Tragedies in Japan

Needless to say, Japan has been in the worldwide news for the past 5 days. The earthquake and tsunami that hit Northeast Japan was a brutal shock to us all. Here in Osaka we were not touched by any of the damage, though some of us felt it when the massive earthquake hit hundreds of miles away.

On the afternoon of March 12th, I was sitting in the computer lab at the school when I suddenly had an intense feeling of vertigo. One moment I was reading a line on the screen, the next my head was tilted and I wondered if I was about to pass out. It was probably one of the strangest feelings I've ever experienced, and I looked to the Japanese guy to my right in confusion. He said immediately: "Earthquake."

Everyone seemed to realize then and murmurs rose in the room as the air buzzed for a few more brief seconds. It wasn't what I expected: the walls didn't rattle, the tables didn't shake, it was quite bizarre to me. For hours after I would still feel a bit nauseous.


At first, I was excited. This was my first earthquake ever (though some other people said they felt one last month, I didn't even notice it) and since we barely felt it, I thought it must have been harmless.


Hours later I would realize, along with the rest of the world, that it was, in fact, the biggest earthquake ever experienced in Japan, and the resulting tsunami was absolutely devastating.


No one I know has been personally affected by what happened, and none of my Japanese friends have lost any family or friends. I can't say the same for some 10,000+ people and their families whose lives have literally been uprooted.


Being so far away from the epicenter, I am still amazed that we even felt it. And the feeling was not what I imagined when I thought of earthquakes, though that was of course due to the fact that we just felt the edge of it. However, last night on the 15th, I was laying down on my futon alone reading, when I heard it before I felt it. I looked up to see my closet doors and hanging clothes shaking. It only lasted for a few seconds, and that was it. I went down to the lounge immediately where a bunch of other students were, and we watched the news while our Japanese R.A. translated. Thankfully, there was no threat of another tsunami.


Things here have been relatively calm compared to what is going on in the media and outside Japan. Of course all the international students' parents and families are worried, especially with the news of the problems at the nuclear power plant in Fukushima.


So far, at least 40 international students have withdrawn from our school. Our spring break is in a few days, so it is well-timed with the spreading panic amongst some foreigners to get out of the country. As far as I know, as I heard from a professor, only 3 students have permanently withdrawn from the study abroad program and won't be returning to Japan. The others are temporary for now, and strangely enough, it seems to be mostly European students who have left. Nearly all the French students are gone, and I heard from a French friend that the French embassy was telling them and their parents that they needed to return. Still, a few reluctant-to-leave French girls stayed.


For me, leaving Japan has never seriously crossed my mind. Maybe it is because in our area, nothing has changed. Osaka is far out of the danger zone, and even if the 'worst case scenario' happens and there are serious radiation leaks, it 1) would likely go east over the Pacific, not west to us and 2) is still too far away to be of any life-threatening danger.


When I came to Japan, I came knowing full well that this island sat along the ring of fire. I knew there was a high possibility that I would experience an earthquake, and frankly I was never very worried. Japan is known for its strict building codes, probably making it the most earthquake proofed country in the world. Ultimately, the tsunami was what caused most of the devastation, and a giant wall of water is something hard to defend against.


Nobody could have predicted such a huge earthquake and resulting tsunami would hit with such devastating consequences, but I am not going to let this tragedy make me leave early. I trust the buildings here, and we are too far inland to be ravaged so horribly by a tsunami. There are, of course, dangers, but I always knew that. And honestly, I still think I'd be in more danger in Chicago on a daily basis then where I'm at in Japan.




Japan has been good to me, and I love the people here. Though I wasn't personally affected by what happened, this is more than just watching the daily tragedies in the news to me. I consider this country to be my second home, and this hits in a way only places that are close to you really can.


People outside of Japan seem to think the whole country is in chaos and destruction, but as I said, if you never turned on the TV you would never notice a change in this part of Japan. Yet there is an unsettled feeling in all of us, even though we are 'just foreigners'. Some may feel a fear for their own lives, but that is not the dominant feeling for me or for a lot of my friends. I have a strong sense of sadness, but also of pride and love for the Japanese people and how they are handling this crisis.


