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Long Time, No Blog....Again
I'm horrible, yes. I've been skimping on such much needed reporting and I apologize with every ounce of humility that is left after one profoundly insightful trimester here in Japan. I don't want to use the worn out bullshit excuse "I have no time," because truthfully, all I have is time. I'm only three months into this 10 month deal. I'm also broke and Tokyo is expensive. I don't have the funds to be hopping trains just to browse the miles of ridiculously expensive clothing and useless knick knack shops. Right now I'm on Autumn break, so, as aforementioned, I'm simply biding my time before Round 2 starts December 2nd. Although, I did go with a few classmates to Hakone this past week for a two day backpacking trip, which I will explain in greater detail later.
What I want to do in this entry, though, is lay out a sort of table of contents/timeline in a desperate attempt to play catch up. Hardly exciting, I know, but it will also serve as a quick overview of what has been going on since my writing has pretty much been MIA for the last 3 months. Please bear with me.
September:
Perhaps the hardest month to endure. The heat. The nostalgia. The adjustments that needed to be made. The heat. This was when I realized what a nonentity I was in this overcrowded metropolis. Believe it or not, this is when I needed to hang on to my identity for dear life. If I were gaijin (specifically "white"), everybody would either gawk over my appearance with a sort of dubious fascination and curiosity, or glare daggers in my direction when I wasn't looking; I'd be a minority. I am a minority, even moreso than the traditional gaijin. But in this society, I am largely ignored with the exception of a few strange looks, most likely from people who are probably either wondering what the hell I am or thinking that I'm one ugly-ass guy/girl. Other things that happened this month: I went to my dear friend Yuka's house. I also went with Yuka to Kamakura, home of the Great Buddha and the kyuudo demonstration that I wrote about last time.
October:
Highlight of this month in three words: TOKYO. GAME. SHOW. Yes, I joined the march of the geeks and took part of a pilgrimmage to the Makuhari Messe where everyone got to pay a visit to the various shrines devoted their favorite games, guarded and maintained by vestal video-gaming vixen priestesses known as "booth babes." As for me, I stayed in Capcom's section and drooled over the awesomeness that was Resident Evil 5. I saw some disturbing and wonderful things that day...ranging from witnessing a middle-aged man cosplaying as some character from Sailor Moon to falling in love with virtual violence all over again. Other highlights of the month: being named a Takase scholar, discovering Takarazuka Revue, watching a documentary about the Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and their contemporaries.
November:
I didn't mention it in October's paragraph, but that was around the time that I started getting more curious about the darker side of Japan that NO ONE wants to talk about. It wasn't until the beginning of this month that I bought a book from the ICU bookstore titled "Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation". The honeymoon stage of culture shock was over long ago, but I just didn't really get into questioning the underside of Japanese society until I realized that I shouldn't be afraid of being labeled a "racist" for wanting to dig further beyond the happy happy joy joy bullshit that gets spewed in my face on a daily basis. Hell, up until we dodged the blazing comet-sized ball of shit that was John McCain and *shudder* Sarah Palin, I was embarrassed to call myself American. I'm still a little bit wary of divulging my nationality. However, I must say, witnessing Barack Obama being elected the first African-American President of the United States made me feel like basking in a little unapologetic patriotism. More on that later. Other stuff this month: hobnobbing with Takase company officials, my trip to Hakone, and most importantly, KENDO.
I don't know which, if any, people are most interested in hearing about. But if there is something you just HAVE to hear about right away, let me know. Also, now, more than ever, do I need people to review my writing. I'm missing out on advanced English classes that I should be taking now at St. Lawrence rather than being here, so I need to stay sharp. Again I apologize for the skimpy reporting and will be getting my ass in gear.
What I want to do in this entry, though, is lay out a sort of table of contents/timeline in a desperate attempt to play catch up. Hardly exciting, I know, but it will also serve as a quick overview of what has been going on since my writing has pretty much been MIA for the last 3 months. Please bear with me.
September:
Perhaps the hardest month to endure. The heat. The nostalgia. The adjustments that needed to be made. The heat. This was when I realized what a nonentity I was in this overcrowded metropolis. Believe it or not, this is when I needed to hang on to my identity for dear life. If I were gaijin (specifically "white"), everybody would either gawk over my appearance with a sort of dubious fascination and curiosity, or glare daggers in my direction when I wasn't looking; I'd be a minority. I am a minority, even moreso than the traditional gaijin. But in this society, I am largely ignored with the exception of a few strange looks, most likely from people who are probably either wondering what the hell I am or thinking that I'm one ugly-ass guy/girl. Other things that happened this month: I went to my dear friend Yuka's house. I also went with Yuka to Kamakura, home of the Great Buddha and the kyuudo demonstration that I wrote about last time.
October:
Highlight of this month in three words: TOKYO. GAME. SHOW. Yes, I joined the march of the geeks and took part of a pilgrimmage to the Makuhari Messe where everyone got to pay a visit to the various shrines devoted their favorite games, guarded and maintained by vestal video-gaming vixen priestesses known as "booth babes." As for me, I stayed in Capcom's section and drooled over the awesomeness that was Resident Evil 5. I saw some disturbing and wonderful things that day...ranging from witnessing a middle-aged man cosplaying as some character from Sailor Moon to falling in love with virtual violence all over again. Other highlights of the month: being named a Takase scholar, discovering Takarazuka Revue, watching a documentary about the Hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) and their contemporaries.
November:
I didn't mention it in October's paragraph, but that was around the time that I started getting more curious about the darker side of Japan that NO ONE wants to talk about. It wasn't until the beginning of this month that I bought a book from the ICU bookstore titled "Shutting Out the Sun: How Japan Created Its Own Lost Generation". The honeymoon stage of culture shock was over long ago, but I just didn't really get into questioning the underside of Japanese society until I realized that I shouldn't be afraid of being labeled a "racist" for wanting to dig further beyond the happy happy joy joy bullshit that gets spewed in my face on a daily basis. Hell, up until we dodged the blazing comet-sized ball of shit that was John McCain and *shudder* Sarah Palin, I was embarrassed to call myself American. I'm still a little bit wary of divulging my nationality. However, I must say, witnessing Barack Obama being elected the first African-American President of the United States made me feel like basking in a little unapologetic patriotism. More on that later. Other stuff this month: hobnobbing with Takase company officials, my trip to Hakone, and most importantly, KENDO.
I don't know which, if any, people are most interested in hearing about. But if there is something you just HAVE to hear about right away, let me know. Also, now, more than ever, do I need people to review my writing. I'm missing out on advanced English classes that I should be taking now at St. Lawrence rather than being here, so I need to stay sharp. Again I apologize for the skimpy reporting and will be getting my ass in gear.
It seems that despite of being busy and financial crisis (I've heard that it's worldwide :) you still manage to keep active in socializing and making discoveries. That's really cool!
I'm kind of surprised that someone saw you as a gaijin and have absolutely no idea which generation is considered lost in Japan. And yeah, if I was a US citizen I would definitely be proud of the president election results too.
Your writing seems awesome to a purely tech persone I am. As to what I would like to hear more of would be kendo (of course :) and, maybe, just more photos in general. Luckily, I did get to see nearly all the photos you posted during the kendo party and those were awesome!