JMD in Japan

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Higachi and I woke up at around 8 in the morning. Our host mother, Caitlin Pulleyblank, took us to the farmer’s market in downtown Missoula. The market was truly spectacular! There were so many different kinds of local fruits and vegetables available for purchase. If there was one thing in Missoula that I would love to have available to me constantly it would be the farmer’s market.
In the afternoon we met up with another homestay group consisting of Masato Nihira, Yukio Iseki, and Greg Schuster. Together we traveled a ways up the Clark Fork River where we would launch our white-water rafting experience. To my surprise, the time we spent on the river paddling was one of the most memorable things about the conference. All in all we spent about 5 hours on the river, paddling when we had to and battling rapids at other times. At various points during the trip we took turns swimming downstream and we even stopped on a small beach to have a lovely lunch.
We ended the evening with a small houseparty at the other homestay’s family house. The food was good, the conversation was cheerful, and the games we played that night were very memorable. I was really worried coming into the homestay that I would not enjoy it—boy was I wrong! Saturday, August 9, was one of the best days for me.

Higachi in our Host Mother’s kitchen

Sunday, August 10, 2008

I had to fight with Higachi to put off waking up until 8:30 AM. After a short breakfast and some interesting conversation with our host mother we headed back to the Missoula Children’s Theatre to rendezvous with the rest of the delegation. Higachi and I got there about an hour early, so we decided to walk around and explore downtown Missoula. The trip included a stop at a local book store to browse their wares as well as a refreshing coffee trip.

Our Host Mother, Higachi and myself
In the afternoon after checking in to our hotels (the groups were split between two hotels separated by about 3 blocks) we all headed out to the Western Montana Fair. I have a more explicit write up of the Western Montana Fair posted here. It’s a bit long, so if you want to read it feel free, otherwise skip ahead to the next set of pictures and continue from there.

The atmosphere of the fair was quite lively. The midway was lined with skill games of all types, a fun and diverse selection of food shops, and a variety of amusement rides, some benign and others absolutely terrifying. Off of the midway there was a grandstand where the delegates were able to witness a truly impressive selection of American culture.

At the entry gate to the fair there was a pair of booths which had some very interesting entertainers. Almost as soon as the delegation entered the fairgrounds an entertainer appeared with a pocketful of magic. The man, a magician, made a deck of cards disappear within its packaging before our watchful eyes. Later, the man would surprise the crowd with another exciting trick in addition to singing a rendition of “I Can Show You the JASC,” the theme song from the American delegate’s skit this year.

Many delegates immediately crowded the carnival games located all across the park. Some required delegates to throw darts at balloons in an attempt to pop them while others had squirt guns which had to be aimed at a very specific target in order to win a race between cartoon cats. One of the American Executive Committee members, Joshua Turner, walked away from a game of basketball toss carrying a stuffed animal—a lizard named Amu. Many delegates walked away with similar prizes, and almost everyone got enjoyment out of watching certain members play the games.

Another aspect of the fair which was of particular interest to the delegation was the amusement rides. Some rides, such as bumper cars, were rather gentle. Many riders walked away from these attractions with a sense of enjoyment. However, there was a darker side to the fair. Towering high above the rest of the grounds were rides such as The Zipper, a terrifying oval shaped piece of equipment which rocked riders upside-down and all-around in what appeared to be an everlasting ride; the Pound Tilt, which spun riders in a circle at an incredible speed in order to keep them in their seats while they were tilted at an angle reminiscent of 90 degrees; and the Kamikaze, which swung riders around back-and-forth in a 360 degree circle. Although these frightening rides were often the hardest to get on, they yielded the biggest reaction from the delegates, some of whom had trouble standing immediately after departing.

The food at the fair was comprised of a long line of shops providing an interesting selection. Among such fascinating foods were fry bread, Greek fries, and tater pigs. Many of the delegates were turned off by the idea of such food, but still found the concepts interesting. One delegate from Japan, Moto Ono, commented on the fry bread and its immense size. In addition to rare foods there were also the staple foods of carnivals such as lemonade, cotton candy, and sno-cones.

An exceptionally interesting part of the fair took place in the grandstand. This year’s delegates were able to partake in the viewing of a demolition derby—a thrilling spectacle in which cars compete in a free-for-all tournament by ramming each other at high speeds in order to disable the other cars. The demolition derby consisted of three heats of eight cars going at each other. There were two consolation rounds in which the losers of the previous heats competed in an attempt to take home some pride. The derby ended with a thrilling finale in which the last standing cars completed their destructive mission. The demolition derby produced mixed feelings amongst the JASC delegates. Some Japanese delegates absolutely loved the carnage produced in the free-for-all while other Japanese delegates were with little understanding of the meaning behind the spectator’s sport. American delegates were similarly torn on the issue. Some of the American students enjoyed the competition in the beginning, but tired of it eventually. Others stayed glued to their seats the entire time. Regardless of how the JASC delegates felt about the demolition derby, nobody can doubt that a truly unique aspect of American culture was shared during the event.

The Western Montana Fair was an interesting experience for every delegate that attended and could be referred to as a smashing success overall. Many of the Japanese delegates walked away with a new sense of American tradition which had not been gained at the Los Angeles and Portland sites. Many American delegates from the coasts walked away with a greater understanding of Middle-America. It is important to remember that although the Western Montana Fair is quite the slice of American culture, it is not something which necessarily represents the culture of America as a whole.

