In The Meantime...

    Instead of studying, as I undoubted should be doing, I am stalling to write this update. In all reality, I haven't done all that much during this past period known as 'Golden Week.' I spent a large majority of the time off, relaxing in my room. While here, I have studied, played games, written, made 'art,' and watched videos from various sources. I must say, I have enjoyed it.

    Tonight, after my classes for Friday, I will make my way to the Aikido Kobayashi Dojo, I've mentioned in previous posts and on the "AIKIDO/BUDO" portion of the blog. At this time, I do not know what style of training I'll be in store for, but I hope it will live up to my dreams of Aikido training in Japan (as I'm sure it will).

    I attempted to visit the Kobayashi Dojo this past Sunday, as indicated on my FB page (and the AIKIDO/BUDO page), I found that the Dojo was closed for Golden Week. I was happy to have at least located the dojo itself. I have been in contact with an assistant instructor at the dojo, who has been most helpful. I am still waiting to see if the Aikido Kobayashi Dojo is Aikikai affiliated, but am excited to continue practicing regardless.

    Although, I have found an Aikido dojo to practice at, I will not stop attending the Aiki Budo club at TGU. At the university club, I have met some wonderful people. And, granted, the style is quite foreign to me, it is an enjoyable experience learning new things. Hopefully, the Aiki Budo training will (under my direction, surely) manifest itself in ways that will strengthen my traditional Aikido practice. I'm very excited and generally quite hopeful. Now, to siphon some of this enthusiasm and focus to learning the language better...

Views on Japan

I stumbled upon this article earlier today. Perhaps it provides some insight to the future possibilities of Japan. Though, keep in mind, it is only an opinion piece... Much like my own writing. Click the title of the article below to go to the original source. Hope you enjoy.


The sun will rise again in Japan
The 1995 Kobe earthquake created destruction, along with consumer demand, and this latest disaster will be similar.

Yuriko Koike

In Japan, memorial services for the dead are normally held 49 days after their passing. The bereaved mourn throughout this period.

The number of victims of the earthquake and tsunami that assaulted the Tohoku region of northeast Japan has now reached around 30,000, if those who are still missing are included.

This was the largest natural disaster to strike Japan in its history, and the entire nation has been in mourning.

Throughout this period, television stations, in response to viewers' feelings, have refrained from showing frivolous programs and gaudy commercials.

Many of the hanami events, for celebrating the annual eruption of cherry blossoms, a much-loved activity for us Japanese, have been cancelleded.

Music and sporting events, along with town gatherings, have also been cancelled or postponed. 

No Clever Title

     It has been nearly a week since my last post. A lot has happened (including me being lazy).I'm fairly certain that I have my chosen classes figured out. I'm not happy that some of courses I wanted to take will conflict with others I have to take, but there is always a way to learn what I want. In addition to school news, I have been allowed wonderful opportunities in making new friends. Friends that can help me with my Japanese. One of my bigger fears, before coming to Japan, was that I would be stuck making friends that only speak English, and that I would not be able (or be forced) to use my Japanese. Most thankfully, that is not the case.

     My current class schedule is as follows:

	Period I 8:50—10:20	Period II 10:30—12:00	Period III 12:50—2:20	Period IV 2:30—4:00	Period V 4:10—5:40
MONDAY	Comprehensive Japanese	Japanese Reading	—	—	—
TUESDAY	Comprehensive Japanese	Kanji	—	—	Intro to Japanese Music: Shakuhachi
WEDNESDAY	Comprehensive Japanese	Japanese Listening	—	Culture Clashes	—
THURSDAY	Comprehensive Japanese	Kanji	Traditional Performing Arts of Japan	—	—
FRIDAY	Comprehensive Japanese	Japanese Conversation	—	—	Cultural/Social Culture of the Japanese

     Perhaps it is not the most intensive schedule, while considering only meeting once a week, but the intensity of the language lessons might balance that out.

     I was disappointed not being able to take the Judo class (along with "Modern and Contemporary Cultures of Japan"). I am investigating whether or not I can make room for the Judo club activities, along with my Aikido desires. The biggest difficulties with participating in any extra activities is that I do not possess the free flowing funds to just "do it." I need to balance my costs, daily, to hope that I can continue doing all the fun things I want to here. The costs of food, is rather high, but I have begun to discover secrets to make yen last longer. For instance, I discovered a little convenience store on Gakugei campus (with help from a classmate from my Japanese language classes) that have bento style lunches for under 400 yen. Before, I would purchase half the amount of food in these lunches for twice the price. I have also been eating a good deal of ramen. Something I suppose a college student can never truly escape. Although, the ramen here is much more filling, and better in many regards (or, perhaps that is an unconscious bias — regardless I enjoy it).

