レポート：日本語バーション

よかったら、どうぞ。

日本に働くことを想像してみた時、社員がみなスーツで朝から夜まで事務所で一生懸命仕事をすることを想像した。会社で研修生の私は完璧な敬語で社長と話し、自分は何の服を着るか心配していた。しかし、私の「会社」は会社ではなく、さいたまコープという協同組合である。私も大学生の時生協に入っていたから、日本のコープはどういうことか興味があった。うちのオバリン大学のコープは、大学の食堂の代わりに、自分で食事を準備することが主である。全部は学生に支配されて、健康と環境問題が強調されている。さいたまコープは理念的に同じだが、食べ物だけではなくて様々なことをしている。保険や自宅配達やカルチャーセンターなどあり、元気な生活を応援している。

　この研修に対して個人的な目標が二つある。一つ目は色々な場合で仕事をうまくできることである。日本語の聞き取り力を試し、分からない時質問をしてみた。去年、大阪の関西外国語大学で一学期に留学し、大学の専攻の一つも日本語だった。しかし、日本語の勉強したいところがまだたくさんあり、これからも頑張らなくてはいけない。同僚と色々な話ができた。それは二つ目の目標である：日本人と一緒に日本とアメリカ、または日本語と英語についての話をすること。日本とアメリカの間の親善使節として大事な仕事である。この世界には様々なタイプの人があるので、それを強調しながらステレオタイプを消そうにしている。

　研修の最初の一週間は埼玉大学でコンビニと本屋でレジ打ちをしていた。レジスターの経験がその時までなかった。お客さんからもらったお金を速く数え、お釣りの量などを速く言わないと時間がかかてしまうので、慣れるまでは少し大変だった。しかし、すぐレジの流れに慣れた。何を学んだというと、「お願いします」の便利なところである。外国人の私にとって、店員さんに「日本語が分かりますよ」が伝えるので、便利な表現である。

　埼玉大学でお弁当発売もした。天気が非常に暑いのに、お弁当のおばさんと一緒に売るのはとても楽しかった。レジがなかったため、お釣りを頭で数えなくてはいけない。数字は私も苦手なので、難しかったが、分からない時いつも同僚が手伝ってくれた。本当にチームの一員として扱ってくれたので、さいたまコープの人達の親切さを感じた。

次の二週間は大宮センターの自宅配達をした。清水さんという女と人と一緒に回り、マンションなどで食品配達をした。よく食べ物について話した。私は和食が好きなので、食品の仕事をしていてよかったと思う。清水さんと清水さんの仲間と一緒に昼ご飯を食べるのが楽しかった。コープの皆さんは仕事が好きのようである。効率的なものが好きなので、箱の片付けはおもしろいと思った。邪魔にならないために速く仕事に慣れることにしていた。役に立ててよかった。

最後の二週間は狭山台の店舗で様々な仕事をすることだった。食品を店に出すことが多く、農産と惣菜の仕事もした。農産でキャベツやかぼちゃをビニールで詰め、少量パックも作った。お客さんから少量パックがあればいいという提案があったので、コープは少量パックを作ることになった。コープがそのようにお客さんの希望に速く反応ができることは素晴しいと思う。アメリカには、野菜と果物をパッケージにあまり入れないが、日本にはよく入れると気付いた。農産の後、惣菜で働いた。マネジャーの菊谷さんは私の面倒をみてくれた。惣菜の人はとてもおもしろく、寿司ロボで寿司を巻いた。おいしい食べ物をたくさんもらった。

仕事以外、一週間に一・二回色々な施設を見学した。さいたまコープの長島さんと土屋さんが大変お世話になった。さいたまコープが何のことをしているか勉強するのため、食品検査センターなど一緒に連れて行ってもらった。文化的な所も行き、その中から盆栽美術館がおすすめである。埼玉県の施設を見学する機会もあった。まるでＶＩＰ扱いで埼玉スタジアム２００２や青雲酒造などに行った。雲の中で山にある三峰神社の旅館に泊まることは一番美しかった。おいしい和食をごちそうになり、和紙とそばも作ってみた。

埼玉に来る前にもう日本についてたくさんのことを知ていたので、今回、何が驚いたか少し分からなくなってしまう。しかし、仕事環境の礼儀正しさには驚いた。皆さんはきちんと挨拶をしたり、名詞の前によく「お」を言う。「お疲れ様です」の表現が特に好きである。「今日も頑張ってくれてありがとう」という気持が素敵だと思い、それを毎日聞くと私がその仕事をしていてよかったと感じる。

