November Events (P.S. Version)
- Lyss Ku
- Dec 31, 2023
- 14 min read
Welcome back to my re-published study abroad series. I apologize that this is taking so long to publish. Things have gotten busy for me with my new job as I had to deal with helping plan a big party. This post is also super long as it covers almost an entire month. Once again, I have to say a little disclaimer that this takes place around the time of Thanksgiving even though Christmas and New Years’ have already passed. I will say that a lot happened during this month, and I did run into some challenges. Yes, I was there, I remember it “all too well.” So, let’s jump right into the blog because there is a lot of new content to uncover.
Konnichiwa! Two months have passed during my time abroad in Japan, which means it is near the homestretch of the program. This post will talk about events that happened during November. In addition, I will also be talking about some of the Olympic venues that I visited. Along with my other four classes, there is an independent research class called Perspectives in Japan with the theme of 2020 Tokyo Olympics. I had to choose one aspect of Olympic preparation and conduct research on my own. Since my topic was sustainable venues, I visited some of the venues that will be used for the 2020 Summer Olympics. With that being said, 始めましょう!
About the project on the Olympic venues, it is now out-of-date due to the Olympics being postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some plans had to be altered to protect the health and safety of all the athletes, and those who volunteered for the Games. Honestly, I don’t think the Tokyo Olympics of summer 2021 doesn’t get as much appreciation because of the circumstances and all the hard work it went into adapting such changes.
Thursday 11/08- Our economics class took a field trip to the Kirin Beer Yokohama Factory where we went on a tour about how the beer is made and processed at the factory plant. The brewery is the only major Japanese manufacturer to produce their own malt and selecting their finest ingredients by traveling far to select the highest-quality of it. After the tour, we got to do some beer tasting. It was my first time tasting beer and let me tell you that it was the most disgusting thing I ever drank (in my opinion)! The taste was very bitter like some cough medicine your parents forced you to take when you were sick, and I wanted to throw up! I even tried both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beers and they still gave that same bitter taste. The only thing I enjoyed was the snack that was provided with the beer tasting. This was the most interesting field trip that I ever went to, and the first one where I drank (remember, 20 is the legal drinking age in Japan).
You might think I was overreacting when I tasted beer for the first time, but I was shocked! I don’t understand how a lot people are able to drink a lot of beer despite the bitter taste. That is probably why I barely drink alcohol because of that same reason. I can tolerate a little bit of wine since I have been to a couple of wine tastings. Also, this was the first time I went on an excursion for my economics class since you all know what happened the last time.
Sunday 11/11- I decided to have a nice and relaxing Sunday by going to Umi no Koen, a marine seaside park with the only beach in Yokohama. Nearby the park was an amusement park with an aquarium called Sea Paradise which is why you can see a rollercoaster on the shoreline. (I actually visited the amusement park later on this month). Although it was nothing compared to the beaches back home, I still had a great time sitting on the sand and listening to the sounds of the ocean.
Tuesday 11/13- Our Japanese Cultural Studies Class went to a concert in Shinjuku called Mangekyo. Mangekyo was a modern taiko concert with modern image projection mapping and very stylish costumes. This was unlike any taiko concert I had ever seen. I thought the performers were good-looking, and had great energy. I also thought they were having fun and so was the audience. I was only allowed to take a few pictures near the end of the show.
Now that I look back at it, I actually thought it was a bit overrated especially with those shirtless male performers. It was as if Magic Mike was Asian, but crossed with authentic Japanese culture and taiko drumming. That was like the only thing I could get out of this concert.
