It's deffinately been a while... too long

Wrote this out earlier, but never published it cause i didn't finish it. 
Reasons why I have not gotten around to updating sooner include the following: kansai trip, followed by a debate about politics, next was happyoukai.

KANSAI TRIP
In as little words possible: awesome! Fun! I'd do it again some time in the future!
We hit the following cities: Hiroshima, Kyoto, Nara, and Osaka. well, Tokyo of course too, but that was mainly just to transfer onto the bullet train. Hiroshima and Osaka style Okonomiyaki are indeed quite different in experience, taste, and creation of. Hiroshima has soba/noodle stuff in it and every thing else the Osaka one has. Osaka's contents are mixed, and hiroshima's is stacked. Both are delicious, but i perfer Osaka. Genbaku museum/memorial park. I finally got to go see the monument dedicated to Sadako and all the other children who suffered from the effects of radiation years after the a-bomb was dropped. It also serves at a monument of world peace, in addition to every thing else in the park, existing to make sure everyone remembers what happened.

発表会のスピーチ

 Every year, students on the JSP program have a presentation day: Happyoukai. Despite the english word Happy in it, it's a stressful time. But as it turns out Happyoukai has a japanese meaning of giving a presentation. ha ha, so go figure. Well, it's in Japanese because I heard that my Japanese teacher from high school was shown my blog, so she'll understand it. and it will be a break from all the english here for her. But whether you're presenting or not, there is a sort of happy air to the actual presentation at Happyoukai. Like you stress out about it and all, but once the show gets goin, it's just all around better if you do your best to have a good time and let your hard work shine through. I mean you put in all that hard work to preparing for your part, and then it's show time. Might as well let your light shine as brightly as you can right? It makes for a better presentation too don't you think? an obviously stressed out to no end speaker vs. a speaker who emits confidence in what is being spoken about. Both give it their best shot of course, but it might just be me personally...i prefer the later.

