Tonight we had a very uncomfortable family dinner. My host mom had had a busy evening driving the boys to and from karate class, and they were being very troublesome about taking a bath. So she didn't have dinner ready until pretty late in the evening. My host Dad, who as far as I had seen had not lifted a finger to help, was not happy about this.
"Geez, it's already 8:30!" He whined. "It's so late, what have you been doing? Kelley, you must be starving, aren't you?"
Woah, mister. Don't bring me into this.
"She must be very busy," I tried to say tactfully.
"It's 8:30 already!" He continued.
"Shut up." My host mom said quietly.
"You said it would be ready by-"
"Shut up."
At dinner no one made any conversation. Just to be mean, the older host brother stole some food from the younger one, who started to cry, and I could see my host mom seething in her chair. When my host dad finished he left without a "gochisosama," ("thank you for the food") which is quite rude in Japanese culture. My host mom started snapping at her sons who were making a mess with their food. And of course, everyone left their dishes for her to clean up afterwards. As usual I offered to help with the washing, and as usual she insisted that it was not necessary. Tonight I felt really bad for her so I tried a little harder though.
"In America, the person who cooks and the person who washes the dishes are never the same person." I said.
"Really?" said my host mom. "Japanese men never do the washing. Since long, long ago, they have never done it."
I miss my daddy, who brings my mom flowers just because, cooks nice dinners when she's not feeling well, and never lets her do the dishes.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Can't blend in
I had heard that foreigners often get stared at by Japanese people, so when I came to Japan I was prepared for that. At first I was almost disappointed that so few people seemed to notice me. In Nagoya, being the center of Japan's auto industry, I think there are relatively a lot of foreigners, especially in the area around my university. In my host family's town, which is in the country, (sorta) staring occurs more often though.
The majority of starers are little kids, so I don't mind. Besides, the great thing about little kids is that if you stare back at them, they don't get embarrassed and quickly look away. They just keep staring.
Old men also stare sometimes. One guy at the train station saw me, and his jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes got big and he stood frozen like that, quite unabashedly. About 30 seconds later I looked behind again and he was still in the exact same position. Godzilla could have just bought a ticket and boarded the train and his expression would have been the same. I imitated this for my host family at the dinner table and they said I looked like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Yesterday I was walking past a group of elementary schoolers who, like me, were on their way home from school. The boys were looking at me and giggling amongst each other when the bravest one shouted out to me, "haro!" which is the Japanese attempt at "hello." The funny thing was is that he rolled his "r" dramatically, as if speaking Italian, so it was more like "harrrrrro!"
This evening I went for a walk around my neighborhood. Two elderly ladies stopped me and started a little conversation, asking if I was from America and such. "You're very beautiful," they kept repeating. "Such white skin!" Yes, pale skin is preferred to tan skin here. Did I go to the right country or what?
Today I was talking to a fellow exchange student who is African-American and has a small mohawk. He says that when he boards the train here little kids freak out. He also said that he always tries to be really nice to the little kids so that when the next election comes around, they'll vote for him and he'll become the first foreign-born Japanese emperor.
The majority of starers are little kids, so I don't mind. Besides, the great thing about little kids is that if you stare back at them, they don't get embarrassed and quickly look away. They just keep staring.
Old men also stare sometimes. One guy at the train station saw me, and his jaw dropped to the floor and his eyes got big and he stood frozen like that, quite unabashedly. About 30 seconds later I looked behind again and he was still in the exact same position. Godzilla could have just bought a ticket and boarded the train and his expression would have been the same. I imitated this for my host family at the dinner table and they said I looked like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Yesterday I was walking past a group of elementary schoolers who, like me, were on their way home from school. The boys were looking at me and giggling amongst each other when the bravest one shouted out to me, "haro!" which is the Japanese attempt at "hello." The funny thing was is that he rolled his "r" dramatically, as if speaking Italian, so it was more like "harrrrrro!"
