Article #8 in the ESL Student Life Story Project, by Mayuka from Japan, age 25.
In our lives, we have keys that can change everything for us. Maybe these keys are key words, or key points, or key people we meet, but many keys are not realized at the moment we first see them. Keys are often realized later, and whether we are aware of it or not, they guide us [...Read More!]
Yowza! It has been amazing to see two major cities of Japan for the past ten days! Despite the articles on Japan my cousin kindly handed me before coming, there were still endless elements of Japan that came as a surprise. Here are a few for your perusal.
1. Toilet extremes. The majority of toilets in Japan are squat toilets, where you crouch awkwardly over a porcelained hole in [...Read More!]
Chew on this: The United States population is comprised of something like 14% Latino folks, 13 % African Americans, 5% Asians, 66% Whites, and 2 % other. We’re a melting pot! A salad! A multicolored stew! In Japan, however, the “largest” minority is a paltry 1.5% (Chinese) of the total population!!! According to my friend Mike who I stayed with in Tokyo, there are just 8,000 Americans in Japan (about the [...Read More!]
Gordon is originally from Boston, but has lived in Japan for five years. For the first several years, he was teaching English through the JET Program (which my wonderful cousin also did and loved). Since then, Gordon has started working in the translation department of a patent company, and has burned up the Osaka Salsa dancing scene.He has really made a life for himself here in Japan, and his fluent Japanese [...Read More!]
There comes a time in every traveler’s path when she must cease and desist freeloading off a kind benefactor’s floor. To this end, I spent 9 hours of last night “sleeping” on the night bus from Tokyo to Osaka. Read: Night bus = cheap place to stay, and cheaper transport than the bullet train. Also read: I am perhaps the only six foot tall human in this country.
Long [...Read More!]
“AGHHH!!!!” I screamed, throwing myself underneath the low restaurant table, “IT’S STILL ALIVE!!!”
Sure enough, the sparkling silver fish atop [...Read More!]
I am typing to you now from the former keyboard of a famous author. He is my semi-mentor, whether he wants to be or not, because he travels around the globe (from Iraq to Cuba) reclusively banging out page after page of award-winning text, then living the alternating [...Read More!]
I’m not much of a sight-seeing gal in the sense of “ROBOTICALLY MUST SEE ALL FAMOUS PLACES IN MY GUIDEBOOK!” Rather, I dig the approach of wandering til your butt is near ready to fall off from the miles accrued, and seeing what happens along the way. Today, after maybe or maybe not getting locked inside Shinjuku Park, I escaped (or maybe was free the whole time) and briskly meandered 5 miles [...Read More!]
Hey, remember when you got locked inside Shinjuku Park in Tokyo cause you didn’t realize the barred doors sealed at 4:30pm? That was fun.
Remember how you were innocently doing headstands in the lush, plush expanses of grass, then writing, full of peace, while the mosquitoes lovingly sucked your blood?Remember those GIGUNDO crows, and the deafening opera of cicadas for all four hours you were there?
Remember the first time you used [...Read More!]
A quilt of delights from today… Mike, a friend of a dear friend, has been an AMAZING host, showing me around the city, printing maps and suggested itineraries, and generally being the most fun and kind possible in sharing his 7 years of Tokyo-living experience.
T’was Mike who learned me about this whole rice ball and rice burger business. Want to eat cheap in Japan? The convenience store sells seaweed-wrapped rice [...Read More!]