Day 5: 休み（Rest/holiday)

At this point, there is nothing that terrifies me more than the dinner table – the knowledge that I should expect to eat everything put before me, and even complete it, is putting me more out my comfort zone than anything else! But I suppose that is one way we grow, by being pushed outside our comfort zones. And so, I awoke to a huge breakfast assortment, included in which were some definite comfort-testers…

Breakfast of champions

Notice that this includes the very pollock roe I hardly took a bite of the other day, as well as natto (fermented soybeans), which is definitely an acquired taste. But you will be proud to know that I finished everything, even the fish eggs, which on second tasting are pretty tasty, with a salty flavor. (I still think salmon roe – the bigger orbs – will be a challenge, but thankfully I haven't gotten there yet). After breakfast, お母さん (okaasan, the Japanese word for mother, and also what we call Yoneuchi-san) suggested we go to the nearby Goryokaku Park, which was celebrating its 150th anniversary. Great timing for an enjoyable activity the last day before classes begin!

The exterior of Goryokaku, and Goryokaku tower

Food and souvenir stands

Goryokaku Park was built as a fort during the Hakodate War, during the time of the Meiji Restoration and the overthrow of the Japanese feudal government system. It is in the shape of a star, surrounded by water, and is only about 10 minutes walking distance from our house. In May, it's known for its さくら(cherry blossoms), which bud all over the park (you can see a picture on the homepage of this blog). We arrived a month too late for the さくら, but the park was still very cool.

As we were entering the park's outside perimeter (outside the moat), these two infernal crows were swooping down and nearly attacking pedestrians! It was like something out of The Birds. We first walked to the Goryokaku tower, built 50 years ago, that gives an aerial view of the park and serves as a sort of history museum. We arrived just in tim for the beginning of a cultural festival presentation, with various interesting performances. I have no clue what any of them represent historically-culturally, but I enjoyed watching the well-rehearsed movements and listening to the music with an analytical mindset.

The Goryokaku mascot

One of the coolest was a simple dragon puppet, operated by two men, one who operated head while the other operated the tail. Over the course of their presentation they summoned the dragon, as it were, beginning with it dormant, then the operating the head, then climbing so the body was active. By the end, they were walking through the audience "eating" audience members' heads (including my own). (My phone ran out of room to take a video, unfortunately.)

After an hour and a half of watching, Yoneuchi-san bought us tickets to go up in the tower. I tell you, she covers everything for us. The view was pretty spectacular – not only of the park but of all of Hakodate, including Mount Hakodate in the distance (see picture I took above).

Returning to ground level. we sampled foods from a couple stalls. The first was served in a shell and I don't really know what it was, but it tasted good. The second was a German-style sausage; apparently this particular business was started by German immigrants. We also had some Sapporo beer. :)

As we were sitting an eating, Yoneuchi-san ran into a few of her friends, who began to converse with us. One in particular was very kind and asked us about our hometowns, our studies, our future career intentions… it's great to practice the language with more and more unique individuals. She then told us that we had stumbled upon an opportunity to be in the Guinness Book of World Records: for the 150th anniversary, they planned to have 1500 people form the "longest chain of people clasping wrists" – ha. So, since we had a couple hours to kill, we took part. Everyone was assigned a square and given either a green or white hat, and from an aerial view it formed a "150." Apparently the world records thing is an obsession in Japan.

(That's me where the arrow is pointing)

For lunch, ramen at a tiny family-run shop. Ramen in these parts blows the instant-made ramen noodles we have in the states out of the water. When you look at it it kind of looks like they put the whole kitchen in there. And hey, I ate all of it. (Be proud of me! This is not normal for me!). I only had trouble when I got to the ふ (fu), wheat gluten, which is that thing at the bottom-left that pretty much looks like a soggy piece of bread. I thought I would be able to handle it, then as it was going down I just about gagged, and made some awkward coughing sounds. Thankfully nothing worse happened. The taste of it lingered for the next couple hours, though. Oof, I really struggle with those squishy textures… Lord give me strength.

When we walked home, we found a tiny pair of shoes in the foyer – Mariko and her 4-year old son Haruto were taking nap in お母さん's room. I was delighted to meet him once he woke up; he is a wild child, and after playing shy, started hitting Nick and me with pillows.

For dinner, the six of us decided on a buffet – Praise God. In Japanese, this was literally called a "Viking restaurant," I suppose because vikings eat a lot of food. Interestingly, in the middle of each table there was an little stove; you would go and grab your choice of raw meat pieces, then cook them yourselves according to your taste. I stocked up on nigiri and some other foods that would be easy on my taste buds, including Japanese-style fried chicken (furaido chikken - no, I'm not making that up), which is basically a fried chicken dumpling. Kento, who had spent the day at Basketball, ate about 5 plates and 3 bowls of food. Impressive, nee.

