Saturday, May 31, 2003
So backlogged this week. I've spent hours trying to find a new place but it looks like I'm going to have to make some tough choices. Which will the tradeoff be--comfort, price, space, location or amenities? In a way, it's not that different from Chicago when I was looking for places, but as a gaijin only here for a month, my options are more limited. Most Japanese have to sign a 2 yr lease with several months deposit and several months key money(basically gift to landlord)--apparently the market is very tight in Tokyo.
Tuesday was my first venture, visiting a guesthouse in Asakusa. The manager met me at the station and immediately asked me where I was from and if I had had a direct flight to Japan or had stopped over somewhere else. He was very concerned about SARS, but after I assured him that I hadn't been to any SARS-infected places, he smiled and shook my hand. We drove to the place in his car, with the radio music of high-pitched female Japanese voices with Japanese lyrics except for the chorus "Leti-be". He was very friendly, driving past his soba shop and introducing me to his family with his waving little boy, but despite the low price, the distance and sharing a room with 5 other girls scared me off.
The next guesthouse, run by a hip single mom with a half-n-half girl, was very convenient and impeccably decorated but I didn't want to pay 69,000 yen to share a small room with up to 8 other people(3 sets of 3-stacked bunk beds), some of which were guys.
Next I visited one even closer to school, but about the size of my walk-in closet. The guy showing me was Chilean, so of course we chatted in Spanish about my time in Chile and how he ended up here.
My last find of the day was a fun guesthouse which was cheaper, roomier, and had all the amenities but even further out from school and central Tokyo than I am now. The assistant manager picked me up from the station in a brightly painted car, which matched the office decor. He seemed curious, asking me questions about what I thought of Japan. When we arrived in the office, the whole staff acknowledged our presence by standing up and saying something. The asst manager went up to someone and made a little bow which seemed to reflect an office hierarchy.
Today(Friday) I went to two places,one shown to me by a Ghanaian who had moved here to find work and the other by a Japanese woman who had gone to college in Colorado.
Tuesday was the class field trip to Asakusa. It was less exciting than the first time when I went to the festival, but it was more relaxed since it wasn't so crowded. We walked through rows and rows of stalls, selling clothes, souveneirs, kimonos, and food.
One of the first images we encountered was a woman dressed in full white makeup, hair in a bun, and beautiful purple kimono hawking cookies. Almost everyone in the group wanted a picture with her. The purpose of the trip was to find examples of hybridity, such as the Hello Kitty dressed in a kimono. I was reminded of the whole scene in the Bible where Jesus overturned the stalls next to the temple. In class, Fab compared the scene to seeing an amusement park next to Notre Dame or a crucifix being sold with Brad Pitt on it and mentioned Japan's more relaxed view of religion. But although there were a lot of random school kids and tourists, there also seemed to be people there to worship.
Inside the temple, people threw coins and bowed with their hands in praying position. In front of the temple, there was this big pot where people were sticking bars of incense and trying to move the aroma toward them, waving it to make it spread all over their body. Next to it, people washed their hands with ladels at a big water fountain--I wasn't sure if this was a particular purification thing or more of a general hygiene thing if they touched the incense. There were several smaller temples off to the side along with a little bridge and pond which added a more tranquil nature to the place.
Wednesday our class went on several field trips. First we went to a store to find examples of intertextuality. Apparently this is a big deal in Japanese culture since J-pop singers appear in magazines and commercials and movies. This didn't seem that different from a lot of the crossover artists in the U.S. The biggest example I can think of is Brandy, who had a singing career, then a TV show and was a cover model for Maybelline I think. J-Lo was an actress, then a singer and now seems to be popping up everywhere. There are so many singers that try to get into acting and vice versa, but here it is more of a given I guess. I didn't know any of the artists so ended up with a video and CD for the Kinky Kids. A beautiful moment, worth noting for my project, was when Fab was trying to find her husband, telling him that she was in front of the store too and they practically crashed into each other, each one on their phone.
