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Jethrobot: Made In Japan.
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| Owaru (END) |
[Apr. 25th, 2006|09:18 pm] |
Well, that's all. My time in Japan has come to a close.
I'm back in PA, after a long two flights. The shorter of the two (Detroit to Philly) was unexpectedly first-class, the first time I've ridden it in my life.
I didn't sleep at all on my 15+ hours of travelling. Which means it's time for the sleepin's. For me, it feels like it's 8:30 AM when it's really 9:30 at night. Hrm. Zzzzzzz.
g'night, peoples. Moravian-- I'll be coming up on the 28th. See you soon.
~ Jethro.
P.S. Flip back over to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=88.8) i_jethrobot. This chapter reached its last entry. |
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| Grab Bag. |
[Mar. 18th, 2006|07:14 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | nagahama, reflections | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  cheerful | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Alissa's playing Boku no Watashi no Katamari Damacy on PSP | ] |
Above is a mural on the side of a building near City Hall in Hikone, the city I'm residing in. Whenever I see it, I think of you and that "bear smaaaaash! rararaaaarrr" thing you do, Lucas.
( 長浜 (Nagahama) and such). )
~ Jethro.
P.S. Just Nagahama today. Next time, Matsumoto weekend trip.
P.P.S. Japanese class is getting more difficult for everybody! Our last class average was a 74, when it's usually been in the high 80's... |
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| Zen Calendar! |
[Mar. 5th, 2006|10:01 am] |
Dear gem:
That Zen Calendar you gave me for my birthday was really good. It's one of those little parts of my day where I got to my room and derive great joy out of ripping the next page to see a fragment of wisdom, just to get me thinking outside of what I'm used to. Here are some that I kept that I thought were really good:
January 20th: Western laziness consists of cramming our lives with compulsive activity, so that there is no time at all to confront real issues.
~ Sogyal Rinpoche
January 23rd: "Did you have a happy childhood?" is a false question. As a child I did not know what happiness was, and whether I was happy or not. I was too busy being.
~ Alistair Reid
January 28th: A Zen master's life is one continuous mistake.
~ Dougen
February 13th: You are lost the instant you know what the result will be.
~ Juan Gris
February 18th: All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into the drop.
~ Kabir
February 20th: Do not attempt to become Buddha.
~ Dougen
February 22nd: In the sea of Ise, ten thousand feet down, lies a single stone. I wish to pick up that stone without wetting my hands.
~ Zen Koan (for the purposes of focus in meditation).
March 1st:
Tung-shan was asked: "The normal mind is the way; what is the normal mind?"
He replied: "Not picking up things along the road."
~ Zen Mondo
March 4th: Astonishing! Everything is intelligent!"
~ Pythagoras
Some of these statements are a bit mind-boggling, of course. But, thanks for keeping my mind on its toes. I'm always welcome to it.
Sincerely,
~ ジェスロ。 |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 5th, 2006|09:21 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | postcards | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
I wrote six postcards and sent them all out today-- The people who asked for them, got them, as well as some people who didn't ask. All of them are from the Moravian (or MOCO alumni) crowd. They will get a nice surprise. If anyone else would like one, leave a comment here asking for one (and your box #, if you remember it, but it isn't necessary).
And, just for kicks, I'll make a shameful plug for you all to send me letters:
Christopher Schilling
Japan Center for Michigan Universities
1435-86 Matsubara-cho
Hikone-shi, Shiga-ken ╤ 522-0002
JAPAN
By the way-- Unholy Trinity (you know who you are): Send me your addresses at college / home-- you need to be postcard'd at by yours truly. And since I'm in a writin' mood, you'd better send me them fast. Japanese homework is only getting worse, you know? I'll try to catch you online when I see all of youse there.
You can either comment here or e-mail me your addresses at stcjs01@moravian.edu.
Anyway!
I was going to do a photos "grab bag" today from various parts of Japan that I've encountered, but I got lazy. Sometime this week, I hope.
~ ジェスロ。
P.S. I miss WRMC. :-( |
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| Introspection. Matsumoto. Inuyama. |
[Mar. 3rd, 2006|09:26 am] |
I find it a little sad that I can't update this as often as I'd like.
