Alia, Heather, Junko and I took a day trip to Osaka today to see what was there. We’d planned on seeing the one major touristy site, Osaka Castle, then spend the rest of the time just walking around and, of course…shopping! The weather was clear and sunny when we got there, but got grayer and more overcast as the day went on—and the humidity was absolutely appalling!

Anyway, one of my favorite things about travel, as I’ve said before, is arriving in a completely new city and figuring out where to go and how to get around. There was no shortage of that when we stepped off the train at Osaka station! It opened into this huge underground shopping arcade that was absolutely jam-packed with people. But once we’d wandered around for a bit, we figured out how to get on the Osaka loop line and made our way to Osaka-jo Koen station (Osaka Castle Park).

Osaka Castle was really awesome, and the first Castle I’ve been to since coming to Japan. Although it’s a concrete reconstruction built in 1931, it was still beautiful and impressive. The view at the top was great, too. The inside is a museum with lots of interesting artifacts and information on the life and times of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Lord of the castle and important Japanese historical figure. What was really awesome was a display of modern-day Samurai sword blades (Katana)—the workmanship and beauty was absolutely amazing (and, unfortunately, photos were not allowed). Check out the new Photo Album on the photos page for more.

Junko has a friend living in Osaka with whom she was going to spend the night, so we traveled to the Namba station and found a place for lunch. Afterwards, we sort of split up and did shopping an spent time on our own. One of my big goals was a visit to the Kato Model Railroad shop, where I stocked up (a bit…) on Japanese-prototype models which are both expensive and hard to find back home. I tried not to go overboard, but armed with the thought that I was spending much less here in person that I would be if I were ordering from the USA made me end up walking out with quite a bagful.

My own last stop was the famous Umeda Sky Building. It’s a really cool looking twin tower building near the station with a rooftop garden suspended between the two office towers. Unfortunately, by the time I got there I was loaded down with shopping and there wasn’t enough time to go to the top before meeting the others back at the station.

But it was a fun trip; we took the train home at around 7:30. It was also my first indication of what a really crowded Japanese city is like—if Osaka was bad, I’ll bet Tokyo is going to be quite an adventure!

I felt a bit better about today’s last written test—I at least seemed to be able to give better answers. I just hope that I didn’t completely succumb to my usual tendency for making stupid mistakes. Oh well—it’s all over and done with now.

Immediately following the test, Leslie gave her oral presentation since she’s going back home tomorrow. We followed that with writing out our wishes and poems for Tanabata, a summer festival in Japan. Part of the festivities is hanging your wishes on a bamboo branch so that they will come true. There was a big party at the I-house, but unfortunately we spent too much time at dinner and missed most of it. I kind of wish I’d stayed here…

Tomorrow Junko, Heather, Alia and I will be going to Osaka for some sightseeing and shopping. It should make for a full day!

Today’s assignment was a visit to the Sumire Kindergarten to play with the kids. We’ve been working on this since the first week, and it was time to finally show our stuff. The kindergarten itself is run by the University, and we did three separate “performances”: for the 2 & 3 year olds and again for the 4 year olds, we did the “Hokey Pokey”—first in Japanese, then in English. For the 5 year olds, we did “Simon Says” in Japanese and English. It was all a lot of fun—but really exhausting too. It’s also humbling to be in a room full of little kids that could speak way better than I could. (Check out the new photo album of the event on the Photos page.)

I really thought the whole kindergarten experience was very interesting. All the kids were very well behaved, did everything together as a group and were constantly being shown the right way to do things by their teachers. It was amazing that they were already learning English—even the 3 year olds. They were all really quick with the English words we used in the games and songs and I was extremely impressed.

It was also interesting, because each child wears the same uniform, has the same “inside shoes”, and so forth. When we ate lunch with them (I got to eat with a class of 4 year olds), they all pulled out their little lunch boxes and ate everything—dutifully showing their teacher the empty container when they’d finished. They then each went to rinse out their boxes, came back to the table and put their chopsticks and spoons away and wrapped everything up, then laid down for a rest. Then came time for everyone to go out to the sinks to wash hands, faces and brush their teeth. It was all very well choreographed and each child did it all perfectly.

I mean, this was seeing what many of us think about the Japanese people in action: a very regimented, group-based society working together in harmony. Some of us were a bit taken aback because it seemed like every minute the kids were being told what to do, in the same way and at the same time—with a hint of military precision. But then, that’s what you need if you value the group and harmony (the Wa). It was certainly unlike any kindergarten I could think of in the states. In America, there’s absolutely no way you could do this—we value individualism at the expense of everything else.