After that, we went to sing karaoke. The last time I had tried had been a disaster since I didn't remember how the songs went, but this time it went ok. The first song I picked got deleted since I was too shy to say it was me who picked it, but when I finally did sing it, people applauded although I think my voice was barely audible over the music. There was definitely a gender divide, especially when the girls did "I Will Survive" and the guys all used this as an excuse to go to the bathroom. Two of the guys did a mostly improvised rap. Fab brought her 2-3 yr old daughter who kept on grabbing the mic in between songs and saying "thank you". The final song was one I picked, Ricky Martin's "The Cup of Life" which everyone ended up singing and dancing to--very fun. The two hours went by very quickly.
Tuesday was my first venture, visiting a guesthouse in Asakusa. The manager met me at the station and immediately asked me where I was from and if I had had a direct flight to Japan or had stopped over somewhere else. He was very concerned about SARS, but after I assured him that I hadn't been to any SARS-infected places, he smiled and shook my hand. We drove to the place in his car, with the radio music of high-pitched female Japanese voices with Japanese lyrics except for the chorus "Leti-be". He was very friendly, driving past his soba shop and introducing me to his family with his waving little boy, but despite the low price, the distance and sharing a room with 5 other girls scared me off.
The next guesthouse, run by a hip single mom with a half-n-half girl, was very convenient and impeccably decorated but I didn't want to pay 69,000 yen to share a small room with up to 8 other people(3 sets of 3-stacked bunk beds), some of which were guys.
Next I visited one even closer to school, but about the size of my walk-in closet. The guy showing me was Chilean, so of course we chatted in Spanish about my time in Chile and how he ended up here.
My last find of the day was a fun guesthouse which was cheaper, roomier, and had all the amenities but even further out from school and central Tokyo than I am now. The assistant manager picked me up from the station in a brightly painted car, which matched the office decor. He seemed curious, asking me questions about what I thought of Japan. When we arrived in the office, the whole staff acknowledged our presence by standing up and saying something. The asst manager went up to someone and made a little bow which seemed to reflect an office hierarchy.
Today(Friday) I went to two places,one shown to me by a Ghanaian who had moved here to find work and the other by a Japanese woman who had gone to college in Colorado.
Tuesday was the class field trip to Asakusa. It was less exciting than the first time when I went to the festival, but it was more relaxed since it wasn't so crowded. We walked through rows and rows of stalls, selling clothes, souveneirs, kimonos, and food.
One of the first images we encountered was a woman dressed in full white makeup, hair in a bun, and beautiful purple kimono hawking cookies. Almost everyone in the group wanted a picture with her. The purpose of the trip was to find examples of hybridity, such as the Hello Kitty dressed in a kimono. I was reminded of the whole scene in the Bible where Jesus overturned the stalls next to the temple. In class, Fab compared the scene to seeing an amusement park next to Notre Dame or a crucifix being sold with Brad Pitt on it and mentioned Japan's more relaxed view of religion. But although there were a lot of random school kids and tourists, there also seemed to be people there to worship.
Inside the temple, people threw coins and bowed with their hands in praying position. In front of the temple, there was this big pot where people were sticking bars of incense and trying to move the aroma toward them, waving it to make it spread all over their body. Next to it, people washed their hands with ladels at a big water fountain--I wasn't sure if this was a particular purification thing or more of a general hygiene thing if they touched the incense. There were several smaller temples off to the side along with a little bridge and pond which added a more tranquil nature to the place.
Wednesday our class went on several field trips. First we went to a store to find examples of intertextuality. Apparently this is a big deal in Japanese culture since J-pop singers appear in magazines and commercials and movies. This didn't seem that different from a lot of the crossover artists in the U.S. The biggest example I can think of is Brandy, who had a singing career, then a TV show and was a cover model for Maybelline I think. J-Lo was an actress, then a singer and now seems to be popping up everywhere. There are so many singers that try to get into acting and vice versa, but here it is more of a given I guess. I didn't know any of the artists so ended up with a video and CD for the Kinky Kids. A beautiful moment, worth noting for my project, was when Fab was trying to find her husband, telling him that she was in front of the store too and they practically crashed into each other, each one on their phone.
