and it’s Half Time!

This summer has flown by. I can’t believe I have been in Japan for almost four weeks now. But at the same time, I am beginning to realize how I am adjusting to living in Tokyo. The drive to read every possible sign that crosses my eyes has passed. Some I just glaze over, while others I simply ignore. I realized that I’m really tired. Reading, thinking, writing, studying Japanese all day long is exhausting. I deserve a break. But I must say the immersion experience, although exhausting, has done wonders for my speaking. I am feeling a lot more comfortable and secretly love having small talk with store clerks and grandmothers in the grocery stores. I have a few classic Japan stories that I will share sometime soon, but for the most part I can get by just fine.



Time just seems to disappear here. Class takes up the entire morning, but I’m not quite sure where my afternoons, nights, or weekends go. I keep busy (surprised?) and have had some amazing excursions these past two weeks.

Last week Friday, I went on a field trip to the Zen temple that is about a twenty-minute walk from campus. It was exactly what I needed. We had a short tour of the temple, followed by detailed instructions of how to eat as a Zen monk. There was a special plate set-up, with bowls arranged in descending order (rice, miso soup, and salad) and placed on the napkin that they were wrapped in. Utensils also were held in a specific hand, facing a certain direction (usually right). We were served a wonderful vegetarian meal and ate in silence. Every grain of rice and drop of water was consumed, not because it wasn’t enough food, but rather to value all life equally and not waste resources. The dishes were then washed with only a few tablespoons of boiling water. The inherent environmental qualities to daily life practices have made me question if the lifestyle I am living couldn’t be pushed further. Signs of environmental consciousness are everywhere—on train advertisements, signs for the beer vending machines, switch plates sold in local hardware stores. But it doesn’t match the plastic-packaged, pre-wrapped, combustible-disposable culture of waste I am also surrounded by. I find so much of Japan an oxymoron: Hot pink neon plastic signs border lush public parks of green; all garbage is separated down to plastic type, but half of it is burned. An extensive, fully functional public transportation system, that shuts down by 1:00 am. Polite society that will push you hard into the last train. Private, respectful, and reserved couched between porn ads on the trains and ‘salaryman’ passed out in the street, lying in their own vomit and urine outside all you can drink bars. And although all the chaos may balance itself out, I feel like I am swinging on a pendulum. I’m not quite sure where I’m headed next. Sorry for the tangent—I think I will actually write a few posts just on the extremes of Japan. After leaving the temple, I felt so grounded. We had meditated for about an hour—30 minutes silently facing a wall sitting in lotus position, then 10 minutes of walking silently, followed by another 20 minutes towards a wall. The temple offers public services daily from 5:00 am to 8:00 am, and weekly on Monday nights. I am for sure going tomorrow tonight, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get up that early in the morning. Maybe once the fall terms starts, but I doubt it.



Last Saturday was amazing too. After a restful morning of journaling and scrap-booking (I know, I know. I haven’t even finished a page though—so don’t give me too much crap), I went to Roppongi with Lauren where we acted very touristy. But it was kinda fun—drinking green tea smoothies, visiting ridiculously priced stores, and walking around a beautiful outdoor mall area. We ended up seeing Tokyo Tower—which for the record is the ugliest and most boring tourist attraction in Japan—and ended the day by meeting up with people in Shinjuku.




After getting back two nights in a row after 2:00 am, I woke up Sunday morning at 6:00 am to go peach picking with Lauren’s host family. They took us to the most beautiful nature preserves. One had a small trail that wound around eight narrow but deep lakes filled with water from Mt. Fuji. There was a small water wheel that powered a soba making press and the area was covered in green. We got to ride in a paddleboat around a wide lake and take in the magnificent views. Unfortunately it was cloudy so we couldn’t see Mt. Fuji, but it was still really amazing. After the nature preserves we went to a peach orchard and grape vineyard and stuffed our faced. I think we had three huge peaches each, which were really sweet and juicy. The farmers explained that the reason some of the skin on white peaches is red is because it gets sunburned. There is a huge silver tarp that is placed on the ground of the orchard to reflect the sun back towards the peaches. We then had a traditional Japanese lunch of Houtou, which is like old style udon with a lot of vegetables and served boiling hot. Of course it was already high 80s and humid that day, but it still tasted amazing—and was vegetarian. I’m telling ya, our ancestors knew what was best! It was a really exciting day that ended by climbing a small mountain to find a waterfall. I really appreciate being so close to natural environments. I forget how much I miss it till I am actually there again.







