I did not end up sleeping at the airport. I did lay my head down for a thirty minutes but I was plagued with worry the whole time, so I wouldn't call that sleeping. When it hit 6:00AM I gathered up all my things and headed for the Haruka Limited Express in Terminal 2. I had Googled how to buy the ticket already, which was fortunate because it's a little complicated. In addition to the basic fare, I also had to buy a separate ticket for the limited express. I wasted a few hundred yen because I was confused with how to work the ticket machine at first, but I picked up quickly. I must've been a sight with my two suitcases, huge backpack, camera bag, and white shoulder bag.
Since arriving in Japan I have done many things I previously thought impossible for me. Managing to get anywhere with this much weight is one of them.
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| Haruka Ltd. Express! So clean and roomy! Good for my poor sleep deprived soul. |
Japan is such a tourist-friendly nation (especially in large cities) that there was no trouble finding the right track and getting into my seat. They even did the train announcements in Japanese and English every time! By the time I heard the Japanese announcement for the 4th or 5th time, I started to understand it better. All the same, I was very thankful for the accompanying English afterwards. I've heard of the cleanliness and smoothness of Japanese trains. I was not disappointed. The Haruka Ltd. Express train was a super spacious, comfortable, and quiet ride! I got a bit flustered when the ticket collector handed me back my ticket with two hands, because I had just used one hand to hand it to him and I instantly felt like a slob. (And over the course of my week, I have broken many more rules in Japanese etiquette. Sigh.)
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| I wanted that side...oh well. |
I was on the train from 6:30 to around 9. It was a beautiful ride. The opposite side of the train got more views of the countryside, but I was satisfied with what I got to see. As previously mentioned, I do love traveling, so I was happy as can be with my camera in my hand and my face pressed up against the glass on the train. Even as businessmen with suits came and filled up the train, the seat next to mine remained empty. I wonder if my purple hair also works as a people-repellent? As my father says, perhaps I look like a punk. I am okay with that. ("Everything is 大丈夫" via Emily)
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| These kinds of parking lots are everywhere! Lots of bikes just randomly on the streets too... |
Two things I noticed about seeing a bit of Japan from my seat on the train. First, there are bicycles
everywhere. For some reason, that wasn't something I expected from this country. Not only were there bicycles parked en masse everywhere - I also saw everyone from every walk of life possibly riding them as if it were perfectly normal. Stilettos and miniskirt? Check. Business suit and briefcase? Check. Old lady with groceries? Check. Not even fancy bikes! Just normal squeaky ones with metal casing and all.
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| Lots of mini-farms and gardens everywhere! |
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| Funny advertising hehe. |
Second, there's such a mixture of landscapes in such a small area! I saw tall buildings, short buildings, large warehouses, groups of traditional architecture, large fields of rice, small greenhouse plots etc. Perhaps it's nothing special to people who have traveled far and wide, but as someone from larger countries like America and China, I guess I'm more used to seeing more compartmentalization in landscape. It was honestly intensely fascinating and I couldn't get enough of it.
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| This one was empty though, sorry. Imagine the people, or use google. |
Passing by train stations was also great fun. I saw a lot of people in suits and wearing face masks. I know it is polite to wear face masks when one is sick in Japan - so there must be a lot of sick people around! Or they have allergies. Either way, I'm a little freaked out by them even though I expected them. I shall have to try it out if I ever get a cold. The crowds of people wearing suits was also new for me. Seeing crowds of them out at lunchtime in the city is also slightly intimidating because my brain, due to the influence of Too Much Television, equates groups of suits to mobsters.
It's probably not good to say this - but I found it intriguing that a lot of them dressed in the same suit but also had dyed brown, fashionably coiffed hair. It makes me wonder how they dress when not going to work and pressured to conform to fashion standards. Then I also remember my hair is purple and wonder what others think when they stare. I don't dye my hair in order to stand out and look "artsy". I dye my hair because it makes me feel comfortable. I'm still mulling over why that is. Perhaps a way to "express" myself without going through any social activity other than...being seen? Either way, my hair is purple now and perhaps will be pink soon. Stay tuned.
I got off at Kyoto Station and was instantly lost. (This happens a lot) I dragged my luggage around and went up (and then back down the elevator) before finding the taxi area. The pre-departure information sheet from Kyoto Seika said the cheapest way to get from Kyoto Station to Kino-ryo (my dorm) was via the Karasuma line and then a taxi. However, after 30+ hrs of travel and no sleep, I was done and ready to splurge on a taxi ride all the way from Kyoto Station to the dorm. I would just like, skip a few meals to make up for it (this unfortunately did happen - mostly because I was lazy. It also cost about $35. Not too bad actually.).
So after standing around and staring nervously at the line of taxis in front of the station and staring as other people got on (what if there was some secret Japanese etiquette to getting on a taxi that I would fail horribly at? my mind went a bit wild. i was tired. it's okay.) I walked down and got into a taxi. My driver was an older white-haired man. He was a bit flustered at the simplistic map on the back of the pre-dep packet but managed to make it through to the general area.