Nancy and Aya on the bumper cars

Confederate Car @ the Demolition Derby

The most ridiculous ticket pricing scheme ever!
After the demolition derby Nancy and I decided to head back to the hotel a little early. It was about a 3 mile walk and we thought we might enjoy it. We chatted the whole way back until we reached a lovely little bridge which approached downtown Missoula. The bridge overlooked an outdoor amphitheatre in which the Missoula City Symphony was playing. Nancy and I stopped and watched for an hour or so, waiting for the sun to descend behind the mountains.

Amphitheatre Crowd

Someone beautiful, listening to the medley…
We played cards till about 2 AM that morning… As I’ve told a few others, if I had to pick one day in my life that’s been mostly perfect it would have been this day. Every moment spent was truly enjoyed and treasured to its fullest.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Not much in the morning on Monday. We spent about 7 hours in roundtables. Good discussion, but not worth mentioning here.
In the afternoon we went to a location named “Free Cycles” and ended up building bikes from spare parts. I failed pretty miserably, but ended up with a bike to ride around any way. The staff (mostly volunteer) at the bike shop was very helpful. I spent most of the time riding my bike around outside after I’d gotten it. Highlights of the afternoon include me kicking Schlachet’s butt in a bike race (in all fairness, I had a really good bike).
Of every night I spent during the conference this one was probably the most meaningful… That night in Missoula there was a meteor shower. Most people on the conference made plans to climb a nearby mountain and watch from high above the city. A group consisting of Aya, Sam, Nancy and Myself left a little bit earlier than the rest. The climb up was arduous and a little scary because it was night. I never did reach the high point of the mountain, but I can say that the company I shared that night with was spectacular. We sat a ways up on the mountain and chatted for hours. We didn’t really watch the meteor shower, but we did watch the cityscape. We shared a lot that night and turned a trip up the mountain into one of my fondest memories.

Yeah, we hiked up there…

And it looked spectacular…
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tuesday was a pretty fun day. In the morning our group split into two separate groups (one went on environmental related adventures and the other went on a war and peace adventure). I attended the environmental course. First we went to a group of individuals who is currently investing their time and abilities in alternative energies. As a rapid environmentalist I found this discussion to be hopelessly engaging. I wish that the quality of their ideas were higher in my own opinion, but that’s another matter entirely. After that we traveled to the Milltown Superfund Site. Milltown’s aquifer had been shut down several years ago to allow for the removal of toxic materials to begin from a mining accident back in 1908. I couldn’t help but think of the civil action litigation by the citizens of Woburn as documented in the novel A Civil Action. The day ended with a stop at the Smokejumpers center. Not much to report here—just some cool fire gear.

Alternative Energy Guy

WIND!

SUN!

Captain… ISEKI?

A view of the Milltown Aquifer

ME!

One of the numerous ODD posters at the Smokejumpers presentation… really, just read that.

Another one…

Hide, lifting an 80 lb pack

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Another 80 hours of roundtable in the morning and afternoon. Again, not much to report on there. In the evening we had a screening of a documentary on the Libby Superfund Site and its relation to the Japanese city of Minamata (pronounced ME-NA-MA-TA, NOT MINIMATA). The documentary was fascinating, but what was more significant was the discussion panel that spoke with us afterwards. Three local citizens from Missoula spoke about how we could continue to be environmentally conscious throughout the coming years. I was impressed with one of the panelists (the other two… well, that’s ok).
In the evening we had special topics. Yu led a special topics group on postwar Japanese politics. It was a little dry at first, but very informative. Snaps to Yu for being so knowledgeable. Also, the conversation picked up very well after a bit of toying around with ideas. I went swimming on Wednesday night at the hotel pool. Schlachet jumped in with his cell phone and ruined it. We ragged on him until he bought a new one in Boston. It was pretty funny.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Thursday marked our *supposedly* final day in Montana. The day consisted of one long environmental forum. Honestly, it was mostly a rehash of the previous evening’s panel discussion with a keynote presentation from one of Montana’s professors who had shared in receiving the Nobel Peace Prize recently. Dinner went agonizingly long as that evening our RT still had to meet and write a script for our final forum presentation. Oh my…
A few of us went out to the bar after the environmental forum. I ended up hanging out with Nancy and Sam and heading back to the hotels at about 2. I didn’t sleep on Thursday night—we had to leave the hotels at 3:30 for the airport.
Friday, August 15, 2008

Friday begins a long period of days that blend together in my mind. It also starts a period of extreme sleep deprivation. As I said, I didn’t sleep on Thursday, so I tend to see Thursday and Friday as one entity. We arrived at the airport at about 4:30 – 5:00 AM. Our flight was scheduled to leave at about 7:00. Our flight never left. A broken oil hose on the flight delayed and, eventually, canceled our departure. We were trapped… in Montana.
The airport got us space at the local Holiday Inn as we waited for news of another flight to come through. Meanwhile, the Japadele had already boarded their plane and were on the way to Boston. Many of us who were left behind slept in the hotel lobby. Others waited anxiously. A chosen few (myself included) discovered Taco del Sol. It was a real treat for lunch, but probably a 3 mile walk. By the time we’d arrived back at the hotel the group was about to begin boarding a transport shuttle back to the airport. We had secured a 7 PM flight out of Montana to Seattle.
After the short puddle jump from Montana to Seattle we discovered that we still didn’t have a flight to Boston… and thus our 5th site during the conference was created. We moved to a hotel not far from Seatac airport and began a comfortable stay. In lieu of sleeping until about 3 AM I decided it would be fun to work on roundtable things. My mistake.

