Japan Style

Thanks to my speaking partner's connections at a local radio station, I have been invited to join FM Hirakata on their weekly radio program, Suzana's Corner. Today, I met the owner of the radio station and had a wonderful time with him and the radio host, Suzana.

I met Hirai in front of Kintetsu after classes. He's a very nice, gregarious older Japanese man. He took me up to the second floor of Sunplaza to his radio station. He kept mentioning how small the station was, but it's just Japanese modesty to say such things. The station was cozy and well layed out. I was nervous at first, but my Japanese flowed well, and before long we were hitting it off just fine.

He took me into the studio for a bit and then Suzana came and introduced herself. She's a very nice 20-something woman from the Czech Republic. She speaks fluent Japanese and English, and is so very nice and beautiful! We talked about what the show would contain, and then we "changed places," as Hirai-san said, and went to a small restaurant across the street. We went there via the skyway, which I'd never been on. It was cool. The whole way, I was talking to him and Suzana about how long I'd been studying abroad, why I like Japan, etc.

The restaurant was great. They ordered some food, and after some confusion on my part as to what alcohol was appropriate to drink (I don't know much!), we settled on some nice plum wine. It was very sweet and pleasant. Suzana and I continued to discuss the show. She asked me questions about Oklahoma: what was famous there? What special foods are there? I wasn't sure how to reply. I said we have lots of countryside, are famous for oil, we have buffalo, and my town is surrounded by 6 tribes of Native Americans and is named after a tribe, the Ponca. I hope I did my state justice by my words!

Afterwards, Hirai took us to a sushi bar he and Suzana frequent, Yuuna. It was a lovely, quaint sushi bar and reminded me of my first time in Japan going to one of these. It was so nice and comforting, and I got a little nostalgic.

Hirai san ordered a bottle of sake, and Suzana and him took care of the pouring for the most part to be polite to me. I was on my best behavior and had been throughout the night - using desu/masu (polite) Japanese and making sure to avoid any cultural faux pas that I've made in the past. We had great sashimi. The best: toro (expensive, fatty tuna), uni (sea urchin, one of the most expensive sashimi), and some rice and wheat dough dishes called dango that tasted much like whole wheat bread. The sushi was absolutely delicious. Hirai paid for everything.

while there, I also tried...natto...for the first time. It wasn't that delicious. I passed it on to Hirai-san as they made jokes about where the bathroom was, in case I should need it. It really wasn't that bad, but they didn't expect me to like it, so it's okay. The master of the sushi bar was from Okinawa, and I told him I had a friend/friend's mother who was from there, back in the States. Suzana and him discussed the military base in Okinawa that's currently in the news for being moved. They were wonderful people to hang out with, everyone!

From there, we parted ways in front of the radio station. I have 3 meetings with Suzana next month, and I will be featured in 6 episodes of her show, Suzana's Corner! I can't wait. I'm so excited. The show will be featured online, too, so I'll be sure and post a link for you when I get a chance.


Tyler

My apologies for lack of posting. I hope that you've been following my photos and status updates on facebook if you've wanted to keep up with me and my adventure in Japan.

Tonight I read a story of two lovers, a soldier and his wife, who took their lives one night in the name of the Imperial Forces in the 1930s. The story was very detailed, full of love, and had rich, vivid descriptions of the man committing seppuku with his wife as witness. She, too, ended her life that night.

After reading this story, I wanted to leave the brightness of the dorm and head outside. The air was cool and crisp, its air sweet with the scent of cut grass. Today was the first day that I heard the cicadas in Japan since coming here just 3 months ago.

My friends and I walked to the cemetery, and then off into the small forest that lay beyond the field there. We saw a figure with a flashlight, walking carefully, his light tracing frenetic circles on the earth around him. We weren't sure what to make of him, but we pressed on nevertheless.

Oh, the scent. It was intoxicating. Walking toward the hill in the forest, you never would have known you weren't back home, exploring some abandoned place with your friends a few blocks from your house. We climb the steps and reach the summit, whereupon we reach a paved circular platform, its center empty and full of earth. We were confused for awhile, not sure what it meant.

