帰国...無聊 - The Return...ennui

For the two or three of you that read this, I am back home(?) in Denver, and well, not much else to say. I can say that the time I spent in Japan was unequivocally the best time of my life. I met some great people that have been influential in inspiring me to do things, as well as, being the coolest dudes around. I have never been happier than when I was in Japan; everyday had promise of something new or interesting. I had the profound luck of ending up in Osaka and the surrounding Kansai region, and I think this made the experience even better. Whether it was it going to cacophonous downtown Osaka or taking in the serene beauty of Kyoto (and its women), the Kansai region just offers so much. To think I had all of this and I got to experience it with great friends just makes it that much better. If I could go back and do it all over again I would, but I can't and the only way to remember those times is by photos, videos, and memories. I was in Japan for 9 months and it felt like it went by in one day. For me, Japan just feels like it's in my veins, and I can't really explain in any more depth than that. Of course there were shitty times in Japan like being sick for a week and nearly flunking a class due to said illness, but just the subconcious realization that I was in Japan (finally!) helped propel me through the more downtrodden times and it made me have a more positive outlook than I have ever had before. What is troublesome for me, I guess, is how do I move on and use those as underpinnings for my future experiences. One way is that it has made me realize that I have to study more Japanese and has helped motivate me towards achieving goals I set for myself earlier in life. So, I will finally be taking the plunge and taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, Level 2 in December in Chicago.また今度。

ヨドバシカメラ - Yodobashi Camera

Everyone knows that Japan makes the coolest mobile phones, toys, cameras, video games, TVs, and toilet seats, etc. Where do you go in Japan when you want to find all of this stuff? You go to Yodobashi Camera, provided your city has one. Yodobashi, in Umeda, has everything you could ever want, including restaurants and a Comme Ca Ism among all the other gadgets. The Umeda store is about 8~10 floors in total of awesome and is actually more entertaining than going to the Mall of America in Minneapolis. Sorry, America, you don't have a Yodobashi Camera. The great thing about Yodobashi Camera is that, like almost all of the other stores in Japan, it has a point card - one point per every yen you spend, so it can add up. Moreover, you could spend several days in Yodobashi and probably not see everthing there is to see. I haven't even mentioned the service in the store, it is just like the rest of Japan - superlative. Like my friend Jon would say, "日本がアーサムです."

サラリマンの生活 - Salaryman lifestyle

There are many things in life that I don't understand: veganism, complex mathematics, the popularity of Reggae in Japan, Level 6 Japanese, among many others. One thing unique to Japanese society that I can't understand is that of the existence and status of the everyday male, white-collar worker, salaryman (サラリマン).

Salarymen seem to do a thankless, soul-grinding job that serves as the underpinning of Japanese society (salarymen and the bureaucracy, that is), yet so many younger people hold a cynical opinion of them. Furthermore, these guys wake up at dawn and catch the earliest trains out to the office and then they catch the last trains back home; or return home by taxi even later if they are out pickling their livers with associates and colleagues. Even more still, these champs don't even hold the purse strings in their families - usually they give their money over to their wives. Salarymen also rarely see their families due to the fact that they are constantly working, and when they do get time off it is usually only one day a week. These guys are that committed to their families, but they are the source of much derision from many of the younger generation. I would think that they would get more respect in a society in debted to their toil.

I guess what I am saying is that the next time you see a haggard-looking, stinky (deodorant over here is a joke) salaryman on the train, you might just want to give him that open seat, considering he has probably been through one hell of a day, night, and week.

他の外人に対する意見 - Foreigner's feelings toward other foreigners

Upon arriving in Japan, you have a sensory overload and you just give yourself over to the experience - everything is new, punctual, exotic, and interesting (alcohol in vending machines!!!). Then once you stay awhile, from 5 months up to 12 months, you begin to settle in, but it still maintains that hypnotic atmosphere and exoticism. While in my fugue state here in Osaka, I have been in constant awe of Japan, the Kansai area in particular, be it for its history, architecture, transportation system, fashion, etc. All this isn't really what I want to touch on in this post though; what I want to talk about is the way in which gaijin (foreigners, that is) perceive each other in Japan.

My interest in this niche of expatriate culture was piqued by this post over at Japan Probe. I think there are a lot of feelings of resentment among gaijin towards other gaijin in Japan, whether it is validated or not is another issue. I think the underpinning of this issue is the feeling that each gaijin here wants to have the perception(delusion?) that he/she is the only foreigner in Japan. This contempt for other foreigners can be evidenced by casting dispersions on men who date Japanese women, sending bad vibes and stares, possessing an inferiority complex (worrying about other gaijin getting women, wealth, friends, or even happiness instead of themselves), and limiting dialogue with other foreigners, among others.

Not all of the reasons for disliking other gaijin are baseless, however; my friends and I have come across several personfications of the quintessential delinquent (不良) gaijin that show no cultural barometer or perception of their ambassador status. What is even more depressing is the fact that the aforementioned foreigners are almost always Americans. These foreigners are the source of the persona non grata standing that some (not many, thankfully) Japanese people have of gaijin.

I guess the overall impetus for this post was to highlight the fact that this kind of jockish hostility, "MY Japan"ism, superiority/inferiority ridiculousness exists in Japan. I just hope that I don't fall prey to this kind of failed judgment, identity crisis drama, and chest-pumping.

From here on, I will focus on the good; I just wanted to get this off my chest.

ようこそ！Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my home on the internet. This blog was started out of necessity for a class project, but I want it to take on a more relaxed and freer feel rather than a stodgy, perfunctory school project; as such, I will be using this as way of telling you about where I live (Osaka, Japan) and experiences germane to my time here. Moreover, I will show some of the cool stuff over here (and there is a lot) through pictures as well. Cheers!

-Zach