My Host Family

This weekend I visited my Host Family's home in Akita.  While I live on campus, Akita International University offers a program through which International Students are paired with a local Japanese family, who act similar to host family.  I am participating in the program and am paired with another international student, Alina.  We both met our family, an older son and his mother, two weeks ago at a meet and greet event.  Watanabe san is a local artist and writer.  This past weekend was the first time that we went and did something together.  We first visited the Mount Taihei Miyoshi Shrine, where we were able to do what is called さんぱいする, the action of ringing the bell and praying.

We then went to Watanabe san's house which was designed by his grandfather and was built in a traditional Japanese style.  His mother greeted us wearing a traditional Japanese Kimono and made us delicious tea!  After drinking tea and talking for a bit she invited us into the adjacent room, where she played the Koto for us.  It was such a treat!  She will be playing in a concert this upcoming January, which we will plan on attending.  After enjoying another cup of tea we headed out on foot into Akita city.  We enjoyed a stroll through a lovely park on the way to the city and  stopped at an Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) exhibition.  The delicate flower arrangements were very impressive and ranged from both traditional and modern styles.  We also visited several different art exhibits in the city which were all part of an art exhibition of 詣展 (moudeten) in which many local artists participated, including Watanabe.  The style consists of a square pine box inside which the artist creates a scene or display.  I wasn't able to take any photographs of them, however if I find some I will post them in a following blog.  If you would like to see some of Watanabe san's work, the following is an address to his website: http://peace-flower.one-traveler.info/gengaten.

After stopping by the various galleries, we returned back to Watanabe san's house where we watched the final stages of a Sumo tournament.  お母さん (Okaasan "Mother") was very happy when her favorite won the tournament!  It was quite a thing to see, if one wins a Sumo tournament you get a number of impressive trophies, enough to justify not just a trophy case, but a trophy room!  Very impressive!
I don't think I would be a very strong competitor though, so I will stick to my studies. :)

Below are some pictures of the day.

An Update On Everyday Life

So, now for the weekend update!  Things are going well!  After receiving a few varying questions on the day to day life I will talk a bit on the daily routine.  I have really been enjoying a newfound passion in cycling about the area.  It is a really nice way to explore and discover some of the less known and hidden gems of the Akita area.  Drivers here are very courteous to cyclists and bikes in general.  Many roadways actually have designated sidewalks for bike traffic, and many of the country and mountain roads in the area are paved.  It has been quite an adjustment learning to look the opposite way for traffic!  I always have to take a bit longer than the locals when making right hand turns or crossing the street.  I also recently saw a カモシカ pronounced ka-mo-shi-ka, while I was returning from a bike ride, I included a picture from the internet since I was not able to take one myself.  It is a native species to the area and when I first saw it, not knowing what it was, I decided to get off the bike and wait until the path was clear.
I have also been working out routinely.  The gym here is quite small, but they have kettle bells (similar to a cannon ball with a handle on it) which are a great way to get a good workout and I am very happy to see them, as I learned to use them at Bonneville.  The school is actually about 20 minutes away from 秋田Akita City by bus and train, so many times students head there on the weekends.  This past weekend I went with a group of friends to try the very popular activity known as Karaoke.  I don't think I will become a professional singer anytime soon, but it certainly was fun!  I have also enjoyed trips to the grocery store, looking at the variety of different snacks and fish they have here is very interesting.
During the week I am quite busy with homework and studies.  Thus, I have become very familiar with the library.  I have Japanese vocabulary tests everyday, so each night I have upwards of 40 new words and kanji to learn, this is good though because I am able to practice often.  Classes are difficult but the quality of the faculty and class size is excellent and I am up for the challenge!  I also keep a notebook with me at all times so that when I hear a new phrase or word from my friends I can write it down.  I often make my roommate and friends laugh by making funny sentences, such as 割引券を忘れちゃった！wa-ri-bi-ki-ken o wa-su-re-cha-tta.  "I forgot my discount coupon why!".