But I didn't care. We came without lights, and it was difficult to see clearly. I rested my hand on a tree, and it came back sticky with sap. The sap smelled like cloves and carrots - it reminded me also of the white spice drops you find back home. It was so refreshing. I loved the scent of this pine tree, and even more wished that I was home, at least for one day. But I decided I was content with just the scent of being home - I only have a few more weeks here, anyway.

We made our way back and avoided the man, who we know see is a night watchman, and got home safely. It was a wonderful detour from the daily life here that I've become so accustomed to.


Tyler

Today I spent a few hours at a local arcade in hirakata city. It's called DINO, and the games here are really cheap.

There's a section of rhythm games by Bemani in the corner, and they have a unique feature called e-AMUSEMENT PASS. For 400 yen you can buy a card that will save your progress in each of these games. This is useful, as there are unlockables for each game, including new songs, play modes, and new themes/skins/etc.



The games in this arcade are GuitarFreaks V6, DrumMania V6, and my favorite, jubeat ripples.
This arcade is really loud. They had a "Bemani sound separator" between the guitar freaks and jubeat machines, but the sound bleed is still terrible. The right jubeat Machine has really good volume, so I switched to that one once I figured that out.
Jubeat (pronounced YOU-Beat) is a rythym game where you tap colored blocks in time to the music. Cool thing is, the blocks are a 4 x 4 grid separation of one LCD screen, so you select your songs and do everything from there. I didn't get a photo of it, but I have a video of the screen in action.





The songs I like are honeypot by aika, Mr. Scat man, and kiss edge. Great songs! I went from Level D to level C4 in the achievements grading system they use, and I hope to be a B before too long.

GuitarFreaks only has three buttons, and it plays nothing like Guitar Hero. I don't care for it much.

DrumMania is fun, albeit complicated.

I look forward to more jubeat! Hopefully my fingers will callous up a little - they're tender from playing so many times today.

Highlight of the day:  Meeting a very nice Japanese attendant at the grocery store and making a friend.

Low point of the day: Feeling completely unwanted, worthless, then crying.


Tyler

A lot has happened this week, and it's only Thursday.

I arrived at my dorm via bus on Monday morning. On the way there, I sat next to an Australian guy and we talked about the differences between America and Australia. He was the first Australian I'd really ever spoken to, and I was his first real American to speak to.

We arrived at Seminar House 4 sooner than I'd anticipated. It was just so sudden. It wasn't quite like I'd imagined it to be. Somehow pictures add a certain dreamlike quality to a place. The reality is wonderful, but different and somehow more...mundane, or worldly. I moved into my room, 4309, and my roommates were already here, sleeping on their futon, or Japanese bed made of a thin padded mattress and some blankets on the floor. They're really comfy.

Chris is from Puerto Rico and Florida, and Doug is from Massachusetts. Chris is doing homestay this semester, and was here last semester. They're nice guys, although for the first couple days I was a little anxious around them, especially Chris. His intonation is very strange, and I could never tell if he was being sarcastic or not. I annoyed him once, when I asked if he was mocking me. Those days are long over, though - my self-esteem is back, and I have relaxed around everyone. It's a very good thing I did, because making friends would be hard otherwise.

I took a tour of the area with some Japanese students that afternoon. We went to the closest shops - shimamura and Avail, two clothing stores. Miho and I got to know each other pretty well. She's a Spanish major, and very easy to talk to. We went to several other shops, and a really, really awesome 3 story mall with a HUGE electronics store. I will be buying a DSi LL soon, I'm sure.

Deodorant is hard to find in Japan, and anti-perspirant is all but impossible to locate. I settled on some unscented stuff called "Bodycore" or something like that, made by Gatsby. It's okay.

Tuesday was jam-packed full of things. On Tuesday, I opened a bank account, signed up for a cell phone, and more. It was a very tiring day. I walked a really long way. More later!

I arrived in Osaka on Saturday evening. It was quite a trip!

My family went to Tulsa with me Thursday to Tulsa, and we went out to dinner for my parent's anniversary which was the same day. I have terrible timing, eh?

