帰りたくなったよ

So I've been back in the United States for almost three months! I've been working as a research assistant for the Illinois Legislative Research Unit as a part of the Illinois Legislative Staff Internship Program (ILSIP). Three months ago I never thought I would be able to adjust to living in the quaint, one-Starbucks-kind-of-town Springfield after living in Tokyo, but here I am.

As for reflections on my year in Japan, it was amazing! My Japanese is so much better, even though there's definitely still room for improvement. A question I keep asking myself is whether I made the most out of the year. I regret that I chickened out of taking the JLPT (>.<)!$!% but in the end, I think I got a lot out of IUC.... But oh, how I miss it! Seriously- you don't know what I'd do for a bowl of 豚骨ラーメン.

Sadly, there's not too many resources for speaking Japanese here in Springfield, so I've been using Skype to talk with friends, hanging out with Japanese peeps when I'm in Chicago, and watching Japanese movies online. It's not the same of course, but it'll have to do.

On a side note, since I'll be here in Springfield for a while, I figured I would start blogging about life here in the Land of Lincoln. Cheers! (I leave you with a picture I took on top of Mt. Fuji!!! More on that some other time~)

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

Random title, but this is a fabulous song so let's go with it.

The Yalies made one last group 遠足 (field trip) to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It was hands down awesome. I'm a huge fan of Miyazaki's films so it was a personal treat, but the grounds are so lovely I think even non-Ghibli studio fans would like it. In order to get there, we all met at Kichijo-ji station and then walked down Kichijo-ji street and through Inokashira Park to get to the museum. There are a lot of nice shops and cafes along the way, so it sets a good mood for a visit to the museum which according to their website is:

A museum that is interesting and which relaxes the soul

A museum where much can

be discovered

A museum based on a clear and consistent philosophy

A museum where those seeking enjoyment can enjoy, those seeking to ponder can ponder, and those seeking to feel can feel

A museum that makes you feel more enriched when

you leave than when you entered!

Yeah~ I'd say the museum was a bit trippy. I especially like these rooms that were crammed top to bottom with all these gorgeous photos, books, and just random props that I assume Miyazaki uses for inspiration for his films. So gorgeous! I seriously want to plaster my room with pictures of rice fields and the like when I get back to Chicago. Alas, people aren't allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but there are some pretty nice ones at this site called GhibliWorld (along with other news updates on what's going on at Studio Ghibli.) Check it out if you are so inclined.

Side note: I guess a lot of the stuff at the museum is for little kids like the huge plushy Cat Bus from となりのトトロ, but sometimes it's nice to just step out of the urban jungle that is Tokyo and go on a mini-adventure through the woods.

PS. If you feel like heading to Mitaka, don't forget you have to buy your tickets in advance at Lawson's Loppi Stations!

Don't Know Why

Seriously! I don't know why it's taken me so long to update! (Actually, I do now- but more on that later.) IUC classes officially ended on Friday, so this upcoming week is reserved for fixing up our 発表原稿 and polishing our speech-giving skills one last time. Tomorrow (ie. today) we also have an exam to see how much we've progressed during the year. If gossip is to believed, the test is the same as the one we took when the program started. That's a big relief, but also worrisome. What if I don't do better? What if the only thing I learned in the course of the year is how to recognize the kanji for corner （隅）which I remember getting wrong the first time around?

In other news, my presentation is shaping up quite nicely. In the end, I chose to focus on Japan's healthcare system and a health intervention program started in 2000 called "Healthy Japan 21(st century)." The powerpoint is still painfully boring, but maybe I'm just wrongly assuming that people won't find metabolic syndrome as fascinating as I do. Bleh.

Though this doesn't have much to do with Japanese or IUC, I think it's relevant to building good study habits so I'm including it. It's an article from the New Yorker about self-control... which I seem to have been lacking for the last couple of weeks and explains why I haven't made myself sit-down and write entries about all the cool things I've been doing.

Basically, I have a lot of "marshmallows" that have been 邪魔-ing my studies... this last quarter seems to have been the worst since things have been winding down and IUC is all about laissez-faire. My biggest time eaters can be boiled down to checking facebook/mixi far too often, watching streaming tv, and reading random articles online, which incidentally is how I found the article above.