This evening I went for a walk around my neighborhood. Two elderly ladies stopped me and started a little conversation, asking if I was from America and such. "You're very beautiful," they kept repeating. "Such white skin!" Yes, pale skin is preferred to tan skin here. Did I go to the right country or what?
Today I was talking to a fellow exchange student who is African-American and has a small mohawk. He says that when he boards the train here little kids freak out. He also said that he always tries to be really nice to the little kids so that when the next election comes around, they'll vote for him and he'll become the first foreign-born Japanese emperor.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Tips for Colleen
My friend Colleen will be studying abroad in Tokyo soon. I thought I would give her some tips and let you guys read them too, to get an idea of the stuff I encounter during my life here:
1. Carry a small washcloth with you. The public bathrooms don't have paper towels or hand dryers; everyone carries their own personal washcloth.
2. It rains a lot here, so bring a foldable umbrella and practical pants.
3. At the train station, on the edge of the platform are markings where the train doors will open. People line up behind these markings while waiting for the train. It's rude to cut in front of the line, so be careful where you stand.
4. Convenience stores and supermarkets have inexpensive and tasty food, good for lunches. You will learn to love them.
5. 7-11 stores are everywhere, and they have international ATMs where you can use your American ATM card. (Probably. It doesn't work for everyone, but I use it.) It charges your card $5 per transaction.
6. Bring cash. Credit cards are not used as widely as they are in the US, so don't rely on being able to use yours at a store or restaurant.
7. People may refer to you as "gaijin-san," but this is not meant offensively.
8. In restaurants, sometimes a warm, moist towlette will be brought to you before your meal. This is to clean your hands with before you eat.
9. I haven't seen many 3-prong outlets here, so bring a converter if you need one.
10. When paying for something at a store or restaurant, usually there will be a small tray on the counter or fixed to the register. You put your cash in the tray, and the cashier will take it from the tray. I don't know why. That's just the way it is. Before I knew this, at a store I handed my cash directly to the cashier. She took it from me, placed it in the tray, and then took it from the tray. It's serious business.
1. Carry a small washcloth with you. The public bathrooms don't have paper towels or hand dryers; everyone carries their own personal washcloth.
2. It rains a lot here, so bring a foldable umbrella and practical pants.
3. At the train station, on the edge of the platform are markings where the train doors will open. People line up behind these markings while waiting for the train. It's rude to cut in front of the line, so be careful where you stand.
4. Convenience stores and supermarkets have inexpensive and tasty food, good for lunches. You will learn to love them.
5. 7-11 stores are everywhere, and they have international ATMs where you can use your American ATM card. (Probably. It doesn't work for everyone, but I use it.) It charges your card $5 per transaction.
6. Bring cash. Credit cards are not used as widely as they are in the US, so don't rely on being able to use yours at a store or restaurant.
7. People may refer to you as "gaijin-san," but this is not meant offensively.
8. In restaurants, sometimes a warm, moist towlette will be brought to you before your meal. This is to clean your hands with before you eat.
9. I haven't seen many 3-prong outlets here, so bring a converter if you need one.
10. When paying for something at a store or restaurant, usually there will be a small tray on the counter or fixed to the register. You put your cash in the tray, and the cashier will take it from the tray. I don't know why. That's just the way it is. Before I knew this, at a store I handed my cash directly to the cashier. She took it from me, placed it in the tray, and then took it from the tray. It's serious business.
Just stuff
Japan is NOT living up to its reputation for being the world headquarters for the latest technology.
The computers for student use at my campus are like dinosaurs making their way up a river of caramel. Old and slow. Also, in order to obtain a school email address, we had to load a program onto a floppy disk. A floppy disk? Old school! Today we had an orientation for using the school network on our personal laptops. It took them nearly an hour to explain it to us, and we had to change a million settings on our computer as well as install a new program. Did I mention that it's not wireless? There is no wireless network on campus. Oh, and we're not allowed to use Skype at school. In fact, we're not supposed to use the school network for anything other than "education and research purposes." As if.
Good grief. Back at the good 'ol Silicon Valley we just signed up for a user name and password, then had wireless internet anywhere on campus.