埼玉に来る機会があってがとてもよかった。埼玉県に感謝をしている。色々な人と話ができたり、これからも日本語の勉強を頑張ろうと思っている。将来翻訳家や通訳者になりたいので、この経験はその夢に対して非常に重要である。自分以外の国の人と話すのはとても大事だと思う。埼玉人は皆やさしくて寛大である。出会った人が昔から知っているような気がした。回りに幼馴染がいる感じだった。

人種に構わず皆は人間である。基本的に違わない。埼玉に来る前に、オハイオ州立大学からもらったガイドでこのことが書いてあった：「外国の話をすると、強調されたことは同じところではなくて、違うところである。」文化の違いは確かにおもしろいが、類似は世界の人を繋げていると思う。

The Official Report: English Version

For your consideration. Home on Wednesday.

When I first began to imagine what my six weeks in Saitama would be like, I thought about all of the stereotypical images of the Japanese business world: men dressed in suits exchanging business cards with a bow and rows of people working at computers in an office, working hard from morning until night. I thought I would need to have impeccable keigo (polite honorific speech) in order to not embarrass myself in front of the shachou (company president), and I worried about what I would wear every day. However, the company I was placed with is not actually a company at all, but a cooperative association (seikyou) named Saitama Co-op. While I was a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be pretending to be a powerful businesswoman, I was also pleasantly surprised, as I had been a member of Oberlin’s Student Cooperative Association (OSCA) and was curious to see what a Japanese co-op was like, especially one on such a large scale. Unlike Oberlin’s co-ops, which are limited mostly to providing alternative housing and dining to students, Saitama Co-op does everything from groceries to health insurance to cultural centers with an emphasis on affordable, healthy living.

I had two personal goals for this internship. The first was to be able to adapt quickly to new situations and jobs, and to be able to carry out those jobs with efficiency and accuracy. Obviously, a lot of that had to do with my Japanese skills and listening comprehension, and I always made sure to ask clarifying questions if I wasn’t completely sure what it was I was supposed to be doing. I am fairly confident with my Japanese, as it was one of my majors at Oberlin and I spent a semester studying abroad at Kansai Gaidai in Osaka last year. Everyone was very complimentary of my Japanese, but I know that there is still a lot more to learn, and I need to keep being diligent about my studies now that I have graduated. I did feel a little bad for the people I worked with at first, as they seemed to have been concerned that I would not understand Japanese, even though a minimum of three years or equivalent of study is required for this internship. However, they were soon put at ease, and we had many great conversations about Japan and America, and Japanese and English, which ties into my second goal: to talk to anyone who was interested about my experiences as an American, a native speaker of English, and a student of Japanese, in order to do my part as an ambassador. There are plenty of misconceptions held by both Americans and Japanese, and as someone who bridges those two worlds, I find it to be a sort of duty to stress that the world is full of all sorts of people, and thinking in absolutes is rarely useful (for example, is it true that all Americans can’t use chopsticks or eat raw fish, or, is it true that there still aren’t many Japanese women in the workforce. I was actually surprised to see that most of the people I worked with at Saitama Co-op are women).

I moved around a lot during my six weeks in Saitama, working at three different locations within Saitama Co-op. I spent the first week at Saitama University working the cash registers in two different convenience store-type locations and the book store. This took some adjusting, as transactions are unsurprisingly carried out entirely in Japanese, and I had to learn how to use the cash register, which I had no experience operating in any language. I was glad that my Japanese numbers were already strong, as I had to narrate what the total was, how much money the customer gave me, and how much their change came to within a short span of time. I also had to further familiarize myself with Japanese currency and be able to recognize how much money the customer had put down rather quickly. Perhaps the most practical thing I learned is that if you would like the person ringing you up to take whatever money you have set down and change it, it's useful to say onegaishimasu (please take care of this), so they don't keep waiting for you to put down exact change. It’s also a useful way for a customer to begin a transaction, and I now use it every time I buy something as an ulterior motive to let the cashier know that I speak Japanese.

One of my favorite parts of Japanese monetary transactions is that there is almost always a little tray where the customer puts the money, and there it sits while you finish with your business. You don’t have to hold their money somewhat awkwardly in your hand, and it doesn’t have to sit there on the counter looking like it could blow away at any second. Instead, like many things in Japan, it has its proper place, and there it stays until your business is done, when it goes into the register. They often have little rubber nubs that feel nice to touch, so that you’re not grasping something hard all day. It’s the small things that count.

