Golden Week: Harajuku Highlights

こんばんわ、読書。
Good evening, readers.

Marking my one month in Japan, this coming week just happens to be called Golden Week. Due to several national holidays falling at the beginning of May, many schools and businesses close and families enjoy vacations abroad or locally. This means three things: one: I only have two classes this week; two: Tokyo Disney is on pause (the crowds will be unbelievable, especially since this is the park's 30th anniversary); and three: this is my time to travel all over Tokyo.

To get a head start on my Golden Week quest, I met up with my Australian friend, James, at Harajuku 原宿. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this fashion-forward spot, imagine the county fair. Lines stretch with no end for greasy, fried, dipped, or wrapped treats from Gindako's famous takoyaki たこ焼き(fried balls of octopus) topped with mayonnaise or cheese to Angels Heart crepes with fresh fruit, whipped cream, and cheesecake! Flashy, hipster, and Engrish clothing and accessories grab your attention (and for some, wallets) at every turn. American music blasts from inside a store, the voice of pop singer JoJo causing me to backtrack.

Beyond the county-fair ambiance of the main street, Takeshita 竹下通り,  James and I stumbled onto the less trodden streets of Harajuku. There we found Japanese street art (graffiti) sprayed across walls and a shop with neon skateboards, plastic lego and dinosaur necklaces, and stylish sunglasses (the electric guitar and apple frames were my personal favorites).

After finding our way to a huge intersection, we headed into Tokyu Plaza Omotesando 東急プラザ表参道, the place to shop in Harajuku. Passing under the mesmerizing, mirror-shattered entrance, we rode the escalator up to the rooftop to find a mini park outside of the Starbucks. Scooting passed the Japanese sunbathers and Starbucks sippers, we admired the scattered trees and flower buds. Then awe washed over us as the view of Tokyo took us by surprise. The city and sky folded open before us like the perfect ending to a book.

Coming back down to the streets of Harajuku, we ambled to Yoyogi Park 代々木公園. Towards the entrance a group of Japanese rockers danced in a circle shaking their worn, black leather shoes and gliding to the rock rhythm. Further in the park James and I heard another curious tune and followed our ears to a brightly attired jazz marching band called 外国人 or foreigner. Its bohemian vibe drew many spectators. In a way, the band's music connected us through a combination of instruments that together produced a sound that had never before reached us. The title of the band thus encompassed their music: it was unknown and unfamiliar just as we were to one another. Only our appreciation of the music became our commonality.

Tomorrow is the official start of Golden Week. An adventure to Ueno 上野 and Asakusa 浅草 with several of my Japanese friends awaits me. For now, sweet dreams will suffice.

Takeshita Street

Japanese Graffiti

Neon Skateboards

Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Mirror Entrance

Rooftop Park

Rooftop View

外国人 Band

Make New Friends

おはようございます、読者。

Good morning, readers.

A sea of bobbing heads and colorful, handmade signs greeted me as I entered through Sophia's north gate 北門. Friendly faces, rapid-fire Japanese, and flimsy flyers beckoned me forward. The occasional "Do you speak English?" spouted from a few recruiters' lips. All combined, everyone and everything exclaimed the same thing: welcome to Sophia.

Over the next week, I perfected how to introduce myself in Japanese 自己紹介 and smoothly transitioned from removed, international student 留学生 to new friend 友達 status. Over the past two weekends, I've spent my time immersing myself in Sophia student culture, taste testing various clubs, or circles サークル, from SISEC (Sophia International Student Exchange Council) and Sophia Communication to KGK (Christian Club). The first two speak directly to the study abroad experience, offering international students a means to make friends with Japanese students, practice their Japanese, and travel around Tokyo.

