I woke up naturally at 8:30 and got to school at about 10, where I planned to do reading for my Contemporary Japanese Relations class. Instead, I finalized the reservation for a ferry from Matsuyama to Oita during golden week with Yamashita-san and then talked with our group about Golden Week plans until my Japanese placement interview at 11. The interview went very smoothly, which is much more than I can say for Japanese interviews I've had in America. Even being here only several days has made me much more fluent, of course this is relative to my original ability. At least it is easy to hold up a conversation with a sympathetic Japanese speaker who has experience listening to broken Japanese :). We talked about various things like my Golden Week plans, our travels in Tokyo when we just arrived, and my interests. It was really quite easy because I've talked about those same things with other people already, so they were somewhat crystallized in my head already. This must be why it is so easy for politicians to speak in public. They don't really speak extemporaneously, they simply organize the mini-speeches they've given before into one that fits the occasion. Anyways the "placement interview" is apparently a misnomer because we will generally be placed in the same sequence we were in at Stanford, since all of us are Stanford students.
The next big event was getting a cell phone! I met up with my host brother Charlie, who is in the KCJS program and speaks better Japanese than me, and we went to the cell phone store together. The best company for foreigners and students is apparently au, as they offer a gakuwari or student discount. Of course, the cell phone selection for the student plans is very limited - no cool phones that can swivel 2 ways or let you watch TV. It is ungodly how cool the phones in Japan are. I can't believe I was happy with my Razr back home, it is ridiculous how good the technology is here. As it is, the student phone I picked is still gorgeously sexy and functional too, unlike the somewhat sexy and barely functional Razr. Take a look at the pictures, which hardly do it justice, but some of the cool features are easy to press, large buttons, a light but very solid construction, a beautiful large screen, fast and easy to use software, innovative features like a macro function for the camera and a manner mode (for switching to driving manner, for example). I didn't have to pay too much for it either. The activation charge was ¥2700, the monthly charge is ¥2000 for talk (35 min, ¥40 per additional minute) and ¥300 for text (100 packets, ¥.2 per additional). The cancellation fee is about ¥3100, which is much much less than in the States. So, it makes sense to buy a year-long plan and then cancel after 5 months. It is actually comparable to the pre-paid phones in price, with a sexier phone in the bargain (and no need to recharge).
The other big thing today was a party hosted by my host family. It was in honor of my okaasan's daughter's wedding. Her name is Ai and she is married to Shin. They were married in February and honeymooned in Australia. Anyways, today we went out to a traditional Japanese dinner with seemingly endless courses and chatted away until about 9pm before coming home. Then, I played several pieces on the piano to the audience's approval (Melodies of Life, Moonlight Sonata, and What a Wonderful World) and then they all sat around talking, drinking, smoking, looking at picture albums, and watching a DVD of the wedding. It was a good time. One interesting thing is that two of the cousins came late to the dinner. I swear they looked like rock stars. It is amazing how fashion conscious these Japanese people are. They are high school students, 16 and 18 years old, and it is like they walked out of the pages of a catalog. One of the guys looked just like Hanazawa Rui from Hana Yori Dango, with the bleached hair and bangs that hung down. The other guy complemented him with darker brown hair that was styled in spikes. Their outfits were all designer-quality and they had this sullen model quality that seems typical for teenage Japanese boys. I guess that's the way you have to dress to catch the attention of the girls, who primp, preen, and dress themselves to match their various idols in the catalogs as well. I think it looks good in general, though I'd prefer if more of them kept their black hair. I still think straight black hair is the sexiest, after all.
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| Kyoto Day 6 |
2 comments:
Dude...you talk about all those guys looking like fashion models, and you don't have ANY pictures of them???!!!
I wanna see!
...oh, and some pictures of girls are okay too :P.
Good stuff. What a read I had tonight! You sure are grabbing life by the horns and experiencing a very different culture and learning experience. I commend you for it!
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