Changing Impressions

So since you've been in Japan so long, what do you think now?....


After being in Japan for about 8 months as an International student studying Japanese and Japanese culture at Kansai Gaidai for the fall semester of 2009,
and the Spring semester of 2010, there have been some impressions of Japan that in my perspective has been instilled in me throughout my stay here.

The fact that everyone in Japan are very polite to each other and use Keigo(really formal japanese) is something at first I didnt understand and sort of arkward. But as time progressed I realized that Japanese people are in general polite because of their culture. In America, we are polite but not to the extreme that Japan is. We do not have Keigo although we have a form of speech that is polite. After being here for so long, I realize I will miss being treated with the utmost respect by everyone in their speech as opposed to the sort of formal speech that is used back home.

Another impression that is instilled in me is the fact that people take off their shoes when entering their house, room, bathroom and even certain places such as resturants and are given slippers. In America, there is no place that one will be allowed to take their shoes off except for their own house. And sometimes I realized that even some people go into their house with their shoes and even their bedroom and sit on their beds with it on! This is something I now see with a slight disgust and my instilled japanese notion of keeping things cleaned is something I will have to get used to when going back.

One last thing that I will miss will be able to see mountains and parks and shrines everywhere. The closest thing to a shrine or temple I have in America is a church, and since I live in N.Y.C, there is no mountains. Being able to look out my window or wherever I go, being able to know that behind these mass globs of buildings and concrete there is a park or mountain filled with beautiful scenery is something that will be nostalgic to me.

There are probably so many more impressions of Japan that I will miss and had made animpact on me and my life. There are times when hearing my fellow students talk to eachother about when they are leaving makes my stomache turn and make me think about everything but that has stopped me from really thinking about this topic. However, Japan has made a huge impression on how I view people, language, way of thinking, ways of doing things and just daily life that I will never forget. Living in Japan I believe has made me a more open-minded person and this experience with my friends from all over the world is something that in my heart I will never forget. I am forever grateful. Thank you Kansai Gaidai, and thank you Japan!

Osaka vs. Tokyo! 大阪 v.s東京

OSAKA大阪

TOKYO東京






During Spring break, my friends and I went to Tokyo for 4 days and 3 nights and what an experience it was! After coming back from Tokyo, and even during my stay there for that breif amount of time, I realized that there are many differences, some subtle some not between the Kanto region of Japan and the Kansai region of Japan.

In tokyo, people stand on the right side of the esculator, while in Osaka people stand on the left. When I arrived there I was suprised and kind of felt weird when standing on the opposite side of the esculator, when I was used to standing on the other side. Although, this may sound not like a big deal, the subtle difference was strange because it was like it was an un-written law that everyone knew and that their even was a difference threw all of us Kansai International students off.

The next difference was is an obvious one. Tokyo is very very very busy. Of course Tokyo has a higher population and is more condensed city in contrast to Osaka, but the when seeing gigantic crowds cross streets and crowd the train stations, it can be a little overwhelming. There was one time when my friends and I were taking the train back to our hostel in Asakusa, we saw at least 30 people run at top speed, up 5esculators while almost smacking the person standing on the esculator with their suitcase. It was 6:00am on a Friday. Boy, are Tokyo people busy!

In tokyo, there are many places to shop, as in Osaka. But in tokyo, the places to shop are way larger in area, more condensed with shops and named brand stores, and has stores that are only located in Tokyo. For an expample, Forever 21, Abercrombie and Fitch, CherCher store, and even the famous Final Fantasy store. All of the stores mentioned are only located in Tokyo. For us Kansai students, we thought it was unfair, but maybe one day they will open some of these stores in Osaka.


While on trains or even walking in the street or eating in a resturant, Tokyo people
seem more reserved and/or serious. People on the train barely speak and if they do it is extremely quiet, when walking on the street they seemed more busy and into themselves, and in resturants they seem much more quiet and restrained. In Osaka, when on the train, people talk much louder than in Tokyo. It seems like you can hear people laughing and joking with each other and the ride seems more relaxed. On the street, you hear people talking, swearing, laughing much more louder than in Tokyo. And also when in resturants, it is when I think Osaka people are at their loudest when enjoying their food with friends or family members. In tokyo, we felt like we had to be at our best behavior not to stand out more than we already did.

