So last night I had my first really major drinking experience alongside Japanese people. I have already been to bars but mostly with other foreign students. Last night I went to a really cool restaurant with about five foreign students and thirteen Japanese students. There was an option for the drinkers to get "Nomihodai" All you can drink for two hours for a flat price no matter how many drinks you got. I kept myself under control and was able to ride the train home fine. However some of my fellow foreign students and a few Japanese took the all you can drink a bit too far. Things got a bit out of hand, but overall the night was tons of fun speaking Japanese, drinking, and the Japanese students love to use their English too. Japanese people are very shy at first but once you invite the to a bar and share some drinks they are tons and tons of fun.

Commutes are boring

Everyday I walk 15 mins to Naeyagawa station, take a 20 min train ride to Gotenyama station and then walk about 15 more minutes to campus. It's a bit tedious and sometimes even boring. But today an old Japanese lady talked to me for a moment and said that I was skilled in Japanese. I took the humble approach and assured her I am terrible. She thought it was all pretty funny. This is pretty pleasant compared to other people's reactions to seeing me a 6 foot tall white foreigner. Children stare, some looking curious, others scared. Some older people look pretty disapproving. It''s a weird turn of the tables to be a minority, certainly  it is opening my eyes to the way many people in the world and even my home, America must feel.

Culture Shock

When you hear about culture shock it always seems like something that a close minded person would experience. I've studied a lot of things about Japan but when you throw yourself into a home stay situation in a country whose language you apparently have a childlike grasp of you may find yourself in a situation you really were not prepared for. For my I experience what people call culture shock at the public bath. My host dad wanted to help me de stress before my first day of college classes in Japan so he thought it was a good idea. The whole car ride there I was getting very very nervous. I knew what a public bath was, and I also knew about how many non-Japanese were going to be in that bath somewhere in the ball park of zero to zero. On the plus side being naked in front of about 200 people who are all staring at you shocks you into never caring about using a urinal directly next to someone ever again. I do have to say though with all the different baths of varying temperatures, a sauna, and a bath with bubble jets I was pretty relaxed. There was this one strange device that shot high frequency vibrating water at my lower back and made all my muscles clench as hard as they could, when I first sat in it the face I made caused a pack of small children to burst into laughter. It was all good fun.

Japanese Toilets

So I find it interesting that some of the features of Japanese toilets can be used to give an insight into a small part of the Japanese mind set. There is a button on most Japanese toilets that makes a fake flushing noise, and most of the foreigners I have talked to don't really know what it is for. The button is used to cover up any noise that someone would make while they are using the toilet. And logically the button was invented because using the flush to cover up noise is a waste of water. Basically I'm saying the Japanese don't want anyone to hear them go #2.

Travel is tiring

Flew into Japan yesterday and my total travel time was around 24 hours. 17.5 hours of that flying. I'm learning the ropes of the dorm that I'll be in until I am assigned a host family and move in with them. So far everyone has been very friendly and I've been meeting lots of other international students from all over the world, mostly Australians. I'll try to post more interesting stuff soon after I explore town a bit!

Hello everyone my name is Richard and I am preparing to leave for Hirakata Japan to study at Kansai Gaidai. I will be there until mid December and I want to use this page to share some fun photos, stories, or anything else I find interesting while I stay in Japan.

So, to send me off my mom put together a going away party for me and my cousin make me this georgeous and delicious sushi cake. My favorite part is how the ro (fish eggs) were represented with orange m&ms. Despite being very ready for my trip I'm still very nervous.