Applying to PII or not

I remember once I got the Light Fellowship and got into the 3 programs I applied to, I was at a loss. My family wanted me to go to Yokohama because of its closeness to Tokyo, but I was sort of leaning towards Kanazawa. This is my advice and what I'd say are the good and the bad of PII.

Summary of basic feel of PII:
This is probably one of the best experiences I've had. The homestay program is definitely a large plus, and since all your classmates are university students, it's easy to connect. Class is useful for learning vocabulary and kanji, but I feel like I didn't pick up much grammar from class.

Number one advice:
This is a bit harsh, but I would say don't do PII or any serious Japanese program if you've only finished 1st year. The students here studied Nakama, which is just a rote grammar-learning textbook, very similar to JSL (except apparently little emphasis on speaking). I also really loved 2nd year Japanese at Yale and you're missing out on a lot if you don't have Maruyama-sensei and Seto-sensei. Only 1 year of Japanese doesn't seem like enough preparation for talking to the average Japanese person or even one's host family. I met many people here who still have to rely on whispering English in the Rifare building.
On the other hand, I feel like 3rd year Japanese had a huge degree of benefits. First, our materials, Spirited Away first semester and a collection of Japanese cultural texts (rakugo, haiku, manga, essays about English teaching in Japan) second semester were all very interesting and are material you could not get at Yale. Our class was closer to a literature class than a language class. Many 3rd year students felt the 'click' of almost-fluency and I found myself enjoying discussing deep topics with my host family such as religion, school, gender roles, etc.
Surprisingly the majority of students (2/3 about) only finished first year before coming here. 3/6 Yalies had finished first year, while the other half had finished 2nd year.

Good parts about PII:
- Kanazawa is the best possible city EVER. It has several historical landmarks easily accessible by bus, but also has the feel of a bustling city so you never get bored and can always find fun, inexpensive shopping, karaoke, or arcading. I would say it's probably more manageable than Yokohama and more interesting than Hakodate, though I haven't actually been to either.
- You make really close friends here! I met some really awesome people from many different universities. We can have nice, deep conversations in both Japanese and English.
- The homestay program is awesome. It's not as scary as it sounds, living in another family's home. You get to really bond and understand Japanese life.
- Classes are not so crazy (if you don't go overboard) and teach you a lot of Kanji. I would say I know over 1000 kanji now, and a lot of useful vocab too. Homework and studying took me about 1-2 hours a day 1st semester and 15min-1 hour a day second semester. However, some students go crazy and do up to 5 hours a day, while others do it all the day it's due.

Bad parts about PII:
- It seems the homestay program can really differ depending on the person. There are expected problems like students unsatisfied with food or with communication problems. However, the hugest obstacle is that the families really vary in location. Some students had 2 hour train commutes and didn't even live in Kanazawa. On the other end of the spectrum, there were students who lived a walkable distance from Rifare and could use their bus passes to go to hot spots like Korinbo and Kenrokuen for free. Luckily I was in the latter group. If you get the Yuki family in Tenjin-machi next year, YOU ARE LUCKY. They're the best ever!!! Hehe.
- The classes can get tedious. I found Spirited Away especially annoying, with its literature class-like overanalysis of everything. However I loved second semester with its exciting discussions and fun presentations.

Let me know if you have any questions!

Last post?

Who knows - this may be my last post! Dun dun dunnn. Unfortunately I'm on a sucky Mac again and can't upload photos, boo.

I've had an awesome time in Japan. I've never done a study-alone program like this before, never even for summer camp as a kid. But now I realize doing things alone isn't so scary, and it's not hard at all to find friends anywhere. My boyfriend's coming up to Kanazawa the day after tomorrow and after PII we're going to travel over to Tokyo (staying in Asakusa) for about a week. Unfortunately I probably won't have internet access there so you won't hear from me until I get back, August 6.

Anyways I've decided I'm going to break this up into smaller posts of advice for other students thinking about doing the Light Fellowship or going to PII. I've done so much that I can't really summarize it all. But to talk about my week, my host family got me a pressure-point massage (WHOPPEEEE) and I went to my mom's girl scout meeting, which was really cool. We also did last-minute touring of Kanazawa spots I missed, like the Maeda clan cemetary and Daijyouji (or something?) Temple.

Furukawaya Alan tobikomu kawazujyanai

No one will get the haiku title but it was a fun inside joke in class. So only two weeks left! I'm finding myself missing Kanazawa already and not really missing America. Oh wells! It's still just as fun. I guess since I'm doing such a 'short' program, I'm not feelilng the drop that we mentioned at the light fellowship meeting.

