Adam in Japan

Graduation!!

2006-05-20T23:19:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have a graduation when I get home, I had my graduation in Japan. 436 people finished the Asian Studies program, which is Kansai Gaidai's largest graduating class of us foreigners. First we had the ceremony starting at 10am, then a reception with free food, then saying sweet goodbyes to everybody, then 13 of us had a barbecue by Yodo river, then off to karaoke, finally getting back home at 7am (yes, am not pm)!

Graduation ceremony in Tanimoto Hall on campus

Sarah in her kimono and Scott with the ceremony 'diploma' thing

Graduation reception with Masa, Hideki, and Scott. Everybody was invited to this, including parents, friends, host families, etc.

Me with Julie from Kenya

The original members of my Seminar House unit. From left to right: Roger, bald Matt, Geo, Paul, tall Matt, me, Shiko, Scott

Karen, who we forgot to invite to the barbecue...so she just waited at home for a call from us. Oops!

Ino-chan, who went on the camping trip with me

Milena from Sweden, who lives across the hall from me

We will be sending this photo to all the modeling agencies and hope to hear back soon!

The barbecue!!! We actually had trouble starting the fire because it was so windy. And...we bought the wrong kind of charcoal (only the starter charcoal or something), so it literally took a few hours before we could actually start cooking our food.

Ryota and Yasu

Me and Kaori, who I just happened to catch smiling (definitely a rare occasion)!

Scott scaring yet another Japanese girl away... kidding!

Miku and Rie

Finally to karaoke! We had 11 people at this point so we had to get two rooms.

"Family" Dinner

2006-05-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

We thought it would be a good idea to sit down as a "family" unit and eat dinner together at least once all together. So...we made dinner and these goofy pictures as well.

Himeji Castle

2006-05-05T00:12:00.000-07:00

Probably the most famous castle in Japan, it took about two hours and $10 to get to Himeji.

Arrow/Gun turret holes! The castle guards could look through and/or shoot at intruders through these little holes. And if you look through these holes you can see...

...this! Although, I'm guessing the guards did not shoot at the tourists.

Pretending to be a bum or something...

Ben, Akimi, Mirko

Climbing to the top of the castle

Shiko with Ben's friend visiting from the United States

More April Stuff

2006-05-03T05:54:00.000-07:00

My time here in Japan is slowly winding down. I have less than one month before I head back to the United States (I arrive back home on May 28th). So, if you want me to get you anything in Japan while I am still there, let me know!!

This is a cruise I took in Osaka that is a double-size replica of the Santa Maria boat that Columbus took to the New World in good ol' 1492. The weather was actually miserable with heavy rain and gusts of wind (did I sound like a weatherman?). The cruise lasted about 50 minutes and traveled around Osaka Bay.

It's COLUMBUS!!! And Yuki
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I also went to the Osaka Kaiyukan Aquarium, which is one of the largest in the world. I took a picture of the building, but sadly it was completely out of focus...so I only have some pictures of the inside. Here are a few:

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I think it's supposed to make you feel like you are in the water maybe? It was pretty neat actually...

What's so nifty about this picture?? Well, my parents are originally from California and they lived 10 minutes (about?) from Monterey Bay, CA. Monterey Bay has its own aquarium that is actually bigger than Osaka's, but in the Osaka aquarium there is a Monterey Bay exhibit!! Anyway, that probably isn't that exciting to you, but I know some people will appreciate it.

Some funky crab-like things in the aquarium

The aquarium takes everybody's picture in front of this "real" whale and then you can buy the picture as you leave. I had them take a picture with my camera so that I wouldn't have to buy the picture that they took. However, I ended up buying the picture anyway..
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We had to do make a skit in Japanese class that illustrates that we understand the vocabulary and grammar that we have been learning for the past few months. There weren't really any guidelines on what we could do, or what we couldn't do, so we decided to make a skit involving a pirate, a ninja, and a Japanese school boy.

The plot of the skit was that both the pirate and the ninja (both females) were fighting over the school boy (me, of course). It was actually fairly dangerous since Karen (the ninja) has actual martial arts experience and added some tricky moves into our skit. Oh believe me, much blood was shed!!! (Kidding)

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Sarah (Pirate), and me (Japanese school boy). I even had a junior high school uniform (borrowed from Hideki) that was entirely too small, but nonetheless I wore it...

