My Living Quarters

A friend asked me for pictures of my studio so she can picture me in Japan, as now her image is of me sitting on pillows in a tatami mat room. Luckily, I am living in a very Westernized studio apartment. I have a small kichenette in which I've already managed to make a three course meal for two! Although, having one burner does make for a very long dinner with each course lasting as long as it takes me to make the next one (poor M must've been starving by the time I was done!). I also have a nice little balcony with a washing machine. People here don't use dryers so I have a clothing line set up so there's not really much room except for me to stand in a corner and get some fresh air while looking out at the city.

My neighborhood is interesting to say the least. I've already discussed the vending machines but there is so much more...

Every morning I can hear loud salutes. This is because about 3 blocks away resides the Hiroshima Police Academy. Thanks to my brand new camera with 12X zoom I was able to take a pic of them in training. Another bizarre thing here is the PA system. They seem to test that sucker all the time. Either that or they're saying something important in Japanese that I don't understand, but seeing as how I'm still alive and haven't heard of any bombing, I think they're just sending out flood warnings or testing the thing. And let me tell you--that thing is LOUD!

Then there's the other thing...Who knew I'd have to get all the way to Japan to reach Hollywood. I have never lived closer to Hollywood in my life! Parlor Hollywood that is.

This place is FILLED with gambling spots. The favored game is Pachinko. I'm not exactly sure what Pachinko is, I think it was one of the games place on The Price is Right but I may be wrong. Anyway, not only do I live down the street from "Pachinko" and "Parlor Hollywood", even closer--just one block away--is "Bull Dog" a "Casino Cafe".

Thank goodness there is a one block buffer from the bright shiny lights and my window. Actually, this works out for the best. As I still don't know the exact address of my apt building, I can just tell the cabbie--take me to Parlor Hollywood and I'm home. Never have I been so happy to see these neon colored lights as I was on Sunday night when we went downtown and decided to take the bus home (not knowing at which stop to get off). M and I are constantly wondering which one is more popular. I have decided that as experimental scientist, it is our duty to figure this out the right way--we go to all three and decide for ourselves. She's a bit reluctant, but I think I can convince her. Apparently, its illegal to actually make any money off the gambling, so at the end of the day, you exchange your chips for a sticky hand or doll or something (like those arcades you went to back in middle school). Except, you then walk to the building two doors down and "sell" your prize for cash! Well see how we do with the "prizes"--I'll keep you updated.

So another thing about Hiroshima, it is what M has called the Cleveland of Japan. While I disagree--I have not been able to find a more appropriate comparison thus far. It has a smallish downtown with sights (A-bomb related, of course). However, VERY few people speak English. While Japanese students are taught English as a regular course, like math or history, for 10 year, nearly everyone (who hasn't taken English outside of schooling) can speak a word. They can read and write, though.

Last Friday, I went out with a bunch of people from the Institute. It was a mix of ages and areas (physics, geology, sales). I sat with 5 rather shy Japanese men--all friends with H. I made the faux-pas of calling him H instead of K-sensei (since he's actually like faculty--so much more strict with the titles these people!). Anyway, after a few drinks, they all had questions. It was actually a lot of fun. While it took probably 10 times as long to get across what I was saying, it was great trying to make them understand and for me, it was great trying to communicate with the sukoshi nihongo (little Japanese) that I know. The women were a bit more shy and didn't come around until after about 4 beers. In the mean time, perhaps mostly lost in translation--I signed up to participate in an English class, attend a Japanese pottery class and Karate class and go out to Cuzco Cafe and El Barco nightclub! It was great, although I have a feeling that most of these offers were out of politeness and I took them up on it. Oops.

The place was actually really cool. It wasn't a restaurant, but it wasn't a bar either. Its this place where the primary reason you're there is to drink, but there's also food that's served. It was 10 different dishes (all incredibly yummy) and they were all small dishes to be shared--pretty much like Tapas, except they're served in a special order. Apparently, there are now tons of these places as they've become very popular and they all have different cuisine themes. This one was Japanese and we ate on the floor of a large tatami mat room. While everything was delicious, after beer, a grapefruit cocktail and sake, I was glad to see Parlor Hollywood.

Locked out...thank goodness for vending machines!