I also sold bento (boxed lunches) during lunch time, which was fun even though it was ghastly hot outside (as it was the entire time) since the ladies I worked with were very sweet and entertaining. There was no cash register however, so I had to calculate change in my head, which I’m not very good at in English or Japanese. Still, like my regular gig at the cash register, any time I had an issue, there was somebody right there to help me out. From my first day, I felt like I was being treated as a member of a team, and that I had been accepted into the extensive co-op family.

The next two weeks, I went on grocery delivery runs with a woman named Shimizu, and we quickly became friends, passing the time in the truck talking about Japan, America, and food. I love all food anywhere, including Japanese food, which always seems to surprise people. We mostly went around apartment buildings making deliveries, and it was nice to constantly be in the company of another person, and also to move around on the job. Standing in one place working a cash register is extremely tiring, and my shoulders and feet hurt a lot after every day at Saitama University. Conversely, making deliveries included a lot of down time in the truck and in the office, and the boxes were rarely heavy. I loved eating lunch with Shimizu-san and her friends every day, and it seemed to me that the women I worked with are very happy with their jobs and Saitama Co-op. The fact that they accept interns like me is probably also testament to the co-op’s priorities.

The last two weeks I spent working at a grocery store in Sayama-dai, which is more in the countryside. Naturally, I spent some time stocking shelves, but I also got to do work behind the scenes, which I found to be more fun. The first two days, I worked in the produce department, doing a lot of packaging. I was surprised to find that Saitama Co-op does a lot of its own packaging of fruits and vegetables, catering to the whims of the co-op members who shop there. For example, I made a lot of half size packages, which we prepared in response to customer comments that they only needed half of a head of cabbage, or half a bag of spinach, at a time. As someone who has spoiled many a half a head of cabbage because I couldn’t use it quickly enough, I thought it was great that Saitama Co-op was able to give its customers what they wanted on such a local level. I have found also that Japan tends to package a lot more of its produce than the United States does.

After produce, I was taken under the wing of the manager of the souzai section, Kikutani-san. Souzai is where they actually prepare food, like bento, sushi, tempura, yakitori, and katsu (fried foods). It is perhaps akin to a delicatessen in that respect. As a side note, on most Saitama Co-op signage, it says “co-op deli,” which does not stand for delicatessen, but for “delivery” and “delicious.” Japanese English is its own beast. I had lots of fun working in souzai, as all the ladies were very nice and funny, and I got to use sushi-making robots. Personally, I am a little miffed by how stereotypically Japanese this seems: sushi and robots are some of Japan’s most famous products, and putting them together seems both natural and like a bad joke, like something you would see on a novelty T-shirt.

In addition to my regular work, I was also treated at least once but sometimes twice a week to touring various facilities, both those operated by Saitama Co-op and by Saitama Prefecture. I was placed in the care of two remarkable individuals from Saitama Co-op, Nagashima-san and Tsuchiya-san, who took me around to places like the food product inspection center, in order to learn more about all the aspects of dealing with food sales. They also took me to more cultural spots, like the Bonsai Museum in Toro, which I highly recommend. I could depend on them for anything, and they were so warm towards me that my fellow interns mistook them for my host family on the day we visited the governor. That’s right, we met the governor of Saitama Prefecture, part of our six-week-long VIP treatment. We were taken around to all sorts of places around the prefecture, like the 2002 World Cup soccer stadium, a saké brewery (complete with taste testing), and a breathtaking shrine and ryokan (inn) on top of a mountain amongst the clouds in Chichibu. We were not just interns, we were guests of the government. We enjoyed delicate meals of Japanese food and got to do a lot of hands-on projects, like make washi (Japanese paper) and soba noodles. If the experience was two parts work, it was one part playtime, getting shuttled around in an air conditioned van, which is not a bad gig considering the unbearable 98° F humid weather.

Since I already knew a lot about Japan, culturally and linguistically, before I came to Saitama, it is a little difficult for me to discern what would stand out as surprising about Japanese business. One of the things I did enjoy as a member of the work force, however, was the general air of politeness that permeates everyday conversation, such as adding the slightly honorific o- prefix to words like obento (bento) and okaimono (shopping), and also the various greetings (aisatsu). To start with, there is irasshaimase (Welcome!), which is cheerfully bleated by all shop workers any time a customer enters a store. Amongst co-workers, there is the wonderful phrase otsukaresama desu, which people throw around lightly, but is ultimately a way of acknowledging somebody’s continued hard work at their job. Being told this every day is very satisfying, and I love that somebody thanking you for doing your job is built into the work day.