こんにちは私の名前はジャネル東田です。ハワイから来ました．そうそふと

そうそぼたちは日本のくまもとけんからハワイに行きました．つまり私は日系人で

す．今ウィラメット大学の三年生です．高校までハワイに住んでいましたからアメ

リカ人だけどオレゴンのウィラメット大学でカルチャーショックをうけました．

ハワイにはハワイでしか使わない英語があるらしいです．例えばアメリカの

呼び方が違います．ハワイの州は島ですね．ほかの４８の州は遠いところにありま

す．だからハワイに住んでいる人はそこをメインランドとよんでいます．４９番目

の州のアラスカはちょっとはなれていますからアラスカを入れるかどうかは人によ

って違います。オレゴンに住んでいる友達と話すとき、メインランドという言葉を

使いました．そのときその友達はええ？メインランド？分かんないと言いました．

私はびっくりしましたけどなるほど、ああ、そうかメインランドというのはハワイ

の言葉だから分かりづらいんだなあと思いました．入学してオレゴンに住んでいる

友達と話すようになってからは全然きをつけていませんでした．ハワイの言葉を使

いました．

ハワイでプールはいつも外にあります．大学を選んでいる時、ウィラメット

大学のしつがいプールを見て、別に何も思いませんでした．プールはプールですか

ら外にあるか建物の中にあるかは大事じゃありません。あるとき、私たちウィラメ

ットの水泳のチームはカリフォルニアへ二日間のし合いに行きました ．カリフォル

ニアにつくと、みんなはひやけをしましょうと言いました．もし日陰にいなかった

ら、ドンドンエネルギーがなくなってしまいます．ほかのチームの人たちは全部た

いようから隠れていました．そして、何で泳ぐことより日焼けの方が大事なのかと

考えました．オレゴンに戻ったある日私のはだが白っぽくなっているのに気がつき

ました．そしてチームメートたちが日焼けをすることにドキドキする気持ちがち

ょっと分かってきました．オレゴンの天気はたいていずっと曇りなので、日焼けは

しにくいです．オレゴンに帰る前に友達といつもはだの色をくらべて、写真を撮り

ました．

ウィラメット大学でステレオタイプのことをわだいにしたら、それはだめだ

と考える人が多いです．ハワイにはたくさんのいろいろなステレオタイプがありま

す。例えば、韓国人は辛い食べ物をよく食べるとか、アメリカ人はちょっとかって

だとか、中国人はいつもねぎるとか、フィリピン人は時々黒犬を食べるとか、いつ

も勉強しかしないいわゆる、ガリ勉を日本人みたいとか言うものです。ハワイで有

名な漫才にも使われるし普通の人も使います．たくさんじょうだんがあります．ハ

ワイでは面白くて楽しいと思われていますけどウィラメット大学で言わない方がい

いです．本当に失礼なことだと思われます．もしそんなじょうだんを言ったら、は

なれてしまう友達もいます．私はその経験があります．

それから、どうしてメインランドとハワイの人でじょうだんと失礼のきょう
かいがとても違うのかなと思いました．一つしか理由を考えられませんでした．ア
ロハはけっこう有名な言葉ですから、知っているかたも多いでしょう．アロハはこ
んにちはの時もさようならの時も使えます．この言葉はあいじょうやしたしみがか
んじられるものです。使う時、この言葉は愛をこめていうものです．ハワイの人は
小さいころからこのフレイズを聞いてそだちます。育つにつれてアロハスピリット
の意味が深くかんじられるようになります。アロハスピリットの気持ちと意味はだ
んだん分かってきます．私にとってこのフレイズの意味するアロハスピリットとは
みんなと一緒にいっしょうけんめいえんかつにじんせいをおくる、とかいい人にな
って、だれにでもしんせつにやさしくしてつだってあげるとか、ほかの人からされ
たくないことをしないで、悪いことを言わない方がいいということです．だからほ
かの人がへんけんだと思うようなじょうだんでも、へんけんのようなネガティブな
気持ちがありません．ハワイの人にとっても、人によってアロハスピリットの説明
の仕方が違いますけれども、気持ちは同じです．メインランドには同じ意味のフレ
イズがありません．ハワイでみんなはアロハスピリットの気持ちといっしょにある
からいっぱいいろいろなじょうだんが出来るのだと思います．
アロハという言葉は有名だけどハワイに住んでいる人によってはもっとふか
い重い意味があります．そういうことをわかってもらえたらうれしいです。ありが
とうございました．

While abroad -Maintaining a blog assignment - part 3 of 3

So I read through the directions, and given that it is past 2am here, I will not write an entirely new entry right now. Instead any of my previous entries should be fine if i read the directions properly. goodnight.

While abroad -Maintaining a blog assignment - part 2 of 3

5. Describe the perceptions of the U.S. in your host country. Are there a range of perceptions or are they general? Are they what you expected? Do host-naitonals ask you about the U.S.? What do they ask? 

hmm, I think in a conscice fashion, perceptions of the U.S. in Japan is like how people in Hawaii view japan. A lot of people in Hawaii want to go to Japan, think that the true japanese citizen looks obviously different from a local American-Japanese person who was born and raised in Hawaii. There are probably a range of perceptions out there throughout Japan, however, after getting my hair cut, I get a more of the surprised, not so interested, confused reaction from Japanese people. I think the perfect example of this was when we recently went to an elementary school to play with the fifth graders during P.E. All the study abroad students were divided up and assigned to a group of three fifth graders. when my group saw what I looked like they didn't seem to be too thrilled in comparrisson, and even more disbelieving when I started trying to talk to them in Japanese. One of the two boys actually wandered over to another group, where the study abroad student could not in any way be mistaken for a japanese or chinese person and could barely speak japanese. The other two kids in my group had to periodically tell him to come back and that he was being rude. this wasn't the first time i felt like it may have been a bad desicion to get my hair cut.


However, the trump for this was, it was because i did not look stereotypically American that my host family wanted me. The fact that I looked a little like one of them in my passport photo (pre hair cut) helped to ease their worries about hosting for the first time and the receptiveness of the grandparents to foreigners in general from what they told me. 


Thus far, my host family has asked me any thing. These questions range from what the weather is like, culture-shock experiences going from hawaii to Oregon and Hawaii to Japan, and any other combinaiton of japan, oregon, and Hawaii; the weather; to the everyday question my host mom asks: what did you have for lunch?

While abroad -Maintaining a blog assignment - part 1 of 3

I do not think i did this assignment right.... so here goes the revisions.

1. What did you assume before you left that you are not finding in your host-country, host-culture and/or host family and friends? Discuss why you think you made those Assumptions?