As I mentioned before, I am now living in Hiroshima. I am slowly settling into a nice small studio on the 11th floor of Prosper Shinonome Mansions in a residential area near the University hospital. I by no means live in a mansion--that is simply the term they use to refer to condos and apartments. The apartment building in which I am staying has primarily student residents, though I have yet to meet anyone. My labmate is also in Japan and staying one floor below me on the opposite side of the building with the exact same set-up. I do not think there is a single room that is not exactly the same in this entire building. Anyway, the way the lock system works is there is a key to get into the building and then the apartments have a magnetic key system. They give you this metal plate--the size of a credit card--which you slide into a slot, push down and hear a click, and rotate the holder to lock/unlock the door. I don't know why they don't just use keys--they seem like simple solutions and pretty secure. Maybe they're just really into advanced technology.

Well, let me tell you--advanced technology is not always the best way to go. Yesterday, since I couldn't be "officially" introduced to the lab until today, M and I went for a walk around Hiroshima downtown. There will be another entry discussing Hiroshima city after this weekend when I explore more of the city. For now, I will just tell you that when we left, I put my "keys" in the front pocket of my purse, which contained a magnetic closure. All day, my bracelet kept latching on to my bag and it wasn't until halfway through the day that I realized it was attaching to the magnet on my bag. Didn't realize it was such a strong magnet. If you can see where I'm going with this, you may be able to guess what happened when I got home. I tried to use my nifty magnetic key to open my door and guess what? It wouldn't open. I tried rotating the holder a number of times--the way you would reset a padlock--turning it every which way. I tried putting the key in the opposite direction. I tried shaking and hitting--pretty much everything, until I decided after 5 minutes of trying that I would go downstairs and ask M for help. Well, she asked if I had tried rotating the holder, inserting the thing upside down, etc. Guess she didn't believe me, so she tried it herself. After another 5 minutes of trying to get into my door (and even trying her key), we gave up and called our friend H who we're working with this summer. He said there was no emergency number and I'd have to wait until morning to get in. I decided that the stupid magnetic key (why in the world would you make a magnetic key!) had gotten screwed up by my bag's magnetic clasp (which, by the way, have probably been around WAY longer than these silly magnetic keys).

So, my second night in Hiroshima was spent on the nice hardwood floor of M's studio apartment. She currently has Strep throat, so the combination of everything made this second night not the healthiest of conditions. But thank goodness for the vending machines to make things a bit funnier and brighter. If you haven't heard, the Japanese are notorious for vending machines. I think I read this in a guidebook or something, but a ridiculously large percentage (about one third) of the world's manufactured vending machines reside in Japan. During my orienation, we stayed in a relatively isolated resort town in which I saw about 10 vending machines in the middle of nowhere--literally--it was several meters of fields and two sets of vending machines!

Another thing which you may not know is that alcohol is sold in vending machines. I was unaware that the Japanese were so fond of drinking. All of the Japanese culture information that I have read thus far says that while the Japanese are very kind (a lot of which is not truly "kindness" but more on that later) and reserved--all of this gets thrown out the window when they drink. Drinking is their way of letting loose and saying what's really on their minds (although I don't think they entirely behave this way around foreigners from what I hear). Anyway, drinking is a very accepted and common pastime. There's even a bar here called "Alcoholiday". When we were downtown, we entered the "Drinking District" and in fact, it was more than I anticipated. The entrance to the area of town has a huge sign saying "Kirin Beer".
Once we started walking down the street there are innumberable signs for bars. There seem to be 2 bars per floor and at least 4 floors per building. The Lonely Planet Travel Guide says it has over 4000 bars and the "district" is only about 4x4 city-blocks! Unfortunately, I don't think I'll visit more than one bar and in the daytime, as its rumored that Yakuza (the mob) frequents these bars at night and the only women that go there are in a certain kind of "business" that does not appeal to me.

So thank goodness for the vending machines! You can get all sorts of beer there. And not only beer, but they also sell mixed stuff--similar to Smirnoff Ice or something like that. So, since I was stuck sleeping on the hardwood floor with only a pillow (we have just moved here afterall--no one is ready for a guest), I decided that I'd numb the pain a bit (while preventing any bugs from inhabiting my throat) and headed to the vending machine. In the end, I was able to get more sleep than M, despite the hard floor and no covers.

