Caltech

The End of Days in Japan

Asuke

Well, this was my last day in Japan, and so the teachers took us to a remote village in the hills of Aichi to relax and just wander around. There were large forests, a big river, and small hills to climb. Overall, a great place to end my trip to Japan. It was also refreshing to get the crisp mountain air along with the ambiance of the river at the same time. In the autumn, this place is really popular to come see the changing colors of the trees. I hope that someday in the future I’ll be able to return here in the autumn. In addition to just relaxing and walking around, we were able to create coasters made out of hand-shaved bamboo. These were pretty cool and very fun to make as well.

Conclusions and Observations

So if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you must have realized that everyday was spent doing something of some importance, even the weekends. With that said, I definitely was able to experience the culture of Japan at a basic level. Also, since I didn’t choose to live in one of the large cities like Tokyo or Osaka, I was able to go places and do cultural activities that most foreign visitors would never think of going to or doing.

Overall I had a great time with the JLCP program and in Japan in general. The teachers in the program were great and very helpful as well, and I also made a few very good friends that I’m sure we’ll be keeping in contact in the future. Japan itself is a very unique country with a very unique culture and I hope that in the future others in America will be able to experience some part of this culture as well. It is both interesting and fun at the same time, yet there are so many different aspects of it that you could spend everyday in a year doing something different in a different part of Japan and never get tired. Needless to say, while I was in Japan, I experienced many different aspects of Japanese culture and I visited many diverse places as well. This section attempts to tie all of that together along with my own thoughts and analysis on how Japan works.

So what exactly makes Japanese culture work the way it does? I really still am amazed. In the large cities there are huge buildings, and then beautiful shrines and gardens right next to those buildings. In small villages in the mountains, they have preserved their culture well, but also have things such as hybrid cars and automatic toilets. I think that it’s the people themselves who have the correct mindset of both forward thinking and preserving their heritage. This is because I find that although Japanese people are very humble and nice, they are also extremely proud of themselves—their country and their race. Thus, they strive to be the best, as a people in whole, in all future endeavors. They also treasure the past and the lessons that have already been bestowed upon them by their elders and ancestors. Thus, this great mix of both forward thinking and preservation is what sets Japan apart from the rest of the world. Nowhere else in the world possesses such a culture, and I feel that many of the other cultures in the world would not function too well if pressed into a similar type of mindset as the Japanese’s. So Japan, land of the rising sun, is truly the land of both the rising sun towards the future, and the setting sun of the past. What’s certain, is that Japan is a beautiful country with a mixture of majestic mountains, large cities, seaside villages, beautiful beaches, and wonderful people all surrounded by the ocean. What an experience in such a great country. I hope that someday in the future, I’ll be able to return here. And next time, I’ll at least have had some experience with the language as well. I hope that you’ve all enjoyed reading this, until next time!

--Tony

Last Days in Japan

Origami

Back in elementary school I used to think origami (literally “paper folding”) was pretty cool. Then I didn’t do any of it for like 10 years. And now, here I am origami-ing again. I thought we’d be doing the traditional cranes. Instead, it was something much harder. We made a top and a pretty cool box:

For the box, we had to make 12 identical pieces and then fit them together kind of like a puzzle. It was pretty hard, but kind of fun. The origami teacher is a professional origami teacher, and apparently is also a singer with various singles out, though of course they are Japanese. Afterwards, the top was a little simpler, but I think that it’s much cooler. It actually spins fairly well. Now the problem is how to transport these 3-D objects back to America through luggage. Hmm. We’ll see, I’ll think of a way.

Almost the End

So the program is almost over. I did my final speech today, which was just 5 minutes of me speaking, completely in Japanese, about the things we did and how fun they were, etc. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and this trip to Japan is no exception. It’s not the last day of the program, but the last formal class day. Tomorrow we’ll be going to Asuke on a final tour of the area. It’s going to be mostly wilderness, so it’ll be relaxing to walk through the forests on my final day in Japan.