I told you I didn’t know IF we’d be back again…

Saturday, August 16, 2008

We were woken by a call to the room rather early, I thought. About 9:30 AM, if I recall correctly. Six and a half hours of sleep was pretty good by my standards at the time. After breakfast we split into roundtable groups and had exciting sessions throughout the rest of the day. In all honesty, there wasn’t much we could do due to the lack of our Japadele companions. Our RT scrapped what little work we did achieve and transferred our efforts into further practice and skit refinement.
Later that day a large group of Amedeles went to downtown Seattle. I stayed in favor of resting. I hung out with Ashley, Nancy, Hidemi and Turner for most of the afternoon but was unable to gleen more sleep from the situation. Pity of pities, I suspect.
We departed as a group from Seattle airport on a red eye to Boston. Some creative seat switching got me into a pretty comfortable situation for our 5 hours of flight. This was probably one of my favorite flights, just because of how peaceful it was on the plane and how cute all the sleeping people were. Of course, sitting in between Hidemi and Nancy was a pretty nice touch as well. Hidemi looks so cute when he sleeps in his little brown outfit… that he wore all day… yuck. Actually, now that I think about it, sitting next to Hidemi was kind of gross! At one point in the evening I woke up and placed my hand on his shoulder, asking: “dare,” in an attempt to make fun of him for doing something similar to Josh Schlachet when they had to sleep in the same bed the previous night. It’s probably not funny to the lay-reader, but to a JASCer it may cause laughter.

Seattle, yo.

T&M worked really hard here (notice Greg, just chilling)

And Chien, also just chilling… And I was taking photos.

Of course… Nancy worked really hard too…

Wait, what?

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Again, Saturday blends into Sunday due to our plane ride. We arrived in Boston at around 7 in the morning and made our way to Suffolk. I spent some time in my room before hanging out with Nancy a bit in Boston Commons. In the afternoon we traveled to Harvard University where we were given a quick tour of the sites. We had some roundtable time and then presentations from local Japanese student organizations. I was rather surprised with how advanced some of the students were.
In the evening we had rules laid down for executive committee elections. I still wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to run. The responsibility and weight of the situation was really taking its toll on me at the time. I wasn’t comfortable making the decision quickly either due to my lack of sleep.
Monday, August 18, 2008

On Monday we had tea with professors at Harvard. I sat in with Professor Andrew Gordon and listened to his thoughts on how history pervades modernity. It was a very interesting conversation about the sort of dialogue that goes on between historians both young and old. My mind was satisfied, but it seemed to me as though tea was over all too quickly.
In the afternoon we visited Boston City Hall. I enjoyed a speech by the head of the Board of Elections as well as an elections commissioner. The talk was rather bland, but informative none-the-less. I asked several hardball questions about the validity of their voting machines but I received few substantive answers. It was a little bit depressing, actually. After the visit was over Sam and I walked back to Suffolk. We walked through a few graveyards and saw such historic sites as Sam Adam’s grave, the gravesite of the Boston Massacre victims, and the grave of Paul Revere. Absolutely gorgeous… The history of the United States which is contained in Boston is really quite amazing.

Aya outside of City Hall

Wooh elections!!!

Exactly…

Paul Revere…

Boston Massacre…
In the evening we finished preparing our final forum presentations for our roundtables. My roundtable project was completed, mercifully, by 10 PM. Many other groups worked late into the evening to get things finished. I spent the rest of my night hanging out with Chien, Ryusuke, Iseki, Nancy, and Schlachet. Nancy and I walked around downtown Boston for perhaps an hour and fully enjoyed ourselves. That night I went back to my room briefly and read over a very popular Frost poem. I then decided I would actually be running for the executive committee for the 61st JASC. Yet another memorable night in the big picture of the conference.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Tuesday was the big day—our final forum presentation. I fell in love with Vivaldi on the subway on the way to the presentation. It was really quite a fun ride. We listened to Ezra Vogel give a keynote speech and then gave our own roundtable presentations. I’ve included the T&M final forum presentation here. That guy speaking at the beginning is, in fact, me.

Ezra Vogel

T&M Final Forum Presentation

Samantha Scully, closing Final Forum

After the final forum we had two reflection speeches given by Rachel and Sayaka. The latter of the speeches made many in the audience (myself included) cry. After getting a bit worked up Nancy invited me on a walk around the block a few times to help me collect myself before executive committee elections. The walk was very calming to me and gave me a good chance to gather my thoughts into a coherent speech.