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Moving on from the drama and disturbing news

I am now in Hiroshima. The last few days of orientation were relatively uneventful. "Drama" ensued when a bunch of guys went out to Tokyo for the night and returned at 8am since the last train was missed. Luckily, I was too tired to go out (as well as the majority of the people) which resulted in everyone being "lame" and the guys being too cool for everyone. Needless to say, we are in high school. The male ego still surprises me to this day. I do not understand it at all. Apparently, we were all "lame" because we did not pay enough attention to this group of individuals. Oh well. I don't think I missed much.

Moving on...there were a couple of things that I found a bit disturbing during my orientation. We had four "special lectures" for two mornings--three of them being "the history of Japan" in evolution, medicine and aerospace. While most of these were interesting, the scope was lost a bit in the "history of medicine" lecture, as the professor started the lecture with the rising of Japan from the Earth's core. Unfortunately, time did not permit for us to reach modern medicine, as after an hour and a half, we were still in 1860.

Of the three lectures, the one on evolution was perhaps the most interesting. As a biologist (and hopefully future educator) I was shocked and disturbed by the way biology is taught in Japan. The professor who gave the talk was a female prof and was very outspoken--something that I found very surprising considering the stereotypes of sexism in this country. She described to us the way biology is taught and there is one standard textbook that almost all school utilize. The reason there is one is because all classes are geared towards a general exam that determines your fate (literally). So this biology "textbook" is about 250 pages in paperback, smaller than 8.5x11 type (in comparison, a typical HS biology text is over 600pgs and much larger dimensions). There are SO many restrictions as to what can be put into the textbook and need to be checked with about 15 people.

So, as I mentioned, this lecture was on the history of evolution. As you may know, the basis of biology is the principle of evolution. While the "idea" of evolution has recently become a "hot topic" in the US, it has only recently been accepted in Japan. For a long time, the Darwinian theory of evolution was not accepted. In fact, a discredited theory (Lysenkoism) was followed for a long time. The Darwinian theory was only accept in early 1990! This theory has been around for AGES and only 15 years ago did the Japanese decide to accept it. The bothersome part is that it wasn't accepted, not for the actual biology behind it, but because it was a "Western" idea. Any Western ideas about biology were pretty much ignored (an actually Western ideas in any field). In fact, there was a man from Japan who came up with his own theory of evolution called Imanishi-ism and this was accepted as THE evolutionary theory to follow, although it was based on several Darwinian principles with some differences in the idea of selection. The only reason it was taught (and only amongst graduate students, but I'll get to that later) is that it was a "Japanese" idea and therefore more important than Darwin's. It was shocking to me to hear this, perhaps because I thought the whole ethnocentrism thing related mostly to culture not to scientific principles. Moreso, I think the troubling thing was that this was not based in any sort of "faith" as the Japanese generally do not have any religion. The controversy with the teaching of evolution in the US is at least based in Faith. While I do not approve of the non-teaching of evolution and reject the idea of intelligent design aka creationism, myself, I can at least somewhat understand the arguments for intelligent design and its basis of faith. Whereas here, the rejection was simply because these were "Western" ideas.

Fortunately, things seem to be changing and this particular prof seems to be a frontrunner in this change in education. Despite her efforts, the word "evolution" cannot be included in any "official" HS biology textbook and neither can any ideas referring to evolution such as the word "selection". What is surprising is that the idea of inheritance is mentioned and DNA can be mentioned, however the terminology is as so: "a chemical A, a chemical T, a chemical G and a chemical C combine to generate information for the cell". The DNA bases cannot be called their official chemical names (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine). It boggles people go on to study biolog when it is taught this way. Also the words "variant" or "selection" cannot be used in any combination with anything referencing DNA because this may infer the idea of evolution.

With this said, we were informed that there are biology textbooks that are more like American or "Western" biology texts, however these are not approved by the government and therefore most instructors do not use them. While I understand the need to simply biology so that even students who do not want to pursue it past HS aren't bored, I find that it is critical to at least inform students of the different areas in biology that can be pursued, even if it is not taught as a lesson in class. After listening to this lecture, it made me appreciate my US education so much more and also angry that goverment can be so powerful as to block such essential information from its citizens. Ok, maybe that was a bit dramatic--not everyone is a biology geek like me.

