Leavers Survey

The editors of our Fukui magazine asked the leavers these questions. Here are my responses.

2009 FJET CLASS OF 2009 LEAVERS SURVEY

Question 1:
What will you do next?go back to good ole' Minnesota, USA and work for AmeriCorps working with elementary students to help them read at grade level

Question 2:
What will you miss the most about Japan/Fukui
people: family, friends and students, scenery: mountains and the sea

Question 3
What WONT you miss about Japan/Fukui
random weird fish smells, lack of central heating, separating trash, homogeneity

Question 4
What was the most insane/crazy moment or event you experienced in Japan?probably the (penis) festival at Tagata Jinjia in Komaki. In what I have generally observed to be a pretty conservative country, this festival was out there!

Question 5
What's your own personal list of Japan's top 3 most beautiful/interesting/must see places?
Fushimi Inari Taisha (Kyoto) Top of Mount Fuji (at sunrise)
Himeji Castle (sakura season)

Question 6
Favorite Fukui Hang Outs?Natasha's apartment, Salva Donica coffee/cake shop (thanks for telling me about that place, Meena and Lauren), window shopping at various stores

Question 7
What was the most significant thing you learned about yourself?I am Japanese, but at the same time, I am not.

Question 8
Any parting words of wisdom?Get active! Take up a new hobby, be productive at school, start a new project, etc. Make your time here worthwhile and memorable.

An Update from a previous journal

I submitted this to our Fukui magazine.

January 9, 2009
I am always intrigued by the unique reasons we JET’s all come to Japan. I have heard many…from wanting a change to being intrigued by Japanese culture and language to well, you name it! For me, this trip was for selfish reasons, I must say. It was a personal journey that I have waited for years to fulfill. Since I was a child I always wanted to come to Japan and see how life was like, how the people are, how the language sounds…in other words, how my life would have been like. How my life would have been like if my parents had stayed together and stayed in Japan. See, my mom met my dad when she was a missionary in Kumamoto. Long story short they got married and decided to move to the US. Another long story short they got divorced and one day my dad mysteriously disappeared. He left his work, his life and his family with no word, no warning. He eventually sent us letters from all the places he was (California, Hawaii, Australia, Philippines and finally Japan) and called a few times but we haven’t heard from him since, and that was 13 or so years ago. (So now, here I am living in Japan, with my brother…and our sister might visit sometime this year).

When I arrived in Japan as a brand spankin’ new JET I went to the FIA to ask Benjamin and the very very helpful staff there for help in locating my dad. Two weeks later I had a copy of his koseki (family registry) which contained his address. A few months after I obtained this document, I sat down and wrote my dad a letter. I had been procrastinating to write it. Why would I procrastinate on one of the very reasons I came to Japan? Why would I wait to reconnect with my father? Well, I think out of fear of the unknown, fear of rejection, fear of disappointment, and so on (in the words of my students). I don’t know who the man who brought me onto this earth is…I don’t know what he does for a living…I don’t know what he likes to do…I don’t know anything. And I want to know, or do I really? I mean, I have lived 13 years without him, without the love and care that a father is supposed to provide. (The absent father is a common story these days, sad, but true.) My mother has provided all the love and support that my siblings and I needed and her side of the family has provided the same. So it’s not that I feel something has been missing…or that I regret anything. If my dad had stayed I would be a completely different person now. Maybe I am searching for closure, maybe I am searching for the father I never had, maybe I am searching for a connection that will be hard to well, reconnect. There are so many unknowns. Right now I am just going through the motions. Maybe when I will leave Japan I will be reconnected to my roots and feel united with my Japanese family. But more likely, I will leave Japan with more questions than when I came, whether or not my dad responds.

June 8, 2009
Update: Since I wrote this, Ms. Takashima at the FIA helped me find my grandmothers address. With Mami’s (Kurosaka) help, I wrote a letter, expecting no response. A week later, a letter came from my grandmother. Through the letter and my mom’s phone conversations with my grandmother we found out some updates: my grandfather passed away four years ago, our uncle is married and has two kids (3 and 8 years old) and they haven’t heard from my dad in years (exact number of yeras lost in translation). Since then, I have visited my grandmother in Shikoku 2 times and will go one more. She welcomed us (mom, sister, brother and I) with open arms. Still no word from my dad. I will write one more letter to him. But at least now, (some) questions are answered and I am fulfilled.

Erasing History

At school, they order the Daily Yomiuri for me to read (the English newspaper in Japan). I usually read articles that catch my interest and one today was "Japanese Soldiers shown in a new light". I remember learning about the brutal massacre, of Chinese civilians by Japanese soldiers, when I went to China on interim with St. Olaf. I was horrified by the atrocities of war and to what extent normal everyday people would go to when given a gun and an order.

The article says..."China remains irate that Japanese politicians have neither apologized for nor admitted the scope of the killings, while Japanese historians have erased the episode from their nation's textbooks."

Wow. Decades later Japan has not been able to apologize, let alone admit what happened, happened. Apologies never totally heal wounds, but at least they can be a start. And from the side of the oppressor it is a small step they can make for all the horrors they caused the people of Nanjing and all the after effects the victims have had to deal with. I remember watching a video on youtube about a Japanese soldier from Unit 731 who individually went to Nanjing to make his apology for all the horrible things he did (even if his country didn't back him up). It was very powerful.

And how amazing is it that certain people have enough power to erase history?! It blows my mind. Politicians have power but textbook writers might have more power over the long term. Education is so important, and in this case (whole sections of history being erased from textbooks), education is used as a weapon to guard against the truth.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-nanjing21-2009may21,0,6528458.story

"Real Life Isn't About What's Next"

"Real Life Isn't About What's Next"
One of my friends got me thinking. My friends tend to do that.