I'm also a little sad that I purchased a blank book for the sole purpose of writing about my time here... but I haven't put much use to it. I definitely am using i_japanbot more often. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I sometimes want to rely less on LiveJournal. I consider that a reason for why I write here is because I enjoy attention and comments from others; and that I'm less comfortable writing in a place for my thoughts and my thoughts alone. I feel I can be more candid in writing in an actual journal rather than here, anyway. I hope to grow so as to not rely on blogs as wholly as I do now.
I wish I didn't budget my time so as to accomodate for people, travel, and study, while completely leaving out time for introspection and reflection. People tell me that I appear to be a social person; I do not know if this is true or not, but I definitely need time to delve into my person. If I don't make that time, I feel miserable and lazy. I need to look back upon things and consider them. For instance...
Where does this travelling experience fit into my life right now, in comparison to all the other events and decisions that have made me as this person?
What meaning will it have for me later on? Do I want to come back? If so, what about this land makes me want to come back?
Is there some way I can fit psychology into this whole interest of mine, that is, Japan? Or is such an impossible task?
What do I think about America, comparing my degree of well-being, after being here for three months? Is the distance thing a big deal?
...
If I don't make the time to consider these sorts of internal, personal issues, I feel as though I'm wasting away. Introspection is so vital to who I am. I don't why I haven't been doing it-- it makes me quite upset. I know it may sound cold, but I feel as though understanding of other people is very much secondary to understanding the self, even if that latter understanding is incomplete or not yet whole.
I do not know where I stand in understanding myself. Certainly, it isn't complete. I think, for me, there will be a state less than a complete understanding-- where I can be happy with what I know, and accept the fact that I cannot understand everything about myself. I will welcome new realizations about myself with open arms, whether they are genuine qualities or absolute faults. But, through all of that, I would always like to make some time to simply sit down -- preferrably with a cup of tea -- and ponder who this person is, sitting down and drinking this tea.
Anyway, Japan. I haven't written too much else about it lately, have I? I have many stories to tell.
Last weekend for us was a long weekend-- JCMU (this institution) decided to give us an arbitrary Monday off from classes. So, using that time to our advantage, a small group of us planned an excursion to the North: to a city called Matsumoto. We made reservations at an inn, and so we set off.
The train ride was long-- much longer than most of the trains we take. We had to take a train to Nagoya, which took roughly an hour and a half, and the limited express train from there to Matsumoto took about two hours. When we got there, it was late, and we walked around the city. After sometime of failing to find our inn, we found a taxi station and got driven to our place. It turns out we were waaaayyy off from where we though it was.
We stayed at a special Japanese inn called a ryokan, and it was pretty neat. The room was pretty spacious, and the floors were of tatami matting. Futons as bedding, I've discovered, is pretty much the best thing ever.
We had ramen at this very small shop along a small street of stores and restaurants. Turns out it may have been the best eating-out decisions we made. The owner asked us about the accuracy of an English translation of a petition for their small street-- the city wanted to rezone it for building residential complexes, but not only that, he played us songs on his harmonica which he recieved from another American visitor, and he was really good! We also got complimentary apple and yuzu (citron) tea.
Among the rest of the group, I was the least-versed in Japanese, so I didn't speak nearly as much as everyone else did. After playing a song called 静か (shizuka, meaning silent), the owner directed his attention to me, addressing me as "the silent one," (静か). He asked me sing an American folk song. I didn't want too sing The National Anthem-- too cheesy. After about 10 minuted of thought and egging on by the whole six people in the ramen shop, I gathered the courage to sing the first verse or so of Don McLean's American Pie. I thought it was just about the most appropriate thing I could've sung.
In Matsumoto, we went to three places: Matsumoto Castle, the Matsumoto Castle Museum, and the Matsumoto Time Piece Museum. All of them were pretty much awesome, but the last one was definitely worth the trip. The Time Piece Museum contained a history of clocks, watches, and sundials. Pictures will be up later, of course. precreditdeath and I took several pictures of the clocks in the museum, so they'll definitely have the spotlight.
I also went to go and try this whole onsen thing. There was one of these public hot springs near the ryokan. I went on Saturday with two people from our group. The springs were split between men and women. What follows, obviously, is speaking from the male's experience in the hot spring.