Yum! (Don't I deserve a break?)

Haruto and Kento

Next up, classes. Tomorrow I find out my class placement when I arrive at school, then it's off to the races. I'm treating myself to an episode of The Good Wife before I go to bed, since who knows how much free time I'll have from studying from this point on. I'm hoping for a strong start and a strong follow through to the end.

A very well-kept garden in someone's front yard

P.S. If you want to see more pictures, you can view my full album here, as I update it.

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Day 4: 紹介する (Making introductions)

I had the best day today. My host mother is just great, my lodgings are very nice, and I'm beginning to feel at home. In the morning (after breakfast – see the last post), the opening ceremony featured several speakers from the program and the community. I understood very little. At the end, they had all the students turn our chairs around to face the host families seated behind us. Then, they called each host family-student pair one by one, to meet and take a picture. My grouping was the first one to be called – Yoneuchi-san, my host mother, Nick, my roommate, and me. And I could tell immediately that she would be very pleasant to live with!

What I didn't know is that she is a grandmother, with 3 children and 3 grandchildren. She lives alone (and we are staying with her), her husband lives elsewhere in Hakodate with one of her sons, and her other two children live in their own homes, with their children. Apparently it is not uncommon in Japan for spouses to live apart, due to commuting demands for work. Anyhoo, after the ceremony, Yoneuchi-san drove us while her daughter, Mariko, drove our luggage. In the car ride we made our introductions, then went to eat an absolutely delicious sushi lunch.

"IRASSYAIMASE!" is the enthusiastic greeting one receives when entering a restaurant here. This restaurant had a little conveyor belt with different items that you could pick out à la carte, as well as larger meals. At the table there also was a small container of matcha powder and a sink for you to prepare your own tea. Pretty cool.

Yoneuchi-san making tea

Nick and I both got a great selection of sushi, which was just delicious. This is the food I came here to eat! Also included was some tempura, miso soup, and an egg-custard-thing (the only thing I didn't quite finish… gelatinous texture is not my favorite). And afterwards, we were treated to a yummy dessert.

Green tea ice cream with sesame sauce, mochi-like stuff, red beans

Following lunch, we got settled in to our rooms at Yoneuchi-san's house (a cute yellow building). Upon entering, as is customary in Japanese households, we removed our shoes in the foyer before stepping into the hallway proper (shoes are not worn inside). She said that one of us would have to choose the "small" bedroom, and I said I would take it, but it turned out to be far from small. She went over the house rules/protocol with us, and then we presented her with our おみやげ – small tokens of gratitude that are all but mandatory in Japanese culture in exchange for hospitality. Pressed for time when I left, I got her a couple of my favorite Lindt chocolate bars, but I now fear it was not enough. Oh well.

Yoneuchi-san's home

My "small" room

Having moved in, we went for a walk around the area. The weather was nice and cool. On our way, we passed her grandson's high school, and stopped by a 100-yen shop – or a dollar store. I was amazed by the variety of stuffs available for only a dollar; aisles and aisles worth of pretty useful things. I bought some pencils, since I didn't really bring any school supplies with me.

Back at home, we soon got to meet Kento, Yoneuchi-san's 17-year old grandson (Mariko's son). His main interests, according to them, are basketball and his girlfriend – ha! But he's a very nice guy, and it was great to converse with him, using the style reserved for casual situations (yet not appropriate for showing respect or speaking with superiors). Japanese speech styles vary widely according to the social situation, and you have to tailor your speech according to who you are talking to and how you rank compared to them.

Yoneuchi-san, Kento-kun, and Nick in the living room

After a short naptime, Yoneuchi-san prepared dinner for us. It was quite good, though I had some anxiety because it impolite to refuse any prepared food – so, in the stew for instance, I chewed a lot more of the meat fat than I ever would normally, for risk of appearing ungrateful. Now I'm pretty sure Yoneuchi-san would be understanding if I were unable to stomach something, but it's hard to tell where the line is between acceptable and rude. At any rate, early on in the meal it became clear that my chopstick skills were abysmal (sorry, Mrs. Leong!), and I was demoted to Mickey Mouse trainer chopsticks that hardly fit my fingers. Another skill I'll have to pick up…

My trainer chopsticks...

In the evening, we went together to the local onsen, as Nick had not been to an onsen yet. (My fuller reflections on the onsen experience still forthcoming!). Afterwards, we enjoyed a slushy, Yoneuchi-san's treat. I wasn't expecting her to cover so many expenses for us, but I also didn't know if it would be rude to refuse. If I seem over-worried about this politeness thing, understand that Japanese society is highly structured around levels politeness and propriety!

Overall, though, what a day. I'm looking forward to this homestay experience developing over the next eight weeks!