Alright, where to start. .. what I assumed to find while abroad. I assumed to find a good time. A good portion of my summer had been filled with drama and an emotional roller coaster ride, that just really ended with me being so glad i was not returning to the Willamette campus, where I now have people who backstabed me over the summer, and had considered wonderful friends before. Studying abroad in Japan had been a dream of mine since high school, when I first went with my high school on a sight seeing trip. Thus going to Japan had seemed in some respects like a dream come true, an escape from all the drama, nightmare, responsibilities, and the like. But how could it not? 
After being fortunate enough to be selected to recieve scholarships for the first time in my educational career, my expectations probably grew a bit more to encompass being able to restart and upgrade a lot of things i would not be able to other wise. For example, updating my wardrobe. I think Japanese fashion is amazing and wonderful. thus i had expected to be able to go up with enough clothes, and buy a lot of new clothes that were more fashionable and higher up than my normal attire of: t-shirt, (board)shorts, and slippers/shoes. Yes, i said slippers ;p but thus far i haven't really bought nearly as much clothes as i originally thought i would. Instead I have acquired an excess of cell phone charms.

There may also have been a bit of expectation that once i was actually living in Japan, language accuisition would become more easier. However, that is proving to not be the case. Japanese vocabulary has increased a little bit. My mid term grade was passing, and nothing more. Yes, grades aren't every thing i know, but getting myself to be happy with the grade is still some thing i am working on completely understanding.  

Ghibli- Future ...

Hey hey! so stuff that happened. 

Mid terms, Kawagoe Festival, bonding with my host family, not my taisho debate 4-6 page paper, what i believe to be THE low point in study abroad (the other one was a falsie in comparisson to how i felt this past week), prep for the Kansai Trip (shuppatsu: tomorrow), and Ghibli Museum. Loads of thinking in the lieu of it all though. hey, i spelled that word right! XD what if going to japan helped expand my english vocab too? hmm...ah oh well. 

Mid-term grade in Japanese classs: Passing so far. Awaiting my grade for the history mid term... I hope i passed that too at the very least. After the japanese mid term, my brain was basically shot. so took the weekend a little more easier than i should have. barely studied for the exam on the following monday. >_<''''~ Working on not being too terribly hard on myself though, so hopefully it works out (being happier about not A grades. Will pass fo sho though).

Leaving for Kansai trip tomorrow morning, bright and early! didn't research for it much at all cause i was just kinda over every thing... sporadic periods of inspiration to study hard. the rest of the time i was like no more studying! it's all evil. So EvIl, but i need to know about the Taisho period. I know nothing. 

Kawagoe Festival. Lots of fun! ... but sooo much foooooooddd. Good food, games, spent a bunch of money T_T. Was charged the children's rate for a game that vaguely resembled pinball, while the friend i went with got charged the adult rate even though we're bascially the same age. Didn't win any of the games. I'm better off just buying a stuffed animal from the store. I was after a cute stuffed animal...or Arashi merchandise. Ended up buying a poster of them later on the way back to the station. ^_^ it's apparently their 10th anniversay poster: it was all wrappedup and in a box, a bit russian roullette style. there was AKB48 there too, but I'd personally much rather have a picture of Arashi up on my wall since I like a bunch of their music. <3 Second day of Kawagoe Matsuri JSPers got to help pull a neighboorhood's float. We really didn't get to pull in the way we thought we would cause of the danger the dashi(float) presented to the ppl closest to it's direciton of travel (and consequently the place where you get to feel like you're helping to pull it). Later, met up with a the same guy from Kauai, and basically hung out with him in Kawagoe into the early evening. Went to the old-fashioned candy lane and walked around the older store area: sweet potato ice cream, sweet potato steak fries, fabric store, chopstick store, looking for the vendors with the small octopus tako-yaki (they put an entire tiny octopus in one tako-yaki ball! and it tastes goood. lol, ate one ^_^. 

ah, yes, the low point... um, just felt like i was done w/Japanese. I learned my year's worth already, and just felt like i didn't want to learn any more. then would get these urges to try learn as much as i could and do it issyoukenmei style, talk to japanese citizen students here I made friends with, try do the homework with their help...then an annoying person on the same program would be like oh that's so kantan, you don't get it? sit there in front of me and do his homework in like literally 7 minutes and be like you're not done yet? I like didn't have to think. get admiration and praise from the japanese ppl i was sitting with, say he would help me, explain the grammar points, then while i was doing the work, talk so loud with
the people at the table that i couldn't think properly, ask me if i was done yet and if not why not, and it just annoyed me so much that i was just like i'm not doing any thing for you at all. you need a pen? sorry, you bascially just called me a bitch the last time you talked to me. other than that, just been struggling with Japanese, the debate stuff, and yea...school work is school work. 
Although we did take a trip to the same elementary school my host sister goes to and got to play games with the 5th graders there. For another time, I felt like a disappointment cause i think my group of 3 fifth graders were expecitng someone who looked a bit more foreign since a couple of them migrated towards other ppl who looked less japanese. lol. hurt my feelings at the time, but eh... just need to remember that it's for the same reason that my host family was a bit more relieved or less stressed out about hosting a study abroad student before i came here. part of the selection process i guess. So i guess there's ur pros and cons. Not always the kind of mentally weird japanese person cause you can't speak japanese perapera. But also make people here feel a bit more comfortable and get free membership cards to places. ^_^ mr. donut, medicine store, hair cut place, yup. 


