Trains and Appearances

I find it interesting that in Japan, train tickets are cheaper during the weekend. I guess they are trying to get more people to use public transportation during the weekend while it is already a given that they will use it during the week. In America (looking mainly at the Metrolink), it is the exact opposite. I guess in America they are trying to get more people to ride public transportation instead of driving during the week? One reason is probably that most American public transportation systems are not that good (to be fair they usually have to cover a larger area as well).

Oh, and when I went to get my flat tire fixed today, the shop owner commented how I totally look Japanese. When I told him my parents were from Taiwan he said I did not look Chinese or Taiwanese either. I guess it is nice to be able to blend in to your surroundings and not stand out, but at the same time I feel people expect me to be fluent in Japanese based on my appearance. The pressure might be a reason I am so hesitant to talk to most Japanese people. While I know this is totally illogical, I feel like I am letting them down somewhat.

Catching Up: Tokyo

On Tuesday I went to meet a professor (Tom Blackwood) at the University of Tokyo for help on my project. I was actually pretty lucky to find out about him (Fulbright sent me his info) because what he does is VERY similar to what I was thinking of doing. He's dissertation was on the socialization of high school baseball in Japan, pretty much my project proposal. The best part was that he was an American so I could speak to him in English and actually communicate what I wanted to do.

After the talk with him, I feel a lot better about my project, even though I will probably have to change my topic a bit. Honestly, with my limited language ability, I probably couldn't have completed my original project (well). Plus, as Professor Blackwood pointed out, a lot of the questions I was asking were already dealt with by him. Even though there is a lot more info on high school baseball, he suggested that I go with my strengths and research the baseball link between Japan and Taiwan or Little League baseball in Japan. Those two topics are actually why I became interested in studying baseball in Japan. So, even though I am not really sure how to go on with my project right now (even less so compared to before), I do feel a lot better about it.

He is still polishing his dissertation for publication so I haven't really seen his work yet but he said he would send me copies later on. Interesting fact for all of you sociologists out there, apparently the job market for you guys is CRAP. Right now, at least in Asia-related fields, it is close to impossible to find a job for a sociologist. He highly recommended history if I was considering grad school, which is actually very beneficial for me. Of course, I haven't decided on grad school yet, but it is still nice to know my future has some potential hope.

Oh, and while I was in Tokyo, I decided to stop by Burger King (they are only in the Greater Tokyo Area). The main reason, to try out their special Windows 7 Burger. Celebrating the release of Windows 7, Burger King in Japan released a HUGE burger...basically a Whopper with 7 patties. Not willing to back down from a challenge, I tried it. Honestly, I felt sick afterward and it took me maybe 45 minutes to finish it. In the end there were times I was just stuffing bland patties into my mouth. I almost gave up a few times but did not want a burger beating me, especially since I was stupid and ate (fries and tenders) beforehand. Taste if the burger, yuck. Sense of satisfaction after conquering it, nice. Pictures are on my facebook page.

Speaking of Windows 7, should I spend $30 and upgrade? I believe that if I am using Windows Vista Home Premium I can upgrade without losing my programs/setting? Anyone know anything about this?

Catching Up: Sports Day

This past weekend the University of Tsukuba had its annual Sports Day(s). Basically, there are athletic events all around campus ranging from soccer to futsal to exhibitions by clubs (gymnastics, rifle shooting, etc). I entered the "beginners" volleyball tournament with a group of friends. While I and some of the others were definitely beginners, we did have a few players that are actually pretty good and played in high school before. I don't feel too bad though because a lot of the other teams were like that as well and the "standard" group were all monsters who were over 6 feet tall or something. Tsukuba is very sports-oriented and sometimes known as "the Todai (basically, Harvard) for sports."

To prepare for the tournament we had some practice matches a week ago with another team named 7 Piece. We were pretty nervous at first because it was the first time we played as a team but we did well, beating 7 Piece's starting lineup once as well. After that we were pretty confident that we could do well, but...

