Day 250 - 7th of May

10:12pm　カラオケ　－　牧野

天気：雨天

I’m at karaoke now. Ash, Rachel and I were bummed out about the fact that there was no free time the other day, so we decided to come again tonight! However, I haven’t been here as long as they have. I just came from 王将 (Osho – “King”), a gyoza place right next to Midori; there’s one near Hirakata station too, but we opted for this one since it is closer by bike…

10:21pm　カラオケ　

Just sang; Yay, I feel good… So yeah, I went with Chelsea, Rebecca, Brett, Liz and Julie to Osho and it was amazing. Since it is a gyoza place, of course I had to get some and it was delicious ~ 餃子 (gyoza) is basically a Chinese dumpling that consists of a meat and/or vegetable filling that is wrapped in thin dough; it resembles ravioli. I also tried the チャーハン (chahan), Chinese fried rice, which was equally yummy. We got there at about a quarter to 9, so spent a good hour sitting and talking, which was great. Also great, was how cheap my meal was; I got to finish off Liz’s and Julie’s meals as well. As for the rest of my day, well… It was raining quite heavily up until about 5 or so this evening; not fun. In Reading and Writing today, we read part of the story in chapter 6, called むかし夕日の公園で (Mukashi yuuhi no koen de – “Once upon a time at the park of the setting sun”). It’s really well written, full of description, so it actually feels like we’re reading a real Japanese story.

It’s actually turning out to be really scary. This kid, who’s in a park surrounded by tall buildings at sunset (so it’s quite dark already) all alone, is thrusting his arm deep into to sandpit in the corner of the park, trying to gauge how deep it is. He’s arm is submerged up to his shoulder, and his fingers have just hit something. He can’t quite grab onto it, but what feels like women’s hair is starting to twine around his fingers… and that’s as far as we’ve gotten; so much suspense right now!!! After that, I went to my speaking class and dived straight into my presentation, and that went pretty well, although I did go overtime; we all did. And this time we really knew about it because Saigo Sensei brought in a time, and it beeped rather obnoxiously after 5 minutes; he was on the ball though, and was quick to silence it. That done, I went over to the club room and practiced Miyabi with Maarika and Mori Sempai until about 1, when I had to get to class; I ate some onigiri in the lounge before-hand.

In Gender and Sexuality, most of the lesson was taken up watching “Shinjuku Boys”, which was a documentary about Onabe, working in a club in Shijuku. Onabe are women who identify more strongly as men, and display hetero-normative masculine behaviour; the male equivalent is Okama. You could say they are transgender, and a few were taking hormone treatments; gender re-assignment surgery was illegal in Japan at the time. The doco cented around three “women”, who worked at this particular club where Onabe dress up as men (and act like men) and serve women; presumably straight women. It get’s stranger… two of them were in a relationship, one with a girl who identifies herself as straight and sees “him” as a guy, just with a penis, and the other one is with a drag queen who had had his genitals removed; that was a very interesting case. The third was more of a play “boy” (it serious didn’t take me long to refer to this person as a he), who reminded me of the guys in the host club in the other doco we watched; basically playing on women. I found the whole think fascinating. We also got our review sheet for the quiz next week, and the final take home exam criteria sheet; that was just depressing. Somehow, I’m going to squeeze everything in.

After class, I went to the club room once more, and after a bit more practice, we got set up in the club hall on the first floor, in preparation for the all the culture club presentations. This went from 5 till 6:30, and there were some great performances; I wish I had brought my video camera. Before we performed, two guys played an amazing piece on acoustic guitar and after us was the chorus club. They sang Angela Aki’s “Tegami”, which made me mega happy; it’s one of my favourite songs to sing at karaoke. It made me miss high school choir a lot though. It was nice to see that there were two international students in the club (both guys), which was great considering there were only two other guys. I would have been right there to support them, had I not joined the koto club. But then I think, “been there, done that”, and I’m glad I’m trying something new. Our performance went quite well, and I think that’s the biggest crowd I’ve performed in front of; at least 30 people. I’m really happy with the progress I’m made, and when I look back, I really have come far from my humble beginnings playing Sakura sakura. Maybe, I’ll be able to pick up the koto again someday. The event ended with the dance club, and we got to see ballroom, tango, salsa and contemporary; the cotemporary performance was definitely the best. By that time, it was 6:30 and after packing up, I had to rush home in order to make it in time for the meeting at 7; well, I didn’t have to rush that much.