I am incredibly grateful that I had the opportunity to come to Saitama this summer and experience what it is like to work in Japan, and to belong to a larger, incredibly supportive community in the form of Saitama Co-op. This experience has inspired me to keep striving in my language studies so that I can one day live my dream of being a professional translator and/or interpreter. It is so incredibly important to experience cultures other than one’s own in order to gain perspective on one’s native country and language so that we can make this world a more peaceful one. Everyone I met was extremely nice and generous, and a lot of the people I worked with gave me the impression that I had met them before, or reminded me strongly of someone I know back in the States. I felt like I was already surrounded by old friends, which is an incredibly comforting feeling. Even though we may be of different nationalities, I believe the common thread of humanity is enough to unite us, as well as some mutual language study. There was a quote in the orientation package prepared by Ohio State University that really stuck with me, which read, “When people talk about other cultures, they tend to describe the differences and not the similarities.” Surely, cultural differences are fun and interesting, but ultimately it is the similarities that tie us all together.

Is it okay if Mom comes?

Here is a linguistic phenomenon that had me really confused the other day: sometimes, people will refer to their spouse in conversation as Mom or Dad (お母さん、パパ etc). Occasionally, this is very confusing, because I am not actually sure if whomever I'm talking to is referring to their wife or their mother. I'm sure you can see the Oedipal places this is going. Most of the time, people will backtrack and say, And by Papa I mean my husband, but the other day this was not the case, and I was introduced to a woman I thought was this man's mom, but was actually (probably) his wife. I did think she looked rather young for a mother of a man who is 40-50 years old. It was only later when she sent me an email in English referring to my acquaintance as her husband that I started to put the pieces back together. Normally I would have been more observant, but this guy (one of the people in charge of me from the co-op) I know does not wear a wedding ring and had talked about his mom before, who was actually his mom and not his wife. I'm pretty sure I have his relations sorted out, but it made for one heck of a head trip along the way.

He's what we call a くそがき

These were the words spoken to me in Japanese by my new host family's grandfather about my new host brother, who is 3 (I think). くそがき kuso gaki literally means shitty brat, but is slightly more endearing than the English would have you think, but only slightly. There are two others, an older sister (6) who is pretty cute but too interested in me and what I am doing at any given second, and a baby who is 1 and doesn't do much except drool. I have also been transplanted to the 田舎 countryside which is less than ideal. I had a rough first day at work today due to these new circumstances and a general feeling of being overwhelmed. I am hoping to transcend these things. My commute is virtually nonexistent now, and I will get to ride a bike, so that is a plus. I miss my previous host family though, and my co-workers from the delivery center. Also, there is no Internet, but I am borrowing grandpa's iPad, which is certainly better than nothing. Don't buy one if you were thinking about it, a real computer is so much more useful.

On making deliveries and what I'm learning

Howl's Moving Castle is on TV. I love this movie.

Anyway, gosh, I am already halfway done with my time here and I haven't been updating this blog as often as I planned. But, I am done with my delivery job, and I'm moving host families tomorrow, so it's time for another update.

Even though delivering groceries in the summer heat doesn't exactly sound like a good time, I had a lot of fun, mostly because I was shadowing a super nice employee, and we had many a laugh. She is Shimizu-san, and here we are together:



I am really glad that I was placed in her care, as our personalities fit well together and she would sing little songs on the fly, one of my favorites being ちょっとコンビニ, ちょっとお菓子 chotto konbini, chotto okashi (a little convenience store, a little snack) when we stopped to get a snack. She told me she would write me letters, and I hope she does.

Everyone else at the center was also very nice, which I was immediately clued into on my first day when I walked up the stairs and saw this:



Welcome to Omiya Center!
Let's do our best together!

Too cute, right? Everyone keeps giving me things with the Saitama Co-op logo on them. People tend to treat me like a little kid, which I don't mind, because that means they explain things to me slowly and simply, I don't have much responsibility, and they give me candy.


I think these trucks are so cute. Also, pro tip: the "deli" does not stand for "delicatessen," but actually "delivery" and "delicious," which no English speaker would think of first.