After that, we went to sing karaoke. The last time I had tried had been a disaster since I didn't remember how the songs went, but this time it went ok. The first song I picked got deleted since I was too shy to say it was me who picked it, but when I finally did sing it, people applauded although I think my voice was barely audible over the music. There was definitely a gender divide, especially when the girls did "I Will Survive" and the guys all used this as an excuse to go to the bathroom. Two of the guys did a mostly improvised rap. Fab brought her 2-3 yr old daughter who kept on grabbing the mic in between songs and saying "thank you". The final song was one I picked, Ricky Martin's "The Cup of Life" which everyone ended up singing and dancing to--very fun. The two hours went by very quickly.
Thursday, May 29, 2003
Bad news. My fears came true about the homestay. After some light chitchat with Maiko, the conversation turned sober as she told me it would be better if I found another place. Although her mom had not said anything to me, she had been complaining to Maiko about me and the problems I had encountered, from getting lost to not eating enough. Apparently one is not supposed to express negative feelings in Japan and etiquette is very important, especially for the older generation. Any excuses such as jetlag or first-week confusion end up sounding lame when you are confronted like this. I apologized, but Maiko said it was normal behavior for an American, which upset me even more. After talking with her, I was sure that her mom hated me, but the next evening she was just as nice and even gave me a hug at one point before telling me that I was young and would have no problem finding another place. I apologized again and wanted to make it up to her, but she said she hadn't realized that there would be so much culture shock and that she was getting old. At this point, I definitely wish my mom had been there to smooth things over--they are similar ages and both appreciate good food and cooking among other things. She always reminds me of the importance of manners,neatness and such but real moms are much more forgiving to their own children I guess.
"If they were one person on an island, they could always say what they think. But they are not. We must all live with other people. This is our Japanese custom." Learning to Bow
"If they were one person on an island, they could always say what they think. But they are not. We must all live with other people. This is our Japanese custom." Learning to Bow
Monday, May 26, 2003
Today got off to an ominous start. My J-mom told me she wasn't feeling well and told me not to get a commuter pass. When I asked Maiko why, she said she had to talk to me later. Her mother was tired and wasn't sure if I could stay for 6 weeks. Hopefully I haven't offended her--I have a bad feeling that I have not been as considerate as I should.
Later the train I was commuting on stopped twice for over 20 minutes each. I couldn't understand the announcements but the woman sitting next to me said that there had been an accident and that somebody had probably jumped in front of a train. On a related note, my Yahoo headlines mentioned that three people had killed themselves together in Kyoto and it was suspected that they had met through one of the many websites for suicidal people set up since Japan's economy declined.
Yesterday was pretty interesting. In the morning, I met up with Hitomi, a woman who was looking for a language exchange partner. When we exchanged emails, we found out we lived about 5 minutes from each other, a really bizarre coincidence in Tokyo! We ended up speaking mostly English but I still picked up some words in Japanese. She is actually half-Japanese, half-American, but has lived all over the world and most recently was in Canada for two years. Apparently her dad(American) is back in the States for medical reasons but her mom and brother are here. I got the sense that she considered herself pretty cosmopolitan since she's been to so many places, though she still feels more comfortable speaking Japanese than English. She got her driver's license in New Zealand but does not have it here since she would have to pay something like 350,000 yen (think this includes driving class). She mentioned that she preferred working at American companies to Japanese companies though because of the sexual harassment she had to put up with at her new job. She took me to a nearby park where a lot of families were playing and hanging out. I was surprised to see some Japanese nuns there as well. When I commented on this, H mentioned she had gone to Catholic high school there and took me to a Catholic church where she used to go to.