Current score: America, 1. Japan, 0.
I did learn a new haiku in class though:
akaishinboo
minna de watareba
kowakunai.
Translation:
It's a red light
If we all walk together
We are not afraid.
The computers for student use at my campus are like dinosaurs making their way up a river of caramel. Old and slow. Also, in order to obtain a school email address, we had to load a program onto a floppy disk. A floppy disk? Old school! Today we had an orientation for using the school network on our personal laptops. It took them nearly an hour to explain it to us, and we had to change a million settings on our computer as well as install a new program. Did I mention that it's not wireless? There is no wireless network on campus. Oh, and we're not allowed to use Skype at school. In fact, we're not supposed to use the school network for anything other than "education and research purposes." As if.
Good grief. Back at the good 'ol Silicon Valley we just signed up for a user name and password, then had wireless internet anywhere on campus.
Current score: America, 1. Japan, 0.
I did learn a new haiku in class though:
akaishinboo
minna de watareba
kowakunai.
Translation:
It's a red light
If we all walk together
We are not afraid.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
K for Kimono
Awww, look at me enjoying my green tea ice cream. I'm so cute.
My host mom was surprised when she heard that my plans for the day were to go shopping with friends in the neighboring town, which is not a particularly interesting or touristy place. What she doesn't realize is that to my fellow exchange students and I, everything is interesting. The local 100-yen shop will keep our attention just as long as a castle. So off to the little shopping center we went, and spent the day there examining the interesting products Japan has to offer, taking pictures of almost everything and pointing out funny Engrish to each other. Here's one of the streets we walked on.
I found my way into a kimono shop and was drooling over the gorgeous silk kimonos hanging up on display. One of the shop attendants, a very tall young man dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, started up a conversation with me. Another shop attendant, a middle-aged woman, came over and suggested/commanded that I try on a kimono.
"What color would look good on her?" She asked the young man.
"Pink." He decided.
They found a beautiful pink kimono and white obi and the woman dressed me up in it, tying an elaborate bow in the back with expert moves. A couple other customers were watching her do it and smiling with approval. Boy were my friends surprised when they wandered into the kimono shop and saw me there all dressed up.
I know exactly what you're thinking: "Kelley looks so amazing in that kimono, I want to buy it for her for Christmas." Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much the kimono was, (and didn't want to ask, lest the shop attendants think I intended to buy it), but it was probably about $500, and the obi about $300. Sigh. They had polyester kimonos for a good price, but they weren't quite as gorgeous as this one.
On the way home we spotted this oddity. If you didn't know, Japanese vending machines sell beer and cigarettes. This decrepit, rusty vending machine apparently sells kegs of beer. Yes, it's a beer keg vending machine. Do they not worry about underage drinking here?
It was a great day for Engrish hunting, too.
Mmm, I smell curry cooking for dinner!
My host mom was surprised when she heard that my plans for the day were to go shopping with friends in the neighboring town, which is not a particularly interesting or touristy place. What she doesn't realize is that to my fellow exchange students and I, everything is interesting. The local 100-yen shop will keep our attention just as long as a castle. So off to the little shopping center we went, and spent the day there examining the interesting products Japan has to offer, taking pictures of almost everything and pointing out funny Engrish to each other. Here's one of the streets we walked on.
I found my way into a kimono shop and was drooling over the gorgeous silk kimonos hanging up on display. One of the shop attendants, a very tall young man dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, started up a conversation with me. Another shop attendant, a middle-aged woman, came over and suggested/commanded that I try on a kimono.
"What color would look good on her?" She asked the young man.
"Pink." He decided.
They found a beautiful pink kimono and white obi and the woman dressed me up in it, tying an elaborate bow in the back with expert moves. A couple other customers were watching her do it and smiling with approval. Boy were my friends surprised when they wandered into the kimono shop and saw me there all dressed up.
I know exactly what you're thinking: "Kelley looks so amazing in that kimono, I want to buy it for her for Christmas." Unfortunately, I'm not sure how much the kimono was, (and didn't want to ask, lest the shop attendants think I intended to buy it), but it was probably about $500, and the obi about $300. Sigh. They had polyester kimonos for a good price, but they weren't quite as gorgeous as this one.