The most awesome thing I did last week was go to temple holiday (O-bon I think?) at a nearby temple. The temple was very beautiful with lots of gold and red. I went with my family and we each got paper lanterns with a candle inside. At the end of the chanting with yummy incense, we went outside and laid down the lanterns in front of the mini buddhas my family had carved ten years ago. I then became friends with these two little girls who I later discovered were the daughters of the temple's monk! I got invited in to have special tea, and I got a tour of the temple from their father. They were very sweet and cute and introduced me to everyone. It's strange to imagine living in such a huge temple one's whole life. I wish I could switch my life into one like that for a day. I also got into the Hokuriku newspaper! Lucky me!

Tomorrow's the in-class speech contest and everyone's unexcited about it. I think many of us want to intentionally do badly so we're not chosen for the real speech contest...

This is me and my host mom at the temple.

Apple pizza

This weekend was awesome! I was at such a loss of what to do because it's hard to contact everyone. Most people don't have a cellphone here and lots of people don't have internet. But it ended up being fun regardless!

On Friday, I went shopping with some friends and I, the geek that I am, bought the DS & Wii magazine. On Saturday, I had waterslide noodles (nagashi somen)! Well, basically, noodles that go down a bamboo waterslide that you have to catch and put in your soup. I then played Pokemon way too much with Matthew. Later that day, I went out with my host family to look for Tanabata (7/7 holiday) celebrations but all we found were hosts and hostess, who were still really fun to look at. Then on Sunday, I went to the Ishikawa zoo with Cristina and her host mom. SO CUTE. I wish I had brought my camera. But I DID bring it to this awesome pizza place where we had apple pizza (on the right!)

I'm having such an awesome time here and I really hope I can try for a year-long fellowship in the next couple of years! There are so many aspects of Japan that I love so much. I wonder what it is exactly? I love the tiny everyday things like the food, the music, the tv dramas. I also really value the sense of pride Japanese people all seem to have. I feel like many Americans lose it, or don't prioritize things correctly. But this could because my life in America consisted of being in a magnet bubble in a high school where everyone else was shortsighted and ended up with babies or murders or gang memberships while the bubble went onto Ivy Leagues. Whereas my life in Japan is in a program of top-ranked schools, with caring approved host families. I'd probably feel different if I grew up here, and probably feel suppressed and controlled. That's why my mom left Japan. But then I, as Wilma, could have never had a normal life in Japan because I'd always look like a foreigner so I'd always be treated differently. People automatically speak English to me here, though I understand why. In a ways I really like the homogeneity because then at the end of the day, you can't tell the difference between a billionaire and a convenience store worker.

These are sort of controversial ideas though! I'm sure most people woudn't agree that homogeneity is the solution to racism. But though ultimately, imagine 1000 years in the future when everyone's of mixed race and you don't have to bubble what you are into a scantron anymore and have that affect where you go. Anyways fun stuff. I hope this posts answers your question mom. Until next time!

Oh and I've allowed commenting for everyone. So anyone, feel free to comment!

Back and with my photos

So we went on our Naka-yasumi and it was really fun. We were uber-tourists and were able to pack in tons of stuff for just three days. As in:

Thursday - Arrive at Osaka, Den-den town, Pokemon Center, Umeda shopping center, Famous restaurant supplies store area, okonomiyaki, huge ferris wheel, Dotomburi, 130 yen sushi, Purikura, meeting Cristina's awesome friend.

Friday - Kyoto! Kiyomizudera and the love rock (sadly the famous waters were closed for construction), Kinkakujo (gold leaf castle), famous food market, really gross Yakiniku, lots of yummy free mochi and shopping for friends and host family, dessert restaurant.

Saturday - Universal Studios Japan (ET, Terminator, Spiderman, the one rollercoaster, Waterworld show, Jurassic Park, Jaws, one more thing I forget), lots of shopping, Chinese food with Cristina's friends, Dotomburi bar, very bad porno cooking on TV.


