Saturday, May 24, 2003
Friday I finally ended up going out around 5:30 pm. Since it was so late, I thought I might just wander around, people watch or shop for a while, especially since I wanted to get a nice outfit for Sunday's attendance at MTV Music Awards (courtesy of TUJ). My J-mom suggested Harajuku since there were many stores geared towards young people where I might find hip and reasonably priced clothing. There were many little shops as well as the Gap and JCrew but nothing particularly exciting. I found the Snoopy store and Lisa Frank store to be more fun--imported cuteness. At one store, I found t-shirts for the Rock'n'roll McDonalds in Chicago, which I've never even seen in Chicago itself! I also noticed three crepe stores on the same block, Coca Cola collectibles, dreamcatchers, very hip little girl, and several thrift stores which had ugly used American clothes that still seemed pricey. Interestingly enough, the used clothing store was the only one I noticed which had a strong warning against shoplifting, though I had seen some electronic checkpoints in Shibuya and Akihabara. This seems to go against the stereotype of Japan as a crime-free country if shoplifting is seen as a problem. So far I had heard that bicycles and umbrellas were the only things prone to being stolen.
As I was walking back to the train station around 9 pm, I heard chanting and saw a group of people walking along the street. There was a huge group of people with banners and signs in some sort of demonstration. I snapped some pictures and some people smiled as they waved their signs. I asked one person with a "No more war" poster what was going on and she explained that they were against the war. A minute later another group came along with more people and I talked with another person who explained that the Diet (Japanese Congress) had passed a law to support America in case of another war (I think). She said there were 30,000 people in the demonstration, some marching to Shinjuku and others to Shibuya station. There were students, unions and random people, some still in business suits represented. Some wore red armbands with writing. I was a little frustrated since I could not understand the chants or read the banners except for a few that said "no war" or better yet "fuck yankeedom".
After watching for a few minutes, I saw a girl carrying a flag for Tsuda College, which happens to be the sister college of Bryn Mawr. I started talking with the girl, asking her to make sure it was that place and telling her I knew about Tsuda since I went to Bryn Mawr. She got excited and started telling me about why she was doing the march. The group from Tsuda was part of an activist anti-war network. They were against American imperialism and did not want Japan to support war. Her English was hesitant but she slowly explained and then asked me what I thought about the war. I explained to her that Americans had very mixed feelings about the war and the feeling that something had to be done after 9/11 was a big part of why the war had happened. I ended up telling her that I was both Mexican and American--in a way, I feel the need to separate myself somewhat but also for safety reasons. I also thought that maybe she would feel more comfortable saying her feelings if she knew I wasn't totally American. I was a little worried since one of the first thing the study abroad orientation handbooks say is not to get involved in political demonstrations, but the police along the side the road seemed to be more concerned with protecting the marchers from traffic, waving them along and directing cars. She asked if I was involved in activism and I explained that activism was not very strong at my school since it was full of engineers and somewhat conservative. I also felt that there was not much I could do to control things, but that I at least tried to stay informed on what was really going on.
When we got to the Shibuya area, the girl joined up with the rest of the Tsuda people. One girl immediately launched into an explanation on how she was against American colonialism and Bush's policies. She translated the kanji on the signs they were wearing and told more about how she felt. She invited me to a lecture on Wednesday at their school on the topic. I was wearing my "peace frogs" shirt and they asked if it reflected my viewpoint which I definitely found amusing. I gave the girls my cards and they said they'd e-mail me. The girls were all very friendly, more anxious that I understand their point of view and eager to hear mine. I tend to disassociate myself from Americans at times when I am abroad. Before it was more because of the ugly American stereotype, but now there is an additional aspect with the unnerving turn of events since 9/11.
Just got an email from one of the people I talked to. She sent a translation of the invitation for the event:
"A 'STOP! legal-framework-for-war-contingencies' is held from 6:30 p.m. on the 23rd in Tokyo and Meiji Park.It stages a demonstration after a meeting. It is further thrown into relief that it is the bill to which the Self-Defense Forces support the emergency bill under deliberations with military power when the U.S. Forces begin war overseas in the House of Councilors."