One last thing that was startling to me was that it seemed that a lot of people in Tokyo speak english! Yes of course, I know Tokyo is the country's capital and Industrial capital too. But the amount of people that not only spoke english but fluenty with no accent at all was really shocking. It seemed that either there were people who spoke fluent english, and there were people who didn't speak english at all. My friends and I encountered 10 people during our trip that spoke english fluently. One time when my friends and I were on the train heading to Shibuya at night to see the nightlife scene, we were talking to each other about all the things that we can do there. All of a sudden this young Japanese guy, that looked around our age, spoke to us saying "So what are you guys up to tonight?" was very suprising. After talking to him for about 5 minutes or so, I asked him if he was Japanese, and he said yes. When I asked him how was his english so good, he just told me he studied. That was it. And of course these just studying english japanese people we encountered spoke it fluently that we were suprised and not at the same time. My friends and I wondered at that time that how can people who study abroad to learn japanese live in tokyo, where a lot of people speak english? In Osaka, not many people besides college students speak english, and most are not even as fluent as the people in Tokyo.

In all, there are much more differences and similarties about Tokyo and Osaka, but my experience there made me realize that there are slight differences in the culture,
and way of doing things that are not the same in the Kansai area. Of course the dialect as well. Tokyo people speak the standard Japanese called Kanto-ben. And Kansai people speak Kansai-ben. As an internation student of course we are learning the standard Japanese in class, but when we get out and speak to our japanese friends outside of class, Kansai-ben is where it is at!

なんでやね～?！ Kansai-ben 　　=What are you doing? (nan de ya nen)
なんをしてんの？！ Tokyo-ben =What are you doing? (nan o shite iru no)
あほ Kansai-ben = Stupid/Fool (aho)
ばか Tokyo =Stupid/Fool (baka)

Hanako-the ghost in the girl's bathroom

The boogy man is going to get cha!....

In japan there is a famous and well known ghost named Hanako. She is a young girl who resides in the 3rd stall of the girl's bathroom. Usually, she is believed to be in almost every girl's bathroom in Junior High School. When I asked a couple of the Japanese Kansai Gaidai students, they told me that in their old school there was a Hanako. When I asked them if they believed it, many stated that they did at the time but now isn't so sure. Fewer said yes and even fewer said no.

So what is the story of Hanako? There are many slightly different interpretations of Hanako throughout Japan but here is one version in a short article about Hanako by Ron Hogan.

"She’s called Toire no Hanako-san, or Hanako of the Toilet, and she’s a Japanese ghost that haunts girls’ bathrooms all over Japan. The third stall on the third floor of any school? That’s her toilet, and don’t you go using it, missy!

Unlike the other Japanese urban legend about Sony’s built-in failure clock, there’s nothing much to support the existence of Hanako. She’s just a girl in a red dress with bobbed hair. If you knock on the third stall door and ask if she’s in there, she’ll say in a meek voice, “Yes, I am here.” If you open the door up after that? Well, she grabs you and pulls you into the toilet, where presumably you die. She’s also been seen as a lizard, a summonable ghost like Bloody Mary, and a giant bloody white hand that will pull you in, depending on where you are when you hear the legend of Hamako. Sounds like classic urban legend stuff to me!"

http://www.popfi.com/2010/04/15/hanako-of-the-toilet-a-bathroom-haunting-ghost/

Another slightly different version of who Hanako is in another article by Billy Hammond. "There is a story about a school ghost named "Hanako-san"(Hanako-chan) that is familiar to most elementary school students in Japan. According to a show I saw on TV about it, variations of it exist throughout the country. In most of the stories, a young girl named Hanako hangs out in school restrooms, mysteriously opening and closing doors of the toilet stalls. If her name is called, she appears and then frightening things occur.

This tale has created so much fear among elementary school students that some students refrain from using the restroom to the point of failure. Japanese elementary school restrooms have a reputation for being poorly lighted and smelly, which may contribute to this as well.

