Changing Impressions of Japan

The main thing I've noticed about my view of Japan now is how at home I feel here, despite how alien everything was when I first came here. I finally got to see my robot, I've come to depend on vending machines and think of my bicycle as if it were my car.

Some of the Japanese friends I've made here will stick with me for life and I think it'll be quite a while before I go back to saying 'ok' instead of 'daijobes'.

I've been to a lot of places in Japan since I've come here but I think that the things I will remember most are the people that I've met here and the friends that I've made

Eriko, Tatsuya and Haruna's dance troupe at Gaidaisai

my friend, Daisuke, scaring innocent animals

I became quite intimately aquatinted with the Osaka club scene, from gaijin dens, to various hidden gems. It's amazing how much the night life can vary from country to country and Osaka has a very active hip hop scene.

The DJs having a spin-off at Azure

Big Spenders really will buy the $500 champagne

Japan is a difficulty country to fully integrate into, but I'm still starting to find myself familiar with even the kanji I haven't learnt yet and trying to guess what things mean. If anything, when I go home, everything in LA will seem too simple, and I'll be bored with being able to read everything so easily.

My speaking partner, Maimu, being 'ninja'

Life in Japan is never simple, but always interesting. I feel like 4 months has only scratched the surface, but what I've uncovered, I've loved.

Football in Japan

I'm a big football fan in England and finally managed to a game in Japan. I went to a match of Gamba Osaka against Shyonan.

When we got there, there were crowds of people and a food festival going on outside with food available from multiple different countries and parts of Japan

Gamba Osaka's official Bistro

Two girls enjoying their pre-match food

The thing I was surprised by was the fact that the team had their own official food stall, the food festival had a surprisingly relaxed atmosphere - which was enjoyable, although very different from the type of pre-match feeling I was used to.

When we went through the ticket check, we were given a small bag with a programme of the match in it, some coupons and small memorabilia. As someone who wasn't familiar with players and tactics of the team, I found the programme very useful.

When we were seated, the excitement started to rise a little. Shyonan had only a small number of away fans supporting them, but they were very loud in their support

Shyonen fans show their dedication with banners, a dance and a whole lot of singing

However, perhaps inevitably, they were getting drowned out by the multitude of Gamba fans. We were sat in the cheap seat, where there wasn't an empty chair to be seen, but some of the more expensive chairs had been left empty. The Gamba fans were loud, rowdy and passionate - I managed to pick up the basics of at least three of their chants, which I suppose implies impressive enunciation on their part.

where we were sitting

the slightly sparse fans on the far side had a cheerleading show at half-time. Something you don't see in England

my favourite banner from the stadium

So there were some similarities and a few differences, but the most important aspects - the passion, the excitement and the camaraderie were all present. And to top it all off, Gamba won - of course!

Pre-match huddle

Religion in Japan

The two main religions that I've encountered in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism. Both are major religions, with shinto as the state religion. I’ve been to a lot of shrines and have found that a lot of the basic rituals at both places are similar. 

In Shinto, there is the idea that the gods will help out with your everyday life in return for offerings and prayers. There are many different gods and they are all in charge of different things. I recently went to Fushimi Inari, which is a prominent pilgrimage location for worshippers of Inari - the god of Rice. The shrine is now prominently associated with luck in business, but people go there for a variety of different reasons.

There are thousands of Tori Gates at Fushimi Inari, which invite Gods in

All the Tori Gates form a tunnel that leads to the top of the mountain and back down

When I was in Hiroshima, I saw a shinto ceremony taking place at a shrine where a man was getting his car blessed - this costs some money and is supposed to protect you from accidents and ensure safe journey. You can sometimes get money knocked off your car insurance if it's been blessed.

A car undergoing a Shinto blessing

In Tokyo, I saw the Asakusa Kannon Temple, which was very large and full of people worshipping for a variety different reasons. There is water to purify your hands and mouth (which is similar to a shinto ritual) and a market place that lines the way towards the temple.

Cleansing Incense

Purifying Water

Prayers

Festivals in Japan

Japan has a variety of festivals all over the country - usually Shinto or Buddhist - that beseech different gods for protection against a number of things. So far whilst I've been in Japan, I've been to two festivals - Osaka's Danjiri Matsuri and Kyoto's fire festival.

A shrine going past at Danjiri Matsuri in Osaka

The Danjiri festival is known for being quite dangerous and I didn't really fully understand until I saw one of the shrines being slung around a corner.  Every place in Japan has its own Danjiri Matsuri, the size of which is dependant on the size of the place, and how many towns want to represent themselves with a shrine of their own. The atmosphere was great, and even though you could see that the people pulling the shrines were tired, they always had good spirits, laughing and joking with each other and with you, too.