I'm going to take a hint from Odysseus and try to prevent myself from wasting time before I can. And to do that, I need to reflect back to when I was a studying MACHINE in high school and figure out what's different now. What is it that I waste so much time on??? Argh, やっぱり INTERNET! I didn't have internet in high school so I had no choice but to focus all my energy on my homework for "fun." (本当だよ I didn't know what google was until I got to Yale.)

And now that I've recognized my beast- I'm going to pretend that it's not there... That is, of course, after allowing enough time to finish up this post. And done.

The Time Warp

Obviously I fell into an abyss for the last few days/weeks/month so let's just pretend we've fished our handy little time machine out of our ４次元ポケット (4-dimensional pocket) and... what? Gasp! You don't have a 4-dimensional pocket?! And worse, you don't know recognize the pop culture reference?!?! For shame--> let the school lesson begin.

I'm of course referring to the ４次元ポケット of ドラえもん (Doraemon), only the coolest robotic cat ever. It's a famous manga series that developed over time into a huge franchise... So much so that pretty much any tourist site you visit in Japan is assured to have Doraemon paraphernalia. Once I even found Doraemon pencil cases in a dollar store... in the suburbs of Illinois. If Chuck Norris is everywhere at all times, I think Doraemon would come in at a close second.

ドラえもん was probably my first exposure to Japanese pop culture. I remember being all of 7 years old and watching this crazy blue bear-looking thing going crazy for dorayaki and using these cool gadgets to help his friend run away from the neighborhood bully. Up until I did PII program I was pretty consistent with getting ドラえもん keychains and stuffed animals when in Japan, but I've since become won over by the cute overload known as リラ熊... more on that in another post.

The basic premise of the Doraemon series is that he was sent back in time to help out a cheeky little boy named Nobita so that he doesn't ruin his future and that of his descendants. Nobita, being really lazy (which gets annoying after a while), always tries to use one of Doraemon's gadgets for a quick solution, only to have things blow up in his face. Things turn out well in the end, but only after Nobita has learned a lesson about the wrongness of procrastinating, lying, etc.

Anyways, I'm going to go back and write entries for the weeks I missed. I think I can even be sneaky and list them under the dates when they should have been posted so sorry if that's confusing at first. For now at least, back to the future.

海の見える街

This is another one of those random isn't-Japanese-culture-cool posts. Waaaay back around February I went to the Tokyo-Edo Museum with a friend's mom who I'm fond of. If you like Japanese history or replicas at all, it's definitely worth a stop. The museum's claim to fame is this huge (read: true to size) replica of 日本橋, the wooden bridge around which the mercantile district of the same name grew during the Edo period. (FYI 日本橋 is now a major business/financial district.) I know, I read wikipedia too much for my own good.

Pfft, bridge- whatever, right? But the 日本橋 district was where Japan saw it's first department store and the precursor to Tsukiji fish market. I don't know about you, but I love a good "before" and "after" comparison, so it's pretty cool to see what Tokyo looked like in bygone eras compared to now.

Another reason I really dug the museum is because they had an exhibit on the development of 浮世絵 (ukiyo-e, woodblock prints). While the kind of traditional paintings you'll find in other museums are pretty and all, ukiyo-e are especially interesting because they give you a little insight into everyday life in the Edo period. Since the prints were made for the masses, the subjects range from scenic beauty to naughtier subjects like so-called pleasure districts.

The museum also had a little section on Hokusai. Chances are you've seen one of his woodblock prints from his series called Thiry-six Views of Mt. Fuji (富嶽三十六景). Of those prints, the most famous one is called The Great Wave (look up).

I think what I like best about Hokusai is how eternal his works are. Nowadays you can find his works on everything from cell phone decals to the JR Rail passes. Not only that, but people are always recreating this classic image. Below are a few of the cooler portrayals I found. There's even a bible-themed one here.

The Wave of the Future made for an IBM users group.

Cover of issue 28 of Giant Robot Magazine done by kozyndan

I Fought The Law

I figure a year is a long time not to have at least one run in with the law, so let's talk about Japan's legal system! If you're been keeping up with the news of late, you've probably heard of how Japan is in the midst of transitioning to a citizen-juror system. That's right... up until now the Japanese have gotten away without the time-honored inconvenience that we Americans know as jury duty. (I actually think jury duty would be cool, but that's just me.)

