And of course by this I mean, the day that classes actually began…

It started of as bright and cheerful as any other day so far—the sun was shining, life was good—until I showed up at the classroom and learned just what I’d let myself in for.

I suppose that sounds a bit dire, and it’s not that it’s going badly or anything, but it just made me realize how much of a gap there is between what I know about Japanese and what I have yet to learn. Our morning teacher, Kishi Sensei, led us through the usual introductions and then dove straight into our topics for the day: potential verbs and the use of “し” (shi) in connecting multiple reasons to an explanation. We learned a bunch of new vocabulary, and it seems that every time I was called on to do something I drew the short straw and got one of the words (especially verbs) that I didn’t know. Sigh…

I met with Yasu (my Monday/Wednesday CP) and we had lunch in one of the student cafeterias—the Ramen was good and inexpensive. Once again, I was immediately aware of the great gap in my abilities to speak and understand and felt like an idiot half the time. I know that this is always the case when one picks up a new language—especially adults—because it’s absolutely impossible to even begin expressing yourself at the same linguistic level you normally use in your own language. It was fine though, and fun watching all the other students. Yasu showed me his speech for the upcoming English speech contest (at which we’ll be “celebrity judges”) and it was really great! I had only a few tiny suggestions and know he’ll do a great job. He’s pretty excited because the winner of the contest gets ¥50,000 in prize money—around $500.

Our afternoon teacher, Ikushima Sensei (生島先生）kicked off with introductions again and we watched 3 episodes of the (in)famous “Yan-san and the Japanese People” (やんさんと日本の人々) video which was kind of entertaining and brought back some nostalgia from last semester at Pierce. It’s completely different, though, when you listen to it here and have to actually understand everything—it was a good exercise in just how fast Japanese people speak! The next topic was to begin planning what we would do with the children at the Sumire Kindergarten when we visit them on July 6. Now that’s going to be nerve-wracking—we get to have little kids talk rings around us! Actually, it’s going to be lots of fun and we’re going to sing some songs and play games with them in English and Japanese. Finally, we ended up with the afternoon CPs and rotated around through the room just talking about things, asking questions and generally practicing. Though that’s tough and uncomfortable—at least for me—it’s really beginning to help.

Back to the dorms, completely wiped out, I spent the rest of the evening studying, doing my shukudai (homework) and running a load of wash. While completing my written homework, I even learned a few new kanji on the fly and am fast coming to the conclusion that that’s how I remember things best. It’s strange, because learning kanji is such a daunting task for most people—I guess I really am a visual learner after all.

So—we’re off and running!

What an amazing day!

Our biggest event so far was today, when we had a walking tour of some important Kyoto sites. After taking bus and subway, we began in downtown Kyoto at Karasuma Shijo and Kawaramachi—a prime shopping and retail zone—then through the Teramachi shopping arcade. There was so much to see, that I quickly began going on overload. Some of the Language Partners (henceforth and forever to be known as LPs) came with us as well as Kishi Sensei (one of our teachers) and it was fun rotating around through the group as we walked, talking to everyone. Didn’t do much actual shopping (well none, actually) but saw lots of things to come back and do including an all-you-can-read manga shop where you pay by the hour and get free soft drinks. I also found great shops selling sensu (fans) for which I learned the new kanji.

And then lunch! For the first time, I got to eat Kaitenzushi, or “Revolving Sushi”. It’s basically an endless conveyor belt of sushi and other dishes that move slowly and conveniently past your table and you grab what you want, all for ¥100 a plate (just under a dollar). I ate something called Chawanmushi for the first time—it’s sort of an egg custard with crab, shrimp and other goodies inside—yum! The service, by the way, was amazing. We ran out of small spoons at the table, so our LP rang the little intercom, asked for more spoons which was followed by a P.A. announcement for the same and within 30 seconds we had more spoons. I love such efficiency…

Continuing the walking tour, we went through Pontocho and over to the Gion district. These are the areas where the famous Maiko and Geiko live, work and entertain (we in the west know them as Geisha). Amazing old buildings, very traditional ambiance—and very fast-moving Maiko. I was only able to get one mediocre photo of one as she zoomed inside the most famous of the tea houses at Gion corner. We too walked through all too quickly, and I’m definitely going to make a point of coming back here for a more leisurely stroll after classes sometime.