In the evening, I went to the MTV music awards. It took 3 trains to get there . I was worried that I wouldn't find my class group since I went separately but actually got inside before they did and met up with them while in line for a giveaway. I'm not a big follower of rock/hip-hop/r&b and the other music that seems to get play on MTV so only knew a few of the performers and nominees. I was standing next to a group of Japanese girls who got very excited and screamed for their favorites, so asked them when I wasn't sure who someone was. Red Hot Chili Peppers were the only American winner that accepted via satellite (enimem couldn't make it even though he had just performed in Tokyo that weekend) and came off as insane. The stars of the Matrix came on as presenters so they could promote the Matrix Reloaded opening this week in Japan. Another presenter who turned out to be American was Lisa Loehl who I had never heard of but came on the stage with Hello Kitty--so Japanese! Several of the more popular bands and performers were British.
The biggest surprise was Crystal Kay, who I assumed was African-American but about half-way through her song, I realized she was singing in Japanese! Fab said that she was Japanese but was probably mixed. Reading accounts of "blackanese" people, it seemed like they were more readily accepted by the black community than the Japanese community but here we have someone who is drawing upon both of her backgrounds and is considered cool here because of it. Actually I just checked online--she is 16 yrs old(!) and was born in Yokohama to African-American and Korean parents.
There are a lot of musical acts from the U.S. coming here in the next few weeks--Eminen,Mariah Carey, Bangles, and Rockapella. I especially wanted to see Rockapella, who apparently have quite a history in Japan since they started their recording career here, but tickets are in the 80-100 dollar range.
I tried getting back to my own music today with the Temple chorus. It had a cheerful American instructor with 8 other students, all Japanese. There was only music in English on the table which was disappointing, but he was open to suggestions if we wanted to sing Japanese music as well. The songs he had planned were from musicals--Phantom,Evita and Cats. Hopefully I'll have time to sing with them, even if I won't be around for the final performance.
Later the train I was commuting on stopped twice for over 20 minutes each. I couldn't understand the announcements but the woman sitting next to me said that there had been an accident and that somebody had probably jumped in front of a train. On a related note, my Yahoo headlines mentioned that three people had killed themselves together in Kyoto and it was suspected that they had met through one of the many websites for suicidal people set up since Japan's economy declined.
Yesterday was pretty interesting. In the morning, I met up with Hitomi, a woman who was looking for a language exchange partner. When we exchanged emails, we found out we lived about 5 minutes from each other, a really bizarre coincidence in Tokyo! We ended up speaking mostly English but I still picked up some words in Japanese. She is actually half-Japanese, half-American, but has lived all over the world and most recently was in Canada for two years. Apparently her dad(American) is back in the States for medical reasons but her mom and brother are here. I got the sense that she considered herself pretty cosmopolitan since she's been to so many places, though she still feels more comfortable speaking Japanese than English. She got her driver's license in New Zealand but does not have it here since she would have to pay something like 350,000 yen (think this includes driving class). She mentioned that she preferred working at American companies to Japanese companies though because of the sexual harassment she had to put up with at her new job. She took me to a nearby park where a lot of families were playing and hanging out. I was surprised to see some Japanese nuns there as well. When I commented on this, H mentioned she had gone to Catholic high school there and took me to a Catholic church where she used to go to.
In the evening, I went to the MTV music awards. It took 3 trains to get there . I was worried that I wouldn't find my class group since I went separately but actually got inside before they did and met up with them while in line for a giveaway. I'm not a big follower of rock/hip-hop/r&b and the other music that seems to get play on MTV so only knew a few of the performers and nominees. I was standing next to a group of Japanese girls who got very excited and screamed for their favorites, so asked them when I wasn't sure who someone was. Red Hot Chili Peppers were the only American winner that accepted via satellite (enimem couldn't make it even though he had just performed in Tokyo that weekend) and came off as insane. The stars of the Matrix came on as presenters so they could promote the Matrix Reloaded opening this week in Japan. Another presenter who turned out to be American was Lisa Loehl who I had never heard of but came on the stage with Hello Kitty--so Japanese! Several of the more popular bands and performers were British.