Karen (Ninja) and Sarah

Do I look frightened?? I am supposed to...

Hiking at Nakajiyama

2006-05-03T00:34:00.000-07:00

Who says you can't go hiking in Japan??? This hike to Nakajiyama took only an hour, but it was still fun.

You can go camping at this 'canpsite'

There was an option to take a bus to the base of the mountain, but we decided to walk the entire way before actually starting the hike.

How do you take a picture of everybody in the picture, when there is nobody else around to take your picture for you and there's no place to set your camera for the self-timer setting? Well obviously, you use this conveniently placed street mirror...

The top of the mountain and the end of the hike. We sat up here for a few hours. It's actually a pretty good view. You can see Osaka in the distance and also you can see...

...all of these buildings!!! AMAZING!!! Actually, you can see my school in the background if you look hard enough.

Osaka Sumo Tournament

2006-04-23T03:02:00.000-07:00

There are six sumo tournaments every year and only one is held in Osaka. Each tournament usually runs two weeks long (I think?) and each player fights 15 times. We, of course, went on the last day so that we could see the grand finale. It was a little expensive ($60), but it was worth it!

Me and Hideki

Scott and Hideki

This guy slept through probably half of the entire tournament...

The winner, Asashoryu received gifts from just about every company in the entire world (well, it seems like he did). A representative from the United Arab Emirates gave him a one-year supply of gas, somebody from a farming company gave him a one-year supply of beef, and so on...

Tokyo Part 2

2006-04-23T02:37:00.000-07:00

We were on train on the the way to somewhere in Tokyo (I don't remember where), and this guy is watching me eat some sort of snack I had with me (I don't remember what). But anyway, I think he wanted some of my food, because he offered me some snacks he had and then held out his hand so that I could 'give' him some of mine. It was quite amusing. Contrary to what many Osaka people say, Tokyo people are really nice!!

How many people can say they've touched a real tiger?

Roger staring down a turtle at the Ueno zoo

'Interesting' architecture...

Yokohama harbor

A strange sign at Tokyo Disney Sea

More Disney Sea with Matt and Sarah

Where do you go when you want to eat panda meat?? Here, of course.

Do you think I would make a good receptionist?

Instead of taking the local train home, which would take 8 hours, we decided to take the bullet train. Although, it was a bit expensive. $120 for a one-way ticket from Tokyo to Osaka. Was it worth it? Definitely!! It's actually just like being in an airplane but with no turbulence. They even have the drink cart service that comes down the aisle.

Tokyo Part 1

2006-04-12T08:13:00.000-07:00

Toyko!!! I spent a week in Tokyo with a party of five people. I didn't expect Tokyo to be as big as it was (yeah, it has a metropolitan population of 30 million but it is hard to understand how large that really is). After 5 days of traveling in Tokyo, we still had only seen a good 5% of the entire city.

On the train to Tokyo. We took the 'night train' to Tokyo from Osaka because it was only $20 instead of $120 for the bullet train. However, we had a layover halfway to Tokyo where we had to wait in the train station from about 3AM until the first train started at 4:30AM. The train was empty because it was around 4:30 in the morning. At any other time the train would be jam-packed...

Lisa looks a bit tired, eh??

Finally we arrived in Tokyo at about 6AM!!!!

We first went to Tsukiji, one of the largest fish markets in the world. About 2500 tons of fish are sold here every day and then shipped off around the world.

We actually had a hard time finding fish at this fish market because all of the activity takes place before 6am...so we pretty much only saw this fish.

And this octopus...

Next we went to Ginza, which is pretty much a giant department store and club area. However, nothing opens until about 10AM we found out (we arrived around 8). So we spent two hours walking around with our luggage...desperately trying to find somewhere open we could go be touristy in (we failed).

Lisa, Peter, and Sarah

Look a frog!!!

Chinatown in Yokohama, which is not actually in Tokyo but about an hour away.

Peter, Me, and David

The famous "Hachiko" statue in Shibuya! Supposedly this dog would meet its owner at this place every day at the same time. However, the owner died one day but the dog still came here every day waiting for its owner.

Even Japan has succumbed to the wrath of the iPod

Now THAT's advertising!