Last Saturday I ventured with SISEC, a club of about 200 students, to Yokohama 横浜 and spent the afternoon strolling the crowded streets of  Chinatown 中華街. Nothing can compare to the aroma of the gourmet mixed dim sum ミックス点心 and the feeling of creamy, strawberry shaved ice かきごお melting on my tongue. After lunch, my new Japanese friends and I played games in Yamashita Park 山下公園 from volleyball to charades, competing against each other in our small groups. The latter activity was the most amusing as one group leader held up Japanese or English cue cards, puzzling several international and Japanese students who couldn't make out the complicated Kanji characters or scribbled English letters. Students jumped, danced, and gestured to try and communicate with their team members. I lucked out with "Twitter," typing away at the air and then flapping my hands like a bird. My first year friend, Moeko, helped our group out with her correct 正しい guess.

Sunday proved to be another adventure as I met up with students from Sophia Communication. We hopped aboard Tokyo's Metro 地下鉄 and headed to Yoyogi Park 代々木園 near Harajuku 原宿. Settling down on a carpet of strung together blue tarps, I ate lunch picnic-style, enjoying the company of several first years and another girl studying abroad from Thailand. Over orange slices みかん and Japanese chocolate cookies (one kind translated as Country Ma'am), us girls discussed majors, interests, and cultural differences (for instance, I explained my high school prom details to my friend, Mio, who was interested in this aspect of American culture that Japan doesn't have).

As I journeyed back to my apartment, I couldn't help smiling to myself on the subway. Despite the challenge of memorizing numerous names and some language barrier bumps, I am really here in Tokyo already creating lasting ties with native speakers. In realizing this, I felt a weight, a light one, lift from my shoulders. Though often surrounded by strangers, I have already found members of my Tokyo family.

We will teach one another. We will learn each other's stories. We will grow together.

This is what I came for.

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building with Kenta and John

Club Day with Fumiya and his Comedy Club friend

  

Yamashita Park with Manami

Yoyogi Park with Sophia Communication

Discover Tomorrow

こんばんわ、読者。
Good evening, readers.

One of my English teachers told me that to see a city you must walk it. Only then can you truly understand a city's people, culture, and way of life. I had this piece of wisdom in mind as I set out for Aoyama Cemetery 青山墓地, a place I read about in an article highlighting top cherry blossom viewing sites.

The journey took a little more than thirty minutes by foot, and as I reached the cemetery's entrance I could feel the atmosphere change. The wind increased. Then slowed. The smell of incense wafted through the spring air.

I made my way along the stone-laid paths between the numerous rows of marble graves. A small funeral was being held in front of one gravestone. A Japanese family of eight dressed in black attire paid their respects before leaving their departed loved one. In another part of the cemetery, others refilled water in small troughs located at the center of most headstones. Unlike back home, tombstones here are clothed in not only flowers but also drinks, usually water. At first glance, I thought the cemetery had been littered, which is rare in Japan (public garbage cans are uncommon because it's expected that individuals will hold onto their trash until they get home and then dispose of it there). It turns out that Japanese people bring the deceased drinks, though, and also wash the marble headstones with sponges wet from the graveyard fountains.

Heading deeper into the cemetery, I suddenly realized the place's vastness. Japanese as well as foreigner gravestones gathered together, some looming over me like giants. In several sections, cherry blossom trees dotted the space between the marble structures and especially along a small road that wound its way through the cemetery. Scooters and cars noiselessly passed through ducking under the pink budded trees that gave the cemetery an unexpected, breathtaking beauty.

After exiting the cemetery, I took in the rest of Aoyama through my sense of sound. Sunday means sports day in Japan (similar to those football fans in America). I stumbled upon an elementary school and stopped to watch tiny tykes run around a dirt soccer field, paying no heed to their parents yelling from the sidelines. I enjoyed snacking on one of my last bags of Goldfish and spending an hour reminiscing about my childhood soccer games.

My last stop in Aoyama happened by accident. My curious ears caught the sound of loud cheering, which dragged my feet in its direction. After strolling for some distance, I came across a stadium: Meiji Jingu Stadium 明治神宮球場. According to the bold print signs, this is Tokyo's Olympic stadium! I was baffled at the size and excited to see banners flowing that read "Discover Tomorrow," which advertised for Tokyo to be a candidate in the 2020 Summer Olympics.

