Bonsai Tree

Since fall term, Mrs. Kaji and I have been meeting for weekly English-Japanese language exchanges, having tea and cookies, and reading books together. She knows that I like traditional culture, so she always gives presents and treats. But this week (starting from St. Valentine’s Day, actually), she and Mr. Kaji had to leave on family business, so I am taking care of….ready for this?....their bonsai plant. That’s right, the tree, I, and Miki are all living together in for this week. I introduced the tree to Miki and everything the first night I got it. Before she left, Mrs. Kaji gave me instructions on how to water it with this little spritz bottle once a day, but I think my room is too dry for the plant. After the first day, I told Miki,*この盆栽は私のこのがあまり好きじゃないと思うよ。もう四枚の葉が落ちたし、かじさんもいないから、盆栽は死にたいそうなぁ。(See, Anna? I use Japanese in daily life – might not be correct, but I use it). All I have to do is make sure this little tree lives until Mrs. Kaji gets back from her trip. She would be so disappointed if it died while she was gone! **今からもよろしくね、盆栽ちゃん。


*"I don't think this bonsai likes me very much. Because 4 leaves have already fallen and Mrs. Kaji isn't here, it seems like it wants to die."
**From now on, be good to me, little bonsai.

"It's settai, everybody!!" The Basics

Glancing at my photo albums, you'll notice that there is a lot of food. Why is that? I love food, that's why! I use food when I'm celebrating, when I'm bored, when I'm sad, when I want to do something nice for a friend, as a conversation starter, and as a treat (something to reward myself after a long night of studying or a big project). Food is just good all around, and more food is better than less food, so let them eat cake!

Where was I? Right, sorry.

Anyway, most of the time, I eat by myself, but there are a few pictures already of me eating with a group of people. The people are probably the Wadaiko club, the Yearbook club, Keyaki/Zelkova Dorm, or the Soul Run group for settai. Let me explain: if there are three prominent Japanese values, they would be seniority, collectivism, and group harmony (WA!). Still explaining: when you join a group (be it business, club, neighborhood committee, whatever), you place yourself within the context of that group (age, time active, and rank). That is the seniority part of it. Now, of course you want the group to be the best it can be, so you and the other members work together to for the sake of the whole. Collectivism, deshou? Well, the fun doesn't stop when you clock out. Oh, no. If the older, high ranking members deem the stars to be in position, they might suggest a night out for the group. You're not to going to say no to the boss/president/club leader, right? OF COURSE NOT! Besides, in spending this extra time together, you'll become closer with the other members, increasing your group harmony, making you work better together, making the company better, etc. Phew! You get the idea.

This "extra group bonding time" is called settai, and people have some mixed feelings about it. Businessmen from American companies hardly like the idea at all: work is done, who wants to go have a drink with the boss? That could take hours, be expensive, and after a day of work, you're tired! Americans would rather go home and spend time with their families. Club members usually don't have a problem with it because they are all friends and looking for a fun time! But there is not nearly as much pressure to say "yes" to go to every club settai as there is for one at the office. And I'm fine with them (for the most part), if I know that they are happening. Like I said, they can be decided upon at the drop of a hat, so you sort of dawdle around after a club activity, feel the air, and see if tonight is going to be a settai night or not.

So far, I've been on about 6 settai, and I've had a blast! They are great opportunities for me to practice Japanese, and since we are all out, we don't have to talk about the club activities or school. The Japanese students know all sorts of cheap, fun places to go, too, so I find a lot of good restaurants that I'm sure I'll go to again later on this year. We've been to parks, different cities, around the college, the train station, and Mitaka, so I'm learning more about the area each time.

When's the next big settai? Within the next two weeks, I couldn't say, but there is going to be a big blowout at the ICU festival!! Then, I'll have my pick of settai, nomi/tabehoudais, and parties. Haha, we'll see what happens. Curfew is 11:30 at the dorm, so I need to be careful in whatever I do. :) Be on the lookout for more food photos, though! I'll be sure to let you know if they are settai or not.

Till then, cheers!

An Adventure! Well, to me it was, anyway.