First off, we should go over the court set-up since it's a little bit different from that of the U.S. If you look above, you can see the public prosecutor on the left and the defendant's attorney on the right, talk about showdown. In the back, the three professional judges in the middle are flanked by six citizen judges. When witnesses give testimony, you'll notice they sit facing the jurors (scary!) and not the general public.

Citizens jurors are reserved only for more heinous crimes so if you do have any legal problems you shouldn't have to deal with twelve jurors (hopefully). From what I gathered from an NHK documentary on the new system, citizen jurors are wary of being too lenient and usually end up being more harsh in their sentencing than the professional judges so watch out!

As a field trip, the law class went to Yokohama's regional courts and watched a few cases. It was a cool experience, but also kind of sad. The first case we saw was against a homeless man who rode in a taxicab without paying because he wanted someplace warm to stay. (Sidenote: Japanese cabs are really clean and comfortable so I can totally sympathize.) Another was against a woman who had illegally entered Japan and was working with a bogus visa/passport since what she could make working in Japan in a week added up to about what she could make in one or two months back home. It was actually her second or third(?) conviction for the same offense so the public prosecutor was pretty adamant (read: harsh) about getting it across that she would not be allowed in Japan again. Sigh.

On a second field trip with the law class, we met with a public prosecutor and got to talk to him a little bit about his job experience. I'd say the most amusing part was his story on how he decided on his career path... because he read a really cool manga where the lead character was a public prosecutor. All the more reason to stop by Book-Off more often I suppose- maybe I'll find my true calling.

Live Like You're Dying

I've come to a scary realization... my days in Japan are numbered!! Of course, I knew before I came that the program ends in June, but since I've been in Japan I hadn't really thought of it. June seemed so far away... If my little clock widget is any indication, it'll be just a couple of months before I have to pack my bags and head home. *whimper

Don't get me wrong, I am ELATED at the prospect of eating deep dish pizza and peanut butter to my heart's content, but I'm going to miss Japan a lot. Though IUC and living on my own has been a challenge, I'm mostly content with how I've handled the transition. Everything from studying kanji while riding the train to scoping out the supermarkets for the best deals on produce has become a sort of cherished expression of freedom and responsibility. Objectively-speaking, I'm sure I could easily do these things in Chicago, but it somehow it just wouldn't be the same.

As I said, I'm mostly content. My Japanese is still not nearly as good as I want it to be. I think the problem is that teachers and host families tend to be almost painfully understanding of my limited and probably incorrect Japanese so I'm often spared having to fully explain myself. Thus when I then have to speak with people my own age who perhaps aren't mind-readers, I get self-conscious and revert into "please-understand-I-can-only-explain-in-nouns-and-gestures" mode.

I've been listening to David Sedaris' newest collection of essays on tape (well mp3 actually), When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I'm particularly fond of his "Smoking Section" series which covers his efforts to quit smoking while living in Japan. He brings up the point that Japanese is a listener's language, and I couldn't agree more. Given that subjects are often dropped in conversation and the general lack of plural forms in the Japanese language, being able to fill in the gaps on your own is CRITICAL.

Anyways, now is as good a time as ever to gather my remaining wits and redouble my efforts. Like the fleeting beauty of the cherry blossoms, my remaining time in Japan is going to be over sooner than I'd like. 頑張るしかない！

Viva La Vida

While visiting Wilma, one of my old suities at Yale, I had the good fortune of being treated to a nice dinner by members of the Light Fellowship Committee. I had already left for Okayama by the time they arrived in Tokyo for a site visit, but I was lucky enough to catch them on my way back through Kansai. We all know there's no such thing as a "free meal" so part of the dinner included being gently grilled about our experiences in Asia and what we wanted to do in the future. One of the subjects that came up in convo was what impact being able to do a bit of extra travel (generously provided for in our fellowship) had on our overall experience in Japan.

My first reaction was to reply, "Well it lets me make my obligatory round of visits to old host families," but I knew that wouldn't fly, so I think mumbled something about it giving me a chance to think about Japan and my studies from a different perspective. The truth is I didn't want to admit that traveling to new places in Japan doesn't give me the same sense of awe that it did when I was a kid. Without boasting, I can say that I've been most to most major tourist sites in Japan... more than once. Once you've seen one shrine, you've seen them all. Or maybe not.

