I neglected to mention it last time, but I am spending my year in Japan as a homestay student. For me, there was never any other choice, firstly because the thought of having to eat my own cooking (which is terrible) for an entire year was frightening; secondly, because it would be harder to practice Japanese amongst other international students than with a host family; and thirdly (which is definitely the most important), because I want to be part of a family to take part in their everyday activities.
It really surprised me just how busy my host family turned out to be. My host father works as a taxi driver, so he works for twenty-four hour stretches at a time, and then recovers by sleeping for the next twelve ? at which point he returns to work straight away for another full day. This astonished me at first, because it seemed so strenuous ? I can’t imagine anybody in Australia working for so long without a break! However, it’s not only lifestyle cultures that differ between countries, but work cultures as well. From my host father, I am able to see a little of that first-hand.
For her part, my host mother is also incredibly busy, working full-time six days a week from morning until night. For this reason, I rarely see my host parents at all except at dinner, which was very disappointing at first, but they encourage me to be as independent as possible and to keep busy.
Therefore, this is exactly what I am doing, and it works well with my own Promise. Our house seems to be in the middle of what I suspect is a car district, because it is surrounded by car factories and repair workshops. Every day it takes me a bit over an hour to get to university by bicycle, train and foot. Because I am always very tired by the time I arrive home, I am aiming to spend as much time at university as possible, and I am doing this by joining many various circles and activities here.
So far, I have joined the swing dancing circle on Monday evenings, the Go club on Tuesday afternoons, and the shuwa (Japanese sign language) circle on Wednesday evenings. I intend to join the debate club as well, for Tuesday and Thursday nights, but it runs a little later than the others and I’m still trying to get home before the temperature becomes too cold most nights. A Japanese winter is much colder than a winter at home in Perth! At any rate, everything so far has been great fun, and I’m glad that I can keep myself busy with all the various activities.
Now that I have settled down a little, I try to go out on the weekends with friends and see a little more of Japan. Most recently, I went with a few friends to sing some karaoke in Umeda, Osaka, which was fantastic! (And if you read my last blog entry, you will remember that it was my goal to go to karaoke.) I adore singing, so I could have easily sung all night, but we followed it up instead with dinner at a kaiten sushi restaurant (my favourite type is ikura/salmon roe) and some sweet fruit crepes. I’m lucky that I have friends in Australia as well who love karaoke, but it is rather unpopular there so it is hard to find. By contrast, karaoke is very common in Japan, and thus is amazingly good in regards to the range of music available and the sound quality!
I have also been to see Osaka Castle since I last wrote. My friends and I visited during the start of the plum blossom season, and I was really struck by how beautiful the flowers were. I took an awful lot of photos, some of which turned out beautifully ? and in fact, I think I may have decided that photography should be a new hobby of mine, now ? it was that much fun! The castle itself was imposing, but what impressed me more than anything else was the way it sat right next to Osaka’s modern skyscrapers without seeming a bit out of place. Japan, I think, manages contrast so naturally. I imagine this is the same thing that tourist guidebooks would say, but it’s true.
Let’s see… for my next goal, I want to go shopping at Kuzuha mall, which I often see advertised on the train and which is excellent according to some of the other students. No girl should miss out on shopping in Japan, surely!