Changing Impressions

Before I came to Japan, what I knew about it was largely through Japanese media. Although not exactly the most accurate representation of Japan to any stretch of the imagination, but it does reflect some parts of it. I was a large user of anime and manga as well as Japanese television, namely the Johnny’s boyband Arashi. I’m not quite sure what my impressions were, to be quite honest. I had been studying in Taiwan for three months directly before I came to Japan and I was told it was very much like Taiwan. At first, I did not really think so, but after these few months, I have found so much in common with Taiwan. Truth be told, Taiwan was a colony of Japan and many of the transportation systems and infrastructure are in a large part due to Japan. I just did not expect it to be almost exactly the same. Something else I found interesting is exactly how much I use my bicycle. I almost expected it to be much like Taiwan (I was in Taipei, specifically) where the buses and subway system was used, but the trains (which are quite like those in Taiwan) and bicycles are the predominant form of transportation. Also, I was struck with the incorporation of old and new that was present in daily life. It is possible to go to Kyoto, and amongst all the bustle in the train stations you can see women dressed up in kimono (men are not as often found in traditional clothing, but they can still be seen). Also, I was truly struck by the sheer amount of people in Japan. While riding the train between Osaka and Kyoto (Keihan), It is one huge expanse of housing and buildings with no break of farmland or greenery in between. Granted, that line is where many people gather, but to me it was still amazing. Lastly it was amazing to see the context from where Japanese media brought things to life from. Everything that is found in anime, manga, and TV shows just makes so much more sense because I have been here. For example, I can now sympathize with the scene in Spirited Away with Chihiro in the train to the swamp where Yuubaba’s sister lives. Before it was just another scene, but now I know the feeling of waiting to get to your destination and the feeling of watching the buildings and night lights fly by while gazing out of the window.

Takurazuka: Creating the Fantasy

Takurazuka, formed by the Hankyu corporation to draw people to the station at the end of the line by the same name, is an all female performance troupe which puts on musical plays. Many of these musical plays contain Western references in a shoujo manga-like plot; the main character falls for a girl in an endlessly romantic way which puts their love before all else. Importance is put on the “male” leads, termed otokoyaku, who also have zealous fans comparable to Johnny’s bands (a major Japanese boy band producer of names such as SMAP, Arashi, NEWS, and Kat-tun). Surprisingly, many of the fans are female and consider themselves heterosexual. There are also quite a few housewife-aged fans. The actresses provide a fantasy that is different from the typical Japanese male and spirit the audience away to the female ideal where men are endlessly kind to them and love them unconditionally.

The performance that I attended was Classico Italiano and Nice Guy (which are in the same show). Classico Italiano was about the president of a suit manufacturing firm who is thinking about selling out to an American suit manufacturing firm. This would in turn result in many of the long time workers at his current factory who are doing handmade work to lose their jobs in favor of speed from machines. Although set on signing a deal with the American company, he meets a hapless girl from his hometown who reminds him of simpler times in the past. He then decides not to go through with the deal and continue with his handmade suits. Nice Guy had no plot whatsoever, but instead was a display of what I thought to be typically Takurazuka: bright colors, outrageous outfits, and feathers. Lots of feathers. At the very end, all the main stars came out one by one on a long staircase with increasingly bigger arrangements of feathers on their backs. The larger the display, the more important the character.

School Cultural Festival

Every year around November, there is the school cultural festival. Depending on the age group, it appears that the way the festival is implemented is different. In kindergarden and elementary school, according to my homevisit partner, Kotone, the teachers usually put on a festival type of event where children can buy food and play games as well as have the children perform for the parents. During middle school and high school, I believe, each class will put on an event such as a cafe, performance, or sell food at stands. However the type I attended was the university level cultural festival. Since the students are not arranged into set classes as in middle school and high school, the cultural festival stands are largely centered around clubs. The first university school cultural festival I attended was the 外大祭 or Kansai Gaidai’s cultural festival.

Many of the larger clubs, usually the sports clubs, will each have a stand in which they sell food (at a fairly cheap price) to visitors. The type of food is up to the club’s discretion. The club members will have different shifts and rotations whether it be walking around for publicity, cooking the food, or simply free time. Cultural clubs will often have a classroom where their wares are displayed. Music clubs will have performances. Personally, I did not attend many of the performances and instead busied myself with walking around to eat the massive variety of snack foods. If asked what Japanese food is, festival food will not often come up, but it is in fact Japanese food! As such, I felt the need to experience it. Some highlights were: tempura ice cream, omusoba (yakisoba in omurice form), and chijimi.

