7 things to avoid while in Japan

I heard these suggestions in a podcast on Japanese culture:

-Always take off your shoes in someone else's house
-Walk on left side, NOT the right side
-Don't call in sick to work. You might get fired. Japanese bosses expect to see you pushing yourself for the good of the company
-Eat together. Never start eating before your friends in a restaurant or at their house.
-Do not tell American jokes. Jokes in Japan have a different protocol. Try avoid to be flippant, because it is seen as a lack of respect.
-Most Japanese understand basic english, but don't assume that they understand any speed or colloquial speech
-Never stick your chopsticks in your rice so that they stand straight up (it stands for "death")
-When you eat Washoku (traditional japanese food), eat a little piece of each dish, do not eat each dish separately.

I got these tips from http://www.blogitjapan.com/. I'm not sure how accurate they are, but I'd love to discuss them with people. Sato Sensei, do you have any insight?

Composition #1

こんばんはみんださん。わたしはジェニーです。わたしはこのだいがくのあたらしいがくせいです。おせわになります。アメリカじんです。カリフォニヤからきました。わたしはこるんびあだいがくのよねんせいです。わたしのせんこうはアメリカです（politicsをとyouthをとおんがくをべんきょします）。おいいしすしときれいなくつとsouth americaとcapoeiraとにほんとすきやきsongがすきです。Graffiti Non-profitのしゃいんです。わたしはおもしろいです。どうぞよろしく。しつれいします。

I need a やすみ！！！

すみません　みなさん、

I have been so busy this week that I have abandoned my blog. I am in the process of writing my undergraduate thesis, and a huge draft is due すいよび (a day before our exam!!). Fortunately, I love my thesis topic. I find it really interesting, but because I am so emotionally invested in it, I get devastated when it doesn't go well. My problem is that I always pour my heart into my studies, so when I fail, I feel as though I have failed myself. But only in subjects I care about (like にほんご, my thesis, etc). Subjects like math and science don't affect me as much ^--^.

Also, I am getting ready for my post-graduation life by applying for jobs--a very stressful and time-consuming process. I am applying to work at a cause-marketing firm (where corporate marketing tools are applied to social justice causes), a production team called Engels Entertainment, and a team in DC that organizes campuses nation-wide in a fight for global trade justice. I would love to work for any one of them, but whew, it isn't easy.


Anyways, does anybody know how to post mp3 files? because I have some great songs by "ちぼまっと" and "Smokey and Miho" (japanese and brazilian duo) that I would like to share.


Also, it looks as though Japan has created a Japanese answer to Myspace...it's called MIXI:
http://www.casperstartribune.net/articles/2007/02/18/ap/hitech/d8najs800.txt
http://mixi.jp/

I think I'm going to set up an account. that is, when I get a やすみ.

ジェニー

interesting...

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3055/context/cover/

Moving to Japan

It has been decided. I will live in Japan. This has been a latent fantasy of mine, and seeing as I am at a point in my life of ultimate flexibility (fresh out of college...what better time than now?), I'm goint to indulge myself.

So, does anyone have suggestions for study programs, or teaching english programs? I would love any input!!

help please. someone posted this comment on my blog:
がいこくのことばをべんきょうするのはたいへんですよね。でもスペインごがはなせてべんりですね

...and I fumbled around with it for a while until I remembered that I CAN'T ACTUALLY SPEAK JAPANESE. seriously, I don't even recognize half the characters in the second sentence.

question: Is the gesture in this video used in a negative sense? Normally, in the U.S., "kissing up to someone" is equated with "brown-nosing", a social practice that, in certain contexts, is look at unfavorably. Is that how it is used here? Or is it a compliment to "kiss up to someone"?
http://one.revver.com/watch/48814

One interesting thing I've learned recently, related to Japan:
The Japanese have a very interesting and contradictory relationship to their chopsticks. Apparently, it is natural to develop a relationship with your own personal set, and it is considered unsanitary to eat with a "re-usable" pair in a restaurant. So, for a long time, people would carry their chopsticks around with them. But then, what started with a surplus in the lumber industry ended up being the beginning of the disposable-chopstick-industry. This seems natural enough, except for when you factor in the huge amount of waste (albeit, biodegradable) that comes with so many used chopsticks. This is where it gets tricky--the japanese have a fairly progressive stance on environmental issues, and this disposible chopstick phenomenon seems to run counter-intuitively. ah, how interesting when gastronomical tradition and environmental philosophy collide!

Also, I need help learning how to type in Japanese. I set up my computer so that I can do it, but when I tried to teach myself the keyboard basics, I got too confused. Can I bring my computer to class?

new language = haaaaaaard

man, I had forgotten how difficult and disorienting a new language can be. It has been 8 years since I first started spanish, and my current confidence and proficiency in the language has glossed over my memory of the torment of the first few years. Now I'm at the point where I can think in that language, and my thoughts take shape nicely in a communicative, coherent form. it's niiiiiiice. Granted, it wasn't always like that...I remember approaching my spanish professor practically in tears of frustration over my lack of ability, DESPITE the diligence and devotion I gave to my studies. It really sucked. I was naturally a good student (more or less), but I had spent soooooo much time sweating over spanish, and still was struggling to maintain a B- in the class...er, ALL my spanish classes. Fortunately, after a lot of grammar courses, and 7 months in south america, I finally got spanish on lock down.

Anyways, all this came rushing back when I tried to take my first, halting steps in japanese. Trying to pronounce the words, listening to the excercises, writing a foreign alphabet, conceptualizing the organization of the language. To be honest, half of the time I spend working on the homework is just figuring out where it is in the book...

I guess I'm realizing that language just doesn't come easily to me. Not for lack of trying, of course. Or even lack of enthusiasm, for that matter. I'm taking this class as an elective, fer chrissakes. for FUN. just BECAUSE. Looks like I have a twisted sense of fun, because I already know that this class is going to kick my ass.

So why am I taking it? Because I already know I'm going to love it. In my short experience on this planet, I've come to realize that the best way to understand (and dive into) a new culture is to 1) learn the language, and 2) follow the music.* I've been fascinated by Japan since I visited it in 2004 with my grandmother. It was an incredible experience, which I will probably talk about in another post, but let's just say that it made a big impact on me, and I've been thinking about it ever since. Also, I currenly work for a graffiti non-profit organization, and I would like to travel to Japan after graduation to check out the vibrant graffiti scene they've got going on over there (among other reasons, of course).

*the second realization is reflected in my major-I study "youth, music, and politics".I think popular music (and by "popular", I mean "young", not just "mainstream") is one of the most accurate representations of the current philosophies, interests, lifestyles, struggles, and fetishes of the youth population. Anyways, I'm already enamored of this book I picked up called Hip Hop Japan, which is a anthropological look at the hip hop craze in japan. I consider it to be my study supplement. I'll let you know how it goes...

In sum, I'm willing to roll up my sleeves and work hard for this course, but I'm warning you already, it's not going to be an easy feat. So please be patient with me. I will get it eventually, it just takes me longer than other people. that being said, bring it on-

this is me

...a visual aide...