大阪にはじめてすんでいる時

Being in Japan so far has been an entirely surreal experience. I didn't even register until the very end of the flight that I was actually on my way. It just seemed as though I were flying back to Brandeis or someplace familiar and not at all new, until I got off the plane. I was so over-tired, hungry, and dehydrated the first evening to fully realize where I was either. But Thursday morning, I woke up feeling refreshed and in wonderment about where I am and what I'm doing. For the next four and a half months, I'm soaking up all that Japan has to offer!

KIX ひこうじょ

The plane ride was nice. I watched Brave in Japanese and in French and got some Japanese studying done. The plane wasn't packed--actually nearly 1 of every 3 seats was empty, including the one next to me. On the other side of the empty seat was a twenty-something american woman going to Kyoto to teach English this year. We got to chat a bit, and then this cute little Japanese lady came up to us and offered us some California plums she had picked that day, but wanted to get eaten before customs declaration. They were delicious. All in all, it was a good experience, but like I said, I wasn't entirely cognisant of the fact that I was traveling over 5000 miles to an alien land.

相川えきのまえの高校の学生

We are living in what is technically Osaka city proper (though on the final outskirts before smaller cities like Suita--where the university is--emerge), in a neighborhood called Aikawa. I personally think that the neighborhood is adorable. It's just homey enough not to be super overwhelming, but it's still a bustling little area.

えきから家まであるいて行く時

There are cute more traditional Japanese houses, too, which I really like, because if I lived any closer to downtown, I would likely be in a HUGE apartment building complex where I wouldn't see places like this one, which is right across from our house. 

となりの家

This next picture is our apartment/house. I live with 5 other girls, who are super nice and so far awesome people to hang out with!! So there are two other Americans, Amber and Ishani, and our three Japanese counterparts, our roommates Ai (my personal roommate!!), Haruna, and Iyo.

私たちのアパート

This is my own space! There are kitchenettes in each room in addition to a kitchen in the living area, which is neat because I don't have to make a lot of noise when I cook myself breakfast and pack my lunches in the morning. Each of us has a single, so the "roommate" is really more for our support system and bonding, though I hope to get closer with all my housemates, because everyone is super cool!

私のアパート

We had a busy day of orientation on Thursday, and then Amber, Ai, and I went out to eat at a conveyor-belt sushi place. It was quite the experience. We had so much fun, and everything was so new, not to mention tasty. Then on Friday morning, we had to trek to the Higashi-Yodogawa Ward Office to get alien registration dealt with. After dealing with all the bureaucracy stuff (still so much better than say, the DMV), we went to this store that was filled to the brim with CDs, DVDs, and clothing. I was particularly impressed with the sheer vastness of the anime section. I had no idea so much of it existed.

アニメがたくさんあるね

Then, yesterday afternoon, we headed into downtown Osaka (Umeda) for the CET program welcome dinner.

梅田のえきはとてもいそがしんです

We went in early so that we could go shopping, and oh boy! do I understand now why the Japanese are so fashionable and trendy. If I had grown up near malls like theirs, I would for sure be somewhere in the fashion industry right about now. Everything about the mall was just so EXCITING. All of the boutiques were definitely well-marketed because I just wanted to buy everything I saw (not the case for me in America...).

かみのもの

After shopping for a bit, we went to the top floor of the mall to Print Club, which I had never heard of before coming to Japan. So, Print Club, or "Purikura" for short, is a photobooth shop that puts all photobooths in the US to shame. When I entered my first purikura booth, I was immediately struck dumb by the lighting set-up. It's practically full-scale Hollywood lighting. The next thing to note is just how high-tech these booths are. They're not only (duh) all touch-screen, like everything else in Japan, but each booth photoshops (in real-time) the user's features to cater to a particular look or style. We used a kind of "baby face" machine, which automatically adjusts the size of your eyes to a more doe-eyed anime look. If you're REALLY into it, you can rent costumes (like Japanese anime/video game characters, disney characters, and kimono, etc) to take the purikura pictures, but we didn't quite get that far last night.

プリントクラブ

The next step after taking a variety of purikura pictures is to decorate them on the screen in the next booth over. Here, you can add stamps, borders, backgrounds, give yourself kitty ears and glasses like I did, and write cute messages.

プリクラをとっている

The final step is of course to print. The machine is equipped to work with Japanese phones so that all you have to do is tap the phone up to the touch screen and the machine sends you an email that includes the pictures. You also get print-out sticker sheets of the photos, which come in nice little arrangements like this one.

