega have different types of game machines. The very first floor, for example, consists mainly of anime-themed crane machines, whereas the upper floors are devoted to fighters, space shooters, and the like.
In the midst of exploring the facility, I ended up playing two somewhat familiar games, the first being Taiko no Tatsujin, or Taiko Drum Master in English. As a music game, the premise is pretty simple. On screen color prompts tell you which part of the replica Japanese taiko drum to hit in time to various popular songs. Beings as I own the only home version to officially come to States, the learning curve was basically nonexistent, although the fact that the noise coming from a billion Street Fighter IV machines and other things in the building meant it was very hard to listen to music and, by extension, maintain proper timing to hit the taiko drum. It's doable without that, but the experience is rougher all around.
The other game I played with was a single-player version of Guilty Gear XX: Accent Core, a two-dimensional fighting game with anime aesthetics and a wonderfully bizarre sense of humor. (There's a character named Faust! YES! THAT FAUST!) Like Taiko no Tatsujin, I own a home version, so the game wasn't completely foreign. That said, though, playing the game with an arcade stick proved to have quite the learning curve attached to it. I'm very used to playing the game with a standard controller at home. Arcade sticks, on the other hand, are pretty different beasts entirely. The joysticks have a different sensitivity and, since I happened to be playing on a generic arcade cabinet meant to house a number of different possible games, the buttons also had no labels to tell me which ones corresponding to what attack type. After a few matches, I managed to work out most of the kinks, but I'll probably have to visit again if I want to be super comfortable playing with an arcade.
The other main place I visited, Super Potato, is a lot easier to summarize in one paragraph. It's basically a hardcore used games store that specializes in retro consoles. Their claim to fame is the fact that their stock seems to have no bounds. Within that tiny space contained within three floors is an archive that puts most any American used game shop to shame. If you're looking for something specific like I was, then more likely than not they have it somewhere. Granted, it's almost all Japanese versions, but that's not much of a problem since I've long since learned how to work with those games for years. This trip resulted in me only buying a few items, but I guarantee I'll be back. Here's hoping I can restrain myself. If nothing else, though, it was one of the places I did practice Japanese with, asking the staff if they had a certain Che Guevara-themed game in stock. No joke.
Other Happenings
On the way back to the Akihabara train station, I stopped off with a couple of friends at a kebob stand to eat dinner. Having not had any since visiting Sydney in 2006, I had forgotten what they tasted like, but much like the bentou I had earlier, the kebob I ordered was really fantastic. You get a decent amount of food at the stand for only 600 yen, as well as your choice of one of seven different sauces. I, being the Denver native I am, naturally opted for what was called "hot," described on the sign in Japanese as being spicy, but sweet. It was indeed pretty much that; the sweetness came first and the spicyness came a few moments later. It actually tasted just fine, despite the seemingly oxymoronic nature. Will definitely get more from there when I return to Akihabara in the coming weeks.
Today was also the day I really got to know the train station well and felt confident about ticketing, switching routes, etc. Getting to Akihabara is a bit of an interesting proposition, since it entails paying for stops that aren't already covered in my pass. It turned out to be an easy enough matter; the system for adding money to the card is really intuitive after a bit of practice and checking how much you have left at each stop is an equally easy affair. That said, however, the day was also a lesson in making sure the lines you do get on stop at where you really want to go. Multiple trains might belong on the same line, but they can go in different directions or have slightly different routes, although it's all easy to verify through signage and maps. The latter proved to be slightly problematic for me and my friends; we got on an express train route familiar to us from going around Tokyo, but inadvertently picked one that skipped our normal stop by one. We all knew that we probably had to switch lines to the non-express variety in the opposite direction, which doesn't skip over any stops at all. Thankfully, we had a very cute and sweet Japanese girl confirm our suspicions on the train. After making one more mistake picking the right line, but the wrong direction, we finally ended up in the right area so that we could return to our hotel.
It looks like that trip to the Studio Ghibli museum is becoming more and more of a reality, though. We have to reserve tickets using a touch screen system with no English option, but thankfully there are online guides that cover that pretty well. Since we plan to go on Sunday, we may very well wrap the matter up on tomorrow. Stay tuned for more because, dammit, I'd really love to visit that place.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Day 2: Let's Visit Sophia University
As the title implies, one of today's main events consisted of visiting Sophia University, the school I'll be studying at as part of this trip. But before I get to that, I think I'd prefer talking about the surrounding area, which might be a tad more interesting than the school itself.
Yotsuya
Sophia University is located in Yotsuya, just a quick jaunt away from the train station used to get there. Aesthetically, the area itself is pretty modest. The area has some nice greenery that can dot the streets quite a bit at times, but overall it feels as though it mainly keeps to itself. Nothing is especially flashy or grand, which is fine, but that's probably also why the area is one of the more obscure parts of Tokyo in the western world. It's not a side of Japan that screams for attention, basically. Although that said, some of the shops are still charming nonetheless. I managed to find a camera store that was selling really old 35mm ones for under $5. The nostalgic lad in me is extremely tempted to go back soon and buy one. I really love the looks of those old cameras.