One of the places I visited in Kyoto was Fushinami Inari Shrine (伏見稲荷大社). Wilma told me there were a lot of cool statues of foxes, so I thought maybe I would be able to pick up some cool fox-shaped souvenirs. Also, I figured I might as well make a trip of it since I've already been to the other major Kyoto sites: Kiyomizudera, Kinkakuji, Ginkakuji, the Imperial Palace, Sanjusan Gendo, etc.

The shrine is dedicated to Inari, the Japanese god for wealth (particularly fertility, agriculture, and worldly success.) As for the foxes, besides being cute, they are believed to be Inari's messengers. If given tasty offerings like fried tofu, you can expect them to entreat Inari on your behalf. I prayed that I might cram enough into my head to successfully pass the JLPT １級 ~in a way asking for a "wealth" of knowledge, but I didn't think to bring fried tofu (>.<)~#$%^ so we'll see...
Having spent the better part of the day power-walking around downtown Kyoto, I arrived at the shrine around dusk when most shops had already closed down and more people were leaving the shrine than entering it. In other words, the place had this eerie tranquility about it that made me wish I hadn't watched Friday the 13th before I left on my trip.


As I started ascending the mountain on which the shrine is situated, I was delighted to realize that although it was my first time visiting Fushinami, it wasn't the first time I had seen the shrine. I remember it quite vividly from the end of the movie Memoirs of a Geisha where the main character runs through the famous 鳥居 (torii - gate) as a child. I'm not a huge fan of the movie for its storyline, but in any case, the cinematography is beautiful and the ending scene made a strong impression on me.

Also--> flashback to freshmen year. Second semester I watched a lot of videos for French class, one of which was about Jean-Claude and Christo -two famous environmental artists- who created a piece called The Gates in Central Park a few years back. For coming from two totally different sources, I think it's cool how they look so similar~ but then again I'm no art buff. Jean-Claude and Christo also did a piece here in Japan, but it was back in 1984... alas I was but a fetus.



It's hard to describe, but seeing the shrine was like going back to an old haunt that you can almost hear whisper to you. To someone who's seen loads of shrines, it might be said that Inari is not all that different. But that's just it- it was familiar and so, kind of comforting. Paltry as it may seem, I think what I got out of this trip is that seeing, doing something interesting doesn't necessarily have to equate to doing something new. In fact, it's just as fun and profound when you find things that are somehow related to previous experience or knowledge. Over the years, I think it's those kind of connections that have kept me studying Japanese. I never really connected with the culture of other languages I studied, so it was that much easier to quit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that getting to explore Japan (or East Asia) is a lot more than just buying cool souvenirs (though I do love getting the cool cell phone keychains!) It really is a chance to take a breather from the book learnin' and just think.

Spring Break!

Spring break started on the 7th, but I've been traveling around so haven't gotten around to writing posts yet. I traveled to Okayama as well as Kyoto with day trips to smaller towns around Kyoto and a trip to Chiba's countryside.

光と影の歌

I liked this song too much not to put it up, but I don't have a copy of the mp3. It's a nice song and the MV is pretty cool. It's a single by Shinji Kuno. ご覧下さい。

光と影

This week the Yalies went out and did something cultural- hurrah! After our morning class on Wednesday, we headed to Shinjuku to eat at 新便横丁 (Shomben Yokocho), also known as "Piss Alley" because of the lack of bathrooms (I definitely saw one when we walked through the alley, but it looked quite new). Though the name is a definite turn-off, it's a tourist place worth hitting up at least once if only to check out its historical sketchiness... it's a frequent haunt of drunk salarymen and one of the few parts of Tokyo that still has that authentic, off-the-beaten-track(ish) dingy feel. We went during the day so missed out on a lot of the nighttime character, but I didn't mind getting a chance to eat some 焼き鳥.

After that, we went walked west of the station to get to NTT's InterCommunication Center. It's a multimedia museum housed in the Tokyo Opera City Tower. We went to see an exhibit called "Light InSight" that I had heard about in Metropolis. Some of the pieces included:

-a candle inside an old-fashioned tv
-a strobe light that would emit light in such a way that you would see the word 'light' when you blinked
-drawings made up of the artist's eye movements

Rad, no?