As I was walking back to the train station around 9 pm, I heard chanting and saw a group of people walking along the street. There was a huge group of people with banners and signs in some sort of demonstration. I snapped some pictures and some people smiled as they waved their signs. I asked one person with a "No more war" poster what was going on and she explained that they were against the war. A minute later another group came along with more people and I talked with another person who explained that the Diet (Japanese Congress) had passed a law to support America in case of another war (I think). She said there were 30,000 people in the demonstration, some marching to Shinjuku and others to Shibuya station. There were students, unions and random people, some still in business suits represented. Some wore red armbands with writing. I was a little frustrated since I could not understand the chants or read the banners except for a few that said "no war" or better yet "fuck yankeedom".
After watching for a few minutes, I saw a girl carrying a flag for Tsuda College, which happens to be the sister college of Bryn Mawr. I started talking with the girl, asking her to make sure it was that place and telling her I knew about Tsuda since I went to Bryn Mawr. She got excited and started telling me about why she was doing the march. The group from Tsuda was part of an activist anti-war network. They were against American imperialism and did not want Japan to support war. Her English was hesitant but she slowly explained and then asked me what I thought about the war. I explained to her that Americans had very mixed feelings about the war and the feeling that something had to be done after 9/11 was a big part of why the war had happened. I ended up telling her that I was both Mexican and American--in a way, I feel the need to separate myself somewhat but also for safety reasons. I also thought that maybe she would feel more comfortable saying her feelings if she knew I wasn't totally American. I was a little worried since one of the first thing the study abroad orientation handbooks say is not to get involved in political demonstrations, but the police along the side the road seemed to be more concerned with protecting the marchers from traffic, waving them along and directing cars. She asked if I was involved in activism and I explained that activism was not very strong at my school since it was full of engineers and somewhat conservative. I also felt that there was not much I could do to control things, but that I at least tried to stay informed on what was really going on.
When we got to the Shibuya area, the girl joined up with the rest of the Tsuda people. One girl immediately launched into an explanation on how she was against American colonialism and Bush's policies. She translated the kanji on the signs they were wearing and told more about how she felt. She invited me to a lecture on Wednesday at their school on the topic. I was wearing my "peace frogs" shirt and they asked if it reflected my viewpoint which I definitely found amusing. I gave the girls my cards and they said they'd e-mail me. The girls were all very friendly, more anxious that I understand their point of view and eager to hear mine. I tend to disassociate myself from Americans at times when I am abroad. Before it was more because of the ugly American stereotype, but now there is an additional aspect with the unnerving turn of events since 9/11.
Just got an email from one of the people I talked to. She sent a translation of the invitation for the event:
"A 'STOP! legal-framework-for-war-contingencies' is held from 6:30 p.m. on the 23rd in Tokyo and Meiji Park.It stages a demonstration after a meeting. It is further thrown into relief that it is the bill to which the Self-Defense Forces support the emergency bill under deliberations with military power when the U.S. Forces begin war overseas in the House of Councilors."
Friday, May 23, 2003
A lazy day since I still haven't made it out of the house. Resting, chatting, checking email and working on html page for JBoss. When I go abroad, I usually feel pressured to use my time wisely, to always be out there exploring and talking to people and seeing different things. At this stage, I'm a little museum-d out and getting over the "Lonely-Planet" impulse to want to do every cultural thing on the list to feel I've fully experienced the place. But I am painfully conscious of the fact that while 6 weeks would be long as a tourist, it is a painfully short time to study the culture and attempt to get a grasp on the language (ha!). I still have a funny feeling in my mouth when speaking English--too bad I can't just select a menu item to pick the Japanese-language option and automatically have whatever I say come out in Japanese. I'm listening to Berlitz tapes on the train, but it's going to take a while to sink in.