I ended up eating out with a couple of the other students on the program, mostly because we didn't want to wait in line at Sophia's cafeteria, what with all the other gaijin going with us taking their sweet time. We opted for a little hole in the wall instead. Nicely decorated, but pretty small, the place probably couldn't house more than 40 at a time, as evidenced by the fact that the staff also had complete strangers seated next to each other while they dined. I personally ordered a pork meal of some sort, although the complete named eluded me due to Kanji reading issues. It was a tasty meal for the 850 yen that it cost. Although I only took one blurry picture of it in the style of Danny Choo, it was a nice hodgepodge of pork and vegetables mixed in with a tasty sauce of some sort. Side dishes included the iconic bowl of rice and another bowl of various leafy vegetables. All of the food was fine, so no complaints.
The visit to the restuarant did, however, highlight a troublesome issue that I was afraid would crop up during the trip. It has nothing to do with the city itself; Tokyo is a damn fine place and you won't see me complaining about it. Instead, it has more to do with the people also on the program, or at least the American students going with me. It turns out that very, very few have any actual experience with Japanese. I guess it's actually not necessarily that per se, but rather a lot of people's attitudes in spite of that. Maybe it's an ego thing, but I wish there were more people on this trip who had at least studied some of the language so that I could have somebody to relate to on that level. I want my adventure to be one where my verbal skills get at least a bit better, but when I'm stuck in a group of people who basically improvise by pointing a lot and saying only the most basic of Japanese requests from a guide pamphlet, I feel constricted, as though my time during those instances is going to be defined according to how well I can swallow my embarassment, for lack of a better phrase. Again, somewhat expected, but not an ideal situation for someone like me who came to Japan to get practical fluency experience, which is precisely why I'm glad the schedule dramatically opens up in just a few days so that I can just operate on my own as often as I can. It's often when I'm alone that I get to know and experience the new place best. Everything is raw and it's then just up to you to go look for the awesome nooks and crannies. I did it for Boulder and I sure as hell intend to do it in Tokyo.
The whole thing has made me resolved to try my damndest to come back to Japan with people I know who really appreciate the language and already know me as a person. I think having a really good dynamic with other people is necessary for these sorts of trips and while I got lucky with Australia, I feel like it will be less so on this trip. Going back to Tokyo with a bunch of friends, even if it's their first time for many, should just allow for funner times since you can skip the phase of awkwardly getting to know each other and just dive straight into making a beeline for the hot spots in Akihabara, Shinjuku, and the like.
Sophia University
Okay, let's leave the quasi-existential ramblings from Yotsuya and move on to intial impressions of Sophia University, since today was also the first time I visited it. First thing first to note in terms of aesthetics is that much like the surrounding area, Sophia University's campus is a bit on the bland side. It's definitely designed to be practical first and everything else later, probably because space is limited in Tokyo. As such, the wide open quads that are common to US campuses is traded in for tallness in the buildings. There are at least 11 different buildings on campus and it seems to be that having 10-plus floors is the norm.
The interiors of the buildings aren't particularly special, either. They look largely like typical university insides, nothing more and nothing less. The doors naturally slide side-to-side instead of being pushed and pulled to open, but that's to be expected in Japan. Only remotely interesting quirk I've heard thus far is that girls' bathrooms are on even-numbered floors, whereas guys are on the odd-numbered ones. Not terribly thrilling, especially since I'm pretty certain some US schools have a similar setup, but ah well.
I'll provide impressions of the faculty and students when I've had more exposure to them, although now's as good a time as any to say I thoroughly enjoy being around native Japanese people. The one's I've met are all really nice and polite. The girls are cute and sweet and the guys have a good sense of humor. One of them even told me I looked like a famous Japanese wrestler just minutes after clearing customs at Narita. I'm satisfied knowing my hair has made an impact on the Japanese people.
Shinagawa
Aftering hanging around Yotsuya and getting into orientation mode, we all went out to Shinagawa to go eat out on a boat as celebration for our arrival. Probably one of my favorite moments during that phase of the day was actually just arriving at Shinagawa itself. Karma might have been working in my favor after finding Yotsuya to be anticlimatic, as Shinagawa's station was a pretty thrilling place. Looooots of people walking out and about every which way and the station is really huge. When a train arrives at that station, it feels as though everyone makes a mad dash for the nearby escalators. To say it was a real spectacle doesn't do it justice. But none of it felt overwhelming at all, as it was one of those moments where I got a much-cherished glimpse into ordinary Japanese life. To think that there are people who go through that place day in and day out is nothing short of amazing and, really, it makes me envious.
Dinner on the boat itself was a really fun experience. Ceiling height issues aside for a 6' 1" guy like myself, the food was all really good and new dishes kept streaming in continuously for a few hours. The boat went out on one of Tokyo's prominent rivers which goes by a number of landmarks. For an otaku like myself, the highlight was clearly passing the life size Gundam. I only got to see it from the back, but to know that it actually exists is seriously awesome. The sights all around were superb, though, and the photographs I took back that up.
