Forget about my blog, this one is actually worth reading. Not to mention relevant. Kind of.

Apologies to everyone who's e-mails I haven't responded to. Oh, and apologies for not updating this blog with details about my personal life. I know I said I would post about the second half of my weekend trip to Tokyo but I'm going to take that one back. It only involved me, my roommate's girlfriend and expensive alcohol. I don't want to waste your time with boring stories.

Before I go any further, I'd like to throw a shout out to my parents. Thank you for financing this trip for me. When I'm old and fat and rich I will buy you EACH a villa in Honolulu.

Anyways, for those of you that care and/or have asked me how Japan is, this picture is truly worth a thousand words.



The last 3 months in America ended with a couple of beers, a few bowling nights, and plenty of programming. 3 months in Japan and my life back home feels like a dream. Will I feel the same way about Japan 3 months after I return to Michigan? I hope not.

tokyo pt. 1

OK so I'm a little late this post. gomenasai.

So about 3 weeks ago Nagoya University had a school festival that went from Thursday all the way to Sunday. In Japan festivals are called "omatsuri" and it involves lots of food and activities. But apparently last year there was a food poisoning incident and this year all the food stands were taken away. An omatsuri without food is like America without fast food and so on Friday I decided to hop on the shinkansen and bounce off to Tokyo.

If you don't know what shinkansens are, it's basically the sweetest form of public transportation ever created by man. And two hours later I was in Tokyo.

I spent both Friday and Saturday with these two old friends that I knew from way back. They're actually twins, and they lived in Michigan for 4 years.

I also forgot to bring my camera with me the whole day Saturday so I'm a little short on pics. Ya I know. Fail.

Oh, but I did take a video clip of the busiest intersection in the world on a Friday night.

As you may be able to see from this video, Tokyo was retardedly crowded. And the public transportation, although efficient and punctual, is still a pain in the ass. OK I'll post more later.

super excited for this weekend.

i promise i'll remember to take pictures.

japanese girls are hot

sorry for the lack of posts. i'm starting to forget how to write in english.

my mom told me to say good stuff about japan so this one's for you mom:

japanese girls are hot. wait, let me rephrase that. japanese girls dress well and are good with make up and they like to use hair products. and they all wear heels. thus they walk funny. thus the ratio of butters to girls is unusually high. so high that amongst the american ryugakusei's (international students) we have a saying "all japanese girls are hot from behind".

unfortunately, some take it a little too far.


but that is most definitely the exception. not the norm.

but seroiusly. japanese girls. very cute.

the end

If America fixes problems after they happen, Japanese fixes them before they happen. I've seen one police car since I've been here (police don't carry guns). The few security guards I've seen are either fat or old. There's no need for physical enforcement of law because the citizens are enforced mentally.

Teachers in primary school never intervene when a child is causing trouble. They want the kids to learn how to "harmonize" with each other instead of having to tell them to get along with each other. Then there's the whole senpai-kohai thing where respect is always given to the people above you. Apparently asking questions during class is also strongly discouraged once students enter secondary school. Topping it all off is the ridiculous college entrance exam--memorization of useless irrelevant information like the precipitation of Eastern European cities.

From an American perspective this culture--descendant of Shintoism and Bushido-- seems to suppress individualism. Apparently Western educators are so surprised when they see the schools in Japan that one of them called Japanese education "systematic child abuse". But then again I can't really place my own moral judgements on Japan. It served Japan well during the Meiji Restoration and post-WW2 to quickly industrialize the nation. Besides, Japan's a lot of fun.

bananas

Living in Japan can sometimes feel like Alice in Wonderland; often you get to see something ludicrous that you would never see back home. Everyone's probably heard a few of these exaggerated stories. Allow me to share my own.

When I'm out and about (in my skinny jeans) I have flawless gaijin camouflage. If I wanted to, no one would guess that I've never lived in Japan. It's a fun game to play when I'm hanging out with the other international students. Sometimes a normal student would look at me, then look at me some more, then approach me and ask me if I was Japanese. I would reply "yes" and maybe even strike up a conversation in Japanese. Then I would start talking to the other international students in English like nothing happened. They'll just continue to look at me as if I'm wearing a big penis costume. They just don't know what to ask. People like me don't really exist in Japan, and so they just can't grasp their heads around my existence.

I'm a banana in japana.

pics

My understanding is that this brog is supposed to enrighten readers with a glimpse of what it's like to be a college student in Japan. Yet 2-3 weeks have gone by since my arrival and I have yet to post a single picture. Sadly I don't usually have the urge to whip out a camera while in the middle of something. Ever since I got here I've been out and about with my camera in my backpack. SO I took some time out last weekend to walk around and take a few pictures of some of the places I've been to so far.


This is my crib. It's called the International Ohmeikan, but in reality only 5-10% of the students are international students and the rest are regular Nagoya University students. The building itself is really clean, the location is awesome, and every room is a single with an individual bathroom. The kicker is the rent which is a cool 13000 yen, equivalent to about $130 a month. :o


Across the street is a small import car shop. Perhaps a distant relative of mine owns it. Perhaps he'll let me test drive one of those sexy GT-Rs.


In Japan there are stores like these called "Conbini" (short for convenient). They're basically like the liquor stores on campus except not run by shady fat people. You can pretty much find one on any block in Japan. There's 3 Lawsons around my dorm and they're all less than 5 minutes away. Very convenient.