So if I have time, I will do a post while waiting in Seoul/Incheon airport on the way back. They have free wireless internet, and I’ll have a couple hours of time waiting for my plane back. The troublesome thing is the overnight stopover in Seoul. I don’t speak any Korean, so hopefully the people there will know either English, Chinese, or even Japanese would probably be fine. So expect the final post on Friday, where I’ll talk about Asuke and then attempt to wrap everything up. Until then.

By the way, I was in Nagoya the other day, and played that UFO catcher game. Somehow I won something. I have no idea what it is, some doll or figurine of some sort, but at least I can say that I’ve won a legitimate prize through a UFO catcher game.

--Tony

Last Weekend

Nishiura

This weekend I decided to take it easy a little compared to last weekend. I can’t be too tired this next week because I’ve got a speech to do as well as the tiring flight back and some more things to finish after that. Anyways, I ended up going to Nishiura on Saturday, which is fairly close to Okazaki, though near the sea. Nishiura is a small fishing town which is famous for its various hot spring resorts and beaches. From the beach overlooking Mikawa Bay, you can see Cape Irago, the Tokoname Peninsula, and various islands including Takeshima, which I had visited before. Since this is most likely the last time I’ll be able to visit the seaside while I’m in Japan, I decided to walk around the peninsula. It took a couple hours, but it was definitely worth it. I really love the smell of the ocean, which is something that even at the California beaches you can’t really get.

Nagoya (again)

Being the last weekend, I decided to go to Nagoya one last time, this time mainly to find stuff to bring back and possibly to go to a couple places that I didn’t get to go to last time. The main area was the large shopping arcade next to Osu Kannon which I walked past last time but didn’t really check out. This shopping arcade is about a 0.5 by 0.5 km area within Nagoya. Everything is outside and on the streets, but all of the streets are covered, so it seems like you are inside. The closest thing to this in the US might be the northern area of Las Vegas which has the Fremont Casino. The Nagoya shopping arcade is not even the largest. I walked through a couple that were at least twice as large last weekend while I was in Osaka and Kyoto. So I ended up buying some stuff to bring back, but definitely not too much because I might have a luggage space/weight problem.

Next Time

This next week we’ll be doing Origami and making one final trip into the wilderness of Asuke. Hopefully I’ll be able to have a post about Asuke, which is on Wednesday. However, my plane leaves on Thursday, and I may not have time to do a post on Wednesday night because I’ll need to pack. Thus, expect one probably on Tuesday and most likely Friday while I’m at Seoul Incheon Airport (free wireless internet). Until then.

--Tony

Around Aichi

Tokoname

After coming back from Osaka, this week has been fairly relaxing. Not too much stuff to do, though we did visit a few places.

One of these places was Tokoname, a city that is renowned for its ceramics throughout Japan. I was able to work with clay with my own hands to make a couple of things. First of all, we used a rotating apparatus to make a clay tea cup. Then I used static clay to make a “maneki neko” or a luck cat. The results were fairly good, though the cat had a few problems. Overall it was good, though.

Afterwards was a trip to a vinegar factory. I love the smell and taste of vinegar. Unfortunately I can’t send a smell through the internet, and they also didn’t allow us to take any pictures of the factory for fear of their secret leaking out. Anyways, while I was there we got to try different types of vinegar and vinegar-based drinks. They were all interesting, but I still prefer Chinese black vinegar over all of those.

Kira

In Kira, we went to this old guy’s house where we were supposed to learn the ancient Japanese art of meditation. Instead, he ended up talking for about an hour while he gave us a bunch of snacks and tea. I couldn’t really understand what he was saying, and even the teachers who are native Japanese speakers couldn’t understand all of it. Some of the words I heard were: boxing, sumo, eating rabbits, and daikon. Interesting. Later, he took out a big flat stick and hit us all in the back a few times. Apparently it was for some good purpose, but it just hurt.

Afterwards we visited a Tatami workshop. Tatami is a traditional Japanese flooring made of rice and straw. Traditional rooms are covered with these, which are usually extremely expensive. There, we saw how a full size tatami was made, and then we were able to make mini-tatami’s to take home. It took a couple hours to make, but the end result is definitely something to be proud of. It also is the right size to fit the cat I made the other day. Overall, a great experience as well.