     Other costs, not entirely anticipated, include buying books for classes, a sort of safety deposit on my room, and a new backpack (mine ripped, literally, in half). Also, to cut down on the amount I would bring with to Japan, I forgo bringing dishes, kettle, massive amounts of clothes, an umbrella, and various other things like soap and toothpaste that I knew I could just purchase in Japan. Plus, I tried to budget for my Aikido expenses, but did not consider the extremity of transportation costs, or time involved. Much rethinking, and budgeting is being done.

     I need to be leaving for school soon, so I will cut this short. But, there is more to come. I feel like I am finally settling in. Which is good, though I wonder, in the back of my head, "What next?"

A Less Than Sunny, Sunday

     Things here have been wonderfully busy, with a dash of lazy. It has been a few days since the last update, and with that time, I have learned more about my neighborhood (by getting lost in it) and learned more about my current university. Adventures have been had, indeed. As mentioned, I discovered the location of TGU with relative ease on Saturday. On Sunday, I returned to the campus to attempt to properly locate the proper buildings. That Sunday, absolutely no luck. There are 3 or 4 entrance I now know of, while only one "main" gate entrance. However, this last Sunday had some sort of event taking place that confused my understanding of TGU building placements. I've since learned (in TGU orientations on Wednesday morning) that the campus also contains a middle/high school as well. I believe that the events on Sunday were school related in regard to the younger students. In the end, I still wandered the campus, with no clear direction, and before long, ventured back home… ish.

     I figured an attempt at a different way home, in hopes of seeing more of the city of Kodaira, would do me well. I walked west of the university grounds, and then south. At some point I found myself at Kokubunji Station. I explored the station, and its nine floors of shopping. Not really much for me to want to buy, but I think I like some of the items for sale at UNIQLO. I would say that UNIQLO is almost like a Japanese H&M meets Target. It was fairly affordable, and worth revisiting.

     At about this point, on Sunday, I was reasonably hungry. After touring the food court level of the station, I opted to leave the station and find a cheaper noodle place. I was soon in an awesome little udon shop. I really had wanted udon to be the first thing I ate in Japan, but I hadn't been so lucky. This shop made up for it. I ordered kitsune udon (sometimes referred to as fox udon) and purchased a side of tempura squash. Absolutely delicious!

     Re-energized, I set off to officially return home. The route proved... far longer than anticipated. Truthfully, I was completely lost, in the worst way. Well, not the worst, really. I was not so lost that I was ready to panic and be forced to use my Japanese (the little I could have used to discover proper direction back), but enough to be completely unsure of exactly where I was. I mean, I knew I was in Japan still. Fairly certain I hadn't walked out of Kokubunji or Kodaira. Though, looking at a map now, I was just over-exaggerating my trip home. I walked a very large circle, walking beyond the Hitotsubashi Village about a kilometer or so. I probably returned home about 6:00 pm, after leaving that morning around 9:00 am. It was a good day, providing a great excuse to go to bed early.

     Monday was spent discovering (using the internet, not my feet) places in my neighborhood to shop for inexpensive food. I discovered, within a 10 minute walk, a very nice Lawson 100 store, where much of the items for sale are 100 yen. This doesn't always prove to be a deal, but often times it can. These item are usually items sold in smaller sizes. I am happy to know its location, and plan to return.

     After the walk to the convenience store, I rested a bit, talked with some of you back in the States, and set forth for a Hitotsubashi orientation in the village Plaza building. After the orientation, which detailed living in the village community, cell phone companies, net providers and a Japanese police representative talked with all us. Informative, too informative. I feel that I have been inundated with too much, too fast. To relax my brain, I looked up Aikido dojos in the area.

     Aikido in Japan is going to be, well, not so much as difficult, as much as expensive and trickier than expected. Hombu Dojo is in Shinjuku (a neighborhood of Japan). While not impossible to get to, it is further than I had anticipated. To travel from my university to Hombu would require multiple trains (multiple option on top of that) and a good deal of time walking. I am not opposed to walking (yet), but the commute to Hombu Dojo from my dorm would be about an hour and a half, open way. I need to look into other options, maybe closer. Hombu is still a treat to look forward to, though! More Aikido news to come, without a doubt.