I also attended the 奈良教育大学 (Nara Education University – it is a school for teachers) cultural festival for a wider range of experience (since Kansai Gaidai may not be the best example for a typical Japanese university) and found many of the same things. The food, though, was of a different variety. Some of them included: tonjiru, shirotama, and the chocobanana (which I had really been wanting to try).

I believe the cultural festivals provide a break from the monotony of Japanese education (to American eyes). It also provides a chance to mingle with friends outside of the university and harken back to the days of high school.

Halloween in Japan

Every 31st of October brings a so-called “holiday” to the forefront of the minds of many American youth the event called Halloween. Though thought to originate from the ancient Celtic festival Samain, it has now reincarnated into its present capitalist form in America. (For more about the origins of Halloween, the History Channel has brief introduction found here.) For children, parents dress them up in cute outfits and take them out to call upon the neighbors with a sweet “Trick or treat” and receive and obligatory snack in return. For college students, it is simply an excuse for girls to dress in scandalous outfits and everyone to go out to participate in a good round of rabble-rousing. Never had I thought that I would see any semblance of Halloween in Japan. But lo and behold, Halloween had made its way here. Although not as blatantly pressed upon the consumer as it is in America (nor as deeply rooted in culture), Halloween has been bundled along into the celebration of autumn, most notably in the food. An example would be the jack-o-lantern shaped bread sold at a select few bread shops and the Halloween lunch set sold at Kansai Gaidai’s cafeteria:

However, the largest Halloween celebration that I saw (or attended) was put on at Universal Studios Japan though his may be because of its origins in America (even the sets seem to be exactly the same as the one in America). The “Halloween version” entailed certain horror zones (wherein zombies would come out at 6 o’clock and scare people) and haunted house type places (which are nothing compared to their American counterparts, but still caused much screaming from quite a few Japanese girls). There were also “horror versions” of the rides; some included zombies (Jaws) while others simply entailed turning out the lights to make the ride dark (Space Fantasy). Of course there was Halloween paraphernalia of the characters in the stores.

At Kansai Gaidai, there was a celebration. Perhaps in its attempts to pitch itself as international (or a place to interact with foreigners) or simply per request of the students there was a Halloween costume contest and many students (especially the exchange students) were dressed in costume throughout the day. For some (including myself), it was simply an excuse to cosplay. Overall, I quite enjoyed my Halloween in Japan (for personal reasons) and almost prefer the Japanese version. I mean, call me a miser but, I do not especially enjoy handing out candy to noisy children all night.

For a different perspective, Danny Choo writes about his experience of Halloween in Tokyo here on his blog, Culture Japan.

Keihan Kyomizu-gojo Station

Being assigned a Keihan train station, I initially picked Kyomizu-gojo since I had never been to Kyomizu Temple before and simply wanted a reason to go there. After getting off the train (I actually took the limited express to Gion-shijo then took the local train back to Kyomizu-gojo), I noticed that there was absolutely no one on the platform.

I proceeded to walk up the stairs and found that there were probably about 20 people at the gates of the station. I believe a main reason for its abandonment (or rather the sparse population) was the time (I arrived there at around 4:00pm on a Thursday) and the fact that many of the tourists who intend to go to Kyomizu Temple, or the surrounding attractions, ride to the Gion-shijo station via the Limited Express train. Gion-shijo is a large commuter hub where all trains will stop whereas Kyomizu-gojo, on the other hand, is where only the Express, Commuter Sub-Express, and Sub-express trains stop. On the walls around the station, there were helpful maps detailing the surrounding area as well as nearby tourist locations and how to get there. When I left the station, I came to a very busy intersection. After some inspection, I found that the station is located at the intersection between  Kawabata-dori and Gojo-dori, the latter being a major Japanese highway. Afterwards, I ventured towards Kyomizu Temple. Along the way, I found many shops and alleyways that seemed to consist only of residential housing. The main reason for placing a train station at Kyomizu-gojo, I suspect, would probably be to serve the large residential area and connect its inhabitants to a larger network for mobility to other parts of the city. Perhaps the people there do not go too far away from Kyomizu-gojo, however since the Limited Express train does not stop at the station and would not work to take the residents to a different city or suburb.

Portrait of a Japanese Person

What is Japan? It is a question no one can answer yet everyone struggles to define. More than the echoes of the past, Japan is its people. Although it is true that regardless of the place, there are a myriad of people and in fact is impossible to represent all the people of the country accurately. However, I’d like to venture a statement to represent one, of many different and unique individuals which reside in Japan.