I was mentioning how crazy it is that we have been out of college for 2 years already. She said she spoke to some recent graduates and gave them some advice. She told them to get rid of their college mentality and that "real life isn't about what's next". That really spoke to me. Ever since grade school we have thought about what is next...what is after the test, after graduation. But now, we are in that time. Yes, it is good to look and plan ahead but what is the point if we are not living in the present moment? (my thoughts are going back to Buddhism class)

Yuki left last week. After taking him to the airport, I got back to my apartment (all alone) and it (the loneliness and exhaustion of traveling on the slow trains) hit me and I burst into tears. Tears of sadness cuz he's gone...but also tears of happiness for this incredible opportunity to get to know my brother again (after being away at Olaf/MN for 5 years).

mom and Maya

Mom and Maya's visit was amazing and kind of surreal. Now that they have been gone over a week, I have to ask myself if they were actually here.

The day after they arrived we went to meet with our grandmother. Suprinsingly, it was a very natural reunion. And it wasn't sad and emotional...but we were all happy that it finally happened after all these years (14?)!

The first night we stayed in Takamatsu and the next day we went to Ritsurin Park. It was cherry blossom season so we were very lucky to catch them in bloom (they only last about 10 days). That day we went to my grandmothers apartment in a small village in Shikoku. Over the time with her she took us to the sea and to Konpira san (shrine). The times I enjoyed most were just chilling at her house and meeting our cousins, aunt and re-meeting uncle. Our grandmother is very genki (energetic) and I was so greatful for this opportunity (thanks to God and thanks Mom for translating!)

Once we left Shikoku, my mom went to Kumamoto. Maya, Yuki and I went to Kyoto to tour around a bit (Maya became a maiko) and then Yuki went back to Fukui. Maya and I traveled on to visit IYA (International Youth Academy) friends in Toyohashi (Toledo's sister city - we went clam digging and later had a barbeque) and to Nagoya for a day trip (met up with May and a few more IYA friends). We all met back in Fukui for a few days and Maya and mom came to school, went to some of our activities and met some of our friends. My mom left for Tokyo on Thursday. Yuki, Maya and I left for Osaka on Friday and spent the day there and met up with mom later that night for okonomiyaki. Then, the next day they left
;-( .

So lately I have been feeling anxious about coming back to the States. I feel ready to go back but at the same time I want to enjoy my last three months here in Japan. There is still a lot to do/see but I have come to the realization that it won't all happen so in the meantime I will try to focus on spending time with friends and family before I go back home. Speaking of which, Yuki leaves in about three weeks ;-( so I am getting sad.

Family

So...in four days the rest of my immediate family (mom and Maya) will come to Japan!!! I am very excited. Due to constraints of money and time, I never thought this would actually work out but I am glad that it will (thanks to God). I can't remember even once going on a vacation by ourselves. Maybe I just don't have a good memory.

They are here for such a short time so we are going to try to hit up the "must-see" things and "must-do" things in Japan. We are also going to meet our grandmother. I feel like maybe I should be feeling more emotions than I am right now. I guess I just don't know how to feel. This is one of the main reasons I came to Japan - to reconnect with family here - but it is kind of surreal that it is actually going to happen - I guess this was another thing that I didn't think would work out.

So for now I just remain thankful for these opportunities....the opportunity for me and Yuki to spend some time in Japan, for my mom and Maya to come and for the opportunity to meet our grandmother.

A lot in a little time

There are a lot of things that I have done and places I have gone that I have not blogged about.

In January, I went to visit my friend May (MN) in Agematsu, a small town in Nagano prefecture. It was nice to see where she lives and realize that even though we are having the same experience (1 year in Japan, working at a school) they are completely different. The highlights were going to Matsumoto castle and relaxing our feet in a foot onsen (hot spring).

In February, my friend Natasha's sister was here from Trinidad, so it made the winter much more enjoyable and it passed by so quickly! In addition to enjoying the spots around Fukui City we also went to Kyoto and Obama (Fukui). In Kyoto I recommended the temples and shrines that we went to in December - Kinkakuji, Kiyomizudera and Fushimi Inari, in particular. Many Japanese tourists have no time to travel and so when they visit a place it is in and out - taking pictures and buying omiyage (souverniors-kind of obligatory). I don't consider myself a Japanese tourist. I like to linger places so I didn't mind going to the same places again (even though there is so much more to see but I have come to the realization I will never see it all!)

Last weekend my friends came from Aichi Prefecture. I met them when they came to Toledo (my hometown) in 2003. We have kept in touch ever since. When I met them I never imagined I would be showing them around in their own country. We went to two famous spots in Fukui but transportation was kind of a nightmare. I miss the independence of having a car and I felt bad to inconvenience them. The whole weekend, we were jumping from buses to trains to taxis. But all in all, it was fun and great to have them here...made it feely more home-y.

On Sunday we went to the "penis festival". It is actually a harvest festival or fertility festival. It was at a shrine that is all about, well, the penis. There were a lot of foreigners and I felt a kind of culture shock. Japan is such a homogenous country so you just get used to seeing all Japanese people. And when you see a foreigner, just like the Japanese, you are intrigued and stare. Well, there were too many so I couldn't keep staring. And I heard English all over. (I have gotten used to blocking out conversations and actually kind of like not overhearing people talk). Check out the link if you are more interested.

http://kikuko.web.infoseek.co.jp/english/tagata-shrine-hounen-sai.html

It is interesting because on some things I view the Japanese as very conservative and others as very liberal (like parading a giant phallus down the streets).

Our advisor recently sent us some logistical things about leaving Japan. There was a long list and it made me realize that I have a lot to do in a little time. Part of me feels like I just got here. The other part of me feels like these long days of no classes at schools will never end (I am at school writing this now)! and I am craving a Chipotle burrito.