Hey everyone, once again it has been a long time. Now that classes have officially ended, I have some time to reflect on some things I experienced three weeks ago. So let's get started!
April 10, 2013
This week was mostly notable because I turned 23 on the 10th. My birthday started off in a very enjoyable fashion. The night before some of my friends that lived in other dorm rooms came to my room and we had a really deep conversation. My roommates, our three Japanese friends, and I came and sat in my room and just talked. I showed my Japanese friends an essay that I had written for class that was about how to have a wonderful date with your significant. Being a Westerner, my thought process was very Western, but, I will tell you that my friends absolutely agreed with it. I said that the most important thing was to always act respectfully and show your true personality. Apparently, Japanese men can have a hard time with this. So we had a conversation about relationships and I talked to my two female Japanese friends about what they are looking for and how they have had little success. I got a sense of discouragement from them even though they are still young, both of them being younger than I am. I just impressed upon them that it's important to not lower your standards just to have a relationship with someone. Compromise in this area can be very dangerous, as I know from experience. This conversation was very interesting in that they called me "Otousan" which means father in Japanese because I'm older than they are and I'm married. I found this very amusing. As it was quite late by the end of the conversation, everyone left my room and went into our living area. I hung back a little to tidy up a bit and then came out. When I came out, all of them were waiting for me with party poppers, singing happy birthday to me. It was great and I was very thankful to know all of them.
When I woke up later I was very tired from the previous night's discussion, but the plus side was that we didn't have our normal morning class because of something called the CJS Festa. I got to Skype with Jamie for a long time and then Jay made me an omelet for lunch. After lunch, I went on campus to take part in the CJS Festa. The CJS Festa was an opportunity for Japanese students to come to our classes with international students and interact with them. We had about 15 or so students in my class and we all got into groups where we interacted and played games together. I was able to make a couple new friends that day, which was great! After the class period, there was another event called the Study Abroad Fair. There were clusters of students in groups based on their home university talking to Japanese students about their schools. Unfortunately, only two students came to talk to Nick and I about Oakland, but, it was still fun nonetheless.
After finishing up at the Study Abroad Fair, I returned to my room for our weekly pizza party, only this time it was a birthday party for me as well. 15 people came to eat pizza with us, which is a record that still stands to this day. We all ate and talked and had a great time. However, after I ate I went back to my room for a little while to work on some homework. I started to feel sad because this was the 1st ever birthday that I had not been with my family for and I felt a strong longing to be back home with them, especially my wife. I spent some time praying and talking to Jamie and then I felt better. A little later I went back out into our living area to chat some more with those who were still there when a bunch of people streamed into the room. Following closely behind was Ryota with two birthday cards and two pieces of cake. Everyone sang happy birthday to Joey and I. (Joey's birthday was on the 15th so they did our celebration together) I was so happy that I almost started shedding some tears. Then both Joey and I gave a little speech of thanks to everyone. I talked about how when I first arrived in Japan, I was very lonely and homesick, but thanks in part to all of my friends, I quickly became happier. I also said that they are all like family to me and I meant absolutely every word of that. My friends have definitely been a huge part of my life since I've been here and I'm very blessed to know all of them. This was an excellent birthday and I'm very thankful for the 23 years of life that Jesus has blessed me with up to this point.
On April 12th, we had Japanese students come to our class again to study with us and I'm happy to say that I made another very good friend. Her name is Rio and she was in a group with my friend Kyle and I. We all clicked very well and soon made plans to meet up the following week. However, I will save that encounter for the next post. ;-)
April 13, 2013
At the beginning of the week, I expected this Saturday to be very low key because I went to sign up for a field trip and got wait listed because it was already full. I didn't expect to get a call saying that a spot had opened up, but God had other plans. I got the call and was able to go on the field trip to Takayama. Takayama is a rural city that's about 3 hours away from Nagoya. We went there by bus and the extra cool thing was that Japanese students came on the field trip with us as well. As we made our way to Takayama, I saw the most beautiful scenery that I had never seen in Japan at that time. There were mountains and valleys spread out across the landscape and it was absolutely breathtaking. It was an awesome change of pace from only seeing the big city area of Nagoya. Halfway there we made a stop at a rest area. Now Takayama is very famous for its dairy and beef products, and at this rest stop they had a local specialty, milk-flavored, soft-serve ice cream. I had to buy some and it was absolutely delicious! I also took my first pictures of the mountains here. After another 45 minutes or so we arrived in Takayama city, where we then split of into groups to tour the city. My group was Lindsey, Joe, three new friends Sono, Chanmi, and Yumi, and myself. I might be a little biased, but, my group was hands down the best of them all. We all clicked so well, but not nearly as much as Yumi and I clicked. Although we only met for the first time that day, it was as though we had known each other since we were kids, or rather that we were related to each other. It is truly remarkable how alike Yumi and I are and I truly believe that God had this relationship planned before I even came to Japan. Back to touring the town. We all decided that we wanted to go and get something to eat first since we were starving. We went to a ramen shop and got this specialty ramen that I'm unable to remember the name of more than three weeks later. We walked around after that and purchased some beef that was skewered and grilled. It was so juicy and flavorful, and I was so sad when I had eaten it all. I could definitely see why Takayama was famous for its beef products. We continued walking around, looking in any store that caught our fancy until we had to head back to the bus to go to our last leg of the trip.
Our last stop on this fantastic trip was the Hida Folk Village. All of the buildings and housing in this village were built as they were in olden times, with just wood, straw and other materials that were naturally available. It was so peaceful and serene that I almost felt like I could've lived there. It should not be underestimated now wonderful life can be away from all of the hustle and bustle of large cities, however; I'm definitely more of a city person. We were taken on a guided tour of the village by one of the village elders. He explained to us how the houses were constructed, how they were earthquake-proofed, and generally how life was at that time. It was a very interesting insight into the culture of the more ancient Japan. After the tour we walked around the village a little bit more before we got back on the bus and headed back. On the ride back, Yumi and I sat together and practiced English and Japanese. Her English is quite good and very natural sounding for a Japanese person, so I was very impressed. We talked about all kinds of things and, as I mentioned before, it was like we were related with how similar our personalities and thought processes are. Because of this we have a big brother and little sister relationship with one another and I'm thankful for it. We made one more pit stop on the way back to get some of Takayama's famous pudding, which was also fantastic like everything else was. This trip was by far the best one of the entire semester and I'm so glad God made a way for me to get there. I know that I made some friendships that will last well beyond when I leave Japan to go back home. What a truly blessed day and week this was.
Well I hope you all enjoyed my birthday week! This was quite an excellent week and I'm so blessed for it. Unfortunately, as with just about everything else, I'm finally coming into my own and making more Japanese friends and I have to leave soon. The best that I can do is to make the most out of my last little bit of time here. I'm truly thankful for this once in a lifetime opportunity that most people don't get. I will take nothing for granted. Thanks again for reading and there should be another post up in a few days. Take care and God bless!
Friday, May 3, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Science, Sakura, and Pizza
Welcome back everyone to another blog post that is about two weeks late! I appreciate all of your patience and, with that, I will just dive right in.
March 27, 2013
Today was Wednesday, which has quickly become one of my favorite days of the week due to the different events that go on. This particular Wednesday was no exception to that rule. The Center for Japanese Studies sponsored a field trip to the Nagoya City Science Museum, where we would view a presentation in the planetarium before we were left to our own devices. We took a bus from Nanzan and we arrived at about 1:30pm or so. As soon as I walked into the museum I knew that I was in for a wonderful time. This museum was absolutely massive. It was one large complex with two sides that could be accessed via a bridge or stairs. Outside of the museum they had replicas of a space shuttle as well as a train. When I walked in I saw a very large engine, I believe it was a jet engine, in a glass case on display as well as long lines of people waiting to get in and see everything. We were all able to get right in and head up to where the planetarium was. When we walked in the planetarium I felt the same feelings that I did when I was an elementary school student walking into the planetarium for the first time. I was amazed at the technology and just how cool it was to be able to sit in one of the most comfortable reclining chairs that I have ever sat in, and watch a presentation. The presentation itself was very well put together and was fairly easy to understand, even though it was conducted completely in Japanese. We were shown the position the sun appears to be to us during the different seasons and the time of day, as well as the various constellations. I was overwhelmed with a sense of awe and reverence for the immensity and creative power that God used when He created the universe. I was absolutely amazed and blown away by the greatness of my God. Suffice it to say that God truly impressed me today. :-) After the presentation, Nick, Lindsey and I went to explore the rest of the museum. There were all kinds of wonderful things there such as examples of the 6 simple machines, exhibits on the anatomy of the human body, and a periodic table of the elements that contained actual samples of the nonradioactive elements. They also had a deep freeze laboratory, which we were unfortunately unable to go into because there was a wait to get in and we didn't have that kind of time. As I was walking through the museum and seeing great examples of operational, here and now science, I just felt like I just wanted to jump and shout in praise to God for His creative works and how continues to uphold His creation today. The good examples of operational science and the results they produced even more strongly affirmed that this universe and mankind could NOT possibly have gotten here by random, natural processes that lack the intelligence necessary to create something so beautiful and complex. Wow! I'm getting so fired up just recounting all of these emotions that I had while observing all of these things! As we were finishing up we encountered an artificial tornado that was being used to demonstrate how real tornadoes form during a storm, which was absolutely fascinating and cool to behold. All in all, I would say that this was one of my favorite field trips of the semester. The best thing about this field trip was that it rekindled my love for science and, in particular, biology. I have always loved biology and I do miss it very much because for the longest time, I truly believed that it was the only thing that I was good at. I have resolved to stay as current as I can with what is happening in the creationist science and good operational science world so that I can fight even harder for the truth that is in God's Word in Genesis. What a glorious day this was indeed!
March 30, 2013
This Saturday went much like many other Saturdays in that Nick, Lindsey, and I went to Sakae to do some shopping and wandering around Sakae. However, this time we decided to stop by Tsurumai Park on the way back. Now this was pretty much the peak time for something called Hanami, which I will now explain. As many of you know, Japan is known all over the world for the beautiful cherry blossoms that bloom in the springtime. Hanami is one of the ways that these beautiful flowers are celebrated throughout the country. Hanami is basically when family, friends, and coworkers get together to have a picnic and party beneath the cherry blossom trees, while admiring their beauty. It is something that unites people and the entire nation together to admire something beautiful. With that in mind, we went to Tsurumai Park, which proved to be one of, if not the most popular Hanami spot in Nagoya. There were people absolutely everywhere and it was so crowded. We also looked around and saw all kinds of food and beverage carts lined along the walkways of the park as well as live performances being conducted at different spots in the park. I will tell you all one thing, I don't recall ever seeing so much alcohol in one place. There was literally beer stands all over the place and many people were walking by carrying a large case of beer with them. That is another defining characteristic of Hanami, people like to get extremely drunk. Anyway, we walked around admiring the cherry blossoms in pink and white. They were truly beautiful to look at, especially considering they would die in another 5-7 days. This concept of the transient beauty of things is called "Mono no Aware" and is one example of Japanese aesthetics. As we were admiring the blossoms we found a large fountain in the center of the park where many couples were standing together watching the water. I was filled with strong feelings of longing for Jamie to be there to share in the beauty of the cherry blossoms and the park with me. It was at this time where I started to feel alone, but, I remembered that I was not alone and I still am never truly alone. I decided that I just needed to take the situation for what it was and accept the fact that I couldn't change it, so there was no reason to relinquish my joy. We stayed for a little while longer and then decided to part ways and head back. This was a wonderful experience in seeing how something so simple as a cherry blossom tree can unite an entire nation. It made me realize and feel sad about how, back in America, we are more divided now then we have been since the Civil War. There is so much hate an evil going that it's truly sad to behold. However, I am by no means saying that Japan is better than America or vice versa. All I'm saying is that Japan has something truly special that many of us Americans have forgotten about. The US needs to return to Jesus and His Word and love God and love one another. Even so, this was an experience I'm glad that I had.
We have created a tradition of sorts in my dorm room. My roommates and I have decided to have pizza parties in our room on a weekly basis as an opportunity to have fellowship with other people in the dorm and, of course, to enjoy the American staple food that is pizza. I can say that outside of Sunday, pizza days are probably my favorite day of the week. I've had such good conversations with people and have made quite a few new friends as well. It has also proven to be extra practice for me in regards to my Japanese speaking. I still feel a lot of nervousness when I speak Japanese with native speakers, especially women for whatever reason, but, it is getting a lot better. I've been able to get a lot more comfortable and I feel like my Japanese is much improved. This just goes to show that pizza is very amazing in so many more ways than just one.
At this point, there are some things that I have come to realize since I've been here that I would like to share. First, I've realized beyond the shadow of a doubt that my place in the future is in the United States of America and not here. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Japan and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here, but, I feel like I'm being called to something very important back home, including keeping my family in the States. I still have a heart for the Japanese people but not quite in the way I thought. I feel like I will be able to minister to Japanese people but quite possibly in an indirect way through the translation of godly materials into Japanese. I feel as if this is something that the Lord may be calling me to and I would love to pursue that. Secondly, I have realized that even if I were to stay here for a long period of time I would never be truly accepted by the Japanese. The Japanese students have just began their new semester at Nanzan and that has created some uncomfortable situations. One day Nick and I were looking for a table to sit at during lunch but it was very crowded. We went to one of the cafeterias in an upper level and looked for a seat. We saw open tables that had table tents on them that were, of course, completely in Japanese. I tried to read it to see if we were allowed to sit there or not but when I looked up there was this table of Japanese girls that were looking at us and laughing. I became very uncomfortable and told Nick that we should look for a seat somewhere else. The next day I went to Lawson to get some ice cream and when I came, again, there was a table of Japanese girls that were staring at me, laughing and kind of whispering to each other. Long story short, I feel very much like an exotic specimen here and I don't like it. You can tell when some people look at you that they are thinking, "Why are you here? You don't belong here." For that reason and others, I know that I would never be truly accepted here and I couldn't live here like that for an extended period of time. However, I realized also that I will never be truly accepted by the US or the world in general either because I'm allied with Jesus Christ. I will not truly fit in this world because it's not truly my home. My true home is with the Lord and I look forward to that day. With these two things in mind, I'm very interested to see where God will lead Jamie and I in the future and what He will call us to do.
