Arashiyama, Meditation Techniques, and a few weeks left in Japan
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."

11/9/2009

I went to Arashiyama to a Zen monastery for a field trip in my Zen Buddhism class. The town it was in was absolutely beautiful! The buildings out in the country side still posses the "traditional" theme that make a person feel like they've stepped back in time. There are people selling things outside on the streets and a beautiful mountain next the town. What's even more breath taking is the Kyoto River ( I think) up the main road. It has a really interesting walk over bridge that goes into a more of traditional style Japan.

I was fortunate and blessed to listen to an American Zen Buddhist monk talk about meditation. He taught us a technique on how to meditate. He brings up a good point that our minds are not designed to be completely silent. If you think "Be quiet, no thoughts" those are indeed thoughts going through one's mental space. He said that it's getting more difficult to filter out information since we live in an easier information accessible (sometimes involuntary thrown at us) society. Sometimes (and I agree) that this can overwhelm our "mental space."

The technique he taught was to sit down, cross-leg style (lotus style I believe), and count 1-10 without thinking of anything else. Breathe deep, Don't speed through it, just focus on each number. When I first did this, thoughts popped up like crazy. He said that you just let them go before they develop into more thoughts. He also said after some practice, you'll be able to let thoughts go as they start to "surface." Eventually though (after quite awhile), I was able to do what he said and got to 3 without a thought coming in.

It's a great technique to relax, focus, and let go.

Unfortunately I have about four weeks left and my feelings are about as mixed as vegis in a bowl of soup. I feel like I'm a tornado of emotion (still haven't got the meditation down yet, though I'm trying) on what I want to do. I've enjoyed my time here, making new lifelong friendships, learning Japanese, and discovering more about myself. One thing I've realized is that without my family, I wouldn't be at this point in my life.
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Himeji Castle, I was born in the wrong time period, and looking at the future
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."

10/20/2009

I went to Himeji castle with my friends. My friend's homestay family went with us and I'm pretty sure we were all glad about that. It was a good experience but it was really far away. We had to switch many trains and make quite a few stops. It's safe to say that I would have gotten lost because I am somewhat directionally challenged.

The castle was not rebuilt so it felt great to step into more "old" Japan. When I saw Arashiyama, Himeji Castle, and old parts of Kyoto, I felt as if I was born in the wrong time period. But then when I think back of what I've learned about those eras, there is no way I'd switch back if I could. It would be neat to visit though..

So Japanese is becoming very difficult for me. I know it takes time to learn but deciding on which particles to use can be so confusing. Just when I think I understand the reason of why I use に、で、or が, I learn a usage that seems to go against what I've learned. I need to keep in mind that I've only been studying for 2 months. I should look at the progress I've made from knowing absolutely nothing. Like I said before, I need to keep in mind that learning a language takes time, make small steps each day.

Since I've been at Kansai Gaidai, I've been thinking of my major and what I want to do with my life. I know I want to continue studying, learning, and practicing Japanese. Since UCM doesn't have Japanese, I've considered moving to another state once I complete my CIS degree so I can get another degree. I also want to go to Fall, River MA to visit the Portuguese community. My great grandma is from that town and I'd like to learn more about my Portuguese heritage. Someday I will. I have the family history that Uncle Dale has researched to start from.

These are ideas floating around in my mind, but I am not sure if I will do anything with them yet. I'm not sure what the next year holds. I may get accepted for an internship and go that route, or maybe I'll get involved in a relationship. I don't have a fear of working after college, I just want it to be something that engages me, not just something I do each day. I look forward to possibly developing a career in IT or whatever engages me. I put my trust in God to help me figure that out.

Will I study abroad again? I'm not sure but I know I want to. I hope to come back to Japan again before I graduate.
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Studying, Spa World, and learning a little about Portugal
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."

10/13/2009

This past weekend was filled with studying. So, after all our brains were fried, we decided to go to Spa World on Sunday. Alaina, Emma, Guilherme, and many other of our friends went, as well as Misaki and Tatsuya. The guy's floor was stylized with countries from Europe. It was my first time being to a spa like that. I've been to onsen before, but never a spa that large. It was very relaxing.