Universal Studios Japan

2006-04-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Why would I go to Universal Studios in Japan when I can go to it back home? I don't know, but I still went and it was fun. From what I remember in the United States, the Universal Studios here in Osaka is pretty much the same, except the language difference of course.

Masa and Hideki

It's even crowded just like Universal Studios in the US!!

130 minute wait just to go on the E.T. ride

"Ideki" and Masa in their cool 3D glasses.

Kobe Field Trip!

2006-04-12T05:52:00.000-07:00

Here's pictures from my trip to Kobe on a field trip. This was part of my Japan and Globalization class and also was on my mid-term which I just received back actually. Also, when my parents came to Japan they stayed in Kobe (I don't have pictures from that...yet...).

As we were walking towards the hilly area of Kobe, we spotted a wedding reception of some sort. And...of course we all stopped to take pictures. I think if I was the people getting married, it might be weird having foreigners take pictures!

They had a Dutch touristy place along the way up a huge hill we had to climb up...so everybody posed with the cut-out people.

Japanese girls getting paid to pretend to be from Holland.

A city would not be complete without its very own...PIRATES!!!

Sarah, Lisa, and Me

Some people from my class. The guy in black with long hair is my teacher, Dr. Fedorowicz.

A busy intersection on the way to Chinatown.

Chinatown!!!

A 'real' fish by the port. It is so real that it doesn't even need water to survive.

PORC!!!

It's like Jenga, but with columnar objects and chopsticks.

International Seminar House 3

2006-03-03T05:19:00.000-08:00

So where do I live?? International Seminar House 3. It's a apartment-style dormitory that houses international students. There's 8 people per unit. And there are 4 bedrooms, 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 3 showers, 2 toilets, 5 balconies, 8 closets, and 500000 million cupboards in each unit. So how much does it cost to live in Osaka? I'd say it's pretty expensive. $450/month gets half a bedroom, so technically it costs $3600/month for the entire 4-bedroom apartment. (!!!!!!!!!!!) We only have 5 people living in my unit, but we still only have to pay $450/month each...only...

My room!!

Dining room.

Living room.

Da toilet...

You can either have a "big" flush or a "small" flush depending on the......

Kitchen...

Bathroom/sinks/showers/etc.

An air hand dryer that ACTUALLY dries your hands!!

A car parked near the seminar house---how can anybody park so close????

So how far away is campus from my apartment? About this far...

Osaka

2006-02-16T03:24:00.000-08:00

Only 3price shop??...Selling "casual glasses."

Look! Applause Town and Drama City!!!
(Masashi, Paul, and Me)

Applause Town again...
(Geo, Paul, and Masashi)

How is somebody supposed to ride this thing?

Karaoke--Literally means empty (kara) orchestra (oke)

Ben and Shiko posing with the Umeda Sky Building--one of the tallest buildings in Osaka.

Ascending to the top...

View of Osaka from the top.

Osaka literally goes for miles and miles. It's definitely not the tallest city but I'm pretty sure it's bigger than some countries.

Osaka Shinsaibashi area...

Cooking guy???

Ayako and Me...Ayako went to WSU with me.

These billboards are actually way bigger than they look--we are just really far away from them... To put it into perspective, take any one letter on any of the billboards and that's about how tall I would be if I was standing right next to it.

I thought only Las Vegas had a replica of the Statue of Liberty... Even Marylin was surprised!

Very famous restaurant, although I didn't eat here...

Famous comedy company...

Naruto!!

Wahhhhhhhhhhhh!!

I am a walking advertisement for this takoyaki (octopus inside of deep fried ball-shaped thingies) stand.

Nara

2006-02-11T05:20:00.000-08:00

Trip to Nara, home of the largest/oldest wooden structure on the face of the Earth (or so they say). Also home to 1000 deer that are probably the only domesticated deer in the world as well. Nara was the capital of Japan for about 75 years starting in 710 AD. Enjoy!!

On the train...

No idea about this one...

Shiko, Allie, and Ben

Apparently this deer has a contact lens.

I guarantee you you will never find deer this eager to walk up to people anywhere else in the entire universe.

We were feeding the deer with the "deer cookies" that you can buy here in Nara Park, and these girls wanted to get a picture with us for some reason. They were visiting Nara from South Korea.

Please do not deface this sacred property.

Todaiji Temple--the largest wooden building I was talking to you about. Also has the largest Buddha statue inside it.