I had time enough to get back to my room, and talk to Hugo about the night bus. He recommended a site to me that was really comprehensive, and we found a bus from Hirakatashi to Tokyo, which is wonderful. I’m going to have a lot of luggage, and I’m not going to want to lug it too far. So, I have to book that very soon. The meeting, our last meeting, was over in about half an hour, and afterwards Yuji approached me about the farewell party a.k.a. “Academic Party” (I love Yuji so much, xD), and asked if I would make my Milo biscuits for everyone again; I guess they really were a hit. Since I would receive money to pay for the ingredients, I was more than happy to oblige. Also, I get to play the koto for it; that’ll definitely be my last time. I’m going to try and play Miyabi; I’ll have to fust the first and second koto parts so it doesn’t sound too empty. So, that’s something else to look forward to. After that, we were pretty much off, as so as everyone was ready. Since Julie didn’t have a bike, she rode on the back of mine; I was a bit wobbly at first, but soon got used to it. Suddenly, I’m feeling very tired. I’m going to have a good sleep in tomorrow, and the get my sakubun done; hopefully…

Day 249 - 6th of May

10:08pm　セミナーハウス

天気：晴れ

I’ve just been practicing my presentation a bit more. Yes, I haven’t presented yet. Why, because all the other presenters today went overtime… I got to uni at 11:30 this morning, which gave me some time to eat lunch. I had katsudon from the cafeteria, which I hadn’t eaten in ages so I really enjoyed it; one of the last times I’ll be able to. After talking with Rachel and Julie for a bit, I got to class and after a bit of stuffing around, the presentations for underway. Well, the first guy talked about Japan’s fishing industry, and didn’t really address any problems; which was kind of the whole purpose. He ended up taking almost 15 minutes and remember, these are only supposed to be five minute presentations. So I was like okay, the others aren’t going to take that long; wrong. The other two ended up taking at least 10 minutes if not more, leaving me with no time to present. Saigo Sensei apologised and said I would be first up tomorrow; well, at least I won’t miss out again this way. When I told him my presentation was probably going to be long too, he advised me to shorten it, and I have done just that; culled the crap out of it. It’s still about 7 minutes, but that’s better than 10; it also means that I have less to remember, which is great.

After that, I sat around in class, waiting for religion to start. Today’s class was really interesting. We focused on 水子供養 (mizuko kuyo) or, memorial services for unborn babies; yes, they do this in Japan. Jizou is very much associated with this, being the main deity that cares for aborted or miscarried foetuses, and there are practices such as buying a Jizou statue at a temple and dressing it in hand-made clothes; as a representation of the unborn baby. The same can be said of Kannon (being a Mary-like figure in Japan), but to a much lesser extent. You can also address ema (vocative tablets) to the mizuko, expressing your apology. And if you think this kind of thing is odd, it gets better. Not only is Japan really big on memorial services for pets (they have many pet cemeteries), but such practices to show appreciation extend to dolls, rosaries, brushes, needles, and even termites!!! No joke, the professor showed us a memorial plaque which had written on it, “Termites, Rest in Peace”, in Japanese on it. Now, if you were an exterminator, this would be the right thing to do right?! It could be seen as pacifying the angry termite spirits, or showing gratitude towards them for providing business; sounds a bit weird, I know. I found the whole thing fascinating, although there is a limit to what is and isn’t a potential candidate for commemorating in such a fashion; it can’t be anything.

The trend seems to be that it has to be something that is important in a person’s life, such as calligraphy brushes, or sewing needles, which that person has potentially used for their welfare; they have transferred part of their soul into it. There are also services for trees, which I was happy to hear about but again, it can’t be just any old tree. We then talked more about abortion and the great debate in America (and certainly in other countries), pitting pro-choice against pro-life; it’s always interesting to hear people’s views, especially when they have come for a variety of different background. At the end of class, we got out 1000円 rebate for the Tenri field trip, and I joked it would be going straight to groceries. It’s actually not that funny, because that’s exactly where it did go; I went to Kirindo and Fresco straight after class. Getting back, I was soon off to the post office, sending my first box home. I opted to send it by boat, and it turned out to be surprisingly cheap; easily half as much as air travel. This made me very happy, and very relieved, so I purchased another box (only cost 200円) and got that packed up with the rest of my books and two jumpers; it’s quite heavy, but I think it’ll work out fine. I have another box to send too, but I’m thinking it’s going to cost less than 100 dollars all up, which is great; in total I’m sending about 15kgs of stuff home. I’ll get those sent off tomorrow, and then it’s done; I should see them again in a month or two.