More to come on the special lectures, but I'll make that a separate entry as this one is making me mad again and is already very long.

Homestay: Hangin' with the seniors

This weekend, the JSPS program sponsored a Homestay. Basically, they match up all of the students with volunteers from the surrounding communities to host us for the weekend and expose us to Japanese culture. When I first heard about this, I was a little nervous about the whole experience and being paired up with someone who didn't speak English at all. In May, I received information about my hosts saying that their interests were tennis and recitation of Chinese poetry (man) and embroidery (woman). After reading this, I kinda new that these people would not be young and figured that maybe they'd be middle-aged, but even that was a stretch. Once I arrived, I learned that the man was 74 and the woman was 69.

Everyone was chatting about their host families and how they had all these events planned and had small children that they'd get to play with and when they asked me, I just said "I have old people". I couldn't help but be a bit jealous that these people would have awesome homestays and I'd be stuck with the senior citizens. Needless to say, I didn't have very high expectations for my homestay.

The night of the start, we all lined up with numbers and felt kinda like we were at an airport picking people up. While waiting, one of the organizers looked at me and asked if I had met them before. I said no and she responded "you can tell by the look in you face...like dread". Yes, that was in fact true. I was nervous and dreading what I might be in for. When Mrs. T found me, she was SO excited. Mr. T wasn't thrilled, but it was difficult to read him at all. Once I picked up my bag, Mrs. Teraoka says, "We are so excited to have you--we've been doing this for 8 years and you are our first girl!" That made me very happy--not so much hearing that I was their first girl, but that she said it with very good english.

That night, we drove up to Hayama--a small resort town in the hills but near the water--the same town where the Royal family has their villa (we drove past and there were guards outside). I got my own room and was shown the Japanese bath (two compartments--one for rinsing and one for bathing) and the shower. I said I'd be fine with just a shower (BTW Japanese people bathe at night--so that you go to bed clean. I myself am a morning showerer, though Mr T insistedthat I shower at night--however, I fell asleep before being able to shower).

After settling into my room (I got the whole second floor to myself), I went downstairs and Mr. T was watching TV. I said I enjoy cooking and would love to help out and learn Japanese cuisine. Mrs. T was SO happy. She said she's so glad to have an assistant in the kitchen. I learned how to make tempura shrimp and vegetables (relatively simple except I cut the vegetables wrong). In the process, Mrs. T explained to me that they were only talking about their son but really, they had a daughter but she died in a plane crash when she was 23. What was sad was the way she told it--like it was her daughters fault: she said, she met a man, got married, moved to Malaysia and died coming back to Japan--that she was the only girl in the family and left Japan so her plane crashed--like that was what happens when you leave family. Though her son lived in Paris and London for several years.

At dinner, I was afraid there wouldn't be much to talk about, but was I surprised. Mr. T first complimented me on my cooking and said I am old enough to be married so I should get married and bring my husband back to their home and cook tempura for both of them. Like I need any pressure to get married from Japanese hosts! I didn't respond to the comment, just nodded and smiled. That senior citizens sensitivity class I took in high school really paid off. Changing the topic, these people are really active. They play tennis for 2 hours (non-stop apparently) 3 times a week! I then told them I enjoyed watching basketball and Mrs. T gave me the play by play of the last 4 minutes of the Heat vs. Mavs NBA finals game--they had watched it the night before and apparently it was an intense 4th quarter.

The rest of the night went well. Mr. T invited me to attend his Chinese poetry recitation the following morning. Oh man, this is what I was dreading! Stuck listening to poetry for a day. But he was SO excited to invite me--like a 5 yr old at his first play. He said "I will be on STAGE!" with huge hand gestures and a great big smile. How can you say no to that?!

The next morning, I went to the performing arts center to watch Mr. T recite "Pacific Ocean". I was pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. In one corner was this old man playing a Japanese-type of flute and on stage were individuals waiting their turn while one person stood center stage chanting. I took a video of Mr. T's performance--he was beaming with pride-- and will hopefully be able to post it. Who would've thought that I could have fun in a room full of senior citizens (there was maybe ONE person under 60).

Mrs. T said we could leave after he was done--that she goes to these all the time and always has to sit through all of them and gets bored--so we left to grab some sushi for lunch.