The majority of the students in my school are choosing to stay. Although the media would have us believe it is doomsday, we continue to go to class and eat our ramen as we always have, and though this is a dark moment in history for Japan, it is also an important experience for all of us. Although we are undoubtedly experiencing it in a different way, surely we will forever share this bond with our Japanese friends and families.


I truly believe that things will get better, that no matter how terrible the irresponsible media makes it out to be, there won't be some nuclear fallout and that life will go on. And I know I will have nothing but regret if I return home now.


I understand many students' countries, schools, and worried parents are pressuring them to come home, and for them it is better safe than sorry. I know my own mother would like me to come home now just in case it becomes difficult to leave.


But I am the one who is here and has to decide, and I choose to stay.


Well, mostly. ^^ Tomorrow, I leave to spend my spring break in South Korea. It should reassure my mother at least a little, and give me time to explore another country I've been planning to visit since I've gotten here. I can only hope things improve in Japan, and continue to judge the situation as it unfolds. I also hope that soon there will be an opportunity for me to help in whatever ways I can.

I love you Japan. Get well soon <3

At last...

I think we have all figured out by now that I am incapable of updating quickly and efficiently.

New Adventure

キャットカフェ- Where dreams come true

I promised cat cafe, and here I deliver.

I'm still alive...probably

I am a failure.

Bits here and there.

So, it's been eventful and I have failed to write about it, so things are stacked up!

I went to a fall fire festival in Kyoto, and it was a great experience. The most I can say about this festival was that it's a fall harvest thing, there were lots of people in traditional dress carrying around huge torches that were on fire, the town it was in was really old and traditional-looking, it was ridiculously crowded, and I forgot my camera to document the coolness of all the fires. So, no pictures, sorry. 

In other news, on halloween me and some friends went to shinsaibashi to go to a club where you could get in for free with a costume. Long story short, the line was huge, we were with an underaged person so couldn't get in (after waiting in line for 1.5 hours), and I lost my wallet. Yippee!

My Japanese friend Yuki immediately called the police but nobody had turned it in. The next day we went to the police in Hirakata and filed a report, but my wallet has yet to be returned by good Japanese Samaritans. Needless to say, I've stopped hoping. Yuki also helped me replace a debit card I lost (I only kept one in my wallet, my momma taught me never to keep all my means of cash together and boy was she right!), and get a new train pass. So the moral of this story is: be careful, don't keep all your important things in one wallet or one purse (like, say, all your Ids, cash, train pass, important pictures) and if something happens, hopefully you have a patient Japanese friend you can trust to help you sort everything out. I still haven't replaced my alien registration card or my school ID. I will have to carry around my passport from now on.

All in all, I'd estimate that Halloween stunt from which I had zero amount of fun has cost me about $200. So I'm not doing anything special for a loooong while. Yeah, I have terrible luck. I have never lost that wallet in the past 4 years that I've had it, but of course I lose it in Japan.

Moving on...I finally discovered where my host mother works, and why she can return home so quickly at basically any time. So the other day I returned home from school early, and upon texting my mother if anyone was home, she told me to go to obaasan's house to get the spare key. Now, obaasan lives about a block away, maybe (it's hard to tell with the way streets are in these neighborhoods), and I only saw their place one time during my first week here. So, the last time I tried going to obaasan's, I went to the wrong house and confusion and embarrassment ensued. I sucked it up and tried again, and luckily this time I did not ring the wrong doorbell.

So the grandmother invited me in, and what's this?! In a room of the house, there's my okaasan and 2 little boys practicing their calligraphy. Apparently, she teaches a small group at a time in my obaasan's house! Alert the Scooby gang, this MYSTERY IS SOLVED! Though, I wonder if she hadn't told me that this is where she teaches and I just didn't understand. Actually, I'm 99% certain that's what happened.

So I stood there awkwardly and asked what kanji they were drawing, and what the ink was, and it looked fun so I wanted to try, but I figured it might not be appropriate so I didn't ask. And then my obaasan invited me in for matcha (green tea) and manju ( a sweet pastry sort of thing), and we chatted...sort of. It was more of her talking and me stuttering nonsensical answers back.

