One semester down...

So I've made it through 1st semester, and it's finally 秋休み Fall Break!
We covered all of ASJ (Advanced Situational Japanese) and all but the last two chapters of 待遇表現 "Formal Expressions for Japanese Interaction" so I think you could say it's been a pretty busy semester (and that was just in the 午前 morning class!).
The 午後 afternoon class this semester was mostly news articles on various political/social topics, which were combined with various listening and writing exercises in and out of class. I don't know whether it was just the fact that everyone was tired and in a post-lunch coma, but it always seemed much more of a struggle than the 午前 class. I wasn't terribly interested in the subject matter, and I didn't find the class really to have as good an atmosphere as my 午前 class. In addition to the post-lunch thing, there just never seemed to be a good flow to the conversation. Sort of self-important sounding personality types (in class at least) plus some *really* sloooow talkers, and the class just dragged.
Thurs afternoon and Friday morning we had the 午後 and 午前 class exams, respectively. The Thurs exam was a bit rough--extreme tiredness + lack of studying--but the Friday one seemed to go OK.
Once the break ends, we start new classes, with (theoretically at least) new classmates and teachers too. I'm pretty excited about my new sensei--some that I know from 1st semester, some that I've just heard good things about. As for the classmates, my new afternoon class is mostly names I don't recognize (in katakana at least) or just haven't had class with, so we'll see how that goes. But the morning class for 2nd semester is, with one new addition, exactly the same as my 1st semester afternoon class--which makes me a little apprehensive, but I'll keep an open mind and we'll see how things go.

This week

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened this week, but I thought I'd do a blog post anyway (this will happen from time to time).

Class
So last week was our first test (on an entire textbook!) and, having finished that, we've moved on to the second text that IUC uses, called 待遇表現, or in English "Formal Expressions for Japanese Interaction." It covers all sorts of polite forms, as well as real-life situations that we're likely to encounter--everything from how to call Information, to how to tactfully refuse a request from a superior without pissing them off or offending them. All in all, it's basically a two-week crash course in the Japanese group sensibility.

Kyudo
Practice has been kind of 少ない these past couple weeks, with the result that I only got to go once last week, and twice this week. But to make up for it, the second time (Saturday) was the club's 月例会 monthly practice tournament, which is always lots of fun (and they give out prizes! not that I've gotten any yet...). I got to go to the one last month, too, and put forth a pretty decent showing. Yesterday, however, was another story, and I went 0-for-10. Oh well. I do partially blame it on the fact that since Wednesday, I've been using a different bow. Since I don't have my own, I've been using the club's bows, and up til now I was using an 11-kilo bow--as of Wed however, Matsuzawa-sensei decided (for a variety of reasons) to switch me to a 12.5-kilo one, which is definitely taking some getting used to. I was *super* sore on Wed after practice :-/ But whatever, I guess it's a learning experience, でしょう。

Etc.
Not a whole lot going on that front this weekend, it was pretty quiet. There was a plan to go see some art exhibition in Roppongi on Sat (which I wouldn't have been able to go to anyway, cause of kyudo), but apparently that got scrapped at the last minute, due to lack of participation. On Friday, after class, I did go out to dinner with some people (Jason, Connor, Andy, and the two Amys). Incidentally, we went to TGI Friday's (yes, they have those in Japan--as well as Denny's and 7-11...neither of which are nearly as sketchy as their US counterparts--but then, Japan's like that).
Anyway, after a good old-fashioned American dinner (and one enormous margarita), we all made the trek over to Connor's house for a movie party, which really ended up being quite a party. I swear, like half of IUC was there. Normally we wouldn't be able to pull off something like that, but Connor happens to be living in an actual house, that he's renting from some professor and sharing with 3 other IUC-ers. It's REALLY nice, and I am quite jealous. So we packed close to 25 people into the living room (cause, since it's a house, they *have* a living room), and settled in to watch "Paprika," one of Satoshi Kon's (Tokyo Godfathers, &c) more recent movies. It's about this girl, Paprika, who can travel into people's dreams, sort of for psychoanalytic purposes--an amazing movie, and a real head-tripper. I also had the music stuck in my head for the rest of the night (in the good way--it's the same person who did the music for Paranoia Agent, if that rings any bells).


