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！

Omagari Festival!

Wow!  Over 15,000 fireworks lit up the night with a competition that lasted nearly 3 hours.  The fireworks were quite spectacular.  Ranging from massive circular patterns, to frogs, cats, and rabbits.  There were thousands of people who attended the festival, some had camping spots along the river as well as near the viewing area.  I went with my roommate Yota and his friend Konachi.  We arrived in the mid-afternoon and found a nice spot in the shade of a bridge, near a group of campers.  On a side note, camping vehicles in Japan are much more space efficient than the ones I have seen in the United States, and would make a great buy!  There were of course numerous food vendors all over with a variety of delectable edibles.  I of course had to try the 牛タン, that is cow tongue.  Delicious!  I also had a special ice cream treat,ババヘラ, pronounced "ba-ba-he-ra".  It has a slightly different texture than other ice creams and is unique to the surrounding area.  After the fireworks finished, we headed back to the train station, which had a line that I could not compare with any others.  That is, it was very long.  So, after waiting for some time we boarded the train and headed back to Wada station.  When we arrived at Wada it was fairly late in the night and the last bus for AIU had already left.  So, when prompted with the question of whether I would like to walk back or take a taxi, I of course decided on the more adventurous option.  No bears were encountered on the return home and we arrived safely after an enjoyable starlit walk.

Omagari Fireworks Festival

Tonight I will attend the Zenkoku Hanabi Kyogi Taikai (National Fireworks Competition) in Omagari.  In an area that usually only accounts for a population of 40,000 people, there will be an audience of nearly 650,000!  It is a very famous attraction in Japan and it happens yearly.  There will be approximately 15,000 fireworks lighting up the sky tonight.  The competition involves craftsmen from around the country who compete in three different categories: hiru-hanabi (day fireworks), 10-go warimono (12 inch shell fireworks), and sozo-hanabi (creative fireworks).  Originally, the main event was focused on the central patterned circular fireworks, not until 1963 did they add the category of sozo-hanabi.  I will post pictures and a description afterward! :)

Arrival

日本に着きました！

I have arrived in Japan!  It has been quite the flight.  After flying to LA, I boarded another airplane that would then take me to Tokyo.  However, after boarding, going through the flight safety procedures, and then moving out onto the runway, it was realized that we would not have a sufficient amount of fuel to make it to Tokyo, and there was an excessive amount of weight in the cargo hold.  So, the plane returned to the terminal in order to get things sorted it out.  After getting things cleared away it was up, up, up, and away.  The flight is approximately 12 hours plus some time on the runway.  Upon arrival in Tokyo I went through customs and found my luggage, but I had missed my connecting flight to Akita due to the delay in LA.  It was no problem though!  I found the Japan Airlines Ticket counter and they were very helpful!  They changed my ticket to the next flight out of Tokyo to Akita and checked my bike free of charge, it was very stress relieving!  I then called the school and notified them that I would be arriving at the Akita Airport later than expected so that they wouldn't have someone there when I had originally said I was arriving.  After waiting for a few hours, I then flew to Akita, it was a beautiful flight here, the surrounding forests are incredibly dense, and in the flatlands I could see the rice fields for which the Akita Prefecture is famous.  The airport in Akita is very small, which made it easy getting my luggage and finding my ride.  Everyone was very impressed with my bike in a box.  It drew a bit of attention, my roommate couldn't believe that I had taken it apart.  I took an Akita International University bus to the school and once there was greeted my many students who helped me get my keys, start the alien registration process, and move my things to my room.  By the time it was 4:00 pm here, I was exhausted.  I began making my bed and in the process fell asleep until 2:00 am.  I woke up in the middle of the night and took a walk around the campus.  It is very beautiful, it is a rural area with many forests, gardens, and rice fields.  The night sounds consist of thousands of insects which make a nice hum.  After walking about for a bit, I headed back to bed and would wake up early the next morning to start the orientation schedule.  There are also bears in the area.  This made me laugh after telling the story of Chandler and my bear encounter in Canada.  My arrival in Japan has been a surreal experience.  I am excited for the upcoming year. :)

終わりました！