My friend Guilhereme and I talked a lot. He's from Portugal so I was really curious what Portugal was like, Portuguese culture, and anything else. He told me a lot about his university and later showed me pictures at the seminar house. He told me that if I come visit, I'll end up gaining weight because his family will cook so much. O_o!!! His university sounds really engaging! He told me what he does in his major (Computer Science with an emphasis in AI if I'm correct) and I thought that was really cool. We also discussed our futures, possible dreams, and what we want in life.

He taught me a phrase in Portuguese, "Hoje Um Grande Dia" which means "Today is a good day." (Sorry if I misspelled that)

This was one of the moments where I got to experience a everlasting memory in Japan that was not related with Japan at all. A friendship that I hope to keep for a lifetime.

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Sweet Paradise Cafe, Shinsaibachi, Namba, and Danjiri

"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."
10/5/2009

Baum, my roommate had told me about a restaurant in the area. He had a friend that lived in the Osaka area(The guy had an internship with a company there! Talk about sugoi and lucky!) and wanted to meet with us. He recommended a buffet style restaurant called Sweet Paradise Cafe. I thought "Why not? I don't have anything to do any I really like Shinsaibachi." Plus, more bonding with my roommate and new experiences, so lets go!

Shinsaibachi is a pretty cool place. It's an outdoor shopping mall, which was a different experience for me. It was brightly lit with colorful neon lights. In fact, that was one of the few things I had trouble adjusting to, the constant (or so it felt) barrage of visual stimulus. The colorful Japanese signs and the nighttime people traffic made me a little overwhelmed, but I was fine after awhile.

Shinsaibachi! The track runner on the right is a big icon in Osaka

After walking for a really long time, my stomach was starting to eat itself. Baum's friend took us into the restaurant, but we had to take an elevator to get upstairs. It was a slightly odd feeling to have to take an elevator to get to the restaurant directly.

Sweet Paradise was quite colorful. There was a lot of pink and once again, a lot of bright color. To me though, everything looks different so my mind was wanting to see everything where as a Japanese person might not think of anything walking in.

An interesting point about this restaurant (and later I found out that this is common with other buffet style places) is that you have a time limit of 90 minutes. I don't remember the exact price of the meal (most like around 12-15 US dollars). We sat down and I ordered water to drink. There were all kinds of pastas and desserts.

After that, we walked around Namba shopping district. We walked around all kinds of stores. When we got to the electronics store, I tried out a pair of headphones. I can't remember the brand, but they sounded really clear and the base was really good too. I didn't buy them because they were a bit out of my price range.


I went to the Danjiri festival on Sunday with Kana, Ayumi, and Sarah. The Danjiri festival is really popular in the Osaka area. Here is a description from Wikipedia. (click here to read the full page)

Danjiri are large wooden carts (danjiri guruma) in the shape of a shrine or temple. The carts, often being crafted out of wood, are very ornate, with elaborate carvings. Towns with danjiri festivals in them have different neighborhoods, each with their own guild responsible for maintaining their own danjiri cart. The cart is kept in storage for most of the year. As the festival approaches, the danjiri cart is prepared with elaborate flower arrangements, prayer cards, ornaments, and religious consecrations. It is believed that spirits or gods reside in the danjiri.
Before we went to the festival, Kana's mom made (or ordered, I can't remember for sure) Okonomiyaki for us. It was very delicious and by far is my favorite Japanese dish.

When we got to the festival, there were people everywhere watching, cheering, and clapping. Each wooden cart had at least 15 people pulling each rope attached to it. (there were 2 per cart) At certain times, they would stop and the people on the carts would hit the drums (たいこ in Japanese). Then, the people holding the rope would start to dash forward and pull the cart really fast, whipping around the corners. The carts were very beautiful and well decorated. The people definitely put a lot of time and detail into the carts.

We ended the weekend by looking around at the smaller booths setup for the festival.

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Aikido, Osaka-jo, and Tsutenkaku
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."

9/24/2009

I've joined Kansai Gaidai's Akido club. When I was in the States, I was really curious about this martial art. From what I read and seen on the Internet, it's seems very different from what I've experienced in Karate or Taekwondo. Taekwondo is very hard. By hard, it doesn't use the opponent's energy against them.

Aikido does just that and it's more relaxed then what I was used to. This was my second class and I still felt awkward. They did a lot of flipping and tumbling...my coordination sucks at that. But I am really glad that I had a few international friends in Aikido. We've talked to some of the Japanese students in the club, but they didn't speak a lot of English, so it was difficult for me to communicate with them unfortunately.