I have to explain that the International center at my exchange university held International cafes for all international and Japanese students to interact with each other. Sometimes students from different countries would do presentations about their own respective country and its culture. Of course, there was a USA café and we had to do a presentation which included myself, and the other two students from my college. The only issue was that there were no clear instructions on if we were supposed to work on it together or have individual presentations. Being prone to procrastination, I worked on this the night before. I wanted to do this great presentation on my home country by myself, but the other two students thought we all had to work together. Even the International staff members didn’t clear things up. Therefore, I had to combine elements of my presentation to theirs. Unfortunately, I did a mediocre job on my part of the presentation, but it wasn’t totally my fault. I learned from my intercultural communications class that some countries are either high-context or low-context culture. The former means direct and specific communication while the latter is more contextual and not as explicit. Japan in this case is a low-context culture which explains
Friday 11/16- I went to see the “Bohemian Rhapsody” movie in a theater nearby Kamiooka Station. To get tickets, you can pre-purchase them online ahead of time, then when you arrive at the theater you get the ticket out of a machine. For snacks they have the typical ones served at the movie theater except for popcorn, the only original flavor they have is shoyu-butter which was actually pretty tasty. As for the movie, I thought it was a great storyline with fantastic music. The one thing about movie theaters in Japan is that everyone stays until the credits have finished playing. It is because they are showing respect to the directors and producers who created the film. I found that pretty interesting since I never stay for the credits because they are somewhat boring. At least there was good music playing during that portion.
Okay, just to give a little disclaimer here: unless it is a Marvel movie, I never stay for the credits of a movie. Besides, I also had to make sure I returned to my dorm on time before the midnight curfew. However, in light of the recent writer and actors’ strikes, I can understand why Japan does this norm in movie theaters. What annoyed me was that the other students in my study abroad program ended up seeing the same movie as well, but at a different time. I mean I never thought these were the type of people who were interested in Queen but somehow, they found out what my Friday night plans were. And in case you were wondering, the movie was presented in English with Japanese subtitles.
Saturday 11/17- I took a little trip to the two most populated cities home to Japanese pop culture: Harajuku and Shibuya (round 1)! My first stop was at Meiji Shrine, a shrine dedicated to the spirits of Emperor Meiji and Empress Shoken. Since it was also the shichi-go-san (Seven-Five-Three) Festival that weekend, I saw many families with their kids dressed in kimonos. Nearby, I took a stroll down Yoyogi Park, one of Tokyo’s largest city parks which featured a lot of nature. Fun Fact: Before becoming a city park, it was the site of the Olympic Village for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. From the religious and peaceful side of Harajuku, I went through one of most busiest and crowded places: Takeshita Street. This street is known for many shops, boutiques and restaurants along the way, including the largest Daiso store (Japanese version of the Dollar Tree Store)! It is especially crowded during the weekends if you wish to go during that time. I also tried one of Harajuku’s famous crepes. After pushing my way through the crowds, I went to a rabbit café called Ra.a.g.f. The cost was 700 yen for a half-hour session along with 150 yen to feed the rabbits and drinks for yourself. The bunnies I played with were really cute! Then, I wrapped up my trip by conquering the famous Shibuya scramble crossing street. It was amazing to see so many people crossing the street all at once with some taking selfies in the middle of the crosswalk. I even saw the view of the crossing from a nearby Starbucks and it was amazing! And that was round 1 of my Harajuku/Shibuya trip!
Because I succeeded in traveling by myself during Fall Break, I was a bit confident in exploring other parts of Japan especially Tokyo. When I went to Meiji Shrine, I asked the parents if I could take photos of the children in kimonos, but they all responded no probably due to privacy issues. At least they didn’t think I was a pervert to their kids otherwise it would’ve ended differently. As for Takeshita shopping street in Harajuku, I highly recommend that you don’t go during the weekends unless you want to feel like a sardine. The rabbit café was a bit underrated because it turned out to be a small place instead of one of those big, popular animal cafes. Keep in mind that you also have to make a reservation if you want to visit. Also, you can only play with one rabbit at a time since these ones were delicate. Overall, I enjoyed my trip to the heart of Tokyo so much that I went back a few more times.
Sunday 11/18- The Enoshima Yacht Harbor was the first of the Olympic venues that I visited for my independent research. Before I go further, past Olympic venues have now become abandoned “ghost towns.” What Tokyo is trying to do for the 2020 summer games is to use existing facilities for 60% of their venues, including those that were used in the 1964 games. The Yacht Harbor was used for the yacht competition back in 1964 and will be used for the sailing events in the upcoming games. It has also been used for other sailing competitions as well.