Thank you guys once again for reading and being patient with me as I have been a little slow with my posts. I really appreciate all your love, patience, and support. :-) I'm hoping to get another post up by next weekend at the latest, outlining this past week including my birthday, but I will make no promises since next week will be very busy with tests and end of semester papers and the like. However, you can rest assured that the next post will be very exciting and action-packed! So thanks again everyone and I'll update you all again soon! God bless and take care! :-)
March 27, 2013
Today was Wednesday, which has quickly become one of my favorite days of the week due to the different events that go on. This particular Wednesday was no exception to that rule. The Center for Japanese Studies sponsored a field trip to the Nagoya City Science Museum, where we would view a presentation in the planetarium before we were left to our own devices. We took a bus from Nanzan and we arrived at about 1:30pm or so. As soon as I walked into the museum I knew that I was in for a wonderful time. This museum was absolutely massive. It was one large complex with two sides that could be accessed via a bridge or stairs. Outside of the museum they had replicas of a space shuttle as well as a train. When I walked in I saw a very large engine, I believe it was a jet engine, in a glass case on display as well as long lines of people waiting to get in and see everything. We were all able to get right in and head up to where the planetarium was. When we walked in the planetarium I felt the same feelings that I did when I was an elementary school student walking into the planetarium for the first time. I was amazed at the technology and just how cool it was to be able to sit in one of the most comfortable reclining chairs that I have ever sat in, and watch a presentation. The presentation itself was very well put together and was fairly easy to understand, even though it was conducted completely in Japanese. We were shown the position the sun appears to be to us during the different seasons and the time of day, as well as the various constellations. I was overwhelmed with a sense of awe and reverence for the immensity and creative power that God used when He created the universe. I was absolutely amazed and blown away by the greatness of my God. Suffice it to say that God truly impressed me today. :-) After the presentation, Nick, Lindsey and I went to explore the rest of the museum. There were all kinds of wonderful things there such as examples of the 6 simple machines, exhibits on the anatomy of the human body, and a periodic table of the elements that contained actual samples of the nonradioactive elements. They also had a deep freeze laboratory, which we were unfortunately unable to go into because there was a wait to get in and we didn't have that kind of time. As I was walking through the museum and seeing great examples of operational, here and now science, I just felt like I just wanted to jump and shout in praise to God for His creative works and how continues to uphold His creation today. The good examples of operational science and the results they produced even more strongly affirmed that this universe and mankind could NOT possibly have gotten here by random, natural processes that lack the intelligence necessary to create something so beautiful and complex. Wow! I'm getting so fired up just recounting all of these emotions that I had while observing all of these things! As we were finishing up we encountered an artificial tornado that was being used to demonstrate how real tornadoes form during a storm, which was absolutely fascinating and cool to behold. All in all, I would say that this was one of my favorite field trips of the semester. The best thing about this field trip was that it rekindled my love for science and, in particular, biology. I have always loved biology and I do miss it very much because for the longest time, I truly believed that it was the only thing that I was good at. I have resolved to stay as current as I can with what is happening in the creationist science and good operational science world so that I can fight even harder for the truth that is in God's Word in Genesis. What a glorious day this was indeed!
March 30, 2013
This Saturday went much like many other Saturdays in that Nick, Lindsey, and I went to Sakae to do some shopping and wandering around Sakae. However, this time we decided to stop by Tsurumai Park on the way back. Now this was pretty much the peak time for something called Hanami, which I will now explain. As many of you know, Japan is known all over the world for the beautiful cherry blossoms that bloom in the springtime. Hanami is one of the ways that these beautiful flowers are celebrated throughout the country. Hanami is basically when family, friends, and coworkers get together to have a picnic and party beneath the cherry blossom trees, while admiring their beauty. It is something that unites people and the entire nation together to admire something beautiful. With that in mind, we went to Tsurumai Park, which proved to be one of, if not the most popular Hanami spot in Nagoya. There were people absolutely everywhere and it was so crowded. We also looked around and saw all kinds of food and beverage carts lined along the walkways of the park as well as live performances being conducted at different spots in the park. I will tell you all one thing, I don't recall ever seeing so much alcohol in one place. There was literally beer stands all over the place and many people were walking by carrying a large case of beer with them. That is another defining characteristic of Hanami, people like to get extremely drunk. Anyway, we walked around admiring the cherry blossoms in pink and white. They were truly beautiful to look at, especially considering they would die in another 5-7 days. This concept of the transient beauty of things is called "Mono no Aware" and is one example of Japanese aesthetics. As we were admiring the blossoms we found a large fountain in the center of the park where many couples were standing together watching the water. I was filled with strong feelings of longing for Jamie to be there to share in the beauty of the cherry blossoms and the park with me. It was at this time where I started to feel alone, but, I remembered that I was not alone and I still am never truly alone. I decided that I just needed to take the situation for what it was and accept the fact that I couldn't change it, so there was no reason to relinquish my joy. We stayed for a little while longer and then decided to part ways and head back. This was a wonderful experience in seeing how something so simple as a cherry blossom tree can unite an entire nation. It made me realize and feel sad about how, back in America, we are more divided now then we have been since the Civil War. There is so much hate an evil going that it's truly sad to behold. However, I am by no means saying that Japan is better than America or vice versa. All I'm saying is that Japan has something truly special that many of us Americans have forgotten about. The US needs to return to Jesus and His Word and love God and love one another. Even so, this was an experience I'm glad that I had.
We have created a tradition of sorts in my dorm room. My roommates and I have decided to have pizza parties in our room on a weekly basis as an opportunity to have fellowship with other people in the dorm and, of course, to enjoy the American staple food that is pizza. I can say that outside of Sunday, pizza days are probably my favorite day of the week. I've had such good conversations with people and have made quite a few new friends as well. It has also proven to be extra practice for me in regards to my Japanese speaking. I still feel a lot of nervousness when I speak Japanese with native speakers, especially women for whatever reason, but, it is getting a lot better. I've been able to get a lot more comfortable and I feel like my Japanese is much improved. This just goes to show that pizza is very amazing in so many more ways than just one.
At this point, there are some things that I have come to realize since I've been here that I would like to share. First, I've realized beyond the shadow of a doubt that my place in the future is in the United States of America and not here. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Japan and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be here, but, I feel like I'm being called to something very important back home, including keeping my family in the States. I still have a heart for the Japanese people but not quite in the way I thought. I feel like I will be able to minister to Japanese people but quite possibly in an indirect way through the translation of godly materials into Japanese. I feel as if this is something that the Lord may be calling me to and I would love to pursue that. Secondly, I have realized that even if I were to stay here for a long period of time I would never be truly accepted by the Japanese. The Japanese students have just began their new semester at Nanzan and that has created some uncomfortable situations. One day Nick and I were looking for a table to sit at during lunch but it was very crowded. We went to one of the cafeterias in an upper level and looked for a seat. We saw open tables that had table tents on them that were, of course, completely in Japanese. I tried to read it to see if we were allowed to sit there or not but when I looked up there was this table of Japanese girls that were looking at us and laughing. I became very uncomfortable and told Nick that we should look for a seat somewhere else. The next day I went to Lawson to get some ice cream and when I came, again, there was a table of Japanese girls that were staring at me, laughing and kind of whispering to each other. Long story short, I feel very much like an exotic specimen here and I don't like it. You can tell when some people look at you that they are thinking, "Why are you here? You don't belong here." For that reason and others, I know that I would never be truly accepted here and I couldn't live here like that for an extended period of time. However, I realized also that I will never be truly accepted by the US or the world in general either because I'm allied with Jesus Christ. I will not truly fit in this world because it's not truly my home. My true home is with the Lord and I look forward to that day. With these two things in mind, I'm very interested to see where God will lead Jamie and I in the future and what He will call us to do.
Thank you guys once again for reading and being patient with me as I have been a little slow with my posts. I really appreciate all your love, patience, and support. :-) I'm hoping to get another post up by next weekend at the latest, outlining this past week including my birthday, but I will make no promises since next week will be very busy with tests and end of semester papers and the like. However, you can rest assured that the next post will be very exciting and action-packed! So thanks again everyone and I'll update you all again soon! God bless and take care! :-)
Monday, April 1, 2013
Spring Break 2013: Tokyo!
Welcome back everyone! It's been two weeks since I actually was on spring break, so I apologize for the delay. Last week was very busy with quizzes or tests every day except for Wednesday. However, now I have some time and I would love to tell you about my trip to Tokyo with Nick. Let's get started.
March 18, 2013
Our trip pretty much began at 12:00am on Monday morning because we decided to take the night bus to and from Tokyo. This proved to be a very poor decision as neither of us were able to sleep at all during the 6 hour bus ride. We were able to recline our seats and everything but, as usual, I was not able to sleep in a moving vehicle. We arrived in Tokyo at 6:00 at Shinjuku Station, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, subway stations in Tokyo. We had heard some horror stories about how hard it was to navigate and how even many Japanese people get lost there, so we were very apprehensive at first. That apprehension proved to be unnecessary, as we had no trouble getting on the right train to get to the area where our hotel was. At this point, the positive aspects of our arrival went completely out the window. We looked at a map in the subway once we arrived in Asakusa. We saw the hotel on the map and we thought we knew where we were going. It turned out that we didn't really know where we were going. We literally walked for an hour in the wrong direction with all of our luggage with us. When we finally realized our mistake, we turned around and went an hour back in the other direction to reach our hotel. We arrived at the hotel at about 9:00am and went to the front desk. Check in was not until 3:00pm, so they took our luggage and told us to come back at 3:00. We were really hoping that we might be able to check in early since we were so tired and worn out from all the walking that we had done with our luggage. We sat outside the hotel for about a half hour before we decided to figure out what we would do for 9 hours on virtually no sleep. We ended up going to the Tokyo Sky Tree, which is this ridiculously tall tower that opened either last year or two years ago. It was attached to a shopping mall as well as an aquarium. We walked around for a while, looking at whatever caught our fancy before we decided to have lunch at KFC. I know, more Western food in an Asian country. Anyway, after we ate, we decided to go to the aquarium to burn our last 2 hours or so. It was a nice aquarium, although not nearly as big as the one at the Port of Nagoya. However, there was a very cool thing that I saw while there. They did a show with the sea lions that even became spectator interactive. They brought one of the sea lions out of the pool and had it walk up and down the footpath that we were standing on. It was so close that I could have touched it if I wanted to and if I was allowed. It's always a blast for me to go to aquariums or zoos because I love seeing God's creativity in what He has made. By the time the sea lion show was finished and the penguin show was being performed it was 2:30 and we decided to head back to the hotel. By the time we got there, it was a little bit after 3:00 and we were finally able to check in. We open the door to our room and it was literally about the same size as my individual dorm and there was only one bed. This difficult turn of events made my already volatile emotions that much more volatile. You see, starting the Friday before I sunk into a deep depression because we were on break, just as I did during the beginning of our first break. When we are on break time seems to slow down and the time that is in between me getting to see my wife again seems to lengthen. This reached a fever pitch in the hotel room, to the point where I almost had a nervous breakdown. Thank God that Nick was there and I wasn't by myself. The Lord used Jamie to comfort me and give me peace and He also spoke to me through His Word. The verse in question is 2 Chronicles 15:7, "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." This verse gave me much more peace and confidence that this whole trip is worth it and that I have not sacrificed my time and finances in vain. After peace came upon me, I fell asleep almost immediately from my extreme exhaustion.
March 19, 2013
I woke up this morning slightly less exhausted than the day before and ready to do some exploring. I got in touch with Lindsey the day before and we arranged to meet up first at the Pokémon Center store and then go to Akihabara. We got to the Pokémon Center and I purchased a CD of video game music that I really enjoy as well as a souvenir for my brother-in-law. Lindsey arrived a little later and we went back in the store while she did her shopping. There was not much different about this Pokémon Center in comparison to the Nagoya location so I will spare you the details. After that, we got on the train and headed to Akihabara, one of the foremost centers of electronics and entertainment media in the entire world. When we arrived there it wasn't quite as I had expected it to be. It was a huge district with stores everywhere, but it wasn't as big as I had expected, nor did there seem to be as many people as expected. All the better for me because I'm not a huge fan of very large crowds. We went into several stores that had manga, video games, CDs, DVDs, etc., including, my all-time favorite, Book Off. We walked around for a while longer, as it grew darker outside. One thing I definitely noticed in comparison to Nagoya is that people who hand out things outside of their shops are overjoyed to give what they have to everyone, including foreigners. In Nagoya, it always seems that the people are afraid of foreigners so they pretend that we are not there. Anyway, we were hunting for a particular game that Lindsey had been wanting and we were finally able to find it in a store she had remembered she saw the game in last semester. After her triumphant purchase, we headed back to the station to make our way back to our respective lodgings. I looked at the subway map in order to see which line we needed to take and, I'm telling you, it was only a few seconds before I felt a tap on my arm. There was a Japanese man who had seen me looking at the map and asked where we were going and I told him. He proceeded to take us to the proper station, but, all the while I felt like God was trying to tell me that this was a bad idea and I certainly felt uneasy. While he was taking us there he was kind of talking to himself and I also caught the displeasing aroma of alcohol. We got to the ticket machine and I put in my money for my ticket and then Nick put in his. The ticket was 200 yen but Nick only had a 500 yen coin so he put that in the machine and would normally have gotten 300 yen back in change. However, when the change came out of the machine, the man took it and said that he was going to keep it because he helped us and he was tired, so basically we were hustled by this guy and forced to give him 300 yen for his services. Thankfully, 300 yen is only the equivalent of about $3 in America. We just tried to look at it as a blessing for this man, whether it was forced or not. We made it back to the hotel without too much incident and relaxed our tired and weary legs.
March 20, 2013
Today we decided to go to Tokyo Disney Sea and Lindsey decided to join us again for the festivities. We agreed to meet her there since she would be going there earlier than us, however, we ran into some trouble along the way. The directions I had gotten earlier to get to the theme park were actually the directions to get to the corporate offices in a completely different area. So we had to get in touch with Lindsey to find out how to really get where we needed to be. We spent so much money in transportation today just because we got lost so much. We intended to get there at 11:00 but ended up getting there at 12:00 because of the snafu. We got on the Disney shuttle and I could just feel my inner child getting so excited because I had never been to any Disney theme park in the United States, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect. We walked into the park and I was amazed by what I saw. There a huge fountain that was a scene from Fantasia. I of course had to take a picture in front of it. We met up with Lindsey and then walked around taking in all the sights. The theme park was broken up into several different areas including areas based on Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, and Atlantis. There also areas that had themes based on regions of the world such as America, Italy and Mexico. We had lunch at a restaurant in the Mexican town area because a taco sounded like a pretty good idea. I ordered a fried chicken and I will tell you that it was not a taco, it was in fact a fried chicken wrap with salsa in it. I understand that authentic Mexican food is probably minimal to nonexistent in Japan, so it was not a surprise, but it still tasted good. We walked around after that in the Aladdin area and took a bunch of pictures, including one of me hunched down with two thumbs up by a fake camel that Lindsey was riding on. Priceless. We decided to go to a show next. I don't remember the name of the show exactly but it took place in a jungle and involved a lot of acrobatics. It was very beautiful and superbly artistic in form. There was so much going on onstage that it was hard to keep track of everything but it was excellent. Afterward, we returned to the Aladdin area and got on a the Magic Carpet ride. I was literally almost too big for this ride, as the safety bar barely stayed in place when it was lower onto my legs. It was a tad uncomfortable and just another testament to the fact that Japan was not made for tall people. We walked around some more and encountered a lot of Disney characters along the way, including Abu, who ran up and give Nick, Lindsey, and I all hugs. We went to The Little Mermaid area and played around in the kids area inside the "undersea" castle. It was so much fun to know that I was having as much fun as the kids were. Then we went to the Atlantis area to get in line for a ride based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This ride puts you in a submarine that goes under water and encounters all kinds of creatures and dangers. This was so cool because it actually appeared like we were underwater because there was actual bubbles that could be seen outside the windows. I don't know how they do it, but those Imagineers are pretty good at what they do. We went to America Town in hopes of seeing a couple of shows but they were already completely full. The reason was because that day was a national holiday for the beginning of spring, so there were many more people there than would usually be there. We decided to go grab some food for dinner. We went to this restaurant in the Atlantis area that had pan noodles, fried rice, and other such delicious things. That fried rice was some of the best that I have ever had, especially because it didn't have any onions at all! I also had some cheesecake, which I very sorely miss, by the way. Then we decided to go on one last ride before we would make our way out. This ride was one of the highlights of the entire day. We all sat in chairs that had seat belts built in that we were to wear. Basically, the ride simulated being in a storm chasing airplane that got buffeted by the wind and rain. It totally felt like we were actually in an airplane because we were getting jerked around all over the place. At the end of the ride it even simulated a crash. Some of the pipes in the makeshift aircraft were broken and we got sprayed with water from the leaks in the exterior of the plane. We finally had a crash landing but we were safe. What a great ride! As we exited the ride it started raining outside and people were in a flurry to get undercover. We made for the gift shops, as I wanted to get a postcard to add to Jamie and my travel collection and Lindsey wanted to get a puzzle. As we were finishing up our shopping the highlight called Fantasmic began. It was essentially a walk through Disney's history and I started to feel overcome with emotion. I don't look back on my childhood with a lot of fond memories but Disney was something that I always loved and found joy in. It was one of the few bright spots from my childhood and, thus, it holds a special place in my heart. I was almost moved to tears and it was at that moment that I rediscovered my love for Disney. The show was full of pyrotechnics and Disney characters and classic songs that just made you want to sing. Nostalgia is truly a beautiful thing. After the show, we headed back to our lodgings once again. Unfortunately, we ran into travel problems again as we got stuck in Tokyo station trying to figure out which train we needed to take to get back. Other than transportation frustrations, this day was by far the best day of the trip.
