Changing impression of Japan

 When I came back to Japan from the United States, after finishing studying abroad, I had culture shock towards Japan. I felt strange about many things. First thing I noticed was that how close Japanese housings are next to its neighbors. Even though I had lived Japan for a long time, I felt uneasy about it, because the place where I stayed in America had more nature and it made me feel relaxed. I also thought it is strange to say "Sumimasen(I am sorry or Excuse me.)" all the time, even they are not doing anything bad or wrong to other people. I understood that they said so, because they would like to be polite and show respect to others, but it was still strange to me. I had a difficult time  adapting to Japanese style's of living again after coming back from the United States.

 During those time I had been straggled with my problem, I sometimes thought I would like to go back to America and I even thought that I dislike Japan. What I did not like the most about Japan was that, people are always working, including weekends. In America, people seemed like they work really hard on week days and play hard on weekends. I really liked the atmosphere of the U.S. On the contrary, Japanese people seemed like they are always working including weekends. I had school on Saturday and  salalymen look always tired on a train.

 After I graduated high school and entered to Kansai Gaidai University, however, I begun to like Japan a lot. I think it is due to an interactions with new friends who came from all over Japan and other countries. As I communicate with them, I discovered that Japan has a lot of interesting things that should be introduced to people who are not familiar with Japan. Since exchange students have different perspectives from me, they think Japanese culture, which is very normal to me, is very unique.

Tower in Kyoto



My home town's cherry blossom tree

 I really enjoyed the Visual Anthropology of Japan class, even I did not have enough knowledge about blogging or photography. Through this class, I learned what kind of things foreign people are interested about Japan. I knew that they think Japanese traditional and modern pop culture are interesting. I, however, was surprised when classmate told me that she is interested in a people's lives in rural part of Japan. I was very happy to hear that, because I am from rural part of Japan.

 I am going to study abroad from this fall and have chance to introduce about Japan to people outside of Japan. I will introduce "basic things" about Japan, but at the same time, I decided to introduce Japanese culture which has not shown to people so much, such as rural lives in Japan, host clubs, diversities of fashion style and school lives.

River in Kyoto

Japanese gals mecca, 109

 Shibuya 109 is very popular among Japanese young women, so called gals who like to wear clothes or to put make up on that are introduced in magazines like popteen, ageha or nuts. They tend to have bright hair and heavy make ups on their face.

 A first 109 in Kansai area, which is Abeno 109 opened in April 26th. According to a msn news, manager said that a company which runs 109 has not avoided opening it in Kansai area. He says that they could not find good place or building for it. The company chose abeno area, because many young people come there nowadays to do shopping at Abeno hoop or Tennoji Mio. Abeno 109 are getting a lot of attention whether they can beat Umeda or Shinsaibashi area where many young people go to.

  



Entrance of Abeno 109

 Abeno 109 is in a second floor of Q's Mall. Q's Mall itself seemed like good shopping mall for family to visit to me, but once I entered in 109 space, there were many young women and couples. Hip-hop or R&B musics were played at all of shops.

 When I was walking around there, I found an interesting shop. The shop is called SBY. At first, I was attracted by this big sign of the shop.

  Unfortunately, I do not know who they are, but I think they are models for fashion magazines for gals. I found several unique things about this store. It sells colorful key-chains, accessories, cosmetic and so on. It also sells food, such as tapioca drinks, crepe and parfait. Customers even fix their make-ups or hair style in one space at this store. Please look at this SBY website, if you are interested what this store is like. I have never seen this sort of "useful" shops where customers can do many things at one place. I think this shop will be liked many young people, because they can try new makeups and fix hair by using hair curler. Since they can get the newest information about beauty products there, they might stop by to check it out, even though they do not need to buy something.

Food menu



Eating or relaxing space and makeup space

 To me, gal culture is very important aspect of Japanese culture. Since shibuya 109 is a little far away from Osaka, if you are interested in Japanese gal culture, I really recommend abeno 109.

Love Hotel = Entertainment Hotel?!

 I watched the film called The Japanese Version (Alvarez and Kolker, 1991) in a visual anthropology of Japan class. It included the scenes in a love hotel. When I watched it, I was very shocked, because the love hotel was very old-fashioned. Therefore, I decided to report the current love hotel to people who are not familiar with it.

 Love hotel is where couples go to to have private time. It is everywhere in Japan. Customers can do many things there, such as karaoke, costume play and so on. Please look at this site, A Brief Guide to Love Hotel, for further information about it.