Yesterday was a very full day. After class we went to the Edo Museum and Sumo Tournament. The Edo Museum initially didn't seem too interesting, but I got more into the modern part of the musem. First, it mentioned how Admiral Perry and Harris came to Japan and forced Japan to sign these treaties, making it sound like America was strong-arming to get what it wanted (that hasn't really changed!). I vaguely remember Admiral Perry from school but we never really learned about the full chain of events and reaction in both the U.S. and Japan in the history books.
There was also an extensive section on World War II. It glossed over the causes of the war, not mentioning Pearl Harbor at all and briefly mentioning the Manchurian Incident and establishment of Manchuku in NE China. Maybe Japanese people would automatically know what these were so they thought it wasn't necessary to stress that point. The main focus seemed to be how everyday people in Tokyo were affected by the war, mainly suffering because of the incendiary bombs of the Americans. It stressed how many civilian people died and much of Tokyo was destroyed in these air raids. It mentioned the capture(?) of Guam and Saipan as making these raids possible, something I was ignorant about since these two territories are never mentioned at all in school and I only recently learned Saipan even existed while I was in Korea. The exhibit also talked about the aftermath once McArthur came and pushed reforms on the Japanese government. "Democratic" reforms apparently included a press code prohibiting criticism of occupation policies and regulations.
I was very torn by this exhibit, especially in light of the recent war in Iraq. One aspect is what exhibit said: "The media caused military craze among people through enthusiastic reports of news and heroic aspect of soldiers in battle" which is exactly what happened during the war here. How much did Japanese or Americans really know about what was going on? Did they feel just as powerless as I do to change things or did they have blind faith in their leaders to do what was right for them? I think that WWII was different with more direct threats as shown by kamikaze pilots and Pearl Harbor. Watching "Paradise Road" before I left and seeing the National Museum in Korea, which showed how the Japanese used Koreans as sex slaves and forced labor during the war, left a totally different impression from the one I received in this museum. The aftermath of the Iraq war where America tries to change countries into its own image and profit as much as possible in its rebuilding seemed to be what happened in Japan as well, though they ended up keeping the emperor.
In contrast, sumo was not nearly as heavy fare. I was surprised at how noisy the tournament was with people yelling out things and cheering. I had read that Japanese are pretty quiet and controlled at sports events, but this crowd was definitely enthusiastic. There were several really good bouts that lasted beyond 5 seconds, two of which resulted in the guy falling backwards into the audience, nearly squishing the other sumo and some guys in suits in the second row(that would be a horrible way to die!). At the end, the winner got a gold bow-shaped object that he twirled around like a baton. I met a Mexican girl who was with a very international group of Rotary exchange students. Since she's been here for 8 months, she knew the sumo wrestlers and was a big fan of the Hawaiian guy who was not competing because of injuries. This was the first time in a while she had spoken Spanish since she uses English to communicate with the rest of the group and has been learning Japanese in school. She mentioned the difficulty of being Latina here because the culture was colder. According to her, the Nordic students had a much easier time since they were used to being from a "cold" culture.
The day is more than half over so I should try to wrap this up. A few scenes I want to record before I forget:
Monday when I was with the group from Temple, Kyle took us to this skyscraper to see the sunset. It was taking a while so people sat down, some spreading out on the floor to take a nap. A police man came and approached Kyle exchanging words with him. I couldn't understand anything but it seemed like the police wanted us to leave and Kyle seemed to be talking back to him almost cheekily. When the police left, it turned out that we just had to stand up but could stay there. Kyle called it a "Japanese moment" since the police said we had to get up so as not to disturb people but Kyle was saying that noone else was around. Seeing how we were a bunch of somewhat shabby looking students that were spread out every which way, I would take the Japanese view on this though. I was a little surprised to see Kyle talk back the way he did--would he have dared try that with a police officer back home who wasn't as polite as the one here?