March 21, 2013
Initially, we were planning on going to visit Mt. Fuji today, but because of all the walking we had done the previous 3 days, our legs were quite sore. That said, we just went back to the Tokyo Sky Tree to do some souvenir shopping for our families. Other than that, we pretty much just chilled at the hotel the rest of the day so we would be in better shape physically for what the next day had in store for us.
March 22, 2013
Today was our last day in Tokyo, as we would be taking the night bus back that evening. After checking out of the hotel and leaving our luggage there, we decided to go to Shibuya and walk around. Now Shibuya is known for something called Shibuya Crossing. The best way I can describe this place to you is to tell you that it is basically like Times Square in New York. There is this massive crosswalk that has a giant screen at its center with buildings sprawling out all over. I can truthfully say that I have NEVER seen so many people in my entire life. This place was absolutely packed just like Times Square is. There were so many people to the point where it was almost overwhelming. When we got past this area, the crowds thinned out considerably and it became a little more comfortable. As usual, we walked into stores that looked like they might be of interest to us and that was about as far as it went. Nick and I aren't really shoppers so, to be honest, Shibuya wasn't all that appealing to us. We realized that and decided to return to Asakusa to visit a couple of places that we had yet to visit, but not before I picked up a little something for my mom. We returned to Asakusa and visited 3 places: Sensoji Temple, Asakusajinja Shrine, and the Grand Kaminarimon Gate. These three structures were all in the same location and the are all religious in nature. They deal with both Buddhism and Shinto, a uniquely Japanese religion. I was intrigued by the architecture of these buildings, they were quite beautifully constructed but I couldn't help but feel a heaviness there. There were statues of Buddha everywhere and it was just so sad to see so many people coming to worship a god that doesn't even exist, when the real One True God is waiting with His arms wide open for them to come to Him. I just want everyone to receive the free gift that I have been given from God too. Within this area there is also a very large shopping area with over 90 shops called Nakamise. These shops sell all kinds of things including traditional Japanese items. I found a tapestry that had a famous Japanese painting on it that I really liked but I decided to wait to buy it until I saw what kind of tapestries Osu has. The reason being Osu is a lot closer to where I'm staying and they might have different things. So the quest for a house decoration is still underway. When we got hungry we decided to go to a Japanese Denny's. We both ordered a dish called omelet rice which was an omelet over top of rice that was shaken in a ketchup sauce. It might not sound very appetizing, but it was so good. The flavors worked together beautifully and I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that Japanese ketchup is way better than American ketchup. We finished up our dinner and then went to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, which was really good. We took a little walk to burn our last half hour, then went back to the hotel to pick up our bags and made our trek back to Shinjuku. We made great time and got to Shinjuku early but later came to find out that we were in the wrong meeting spot. We were looking around for the people that worked for the bus company we bought tickets from but we weren't able to find them. We had about 10 minutes before the bus was supposed to board and leave and we were freaking out a little bit. We both prayed and the Lord led us to where we needed to go and we made it in time. Then we began our sleepless drive back to Nagoya and I got back to my dorm room at about 7:00am on Saturday morning.
So there you have it. That was my trip to Tokyo in a nutshell. Even though there were some parts of the trip that were extremely difficult, it was absolutely worth it. However, given the choice between Nagoya and Tokyo, I will always choose Nagoya. I now appreciate Nagoya more, especially for the sweet simplicity of the subway system here. Nagoya, I will never complain about you ever again! Thank you all once again for continuing to follow my posts and sharing in this journey with me. I will have a new post up very soon so stay tuned! Until then, everyone take care and God bless!
March 18, 2013
Our trip pretty much began at 12:00am on Monday morning because we decided to take the night bus to and from Tokyo. This proved to be a very poor decision as neither of us were able to sleep at all during the 6 hour bus ride. We were able to recline our seats and everything but, as usual, I was not able to sleep in a moving vehicle. We arrived in Tokyo at 6:00 at Shinjuku Station, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, subway stations in Tokyo. We had heard some horror stories about how hard it was to navigate and how even many Japanese people get lost there, so we were very apprehensive at first. That apprehension proved to be unnecessary, as we had no trouble getting on the right train to get to the area where our hotel was. At this point, the positive aspects of our arrival went completely out the window. We looked at a map in the subway once we arrived in Asakusa. We saw the hotel on the map and we thought we knew where we were going. It turned out that we didn't really know where we were going. We literally walked for an hour in the wrong direction with all of our luggage with us. When we finally realized our mistake, we turned around and went an hour back in the other direction to reach our hotel. We arrived at the hotel at about 9:00am and went to the front desk. Check in was not until 3:00pm, so they took our luggage and told us to come back at 3:00. We were really hoping that we might be able to check in early since we were so tired and worn out from all the walking that we had done with our luggage. We sat outside the hotel for about a half hour before we decided to figure out what we would do for 9 hours on virtually no sleep. We ended up going to the Tokyo Sky Tree, which is this ridiculously tall tower that opened either last year or two years ago. It was attached to a shopping mall as well as an aquarium. We walked around for a while, looking at whatever caught our fancy before we decided to have lunch at KFC. I know, more Western food in an Asian country. Anyway, after we ate, we decided to go to the aquarium to burn our last 2 hours or so. It was a nice aquarium, although not nearly as big as the one at the Port of Nagoya. However, there was a very cool thing that I saw while there. They did a show with the sea lions that even became spectator interactive. They brought one of the sea lions out of the pool and had it walk up and down the footpath that we were standing on. It was so close that I could have touched it if I wanted to and if I was allowed. It's always a blast for me to go to aquariums or zoos because I love seeing God's creativity in what He has made. By the time the sea lion show was finished and the penguin show was being performed it was 2:30 and we decided to head back to the hotel. By the time we got there, it was a little bit after 3:00 and we were finally able to check in. We open the door to our room and it was literally about the same size as my individual dorm and there was only one bed. This difficult turn of events made my already volatile emotions that much more volatile. You see, starting the Friday before I sunk into a deep depression because we were on break, just as I did during the beginning of our first break. When we are on break time seems to slow down and the time that is in between me getting to see my wife again seems to lengthen. This reached a fever pitch in the hotel room, to the point where I almost had a nervous breakdown. Thank God that Nick was there and I wasn't by myself. The Lord used Jamie to comfort me and give me peace and He also spoke to me through His Word. The verse in question is 2 Chronicles 15:7, "But as for you, be strong and do not give up, for your work will be rewarded." This verse gave me much more peace and confidence that this whole trip is worth it and that I have not sacrificed my time and finances in vain. After peace came upon me, I fell asleep almost immediately from my extreme exhaustion.
March 19, 2013
I woke up this morning slightly less exhausted than the day before and ready to do some exploring. I got in touch with Lindsey the day before and we arranged to meet up first at the Pokémon Center store and then go to Akihabara. We got to the Pokémon Center and I purchased a CD of video game music that I really enjoy as well as a souvenir for my brother-in-law. Lindsey arrived a little later and we went back in the store while she did her shopping. There was not much different about this Pokémon Center in comparison to the Nagoya location so I will spare you the details. After that, we got on the train and headed to Akihabara, one of the foremost centers of electronics and entertainment media in the entire world. When we arrived there it wasn't quite as I had expected it to be. It was a huge district with stores everywhere, but it wasn't as big as I had expected, nor did there seem to be as many people as expected. All the better for me because I'm not a huge fan of very large crowds. We went into several stores that had manga, video games, CDs, DVDs, etc., including, my all-time favorite, Book Off. We walked around for a while longer, as it grew darker outside. One thing I definitely noticed in comparison to Nagoya is that people who hand out things outside of their shops are overjoyed to give what they have to everyone, including foreigners. In Nagoya, it always seems that the people are afraid of foreigners so they pretend that we are not there. Anyway, we were hunting for a particular game that Lindsey had been wanting and we were finally able to find it in a store she had remembered she saw the game in last semester. After her triumphant purchase, we headed back to the station to make our way back to our respective lodgings. I looked at the subway map in order to see which line we needed to take and, I'm telling you, it was only a few seconds before I felt a tap on my arm. There was a Japanese man who had seen me looking at the map and asked where we were going and I told him. He proceeded to take us to the proper station, but, all the while I felt like God was trying to tell me that this was a bad idea and I certainly felt uneasy. While he was taking us there he was kind of talking to himself and I also caught the displeasing aroma of alcohol. We got to the ticket machine and I put in my money for my ticket and then Nick put in his. The ticket was 200 yen but Nick only had a 500 yen coin so he put that in the machine and would normally have gotten 300 yen back in change. However, when the change came out of the machine, the man took it and said that he was going to keep it because he helped us and he was tired, so basically we were hustled by this guy and forced to give him 300 yen for his services. Thankfully, 300 yen is only the equivalent of about $3 in America. We just tried to look at it as a blessing for this man, whether it was forced or not. We made it back to the hotel without too much incident and relaxed our tired and weary legs.
March 20, 2013
Today we decided to go to Tokyo Disney Sea and Lindsey decided to join us again for the festivities. We agreed to meet her there since she would be going there earlier than us, however, we ran into some trouble along the way. The directions I had gotten earlier to get to the theme park were actually the directions to get to the corporate offices in a completely different area. So we had to get in touch with Lindsey to find out how to really get where we needed to be. We spent so much money in transportation today just because we got lost so much. We intended to get there at 11:00 but ended up getting there at 12:00 because of the snafu. We got on the Disney shuttle and I could just feel my inner child getting so excited because I had never been to any Disney theme park in the United States, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect. We walked into the park and I was amazed by what I saw. There a huge fountain that was a scene from Fantasia. I of course had to take a picture in front of it. We met up with Lindsey and then walked around taking in all the sights. The theme park was broken up into several different areas including areas based on Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Indiana Jones, and Atlantis. There also areas that had themes based on regions of the world such as America, Italy and Mexico. We had lunch at a restaurant in the Mexican town area because a taco sounded like a pretty good idea. I ordered a fried chicken and I will tell you that it was not a taco, it was in fact a fried chicken wrap with salsa in it. I understand that authentic Mexican food is probably minimal to nonexistent in Japan, so it was not a surprise, but it still tasted good. We walked around after that in the Aladdin area and took a bunch of pictures, including one of me hunched down with two thumbs up by a fake camel that Lindsey was riding on. Priceless. We decided to go to a show next. I don't remember the name of the show exactly but it took place in a jungle and involved a lot of acrobatics. It was very beautiful and superbly artistic in form. There was so much going on onstage that it was hard to keep track of everything but it was excellent. Afterward, we returned to the Aladdin area and got on a the Magic Carpet ride. I was literally almost too big for this ride, as the safety bar barely stayed in place when it was lower onto my legs. It was a tad uncomfortable and just another testament to the fact that Japan was not made for tall people. We walked around some more and encountered a lot of Disney characters along the way, including Abu, who ran up and give Nick, Lindsey, and I all hugs. We went to The Little Mermaid area and played around in the kids area inside the "undersea" castle. It was so much fun to know that I was having as much fun as the kids were. Then we went to the Atlantis area to get in line for a ride based on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. This ride puts you in a submarine that goes under water and encounters all kinds of creatures and dangers. This was so cool because it actually appeared like we were underwater because there was actual bubbles that could be seen outside the windows. I don't know how they do it, but those Imagineers are pretty good at what they do. We went to America Town in hopes of seeing a couple of shows but they were already completely full. The reason was because that day was a national holiday for the beginning of spring, so there were many more people there than would usually be there. We decided to go grab some food for dinner. We went to this restaurant in the Atlantis area that had pan noodles, fried rice, and other such delicious things. That fried rice was some of the best that I have ever had, especially because it didn't have any onions at all! I also had some cheesecake, which I very sorely miss, by the way. Then we decided to go on one last ride before we would make our way out. This ride was one of the highlights of the entire day. We all sat in chairs that had seat belts built in that we were to wear. Basically, the ride simulated being in a storm chasing airplane that got buffeted by the wind and rain. It totally felt like we were actually in an airplane because we were getting jerked around all over the place. At the end of the ride it even simulated a crash. Some of the pipes in the makeshift aircraft were broken and we got sprayed with water from the leaks in the exterior of the plane. We finally had a crash landing but we were safe. What a great ride! As we exited the ride it started raining outside and people were in a flurry to get undercover. We made for the gift shops, as I wanted to get a postcard to add to Jamie and my travel collection and Lindsey wanted to get a puzzle. As we were finishing up our shopping the highlight called Fantasmic began. It was essentially a walk through Disney's history and I started to feel overcome with emotion. I don't look back on my childhood with a lot of fond memories but Disney was something that I always loved and found joy in. It was one of the few bright spots from my childhood and, thus, it holds a special place in my heart. I was almost moved to tears and it was at that moment that I rediscovered my love for Disney. The show was full of pyrotechnics and Disney characters and classic songs that just made you want to sing. Nostalgia is truly a beautiful thing. After the show, we headed back to our lodgings once again. Unfortunately, we ran into travel problems again as we got stuck in Tokyo station trying to figure out which train we needed to take to get back. Other than transportation frustrations, this day was by far the best day of the trip.