While I hope Tokyo is chosen so that I have another reason to return, the banner's phrase speaks to me in the here and now. I'm in one of the neatest cities in the world and no matter the obstacles I face today I will always have tomorrow. To discover.

Cherry Blossoms

Tree Pathway

On the run

Meiji Jingu Stadium

Olympics Banner

Cherry Blossoms & Shower Buttons

日本からのご挨拶。
Greetings from Japan.

This is my first official post in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (東京都新宿区)! I'm sitting in my 7.29 square meter room with the AC/heater controller and my friend's DS translator close at hand. Both smirk at me: the former waiting for me to adjust the air temperature yet again and the latter daring me to push another shower button without translating it first...

Rewind, back up. Let's start at the beginning. As my plane descended through the thick layer of soupy clouds, I could only see gray until the plane kissed the ground. Then, as if from a storybook, cherry blossom trees appeared light and fluffy like cotton candy. Many more greeted me as I journeyed to Narita 成田, a city in Chiba 千葉 just outside of Tokyo, to spend the night at a Motel 6 equivalent in Japan.

The next day I took a shuttle back to the airport where a kind taxi driver agreed to take me into Tokyo and my first two stops: Sakura House's office headquarters and then my apartment. Driving in the taxi was quite an adventure as I made small talk with the driver, took photos of all the buildings and cherry blossoms through my window, and adjusted my eyes to being driven on the opposite side of the road.

After finding our way through the narrow streets of Yotsuya 3 Chome 四谷三丁目, the taxi driver and I parted. I lugged my black monster of a suitcase up four flights of stairs (no elevator) and entered the tiny, two bedroom apartment complete with a full kitchen that could fit in the average American's closet. I met one of my roommates, Lily (from Paris, France), and later that night her boyfriend, Jack, (from Boston) and his friend, John (from New Hampshire). Lily and I instantly clicked after learning that we share similar life styles and a love for the Big Bang Theory.

Yesterday (today for those back home) our orientation commenced at 10am with advisors and professors speaking English fluently and welcoming us to Sophia. Professor Kiyoshi Noguchi was especially entertaining with his jokes. He warned to only mark answers you know on the placement test because a student who had never taken Japanese before guessed randomly and placed in advanced.

Introductions over, I met up with a few Japanese student monitors who showed other international students and me around the campus. We ate lunch together, discussing where we were from, why we chose Japanese, etc. I spoke with Gen, studying Chinese, Yutaro, studying Biology, and Misa, studying Portuguese (all from Japan). In addition, I met several international students from all over the world: from Australia to France to Germany to Mexico and Morocco.

Once acquainted, all of us international students headed to the examination room where we spent 3 and a half hours on the most difficult Japanese test I've ever taken; it covered Kanji, conjugations, reading comprehension, and composition. Tomorrow the results come in and then I choose my classes from there.

Other than the expected language barrier bumps, I've been able to communicate fairly well and read street signs (mainly Katakana) and grocery labels (cheated with Skippy peanut butter, though, which was in English). The biggest scare happened this morning.

When I showered the first night, the settings had been left on and I had no problems. Today, however, I tried to make out the complex Kanji character buttons to no avail. Instead of double checking each one in the translator, I decided to hit all of the buttons and determine through trial and error how to make the water hot. After pushing in the first button, a tiny alarm sounded for a few seconds and then stopped. My heart skipped a beat as I waited, looked around, and then ran to my room to retrieve the translator. To my horror, the button translated as "send the police" 警察を送る. I hesitated before knocking on my roomates' door. I woke up at 5am still adjusting to Japan time, which my roommates no longer experienced having been here a month. I knocked once. Waited. Twice.

Jack answered and I explained what happened. He said not to worry about it: the alarm only sounds in the apartment. The police weren't coming! I sighed in relief and continued to translate the rest of the shower buttons and had Jack explain how the shower worked. Good news: I'm now a shower wiz. Bad news: I came close to contacting the police and I haven't been in the country for more than 72 hours.

Cherry blossoms outside of Sophia University

Taxi driver on the right side

Room with a view

Home sweet home