Holidays, Cultural Differences and Halloween!

Hello blog readers and welcome back,

As I write this I'm preparing for today's "Freak Show" Halloween Party at YGU iCLA. That is why I've decided for this week's topic to pertain to holidays and how they vary per culture. For example, Halloween is not a holiday that is officially recognized in Japan, many of the Japanese students here don't really seem to understand all the excitement we foreigners have been buzzing with the past couple weeks. However, Japan is a country that tends to adopt and borrow traditions, celebrations, etc. from outside influences. Although things like Halloween and Christmas aren't official, many Japanese people still choose to partake in the fun aspects of these holidays. I say the fun aspects because many of the meanings behind our American holidays (Christmas for example) do not apply in a Japanese context. Christianity is not a common religion in Japan, so for the Japanese people, the holiday is not about any religious content. Instead, Christmas in Japan is about colorful decorations, lights, and giving presents to the people you care about. The same goes for Halloween, though one could argue that Halloween's historic meanings are also not very important in a Western sense nowadays either. Halloween here (by here, I mean iCLA, where the Japanese students are influenced by the internationals) is about decorating the dorm units, costumes, and candy.

  
A drawing I did on our unit's whiteboard and a sign hanging in my room.

My unit particularly went all out as far as celebrating, one of my roommates, Seri, bought various little decorations at the 100 yen shop and together we hung them around the unit. We also have a ghost bucket on our common area table that we've been putting snacks in, to take a snack from the bucket, you have to follow our little rule of shouting "Trick-or-Treat" and anyone is welcome to do so. It's little things like these that make being abroad feel a little more like home, especially because Halloween is my favorite holiday and a big event for celebrating among my DubJay friends.

  
Halloween decorations outside the cafeteria and a special dessert to celebrate Halloween.

For the real deal Halloween on Sturday, a fellow W&J abroad student and I will be making our way around Tokyo and ending the day at a rumored celebration in Shibuya with some people from YGU's main campus and even more people from all over Japan.


Celebrating Halloween dressed up in Shinjuku. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

However, as for tonight's events, iCLA (for any new reader's, the international department at YGU) is holding a celebration called "Freak Show" which is mostly comprised of various forms of music, scary stories and a magic show. There will also be a costume contest for students to participate in. Beginning on Halloween and continuing until the end of the weekend is the school's annual festival, I'm not sure what exactly will be going on there, but the Intercultural Center (ICC) from the main campus (a place I've come to make several friends at) will be hosting an event called "Obake Yashiki" which is Japanese for a sort of haunted house event. Next week's post will be more detail on my trip to Tokyo and YGU's festival.

But until then, I'd like to advise anyone planning to go abroad to try showing some holiday spirit and include your roommates/friends in your host country. Also, don't be afraid to branch out from your immediate friend groups, it can be intimidating to go beyond a group of international students or students from your department, but by going to the main campus I was able to make close friends from other parts of the world. Finally, don't stress too much if you and your roommate(s) don't become the best of friends. I'm sharing a unit with 5 girls who've known each other for a long time and don't seem to have any desire of branching out of their little clique no matter how hard I try, that can be (from experience) very frustrating, but you can't force things like that, you just have to look elsewhere and find some friends you fit in with. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds!

Happy Halloween~!
Julia.

A Pleasant Surprise in Kofu

Hello and welcome back blog followers!

I'm back with another update on my studies and adventures here in warm sunny Japan (very pleasant compared to what I'm hearing from friends back in Pennsylvania!) However, the lovely weather is not the surprise I have in store for this post!

So, over the course of last week, while feeling a little bogged down and bored from classes and assignments, I resolved to reward myself that weekend with a trip into Kofu. For reference, I'm staying in Yamanashi prefecture, Kofu is one train station away (about 10-15 minutes or so), but to that point I hadn't really visited the little city too much. Anyways, the weekend arrived and me and two friends hopped on the train on a warm sunny Saturday afternoon bound for a day in Kofu. Combined the three of us had enough familiarity with Kofu to handle finding our way around, we first stopped at an information booth to see if we could find a map, then got a little sidetracked at a cute French-styled bakery in the station.