The biggest surprise was Crystal Kay, who I assumed was African-American but about half-way through her song, I realized she was singing in Japanese! Fab said that she was Japanese but was probably mixed. Reading accounts of "blackanese" people, it seemed like they were more readily accepted by the black community than the Japanese community but here we have someone who is drawing upon both of her backgrounds and is considered cool here because of it. Actually I just checked online--she is 16 yrs old(!) and was born in Yokohama to African-American and Korean parents.
There are a lot of musical acts from the U.S. coming here in the next few weeks--Eminen,Mariah Carey, Bangles, and Rockapella. I especially wanted to see Rockapella, who apparently have quite a history in Japan since they started their recording career here, but tickets are in the 80-100 dollar range.
I tried getting back to my own music today with the Temple chorus. It had a cheerful American instructor with 8 other students, all Japanese. There was only music in English on the table which was disappointing, but he was open to suggestions if we wanted to sing Japanese music as well. The songs he had planned were from musicals--Phantom,Evita and Cats. Hopefully I'll have time to sing with them, even if I won't be around for the final performance.
Sunday, May 25, 2003
Saturday was a very long day, starting and ending with more public transit mini-crisises. I wanted to go outside Tokyo and woke up early enough to go to Nikko, recommended in my guidebook. To get there takes three trains(with Saturday morning trains every bit as crowded as weekdays) just to get to the Nikko train, but my J-mom forgot to give me directions for the last leg, which meant momentary panic. Luckily I was directed to the right line and had time to spare. The Nikko train took a little over 2 hrs which went by pretty fast. Upon arriving, I went to the Temple/Shrine complex which is one of Nikko's main attractions. I got there just ahead of the afternoon tour buses so it didn't feel too crowded. I was lucky enough to encounter a wedding in one of the shrines with the bride and groom in traditional clothes. It must be strange to have your wedding viewed by tourists like that. I had already been to shrines in Korea, so it was very hard to appreciate what was special about these without a guide. The exception was a room where the guy clapped to make the dragon on the ceiling "laugh" where he explained in Japanese and which an American woman translated for me. Most of the people visiting were Japanese with maybe a dozen or two scattered Westerners. It didn't really appear that the Japanese were there on a religious pilgrimage--I only saw about 3 or 4 doing the clapping and bowing that seemed to have some kind of meaning. Most seemed to be looking around and taking pictures. But then again, I didn't talk with many people there and tried to avoid the crowds so couldn't really judge for sure. I braved construction, Kanji-only signs, an out-of-the way location not labelled on the map and an additional 800 Yen admission fee to the art museum but not surprisingly I was the only one there.
After that, I wanted to go to the waterfalls and lake area which was about an hour bus ride away. Apparently the bus only came every 2 hr during that time of day. I was a little impatient waiting for 20 min but I guess it was lucky it wasn't longer since the tourist office hadn't told me it would be so irregular (maybe they are more used to tour bus groups or people coming in their cars?)After finally get there, I walked with this young Japanese couple to the waterfalls(as it turns out the guy had gone to UNC for a while--coincidence!). We ended up going down the elevator to see the base of the waterfall. I had thought about doing some hiking or riding the cable car up for the view, but at that point it was starting to get late and it was very overcast. Walking along to the lake, I saw a monkey crossing the street and climb a drainpipe to get to the roof of a building. My first reaction was that maybe I had seen it wrong and that it was a strange looking cat or squirrel, but sure enough, a girl walking in my direction confirmed that it was a monkey. She warned me that they were aggressive and sometimes attacked women and children to steal their bags or food so I should be careful. Yet another hazard of life in Japan!