On the way home we spotted this oddity. If you didn't know, Japanese vending machines sell beer and cigarettes. This decrepit, rusty vending machine apparently sells kegs of beer. Yes, it's a beer keg vending machine. Do they not worry about underage drinking here?
It was a great day for Engrish hunting, too.
Mmm, I smell curry cooking for dinner!
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Pictures and words
Today I was sitting in the lobby of a campus building when two Japanese students walked up and started a conversation with me. At first I was suspicious: they must be trying to get me to sign up for something. And although I found out later that they were part of an international coffee night thing, they never tried to pitch it to me as I was expecting. They just wanted to meet foreign students. I enjoyed talking with them very much, as they spoke in short easy sentences but didn't baby-talk me like my host father tends to do. We went to the supermarket and got lunch together. If speech is kept simple and said at a fairly slow pace, I'm able to talk in Japanese fairly well. There was one time where a Japanese girl was asking me if I had ever taken the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) test. "TOEFL" is kind of a difficult word to pronounce for a Japanese speaker, so when the girl said it I thought she said "tofu." So we had this awkward conversation in Japanese:
Japanese girl: Have you ever taken the TOEFL?
Me: Oh yes, I ate it.
Japanese girl: ....you ate it?
Me: I...um...I have eaten it.
Japanese girl: You ate the TOEFL?
Me: Um...er...it was eaten by me?
It took a fellow exchange student to sort out the miscommunication. It was kind of embarrassing.
I have more pictures!!!
Here's one of the policemen on a pedestal I was talking about earlier. Sorry it's a bad picture- I was trying to take it without drawing attention.
My mom made okonamiyaki for dinner! It was delicious!
Japanese girl: Have you ever taken the TOEFL?
Me: Oh yes, I ate it.
Japanese girl: ....you ate it?
Me: I...um...I have eaten it.
Japanese girl: You ate the TOEFL?
Me: Um...er...it was eaten by me?
It took a fellow exchange student to sort out the miscommunication. It was kind of embarrassing.
I have more pictures!!!
Here's one of the policemen on a pedestal I was talking about earlier. Sorry it's a bad picture- I was trying to take it without drawing attention.
My mom made okonamiyaki for dinner! It was delicious!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Safety Training Day
My day was pretty dull, except for the part where a Japanese policeman was wrenching my arm behind my back and walking me around that way.
...maybe I should explain.
Whoever invented the idea of school orientations should be shot. The last week of orientations at my college have been wrenchingly slow, repetitive, and full of the obvious. In other words, a typical orientation. Today we registered for classes then had a three hour break until the next segment of orientation. I spent the break with two new friends of mine, fellow exchange students from America. Over lunch we discussed how much we miss macaroni and cheese, mexican food, Reese's Pieces, and how we might obtain a turkey for Thanksgiving. Nicole bought french fries and we drooled over them together. "It tastes like home," someone said.
I was pessimistic about the safety portion of our orientation. Japan has a lot of earthquakes. Okay, I got it. The fact that Japan has 10% of the world's earthquakes was repeated to us so much that I began to think that the Japanese were proud of it.
Somewhat mystifying was the way the orientation leaders seemed determined to dispel the very common myth that Japan is a safe place. "You may have heard that Japan is a very safe country," they would say. "It isn't. The number of crimes has been steadily increasing in recent years." This would be followed by plenty of helpful instructions such as don't walk down secluded alleyways alone, don't walk alone at night, and if you see a suspicious person, run away. Then this would be finished with "Welcome to Nanzan University." (How Japan's crime rate compares to the U.S., I don't know, but I really doubt that it's more dangerous than the US. So relax, Mom.)