 I went to one love hotel called Chapel Coconuts to observe. It is located Hirakata-shi, close to Keihan Miyanosaka station.



Chapel Coconuts



Entrance

  As you can see in the picture, Chapel Coconuts is a tropical themed love hotel. There were many plastic tropical birds and fake tropical flowers. Customers pick their favorite room by touching a board in a entrance. There were few rooms left when I went there. It seemed like Chapel Coconuts is very popular love hotel around Hirakata city.



Room I picked

 The room I picked was medium size. One hotel room is composed of bed room and bath room.



 Unique thing about this hotel is that customers can get welcome parfait for free. There are many kinds of parfait, including a parfait which has natto (fermented soybeans) or tonkatsu (deep fried pork cutlet).

Free parfait menu

 I was also surprised at how many different kinds of things hotel offers to customers. Customers can choose their favorite shampoo and they can borrow it for 300 yen. If they are interested in costume play, they can borrow it too. Interesting thing was that there were only costumes for women. 

Above: costume list , Bottom: Shampoo and body soap list

  According to the film, The Japanese Version, Love Hotel owner said love hotel is popular in Japan, because Japanese people usually live in a small apartment and do not have much privacy. I also think that many young Japanese people live with their parents until they graduate universities or get married, therefore, they go to love hotel to spend private time with their lovers. Not only love hotel is a place where people are able to have private time, but also they can have fun by doing many kinds of activities.

 Even though, Japanese love hotel has been changed, it seems like one point about it has never changed. It is the idea of "お客様は家庭にないものを求めてる。"(Customers are seeking for something they cannot find at home). That is what the love hotel owner said in the film I mentioned above. I think that is why there are many varieties of love hotel in Japan to provide customers fantastic time.

Spring has come!

 Even though it is still cold outside, spring has come. New school year of Kansai Gaidai officially started on April 12th and many freshmen students seem like they are excited about their new school lives. Not only at Gaidai, but also there are many cherry blossom trees that finally have bloomed around Hirakata city.

 My hometown, Hirosaki city in Aomori prefecture is well known for the cherry blossom festival in Hirosaki castle park. The festival is held every year. This year, it is held from April 23rd to May 5th. According to the website of the Hirosaki Tourism and Convention Bureau, there are 2600 cherry blossom trees(50 different kinds) in the park. The first cherry blossom festival in Hirosaki city was held in 1918, so the festival itself has long history. I used to go to a high school which is located very close to the park, therefore, I often went to see cherry blossoms and bought something to eat at the shops appearing in the second picture of the festival. When cherry blossom bloomed and this festival began, I always felt like "Spring finally has came to Hirosaki. The cold winter was gone." I really recommend this festival, if you have chance to travel around Tohoku area.

(Took from Big Chance, Hirosaki Castle)

 Since I saw many freshmen students on the first day of new school year at Gaidai, I interviewed three female freshmen students at school's convenience store. I asked them their first impression of Kansai Gaidai and their goal they want to achieve. The first thing they said was "Every places are crowded at Kansai Gaidai." I totally agree to what they said, because the longest line I have ever seen at this school was formed in school's convenience store on that day I talked to them. They also said "Since there are many exchange students from many countries at Gaidai, this school is like a foreign country." Their future goal is to go to study abroad and improve their English speaking ability. When I recall my first day of Kansai Gaidai University, I was very nervous, because I was the only one who came here from my high school. Of course I did not have any friends. As class starts, I started to talk to students in my class and became friends with them. I was having same goal as the freshmen I talked. I try not to forget the feeling I had when I enter this school and try my best to make my dream comes true.

(Freshmen students I interviewed with)



Essay on Leibovitz and Natchtwey

 I do not have so much knowledge about a photograph and a photographer. When I watched the films, Annie Leibovitz: Life through a Lens (Leibovitz, 2008) and War Photographer (James Nachtwey) (Frei, 2001), however, I was impressed by the photos which were taken by two famous photographers, Leibovitz and Natchtwey.

(Took from Anthro Matsuri)

( Took from Alex Weinberg's blog)

 According to the film Annie Leibovitz: Life through a Lens (Leibovitz, 2008), Leibovitz was grown up in a big family and she spent a lot of time in a car. Since she saw beautiful scenery from the car window, she mentioned that it gave good influence to her artistic sense. In the film, one speaker said Leibovitz thought camera as a member of family, I think it shows how much she liked camera and carries it with her all the time.