Couldn't say no to one of these cute little ghost doughnuts!

After getting back on track we found ourselves being pulled aside to take a survey on tourism in Kofu, which with mine and Anna's combined Japanese (and the kind survey giver's English) we were able to complete relatively well. As we continued our walk around we found several department stores, one was 8 floors with the top floor being a sort of marketplace that had vendors selling everything from food and art to musical instruments and clothes! It was an amazing experience, like being at a fair back home, but all contained to a rather crowded bustling floor of a department store.

  
Traditional Japanese instruments and sculptures at the 8th floor marketplace.

As we continued walking around we began seeing more and more little vendors set up around us, then we made our way to Ebisu Street (in ancient Japanese history, Ebisu is the God of Commerce, so in honor of that, Ebisu Street is known to be a shopping district in Kofu). Upon reaching Ebisu Street, we were hit with quite a surprise to see vendors packed along the street as far as we could see. We kept walking and passed a group of women in kimono that were absolutely gorgeous (this comes up again toward the end of the trip... Be patient.) We also stumbled upon a small stage where students from various local schools (elementary-high school) were performing dance routines. We got to a crossing and one of the crossing guards handed us a flyer, as luck would have it, this arbitrary day that I decided to go see Kofu, there was an annual one-day festival! We excitedly spent the remainder of the day seeing all the booths up and down the street, which were mostly selling amazing smelling foods or hosting games for little children to play.

  
A glimpse at Ebisu Street, bustling with excitement and things to do!

  
We even saw some Halloween decorations.

As the day began winding down, we decided to get heading back to campus, and on the way back we ran into a sort of parade being held by several groups of women wearing beautiful kimono and performing a sort of dance/march.

  
Part of the kimono parade, I couldn't get over how beautiful these kimono were!

https://www.facebook.com/julia.price.777/videos/444929052364031/?l=378171109621609603
(A link to a video of the kimono parade for anyone that may want to see it.)

We concluded this trip with a much needed caffeine break at a Starbucks near the station (I don't think I've ever had coffee from Starbucks since it's so expensive at home). Then we navigated our way back to the station and heading back to Yamanashi.

  

Sun starting to set as we walked back to the station.


What a lucky surprise to stumble upon a festival!

This lucky experience was just what I needed actually, I've always associated Autumn with festivals and county fairs from back home and was starting to miss that here. Being right in the middle of this festival completely by surprise has been one of my happiest experiences in Japan so far! So, some advice I can give anyone that may plan to study abroad: Just go with the flow now and then, not everything has to be a big expensive trip, sometimes you'll find the most fun one train station away, at the most unexpected time, in the most unexpected places.


Well, until next time, I hope you all have wonderful adventures and lucky surprises!

またね!

Julia.

"Why should I consider Study Abroad?"

Hello out there from surprisingly warm Kofu!

Ok, I know in last week's post I promised that this post would be about a trip to Shosenkyo and an art museum, however, I ended up not going out on the excursion due to gloomy weather. So instead, I've got a new topic lined up and ready to go! For any students out there reading this blog, I want to address the topic of studying abroad and why I firmly believe just about everyone should take this opportunity during their college years.

At first, I was quite anxious and afraid about going abroad, it meant being in a country I had never been to all by myself, it meant being away from my family, friends and boyfriend for a long time, and until this point I hadn't really needed to be extremely independent. These worries were quite strong at times, especially since YGU isn't a partner with W&J, so I'm the first W&J student to study abroad here! Those anxious feelings weren't overwhelming though, they would come and go and were periodically replaced by excitement and eager feelings.



That brings me to the topic, "Why should you consider studying abroad?" For me, going to Japan was almost a no brainer, I've dreamed of visiting Japan for years and I've been working to teach myself the language since I was in high school. But this isn't about why I chose to study abroad, I've already talked about that in a previous post, this is about you, the readers. Maybe you aren't interested in learning a language, maybe you'd rather just go to an English-speaking country, maybe you've never even thought about studying abroad.