This is a pretty picture of campus. Can you spot the gaijins?


The public transportation is amazing here in Japan. Punctual, clean, affordable, and fast. I took a trip to Sakae, the downtown district of Nagoya.


Gambling is illegal in Japan but you can find a pachinko parlor in most busy downtown areas. It involves rolling down a metal ball and I think it's kind of like slot machiens.


I like ramen.



In Japan there are these things called "Manga Kissa". Take a little cubicle fitted with a computer, TV, and a comfy chair. Add on a library full of manga, unlimited drinks, and free showers all for a relatively cheap price. Apparently a lot of unemployed homeless people are starting to live in these Manga Kissas because it's so cheap and it's becoming a problem. lolol.

solo dolo

It's been about a week since I arrived and I'm finally settled in. I feel ready to rock 'n roll through the hallways of Nagoya University--except that there's no school until Thursday. Golden Week, as it's called in Japan, isn't an actual holiday but several holidays that are all coincidentally within the same week. It should give me some time to chill out and hang around town for a few days. Anywhoo here's a few of my initial reactions since coming here.

• Japan is incredibly structured. During American occupation after WWII almost every element of Japan was altered in one way or another. America has a pretty crappy track record with the whole foreign occupation thing but they seem to have done a pretty good job here. The country itself is ridiculously clean even (especially?) in the big cities and everything about the country seems well organized.


• On a similar note the whole senpai thing is probably the biggest difference between Japan and America. In school and especially at work there's always a senpai looking over your shoulder. It's probably part of the reason why Japan's so structured but it's probably also the reason why everyone kind of looks the same.


• They love to bow.


• They hate to shake hands.


• A lot of guys look like girls.


• Every single girl wears heels.


• Therefore a lot of guys wear heels (it's true).


• Food is delicious.


• Japanese businessmen occasionally get so drunk that they pass out in the middle of the street (I've seen a couple already).


• They hate to make random eye contact. When we do make eye contact they quickly look the other way like it never happened. It's kind of entertaining.


• GIRLS HAVE ATROCIUOS TEETH. LESS MAKE UP MORE BRACES.


• Japan loves skinny jeans. Curiousity striked and I bought a pair. I still don't get it.


• I could go on forever.

However, the truth is that once I started getting to know people here, I quickly realize that beyond the little quirky things they're not that different between you and me. In actuality if I was born and raised in Japan I'd probably be just like anyone else, looking at the gaijins with that "what the hell are you doing here" look. I guess world citizens are the way of the future.

Back home in Ann Arbor I had the luxury of already having friends a hand's reach away. It's nice. Here I have to stretch myself a little. I'm definitely a 面倒くさがり屋 but getting out of that comfort zone feels pretty darn good for some reason.

hair

exposing my receding hairline in all its glory!

Hello

Hi everyone! My name's Yutaro and I'm an undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science at the University of Michigan. Right now I'm doing a study abroad program at Nagoya University through the IPE program. So follow this blog if you're at all interested in what it's like to study abroad in this interesting country.

My parents were both born and raised in Japan but I was born in Vancouver and spent all of my life either there or in the states. Over here they call me "Nisei" (2nd generation). My parents spoke to me in Japanese, and so although my ability to read and write is below that of a middle schooler, it's good enough to get by. Of course I'm completely oblivious to all the cultural nuances of this country, and I've made a complete fool of myself already in the few days that I've been here so far. The fact that I look Japanese and to a certain extent act Japanese increases this effect tenfold. Allow me to give a concrete example.

When I arrived in Nagoya it was too late to get into the dorm and so I had to book a hotel room near the airport. Japan is relatively conscious of the energy that they consume, and so they take a few simple measures to conserve it. In order to make sure that guests don't leave their room with the lights on, they require the room key to be inserted in a little slot in order to activate the lights switches. The next night when I got into my dorm I found that the light switch next to the door didn't work. The sun had already set and it was dark in my room but I saw a faint outline of a button that looked just like the slot in the hotel room from the previous night. I tried to stick my key in but it didn't really seem to work that well so I tried to push it in instead. To my dismay instead of turning on the room lights it turned on flashy obnoxious red lights right outside my room. The same obnoxious red lights that come coupled with those obnoxious loud sirens. I didn't really do much except look stupid in front of my room as students from my hall came out one by one with their hands covering their ears. Fortunately because I can speak Japanese pretty well I was able to explain to them that it was a complete accident. Someone was able to turn it off in a few minutes and everything was OK after that. Unfortunately because I can speak Japanese pretty well, I just looked like a complete fool for accidentally turning on the alarm. Especially considering that classes began 2 weeks ago and everyone should have been completely familiar with the big red alarm button in their room. So if you ever do happen to go study abroad at Nagoya University, do not push the big red alarm button. Lesson learned.

Speaking of dorms, apparently the international students and the regular students are sometimes known to not get along very well. The only chance I've had so far to meet the other students in my hall were when I set the alarm off. They weren't too friendly towards me. Go figure. I haven't had the time to introduce myself around my hall, but hopefully they'll warm up towards me over the next 4 months. Although it's too bad that there's some friction between international kids and the regular kids, it's not too surprising considering the culture in Japan. More on that later.