It is pretty painful to say, but we were unlucky and had a bad draw. We lost our first match in a 66 team single-elimination tournament to a team that ended up third. To tell the truth I feel like we could have beat them if we met them later in the tournament but since it was the first game our lack of experience showed. To make matters worse the game was back and forth at first and we were leading 12-11 when I was taken out in order to let others have a chance. Normally this would not have been a problem but...our opponents were simply too good. They went on a 6-0 run and the game was basically over as it seemed like our players lost confidence. As usual, watching from the sidelines was very frustrating; you always want to be out there to help the team, especially when you know that you are better than someone on the court.

In retrospect the decision to take me out was probably a bad decision, but I can't really blame them either. I am no doubt a beginner with regards to volleyball and honestly, the purpose of the tournament was to have fun and not focus on winning. We did not expect to meet such a strong team in the first round and in theory, it is best to let everyone get some playing time early on before having your starters play the whole game later on. And my inexperience does show when I am on the court. It was just so frustrating because we honestly thought we would challenge for the title and for a few things that happened later.

7 Piece had their match right after ours and I stayed to watch them. Their opponents...were crap. They only had 5 players, some who played barefoot and in jeans, and were true beginners. 7 Piece destroyed them 25-3, with all three points coming off errors. I really felt that we were unlucky in drawing such a strong team, but that feeling only worsened when the tournament ended and 7 Piece emerged victorious. 7 Piece was a good team but they are also a team that we knew we could beat from experience. If we played them in the tournament I feel like we would have had a better than 50 percent chance of beating them, but alas, we were unprepared in he first round and never got the chance. We were so close, even if it did not appear so. It kind of stings when a team you beat just a week ago ends up winning the entire tournament.

So yeah, like most people we decided to drown our sorrows with alcohol, haha. People comment that the only things you can do in Tsukuba is go to nomikais (drinking parties) or karaoke. And no, I am not becoming an alcoholic; it was only the third time I drank in Japan and I never got drunk. In fact, the other kept on commenting on that fact when I tried to stop some crazy, alcohol-induced stuff. But, I have to say any relief that you get from drinking last only a short while. I am still disappointed but the results (though I still enjoyed the experience overall).

Catching Up: Playoff Baseball

I've been pretty busy the past few days and missed blogging some events in my life. Too tired to write it all out so I will do it in sections. First, baseball!

As happy as I am for the Yankees (and I actually had time to watch most of the games), this post is not about them. Right now also happens to be the playoffs for the Nippon Professional Baseball. My professor was nice enough to ask me if I wanted to go to a game. Of course I agreed, even if it meant missing my once-a-week basketball class. So last Friday, I met up with my prof in Tokyo and we went to Tokyo Dome to catch a playoff game.

Tickets...are cheap, especially compared to NY prices. We didn't actually get seats (those tickets were sold out already) but in Japan they sell standing-room tickets. Only 1000 yen (~$11) for a playoff game. Of course, if you don't get there early and reserve a spot by a railing (by placing your stuff by it), it gets really tiring standing for close to 4 hours. We didn't stay for the entire game, only stayed for the first 3 innings before we went to dinner, but it was still quite an experience. Oh, and my prof treated me to the game. Nice.

First thing you notice is how organized the cheering squads are. I'm not talking about cheerleaders, though they do exist in Japanese baseball, but about groups of organized fans who have chants for seemingly every situation. There are personal chants for each player and many situations. The Bleacher Creatures at Yankee Stadium (does anyone actually know what I am referring to? probably not) have a reputation for being pretty fanatical, but they can't touch a Japanese ooendan (cheer squad). They really are quite loud though and my professor commented on how he doesn't really like attending baseball games in Japan because it is way too loud. Makes sense, but I guess it is still an experience for me. Maybe if I go to many games (ooendans are everywhere in Japan) I will get sick of them too.

Something else that stood out, all of the mobile vendors (you know, the ones that actually go around in the stands selling stuff) where girls. Sex sells everywhere, not that I am surprised. Though instead of showing flesh like they would in the US, the girls were dressed up in a "cute"/kawaii way. I think it was pretty obvious that one's look was a requirement for the job. The PC side Pomona installed in me jumped all of the fact, but another side thought, does it really matter all that much? Should I be angry at the objectification of women working there?