Besides sight seeing, the main event for the boat ride was karaoke, which was extremely fun. There was a nice mixture of Japanese and English songs, with people singing everything from Utada Hikaru to Queen. My two favorite songs that came up, however, were the Evangelion theme and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," both of which humorously appeal to different aspects of my nerdy being. I'm not a huge fan of Evangelion itself at all, but I've always liked the theme song for it and know that it's extremely iconic, so seeing it be sung by someone I actually knew was extremely entertaining. "Never Gonna Give You Up" was equally enjoyable, especially since I actually took part in a duo for it. My singing voice is definitely not in its prime anymore, but the opportunity to play such a maligned song on the Internet was nothing short of bemusing.
Going back to my hotel in Asagaya was entertaining since that involved going through the Shinagawa station again, with it still being as busy as ever. Apparently the time we were going back corresponded to the time that most of the businessman actually go home, which surprised me. It wasn't that late that we went back, but I guess I had never thought they would drastically deviate from the standard 9-to-5 schedule, if only because I never really contemplated it. Naturally, the trains themselves were a bit packed, but not as much as they can notoriously be. I'm told that will be rather common once we start commuting to Sophia in the morning, though, so huzzah?
Other Happenings
Naturally other things went on, too, but for the sake of time and giving me some time to sleep, I'll only briefly cover them in passing. Maybe if I have another opportunity, I'll discuss them later. We'll see. But here are the other main events.
First off, since today involved liberal amounts of train useage, we also got our train passes for the duration of the trip. It's a pretty simplistic affair if you only go for the basics. Basically, you go up to whichever station you know you'll use as your starting point consistently. From there, you have a map which shows all of the other stops in Tokyo on the map and how much it costs to reach them from your current location. Using a touch screen terminal, you then buy the pass and pick your starting and ending point for the route you'll use the most. In this case, I got a pass which lets me use the trains from Asagaya to Yotsuya without any extra charge for leaving the stops in-between, if I'm inclined to do so. You therefore only have to pay a set fee depending on how long you intend to use that route. For me, it came out to 7300 yen, with 500 of that being a refundable deposit. Thankfully the program covers those costs. The card itself can naturally be used to go to other stops. You simply have to either add extra money to the card ahead of time so you can be debited at the stop or just get a separate ticket for the occasion. Using the tickets can be a bit cumbersome, since you actually have to use them twice. If you don't see the ticket come out of the check-in machine at the walkway, then things become funky since you can't leave until you consult staff. I got lucky and had one of the group leaders fetch my ticket for me after I didn't think twice about grabbing it back, but still, it definitely wouldn't have been fun to deal with that if things had turned out otherwise.
Okay, I need to seriously make things concise, so the next two items will be way less wordy so I can go sleep.
First off, one of the few group members I do get along with well invited me to go get tickets for the Studio Ghibli museum this weekend. I had totally forgotten about the place, but I was thoroughly pleased that some reminded me of its existence, as I am quite the fan of some of Miyazaki's movies and have heard secondhand that the museum is a great place to visit. Apparently tickets have to be bought in advance of when you actually want to go and in Tokyo, only one place, I'm told, actually sells them. However it turns out, it should make for a hell of an adventure.
Oh yeah, also ended up walking back to my hotel, Hotel Amisuta, on my own tonight in the rain. I knew the route well enough since it's really straightforward from the hotel and I also do a good job of keeping an eye out for specific landmarks, but there were a few times where I still felt I was almost lost since I still need to become familiar with the area. Thankfully, those worries were for naught; a familiar-looking Denny's, of all places (if sensei is reading this, she'll totally appreciate it), told me I was on the right track. Originally I planned on exploring the area a tad after dropping off my stuff, but the lateness made me decide I should save it for when I'm more awake. Thankfully the scheduled events for tomorrow actually end a lot earlier than before, so plenty of self-adventuring should be in my future.
Yotsuya
Sophia University is located in Yotsuya, just a quick jaunt away from the train station used to get there. Aesthetically, the area itself is pretty modest. The area has some nice greenery that can dot the streets quite a bit at times, but overall it feels as though it mainly keeps to itself. Nothing is especially flashy or grand, which is fine, but that's probably also why the area is one of the more obscure parts of Tokyo in the western world. It's not a side of Japan that screams for attention, basically. Although that said, some of the shops are still charming nonetheless. I managed to find a camera store that was selling really old 35mm ones for under $5. The nostalgic lad in me is extremely tempted to go back soon and buy one. I really love the looks of those old cameras.
I ended up eating out with a couple of the other students on the program, mostly because we didn't want to wait in line at Sophia's cafeteria, what with all the other gaijin going with us taking their sweet time. We opted for a little hole in the wall instead. Nicely decorated, but pretty small, the place probably couldn't house more than 40 at a time, as evidenced by the fact that the staff also had complete strangers seated next to each other while they dined. I personally ordered a pork meal of some sort, although the complete named eluded me due to Kanji reading issues. It was a tasty meal for the 850 yen that it cost. Although I only took one blurry picture of it in the style of Danny Choo, it was a nice hodgepodge of pork and vegetables mixed in with a tasty sauce of some sort. Side dishes included the iconic bowl of rice and another bowl of various leafy vegetables. All of the food was fine, so no complaints.