It was then a short walk to Yasaka Shrine, which was the first time I’d ever visited a shrine—complete with rinsing my hands and mouth at the fountain as I entered. It was beautiful and peaceful, though also quite crowded. Lots of vendors selling all kinds of things, including your fortune—even a juggling act which was quite entertaining. I then for the very first time got to go up to the shrine proper, toss in my coin, shake the rope to ring the gong (and wake up the gods), clap twice and offered my prayer. It was pretty cool. Well, except for the weather which by this time was once again quite warm and humid, but again vending machines for cool drinks are ubiquitous…

From there, we continued up hills and down dales through more fascinating historical areas, shops brimming with every kind of souvenir and merchandise possible. Even saw the departing guests from a wedding, the ladies all dressed in Kimono. Finally at the top we came to sort of the centerpiece of the visit today, Kiyomizudera.

Kiyomizudera is a world heritage site and amazing spot overlooking the entire city. The temple was first built in 798, but the current one we saw was only a reconstruction—built under Tokugawa Iemitsu in 1633…! The building itself is fascinating, being made entirely without nails or any such bracing, yet suspended over the valley floor on huge beams. The stroll continues down into the little valley, where we got to drink water from the sacred spring through the use of long ladles held out to catch the water—guaranteed to bring long life and excellent results in your studies! (BTW, the photo above is of Kiyomizudera.)

The last leg was a bus ride back to Kyoto Station—a huge building complex with something like three shopping centers, a hotel, numerous restaurants, a rooftop garden with incredible city views—oh yeah, and the trains like the Shinkansen. I can see why it was so controversial—it’s like something right out of a sci-fi movie—but the architecture is nevertheless fascinating and impressive. It was then a short subway ride back to Kitaoji shopping center (where we bought groceries the other day). I bought a few necessities and we had dinner at a small Italian Cafe of all places—but the food was good and inexpensive, since we don’t get dinner in the cafeteria on Sundays. A bus ride back to campus and then a long-awaited shower!

It was a pretty strenuous day, but my first real glimpse at the amazing riches this city has to offer. Tomorrow we actually get down to the business of studying Japanese.

Today was our official School orientation. We received our textbooks and tons of information about classes and what to expect for the next month.

Then came the scary bit: meeting our conversation partners. The CPs are Japanese students who have volunteered to practice conversing with us, show us around and generally help out. Some of them are “Lunchtime Partners” who will meet us around lunchtime for conversation practice, and others are “Classroom Partners” who will participate in our afternoon classes. Everyone’s great, friendly and very patient.

I only say “the Scary Part”, because it’s ME who was scared. Studying, doing Japanese in my head, learning lots of Kanji and all that is fine—but when the rubber meets the road and it’s time to actually converse with real Japanese people, that’s a different story. I’m generally pretty reserved as it is around strangers, but especially so in a language I’m not very good at speaking. It was all pretty taxing on me, but it’s what I’m here for.

Anyway, I went with my two lunchtime partners—Yasu and Keiko—and had a stroll around campus. They showed me where all my classrooms were, where the clinic, library and student center were and so forth. Then we all returned to the I-house for our welcome party!

The party was a lot of fun, and I was detailed to give a speech on behalf of the International Students (in English, thankfully). We played a lot of games and had some great Chinese food and generally had a good time. I finally started feeling a bit more comfortable once I began sort of polishing my little “stock phrases” so that I could speak a bit—but again, everyone was really patient and helpful. I’m glad for that, especially as the token “old guy” of the group. But in the end, I was still exhausted. It’s just gonna get better and easier from here on out, though!

Tomorrow’s our walking tour of Kyoto, so I’m gonna get to bed early…

The rain stopped last night, and it was a lovely sunny day—though pretty humid for a So Cal boy like myself. Started off with a walk to the Convini for breakfast and an excuse to start taking pictures. This was followed by our first orientation to the International House dorms where we’re staying and the welcome news that someone was coming to fix my air conditioning (turns out it was only dead batteries in the remote control—go figure).

It’s only about a 5 minute downhill walk to get to the main gate of the University followed by another 5 minute Uphill walk. The location is really very nice with excellent views of North Kyoto and the mountains. I won’t help but lose weight with all the walking and the heat!

After learning how to use the Japanese ATM machines and a stroll back home when I used the first of the ubiquitous vending machines to buy a bottle of Pocari Sweat (sounds horribly nasty in English, but it’s really tasty stuff—like Gatorade, only sweeter and without the weird aftertaste), I got online to post some updates and photos which you can see in the photos link. The other fun thing was talking to my Mom & Dad and my sister using Skype. We spoke for about 15 minutes—which cost exactly 24 cents. My how the internet has changed global communication.