March 21, 2013
Initially, we were planning on going to visit Mt. Fuji today, but because of all the walking we had done the previous 3 days, our legs were quite sore. That said, we just went back to the Tokyo Sky Tree to do some souvenir shopping for our families. Other than that, we pretty much just chilled at the hotel the rest of the day so we would be in better shape physically for what the next day had in store for us.
March 22, 2013
Today was our last day in Tokyo, as we would be taking the night bus back that evening. After checking out of the hotel and leaving our luggage there, we decided to go to Shibuya and walk around. Now Shibuya is known for something called Shibuya Crossing. The best way I can describe this place to you is to tell you that it is basically like Times Square in New York. There is this massive crosswalk that has a giant screen at its center with buildings sprawling out all over. I can truthfully say that I have NEVER seen so many people in my entire life. This place was absolutely packed just like Times Square is. There were so many people to the point where it was almost overwhelming. When we got past this area, the crowds thinned out considerably and it became a little more comfortable. As usual, we walked into stores that looked like they might be of interest to us and that was about as far as it went. Nick and I aren't really shoppers so, to be honest, Shibuya wasn't all that appealing to us. We realized that and decided to return to Asakusa to visit a couple of places that we had yet to visit, but not before I picked up a little something for my mom. We returned to Asakusa and visited 3 places: Sensoji Temple, Asakusajinja Shrine, and the Grand Kaminarimon Gate. These three structures were all in the same location and the are all religious in nature. They deal with both Buddhism and Shinto, a uniquely Japanese religion. I was intrigued by the architecture of these buildings, they were quite beautifully constructed but I couldn't help but feel a heaviness there. There were statues of Buddha everywhere and it was just so sad to see so many people coming to worship a god that doesn't even exist, when the real One True God is waiting with His arms wide open for them to come to Him. I just want everyone to receive the free gift that I have been given from God too. Within this area there is also a very large shopping area with over 90 shops called Nakamise. These shops sell all kinds of things including traditional Japanese items. I found a tapestry that had a famous Japanese painting on it that I really liked but I decided to wait to buy it until I saw what kind of tapestries Osu has. The reason being Osu is a lot closer to where I'm staying and they might have different things. So the quest for a house decoration is still underway. When we got hungry we decided to go to a Japanese Denny's. We both ordered a dish called omelet rice which was an omelet over top of rice that was shaken in a ketchup sauce. It might not sound very appetizing, but it was so good. The flavors worked together beautifully and I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that Japanese ketchup is way better than American ketchup. We finished up our dinner and then went to Baskin Robbins for some ice cream, which was really good. We took a little walk to burn our last half hour, then went back to the hotel to pick up our bags and made our trek back to Shinjuku. We made great time and got to Shinjuku early but later came to find out that we were in the wrong meeting spot. We were looking around for the people that worked for the bus company we bought tickets from but we weren't able to find them. We had about 10 minutes before the bus was supposed to board and leave and we were freaking out a little bit. We both prayed and the Lord led us to where we needed to go and we made it in time. Then we began our sleepless drive back to Nagoya and I got back to my dorm room at about 7:00am on Saturday morning.
So there you have it. That was my trip to Tokyo in a nutshell. Even though there were some parts of the trip that were extremely difficult, it was absolutely worth it. However, given the choice between Nagoya and Tokyo, I will always choose Nagoya. I now appreciate Nagoya more, especially for the sweet simplicity of the subway system here. Nagoya, I will never complain about you ever again! Thank you all once again for continuing to follow my posts and sharing in this journey with me. I will have a new post up very soon so stay tuned! Until then, everyone take care and God bless!
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Kabuki!
Hello again everyone and welcome to another exciting installment of my journey in Japan. This week I was able to attend an event that may have been the last ever in the city of Nagoya and I will share that experience with you. Let's get started.
March 13, 2013
Today marked the long-awaited kabuki performance that I had signed up for back in January when I first arrived here. It cost about $40, so it was easily the most expensive field trip that had been offered up to that point. It was initially announced to everyone during orientation week. While listening to the presentation I thought that this play would be a great opportunity to experience something that was uniquely Japanese, something that could not be found anywhere else in the world. On top of that, we were also told that this would very well be the last kabuki play in Nagoya because they would be closing the theater later in the year. It was literally a once in a lifetime opportunity so I made up my mind right then that I would attend. All participants were also required to attend a lecture about the history of kabuki the week before the actual performance. With that in mind, I would like to give you a little history of kabuki and some other facts that I learned from the lecture.
The person who spoke with us was Mr. Hisao Watanabe, one of the foremost experts on kabuki in the entire country. He explained to us that kabuki is believed to have been first established in the 17th century and started out with both male and female performers. However, due to the problem of eroticism, female performers were banned from participating. After that, handsome young boys and men were the performers, but, this also resulted in further restrictions. There was homosexual activities that were going on between the male performers and the young boys, so the young boys were also banned from being recruited. This created a bit of a crisis as now there needed to be a solution for who would act out the roles of women. It was decided that men would play both male and female parts. The men that impersonated women were, and still are, called onnagata. From that point kabuki flourished and is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage activity. It is truly representative of traditional Japan as there a certain type of play they have know as jidai geki or Period Play. These plays are based on historical events or people, although they are not necessarily historically accurate. Another interesting aspect of kabuki is that performers are almost completely selected from kabuki families. In other words, it is nearly impossible for someone who was not born into a kabuki family to become a kabuki actor. There are also ranks that can be attained by number of performances or length of time as an actor. It was very interesting to learn so much about kabuki but actually seeing it in person was an even greater treat.
The week after the lecture, we got on the subway and headed to Fushimi, where the kabuki theater was located. When I walked into the theater I was immediately amazed by the ornateness of everything. It was very reminiscent of a high class theater in the US which, of course, I have never been in. There were people that were wearing beautiful kimono, so I also felt under-dressed even though I was dressed fairly well. We walked to our seats, which were on the upper balcony and it was the perfect vantage point for a play. After about 10 minutes or so the performance began with an introduction. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find the paper that had the name of the introduction on it but from what I do remember, there was a woman (female impersonator) and two men doing a kind of interpretive dance. I didn't really understand what was going on but it was quite mesmerizing to watch. The music was also amazing in that it was live on stage, being created using traditional Japanese instruments such as the koto. After this segment, there was a short break before the first actual performance took place. Thanks goes to Hisao Watanabe for his translation of the synopsis of this play that I have related to you.
The first play was translated "Reunion" in English and was in three acts. It told the story of a young married couple that were deeply in love with each other. The wife, Run, was scolding her younger brother for getting in a fight with another person and getting injured, which also caused trouble for the husband, Iori. Iori decides to go in place of the younger brother to right the wrong he committed, but is left with bitter feelings because of having to leave his wife and newborn child. Three months after Iori left, he bought a brand new sword and had a celebration of the acquisition of it. However, he didn't invite one samurai named Jinemon, who contributed some money for the purchase of the sword. Jinemon was not at all pleased by this, so he came to the party drunk and stirred up a lot of trouble. A scuffle broke out and Iori tried to stop it, but he ended up accidentally cutting Jinemon and getting exiled. 37 years later Iori was released from his exile and went back to the house that he used to live with his wife. He reunited with Run again at the house and they had a beautiful reunion. This was very touching to me and I very much enjoyed it. I am sucker for romantic dramas, so this was right up my alley. I was also pretty happy with the fact that I was able to understand most of the story myself by just listening to the Japanese. This was quite exciting for me. This play was followed by a half hour break.
The next part of the performance was something very unique. All of the performers came out and were in a very low bow and then each actor spoke, one by one. I found out that this was a special ceremony for three of the performers that were moving up in rank. The most prominent was an actor who move up and inherited his grandfather's stage name, Ichikawa Ennosuke. This actor is a very big deal in Japan, so were all very fortunate to be able to see him perform. Now at this point I would like to point out something very interesting that went on in the audience during the plays and the announcement. Randomly, people would start shouting during certain climactic parts of the play. Rather than being annoyed, I was amused and very curious as to why this happening. All I was able to glean was that they may have been shouting the names of the actors that were in that particular scene. It was just interesting because I know that kind of behavior would be severely frowned upon in an American play.
The second play was an example of the aforementioned jidai geki. It was based on the historical samurai Minamoto Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune is hiding out from his brother Yoritomo, who is attempting to kill him. He had a mistress, Shizuka, whom he suspected was being swooned by one of his retainers named Sato Tadanobu. Sato of course denies this even though it was reported that Shizuka was coming with him at that very moment. Shizuka appeared with a drum wrapped in silk and no Sato Tadanobu in sight. It was ordered that the impostor be found. It turned out the Sato Tadanobu's true form was that of a fox spirit. He transformed into the fox and startled the mistress, who then tried to kill him. He explained that the drum has a special meaning to him as it was said to be made from the skins of his parents. Yoshitsune was hidden behind a bamboo wall and, having heard the tale of the fox, was very touched. He came out from his hiding place and, after thanking the fox for protecting Shizuka, gave the fox the drum. The fox was absolutely elated and in his gratitude he informed Yoshitsune that there was a group of monk-soldiers that were coming for him. The fox took control of the bodies of the soldiers and made them look like fools, saving Yoshitsune. Then the fox took the drum and was lifted into the air via a wire and "flew" over the audience. When he reached a tunnel it erupted with a flurry of cherry blossom petals. This was a fantastic ending to a wonderful play. The most incredible thing, for me, in this play was the acrobatics that were involved. The fox did two back bends that basically gave him the appearance of being folded in half. He also did this kind of crouch where all of his weight was concentrated and he basically walked on his toes in a crouch. What was more incredible about this was he also did this on a very narrow railing. There was also extremely quick costume changes that were literally only 30 seconds or so. Also, the monk-soldiers did this routine where one of them would roll and the other would jump over and the jump and then roll over. They did this with three people and the speed got faster and faster. The precision was incredible because if there was one wrong move, the results would have been disastrous. It was just incredible athleticism. Once again, thanks goes to Hisao Watanabe for his translation of the synopsis of this play that I have related to you.
Afterward, we were supposed to get a dressing room tour but, unfortunately that fell through, so we just received another mini lecture from Mr. Watanabe and took some group photos. We then made our way back our respective residences. Initially, I wasn't sure what to expect with kabuki because many people had told me that it was boring and that I would fall asleep because I wouldn't be able to understand anything of what was going on. I'm happy that they were wrong, but I will concede that the second play started a little slow and, because of that, I almost fell asleep. This was one of my best experiences since I've been here and I'm glad I took the opportunity to see something that I will probably never see again.
Well, this marks the end of another exciting blog post and I hope you've enjoyed it. I want to make you all aware that I will be going to Tokyo next week so I will be pumping out a lot of posts, so be ready. I look forward to sharing my trip to Tokyo with you. Until next time!
March 13, 2013
Today marked the long-awaited kabuki performance that I had signed up for back in January when I first arrived here. It cost about $40, so it was easily the most expensive field trip that had been offered up to that point. It was initially announced to everyone during orientation week. While listening to the presentation I thought that this play would be a great opportunity to experience something that was uniquely Japanese, something that could not be found anywhere else in the world. On top of that, we were also told that this would very well be the last kabuki play in Nagoya because they would be closing the theater later in the year. It was literally a once in a lifetime opportunity so I made up my mind right then that I would attend. All participants were also required to attend a lecture about the history of kabuki the week before the actual performance. With that in mind, I would like to give you a little history of kabuki and some other facts that I learned from the lecture.
The person who spoke with us was Mr. Hisao Watanabe, one of the foremost experts on kabuki in the entire country. He explained to us that kabuki is believed to have been first established in the 17th century and started out with both male and female performers. However, due to the problem of eroticism, female performers were banned from participating. After that, handsome young boys and men were the performers, but, this also resulted in further restrictions. There was homosexual activities that were going on between the male performers and the young boys, so the young boys were also banned from being recruited. This created a bit of a crisis as now there needed to be a solution for who would act out the roles of women. It was decided that men would play both male and female parts. The men that impersonated women were, and still are, called onnagata. From that point kabuki flourished and is now recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage activity. It is truly representative of traditional Japan as there a certain type of play they have know as jidai geki or Period Play. These plays are based on historical events or people, although they are not necessarily historically accurate. Another interesting aspect of kabuki is that performers are almost completely selected from kabuki families. In other words, it is nearly impossible for someone who was not born into a kabuki family to become a kabuki actor. There are also ranks that can be attained by number of performances or length of time as an actor. It was very interesting to learn so much about kabuki but actually seeing it in person was an even greater treat.
The week after the lecture, we got on the subway and headed to Fushimi, where the kabuki theater was located. When I walked into the theater I was immediately amazed by the ornateness of everything. It was very reminiscent of a high class theater in the US which, of course, I have never been in. There were people that were wearing beautiful kimono, so I also felt under-dressed even though I was dressed fairly well. We walked to our seats, which were on the upper balcony and it was the perfect vantage point for a play. After about 10 minutes or so the performance began with an introduction. Unfortunately, I cannot seem to find the paper that had the name of the introduction on it but from what I do remember, there was a woman (female impersonator) and two men doing a kind of interpretive dance. I didn't really understand what was going on but it was quite mesmerizing to watch. The music was also amazing in that it was live on stage, being created using traditional Japanese instruments such as the koto. After this segment, there was a short break before the first actual performance took place. Thanks goes to Hisao Watanabe for his translation of the synopsis of this play that I have related to you.
The first play was translated "Reunion" in English and was in three acts. It told the story of a young married couple that were deeply in love with each other. The wife, Run, was scolding her younger brother for getting in a fight with another person and getting injured, which also caused trouble for the husband, Iori. Iori decides to go in place of the younger brother to right the wrong he committed, but is left with bitter feelings because of having to leave his wife and newborn child. Three months after Iori left, he bought a brand new sword and had a celebration of the acquisition of it. However, he didn't invite one samurai named Jinemon, who contributed some money for the purchase of the sword. Jinemon was not at all pleased by this, so he came to the party drunk and stirred up a lot of trouble. A scuffle broke out and Iori tried to stop it, but he ended up accidentally cutting Jinemon and getting exiled. 37 years later Iori was released from his exile and went back to the house that he used to live with his wife. He reunited with Run again at the house and they had a beautiful reunion. This was very touching to me and I very much enjoyed it. I am sucker for romantic dramas, so this was right up my alley. I was also pretty happy with the fact that I was able to understand most of the story myself by just listening to the Japanese. This was quite exciting for me. This play was followed by a half hour break.
The next part of the performance was something very unique. All of the performers came out and were in a very low bow and then each actor spoke, one by one. I found out that this was a special ceremony for three of the performers that were moving up in rank. The most prominent was an actor who move up and inherited his grandfather's stage name, Ichikawa Ennosuke. This actor is a very big deal in Japan, so were all very fortunate to be able to see him perform. Now at this point I would like to point out something very interesting that went on in the audience during the plays and the announcement. Randomly, people would start shouting during certain climactic parts of the play. Rather than being annoyed, I was amused and very curious as to why this happening. All I was able to glean was that they may have been shouting the names of the actors that were in that particular scene. It was just interesting because I know that kind of behavior would be severely frowned upon in an American play.