The visit to the restuarant did, however, highlight a troublesome issue that I was afraid would crop up during the trip. It has nothing to do with the city itself; Tokyo is a damn fine place and you won't see me complaining about it. Instead, it has more to do with the people also on the program, or at least the American students going with me. It turns out that very, very few have any actual experience with Japanese. I guess it's actually not necessarily that per se, but rather a lot of people's attitudes in spite of that. Maybe it's an ego thing, but I wish there were more people on this trip who had at least studied some of the language so that I could have somebody to relate to on that level. I want my adventure to be one where my verbal skills get at least a bit better, but when I'm stuck in a group of people who basically improvise by pointing a lot and saying only the most basic of Japanese requests from a guide pamphlet, I feel constricted, as though my time during those instances is going to be defined according to how well I can swallow my embarassment, for lack of a better phrase. Again, somewhat expected, but not an ideal situation for someone like me who came to Japan to get practical fluency experience, which is precisely why I'm glad the schedule dramatically opens up in just a few days so that I can just operate on my own as often as I can. It's often when I'm alone that I get to know and experience the new place best. Everything is raw and it's then just up to you to go look for the awesome nooks and crannies. I did it for Boulder and I sure as hell intend to do it in Tokyo.
The whole thing has made me resolved to try my damndest to come back to Japan with people I know who really appreciate the language and already know me as a person. I think having a really good dynamic with other people is necessary for these sorts of trips and while I got lucky with Australia, I feel like it will be less so on this trip. Going back to Tokyo with a bunch of friends, even if it's their first time for many, should just allow for funner times since you can skip the phase of awkwardly getting to know each other and just dive straight into making a beeline for the hot spots in Akihabara, Shinjuku, and the like.
Sophia University
Okay, let's leave the quasi-existential ramblings from Yotsuya and move on to intial impressions of Sophia University, since today was also the first time I visited it. First thing first to note in terms of aesthetics is that much like the surrounding area, Sophia University's campus is a bit on the bland side. It's definitely designed to be practical first and everything else later, probably because space is limited in Tokyo. As such, the wide open quads that are common to US campuses is traded in for tallness in the buildings. There are at least 11 different buildings on campus and it seems to be that having 10-plus floors is the norm.
The interiors of the buildings aren't particularly special, either. They look largely like typical university insides, nothing more and nothing less. The doors naturally slide side-to-side instead of being pushed and pulled to open, but that's to be expected in Japan. Only remotely interesting quirk I've heard thus far is that girls' bathrooms are on even-numbered floors, whereas guys are on the odd-numbered ones. Not terribly thrilling, especially since I'm pretty certain some US schools have a similar setup, but ah well.
I'll provide impressions of the faculty and students when I've had more exposure to them, although now's as good a time as any to say I thoroughly enjoy being around native Japanese people. The one's I've met are all really nice and polite. The girls are cute and sweet and the guys have a good sense of humor. One of them even told me I looked like a famous Japanese wrestler just minutes after clearing customs at Narita. I'm satisfied knowing my hair has made an impact on the Japanese people.
Shinagawa
Aftering hanging around Yotsuya and getting into orientation mode, we all went out to Shinagawa to go eat out on a boat as celebration for our arrival. Probably one of my favorite moments during that phase of the day was actually just arriving at Shinagawa itself. Karma might have been working in my favor after finding Yotsuya to be anticlimatic, as Shinagawa's station was a pretty thrilling place. Looooots of people walking out and about every which way and the station is really huge. When a train arrives at that station, it feels as though everyone makes a mad dash for the nearby escalators. To say it was a real spectacle doesn't do it justice. But none of it felt overwhelming at all, as it was one of those moments where I got a much-cherished glimpse into ordinary Japanese life. To think that there are people who go through that place day in and day out is nothing short of amazing and, really, it makes me envious.
Dinner on the boat itself was a really fun experience. Ceiling height issues aside for a 6' 1" guy like myself, the food was all really good and new dishes kept streaming in continuously for a few hours. The boat went out on one of Tokyo's prominent rivers which goes by a number of landmarks. For an otaku like myself, the highlight was clearly passing the life size Gundam. I only got to see it from the back, but to know that it actually exists is seriously awesome. The sights all around were superb, though, and the photographs I took back that up.
Besides sight seeing, the main event for the boat ride was karaoke, which was extremely fun. There was a nice mixture of Japanese and English songs, with people singing everything from Utada Hikaru to Queen. My two favorite songs that came up, however, were the Evangelion theme and Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up," both of which humorously appeal to different aspects of my nerdy being. I'm not a huge fan of Evangelion itself at all, but I've always liked the theme song for it and know that it's extremely iconic, so seeing it be sung by someone I actually knew was extremely entertaining. "Never Gonna Give You Up" was equally enjoyable, especially since I actually took part in a duo for it. My singing voice is definitely not in its prime anymore, but the opportunity to play such a maligned song on the Internet was nothing short of bemusing.
Going back to my hotel in Asagaya was entertaining since that involved going through the Shinagawa station again, with it still being as busy as ever. Apparently the time we were going back corresponded to the time that most of the businessman actually go home, which surprised me. It wasn't that late that we went back, but I guess I had never thought they would drastically deviate from the standard 9-to-5 schedule, if only because I never really contemplated it. Naturally, the trains themselves were a bit packed, but not as much as they can notoriously be. I'm told that will be rather common once we start commuting to Sophia in the morning, though, so huzzah?