Fan culture is obviously very different here and I think it would be something interesting to study. Not sure if I will touch upon it this year though. There is something that seems to appear in almost every professional baseball game. The most popular food and drink? Hotdogs and beer.

Quick Update

- I planned to go to my research room today but apparently the whole building is closed for the next 2 days because students are taking entrance exams. These are exams for grad students which comprise of a written exam and an interview. From what I hear, most of the exams (which differ by subject/department) have you writing two essays in an hour or so, one on your area of specialization and one on another area. Hard to say what I feel about this way of entering grad school but I can say all of the testees I have talked to are very nervous. Maybe the GREs are better for my nerves? Still undecided about grad school though.

- We had a mandatory physical for all new foreign students yesterday. It was the usual height, weight, blood pressure, urine analysis stuff but interestingly, they had us all do a chest X-Ray as well. I think it may have been my first time having a chest X-Ray. I think they were checking us for TB (that is what a chest X-Ray is for, right?). Realized I gained some weight since summer but not too much. More exercise for me!

- Which reminds me, one of my goals this year is to run (and finish) a full marathon. Been running outdoors lately, not as much as junior year but still maybe 3 times a week. I have come to appreciate running outdoors but I still miss certain aspects of treadmill-running. I hate how I have no idea how far I actually ran so I am planning to get a Nike+ sensor. Don't have an I-Pod but will be borrowing one from Reed, who doesn't need his Touch because he has an iPhone. Also, I can't multitask anymore. No more TV shows or studying while running, sigh.

The day John was pulled over by the police

So today, I decided to go on bike to this sports equipment store some 10km+ away for the first time. I reasoned that it would be an adventure and provide some exercise, especially since I am resting my ankle right now. No, it is not sprained, I just rolled over it slightly a few days ago and it is a bit sore. Well, despite going there the for the first time and not having a map, for some reason I decided to take a shortcut. Uncharacteristically, I ended up on this small road lost. The next thing I know this police car pulls up next to me and the cops come out and start asking me questions.

But wait, these were not cops who were trying to help someone lost. Bike theft is pretty common in Japan and all bikes are supposed to be registered with the police. I don't know why these cops decided to stop me but apparently they were suspicious of me and the bike I rode. I didn't understand everything they were saying and answering their questions in very broken Japanese did not help at all. Maybe it was because the bike I rode looked relatively new and I was out of place? Obviously, they soon realized that I was a foreign student at the university but they still asked me a bunch of questions like where I bought my bike and such.

Oh, and while I would usually advise you to not lie to the police, sometimes glossing over a few details might not be a bad idea. The cops saw that I had another bike key in my basket (I use it to recognize my bike, helpful when it is stuck in a stack of hundreds) and asked me about it. The details are complicated and hard to understand if you don't know a lot about bikes in Japan, but in retrospect having the key might have seemed suspicious because it could have easily come from a bike lock I broke off. I had to tell the truth and say that the key came from my other bike (which has a broken lock), which set off another round of questions and broken answers.

After answering all of their questions and giving them my name, address, and number (no idea what they are going to do with it), I finally got away from them. They were polite the entire time, even though we had trouble communicating, but it was still a very weird experience. No one likes be thought of as a thief, so that was not pleasant. I think this is also the first time I actually had any contact with the police, let alone be a suspect, in any country as well. While I was a bit nervous (probably from the language difficulties), I was fairly confident that things would be ok since I had done nothing wrong and the bike is mine and registered to me (though apparently they couldn't pull up that record soon enough and never did). The event is something I can look back at now and laugh at, but I still wonder why in the world I was picked in the first place. Thinking that you might look like a criminal is not a pleasant thought.

Oh, and apparently, I really do look Japanese. This is not the first time I have been told this. When I was a baby and in my grandma's care, her friends used to ask her why she was taking care of a Japanese baby (or so I am told). My tutor and his friend say I have a "syoyu (soy sauce)" face, as opposed to having a "(western) sauce" face. When the cops found out I was an American, the first questions they asked was if I was a Nisei (second-generation Japanese), which has happened other times as well.