This past week, school has really picked up. It went from an hour of so of studying a night to nonstop for 5 hours daily. I wrote two essays, gave a presentation, had half a dozen quizzes, a chapter test, and an oral midterm. But I’m better for it, so I won’t complain. My dorm (Global House) had a game of assassins, which I ended up winning. It was a good break between studying.



There was a great lecture on Sho—Japanese “calligraphy”, which is actually a lot more than writing nicely. There is not such thing as being skillful at Sho or and the point is not to learn how to write neatly. Instead, it is much more important that the piece is “alive”. After the lecture and demonstrations we got to practice on newspaper and make our own final print. I wrote the character 美 (bi) which means beautiful, (ya know…).




On Friday I went to a pottery studio and got to make three small cups/bowls. I had wanted to make them fit one into the other perfectly, but we didn’t have enough time (I had to get back for my oral midterm). Hey, it’s a different Japanese aesthetic anyway. I decided to have the staff glaze them with the traditional colors as opposed to painting my own design in primary. We’ll see how they turn out next week. I stayed in the rest of Friday night: took a nap and hung out with friends. It was really chill and I’m glad because Saturday was just crazy.

We went to Ebisu—a smaller area not far from Shibuya. First we stopped at a photography museum, which was pretty nice. The gallery we saw was all portraits—“Heroes and Heroines” mainly of famous Japanese movies stars from the post WWII days and how entertainment/media was used to redevelop Japanese identity. I was surprised to see as many nudes as I did; it was well worth the couple of bucks. Then we went to a beer museum a half a block away. Alcohol culture is pretty prevalent here, I will write about that sometime soon because I find it pretty interesting. At first I blew it off as mainly for the tourists, but I am going to have to rethink tha some. There were a fair number of children (I mean like 5 year olds) playing at designated stations and funny attractions like light projections onto dioramas, which they called the museum. We wandered around the area a little more and came upon an Obon Matsuri!! The food was amazing (as always—overpriced but worth it: fried mochi in nori (I forget what it’s called), corn on the cob, shumai, mango smoothie, only the best festival food). There was a taiko performance in the middle of the street, followed by dancing. We stood and watched the older women in yukata gracefully flow around the street (and hot pink decked out stage) for a few songs before Lauren and I jumped in too. We got the guys we were with to join in on once dance, which of course ended up being really complicated. But we ended on the coal miner’s dance, which is the one my grandmother taught me at Manzanar Pilgrimages every year. It was really great to feel like I was dancing with my grandma again. Obon is actually a festival to reconnect with our ancestors and those who have passed on. I know she was dancing with me for a little while. I really needed it too, because for a few days I had been questioning what I was doing in Japan. Why I was still studying Japanese since it’s not nearly as practical a language for the work I want to do or in the United States in general. I first started studying Japanese to communicate with my grandmother, to feel more connected and restore heritage lost post camps. And it’s interesting that since she has passed, I am still studying for the same reason.



We left the festival and walked all around Shibuya, stopped at a cute café when our feet got tired and ended up at this nice restaurant where you order on a monitor at your table. We got back to the dorms pretty late, but I still managed to hang out with people until the sun rose this morning (5:00 am).

These past two weeks have been pretty amazing. Sorry for the super long post, but I just wanted to get you all updated! I have also had fun this past week talking to random people I love on skype. So, if you have a skype name, please add me if you don’t, send me an email so we can catch up. My s/n is aboucningball and school mail works just fine. I miss you and love you all.

all the best,
Mariko