First Post

         Greetings all! As many of you know, I have arrived safely in Japan, and am in the middle of my third week here. I am healthy and well, and school has kicked off in earnest. My host mother is a kind and funny lady, and she is an amazing cook. So far, everything I’ve eaten in Japan (both at school, out, and at home) has been delicious.

鍋、"nabe", referring to the bowl, where assorted veggies, crab, and pork cooks on the table. Also pictured is sashimi, beer, sake, and wine. After all the food in the nabe was eaten, my host mother used the leftover broth and made a risotto. This is more elaborate than most meals, as this was my first dinner in Japan.

'Okonomiyaki,' a fried pancake-shaped savory dish of veggies, seafood, and meat, with some sauce on top. 

 My host mother usually makes Japanese food (pictured), but occasionally we’ve had spaghetti and last night she made what I took to be creamed corn soup. For breakfast there is usually a salad with lettuce, daikon (Japanese radish), and a tomato slice, a cup of yogurt, a cup of fruit, a slice of toast, and something hot (either a fried egg with some meat, or maybe some little sausage links).

front of my host mother's house

morning walk to my train station

my room

a shot just down the street from my train station

For lunch I have been eating at the school cafeteria, where you can get a large lunch for less than $5. I’ve eaten out in the city a few times, mostly at Izakayas, which are a type of bar where you get a private booth and order food and drinks on a little tablet at every table. I think Japanese bar food is superior to its general American counterpart: at the izakayas I’ve been to there are up to 50 different options of various fried goodies, lots of meat on a stick and things of that nature. These places are also very cheap: less than 3 bucks for a drink and around the same per appetizer-sized plate of food. There are also the 飲み放題 or 食べ放題 (nomihoodai/tabehoodai) options, which translate to “all you can drink” and “all you can eat.” You pay around $15 bucks for either or around $30 for both, and you can order unlimited food or drinks within the span of an hour and a half, or two hours. I am on the lookout for places to get great food and drinks, I’ll make my discoveries in this area part of my updates, and I’ll do my best to get pictures when I can.

            The biggest lifestyle difference that I’ve experienced is the fact that most Japanese homes do not have central heating. Electricity is extremely expensive in Japan, and most of the heat in homes comes from gas. The water is heated through an on-demand gas system, and rooms have individual floor space heaters that hook up with a gas line directly to the wall. Japanese homes are made with a lot of wood and paper, so for safety, all these heating systems are turned off while one sleeps. This means that in the morning, the internal room temperature is not too much different from the outside temperature: now in the high 30s. Japanese people are accustomed to wearing layers in the house. Getting out of bed and going downstairs to shower in the morning is the coldest part of my day. Even the buildings at my school are heated room-by-room: there is central heating, but it does not connect to the hallways, and is only provided per classroom on demand. This is all related to being very energy conscious, as environmentalism is very important to the Japanese.

            School will be a challenge, as I am in a rather difficult Japanese class. In addition to this 13 hour/week class, I am taking an introductory linguistics course that focuses on Japanese, as well as an Anthropology course that focuses on Japanese ritual practices in contemporary society. Both these courses will be very interesting, and I’m taking a good deal less coursework (credit-hours wise) than I do at home, giving me time to really focus on my studies. The schedule itself is fairly light as well, and I have most afternoons off, leaving me plenty of time to get practicing in on those days. I did express concern that I wouldn’t be able to find any practice rooms, but luckily Konan has some! They are more like big rehearsal rooms than anything, and there are 4 of them in the basement of the newest building on campus. You have to reserve them in advance,  but so far I haven’t had any trouble getting in and soon Konan students will be on their spring break so I will definitely be okay.

            I have found a bar that does weekly jams Thursday night, although that’s not a great night for me due to Japanese class weekly chapter tests on Fridays, but I plan to make it out to that when I can. I’ve also been to a very upscale bar called ソネ (“Sone”), which is a jazz club that plays classic 50s/60s stuff usually. The musicians playing when I went were all very professional, mostly older, (youngest guys looked in their 30s, oldest guy was definitely above 70), and were top class. I will definitely be back, but it is on the more expensive side with a $15 cover on weekend nights, and the cheapest drink is around $8.

            That about does it for this first post! I am going to be my best to be regular about these updates, trying to get one up every two weeks or so. I am required to write posts on specific topics as part of the University’s study abroad requirements and post them to this blog, so I’m going to make those part of my general writing. The university has it's own blog  that I post to for their assignments, but it is not viewable by the public, which I didn't know until I tried to share this link. So quickly mocked up a blogger, which I am not great at formatting, so forgive me for that for now, I'm sure I'll get better at it. If you wanna talk or are interested in anything that I may be able to answer, shoot me a message! Unfortunately I don’t think this blog site has a place for comments, but I’ll be on Facebook as well.

Hope you are all doing great!