Other Stuff

Unfortunately, I have less than a week left in Japan at this point. Although it’s a bit sad, I do feel that I need to come back to Caltech to finish up some stuff. I still need to get on grad school applications, finish up a couple papers for publication that I started over the summer, start studying for GREs, etc. etc. etc. So it’ll be good to come back and start crossing things off of my checklist.

As for next time, I’ll most likely be going to Toyohashi this weekend, which is a seaside town with a few shrines and forests nearby. Also, I’ll be going back to Nagoya to find some souvenirs and other stuff to bring back. Until then.

--Tony

The Rain Really Makes My Day (Journey to Osaka)

Osaka

Osaka is the “Anti-Tokyo”, as one would put it. That would make it the Anti-Anti-Okazaki, huh. Anyways, Osaka is the second largest city in Japan, and is famous for its laid back attitude despite the large-city feel. There’s also a ton of things to do there.

So I woke up at about 4 am (12 pm Pacific Time) to catch the first train out of Okazaki at 5 am. I definitely woke up before some kids on the west coast… Anyways, I got to Osaka at about 9 am, and met with one of my friends from Caltech, Jack, who is at Kyoto University doing research over the summer. Osaka is so much larger than Okazaki as well as the neighboring large city of Nagoya. It’s soooooo much larger, and there’s much more stuff to do. Anyways, I got a 1 Day Osaka Pass (¥2000), which gives free access to the subway, and free admission to 25 selected sights. So the places I went to include the Trade Center Building, Tempozan at the Port, A Port Cruise on a Pirate Ship, the famous Dotombori Shopping District, a ride down the Dotombori River, Shitennoji, Osaka Castle, and the Umeda Sky Building. I have to say that it was pretty good, though I would have liked to visit and see more places than I did. Overall, my impression of Osaka was that it was a city where although there are a lot of serious businessmen and workers, they definitely know how to have a good time. Kind of like a certain University huh… Here are a few pictures, please go to here for the rest of them: http://www.panoramio.com/user/2916748/tags/Japan&comments_page=1&photos_page=11

Osaka Bay and Tempozan

The famous Crab at Dotombori

Glico Running Man

Going up the Umeda Sky Building.

Kobe and Himeji

Long Story Short, it was raining really really hard this day. Unfortunately, these places which had a great potential to be great were not as enjoyable as I would have liked. So Kobe is a port town to the west of Osaka in Hyogo Prefecture. Himeji is further west and has Japan’s largest castle: Himeji Castle. Himeji Castle was pretty good, partially because it provided temporary shelter from the rain. Kobe, on the other hand, had no such shelter, and so the port area, which I’m sure is a great view normally, was not as great as I had hoped. Also, unfortunately I didn't have time to check out Koshien Stadium. That's just too bad.

Himeji Castle

Kobe Port

Kyoto

Similarly, the huge rain in Kyoto prevented it from being a great experience. It stopped raining on Sunday, but unfortunately I had to leave that day, so I only had a couple hours in the city. The main attraction that I went to was the Fushimi Inari Shrine, a shrine in the mountains behind Kyoto which contains thousands of ancient torii (Japanese traditional gates). There were thousands of bright red torii on a very beautiful mountain, which made this sight exceptionally cool. Unfortunately, the rain was pretty hard and after getting to the top of the mountain, we couldn’t see anything, so some pictures of the torii will have to do. In addition, I also went to central Kyoto and the Imperial Garden. It’s Japan’s equivalent of China’s Forbidden City, and unfortunately while I was there it was also forbidden to enter. I'm going to have to come back to Kansai in a few years when I'm rich and it isn't raining.

Fushimi Inari Shrine Pictures

Next Time

I’ll be going to a traditional ceramics master to try to make my mark in the field, as well as a tatami factory where I think I’ll be able to make a mini tatami to bring back. I’ve also resumed classes, which so far has been great. Anyways, look forward to these!

--Tony

Stuff

Unfortunately, no pictures this time.

So yesterday was the last day for Carlotta, the Italian student. This leaves only two left in the program. I’m starting to get the feel of the language a little. When I first came last week, I was fairly confused at what was going on, but being around Japanese speakers the whole time as well as having some structured classes has definitely gone a long way. I still need to practice writing in Japanese characters, but that will take some time. For now, it’s ok.

