天気：雨天
Rain, rain, go away, come again another season! I’m seriously tired of the miserable weather, and so is everyone else… Riding through the rain I got to uni at 9, and we spent our Reading and Writing class reading a sort of critique of the book, “Why men don’t listen and women can’t read maps”; in Japanese of course. It was basically going against the argument that the book presents, that men and women are fundamentally different, and these differences are wired into the brain. It argued that sociological and environmental factors play a more prominent role than biological factors in defining gender roles; so that was quite interesting, especially in Japanese. For some reason, our class was very small today, and this trend continued when I went to Speaking; maybe everyone was still in bed, I wouldn’t blame them. We started off by watching this amazing group of Chinese dancers called 千手観音 (Senshu Kanon – “Thousand hand bodhisattva”). It was absolutely amazing to watch, and it’ll be easier to just link you to it, than try to explain it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic8uKHwTX3w&feature=related
Amazingly, the lead dancer is actually deaf! After that, we finished off the grammar points for lesson 9, and then got a sheet to fill out our speech topic on, as well as write three questions to ask the Japanese students around campus. I decided to do my speech on the Great Barrier Reef (since it’s close to home), and describe the environmental issues surrounding it. So, I had no idea what I should ask the Japanese students. By the end of class, I had one question, but Saigo Sensei said it was okay to come back to his office later to submit it; this was a relief.
After class, I went straight home, and put some washing on; since it was still raining, I had to hang it inside. After a bit of homework, I had lunch, and then I was making my way back to uni once more for Gender and Sexuality. I ended up being a little late, but that was okay because Professor Hester almost always is as well. Today we talked about youth sexuality in Japan, which is actually surprisingly different to the sexuality men and women of the previous generation expressed; in some ways, it’s gone to the extreme. The media has heavily influenced the attitudes and behaviours this current generation upholds and in many cases, is sending messages that conflict with those coming from family and school. Such activities as 援助交際 (Enjo Kosai – “dating with compensation” aka schoolgirl prostitution) while not as prominent in the media, are still occurring today. Magazines are positioning women to be more assertive, teaching them how to pleasure men, and take the lead in relationships. Women as consumers of sexually charged material are beginning to take over men; they are now viewing men as objects of desire, just as men have of them. Things have certainly changed; a lot. It is quite fascinating though.
After class, I went to Saigo Sensei’s office, to hand him my questions (I’m pretty happy with them), and then I went to the convenience store to photocopy some pages from my Japanese textbook for Julie; she wanted the list of cooking vocab. Getting back home, I had a bit of a rest, and then was soon on my way out again, to go to a sentou; I really needed it. I decided to try the one near Top World, which I had never been in before. It was in fact, quite similar to the one in Makino; still, it was nice to try some place new. I ended up seeing at least three yakuza in there, two with full body tattoos, and one with his back covered; I wondered if many of the others without tattoos were yakuza too. I also had a shave while I was in there; I’d seen a lot of men in sentou do it before, so I thought why not. I didn’t end up staying in the bath all that long, but I still felt heaps better than when I entered. I also weighed myself to find that I’d actually lost a few kgs; oh well. Leaving, I went over to Top World and walked around for a bit before thinking, “Why am I shopping here, everything is so expensive”. So, I ended up going to Fresco and buying a lot of fruit; I got a type of citron, apples, and bananas.
Back at home, I unpacked my groceries, and decided to just keep the fruit downstairs, since there was no way I was going to fit it all in my fridge or my cupboard. I was soon eating my leftover pasta bake for dinner, and chatting with the group. We stayed in the kitchen until about 8:30, before going down to the lounge to watch movies; I had missed our movie nights. However this night seemed to be very much geared towards the girls, with “The Princess Bride”, and Peter Pan (the 2003 live-action version). It took me a while before I remembered I had actually seen, at least parts of The Princess Bride, and it was actually pretty funny; though pretty terrible at the same time. Peter Pan, which I had seen in its entirety before, turned out to much more enjoyable this time around, and I don’t know why. Most of the other girls hadn’t seen it before, and they all enjoyed it, expect for Rachel, who admitted she’s too much of a cynic. I enjoyed an apple, and the one of the citron; it resembles an orange but is a little sourer. It was pretty late when we finished, and so I was very ready for sleep, wanting to be as rested as possible for tomorrow’s festival…
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