As for me, I thought it was pretty great. Children being taught how to behave, how to function and how to cooperate. I mean, the last thing we do in America is teach our children how to behave in school—that would bring on lawsuits and “deny someone their rights”. No, it’s far more important to let kids run wild, not pay attention in class, spell words however they feel like spelling, divide into groups that work against each other, whatever. Kind of sad, I think…

Anyway, that’s the end of the philosophical rant. Afterwards, we were free to go our separate ways, so I of course went shopping again. This time I bought more books (DUH—what else…) and visited a hobby shop where I stocked up on some interesting Neon Genesis Evangelion goodies (that’s an anime I like, for those of you unaware…). Now I’ve been using this journal entry as an excuse to not start studying for the last written exam tomorrow. <Sigh>. But then it’ll soon be all over. I guess in the end a month isn’t that long…

[First of all, apologies—I created my page and then forgot to paste the real entry over the lorem ipsum filler text! Baka da yo!]

We had class in the morning, and I felt like I was actually understanding the particular topic of the day for a change. Understanding seems to be going okay, it’s the actually speaking and remembering that’s not so good. I know that someday it’ll all “click” and I’ll begin recognizing the grammar more and more and be able to actually use it when conversing. In the meantime, I’ll do the best I can…

Last week I thought that I was going to meet Yasu at the Sweet Pepper cafe for lunch, but when I went there he didn’t show up. No problem—I spoke with some of the other CPs and we had a good time. Later I found out that he was running around looking for me, so I guess I must’ve screwed up the meeting place. I’ll have to apologize for my stupidity…

In the afternoon, we had a tea ceremony with the Tea Ceremony Club. It was different from the Sencha-type ceremony we did back home, and much more the “traditional” type we think of in America. I apparently got pretty good marks on my tea-whipping technique for a rank amateur! It was very interesting and a lot of fun.

Then it was back to the dorms to attempt to study, but I’m really tired and will probably go to bed early. Tomorrow’s the much-anticipated Kindergarten visit!

Today was a better day. Maybe it’s because today was Independence Day, although here it’s not even a blip on the radar.

Anyway, it was a bit slow going in the morning, and although we skipped 2 chapters (with the apparently difficult to learn honorifics), there was still a new chapter with 60 or 70 new words including 25-30 new verbs—ouch! At least today I’d remembered my wallet and was able to buy lunch.

That’s when it started getting good. For the first time, I was able to converse fairly well for the entire lunch hour with Keiko and Emi. I think they even got a kick out of some of the things I said that I thought were humorous (I wouldn’t go so far as to call them actual jokes). In the afternoon, we did a lot of reading, including kanji, and I was understanding everything. We talked about different places in Japan like Hiroshima and Arashiyama, and I was able to make up questions and everything. It was pretty cool.

I then had to finish my speech for next week. I cut two large paragraphs, because there’s just not going to be enough time (and why should I stress about learning those two extra paragraphs anyway?) and we did some practice for our Kindergarten visit. The evening was spent putting the finishing touches on the speech—and studying, of course.

Monday morning came, and I had a sore throat just to get things started. Next, I realized just as I was about to walk up the big hill to the university that I had left my wallet in my room. Next, I received my “test results of doom” back in class—and I suck, just as I predicted. My score was the same as my birth year—an auspicious omen, I think. Not a very good way to start the week…

So at lunchtime, I only had a drink from 100 yen I borrowed from Yasu (my CP). He was supposed to come on the Lake Biwa trip too, but couldn’t for personal reasons. I told him he should have come anyway—it would have been a great way to forget his troubles, as I’d managed to forget about my “test results of doom” during the whole time.

Afternoon class we watched Yan-san videos, studied Kanji (YAY! Something I don’t suck at…) and then began the arduous process of writing our speeches for next week. That was less than fruitful for me, since I hadn’t even built my outline or written it in English first. I ended up doing that tonight after I got home, ate some instant Ramen, ate a LOT at dinner and did my 6 pages of homework.

Oh yeah: akirametai means “I want to give up”. But, I’ll keep hanging in there, because it can’t get any worse for me academically!

So, as you can probably tell, I actually wrote the last 3 entries after returning on Sunday, being incommunicado and all. Be sure to look at the new Photo Album on the albums page for lots and lots of pictures.

In the morning we had a lovely breakfast and then it poured down rain. It was a miracle it didn’t happen last night while we were doing our cookout—in the photo above, the patio area that looks like a small pond is where we were all standing! After a few minutes of that, and another hour or so, the sun made an all-too-brief appearance (just enough to snap the photo, pretty much). We spent the rest of the morning playing card games and Uno, before having our final delicious lunch at the center.

It was then back to Kyoto. I made a brief, but not particularly productive, stop in town to do some shopping (didn’t buy anything, ergo not productive…) and am back in the dorms catching up and doing laundry. I’ll begin nailing down my post-Kyoto itinerary a bit better, and begin thinking about some end-of-trip logistics like shipping books and other stuff home that I don’t want to carry.

Oh yeah—and there are still two more weeks of classes, where I will no doubt learn tons and tons of new and useful stuff that my brain won’t be able to assimilate fast enough. There’s a Tea Ceremony and the kindergarten visit this week, then everything goes into preparing my oral presentation (YIKES!) for the finals. Leslie (who is going home early) has to cram all that into this week since she’s going home next Saturday. I don’t envy her one bit.