My time in Japan has been fun and it will be some of my most memorable days of my life. November started and this was when I knew my time left in Japan was now less than two months. The month of events began with a fun Friday night out for my friend’s birthday. After that Friday followed a day at Disney Sea, and this place was screaming Disney at me wherever I looked. Everywhere around us, the moment we entered the Disney “zone”, had some kind of Disney theme. Tall buildings were rocking the Disney style colors and even the train we rode on had Mickey Mouse designs all over it. Now before we went to Disney Sea, I have to admit, I’m not too big of a Disney fan. It’s like one of those things in my life where I happened to grow up with it, but I wouldn’t exactly say it’s the essence of my childhood. However, this was something about me I figured out to not be exactly true. I had forgotten about the days in my childhood where I dreamed about doing to Disney Land or Disney World, so this made me feel great excitement when we arrived at Disney Sea.

Everything about Disney Sea seemed like how I pictured it to be in America’s Disney Land or Disney World. Now I can’t actually confirm it because I have never went, but I feel like Japan did an amazing job at getting the whole Disney theme park thing down.

I went to a Malaysian restaurant. We ate until I felt like throwing up, but the food was delicious. My friend from Malaysia suggested this place to me and I had been dying to try some Nasi Lemak (a term for what is usually rice cooked in coconut milk and curry on the side, actual translation of the term means “fatty rice”). It just happened to be the day of my birthday when we went, and the owner of the restaurant gave my friends and I plenty of free drinks, food, and dessert. This was probably one of my best birthdays I ever had and I am so grateful for my friends who came along. After this night, I realized just how friendly and generous some strangers can be along with a topping of Japanese wisdom.

I saw the movie Yesterday with my friend at TOHO Cinema in Shinjuku. It was exactly like an American cinema, AMC theatre comes to mind. But the thing that surprised me most was that they had a movie souvenir shop. At this shop, I bought a Frozen notebook in preparation for the release of Frozen 2, a glass with the theme of Re:zero (because Japan does anime movies!), and I topped it off with a Weathering With You (another anime movie) clear folder. Even more cool was the fact that popcorn and pop was less than 10 dollars to get a combo set. I could get popcorn and a drink for 600 yen (about 6 dollars). In America, this would be impossible to find because of how expensive popcorn and drinks are. This made me think about how the movie theatre culture is in Japan compared to America and the entire theatre seemed much more suited for smaller groups of friends. Looking around at who was in the theatre, I noticed many pairs or trios of friends only.

The most awesome thing I did this month though was when I went to a home visit and got the chance to see Mount Fuji up close. The family brought me up to the top of Sky Tree near Asakusa, and we went to Sumida Aquarium to see a variety of sea creatures. Before going to the aquarium, we went to an ice cream shop and a restaurant with delicious pizza and pasta. The ice cream shop had the most angelic staff that sang to customers while they prepared the ice cream.

Now that I had the chance to be here for a semester, I can say it was all truly a blessing. Not everything went to plan as how I hoped it would, but that is basically any adventure in life. Later in my life, I will look back on these days and cherish the memories. This really goes with the saying, “With every ending comes a new beginning.” I dare to say that is how this blog will be. Maybe somewhere down the line, it will come back to life with new travels of mine but no one knows what the future has in store.

This weekend, I had the chance to eat one of the most American sized dishes since I touched down in Japan. It cost roughly 1300 Japanese yen (about 13 USD), but man was it a big bowl of gyuudon (牛丼, pronounced as gee-you-dohn). The bowl was roughly as wide as a frisbee and as tall as a large bowl. Now for folks who do not know what gyuudon is, the name itself means beef bowl so it is basically some beef on top of rice. Also, the beef is thinly sliced and cooked in a hearty broth that warms you up inside from the moment you take the first bite. In my opinion, it is one of Japan’s most simple foods while still being one of the greatest. But about the size of the bowl I got, it was King Size. Not just regular, slightly larger, large, or mega. This thing was four times the regular size and I already feel like regular is more than enough for one person. After eating half and my friend helping me out, I felt pretty happy inside, not only from being stuffed full of gyuudon, but from the meal size being like something ridiculous I could get back in America.

Earlier in the weekend, I walked with some friends to Ueno. We ate some kebabs from my Japanese friend’s favorite shop and he told me a little bit about his family. When he was growing up, his parents took him on mini-trips to other prefectures, and this place in Ueno was one of those trips. He told me about how he always looked forward to eating kebabs here and it reminded me about how I used to look forward to going to Wisconsin Dells. Even though the distance traveling to Ueno from his hometown would be considered a short trip in America, I was surprised that the trip was so memorable in his opinion. This brought to my attention how Japanese people learn to treasure the little moments in life, but then Americans would take these small trips for granted. Because the distance they travel seems a lot shorter, I forgot about the precious moments that Japanese people could share with loved ones when they go on trips to other prefectures. For him, traveling to another prefecture is like how I travel to another state, but it is all the same kind of quality time spent together.