Later in the afternoon, Paul-san drove Me, Leslie and Alia downtown to a popular mall so we could do some grocery shopping—which was interesting. I managed to see my first $20.00 watermelons and $12.00 bunches of grapes, but Bananas were relatively affordable at a mere $2.00 for 6 medium ones. Some things are outrageously expensive (like a beautiful slab of sushi tuna around 2 x 4 x 3/4 inches for $15.00) but others are insanely cheap (like my favorite brand of instant Yakisoba noodles which were only 75 cents). If you could live on nothing but instant Ramen and the like, Japan isn’t so expensive.

Dinner in the cafeteria next door in the Men’s dorms was pretty good and surprisingly filling even without the huge, American-style portions we get back home (which is probably better for me also). The funny part was seeing absolutely every head turn to look at us when we walked in. I suppose we are something of a spectacle, especially me—it’s not every day you see a 40-something Gaijin (foreigner) with white spiky hair walk into a college dorm’s cafeteria I guess.

In the evening after it cooled off, the entire ICP/UCR student body (that’s 6 of us) went for a stroll up the road to see what we could find. We saw where to catch the little train up the mountain to Kurama (which should be a lovely day trip some weekend). It was really quite peaceful and there was a nice breeze coming down the valley and off the stream.

Not bad for a first day…

Arrived yesterday to a very rainy Japan—as was expected, I suppose. It was so amazing just thinking that I was finally here! The plane ride was long but uneventful, and I made good use of the extended battery pack I bought for my iPod by watching videos the entire trip.

The six of us, plus two regular paying customers, all got packed into our little shuttle van and spent the next 2 hours getting from KIX airport to Kyoto. I had lots of fun reading road signs and things painted on passing vehicles—happy when I could actually decipher them, but incredulous when I realized just how much I have left to learn. As the trip went on, though, I started getting better and faster at reading them, which is a very good sign.

Even more cool was when we exited the highway and drove through the streets of Kyoto to our various destinations. It was an amazing feast for the senses—they apparently don’t do zoning in the same way we do; I saw factories next to traditional houses next to high-rise condos next to gas stations next to newer family homes next to strip malls. So many of the houses and buildings are very narrow and tiny by our US standards, but just like I experienced over 20 years ago when I first visited Italy, I was incredibly fascinated by everything I saw—wondering who lived behind that home’s window, what sort of work people did in that office, what I could buy in that shop, how the food was at that restaurant. It really thrills me when I can catch such glimpses while at the same time realizing that I’ll probably never pass that way again in my lifetime. The endless parade of human life…

We arrived at the KSU International House in a real downpour, where program coordinator Paul Churton-san awaited us with umbrellas and some preliminary welcome information (like where our shoe lockers were in the dorm’s Genkan or entrance hall). A quick trip with Kevin-san and Jeremiah-san down the road to the local Convini (a “Circle K”, no less) yielded the evening’s meal of a drink and a couple Onigiri (filled rice balls—yummy). I spent a while unpacking and getting my dorm room sorted out—though I never managed to get the air conditioning to work, gave up and opened the window. I forced myself to stay up until around 10:30 PM, but then dropped off to a pretty sound sleep until 5:00 AM, partially in thanks to Melatonin.

And so the adventure begins!

So it’s down to the last few hours then…

I don’t know why, but I’ve had a very stressful day—far more stressful than the day before any other trip I can remember. There just seem to be so many things to do still and so many loose ends to be tied up. Sheesh…

But tomorrow’s the big day! Off I go, and there’s no turning back. It’ll probably be an extra long trip, but I’ll post an update as soon as I can!

It’s almost unbelievable that the time has arrived—off to Japan in only THREE MORE DAYS!

I’m very used to travel, packing, getting everything setup to go. The difference this time is that I’m going to be gone for a month and a half. Surprisingly, I’m finding it difficult to fit everything into one suitcase, a backpack and my computer briefcase. I know that I ALWAYS end up taking something I don’t need (usually books), but when you’re going to be gone for such an extended time, that becomes a bit more difficult to determine. I have already pruned out some of the things I’d put on my “to take” pile, but there’s still a lot. I especially can’t believe how much electronics/computer gear I’ve got with me, though I’ve essentially limited it to one plastic box.

Clothing is relatively easy. I’m taking as much as will fit in the empty spaces after all the other junk’s in. Since it’s going to be hot and humid, I’m relying on mostly t-shirts and casual stuff. It’s gonna be hard to figure which shoes to take because they’re always so bulky. At least I won’t be needing any suits and dress clothing (though I am taking a nice shirt and pair of trousers for important occasions).

And then, of course, I’m already thinking ahead to coming home. I know I’ll be purchasing things there that I’ll need to bring back with me, but I think that Japan Post will appreciate me as a customer when I ship home books, extra clothing and souvenirs. I’ll hopefully end up tossing some stuff too.