Anyways, look forward to some more (a lot more pictures) after the weekend. I’ll be going to Osaka/Kobe/Kyoto for three days. Another kid from Caltech, Jack, is at Kyoto University doing some research, so I’m going to meet him and he’s going to show me around some of the cool places around the area. These include Osaka port, Tempozan, Himeji castle, Dotombori, the Kobe port, and the Fushimi-Inari Taisha. If there’s time, I’d like to also check out Koshien stadium, some more shrines around Kyoto, and Lake Biwa, though there might not be time.

So far I’m really impressed with Japan’s train system. It’s so efficient, and can get you pretty much anywhere you want in a short time. Unfortunately, America doesn’t have such a thing, partly due to the large land area that it would have to cover. But seriously, every train runs exactly on time, and you can pretty much get from anywhere in Japan to any other city in Japan in at most one day through the train system. Amazing.

I had some fruit today, but I didn’t buy it. It was a part of the set meal. I still don’t want to buy any fruit. Also, I tried Natto (fermented soybeans) the other day. I STRONGLY recommend that everyone try it once, but exactly once. Enough said. This is probably the weirdest thing I’ve eaten so far. I would have liked to have a picture of the facial expression I made after eating it, but this one will have to do.

I’ve finally gotten over the jetlag. I’m now waking up at a normal time (8 am) rather than something ridiculous (5:30 am). This is because I’ve pushed my sleeping time forward form old people time (8 pm) to a normal sleeping time (10 pm).

Unfortunately, I have only two more weeks here. It’s been pretty fun, but also very fast. Hopefully the next couple weeks will be as thrilling as the previous.

Stay Tuned…

--Tony

Nagano

Gifu and Nagoya

So last time was a bit rushed. Anyways, please see the previous post for those pictures. So Gifu is one of eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, famous for its mountains and rolling valleys. What amazed me the most about Gifu was its natural beauty. Everything was a very vibrant color: green, blue, etc. The culture within Gifu has remained mostly intact because there is very little modernization outside of Gifu City. Thus, what we were able to experience was Japan at its core.

Nagoya, on the other hand, is a rapidly modernizing city that thrives on the nearby auto industry as well as its port. Although it's the third largest city in Japan, it didn't feel that large, and it was very easy to get around. It was also a very friendly city, unlike say New York or Boston. Within this very modern city are many shrines and parks, showing that the people still hold with them their cultural roots in spite of rapid modernization.

Nagano

Nagano, like Gifu, is one of the eight landlocked prefectures. It’s most famous for the Japanese Alps as well as having hosted the 1998 Winter Olympics. What separates Nagano from Gifu is the size and nature of its mountains. What makes Gifu special is its lush, picturesque rolling valleys, while the sheer size of Nagano’s mountains is what makes it special. I was extremely impressed by the natural beauty of Nagano as well. Anyways, we first climbed to the top of a mountain, and then visited various shrines along the way to Nagano. We stopped at Matsumoto, a small mountain city, and visited Matsumoto Castle. Finally, we went to the small town of Matsushiro and walked through its back roads and alleys to visit various shrines, gardens, and an underground tunnel network used in WWII. Pictures are as follows.

What has started as a cultural experience trip is quickly turning into a natural beauty trip. I’m amazed at Japan’s natural beauty. Although the culture is still the main aspect of this trip, you can’t help but admire all the great scenes here. Anyways, it’s back to the classroom on Wednesday. Look forward to an Osaka/Kyoto trip this weekend. As always, pictures are here: http://www.panoramio.com/user/2916748/tags/Japan&comments_page=1&photos_page=9

By the way, I found two towel dispensers. One was at a WESTERN hotel and another was at an Irish (WESTERN) pub. So Japanese don’t use paper towel dispensers. Who knew?