Rachel’s Final Forum Reception Speech

Sayaka’s Final Forum Reception Speech

T&M After Final Forum
EC elections rocked and by that evening we knew who our 16 new EC were. I was one of the lucky 8 on the American side (almost every American delegate ran). The new EC spent the rest of the night working out a rudimentary hierarchy and then spending time with the rest of the delegates. Another late night…
Wednesday, August 20 – Thursday, August 21, 2008

This is one of the rare occasions during the conference that I will say I regretted something. By becoming EC we had to forego on the day of fun activities that the rest of the delegates had. Whilst the majority of the delegates spent time enjoying cultural exhibits like the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Aquarium, the new EC spent time planning for next year’s conference. This is, in fact, my biggest single regret of the whole conference—that instead of spending time with other delegates the new EC had to plan for next year. It was a necessary sacrifice, and I understood going into the elections that it would happen. Still, I have the regret.
The 20th was our last day together as a group. We had a talent show and final reflection in the evening. Each act was splendid, though I am having trouble remembering them all. Some of the highlights include Takuma Tanaka, the fabulous juggler; Yuri Takeuchi and Edward Phillips performing a song from Les Miserables; Hide and Iseki doing standup comedy; and Yu and Yumie performing the Japanese Tea Ceremony. Each act was really spectacular and the whole show ended with Charity and Reina performing their version of the Colbie Caillet song “Realize” on a rather out of tune piano. The closing act of the talent show was so meaningful and touching… I have a video of it, but I am not sure that I want to upload it. We all started swaying and singing along with Reina and Charity… hahahaha.

The 61st Executive Committee
Final reflection was touching. There is nothing else to be said about it.
Wednesday and Thursday blend into each other as well. We all stayed up late into the evening writing JASC mail. Some groups left at 3:00 AM, others at 6:00 AM, and a final group left at 9:00 AM. I left with the last group. By the time we arrived at the airport there were only five delegates there. Ed, Nancy, Greg, Turner, and myself. Ed and Turner departed for different terminals and Greg had to wait to check in for several hours. That left only Nancy and I to wait for our departure. It was a very touching farewell, and possibly the best way to leave things.

The 60th Japan America Student Conference

I intend to type a final reflection the event during my plane ride to Japan… which happens in about 2.5 hours. Take care.

Los Angeles

Monday, August 4, 2008

After beach day we had a long and grueling week in LA. On Monday, August 4th, we had a screening of the “Making of Shogun.” Jerry London, the director of Shogun, indulged us with his glorious presence and shared with us his own experiences in Japan during the filming. In addition, we learned about BRICs from Seth Jacobowitz. BRICs stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China– a group of rising economic powers. In the afternoon, many JASCers went to Hollywood. I stayed at UCLA to get some rest. We ended up playing cards for the first time of many. It was on that day that JASCy Eights was started between Hideya, Nancy, Ed, Schlachet, Masaya and myself (and maybe a few others???). We tried to watch Shogun that night, but failed miserably. Such wonderful lines and inside jokes came out of it though:

IS THIS THE JAPANS!?!?!
TURN YOU WHORE FROM HELL!!!

This day sticks out in my head as one of LAs best, following beach day of course.

Jerry London

Seth Jacobowitz

Tuesday, August 5th, 2008

On Tuesday my roundtable visited the Getty Art Museum. It was absolutely fantastic!!! I took so many great pictures and saw so many great things. As someone who is fascinated by art of all types the experience was spectacular. In the afternoon we had Professor Mariko Tamanoi talk with us about political activism in youth. We also had our own political discussion groups, one of which was led by myself, Nihi, and Ayumi. Ours was about swing voters and it was a pretty awesome discussion (if you want to know more about this or anything else, please ask me). We ended the night with special topics. I participated in one about gender roles. In truth, I wasn’t very interested in the subject. We played cards that night

Greg and Sayaka at the Getty!

Yours Truly!

Ryusuke and Turner

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

On August 6 we had our business visits. I visited Ball Corporation in the morning and had an opportunity to see how aluminum cans were made. The whole process was really quite thrilling! Who would have thought that watching cans be created would be interesting at all. We gathered at the Port of Long Beach as a group and learned about the aspects of port operations. Finally, we ended the night at the Torrance Marriott South Bay Hotel with another dinner reception. I remember I spoke with many important people on that night. I also spent a lot of time talking with Nancy and Sam about the conference and the future while listening to bad pop music. The whole thing was really rather reminiscent of a high school dance!

The thing that stands out most clearly in my memory about this day is that I felt really ill after all of it. I slept early that night and we never did play cards…

Jess and Sunyoung on top of Long Beach

Haha, Yukio… Very funny man.

Who’d have known back then…?

Lovely times on top of the world!

My good friend Hannah! Isn’t she beautiful?

August 7, 2008

Our last day in LA started with a roundtable session. It wasn’t really a good experience for me. We recapped our Getty trip and then tried to have some semblance of discussion on it. The whole thing came off in a rather negative way, truthfully. Next we traveled to Greenberg Traurig Law Firm and listened to several famous lawyers speak about their area of specialty. Colin and I sat in the back and drew pictures of Leila Wice whilst passing notes about copyright law. We ended the night at Consul General Junichiro Ihara’s Residence. The Consul gave an amazing speech on the future of Gaijin in Japan. He was quite progressive, really, and it stands out as one of the best thought provoking speeches from the conference.

