Jes’ Weblog

Hey Everybody!

So, I finished my last final at Kansai Gaidai this morning. For the last two weeks I’ve been beyond busy, and I’m sorry for not writing. But here’s what the last week or so has looked like for me:

• Week 1:
  • Two meetings for ZERO (the dance club at my school).
  • Final Oral exam for Spoken Japanese
  • 24 Page paper for Int. Bus. in E. Asia
  • Go to トリキ（AKA280) friday night
  • Attempt to study for Finals but end up studying mainly french and kanji (weekend).
• Week 2:
  • Every night go to ガスト <Gasuto> to study
  • Final Written exam for Spoken Japanese
  • Final written exam for Reading and Writing Japanese
  • 10 page paper for HRM in Japan.
  • 4 page paper for Int. Bus. in E. Asia
  • Final Exam for Int. Bus. in E. Asia
• both weeks:
  • ZERO Dance Practice
  • Help arrange hotels for Mom and Dex
  • Buy flights for while Mom and Dex are visiting
  • Study (80% of the time at ガスト)
  • MA Training

I also managed to spend some time with my friends who are leaving long before me. Funny how a majority of those experiences were at the restaurant to study. （笑）

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to tell a little bit about ガスト since I spend so much time there. In the past 14 days, I think I’ve gone 12 different days. But, if you think that’s bad, you should consider Wade and Jeremy, who came even after they finished all their finals.

Anyway, we go there because there’s drink bar (soda, tea, and coffee) for 330￥, unlimited time frame. And, they have a decent variety of food that tastes pretty good considering how much we pay. My two favorites are the “Ice-cream cake” and the “Spinach and Bacon sauté.” Usually, I’d eat a real meal and just snack there.

This picture is of Jessi and Tsubasa trying not to laugh. I can’t remember which reason it was though… that was a good night for humor. I think we finally got around to serious studying around midnight!

The best part about going there is that I can almost always count on at least one of my friends being there to study. It was a good way for us to all hang out and chat, but also get a lot done. And, at other times show how creatively we could not do work.

The other thing is that I never really planned to go there! Someone will always just send a message that goes something like “hungry, ガスト？” or “I’m at ガスト.” Amazingly, we’re always productive in the end. In fact, my very last essay for the semester was written at that restaurant.

In this picture we have Wade, Jeremy, and Keiko. In the bottom corner, you also have a glimpse at the essay I was writing!

And in this picture below, the only person who hasn’t been mentioned yet is Yuka. And the night manager, who is checking us out.

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So, who got my opening reference??? (^_~)

As a part-time job, I’ve been teaching English as a private tutor (actually a really common job for students in Japan). It’s pretty well paying, and it’s near the school. But, I’ve been having a lot of trouble because my student cancels at least half of the four times we are supposed to meet each month. And, this month, she canceled for three of the times.

My friend and I were talking about this, and it’s not really fair to the person teaching to clear a time especially to teach, and then find out last minute that they’re not actually teaching that day. Though, it would be really cool if, every time we skipped a class at school, we got a refund.

But really, I work at a private company and the person choose to study with me. The student should commit to that schedule. Of course, if the teacher couldn’t make it, no payment should be made. But otherwise, the teacher still plans to take time out and teach, so they still deserve to be paid if the student cancels. (I feel this way as a student as well – experience comes from Aikido.)

Anyway, that’s all for today.

So, this past week in Japan has been Golden Week! Traditionally, this is a week where there are five or so holidays in a row, or almost. Unfortunately, this year Golden Week really straddled two weeks, but it was still a four-day weekend anyway.

My friend Tsubasa invited me to visit her home-town in 広島 <hiroshima> prefecture. She lives way out in the country. So much so that there’s not even a convenience store. I was surprised, but her house is really big! And in the old style architecture that most people imagine japan to be like! It was really cool for me to stay there.

On Monday, we went into the city to visit the 原爆ドーム <genbaku domu>, which, in english, is the Atomic-bomb dome. This was essentially directly below where the center of where the A-bomb exploded. Across the river is the Peace park, and the museum dedicated to the A-bomb event. If you’ve ever been to a Holocaust museum, it was something like that, but I think a little scarier. It really made me feel that such a thing is too dangerous to use as a weapon, and I felt really bad for all the people who suffered from it. I also thought that maybe they should teach about the A-bomb event more when they are teaching about the Holocaust, because it’s connected a lot more than I knew. And it’s one of those terrible things that shouldn’t repeat its self do to lack of knowledge.

After the museum, we decided to go eat お好み焼き <okonomiyaki>, as Hiroshima is famous for it. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only one’s with that idea, and had to go to three different restaurants before finding one that we wouldn’t have to wait for hours to eat. It was especially good, as promised. And, of course, I found myself stuffed. From there, we went window shopping for a couple hours.

Toward the evening, we took the street train (チンチン電車） to meet Tsubasa’s Mom and younger brother. We went to a “nearby” mountain temple where they were celebrating for the young boys (boy’s families put up a koi fish kite) for dinner. Because of how busy it was, it took maybe four hours for food to come up. Actually, I was still full from dinner, but was let (in the way that i didn’t really have a choice) to eat a giant rice-ball and some of the chicken. It was fabulously delicious, and I’d love to go back sometime when I’m not stuffed from a previous meal.

We also went to view some flowers, because “Japanese people love flowers!” It was actually really cool, even though we were a week after prime viewing season.