So yesterday, I finally had my first conversation practice with my tutor. Here at Tsukuba, a tutor is usually a Japanese student who is paid by the school to help international students. They don't get paid a lot though, something like 40-60 dollars for one semester and I can get help for around 40 hours. I butchered the language quite a bit but overall it was helpful and I met others as well. He showed me his research room and surprise surprise, most people were actually there. Unlike mine, where I rarely see others. I think it is because the room for Ph.D candidates is actually close to my adviser's office. My research room is further away so everyone has the leeway to skip. I do admit I have taken advantage of the distance as well though.

My tutor and his friend took me to a izakaya (drinking establishment) and held a mini welcome party-ish thing, though it was quite small and a bit late considering I have been here almost 2 months. It was an interesting experience though and I guess it is true that when you drink in Japan nothing is off limits. Something I realized in Japan, most people here like to drink but the Taiwanese students here can't drink a lot. Many Japanese students are heavyweights though and I guess they are appreciative of the fact that I can hold my own against them. I have definitely softened my stance against alcohol the past few years. While it is still not my drink of choice and not something I will actively look to do, it is sometimes an essential part of social life. Sometimes you just have to take what you get and go with it.

Nikko Trip Part 2 - reflections on identity

One thing that was apparent during the trip was that...I did not fit in. I'm not blaming anyone for anything but...I was constantly reminded that I was different. When introduced, I was often "the American." To be fair, I wasn't like everyone else, and it was obvious whenever I spoke. Despite my fluency in the language, I have a distinctive ABC (American-born Chinese) accent. I'm usually not that self-conscious about it because I am confident in my language ability but after getting reminded about it constantly...yeah, it was not pleasant. Also, almost everyone was constantly speaking in Taiwanese, which I do not understand at all. It was even more embarrassing/inconvenient when Japanese people started speaking in Taiwanese as well.

Even though around 70% of the island speaks Taiwanese, I was never really in a situation where everyone spoke Taiwanese and I didn't. While I don't usually hang out with random groups of Taiwanese, most people I met usually spoke in Mandarin, even when I play sports with them. This got me thinking about the political and ethnic makeup of Taiwan.

A bit of background info for those unfamiliar, there are the original-province-people (OrPP), people who lived in Taiwan before the end of World War II, and the other-province-people (OtPP), people from mainland China who moved to Taiwan after WWII. The OrPP speak Taiwanese and there used to be a lot of tension between the two groups. Many people say that the tensions is mostly gone but while I agree it is a lot better now I feel that it still exists in some capacity that mostly appears in politics. There are obviously many exceptions, but in general, the OtPP support the ruling KMT party and are usually more affluent and urbanized. the OtPP tend to dislike the Japanese because of what happened in WWII. The OrPP tend to live more rural lives in the south and are less influenced by changes in Taiwanese society. They tend to have a more favorable impression of the Japanese. This is partially because of their experiences under Japanese colonial rule, especially when it is compared to the first few decades of KMT rule (Not proud of it but the KMT did oppress many when they first arrived in Taiwan). Unfortunately, to many, being Taiwanese means being OrPP and being able to speak Taiwanese.

My family is OtPP (both of my grandfathers were in the KMT army) and I never had the chance to learn Taiwanese. It never really bothered me because I had no cultural ties to the language at all. As a child you don't really notice these things. As an adult, you do. Despite explaining multiple times that even though I was born in America and have an accent I lived in Taiwan since I was six, I was constantly reminded that I was an American. They didn't say that I was not Taiwanese outright but it was implied that I was not like them.