私とロームメート

Overall, this was really fun bonding time with my new housemates, and a new, totally Japanese experience for me to have. I hope that for the rest of the semester, there continue to be awesome things like purikura that I'd never heard of before, but that are really amusing like this pre-dinner housemate bonding was.

私とハウスメート

After the purikura excursion, we headed out to the dinner. The sky was tumultuous and grey, though, and large drops started to come down one by one, harder and harder until finally, a deluge of Osaka rain made the city smell even sweeter (I don't know why, but Osaka definitely smells sweet... comparatively Boston smells like exhaust fumes).

大阪のま天ろう

It was near-perfect timing, because even though we had to cross the street in the downpour a couple of times, we were just heading into a covered pedestrian alley as the rain really started.

雨がつよいふる

Just walking down this kind of alley I felt an absolute cacophony of sensory input. There was the pouring rain hitting the roof above us, vendors yelling out prices and deals, Japanese arcades dinking and ringing to either side, not to mention all of the visible advertising with mixing color-schemes, kanji characters galore, and flashing lights up the wazoo.

いざかやのちかく

 But in the middle of this hustle and bustle was the traditional izakaya (bar) where we were to have dinner. And as soon as we descended stairs through its doors, the noise stopped, and all was tranquil and restorative as we all sat down to a wonderful meal of sashimi, Japanese vegetables, and other small plates.

いざかや

Please leave your comments to let me know what you think about this so-far absolutely wonderful time I'm having in Japan on my honeymoon period of culture shock. I hope you all are having as good a time as I am all over the world, wherever you may be.

コースター

Waiting to Board

This post will be a bit abbreviated because I am currently in SFO International waiting to board my flight, which will leave in 1 hour!!!! But I wanted to write a bit about the last few days, before they're completely overshadowed by what's to come.

Over the past few days, Michael and I savored every last moment up until my bittersweet departure last night. Here are some highlights of the things we did:

 ginger

We took the dogs for long walks in the Bottoms of Arcata. They greatly appreciated the fun times.

Sgt. Pepper

We went to the Humboldt Bay jetty in Samoa, where we watched the waterworks fly. This is a favorite pastime for us because it's honestly as exciting as fireworks, but totally free, and the only energy used is that of the moon to make the tides.

 crashing waves at the samoa jetty

sea spray 

 breaking waters

Michael and I noticed these large scraps of an old beached ship. We dug a large hole to see how deep it would go, but gave up after about 4 feet.

remnants of a rusted ship in the sand 

We went to the Humboldt County Fair (also a favorite pastime). This year, we didn't ride any rides like we normally do, but we did see all the animals and go to the races.

moo

 staring goats

winning horse on home stretch 

In about half an hour, I'll be saying goodbye to California and her poppies, and I already had to say goodbye to things like this farmland right next to my house.

california poppy 

california farmland (note the tiny egrets in the field) 

I finished a quilt that I started last summer, but didn't get a chance to work on during the year, since I don't have my sewing machine in Boston. I am really proud of it, though.

my (finally) completed quilt 

flower embroidery 

stitching along a curve (**difficult!!) 

Last night, I had my tearful goodbyes to the dogs, my family, and Michael, and boarded this flight, perfectly timed for sunset over my beloved homeland.

sunset reflecting off propellors 

looking toward Japan 

to the land of the rising sun 

here i come

Well, this is perfect timing, because they are JUST calling my boarding group! See you in Japan!!

I Packed My Life into a Suitcase Today

With just 8 days to go until I find myself getting off the plane in Osaka, I'm really starting to get nervous. Packing, for one, is proving to be a real nightmare. Since I'll be traveling between semesters, on and off trains and buses and planes, I decided a long time ago that I would try to limit myself to one 50 pound bag and a shoulder-strap carry-on. One problem is that I'm normally a pretty heavy packer, always trying to prepare for any situation that may arise during whatever trip I'm taking. Another is simply the difficulty of predicting what situations I actually WILL encounter during a whole year away--and to do so well enough to decide what's worth the weight and space. How does one simply pack her life into one suitcase?

star-gazing for perseid's meteor shower in kneeland, ca 

My answer: it's just not possible. Sure, I can, and have, packed my THINGS into my suitcase, kept to the weight limit, and have space to spare for trinkets I buy. But there isn't enough space in OUTER space to pack up my life--and just look at how much space there is!

 fog rolling on the surface of the bay

I think that having a personality that's stubborn in its independence will in many ways benefit me this year, but even during this past year, I occasionally missed home. And as it draws nearer and nearer across the Pacific horizon, Japan seems more and more foreign to me, and I've begun to get truly anxious for the first time.

spliced photos of an egret in flight

For travel in Japan, one is required to apply for something called the Certificate of Eligibility for the visa before she can actually apply for the visa. And the timeline for the COE is generally what one might think as the timeline for the visa for other countries, particularly European countries. So I applied for the COE a couple months back, and the Japanese government generally sends it to you with about two weeks to spare for the visa. For a while, I've just been waiting to receive the COE before darting 6 hours south to the Consulate General in SF.