And lastly...only one more week until 秋休み～ Fall Break～!!!!!!!!

Beer～!

So, 2 weekends ago (late, late, I know...) we had some pretty fun activities going on. First off, it was a really short week--not only a Monday-off 3-day weekend (gotta love all those Japanese national holidays...even if I have no idea what it's celebrating...), but that Friday was also "Yokohama Day." In other words~~FIELD TRIP~~!
There were two options that you could pick from: 1) hiking [please--it was like a million degrees that day!], or 2) going to the Prefectural History Museum and then the Kirin Beer Factory.

Guess which one I picked?

The Kirin factory was pretty interesting--well, it was mostly just taking this tour around, like "this is how beer is made," and "if you'll look down below, you can see the assembly line where we put the beer in bottles." That sort of thing. But, at the end of the tour, everybody got 2 coupons for free glasses of beer! Which of course is the point of going to these things (lol).
Here's a candid photo I snapped of some of the IUC-ers.
(apologies to everyone who's weird mid-swallowing facial expressions I am exposing).

Then, the following day (Saturday) was the start of Yokohama's Oktoberfest! Yes, they have those in Japan, too. Lol. It was held in a big tent out by the 赤レンガ倉庫 Red-Brick Warehouse, which is a collection of Meiji/Taisho era brick buildings, now mostly housing restaurants and shops, &c. At any rate, they had a huge tent set up, under which were lots of long tables, a stage, and all of the beer and food stalls. I went over to check it out with Jason, and two other girls from IUC, Molly and Misa.At the stage up front, there were various groups performing in full-out German leiderhosen (or however you spell it). And a whole lot of gaijin who appeared to be actual Germans had showed up (for a taste of their home beer, perhaps?). There was this one song that kept getting played, every half hour or so--I didn't recognize it, but the Japanese all seemed to get very excited whenever it came on, with lots of standing on tables and swaying of mugs, and such. There were even several conga lines. The Japanese are, on the whole, a rather serious lot--but when they cut loose, they *really* go all out.

But cultural literacy counts for something...right?

So, I have a bad habit. Well, several actually, but the one that's coming to mind at the moment is the one where I spend many many hours--hours which could perhaps be devoted to homework--watching Japanese dramas. I mean, they're in Japanese after all...so it's sort of a form of studying...right?
Anyway, this past weekend was 「たった一つの恋」 "Just One Love." As you can probably tell from the title, it's your basic sappy, tragic love story--in this case about a blue-collar boy who falls for a rich girl (who just happens to be recovering from leukemia...). Not a bad example of the genre by any means, so interesting to me (cause I'm a sucker for those types of stories).
But the reason I started watching it in the first place is because I had heard that the story takes place in Yokohama, so watching the show for me really became more about playing the "oh--I've been there!" game. Pacifico Yokohama was in the background of practically every other shot, and I recognized a whole bunch more places--and found even more that made me think, "oh, I'll have to go there sometime!" Just another reminder that I seriously live in one of the coolest cities ever!
I was reminded of that again tonight, walking home. I stopped in after school at this grocery store near Pacifico, that I'd heard from other students was really good. Anyway, it was dark by the time I started home, and it was just absolutely gorgeous walking along the water, amid all the skyscrapers all lit up, and the giant ferris wheel flashing all different colors...
I really love Yokohama.