At this point, I have come to the week of Thanksgiving break. Normally at my US college, there would be a week-long break at that time. Japan, however does not observe this American holiday, therefore, it was still school for us. I did cover what we did on Thanksgiving in Japan, but I need to reveal what happened that made this holiday less enjoyable that year. If you recall my Japanese Cultural Studies professor that is American, I mentioned in an earlier post that they played favoritism towards the other students, which eventually turned into a major problem. Well, I can now reveal what that was since I am more comfortable sharing it. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, we had our normal class session with the Japanese students. The professor first made an announcement in Japanese, then English that class was going to be in a different location that day. I started to gather my things so that I could exit in a neat manner. By the time they finished speaking, I stood up with all my stuff ready to go. They asked what I was doing, and I answered; then they got upset and said something like “No! You see everyone else in the room?!” No one else stood up, and my professor said that everyone is supposed to stand up and leave at the same time. It was at this moment where they lashed out at me in front of the entire class about how I broke a cultural norm, and that I was supposed to know better since I was in Japan. Look, I knew that Japan is a collectivistic culture, but I didn’t mean to make that minor mistake on purpose. After that I felt shocked and humiliated; no professor that I had ever acted that way towards me. I wanted to just head into a bathroom and cry for the rest of the day. “I knew {they} were trouble” from the first day I met them because of the way they played favoritism against me. I couldn’t tell the International center staff or the Internatonal programs office from my home college because they were close with this professor, and I was afraid of retaliation. Now, “Look what you made me do” five years later when I have my own blog spilling all the details. Because of what happened, I decided I no longer wanted to go to my professor’s Thanksgiving sushi dinner now that there was “bad blood.”
Wednesday 11/21- Around this time of year, many places have huge light displays called Illumination and they have become popular attractions. I went to one Illumination display with my KGU buddies, along with a few friends, at the Sea Paradise amusement park (the one I mentioned earlier in this blog) in Hakkeijima. It was really beautiful with tons of lights all over the place including a huge Christmas tree and a colorful light tunnel.
I took some good photos including one I submitted for the study abroad photo contest back home where I ended up getting tied for third place and earned $20.00. Overall, it was actually nice to spend time with just my buddies rather than with everyone else’s buddies in our group. I even got along with one buddy who couldn’t speak English to me at the beginning of the semester. Since then, she started to take English classes, and was actually going to study abroad in Australia next year. My Japanese was also starting to get better which also made our bond stronger because we started to understand each other.
Thursday 11/22- Even though there was no Thanksgiving in Japan, our Japanese Cultural Studies professor took us out to dinner at a sushi restaurant. Earlier, I didn’t want to go because I was very tired, plus there were some personal issues I encountered recently. However, my professor encouraged me to go to experience a Thanksgiving in Japan. So I went along with my classmates, and we got to have sushi with my professor along with her two daughters. The sushi was really good including the flower that was part of the plating decorations. (In Japan, everything on the plate is made to be eatable so it was okay!) The one thing that was embarrassing/awkward about the dinner was when the head of the sushi restaurant pointed out and asked if we were foreigners. Then our professor told him where we all came from, enthusiastically. One little pet peeve that I adapted during studying abroad is when I am in a place with few tourists, and someone points out if we are foreigners. They weren’t acting racist or anything, but it just makes me feel a little awkward standing out as a 外国人 (foreigner).
Prior to this, we had our assistant teaching that day, and this time we had to prepare an entire lesson for the students to teach ourselves. I also mentioned earlier, these students were a bit difficult to handle as they were very rowdy and unmotivated. Another problem was that I didn’t attend the meeting with the other student teachers about the lesson plan, so they just gave it to me. Unfortunately, I was unable to execute the entire lesson, and the teachers were not impressed with my session. Therefore, I decided to “drop-out” and not attend the final week. I still ended up getting a certificate of participation for it though. Then came the Thanksgiving dinner that I didn’t want to attend. I tried to lie to them that I wasn’t feeling well, so I wouldn’t be able to go. However, it backfired when my professor insisted that I come so I could “experience Thanksgiving in Japan.” I had no choice, but to end up going. It also didn’t make it any better when I was at the point of burn-out. I know I insisted on seeing everything in Japan, but it is also okay to decompress and take a break from all that traveling while you are abroad. No matter where you are, your mental health always matters.