The second play was an example of the aforementioned jidai geki. It was based on the historical samurai Minamoto Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune is hiding out from his brother Yoritomo, who is attempting to kill him. He had a mistress, Shizuka, whom he suspected was being swooned by one of his retainers named Sato Tadanobu. Sato of course denies this even though it was reported that Shizuka was coming with him at that very moment. Shizuka appeared with a drum wrapped in silk and no Sato Tadanobu in sight. It was ordered that the impostor be found. It turned out the Sato Tadanobu's true form was that of a fox spirit. He transformed into the fox and startled the mistress, who then tried to kill him. He explained that the drum has a special meaning to him as it was said to be made from the skins of his parents. Yoshitsune was hidden behind a bamboo wall and, having heard the tale of the fox, was very touched. He came out from his hiding place and, after thanking the fox for protecting Shizuka, gave the fox the drum. The fox was absolutely elated and in his gratitude he informed Yoshitsune that there was a group of monk-soldiers that were coming for him. The fox took control of the bodies of the soldiers and made them look like fools, saving Yoshitsune. Then the fox took the drum and was lifted into the air via a wire and "flew" over the audience. When he reached a tunnel it erupted with a flurry of cherry blossom petals. This was a fantastic ending to a wonderful play. The most incredible thing, for me, in this play was the acrobatics that were involved. The fox did two back bends that basically gave him the appearance of being folded in half. He also did this kind of crouch where all of his weight was concentrated and he basically walked on his toes in a crouch. What was more incredible about this was he also did this on a very narrow railing. There was also extremely quick costume changes that were literally only 30 seconds or so. Also, the monk-soldiers did this routine where one of them would roll and the other would jump over and the jump and then roll over. They did this with three people and the speed got faster and faster. The precision was incredible because if there was one wrong move, the results would have been disastrous. It was just incredible athleticism. Once again, thanks goes to Hisao Watanabe for his translation of the synopsis of this play that I have related to you.
Afterward, we were supposed to get a dressing room tour but, unfortunately that fell through, so we just received another mini lecture from Mr. Watanabe and took some group photos. We then made our way back our respective residences. Initially, I wasn't sure what to expect with kabuki because many people had told me that it was boring and that I would fall asleep because I wouldn't be able to understand anything of what was going on. I'm happy that they were wrong, but I will concede that the second play started a little slow and, because of that, I almost fell asleep. This was one of my best experiences since I've been here and I'm glad I took the opportunity to see something that I will probably never see again.
Well, this marks the end of another exciting blog post and I hope you've enjoyed it. I want to make you all aware that I will be going to Tokyo next week so I will be pumping out a lot of posts, so be ready. I look forward to sharing my trip to Tokyo with you. Until next time!
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Toyota, Triumph, and Fun!
Welcome back to a new and long overdue blog post. The last few weeks have been pretty intense as expected because we have a spring vacation next week. There hasn't been too much that's been noteworthy, with school work dominating the scene, but there have been some hidden gems of fun amidst all the business if academia. With that said, let's move to the next leg of this incredible journey!
February 27, 2013
Today the Center of Japanese Studies had a field trip to the Toyota Factory and the Toyota History Museum. In reality, I have absolutely no interest in vehicles, but I figured I would sign up anyway just to see what went into making a car. I can tell you right now that I wasn't disappointed in what I experienced that day. I got to learn every aspect of how Toyota makes vehicles and how they test them. Previously, I knew that robots did much of the assembly and welding work, but I was surprised to learn that robots actually do 90% of the work on the cars. We were able to walk on paths above the work that was going on below, so we had a bird's eye view of everything. We could see the robots welding different car parts together and assembling them precisely. I marveled at the precision with which these robots were programed to assemble the car, each robot having its own unique function. We saw very few human factory workers in this part of the plant. We were able to see that there were more people in the second plant, where all of the quality control and safety checks were done. I was very impressed by the standard of excellence that Toyota maintains for its vehicles. It certainly gives me the peace of mind that if I ever wanted to get a Toyota vehicle, I would be getting a high-quality and safe automobile. Plus, the car designs look pretty cool as well.
After we finished the tour of the assembly plants, we went to the Toyota History Museum. We were allowed to take pictures in here but, unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because I thought we would be unable to take any pictures at all for the entire day. This museum was much like any other museum, but this museum had some pretty cool things. First, there were these high-tech looking chairs that looked like a vehicle. The chair had all kind of controls on it that would allow it to be driven with just simple wrist movements. To be honest, I though it looked like the kind of chair that a supervillain would have. This thought brought much amusement to myself and to others. There were also cars all over the place to the point where it almost looked like a show room floor. They had classic cars, racing cars, sports cars and what I would call modern cars. The cool thing about the modern cars was that you were allowed to get in them and see the interior as well as pose for some fake driving pictures. It was a very unique experience and I'm glad that I was able to experience it. The coolest part of the museum happened shortly before we left. They had a robot standing in a display holding a trumpet. At certain times of day, this robot would play a song with the trumpet. This was one of the coolest thing things that I have seen since I have been here. The robot played Somewhere Over the Rainbow and actually played it. There was airflow and the robot's fingers were moving the valves just like a human being would. Like I said, this was astounding and I wished I had brought my camera with me to take video of the performance. I'm thinking about going back at some point so I can take pictures and take video of the well-programed robot's performance. All in all, this was a very fun way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.
The Toyota trip was indeed fun but that day was not the only fun day of the week. The next evening there was even more fun to be had. Let's get into some more detail, shall we?
February 28, 2013
At the beginning of the month my friend Maki had texted me asking if Nick and I would be available to have dinner with her, Yuna (another friend of ours), and the Japanese students that would be going to Oakland as exchange students next year. Of course Nick and I agreed and it was decided that we would meet up for dinner on the 28th. We all met up at Kanayama Station, which happens to be one of the larger subway stations in the city of Nagoya. There we met Maki, Yuna, and one of the new exchange students, Minori. Minori is a very nice person and her English is very good, so we felt somewhat comfortable with each other right off the bat. However, as always, I got nervous with my Japanese speaking ability. For some reason, I have no problem speaking Japanese with other exchange students but, when it comes time to speak with Japanese people, I get so nervous. I think the reason for this is probably because I don't want to make a bunch of mistakes and sound like an idiot. Obviously, I need to get over that, but it's still there. Anyway, we went to this nice little Okonomiyaki place that Maki reserved for us. The best way for me to describe Okonomiyaki is that it is basically like a pancake with lettuce, egg and/or other ingredients inside. For those of you that know me, I'm a very picky eater, but this time it didn't seem to matter. However, before we ate the Okonomiyaki, we received this other dish that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of, so I will just do my best to describe it. It resembled a dip and was placed on a hot plate on the table, where it proceeded to bubble. It had vegetables, I think cheese, and who knows what else inside. It was very delicious though. Then came the Okonomiyaki. We ordered two of them and when they were placed on the table they had the appearance of a medium-sized, frosted cake. It was almost too pretty to eat, almost. While it appeared small, the slices were thick and quite filling, so my eating slowed down quickly. I think it appropriate at this point to once again bring up my lack of skills when it comes to chopsticks. Maki had seen my failure countless times back in America when she was there, so she wasted no time in picking on me about it. When we got our food she would watch me and see if I was able to use them or not, with no fork available as a crutch. I was happy to say that I was quite successful, and thus upheld my honor. The updated scorecard now reads: Me 5 Chopsticks 187 I'm slowly catching up, but, needless to say, I have a long way to go. After eating, we just sat and talked, reminiscing on good memories from Oakland and telling funny stories. I of course also had to add picking on Yuna and Maki, as it had been a very long time since I had seen them both. Nick and I were also able to tell Minori a little bit about Oakland and the Rochester area. We left the restaurant a little after 9:00 and walked back to the station. I was kind of sensing that we were getting some strange looks from some of the other people that were around. They seemed to be wondering why two gaijin (foreigner) were walking around with three young, attractive Japanese girls. I mentioned this to Nick and we both laughed at the irony of it because I am married and he is in a committed relationship, so clearly we are not looking elsewhere. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Once we got to the station, we talked for about another half an hour about relationships and other more deeper things. It was nice to have this discussion, especially since it was in English this time. It is always interesting to hear what Japanese girls think about relationships in comparison to American girls. After that, we parted ways and I made my way back to the dorm. This was a very fun evening and I look forward to doing it again sometime.
Now I suppose at this point you might be wondering where the triumph part of this blog comes in. Well, allow me to explain. The week of the Toyota trip and the dinner with my Japanese friends I also had my second tests in each of my language courses. Due to the lower than expected grades on my first tests, I felt a lot of pressure, all self-imposed, to do well on these tests. I studied very hard and asked God to keep me humble in all aspects of my study. I took the reading and writing test and felt that I did extremely well on it, however; I would not allow myself to get too excited because I wouldn't truly know how well I did until I received my score the next week. I had my grammar test on Friday of that week and also felt that I did very well, but again, I didn't allow myself to get too high. I have been learning to be humble in all circumstances regardless of how I feel I performed. I remembered the Scripture, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble," as well as the idea that pride very often comes before a fall. With all this in mind, I'm very happy to report that I earned a 100% on my reading and writing test and a 93% on my grammar test, vast improvements from my first tests. I'm happy with the results but my focus is singular, give 100% every time to do the best that I possibly can. I got even better news when I learned on Friday, March 1st that I had been accepted at the University of Michigan for graduate studies. What a great God I serve! This was huge for me also in that it was an affirmation that I'm heading in the direction that God wants me to go. However, with the knowledge that I'm going to grad school, I must work even harder to do well and bring glory to God in all that I do. I also had a conversation test in my grammar class last week, of which I was also able to earn full marks. Again, I'm happy that my efforts are paying off, but there is still a long way to go. But I can safely say that I'm on an academic upswing and that is indeed a triumph to be pleased with.
I just want to mention one cultural aspect of Nagoya that I learned about today. All of the 500-level students met up today to learn the Nagoya dialect. Contrary to what I thought, Japanese has many regional dialects based off of standard Japanese. My grammar class teacher is a native of Nagoya so she knew the Nagoya dialect perfectly and she taught it to us today. This was one of the most fun and funniest class days that we have had all semester so far. This dialect literally sounds like cat language, with different variations that sound like different meows. I was joking with some friends that I would come home and speak Nagoya dialect to my cats and they would be able to understand me perfectly. Finally, a way to communicate with cats has been discovered! Anyway, it was quite enjoyable and a nice change of pace from the daily grind of regular class sessions.
The last thing that I want to mention is how God has really been growing me lately. I have been learning a lot about what it means to have joy and peace in all circumstances. This has indeed been the hardest thing that I have done in my life up to this point. I have never been in a position where I was truly on my own, let alone in a foreign country. It has cultivated a true reliance on Christ that I had not allowed myself to experience up to this point. God has been using this tough experience to teach me that there is nothing that anyone or anything can do to separate me from Him and His love for me. With that in mind, I have had joy in my heart on almost a daily basis and I have been growing a lot. Jesus has been teaching me how to be a more patient person as well as honing the gift of teaching that He has blessed me with. I cannot truly express how much love and joy that I have in my heart for the Lord. Plus, Jamie and my marriage relationship is growing stronger as well, even though we are apart from each other. As we both are pursuing Christ, we are both growing closer to one another as well. I just can't thank Jesus enough for all He has done and is doing for Jamie and I during this journey. All praise and glory and honor to the Lord God Almighty!
Alright, that is all that I have for you today but stay tuned because in the next couple of days I will be writing a new post about the Japanese kabuki play that I'm going to see tomorrow night. Thanks for continuing to share in my journey with me and will be writing to you again soon! God bless everyone!
February 27, 2013
Today the Center of Japanese Studies had a field trip to the Toyota Factory and the Toyota History Museum. In reality, I have absolutely no interest in vehicles, but I figured I would sign up anyway just to see what went into making a car. I can tell you right now that I wasn't disappointed in what I experienced that day. I got to learn every aspect of how Toyota makes vehicles and how they test them. Previously, I knew that robots did much of the assembly and welding work, but I was surprised to learn that robots actually do 90% of the work on the cars. We were able to walk on paths above the work that was going on below, so we had a bird's eye view of everything. We could see the robots welding different car parts together and assembling them precisely. I marveled at the precision with which these robots were programed to assemble the car, each robot having its own unique function. We saw very few human factory workers in this part of the plant. We were able to see that there were more people in the second plant, where all of the quality control and safety checks were done. I was very impressed by the standard of excellence that Toyota maintains for its vehicles. It certainly gives me the peace of mind that if I ever wanted to get a Toyota vehicle, I would be getting a high-quality and safe automobile. Plus, the car designs look pretty cool as well.
After we finished the tour of the assembly plants, we went to the Toyota History Museum. We were allowed to take pictures in here but, unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because I thought we would be unable to take any pictures at all for the entire day. This museum was much like any other museum, but this museum had some pretty cool things. First, there were these high-tech looking chairs that looked like a vehicle. The chair had all kind of controls on it that would allow it to be driven with just simple wrist movements. To be honest, I though it looked like the kind of chair that a supervillain would have. This thought brought much amusement to myself and to others. There were also cars all over the place to the point where it almost looked like a show room floor. They had classic cars, racing cars, sports cars and what I would call modern cars. The cool thing about the modern cars was that you were allowed to get in them and see the interior as well as pose for some fake driving pictures. It was a very unique experience and I'm glad that I was able to experience it. The coolest part of the museum happened shortly before we left. They had a robot standing in a display holding a trumpet. At certain times of day, this robot would play a song with the trumpet. This was one of the coolest thing things that I have seen since I have been here. The robot played Somewhere Over the Rainbow and actually played it. There was airflow and the robot's fingers were moving the valves just like a human being would. Like I said, this was astounding and I wished I had brought my camera with me to take video of the performance. I'm thinking about going back at some point so I can take pictures and take video of the well-programed robot's performance. All in all, this was a very fun way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.
The Toyota trip was indeed fun but that day was not the only fun day of the week. The next evening there was even more fun to be had. Let's get into some more detail, shall we?