Akiyama Kana (秋山可奈) is a Kansai Gaidai student from Osaka who spends most of her days studying and spending time with her friends. She is not involved in any club activities at her school, but works at a part-time job. Here she is pictured against a very traditional looking background which is to represent what would stereotypically be thought of as “Japan.” Although relaxing in such a setting, she is only as temporary of a visitor there as I am. Many Japanese people no longer live in what is stereotypically thought of in the West as Japanese homes. Next to her lays her smart phone which is increasingly an inseparable limb from her person as is typical of many of the youth all around the world.

Kana is in the Roommate Program: a selected group of Japanese students who choose to live at the dorms that house international students and  have an international student as a roommate. Although I have found that many of the Japanese people that I interact with are extremely friendly, perhaps this is atypical of Japanese. Overall, Japanese are more reserved not only in the expression of their own feelings but also in their interaction with others. The concept of honne (本音) and tatemae (建て前) exemplify this idea. Honne is one’s real feelings and tatemae is what one shows and expresses to the outside world. Simply in the fact that there is a separation of these ingrained into the language shows the distance between the self and society. Perhaps as shown in the participation in programs that allow for interaction with international visitors and open interest in foreign things makes Kana and other students like her more friendly and  personable.

My neighborhood Katahoko

What is a community without its people? In coming to Japan, the principle reason is to at least come into contact with its inhabitants in efforts to perhaps better our understanding of their culture and fluency of their language. Unfortunately, at this early stage, I have yet to truly become involved in the neighborhood. The Japanese neighborhood is, as I’ve gathered, a close knit group of people living together with constant interactions between many different parties. With walls paper thin, everyone else’s business inevitably drifts into your home or past your nose. The compact houses, squeezed so closely together, allows for little elbow room before you accidentally nudge your neighbor and have to bow to them profusely.

At the moment, my “neighborhood,” so to speak, consists of my living quarters at Seminar House 1. As a dorm with about 60 residents and communal kitchen and bathroom, it is quite easy to come into contact with fellow dorm mates. There is a large lounge area enclosed by glass down stairs where residents may choose to spend their time studying or simply hanging out. Since it is easy to see the people in there, and perhaps join them if you wish. If I may venture to say, Seminar House 1 is the closest knit community (many people at least recognize the faces, if not know the names, of many of the other residents) and perhaps the largest group that I belong to so far.

As for the Japanese community at large around Katahoko, there is a large park nearby, directly across from Seminar House 1 where many of its members can be seen carrying out their lives. Residents can be found here at any time of the day. Many mothers seem to take their children here to play in the fountains which were on during the summer months. Children will gather in the field to play soccer in the evenings when I walk home from school. Dogs (and their owners) and older people, intent on some exercise, walk laps in the park. You cannot simply pass by your neighbor without a greeting, short chat, or even an update of the recent activities in both parties lives.

Early Impressions of Japan

Since my earlier childhood memories, the stories and ideas from Japan always fascinated me and the desire to visit there always held tight in my heart. But I wax poetic. Due to these images of Japan (and previous encounters with Japanese exchange students at my school) I had accumulated an impression of sorts as to how Japan was and, even perhaps, ought to be. It was a country that carried its rich heritage in everything it did. It was filled with people both modern and human, but with a slight twist of perversion and the rule of not saying what was meant. And as I landed in the Kansai International Airport, these ideas were among the pieces of baggage I carried on me.

I settled into the quiet suburbs of Osaka, also known as Hirakata city. The first thing I came to appreciate was the mix of the old and the new. Houses built in the ancient style that I had seen so many times in animation and comics as well as the typical modern Japanese home came to life right before my eyes as I wandered the small alleys of the neighborhood. The fired ceramic roof tiles held special interest for me as they were intricately made, fired to an impossible blue or green hue or just a simple unglazed clay, and crowded the rooftops of half the houses.

Yet at the same time, it was so modern the sights before me could pass as a memory from America save for the characters that dotted every possible surface – some I could read, and other that I could not. In many ways, Japan reminded me of Taiwan. For just 3 months during the summer and directly before my arrival in Japan, I studied Mandarin Chinese in Taiwan. As a former colony of Japan, intuitively, it made sense. But it was everything, down to the bus and railway system, to even the elevated crosswalks, that reminded me of Taiwan. But as time stretches on and my stay in Japan continues, I know that some of these first impressions will take and others will fade to be replaced by more experiences in this strange yet familiar land.