--Tony

Gifu and Nagoya (Short Post)

Disclaimer
This is really rushed, so most of this will likely be pictures. Again, please go to Panoramio for more and better pictures: http://www.panoramio.com/user/2916748/tags/Japan&comments_page=1&photos_page=6 and http://www.panoramio.com/user/2916748/tags/Japan&comments_page=1&photos_page=7
More pictures when I get back from Nagano on Wednesday.
Gifu
Gifu is a mountainous prefecture north of Aichi, perhaps famous for the World Heritage site Shirakawa-go. I went with some other kids to Gujo Hachiman, a small mountain town. There, we were able to go to Kawashima Aqua Aquarium, Gujo Hachiman Castle, a Fake Food producer, and Otaki Shonyudo, which is a large underground cave. Pictures below:

Driving through Gifu.

Gujo Hachiman Castle.

A Gifu Valley.

Picturesque. Kind of Like Shirakawa-go.

A Small River.

It's Fake.

View from the Cave.

Sesame Ice Cream.

Nagoya
Nagoya is the third largest city in Japan, located to the northwest of Okazaki. While at Nagoya, I visited some parks, some shrines, the Nagoya TV tower, the Nagoya Dome, and the Nagoya Port. Pictures below:

Osu Kanon.

Pachinko Bar

"High Grade Prize Machine UFO Catcher Series." The Japanese can't stand being away from their cartoons...

Nagoya TV Tower.

Nagoya Skyline.

Ferris Wheel in the Middle of the City

?

Again, this is all rushed, so if you want more details, please comment. Many more pictures on Panoramio! Also, I’ve taken about 1000 pictures so far, but I can only host so many on Panoramio. If you want specific or more detailed pictures, please just request them and I will see if I have them. Thanks.

--Tony

A Hectic Day

Program Details
So this program is much more intense than I thought it would be, which is great. I spent three hours in a row learning various introductory phrases and the Japanese hiragana and katakana. There are around 48 of each, so trying to learn them all in a couple days is pretty hard. I felt like a kindergardener. Just in case you didn’t know, Japanese language is phonetic (for the most part aside from the Chinese, Kanji, characters), and the sounds are produced by combining various hiragana and katakana characters together to form words. So there are no roman letters used. The language class will be pretty intense, but it’s one-on-one with three different teachers, and it’ll be a great experience.

Trips
So Friday I went with the other kids in the program to various places around the area. There are two other kids: Jack from Britain, and Carlotta from Italy. They’re both pretty cool kids that also enjoy Japanese language and culture. I can't post pictures of them online without their consent, so I will ask them about it next time.

Anyways, first we went to the Toyota Car Factory. There was a museum with the latest prototype models, and then we got to explore the car building factory. They didn’t let us take pictures of inside the factory, but I have a few of the museum and various prototype models and robots, including a trumpet playing robot.

The Toyota Main Headquarters.

The Trumpet Playing Robot.

My Favorite Car: The IQ.

Me Barely Fitting into My Favorite Car.

Toyota Brand Curry!

The Car of the Future.

Next was a traditional Japanese tea house. We were able to enjoy Japanese matcha (抹茶, finely powdered green tea) and manjuu, a Japanese confection. It was pretty cool, and the tea was amazing. It had a very sophisticated taste, and wasn’t too bitter or too sweet. It also went down very smoothly, and the aftertaste was very “toasty” and deep.

On a one lane bridge over a river.

85% of the Country's fireworks are produced here.

A traditional table.

The Matcha and Wagashi.

A side stop had us going to the burial grounds of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founding shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Apparently he was a very short guy. And finally, we ended the day at a miso production facility. Hatcho Miso, literally eight cubes miso, is a dark miso that is aged in cedar wood barrels for at least 2 years. This has been in business for 18 generations. One main difference between Hatcho Miso and standard miso is that Hatcho miso is darker in color, almost deep red. It is less sweet and more savory than regular miso, and has a deep taste with many different levels and a great lingering aftertaste. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can find much of this stuff in the US, so you’ll have to come to Okazaki to try it.

Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Two-Years Aging Miso. I almost tried the miso ice cream, but thought better of it.

Interesting Observations
Fruit is ridiculously expensive. Just today, I saw ~$2 apples, a $7 box of grapes, a $16 watermelon, and the big one: a $50 cantaloupe that is smaller than a soccer ball.

