I’ve just come down from watching Hetalia with Rachel, Ash and Rachael. We watched it from the start of the second season for Rachel’s benefit, but it was great for me too, because I finally got to see the last two episodes of the season. But wait, there was more; season three has just started. Ash had the first episode loaded and ready to go for our viewing pleasure. It hasn’t been subbed yet, but it was still really cool to see. We also got to see the trailer for the movie that sadly isn’t coming out till June; Alex will be able to see it though! Anyway today… despite expectations, it didn’t end up raining, although it was cloudy. In Speaking today, we watched some more funny videos, before continuing with the new grammar patterns. In the break, I bought some bread from the convenience store, and then went to the cafeteria to sit with Jo and Kim; Stefani and Amelia joined us. Getting to Reading and Writing, we started chapter 4 by going through new kanji; a whole bunch of reading practice was to follow. After that, I went straight upstairs, again forgetting that there’s a 25 minute break between classes. So, I ended up sitting in on the Monster’s class and talking with Katie, while watching Rose draw Godzilla on the board; they would be watching the movie in class today.
Just after she finished drawing Mothra, I had to leave. In Gender and Sexuality, we continued for a bit with marriage, and watched some more of the wedding, and then we went onto Japanese women’s narratives of internationalism. Basically, Japanese women are seeking opportunities outside their country because they want to live more fulfilling lives; and this includes seeking foreign men. Interestingly though, there are actually more foreign women married to Japanese men than Japanese women to foreign men. This is largely due to the large populations of Chinese, Koreans, and Pilipino in Japan, who are still considered “foreign”, even if they are born there; you’re Japanese by blood, not by birthplace. So that was all very interesting. Getting home, I had lunch, got the washing in, changed the linen, vacuumed the floor, did some exercise (didn’t go to the gym), and then finished off my interview write up. It was almost 7 when I put some rice on for dinner, and then got the write up printed off, and then started learning my vocab for Reading and Writing. I went back up to the kitchen just before my rice was done, and made gyudon. I sat with Ash, and Rachel joined us; everyone else had already gone to study. We stayed in the kitchen until about 9:30, and then made our way up to Ashes room to watch Hetalia; glad to be up-to-date now…
Last day of classes before spring break; so good… I got up at about 8:30, and talked with Simon in the kitchen for a while after breakfast. Soon after, I was on my way to uni; it was a nice warm day today. Getting to Reading and Writing class, I had my final exam for the week, and it went pretty well. After that, I went straight back home, and proof read my essay for Gender and Sexuality, and had to tweak it here and there just a bit; nothing major. After getting it printed off, I went and had lunch, before making my way back to university once more. I went up to class a bit early, and sat and did my reading. It was about weddings in Japan, and was really interesting; as was today’s class. After hanging in our essays, and getting our marks back from the quiz (I got a 92 out of 100, which isn’t bad at all), we got to watch a Shinto wedding video. The Shinto wedding is actually a surprisingly new development; began at the turn of the 20th century with the Emperor. It’s an interesting mix between the solemnity of a Shinto ceremony, and a gaudy Western-style reception; with karaoke of course.
So you can imagine, the first half of the video was very slow; the professor fast-forwarded through a lot. Most of the practices, like the blessings and drinking of sake, are all part of regular Shinto ceremonies, and then there was the ring giving, and reading of vows taken from Western ideas. The bride and groom wore traditional dress, the bride in a layered white kimono, and the groom in a kimono and hakuma. It was kinda funny watching the groom; he was sweating like anything. We wondered if it was nerves, or just the heat; it was in the middle of summer apparently. Oh, and they actually had the kami (god), in the room, housed in a shrine in the room; I can’t remember his name, but he’s the god of relationships, and they brought him from his main shrine. Anyway, after that, they went into the reception hall, which was the adjoining room. While the ceremony part was reserved for family, and the matchmaking couple, the reception was friends, and work associates too.
After words from the matchmaking couple (who traditionally would have met with both the families prior to the wedding, to make sure it was a good match), they had the cutting of the cake, which is actually much sexualised. Basically cutting into the cake is a euphemism for having sex – the cutting action is called 入刀 (nyuto – lit. “instering the sword’); the cake itself is sweet, which represents the woman, and children to come (because children are sweet too). And it’s kinda funny, because most of the time they can’t afford a real cake, so they buy a plastic one; so it’s really nothing more than a symbol. The bride and groom ended up having 3 dress changes, and by the end of it, it looked like prom night; so terribly gaudy. We didn’t get to see the karaoke, since the class was over, but I’m sure it would’ve been funny. And then I was finished for the day. The professor told us about a street parade in Den den town on Sunday, and gave us some information about it; it looks great. Erin expressed her interest, so we’re going to try to get a group of people together and do it.
Getting back home, I found Hugo getting the music ready for the party. It was already past 3, and the party was at 4, but I wanted to go to the gym. So I ended up just doing a really short workout, which was for the best anyway; I was pretty exhausted from the week. I got back just in time for the party, and was soon introduced to Natsuki, our new RA. She has come from seminar house 4, where Aki (our previous RA) transferred too; kinda funny. Quite a few people showed up, which surprised me; considering it was still class time. It turned out well though. It wasn’t much of a party perse, but more like a gathering around lots of junk food with music in the background; not that I was complaining. Hugo hooked up his computer to the TV again, and had put together a really good playlist; lots of variety. The food was great; so many weird and wonderful Japanese sweets. I can’t even remember the name of half of them, but I tried as many as possible; there was also stuff like Oreos and chips. And there was lots of Natchan (a brand name drink that comes in lots of different fruit flavours). This was especially fitting because Natsuki’s nickname is Natchan. The party died down a bit after 5, and the few of us that were left just sat around a talked, and took photos; it was fun.
Also, Rebecca showed us this awesome clip on Youtube, which was basically the “if Totoro was a horror movie” trailer - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RFv5i8LTek. It was epic, and it even won an award!!! Eventually, I went back to my room, and spent a bit of time on my computer, uploading photos to dA. Just after 7, I went up to make dinner, even though I really wasn’t hungry at all; so full of junk. I got some more people interesting in coming to the parade on Sunday, and we organised a time; not too early. It doesn’t start till 1, but I still want to get there at a good time. I eventually made some dinner, scrambled eggs on toast, which was actually really nice; I sat with Rachel. Katie invited us to movie watching in her room, so after dinner we went up. It was Katie, Sarah, Rachel, Rachael, and I; Ash was still with her parents. After showing them, the awesome Totoro video, we got into the movie; Hidalgo. I actually really enjoyed it, even though there were bits of it I couldn’t understand because the subtitles were cut off; we had Sarah and Rachael translating as much as they could remember, since they had seen it before.
There were also quite a few interruptions in between. First of all, Sarah had planned to talk to her parents at 10, so we had to stop it then. At about this time, Ash come back, letting us know her parents had settled in fine, and showing off all her goodies she good from them; so much chocolate and sweets. Sarah had to wait a while before she finally got in touch with her parents, so we sat around and talked, and watched the Totoro video once again; to show Ash. We also watched the "if Mary Poppins was a scary movie" trailer too, which was absolutely hiralious; and seriosuly creepy too. Finally, we got back into the movie. We were watching it on Youtube, in 10 minute chunks, and there were 13 all up; we were always surprised when it stopped. The quality was really good though, and apart from the lack of subtitles in parts it was great; there were bits of Native American, and Arabic. It was really great night; I really enjoyed chilling out on the futon’s too. I didn’t end up getting to bed until after 1, and Hugo still hadn’t returned…