Other Happenings
Naturally other things went on, too, but for the sake of time and giving me some time to sleep, I'll only briefly cover them in passing. Maybe if I have another opportunity, I'll discuss them later. We'll see. But here are the other main events.
First off, since today involved liberal amounts of train useage, we also got our train passes for the duration of the trip. It's a pretty simplistic affair if you only go for the basics. Basically, you go up to whichever station you know you'll use as your starting point consistently. From there, you have a map which shows all of the other stops in Tokyo on the map and how much it costs to reach them from your current location. Using a touch screen terminal, you then buy the pass and pick your starting and ending point for the route you'll use the most. In this case, I got a pass which lets me use the trains from Asagaya to Yotsuya without any extra charge for leaving the stops in-between, if I'm inclined to do so. You therefore only have to pay a set fee depending on how long you intend to use that route. For me, it came out to 7300 yen, with 500 of that being a refundable deposit. Thankfully the program covers those costs. The card itself can naturally be used to go to other stops. You simply have to either add extra money to the card ahead of time so you can be debited at the stop or just get a separate ticket for the occasion. Using the tickets can be a bit cumbersome, since you actually have to use them twice. If you don't see the ticket come out of the check-in machine at the walkway, then things become funky since you can't leave until you consult staff. I got lucky and had one of the group leaders fetch my ticket for me after I didn't think twice about grabbing it back, but still, it definitely wouldn't have been fun to deal with that if things had turned out otherwise.
Okay, I need to seriously make things concise, so the next two items will be way less wordy so I can go sleep.
First off, one of the few group members I do get along with well invited me to go get tickets for the Studio Ghibli museum this weekend. I had totally forgotten about the place, but I was thoroughly pleased that some reminded me of its existence, as I am quite the fan of some of Miyazaki's movies and have heard secondhand that the museum is a great place to visit. Apparently tickets have to be bought in advance of when you actually want to go and in Tokyo, only one place, I'm told, actually sells them. However it turns out, it should make for a hell of an adventure.
Oh yeah, also ended up walking back to my hotel, Hotel Amisuta, on my own tonight in the rain. I knew the route well enough since it's really straightforward from the hotel and I also do a good job of keeping an eye out for specific landmarks, but there were a few times where I still felt I was almost lost since I still need to become familiar with the area. Thankfully, those worries were for naught; a familiar-looking Denny's, of all places (if sensei is reading this, she'll totally appreciate it), told me I was on the right track. Originally I planned on exploring the area a tad after dropping off my stuff, but the lateness made me decide I should save it for when I'm more awake. Thankfully the scheduled events for tomorrow actually end a lot earlier than before, so plenty of self-adventuring should be in my future.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Day 1 in a Nutshell
I'm worn out as hell, so this will actually be brief for once. I can almost never sleep on airplanes, so that did a real number on me when I had to sit in one for eleven hours straight without having slept at home for nearly 24 hours when the flight started. Stupid mistake in retrospect, but ah well. I'm here in one piece and I thought I'd give you all quick impressions of the places I ended up going to today.
Denver International Airport
Same as always. Spiffy place, but the fact that the place actually lacks wi-fi, contrary to its advertisements, irked me, considering I got there early since airports are so bipolar about whether security and check-in will take an eternity. Maybe it was just my specific terminal that lacked it, I dunno. It did give me a chance to go play some Touhou and The Typing of the Dead, though. No good person can get enough of at least the latter.
Minneapolis
DUDE, WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE TREES!? I come from Denver, a place that has trees a plenty on virtually every block, but in terms of sheer numbers, they don't remotely compare to Minneapolis. You look out the window in the airplane as it's touching down and I guarantee you that at least 75% of that view is just going to be trees for no arbitrary reason other than to have a lot of trees. The airport itself was nice, even if it did have a Fox News-themed store. No joke. Actually, that airport had a lot of weird stores. I didn't take a picture of it, but do you really need a Harley Davidson store at an airport? Sometimes human logic is odd, although I think in this case it was nonexistant.
Tokyo
Really long flight. Like, stupidly long. I didn't realize how long it would take to get to the Pacific from Minneapolis, but I learned my lesson. As much as I may loathe LAX, I'd rather get lost there for 20 minutes rather than sit in an airplane for four extra hours just to save a few extra dollars. On top of that, I can almost never sleep on an airplane thanks to all the engine noise. Does anybody know if the hardcore noise cancelling headphones can block out even that much sound? If so, I may look into buying a pair at Akihabara before I leave Tokyo.
Oh yeah, I should probably talk about Tokyo itself. It's pretty damn great. As a city boy, there are certain traits it has that automatically resonate with me and make it feel like home. At the same time, though, the landscape is very Japanese and I'm grateful I have such a contrast compared to what I'm accustomed to back in the States. Besides some of the obvious things, like Japanese signage, I liked seeing how Japan worked with its landscapes first hand. I saw those very square plots of land you'll often see in rural-themed movies like My Neighbor Totoro and it reminded me of just how deliberate the Japanese can be at taking care of the nature around them. If you understand why bonsai caretaking is a pretty hardcore thing to do, then you probably have a good idea of what I mean by this already; the soul is still there, but the manner in which the land and its nature is cared for is done in such a way that it can send out its own subtle commentary. It's a really great thing to behold, even if the sights themselves are pretty modest.