The experience is new, to say the least. Everyone going into a hot spring bathes in the nude. It is considered wholly silly or even rude to be wearing bathing suits or anything as such when bathing into a public hot spring. When you consider being naked in front of several other people, it's of course a bit unsettling. But once you get over that (I basically just thought of it like gym class all over again), going to an onsen is likely one of the best experiences one may ever have. It's a practice in humilty-- everyone bears nothing and has nothing to hide. You are all equals; you are all men who are tired from travel, work, and the stress of daily life. Conversation is often inevitable.
In the hot spring, besides the two of us from our group, there was another guy. He began to talk to us, using English. We presummed he was Japanese, trying to use his (very good) English. After his lack of understanding of our Japanese, we found out that he was, in fact, from Singapore. He admitted that his Japanese was basically nonexistant. However, it was nice, for a change, to have a long conversation in English with a complete stranger. He had come here to ski in Matsumoto (the city is surrounded by mountains), and was tired after a long day, so he came here to ease his tired skiing muscles.
In short: Onsen, nakedness & humility, relax relax, and Singapore guy.
We left Matsumoto on Saturday, and made for our second destination to the south a bit: Inuyama. However, we didn't actually go there first. We stayed at another ryokan that wasn't nearly as good as the one in Matusmoto, but it was accetpable. We left from Nagoya for Inuyama the next morning.
Interpreting from the kanji (犬山), this city's name literally means "Dog Mountain." And boy, do they use that "dog" part to their advantage. In many of the tourist-y places, such as Inuyama Castle (which we visited), there are pictures of dogs everywhere. Although, outside the temple, it was strange to see chickens en masse. Hrm.
We paid for a very expensive, but tasty lunch in Inuyama as well. I enjoy getting a whole set meal of things. On a side note-- it's hard to believe, but red beans are a great idea for dessert.
We strolled down a street of stores after lunch and proceeded to spend our money frivilously on old Japanese fans and very neat crafting items. Also, we plan to return to a particular store in April-- the prices of their kimonos will be so ridiculously low, that it would be a crying shame not to.
Pictures will come later. 終わります。 (End!)
~ Jethro. |
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| 有道 出人 (Arudo Debito) |
[Feb. 21st, 2006|07:16 am] |
Our class yesterday (Monday) dealt with the matter of racial discrimination in Japan. To many of us -- since many of us had been there for less than a year -- there was a lack of this kind of experience of being treated badly on the basis of race.
A speaker came in yesterday, whose name I vaguely recognized from the week or two prior to my departure to Japan: Arudo Debito. Whilst looking up some last-minute facts about Japan and what to expect, I stumbled across this man's name. I found out he was an activist in Japan who was fighting against cases of being denied service by public / private establishments on the basis of race, and that alone.
Basically, Debito was born in New York City and moved to Japan and after some years of waiting after applying for permanent residency-- he got it, which was a big thing for him (and other foreigners). His big goal in life is to actively protest the prospect that public / private establishments can deny patrons on the basis of race, especially when Japan agreed to international laws of the U.N. which calls for laws to combat racial discrimination. Guess what? In Japan-- there are none! I was surprised. Debito's biggest venture was to sue a Onsen (hot springs) establishment for denying him (and two other Caucasian persons and eventually a Chinese woman with them) entry on the basis of his color, even after recieving citizenship from the government of Japan. He showed that he was a Japanese citizen to the Onsen's management-- yet, he was denied entry. Quite a story.
I didn't really know what to expect of Japan in terms of its capacity of civil liberties and ability to pass laws. And after that class, it's hard to say -- in comparison to the United States -- who's ahead, and who's behind. But then again, it's important to note that Japan and US are way way way different in terms of how things work-- how people behave, what's socially acceptable, what's politically acceptable, etc.
This guy was very envigorating, for me, to listen to. He has reinforced in me the notion that activist work is totally worth all of the time and effort I put into it. He is a lot of what I'd like to see in myself in terms of being able to speak publically and invoke a sense of "I don't like the condition of civil liberties, and I want to do something about it" in his audiences. He was able to come off as a very plain man who was able to say quite a lot very simply. His tactics were certainly unorthodox, but that's not necessarily a poor method to approaching this.