While I've only been in Japan for about a month and a half, I've already noticed a lot of personal changes that I've undergone. For example, since being here I've become far more conscious of my spending habits, this has helped me a great deal in being more independent. I've set up a budget (as mentioned in a previous post) and I am sticking to it and managing to have a little left over each time. Living on my own (that is, without my family, friends, etc.) has given me the opportunity to depend on myself more, but that's not to say I haven't made several new friends here. It's also forced me to evaluate my friendships back home and decide which ones I need to put more effort into. Obviously while you are abroad (depending on time differences) it can be very challenging to maintain contact with people back home, so you have to decide for yourself which (if any) friends you're going to keep consistent contact with. For me, the obvious emphasis is on keeping touch with my boyfriend as best we can, however, I do keep pretty frequent contact with my sister and another friend back home. I've been using my time abroad to embrace my independence from my family, but I keep in touch every couple weeks or so. This brings me to the subject of relationships while abroad, you'll be away and enjoying time spent with new friends, so it can be challenging to maintain a long distance relationship. Specifically with a significant other, you have to make sure to sit down and discuss how things are going to work out while you are away. That is to say: Are you going to stay together (long distance style), are you going to take a pause/see other people, etc. It can be a difficult discussion, but it is absolutely necessary, you may even be surprised with how well you can maintain a relationship from the other side of the world (I know I am!)


All courses here (except Japanese) are taught in English, don't worry if you don't know the language!

Aside from the languages, it's an incredible experience to just be in another country, whether you've studied its culture extensively or not (keep in mind that if you decide to study abroad somewhere, a little research should be done on that countries norms, etc.) I can't describe enough how empowering it is to find yourself in a totally new country, surrounded by new culture, yet feeling perfectly comfortable. Honestly, I've not felt too homesick at all, because I love it here, if anything I just wish all my friends from home could be here with me since they're the ones I miss.


How could I want to leave when I have a view like this?!

So to wrap this up, I hope any student reading this post will consider studying abroad for even just a semester, it can be a challenging experience, but it is so unbelievably rewarding. I've gained so much independence and confidence in myself after being here for only a short time, and words cannot describe how amazing it is to be right in the middle of a brand new culture. If you have any questions about my experience abroad or just studying abroad in general, please comment on this post or feel free to get in touch with me through my W&J email or when I get back to campus (for any fellow Presidents that may be reading this).

Until next week,
Julia.

Temples and Shrines: A day out in Yamanashi

Hello blog readers!

I'm back again this week with pictures from my latest adventure in Yamanashi. I recently spent the day out walking around town with a friend and we visited several places in an attempt at geocaching. For those of you who may not know, geocaching is sort of like a modern day version of treasure hunting. Basically, someone makes a cache (some kind of container with a journal or some form of writing pad so that people that find it can document their visit) and hides it somewhere, they then go online and register this location. That's where the fun begins, geocaches range from very easy to locate to very challenging and can be found on all levels of terrain, requiring various experience/physical ability to retrieve. This trip, however, we kept it simple. I found that there are numerous low level caches around my campus, some in places I had already been wanting to visit. So we went out to Sakaorimiya shrine, just a short walk from campus.


Entrance to Sakaorimiya shrine (the maintenance crew was doing some landscaping)


The shrine's main building.


Some signs around the shrine complex.

We were able to find the location of the cache, but it seemed to have been removed. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find much about the history of this little shrine, but I did learn a bit about shrine etiquette here. Before going up the steps to a main shrine building, you are often required to rinse your hands at the little sink stations on site. there is a little pan provided from which you catch the water from the spout, then you pour it over one hand at a time before rubbing them together and proceeding to the shrine. This is to ensure that you are clean before going to the shrine (where you may be allowed to ring a bell after saying a prayer/making a wish.

Our next destination was Zenkoji temple, but on the way we found a small roadside shrine that I thought was lovely:


Roadside shrine with bell, incense and all.

The Zenkoji temple in Yamanashi is actually one of four total Zenkoji temples, the original one is a Buddhist temple located in Nagano. The replicas were built for fear that the original would be burned down during the mid 15th - 17th century.


Entrance gate of Zenkoji temple in Yamanashi.