That afternoon, we went to Kamakura to visit the shrine. The Great Buddha is in that area but was hard to get to, so we went to the shopping district. Oh, at the shrine there was a wedding going on so I took pictures of that. Its also customary to buy a fortune from a booth nearby--mine was "middle of the road" good luck. It was all very beautiful.

The next day, we went to Yokohama--located outside of Tokyo and houses Chinatown! On our way there--they pointed out their future grave site--now how many homestayers can say that their hosts showed them where they would be buried?! Special indeed. Yokohama was very nice. Lots of people walking around even when it was raining! Then we ate Chinese food and went back home.

Overall, I had a wonderful homestay. I was very pleased to make them happy, as I think I really did. Mr. T at one point said after his recitation, he got so much attention--people asking who I was--that he felt so special. After dinner one night he said, "I am so happy--I have my two flowers sitting next to me" I was sitting on one side and his wife on the other. Then his wife joked--yeah, one dying and one young one! They were such sweet people and so generous and kind. I will miss not having had more time with them.

Pictures here

Mean girls, karaoke, and expensive beer

I am now in Shonan International Village. It has not yet hit me that I am in a foreign country. Not really at least. Thus far, I've been surrounded by 64 Americans, 10 or so (of each) Canadians, Germans, and French people. As usual, everyone groups together into their respective nations, though I can imagine how the 10 people can feel overwhelmed by 65 Americans.
Then the Americans divide into groups. I feel like my true calling was to be a sociologist since I am fascinated by how people choose which groups to associate with and how the phenomenon of this social clustering occurs and whether the same principle apply to all kinds of groups. This group mainly consists of engineers, which is a bit different than the research scientists I'm usually exposed to, so I was wondering if it would be any different.

Thus far, its not so much different, but what I think is key is the age group. I'd say the average age of people here is about 25. This being said, you can imagine not everyone has reached their full maturity capacity and some are FAR from it. Its like grouping all these people makes everyone (or mostly everyone) revert back to middle school. The girls become cliquey and the guys behave like they're 12. People, for the most part, seems to be associating based on several characteristics--the earthy, hippy people have found each other, the loners stick to their computers, and the "socially challenged" also seem to find each other and make awkward conversation, I guess. Not that I'm not one to make awkward conversation frequently, but I think I'm slightly more skilled than these people. I never seem to fit into any particular category or really mesh well with only ONE particular group and am usually that peripheral person in a couple of different groups with no true association. Then there's the really outgoing, attractive girl that befriends all the guys (including the socially challenged). I first met her during our dinner reception where EVERYONE makes awkward small talk. After first observing her behaviour (we were sitting at the same table) it turned out that she was actually an MD (well in med school). Now this may not make sense to some of you, but if you're a researcher (namely PhD or other doctorate), the MDs generally stick out. And she did. But she was even more special. I later found out that not only is she from The OC, but she's also from Newport (hello OC fans!).

That evening (our first night there), she invited me to go out with a bunch of people. Actually, she invited my roommate, who she knew from the orientation in DC back in March and me, and because we were sitting at a table, a couple others she clearly didn't want to invite as she tried to "lose them" on the way out. Anyway, we went to this town called Zushi about 15 min away from the conference center we're staying at. We went to a karaoke bar with about 20 people-surprisingly--or maybe not--there were only 4 women. If you know me well, you know I don't like to sing in public, so this was partly torture. But it was ok b/c my roommate also hates to sing in public, so we both sat in the back and simply observed.

Some people were really into it...dancing and everything. In particular, there was this one guy who I will describe as the stereotypical nerd. I know that's mean, but its the best description I can provide--long stringy hair, thick glasses, and best of all, his name was Sterling. Needless to say, he became the person to pick on for this girl. While she was outwardly very nice to him, every other second she'd turn around to make fun of him. At one point, she even gave him a glass of beer spiked with sake. I honestly do not understand this kind of behavior. These are things I can see someone in high school doing, but for someone in their mid-20s, it was pretty shocking. While I felt bad about what was going on, I had no attachment to any of these people, so I simply observed and said nothing, neither egging it on or actively opposing it, and yes, I feel kinda bad for it, but I had just met these people 24 hour earlier, so why should I stand up for anyone. So this continued for most of the night and the guy took in all of it, happily it seemed, to be getting so much attention. I hate to make this comparison, but I felt a little like Lindsay Lohan in mean girls before she becomes "one of them".

