9:50pm セミナーハウス
天気：曇り
I am so full right now! I just finished eating a heap of okonomiyaki, which I cooked from scratch tonight; I’m so proud of myself!!! My body is still aching from the sports festival practice today, which was really intense, but such a rush; I had such a good time. So, today was a pretty awesome day all round, except for the chilly weather… I got up at about 9, but managed to get to uni with half an hour to spare; I don’t really know why I got there so early. I did get to sit with Rachael and listen to some awesome music with her though, before going to class. After Speaking (which was fun as usual), I went to the CIE office, and inquired about the letter from national health insurance I had gotten yesterday; there was a form and unsealed envelope within. Turns out I didn’t have to fill anything out; it was only necessary if I was staying longer. So that turned out easier than I was expecting. After that I spent a bit of time in the lounge, doing some of the reading for Gender and Sexuality, and revising for the vocab quiz. That went well, and for the remainder of the lesson, we went over some new grammar patterns; I know how to express fractions and ratios in Japanese now! Once again, I infiltrated the Monsters class, and gleaned some interesting information from the Professor about the future of learning at Kansai Gaidai.
Gender and Sexuality was really interesting today. After covering sexuality in general, we moved into the realms of Japanese sexuality, and looked at a number of issues including methods of contraception, and the differences in how men and women can, or are expected to, express their sexuality. Did you know that in Japan, condoms are the most popular form of contraception after withdrawal coupled with the rhythm method? These forms of contraception are considered “traditional”, and yet they still play a dominant role in facilitating sexual activity in Japan. Other methods, such as the pill, are considered “modern”, and are met with great resistance in Japan, the pill especially. As little as 1% of the female population in Japan is on the pill; lack of knowledge and fear of side-effects are the main factors behind this. Another reason though is that, women who take the pill are seen is sexually “free” and therefore somehow promiscuous. While it’s okay for women to have sex, it’s not okay for them to want it. Through this logic, it could be seen that women on the pill are preparing themselves for the advent of sex, and therefore want it. In general, both men and women in Japan are very reserved when it comes to talking about sex, or seeking advice about it with counsellors and even doctors. For women especially, going to a gynaecologist can be very embarrassing, and many of them do not even want to look, or talk about that part of their body while they are there; this can make the gynaecologist’s job very difficult.
We learnt a lot more in class, but I won’t go into to that now. Needless to say, sexuality in Japan is very different to the West. Of course, it is slowly changing, and the double standards are disappearing. Anyway, next time we’ll be moving onto youth and sexuality, and I’m sure that will reveal some of the changes that have taken place. After class, I went back home and after lunch, I talked with Mum and Ben over Skype, and managed to successfully book the hotel in Hikone, Alex and I will be staying at for two nights during golden week. At 5:30, I made my way with Rachel to uni once more, as the sports festival practice would be taking place on the basketball courts. We were the first people there, but were soon joined by Brett and then Chelsea. It was very cold, and also very windy, but I reassured myself that I would warm right up as soon as I got moving. And before practice even started, we got an opportunity, helping the wind ensemble catch their manuscripts as they went flying; that was a lot of fun. A bit after 6, Yuji eventually showed up, bringing with him a trolley on which was the tug-of-war rope. But that’s not what we were starting off with. No, we were starting off with jump rope, and rope we jumped for the next hour. More people trickled in, and by the end of that time, we had everyone who had signed up. We weren’t quite 20, as Yuji had hoped, but the 13 (well 15 with Yuji and Natsuki) were doing pretty well. Yuji figured out the rules for jump rope, and eventually we had a set up where, in three minutes, we had to get as many people through the rope as possible, without making a blunder; gosh it was quite exhausting, but fun. It eventually got to a point though were we couldn’t even see the rope; it was that dark!
At around 7, we went onto tug-of-war. Yuji split us into two teams, and then we got to it; I think we ended up doing about 6 rounds. The adrenaline rush felt amazing, and although I was completely wiped out after it, I was on such a high. After winding the rope but up (which turned out to be incredibly long), and doing our Seminar House 2 team pose, we disbanded for the night. After getting my bike, I made my way over to Kirindo, to pick up the rest of what I needed for okonomiyaki, and then decided to go get some meat for it from Fresco. On the way there, I met up with Rachael and Sarah, who were also shopping. Now with everything I needed, I rode back home, and got straight into cooking; this turned out to be a very long process. I had a general recipe to follow, but really didn’t have idea of how to cook it properly. After getting the batter burnt and stuck to the bottom of one of the pans, Yuji suggested I use another, and that maybe the 中華鍋 (chuukanabe – wok) would work best. Still a little hesitant, I got Julie over, who had been taught how to make okonomiyaki, and she was a great help. Apparently I needed way more cabbage in the batter, so after adding that, we tried a small amount in the wok. That turned out really well, so I poured the rest in, and ended up making a huge one. Both of these turned out so much better than the first (which I still ate), and I was soon sitting down enjoying the big one, topped with bonito flakes, sauce mayonnaise, and seaweed flakes; it was pretty good considering it was my first try. I think next time, I’ll be able to do it in a much shorter amount of time too; over an hour is too long…
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