While I attributed my original inclination to going because I like shiny objects (who doesn't?), I have to admit I was also partially drawn in by a picture of one of the installations from the exhibit.

It's a piece by Mischa Kuball called space-speech-speed. If you look closely, the mirror balls give off a light pattern that is not unlike the electron cloud of a 2p orbital that I became painfully familiar with through orgo.

photo by Keizo Kioku from Metropolis

I really enjoyed the exhibit and walking around the ICCenter itself, probably because it's more like an interactive science museum than some abstract, avant garde space for video installations. On it's homepage, the Center says it "aims to become a network that links artists and scientists worldwide." Indeed.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Again)

What better way to get over the disappointment of Valentine's Day than with a Girl's Night Out! (Technically, 3 Girls Nights.) I should mention that I did receive 義理チョコ(!), although it was half-giri/half-omiyage... in any case, not much in the way of romance. My friend from PII brought it back from Hokkaido where he went for the Sapporo Snow Festival. Cantaloupe from Hokkaido is supposed to be particularly delicious, so he brought back melon-flavored chocolate. Surprisingly delicious.

Thursday- Natsuko came into town for a mini-break, so I met up with her in Tokyo. I hadn't been to Tokyo since I first visited Japan when I was 14 when the labyrinth that is 東京駅 was enough to strike awe and terror into my jr. high school heart. Fortunately, this time I had a much stronger command of kanji and how to read signs so I was able to meet up with Natsuko without much problem.

Friday- I caught up on tv. Seriously.

Saturday- Rushelle and I went out for food and drinks with Ai and Yuki in Shibuya. Ai and Yuki are two of my friends from when I did a homestay in Okayama and went to Joto Senior High School. It was so much fun to see them! Talk about 懐かしい！(nostalgia) Before our conversations were limited to a few key phrases... as in:

Wow, it's cold! うわぁ！寒い！！

That's cute/expensive/cheap/strange.　可愛いね／高いね／安いね／変ですね

I'm hungry/sleepy/tired. お腹が減った／眠たい／疲れた

Let's skip class! サボろう！

Will you give me some? ちょうだい　(usually food or gum of some sort)

Actually these are essential phrases even now, study up.

Sunday- I went to the Edo Museum in Ryogaku with Yamashita Mama, but more on that next time.

Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps

St. Valentine's day. A day that the aroma of cacao turns on our heart. A day that had been always special for us. Bright and luxurious, specially dressed chocolates grant this weekend before spring, an important meaning. The fulfilled time that the theobroma brings. The story begins from the Valentine Eve.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Japan does indeed celebrate Valentine's Day. Unlike in the U.S. however, the gentler sex gets kind of shafted February 14th in that guys aren't obligated to do anything... say what? Traditionally, it's a day where girls "confess" their love by giving gifts, which in turn are reciprocated on March 14th (White Day). The gift of choice is chocolate, so much so that (うわさで) the week before Valentine's Day accounts for more than 10% of annual chocolate sales in Japan. Homemade chocolates are especially thoughtful... even more so when they turn out well. On the plus side, I've heard that when guys reciprocate, it's expected that they will buy more expensive gifts than what they were given. (Seriously, I'm not making this up!)

It's worth mentioning that not all chocolates are equal... While it may be tempting to think that you're Mr. Popular after getting loads of chocolates, chances are that you have been 義理チョコ'd. 義理チョコ (giri choko) aka "obligatory chocolate" is the chocolate that women give to their friends, bosses, or other male acquantainces to whom they might feel somehow indebted or want to be nice. When it comes to admitting your feelings, 本命チョコ (true love chocolate) is the real deal. I've been 義理チョコ'd myself... it's a sad business, but in the end at least you come out with some sweets, right?

If you plan on taking the plunge and getting some chocolate for that special someone, I highly recommend Vosges' Black Pearl Bar. It's dark chocolate with traces of wasabi, ginger, and black sesame seeds- making it crazy delicious and giving it a distinctively Japanese taste. I suppose it sounds kind of off-putting at first, but it actually tastes amazing- not spicy in the traditional sense, but the kind of piquant that makes all other chocolate seem plain and mediocre in comparison. I was hoping to find something similar here, but besides 抹茶 and イチゴ chocolate, milk chocolate seems to be the チョコ of choice. 残念 (*´ο`*)=3

The stories behind Valentine's Day and White Day are pretty interesting commercialism success stories. Check it out here.