Part of the neighborhood I made deliveries in, from the 6th floor of an apartment building. Train tracks!

I'm finding myself in a strange position, since part of the point of this internship is to compare Japanese and American business. However, I have very little work experience in America, and I already knew a lot about Japan, Japanese culture, and Japanese business before I came here, so it's tough to say what I'm really learning in that respect. BUT, what is more important to me (cultural similarities are what tie us together, amirite?) is meeting a lot of different people and being able to communicate with them, and also being able to adapt quickly to different jobs and be of some use to my co-workers. I'm probably not allowed to say that I'm not learning anything about the Japanese business world though, haha. Saitama Co-op is pretty exceptional in a lot of ways also, it's not exactly a "traditional" Japanese company, but that's probably part of the lesson, too. I will continue to collect my thoughts on it, since I have to write a report at the end anyway. English and Japanese. I will be posting them here, so look forward to it!

川越 Kawagoe

Last weekend, I went to the historic city of Kawagoe to the north. I was accompanied by my host mom and sister, Nagashima-san from the co-op, and the genkiest おじいちゃん old man tour guide ever, who speaks English and was only too happy to explain everything to me in the tiniest details. He was cute, but set far too high expectations for the day, as we tired out pretty quick and had to call it quits early. I took a lot of pretty photos though, have a look.


This is a special thing you walk through in a figure-8 for good luck.



The gardens of Kitain Temple.


533 Buddhist monk statues. These were awesome, every one is different. I took a lot of pictures of these which are on Facebook.


SWEET POTATO LUNCH. I WAS VERY PLEASED.


This was an eel うなぎ restaurant which had a lovely pond of koi and a little bridge. The tour guide said, "There's normally an eel in here... but I don't see it so maybe they ate it."

Anyway, we walked all over, went to the museum, ran into one of the other guys doing the same internship I am since he is living in Kawagoe, ate a lot of sweet potato-related goods (my favorite was dual sweet potato/taro soft serve, DELICIOUS). I was for real tired at the end of the day, but we saw a lot of cool things so overall it was a good experience, and I am always happy to make somebody who wants to speak English with me happy.

Me and the Bento Ladies

Last week, as part of my co-op duties at Saitama University, I sold bento (boxed lunches) outside with cute bento ladies. We would call out to students passing by and sell them things like Pork with Kimchi 豚キムチ (and rice, of course) or chicken, you know, stuff like that. On the first day, they asked me to draw something cute on the signboard, and I did the best I could:



Sekiguchi-san (on the right) said, "Oh, I look like that guy, who's that guy, the fat one with the red hat" and her partner goes, "Mario?" and she's like, "Yeah, that one!"



They were very nice, I had a good time. Except, there was no cash register obviously, so I had to calculate change in my head, which I am not very good at in English let alone Japanese. They helped me out though and I got the hang of it. It was nice to do the same thing every day of that week, as otherwise I have been doing different things every day. Whenever I tell anyone that I'm 22, they always say 若いな you're so young, so, that's cool. I do really feel like it's これからだ, like my life is just getting started.

Themed Posts - Maybe Not

So I wanted to do more themed posts in this blog this time around, but what that means is that I don't post because I don't feel like I have enough material for a theme. Here are some things I've been thinking about:

-what it means to be "fluent"
-why everyone asks me what I ate for lunch
-the power of the phrase おねがいします
-how everyone I meet is so nice, and often reminds me of someone I already know, it's a very familiar feeling
-why are Japanese towels so small
-why is English such a complicated language
-how much I like the phrase お疲れさま

Oh but I do have some pictures to put up, so maybe I will do that. Lots of stuff keeps happening, I should just write about it. Today marks the end of the 2nd full week, on Thursday it will have been 3 weeks and I will be halfway done. Time fliesね。

Found Engrish: Mister Donut

From a take-home box of Mister Donut doughnuts, verbatim:

40th anniversary !!
What's up!! Enjoy donut !!
Every day every time. Donut make you happy !!
Enjoy your time with donut !!
mister donut cheer you up !!

Amen.

On working a cash register in Japan, and some other thoughts

Hmm, so, I've been trying to figure out what exactly I should write about in this blog. For the past three days, I've been working at Saitama University working the cash register in two different convenience store-type shops on campus that are run by Saitama Co-op. I had absolutely no prior experience working with a cash register, but I soon got the swing of things. At first, it was a little scary, since I had to conduct business in Japanese where for once I was the one providing the service instead of the other way around. I suppose we do this in the States as well, but every part of a Japanese transaction is narrated. It begins with a greeting, いらっしゃいませ！Irasshaimase! WELCOME!