The thing I remember most about this day is sharing my headphones with Nancy and Kai on the numerous bus rides around the city. It’s probably sad that I remember that the most, but I feel like it was pretty important.

Friday, August 8, 2008

TO the Missoulas! We left at 12:30 PM, which was nice and leisurely, all flights considered. At the airport, many of us switched seats so that we could play JASCy Eights on the plane. This attempt failed miserably. I ended up in a window seat beside Nancy and Peter. We attempted to teach Peter to play JASCy Eights, but he just couldn’t hold up to the combined awesomeness of Nancy and myself. It’s ok, though, cause we still had a good time. In Seattle airport (part one) we got Schlach-daddy to write his name in the air with his butt after losing a card game to us. Muwahahaha… I got video of it, but I swore I wouldn’t upload it. Sorry guys.

In the evening, Higachi and I were sent to our host family’s house in Missoula. The woman who would host us was named Caitlin Pulleyblank. She was very nice, though I couldn’t figure out what to make of her at first. We went to bed relatively early that night, after a short discussion on daily life in Japan between Higachi and Caitlin.

This day stands out for me as one of our flight days… It was a spectacular flight day, actually

I’m leavin’ on a jet plane…

Don’t know IF I’ll be back again (This was a scary plane)

Alright… Alright… I’m a bad guy, I know.

I’m working on a wrap-up post. It will be long, undoubtedly. I have so much to say, so give me till tomorrow to get it done. I’m sorry I stopped updating– if you’d been at the conference you would understand, trust me!!!

I am officially the worst blog updater EVER!

Anyway, here’s a blog update for each of the days up to this point.

Thursday, July 31st, 2008

On Thursday we had our お好み焼きパーテイー（Okonomiyaki Party). It was very exciting. I had the amazing Chef Hidenori cooking for me. It was absolutely delicious and interesting to watch the cooking process as well. Here are some pictures if you’re interested.

Colin and his Okonomiyaki sauce

TPIR Okonomiyaki?

Hideya and Colin

Hannah and Okonomiyaki Packet

Chef Hidenori, cooking up his “any way you like it” Okonomiyaki

Seriously… That’s the Reed College crest?

Ed and I…. YUM!

Schlechet and his “Got Tofu” shirt… Absolutely HILARIOUS!

My Okonomiyaki! Chef Hide remembered that I don’t eat meat and surprised me with it… He’s so thoughtful!

After the Okonomiyaki party we had a scavenger hunt. I have a few pictures and videos from that as well…

Touch your inner child!

Kiss the man who will always shield you from the rain!

Spell JASC with your bodies!!!

And here’s two video scavenger hunt things!

Jump!!!

Seize the Day!

After free time we had special topics dinner. Sayaka and I led a special topic on food culture in the US and Japan. We had the group talking about all sorts of things, from food regulation to where food comes from. We discussed the honey bee industry and how unhealthy it is as well as slaughterhouses and such. That was pretty much it for Thursday…

Friday, August 1st, 2008

Unfortunately, due to a planning error, we had to leave the lovely Reed College at about 4 in the morning. Yay!… Especially since I didn’t go to bed until about 1:30… Anyway, we arrived at UCLA around 11:30 and moved into our suites a bit early. We had lunch and then waited for the Japadele to arrive from Portland (their plane left a few hours after ours). The evening finished out with an RT session in our suite rooms and then site orientation. The site orientation was very short and the RT sessions were very informative.

Keisuke gave a presentation on Japanese Farm Scenery and how important it is to Japanese history. We got into a deeper discussion on how farm culture is shrinking in both the United States and Japan. Anyway, that’s pretty much it for Friday.

Saturday, August 2nd, 2008

On Saturday we traveled to the Japan-America National Museum and had a tour by a kindly old Japanese man. After the tour we had a break and traveled to little Tokyo for lunch and a small time wandering around doing some shopping. The lunch was pretty good– vegetable tempura as well as inari (bean curd) sushi. Took some good videos and pictures of Ed eating his fist… yeah… here we go:

Ed and his ice cream!

Sam and her cute little bear with bloody claws… Wait, what?

Yeah, Ed eating his hand…

And then finally we had our minority issues forum at the Japan-America National Museum Hall. The forum was interesting– Hideya gave a speech on the Barakumin, a group of Japanese people who are highly discriminated against. Rebecca gave a speech on the concept of those with ADHD being considered. Her idea is interesting, and I would love to see it further developed and discussed. Following the forum we had a reception dinner. The veggie option was a mushroom sandwich. Literally, it was mushrooms on bread. Hahahaha…. Oh my

Sunday, August 3rd, 2008

Sunday was BEACH DAY!!! We left pretty early in the morning– about 8:30. It was kind of gloomy, but we were all very excited for the beach. We traveled to Seal Beach and underwent a long period of surfing lessons. It was a really great time. I’ve never seen the Pacific Ocean before, so it was a real treat for me. In addition, I have definitely never surfed before. Here’s a picture of the guys we surfed with/ the boards we surfed on:

The back of me… in a wet suit!

There are our surfboards and such.

Jess and I at Seal Beach

After the Seal Beach stop we traveled to Huntington Beach where there were tons of fun shops and interesting things.

Sam got a henna tattoo!

