Ha ha ha ha staying inside, staying inside...
Spring is slowly returning to Kyoto. We've had 11°C for the past three days, which is really refreshing. I think one possible reason for me surviving -20°C winters at home when I thought I had to die here in 2°C, is the fact that in these areas of Japan (meaning everywhere that is not Hokkaido)it is impossible to find proper jackets, and since all the clothes are sack-like and mostly don't touch my body, well how are they supposed to warm it, then?
But on a day like today, when the weather forecast is wrong and it is sunny, I don't need to heat the room :D
It is the first sunny day in a while and will be for a while longer, and unfortunately I couldn't go out today because I was waiting for a postal redelivery. Leaving now is useless - with the amount of hours of sun, by the time I arrive anywhere in Kyoto I will have about 1 1/2 of light left.
Oh well.
I have barely left the house these past few days. Ignoring the usual slew of Japanese people not calling back/cancelling/people of all races ignoring me (this is only half-serious moaning, but this post will be long either way, maybe another time), I have tried my best to gather enough motivation to study for the JLPT, seeing as I have to apply in April and studying properly will be much more difficult once uni starts up again. Not that I am doing it properly now. T_T
The problem with finding things to do is not only that I have been broke since returning from Tokyo or simply not having the motivation recently to do things by myself all the time (even though I will go to an onsen before it gets too warm - never been to an onsen!!!), but also that even though I love Kyoto and I love temples, there are only so many times you can go and look at them before you feel like you need a break of temple-hopping.
Thankfully my calendar informs me that it is only a measly two weeks until Okinawa/Miyakojima, so I shall have to go out and buy sleeveless things! *_* I just hope it won't rain quite as much as it does now.
I would love to go on a trip during sakura season as well, as it is like the entire country at its best, but I won't get my loan in April plus I have uni so no going far...
This year is my 10th anniversary as a SMAP fan, and Jesus Christ have I come a long way since then. I think this might exactly be the problem, if you can call it that, this degree of disentchantment that has happened. It all seemed so far away, so hard to get to, so difficult to understand. People always want what they can't have, I guess, and to me, with all the experiences I have made, Japan just seems less special to me. I don't dislike it, but all of us know or have heard of that person who wants to live in Japan and marry a Japanese guy, right? My parents always assumed that if I married someone, he would be Japanese.
Now, with all the experiences I have made concerning cultural differences, which is not just a conveninet excuse, but which actually exist, all I can think is God beware!
And so I have no problem admitting that I know of releases by JE bands and just not even bothered to listen to them. Bam. If V6 or SMAP gave concerts I would still try to go, but my fannish devotion as it used to be has just come to an end.
Speaking of cultural disenchantment, a blog on Japan I sometimes visit has made me aware of a book called "Hi! My name is Loco and I am a racist", which I think I will buy just because judging by my first impression, I disagree with the guy entirely, I have an entirely different definition of the word racism, and I am generally cynical enough to roll my eyes at everyone with a "Can't we all just love each other and/or become better people before we judge others first?" attitude. (this is so honeydextrous post +1, omg.)
It is difficult to describe what exactly it is about, generally this guy from Brooklyn lives in Yokohama and is self-aware enough to call himself a racist for various reasons.
Anyway, the book description is on amazon here and the interview with him is here.
I have also realised that I do not wish to spend my working life just using my Japanese, simply while being my only asset on paper, it is not the only asset I have. I do no want to devote my life to a country that is in no way devoting itself to me. I have not mentioned this to my parents, quite frankly I don't have to, but with everything they have put in my studies, I think they might take it the wrong way, but I don't wanna spend my life reading stuff to other people because they can't, by way of translating and such. I want to use my language experience in another field, so that it becomes useful but not the only thing I do.
Here we arrive at the same wish I have uttered from ages 10 to 16, which was when I did work experience at a radio station where I spent two weeks plotting murder and ways to get away with it, which kind of doesn't leave you unscathed -- long story short, video game journalism.
Terrible, terrible idea, seeing as game journalism is a good as dead, the interships start months after I graduate, and I would have to move. Again.
But I will look into it.
But on a day like today, when the weather forecast is wrong and it is sunny, I don't need to heat the room :D
It is the first sunny day in a while and will be for a while longer, and unfortunately I couldn't go out today because I was waiting for a postal redelivery. Leaving now is useless - with the amount of hours of sun, by the time I arrive anywhere in Kyoto I will have about 1 1/2 of light left.
Oh well.
I have barely left the house these past few days. Ignoring the usual slew of Japanese people not calling back/cancelling/people of all races ignoring me (this is only half-serious moaning, but this post will be long either way, maybe another time), I have tried my best to gather enough motivation to study for the JLPT, seeing as I have to apply in April and studying properly will be much more difficult once uni starts up again. Not that I am doing it properly now. T_T
The problem with finding things to do is not only that I have been broke since returning from Tokyo or simply not having the motivation recently to do things by myself all the time (even though I will go to an onsen before it gets too warm - never been to an onsen!!!), but also that even though I love Kyoto and I love temples, there are only so many times you can go and look at them before you feel like you need a break of temple-hopping.
Thankfully my calendar informs me that it is only a measly two weeks until Okinawa/Miyakojima, so I shall have to go out and buy sleeveless things! *_* I just hope it won't rain quite as much as it does now.
I would love to go on a trip during sakura season as well, as it is like the entire country at its best, but I won't get my loan in April plus I have uni so no going far...
This year is my 10th anniversary as a SMAP fan, and Jesus Christ have I come a long way since then. I think this might exactly be the problem, if you can call it that, this degree of disentchantment that has happened. It all seemed so far away, so hard to get to, so difficult to understand. People always want what they can't have, I guess, and to me, with all the experiences I have made, Japan just seems less special to me. I don't dislike it, but all of us know or have heard of that person who wants to live in Japan and marry a Japanese guy, right? My parents always assumed that if I married someone, he would be Japanese.
Now, with all the experiences I have made concerning cultural differences, which is not just a conveninet excuse, but which actually exist, all I can think is God beware!
And so I have no problem admitting that I know of releases by JE bands and just not even bothered to listen to them. Bam. If V6 or SMAP gave concerts I would still try to go, but my fannish devotion as it used to be has just come to an end.
Speaking of cultural disenchantment, a blog on Japan I sometimes visit has made me aware of a book called "Hi! My name is Loco and I am a racist", which I think I will buy just because judging by my first impression, I disagree with the guy entirely, I have an entirely different definition of the word racism, and I am generally cynical enough to roll my eyes at everyone with a "Can't we all just love each other and/or become better people before we judge others first?" attitude. (this is so honeydextrous post +1, omg.)
It is difficult to describe what exactly it is about, generally this guy from Brooklyn lives in Yokohama and is self-aware enough to call himself a racist for various reasons.
Anyway, the book description is on amazon here and the interview with him is here.
I have also realised that I do not wish to spend my working life just using my Japanese, simply while being my only asset on paper, it is not the only asset I have. I do no want to devote my life to a country that is in no way devoting itself to me. I have not mentioned this to my parents, quite frankly I don't have to, but with everything they have put in my studies, I think they might take it the wrong way, but I don't wanna spend my life reading stuff to other people because they can't, by way of translating and such. I want to use my language experience in another field, so that it becomes useful but not the only thing I do.
Here we arrive at the same wish I have uttered from ages 10 to 16, which was when I did work experience at a radio station where I spent two weeks plotting murder and ways to get away with it, which kind of doesn't leave you unscathed -- long story short, video game journalism.
Terrible, terrible idea, seeing as game journalism is a good as dead, the interships start months after I graduate, and I would have to move. Again.
But I will look into it.