Temple compound.


Beautiful koi pond with the Buddha off in the distance.


A better image of the massive Buddha sculpture.


Stone engraving outside of Zenkoji temple.


Wooden dragons protecting the entrance to the temple.


Burial monument in the afternoon sun.


Panoramic view of some of the burial monuments behind the temple.


A final picture of the temple before as we left the compound.

Japan really has such a rich history and it was an incredible experience to be standing in front of this enormous temple. No picture can really do justice to the size of these buildings and sculptures, and as I've been studying their histories in my art history class, I felt even more impressed getting to see one up close and personal. If you ever get the chance to visit Japan, make certain that you find time to go visit at least a few of these kinds of shrines and temples.

Well, that's all I have for this week, next week I'll be writing about my experience at Shosenkyo gorge, and adventure that I will be embarking on later this weekend. I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse at traditional Japanese architecture here in Yamanashi.

Until next week,
Julia.

How to Not Go Broke in Japan

Hi there and welcome to the next post blog readers!

So today I wanted to discuss how to maintain a reasonable budget during your study abroad. It can be incredibly tempting to want to travel around your host country, try lots of new foods, buy lots of gifts for your friends and family back home, etc. I completely understand all the temptation, it's a once in a lifetime experience and you don't want to miss out on even the smallest thing. Now, I've been hearing the other international students here talking about how they've been going into Tokyo almost every weekend, that is crazy to me! For perspective, Yamanashi is a couple hours outside of Tokyo and takes at least 2,000 yen or more for train fare there and back, If you aren't familiar with currency exchange rates for yen, it's about $40 USD... Every weekend. No way! Plus Tokyo is a huge attraction, lots of shops, places to eat, etc. So after hearing a few stories from the other internationals about how often they've been travelling and how much stuff they're buying, I'm shocked that they can afford to be here. This brings me to my topic, budgets.



*To make things simple, if I'm using $/dollars I mean US currency, if I use Yen, it means Japanese currency*

Myself personally, I've spent a lot of money to be here already and I'm working hard to remain frugal without compromising my experiences. How am I going about this you may ask? Well that's what I'm here to share! I've taken into account the amount of time I will be here in Japan, approximately 4 months. I've got about $500 USD (after inital travel fare from Haneda airport to YGU's campus and a small fee I had to pay the admin office.) Let's just say $500 to make things easy. I set aside $100 dollars for each month, which leaves me with an extra hundred at the end to get gifts for all my loved ones back home. $100 dollars a month, about 11,000 yen, not too hard to maintain.

When you first arrive to Japan you'll probably be overwhelmed by how cheap things seem, you may get a case of conversion syndrome as I've started calling it. That is to say you'll look at the cost of something and go "WOW! 100 Yen?! That's only like one dollar in the States!", but be warned, it adds up really quickly! One big recommendation I'd give for anyone coming to Japan: AVOID CONVENIENCE STORES!  Of course they're convenient, and they're everywhere, they may seem cheap at first too, but you will waste a lot of money shopping there. YGU has a convenience store right next to campus, and I only ever go there to get something I can't get at supermarkets (ie. a doughnut). On that note, find a grocery store near campus, they're pretty common, there are 2 grocery stores only a short walk from YGU, as well as, a 100 Yen (the equivalent of a $1 store back home) shop, drug stores, etc. that are so much cheaper.

Another important point, I'm not saying don't go out to big attractions like Tokyo, but be smart about it. Try to plan a weekend out if you can find a cheap little ryokan or hostel to rent for a night or two. Try to limit how often you're paying for trains while maximizing your time in the city. One thing that a lot of the students here can't seem to accept is that you don't have to be going out and doing something extravagant every weekend, sometimes you can just take a little stroll around town, stop in a store and look around, you don't have to be spending money and being in Japan does NOT have to be expensive. If your host university offers a meal plan, spring for the 7-day option if available, it may seem pricey, but it'll save you so much to not be eating out every weekend, then you can pick and choose when to treat yourself out at a restaurant without worrying about how much money you have left.

