Meiji Jingu

Being a polytheist, I have a healthy respect for foreign deities, so I decided that it would be a good idea to pay my respects to the local gods of Japan as soon as possible. Since I'm staying for a whole year, it would be a bad idea to offend the gods by neglecting to introduce myself.

Luckily for my dormmates and I, we are very close to Harajuku, home of the Meiji Jingu, a shinto shrine dedicated to the souls of Emperor Meiji and his consort, Empress Shoken. Here is a little bit of information about the Emperor and Empress:

Though their tombs are in Kyoto, their spirits are worshipped at the Meiji shrine in Tokyo (Harajuku is a district in Tokyo). They passed away in 1912 and 1914 respectively, but the effects of the Emperor's policy of an open and internationally-minded Japan can be seen today in Japan's involvement on the world stage. Emperor Meiji, the great-grandfather of the present emperor, ascended the throne in 1867 and helped Japan come out of its long period of isolation. Empress Shoken was known for her devotion to national welfare and women's education. Also concerned with world affairs, the Empress donated a fund in her name to the International Red Cross which is still used for welfare activities today. Both were accomplished waka poets, and their sincere hearts dedicated to the people can be seen in their poetry.

The first image was the entrance to the shrine complex, and this is outside the entrance. There is water in that platform, and you take one of the wooden dippers and wash your hands and mouth thinking pure thoughts before you can pray in the shrine.

This is a wall on which hangs thousands of prayers written by visitors on wooden plaques. Most were in Japanese, but a good number were in English, too.










This is the inner shrine where you pray. I introduced myself to the gods and asked for a good school year in Japan. Since it's Emperor Meiji, I didn't think he'd mind that I'm a gaijin (foreignor). There are also a few offering boxes where you throw in money for the shrine. I made sure to donate, just in case it helps to win the gods to my side.

Afterwards, we bought some charms from the temple priestesses. I bought one for mental and physical health that I attached to my cell phone and another for my studies, which I hung on my mirror. I'm gonna need all the help I can get!

The Quirks of Japan

A few days ago, I felt my first tremor. It was AWESOME!

It was very early in the morning and I was still asleep in bed, when light shaking woke me up. It wasn't really intense, but I could hear the furniture shifting and I could feel myself shaking in the bed. Here was my exact train of thought:

Why is everything shaking?
Oh, this is an earthquake. Cool.
I really hope my laptop doesn't fall off the desk...

And then I fell right back asleep without having moved at all. Talk about nonchalant!

When I finally did wake up, I was half-convinced it was just a dream, so I went to my neighbor's for confirmation. There had been an earthquake and unlike normal foreigners who went straight to their ridiculously large earthquake survival manuals issued by city hall, I stayed in bed and went back to sleep! I am so doomed.

At least I didn't sleep through it. Poor Maggie did! She got an email on her phone ten minutes after it was over asking if she felt it. She woke up for her phone, but completely missed the earthquake! She was so bummed. I told her not to worry; if we're lucky, we'll get another one this semester. It's probably asking for trouble, but I really want to feel one again! If a great fissure opens up in the ground and I fall into it, it will serve me right.

There are other quirks of Japan and the Japanese that I do not appreciate nearly so much. Like the staring thing. My god, I hate the staring. Not only is it ridiculously annoying, but it doesn't make sense to me! Hi! You live in Tokyo! I know I am not the first white person you have ever seen!

Some people are a lot better about it than others, though. Like, when I get onto a train, maybe a few old men or women will glance at me, but then they'll look away after a moment. Like they just want to confirm that I am, in fact, a gaijin, and that's that. Fine. But not all are so discreet. Yesterday, this ojisan kept staring at me when I wasn't directly looking at him. I could be focusing right in his immediate vicinity and he would have no problem staring right up at my face. Only when I glanced down and met his eyes did he finally look away. But then I'd look away again, and he'd go right back to staring.

But the WORST case, by FAR, was at a restaurant where two of my friends and I were eating. It was one of those chain, not-quite-fast-food restaurants where the tables are very close together. We had been eating next to this middle-aged man, perfectly normal, and then he finished and stood to gather his things. The ENTIRE TIME he was hovering over his table, he was staring DIRECTLY at Maggie, who is Chinese Canadian, sitting two feet from where he stood. How obvious can you get!? I kept looking at him hoping he wold see me and look away, but he refused to be distracted from Maggie's face. Luckily, she was so engrossed in conversation, she didn't notice. When he finally left and I told her about it, she was appropriately creeped out.