Picture it in your mind's eye: feeling crushed and defeated, hungry and economically bound, our young heroine sets her resolve on a last-chance-go-for-broke-over-exaggerated-but-I'm-glad-if-your-still-reading-this-blog dash to the nearest major city for some relief. Even as she prepares for the journey, the world still fights against her; rain, wind, and narrow passages are all that await between our adventurer and her destination. But mounted accompanied by her faithful traveling companion, even these forces of nature seem mere distractions!

Haha, I shouldn't write fan-fiction.

The real story: I was feeling a little blue the other day, so I thought, "Hey, why not go to Kichijoji to get cheered up and do some shopping?" But when I was leaving the dorm, the rain from that morning still hadn't let up, but I still decided to save myself the $4 of bus fair and go to the train station for the first time by myself. In the rain. On my bike. With CJ in the front basket. But still alone. Without a map. In Japan. With no umbrella. "A lone, lonely, loner" (copyright of Ice Age 3). I was soaked by the time I got to the train station, cold by the time I got to Kichijoji, disappointed in the kaitenzushi place there (the best one near me is in Musashi-sakai, I think), and not feeling any less blue when I arrived back at my train station.

But it ALL turned up after I went grocery shopping and then bought a calling card (so I can use my phone officially!). When I got back to the dorm, I cooked myself up a little something, chatted with the girls, chatted more with the kids downstairs, finished my homework, studied for a bit, and was feeling as right as rain (ba-dum-da!).

So our heroine learned an important lesson that day: the greatest joys are not in overcoming grand obstacles (alone, on one's bike, in the rain, in Japan), but in simple pleasures of good food and the company of friends.

The End

Ramen, the Basics

Be. Yond. Words.

But I'll try.

Ramen is not what you think. Ramen is not what I thought. Ramen is, by far, the best things I've had since I came to Japan. Everyone who has been to Japan before me wouldn't stop saying that they all got hooked on Ramen. "What is so special about Japanese-pork-and-noodle-soup?" I would wonder. "Maybe that is the Japanese comfort food or something."

Wrong. So, here's the story:

If you look in my Mitaka photo album, you'll notice that I got caught in a torrential rainstorm on my way home from the store one day. It was a long walk back to school, and I had already made pit-stops everywhere I could trying to stay dry as I lugged (full-out, lugged) a laundry basket filled with groceries and such back to ICU. After making it about 2/3rds of the way home, I thought of just stopping for a while and waiting till the rain calmed down a bit. But by then, I was right outside a ラーメン屋 (Ramen shop). Were they even open? Would they want someone who was all wet? How does one order Ramen? Just then, a young man came outside the shop to fix the "open" sign that had fallen from the winds. He saw me standing there. I saw him see me standing there. He looked at me. I looked at the sign. He looked at the sign. It was priceless.

A couple quick bows later and I was inside the store, my umbrella sopping wet in a rack, and my laundry basket-'o-stuff right next to it so as not to moisten the entire store. I threw my stuff down at the bar (for those who don't know, there is a bar that surrounds the Ramen store's kitchen) and pulled out my wallet. Now, buying food in Japan is a little different than back in the States. In this store, right next to the main doorway, was a vending machine. But not an ordinary vending machine, no Sir, this was a menu machine! You placed any amount of money into the machine, then pushed the button for the items(s) you wanted, and received the change and tickets for your meal once you were done. Then, just had the ticket to the cook and wait at your seat. Sounds easy enough, but the menu was all in Japanese. What was worse, it was mostly in kanji~! So I picked one that I could read, gave the man my ticket, and (after a while) he gave me a hot bowl of Ramen.

It looked soooooo good! Everything was in one bowl, sure, but it was neatly placed and orderly. And everything I needed to enjoy the Ramen fit on the bar top (tissues - for when your nose starts to run from the hot soup, soy sauce, pickled veggies - in the black and red container, and all you can drink water and tea). The taste was unbelievable, too!!! I'm a noodle-lover by nature, but this was more than my palete had ever handled from soup before; there was a buttery feeling, the veggies were still somewhat firm, but the meat was so, so soft, and the entire thing smelled like fall (don't ask me what that means, just have some for yourself). I was so dissapointed that I came there alone! I just wanted to turn to someone, ANYONE, and say, "Isn't this fantastic?! Can you believe this was just $7? They gave me so much, I don't think that I can finish all of this!!" There was a lot, by the way. It took me a good half hour to get it all down. But I loved every drop!