Friday Morning, they took me to the airport. We had a somewhat tearful goodbye, especially for my Dad.

Through lots of flying and waiting...I finally arrived at Tokyo! It was there that I met some fellow Kansai Gaidai-ers: Chris, Priscilla, Brittany, and George(?). They were a lot of fun, and I got to know Priscilla pretty well on the plane ride to Osaka.


I had no idea how to get to the Dotonbori hotel once I was in Osaka, but luckily my new friends were getting a friend to go take them to the dorms. I followed them up until my stop, and then a very nice woman helped me to my next subway train.


She was super nice, and wasn't even getting on the same train as myself! Upon surfacing, a different hotel gave me directions to the Dotonbori, and then a homeless man guided me to the correct crosswalk. It was all very interesting, but at that point I was so exhausted I just wanted a shower and some sleep.

The next morning I went to go pick up Megan and Blaine, but they had spent the night in Guam at an Internet Café and didn't get any sleep. They hadn't really slept in 40 hours...poor guys. They had booked a hotel (without me knowing) at the airport and they went straight to bed. We didn't hang out at all Sunday. At first I was upset because I had spent $9 and an hour of my time to come get them, but I can understand how tired they were, and they probably wouldn't have been much fun in their state anyway.

So I spent the day in Osaka by myself. I went to Melissa's favorite ramen shop in the whole wide world. It was really delicious! Then I hit up an arcade at this place called "Nanba HIPS" and played some Taiko Drum Master with a little boy who was better than me. The escalator up to the arcade was really cool.



After that, I just started wandering around. There were lots of people walking around. After a few minutes of sightseeing, I was approached by these two young Japanese men. They were comedians and took a great interest in me! I was really excited. They were really cool. There names were Kattchan and Mattchan, and they (along with Chiakk) showed me their comedy club. I watched their performance for only 500円! It's a comedy style called "Manzai," and it was a lot of speaking and word humor. However, I got enough of it to have a really wonderful time. It was in a very traditional looking room with seat mats - you even had to take off your shoes to get in. Most of the audience were girls. There were about 25 of us watching the show. It was really neat. Afterwards, I walked with the guys back to the bridge and we chatted the whole way. Every so often I'd see them again in the street and they'd come up and hug me or shake my hand. It was great to feel so welcome here.


I also heard a street band called "524" and they were really good. I liked their vocal harmony. They noticed me and were very friendly. They all came up to me after their song and greeted me. We all took pictures together, and I signed up for their fan club. It was really neat.



After some shopping (Melissa, I found an omamori toosan!), my backpack started killing my shoulders, so I went back to the hotel for a brief nap. That was 4pm. I briefly woke up 3 hours later, then went back to sleep until midnight. Not good for my sleep schedule.

I decided to get some tonkatsu at this restaurant called "New Host," and head to bed after that.

It's now 2:30am. I should probably get to bed. This morning I take the pick-up service to Kansai Gaidai!


Tyler

I've been at OSU since Wednesday afternoon, just hanging out with Markus and saying goodbye (and hello) to some friends. I've done very little studying on renshuu.org over the week, but that's okay. I'm probably about 15% packed - my Pelican case is ready to go, but not much else. So much packing to do.

I have to be in Stillwater Monday afternoon, so I'll get started on Tuesday. That'll give me two solid days to pack.

It's coming up so soon. Yesterday I got really sad about it. But I don't have it as bad as Blaine does. Poor guy, his passport and certificate were lost in the mail so he has nothing right now to get him over there. I do hope they retrieved it, otherwise it will be several thousand dollars and a few weeks until he can get here.


Tyler

In less than two weeks, I will be boarding a plane (several planes, really) to Osaka Japan's Kansai International Airport (KIX). I have reserved a hotel room at the Dotonbori hotel in downtown Osaka. It was pretty cheap as far as hotels go. I decided not to stay in a capsule hotel my first night because I've read a NYTimes article talking about the bad conditions there, and also about how salary men are staying there for months at a time because it's cheaper than an apartment. I'm not scared of salary men, but I think people who live in hotels for long periods of time tend to bring a place down a little bit.