It was a very fulfilling nakayasumi! But one thing I realized - there is such a thing as a Japanese ghetto! I always saw Japan as all pristine and perfect but wow. There were almost-naked homeless people sleeping outside our hotel. And you had to pay to shower there. Very creepy experience. So bad that one of my friends paid to stay in a capsule hotel despite having had already paid for this one. I'm really glad I went with so many people! You get to really get to know people, though some relationships got worse too. Overall I enjoyed it all. With things like the crummy hotel, you're with friends and it's so bad that it gets fun pointing out the creepiness. One guy in the elevator said (in Japanese) [wow I didn't know females stayed here too]. Grr can't find the quotes on this keyboard. Anyways off to Book off with my buddies now! Hope you're all doing well. I can do skype if anyone so desires!

Geh this mac sucks!

Wahh sadly looks like I can't add photos since I'm using a sucky Mac. Next time! I'm about halfway through the program but I'm still really enjoying it. Today will be the first day I don't go out and do something new. I feel like going home early today and relaxing. I haven't done that yet so maybe it counts. I also need to study for the final on Wednesday. Then the next day, I'm heading off to Osaka for naka-yasumi. I wonder if I'll be able to update my blog before I come back? We'll see! I'm happy I ended up not bringing a laptop but sometimes it can be a little inconvenient. I hung out with my family a lot this week and we ate lots of good food. They also met my host family. It was interesting seeing my two worlds unite but not as weird as I expected. Yesterday I went to this manga university class thing for my little sister who loves drawing. It was really cool and we met a famous artist! Yayyy. I feel like the ultimate tourist, I'm feeling constantly satisfied. Soon I'm gonna make zouri (flip flopish shoes) out of towels with my host mom. Exciting! But now to go study and relax at home. Hope everyone else is enjoying their times abroad! I hope my family has a safe trip back to Tokyo and then America!

So uncreative with titles

So instead of going to Noto with everyone in PII, I ended up going to Tokyo for my grandfather's memorial service. Unfortunately I only met him once or twice in my life since he was pretty old and living in Japan. It was nice seeing my family though I'm also going to see them today because they're coming to Kanazawa for a week! Here are my sister, my mom, and me all dressed up for it. Very fancy french food and we met the Japanese empress's sister! I had to give a quick speech in Japanese. I think everyone enjoyed it, despite the sad occasion.

The day before, I hung out with my friends trying on kimonos and doing tea ceremony with Elizabeth's host mom. Yay I got to have maccha tea yet again! That made me happy teehee. We then went to the beach, which was littered with trash. Elizabeth's host mom attributes it to young Japanese teens. My host family thinks it's trash washed up from Korea and China. Next time we go back, I'll check out the language on the packaging haha.

Yesterday we went to a Koto (Japanese harp) lesson. I wish I could buy one, but they seem so expensive! Zannen desune. I look so solemn in this photo haha. Right now everyone's planning for naka yasumi and I'm so lost!

I talked to Will last night over skype and it's interesting to see the difference between what people say about Japan and actual Japan. I feel Japan isn't so polite and un-straightforward despite what everyone says. Yesterday in class we practiced refusing offers. Americans always say it's always round-about, but the translation is almost exactly like what we say in English - "it's okay, how about another time?". And Americans also do a lot of the reading-emotions-off-one's-face thing. I think it's a key part of socialization.

Anyhoo hope you're all having fun! Happy father's day!

Long time no blog!

Wow has it been a week since I've updated? Felt so recently. I can't believe I've been in Japan for about two weeks. The past week has been so busy with an activity everyday so I haven't been free unfortunately. And overview of my days in photos!

Sunday my host family took me, Cristina, and Almendarez to Gokayama, a very traditional Japanese village with roofs made out of the rice plant! In this photo, Elizabeth is playing this really fun, traditional percussion instrument.

I then went to the Back Horn concert, which was AWESOME. Photos weren't allowed unfortunately but man they were good. The singer especially has a really strong, talented voice. The mosh pit was as crazy as an American one. We were crammed so close and sweating so profusely (gross yeah I know) that the dye from the clothes of the person in front of me got on my pants! After that we went for do-it-yourself okonomiyaki and yakisoba. SO good (though tastes just like boxed okonomiyaki...).

On Tuesday I hung out with Michael Schmale after class. He did PII last year and this year he's working in Kanazawa. It sounds like the curriculum has changed completely since then! We grabbed DELICIOUS crepes in Kohrinbo. Here's us with a sculpture of kids looking at a map of Kanazawa. The kids don't really look Japanese...

Then on Wednesday a bunch of friends and I went to check out Omicho, the famous Kanazawa fish market. We became friends with this awesome gal who gave us all free nori in soggy form. YUM. Her english was surprisingly good and she was so spunky. Other highlights include hanging out at starbucks for hours together and Desmond buying an oyster and eating it right there on the spot.