After an hour of karaoke, one large bottle of sake and 2 pitchers of beer, we moved on to another bar. Now, people have said that Japan is an expensive city, but this was just outrageous. A pitcher of beer was about $40--and it wasn't any type of special beer, just plain beer! We were taken upstairs to the "private room" in which there was a lone Japanese businessman swinging on a hammock. After the expensive 2 pitchers of beer (they automatically served us 2 pitchers) we took a 10 min. car drive that cost over $30. Not only was it an expensive car ride, but we had missed "curfew" and the taxi driver took us to the wrong building on campus. Unfortunately we didn't realize this until we had already awakened the security guard, gotten into the building and realized there were only lecture halls and no rooms. Oh what a night. We eventually made it back to the right building and luckily the group in the other cab waited to open the door for us.

The next morning, she found us again and its difficult to get away from her, its like she sucks you in. How are you supposed to say I don't want to sit with you at the cafeteria when she's saved a seat for you and there are nearly no free seats left? When she physically pulls you aside to gossip, how do you actively push away and say no, I don't want to listen, when you're dying to hear gossip just because it exists? Maybe I'm just not strong enough and am fine just passive aggressively sitting, listening and not commenting so as to truly be able to say I did not have part in saying anything mean about anyone, even though I'm sitting there listening. Its also more difficult when within a matter of 2 days, people become so closed off into their little groups that its hard to get out of being in the one you were associated with the first night there, even if it was a mistake, and moving to another, especially when the other option is to sit in your room and stare at the wall or TV in Japanese? I guess I can't complain TOO much--afterall there are times when this group of girls has fun. We do ridiculous things like download the Paris Hilton video and share E! news. But its funny how even now at 26, when I feel pretty mature, I'm still 14 at some level.

Departure/Arrival

I left Boston at 10am Monday and 23 hours later it is 10pm on Tuesday night in Tokyo. It is a very strange feeling to be so exhausted but so awake at the same time. Sitting at the gate in O'Hare, I kept wondering what I was doing there. I was perhaps one of three non-Asian. non-white people there and was wondering if people thought I was confused and that instead of gate M9 I should be sitting gate M10--the Aeromexico gate. But maybe not. I did afterall have an Indian woman approach me an hour ealier at another terminal and start speaking Hindi. Maybe they're just all really confused.

Anyway, it was a VERY long flight, but luckily did not feel the full 11+ hours in the air. The weirdest thing about flying JAL was what was being projected on the big screen. After the cartoon people floated off the plane on those yellow thingies, there was airport footage of some sort. I didn't realize at first, but after a few minutes it hit me that what was being projected on the large screen was actually our plane approaching the runway. It was one of the coolest things to watch the plane take off from the perspective of the pilot (maybe this has been around for a while, but its the first time I've seen it). They have cameras giving you the "birdseye view" and "downward view" and its one of the choices on the personal video screens. It was the same thing landing as well--the screen showed the runway--but this time it was a bit scarier, hoping that nothing would go wrong. So I guess at that point it wasn't as cool as it was initially. And for those who have a fear of flying, this is perhaps the worst idea ever. Although I did enjoy the option of choosing it as my "video".

Another thing about flying to Japan...you know how sometimes people call out something when you're on the border of two states/countries/territories? Well, one of the first times I experienced this was in college. At Cornell, there are no good malls--there's the small Ithaca Commons shops and Pyramid "mall", but to really get to the shops, you have to go to Carousel Mall in Syracuse. On the way from Ithaca to Syracuse, you cross an Indian reservation (it is upstate NY afterall). I remember taking a trip up once and someone calling out "Two Territories"--how often does that happen? Well...how often do I get to say "Two Dates". I am a big fan of tracking thing...like the plane on the screen showing you where you are (yes I am a dork). Anyway, I was WAY excited when we were at the point of the Date Line and I wanted to shout out "Two Dates" but everyone would've thought I was crazy, so instead I just wrote it down in my new little journal. Someone/something had to hear it. And another thing about the tracking thingy...I was watching 8 Below while flying over Alaska (its that movie about the sled dogs that get left behind in the antarctic--ok well, artic/antarctic--same thing!).

All right. now I'm off to sleep...to sleep perchance to dream...ah there's the rub.

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