Nancy and I traveled to Starbucks were we got some wonderful drinks. We rendezvoused with Sam and then collected several more individuals, until we were THISSSS big!:

Yes, I am severely unshaven…

Anyway, that was pretty much it for Sunday… It was a genuinely easygoing day.

And finally… Monday, August 4th, 2008

Monday was a pretty fun day. We had a screening of “Making of Shogun,” which was very interesting. I’ve never watched Shogun before, but I have a interest in watching Shogun more now. Jerry London, who produced the TV mini-series, actually came to UCLA and spoke with us about the responsibility of a director as they create something.

After Jerry London, Seth Jacobowitz spoke about genre merging. His topic was stimulating and he showed interesting clips from the movie “City of Lost Souls.”
That was pretty much it for the day. A bunch of us played Crazy Eights and then attempted to watch Shogun. It was a spectacular failure. I know, it seems like I didn’t do much– but I promise that I did.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

So, we’re over a week into the conference and I am having a wonderful time! Almost everyone is spectacular in my mind, with the exception of a few who are just overpowering. I think a lot of people are getting to the point where people’s personalities begin to rub each other the wrong way. I’m enjoying most of the presentations and forums and I absolutely LOVE discussions between the Amedele and Japadele. I feel like there is so much to share and that all the Japadele are really really great. They are so nice and intelligent and that’s a really refreshing feeling. Tomorrow I get to travel to the Getty Museum with our roundtable. I’m so excited to wake up the moment I go to bed. I absolutely love JASC!!!

Here’s the skit videos I promised… Watch and enjoy!

The Amedele Performance!

The first Japadele Performance (Part 1)

(Part 2)

The second Japadele skit

The third Japadele skit (Part 1)

The third Japadele skit (Part 2)

Sorry this was so long… and if there were typos, sorry. I’ll try to update more often.

Hey everyone!

I’m sorry that I have not updated in a couple of days, it’s just been very busy here in Portland.

Sunday, July 27th, 2008

We finished American orientation on Sunday by making bracelets for our Japan delegate (Japadele) buddy(ies) that were arriving on Monday. We also spent the afternoon listening to Leila Wice. Ms. Wice, a former JASC delegate, spoke on the adoption of military garb into mainstream clothing by using the example of ‘warrior hakama.’ Warrior hakama were once worn only by the upper echelon of Japanese but since the end of the Tokugawa period began appearing on citizens of all types. Ms. Wice’s speech was very interesting and informative.

In the evening we had our first special topics dinner. I participated in a group lead by Nancy Yang, of the American Executive Committee members. The topic was “Morality and Moral Dilemmas.” The discussion centered on the definition of morality and ethics while trying to answer questions such as the following:

• Is morality relative?
• Is assisted euthanasia moral?
• How does morality relate to carnivorous tenancies?

The discussion concluded with several different moral dilemmas being presented to us. The first was based on a scenario which included aliens coming to Earth and posing the question: “Why shouldn’t we eat you, when you eat cows?” As a vegan I was thrilled with that question. We then devolved into moral dilemmas presented in The Dark Knight and various question books. Overall, Sunday was a very interesting day.

Monday, July 28th, 2008

Monday was a very quick day for us. The Japadeles arrived between 11 and 12 and were extremely excited and energetic despite their extreme jet-lag. I met my two Japadele buddies, Masato and Jinha, and showed them to their rooms. We then had a wonderful picnic lunch in our roundtable groups and began getting to know one another. During introduction we learned all kinds of things about each other. Many of the Japadeles were very funny! One of them rhymed all of his sentences together while another one randomly began juggling his watch and various other items.

We ended the evening with a reception at the personal residence of Consul General Egawa-sama. The Consul had invited many important people from all over Portland and we had the wonderful opportunity to meet them. Several of the Japadeles and myself happened into a very serious discussion about affirmative action with a Japanese professor from Portland State University. The Japanese do not have a system similar to American affirmative action, in turns out, and so the idea was entirely foreign to them. Perhaps the most interesting part of the evening was when the transportation van got a little lost while trying to find the Consul’s residence. We were all fearful for our lives!!!

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

On Tuesday we had breakfast in our roundtable groups. Afterwards we began to formally discuss our topics amongst each other. During our first meeting we covered our main areas of interest and then launched heavily into generation gaps. We closed with by making a generational timeline. Our round table group is very interesting! Sayaka and Keisuke specialize in food culture/agriculture. Hideya is interested in the adoption of foreign aspects into cultural tradition. Greg is interested in the use of facebook in the workplace, and Chien and I are interested in the generation gap as a whole.

After the round table meeting we had a ceremony and reception held in our honor. The food was lovely and all of our guests and alumni were really wonderful to speak with. We also had our picture taken in front of the main hall of campus, in recognition of the 1935 JASC conference which was the first to take place in America. This is the 60th JASC, which is a very important birthday in Japanese culture. Every 60 years the horoscope resets. Literally 74 years ago, the first JASC of America sat at Reed college on the same days under the same stars. Truly amazing!

We then had a dinner held by the alumni for us at a very nice restaurant. The food was very good. The alumni gave some very good speeches and then we all ended up singing the JASC conference song. It was a really significant time which helped us realize the specialness of our situation.

