Last Day

It's my last night in Japan and it is with blurry eyes that I write this blog.

I did a ton of things today, I closed my bank account, met with my friends, discovered that I could not check in electronically for either of my two flights, played on the playground with the neighborhood kids, and had a farewell dinner with my family.

I started tearing up when I thanked them for their kindness in hosting me, my voice cracked, and then I was gone! Oh man, I will miss them all so much.

On the positive side, I taught Okaasan how to use Skype, so we can try that when I return to the United States.

There will be a series of introspective shorts on Japanese culture and reflections on Japan in the coming weeks, as I readjust to just about everything American and such.

The time I'm going to spend in airports and planes alone (not counting waiting for my 9:30am flight) equates to about 24 hours, so I'm sure I'll be surly and jetlagged when I come home (sorry Mom, Dad, and Em!) and won't want to write any blog entries.

Japan was amazing and I've made so many good friends here--I'll just have to travel around and meet up with them again, won't I?

Thank you Japan, it's been great and I'll be back!

Signing Off,

Sarah

Nara with the (Extended) Family!

So, as my last "real" family activity with my dearest host family was going with Ojiisan and Obaasan (Okaasan's father and mother) to my favorite deer capital...a.k.a. Nara!

Okaasan had brought some "old" (and here I use quotation marks because "old" in Japan and "old" in America are two very different things!) cabbage and other veggie treats so that Hina could feed the deer. It was fun!

Deer in the street, eating yo' deer crackers

Hina gets close to a fawn!

Feeding a deer

Another girl feeding a deer

But no one's as cute as Hina-chan~!

GAH. In two days I'm leaving at 5:30am to catch a 6:10am bus to get to my 8:45am plane!

Graduation

Well, it's finally done. I've officially "graduated" from Kansai Gaidai (actually, it was called a "completion ceremony" but details, details...) and I'm done with it all!

done, Done, DONE!!

All thanks to Okaasan--she helped me dress up this morning in kimono and hakama!

Whoo hoo!

Unfortunately, Otousan was sick, so he couldn't make it to the ceremony, so here are all the girls dressed up!

And then there was a lot of crying, for all of us poor students are now to be scattered to the four corners of the world and all that. But it was fun. We had a lot of fun and made a lot of friends and I don't think that anyone regrets this at all.

Hakama Nakama!

This is my sumi-e teacher, Kathleen Scott

Me and a bunch of buddies from the Winter Break dorm time!

Two of the three pieces I put in the sumi-e and ceramics show

Thanks for such a fun year, Kansai Gaidai!

I leave on Tuesday at 9:30 am. Just counting the flights and layovers, it's going to be around 24 hours. I think I may die.

THANK GOD, THEY'RE DONE

...the tests at least. I still have one more paper to finish and a graduation to attend, but that's it.

And I gloried in it after my last test.

First I went and explored a shrine nearby to my house that I've been dying to see, but haven't had the time for.

 

It was pretty excellent.

I found a path next to it that led to a bunch of local gardens. How nostalgic!

Then I headed home. I took some pictures of flowers on the way there.

Okaasan and Hina were out, but I could hear Hina's voice and followed them over to the nearby park.

I should have done this to begin with, but I was so busy with classes and just tiredness in general, but I introduced myself to the moms and kids at the playground (I was lucky because since I was with Okaasan, I had an in and wasn't being a creepy stranger).

For the kids, it was love at first sight. I was bombarded by practiced English (with pretty good pronunciation as well!) questions and answered all as best I could. Then we took a picture.

After that, we played tag and boy, oh boy, are little kids fast. Man. Whew.

Takoyaki Tuesday

Today for dinner we had takoyaki--fried batter with octopus and all other sorts of delicious ingredients in it!

The Kansai area (where I'm currently residing) is well-known for its takoyaki prowess. Okaasan and Otousan were both really good at making the fried balls in the cast iron pan. I, on the other hand, can do it, but not skilfully! :)

First you fill the molds, then as it cooks, you flip the balls over to make it cooked evenly the whole way

And after that we had bean jelly. Delicious.

Vending Machines

Oh, the things I’ve heard about Japanese vending machines! They’re everywhere!

Of course, there’s the typical drink vending machine (that serve both hot and cold drinks) as well as the cigarette ones, the ice cream ones, the cup noodle ones, and, my personal favorite, the book ones.

Ice Cream

Tobacco

Cup Ramen

Book Vending Machine, Tokyo Subway

Supposedly in the twisted, dark alleyways of Tokyo there’s condom and used panty vending machines as well. But I haven’t seen one in person, so I’m not too sure…

There are various ways one can get their drink as well. You can get a bottle or a can—but paper cups are available as well. You can tell the difference between cup and can because the display top is wide and flat. That’s another thing—you don’t see your drink until it drops—you only see a plastic representation. This differs from the “press a button and you’re done” vending machines of my youth.

Cups

I have not seen that many food vending machines except for on campus (waffles and ramen); drinks seem to be the most popular plus the abundance of conbini and hyakuen stores make it very easy to find and buy cheap food.

You can pay in various ways as well. There’s the traditional coin or bill, but you can also use your train pass (that you credit with money) to pay.

Paying with train card

And here are some of the whacky vending machines I’ve seen:

Electronic Vending Machine

Nara Vending Machine

Also collecting donations

Tale of Genji themed Tea Vending Machine

10 Things I've Adapted to in Japan

1. Close, whizzing by, missing-by-just-a-hair traffic. I have no fear of cars driving next to me as I walk down the road. This, of course, will have to change before I return to the Land of Crazy Drivers.

2. Silence and relative peace on public transportation.

3. Wearing makeup everyday. I'm really not much for makeup, but just about ever girl in Japan wears some sort of makeup, so you feel super conspicuous without it.

4. Absolute strangers smiling and greeting you (though I still have trouble implementing it in real life...).

5. Being stared at like a wild animal in a zoo (though it still irritates me).

6. Seeing women carry parasols on the street and while riding and texting at the same time.

7. Delicious cafeteria food that looks nice as well!

8. Posing with the peace sign for pictures

9. Dollar stores that sell useful things with quality.

10. Being able to sleep on public transportation and not be judged or molested for it.

Bonus Fact!

11. The fact that grades aren't everything.

Day in Danjiri-ville

So, remember how I mentioned danjiri, waaaay long ago in September?

Well today I went to the town famous for danjiri--Kishiwara!

It also happens to be Ikue's hometown! With only 10 days left, I'm determined to seek out adventure plus get good test scores!

First we went to Kishiwara Castle. Isn't it pretty?

In the walls of Kishiwara Castle there are holes for shooting arrows. Ikue generously shows how.

3 different types of holes: triangle, circle, and rectangle

There was also a pretty lotus garden in the moat surrounding the castle

Then we went to the Danjiri Museum which had some pretty epic interactive features such as a special exhibit on the current televised drama happening on the NHK network and a studio where you could bang the taiko and bells of the danjiri. It was pretty fun.

After that, we headed to the ocean and had a picnic lunch and then browsed around a nearby shopping mall.

At the final point, I actually got invited over to Ikue's house (something that you don't have happen often in Japan) and we hung out until her parents got home. Ikue seemed really excited that someone could come and visit her hometown (she lives about an hour and a half away from Hirakata and it's somewhat pricy to get there) and she was smiling and I was smiling and
it
was
perfect!

I'm so happy.