That evening, my Japanese mom (hence forth J-mom) mentioned she had lost her wallet so was very worried. It contained her driver's license, insurance card, and identification card. Even though she was born and raised in Japan, since her parents are Korean she is still Korean. When she married a Japanese man, she was going to try to get her Japanese citizenship but was frustrated by the thick stack of paperwork she would have had to fill out and the 5-6 years she would have to wait. Her two kids are Japanese because of their father but she must still carry her alien registration card. I didn't quite understand the story of how her parents came to Japan. I think it was during the time of Japanese occupation of Korea but think it was more of a finding work issue than the forced relocation of that timeframe. I will have to interview her more later.
The next day, I found myself hunting for my deodorant. I am very conscious of sweating when being in such contact on the train and my J-mom confirmed it--they think we smell bad. Oh well. On a related topic, I saw a commercial with several attractive women dancing to music and making sure to raise their arms to show their bareness. The ad was for a razor for women and seemed to reflect what we were talking about class about media reinforcing cultural norms. Certainly it is not that clearcut in the U.S. since I was not a major reader of teen magazines. I think I've seen several commercials for shaving legs, but never for shaving armpits, something that I was just told by my mother to do.
I met a Brazillian girl in the student lounge. She is a regular student at TUJ and has been in Japan for a while since her parents are businesspeople, but was quite nonchalant about not understanding Japanese at all, saying it wasn't necessary in Tokyo. I was a little taken aback by this attitude--it's one thing when you're old or poor and struggling as with some of the immigrant community in the U.S. But if you're young, educated, well off, and living here for the forseeable future, what is your excuse? Why wouldn't you want that extra connection with people?
I asked her about the Brazillian community here since I heard there was quite a lot of Japanese that went to Brazil and then came back. I was considering this as a possible sub-research topic but when I went online I discovered at least 5 books written on the subject in the fast few years so think it's probably already been done enough. Interestingly enough, I couldn't find anything on the whole Western man/Asian women couples phenomena which I was also thinking about as a possible subtopic. Most books on interracial relationships in the U.S. focus on black-white relationships and trying to search in Google brings up all these personals sites.
I still hope to focus on usability and mobile technology/SMS issues in Japan, although I am working on how I will get my data. I was hoping to hook up with this keitai research group at a local university, but they only meet once a week and it couldn't be arranged this week. I also contacted a professor who has done talks for CHI so hopefully I will be able to meet with him next week as well.
Yesterday was a very full day. After class we went to the Edo Museum and Sumo Tournament. The Edo Museum initially didn't seem too interesting, but I got more into the modern part of the musem. First, it mentioned how Admiral Perry and Harris came to Japan and forced Japan to sign these treaties, making it sound like America was strong-arming to get what it wanted (that hasn't really changed!). I vaguely remember Admiral Perry from school but we never really learned about the full chain of events and reaction in both the U.S. and Japan in the history books.
There was also an extensive section on World War II. It glossed over the causes of the war, not mentioning Pearl Harbor at all and briefly mentioning the Manchurian Incident and establishment of Manchuku in NE China. Maybe Japanese people would automatically know what these were so they thought it wasn't necessary to stress that point. The main focus seemed to be how everyday people in Tokyo were affected by the war, mainly suffering because of the incendiary bombs of the Americans. It stressed how many civilian people died and much of Tokyo was destroyed in these air raids. It mentioned the capture(?) of Guam and Saipan as making these raids possible, something I was ignorant about since these two territories are never mentioned at all in school and I only recently learned Saipan even existed while I was in Korea. The exhibit also talked about the aftermath once McArthur came and pushed reforms on the Japanese government. "Democratic" reforms apparently included a press code prohibiting criticism of occupation policies and regulations.
I was very torn by this exhibit, especially in light of the recent war in Iraq. One aspect is what exhibit said: "The media caused military craze among people through enthusiastic reports of news and heroic aspect of soldiers in battle" which is exactly what happened during the war here. How much did Japanese or Americans really know about what was going on? Did they feel just as powerless as I do to change things or did they have blind faith in their leaders to do what was right for them? I think that WWII was different with more direct threats as shown by kamikaze pilots and Pearl Harbor. Watching "Paradise Road" before I left and seeing the National Museum in Korea, which showed how the Japanese used Koreans as sex slaves and forced labor during the war, left a totally different impression from the one I received in this museum. The aftermath of the Iraq war where America tries to change countries into its own image and profit as much as possible in its rebuilding seemed to be what happened in Japan as well, though they ended up keeping the emperor.