I've been in Japan for just over a month and I'm having no problems keeping on budget, on the contrary, I actually have about 5,000 Yen left over from September, that's almost half of the money I allotted for the month. I've gone out to restaurants, bought myself some groceries (cereal, bread, jam, snacks, etc.) I've been to Kofu and an art museum too. I'm not missing out by any means, but I'm not breaking my bank either. I'm in the process of planning a trip to Tokyo for Halloween weekend, so I'll be back soon with more from my adventures in Japan!

Until then, jaa ne!
Julia.

Do's and Do Not's in Japan: Sushi Edition

Welcome back blog readers!

Last week I posted a few of the cultural norms I've been learning since I arrived at Japan, this post will be a continuation of that topic, but with a much more focused subject: Sushi.
For those of you who enjoy eating sushi, you may be going against several unspoken rules and etiquette regarding how to eat sushi properly. Many of the "rules" I learned here were ones that I had broken frequently back at home in the states, and ones that I know my Western friends break as well. So let's get started on the Do's and Do Not's of sushi so you can wow everyone with your sophistication if/when you come to Japan!



For starters, say you're out eating sushi with some friends and you all get a shared plate with some various types of rolls and other sushi. It is perfectly alright to pick up the pieces of sushi you want with you fingers (be sure to wash your hands first though!) Some people consider using your fingers to be more appropriate than picking up pieces with chopsticks, as chopsticks can be difficult and can ruin the delicate arrangement of the ingredients that the sushi chef worked hard on. This goes for eating the sushi too, but be sure to follow the other rules too. Chopsticks must be used for ginger or wasabi!

When eating a piece of sushi, never bite the piece in half, it will cause everything to fall apart once you bite through the wrapping. As someone who only started eating sushi last year, this is the rule I had broken every single time. My mentality in doing so was that I didn't know if I would like the way it tasted and didn't want to put a big piece in my mouth only to dislike it. This is a rule I will not break anymore. Alright, so your eating sushi proficiently now, or so you think, make sure that when eating your piece of sushi (in one bite) that you are putting the fish side directly on your tongue. This is so that you can get the full flavor and freshness of the fish (it doesn't really apply to sushi rolls since they are usually the same on both top and bottom).

When you order sushi, you're also given ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. If you choose to use these condiments keep in mind the proper ways of doing so.
1. Wasabi: If you would like to add wasabi to your sushi, take a small dab (with chopsticks) and put it on top of the fish. Many types of sushi already have wasabi between the fish and rice. Do NOT mix the wasabi into the soysauce! This is one that my friends back home are guilty of.
2. Soy Sauce: When dipping your sushi in soy sauce, always dip the fish side. It's considered rude to dip the rice as the sushi chef worked hard to create a perfect texture, temperature, etc of the rice to compliment the fish and soaking it in soy sauce is like subtly saying that the rice is not good enough.
3. Ginger: Pieces of ginger are meant to be eaten between different types of sushi as a palette cleanser. Ginger should not be put on the sushi or eaten while the sushi is in your mouth, it also should not be added to the soy sauce. I have a cousin back home who likes to do this and I will be informing her about this post.

A few more generalized rules of etiquette when eating out in Japan:

• Do not rub your chopsticks together after breaking them. I've seen many of my friends doing this, its supposed to be a way to remove excess bits of the chopstick, it's considered very rude and is like telling the chef that the utensils are cheap. I promise you aren't going to get any kind of splinter or anything.
• Unlike in the West, you are not expected to leave a tip in Japan. Quite the opposite actually as it is considered rude, it's almost akin to saying that the chef cannot support himself doing his job. However, if you really enjoy a meal and want to thank the chef, treat him to a bit of sake to drink with you and your guests as a thank you for the delicious food he has prepared.
• When ordering sushi, you should try considering the types and order/eat more fatty types last so that the flavor of more fatty fish does not overpower that of lighter flavored fish. For example, you should consider eating a lighter fish piece, like snapper, before eating a piece with fatty tuna so that the strong tuna taste does not mask the taste of the snapper. (Using ginger between pieces can help too if you're like me and know next to nothing about fish).