In response, the Asahi Shinbun (May 13, 2002) reports that progress is being made to address the 5 problem points of school restrooms, which are summarized as "dirty, smelly, dark, frightening and being in disrepair".

According to the article, Izumi City in Osaka has recently revamped the facilities for the lower grades. They have put sensors to allow automatic flushing of the boy's bathroom urinals and sound effect devices to muffle noise in the girl's bathroom at the city's Midorigaoka Elementary School. They have also installed Western-style toilets with hot water washlets there. Other improvements include increasing the height of stall walls to the ceiling to prevent peeping as well as stronger lighting.

The cost of all these improvements? Over 20,000,000 yen (about $156,250.00 U.S. at 128 yen to the dollar) for a single school. They have finished improvements at 4 of the city's elementary and intermediate schools.

What about Hanako-san? She needn't worry - there are still lots of other school restrooms left in Japan that haven't been targeted for renovation."

http://www.tanutech.com/japan/hanako.html


In my Death in East Asian Thought class that I am taking this semester, my professor told us that perhaps Hanako is a representation of how stressed students are in taking exams during that age, so maybe a little girl went suicide because she couldn't handle the pressure. Or maybe according to Frued, it represents young women's fears in their upcoming menustration. Who knows? Maybe all of the above or maybe she is real.


So do you believe in Hanako? I am not sure if there is a Hanako in college, but all I know is that when I enter a bathroom in my college in Osaka, I will not call out her name to see if she is real. Thank goodness we have the western styled toilets in our school! Unless....she can still haunt those too...

Life as a student in Japan

Life as a student in Japan I believe is a very interesting and rewarding experience because coming from a westerner's perspective, there are a lot of differences and similarities when studying abroad in Japan as opposed to studying back in our own country's college.

A typical day for a Kansai Gaidai student is to wake up early for Spoken Japanese and/or not Japanese Reading and Writing class, which is taken places between 9:00am to 12:00pm depending on your schedule. Japanese classes are scheduled Monday through Friday, with the exception of Japanese Reading and Writing which is held only 3 times a week. After morning classes of course depending on your schedule you would have 2 other chosen Asian Studies/Business/Politics/Art classes to go to. These classes ranging in different periods are between 1:15pm through 4:40pm.

In between classes, students are seen in the computer lab finishing papers or browsing the interenet, in the lounge talking to various international students or japanese friends, or taking a nap, or eating lunch. Outside you can see more students talking outside or in the smoking area. Throughout the campus there are many oppurtunites to speak japanese to the japanese students that are running to class, eating lunch at the shokudou(cafeteria) or hanging about.


As a student here, this school has a type of homely atmosphere in which one can be comfortable and relaxed. Comparing this type of atmosphere to my own college back in New York City, there is a sort of diferent air to it. Of course, students are taking among a huge variety of courses in different things related to their major. However, most of the students tend to go straight home as apposed to hang out on campus with their friends. My college back home has a air of busyness quality to it, in which making new friends to practice another language, like it is here is very strange. However, this is study abroad and what I mentioned before is normal and expected.


After classes are over, International students usually ride their bikes home or walk or take the bus back to the seminar houses (there are 4), to their host family's house or back to their own apartments. In my college, students usually take the bus or train or walk back to their apartments, dorm or house but not to a host family's house.

However the big difference in studying abroad than going to school back home, is obvious yet true. Being in another country, forced to speak another language, with a different culture and ways of doing things can make a student feel overwhelmed. However, school is where we learn most about Japan and its culture and language, so we learn how to cope with the things we don't understand around us (in our regular classes) and learn how to communicate to get around (Japanese classes) that makes our lives here always exciting knowing that there is always something new to explore and discover. Back in our own universities, of course we know what to expect because we grew up in that culture, we speak the native language of our country and things are less exciting and risky and experince things that are more normal to us. I believe that every person should experience studying abroad in another country because I believe it makes you a more rounded and open-minded person and it makes you have an experience of a lifetime that you will never forget.