In contrast, sumo was not nearly as heavy fare. I was surprised at how noisy the tournament was with people yelling out things and cheering. I had read that Japanese are pretty quiet and controlled at sports events, but this crowd was definitely enthusiastic. There were several really good bouts that lasted beyond 5 seconds, two of which resulted in the guy falling backwards into the audience, nearly squishing the other sumo and some guys in suits in the second row(that would be a horrible way to die!). At the end, the winner got a gold bow-shaped object that he twirled around like a baton. I met a Mexican girl who was with a very international group of Rotary exchange students. Since she's been here for 8 months, she knew the sumo wrestlers and was a big fan of the Hawaiian guy who was not competing because of injuries. This was the first time in a while she had spoken Spanish since she uses English to communicate with the rest of the group and has been learning Japanese in school. She mentioned the difficulty of being Latina here because the culture was colder. According to her, the Nordic students had a much easier time since they were used to being from a "cold" culture.
The day is more than half over so I should try to wrap this up. A few scenes I want to record before I forget:
Monday when I was with the group from Temple, Kyle took us to this skyscraper to see the sunset. It was taking a while so people sat down, some spreading out on the floor to take a nap. A police man came and approached Kyle exchanging words with him. I couldn't understand anything but it seemed like the police wanted us to leave and Kyle seemed to be talking back to him almost cheekily. When the police left, it turned out that we just had to stand up but could stay there. Kyle called it a "Japanese moment" since the police said we had to get up so as not to disturb people but Kyle was saying that noone else was around. Seeing how we were a bunch of somewhat shabby looking students that were spread out every which way, I would take the Japanese view on this though. I was a little surprised to see Kyle talk back the way he did--would he have dared try that with a police officer back home who wasn't as polite as the one here?
That evening, my Japanese mom (hence forth J-mom) mentioned she had lost her wallet so was very worried. It contained her driver's license, insurance card, and identification card. Even though she was born and raised in Japan, since her parents are Korean she is still Korean. When she married a Japanese man, she was going to try to get her Japanese citizenship but was frustrated by the thick stack of paperwork she would have had to fill out and the 5-6 years she would have to wait. Her two kids are Japanese because of their father but she must still carry her alien registration card. I didn't quite understand the story of how her parents came to Japan. I think it was during the time of Japanese occupation of Korea but think it was more of a finding work issue than the forced relocation of that timeframe. I will have to interview her more later.
The next day, I found myself hunting for my deodorant. I am very conscious of sweating when being in such contact on the train and my J-mom confirmed it--they think we smell bad. Oh well. On a related topic, I saw a commercial with several attractive women dancing to music and making sure to raise their arms to show their bareness. The ad was for a razor for women and seemed to reflect what we were talking about class about media reinforcing cultural norms. Certainly it is not that clearcut in the U.S. since I was not a major reader of teen magazines. I think I've seen several commercials for shaving legs, but never for shaving armpits, something that I was just told by my mother to do.
I met a Brazillian girl in the student lounge. She is a regular student at TUJ and has been in Japan for a while since her parents are businesspeople, but was quite nonchalant about not understanding Japanese at all, saying it wasn't necessary in Tokyo. I was a little taken aback by this attitude--it's one thing when you're old or poor and struggling as with some of the immigrant community in the U.S. But if you're young, educated, well off, and living here for the forseeable future, what is your excuse? Why wouldn't you want that extra connection with people?
I asked her about the Brazillian community here since I heard there was quite a lot of Japanese that went to Brazil and then came back. I was considering this as a possible sub-research topic but when I went online I discovered at least 5 books written on the subject in the fast few years so think it's probably already been done enough. Interestingly enough, I couldn't find anything on the whole Western man/Asian women couples phenomena which I was also thinking about as a possible subtopic. Most books on interracial relationships in the U.S. focus on black-white relationships and trying to search in Google brings up all these personals sites.