I just don't understand how Tokyoites can be so rude and unrestrained in their staring. If I lived in a little village in the mountains, yes, staring would be expected and appropriate. But Tokyo!? I see at least ten other white foreigners every day; there is no way I can be that unique to them. Right?

Now I understand what my sensei meant by "the panda effect". It doesn't matter if they've seen one before, it's different and strange (and sometimes really cute) and they can't help but stare. Sometimes they even want to touch, if you have unique hair or something. For that reason, I bought a panda bear charm for my cell phone. Appropriate, don't you think?

As long as it's just staring, I can live. But if anyone tries to pet my hair or something, I may react like an actual panda and take someone's arm off. Be warned, Japan. Look, don't touch.

Sightseeing in Minato-ku

The day after I arrived in Tokyo, I joined a group of dorm-mates for a sight-seeing excursion. Well, our intention was to go to campus to open our bank accounts, but it turned into an excursion.

This was the first view of our school, Keio University:

This is the main gate of Keio. Its seal and motto are written above the archway.

The campus is very nice, very green. For being in such an urban setting, it's surprisingly secluded inside. There are a lot of trees on the campus; my experiences so far tell me that places with a lot of trees are of great significance.

Keio is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year; it is the oldest university in Japan, even older than Tokyo University. Of course, 150 years isn't very old for us Americans or Europeans, but it wasn't until the mid-1800s that Japan went through a large educational reform and formal institutions of higher learning were introduced. Keio's founder, Yukichi Fukuzawa, is featured on the 10,000yen (roughly $100) bill. In the school's vice president's orientation speech, he compared Fukuzawa to Ben Franklin; both were educated civilians who made a huge impact on their societies (and both are on the $100 bill).

After visiting our school-to-be, we decided to walk over to Tokyo Tower; there is an amazing view of it from the street in front of Keio, and we had no idea it was so close.

Built in 1958, Tokyo Tower is the tallest self-supporting steel structure in the world; it is 8.6 meters taller than the Eiffel Tower. It symbolizes Japan's emergence as an economic power on the world stage.

You can pay a small fee to up to the mid-level observation deck, but we did one better and paid extra for the small special observation deck near the top of the tower. We had an amazing view in every direction! On a clear day (it was too cloudy on ours), you can see Mount Fuji to the west.




It wasn't until we were standing up on the top deck, surveying the city spread out below, that I was finally able to believe that Tokyo really is the largest city in the world.

There was literally no end in sight.

Tabemono to Ketai

I knew that the food here in Japan would be different (duh), but I didn't realize what an adjustment it would be.

In a lot of ways, I'm eating much better here. Meals are generally cheaper; at local restaurants, I can get a pretty large meal for less than $10, sometimes less than $5. They usually come with side dishes, like rice, miso soup, and some kind of vegetable. Here is a Korean beef bowl I had the other day:

(I have no idea why it's sideways. I can't fix it. Sorry.)


However, other foods are much more expensive than I'm used to. Because Japan imports most of their fruits and veggies, they're quite pricey. A small bunch of bananas cost $3, and an apple (yes, one apple) costs $1 or more. I'm used to having fruit several times a day, so this makes me extremely sad. However, if you do buy produce, the quality is excellent compared to the states, where it's very hit or miss. I bought a package of plums and they are really good!

Drinks are a bit different, too. Something really convenient about Tokyo is that there are drink vending machines EVERYWHERE. Like, literally every 50 feet there is at least one vending machine. At first I thought this was weird, but after walking all over town in 85 degrees, I understand.

I was somewhat confused at first about the brands of vending machines, though. Just like Pepsi or Coke machines, the brand appears on the machine and related products can be purchased. However, many machines here have brand names like Kirin or Suntory, famous beers and whiskeys. At first I thought, "Oh my gosh, you can beer in a vending machine!" but on closer inspection, I discovered that most of these alcohol companies also produce water, softdrinks, and coffee. It would be like going to a vending machine in America and buying Budweiser brand water! I'm still getting used to see people with water bottles that say "Asahi".

Last week, my friends and I went out and bought cell phones. Maggie, who has three years of language experience, did most of the talking, but we all agreed that a phone that would work in our home countries as well as Japan would be best. We went through the AU phone company; their plans were very affordable and if you're under 22 years old, they give you $100 back. That will really come in handy when we have to cancel our 2-year plans in a year: it's roughly $160, much like US companies.