It's also pretty damn hot and humid at the moment. As someone who grew up in super arid air, it'll take a bit of time to get used to, but in the end, I suppose it'll be manageable. I was planning on exploring the neighborhood around my hotel a tad, but the laptop decided to pretend it didn't have a working ethernet port for the longest time, so that kind of took priority, what with needing to let the family know I didn't get kidnapped or anything. Definitely looking forward to being able to do so, though, since that will let me use my camera in much more optimal conditions than what was possible to muster tonight. Plus, we get our train passes tomorrow, so maybe even a jaunt to Akihabara will be in order soon.
Okay, this didn't turn out that concise. Yay irony.
Denver International Airport
Same as always. Spiffy place, but the fact that the place actually lacks wi-fi, contrary to its advertisements, irked me, considering I got there early since airports are so bipolar about whether security and check-in will take an eternity. Maybe it was just my specific terminal that lacked it, I dunno. It did give me a chance to go play some Touhou and The Typing of the Dead, though. No good person can get enough of at least the latter.
Minneapolis
DUDE, WHAT IS UP WITH ALL THE TREES!? I come from Denver, a place that has trees a plenty on virtually every block, but in terms of sheer numbers, they don't remotely compare to Minneapolis. You look out the window in the airplane as it's touching down and I guarantee you that at least 75% of that view is just going to be trees for no arbitrary reason other than to have a lot of trees. The airport itself was nice, even if it did have a Fox News-themed store. No joke. Actually, that airport had a lot of weird stores. I didn't take a picture of it, but do you really need a Harley Davidson store at an airport? Sometimes human logic is odd, although I think in this case it was nonexistant.
Tokyo
Really long flight. Like, stupidly long. I didn't realize how long it would take to get to the Pacific from Minneapolis, but I learned my lesson. As much as I may loathe LAX, I'd rather get lost there for 20 minutes rather than sit in an airplane for four extra hours just to save a few extra dollars. On top of that, I can almost never sleep on an airplane thanks to all the engine noise. Does anybody know if the hardcore noise cancelling headphones can block out even that much sound? If so, I may look into buying a pair at Akihabara before I leave Tokyo.
Oh yeah, I should probably talk about Tokyo itself. It's pretty damn great. As a city boy, there are certain traits it has that automatically resonate with me and make it feel like home. At the same time, though, the landscape is very Japanese and I'm grateful I have such a contrast compared to what I'm accustomed to back in the States. Besides some of the obvious things, like Japanese signage, I liked seeing how Japan worked with its landscapes first hand. I saw those very square plots of land you'll often see in rural-themed movies like My Neighbor Totoro and it reminded me of just how deliberate the Japanese can be at taking care of the nature around them. If you understand why bonsai caretaking is a pretty hardcore thing to do, then you probably have a good idea of what I mean by this already; the soul is still there, but the manner in which the land and its nature is cared for is done in such a way that it can send out its own subtle commentary. It's a really great thing to behold, even if the sights themselves are pretty modest.
It's also pretty damn hot and humid at the moment. As someone who grew up in super arid air, it'll take a bit of time to get used to, but in the end, I suppose it'll be manageable. I was planning on exploring the neighborhood around my hotel a tad, but the laptop decided to pretend it didn't have a working ethernet port for the longest time, so that kind of took priority, what with needing to let the family know I didn't get kidnapped or anything. Definitely looking forward to being able to do so, though, since that will let me use my camera in much more optimal conditions than what was possible to muster tonight. Plus, we get our train passes tomorrow, so maybe even a jaunt to Akihabara will be in order soon.
Okay, this didn't turn out that concise. Yay irony.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
T-Minus Two Days....
This is the third blog post I've attempted to write here, knowing full well that whichever one I get around to finishing would probably be the last one I'd publish before heading out. Nonetheless, I figure that I should get around to posting something on here since, after all, I managed to do so on my other blog over at Giant Bomb. But what to talk about? In the previous versions, I attempted to use my trademark rambling to once again be one-track and discuss specific topics. Maybe it was the time of night or something, but none of those ever really worked out. So let's go for something a bit more anarchic this time and just talk about what's going through my mind now that I have less than 48 hours before I leave this house and once again embark on an international journey. What purpose this will ultimately serve is beyond me, but, really, when has that ever been a concern of mine? With that said, let's go through each of the main thoughts one by one and take it from there.
I still have a long, long ways to go with Japanese, yet already I'm at a point where I can't turn it off.
I think one of the main signs that you're really embracing a foreign language is when your mind is able to automatically switch to it when even the slightest triggers provoke it. Most anything can make it happen. A store sign telling you that they've restocked. A passing conversation about trivial things from ordinary life. A book title you glance at on a shelf. You don't have to be anywhere near fluent to enter that mode of thinking in the other language; you just need to be eager and willing to learn new things from the world around you. In my case, I can't look at ordinary Japanese characters without assigning meaning to them, nor can I listen to native speakers and easily dismiss them when I'm unable to comprehend everything. I've already reached a point in my life where Japanese really is a part of my daily life, so in turn, it's natural for me to more or less have my faculties for it turned on 24/7. Sometimes I may skip more complex text if my mind is too tired and I don't wish to strain it further, but in the end, my modest Japanese comprehension is a specter that is bound to hang around my constantly. And just like when it happened with Mexican Spanish, I'm nothing short of glad it's there to stay.