On Sunday, I went to Osaka castle with Kana, Ayumi, Sarah, and Stephanie. It was one of the things to do on my "To-do list"


It was a beautiful site! I remember it being really hot (おさかじょうはめっちゃきれでした天気はめっちゃあついでした）
Kana and I talked about Osaka castle during the cherry blossom festival. I can only imagine what it looks like then. Someday I will be here to see that. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I would have known more about the history of the castle. There was a lot to read and not enough time to read everything. The inside of the castle looks like a museum, not old style Japan.

After that, we were really hungry so we walked around Shinsaibachi for quite awhile. Sarah and Stephanie decided to go back to Hirakata. We ended up going to some small restaurant and I ate Udon noodles. I think I had Kitsune Udon, and I highly recommend it!

After that, we went to Tsutenkaku.



Tsutenkaku is the big tower towards the back

We took all kinds of pictures here and had a good time. When we got in line to take the elevator to the top, we waited for a long time. We waited, and waited, and waited. Then Kana noticed we were in the wrong line! The line we were in was for a popular restaurant. I think we waited for about 45 minutes in that line. Kana kept apologizing but it wasn't a big deal to me at all. We talked quite a bit so the time had went by fast.

After we jumped into the correct line, we were on our way to the top! At the top of Tsutenkaku, we were able to make a wish. I forgot the name of the statue we had to touch.



Kana and I at the top of Tsutenkaku


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Week full of tests, food, and my look on Japanese
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."

9/18/2009

I had many tests this week in my Japanese courses and I'm not sure how I did on them yet. I started to notice that the study methods for my classes back at my home university didn't apply very well to learning a language. I'll be researching different methods such as flash cards, writing repetitively, etc. I also noticed that my brain is retaliating in every way possible in accepting Japanese. I haven't studied a language since high school and that wasn't very in depth. That could have something to do with it.

I want to learn how to study languages (and in general) more effectively with my time. I'm frustrated with myself because I feel like I should catch on to this more quickly. For me, this is my first "true" language I want to study, know, and become as close to fluent as possible in. I get frustrated because those around me already know another language or they study Japanese at home. I need to keep in mind that this is my first language, my first formal Japanese class, and that it takes time with patience to learn a language.

But that is easier said then done.

Yesterday I invited Kana, Ayumi, Sarah, and Stephanie to the Seminar House. I made Spaghetti for them (with some help from my friend Guilhereme, who is a great cook) and enjoyed our evening talking about all sorts of things. I had Kana try Ghana chocolate dipped in peanut butter. I thought it was delicious. She thought it was too sweet. She thinks I'm a little crazy mixing those two together.
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Meet the Speaking Partner and the homevisit family
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."


9/13/2009

I started to get into a rhythm in my everyday life in Japan. I woke up early to shower before the communal showers are fill up, eat breakfast, talk to my roommate for a bit, (sometimes wake him up for class), then bike to school.

I'm not the most outgoing person when I meet new people, which added some stress to making new friends. Many of the international students I met were fluent in at least one language and I was intimidated and awed by it. I wasn't jealous, just worried what they would think when they found out I didn't know a second language, let alone fluent in one.

There was one student that could speak 5 languages! That blew my mind! Like I said before, I had developed a daily rhythm, but I wanted to make friends and that proved to be difficult.

I first started talking to my speaking partner when I received her email on August 9th. She seemed to be really sweet and kind over email. I was looking forward to meeting her because I wanted a good friend and someone to practice languages with.

We were going to meet for the first time at the International Center but I wasn't entirely sure what she looked like even though I had seen a picture of her. I walked into the International Center, a little nervous because I wasn't sure what to expect. I couldn't remember where in the building she had said to meet. I looked in the waiting lounge and walked right past her! I had thought "I think that's her" but because of my ridiculous shyness, I didn't say anything. I went into the computer lab so I can send her an email to her phone (I hadn't had the chance to buy my cell phone yet) to find out where she was.

A few minutes later, Kana and her friend Ayumi walked in. Kana came up to me and in her Japanese accent said "Dustin?" We started talking and I wasn't sure what to talk about so we had a few somewhat awkward moments of silence. I introduced myself in Japanese, which was the most nerve racking, heart stopping, and brain crushing words I've ever had to say. We laughed at my accent, but it was okay because it was my first time introducing myself in Japanese, I was proud for taking that step.We made a schedule of when to meet and chose to meet on Thursday (木曜日).