The weather is getting better and less hot and humid. The couple days I’ll be in the mountains I’m going to have to bring a couple jackets.

I’m finding that I have less time to go out and eat at a restaurant each night, so I’ve been going to some supermarkets and picking out set meals (Around $4-5) for dinners. They are quick and delicious, though I’ll still have to find some other way to get my vitamins and minerals. Perhaps juice?
Anyways, the next few days will be spent exploring various parts of the country. I’m heading up to Gifu prefecture with the other kids tomorrow to visit Gujo Hachiman, an old post town. Then Sunday I’ll be in Nagoya all day, visiting the closest large city to Okazaki. Finally, Monday and Tuesday I’ll be in Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture with the other kids from the program for an overnight trip in the mountains. It’ll be fun. Unfortunately, I may or may not have time to post more pictures/blog posts from now until probably Wednesday, but don’t be surprised if I have some time and write one up real quick.

And the pictures are overflowing, so here's a new link to the 4th page of pictures (Already?): http://www.panoramio.com/user/2916748/tags/Japan&comments_page=1&photos_page=4

--Tony

First Day

Orientation
Today I went through orientation, where an administrator and a teacher explained to me the basics of how this course is going to go. I must say, it’s going to be a nice challenge for me, as they expect a lot out of all their students. In addition, everything will be in Japanese from day 1, without the Romanized words that many American Japanese courses use. So basically, the morning will have 3 hours of one-on-one language training through both computer programs, active listening and speaking, and other methods. The afternoon I will be going through cultural seminars at an adjacent “cultural school”. This is interspaced with various day trips, cultural exploration trips, and tours, as well as independent travel. I know that this will be an awesome experience, and if any of you all have a chance to do something like this, you should definitely give it a shot. Anyways, some pictures.
The Main Building

The building where I'll be having the Language classes. It turns out that this building used to be a large rice pot factory. The entire surrounding area used to be factories, and is slowly being renovated into high-tech buildings.

Part of a garden of the house where I'll be having culture seminars (I couldn't get a good picture). It used to be the family home of the dude that gave money to start the Yamasa Institute.

Gamagori
Since Orientation ended early today, I went to the nearby town of Gamagori. It’s right next to the ocean, and just a 10 minute train ride away. Most of the pictures will be on Panoramio (Link Below), so the ones here are only a small sampling. The town is fairly small, but there is a forested island that is connected to the mainland by a walking bridge. It’s a really nice place, and seems to be some type of traditional Japanese shrine. Pictures below. The cool sea breeze and the smell of the ocean were in full force here. Unfortunately, all the electronic viewers are limited to the sense of vision, and won’t be able to feel or smell any of this trip. Overall, it was a nice side trip. I look forward to doing more of these whenever possible. Pictures below (More on Panoramio).

As a side note, after 2 minutes on a train out of Okazaki, there was an abundance of green space and farmlands, among other natural sights that you can’t find in a city. Pretty cool that where I’m at has both a medium-sized city feel (300,000 pop.) and the relaxed country atmosphere.
Tidbits
There are a few very interesting aspects of life here that I was surprised about. First of all, I have yet to see a towel dispenser or a general garbage disposal. This is because before throwing anything away, you must separate it into different bins: food, burnable, plastic, paper, bottles, PET bottles, etc. It’s fairly confusing, but people here are very serious about this.

Also, the weather is very interesting. It’s very very humid and very very hot. It was 95 the day before I got here, and it’s been around 90 the past few days. There’s also supposed to be a typhoon sometime in the next month. Last time I was in a typhoon was on top of a mountain in Hong Kong 3 years ago. Good times.

A lot of Roads have no Sidewalks, but at least the drivers are polite.

Finally, I’ve been looking around for interesting vending machines. I walked past one today that sold lotion. It wasn’t in bottles, you just put your hand under the dispenser after you paid. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera at the time, but if I find it again, I will take a picture.
Remember, pictures at http://www.panoramio.com/user/2916748/tags/Japan (they are spilling over to more pages). Next time, some coursework, a trip to the Toyota plant, and into Gifu prefecture for a day trip. Stay tuned.

--Tony