Things got interesting when an earthquake simulator was brought out for all the study abroad students. You know, just in case you don't know what an earthquake feels like, they have this handy simulator so that if an earthquake does occur you won't be running around screaming "WHAT IS THIS? MY WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN!!" It was basically a three-walled box on the bed of a special truck. Inside was a table and four chairs. You sit in the chairs and the box is shaken to the point of a 7 magnitude earthquake. It was funny when in one group of four a guy called out, "Oh my gosh- guys, it's an earthquake!! Get under the table! UNDER THE TABLE!!" and threw himself beneath it.
Next was the self-defense seminar. Some policemen came in and repeated all the don't-be-stupid warnings in Japanese, which were then translated into English by a somewhat inept interpreter who would say things like "we want you to move so or you feel pain." A larger policeman (who looked kinda like Uncle Paul) started demonstating some self-defense moves on a smaller policeman, often pinning him to the ground with painful-looking arm wrenches, hilarity ensuing. Then we each grabbed a partner and practiced some of the moves on each other. My partner, Nicole, was kind of a dainty girl who wasn't very enthusiastic about practicing the moves. The police officers were walking around the room helping everyone, and that's when the large one came over and showed Nicole how to properly twist my arm behind my back. "I-i-i-i-i-itai itai itai itai!" I'm sure he was careful to use only a tiny fraction of his power, but it was enough to walk me around the room with. My shoulder was sore for a little while afterwards too.
So that was my day.
...maybe I should explain.
Whoever invented the idea of school orientations should be shot. The last week of orientations at my college have been wrenchingly slow, repetitive, and full of the obvious. In other words, a typical orientation. Today we registered for classes then had a three hour break until the next segment of orientation. I spent the break with two new friends of mine, fellow exchange students from America. Over lunch we discussed how much we miss macaroni and cheese, mexican food, Reese's Pieces, and how we might obtain a turkey for Thanksgiving. Nicole bought french fries and we drooled over them together. "It tastes like home," someone said.
I was pessimistic about the safety portion of our orientation. Japan has a lot of earthquakes. Okay, I got it. The fact that Japan has 10% of the world's earthquakes was repeated to us so much that I began to think that the Japanese were proud of it.
Somewhat mystifying was the way the orientation leaders seemed determined to dispel the very common myth that Japan is a safe place. "You may have heard that Japan is a very safe country," they would say. "It isn't. The number of crimes has been steadily increasing in recent years." This would be followed by plenty of helpful instructions such as don't walk down secluded alleyways alone, don't walk alone at night, and if you see a suspicious person, run away. Then this would be finished with "Welcome to Nanzan University." (How Japan's crime rate compares to the U.S., I don't know, but I really doubt that it's more dangerous than the US. So relax, Mom.)
Things got interesting when an earthquake simulator was brought out for all the study abroad students. You know, just in case you don't know what an earthquake feels like, they have this handy simulator so that if an earthquake does occur you won't be running around screaming "WHAT IS THIS? MY WORLD IS UPSIDE DOWN!!" It was basically a three-walled box on the bed of a special truck. Inside was a table and four chairs. You sit in the chairs and the box is shaken to the point of a 7 magnitude earthquake. It was funny when in one group of four a guy called out, "Oh my gosh- guys, it's an earthquake!! Get under the table! UNDER THE TABLE!!" and threw himself beneath it.
Next was the self-defense seminar. Some policemen came in and repeated all the don't-be-stupid warnings in Japanese, which were then translated into English by a somewhat inept interpreter who would say things like "we want you to move so or you feel pain." A larger policeman (who looked kinda like Uncle Paul) started demonstating some self-defense moves on a smaller policeman, often pinning him to the ground with painful-looking arm wrenches, hilarity ensuing. Then we each grabbed a partner and practiced some of the moves on each other. My partner, Nicole, was kind of a dainty girl who wasn't very enthusiastic about practicing the moves. The police officers were walking around the room helping everyone, and that's when the large one came over and showed Nicole how to properly twist my arm behind my back. "I-i-i-i-i-itai itai itai itai!" I'm sure he was careful to use only a tiny fraction of his power, but it was enough to walk me around the room with. My shoulder was sore for a little while afterwards too.
So that was my day.
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