When this building was first constructed, it took four years and 2.3 million man hours (I think) to complete.

There used to be 100-meter pagodas on each side of Todaiji, but they fell over in an earthquake long ago. Also, the temple has been burned down twice--of course rebuilt each time. The current Todaiji was finished in 1709 AD and is 30% smaller than the original when first completed in 752 AD.

Here's the infamous Buddha finished in 751AD. The statue has been recast several times due to earthquake and fire (similar to the temple itself).

Did I mention there were deer everywhere?

Train station heading back to home sweet home.

We saw about 8 other Kansai Gaidai students on the train who were also coming back from Nara.

"Hi, Cheeeeze!"

Classes

2006-02-03T19:37:00.000-08:00

Japanese Classes
In order to take classes in Japanese, we had to take a placement test to find the appropriate course to be put into. The placement test pretty much tested our level of Japanese up to the level of being fluent. So, I really could not even fill in half of the test considering I have only taken three semesters of Japanese so far.

There were three parts to the test: listening, reading/answering questions, and kanji. The listening portion was rather difficult because the people speaking on the recording were speaking reallllllllllly fast (well, I thought it was really fast).

I am in Japanese Language class level 3 and Japanese Writing class 2. My language class will be quite hard I have a feeling because we are doing a 6-chapter review of material that we should know already and I have not really learned any of the material before. So pretty much I will be studying all semester long many, many hours...On the bright side, my Japanese classes only have 10 people in them.

Asian Studies Classes
I am registered for three classes: Japanese and Globalization, Issues in Contemporary Japanese Society, and International Negotiation. Out of the three, I think international negotiation will be the most exciting and practical since I'm sure negotiation skills will be helpful when I start working for KPMG this fall. I may drop one of my classes so I can concentrate on my Japanese studies--I really don't have any reason to take five classes anyway (I already have enough credits to graduate!!).

Picture!
Here's everybody just before taking the placement test.

Kyoto Tour

2006-02-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

We visited Kyoto last Friday and...I have a bunch of pictures for y'all. Anyway, no deep thoughts for this post--just more photos...

Here we are on the train to Kyoto. We actually had to take two train lines and switch trains two or three times and it took about one hour to get there.

For this tour to Kyoto, they paired up every foreigner with a Japanese student. Then, in groups of 4 or 6 people we each toured different parts of Kyoto. About 500 people were on this tour.

FINALLY in Kyoto, this is the view right outside the train station.

Some statue also just outside the train station.

The main temple we were going to (Kiyomizu) was about a 30-minute walk, and along the way we saw a lot of shops like this.

This statue was actually behind a chain-link fence, but there was a hole made specifically for taking pictures...

Somebody's house on the way to Kiyomizu.

These are little rice-melted ball things (I don't know the official name) covered with a sauce, they are actually quite good. Although they were about $1 per skewer...

Crazy foreigners...

I quickly learned that temples are always at the top of very steep hills...

I thought we came on a less crowded day, until we got here...

There were a bunch of kids on a field trip, so I thought I'd take their picture.

You're supposed to drink from one of the three water streams. One brings you wisdom (I think), one brings you love, and one brings you a long life.

After the tour we went to eat on the 8th floor of an 8-story mall.

I don't know exactly where this is, maybe by the train station...but...this is where Sarah realized that she was missing 50000 yen (about $450) from her purse. She went back to the train station two days later and found her money--she had left it on the train and somebody had turned it in.

I don't know...but it looked strange so I took a picture of it...

Campus

2006-01-29T00:04:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,

Here are some pictures of Kansai Gaidai University in Osaka, Japan where I am studying at until the end of May 2006. A little background information: the school was built in 2002, so everything is still pretty much new. Foreigners like me really only get to use one building on campus, and I don't think I have a picture of this building....but it is called the Center for International Education. Anyway, here's some pictures.

Main entrance to campus

One of four courtyards

Library and Multimedia Building

Library and Multimedia Building up close

On campus gym (there is another gym off campus)

The entire campus is either paved with brick or with...

...rocks

Libraries look pretty much the same in any country

Look! Me!

I would translate the description below the statue, but I can't read it...

Part of the Japanese garden

Never thought I'd see this in Japan, especially at my school...

This map makes the campus look small, then again it is smaller than WSU