In my Japanese Business class, there was a guest speaker who stepped in for the usual professor. She was quite the character. I found her lecture that day quite amusing, but in my opinion both the original professor and her give great lectures. There was a great deal I learned about Japanese marketing and how their masculine culture plays a part in their advertising. For example, she brought up the interesting point of how muscular men are not considered ideal visuals for men in advertisements. This stems from the cultural belief that muscular Japanese men are usually assumed to be gay, therefore the perfect Japanese men for advertisements are bishounen (essentially means pretty boy in Japanese, pronounced bee-show-nen). From my perspective, I was shocked since I had always seen muscular men in American advertisements. In a way, this made me unconsciously assume the ideal guy image to be a muscular man. However, Japanese culture opposes this view and their appreciation of the bishounen in advertisements show this difference. From what I learned, I believe how Japanese society views the ideal man stems from their deeply rooted cultural values. These values can be like how they value calm and cool men instead of the typical American macho man.

Well, I hope you had fun learning a little bit about Japanese food and ideal masculinity in Japanese advertisements. Maybe next time, I’ll get a picture of some good old ramen (it’s a new favorite food of mine). Until next time!

This weekend, I experienced (more like witnessed) one of the largest typhoons ever. But at the same time, I did not experience it at the same time. I guess I lucked out along with all the other international students when the typhoon skipped around our area. It was shocking to hear about the people dying in other areas of Japan, and I was saddened to hear about it happening so close to where I was. I am glad to live to see more of Japan, but the news about people who lost their lives reminded me about the reality of natural disasters in Japan.

One funny thing that I found out about Japanese people’s shopping habits before a typhoon was how they purchased all of the bread from the stores. This was something that I found funny since I never expected to ever see a section of the convenience store completely emptied out. From my perspective, I guess they are just preparing for the worst so it is in a way not too strange for them to worry like that (although I feel like this would rarely ever happen in America).

One strange thing I never realized about the stores here until now was how they have a tray for money. At first, I did not think much of its cultural significance until I Google searched about it this past weekend. Supposedly, it is a breach of manners and considered rude to directly hand the clerk money. After I learned this, I remembered about my first week here when I handed the clerk my money. Although I stopped doing that after that one time, this whole breach of Japanese customs must have been why the clerk stared at me like I was doing something strange.

I guess this past week was quite a whirlwind of events and I hope to continue learning more about Japan, even if it is about the seemingly insignificant things like the change/money trays in stores and restaurants. Let’s meet again next time!

So far, so good. I feel like my stay in Japan has become normal. But I can’t exactly define it as the same “normal” in America. There are so many things about here that are different from home like the train systems that get me to wherever I need, or the fact that I can walk to at least ten different stores/restaurants within ten minutes. I have to admit, I do feel crowded nowadays in Japan, but I guess that’s the charm of the beautiful and lively city life here. It lets someone like me, who can’t even read any of the map’s directions, explore as much of the city as I want without being limited by my transportation means.

Lately, I have had many weekends open to do whatever I want. For example, there was a day when I arrived back to the dorm. As I walked through the door, I bumped into one of the other exchange students who was planning to go to Sunshine City. He asked me if I wanted to tag along and I went along with him to this place I had never heard about before. When we arrived, it wasn’t exactly the kind of “Sunshine” City I had imagined. It turned out to be a shopping mall that I thought looked quite similar to the malls back in America. One cool part of the mall though was how the outside wind blew throughout the underground walkways. Although I got no photos of the inside since I was having too much fun, here’s a picture of what the front looked like. The mall had a great variety of restaurants and I ate a tasty lasagna dish at an Italian style place.

On a worser note (if worser is a word), sleep has been quite a struggle lately compared to my first three weeks. It may be that I have been staying up much later nowadays, but I tend to sleep randomly now as if my body can’t tell what time it is. The reason I assume for my longer slumbers as of late could be that I’ve got something on my mind. I know myself well enough to recognize that I don’t admit it when I am having troubles, but my Japanese friend pointed something out to me the other day. I may not be feeling tired, and I might not feel like something’s wrong but my body knows itself best. He explained using his own experience of when he was in America. It was not that he was getting tired from physical activity, but it was the additional mental burden that studying abroad in a new country had placed on him. One thing he had recognized was his extra napping helping him rest his body since he was stressed out. After hearing this from him and realizing I haven’t been feeling like myself, I think I should take some time to relax this upcoming week. Maybe the stress has gotten to me without my realization of it.

After the interaction with my friend, I realized how much he had changed since his time in America. When I first spoke with him, he was very indirect when he mentioned something about my appearance. However, he’s now changed to be much more direct with telling me these things, and it’s a slightly comforting reminder of American people. Although I love how polite Japanese people are and how they treat everyone with respect, I’ve missed the honesty of people back home when they’re direct with me. It must be a part of the culture that I haven’t gotten used to yet, but I still love Japan regardless (They’ve got so much great things like their food accessibility and street festivals). Welp… until next time!