Then I use my fancy scanner to scan the bar codes (thank god for bar codes), tell the customer how much that will come to, push some buttons, and wait for them to give me some money. If it's exact change, I announce that I will now humbly accept their exact change (ちょうど頂きます) which always makes me feel like I'm saying I will now humbly eat their 100 yen coin (it's the same verb you use when you announce you will now begin eating your meal, it's all about humbly receiving). If they require change, I repeat the amount they put down and then say I will humbly take care of their change. Then I do so and tell them how much change it is. And finally, we end with a Thank you very much.

I already knew a lot about Japan, Japanese, and Japanese spending habits before I started this job, so it's difficult to say what really stands out. I already knew that hardly anyone uses a credit card, it's still mostly a cash-based economy, although lately cards like Suica are becoming popular. These are prepaid cards that you use mostly for the train or the bus (I have one, very handy) which you can scan at the register and recharge later at the train station. People also try to get change back in denominations of 10 or 5, even if that means giving some weird coins in the first place. Also, 一万 10,000 yen (a little over $100) bills are not that uncommon. Perhaps the most practical thing I have learned is that if you would like the person ringing you up to take whatever money you have set down and change it, it's useful to say おねがいします onegaishimasu (please take care of this), so they don't keep waiting for you to put down exact change.

One of my favorite parts of Japanese monetary transactions is that there is almost always a little tray where the customer puts the money, and there it sits while you finish with your business. You don't have to hold it somewhat awkwardly in your hand, and it doesn't have to sit there on the counter looking like it could blow away at any second. Instead, like many things in Japan, it has its proper place, and there it stays until your business is done, when it goes into the register. They often have little rubber nubs that feel really nice to touch, so that you're not grasping something hard all day. It's the small things that count.

In other news, everyone is super nice to me and says very nice things about my Japanese. For some reason, they are all surprised when I say I can read Japanese too. I do tell them that I majored in Japanese right off the bat, but for some reason this does not automatically mean that I can read Japanese to some people. I am not sure why. Maybe it's because speaking and reading/writing skills are very divorced when it comes to the average person's proficiency in English. A lot of people tell me they can read and/or write English a little bit, but speaking is absolutely impossible. So maybe because they can see I am proficient in speaking, I must be deficient somewhere else. It's probably actually because there seems to be this notion that Japanese is a super hard language. I have never found it to be that way. Everyone is quick to point out that the pronunciation of Japanese is actually really easy. It's super regular, and the vowel sounds are all very standard. If you put any amount of effort into listening to native speakers, you can speak Japanese like a pro. English is a completely different story, as I'm sure you can imagine.

As last time, I find that I am proud to be an American. This is a pretty special feeling. I am also extremely grateful that I happened to be born a native speaker of English.

I'll have to write about the good times I'm having with my host family another time, since this is already long enough, so we'll close with a picture of the tree-filled Saitama University campus.

Another trip to Japan, another アドベンチャースタート！ First day in Saitama

OKAY, SO. JAPAN. Take 4. That's right. This is my fourth time to Japan. ４回。 Ridiculous. I'm not sure whose fault this is, but I feel like Japanese is such a straightforward language compared to English. I feel this way when I try to explain English grammar to interested parties. There are so many irregularities, so many turns of phrase that you could never hope to pick up just by studying. Being a native speaker of English is really a blessing, in its own way. Sure we're given a tough time about it, but really... hey, global language ftw (I never say that, what is wrong with me).

Um, but, right, Japan so far. So far, and I mean the past 30 hours or so (omg それだけ？), it's been really great. My flight was pretty awful though, got delayed like 2.5 hours and my seat was really cramped (UNITED, you kind of suck), nowhere near as fun as my previous flight to Japan. I finally passed out during the last leg, thank god. Landed at Narita and didn't see Matt (fellow intern who also goes to Oberlin) or anyone with a sign with my name on it, so I wandered a little, exchanged my money, then asked the nice lady at the info desk if she could make an announcement over the PA for me, to brush off my polite Japanese. And find this guy. Which I did. Hiyama-san. A very nice man. I met with the 3rd intern, also named Matthew, and then we drove to Saitama.