Lastly, Ghibli. No picture taking allowed in the museum T_T so sad. but man, that place was amazing! There might not be very much there, and I wouldn't mind going again by myself or with people who don't mind me spending at least an hour gawking at the drawings/set up in the room dedicated to the making/birth of a miyazaki film. It's unreal, the artistry, colors, lines, composition, ...so sharp and clear though it's with paint brushes. I wonder if it's japanese paint brushes...hmmm. regardless, it's probably the expensive kind of paint brush. o-(>.<)-o then spent a lot of money at the omiyage store.. may have gone a little nuts, didn't get much, but it was expensive. I get espensive taste? maybe. but had enough money on me. Almost completely done with everyone's omiyage stuff. the wardrobe update needs to be worked on a little more. leather jacket. but any ways, ghibli museum. one of the rooms was dedicated entirely to how animation came to be, different kinds of animation, displays of the afore mentioned. ok, clay animation right (night before christmas, corpse bride, movies like that) a spinning thing with tons of miniaturized models on it. it starts and stops every so often, but when it starts spinning, the lights turn off, and turns back on to reveal a view of running cats, mei jump ropeing, bats flying, etc. There was also a sort of holligraphic birds circling the robot from laputa so pretty. definately inspiring, but i still don't know what i want to do for my thesis. sotsugyou ronbun. although, if i can't think of any thing else, i wouldn't mind researching manhole covers across japan to take care of the japanese one....or i could do an examination of disney and miyazaki films. animation. 


将来に何になりたいかな？何になるかな？明日の朝ご飯何を食べるかな？笑う。on that note, i go bed now. is past 1am, waking up at 545am i believe. but figured i'd better write some thing now before Kansai cause my host mom told me to not bring any hw with me on the trip, so i can enjoy and she knows i've been trying to work super hard on the debate prep. I should be posting again in about a week since i don't intend on bringing my computer with me. c u all later next time. lots more to come!
 

A Place

So thankful. ...where to start?

It's been a while since i last wrote. Almost a month- well duh, right ;p. but lets see. during that time, i hit the bottom. Honey moon phase ended. Now is like a test of character for me now i think. which direction will i go now, what will i take away from this experience? who knows right now? I don't.

LIVIN THE LIFE (recap of events i did since last post. see fb for photos)
*host sister's Udoukai (sports day)
* made beef stew, macadamia nut cookies, and Sweet Potato desert with host family and host family's cousins/relatives :D fun and delicious.
* met Uncle Masaki, got a new hair cut shortly after - short, cute japanese hair cut
* Bridging scholarship reception thing on a thursday night. Roppongi. Food. Met lots of people.
* Explored Akihabara. Bought an electronic dictionary. red.
* Went to Disney Sea with a few of my fellow JSP classmates
* A friend's 21st Birthday Party at their host family's house/restraunt. the place was Hawaii themed. unreal!
* Lunch Buddies for a couple days, then ventured to Crayon and Bunbun for lunch a few days later. Delicious
* Switched cell phones (using my own now. the pink one)
* Went to Nabe Party with friends I made at Tokyo International University
* Went with Host Family Cousin to a huge outlet mall for shopping
* Attended a Free Coffee making class. Making coffee w/o the coffee maker machine.
* Attended a Free Frozen Food bento making class
* Got extra help from the japanese language teacher.
* Met up with Randy and Brandy at shibuya for L&L and exploration. Ended up spending essentially the whole day with Randy. After Shibuya, Harajyuku, then to Takadanobaba. Village Vangard and delicious, spicy Chicken and Mutton Curry with ginormous Nan. yummmm!...
* Ate at another small, hole in the wall restraunt. Hamburger steak ^_^ so good. Explored the area around where i live. 