Then yesterday, we took a pottery lesson. I hope buy the end of the three lessons I'll have an awesomely gaudy chawan (tea bowl) to supplement my current obsession with green tea.

Current thoughts on the trip: The best parts are my friends and host family. The worst part is I feel I'm learning a lot more outside of class than in (and geez the work is tough!). This weekend everyone's going to Noto while I go to Tokyo for my grandfather's memorial service. Hopefully I won't miss too much.

I feel like I know Kanazawa inside and out know. I don't even know my own neighborhood that well! I guess that's what happens when you use public transportation instead of have your parents drive you around. Last night I was thinking about the culture shock of staying inside a Japanese family's home. At first there were a lot of instances where I was like "they do what?" or "they don't have that?" but then I realized that the things that surprised me were just aspects different from the American suburban home. This is my first time not living with my family (well, aside from college) so that's more of a culture shock for me than being in Japan. I take for granted that everyone has a dishwasher or a backyard or central air conditioning when really I know so many people who don't. Those things aren't even normal in American cities!

One huge difference though between Japan and America is that Japanese people are always thinking about conservation. You hit a button to turn on the hot water and a lot of families have two cars - one energy-saver for short trips and then a normal (not minivanish) car for longer trips. Despite all the stuff we learned in elementary school, I feel like a lot of us don't pick up that mentality. I definitely have left an extraneous light on once or twice. I wonder if my habits will change once I come home?

Anyways that's my week! Now off to hang out with my friend at her house. Hope you're all having great summers too!

It's really hot in Kanazawa...

Yay I finally have time so I'm going to update my blog with an overview of my trip so far. It's already had its ups and downs but I'm really enjoying Japan! It seems so long ago but let's see if I can (sorta) start from the beginning.

Cristina and I stayed a night in a Narita hotel and it was pretty chill (and easy to get to). They had my favorite Japanese band (The Back Horn) on TV so that made me happy, yay. Then, my uncle helped Cristina and me get to Kanazawa. He was really nice and helpful. This was my first time practicing Japanese in Japan and it went pretty well!


When we got to Kanazawa, we stayed in a hotel overnight and then I got to meet my host family the next day. They're so sweet and awesome! Very chill and sorta Americanish. I can also understand them pretty well and they can understand me. My mom's a girl scout leader and does lots of fun things in her free time. Last night we went to a 100-yen shop and then got some cake. Let me tell you, 100-yen shops are like the underrated secret of Japan! You can get plates, jewelry, pencils, dolls, clothes, everything! And way less creepy than the graffitied-up Family Dollar at Yale... So here's a photo of my host parents and me at Kenrokuen. When we went, they had a festival going on and these students were playing jazz music and singing gospel. VERY weird seeing gospel coming from a bunch of Japanese students in the middle of Japan's most beautiful garden.


PII went to Kenrokuen again yesterday. We did a really casual tea ceremony (everyone was cracking up haha...) and oh my gosh. The green tea was amazing!! It reminded me so much of the green tea I ordered with Will at Ninja in New York. They pour hot water over powder and mix it with this cool wooden thing that makes a satisfying noise when you stir it. Good memories. I want to drink green tea every dayyyy. And the candy they gave us was sorta way better than Kitchoan's in New York (sorry mommy!). So yeah here's me chillin with Kenrokuen. Sorta looks like I was copied and pasted, doesn't it?
And here's all us Yalies in PII at Kenrokuen (hmm I wonder if a bunch of other students have this photo on their blog too!) I guess it's sorta hard to see, but you can tell we're having fun (hopefully!) It's only been less than a week but we've done so much!

My worst experience so far: I had been hanging in Kourinbou (hip shopping district) on my own and I was waiting for the bus to go home. When it finally came, it just rushed past me so I waited about an hour to finally get on a bus. It seemed like the right number... but I knew something was wrong when I found us up in the mountains and me looking down on Ishikawa. Luckily I can sorta speak Japanese so I talked to the bus driver and got instructions to the closest stop that would take me home. The whole experience scared me to death (I'm awful at travel) but I eventually made it home, an hour late for dinner. Luckily my host family didn't care.