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Day 3: もう少し先 (A little further ahead)

Yesterday, we had more placement tests to do, and so I woke up to my roommate studying at 6:30AM, which made me feel just great about my work ethic… At any rate, I snoozed for another hour and a half, then went to the breakfast buffet at our hotel. And oh man, it was excellent – even better than yesterday's. I was slightly more adventurous in my choices:

So, the raw shrimp and pollock roe didn't go so well. In fact, I had a tiny bite of each and called it a day. But I ate everything else! And MY GOODNESS the MILK was SO GOOD. It was truly the best milk I have ever had – and my family knows I don't like to drink milk in the morning. It was so, so fresh, probably like what you would have on a farm. Needless to say, I had another glass.

After that, everyone met in the lobby at 9AM and the HIF staff walked us over the HIF building, about 15 minutes away. It was great to walk around and start to get to know this unique little city.

Weather-wise, it's been quite rainy (apparently supposed to continue that way for a few days) and ranging from cool to chilly. But still, the air is fresh, and with a jacket on it's lovely. Our school building is up a steep hill that runs from Mount Hakodate down to the sea. Some great sights to see there.

The street rolls right down into the sea

A shrine just down the street

So we arrived at the HIF building and, oh joy, more placement tests. The worst was the Oral Proficiency Exam, basically a guided conversation with a professor, which was a splendid reminder of my limitations (in case the essay yesterday was not clear enough proof). At one point, the sensee asked me what my favorite book was. I said The Little Prince. Then she asked me to tell the story of the book, and that went something like this:

"Uh… Well… There is a man. The man does planes. He goes... in planes. Then… in *desert* [I said that in English] plane becomes bad. And… there is a boy-child. Uh… The boy-child and the man become friends. Oh! And, uh, the boy-child comes from, uh, another… *planet* [also in English]…"

At that point she cut me off because time had run out. Oh well. I will definitely need to stay in that good old posture-of-humility throughout this experience.

Lunch was another nice bento box: chicken with thin noodles, a salad, rice (of course), pickled something, and the Japanese equivalent of mashed potatoes.

After that, 2 hours of written tests (by the way, this is not just to torture us, but to place us in the right level, since we have 140 hours of Japanese class ahead of us this summer). Then, an orientation with the 6 professors of the program. They emphasized goal-setting, including a large/broad goal and a small/more immediate goal for our Japanese study. And they pointed out that "becoming good at Japanese" is not a specific enough goal. Well, I generally struggle with goal-setting anyway, so I have some thinking to do. What do I want to get out of this, specifically? (It goes back to that why-am-I-here question). The sensee's voice saying "biiig goal… biiig goal" (in Japanese) has been playing over and over in my head.

The sensees also talked about our Independent Study project, which we spend six weeks developing, and which is absolutely open-ended. I have no idea what I want to do. But I'll have to figure it out. Perhaps something to do with Japanese music. OH, and they also discussed the Nihongo Dake Rule – Japanese only. No other languages can be spoken in the school building, which I don't have a problem with, actually. (In middle school French camp, I was the nerd who refused to speak any English with the other campers). The practice certainly won't hurt my speaking ability.

Next, the director general of HIF came and spoke to us, telling us a little bit more about the foundation and encouraging us as we near the start of the program proper. Then, once again, we had the rest of the evening to ourselves. On the walk back to the hotel, I made a few friends, and we stopped for soft-serve ice cream (using that same Hakodate milk I was raving about above).

アイスクレーム！

The four of us then met again for dinner. We decided to walk the opposite direction that we had in the morning, and after perusing a bit we ate at the restaurant on the second floor of the Hakodate train station. I decided on soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles, a staple), and also tried sake for the first time. It is pretty strong to the taste, but has about as much alcohol content as wine. I only had a bit, and had it heated it up – very delicious.

I have to say, the fish egg thing continues to weird me out. At breakfast some people eat an entire bowl full with a spoon, like cereal. I guess it's analogous to eating chicken eggs, but I can't get the image out of my mind of little tiny fish fetuses being squashed (sorry for putting it in YOUR mind too).

After dinner we stopped by the 7/11 (I got a blue popsicle), and on the walk balk to the hotel I was once again struck by the beauty of this place – the sky at dusk was a radiant blue. When I got back to my room I was pretty tired, and from what I hear this program is bound to keep me quite busy with work in the coming weeks (let's hope I can keep the blogging up). Fast forward a few hours to this morning, where I once again woke up to my roommate studying (come on!). Then, another round of breakfast buffet:

Aaaah well in about 15 minutes I have the opening ceremony for the program, after which I meet my host mother (Yoneuchi-san, a part-time nurse in her mid-sixties). I'm a bit nervous! But I'm sure it will work out well. Plus, I have another student staying with me to help diffuse any awkwardness. And he's much better at Japanese, in case I have no clue what's going on. Wish me luck!