Reflection and thoughts:
That's a lot of stuff actually... and like, wow. perhaps this may turn out to be a thesis like project later on in a little less than a year. Mid terms are this coming Friday for Japanese language. I hear it'll b a 3 hour long test on basically every thing we've managed to cover in the 12 hours of class a week schedule. some in the class say it's not enough, so went to the teacher asking to speed up the pace and actually give us more usefull grammar that can be applied to every day conversations. More vocab that can enable us to talk and converse better with the natives here. I was reminded a little of christianity where ppl say that there's such a thing as becoming a fat christian child, continually only depending on mentors to give you what you need to grow, never trying to do things for yourself. learn of your own will. can call this preaching if you will, but nothing i say will make a dime's difference if you think you already have all the answers or have a closed mind. yes, danger, but reality will continue to be what it is no matter how you feel about it. Feelings are some thing, but not every thing in the world will change just because you feel it should. your out look and how you view things has a powerful impact on how it affects you.
So many things happen. This is really quite a semester on steroids. like you're here for a limited amount of time, so i want to do every thing and any thing under the sun. i know i can't, and i also want to spend time w/my host family too. they know so much. I am a child again. and again. lol, the walls of the candy store are slowly fading as curiosity grows in favor of adventure in the outside world i can see snipets of through the windows. Like just really living with my host family, and not just doing "Japanese" things with them. Taking the time to try learn/at least translate all the kanji i can make out on a portable cell phone charger, trying to write down all the vocab i can and review them each night, actually just getting an electronic dictionary for better, quicker communication, and being sure to spend time in the house trying to talk with them instead of just going out all the time. Best foot forward. Really trying to meet half way.
I was on a movie set. place: japan. character background: born and raised in Hawaii, stereotypical ukulele playing, rubber slipper wearing, tanned skin, japanese-american, just barely learning how to surf standing up, knew enough japanese to get buy, speaks "hawaiian english", always wanted to go to Japan, smiles with a hawaii surfer girl aura, and relationships that also seem to have come out of a picture-esque story from what other ppl could see. Now almost half way through, some thing has changed. I've known it wasn't always about the glitz, glam, fashion, hype surrounding someone, some thing, etc. setting: came from a summer filled with drama, trying to rebuild myself identity. Who i was to myself. I thought Japan was the perfect opportunity for it. It still is, and I want to take advantage of this opportunity, especially since there are things i need, like a new pair of sandals that don't give me blisters after like half an hour of walking in them. X_X not fun. but...ah this thing is long enough, an idk how to word things - put all the feelings i have right now into words. they need to sit and stew, mature if you will for a bit longer. ;p
Janelle is in japan, baby! yes!
She's such a tourist, but not that oh my gosh she's such a tourist, tourist. :D if ya get what i mean. ..yeah? (a friend was teasing me about how we say yea a lot in HI)

Before Any Thing Else Happens

Episodes:
• Cell phone: learned a bunch about the pre-paid cell phone stuff here. If you get a pre-paid cell phone, you need a prepaid card. One card per phone number. there is no sharing. Next, 20 is the legal adult age in Japan. The big one, you can drink, and more importantly buy your own cell phone! XD I was denied, and had to get special permission from the school...and Kenny was given a hard time by the cell phone company since he's even younger. the last JSP student who isn't yet of age got her phone from some place in Harajuku. Lastly, your phone account won't be deleted unless it has not seen any activity in the last 360 days. Thus this means that if any future JSP students want to borrow a Japan phone from a predecessor, you can. lol, so now I have double the amount of phones than I have ears! ha ha, my parents had teased me about getting stopped at the air port on the way back home at the end of this semester cause I have so many. - Air port security might think i'm a terrorist...then I'll need to give up one of them and launch into a lengthy explaination of why I have them, what they do(n't). So me phone number will be changing in about a month, when I start using my own phone. ^_^
• Sunrise from the TOP of Fuji!: Darn, that was a long one. Yoshida Trail. Start: train station 5:40am, get to a post office some where in shinjuku by 730. Absolutely amazing timing for one of us who was running late. She made it on the bus with a couple minutes to spare. Got to Fuji with a tour group to the station u spend a few hours at, then it's on your own, at your own pace. Overnight huts -  not over night, didn't sleep. Reach the top w/the other hundreds of people who want to do the same in the dark to watch the AMAZING sunrise ^_^ good experience. Summit: 3776m above sea level. Cold, windy, beautiful, tiring, fun, community building, hmmm... the descent. After the sun rise, we were all like... we gotta climb down now don't we? aww, man, never thought about that part. ha ha, good times. totally worth it. this pitiful description doesn't do it justice. There was also an onsen included in the tour package. ~(-.-)~ ahh.... 'twas wonderful.
• Bus Ride one night: got lost ^.^''' yes, it was storming with lightning and thunder - da works man. Ran into my friend Kenny at the train station, and he lent his umbrella to me cause it was raining real hard. Time: about 8-9pm. I took the wrong bus, realized it before the fare went higher than my pass would cover, got off, and started back tracking until i hit an intersection i thought i recognized, continued along that road to an open shop, asked for directions using the map i had in my bag. Fortunately enough, there was also a HUGE map, the size of the wall in the store too! what luck! The walk was about 40 minutes long i think. Good exercise. Got back home just as my host mom and sister were about to leave the house to go look for me. Host sister was upset i came back when i did, she apparently saw it as some kind of an adventure, to go wait for/look for me at the wrong bus stop (the one I was supposed to go to). Later, come to find out that in my haste to get off, I had forgotten my wallet on the bus. Didn't figure that out until the phone rang, and i heard my host mom talking about it. We got it back the next day thank goodness ^_^. Every thing was still inside too.
• JSP Undou Kai: a couple days after fuji. slightly sore, but fun. I got to be goalie when we played soccer stuff. Jammed my finger into the ball, but it'll be fine in about a week. don't worry, we played japanese games too. Japanese dogeball. like shambattle, but not. and this other game that involved tails made from strips of plastic bags, teams, and lots of running. Get as many tails as you can, once your tail is pulled you're out, and the last team standing wins! Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun, and wanted to do it again. We played on the fields you see in movies...except it was muddy in certain areas from the rain. ;p all the better right? ppl slipped, tripped, slid, and made funny noises.
• Traditional/old fashioned Candy lane: MUST GO BACK before I return to America at the very least for the candy that looks like sushi and taiyaki! There were like 6 different kinds of tai yaki there! and a billion different candies, intermingling with around a hundred plus different kinds of potato snacks...there was also this bread thing that was like 3.5' long.