The evening ended with our skits which were HILARIOUS!!! I am working on posting them to youtube right now, so we will see if we get them up.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Wednesday morning breakfast was rather rushed. Following that we had a forum on immigration. The topic of my groups discussion was “Female Immigrants and the Sex Trade.” We ended up talking about the necessity of the sex industry and whether such an industry is a symptom of the society or of biology. We also talked about overhauling the “entertainer visa” into a more flexible visa which would help regulate the sex labor industry. During the discussion we taught our Japadele counterparts such interesting concepts as ‘hooters’ and ‘cougars.’

We then traveled to downtown Portland again where we traveled through the Oregon Nikkei Legacy Museum. I took all kinds of pictures and have uploaded a few of them. The place was very interesting, documenting the time from the founding of ‘Nihonmachi’ (Japantown) through the internment period of the 1940s and the proceeding war decorations received by nihonjin (Japanese people).

After the museum tour we had free time. A group of Japadeles and Amedeles traveled to the Pioneer Center and did some shopping. We took the Japadele boys to such important locations as Victoria’s Secret and an Apple Store. Hideya decided he would use a pickup line on one of the women at a store and explained that he had “lost his phone number,” and was wondering if he could “have hers?” Oh my, how amazing! A group of 11 of us ended up eating dinner at Macaroni Grill. Everything went really well at the restaurant. We headed back to the college and that was pretty much it for the day (excluding the very rude bus driver that needed a good talking to about manners).

Miscellaneous thoughts

I’m having an incredible time at this conference! I am really enjoying all of the conversations that I am having with the Japadele as well as the Amedele. I guess that I’m being observed by several members of the AEC and to that I must say… I’m watching you too… I’m watching you too. But in all seriousness, everyone has been so helpful to me over the past week. The Japadele are all so nice and so accepting! There are a few people who rub me the wrong way, but I can forgive that- after all, nothing is perfect.

I honestly could not be happier with the conference!!! I do miss my home a little bit though, but that was to be expected! I will leave this post with some fun pictures. Please feel free to shoot me some comments or questions!

First RT session!

Ed is BROKEN!

Bethany with CREEPY EYES!

Catherine and Colin looking very odd.

Catherine is broken… TOO!

And now Colin’s crotch is broken…

Hideya going WTF?

“Banana attacks Rachel”

We owned that public bus… Totally PWNED.

Japanese internment room

Bottle balance

Cherubs attaching us with keys

Watch out for attacking Sams

At Pioneer Center

Successful dinner at the Macaroni Grill!!!

Hannah and her beautiful work of art.

Sorry this was so long…

Hello everyone!
I hope things are going well for all of you. Not much to report today. Started off at about 7:30 AM with a nice and easy breakfast at the cafeteria. Headed back to the Woodbridge lounge for some announcements and then roundtable (RT) discussion time. We split off into our roundtable (a group of several people discussing our topic (tradition and modernity)) groups and began coming up with talking points for use when our Japan buddies arrive on Monday.

After RT time there was an awards ceremony for the RT Papers that were required of us. Somehow my paper got “honorable mention,” or more effectively, third place. It was a pretty neat honor, but I’m not sure it was deserved. In some ways it makes me question the legitimacy of this conference… just joking… maybe…

After a quick lunch we began walking towards the bus stop. On the way the American Executive Conference decided to randomly climb a tree. Don’t worry, I got it on video!

After our little diversion we made it to the bus stop and waited for a great deal of time. During our wait we learned several interesting games including a version of Rock-Paper-Scissors which includes creating a train of individuals that follow you if they lose. It’s really tricky to understand– you have to see it to get the hang of it, but it was really fun! The time passed by really quickly as the group is seeming to click quite well now.

We had an uneventful bus ride and then began exploring downtown Portland, starting with the marketplace. There was a really creepy robotic like lady… I took video, keep watching until some guy puts money in. It’s crazy!

Also took some pictures that are pretty cool to look at. I’ll post a few of them at the end of the post as a teaser. If you’re interested in seeing the rest you may peruse my Flickr account.

We headed out of the marketplace and all around downtown. We went to the largest bookstore in the United States. We stopped by a smoothie joint for some Pomegranate Passion. We stopped by a coffee shop for a quick cup of java. We stopped by Pioneer Square for some wonderful photos with bronze animals (see below). Finally, we stopped at Qdoba and Pizza Schmiza for dinner. After dinner we were running close to 7 PM, so we decided to head back for our evening announcements and skit practice.

Overall it was a really fun and exciting day! I can’t wait to see how the rest of the conference goes. Thanks for all of your support. I miss you all like crazy and I can’t wait to see you again soon. As always, feel free to ask any questions.

More are viewable at http://flickr.com/photos/25933237@N04/

Oh, also… Rob can lick his wenis.

Alright, two updates in one day…

I got to Portland at about 2 PM and managed to retrieve my bag from baggage claim hell. It turned out to be a pretty easy process, actually. Props to Frontier Airlines for making stuff easy. I stumbled upon a group of American delegates and we waited for the shuttle to leave at 3. I would be lying if I said that those first 10 - 15 minutes weren’t really weird for me. Sometimes I suffer from ‘duck-out-of-water’ disease, which leads me to become shy and socially inept. This was one of those times.