When I was looking Leibovitz work, I noticed several things. I found she is good at taking a photo which many people in the scene. Those pictures, I posted above, sometimes look like a painting. I think that each people's standing position is perfectly good and the effect of shadow is great.

( Took from The Disney Blog )

 I also realized that she is good at taking picture one person is in it. In the film, one person mentioned that Leibovitz observes the situation in front of her well and try to understand the atmosphere of the situation. I think it makes her to be able to take pictures that really represents the personality or character of the people who are taken the photos.

 Since Youichi Watanabe, a war photographer, is getting popular in Japan, I was excited to watch the film about war photographer in the class. I, however, became kind of sad by looking at the pictures which were taken by Natchwey. It was because the photos taken by him had strong impact on me.

                                                            ( Took from Galerie mondamo )

 According to the film, War Photographer (James Nachtwey) (Frei, 2001), Natchtwey decided to be a war photographer during Vietnam war, because he was effected by the war pictures. It took long time for him to be confident in himself being a photographer. For him, taking war photos is witnessing  the history. It is very dangerous to take pictures during war, but he thinks that being in the dangerous situation is an essence of adventure.

 When I looked at the situation Natchtwey takes photo in the film, I thought if I were the people who are taken photo by him, I would be mad or upset, because even though those people are in the difficult situation, Natchtwey takes photos of them anyway. To me, it seemed like Natchtwey is kind of too careless about people's feeling. I, however, was changed by one of Natchtwey's word. He said like people who are taken photos by him understand that taking their photo makes it possible to send their voice and real time situation to other nations. It totally made sense to me.

 I learned from Leibovitz, it is very important to observe the situation in front of me and try to understand it when I take pictures. From Natchtwey, I learned that trying to take pictures that shows people's real life or real cultures which people have to spread true idea to people who do not really know about them.

A portrait of Japanese people

 When I heard that the theme of 3rd blog post is a portrait of Japanese people, one Japanese man came up on my mind. He runs Takoyaki (warm ball shape food which has octopus in it) shop around Gotenyama station. I often go to his shop to buy takoyaki. Whenever I go to his shop, he always welcomes me with his big smile and me and him sometimes have random conversation while he is making Takoyaki.

 After I took his photo, I interviewed with him about his life and his shop.  He started his shop 14 years ago. At first, he was working at shop with his mother, but after she died several years ago, he works mostly by himself.

 At his shop, customers can eat unique takoyaki, such as cheese tako (takoyaki which has cheese in it), kimuchi tako (kimuch in it), takuan tako (yellow colored radish tsukemono in it), chocolate tako (chocolate in it) and sujikon tako ( beef and konnyaku in it). The most surprising thing I heard from him was that some people who come to eat at his shop like to eat chocolate tako with beer. I have never thought of those combination, so I was shocked.

 Before I took his photo, I was a little nervous, because I was not sure if he allows me to take picture. Since I explained about the visual anthropology of Japan class, he kindly agreed to be taken the pictures. From that experience, I learned explaining the purpose of taking the picture is very important and if I do that, the chance of people allowing me to take photos might become high.

Neighborhood Hirakata -Gotenyama Shrine-

I live in an apartment which is very close to gotenyama station. I really like my neighborhood, because it is quiet and there are several places I love to visit. One of those places is a Gotenyama shrine.

This is the entrance to the shrine. This shrine is located on the hill, so visitors need to go up stairs. It sometimes takes energy, but I think it can be a good exercises.

After going up the stairs, visitors finally enter to the shrine.

First, visitors purify their mouth and hand by water at this place. Shinto focuses on purification. I learned that people who had death in their family usually refrain from going into shrine, in the other class I am taking now at CIE.

After I purified my mouth and hand, I prayed. I usually throw 5 yen when I pray at the shrine, because goen means good relationship with others or good chance with people in Japanese.

I had time to look around in the shrine and I found a lots of omikuji (fortune slip) are tied to a bamboo sticks. There were some ema (wooden plate which people write their wish on) too.

I first came to this shrine when I was a freshman at KGU. I was trying to find a place to practice syamisen and found the shrine. I do not go there so often lately, but I thought its good to go to those spiritual places.
I felt my heart kind of purified after I visited the shrine. I would like to go to the shrine in Kyoto next time.