I still hope to focus on usability and mobile technology/SMS issues in Japan, although I am working on how I will get my data. I was hoping to hook up with this keitai research group at a local university, but they only meet once a week and it couldn't be arranged this week. I also contacted a professor who has done talks for CHI so hopefully I will be able to meet with him next week as well.
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Still figuring out a way to keep this updated. I'm scribbling down notes in my notebook as they happen and hoping to expand them as I blog them down. I'm beginning to wish I had brought a laptop after all or had a cell-phone or pda to transmit my notes digitally as I go along. Tonight I got carried away looking up books related to several topics I was interested in so will continue to be somewhat backlogged as I catch up on happenings.
To quickly summarize today, I went to Shibuya after class and wandered around. Random observations: two Haagen Daas within several blocks of each other(both promoting green tea ice cream), many school girls with sailor suits, several midgets, many slot machine/game places with Cinderella-dress/crown person at one and bubble-blowing girl at another trying to invite people in, 100 Yen Store, many Western chains (Tower, McD, KFC, Tower),monitors on buildings, neon lights that came on as night came, cute little dogs packed in their owner's bag, people hanging out in front of station, diagonal or triangular crosswalks where you couldn't cross in either direction while traffic flowed and pedestrians on both sides walked at same time(from above the flow looked incredible).
It was a little difficult getting home with confusion over the different lines and uncertainty since the map doesn't show stops for my particular line, but a nice couple helped me when they noticed I was confused at the fare adjustment station. When I finally got home, I asked my Japanese "mom"about traditional Japanese items since I have to bring cultural artifacts to class tomorrow and she went all out and showed me several things whose name I will have to get from her again since I already forgot.
To quickly summarize today, I went to Shibuya after class and wandered around. Random observations: two Haagen Daas within several blocks of each other(both promoting green tea ice cream), many school girls with sailor suits, several midgets, many slot machine/game places with Cinderella-dress/crown person at one and bubble-blowing girl at another trying to invite people in, 100 Yen Store, many Western chains (Tower, McD, KFC, Tower),monitors on buildings, neon lights that came on as night came, cute little dogs packed in their owner's bag, people hanging out in front of station, diagonal or triangular crosswalks where you couldn't cross in either direction while traffic flowed and pedestrians on both sides walked at same time(from above the flow looked incredible).
It was a little difficult getting home with confusion over the different lines and uncertainty since the map doesn't show stops for my particular line, but a nice couple helped me when they noticed I was confused at the fare adjustment station. When I finally got home, I asked my Japanese "mom"about traditional Japanese items since I have to bring cultural artifacts to class tomorrow and she went all out and showed me several things whose name I will have to get from her again since I already forgot.
Tuesday, May 20, 2003
This is my summer blog. Since I'm supposed to be doing CMC(Computer-Mediated Communication) research this summer, it's only appropriate that I do it in blog format. This will serve as my journal in Japan for my workshop on "Exploring Japanese Contemporary Urban Culture" and hopefully keep my friends posted on my adventures as well.
Three days after my arrival in Japan, I am still getting over jetlag and getting accustomed to my surroundings. I arranged a homestay thanks to meeting an incredibly nice fellow Tech student and Tokyo native who let me rent her room for the summer. Her mother and I met up at Shinjuku station Saturday. Most of the rest of that day was unpacking and napping. Around 11 pm, my bed started shaking--my first earthquake since being in Chile. I couldn't sleep afterwards, but since she has high-speed internet, I was able to chat in the wee hours. The house has a furry toilet seat cover on the toilet itself--she showed me the options of heating the toilet as well as turning the toilet into a bidet or spurting out water to clean yourself. I was not expecting my first encounter with ubiquitous technology to be in the bathroom.
Sunday, we went to the festival in Asakusa (sp?). There were so many people. At several points I was afraid of getting crushed. People in headbands and traditional outfits(not kimonos) grunting as they carried along a shrine. The women all wore leggings, many of the men just wore the sumo bottoms under their vest garment, showing their bare legs. One group had a lot of guys with body tatoos and the leftover ones not on the shrine were off to the side posing for photo takers. There were a fair number of people taking pictures with their cell phones and some with mini-camcorders.