Things to come: 
Tomorrow is Ruru's Undou Kai, and sushi!!!!!! XD Sunday - Make Beef Stew and learn how to make a sweet potato thing...I really want to make and take my own bento for lunch! via supplies from the 100 yen store! <- some day in the near future though ^_^ Monday - no class! Another lesson in fashion from Host family's junior high school cousin :D always studying...some thing ;p going Harajuku. School...homework...yea. oh, then holiday on thursday! an school friday. Should make plans for Thursday. hmmm...that's about it for now. I should go to bed, seeing as it is almost half past midnight here. goodnight!

JSP Week 1 complete

Hey hey,

Lets see, where to start? Embarrassing story of the week: The toilets in japan have many buttons and functions those in the U.S. don't. .. or the more modern ones. At orientation we were told to try using the toilet buttons. I went to the library to find and read a textbook for my history class, but got side tracked by the urge to use the fascilities. Used the bathroom, and pressed the button i thought was the one to flush. some thing started beeping, and it was a couple seconds of me wondering what that noise was until I noticed it was an alarm I set off. Started freaking out, rushed out the door, and sure enough an alarm was blaring over the speakers, thinking it was a fire alarm, i ran to the first person I could find, and told him very panicked in Japanese: I made a mistake. I made a mistake, what should i do? He calmly stared at me, and said to just wait, laughed a bit, then went back to his studying. ..Completely embarrased and feeling a bit stupid, I situated myself ouside the bathroom door, and was about to try sink into the floor when the librarian came rushing up the stairs, I went to her appologizing using the best, broken keigo i have, and tried to explain. .. the alarm went off a couple minutes after the librarian came up. According to the JSP coordinator, this happens often, and isn't some thing I should be embarrassed about. Moral of the story: there are panic buttons in the women's bathroom's in Japan. Do not press the emergency buttons. They are not all clearly marked, but the ones at TIU have a green color on it with two kanji characters.

This past weekend: *Friday: Went to a soccer game some where by Kumagaya train station to watch Tokyo International University compete in the 90th Emperor's Cup. The game was good. TIU won, but I may have paid a bit more attention to the soccer guys in the stands than those who were actually playing on the field. ... The guys in the stands had taiko drums, banners, many different cheers, these really fascinating megaphone and clapper things (I want one :D. idk how i'd bring it back, but they're so cool! you can yell through em and whack it against your hand to make noise ^_^. the JSP student i was sitting next to had fun laughing at me and telling me to go make friends w/one of the guys down there and get him to give me his megaphone for free), and cheers in english and Japanese! couldn't understand them too well, but all the JSP students definately knew when they were chanting the mighty ducks': we will, we will rock you!