Finally the shuttles arrived and we departed for Reed College, our first stop. Upon arrival I quickly unpacked and found that my clothes were wrinkled. YAY! I went about some minor tasks of preparing my room for a week of fun before heading out to the beginning of the orientation program. Not much to say, really. We chatted in our round table group and then headed out to the cafeteria for dinner. By that time it was 6 PM PST… pretty late for my dinner!

The rest of the evening revolved around some icebreaker activities and the preparation of a skit to perform for the Japanese delegates when they arrive on Monday.

So here are my initial thoughts on the whole thing. I’m liking the people that I’m around. There are some overpowering personalities as well as some people who are being very quiet. I’m really interested in getting to know them more. I think part of being 6 hours flight away from my home is that all sense of urgency is taken away. Without that drive pushing me to accomplish more things I have found that I do not get annoyed as easily with things like icebreakers. I’m excited to kick off tomorrow and continue building relationships with these people. I also really like the American Executive Committee as they seem to be comprised of really cohesive relationships.

Overall it’s been a good day for me. I’m really glad to be privileged enough to come out here and partake in an activity such as this. I miss all of you back at home and I’ve spent my fair share of time thinking about you all. I will upload some pictures of the room and such tomorrow during my free time. Feel free to ask any questions if you have them. Take care!

Hey guys!

It’s been a long time since I’ve updated… since Matt Ray’s birthday! It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I got a little busy with things other than Japan. Aside from studying over the last month the only important thing I took care of was getting my visa issued. It’s not too hard. Get the process started as soon as possible and just follow all the directions.

But now the real reason why I am updating… JASC starts today!!! After a teary-eyed goodbye with my parents, Kevin, and Dev, I set out at 6:25 this morning for the wonderful city of Portland, Oregon. Portland is the first stop on our journey. I had a stop-over in Denver before a connecting flight to Portland that was supposed to leave at 8:35 AM from Denver. Original arrival time was 10:15 AM in Portland. This turned out to be a poor choice of tickets as the JASC shuttle does not leave from PDX airport until 3:00 PM, so I would’ve been chilling in Portland for about 5 hours.

As luck would have it, Frontier decided to overbook the connecting flight from Denver to Portland so that instead of sitting in Portland for 5 hours I get to sit in Denver for 4 hours and Portland for 1 ( I get to Portland at about 2 PM now). This was actually a pretty great turn of events as Frontier supplied me with a $200 flight voucher and $7 meal voucher to use in the meantime. So I took advantage of it. Not much to eat here, though. Had a salad from Mesa Verde upstairs. It was loaded with fried onions and, overall, unappetizing.

Anyway, just in passing, here’s a photografia of me in the courtesy phone booth where my laptop is stealing power from right now. ENJOY!

Just a short snippet of advice…
Get yourself examined by your physician and your dentist well in advance of your journey abroad. These appointments take time to arrange and attend and there’s nothing worse than starring down a plane ride to Japan in one week whilst still having a wide range of them to get to.

Luckily, I am not starring down that plane ride. Clean bill of health from the dentist and the doctor (am I the luckiest person alive, or what!?!)

Oh, and also remember that some vaccinations like Hepatitis B require a series of shots over a period of time. In the case of Hepatitis B it’s a three month period. In other words, get your vaccinations early!

That is all.

*Dusts of keyboard*

Wooh, it’s sure been a while…

Let me start by saying that I received acceptance in Kansai Gaidai University today!!! I got the email at about 6:55 AM (yes, I’m that precise). I was pretty ecstatic. All I have to do now it finish preparing to go and get a visa and I should be all set.

From a monetary standpoint things are coming along quite nicely. The Association of Teachers of Japanese has awarded me with a scholarship for the upcoming year. I’m really close to my goal. I’m pulling for one of the remaining scholarships (Freeman-Asia or Gilman) to set me free of any loan bondage. Freeman-Asia said 6-8 weeks from the application deadline (today is the beginning of week 8, so any time now!), and Gilman said I should hear from them in June.

I’d really like to thank the Association of Teachers of Japanese for their scholarship. I think they’re an absolutely amazing organization. Among many others they do such wonderful things as post job listings for Japanese teachers and provide scholarships to students who are planning to study abroad. Their website is an excellent resource for anyone planning to study abroad as it is filled with testimonials of students who have gone abroad as well as the absolutely amazing “At Home in Japan: What No One Tells You” interactive learning tool. Check them out and let me know what you think.

In addition the Japan America Student Conference is coming along well. I’ve started researching for my paper on tradition and modernity but must admit that progress is slower than I had hoped. With any luck the paper should be completed by the deadline of June 15.

Otherwise I have just been working daily for New Student Orientation as well as studying a multitude of Japanese topics with a great fervor. One of my greatest focuses has been the kanji followed shortly thereafter by the overall grammar points. With great consternation I hope to reach the end of Genki II by the time I leave while having a MUCH greater understanding of the 1945 Jōyō kanji. I’m also brushing up on my Japanese history by re-reading Sources of Japanese Traditions Volumes 1 + 2.

Anyway, leave a comment just to say hi!

* Just a reminder: please keep your comments family friendly so that everybody can enjoy this website! Thanks!