Eating is an issue but my Japanese Mom has been very understanding. She cooked traditional Japanese beef (Siyuki?) which was very yummy. One interesting thing is the bread vs. rice option--I wouldn't normally consider that an either/or choice since I think of them as different parts of the meal.
Monday was orientation so the excitement began. I got lost on the way since my directions were off and the policeman I asked for help directed me to a Zen Temple instead of Temple University. Going to the bathroom, I found more options, with pictures to illustrate. A button with a musical note made a flushing noise--apparently Japanese women press it so other people don't hear while they are going to the bathroom since they are so modest. A Japanese girl there was very amused by my surprise, especially when I took out my camera to take a picture of the display.
The Temple group wandered around Roppongi, but I left early since I was tired. My last observation for the night was at Wendy's. I wanted to get a Frosty, but what she offered was about the same size as the kid's size back home. Even the medium size seemed smaller than a small back home. I guess the "Biggie-Size" phenomenon which turned the size large of my childhood into the small size of today has not hit Japan.
The class started today at 9 am so I had to deal with rush hour, reminding me of 4th of July crowds in Chicago on public transit. The idea of personal space came up in class and I was also reminded of the old Dial or Sure commercials. I was very conscious of sweating in such close contact but I think deodorant is rare here so guess it's not a problem for everyone else.
Three days after my arrival in Japan, I am still getting over jetlag and getting accustomed to my surroundings. I arranged a homestay thanks to meeting an incredibly nice fellow Tech student and Tokyo native who let me rent her room for the summer. Her mother and I met up at Shinjuku station Saturday. Most of the rest of that day was unpacking and napping. Around 11 pm, my bed started shaking--my first earthquake since being in Chile. I couldn't sleep afterwards, but since she has high-speed internet, I was able to chat in the wee hours. The house has a furry toilet seat cover on the toilet itself--she showed me the options of heating the toilet as well as turning the toilet into a bidet or spurting out water to clean yourself. I was not expecting my first encounter with ubiquitous technology to be in the bathroom.
Sunday, we went to the festival in Asakusa (sp?). There were so many people. At several points I was afraid of getting crushed. People in headbands and traditional outfits(not kimonos) grunting as they carried along a shrine. The women all wore leggings, many of the men just wore the sumo bottoms under their vest garment, showing their bare legs. One group had a lot of guys with body tatoos and the leftover ones not on the shrine were off to the side posing for photo takers. There were a fair number of people taking pictures with their cell phones and some with mini-camcorders.
Eating is an issue but my Japanese Mom has been very understanding. She cooked traditional Japanese beef (Siyuki?) which was very yummy. One interesting thing is the bread vs. rice option--I wouldn't normally consider that an either/or choice since I think of them as different parts of the meal.
Monday was orientation so the excitement began. I got lost on the way since my directions were off and the policeman I asked for help directed me to a Zen Temple instead of Temple University. Going to the bathroom, I found more options, with pictures to illustrate. A button with a musical note made a flushing noise--apparently Japanese women press it so other people don't hear while they are going to the bathroom since they are so modest. A Japanese girl there was very amused by my surprise, especially when I took out my camera to take a picture of the display.
The Temple group wandered around Roppongi, but I left early since I was tired. My last observation for the night was at Wendy's. I wanted to get a Frosty, but what she offered was about the same size as the kid's size back home. Even the medium size seemed smaller than a small back home. I guess the "Biggie-Size" phenomenon which turned the size large of my childhood into the small size of today has not hit Japan.
The class started today at 9 am so I had to deal with rush hour, reminding me of 4th of July crowds in Chicago on public transit. The idea of personal space came up in class and I was also reminded of the old Dial or Sure commercials. I was very conscious of sweating in such close contact but I think deodorant is rare here so guess it's not a problem for everyone else.
