Still Alive

Hello, just putting up a post to my readers telling you that I am in fact still alive in Fukuoka, and that everything is going fine overall.

I've just been busy with school and life. Will put up a more substantive post later this weekend.

Being Sick, Day 3/ Going to Kyoto

So, I got ill for the first time in Japan. Nothing too bad, just a fever and such, but it kept me in my room for three days. I'm still getting over it. I had a bit of the culture shock when I left, having not been exposed to Japanese for three days.

We had no classes this week, for the most part, because Monday and Thursday are national holidays, my classes got canceled on Wednesday, and we're going to Kyoto on Friday.

Speaking of which, I am going. It's a part of the college, so pretty much everyone is going. It's only going to be for three days, which I can live with, I'm just glad to get out of Fukuoka for a bit and ride the Shinkansen again. I'm not going to have much time in Kyoto for free time, so I will be going back, probably towards the end of the year.

Going to the Kyogen/Classes Continue

So, on Friday night my college got me and a group of my fellow compatriots to the traditional Japanese theatre, Kyogen. Kyogen is a lot like Nou, except that it is principally comedic in nature. So me being the experienced performance art viewer as I am, I figured it would be interesting. I'm not being self-patronizing when I say that either; I spent a week in NYC for a class pretty much doing nothing but going to performances and thinking about them in a structured analytical format. On top of that I've done all sorts of performances, run tech, etc. Sitting down and analyzing a play is one of those oft-useless skills that I seem to have developed over the years, so I was looking forward to be able to put it to good use.

Kyogen it turns out defies most description from a Western-based view of theatre. For one the speech is of a highly stylized nature, thus making sure that what Japanese comprehension I have is near useless. I understood perhaps every 20th word when I could concentrate properly. For the first two acts there was practically no movement among the characters, and the plot was almost completely driven by dialogue. Cue my earlier mention of highly stylized speech. Many Western eyes did glaze over.

The costumes however were something to look at, as they were all traditional Japanese outfits. The stage was also rather interesting, being built with a roof of a traditional Japanese building.

The third act was much better, with a more coherent and followable plot, and real character movement and interaction that went beyond looking at each other and talking. It is important to mention that all the actors are men, and that they don't go to great lengths to show they are women.

Still, it was an interesting experience nonetheless, and I'll probably reflect on it some more.

Otherwise just continuing with classes, mostly nondescript at the moment. They're classes what more can I say? Japanese is going alright at the moment.

Figuring things out/Mac and Cheese

So, having finally begun really settling in classes have begun in earnest. My Japanese class has presented me with some difficulty, because my ability is in between the years being offered. I know a majority of the material in first semester pre-intermediate, and I am the most advanced speaker in pre-intermediate, but not as much second semester. On the one hand I could go up to intermediate but then there would be large gaps in my knowledge and that class moves much faster. I'm stuck in the middle regrettably.

The rest of my classes I have only had once so far so it is more difficult to figure them out. Art history is interesting to me, as is my manga and movies class. We'll just have to wait and see on those.

Otherwise things are going fine. I made my first batch of macaroni and cheese in Japan, which was delicious. I dislike having to share a kitchen with a whole floor though. Someone apparently thought it was fine to leave the stove covered in oil.

Out shopping/Curry saves the day again

So, everyone that I have talked to about being a vegetarian while here says that it will be really difficult. I knew they were wrong since I had been in Japan twice before and never went hungry, and I'm still not going hungry. However, being a vegetarian does limit what I can eat. Often there are only a few things on the menu that am able to eat, and there is a lot less dairy than the US. It isn't China bad, where there is no dairy in the entire country, but there is significantly less in Japan. Eating out is something of a challenge for me. Thus, I have been quite relieved to find out that there is a plethora of excellent vegetarian curry dishes in Japan. I've had curry dishes three days this past week, and have always been filled by them.

Today I went out to downtown Fukuoka, to a district called Tenjin. There's a fair amount down there, plenty of デパート。Also went to Canal City, another shopping area where the resident Pokemon Center is located. I would have gotten a plush Cyndaquil, but it looked rather silly without the flames sticking out its back so I didn't. Went down with a group of people, and took my first photos of Fukuoka.

One of the things I have noticed is my speed for reading and comprehending カタカナ, the phonetic Japanese, has increased dramatically from when I first got here.

Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Finally Getting Settled In

Hello there. Been a while but I've finally got internet access in Japan. My school is rather strict about how to get on their network.

In any case, everything so far has been going well enough. Moving into my dorm went off without a hitch, and the space is large by Japanese standards, though there are some odd smells coming from my closet.

Fukuoka as a city is great. It isn't massively crowded, though the downtown Tenjin district can get quite busy, which is only a fifteen-minute subway ride away.

Anything else you my readers want feel free to comment. It's getting late here and I just wanted to make a post after I got into Japan. I have my first day of classes tomorrow so I'd better get some sleep. Japanese Art History in the morning, followed by Japanese language, Japanses politics, and Anime and Manga.

Pics and more updates to come.

Getting packed.

So here I am, sitting in Seattle cramming the last piece of clothing that I can fit into five completely overstuffed bags. I'm tired but I think that I'm all ready to go at this point. Only thing left to do is finish up cleaning my room and packing up my last few things and then I will be off.

Going still doesn't seem real to me, but I'm sure it will once I take off in about 12 hours.