I don't know if it's the group mindset of Japan, but we all got the same phone and the same voice/email package. The phones were free and the plans are $30 a month- a great deal! They're super awesome Sony Ericson phones, and we all got to choose different colors. Here's my ketai:















My favorite feature of our phones is the profile exchange. You press a button on your phone, hold it up to someone else's, and your profile information gets exchanged and put into each others' phone book. Since we have an email address as well as a phone number, this is much more convenient. American phones really need to catch up!

My room

As promised, here are some pics of my dorm room in Willing Setagaya.



Not only am I really happy about my room, but I really like the other students in my dorm. Everyone is very friendly and excited to be here. We have a wide range of Japanese experience, from absolute beginners with no previous study to those who seem fairly fluent already. I fall comfortably in the middle; I can function pretty well and get around, ask for directions, etc, but it helps to have some of the more fluent students around for things like buying cell phones.


Also, as far as I know, I am one of only two Americans in my dorm; the great majority of people here are European. So far, we have students from Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Austria. Canada, China, and Singapore are also represented. I've never had such a wonderful opportunity to meet people from foreign countries before, so I'm really excited.

Oh god, jet lag...

oh. my. god. TOKYO!!!!

I'm here! Yay! It's my second day in the big city, and though I'm reeeeaaaalllly tired and jet-lagged (and it's only 8:45am), I'm really excited to wander around today and explore. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

The flight over was really nice. Whoever was supposed to sit next to me didn't show up, so I had the entire row to myself; I got to watch free movies that haven't come out yet on DVD; and the food was better than expected.

But it was Narita airport that really took the cake! Everything is handled so smoothly and efficiently, the luggage carts are free and much more manuverable than at US airports, and there is always a uniformed employee nearby ready to assist you. I usually find traveling to be very stressful for me, so I was very impressed by Narita.

I got to my dorm without incident and the landlords, Mr. and Mrs. Kato, gave me the grand tour and told me the dorm rules. It's all pretty common sense, expect for the trash. There are about 10 different categories of trash, and you have to throw them away in the correct bins or it's a big problem. I'm not relishing the idea of having to sort through my garbage by hand all the time, but if I take care of it every morning, it shouldn't be too bad.

The first floor is largely taken up by the lobby, which is currently filled with piles and piles of items left behind by the previous students. It's like having a free WalMart downstairs! I ended up getting a lot of items I thought I'd have to hunt down and buy: clothes hangers, laundry detergent, a pot and skillet, glasses and utensils, etc. And when it's time for me to leave, I, too, shall bequeath my leftovers to future residents.

I'm especially grateful to the past residents because the grocery store is very intimidating and difficult to navigate. There are so few food items I recognize, and the ones I do (such as fruit) are ridiculously expensive. So far all the foodstuffs I've bought are edamame and red bean buns. Now I understand why Americans always lose weight when they go to Japan: they don't know what to eat!

It's also very difficult to identify household items I need. Some things, like paper towels, are easily recognizable, but I couldn't figure out if a bottle was lotion or face wash; all the face, hair, and body products were sitting next to each other, so I couldn't tell what it was for sure.

Luckily, I have a couple of weeks before school starts to demistify the grocery store. I'm going to need them.

I'm super tired, so I'm gonna sign off. I'll include a video and pics of my room in my next update. Stay tuned!

Can you put a price on knowledge?

If there is one thing I've learned about studying abroad before I've even left, it's that going abroad for a year is EXPENSIVE!

Okay, I knew that living in Tokyo for eleven months was going to up my expenses considerably (why else would I apply for extra scholarships/loans?), but having to purchase several months' worth of so many items at once is seriously taking its toll on my savings account.

The costs of my various medicines and prescriptions are really adding up; I take seven pills/supplements a day, plus contact lenses and other medicines I need for various health issues. It doesn't help that I was recently diagnosed with a disease whose monthly medication costs about $100; you don't wanna know how much it costs without health insurance! You know that saying: "At least you have your health"? Yeah, I wish.

My flight leaves in roughly 35 hours, and I'm beginning to feel the butterflies. I'm devoting most of my time tomorrow to packing (duh) and studying. The JLP placement test is Friday, so I have quite a bit of work to do. Luckily, I happen to be an expert crammer (short-term photographic memory), so I should fare just fine. Except the kanji... always the kanji... I maintain that if it were not for the existence of kanji, Japanese would be one of the easiest languages to learn.

Time to get some shut eye; oyasumi nasai!