In other not as delicious-sounding news, I finally decided on a project for the last quarter of IUC: the development of child health-related public health laws/policies. [crickets chirping] Yeah I'm still figuring things out. I think I will probably end up tweaking what I focus on as I do more research. I half thought of just copping out and doing something like the history of vending machines in Japan. Perhaps not.

楽しむために

It's February!!! So you know what that means to every true Yalie at heart, right? FEB CLUB!! That's right, the fun doesn't stop even after you graduate. Here in Japan, we celebrated International Feb Club on February 5th.

What's Feb Club you ask?? Only one of the greatest Elihu traditions ever~ 28 days of (un?)official Senior partying around campus. The practice has spread past New Haven to cities around the globe thanks to Feb Club Emeritus, aka Feb Club for Old People. It's basically just an excuse to get together with fellow Yalies and chillax, but oh~ it was so much more. For those of us who never got to patronize Mory's before it's untimely demise, it was a chance to finally learn the Mory's Cup Tradition. I'm still a little sketchy on the details, but essentially people pass around a cup with some mystery drink until the person who finishes the contents has the random task of drying off the cup with their head... which begs the question, what do you do if you're totally bald?... I digress. After that, the Cup is put on a paper towel to see if it's actually dry. If it is, you're awesome. If it's not... not so much I guess.

In case you want to practice this tradition on your very own, all you'll need is a big silver cup and these drink mixes:

• Red (Bottle of inexpensive champagne + glass of inexpensive rum + sour mix + grenadine for color + one cake of ice)
• Gold (bottle of inexpensive champagne + orange juice + a healthy pour of Cointreau + one cake of ice)
• Purple (bottle of inexpensive champagne + some purple stuff + one cake of ice)
• Blue (bottle of inexpensive champagne + glass of blue curacao + one cake of ice)
• Green (bottle of inexpensive champagne + some green stuff + one cake of ice)
• Velvet (bottle of inexpensive champagne + a pitcher of good draft ale combined + one cake of ice then a draft of Guinness poured slowly over the top.)

(The recipes and more details can be found on wiki.)

It was nice to see quite a few former Light Fellows living it up in Japan. It gives me hope that I won't always be a student and more importantly, might actually be able to support myself....someday... [anguished voice] someday.

Be Positive

So I've been back at IUC for three weeks now and I have to say it's going pretty great! I haven't figured out yet if I have or don't have as much homework as the last two previous 学期, but in any case it's all really interesting coursework so I don't mind burning the midnight oil too much. In addition to the class on advanced grammar ~which is the one class that I'm not too thrilled about~ I'm taking courses on the Japanese legal system, "academic" speaking, and Japanese business.

Studying kanji is also going pretty well. I'm surprised by how much kanji I actually remember now. I still have to look up a lot of stuff in my electronic dictionary, but it's not nearly as bad as when I first got here. Booyeah~

In other news, I recently moved! I left the high life in Sakuragicho for a guesthouse in Shinkoyasu. The place is huge- 3 floors and an awesome rooftop porch from which I can see Mt. Fuji and the Yokohama Bayview Bridge. I thought I might mind at first that I have to share the kitchen/bathroom (with 20 other people apparently) but it's a pretty close set-up to living in a dorm at Yale- Nippon-style so it's actually kind of homey.

One thing I am having a problem with is the heating... I checked the remote control and it's not set to air-conditioning (which I've made the mistake of doing before), but it's only fanning in luke warmish air. Btw, kanji for heating is 暖房 (だんぼう) as opposed to 冷房(れいぼう air-conditioning)- make a note.

What I could really use right now is a 炬燵 (kotatsu)... what's that you ask? Only the greatest invention to beat the cold ever (excepting central heating and maybe a sauna). It's basically an add on to a low table. A blanket is sandwiched in between the frame of a table and its top, making a mini-tent of sorts. A heat source- usually an electric heater though older houses in the country have charcoal pits- is put undernearth the table. All you have to do is stick your legs in and it warms you right up. They're pretty popular here in Japan because homes tend to be really drafty and the high price of electricity makes it unfeasible to heat barely insulated rooms.