Going over to Japan for the first time as a non-native speaker is a scary proposition.
I'll open admit that there are times when I get really nervous about the proposition of spending an extended period of time in a country whose language I can't speak as well as the natives. One of the main reasons why Australia was the first country I visited abroad was precisely because I didn't want to worry about language and potential cultural barriers at the same time. Now that I'm older, I'm willing to go more and more outside my comfort zone, and going to Japan and using my Japanese in a realistic, non-academic environment is bound to push what I find to be comfortable. After all, as much as I may malign my home for being dull and unchanging, like a lot of people, there are also times where I take comfort in knowing that some things are constant and familiar. The fact that I don't have that luxury in a place like Japan, at least for now, is a bit of a scary proposition. But I also know that environments where things are stagnant and don't change aren't conducive for personal growth. It's with that knowledge that I'm ultimately okay with and even thoroughly excited to spend a lot of time in Japan. I always learn the most about myself when I'm on adventures I choose to have myself and I have no doubt that this trip will be true to that once again.
I studied what I can, but in the end, the true studying comes from just using Japanese there everyday.
I got about halfway through my Japanese textbook review before I ultimately ended up calling it quits. Originally, I just wanted a brief break while I work on the latest Shin Megami Tensei installment for the DS, a game I liked quite a bit. But the more time I went by, the more and more I realized that I could only push myself so far before the regurgitated knowledge would be too redundant to be worth covering again. It's an issue I tend to run into quite a bit during finals season; by the end, the knowledge has typically been discussed and re-discussed so much that it does me no good to try going through it yet again. Such was the case again with Japanese, although to be honest, I'm not worried. In the end, I still have a lot to learn about the language anyway and, apparently, I've already covered a considerable amount of ground for an upcoming second-year student. Any deficiencies will probably be addressed quickly enough as I encounter them in the field and it's the only real way to do things anyway.
I hope my conversational skills go up a notch or two while I'm there.
The main stumbling block which prevented me from reaching practical fluency in Mexican Spanish was that I simply didn't have enough conversational practice, a huge necessity when learning any language since that's where the nuances genuinely come to life. I had a theoretical understanding of the majority of the grammar points, but in the end, just reading and writing fluency can only do so much good for you. That's why I was glad the way the Japanese curriculum was executed this past school year was significantly different compared to Spanish; conversational practice was a must virtually every day and as a result, I became a lot more confident in my Japanese verbal abilities in just a few months than I had ever been with half a decade of Spanish studies. Now with this upcoming trip to Tokyo, I hope some down-to-earth field testing of my verbal skills will push me to express myself in the language more naturally as time goes by. From my own experience, a month can suprisingly do a world of good for verbal fluency. When I went to Australia, I became very good friends with a Chinese student, the only member of the group who didn't speak English natively. He went from being able to barely string cohesive sentences slowly to confidently being able to carry on conversations with everybody by the end of the trip. Granted, the guy was a bit of an English prodigy in his homeland to begin with, but I still hope I get to experience something similar with Japanese over the course of this trip. I don't want to be limited to being able to express myself well with only words again and I intend to try my hardest to make sure my verbal skills match my written ones eventually.
Man, that exchange rate is a real jackass.
Tokyo is already considered a city with very high standards of living to begin with, something I don't necessarily have a problem with because I imagine my bargain-hunting skills will come in extremely handy. Rather, the more irksome issue is more of an economic one; even since the world economies entered a recession, the exchange rate between the yen and the US dollar has been a depressing sight to see. The fact that I ended up exchanging my money a few weeks ago to prevent further loss of money, rather than the usual idea of getting the most bang for your buck, is probably indicative of how poor the state of the exchange rate really is. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and hope for the best, although suffice it to say that it's not an easy thing to swallow at all. I exchanged a lot more money than I'll probably need in the end, so I'm not worried about coming up short and having to exchange more at the last minute. I just can't help but wish the economy was in a better condition; being able to get more yen per dollar would be more financial reassurance, if nothing else.
It needs to be Saturday already.
It's Thursday and summer break has been going on for well over two months. I'm typically an extremely patient fellow, but now that I'm getting really close to flying out, I'm wishing the day would arrive a lot more quickly than it seems to be. Irony is a real jerk sometimes.
And with that said, I think we're done for now. It's 7:43 in the morning, so after all this writing, I'm not particularly inclined to write a conclusion. You probably know how I write these things by now, so feel free to just make up the remainder of this blog for yourself.
I still have a long, long ways to go with Japanese, yet already I'm at a point where I can't turn it off.