Although this blog post will contain a little bit about what I have been learning in Japan, I wanted to use this space to contemplate about what Japan has been like. I came here in August with the mindset that I would look forward to the entire experience even if I was afraid of upcoming challenges. It had only been a year since I started college, let alone started studying Japanese. There was no way I could be ready for something like this. But now, I honestly feel like I have settled down quite abruptly. The blue skies in Tokyo and random walks to nowhere specific strangely give me reminiscent feelings from when I would do this at home. Maybe this could work out in the future and I can live here one day.

However, I have learned a lot about what trying to live in Japan is like and it does not sound promising. From what I learned in my Japan and International Relations class, it is extremely hard for anyone who is not a Japanese citizen to get housing and a stable job in Japan. As my professor had explained, she said it was due to the conservative ideologies of many older Japanese people and how they value the consistency of keeping the Japanese identity strong. This new information made me discouraged that I may potentially never live in Japan, but I will never know for sure unless I look into it more.

One of the most surprising things I have heard about Japanese families is how their mother figure does essentially all the chores in the household. This struck me as strange since I come from a family where my mother works long hours, so she is usually out of the house. She is out of town for work for days on end since she travels for work. Another thing that I found different from my own cultural background is how some of my Japanese friends do not strive too hard to get a driver’s license. Back in America, I felt like every teenager tried to get their driver’s license before college, so this difference in Japan was surprising. However, the public transportation system in Japan is much more efficient than America’s which makes me better understand why my Japanese friends would not want a license.

Ending my blog on the latest high point, I went to a Japanese festival (祭り, ma-tsu-ree, the tsu is pronounced like tsk but with an u sound) for the first time. One of the biggest highlights was getting to dress up in traditional Japanese clothes to carry the portable shrine (お神輿, o-mee-ko-shee). Everyone put on the robes and headbands and we looked awesome as we did traditional chants marching down the streets. This festival is often done to celebrate the coming of a god (神, ka-mee) and then we spread its spirit throughout the city in the form of the portable shrine. It was fun getting to be a part of this experience, but that was not even the best part yet. After we all finished carrying the shrine throughout the city spreading the god’s spirit (this promotes well-being and good health for everyone), we were able to go into the actual festival at the Nezu Shinto Shrine. There was amazing food from takoyaki (dough balls filled with bits of octopus) to kaarage (super crispy fried chicken that is not greasy). I hope I can one day experience another festival. See you next time!

This past weekend, I had the chance to go out to the countryside of Japan. It was at a place called Karuizawa (軽井沢, ka-ru-ee-za-wa) in Nagano Prefecture. Unlike the usual city where I have been the past few weeks, Karuizawa was a different side of Japan that I have never seen before. I got to know many new faces and did many new things such as curling and going to an onsen(own-sen). One thing that shocked me about the onsen was having to get completely naked. These experiences will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Regarding some of my observations about the trip, I didn’t notice that I never hung out with any of the girls until the last day when we did curling. Honestly, I found it much easier to connect with the other guys and they were quite nice in welcoming me into their conversations. It could have been that I didn’t take the jump and start the conversation with any girls, but that’s usually how it always has been with me. Whichever of the two it was, I did eventually get to know a couple of them at dinner and curling.

Ending on a random note here, I learned this past weekend to not spend money while I am hungry. Having nearly not enough food in me and seeing delicious chocolate led me to purchase unreasonably expensive chocolate. But, I guess there’s always next time for a better purchase to happen. Until the next blog post…

I’ve been feeling it course through me since the day I heard I got in to the program. This unstoppable sensation of butterflies in my stomach. It manages to escape from me every now and then, but the feeling always returns when I think about Japan. I’m shocked to my core about it. I still can’t believe I’m actually going to a different country.

There is still doubt in me about whether this experience is going to be “the best time of my life”. Everything these people say about Japan having really cool things like high-quality food vending machines, or the “fairest” arcade machines around really gets me thinking. Could this be the time of my life that I’ve gotten myself into without even knowing?

So what if this isn’t the best experience of my life, stepping onto a foreign country’s soil, and all those people were wrong? I trust what some of them said. The sushi that is incomparable to what we have in America. Lively streets that I’ve never experienced before. Whatever is true about Japan, I’m ready to see it for myself.

On a more serious note concerning what me being a dude in Japan will be like, it could be a good or bad thing. I’m not sure at this point. Along with all this excitement I have about exploring Japan and seeing the things I have always wanted to see, there could be some things I did not predict happening. Maybe my status as a guy will be different in Japan compared to America, who knows? This could be an eye-opening experience for me.

This is the first of my many blog posts to come and I hope that you, or whoever reads these, stick around for the ride. I will be writing this for my Gender Studies class while I am abroad, so expect a lot of information from that.

My name is James Moua and I am studying abroad in Japan for the fall semester of my sophomore year. This is a very exciting opportunity and I am looking forward to it. Catch up on what’s happening with me in Japan on this blog!