To be fair, they are right. My identity is something that I have always wondered about. My background puts me in a rather unique situation. Growing up, I was never that involved with either American or Taiwanese pop culture. I knew parts of both but they were just parts. It was never a huge problem as I could deal with most things competently but I never felt that I truly belonged in either group. As a grew up I became more and more capable of adapting to my environment, yet I am still plagued by these bouts of insecurities when my identity is questioned. There is no doubt that I am closer to being American than Taiwanese. I admit that I am touchy about the subject of having an accent when speaking English. Yet I do know that I am different from a typical ABC and that I am a lot more "tai"/Taiwanese compared to most. There will always be aspects of the American cultural experience (ie. high school) that I will never be able to fully comprehend. In America, I definitely miss having the opportunity to speak in the language I am most comfortable in, Chinglish. But even in Taiwan, with such a small group of people with similar circumstances, it is close to impossible to find something with not only the same interests but also similar cultural interests. I would like to clarify that I love my friends and I feel very comfortable around them, but I guess there is always something more that can be added. However, I do feel that this is something that can be experienced by anyone and not just someone in my situation.

So yeah, I guess this post was a huge rant on how I felt insecure about my identity because I was (probably rightfully so) declared a someone who was different. I guess it does make sense that most Taiwanese who have enough interest in Japan to go study there would have closer ties to "original" Taiwanese culture (though they consider themselves original Taiwanese, they seem to disregard the actual native Taiwanese/aborigines). It is not something I thought about before and I guess it just kind of shocking to me how different I was compared to almost everyone else.

Nikko Trip Part 1 - events

So, this past weekend I decided to tag along with many Taiwanese students on a trip to Nikko, Tochigi (kudos if you know where it is), even though I am not technically a Taiwanese student abroad in Japan. It was sponsored by some group that fosters Japan-Taiwan relations and we only had to pay for the train ticket to Nikko. It was actually quite interesting and I'll try to keep the events portion short.

- FREEZING. Nikko is up in the mountains and it was raining when we arrived. WET + 40-50 degrees temp + wing = no fun.
- Went to a festival/matsuri, where besides getting some nice food entered a geta (Japanese wooden clogs)kicking contest. We had to kick them off our feet and see how far they went. Prizes were given to the furthest kickers and those who kicked into a circle. It was fun, but I didn't get anything.
- Took us to a fancy restaurant for some really nice cheesecake while we talked with (older) Japanese people. The lady who sat at my table actually spoke pretty fluent Chinese.
- went to multiple waterfalls, which were pretty nice as well. Did some light hiking but with a diverse group of people (ie, non-active people) we really couldn't go that far, slightly disappointing.
- Stayed in a deluxe mountain cabin. It was really nice (seem to be using that a lot) with all amenities. It was great that they had a heater but I slept right next to it at night. Woke up with a VERY dry mouth and throat.
- Dinner was BBQ/teppanyaki. The food was good but what I realized was that Japanese people really like to get you to drink. Even if you only take a sip of your beer, they will immediately fill up your glass. I was fine but some people...wow.
- They also took us the the local firework show and give us VIP seats (tickets can cost you $30+). It was close enough that sometimes the ashes from the fireworks could drift down on us. The show itself...was AMAZING. Best show I have ever seen and beats both July 4 fireworks and New Years Day Fireworks at Taipei 101 hands down. The one hour show was divided into 4 sections and each had a grand finale. The show must have cost tens of thousands and with the economy the way it is, I do kind of wonder if such an extravagant show was needed. Then again, firework shows are part of Japanese culture. I highly recommend a Japanese fireworks show, you don't even need to get a VIP seat. They are just as good from a distance.

Swine Flu?

Rumor has it that someone in my lab (research room) might have swine flu. Not sure how credible it is but I think I should be relatively safe since I doubt the person is coming to the room now. Not that I do that often anyway.

Typhoon

Hmmm...haven't updated in a while. Not much as happened, still trying to learn Japanese while not being very productive. At least the university is closed tomorrow because of a typhoon. Not really sure if we will have to make up the day later though. Somewhat lucky because I have a quiz tomorrow but the classes only meets 10 times a semester so...yeah, not sure how we are going to make that up.

Random things that have been happening... I accidentally ate a bit of a pumpkin muffin a few days ago. Thankfully, I found out soon afterward and stopped after one bite, but I thought that my throat was a bit swollen. It could have totally been mental though because it really wasn't serious. Hmm....maybe I should not test my allergies anytime soon.

I had some more to write, but I will add it later. Mind feels kind of distracted, not really sure why... Japan is great though.