Back from China, but talking about Japan
Yes, I'm alive and well, and back from China. I didn't post anything there because there was a Great Fire Wall to deal with, and I didn't have much computer time to begin with. You can expected some updates very soon, since it was very interesting ten day trip. Yes, photos will be included.
But first, I have things to say about Japan. Random, huh? Being in China just went to show (even more) how attached I am to Japan. During the first several days, I kept finding myself saying things "in Japan, they do it like this" or "hmm, this is bigger than it is in Japan" or "this is so much easier in Japan!" or the like. Given that it's the only other Asian country I've been to it was to be expected that I would make comparisons, though it's really much easier to contrast the two places. Not that I was expecting it to be much like Japan in the first place, I know better than that.
The last couple days really seemed to swing more towards my interest in Japan, though. I had been asking Chinese students questions about China and Japan's relationship the whole time and had some students try out some very basic Japanese with me, but it wasn't until I went to the night market on my last night in Hangzhou (the second to last night of the entire trip) that I wound up using so much of it. I spent more of my time embracing the China experience and using Chinese instead of dwelling on Japan. The night market experience will probably be worth an entire entry on its own, but what I'll note here is that a couple of the younger girls I bought some jewelry from were very eager to ask me some questions about myself after we finished bargaining. Out of no where, one announced that she and her sister spoke Japanese.
As you can imagine, the three of us got very excited when I replied in Japanese that I also spoke Japanese and that I had been studying there. They immediately motioned for me to crawl under the table to sit and talk for a while. Instead of shopping like I intended to, I spent about forty minutes talking in non-stop Japanese with Yoh-san (to use her Japanese name, with romanization which should look appropriate to non-Japanese speakers). We hit it off so well, in fact, that we spent several hours the next morning together, speaking mostly Japanese, except for a couple English and Chinese phrases here and there. We talked about ourselves, our families, America and China, but mostly about Japan. We even share an affinity for the Heian era and classical Asian culture.
Yoh-san has not been to Japan, but her Japanese was better than mine. Or rather, I'd like to think that my Japanese was that good a couple months ago. I already feel like I've lost a lot in just these two months since I've returned to America, and it's scary. We were discussing social issues in Japan, and it was so vexing to not remember how to say things like "aging population". I remember using those words so many times in my class discussions just last October, but the words were gone! I was even having trouble staying in masu-tai... it's just so startling to suddenly watch my speaking ability disappear. Just a short time ago, I had such better grammar and vocabulary.
It did feel really good to spend a few hours in Japanese, though. It felt really good. I'll probably post more about Yoh-san later; I'm very happy that I met her. We hope to meet up again some day (in Japan, of course). I was energized by this, so I was thrilled when Prof. Lin told us that the last group of college students we'd be talking to was full of Chinese and Japanese language majors, so I should introduce myself in Japanese. As it turned out, I was only able to stay for ten minutes or so conducting a survey in Japanese with one of the Japanese majors (a few of us had to leave early to go to the last high school), but I was still eager to keep using Japanese.
When we fly to China, we went up through Canada, a part of the Arctic Circle, and then down through Siberia, but on the way back (the day after using so much Japanese), we spent about an hour and a half flying over Japan, from about Kyuushuu to Tokyo. I was pretty much glued to the window with a big smile that whole time. I had been to so many of those cities! It was at night, but I'll bet that I would have had a good view of Fuji-san if it had been during the day.
So, yes, I enjoyed China a lot, but Japan is still where more of my heart is. The following entries will be more so about China.
But first, I have things to say about Japan. Random, huh? Being in China just went to show (even more) how attached I am to Japan. During the first several days, I kept finding myself saying things "in Japan, they do it like this" or "hmm, this is bigger than it is in Japan" or "this is so much easier in Japan!" or the like. Given that it's the only other Asian country I've been to it was to be expected that I would make comparisons, though it's really much easier to contrast the two places. Not that I was expecting it to be much like Japan in the first place, I know better than that.
The last couple days really seemed to swing more towards my interest in Japan, though. I had been asking Chinese students questions about China and Japan's relationship the whole time and had some students try out some very basic Japanese with me, but it wasn't until I went to the night market on my last night in Hangzhou (the second to last night of the entire trip) that I wound up using so much of it. I spent more of my time embracing the China experience and using Chinese instead of dwelling on Japan. The night market experience will probably be worth an entire entry on its own, but what I'll note here is that a couple of the younger girls I bought some jewelry from were very eager to ask me some questions about myself after we finished bargaining. Out of no where, one announced that she and her sister spoke Japanese.
As you can imagine, the three of us got very excited when I replied in Japanese that I also spoke Japanese and that I had been studying there. They immediately motioned for me to crawl under the table to sit and talk for a while. Instead of shopping like I intended to, I spent about forty minutes talking in non-stop Japanese with Yoh-san (to use her Japanese name, with romanization which should look appropriate to non-Japanese speakers). We hit it off so well, in fact, that we spent several hours the next morning together, speaking mostly Japanese, except for a couple English and Chinese phrases here and there. We talked about ourselves, our families, America and China, but mostly about Japan. We even share an affinity for the Heian era and classical Asian culture.
Yoh-san has not been to Japan, but her Japanese was better than mine. Or rather, I'd like to think that my Japanese was that good a couple months ago. I already feel like I've lost a lot in just these two months since I've returned to America, and it's scary. We were discussing social issues in Japan, and it was so vexing to not remember how to say things like "aging population". I remember using those words so many times in my class discussions just last October, but the words were gone! I was even having trouble staying in masu-tai... it's just so startling to suddenly watch my speaking ability disappear. Just a short time ago, I had such better grammar and vocabulary.
It did feel really good to spend a few hours in Japanese, though. It felt really good. I'll probably post more about Yoh-san later; I'm very happy that I met her. We hope to meet up again some day (in Japan, of course). I was energized by this, so I was thrilled when Prof. Lin told us that the last group of college students we'd be talking to was full of Chinese and Japanese language majors, so I should introduce myself in Japanese. As it turned out, I was only able to stay for ten minutes or so conducting a survey in Japanese with one of the Japanese majors (a few of us had to leave early to go to the last high school), but I was still eager to keep using Japanese.
When we fly to China, we went up through Canada, a part of the Arctic Circle, and then down through Siberia, but on the way back (the day after using so much Japanese), we spent about an hour and a half flying over Japan, from about Kyuushuu to Tokyo. I was pretty much glued to the window with a big smile that whole time. I had been to so many of those cities! It was at night, but I'll bet that I would have had a good view of Fuji-san if it had been during the day.
So, yes, I enjoyed China a lot, but Japan is still where more of my heart is. The following entries will be more so about China.