February 28, 2013
At the beginning of the month my friend Maki had texted me asking if Nick and I would be available to have dinner with her, Yuna (another friend of ours), and the Japanese students that would be going to Oakland as exchange students next year. Of course Nick and I agreed and it was decided that we would meet up for dinner on the 28th. We all met up at Kanayama Station, which happens to be one of the larger subway stations in the city of Nagoya. There we met Maki, Yuna, and one of the new exchange students, Minori. Minori is a very nice person and her English is very good, so we felt somewhat comfortable with each other right off the bat. However, as always, I got nervous with my Japanese speaking ability. For some reason, I have no problem speaking Japanese with other exchange students but, when it comes time to speak with Japanese people, I get so nervous. I think the reason for this is probably because I don't want to make a bunch of mistakes and sound like an idiot. Obviously, I need to get over that, but it's still there. Anyway, we went to this nice little Okonomiyaki place that Maki reserved for us. The best way for me to describe Okonomiyaki is that it is basically like a pancake with lettuce, egg and/or other ingredients inside. For those of you that know me, I'm a very picky eater, but this time it didn't seem to matter. However, before we ate the Okonomiyaki, we received this other dish that I cannot for the life of me remember the name of, so I will just do my best to describe it. It resembled a dip and was placed on a hot plate on the table, where it proceeded to bubble. It had vegetables, I think cheese, and who knows what else inside. It was very delicious though. Then came the Okonomiyaki. We ordered two of them and when they were placed on the table they had the appearance of a medium-sized, frosted cake. It was almost too pretty to eat, almost. While it appeared small, the slices were thick and quite filling, so my eating slowed down quickly. I think it appropriate at this point to once again bring up my lack of skills when it comes to chopsticks. Maki had seen my failure countless times back in America when she was there, so she wasted no time in picking on me about it. When we got our food she would watch me and see if I was able to use them or not, with no fork available as a crutch. I was happy to say that I was quite successful, and thus upheld my honor. The updated scorecard now reads: Me 5 Chopsticks 187 I'm slowly catching up, but, needless to say, I have a long way to go. After eating, we just sat and talked, reminiscing on good memories from Oakland and telling funny stories. I of course also had to add picking on Yuna and Maki, as it had been a very long time since I had seen them both. Nick and I were also able to tell Minori a little bit about Oakland and the Rochester area. We left the restaurant a little after 9:00 and walked back to the station. I was kind of sensing that we were getting some strange looks from some of the other people that were around. They seemed to be wondering why two gaijin (foreigner) were walking around with three young, attractive Japanese girls. I mentioned this to Nick and we both laughed at the irony of it because I am married and he is in a committed relationship, so clearly we are not looking elsewhere. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Once we got to the station, we talked for about another half an hour about relationships and other more deeper things. It was nice to have this discussion, especially since it was in English this time. It is always interesting to hear what Japanese girls think about relationships in comparison to American girls. After that, we parted ways and I made my way back to the dorm. This was a very fun evening and I look forward to doing it again sometime.
Now I suppose at this point you might be wondering where the triumph part of this blog comes in. Well, allow me to explain. The week of the Toyota trip and the dinner with my Japanese friends I also had my second tests in each of my language courses. Due to the lower than expected grades on my first tests, I felt a lot of pressure, all self-imposed, to do well on these tests. I studied very hard and asked God to keep me humble in all aspects of my study. I took the reading and writing test and felt that I did extremely well on it, however; I would not allow myself to get too excited because I wouldn't truly know how well I did until I received my score the next week. I had my grammar test on Friday of that week and also felt that I did very well, but again, I didn't allow myself to get too high. I have been learning to be humble in all circumstances regardless of how I feel I performed. I remembered the Scripture, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble," as well as the idea that pride very often comes before a fall. With all this in mind, I'm very happy to report that I earned a 100% on my reading and writing test and a 93% on my grammar test, vast improvements from my first tests. I'm happy with the results but my focus is singular, give 100% every time to do the best that I possibly can. I got even better news when I learned on Friday, March 1st that I had been accepted at the University of Michigan for graduate studies. What a great God I serve! This was huge for me also in that it was an affirmation that I'm heading in the direction that God wants me to go. However, with the knowledge that I'm going to grad school, I must work even harder to do well and bring glory to God in all that I do. I also had a conversation test in my grammar class last week, of which I was also able to earn full marks. Again, I'm happy that my efforts are paying off, but there is still a long way to go. But I can safely say that I'm on an academic upswing and that is indeed a triumph to be pleased with.
I just want to mention one cultural aspect of Nagoya that I learned about today. All of the 500-level students met up today to learn the Nagoya dialect. Contrary to what I thought, Japanese has many regional dialects based off of standard Japanese. My grammar class teacher is a native of Nagoya so she knew the Nagoya dialect perfectly and she taught it to us today. This was one of the most fun and funniest class days that we have had all semester so far. This dialect literally sounds like cat language, with different variations that sound like different meows. I was joking with some friends that I would come home and speak Nagoya dialect to my cats and they would be able to understand me perfectly. Finally, a way to communicate with cats has been discovered! Anyway, it was quite enjoyable and a nice change of pace from the daily grind of regular class sessions.
The last thing that I want to mention is how God has really been growing me lately. I have been learning a lot about what it means to have joy and peace in all circumstances. This has indeed been the hardest thing that I have done in my life up to this point. I have never been in a position where I was truly on my own, let alone in a foreign country. It has cultivated a true reliance on Christ that I had not allowed myself to experience up to this point. God has been using this tough experience to teach me that there is nothing that anyone or anything can do to separate me from Him and His love for me. With that in mind, I have had joy in my heart on almost a daily basis and I have been growing a lot. Jesus has been teaching me how to be a more patient person as well as honing the gift of teaching that He has blessed me with. I cannot truly express how much love and joy that I have in my heart for the Lord. Plus, Jamie and my marriage relationship is growing stronger as well, even though we are apart from each other. As we both are pursuing Christ, we are both growing closer to one another as well. I just can't thank Jesus enough for all He has done and is doing for Jamie and I during this journey. All praise and glory and honor to the Lord God Almighty!
Alright, that is all that I have for you today but stay tuned because in the next couple of days I will be writing a new post about the Japanese kabuki play that I'm going to see tomorrow night. Thanks for continuing to share in my journey with me and will be writing to you again soon! God bless everyone!
Monday, February 18, 2013
A Much Needed Break and A Difficult Return
Welcome back to my blog after almost two weeks with no new posts. Sorry about the delay. The last five days have been pretty hectic to say the least, but I'm back and ready to share with you the latest happenings. So let's begin!
Starting on February 6th, we had a 9 day break from classes due to the entrance exams of potential incoming students to Nanzan University. I was very much looking forward to this break because of the severe homework dump that we had received the previous couple of days. I thought I was prepared for the potential pitfall of having extended time off and, thus, extended time to think. However, the very first day of the break I was hit full force with the feelings of loneliness and wanting to just be at home. I once again felt that the time I have remaining here was too long for me to be able to withstand. I spent some time praying and I chatted with Jamie for a little bit which seemed to help. This day felt like the longest day ever, but the great thing is that the rest of the break was much better than this! Let's move on to the next day.
February 7, 2013
Today Joey, Jay-kun, Nick and I decided to go to Sakae and Osu again to walk around and do a little shopping. Joey, Jay and I met up with Nick at the Sake subway station and then began the hunt for where we wanted to eat. One thing that I have failed to mention about Japan up to this point is that there are restaurants EVERYWHERE, and Sakae was no exception. We walked around for 15 minutes or so comparing prices and seeing if there was any particular food that caught our fancy. This was a bit arduous for me because I was perfectly content to eat at the McDonald's that was there. There is something really satisfying about being able to eat at a McDonald's and not feel terrible afterward. Anyway, we decided to eat at this pasta restaurant that was relatively inexpensive. I ordered the pasta carbonara and I can safely say that it was one of the best pasta dishes that I have ever had in my life. The sauce was rich and creamy; the seasoning simple and perfect. Unlike the American version of the carbonara that has small bacon pieces, this pasta had medium-sized pieces of cut up ham. It was so good and I think I may be becoming a little bit of a foodie. After lunch, we went in the Pokemon Center and the Shonen Jump store before we made our way to Book Off. I believe I have mentioned Book Off in a previous post but, for the sake of possible new readers, I will explain what it is again. Book Off is a chain of stores that sell used items such as video games, manga, clothes, movies, music, etc. at very cheap prices. On this day, I purchased 8 volumes of different series that I like for a grand total of about $16. If these volumes were brand new they would have probably cost about $50. Needless to say, this was an excellent investment in something that will help improve my reading skills and vocabulary. We then went to a bookstore that had new books so that Joey could pick up a book to begin studying for the JLPT N3. I decided to pick a vocabulary book for the N2 even though I have yet to find out if I passed the test or not. Either way, I will be taking the N2 at some point, whether it is this year or next. After that, we began the last leg of our journey for the day by heading to Osu. Not much happened here, as we were pretty wiped out, with the exception of Jay-kun, who was in his element at the anime goods stores. All in all, this was a fun day that helped to break the monotony and remove the sting of the previous day.
For the next two days I stayed at the dorm and spent time relaxing and resting my tired legs. The difference, however, was that these two days went by really fast, so that was a bonus! On Sunday, I went to church, and I want to share how that was with you all right now.
February 10, 2013
Today was a special day at church; it was the big Valentine's Day service. The place was packed to bursting with a lot of new faces, many of them Japanese. This made me very excited and set the tone for the entire day. We began worshiping the Lord and I could feel the presence of God among us. It was an incredible feeling, one that almost brought me to tears because of the power of it all. I am finding that I am a worshiper. After worship, the church brought up one of the church leaders, Jacob, and his wife, Terumi, to ask them some questions about relationships and marriage. This was a very good time for me, still being newly married and learning the ropes. The biggest takeaway that I had from that interview was that the value of communication cannot be overstated or stressed enough. This really spoke to me because there are times in my marriage and everyone else's marriages when communication is a struggle. What this couple was saying went hand in hand with what Jamie and I are learning together in the book Love & Respect. The message was excellent as well speaking on the topic of focusing on giving love rather than receiving love. This is something that is becoming very foreign in the world today. Many times we are focused on what we can get for ourselves out of a relationship rather than focusing on what we can put into a relationship ourselves. This is a message that the whole world needs to hear. After the service was over, Nick and I decided to join one of the LifeGroups that meets in the sanctuary after the service to discuss our thoughts about the message. This was an excellent discussion. Jacob was the leader of the group we were in and I just tried to eat up as much wisdom from him as I could, but; I did feel that I was able to contribute well to the conversation also. God helped me to make some connections with some of the things that I had learned before so I was able to share with the other guys in the group. For example, I brought up Ephesians 5:33 where husbands are commanded to love their wives and wives are commanded to respect their husbands. God may very well have commanded husbands to do this because it is not natural for men to agape love, and therefore it can be very difficult. It takes sacrifice and demands love in all circumstances, without conditions. We all agreed that it is truly the little things that we can do for our wives that will demonstrate to them that we love them as Christ loves the church. This was indeed a very powerful Sunday and Jesus has really taught me a lot already. I'm very glad that He led Nick and I to this church.
The next two days I didn't go anywhere at all. I stayed at the dorm and got some things done that would help me to stay ahead when classes resumed on Friday. Unlike last Wednesday, however; these two days went by pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was Wednesday. On Tuesday, Nick and I decided that we wanted to go somewhere on Wednesday just to get out and about at least one more time before we had to go back to class. Next, I will tell you what we decided to do.
February 13, 2013
Nick and I met up at 1:30 in front of the main gate at Nanzan. We decided the previous day that we would meet up and go to Aeon for lunch, followed by a trip to the Port of Nagoya to visit the aquarium. Like all normal Americans who are deciding what they want to eat for lunch in a foreign country, we had McDonald's. After that, we walked around Aeon for a little bit, stopping to look at the volumes of manga and other books. From Aeon we took the subway all the way to the port, which happened to be the last stop possible for the subway line that we took. We left the station and headed in the direction of our destination and the view that I saw was breathtaking. I had never seen the ocean at any point in my life until today. I looked out over the restless waves and saw a number of ships as well as a bridge that connected two different areas of the port. Being that we were right next to the ocean, it was quite cold and windy, which I was not a very big fan of. From there we made our way to the aquarium ticket window and paid our admission. We were also given a schedule of events, which told us that there was going to be a dolphin show in 5 minutes. I absolutely had to see that because I had always figured that one could only see dolphins perform in warmer places like Hawaii and Florida. Only in Japan would you have a dolphin show in the middle of winter. Anyway, we went to the show and I was overcome with awe for the creativity and infinite wisdom of God in creating these magnificent creatures. They were beautiful animals that were very athletic and playful. The tricks they performed were nothing short of amazing, especially because they were things that people could never do. That was a very fun time indeed. After this we began our actual tour of the aquarium. They had a diverse array of wildlife from different climates and regions of the world. I always get very excited at the opportunity to visit animals because I have been interested in animals since I was a little kid. There were sea turtles, seals, belugas, tropical fish, penguins and eels, to name some examples of what I saw. One of the coolest things that I saw at this aquarium was hologram displays. There were different displays scattered across the building that used holograms to graphically illustrate the information they were desiring to convey. This technology is not widely used in the US yet, although the Creation Museum has an excellent hologram display of the ape Lucy. There was one huge drawback to this wonderful experience, which I anticipated and expected. This place was absolutely dripping with evolutionary doctrine and bad science. Like I said, I expected this but it still saddened me to see that so many people are being indoctrinated by the lie of evolutionary "religion." I began thinking about how much I have always loved science and the desire to get back into biology came upon me so that I could join in spreading the truth that science upholds the Word of God. I do not know if this could be a sign of things to come or not but we will see. Regardless of the evolutionary propaganda, I had a really great time at the aquarium.
The very next day was Valentine's Day here in Japan and because of that, my dorm planned a group outing to this all you can eat place called Sweet's Paradise. This place was phenomenal and, of course, I will now tell you why.
February 14, 2013
Sweet's Paradise is an all you can eat restaurant, but, it is not just any all you can eat restaurant. This place is famous for its all you can eat sweets! They had cake, cookies, cheesecake, pie, jello, ice cream and much more. Since it was Valentine's Day there were even more delicious sweets that were themed for the day. However, sweets are not the only thing that they had on offer. The other food that they are known for here is pasta. When you get your plate and go down the line you come across an area with 6-8 containers of different kinds of pasta, and this was good pasta. They also had little sandwiches, curry, rice, soup and other foods. I was in hog heaven, so to speak. I started with one plate of pasta and then went for the dessert, which I also had a full plate of. I only had one plate of dessert, though because I reach my sugar limit very quickly. Altogether, I had 6 or 7 plates, with all but 1 of them being pasta. I just couldn't get enough of that pasta. When everyone was done eating we went over to each other and compared our belly size, which we dubbed "food baby." It was a bundle of laughs and I definitely didn't eat another meal the rest of the day. I didn't actually feel hungry again at all until about 8:30am the next morning. Now that's what I call more bang for your buck, or for your yen in this case. I hope to visit this place at least one more time before this trip is over.
This delicious day marked the end of my 9 day break and the next day addresses the difficult return part of this blog post's title. We're almost to the end, so let's continue!
