A portrait of the People

It’s nearly impossible to study Japan without interacting with the locals, however having little knowledge of the Japanese language makes this a difficult situation. So when faced with the assignment to photograph a Japanese person I decided to ask a classmate of mine if it would be okay to take pictures of him. We agreed to meet up the next day. When he arrived the following afternoon, he asked me what I wanted him to do; and since I am learning about the Japanese culture I wanted it to be as natural as possible. So we sat down and just started talking.

I learned that while he seems shy he’s really talkative, a tad goofy, interested in tourism and is certified to give tours in Japan. We talked about the differences between our cultures (The United States and Japan). I found out that while the Japanese celebrate Christmas it is mostly about the children instead of a family gathering. He also gave me a better appreciation for the Japanese writing system. He said that in Japanese if you forget the kanji for a word you can always just write it in hiragana but in Chinese if you forget it, you are pretty much out of luck. We also talked about how in the United States the public transportation system is not as widely available as in Japan and how greasy some of the food is in the United States. As we talked I would snap a picture here and there, waiting for him to get distracted in order to avoid him throwing up the peace sign or just randomly posing. All in all I like to believe that both of us learned a little more about each other’s cultures.

My neighbor(hood)... Hirakata

Every morning I make the twenty-five minute walk to the Kansai Gaidai campus. Normally, I do not have many thoughts about the neighborhood; being half asleep tends to make my mind work slowly. Occasionally, a passing moped or car (which is a little too close for comfort) will pass by and scare me awake. Reflecting upon this, I realized that Japanese roads are incredibly tiny… too tiny. Sure, back roads are never as roomy as main roads, but here a two lane road can barely fit a car and a person standing beside it. Now, these back roads are not just a few houses but a large community of people.

This brought me to another great discovery: this is my community. I live here (if only temporarily), and interact with the locals, even if it is only being in their way on my trek to class. I suppose that when you are not in way of the passers-by and can sit back and really take in what is around, you start to appreciate it all the more. Every morning I pass by children walking to school in uniforms, clay shingled roofs, people walking their dogs in the park, people on their bicycles and do not to forget my daily near death experiences. Even thinking about it now when I am safely tucked away in my room (nowhere near a moped), I’ve come to realize that maybe this community with its tiny roads has changed from an obstacle course to actually being home. Maybe tomorrow morning when I am walking to school I will be able to appreciate the morning wakeup call the locals give me. On second thought maybe I might ask them how to maneuver more agilely in such a tight space; they are pros at it.

Impressions of Japan

Last August I set out on a journey of epic proportions, at least for myself anyway, to the Land of the Rising Sun. While I had moved a lot around the United States as a young child, I had never been out of the country. To say I was anxious would be a terrible understatement.

After a hug and a kiss to the parents and about an hour wait for the plane, I was on my way to Japan. Nearly 20 hours passed before I landed in Tokyo. The first thing I encountered was the Japanese style “toilets”, essentially a hole in the ground. At that moment I thought: “Oh dear God, what have I gotten myself into?”

A lot has changed since that shocking moment. From the breathtaking Golden Pavilion in Kyoto, to the heart wrenching city of Hiroshima, I traveled, experienced, and learned new things. I would have to say that now my biggest impression of Japan is that while it is a country that is exceedingly modern (they have cell phones with a 10 megapixel camera in them), they also still treasure their past... or commercialize it, anyway.

Yesterday in fact, while walking around Nanba, I noticed the most bizarre thing nestled in between two very modern buildings. I don’t know what the building is or its use (past or present), however I do know that it is nothing like the buildings around it. It baffled me how what most people would describe as something entirely “Japanese” could be sitting between two so-called "Western" buildings, and not one person batted an eyelash (except for me, of course). It had not hit me until then that I had seen it several times the previous semester. I would be wandering around Kyoto and see the typical modern things while nearly being taken out by a passing moped, and see temples or shrines and not think much of it. Yesterday was a turning point, as it forced me to think back on my prior experiences and to take note on things that I would have otherwise written off.

Japan just keeps surprising me and I cannot wait to see what else it has in store for me.