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| Back-of-the-taxi photography. |
During the entire ride through Kyoto, I kept trying to work up the courage to ask him if I could open up the windows. They were closed, I had on a thicker jacket, and I wanted fresh air. I had the phrase all prepared, but never found a chance to say it. Ah, shyness, I will slay you one day.
We got to Iwakura and promptly got lost. I was incredibly embarrassed when he couldn't figure out where we were and his smart phone apparently couldn't either. We stopped by a bike shop (that I now realize is very, very close to the dorm) and asked directions from the shop manager. Again, I tried to listen in and see what I could understand. Not much.
By now, I was wondering when my mind would react that I was in Japan. I felt that I would probably cry when seeing the city and understanding that I was in the place of my childhood. I didn't feel much except the general curiosity one always feels when traveling. It was weird. I felt weird - because I didn't feel weird. But then we rounded a bend in the road and one side opened up to a huge open lake filled with fluffy foxtails surrounded by sakura trees on the bank. The sun was shining brightly and the wind scattered petals down on the car as we drove through it. And then I burst into tears in the backseat of a taxi.
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| A photo from my 2012 trip to China. This will make sense in a bit. |
I remember the first time I set foot in China after I had grown up. I was in seventh grade, and those two weeks I spent in China during were some of the best of my life. I felt like I had come home. I didn't know the place, but it felt instantly familiar to me. I could speak the language, my family's roots were there, and I felt like I could blend into the crowd without being the "other". Since then I've gone back a couple more times, and I can confidently say the same every time. I am not saying that I know Chinese society, that I know how to live and survive there, that I even want to live there - I am saying that, as soon as a stepped off the plane, I felt so this is where I'm from.
The big problem with China, however, is the lack of it in my memories. Try as I might I could not remember much from my time in China. A one year old baby is too young to make memories, and four months at four years of age does not many memories make. When I looked into my past, I remembered another place far more - Japan. I could remember the park I used to play in, the large stone slide my dad forced me to go up on as I cried, the stairs I fell down in the winter, the crane standing in the river, the steaming bowls of noodles side by side on a low table etc. I had found my home, my origin point in China, but my childhood was in Japan. And isn't childhood an important part of identity? What is a home without memories?
So I came to find my childhood. I came to see how many of my memories were lies, and how many were true. I had mulled over my memories so many times that I was afraid I had faked them, that I had not really been in Japan at all, that I had constructed a beautiful childhood for myself because I couldn't bear to be without one. Yes, it does all sound very melodramatic, and I would probably poke fun at myself if I weren't me. I do not expect anyone else to take this seriously nor find it interesting, but it's why I am here and why I have to be in Kyoto.
This blog is called 加思, which is pretty much a shameless pun on many levels. First, it is on my name (唐思潇) as well as 四 (same pronunciation as 思) for the four months I will spend here. In addition, the 思 in my name stands for 思想 (thoughts; to ponder) and 思故 (homesick, roughly translated). 加 and 家 (home) rounds out this monster of a pun I've concocted. So to summarize, there are theses variations of this blog name (roughly translated):
加思 more thoughts, to miss more; plus "Si"
家思 missing/thinking of home
Not every elegant, but it embodies all the meanings this trip has for me. I've made a sketchbook and drawn in it my memories of Japan as I remember them. I'm going to find the ones I can and redraw them from life. (I've already found one! It was exciting. I almost cried in a conbini. Do not do this. Purple haired foreign punk being super excited over orange sausages? No.) I'm not looking for truth, I think. I am looking for me (or at least, a small part of me).
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| Everything is along the train tracks! Very convenient and somehow pretty? |
Arriving at the dorm was pretty surreal. Everything feels a bit like that after an all nighter, though. After getting a tour of the dorm and a rundown of its rules, I was left to my own devices. In the afternoon I had a scheduled meeting with my advisor, Nakamura-sensei , about choosing classes. Was I nervous? Of course I was nervous. It helped that I set out with Emily (fellow RISD exchange student) and Chelsea (from Cooper) to explore the campus first! That first short walk to Seika's campus in the sunlight in the quiet residential area with high walls and teaming plant life was...indescribable. It was the one of the three rare days of sunlight since then. (I brought the cold with me...sorry...Iwakura...)
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| Vending machines are my favorite things. |
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| Spring is super nice here. |
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| More sakura! |
Let me just say something about Seika's campus : it's probably made me more jealous of this school than anything else. The layout of the campus with faculty and student designed buildings, the fact it has its own little pond with koi fish (along with five peacocks, young deer, chickens, and rabbits in different areas), the ACTUALLY cheap student cafeteria with a second level bakery and conbini, the art store with a section chock full of incredible reference books, the giant multi-level library/media center, the rumored state of the art dubbing/sound studio etc. etc. - I'm going to feel a bit diminished when I get back to RISD. (sorry, I love RISD, but I also love good facilities. and cheap food.)