February 15, 2013
I woke up today more tired than I think I had been since the first few days of being here. My head hurt and all I wanted to do was just stay in bed all day. To add insult to tiredness, I had to give a short speech in one of my classes that morning, which we had begun preparing for before the break. I felt that I was pretty ready for it and I had it well memorized. Of course when I stood up in front of the class my brain stalled a little bit and I had a few short pauses while I tried to dig the words out of the crevices in my memory. I finished and felt a little disappointed in myself for allowing the nervousness to get to me. I was hoping that my grade wouldn't be too bad. If you know me, you know that I think this way as my own biggest critic. I am very happy to say that I received a 29/30 as my grade for the speech. After my morning class I had a little bit of a layover until my tutoring session which was at 1:30. I had lunch and chatted with some friends before I went over to see who I would be tutoring that day. I got to the room and received a very humbling and terrifying shock. There was another friend of mine who was there and I thought I would be working with her. Then another lady walks into the room wearing a yellow lanyard with a name tag on it. This is significant because people who wear yellow lanyards here are staff of the Center for International Education. Through this I came to realize that I was not asked to be there to tutor, I was asked to be there to be tutored. This was like a slap in the face to me and kind of made me upset. I have never needed a tutor for Japanese and I don't need one now either. I only got Cs on the first tests for each of my language courses because I went through the test too fast, causing me to make silly mistakes and because I wasn't prepared for the tough grading system that they have. Now I know exactly how I have to prepare for exams here because I have had a class that was exactly like this at Oakland. I felt like I had been deceived because when my Sensee asked me if I would be interested in being a TA, I thought that was exactly what I would be doing. She told me that my kanji and vocabulary were good so I had no reason to think that I misunderstood her. My pride was hurt and my confidence was a little shaken. I just decided to grin and bear it through the rest of the session. I have decided that I will not be going back because I honestly do not feel that I need it. I'm not at all intending to sound boastful so I hope that it doesn't come across that way. Like I said, I have seen this story before and I know how it will end if I do what I need to do and take care of business as before. I ultimately let it go and have determined to work as hard as I can to get where I need to be. However, this was a really rough way to come back to school. Who knows, maybe there is something God is trying to teach me something through this as well.
Well I have now reached the end of my short novel and I hope it has been interesting for you to read. I just want to say thank you to all of you once again for sharing with me in this tremendous journey. Until next time, God bless!
Starting on February 6th, we had a 9 day break from classes due to the entrance exams of potential incoming students to Nanzan University. I was very much looking forward to this break because of the severe homework dump that we had received the previous couple of days. I thought I was prepared for the potential pitfall of having extended time off and, thus, extended time to think. However, the very first day of the break I was hit full force with the feelings of loneliness and wanting to just be at home. I once again felt that the time I have remaining here was too long for me to be able to withstand. I spent some time praying and I chatted with Jamie for a little bit which seemed to help. This day felt like the longest day ever, but the great thing is that the rest of the break was much better than this! Let's move on to the next day.
February 7, 2013
Today Joey, Jay-kun, Nick and I decided to go to Sakae and Osu again to walk around and do a little shopping. Joey, Jay and I met up with Nick at the Sake subway station and then began the hunt for where we wanted to eat. One thing that I have failed to mention about Japan up to this point is that there are restaurants EVERYWHERE, and Sakae was no exception. We walked around for 15 minutes or so comparing prices and seeing if there was any particular food that caught our fancy. This was a bit arduous for me because I was perfectly content to eat at the McDonald's that was there. There is something really satisfying about being able to eat at a McDonald's and not feel terrible afterward. Anyway, we decided to eat at this pasta restaurant that was relatively inexpensive. I ordered the pasta carbonara and I can safely say that it was one of the best pasta dishes that I have ever had in my life. The sauce was rich and creamy; the seasoning simple and perfect. Unlike the American version of the carbonara that has small bacon pieces, this pasta had medium-sized pieces of cut up ham. It was so good and I think I may be becoming a little bit of a foodie. After lunch, we went in the Pokemon Center and the Shonen Jump store before we made our way to Book Off. I believe I have mentioned Book Off in a previous post but, for the sake of possible new readers, I will explain what it is again. Book Off is a chain of stores that sell used items such as video games, manga, clothes, movies, music, etc. at very cheap prices. On this day, I purchased 8 volumes of different series that I like for a grand total of about $16. If these volumes were brand new they would have probably cost about $50. Needless to say, this was an excellent investment in something that will help improve my reading skills and vocabulary. We then went to a bookstore that had new books so that Joey could pick up a book to begin studying for the JLPT N3. I decided to pick a vocabulary book for the N2 even though I have yet to find out if I passed the test or not. Either way, I will be taking the N2 at some point, whether it is this year or next. After that, we began the last leg of our journey for the day by heading to Osu. Not much happened here, as we were pretty wiped out, with the exception of Jay-kun, who was in his element at the anime goods stores. All in all, this was a fun day that helped to break the monotony and remove the sting of the previous day.
For the next two days I stayed at the dorm and spent time relaxing and resting my tired legs. The difference, however, was that these two days went by really fast, so that was a bonus! On Sunday, I went to church, and I want to share how that was with you all right now.
February 10, 2013
Today was a special day at church; it was the big Valentine's Day service. The place was packed to bursting with a lot of new faces, many of them Japanese. This made me very excited and set the tone for the entire day. We began worshiping the Lord and I could feel the presence of God among us. It was an incredible feeling, one that almost brought me to tears because of the power of it all. I am finding that I am a worshiper. After worship, the church brought up one of the church leaders, Jacob, and his wife, Terumi, to ask them some questions about relationships and marriage. This was a very good time for me, still being newly married and learning the ropes. The biggest takeaway that I had from that interview was that the value of communication cannot be overstated or stressed enough. This really spoke to me because there are times in my marriage and everyone else's marriages when communication is a struggle. What this couple was saying went hand in hand with what Jamie and I are learning together in the book Love & Respect. The message was excellent as well speaking on the topic of focusing on giving love rather than receiving love. This is something that is becoming very foreign in the world today. Many times we are focused on what we can get for ourselves out of a relationship rather than focusing on what we can put into a relationship ourselves. This is a message that the whole world needs to hear. After the service was over, Nick and I decided to join one of the LifeGroups that meets in the sanctuary after the service to discuss our thoughts about the message. This was an excellent discussion. Jacob was the leader of the group we were in and I just tried to eat up as much wisdom from him as I could, but; I did feel that I was able to contribute well to the conversation also. God helped me to make some connections with some of the things that I had learned before so I was able to share with the other guys in the group. For example, I brought up Ephesians 5:33 where husbands are commanded to love their wives and wives are commanded to respect their husbands. God may very well have commanded husbands to do this because it is not natural for men to agape love, and therefore it can be very difficult. It takes sacrifice and demands love in all circumstances, without conditions. We all agreed that it is truly the little things that we can do for our wives that will demonstrate to them that we love them as Christ loves the church. This was indeed a very powerful Sunday and Jesus has really taught me a lot already. I'm very glad that He led Nick and I to this church.
The next two days I didn't go anywhere at all. I stayed at the dorm and got some things done that would help me to stay ahead when classes resumed on Friday. Unlike last Wednesday, however; these two days went by pretty quickly and before I knew it, it was Wednesday. On Tuesday, Nick and I decided that we wanted to go somewhere on Wednesday just to get out and about at least one more time before we had to go back to class. Next, I will tell you what we decided to do.
February 13, 2013
Nick and I met up at 1:30 in front of the main gate at Nanzan. We decided the previous day that we would meet up and go to Aeon for lunch, followed by a trip to the Port of Nagoya to visit the aquarium. Like all normal Americans who are deciding what they want to eat for lunch in a foreign country, we had McDonald's. After that, we walked around Aeon for a little bit, stopping to look at the volumes of manga and other books. From Aeon we took the subway all the way to the port, which happened to be the last stop possible for the subway line that we took. We left the station and headed in the direction of our destination and the view that I saw was breathtaking. I had never seen the ocean at any point in my life until today. I looked out over the restless waves and saw a number of ships as well as a bridge that connected two different areas of the port. Being that we were right next to the ocean, it was quite cold and windy, which I was not a very big fan of. From there we made our way to the aquarium ticket window and paid our admission. We were also given a schedule of events, which told us that there was going to be a dolphin show in 5 minutes. I absolutely had to see that because I had always figured that one could only see dolphins perform in warmer places like Hawaii and Florida. Only in Japan would you have a dolphin show in the middle of winter. Anyway, we went to the show and I was overcome with awe for the creativity and infinite wisdom of God in creating these magnificent creatures. They were beautiful animals that were very athletic and playful. The tricks they performed were nothing short of amazing, especially because they were things that people could never do. That was a very fun time indeed. After this we began our actual tour of the aquarium. They had a diverse array of wildlife from different climates and regions of the world. I always get very excited at the opportunity to visit animals because I have been interested in animals since I was a little kid. There were sea turtles, seals, belugas, tropical fish, penguins and eels, to name some examples of what I saw. One of the coolest things that I saw at this aquarium was hologram displays. There were different displays scattered across the building that used holograms to graphically illustrate the information they were desiring to convey. This technology is not widely used in the US yet, although the Creation Museum has an excellent hologram display of the ape Lucy. There was one huge drawback to this wonderful experience, which I anticipated and expected. This place was absolutely dripping with evolutionary doctrine and bad science. Like I said, I expected this but it still saddened me to see that so many people are being indoctrinated by the lie of evolutionary "religion." I began thinking about how much I have always loved science and the desire to get back into biology came upon me so that I could join in spreading the truth that science upholds the Word of God. I do not know if this could be a sign of things to come or not but we will see. Regardless of the evolutionary propaganda, I had a really great time at the aquarium.
The very next day was Valentine's Day here in Japan and because of that, my dorm planned a group outing to this all you can eat place called Sweet's Paradise. This place was phenomenal and, of course, I will now tell you why.
February 14, 2013
Sweet's Paradise is an all you can eat restaurant, but, it is not just any all you can eat restaurant. This place is famous for its all you can eat sweets! They had cake, cookies, cheesecake, pie, jello, ice cream and much more. Since it was Valentine's Day there were even more delicious sweets that were themed for the day. However, sweets are not the only thing that they had on offer. The other food that they are known for here is pasta. When you get your plate and go down the line you come across an area with 6-8 containers of different kinds of pasta, and this was good pasta. They also had little sandwiches, curry, rice, soup and other foods. I was in hog heaven, so to speak. I started with one plate of pasta and then went for the dessert, which I also had a full plate of. I only had one plate of dessert, though because I reach my sugar limit very quickly. Altogether, I had 6 or 7 plates, with all but 1 of them being pasta. I just couldn't get enough of that pasta. When everyone was done eating we went over to each other and compared our belly size, which we dubbed "food baby." It was a bundle of laughs and I definitely didn't eat another meal the rest of the day. I didn't actually feel hungry again at all until about 8:30am the next morning. Now that's what I call more bang for your buck, or for your yen in this case. I hope to visit this place at least one more time before this trip is over.
This delicious day marked the end of my 9 day break and the next day addresses the difficult return part of this blog post's title. We're almost to the end, so let's continue!
February 15, 2013
I woke up today more tired than I think I had been since the first few days of being here. My head hurt and all I wanted to do was just stay in bed all day. To add insult to tiredness, I had to give a short speech in one of my classes that morning, which we had begun preparing for before the break. I felt that I was pretty ready for it and I had it well memorized. Of course when I stood up in front of the class my brain stalled a little bit and I had a few short pauses while I tried to dig the words out of the crevices in my memory. I finished and felt a little disappointed in myself for allowing the nervousness to get to me. I was hoping that my grade wouldn't be too bad. If you know me, you know that I think this way as my own biggest critic. I am very happy to say that I received a 29/30 as my grade for the speech. After my morning class I had a little bit of a layover until my tutoring session which was at 1:30. I had lunch and chatted with some friends before I went over to see who I would be tutoring that day. I got to the room and received a very humbling and terrifying shock. There was another friend of mine who was there and I thought I would be working with her. Then another lady walks into the room wearing a yellow lanyard with a name tag on it. This is significant because people who wear yellow lanyards here are staff of the Center for International Education. Through this I came to realize that I was not asked to be there to tutor, I was asked to be there to be tutored. This was like a slap in the face to me and kind of made me upset. I have never needed a tutor for Japanese and I don't need one now either. I only got Cs on the first tests for each of my language courses because I went through the test too fast, causing me to make silly mistakes and because I wasn't prepared for the tough grading system that they have. Now I know exactly how I have to prepare for exams here because I have had a class that was exactly like this at Oakland. I felt like I had been deceived because when my Sensee asked me if I would be interested in being a TA, I thought that was exactly what I would be doing. She told me that my kanji and vocabulary were good so I had no reason to think that I misunderstood her. My pride was hurt and my confidence was a little shaken. I just decided to grin and bear it through the rest of the session. I have decided that I will not be going back because I honestly do not feel that I need it. I'm not at all intending to sound boastful so I hope that it doesn't come across that way. Like I said, I have seen this story before and I know how it will end if I do what I need to do and take care of business as before. I ultimately let it go and have determined to work as hard as I can to get where I need to be. However, this was a really rough way to come back to school. Who knows, maybe there is something God is trying to teach me something through this as well.
Well I have now reached the end of my short novel and I hope it has been interesting for you to read. I just want to say thank you to all of you once again for sharing with me in this tremendous journey. Until next time, God bless!
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Farewells, Birthdays, Christ and More Culture!
Welcome back to another semi-exciting edition of my blog! There has been a lot of action going on the last 5 days or so and I would love to share it with all of you. I shall not keep you waiting any longer. Here we go!
January 31, 2013
Today was a nice short day for me academically. I had my two Japanese classes and then my three day weekend began. Earlier in the week it had been circulated in NKK (this is the name of the dorm that I'm living in, if any of you had forgotten) that we were going to have a potluck farewell party for the 8 Japanese students that will be graduating from Nanzan in March. This would be our opportunity to love on them and possibly get to know them better, for those of us who didn't know most of them very well because we were new to the university. All of the dorm students wrote out messages to all of the graduating students on little note cards that were compiled together and given as gifts at the party. This was kind of hard for me to do because I did not know most of them very well, so I mostly wrote the same thing on everyone's card except for those I knew a little better. I was somewhat relieved to discover that I was not the only one who had had this problem. My roommates and I decided to make a vegetable dish for the potluck, since it was easy to make and we had another dinner party the previous night. When we entered the community room for the party there was so many different kinds of food. The selection included grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti, crepes, fruit filled jello and much more. This was indeed a spread worth indulging in. However, there was one dish that was the most memorable of the evening. Kosuke and his roommates made this teriyaki pasta dish that was in 3 different bowls. What he failed to tell most people was that he had put some of his famous Sudden Death Sauce into one of the 3 bowls. As I was looking around the room, there were people with tears streaming down their faces, sweating profusely, inflamed lips, and one person even had some of the sauce get into her sinuses. It was kind of funny and sad all at the same time because this sauce really can make someone suffer. After all the food theatrics were over, we all gathered around the projector screen for a movie that the non-graduating students had made for the graduating students. It was a collection of pictures and video clips from their time at Nanzan and NKK. It was very heart-warming and hilarious to look upon all of these wonderful memories, even though I wasn't a part of most of them. After the movie, all of the graduating students gave a short speech about their time at Nanzan and what their future plans are, followed by receiving their gifts from all of the NKK students. It was a very touching party and one that I will remember for a long time. After the party, almost all of the dorm went to this bar called Torinosuke to celebrate, to which I politely declined. I have to say that this farewell party brought me to the reality that when I come home from Japan I will be an Oakland University alumni and I will be saying farewell to many people I care about as well. It was a very sobering, humbling thought that I must prepare to face head on as time ticks closer to my return to Michigan.