After looking at the PII reports from the last couple of years, I thought Kanazawa would be a really traditional nature-y sorta hard to get around place. But it really has a totally different image from that. It's like an urban city interspersed with various awesome traditional things. See, they even have a Namco arcade at the departments store near all our classes. I think a bunch of us might be going pretty soon! From my host family's place I can walk to a large grocery store but I can also walk to a shrine. How cool is that?




Wow I really babbled on and on there didn't I? Hehe to tell the truth, this was really a post where I wanted to put some fun photos on my blog. So I've supplemented it with lots of text too. This last photo is all of PII at the Ishikawa prefectural governmental doohickey place (can you spot the Wilma?). Ja mata! (The next time you here from me I will have seen the Back Horn in concert!!)

Now in Kanazawa!

I don't have much time but I finally found a way to use a computer in Kanazawa. We have the library orientation in ten minutes! I just wanted to make sure I have a way to update. Everything's been wonderful so far. I just came back from eating ikura tororo don (yum radish) and soba with Cristina and Emi (a cool Princeton grad student).
Today can be the food post! I LOVE Japanese food. My mom's Japanese so I know Japanese food pretty well, though it's in America so it's obviously not the same. So being in Japan is like my mom's cooking times a million. Or like the food my mom eats that's too good to let me eat (sniff). I have yet to dislike a meal here. Luckily my host family's good at cooking too, though they're always surprised when I know what they're serving me. What especially surprised them was that I knew about nori, dried seaweed used with rice.
Here's the PII special breakfast we get served at the ANA hotel after we first arrive. Yummyyyy.

I guess you can't see it too well, but it has tarako (cod roe), one of my favorite types of sushi. Luckily it's inexpensive here (whereas it's very expensive in America so you won't usually find it at sushi restaurants). It surprised me to death when my host family gave me $20 worth of tarako for breakfast, when it was really only about $3 worth here.
They're setting up chairs around me right now so looks like I should finish up. Later I'll talk all about my trip to Kanazawa, my host family, and classes (today was the first day and I got into the 3rd level, yay!) Until next time!

Hello Nihon!

Geez I already forgot my login info for this blog!

Cristina and I stayed at a Narita hotel to recover from the flight before we take off for Kanazawa on the train later today. My uncle's gonna come pick us up, get us some food, and off we go on our 4 hour train ride. My flight wasn't too bad. I get sick on every form of transportation but surprisingly I survived the 14 hour flight (err but I didn't survive afterwards...). I rode ANA so we had pretty good food. Soy sauce pork on rice, osoba, yummy salad, and even Haagen Dazs ice cream! I watched various movies too. One was the Japanese film I Just Didn't Do It by the guy who did Shall We Dansu? Just gotta say, wasn't that good. So don't watch it when you fly to Japan! It's about an innocent guy who gets wrongly accused of groping a school girl and you see the whole court process.

Our hotel's really chill but really American. So many foreigners here since it's so close to Narita. There's also still English everywhere. We took a walk around at night and it was so cool how everything was so similar but different enough to be exciting.

Especially for my boyfriend, here's a photo of a diner so no worries, there is American breakfast in Japan (it looks so much like TGIFriday's or something).




Totally better photos coming later! I miss you all!!

My last day in America!

It feels so strange for me to be writing a blog. Ever since middle school I've been adamently against blogs because I always felt it was impersonal - people learn about your life through monologues instead of conversations. But the next two weeks will call for drastic measures! I'm not planning on bringing a laptop with me to Japan so I'll have to survive off of the Rifare computers. I hope I don't regret this decision!

Things have been sort of busy but I've been holding off on the most important thing - packing. I was able to bring home a whole year of Yale by myself in a suitcase (and a backpack, and a purse) so I figure packing for 2 months will be no big deal. I have a lot of exciting things planned for Japan so I'm psyched! My favorite Japanese band (The Back Horn) will be performing in Kanazawa while I'm there. My family will be visiting me in Kanazawa for about a week. And then at the end of it all, my boyfriend's coming up and we're going to Tokyo together for a week! (Hopefully with my friend Cristina too if she's free).

One weird anomaly though. My Japanese grandfather recently passed away and my family is holding a memorial service for him when PII goes to the Noto peninsula. Since I'm in Japan, I should really go (you know how important Japanese family obligation is), so I'll have to miss out on one of the coolest parts of PII. The memorial service is going to be really fancy and the Empress's sister is coming. I get to be in the meet-and-greet line so that'll be really interesting.

Now to get myself packing! I hope I don't pack anything too obscene for Japanese standards. A good guide for travel and culture that I use for everything : Wiki travel!