I was very glad to get that all sorted, now I just have to worry about getting all the other stuff on the plane; I’m going to have to buy another bag… I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my reading and writing homework and writing kanji, and then went up for dinner at about 7. Earlier on, I had decided that I would just make scrambled eggs for dinner, but a better though came to mind; I would make French toast. Since I had never made it before, I asked Katie how, and found it surprisingly simple. I ended up making two slices of that, and then scrambled eggs with the rest of my eggs; it turned out to be a wonderful meal. I’m definitely making French toast more often now; so good!!! Tonight, Ash happily announced that see was an aunt; her older sister had her baby yesterday. I always find it strange when young people are aunts or uncles (I knew some in high school), but I guess that happens when there’s a huge age gap between you and your older siblings; 10 years, in Ash’s case. I stayed in the kitchen until about 8:30, and then practiced my presentation for a bit, and also got started on my field report; I got as far as the title page… Anyway, I’m going to have an early night tonight, and not just for my sake, but for Hugo’s also. He got back from Tokyo this morning, after being on the bus all night, so he’s very tired. Goodnight…

Day 240 - 27th of April

10:46pm　セミナーハウス

天気：雨天、風が吹いて

I’ll be back in Australia a month from today!!! My feelings are still very mixed; just like the weather apparently. It was an awfully windy, rainy day today; not much fun at all. Thankfully though, it wasn’t raining on my way to, or from uni; very lucky… In Speaking today, we reviewed for the lesson test, before having to fill out a course evaluation sheet; I was designated to collect, and hand them to the office. Saigo sensei was such a fun teacher, and I think everyone in the class appreciated him as much as I did; we joked that we should all write in the comments to give him a raise. In the hour break, I sat with Julie and studied. Then we went onto Religion class, and today we talked about Pure Land Buddhism, which is one of the less appealing forms of Buddhism; as far as researchers are concerned. It has many similarities to Christianity, but many differences also. Probably one of the most controversial, and the reason why it’s unpopular, is the notion that anyone can go to Pure Land, and eventually reach Nirvana, just by saying the 念仏 (Nebutsu), or prayer that invokes the spirit of 阿弥陀 (Amida); the central Buddha of this form of Buddhism. And the evil man is more likely to make it because he will not rely on self-power, he will not have the ego or pride of a good man, so he’ll really mean it when the time comes. Also, when you get to the Pure Land, you’re a man; there are no women. And further, you must say the nenbutsu to reach the Pure Land. This means that if a baby dies, it can’t go there, since it can’t speak; kinda sad. Anyway, I won’t go on any more about that.

After religion, I spent the next few hours studying, and talking with Chelsea and Julie. Finally, it was time for koto, and after picking up the key, I made my way over. It was basically a repeat of yesterday, with Mori and Midori Sempai coming later; no one else showed up. Maarika and I have vastly improved at Miyabi, and I feel pretty confident about performing, with Mori Sempai on second koto, on Friday; it’s going to be fun. Getting home, I didn’t know what I wanted to cook, since it was already late, and I want to get a bit more study in. So I ended up just heating up some stew. I stayed in the kitchen till a bit after 9, and then came back down here, intent on study; I got a little distracted. Rachael contacted me, saying she’d bought a PS3, and not just any PS3, but a Cloud black PS3; she beckoned me to come and see it. I obliged, since I did really want to see it and I wasn’t disappointed; it was so cool. It came with a trail version of FFXIII and the Blu-ray version of FF:AC Complete. So, seeing as she now had two copies of FF:AC Complete on Blu-ray, she decided to give me her other one; this made me very happy!!! I’m going to have to get her something now to pay her back; that was really nice of her. Then, she showed me something else that made me even happier. She had bought Cloud’s outfit!!! So, of course I had to try it on. Soon, I had her and Katie (she came in with Sarah to practice their skit), getting me dressed in it; so my straps, and belts, and buttons. It didn’t come with the sweater, which was a bit of a shame, but it still looked epic. I had to run downstairs and show it off to everyone in the lounge; they were watching Beauty and the Beast. Reluctantly, I eventually parted with it; now I’m on a quest to find one for myself. After all the excitement, I basically just spent the rest of the evening going over vocab and grammar; I’m feeling good about the test…