I will say though, I seem to be able to get the gist of what people are saying more easily now. Most of the time they talk waaaay too fast so by the time I've finished processing what the first sentence meant (structure, grammar points, vocab), they are already done with everything they were saying. But sometimes I just go with my gut instinct of what I THINK they said and do my best to answer. I can tell when I've got it completely wrong because of the way they just nod and smile, it's exactly what I do when Japanese people's English makes no sense.

Answering seems to be way more difficult than listening, of course. Because then I have to stop and think laboriously (vocab I want to use, sentence structure, correct grammar, polite speech...oh crap I can't say this sentence, try something else- okay sentence structure, etc) and so I'm rather slow. And for some reason when I'm trying to speak, I completely bastardize the Japanese language and my skill level drops dramatically.

Apparently, if I go by the essays I can write in class, I should be able to speak conversationally with these people with decently complex structures (for 3^rd level okay). But what comes out are awkward simple sentences and no fluidity at all. So maybe I should start carrying around a notebook and write everything I want to say and just point to it during a conversation.

I wish there was a way to record myself talking and compare where I was when I got here to where I'm at now, and where I will be months from now. I feel like there is no difference, but I know that's just my pessimism talking. I've learned a buttload in the past 2 months and sometimes I find myself reading signs and thinking 'wow, a month ago I wouldn't have understood any of this kanji' and I feel a little surge of encouragement.

Speaking wise...I still feel like I haven't gotten much better, but when I really think about it, I am taking the simple things for granted. You don't become perapera (fluent) over night! I suppose I could record myself talking, but it's not the same as how I would be naturally so it's kinda pointless. I am thinking of introducing some phrases I use all the time in my next videos for the interested folks.

To wrap up this blog, me and Yuki went up a mountain and watched the sun set over Hirakata city (Sort of, cause the sun set on the side where a bunch of trees were blocking it >_<). It was so we quite cold that day so we didn't say long after the sun went down, but here are some pictures from the excursion.

That's it for now!

My Japanese Host Family

So as promised via annotations in the vid, here are some basic pictures of the home, if you are interested in what an average Japanese house looks like.

My bedroom is on the 3rd floor, where we shall start.

The bed is more western style I suppose, but all it really is about 2 inches of padding on top of a hard wooden frame. It's still pretty comfortable though, it was the hard pillow I couldn't get used to (eventually bought my own fluffy one for like $4)

    

There's an air-conditioner in the window, which I had to shut off every time I left the room. There was also a timer for it so I would set it for an hour after I went to bed.

Where I keep most of my clothes, the rest are in the dresser to the right.

This room is across from my mine and Ayami/sometimes the parents sleep here.

Down the treacherous steps with Pikachu to the 2nd floor!

Basically the living room, there's 1 massage-chair thingy but otherwise we sit on the floor. (the clothes are hanging inside because it was raining)

This is the dining room, and past it the kitchen.

2nd set of perilous stairs, down 2 the first floor.

Where we keep our shoes, though there's a rack outside that I keep just mine on as well.

The first floor room, where they pray to their shrine (off to the side and not pictured) and sleep with a few blankets spread out on the floor.

That's a covered piano back there.

Another toilet, and the washer. It is common to sometimes use old bath water from the night before to fill up the washer to do laundry with.

To the right of the washer, the bathing room! As you can see, the shower head is detachable. And the bath has a cover, for when they heat up the water in there.

And that concludes the tour of the home!

I mentioned a shrine,  and that's because my family practice Soka Gakkai, which Wikipedia tells me is based off the teachings of Buddhism (there are more specifics but this isn't a class. look it up yourself ^_^).

Every morning, possibly afternoon, and evening before bed, my host father and sometimes mother/ayami pray. They do these chants that were a little startling to hear at first, but I quickly got used to it. I do know some people whose families like them to go to church or other religious meetings with them, but my family has never asked me to do anything like that.

Okay, that's it for now, unless I think of anything else to add later. I forgot to take a picture of the 2nd floor toilet that has all the nifty gadgets, but it's just a toilet so use your imagination!

Also, the microwaves here not simply microwaves. They are 3-in-1: microwave, oven, and toaster. Mind-blown, I want to bring one of these babies back with me.

Bonus random picture:

In a dressing room you have to wear this nifty mask thing to protect the clothes from the pounds of make-up Japanese girls wear. I was amused.