Friday, June 20, 2003
Everything feels so rushed. Down to the wire with one week left in Tokyo, less than two weeks left in Japan. Not as much time to hang out at school or Starbucks to update blog. Pretty much reconciled to doing a literature review for my project, which kind of sucks since as someone I interviewed said, by the time something is published, it's already old news. Not to mention, I could have done that from home without going so much in debt. I feel like I've grown a lot these past few weeks. As far as the workshop goes feel a little disappointed since we didn't get into the investigative journalism/ethnographic methods aspect which is what I was really after, just discussing the popular singers and trends. Six weeks makes for a pretty shallow experience, and I'm kind of frustrated since there's so much I want to do in my last week. But oh well. Enough griping.
Today and yesterday were both very full days. Yesterday after class rushed to lunchtime concert of Yale Whiffenpoofs (a cappella) which is touring Japan for the week. It was in front of the Japan Foundation library which turned out to be not very helpful since they don't have much information on technology, but at least they had a book on DoCoMo. Decided to go back to school instead of touring gardens, so just got caught up and was going to meet with a language exchange partner at National Azabu Supermarket. It turned out to be almost 30 minutes walk in Hiroo and I was really tired and grouchy so almost turned back around. He ended up not being there and not answering his cell phone which made things doubly exasperating. But the supermarket turned out to be across from a really nice park, which also had the central library so I decided to make the best of the situation. As it turned out, I hit the jackpot, finding a really helpful book for my research, but you can't check out books from this library. So hand over book to on-site copy service at 25 yen per page which added up pretty quickly! Friendly and quick service though.
As leaving, gaijin woman smiled at me. Pretty unusual since many times other gaijin avert your gaze (Fab and Jen had actually discussed in class resenting other gaijin on the train and seen it mentioned in blog). I talked to her and turns out she was visiting Japan since her husband was there on business, but had lived there previously for 6 years. Then I found out she was Dominican so we started chatting in Spanish. She also got off at Roppongi but was leaving next day.
Dinner with Maeda. Wasn't sure what to expect. Had seen his blog, but it was all in Japanese so had just exchanged some emails and agreed on a language exchange. Wasn't entirely sure if was guy or girl. Was thinking of going to other event at Hobgloblin so ended up meeting there, but too crowded so walked to TGIF--yum. Interesting conversation. He is very much into hiphop, but likes American style, thinking that Japanese hiphop is just imitation and not authentic, contrary to what Kyle was saying in class. Also hates Hello Kitty. Tried practicing Japanese phrases as well with ordering.
Today and yesterday were both very full days. Yesterday after class rushed to lunchtime concert of Yale Whiffenpoofs (a cappella) which is touring Japan for the week. It was in front of the Japan Foundation library which turned out to be not very helpful since they don't have much information on technology, but at least they had a book on DoCoMo. Decided to go back to school instead of touring gardens, so just got caught up and was going to meet with a language exchange partner at National Azabu Supermarket. It turned out to be almost 30 minutes walk in Hiroo and I was really tired and grouchy so almost turned back around. He ended up not being there and not answering his cell phone which made things doubly exasperating. But the supermarket turned out to be across from a really nice park, which also had the central library so I decided to make the best of the situation. As it turned out, I hit the jackpot, finding a really helpful book for my research, but you can't check out books from this library. So hand over book to on-site copy service at 25 yen per page which added up pretty quickly! Friendly and quick service though.
As leaving, gaijin woman smiled at me. Pretty unusual since many times other gaijin avert your gaze (Fab and Jen had actually discussed in class resenting other gaijin on the train and seen it mentioned in blog). I talked to her and turns out she was visiting Japan since her husband was there on business, but had lived there previously for 6 years. Then I found out she was Dominican so we started chatting in Spanish. She also got off at Roppongi but was leaving next day.
Dinner with Maeda. Wasn't sure what to expect. Had seen his blog, but it was all in Japanese so had just exchanged some emails and agreed on a language exchange. Wasn't entirely sure if was guy or girl. Was thinking of going to other event at Hobgloblin so ended up meeting there, but too crowded so walked to TGIF--yum. Interesting conversation. He is very much into hiphop, but likes American style, thinking that Japanese hiphop is just imitation and not authentic, contrary to what Kyle was saying in class. Also hates Hello Kitty. Tried practicing Japanese phrases as well with ordering.
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