Day 239 - 26th of April

11:20pm　セミナーハウス

天気：曇り

Well, the streak of sunny weather was broken today (never three days of sun in a row), but although it was cloudy, at least it was warm. I got up at about 8, and had vegemite on English Muffins for breakfast. I don’t know if I’ve already mentioned this but before coming here, Ash had never heard of English muffins, which I think is quite funny actually. But, it just goes to show those kind of names don’t always reflect where they’re actually made. Anyway, after getting ready, I made my way to uni and got to class on time. Today in Speaking, we finished off our final grammar pattern (ever!), and then basically spent the rest of the lesson stuffing around. Well, we sang our last song together in class, called バンザイ～好きでよかった (Banzai~suki de yokatta) by ウルフルズ (Urufuruzu – strange band name), and watched a clip from a program showing a restaurant near Otsu where they serve giant (and I mean giant) portions of food like omu-rice, gyudon, katsudon, and curry-rice. The whole class was awestruck, but at the same time our mouths were watering. And so incredibly cheap too; I really want to find it!!! So that was fun. In my break, I got my homework done, sitting with Sarah and Katie the lounge, and then worked on kanji.

We started on the final lesson in Reading and Writing class today, and also got the instructions for our second and final sakubun. This time, we have to write about one of our favourite books. Since I haven’t actually read a book in ages, and Sensei said that manga is okay too, I think I’m going to write about Reborn. I know I haven’t read very much yet, but I can talk about what I’ve liked so far, how it has shaped my perception of Shonen manga (manga for boys), how I’ve found reading it (reasonably easygoing for the most part), and what I thinks going to happen next; I think that’ll be fine. After class, I bumped into Maarika in the corridor, and she told me that most people wouldn’t be turning up for practice till 6 this evening. So, she suggested that I post a note on the door letting everyone know that practice wouldn’t start till then; I wasn’t going to go in at 4:30, if I could get other stuff done instead. So, I did that and then made my way home. After lunch, I worked on my presentations some more, trying to make sentences that included the grammar patterns we’ve learned. 5:30 came around faster than I would have liked, and then it was time to go. Since it had gotten colder, I rugged up a bit, and then made my way back.

It ended up being just Maarika, Mori and Midori Sempai, and me practicing this evening. I went to pick up the key, and then Maarika and I got everything set up, and after a bit of practice the other two showed up. It was quite productive though, the two girls helping us through Miyabi by playing along; we went through it several times. I have resigned to playing the first koto part (leaving the solo to Maarkia), as the second part is just too burdensome for the time we have to master it; the performance is next Friday. Still, I felt really accomplished playing with the sempai; we all worked together really well. Mori also gave us our tickets for Sensei’s koto performance, and they were nice enough to pay for one for Carly too; I was so grateful. We also planned some get together parties (karaoke and the like), which will be coming up soon; really looking forward to them. Pack up ran very smoothly today, except for one thing. The straps on the new bag Mori Sempai had got to carry the makura and stands, to replace the old one that had a hole in it, broke. I heard her scream, and the subsequent crash of things hitting the floor, and quickly rushed up the stairwell to help out; everything was fine. Luckily she had another bag, and hopefully this one will be a little bit more durable; I guess we shouldn’t put so much in them either.

I rode home with Maarika, and as we were nearing the seminar houses, we met up with Rachael; I slowed down, and talked with her the rest of the way. Getting home, I dropped my stuff off, and then went upstairs to the kitchen, sitting with Ash and Rachel watching TV for a while before cooking dinner; gyudon. I stayed up there until about 9, and then got into a bit of study, helping Hugo a bit with his homework too. Julie was kind enough to lend me her battery charger, so that’s all under control now. I think I’m going to transfer another video across, just so I have two blank tapes ready for golden week; I’m sure I’ll be seeing a lot. Apart from going to Hikone with Alex, I’m going to try to get in a few day trips; Katie and Sarah have some really interesting days planned. It’s coming up to crunch time once more, and I’ve got a lot to think about, and a lot to do. I’m really looking forward to this holiday, but at the same time I’m hoping that I won’t be stressing about everything I have to do; if I manage my time effectively, I think I’ll be fine. Well, I’m going to get some sleep now…