演奏会 - Ensoukai

Last weekend was my yukata "Ensoukai" and last koto performance before I head home. We only played two songs, "Sakura" and "Tozan Densha" (さくらと登山電車), but it ended up being a fun experience (minus the headache from Sapporo Beer Garden the night before...). All in all the five of us ryugakusei spent a good six hours at Sanagi-sensei's place but it was a pretty laid-back environment with delicious bentos. We had a woman bringing us tea and coffee periodically all day long, plus the members of 琴友会 were all very supportive of us. I even got a chance to wear the yukata I got for my birthday.



Exams stunk, mostly because I had three Japanese language ones that landed on the same day. It sure felt good to finish my eighth semester of Japanese, though, which is the requirement for my major. I'd like to think that it'll be smooth sailing from here on out, but I've still got another year of fun ahead of me. :/

I need to start thinking about packing up my room. Time is flying by and I have a whole lot of other things besides packing to take care of before I come home!!

地震! - Earthquake!!

This was the first earthquake that I actually fully felt. I was sitting in my room studying kanji for my exam (one of many) on Friday when the room started shaking. It only lasted about ten seconds or so, but the building was shaking enough to make me more than a little nervous.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUKT37301820080724

I will give a real update when my final exams are over on Friday. Until then, I'll be studying kanji like crazy!!!

G8洞爺湖サミット - G8 Toyako Summit

You'd think with all the police around, I'd feel more safe. In truth, I feel much, much less safe.

As you might imagine, things have been absolutely nuts here in Sapporo for the past week. I'm told that over 20,000 police officers have been gathered, and it shows. Police are lining the streets at all times with massive trucks ready to tow off any "threatening" foreigners to the nearest detention facility. The three helicopters that are constantly in the air are loudly keeping me up at night (finally hot enough here for me to sleep with the window open). The funny thing is that to the Japanese, an important step towards keeping "everyone safe" is stopping all of the foreigners they possibly can, interrogating and demanding to see alien registration cards. I myself was interrogated in the airport on my way back from Okinawa last month, and many of my friends have had similar experiences. My bike ride home after koto practice today was perhaps the most frightening experience once I realized I had forgotten my wallet - one questioning police officer out of the at least 50 I passed and I could have been hauled off.

Clearly I understand the precautions...but only to an extent. I've always thought of the Japanese as racist in many ways, but this really highlights it. Why would my bike be stolen any more than that of my Chinese friend riding right in front of me? Why do I suddenly find myself subconsciously avoiding the entire center of the city I live in? It's ridiculous, really. Basically, I can't wait for this thing to be over tomorrow so things can start going back to the normal level of Japanese racism.

By the way, those pictures were taken by my friend (and photographer) Jimmy Fyfe. Looks like he'll be making his CNN debut with a few of them too.

ニュース - News

That was this past Saturday (6/28/08). The Urasenke Grand Tea Master (one of the oldest most famous tea ceremony families in all of Japan) was in Sapporo and a few of us were invited to come and spend an hour with him enjoying the traditional tea ceremony. We weren't allowed to make a sound during most if it (he's very important) but we did have a chance to speak with him one-on-one towards the end. Not only did he know where WI was, but he expressed his concern regarding the floods and asked if everything was alright in my part of WI. I was rather surprised.

I met a woman by the name of Megumi shortly afterwards who just moved back to Japan after living in Madison for 10 years - apparently her husband taught at UW. She's the one who was kind enough to make that recording for me and make sure it got in my hands.

If you don't know anything about tea ceremony, it's extremely well rehearsed (every single hand movement has to be performed a certain way), so that's why a woman is helping me turn the bowl correctly.

まっただなかだ - In the middle

I thought I would start by throwing up some Okinawa pictures that I was too lazy to do before. As you can see, the raining season didn't spoil the trip too much, though I wouldn't have minded coming back with a little sun in my skin. All in all it was a good week-and-a-half away from the pressures of school.

Things here in Sapporo are still going great- fantastic even. Maybe it's just that the weather is finally fully cooperating (it's beautiful out here every single day), but it's great just being able to sit out in the park in between classes shooting the breeze with everyone. My time here is clearly starting to wind down and even though I am really excited about coming home, I don't yet FEEL like my time here is finishing up. Either way, I've still got plenty of things to do in the next month and a half.

Koto is going great. I've been doing some research online and trying to find some recordings but didn't have much luck, so I asked Sanagi-sensei for some advice on what CD's to buy. As it turns out, she's an actual recording artist herself and just handed me one of her own recordings - who knew! Lessons are still going great, and I've learned how to tune a koto all by myself. My feet still go purple after an hour of seiza (the traditional Japanese way of sitting on your legs for extended period of times) but at least I can do it now.

For my birthday, a bunch of my friends pitched in and bought me an amazing red bike. It's definitely the smaller, trendy Japanese kind of bike that folds in half if you need it to, so I'm trying to figure out if I can get it back to the states somehow. Some other friends chipped in and got me a yukata (summer kimono) that I've been wanting and with the fan that my Japanese friend got me, I'm completely decked out in Japanese traditional clothing on a bright red bike.

I have to run...time to start making the most out of the grill that me and a few friends bought together - steak!!! More to come...

誕生日 - Birthday

沖縄へ行く準備 - Preparing for Okinawa

It's been a while since I've gotten any pictures up, so here a few that have should have been up a few weeks ago:

Grilling out in the Rigakubu lawn (me, Taichi [Japan], Miho [Japan], Jimmy [New Zealand], and David [France])

Nice hanami shot in Matsumae, south of Hakodate

Hanami in Hakodate

I accidentally put my cell phone through the wash on Tuesday. I was surprisingly calm for a good day and really excited when it even started working for a while - I could send and receive emails for a whole day before the battery died for good. I consulted with some Japanese friends as to what I should do...it would cost a little over $100 to repair which I just can't validate spending for only two months of use. I even considered getting it "stolen" before realizing that that would require filing a false police report. Looks like I'll be phone-less until I get home.

Apparently my study abroad advisor at home recommended me for a position as a Peer Advisor/ Student Marketing Coordinator for the study abroad office back at UW. It seems like a great chance to not just work but promote all the great programs that UW has. I sent in my application today - we'll have to wait and see how it goes.

I got a letter from financial aid saying I was turned down for next year because I had reached the "Ten Semester Limit." Apparently my two summer sessions counted as full semesters towards this rule that I wasn't even aware existed. This compounded with the fact that my scholarship is running out next is leaving me pretty stressed out about next year's financial situation. Hopefully I can get an appeal. Somehow I can't help but feel like I'm being punished for working extra hard for the past four years....? If only this weren't happening days before my week-and-a-half vacation.

I can't express how much I'm looking forward to crystal clear waters at white sand beaches next week. I know I have no right to complain about needing a vacation, but it's shaped up to be a pretty crappy week! Let's just hope that I don't crash the rental car I'll be driving around Okinawa on the left side of the road (yes, I'm licensed).