The drive to Saitama was actually 意外と really sweet. We drove right by Tokyo Disneyland and Odaiba, over the Rainbow Bridge, saw Tokyo Tower, and then through the heart of downtown Tokyo (Ikebukuro), all aglow at night. I thought I would be way too tired to pay as much attention as I did to the scenery, but my excitement temporarily erased my fatigue and I was entranced. I chattered excitedly with the other Matthew about Japan and Japanese and the lovely things outside the windows. I'm hoping that I leave Japan before the honeymoon phase ends this time.

When we got to the (super fancy) hotel, us 3 interns and Hiyama-san ate some dinner (yakitori and a huge plate of sushi with wasabi that made my nose hurt like something awful--why does it do that? It's not like normal spicy food which sets your mouth on fire, it just attacks your sinuses. I don't ever eat wasabi so it was an experience) and drank some 梅酒 UMESHU (plum/ume wine) which is so goddamn good, I had forgotten. Then I went to sleep.

TODAY, got up, had delicious hotel buffet breakfast, then took a walk over to a Saitama government office and got myself oriented. Met real Japanese people in a real Japanese office, working at their little computers. Actually used keigo and felt like it was merited. Everyone was very cute and friendly. Then we went back to the hotel for another fancy meal, and we were joined by members from everyone's host families (we all have at least 2 host families, so I met both of my new host moms) and some people from everyone's company. Everyone was super nice to me and complimented me profusely on my Japanese, which never gets old. I had a great time.

After our leisurely lunch, I went with some of the people from Saitama Co-op and we discussed what I will be doing during this internship, and also pondered at length what size uniform to order. Everything is measured in centimeters, which of course, I, being a dumb American, have little experience with. Luckily, Nagashima-san had a measuring tape, so she sent the guy out of the room and measured me. It was hilarious watching the two of them pour over the size chart trying to figure out what to do with my American T&A. I ended up with the largest pant size, which is, get this, 7L, or, XXXXXXXL. Hilarious, right? Well, I got some junk in my trunk, okay? I felt sort of bad, but not really. I'm pretty average sized in America. Or so I like to think.

Then I took a long journey with Nagashima-san to my first host family's apartment. It was very hot. She was extremely nice though, and explained lots of things about my commute to me.

When we finally arrived, I was surprised to find that my host mom had changed out of the lovely kimono she had been wearing at lunch. She had traded it for a T-shirt, jeans, and a rainbow curly clown wig. Boy, did I peg her personality wrong! She is a riot. Some neighbors came over who wanted to practice their English but as this usually goes in Japan, that means speaking in Japanese and occasionally discussing an English phrase that may come up. Then my high school aged host sister came home, and we talked about many things, like the finer points of what is considered too sexy of a school uniform, and how to pronounce SEA URCHIN like a pro. PS, it tastes totally bizarre, I did not approve.

Only downside is that there is no wireless and no router, so I either have to use their computer or plug mine into the modem, both of which I did. Unplugging the Internet from their computer causes it to go all funny when I plug it back in, but I troubleshooted IN JAPANESE and fixed it. The fix was the same as always--unplug the modem, wait 10 seconds, plug it back in. See, we're all the same, all over the world.

Okay, so, until next time.

これから宜しくお願い致します。

卒業 and 来日

So it has been a little over a year since I left Japan and last wrote in this blog, and I figured I would start up again since I'm going to be going back in about 3 weeks. That's right, I'm going to give it another shot, this time for 6 weeks in 埼玉 Saitama as a business intern at Saitama Co-op (they have an adorable website), which sells groceries. I'm not entirely sure what I will be doing yet, but I know that it will entail stocking shelves and learning about the Japanese business world. The internship is courtesy of the Ohio-Saitama Company Internship Program, which I was eligible for due to being a student at Oberlin, where I am *newly graduated* from. So for now, I'm sitting at home in Los Angeles, brushing up on my 警護, trying to learn Korean (time to conquer the next language perhaps?), and composing my shopping list for things to stock up on while I'm in Japan. I really want to visit Osaka while I'm there, but I'm not sure how realistic that is, given money and time. I still don't know very many details about the program, so I guess we'll just have to see how things pan out. I think I'm ready to try Japan again, and I can't really get better at Japanese without being there. I'm also going to shoot for taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) in December... 2級. They made 1級 even harder this year so we'll see when I get there. Maybe after graduate school, if I ever get there, either. HA, the future.