Now it's time to move on to another party that I partook in the very next day. This one was full of many laughs and great memories. Onward!
February 1, 2013
Today was J-kun's 21st birthday and he wanted to celebrate it by getting a group together, going to eat one of Nagoya's famous dishes called Miso Katsudon, going bowling, and then finally go to karaoke. This day was set up to be one of epic proportions and, in some ways it was and in other ways, it wasn't. Let me explain. We all met up at the front gate to Nanzan University and then proceeded to walk to an area of Nagoya called Kanayama to find one of the many famous Miso Katsudon restaurants. We were walking around for a while and then realized that we didn't know where we were going as well as we thought we did, so we ended up asking a random passerby for directions. Much to our chagrin, we were informed that the restaurant that we were looking for was closed for some reason. So, we decided to go to another restaurant instead, which turned out to be quite delicious. I had Katsudon again, which I would say was arguably even better than the one that I had the first time at a different restaurant. After lunch we decided that we would go bowling first since the bowling alley was right across the street. So we cross the street, enter the building, head to the top floor where the actual bowling alley is located, and eventually find out that it too was closed for construction purposes. Talk about unfortunate circumstances, right? At this point, our only remaining option that didn't require us to travel to a more distant location to bowl, was to just scratch bowling and go straight to karaoke. When we got to the front desk at the karaoke place we almost met with another unfortunate incident. We were told that it would be AT LEAST an hour before we could get a room to sing in. At this sad turn of events we deliberated and had decided that we would leave and go find something else to do. Right as were were about to walk out the door, the front desk called us back over and said that a room would be available for us in 10 minutes. Finally, something went according to plan! When we got in the room we had an absolute blast singing. Initially, I wasn't planning on singing because I am very self-conscious about my voice and didn't want to embarrass myself. However, you will be happy to know that I sang two songs, each with another person. I sang "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire with J-kun and "Taking Over Me" by Evanescence with Britney. I was going to sing "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, but we ran out of time so I was unable to. I was okay with that because now I will have time to practice it so it actually sounds good when I sing it next time. After karaoke we went to Mr. Donut and ate, you guessed it, donuts. Upon completion of our delectable donuts we went back to our respective residences. Later that evening, we had another little surprise dorm birthday party for J-kun. I could tell that he had a great day and I was happy that I was able to be a part of it with him. This is how you truly have fun at a party without going crazy.
Okay, enough with the parties because now it's time to turn our attention towards more spiritual matters. As I mentioned before, I had tried out a church and found that I didn't really like it all the much so I wanted to search for another one. That search continued and ended this past Sunday. Let us explore in more detail.
February 3, 2013
Today Nick and I decided to visit another church to see if we would like it better than the one we had attended the previous week. The name of the church is GraceCity Church and it is located within the Chihaya Community Center in the Shinsakae district of Nagoya. When I walked in the door I felt very welcome and felt the presence of God. It had a very strong international flavor to it as people from many different countries attend this church. The service itself was contemporary just like I am accustomed to back at home. The best part of the service, in my opinion, was the worship. All the songs that we sang I knew and we alternated singing verses of the song in English and Japanese. I cannot truly explain it but there is something so amazing about worshiping God in more than one language. I think it may be that I was able to connect with Jesus in a different way than what I am accustomed to. Even as we were praying I found that I was switching back and forth between English and Japanese without even really trying. It was amazing and awesome in so many ways. One other unique thing about this church's service is that it is conducted in both English and Japanese. The pastor would preach small chunks of his sermon and then a Japanese lady was spontaneously interpreting his sermon into Japanese. I listened intently to the message in both languages. The sermon's message centered around the concept of God's grace, using the story of the prodigal son as the centerpiece. It was nothing that I hadn't heard before but it brought forth a great reminder that I had been wrestling with recently. This reminder was the fact that God is never mad at me even when I do stupid things because the wrath He had because of my sin was poured out on Jesus when He died on the cross. It was a reminder to me to just accept God's love and grace regardless of the fact that I don't deserve it. It sounds simple but this is a powerful truth that has changed the lives of thousands of people. This was a message that I needed to hear on that particular day. Like I said, the church was very good and it will definitely be the church that I will be attending for the duration of my time here. I can only give glory to God for answering my prayer to provide a church body that I could be a part of while I'm away from my home church.
The last thing I would like to touch on is a couple really interesting aspects of Japanese culture that I learned just yesterday. Here in Japan, water conservation is something that is very important. To help in those efforts there are two different systems in place. On many modern Japanese toilets there is an apparatus that looks like the faucet of a sink on the top of the toilet tank. When you flush the toilet the excess water that would normally be wasted comes out of this faucet on top of the toilet tank. Apparently, you can use this water like that of a sink to wash your hands. When I heard that my mind was absolutely blown. I thought, "What a creative way to try and eliminate the wasting of resources." The toilets in my dorm room have these faucets, but I can tell for sure that I will keep my hand washing to the real sinks. This conservation of water also manifests in another way. When you take a bath, not a shower, in Japan that water can be reused later for doing your laundry. Is your mind blown yet? The reason that this is possible is because taking a bath in Japan is different that taking a bath in other countries. Before you actually enter the bath you wash and rinse yourself very thoroughly in a separate area. By doing this you don't have to be concerned that you would be washing your clothes with dirty water. Again, a very creative/innovative way to conserve water. The other really interesting thing that I learned about was this button that is in many women's restrooms. When you press the button it makes a sound that is like that of running water. The purpose of this button is to prevent embarrassing experiences for women in the restroom by drowning out the other less desirable sounds. I think this could be something that has practical use in America as well.
There is one last thing that I would like to point out about the city of Nagoya itself, since I haven't really talked about it much. Nagoya is often compared to Seattle for one main reason, and having been to Seattle I understand why. For those of you that don't know, modern-day Seattle was built on top of the old Seattle that had burned to the ground. Rather than tearing down old Seattle and building anew they decided to just build over top of it and, as a result, they have very angled streets. Nagoya has exactly the same kind of angled streets that Seattle has, although I have yet to discover why that is. With that said, walking around over here can be very tiring, but the plus side is that I will have calves of steel when I get back home. I just wanted to give you all a little more idea of what the city is like.
Well this is all that I have for you for this post. There will be more coming soon though, as I will be starting the first of two 9 day breaks from class tomorrow. There are many day trips that will probably happen and with them, many great stories to tell. Until then, stay tuned!
January 31, 2013
Today was a nice short day for me academically. I had my two Japanese classes and then my three day weekend began. Earlier in the week it had been circulated in NKK (this is the name of the dorm that I'm living in, if any of you had forgotten) that we were going to have a potluck farewell party for the 8 Japanese students that will be graduating from Nanzan in March. This would be our opportunity to love on them and possibly get to know them better, for those of us who didn't know most of them very well because we were new to the university. All of the dorm students wrote out messages to all of the graduating students on little note cards that were compiled together and given as gifts at the party. This was kind of hard for me to do because I did not know most of them very well, so I mostly wrote the same thing on everyone's card except for those I knew a little better. I was somewhat relieved to discover that I was not the only one who had had this problem. My roommates and I decided to make a vegetable dish for the potluck, since it was easy to make and we had another dinner party the previous night. When we entered the community room for the party there was so many different kinds of food. The selection included grilled cheese sandwiches, spaghetti, crepes, fruit filled jello and much more. This was indeed a spread worth indulging in. However, there was one dish that was the most memorable of the evening. Kosuke and his roommates made this teriyaki pasta dish that was in 3 different bowls. What he failed to tell most people was that he had put some of his famous Sudden Death Sauce into one of the 3 bowls. As I was looking around the room, there were people with tears streaming down their faces, sweating profusely, inflamed lips, and one person even had some of the sauce get into her sinuses. It was kind of funny and sad all at the same time because this sauce really can make someone suffer. After all the food theatrics were over, we all gathered around the projector screen for a movie that the non-graduating students had made for the graduating students. It was a collection of pictures and video clips from their time at Nanzan and NKK. It was very heart-warming and hilarious to look upon all of these wonderful memories, even though I wasn't a part of most of them. After the movie, all of the graduating students gave a short speech about their time at Nanzan and what their future plans are, followed by receiving their gifts from all of the NKK students. It was a very touching party and one that I will remember for a long time. After the party, almost all of the dorm went to this bar called Torinosuke to celebrate, to which I politely declined. I have to say that this farewell party brought me to the reality that when I come home from Japan I will be an Oakland University alumni and I will be saying farewell to many people I care about as well. It was a very sobering, humbling thought that I must prepare to face head on as time ticks closer to my return to Michigan.
Now it's time to move on to another party that I partook in the very next day. This one was full of many laughs and great memories. Onward!
February 1, 2013
Today was J-kun's 21st birthday and he wanted to celebrate it by getting a group together, going to eat one of Nagoya's famous dishes called Miso Katsudon, going bowling, and then finally go to karaoke. This day was set up to be one of epic proportions and, in some ways it was and in other ways, it wasn't. Let me explain. We all met up at the front gate to Nanzan University and then proceeded to walk to an area of Nagoya called Kanayama to find one of the many famous Miso Katsudon restaurants. We were walking around for a while and then realized that we didn't know where we were going as well as we thought we did, so we ended up asking a random passerby for directions. Much to our chagrin, we were informed that the restaurant that we were looking for was closed for some reason. So, we decided to go to another restaurant instead, which turned out to be quite delicious. I had Katsudon again, which I would say was arguably even better than the one that I had the first time at a different restaurant. After lunch we decided that we would go bowling first since the bowling alley was right across the street. So we cross the street, enter the building, head to the top floor where the actual bowling alley is located, and eventually find out that it too was closed for construction purposes. Talk about unfortunate circumstances, right? At this point, our only remaining option that didn't require us to travel to a more distant location to bowl, was to just scratch bowling and go straight to karaoke. When we got to the front desk at the karaoke place we almost met with another unfortunate incident. We were told that it would be AT LEAST an hour before we could get a room to sing in. At this sad turn of events we deliberated and had decided that we would leave and go find something else to do. Right as were were about to walk out the door, the front desk called us back over and said that a room would be available for us in 10 minutes. Finally, something went according to plan! When we got in the room we had an absolute blast singing. Initially, I wasn't planning on singing because I am very self-conscious about my voice and didn't want to embarrass myself. However, you will be happy to know that I sang two songs, each with another person. I sang "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire with J-kun and "Taking Over Me" by Evanescence with Britney. I was going to sing "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men, but we ran out of time so I was unable to. I was okay with that because now I will have time to practice it so it actually sounds good when I sing it next time. After karaoke we went to Mr. Donut and ate, you guessed it, donuts. Upon completion of our delectable donuts we went back to our respective residences. Later that evening, we had another little surprise dorm birthday party for J-kun. I could tell that he had a great day and I was happy that I was able to be a part of it with him. This is how you truly have fun at a party without going crazy.
Okay, enough with the parties because now it's time to turn our attention towards more spiritual matters. As I mentioned before, I had tried out a church and found that I didn't really like it all the much so I wanted to search for another one. That search continued and ended this past Sunday. Let us explore in more detail.
February 3, 2013
Today Nick and I decided to visit another church to see if we would like it better than the one we had attended the previous week. The name of the church is GraceCity Church and it is located within the Chihaya Community Center in the Shinsakae district of Nagoya. When I walked in the door I felt very welcome and felt the presence of God. It had a very strong international flavor to it as people from many different countries attend this church. The service itself was contemporary just like I am accustomed to back at home. The best part of the service, in my opinion, was the worship. All the songs that we sang I knew and we alternated singing verses of the song in English and Japanese. I cannot truly explain it but there is something so amazing about worshiping God in more than one language. I think it may be that I was able to connect with Jesus in a different way than what I am accustomed to. Even as we were praying I found that I was switching back and forth between English and Japanese without even really trying. It was amazing and awesome in so many ways. One other unique thing about this church's service is that it is conducted in both English and Japanese. The pastor would preach small chunks of his sermon and then a Japanese lady was spontaneously interpreting his sermon into Japanese. I listened intently to the message in both languages. The sermon's message centered around the concept of God's grace, using the story of the prodigal son as the centerpiece. It was nothing that I hadn't heard before but it brought forth a great reminder that I had been wrestling with recently. This reminder was the fact that God is never mad at me even when I do stupid things because the wrath He had because of my sin was poured out on Jesus when He died on the cross. It was a reminder to me to just accept God's love and grace regardless of the fact that I don't deserve it. It sounds simple but this is a powerful truth that has changed the lives of thousands of people. This was a message that I needed to hear on that particular day. Like I said, the church was very good and it will definitely be the church that I will be attending for the duration of my time here. I can only give glory to God for answering my prayer to provide a church body that I could be a part of while I'm away from my home church.
The last thing I would like to touch on is a couple really interesting aspects of Japanese culture that I learned just yesterday. Here in Japan, water conservation is something that is very important. To help in those efforts there are two different systems in place. On many modern Japanese toilets there is an apparatus that looks like the faucet of a sink on the top of the toilet tank. When you flush the toilet the excess water that would normally be wasted comes out of this faucet on top of the toilet tank. Apparently, you can use this water like that of a sink to wash your hands. When I heard that my mind was absolutely blown. I thought, "What a creative way to try and eliminate the wasting of resources." The toilets in my dorm room have these faucets, but I can tell for sure that I will keep my hand washing to the real sinks. This conservation of water also manifests in another way. When you take a bath, not a shower, in Japan that water can be reused later for doing your laundry. Is your mind blown yet? The reason that this is possible is because taking a bath in Japan is different that taking a bath in other countries. Before you actually enter the bath you wash and rinse yourself very thoroughly in a separate area. By doing this you don't have to be concerned that you would be washing your clothes with dirty water. Again, a very creative/innovative way to conserve water. The other really interesting thing that I learned about was this button that is in many women's restrooms. When you press the button it makes a sound that is like that of running water. The purpose of this button is to prevent embarrassing experiences for women in the restroom by drowning out the other less desirable sounds. I think this could be something that has practical use in America as well.
There is one last thing that I would like to point out about the city of Nagoya itself, since I haven't really talked about it much. Nagoya is often compared to Seattle for one main reason, and having been to Seattle I understand why. For those of you that don't know, modern-day Seattle was built on top of the old Seattle that had burned to the ground. Rather than tearing down old Seattle and building anew they decided to just build over top of it and, as a result, they have very angled streets. Nagoya has exactly the same kind of angled streets that Seattle has, although I have yet to discover why that is. With that said, walking around over here can be very tiring, but the plus side is that I will have calves of steel when I get back home. I just wanted to give you all a little more idea of what the city is like.
Well this is all that I have for you for this post. There will be more coming soon though, as I will be starting the first of two 9 day breaks from class tomorrow. There are many day trips that will probably happen and with them, many great stories to tell. Until then, stay tuned!
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