Oh well. For now at least I have to be content with wearing my winter coat to bed. おやすみ。

僕は熊の歌

僕は熊

Any trip to Japan would not be complete without a stop to a game center. Though not held in as high esteem as say 生け花 (flower arrangement) or 歌舞伎 (kabuki), game centers are nonetheless a part of Japan's (pop) culture and worth a mention. My so-called passion for the arcades goes back to my days in Kanazawa when fellow PII students and I would play taiko to unwind after class.

Today I want to focus on one of the more noble diversions to be found in the game centers--> freeing helpless stuffed animals that have become trapped in flashy, neon prisons.

The first trick, of course, is to find your target. A good idea is to find a prize that someone else has nudged to the edge a bit or moved around so that it's easier to get~ like this little guy below.

Then all you have to do is use the crane to push him down. The hooks on the crane are pretty weak, so it's not worth it to try and hook the ring unless it's really close to the edge.

Oh! Just a little more!

Ehhhh....

Gotcha!! And you can now live happily ever after with your newly-liberated, stuffed companion.

PS. If there's a prize that you see but don't think you can get, ask someone who works at the game center to a) make it easier to win b) tell you how to win. Each machine has its own little quirks.

Happy Meal

Some weeks ago, the Yalies took a field trip to the ramen museum in Shin-Yokohama. I think the term "museum" is loosely applied here. They do have a small exhibit on the development of ramen on the ground floor but it's minimal at best. I would say it's more like a consortium of ramen shops from all across Japan put together in a building made to look like old-time Japan. Oh! With a really cool gift shop that sells all sorts of random ramen-related paraphernalia like chocolate ramen. While I found the museum itself a little disappointing, I felt well-rewarded with the chance to eat a variety of ramen.

The faux working-class neighborhood design was out of this world. It was like taking a step back in recent time (1958 to be exact)... a rare opportunity given that Japan is also all about modernization or the ancient past. For cool replicas of Japanese neighborhoods of yesteryear on a larger scale, Odaiba is also a lot of fun.

And the ramen.... OMG, amazing. We settled on a shop from Hakata, Fukuoka. It's called Hukuchan Ramen. One of their signature styles (and that of most ramen shops in Kyushu) is by making a thick broth called tonkotsu using pork bones and adding fresh, crushed garlic to the ramen. The fresh garlic really added a kick. I even tried it with instant ramen and it tasted delish. Try it, eat it, love it.

Learn To Fly

Another good pointer... don't miss your flight!!! Actually, I would like to point out that I was totally on time, BUT thanks to the disorganized folks at United I didn't get to "talk a representative" until it was six minutes too late to check my luggage in. I technically could have got on the flight, but I just wasn't mentally prepared to give up my peanut butter and shoes. Note to self for tomorrow, arrive 90 (instead of 60) minutes early.

Apparently when you have a one-way ticket to Japan, the computers flag it and block self check-in. With a little wave of a student visa to the airline reps, the problem goes away. On the plus side, I have a direct flight out of Chicago now and get to chill in a king size bed for the night. I mean, if you're going to cram and do the last of your winter break homework, you might as well do it in style, right?

Without You

In honor of the new year, I'm adding a Top 10 list... in the theme of things I wish I had brought to Japan.

CRISTINA'S TOP 10 ITEMS TO PACK FOR JAPAN

PEANUT BUTTER- There IS peanut butter in Japan. It's just very expensive and from what I saw, only available in the smaller type of jars, so I'm loading up on chunky before I head back. It probably goes without saying, but I'll pack some jelly to keep it company.

TORTILLAS - Clearly, this is a throwback to my Mexican heritage. Breakfast just isn't the same without tortillas... I was able to find corn tortillas in Kanazawa when I did PII, but haven't looked around Yokohama much so I'll stock up while I can.

ROLL-ON DEODORANT- A hard-to-find personal hygiene tool.

A GOOD COOKBOOK- They sell amazing cookbooks in Japan! But it's nice to have books in English. I highly recommend the Japanese Kitchen (by Kimiko Barber) which I picked up during my annual trek to Powell's. It has gorgeous photos and explains a lot about the history of traditional Japanese dishes/ingredients.

FAVE SHOWS ON DVD- I probably shouldn't include this since IUC is all about the intense studying, but really- who am I kidding? Plus, nothing wins you new friends better than having 30 Rock on dvd, hah.