Eventually Kana and I walked around Hirakata, Japan looking at various shops. My body still wasn't used to walking as much (reminder, when I came to Japan, I was in descent shape) so I was thirsty more often. I was really thirsty that day so I bought a water. I drank that water really quickly and Kana couldn't believe it. I didn't think it was big deal but apparently in Japan, people don't drink a lot of water quickly. :P :P

On the 11th, Kana, Ayumi, Sarah, and I went to the river in downtown Hirakata to shoot fireworks (はなび）。I think I'm pretty lucky because I wouldn't have known about this if Kana hadn't invited me. We had a lot of fun and went to eat Japanese food. I tried Okonomiyaki for the first time and it was so delicious. 日本語でめっちゃおいしいでした!

Another program Kansai Gaidai sponsored was the homestay visit program for students living in the seminar houses. It was free (besides transportation costs we had to pay to the home) so I jumped on that opportunity. Any chance to use the Japanese I learned or make new memories, I was on it.

They had the international students (りょうがくせい) and Japanese students in each family meet in a classroom. After about 10-15 minutes past the starting time, the Japanese student of my family wasn't there. After awhile, she showed up. Very soon I realized that this wasn't going to work. She was a new student and couldn't speak any English at all and I can't talk to her in Japanese either. We ended up canceling, which is unfortunate, but I hope she was able to find an international student that can speak Japanese.

I went to karaoke with some international students and didn't drink. I've figured out that I'm not a big fan of drinking. It was a BLAST being in a room with everyone, singing (some were great, other's not so much), and having a good time. I met Alaina, Emma, and a few other students who I hope to be good friends with. Everyone would sing some songs together I don't need to drink to enjoy myself during those moments.

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Bonding with the roommate
"Remember, these are entries from my journal from a year ago including my thoughts and feelings I want to add now."

9/7/2009

Yesterday my roommate and I went to Osaka. This was my first experience going to downtown Osaka. I was a little hesitant because I wasn't used to the public transportation system and we were meeting one of my room mates friends. But I was there to step out of my comfort zone and make friends..
Baum, my roommate, and I took off towards the train station on our bikes. He was flying down the street on his bike! I can ride a bike and I am in shape, but I am not used to riding my bike everywhere. Several times I had to ask him to slow down because I couldn't either catch up from not being fast enough or making sure I didn't hit a person or car.

After several train rides later throughout several different lines, we finally arrived at a たべほだい..in this case, all you can eat sushi. (^^) I was very hungry by the time we arrived. We took a cheaper route, but had to walk quite a bit.

It was 1,500 円 and the exchange rate when I went was about 82 円 per dollar. The interesting part was we could only stay there for 90 minutes..interesting concept.

We walked around downtown Osaka and Shinsaibachi, a famous shopping district in Osaka. We went to the Sky tower, which was about 170 meters high. The elevator was completely glass, and it was a very beautiful. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the view. It looked like I was seeing "man-made" stars.
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Friends, Keihan and Adjusting


September 6th 2009
Yesterday I went to the Kuzuha mall with my friend's from Momoyama University and Kansai Gaidai. Both of them went to UCM so it was good seeing familiar faces. We talked about our families and they asked how my family was doing. As we were walking around the different stores, I felt like I was in the Independence Center...only 2-3 times the size. I was still getting over the fact that I was in Japan but at the same time, frustrated because I couldn't understand anything.

We talked about one of their friends who is having a problem with work by not being able to hold a job because of the pressure. My friend said he pressure of working in Japan has created the feeling of not making a mistake. The p could also trace back to school and other activities of doing their best and when they feel that they have failed, they keep those feelings pent up inside. My friend said that she thinks this problem of keeping feelings locked up is slowly changing.

After awhile, we became a bit bored so we walked over to the karaoke establishment. It was my first time trying out karaoke. It was a BLAST!!! I can't sing to save my life, but no one cares because it's fun! I'm a little shy at singing in front of people because I can't sing.

Point: Unless it's something you might put well being in danger because of nervousness, do everything you can (within financial reason) and have fun! You will blink and it will go by fast




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