Music and Dancing

Hello! We have embarked on our first short week of the semester - we get Thursday and Friday off as our spring break. I'm going up to Sapporo, but I'll wait on all of that info until later.

We went to Nagoya on Saturday! The Matenrou Opera concert was on Saturday, so we got all dressed up and headed to Nagoya. I felt much less like a foreigner because I was dressed like the typical Japanese girl dresses (and rode my bike to the station in said outfit as well).Note the short dress(shorts can be substituted), boots, and tights even in cold weather. I still don't know how they do it.Our main sightseeing stop was here, at Nagoya Castle. It's huge! It's famous for its "dolphins", big gold fish at the top of the castle.Lunch was a Nagoya special known as kishimen, a noodle soup bowl with really wide noodles. Mmm.

After lunch we headed over to Electric Lady Land, the site of the concert. But first, we managed to find a cool shopping area to wander around in. Hooray for following random alleyways!

I wish I had pictures from the concert, but all cameras were practically confiscated so I kept mine hidden. Japanese concerts are so different from American ones! For one thing, everyone stays in their own bubble - no one tries to get in your way. And the fans are so polite! Yelling is kept to a minimum, and after ballads you clap. CLAP. My favorite part, however, is the hand movements. Depending on what's happening in the song, you perform certain dance moves. You might move your hands or pump your fist or headbang sideways - it's all choreographed by some obsessed fans and you just follow along with them. So much fun! The best part was that it was at a tiny venue so the band actually lined the exit so you could shake hands with all of them. Really awesome.Dinner afterwards was equally delicious - Katsu Curry. It's a pork cutlet covered in curry - 2 of my favorite things means you can't go wrong. :D

The Nagoya trip was almost completely successful, but with one exception. We had to change trains 3 times on the way home, because trains run less after 9 pm. The plan was to go from Nagoya to Gifu, Gifu to Maibara, and Maibara to Hikone. We got to Maibara at 11:20, but the last train for Hikone left at 11:05. We ended up just taking a cab back - luckily Maibara station isn't far from JCMU. Lesson learned, though! :)Yesterday was pretty uneventful, with the exception of samurai kenbu. It's a ceremonial dance performed with swords. We actually got to dress up in costume and everything. It was sort of luck of the draw, but mine thankfully matched. XD Wearing the costumes really made it awesome.We did a dance, which was fun(though I was no good at it). And then we took lots of pictures!

I also had my first internship today and met my conversation partner, but I'll save those for later. I'm tired. XD Apparently I'm still not used to being busy all the time. Have a good week, and I'll talk to you all on Wednesday. :D

Taking Classes and Making Plans

Monday was wonderful! I didn't leave the building (and I still haven't left campus yet today), which worked out because it was freezing cold anyway. I chilled out, watched some movies, and made dinner with some friends. And got my homework done in there somewhere. I feel like I didn't do much at all, but that's okay because I'm sure this week will be busy.

Today was my first day of having both my classes. None of my days here are particularly long (especially compared to last semester...8 AM-7 PM twice a week? Yuck), but Tuesdays and Thursdays are my longest. Here's my schedule, in a nutshell.
Monday
8:50-11:40: Japanese
Tuesday
8:50-11:40: Japanese
1:00-3:00: Japanese Culture and Society
Wednesday
8:50-11:40: Japanese
Thursday
8:50-11:40: Japanese
1:00-3:00: Japanese Culture and Society
Friday
8:50-9:40: Japanese exam (every week!)
10:15-11:15: Optional Cultural Activity

I will be so excited if I get that kind of schedule again next semester. I love having free afternoons!

Japanese class is still a little intimidating - really long, for one thing! I don't yet have the ability to focus for 3 hours on one subject. The breaks aren't enough, either. I was screwing up a lot in class today because I would tune out for a second and then the professors would ask me a question that I wouldn't know how to answer. I need to work on paying better attention. :)

I really love my elective class this semester - I got into the one I wanted, Japanese Culture and Society. The teacher is Professor Morris, the director of the program. And he's awesome! A really nice guy with an awesomely dry sense of humor. The subject matter is fantastic, too. We're covering the history of Japan first, which I like because I was hoping to learn some Japanese history while I'm here. We're also going to take a couple of field trips to places like Kyoto and Osaka(all elective classes are required to go on at least one field trip), which is, again, awesome. Today, we had a short lecture on the mythology of Japan - LOVE! I learned about Amaterasu (the sun-goddess, who is also the grandmother of the first emperor of Japan. She's born from the tears of the father god who was mourning the loss of his wife who died in childbirth after producing the fire goddess. The father god even went to the underworld to get her, sort of like Orpheus, except he failed) and all sorts of genetic anthropological theories as to where the Japanese actually came from (the ones who misplaced the native tribes) - it was very basic genetic anthropology, but still. I got really excited. :D This is going to be a really interesting class.

Now that I've been here for a full week (which is crazy! I can't decide if I feel like I just got here or I've been here forever), I've started making plans for traveling in Japan. I definitely want to go to Kyoto (to see Fushimi Inari, Ginkakuji, and Nijo Castle) for at least a day, because I love it so much. Osaka and Nara are on my list as well, because they're relatively close (less than an hour and a half away by train) and I've never been. Plus, they're huge cultural centers. Nara was the capital(before Kyoto was, then Tokyo was), so it has lots of interesting things. And Osaka has a Japanese version of Wicked right now. I'm trying to plan that one soon if we're going because tickets are selling fast! Tokyo will be a little harder to manage (3 hours away!) but I really want to go back because I feel like I missed a lot of it when I was there the first time.

I am, however, definitely going to Nagoya. It's the closest large town, and that's where we flew in from Detroit. My friend Jade is going to see one of her favorite bands in concert there the first weekend in February, and I decided to tag along for the experience. We're also going to do some sight-seeing there! The band is part of an interesting Japanese music genre called visual kei, so it will definitely be an experience. I'll refrain from describing it too much now...that's a whole other post! Here's a teaser, though, with a band photo. Their name is Matenrou Opera (means "Skyscraper Opera"). And, for the record, all of them are guys.


Also, I got my tickets to Sapporo today! We have a 4-day weekend in February, which is conveniently when the big ice festival (Yuki Matsuri) is in Sapporo! I have several friends up there who have offered to take me around town for a few days, so I decided to get plane tickets and fly up to visit them (because it's a 14-hour train ride otherwise). I'll be arriving around 5 pm on Thursday and heading back to Hikone at noonish on Sunday. I'm looking forward to seeing all of my old friends, as well as seeing Sapporo again!

I'm sorry if you were expecting lots of pictures today...nothing that's that sort of noteworthy has happened since Sunday. :) For those of you already taking classes, I hope your first week is going well. And for those of you who have a few days left, enjoy your vacation! :)

EDIT: Almost forgot! I have a mailing address. :)
JCMU
1435-86 Ajiroguchi
Matsubara-cho
Hikone, Shiga
522-0002
Japan
Just make sure to put my name at the beginning so it ends up in my box! I'll make you a deal...send me a letter/postcard (and yes, I'd love a postcard of a place like Dallas or College Station, XD)/present and I'll send you a postcard back! We can be pen-pals. :D