I bought a big Pelican case to take all of my photo equipment to Japan with me. It's a 1640 Pelican case, and it is almost too big to fly with. It barely made the size limit by just .6 linear inches! The case itself weighs 35 lbs, so I can't take much more in it without paying overweight penalties. Good thing photo equipment isn't too heavy.

I've been studying pretty regularly on renshuu.org to be ready for the placement exam once I get there. I talked to me friend Trey yesterday at OSU, and he said you don't have to write kanji for the placement test! I was so relieved - that is single-handedly my weakest area. I understand stroke order very well, but I have trouble recalling which strokes to make at all. I can identify and read around 250 kanji, I think, but not much more than that. Grammar will be my weakest point on the placement exam because it's harder to study outside of class.

Everything is looking good! This should be a great adventure.


Tyler

Hey!

Don't listen to what the websites tell you about the yakkan shoumei. Turns out it is easier to get one than you think!

Yakkan Shoumei is a paper that allows you to bring more than 1 month's supply of prescription medication with you to Japan. You need the yakkan shoumei form on your person when you go through customs. Websites will tell you that you need to mail it to the bureau

First off, if you can fill out your application digitally (via Photoshop, GIMP, etc) then I recommend you do that so you have a copy for yourself. Also, you will need a digital copy if you are faxing via the internet or computer.

Grab the application from the internet - a search for "yakkan shoumei" will get you started. Fill out the application using the instructions and example pages in the PDF as your guide. I recommend you use information sheets/leaflets for the medications you will be using. These can be substituted for the "explanation of products" page. Make sure you have information for each of your medications.

After your application is filled out, make sure you have the following things (either printed or in PDF format):

Completed Yakkan Shoumei application
Copy of flight itinerary
Copy of prescriptions signed by doctor

Take all of these things and fax them to the Kinki Regional Bureau in Osaka, Japan. Their fax number can be found on the application. If you aren't going the digital route, then you will probably need to scan each document to fax them.

My fax took about 17 minutes to send everything - I had about 18 pages in all. You should receive a return fax with a statement saying your original will be mailed to you. The fax will also have a scan of your yakkan shoumei completed!

No postage stamps, no "Coupon Réponse International", and no 2-week delay for your yakkan shoumei!


Tyler

Hello!

I have wonderful news! I have been accepted into Kansai Gaidai. I received my acceptance letter via email last week. Megan has received hers too, but we are still waiting on Blaine's...more on that later.

I was looking through my information, and it seems that Kansai Gaidai picks us up directly from the Kansai International Airport. The pick-up service is ¥2000 and runs from 9am-6pm on the 23rd.

However...my flight doesn't get in until 7pm. What's more, they don't run the service on the next day (Sunday), so I couldn't use the service until Monday - almost 36 hours later. I think it would be fun to make our own way to Kansai Gaidai, and potentially cheaper by about ¥500, with exception to the hotels. However, hotels are a sunk cost, given the circumstances. That expense will happen either way.

Megan and Blaine will arrive about 13 hours later than I! Wow! That means I have to figure out hotel arrangements all on my lonesome the first night. Should be interesting...! Oh my, the possibilities.

I think, if, possible, I'll be booking through Orbitz or something similar on the state-side, so that when I get there all I will have to do is show my papers to get my room.

I still need to get my visa. Waiting on KG for that one too.


Tyler

Man, this keeps bogging me down!

I received an email last week from Kansai Gaidai saying that they'd received my application, but there was a concern on my medical evaluation form. They wanted my doctor to send another letter explaining that I was just fine. As if the first one wasn't enough.

So...my application still hasn't been accepted and it's upsetting. I should have it fixed by the end of this week. Time will tell.


Tyler

At long last, my application to Kansai Gaidai is complete! I received the medical evaluation from my Mom via email yesterday, and turned in the application to Kat today. She also had me sign a contract saying that I agreed to pay OSU room and board, tuition, and fees in exchange for those same services at Kansai Gaidai.

We talked briefly about the girl that was there this semester that came home early. I don't want that to happen to any of us next semester!

