We Are Young

So this week was a bit slower than the rest on account of the looming midterm exams and essays that we'll have to deal with next week. That said, this week PII had some cool activities scheduled for us. If I had to put a name on the general theme of this week, it would be "young people" ---- "young Japanese people."

Our first field trip of the week, we went to Kanazawa University. Everyone was partnered with a student, had lunch, chatted and all that. All in all, it was a nice afternoon though I could have done without the "musical session" that involved learning how to play ... uhm, leaves? Seriously. After our communal quiz on Kanazawa University (from which I found out Kanazawa Dai has the third largest campus in all of Japan), a group of elderly Japanese folk came out and played a rendition of "If you're happy and you know it" by blowing on leaves that they held in between their lips. I was too stunned to clap.... Now, I have to admit that it was kind of impressive.... but what on earth does playing leaves have to do with Japanese culture? I asked my Japanese partner, but alas he had no answer.

Some other interesting highlights of the visit were visiting the library where we were shown a machine that I can only think of to call a Robo-Librarian. In order to preserve delicate books, the university bought a machine that catalogues all the books behind locked doors and can be directed to pick up whatever book you might need without you having to wonder the stacks. Call me old fashioned, but I rather like wandering the stacks for books- makes finding the book you need or finding other books that you might not otherwise have found so much more satisfying.

Anyway, our second field trip of the week was to the Daitoku Elementary School. Ishikawa decided to hail the beginnings of its monsoon season upon us which was kind of a drag, but the mood immediately lightened when we got to meet all these cute little Japanese kids! We were first tagged, which made for a nice, criminal-like photo-op. (credit to Matthew Delgado for the pic) Then we were entertained with taiko (traditional Japanese drumming) and a song in English that went like "Hello. How are you? I like to meet you too." ~~Read: very cute. (*-*)V


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After that, it was off to individual classes. I was with the 一年生〜 All I have to say is, do not be fooled by cute faces--- the kids totally schooled me in rock, paper, scissors.



But this is not where the story ends. Scene: Friday, Kanazawa Station, 4:00pm-ish. What's an exchange student to do? Go to the mall of course. And play in the arcade. The games of choice: virtual taiko, Mario Cart, and some sort of shooting game. The virtual taiko game was a lot of fun, and though in no way a substitute for actual exercise, everyone agreed that it does work the arms quite a bit. I went for one of those crane games that look ridiculously easy, but in actuality are ridiculously hard. It was a bit tricky, but about 2000 yen later- I came out victorious and with a big stuffed Stitch to boot. I learned that the trick is to use the crane not to pick up the stuffed animal, but rather to push it off the ledge of the machine.


Next stop on our "what would a young Japanese college student do" hang out session was a trip to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant. Sushi is well crazy delicious as is, but add to the fact that it comes right to your table on cleverly color-coded plates (which indicate price), well- I can think of no better way to improve an already superior dining experience.

To round off the night, a small group of us headed out to a bar and had some drinks. The conversation ranged from serial killers to the end of the world to one's taste in the opposite sex. All in all, a great night. Saturday night and Sunday were equally chill, but that's another story. Jya ne.