The land of the rising sun

I am now into my first month in the land of the rising sun. I think I've finally found a comfortable pace here, but the sad thing is that I have only a month and a half left here. I now realize that to truly experience living in a foreign country, you have to live there without having a specified return date. I realize no matter how much I work at getting the most of my experience here right now, the bottom line is I'm leaving in a few months and due to the circumstances of being a student that needs to graduate, I couldn't stay even if I wanted to. Everytime I meet a new person I usually get the same three questions: Where are you from? When did you arrive here? and Where are you leaving? It's the last question that most directly impacts how the relationship initially develops. After moving from place to place so often, I think I've gotten used to meeting new people, developing relationships and then leaving; it's almost a fact of life for me as strange as that may seem.

Being in Japan this time has really given me the time to see some different angles to life that I've either never noticed before, or didn't have the time to deal with. For instance, recently I was chatting with my host mother about whether it is rare or unusual for a Japanese student to be ambitious the Japanese word that she used was 志（kokorozashi) which is similar in meaning to ambition, but with only the positive connotation. In her opinion, every stage of life in Japan, be it the college years, post college years, 30s, 40s,50s etc. has a goal that can be associated with it. For example, during high school, the ultimate goal that people with kokorozashi work towards is getting into a good college; in this sense Japan is very much like America. Another example she offered was the middle aged salary man (aka. company worker) working towards being promoted to department head. I originally asked her the question referring more to students with a desire or passion to change the world, but I guess that much was lost in translation. Our conversation ended with her offering up her opinion on the situation of women in Japan. In her opinion, most Japanese women don't have this kokorozashi, simply because it is nonsensical in a culture that, one way or another, forces women down a singular path towards motherhood and housewifedom(I don't think that's a real word, but whatever I'm in Japan) I was sad to hear her honest assessment of the state of Japanese women in the 21st Century, but I don't think I've lost hope yet. However, I am still quite surprised by the difference between women in America and women in Japan; of course my opinion is a generalization, perhaps an over-generalization, but from what I've experienced and heard, girls are brought up to not expect a happinness greater than that of marrying well and living a comfortable, happy family life. While this in of itself is a tremendous blessing to have, thinking about the truth of this reality makes me somewhat dissapointed and sad. Perhaps being the type of person raised to chase after pipe dreams and clouds in the sky (thanks dad!) has made my perspective on the "good life" a bit skewed in favor of a passion filled pursuit of nothing less than one's own pie in the sky. I know that at twenty-one, I cannot fathom or understand the happinness and joy that my host parents receive from living a comfortable family life. Perhaps that is something I will come to understand better during my stay here.

Well that's enough of my rambling... As for an update on my state of affairs: classes are good, food is good, play-time is good, sleeping could use some work, film project is well underway, finished writing my script and translating into Japanese, now I just need to finish casting the roles and start shooting next week. Wish me luck!

Tomorrow all the SCTI kids will be heading to Hiroshima thanks, once again, to Mrs. Bing. It will undoubtedly be something to remember, and surely something to write about.

Until next time...

Japan Revisited

This is my third time in Japan. Well technically my fourth, but the first time doesn't really count. I hate writing blogs, I'm not sure if it's because I am lazy or because I hate forcing myself to do something regularly, I like spontaniety and spur of the moment kind of stuff. But my sister tells me I should keep up my blog, and since I respect her opinion, I'm gonna do my best to keep this going.

So about Japan... The people are nice, the food is great aside from the lack of quantity--you don't quite get as much bang for your buck (or yen), but it's still a pleasant place to visit or live. I've been in Kyoto for three weeks now and I feel pretty settled in. I've joined a Cinema Circle, the equivalent of the film society back at Stanford, and I am on my way to making my first movie in Japan. My top two goals in Japan right now is learning as much Japanese as possible and making sure I complete this movie; the third goal is to meet and make as many friends/contacts/acquaintances as possible. Everything else after that is for fun.

Friday I started my first class at Kyoto University; Ben, a fellow SCTI student and friend, and I are auditing this film theory class at Kyoto University(Kyoudai). We walked into the class on time, but the teacher wasn't there. Our Japanese teacher Yamaoka sensei told us to make sure we introduce ourselves to him before class using proper "polite" Japanese. Well since the teacher came in like ten minutes late, we didn' t have a chance to do so until afterwards. The class itself was tough to follow, I got most of what the professor was saying, but ocassionaly there were these bursts of explanation where he would spew out a ton of vocabularly I never learned. My notes were part English, part Kanji, part Hiragana, and some drawings thrown in there. The class itself was fairly interesting, but I was surprised by how many Kyoudai students were dozing off and checking their cell phones. From my first impression, there seems to be a huge difference between a top tier school in America and one in Japan.

After class I had my second meeting with the Kyoudai Cinema Club. 京大シネマ研サークル The leader is my age, I think I'm actually older than him, which makes me the superior due to my seniority, unfortuantely I'm not Japanese so I can't really cash in on that fact. The circle is quite large, about 50 people or so. Yesterday's meeting was to kick off the 200 second film project. All the newcomers that wanted to direct raised their hand and one by one each of us gave a little introduction explaining our plans for our movie. Somehow I managed to communicate what I wanted to make, and what I needed in terms of support; speaking off the top of your head in a foreign language is tough, but the same rules apply as with your native tongue--speak with confidence and project. I think it turned out pretty well. Afterwards all the staff, basically everyone who wasn't making a movie this time, divided themselves among the newcomers. My support team consists of a freshman from a nearby arts college, a second year agriculture major, and the club leader. After exchanging contact information we went out to get some grub.

I had a hambaagu which is different from a hambagaa, the difference being that the former is a Japanese concotion similar to a meatball. Ground beef mixed in with onions and other kinds of special seasonings and goodies; it actually tastes really good. The latter is like the kind you would get at McDonald's.

I got home at around ten thirty and by that time my host mom was the only person still awake. Apparently my father had to go to Nara to take care of some top secret union organization activities. We chatted about the lunch that I had that day, the really expensive one brought to us by the kind generosity of a Mrs. Helen Bing. The meal was very tasty and completely vegetarian, but it lacked a certain kick to it--actually most Japanese food lacks that special kick to it that makes you feel hungry. My host mom hopes that her son Jo can go to Stanford. Then she went off on how special my sisters and I are since we are all attending or have attended pretty good schools. I didn't think much of it because most people I grew up with ended up in similar situations; but now that I think about it, she's right, I should consider myself super lucky. I hope my parents can reap some happinness in having their kids go to great schools, I never feel like I do enough for my parents, especially my mom, so that realization helped my conscience a little bit.

Anyhow I blabbed on long enough. I gotta get cracking on this film script, got a week to churn it out. Wish me luck.