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.