Recently it has been raining quite a bit, and it seems that another typhoon may be approaching.  All is well here though.  The fall is fast approaching and the leaves will soon be changing, I am looking forward to the changing colors!

ジェフ
Jeff

Below are a few pictures from the past few weeks.  The karate pose picture is from a walk I took around the area with my friends.  The one of the big group is from a potluck that was held over the weekend.  The animal in the snow is a Kamoshika.  The last one is one of my roommate Yota.

Kakunodate Festival

This past Thursday I was invited by some friends to go to the Kakunodate Festival.  It is in an old samurai town about an hour and half from Akita International University.  Kakunodate has been callled a "little Kyoto" as its appearance and samurai district give it a similar feeling.  The festival itself takes place for three days, and the displays include massive wooden Mukashi, these are in the pictures above.  There are various Mukashi that hold drummers, fan dancers, and warriors as well as samurai figures decorating the top platforms.  The Mukashi are pulled with massive ropes and pushed by a large team of people.  At certain points, they smash into one another over and over!  At other points the Mukashi are tilted upwards into the sky and pulled against each other in a sacred competition to honor the gods with the sweat of the warriors, and the competition can last for hours.  It is hard to describe with words, but the amount of strength and the scale of the event was amazing.  The friends I went with are all graduate students at AIU working to complete a program so that they can become Japanese teachers.  They all were so kind in taking me and I am so grateful for getting the chance to go with them.

I also recently took a bike tour of the surrounding area!  I am so glad that I was able to bring a bike with me as it has been very fun getting out into the countryside and covering so much ground so quickly!  I have really been impressed with the difference a road bike makes when biking on the road.  I suppose that is why it is designed for and aptly named after a road.  In any case, I have found a large loop that goes out into some small rice farming communities and follows a large river.  It is quite beautiful.  I have put some pictures of a few resting spots above.  The rice fields, tanbo, are so peaceful to ride by and there are many small paved roads that wind up into the surrounding forested hills.  I usually take a long ride two times a week and venture out into uncharted territory!  The houses here are beautiful.  Many if not most have ornate and well kept gardens and many house are beautifully wrapped with stone or wooden walls surrounding them.  I really enjoy riding through the farming communities as the atmosphere is so calming.  It is also very eye opening to think about the amount of hard labor and the life's work that goes into caring for a single rice field.

There is a unique and subtle balance that exists here, and it truly is beautiful.

ジェフ

Noh and the Surrounding Area

It has been a busy week preparing for school and finishing up my orientation.  I have already been able to learn many useful expressions and am looking forward to my Japanese coursework.  I will be taking one core Japanese class as well as four specialized Japanese classes, Kanji Foundations, Reading, Calligraphy, and Pronunciation.  I will also be taking an Economics of Globalization class as well as a class on Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement).  I am very excited to get started!  Last night there was information on some of the student clubs available on campus, I am hoping to participate in at least one or two.  Specifically I have signed up for the Japanese Conversation club as well as a Service club which volunteers in the local community.  These will be great ways of engaging in my environment and learning more about the area.  In regards to this past weekend, I was able to go see a Noh play on Sunday.  Noh is a traditional Japanese theatre style.  As, many Noh plays can last for an entire day what I saw only lasted about three hours.  Noh style is typically broken into two pieces, with a short humourous play in-between named a kyougen.  The costumes were very ornate and accompanied the unique movements of the characters well.  I was not able to photograph anything during the play, but above I have posted a picture of the stage.  I have also posted some pictures from various places surrounding my school.  If you would like to know more about Noh, I am certainly not an expert (though we were able to listen to a very interesting lecture on the subject before going) and don't want to speak too much on a subject that I know too little about, but it has a deep connection with Japan's history and its origins are very interesting, so if you get a chance to look into it it's well worth it! :) Currently we are expecting a Typhoon, so it has been very humid and is starting to rain heavily.  It will be fun to watch :)

終わりました！