Finally, Michael and I were able to go down to San Francisco last Friday to deal with my visa application. We left Arcata around 5 in the morning, and got the consulate around 11am. After receiving specified identification cards that would allow us access to specific floors of the consulate building only, everything went surprisingly quickly in the visa application office. And by lunchtime, we were ready to hit the town.

 chinatown, san francisco

We were fortunate enough to be in SF when Rebecca D. (yes, all you Brandeisians should be pretty jealous right about now) was available to come up from Palo Alto to spend an afternoon with us. So we met up and started on our way through Chinatown. 

chinese lanterns crossing the street 

It made me pretty scared to consider that the way I felt in Chinatown looking up at all the signs filled primarily with unknown characters is how I will likely feel for the first couple full weeks in Japan soon enough. But I'm sure I'll get over that shock quickly, living in blissful ignorance of the words I pass daily.

 sesame ball dim sum

We all ate in Chinatown at a Dim Sum dive. Since it wasn't a traditional restaurant, but primarily a to-go hang-out for local Chinese immigrants, we got the more authentic experience. That was complete with a $7 pricetag to satiate three college students' hunger, with two steamed buns left over to give to a homeless man in the city.

 mural advertising

As we left Chinatown, we stopped by Union Square and browsed through an outdoor art festival that was going on there (no photos allowed, however), and Michael captured this sweet shot of Rebecca and me.

 rebecca and me with golden gate heart sculpture at union square

I am definitely upset that I can't pack, for example, all my friends. Brandeis is definitely missing me more and more as I see constant status updates about friends arriving back at my home away from home, and it becomes more and more real that I won't be there for a whole 'nother year.

 japanese candy assortment

As we strolled in the general direction of the Embarcadero, Michael spotted and pointed out this Japanese candy shop that Rebecca and I had completely missed. And I'm really happy he did, because it was SO neat inside. Every candy was precisely wrapped and immaculately presented in such a Japanese fashion. I quickly read nearly every item description before deciding on trying the Shimizukaze.

 shimizukaze sweet

The "subtle Yuzu citrus flavored jelly surrounded by sweet red bean jelly" proved to be quite delightful. Michael, Rebecca, I all greatly enjoyed sampling the jelly-textured wonder.

 清水かぜ

It was like no other sweet I've ever had before, and I so look forward to trying a million things like it when I'm in Japan.

san francisco skyscraper

 street art for sale in outdoor market

 flowers for sale at the ferry building

We definitely saw the city that day, covering a lot of ground by tourist standards. But I was a bay baby, and feel proud at having spent a fair amount of time in the Bay Area in my life, so it wasn't tough getting around, particularly with Rebecca, too.

 bay bridge

We said goodbye to Rebecca near the Caltrain station. Since that goodbye was the last of the Brandeis goodbyes before my departure, I was definitely down--until we ran into this happy monk on the street who gave us buddhist prayer beads. He definitely picked up the mood for the rest of the day! Thank you for your kindness, mister monk!

 happy monk

After a bit more exploring, we decided to cross the bay (since we were staying with my grandpa in Berkeley) for dinner. Michael and I wound up eating at an excellent Korean restaurant on Solano, which was very nice as a celebration for our 3 year anniversary. Then we drove up into the hills on the way to the house, and stopped by the Berkeley Rose Garden to watch the stunning sunset over the bay.

 sunset at the berkeley rose gardens

By happy accident, it turns out we inadvertently turned my grandpa's house into a hostel Friday night. My cousin, who goes to school in Arcata, was on his way up from LA with my uncle that night, and they happened to choose to crash there, too. But that meant that Saturday morning, Michael and I were able to go to a nice breakfast in town before hitting the road. All in all, it was an extremely nice visit to the bay area, but it just made me realize that I can't pack Michael, my friends and family, and all of Brandeis and California in my suitcase. So it turns out it's going to be even more difficult to survive a year in two foreign countries than I initially thought.

the golden hills of california

The good news about space, though, is that supposedly the universe is always expanding. And unlike the case with my suitcase, I can always make a bit more room for things in my heart, however sucrose that may sound. I hope that this year I will simply make room for the new while retaining the old... in other words, I hope my luggage never gets lost.