Apparently the meal plan over there works like this: You are given breakfast and dinner at your residence hall, but lunch is reimbursed monthly. This is good, I think, because I can eat off-campus or wherever I would like for lunch everyday.

Still working on my course equivalency. I thought it was due today so I panicked and got a lot of work done on it today. This is a good thing, too! Sometimes I just have to get kicked into motion.


Tyler

I went in for the course equivalency part of my study abroad adventure today. I got a lot more than expected...and a little less too.

I took the half-hour before my meeting to determine my classes and print out their course descriptions. I should be taking some fun and easy classes next semester - things like "The Visual Anthropology of Japan," "Religion in Japan," and "Sexuality in Japan," and also my language classes. I'm excited for them.

I got into what appears to be a 10-minute argument with Kat, the coordinator for reciprocal exchange, in the office today. I came in and asked about my expense estimate, and she got upset very quickly. I'll try to lay it out as objectively as possible.

August 31st: I email Anne asking for an expense estimate to help fill out my Bridging and Gilman scholarship forms. She forwards the message to Linda Millis and Kat to "get the process started."

September 22nd: A follow-up email to Kat reveals that she did not start the estimate as asked. She did not think it necessary as the numbers would be more accurate as we came upon the study abroad date. She wanted me to have talked to Linda Millis first.

Later that day: Message from Kat: "This is the first time I hear that you need the expense estimate. You are now on my list, it will be done by the end of the next week."

Fast forward to today, September 30th: She doesn't have the expense estimate because she assumed it was for federal financial aid. She assumed wrong.

She got very terse, very exasperated, and quite upset about the whole thing. She raised her voice at me, too, while I kept my calm. It wasn't fun in the slightest. After that, she produced my course equivalence sheet for me. We ended the meeting on friendly (enough) terms.

From now on, I told her, I will give her every deadline and tell her exactly what to do when, and give no wiggle room or doubt in her mind as to my intentions. That's apparently the only way to get things done.

My next step is to get signatures from my advisors confirming my courses will count for me.


Tyler

Hey!

I've been working on my application for the past week or so. I guess I need to fill you in on that!

Kansai eventually sent us the link to K-GENESYS (it does indeed exist) it's really nice and efficient. About half of it is filled online, and the other half is a series of documents that you print, fill out, and mail to Kansai Gaidai. My study abroad office offered to mail them for me. yay! According to the timeline, My app was supposed to be turned in 2 weeks ago, but we're okay on time I think.

I ordered my plane ticket yesterday morning. I will be flying alone to Japan. It's unfortunate, but it had to be. Megan and Blaine got their airfare paid for with miles which is awesome! But...they must fly through Guam and that flight would have been $2400 for me. That's too much.

I will be flying from Tulsa to Houston, then to Narita, then to Kansai International. The return trip is the same. All in all, the airfare was about $1400. Not bad at all, and cheaper than when I went in 2008 for sure (thank you cheap oil prices).

Should get my paper application completed and turned in Wednesday. Probably will receive the rest of my documents next week to wrap up the process. I go in for course equivalency on tomorrow, too. What classes do I want to take...


Tyler

ps - My computer's been in for repairs for 13 days, so I haven't had access to my photos and such. Sorry for the lack of multimedia in this post.

Hey there,

I got my ISIC card yesterday. It's an international student insurance card, and it will help cover repatriation and other things that my regular health insurance won't. It also has lots of neat discounts for things.

Megan and I are looking for flights to Japan...she has points on Continental, so we're going to fly them most likely. Unfortunately, the layovers and flight stops are really weird; They either take you through Chicago or Denver, or have a 6-hr layover. Megan's best and cheapest actually would take us from Houston to NYC, and then an 11-hour layover to Japan. There's just not a good flight to be had around that time...so we'll just have to make do with what we can get.

I'm hesitant to even book a flight right now, as our application process is unknown at this time. We should already have our deadlines, application forms, and instructions, but we only have the deadline. It's not our Study Abroad Office's fault, either. Here's the lowdown:

The Kansai Gaidai website changed a couple months ago, and the application forms are no longer available on their usual page. Instead, the instructions there say to apply online using K-GENESYS. A google search of that acronym results in nothing relevant whatsoever.