*Saturday: Tokyo - Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, and Harajuku! ^_^ I spent a bunch of money. T_T too much actually, so trying not to spend much at all this week except for the weekend journey up Fuji-san to watch the sunrise with fellow JSP students at like 520am! Hopefully we make it to the top in time. Ha ha, anyways, went shopping. Bought a couple omiyage, basically an entire new outfit, but after trying it all on, i don't think it fits right, so another time I'll go buy cheaper clothes that I can wear w/the stuff i got. I'm a L some times M size here.

*Sunday: Went with my Host Aunty to her son's high school culture festival. It was quite interesting. Very fun too. Watched high school students do Taiko, the school's cheer leaders, and the school band (very briefly). Toured all the main buildings, bought a coin case, and was mistaken for being my host cousin's girlfriend several times. The third years were running a tea ceremony that my host aunty and cousin took me to. Green tea and bunny azuki bean cakes! <3 Second years sold stuff, and first years had various haunted houses to choose from, along with a science club show case. After the festival, my host aunty took me to meet up with her daughter for lunch after her test (to see where she ranks among other third year intermediate school students). various levels of green tea soba and toppings. Yummy ~ Following the lunch was an afternoon of window shopping and education in fashion. Hopefully I learned a thing or two about dressing fashionably and Japanese fast fashion. Next step...after this weekend is the application and execution of finding, buying, and wearing such clothing well and fashionably. ;D excited to do this. Oh, and I figured out the kind of hair cut I would want to get, a short one w/at least highlights. Not sure when to go do this though, but I'll figure it out. After the massive window shopping/teaching extravaganza, I was taken to their house for dinner: yaki niku, sashimi, and desert XD I was so happy, .. and full. Played super smash brothers after dinner, and I totally owned, lol thanks to all those hours of practice and loses at Pali View Baptist church's youth group in the past year and a half-ish I think.

I think that should be good for now seeing as it's almost mid night already and my brain basically gave out a while ago and i was told to go to sleep by my host family while tryin to explain the logistics for climbing mt. fuji a couple hours ago. Goodnight everyone!

First day of Commute! Dekita!

Hi Everyone,

After reviewing the bus and train routes with me via printed maps until around 11pm last night, my host family walked me to the bus stop. To get to TIU, I need to go to a bus stop, ride the bus for about 6 minutes to the last stop of the line: tsurumagaseki train station. After that, I take the train to the next stop, get off, and walk the rest of the way to TIU. I got to school on time without getting lost. Then returned home the same way. Success! XD We try again tomorrow! Today was the last day of orientation power points/lectures I think. Not sure, but yea, they were very informative and ...necessary. ...another necessity: having an electric fan in my room. T_T

Interesting experiences:
• today: lunch time at the super market, me and a couple other ppl from Hawaii were trying to get some thing we had no idea of what it might be. That proved to be quite difficult. Bentos at the supermarket contained at least one thing in it that we knew. For the most part almost everyone else who tried to get a completely unknown bento/lunch succeeded without difficulty. It was a lot cheaper than shirokiya too. 

• onigokko: one of two games that my host family's six year old daughter loves playing. it's like tag, but a little different when played on the street. Any elevated area was a safe zone, so the curb, short walls, rocks, etc. If someone playing is on an elevated surface, the oni (person out) needs to count up to a certain number. after that number they can tag whom ever they please.

• the bike i rode yesterday didn't have foot pedal breaks on it. there were hand breaks for the front and back wheels. the front one makes a high pitched noise when used (>_<)''' 

• opening ceremony: after we took a 3 hour long placement test, all the JSP (Japan Studies Program) students met their host families at the opening ceremony luncheon. T_T About 1.5 hours into the test my brain had hit overload, and basically stopped working w/japanese or worked super slow and on occasion. Meeting my host family was a bit of an epic fail experience. Couldn't remember any thing, or say any thing correctly for the most part, and thought i saw my host family's daughter Ruru getting frustrated.

lol. I learn lots from her, and even more from her parents. So much vocab... I bought more than enough notebooks today from the kobini by the train station. Turned one of them into a vocab book. Right now I have one page. I can bet that it'll be full in no time, and I might actually use up the last notebook before the end of the semester. I hope so, I want to learn as much as I can. But I understand that my brain might go after a certain point, then it needs a break. Though Ruru can be loud at times, I'm not sure if I'd be getting along as well as I am with my host family so far if she wasn't here. Very thankful she is. When my brain kinda stopped working so well with Japanese the first day, she broke the ice many times by being very energetic and full of different ideas for things to do. They ranged from solving mazes in a kid's book she had in the car, to showing me how to wash money at a temple to please that particular spirit, taking me to her koto class and asking the teacher and a classmate to let me try play, to walking on pebbles. My host mom and dad took part in these activities too, and so everyone was engaged in doing different activities together. It was all a lot of fun!