Kyudo! (But Yokohama, this time)

It took a couple weeks to get set up, but since I got to Yokohama, I've been able to start up kyudo again at the Kanagawa Kenritsu Budokan (a budokan means "martial arts hall," in this case for kyudo, kendo, and judo). The left is a picture, of part of the budokan at least--cause it's a huge, sprawling complex. It's right next to Kishine Park (which explains the greenery), a straight shot on the subway, about 30 mins door-to-door. It's an absolutely beautiful dojo, and I'm really lucky to be able to practice there.



Here's another picture, of the entranceway to the budokan. You can't really see, but there's a little zen rock garden just to the right of the path. And, that's actually a kyudo person coming out of the doors--you can see, he's carrying a bow. The kyudojo is just through the entranceway and off to the left, sort of the part that you can see in the first picture. I've officially become a member of the 若葉会, Wakabakai (literally "young leaves club"), which is one of the groups that uses the budokan for practice. The schedule changes month to month, but I usually get to practice 2~3 times a week, which is pretty good. I can use one of the club's bows, but because most of the members have their own equipment (this is Japan, after all), it became necessary for me to buy my own arrows, and a few other things.
Matsuzawa-sensei (who has been *incredibly* nice to me ever since I first came) took me to a kyudo shop in Tokyo, Asahi Archery, to buy my stuff. Amazingly enough, Asahi is owned by the Onuma family--i.e. the family that my sensei from NC lived and studied under for about 10 years when he was in Japan. They were all very excited to hear that I was one of Dan's; in addition, several of the people there had gone to NC for the opening of Dan's dojo (probably about 7 years ago, now). They were incredibly nice, showing me lots of pictures, and I also got a fair amount of free stuff, partially because I'd been Dan's student, and partially because I was "cute." ;-) (Not gonna argue with that!)
Afterwards, Matsuzawa-sensei took me around the area a little bit, which she said was like the "Obaa-chan's Shinjuku." ;-p We browsed through some shops, visited a local temple, then stopped and had some tea and mochi.
At any rate, it was one of the most fun days I've had in a long time.

Where I live

So, I promise I'll get some pictures taken of the apartment and stuff soon (or maybe I won't...it's kinda messy....) but in the meantime, I can talk about Isezaki a little bit, and stuff.
I live in a ウイクリーマンション, Weekly Mansion--don't worry, "mansion" in Japan means "apartment building." Why, I don't know. And, a weekly mansion is sort of like an extended-stay hotel--has a kitchenette and all the furniture, and you can rent it by the week--but people also stay there for longer periods of time, and treat it like a regular apartment. In my case, it's a cheaper option than a regular apartment since 1) I get a discount through IUC, and 2) I don't have to buy furniture or pay key money (a feature of apartment-hunting in Japan, which is similar to the US security deposit or first & last months' rent).
The area around where I live is known as Isezaki, and is a really neat/convenient area, mainly because of the nearby 商店街, shoutengai, or shopping arcade, which is an amazing place consisting of at least a mile's worth of shops and restaurants. Basically everything I'll ever need can be found in there (see left picture for a shot of one part of the street).
Even though my building is only about two blocks away from Isezaki, the address is actually Yayoi-cho, which has a slightly different reputation (if not reality). It's funny, whenever I tell Japanese people about where I live, if I say Isezaki, it's "oh, fun! What an interesting place to live!" But the one time I said Yayoi-cho, immediately it was "危ない！Dangerous! Be careful walking around." :-) In reality it's not that bad, and like I said, I'm practically in Isezaki anyway. It's just that Yayoi-cho (particularly along the one street separating my building from the shoutengai) tends to have a rather high density of "massage parlors" and such-type establishments. And there are certainly some interesting characters wandering around sometimes, but nothing too worrisome--especially compared to places in the US!
All in all, so far I'm loving it.

Well if you're going to call it procrastination...

Clearly, it is more fun to spend time fiddling around on youtube and finding fun J-pop videos, than it is to do my homework for tomorrow.
Hence, the above newness (the radio player I had up before wasn't nearly as cool).
Anyway, it's a random assortment of songs that I think are fun, so enjoy!

~sarah