Speaking with our SA Office, they said they should have received the login information already. She emailed them, and their reply was a letter saying to visit another website for the application.

That website doesn't exist anymore. I checked the cached version of Google, and it used to have everything. Now it's a "404" page. That's just great.

Kat, our SA person, is apparently not receiving info from Kansai Gaidai, so her advice was to fill out the forms for last semester and be ready to submit them upon confirmation that they'll even work at all.

That's wonderful news. Go ahead and spend time filling out something that might not even be the real application, in hopes that they'll have pity upon you and accept you anyway. Should we really be looking at flights when we're not even sure we can apply yet?

Argh, I say. This is frustrating. Hopefully some answers will come about soon.


Tyler

Study Abroad Orientation was 5 hours long...it was long.

I'd heard much of what they had said before, when I had gone to Japan with the Wings of Rotary group back in 2008. Things like packing light, reverse culture shock, Skype, etc. The things of interest to me were about scholarships, financial aid, application paper deadlines, and how to get the most out of your study abroad.

Lunch was my favorite, though. We got to eat first(!) out of everyone, and we sat out on the porch with Naho, Keiko, and Wooka. Naho and Keiko are exchange students from Kansai Gaidai, and they were friendly. The easiest Japanese people to talk to are young Japanese girls - they're the most excited and animated out of anyone. And very easygoing! I was speaking Japanese with them the whole time, and it was quite fun. We talked about Kansai Gaidai a lot, as well as their own adjustment in coming to OSU. Tyler Weirick was also there and we talked a little about Shinshu, too.

I'm more excited for my travel, and I feel a little better prepared for it. Unfortunately, they didn't tell us Kansai Gaidai goers about how meal plan will work, or list the actual host university application deadline in our papers...so now we have to figure out what to do and when. Oh well - they're working pretty hard as it is, and I told them in the meeting that I expect accurate information regarding housing, expenses, and meal plans.


Tyler

I started around 5pm with getting the rice cooking and then Jesse arrived. Trey came too, and we all helped make the edamame in the kitchen. I sorta used a recipe from WikiHow.com, and it turned out okay. I shouldn't be allowed to drop things into boiling water...I splashed some water onto my hand when I threw a bunch of the beanpods in. After that I just prepared other things. haha!


Tyler

Before our orientation and before Sam and Jesse leave for Shinshu, I wanted us to all get together and have dinner at my place. Jesse, Sam, and I bought supplies on Thursday at Wal-Mart and this cool place called Sultan's.

While in Wal-Mart, Sam was telling me how he received the JASSO and how that made him ineligible for the really cheap housing on campus, so he has to rent some expensive apartment now. How lame! If I'm offered the JASSO, I will check and see if there are any restrictions like his. :-(

Sultan's is just off of Main ST near Studio ONE, and it's the next best thing to the now-defunct Asian Food Mart. They have ramuné, mochi in several flavors, and my favorite favorite furikake of all time, goma shio! That stuff is delicious on rice.

I also bought us Baklava for the ride home. It was quite tasty.

Hello!

This is my first post for my study abroad trip. It's an 9:30am on a Sunday morning, August 23, 2009. I have exactly 4 months until I leave for Kansai Gaidai.

The Study Abroad Office scholarship is due on Wednesday, and it's pretty much guaranteed for all Spring semester study abroad students if you just apply! That's good news. Any monetary help is fantastic. We don't know for sure how much this trip will cost, but our OSU study abroad orientation is this coming Saturday and all of our questions should be answered by then.

Megan and Blaine are also going to Kansai Gaidai with me. Megan is in my JAPN 2113 class and we've been friends ever since we met in JAPN 1115. Her boyfriend, Blaine, is now taking that beginner class. We plan on all living together in Seminar House III, the largest and most expensive of the dormitories. Jesse and Sam are going to Shinshu University for the whole year, and I think they leave in a month. We're all getting together this Thursday to have a meal and talk about our future travel in Japan. Everyone's gathering in my room for rice, miso, and conversation! It should be wonderful.