Hi! My name is Owen and I am studying abroad at Kansai Gaidai for the Spring 2007 semester. Here are some quick facts about myself: I attend the University of Richmond, which is in Virginia (USA); I am a third year student; and I am minoring in Japanese. This is the second time I have been to Japan. Last summer I did a 2 month home stay in Hamamatsu, Japan and really came to like daily life here in Japan. One of the best things about traveling is meeting the local people. I have been to Germany, France, and even lived in Switzerland, but for me I have come to like and become fascinated by the Japanese people. This was one of the main reasons that I decided to come to Kansai Gaidai instead of going to Europe, like so many students from America decide to do.
My first impressions of Japan (well second really, I lived in Hamamatsu remember <(*o*)>) are that the people move really fast and that everything is really clean (almost too clean). The women here do this cute little run/jog whenever they going somewhere. You usually see this in offices, department stores, or basically any service industry, but the funny thing is that their so called run/jog actually makes them go slower. Instead of using their feet to propel them forward, they use them to propel them upwards so they end up doing a sort of inefficient bunny hop and mind you that they are wearing high heels while doing this. While certainly painful for the women, it makes for good entertainment while you’re waiting and brings back oh too vivid flashbacks of old Baywatch episodes.
Other first impressions are that young people are really into their appearance and how they dress. You’ll see people dress in high fashion in other parts of the world like New York, Los Angles, Paris, or any other big city, but in Japan you’ll see people who look like they walked out of the latest fashion magazine in even the most rural areas.
Next impression, you will quickly come to learn that Japanese people, while certainly interested in gaijin “foreigners”, are very shy about approaching foreigners and talking to them. Even if they want to talk to a foreigner and can speak English, they will be hesitant to do so. Why you ask? “Good question”, but the answer escapes me. How do you bridge this gap? Well, you go up and talk to them first of course. Once you introduce yourself, their shyness usually fades and pretty soon you’ll be having an animated discussion with your new Japanese friend.
So those are my first, well really second, impressions of Japan. In upcoming posts, I’ll be bringing you news of my trips to Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, and much more. It is sure to get interesting over here. If you want more information on Japan check out my weekly pod/videocast at http://gaijinguide.blogspot.com/ or for some more pictures check out my photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/gaijinguide .
写真説明
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image02 Picture from a Fertility Festival I recently attended at Asuka Temple in Nara