Going back, a big crowd of us had to wait for the bus since it was 20 minutes late (yet another Japanese stereotype stricken down!). The ride down with all the hairpin turns was beautiful. On the train ride back, I met a girl and struck up a conversation with her because of all the trinkets she has on her cell phone, which she was busily typing away on. It seems like even businessmen have at least 2 or 3 trinkets of Hello Kitty or some other cute character on their phone. Hers had three different Hello Kittys and it turns out that some are representative of certain cities. For instance, she explained that the Nikko version of Hello Kitty posed with her 2 friends doing the three monkeys "See no evil,hear no evil, speak no evil" pose that was apparently represented at the shrine (missed that part). She also had little stickers on the inner part of the phone and a big lego sticker on the outside. She apparently spends a lot of time on the train since she has to commute into Tokyo every day for her university from a town close to Nikko and ends up messaging her friends a lot. I gave her my card, which made her happy. She gave me her email and a rice cake her mom had given her.
Coming back took longer than usual since I missed my train stop and my J-mom was worried when I came back. She reminds me so much of my mom, with her worrying, especially over what I am eating. Overall I thought Nikko was OK, but since I spent $100 or more with about 8-9 hr total transport/waiting time during the day for attractions similar to ones I have already seen before, I didn't really think it was worth it. I could see how it would be a popular retreat for Tokyo-ites, especially if they are religious or into hiking.
Funny signs of the day:
1- On the side of the road: "Don't feed the monkeys" with their photograph
2-On the Admission signs at temple:
Under the School Child : Free
3-On the train station women's restroom door:
Ladies room is closed at 5 o'clock. Please use the men's room after 5 o'clock.
(!)
After that, I wanted to go to the waterfalls and lake area which was about an hour bus ride away. Apparently the bus only came every 2 hr during that time of day. I was a little impatient waiting for 20 min but I guess it was lucky it wasn't longer since the tourist office hadn't told me it would be so irregular (maybe they are more used to tour bus groups or people coming in their cars?)After finally get there, I walked with this young Japanese couple to the waterfalls(as it turns out the guy had gone to UNC for a while--coincidence!). We ended up going down the elevator to see the base of the waterfall. I had thought about doing some hiking or riding the cable car up for the view, but at that point it was starting to get late and it was very overcast. Walking along to the lake, I saw a monkey crossing the street and climb a drainpipe to get to the roof of a building. My first reaction was that maybe I had seen it wrong and that it was a strange looking cat or squirrel, but sure enough, a girl walking in my direction confirmed that it was a monkey. She warned me that they were aggressive and sometimes attacked women and children to steal their bags or food so I should be careful. Yet another hazard of life in Japan!
Going back, a big crowd of us had to wait for the bus since it was 20 minutes late (yet another Japanese stereotype stricken down!). The ride down with all the hairpin turns was beautiful. On the train ride back, I met a girl and struck up a conversation with her because of all the trinkets she has on her cell phone, which she was busily typing away on. It seems like even businessmen have at least 2 or 3 trinkets of Hello Kitty or some other cute character on their phone. Hers had three different Hello Kittys and it turns out that some are representative of certain cities. For instance, she explained that the Nikko version of Hello Kitty posed with her 2 friends doing the three monkeys "See no evil,hear no evil, speak no evil" pose that was apparently represented at the shrine (missed that part). She also had little stickers on the inner part of the phone and a big lego sticker on the outside. She apparently spends a lot of time on the train since she has to commute into Tokyo every day for her university from a town close to Nikko and ends up messaging her friends a lot. I gave her my card, which made her happy. She gave me her email and a rice cake her mom had given her.
Coming back took longer than usual since I missed my train stop and my J-mom was worried when I came back. She reminds me so much of my mom, with her worrying, especially over what I am eating. Overall I thought Nikko was OK, but since I spent $100 or more with about 8-9 hr total transport/waiting time during the day for attractions similar to ones I have already seen before, I didn't really think it was worth it. I could see how it would be a popular retreat for Tokyo-ites, especially if they are religious or into hiking.
Funny signs of the day:
1- On the side of the road: "Don't feed the monkeys" with their photograph
2-On the Admission signs at temple:
Under the School Child : Free
3-On the train station women's restroom door:
Ladies room is closed at 5 o'clock. Please use the men's room after 5 o'clock.
(!)