• As much as I had failed when i met my host family, I was able to talk with them for a while the next night. We stayed up talking till about midnight. It was a lot of fun, and quite difficult too.

ok, I should go sleep soon now. It's basically 5 minutes to midnight here. Hope you all have a nice day! I shall hopefully b updating every week.

Are you Ready for the Time of Your Life?

HELLO EVERYONE,

Blog area = semi stream of consciousness depending on how rushed I feel/am. Feeling: rushed.

This is Janelle, writing from the lobby of the Kawagoe Dai Ichi Hotel! Made it here, safe and sound. A bit jet-lagged though cause I went to sleep at 9:30pm and woke up at 5am Japan time. ha ha, that never happens at home. Today we set foot on the Tokyo International University campus. Exciting. Read through the packet we were given yesterday, and it looks like finding shoes here might turn out to be a bit of a problem. Soba for dinner last night, oh, man, the air plane food was quite good.  Unfortunately no pictures of the actual food were taken because by the time i remembered my camera was in my pocket the food was half gone. No one wants to see half eaten food right? or so I thought, so i finished it and took a picture of that. The noodles were so good. There are a good number of other people from Hawaii in the program. Placement test is on Saturday along with meeting host family. ok, gotta go get my bags now. just wanted to make sure you all knew I made it to Japan safely.

8th Annual Hawaii International Forgiveness Day Convention

The convention was simply amazing. Everyone has a story of their own. It's ever changing and growing in many different ways. This story is a person's life. The lives of the people who were honored in the convention's program are very powerful and inspirational. Granted I have quite a bias in saying so since Roy Sakuma was recognized as one of three Hawaii Forgiveness Heroes. Last summer and this summer I was fortunate enough to have the privalege of working for Roy and Kathy Sakuma. All the while I never fully realized what an honor or treasure it was to be working for them. Now in my last week of summer work for them, I am just so thankful that I got the chance to become friends, study under them for about ten years now, and work with them on the 39th and 40th Annual Ukulele Festivals. If you haven't gone to one of these festivals yet, I highly recommend that you do. It's absolutely wonderful. A free concert featuring the ukulele. Yes, free. What's the catch? Spreading laughter, love, and hope.

Any ways, going back to the forgiveness convention. When you don't forgive someone else, the only person who misses out on life is you. Carrying around all that hurt and emotional baggage. It isn't easy nor is it fun. But once you forgive, you are able to love. and love is extremely powerful. The greatest gift you can give yourself is forgiveness, and the greatest gift you can give someone else is love.

I go college on the mainland. A lot has happened during these past two years.Lots of drama as my family likes to put it. Lu`au during my freshman year was any thing but smooth sailing, and the after math still remains fresh and daunting in the minds of some people. Myself and a few others I know of had gone into this year's lu`au just praying it wouldn't be any thing like last year's. Last year at least one person in every committee had turned against another person they were once real good friends with. Unrelenting forces duke-ing it out to the bitter end Graduation. Gahndi, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcomb X, all of them were present conservatives and radicals alike. Graduation of the people who may have seemed like the catalysts of the movement to incorporate a more educational aspect to Lu`au, so it would be more than a show and some thing Hawaii Club members could relate to on a more personal level. I salute them. For not staying silent, striving to change things for the better, having good intentions at heart, doing their best to be rooted in the truth, and doing their very best to reach out to those younger than them and pass on their knowledge, hoping we would not end up having to deal with the cumupances of their actions.

Why I mention all this. To sum it up, it seems to me that while on the mainland, a bunch of us forget about where we're from and parts of who we are in an attempt to get to know the locals of our new environment. It serves as a way to be more socially acceptable, so there's a good margin of gray in the mix. The Aloha spirit in a lot of us got lost in that mix. I would like to see a little more of everyone's Aloha amidst the stress/pressue of this year's lu`au, in HI Club, and in my own life as I continue on my educational career.

Purpose of blog

Hi Everyone!

In a little less than a month, I will be leaving for Japan. I leave on August 25th for the Japanese Studies Program at Tokyo International University. The Office of International Education staff has advised all their students who are going abroad to make a blog and update it rather frequently while we are abroad. Here's mine! I hope this is helpful, aleviates stress, axsiety, lol, and provides a bit of humor for you, due to my spelling errors. adventures. miss-haps. and whatever else it is I may be doing over the summer, in Japan, at Willamette, and where ever else I maybe in the future.