I think one of the main signs that you're really embracing a foreign language is when your mind is able to automatically switch to it when even the slightest triggers provoke it. Most anything can make it happen. A store sign telling you that they've restocked. A passing conversation about trivial things from ordinary life. A book title you glance at on a shelf. You don't have to be anywhere near fluent to enter that mode of thinking in the other language; you just need to be eager and willing to learn new things from the world around you. In my case, I can't look at ordinary Japanese characters without assigning meaning to them, nor can I listen to native speakers and easily dismiss them when I'm unable to comprehend everything. I've already reached a point in my life where Japanese really is a part of my daily life, so in turn, it's natural for me to more or less have my faculties for it turned on 24/7. Sometimes I may skip more complex text if my mind is too tired and I don't wish to strain it further, but in the end, my modest Japanese comprehension is a specter that is bound to hang around my constantly. And just like when it happened with Mexican Spanish, I'm nothing short of glad it's there to stay.
Going over to Japan for the first time as a non-native speaker is a scary proposition.
I'll open admit that there are times when I get really nervous about the proposition of spending an extended period of time in a country whose language I can't speak as well as the natives. One of the main reasons why Australia was the first country I visited abroad was precisely because I didn't want to worry about language and potential cultural barriers at the same time. Now that I'm older, I'm willing to go more and more outside my comfort zone, and going to Japan and using my Japanese in a realistic, non-academic environment is bound to push what I find to be comfortable. After all, as much as I may malign my home for being dull and unchanging, like a lot of people, there are also times where I take comfort in knowing that some things are constant and familiar. The fact that I don't have that luxury in a place like Japan, at least for now, is a bit of a scary proposition. But I also know that environments where things are stagnant and don't change aren't conducive for personal growth. It's with that knowledge that I'm ultimately okay with and even thoroughly excited to spend a lot of time in Japan. I always learn the most about myself when I'm on adventures I choose to have myself and I have no doubt that this trip will be true to that once again.
I studied what I can, but in the end, the true studying comes from just using Japanese there everyday.
I got about halfway through my Japanese textbook review before I ultimately ended up calling it quits. Originally, I just wanted a brief break while I work on the latest Shin Megami Tensei installment for the DS, a game I liked quite a bit. But the more time I went by, the more and more I realized that I could only push myself so far before the regurgitated knowledge would be too redundant to be worth covering again. It's an issue I tend to run into quite a bit during finals season; by the end, the knowledge has typically been discussed and re-discussed so much that it does me no good to try going through it yet again. Such was the case again with Japanese, although to be honest, I'm not worried. In the end, I still have a lot to learn about the language anyway and, apparently, I've already covered a considerable amount of ground for an upcoming second-year student. Any deficiencies will probably be addressed quickly enough as I encounter them in the field and it's the only real way to do things anyway.
I hope my conversational skills go up a notch or two while I'm there.
The main stumbling block which prevented me from reaching practical fluency in Mexican Spanish was that I simply didn't have enough conversational practice, a huge necessity when learning any language since that's where the nuances genuinely come to life. I had a theoretical understanding of the majority of the grammar points, but in the end, just reading and writing fluency can only do so much good for you. That's why I was glad the way the Japanese curriculum was executed this past school year was significantly different compared to Spanish; conversational practice was a must virtually every day and as a result, I became a lot more confident in my Japanese verbal abilities in just a few months than I had ever been with half a decade of Spanish studies. Now with this upcoming trip to Tokyo, I hope some down-to-earth field testing of my verbal skills will push me to express myself in the language more naturally as time goes by. From my own experience, a month can suprisingly do a world of good for verbal fluency. When I went to Australia, I became very good friends with a Chinese student, the only member of the group who didn't speak English natively. He went from being able to barely string cohesive sentences slowly to confidently being able to carry on conversations with everybody by the end of the trip. Granted, the guy was a bit of an English prodigy in his homeland to begin with, but I still hope I get to experience something similar with Japanese over the course of this trip. I don't want to be limited to being able to express myself well with only words again and I intend to try my hardest to make sure my verbal skills match my written ones eventually.
Man, that exchange rate is a real jackass.
Tokyo is already considered a city with very high standards of living to begin with, something I don't necessarily have a problem with because I imagine my bargain-hunting skills will come in extremely handy. Rather, the more irksome issue is more of an economic one; even since the world economies entered a recession, the exchange rate between the yen and the US dollar has been a depressing sight to see. The fact that I ended up exchanging my money a few weeks ago to prevent further loss of money, rather than the usual idea of getting the most bang for your buck, is probably indicative of how poor the state of the exchange rate really is. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses and hope for the best, although suffice it to say that it's not an easy thing to swallow at all. I exchanged a lot more money than I'll probably need in the end, so I'm not worried about coming up short and having to exchange more at the last minute. I just can't help but wish the economy was in a better condition; being able to get more yen per dollar would be more financial reassurance, if nothing else.
It needs to be Saturday already.
It's Thursday and summer break has been going on for well over two months. I'm typically an extremely patient fellow, but now that I'm getting really close to flying out, I'm wishing the day would arrive a lot more quickly than it seems to be. Irony is a real jerk sometimes.
And with that said, I think we're done for now. It's 7:43 in the morning, so after all this writing, I'm not particularly inclined to write a conclusion. You probably know how I write these things by now, so feel free to just make up the remainder of this blog for yourself.
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