The moral of the story? Eat real Ramen, REAL Ramen, before you say that you don't like Japanese food. Don't like sushi? Fine. Can't find a taste for tempura? I can understand that. Eal just not your thing? I can dig it. But there is no way that in this world, someone exists who does not like Ramen. Get on over to Mitaka, if you can; I know a great little place just up the street.

The Newest Member of My Crew: CJ

Some of you may have noticed that I now have pictures of my trip posted at the bottom of the blog (hint, hint). Others of you may have seen a small panda in those photos.

"But isn't that one much smaller that the one that made the bridge and helped you pack, Alexandra?" Hmmm..come to think of it, he is. That's because this is not the same panda as before: it is CJ!!!

CJ is my new traveling buddy. Crew could not fit into my suitcases or carry-on, so CJ (Crew Junior) took on the position instead. CJ enjoys posing for pictures, sitting on my desk, and going for rides in my purse (as long as it isn't too crowded). Please look for him in my pictures.

Welcome to the group, CJ!

Getting There is Half the Fun

So, you know how at the beginning of every trip, you stop and say "I can't be leave I was about to leave the house without taking the ______"?

Well, that didn't happen for me.

Actually, I was flying along quite pleasantly for 13 hours, thinking myself the cat's meow until I got to the Japanese Customs and Immigrations Offices, convenient located at the lovely Narita Airport. I got through the line, showed my visa and boarding pass, smiled for a photo, and scanned my fingerprints (none of that ink business in Nihon-land-of-the-digital). Then as I was about to gather up my carry-0n baggage and head through the shiny, glass doors of Japan....I was asked for my Certificate of Eligibility. I'm sorry, what? I needed that paper months ago to get my visa. And, there is my visa, so obviously I had that paper. Why do I need it? You have my visa. They say the EXACT SAME THING! Are you calling me a LIAR?!

No, I didn't say that! It was all running in my head. Apparently, the fine print on the bottom of said certificate states that: in order to enter Japan, this certificate and the visa must be shown to the customs officials upon arrival. Ooohhh......yeeeeaaah.....ummm. About that. I might have, just by accident, kinda-sorta left that in my room. At home. In America. (oops)

And that was why I was detained by the customs officials at Narita for 30 minutes. Yeay!! :) Lucky for me, the Japanese consulate in Detroit had sent my return address slip proving that I had sent them my certificate and that the visa was valid. But that wasn't good enough for the Japanese; they wanted my certificate in person. So I agreed to send it to their extremely difficult to write address in exchange for my temporary freedom in their country (it wasn't this cool in reality, but it sounds more interesting if I phrase it this way.)

I've just avoided an entanglement with the Japanese govenrment and I'm feeling pretty shaken (not sturred), so I retrieve all my luggage (I'm carrying slightly less than 100 pounds at this point) and I try to find a way to get to Shinjuku. "All I have to do is get to the Shinjuku train station," I told myself, "then a Wittenberg alumni will help me get to ICU.

Haha, as if life were ever so simple.

Poor me, trembling in a new country, I was so scared from sitting alone in that quiet room with all the benches, that I coincidently bought a ticket to Shibuya and not Shinjuku. What is the big difference between those cities? Well, let's just say I should have taken a left turn at Albuquerque. Shibuya is a cool place, don't get me wrong, but it isn't where I want to go with suitcases dripping from my every limb. Once I saw my mistake, I jumped off the bus at the nearest stop and tried to reorient myself. Here's the short story:

1. Stored my stuff at the nearest hotel doorway

2. Dashed to the next door LAWSONS for some 100 yen pieces

3. CALLED FOR HELP!!!

And it came, funny enough. It took me a total of 5 hours to get from Narita airport to ICU near Mitaka-shi, and it sure did feel like 5 hours, too. On my first day in Japan, I broke all of the traveling rules and looked like an idiot on at least 6 points in my day. But, at least I got to see the city, and proved that I knew what to do if I got lost.

On a positive note, when I got to my dorm that night, my dorm mates were all outside having a huge barbecue and I got to start my ICU campus life with several huge plates of grilled sausages, meats, noodles, and veggies. Everyone was super friendly, and my roommate was so welcoming that I couldn't help but feel better. It was just what I needed to make the day worth the while!