Yesterday, Dr. Slater of the Anthropology department at Sophia University gave an interesting lecture about the Japanese view of the self versus the world, especially their relationships. He talked about 思いやり, Okaasan had explained to me the day before. It's having empathy, being thoughtful, and having compassion for other people. For the Japanese, even the self is made up of only part of a whole. The word for self means exactly this, as well: 自分 It was an interesting lecture, and you can tell this man knows his shit. It was kind of frustrating that people kept offering their perspective and interrupting Dr. Slater. Some were even very defensive of the American perspective without realizing that one perspective is not inherently right/wrong or good/bad, but it serves a purpose in society that the Japanese value.
After the lecture, me and Kyle were supposed to study, but I could not resist the lure of shopping and crepes in Harajuku. After lunch, we headed down there and straight for the infamous crepes. Kyle got me a 50 yen off coupon, so my Tirimasu crepe came to about 430 yen. Very much worth it.
After Harajuku, me and Kyle headed to Roppongi to meet Hiromi (my group リーダー) and JT (another member of group Kanpai) for drinks. We hadn't had dinner, so we took a cab to Shibuya to have convey er belt sushi--pretty deace for only 120 yen a plate. We headed back to Roppongi to a bar called Muse where we played darts. Fun! Drinking age in Japan is 20 years old. by the way.
After running through the streets and acting like hooligans, we ate ramen. You have not had ramen if it's not Japanese ramen. I'm not taking the instant crap here. Then we headed home, but it was late already and the trains stop running at a certain point. We asked the man at the station and I was lucky--my train was still running but リーダー's wasn't! She ended up coming home with me and sleeping in my futon. My Okaasan was very great about it, she was just worried about us out alone. (I still fight her about this. Tsunashima, where I live, is nowhere near as dangerous as Spanish Harlem. It was actually quite peaceful last night).
I spent today studying 一日中 (all day long) until about an hour ago my neck started getting stiff I decided to call it a night, maybe watch Ryuusei no Kizuna, a Japanese drama with Ninomiya from Arashi in it. SORRY, no pics of last night, I forgot my camera! If you wanna see pictures and videos, I direct you to リーダー's travel blog. お休み！
3 Comments:
Good luck with your placement exam. I know you'll do fabulously. Especially if you've been studying very hard like you say... :D
Haha! Abrasive people~ Goddamn tone that patriotism down a little bit, and let a guy speak. The only time I'm really patriotic is during the Olympics... then it's fuck everyone else. Other than that, let it slide guys ok.
Crepes!! They had those at Commons today O__O It smelled like burnt brown sugar everywhere. I didn't want one, but there were bananas as far as the eye could see.
Bar fun sounds fun. Especially since I saw the videos. LOL stop startling the nihonjins damnit!
Ramen... I want so badly. :/ I have Maruchan ramen in my room, but that will not do.
Have you told her that you are from Spanish Harlem indeed? I think she should let you off the hook for just that. ^^ There are bums and sketchy people as far as the eye can see. Although it is home.. :D
Ryuusei no Kizunaaaa. I would watch Ninomiya in anything. This is a sickness. I want him to do another movie... or drama. x__x Lend Ninomiya out to America, Arashi kthnx. (JKLOL stay together for eternity guys.)
ANYWAYYYYYYY
I love you.
Etc.
I'll try to send out this postcard soon. I'll probably write in japanese and english at any rate.
that sounds like an awesome night!! And yeah...good luck with the placement exam! I think not going with the intensive was a wise choice, i was actually thinking "being in Japan is intense enough" before i read it haha.
I hate when people are closed minded about the beliefs of other cultures! Nothing wrong with a little cultural relativism people!
Oh and that movie night thing i told you about that i helped plan...went really well *sigh of relief* We might do another one later this month :)
I think i commented a little extra to make up for my lack of commenting on the last post :( Next post maybe I'll write you a book haha
Oh and happy belated april fool's day...and yes i played a prank on someone, couldn't resist haha
<3
Visit meee!! I wonder if that's possible. Shit is expensive as HALE. AMIRITE. I bet you can get good ramen in NYC. Wait it out bb. Thanks for the luck. <333 I was supposed to study now but wrote this instead. AHAHAHAH.
I told her about SpaHa and she was like "ooooh." Lol. FINE.
Kia--I played a joke on someone too. :D AHAHA. What was yours? Glad your movie night was a hit~ Keep doing good things for ppl, bb. Ilu~