I hope these little rules will be useful if you go out and enjoy sushi at a restaurant whether here in Japan or anywhere around the world, I'm sure your sushi chef will be pleased to see that the dish they worked hard on is being enjoyed properly. Also, these rules obviously don't apply for casual settings, and again the Japanese are very polite, so if you do happen to forget a rule or you slip up you don't have to worry about being yelled at, but if you follow them I'm sure you impress your Japanese friends.

じゃあまたね!

Julia.

Cultural Norms in Japan: "No! Don't Do That!"

Hello again from rainy Kofu! (Thanks to typhoon season things have kind of sleepy and dreary here.)

Anyways, this week I'm here to discuss, address, and explain just a few of the cultural and social norms, that I'm learning on my adventure in Japan.
So first, I want to take the time to give a VERY brief introduction to one point of Japanese culture for those of you who may not be familiar with Japan. At its core, the Japanese people and their culture are incredibly polite. They will do their absolute best not to offend or cause a scene in any situation. One very common thing I've noticed is that you will hear apologies for every little thing! That brings up another point, any time you apologize for anything, like being in someone's way on the street or something of sorts, the person you were blocking will say sorry too. It's so polite, people say "I'm sorry" or "Excuse me" or "Thank you" for everything wherever you go, I've heard these three phrases every where. So if you're planning on coming to Japan, be sure you at least know the phrases: "Gomen Nasai" (I'm sorry) and "Sumimasen" (Excuse me) and "Arigatou Gozaimasu" (Thank you very much).

So aside from that little bit of polite cultural information, I've ran into several interesting cultural/societal norms in the last few weeks here. Let's get to the fun!

1. Escalators. Escalators are everywhere in Japan! That may seem lazy at first, but just wait. Unlike back home in the states, everyone doesn't just cram onto an escalator and enjoy the ride. Here in Japan there are rules, escalator etiquette if you will. That being said, if you are taking an escalator and want to enjoy a few seconds or so standing around and letting technology do its thing, you had better be standing on the left side if you don't want to be an obvious outsider. On Japanese escalators, the right side is reserved for people who want to walk up the escalator. In America we see that as a little strange, like "Are you in that big of a hurry that you can't just wait a few seconds?" Well for some people in Japan, yes, yes they are. So do everyone (and yourself) a favor and be sure to remember this if you're coming to Japan.

2. Tissues. This is one I learned right before arriving, it is NOT acceptable to blow your nose in public here in Japan. That being said, I'll refer you back to my first little statement about how Japanese culture is incredibly polite, they aren't going to yell at you or cause any problem, it's just something that isn't socially accepted and will label you as a foreigner (not in a bad sense or anything, but if you want to really blend in, following native cultural norms is the way to go.) So as the weather is beginning to get colder, I've noticed quite a lot of sniffles when traveling around, I expect this will only get more common as cold season sets in. Which brings me to my next point...

3. Surgical Masks. If you know even a little about Japan or if you've seen pictures of Japanese people, you've probably noticed some of them wearing surgical masks. This is something unique and kind of cool in my opinion, whenever a Japanese person is coming down with/has a cold (or they want to avoid catching someone else's cold) they will cover their faces with a surgical mask. I think this is so considerate, I've yet to catch the bug that's been going around on my floor (which got 3 of my Japanese roommates) because they've all made an effort to keep their germs to themselves. *Excuse me as I go knock on wood before jinxing my current stroke of good luck.* So, if you're coming down with a cold or you're living in a dorm with several people and you don't want to catch a roommate's cold, you have a huge selection of masks to choose from. Surgical masks are even becoming a bit of a fashion item here in Japan, I just read a recent survey about how young people/teens wear them just because they think it's cool. They also come in different colors, designs, etc. at a range of prices so there's a lot of variety.


Princesses, Pooh Bear, etc. Surgical masks can have style!


Or for the not so flashy, you can stick with plain white.

So these are only a few little cultural norms that I've been exposed to thus far, I know quite a lot more regarding sushi etiquette, but that's a whole post in itself. I hope you found this little cultural differences interesting. If you like, post some other Japanese norms in the comment section, or even cultural norms of other countries.

またね,
Julia.