I felt a little silly feeling that way, but he was really an awesome person.
I wish we could get him to be a speaker back at Moravian for MSAS.
~ Jethro. |
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| Johari Window. |
[Feb. 15th, 2006|06:18 am] |
This looked pretty interesting, now that I've been seeing it around my friends' LJ's. I think it's important to note that there are no really negative adjectives on this personality inventory. I think I'd like to see one with all negative adjectives, and see what kind of results people get. I wonder if people could be honest about their own faults...
Anyway, I know it's been a little while since many of you have seen me last, but let me know how I come off to all of you.
~ ジェスロ。 |
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| Kyoto. |
[Feb. 14th, 2006|12:39 am] |
precreditdeath, dreyafyrefox, cuantar, and I went to Kyoto on Friday. We were planning to go check out two famous Buddhist Temples, 銀閣寺 (Temple of the Silver Pavilion) and 金閣寺 (Temple of the Golden Pavilion). But, we ended up going to a different Buddhist temple and small shrine instead. Some of alissa and my own pictures from the trip:
( Something! )
~ ジェスロ。
P.S. There's a lot of drama here, but I don't really want to write about it.
P.P.S. Happy Valentine's Day. In Japan, Feburary 14th is the day when women traditionally give their male love-interest chocolate to express their affection. On March 14th, a day called White Day is when men return that favor by giving chocolate to women they are affectionate towards. |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 10th, 2006|09:06 am] |
Hey towelie_is_cool, thanks for the letter! I got it on Thursday-- it was a nice surprise in my mailbox.
I've got to get me some stamps to send some letters to you people back home.
Oh, and I went to Kyoto today...but I'm totally exhausted from doing a test and wandering around the the city (and failing to find the correct buses to get back to Kyoto's train station). So, I'll talk about it later. Naturally, there are pictures.
~ ジェスロ。 |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 7th, 2006|10:42 am] |
そうですね・・・・・・
(Well then...)
barisaxgirljen, I am about to make you very, very jealous. I hope it doesn't make you disown me from position as DJ Jethro on MTM (When it's six to eight, don't be late for More Than Mario-- 'cause you'll be sorry-o!).
I had dinner with my 会話の相手 (conversation partner) and precreditdeath, and it was quite awesome. It was at her house-- it's the first time I've had dinner at a Japanese home.
First of all, my conversation partner is a mother. Her name is ゆうこ (Yuuko) and she 1) teacher English to elementary school children, 2) Is learning English at a University, and 3) Works at a hospital. I can't believe how unstressed she looks when I see her.
Secondly, her kids are named ゆうじ (Yuuji) and こうじ (Kouji), who are 7 and 4 years old respectively, and are mostly adorable, mostly 元気 (genki, meaning energetic / lively), and very much all-over-the-place when it comes to their attention. Occasionally, they were annoying, but it didn't matter so much because they were adorable enough to get away with it.
Thirdly, we ate a dish called sukiyaki, which they prepared in front of us on their single burner in a modestly-sized pot. Needless to say, I really enjoy home-cooked meals in Japan, and I am naturally willing to try it again.
Also speaking of Japanese meals, tofu here is ridiculously cheap. We're talking like, less than 50 cents for a styrofoam case of it. I'm glad that my Vegan and Vegetarian friends at home were awesome enough to introduce me to the wonder that is おとうふ (tofu).
But, the point of this entry is really to comment on the gifts I was given today by my conversation partner's family. In Japan, gift-giving is a very delicate process. It is not to be taken lightly, as the reciever often feels compelled to return the favor. However, in this situation, where I was invited for dinner at my conversation partner's house as a guest, an exchange of presents is normally expected. Anyway, the first bit is that holy crap, the family (jokingly) wanted to give us their younger child as the gift!
The second bit is the gift I was actually given quite abruptly, after a brief conversation with Yuuko's husband about Super Famicom / Super Nintendo and how I like to play it:
( Oh, now there will probably be two Super Famicoms at Moravian... )
~ ジェスロ。 |
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exhausted, but good.
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