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| Japanese painting building along the back end of campus. They have their own forest... |
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| So close together! Apparently was super difficult to build because of the distance haha |
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| In front of the Painting department, I think? They seem to build lots of installations. |
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| There's so much random stuff lying around...I just want to take some... |
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| A little back road down the man-made stream! |
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| There's a bunch of little walkways behind the buildings. Very quiet and good for strolls~ |
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| Either a very interesting stump or a cool sculpture piece. Probably both? |
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| I look at this...and all I see are free materials. Probably not free though. Look at those trees! And sakura! |
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| The main building you see upon entering campus! Also where the free shuttle stops. |
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| View of the above building from next to the peacock enclosure. |
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| Pond with the koi and small wooden stage! Hope I get to see a play here one day~ |
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| Peacocks! There are five. Two males and three females. |
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| You're a pretty birdy yes you are |
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| Lots of seats to attend any events here. I heard they build sets right in the water? |
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| “治自由自” roughly translates to "freedom to rule oneself" |
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| The super cheap cafeteria. 100 yen breakfast combo, 130 yen udon, 150 yen curry rice etc. Best Place. |
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| The building with Illustration, Graphic Design...and I think, Interior Design? |
After exploring the campus a little and eating at the cafeteria, it was time for my meeting with Professor Nakamura. The International Office sent Yuuko-san with me to help with interpretation (Thank...goodness...) and I actually had a great time meeting all my teachers. My Chinese name seems to be an incredible sources of amusement to everyone, as we spent a full five minutes standing around with all the faculty trying to say my name correctly. We finally settled on calling me シャオ, which I'm plenty satisfied with. (People ask me why I don't just go by "Daney", but for various reasons I've decided to start using my legal name "Sixiao" and similar alternatives in the future.)
By that point I was pretty happy and somewhat comfortable, since I could kind of communicate with my professors and at least knowing Chinese meant I could figure out the general meaning of any worksheets they gave me. Then two things happened that I was not expecting: (1) I had an impromptu reading comprehension test that involved handing me the general Junior year information sheet and having me read it out loud in front of Yuuko-san and Kishimoto-sensei. Looking back, I don't know how I mustered the nerve to do it. But I did it. And they seemed somewhat impressed. (2) I had my meeting right before the actual Junior year Illustration orientation so Nakamura-sensei decided I should join the actual orientation and introduce myself to everyone.
Cue me standing awkwardly in front of wide-eyed and confused Junior Illustration students with all the teachers flanking me on my left and right. I barely stuttered out "初めまして。私はタンシシャオと申します。でも、シャオちゃんは大丈夫です。アメリカからの交換性です。。。よろしくねおねがいします。"* and then turned red, bowed and hid my face in my hands. To their credit, everyone laughed and clapped politely and returned my greeting with choruses of よろしくね~~. I don't think I've been quite that embarrassed in a while. I was also furiously thanking Tajima-sensei in my head for forcing us to practice self-introductions so much that I could say some of those phrases without thinking much. *(Hello, my name is Tang Sixiao, but Shao-chan is okay. I'm an exchange student from America...it's very nice to meet you.)
After standing in the front awkwardly for a few more minutes, I got to sit down next to some other students while the teachers explained the course schedule for the year as well as the elective options. Surprisingly I was able to understand a lot of it - even when they deviated from what had already been explained to me beforehand. I asked Yuuko-san for confirmation after they were done talking, and I didn't miss much! I wouldn't say this has any real bearing on my Japanese level - just that I learned a lot of school-related vocabulary and they just so happened to be using those during the orientation. Nevertheless, I was happy to not feel completely lost.
The orientation went on for four more hours as students mulled over their elective choices and moved their supplies from their old classrooms to their new one. It seems like I'll be getting my own working desk in the class, which is exciting. The teachers also helped me find a couple of Chinese international students in my class that I could go to for help if I didn't understand my lessons. Basically my Chinese is saving my life over here, and I've never been so grateful to know it. I know it's reducing my chances of communicating in pure Japanese, but I also know I don't have the mental strength to stumble through only relying on what little Japanese I've retained over my studies. I'll still study hard and try to learn what I can by myself, but it's good to know I have someone in the class that I can rely on for more confusing bits.
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The school cafeteria mascot. Her skirt pattern matches the prepaid card.
And the deer is pretty much Seika's unofficial mascot. There's a big taxidermy one in the library. |
Thus ends the exciting *~first day~* in Japan. I was so exhausted I fell onto my bed at 8PM and slept for a full ten hours. Notice that I didn't say anything about food. Because I literally didn't have any. But I was so tired I didn't care. The next morning I went on an adventure to find a conbini, but that's for another blog post.
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| The next post will feature my visit to the Kyoto Botanical Gardens + Manga Museum! Coming soon. |
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