Saturday 11/24- The International Center arranged a kado (flower arrangement) experience for the international students. We were taught by a professor from Kyoto University about the art of ikebana. When creating ikebana, you have to find balance as you are arranging the flowers and the branches plus there has to be no symmetry in between. It was a bit difficult trying to fit all my plants in a perfect place. The end result did not come out as perfect, and at one point I wanted to throw it out. But temporarily, I put it on my balcony in my dorm.
Sunday 11/25- These next two places were also future Olympic venues. The Yoyogi National Stadium which is nearby Yoyogi Park was used for the basketball and aquatics events back in 1964. For the 2020 games, it will be used for handball events and the para-badminton wheelchair rugby events for the Paralympic games. The Imperial Palace Garden was not used as a venue for the 1964 games, but another goal that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Committee is trying to achieve is the use of nature within the city and city within nature. This venue includes traditional landscape Japanese gardens and will be used for the race-walking events.
(Another sustainable venue for the Tokyo Olympics that I mentioned in my first blog is the Yokohama Baseball Stadium which will be used for the softball and baseball events.)
Since then, the site for the marathon and race-walking events was changed to a park in Hokkaido due to the intense summer heat.
Tuesday 11/27- The International Center arranged another cultural event for the international students. This time, it was a sado experience that involved kimono dressing and tea ceremony. For the tea ceremony portion, we were taught how to make the tea using the traditional tools that are used for the tea ceremony. While I was waiting for my kimono dressing appointment, I actually took part in the tea ceremony for a second time where the host actually makes the tea. Then it was time for my kimono dressing experience. I was dressed in the complete kimono outfit, including tabi (Japanese socks) and geta (Japanese wooden shoes). I even got my hair styled in a traditional kimono hairstyle.
Friday 11/30- There was a farewell party for the departing International students. Each of us gave a short speech that we prepared in Japanese class. I was a bit nervous not because I had to say it in Japanese, but because of another reason. Compared to the other study abroad participants, my experience was not as perfect as theirs. I made a lot of mistakes and had many struggles. There were also times where I thought my Japanese wasn’t improving (even though several people said I spoke good Japanese). I know I shouldn’t be beating myself up with what happened to me in the past, but I was also thankful at the same time to the people that helped me along the way and believed in me like the International staff and my KGU buddies. Now enough said about my speech! I also gave each of the International staff members a box of Hawaiian chocolate-covered macadamia nuts as my way of saying thanks for all they have done. For future study abroad participants, always bring a little something from your hometown to give to the ones who have helped you on your journey. That includes your host family, International staff members, friends, etc. After the farewell party, we went to an izakaya in Yokohama with our KGU buddies for a drinking party. Before I leave Japan, I wanted to have a chance to drink sake, so this was a perfect chance. I had the umeshu drink, and it tasted great! Overall, I had a blast drinking with my KGU buddies as this was one of the last times we would be together before parting ways.
Back to the farewell party, I did write a speech that was sort of negative. I did thank my host family, buddies, and International staff members. However, I did say that studying abroad wasn’t easy, that I made a lot of mistakes, and that I was a little bit disappointed. Now you may be wondering, it sounded like you had a great time in Japan (refer to next study abroad post) why are you being pessimistic? Look, my intention was not to sugarcoat my study abroad experience because I wanted to vulnerable and be more open with these re-published versions of these posts. The scenarios that I shared might happen to those who plan on studying abroad in the future. That is also why I gave recommendations and advice along the way.
Well, that was a quite a mouthful that happened during the month of November. I know it was jam-packed, but I had to do a lot because I was running out of time.
Please note that the final study abroad blog post has been pushed to January.
Comments