FLASH DRIVE- In the IUC student handbook, they advise students to bring a tape player so that one can listen to the audio that accompanies the textbook. So passé. Everyone uses USB flash drives now... except for me, apparently. So I'm getting one since they're super cheap now (one advantage of deflation?)

OMIYAGE- I didn't bring too many souvenirs/gifts when I first came because I wasn't sure who to give them to. But now they I have an idea of how many teachers are at the school and I've been treated so well by friends/friends of friends, I'm going to bring back some prettily wrapped chocolates, pop tarts (requested), and Chicago keychains.

SHOES- Ok, I'm no bigfoot... I think. But shoe sizes in Japan run small. Shoes in general are expensive in Japan so unless you want to be running around in Converses all yearlong (which I would gladly do, but they tend to clash with dressier clothes), I would definitely suggest packing a variety of flats/pumps/sneakers/boots/sandals/etc. You know, only the essentials?

VITAMINS- When I'm bored, I tend to try and think of new ways to be healthy. Weird pastime I know, but I figure it's better than taking up smoking (really not healthy). One thing I try to be good about is taking my vitamins. I think it goes back to my Flintstone chewables days... In any case, multivitamins and the like tend to run on the expensive side and don't come with English translations on the back so I'm going to pack some of these as well.

drumroll, rum drum drummmm

REFRESHED BODY AND MIND- I know this one is lame, but I couldn't think of a 10th item. (Actually, I'm taking back toothpaste...) Going back to IUC refreshed really is key. Towards the end of term, I think just about everyone was stressing out. My chosen method of relaxing involved a lot of PBS and chasing my dog around the house. And going to a spa for a day on mom's tab- that helps a lot too.

The Tower of Learning

So I know I've been seriously out of touch the last few weeks, but I promise EXTRA posts before the end of 冬休み to make up for all the ones I missed. I wish I could say I've been doing some serious partying, but mostly it's just that I've been way too busy with homework and IUC stuff to write any posts. Even lunchtime isn't sacred... while it's certainly a time to relax and commiserate with my fellow Yalies, it usually ends up being a last ditch effort to finish all the afternoon homework and of course, communal napping.

Anyways, I thought I'd give a much needed introduction/tour of IUC. ご紹介いたします！！
First off, let's take a spin around the school's location which is awesome by any standards. The school's in the heart of Yokohama's modern area called Minato Mirai. Since I live closeby, I walk to school which affords me the opportunity to stroll through Queen's Square and Landmark Tower. When I first saw Landmark Tower, I thought it wasn't much more than an over-sized chess piece, but it has a legit claim to fame in that it is the tallest building in Japan at 970 feet.

(Haha, seriously? I know I'm prejudiced because my hometown boasts the Sears Tower, but 970 feet... that's it? Granted, building height has to be limited in Japan as a precaution against serious damage from earthquakes.)
Both buildings are trendy (read: expensive) shopping centers/office spaces, which are nice to stroll around after class~ there's quite possibly every store you would want to visit with everything from Build-A-Bear to a store that sells souvenirs from Osaka. (Remember, buying souvenirs (お土産）after going on a trip is key in Japanese culture... Why you would want to buy souvenirs from Osaka when visiting Yokohama? That kind of question is beyond the scope of this blog.)

The "school building" itself is actually a huge convention center and luxury hotel that happens to have office space. I'm no architecture major, but the spaceship-esque shape of Pacifico Yokohama is pretty interesting I think... It does make for longer walks between the elevators and classrooms due to the layout of the building, but it's nothing major.

As for the curriculum and the structure of classes, the first quarter everyone is split into morning and afternoon classes. The morning classes, which run from 10-12, cover advanced grammar and phrases. The material seems pretty redundant at first, but when it came time to have to call amazon about redelivering a package I had ordered, whoa- those phone conversations on how to call offices turned out to be really useful.

The afternoon classes focus on important themes in Japanese society like education, the manufacturing industry, working women, pop culture, etc. Second semester the textbooks and themes change, but the overall structure is the same. Ever quarter, there are exams. While students are not graded in the strictest sense, doing well on the exams helps the teachers gauge what classes to put you in (ie. with the kids who speak well or the ones that .... well, don't.) Any more questions on what IUC is all about, feel free to send me an email... after all, I worked so hard to figure out how to add the cool little button at the top that would link to my email.