A big surprise from this trip was how much I was reminded of growing up and my family.

The house I remember best from my childhood was very much in the country. I felt that the country had a lot of the same feeling; the forest greenery was very pretty, and the houses (for the most part) were pretty spread out. The biggest difference I felt was that the fields are used for rice instead of corn and livestock. Of course, the stars were also beautiful at night.

Tsubasa’s family lives with four generations under one roof, which naturally led to thoughts on family. I was missing meeting with my extended family on holidays, when I returned home to find a bunch of comments from some of the family members I haven’t been able to talk with much recently. Talk about timing! It was a great surprise to return home to!

One last picture from the first night at Tsubasa’s House:

Her family does Kendo, which basically led into a conversation of the flexibility we all had.

So, yesterday, I went to the Tigers’ vs. Swallows game. It was so much fun!!!

What I really learned going to this game was that it’s the fan’s that makethe game (kinda like life). As far as Japanese baseball goes (based almost entirely on this game), it seems that the players are too good. Even in America, I tend to like the amateur games more than professional ones (save hockey). I feel like they’re a bit more exciting because there are more “mistakes.” But, as in at this game, the teams are so good that they hardly make it on base, let alone score.

But actually, from what I’ve heard, the Hanshin Tigers aren’t especially good. Just, everyone roots for them. To the point that the economy does better when they are winning. Go figure.

Anyway, Hanshin Fans are like no others. Nearly everyone was dressed up in some fashion or another, and if not, they at least had some paraphernalia. My favorite are the bats used to clap, because Tigers’ require a lot of clapping. It is essentially the entire time that they are up to Bat. But, of course, you don’t just clap.

Japanese Baseball games have people who’s job it is to lead the crowd in cheering. He is essentially a conductor. There is also at least one person who’s job it is to use a large drum to help keep the crowd together. If my memory is correct, there were about 7 different patterns of clapping used throughout the game, and a few more that were once or maybe twice.

Not only are there patterns, but there are songs/chants. Every player has his own chant. It starts off “かっとばせ ~~~” <katto base ~~~>.

Here’s the 六甲颪 <Rokkou Oroshi> , AKA the 阪神タイガースの歌　<Hanshin Taigasu no Uta>:

Rokkou oroshi ni sassou to <In the Rokkou wind, a gallant>
souten kakeru nichirin no <Orb galloping across the blue sky>
seishun no haki uruwashiku <A young, beautiful spirit>
kagayaku wagana zo Hanshin Taigaasu <We are the sparkling Hanshin Tigers>
ou-ou-ou-ou Hanshin Taigaasu <O~ Hanshin Tigers>
fure-fure-fure-fure <Hurray Hurray Hurray Hurray!>

toushi hatsuratsu tatsu ya ima <A fighting spirit awake>
nekketsu sude ni teki wo tsuku <Already beat back the enemy>
juu-ou no iki takaraka ni <With the pride if the king of animals>
muteki no warera zo Hanshin Taigaasu <We are the invincible Hanshin Tigers>
ou-ou-ou-ou Hanshin Taigaasu <O~ Hanshin Tigers>
fure-fure-fure-fure <Hurray Hurray Hurray Hurray!>

tetsuwan kyouda ikuchi tabi <Steel arms and powerful hitting, thousands of times>
kitaete koko ni koushien <<We are training here in Koushien>
shouri ni moyuru eikan wa <Burning for the crown of victory>
kagayaku warera zo Hanshin Taigaasu <We are the sparkling Hanshin Tigers>
ou-ou-ou-ou Hanshin Taigaasu <O~ Hanshin Tigers>
fure-fure-fure-fure <Hurray Hurray Hurray Hurray!>

I got this song out of Colloquial Kansai Japanese, and the translations as well. If anyone wants the kanji as well, just ask.

At the bottom of the 7th (when the Tigers are up to bat), all the fans release ジェット風船 <jetto fuusen>, which are really long balloons that make a whistling noise when released. I think we sang 六甲颪, and then released them, but maybe it was another song. This is really cool.

And then here’s some trivia:

• Japanese baseball teams are named after the companies that own them.
• トラッキ <torakki> is the Hanshin Mascot. (There’s also a girl, who I believe is named トラッコ<torakko>).
• When Hanshin won the Japan Series for the first time in 1985, fans went crazy. One group gathered at the Doutonbori River, and as the names of players were called out, fans would jump in the river for their favorite player. However, when Randy Bass’ name was called, there were no foreigners in the crowd to represent him. The closest thing to a foreigner they could find was the statue of Colonel Sanders statue in front of the KFC, which they threw into the River. The KFC didn’t replace the statue until the tigers looked like they would win the Central league pennant in 1992; this time chaining him to the restaurant.
  (I’ve heard several versions of this story. And also one warning that the river is dirty, so if you jump in you’ll get sick.)

Anyway, the game was a blast! Everyone was really energetic and had a great time. We got an especially large amount of attention, being that we were a group of foreign girls, all wearing jerseys.

We also sat in the bleachers where the majority of the cheering is done. They are actually great seats, because you can see everything. The only complaint is that the seats are amazingly small. But it’s all good. It’s especially fun to watch the guys selling beer climb up through the crowd!

If you’ve got the opportunity, go see a tigers game. Make sure to dress in black and yellow if you can. And just go with the flow!