ミラー (Miraa – the Japanese rendering of my last name)

A giant hot dog self-applying ketchup
...as hot dogs are bound to do...

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Day 2: 函館 (Hakodate)

Howdy, all. It's Friday morning here and I'm writing from the comfort of the HIF (Hokkaido International Foundation) building, where I'll be taking classes starting on Monday. We are here for our second round of placement tests – for the next hour or so I'm waiting for my oral interview, then I take a 2-hour written exam.

But for now, I have internet access and a chance to update on yesterday (Thursday, the 12th)… There were about 30 of us from the HIF program staying at the hotel, and we had to be out of the hotel by 8AM for a 10AM flight to Hakodate. So we started the day early with a breakfast buffet in the hotel. It was a nice selection, though I'm slightly to ashamed to say my choice of foods was rather tame for this meal, as you can see below.

Breakfast at the Grand Pacific Le Daiba hotel

NOTE: I've been taking pictures of all my meals; hopefully you won't get tired of looking at them. One of my goals is definitely to become more adventurous with my palette… so hopefully the food will become more and more interesting.

The Japanese foods turned out to be the best (no surprise there, I guess), so after finishing my first plate I tried once again. Still pretty mild, but I'm on my way.

After breakfast, we all clogged the elevators (since all 30 of us were leaving our floor at the same time with all our luggage). Half an hour later, we made it to the bus to Haneda airport, then got on a quick puddle jumper north to Hakodate, Hokkaido, where the program is located.

A squid – the town mascot – welcomes us

Hakodate Airport

On the way to the hotel, I got my first glimpses of the city. It's somewhat small, definitely not very busy, but quite nice. It is somewhat quaint, yet also modern. Nice, but not flashy. I'm excited to cut my teeth on the Japanese language in this environment, starting in a "smaller pond" as it were, and  one where English is not as well-known. And it is right by the sea. The air is salty and fresh – it's definitely a fishing town. It's been a bit chilly and rainy lately, though as the summer goes on it's supposed to get hot (and stay humid).

The sea, right outside the bus window

At the hotel, we were served lunch (a nice bento, below), and then immediately began placement tests. The first part was a listening portion where we had to listen to 60 sentences (spoken one time each) in about 10 minutes and fill in the missing Japanese syllable じゃあ… After that, we had to write an essay on social media, using as much grammar and kanji (Chinese-style characters) as we could. Mine was embarrassing; hardly two paragraphs, and I repeated the characters for "friend" and "use" about twenty times. だめだねえ。。。

Bento box for lunch

After the testing, we stayed in the same room for a Japanese harp concert, which was pretty interesting. She played variations on "Sakura," as well as a couple other short pieces. I'd definitely like to get to know Japanese music better (especially being a music major and whatnot), since I know very little at the moment.

Then, we got our room keys and had free time for the rest of the day. Around 5PM a large group went out to dinner at a restaurant right down the block, Hakodate Beer. Naturally, I ordered a beer (a peach-flavored one, actually), which was pretty good. Then, after scouring the menu (or rather, looking at the pictures in the menu, since I couldn't read any of the characters) for something that seemed authentically Japanese yet was comfortable enough, I decided on soy-glazed squid. Squid is a specialty of the area, so I decided to brave it. And what do you know, it was actually delicious – extremely fresh and tender, not weird at all, and definitely better than any calamari I've had in the states.

Where they make the beer, apparently

Squid! Mmm...

If you can't tell from the picture, the serving size was quite small. In general this seems to be the case over here, and since many of us were still hungry we headed over to the 7/11 across the street for more food. Now before you scoff, the 7/11 is a common convenience store here (who knows why), full of ready-to-go fresh Japanese foods, much more nutritionally substantial than in the US. 

Huge selection at the 7/11

Once again I tried to find something I'd be comfortable eating, which was difficult. I think from now on I'll have to wait to be told what I'm eating after I eat it so that I don't wimp out. At any rate, I got a little tuna roll, a chocolate bread (literally called choku bureddo) for dessert, and a grape soda. Hehe. Then I went back to the hotel to eat with Araki-san, a friend from my Yale japanese class. As we were eating, I was cracking up because an orchestral version of "Killing Me Softly" was playing through the hotel speaker system. (The interaction of Japanese and American cultures is very interesting indeed).

Post-dinner meal

After our post-dinner snack, Araki-san and I decided we would check out the onsen (public baths), at the recommendation of the program staff. Historically, onsen operated as the places where people would bathe themselves, and today they remain as a Japanese cultural staple, where many come to relax in the very hot pools of water. Oh, and everyone is naked. ...BUT (imagining my parents' mortification right now), I think I'll write in full about that experience in a later post. Let's just say that I'm definitely plunging right into the culture.

また明日！ (Until tomorrow!)

Hakodate from my hotel room window – though this view does not do the city justice!
I'll have to take some better pictures to show you.

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