Some friends we made when they were taking a break from the festival

Everyone taking part was running and dragging shrines all day in the burning heat

Kyoto's fire festival was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. In England, there's a yearly tradition of lighting bonfires and burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes on the 5th November, but that doesn't even come close. Massive, burning, wooden torches were carried up the mountain to be put into one giant bonfire that then had shines pass over it. It's dangerous not only for the people carrying the torches, but for the spectators as well. It's a massive celebration, for locals and the many Japanese and foreign people that travel to Kyoto just for this event.

The torches just before being thrown onto the bonfire

The fire just as a new Torch was added

The people that lived nearby had the best seats in the house

Firefighters took over after the bonfire had dwindled and the festival moved elsewhere

Leibovitz and Nachtwey

This blog post is about Annie Leibovitz and James Nachtwey - and about what I have learned from their method and approach to photography.


Annie Leibovitz is particularly known for her portraits of people, she shot a lot of famous people and represented them in various ways. she said "When I say I want to photograph someone, what it really means is that I'd like to know them. Anyone I know I photograph. "

The Blues Brothers - my favourite photograph by Leibovitz

When Leibovitz photographs someone, she spends time with them, talks with them and really gets to know them. She doesn't make assumptions or tell them what to do, she talks to them about it and asks them how they feel about different ideas and then they decide together what it is that they want to do.


When she was photographing the Rolling Stones she went on tour with them and lived their lifestyle, so that after some time with them, they wouldn't even notice the fact that she was taking their photograph. Many people said that they felt like that with Leibovitz, that they would think "oh, that's just Annie" and forget that she was supposed to be taking photographs of them, which gives her the opportunity to really get the core of people, when they're completely at home. It also means that they trust her and feel natural with her, which I think is the most important thing.

Portrait of Meryl Streep

James Nachtwey is a war photograher, so his work is completely different to Leibovitz's, but they also shared some things in common in terms of how they approached subjects.


Nachtwey said that because he's taking photos of people in a war situation, a lot of the social rules that people are used to no longer apply. In the society we're used to, you wouldn't take photos of people in situations of extreme grief or despair - but in cases of war, people want their story to be told so that the world knows what is happening.

Sickness

Nachtwey"I want to record history through the destiny of individuals who often belong to the least wealty classes. I do not want to show war in general, nor history with a capital H, but rather the tragedy of a single man, of a family"

Grief

He says that the reason people let him photograph them is because he shows them respect from the start.

Eriko

Meet Eriko

Eriko is a 19 year old Kansai Gaidai sophomore. She’s from Nishinomiya, but moved to Kobe when she was 10. She loves living in Kobe because it’s beautiful, quiet and full of kind people - and when I went to Kobe that’s exactly the impression I got, too.

In Kobe Eriko lives with her mother and grandparents - her grandpaernts live on the ground floor and Eriko lives with her mother on the first floor. However at Kansai Gaidai, Eriko’s staying in the Seminar House to improve her English.

Eriko having fun at the Seminar house

Eriko is always smiling, making jokes and being silly. But she works hard too - she's studied French, Chinese, Korean, German and is fluent in English. Eriko's dream is to work for a fashion company as a visual merchandiser, but she's majoring in German, because she was curious about the language.

Eriko is a really diverse person, her favourite genre of music is Reggae ton,  but her favourite bands are Maroon 5 (Alternative Soft Rock) and Ripslime (a Japanese rap/DJ group)

Eriko's favourite music video by Ripslime is "Scar"

If Eriko won the lottery, she would travel around Japan and the world and see everything there is to see.  she said “I wouldn’t need to go out and shop for things, because I’d go to places and I would want to buy things there. It would have more meaning” - which is something that applies to all of Eriko’s belongings - if it’s just an object that doesn’t have a meaning or a memory then it’s not as valued.

A night out in Osaka

Eriko has been to Canada and England to study and improve her English and is currently applying to study abroad in Europe, hopefully Italy - so she’s also starting to learn basic Italian.

Eriko's study glasses. No joking around when these babies are on.

"Hirakata isn't a place - it's a state of mind"

As far as neighbourhood Hirakata goes, I've spent most of my time in Japan outside of the town I'm living in - but all of my experiences in Hirakata have certainly been memorable.

The area of Hirakata around Kansai Gaidai seems quiet and serene, full of friendly neighbours who will nod towards you in the morning and stop and chat in the evenings. I've been introduced to more dogs in Hirakata than in England and America combined. There are also security guards around who appear stoic at first, but eventually start grinning if you wear them down enough. (losing one of your shoes whilst cycling to school is a good ice-breaker, if you don't mind a dignity-free introduction).

View of the cycle route to Kansai Gaidai, through the quieter streets of Hirakata

Around the Kansai Gaidai campus, there are many small bars and restaurants that are favourites of both the Japanese students and ryugakusei. There's the New Delhi restaurant that some Japanese friends introduced me to, the Nose Ride cafe where they will name cocktails after you and you can always find some international students and Kazuya is a small place, but will serve you the best Takuyaki you could imagine.

Kazuya restaurant at lunch time

The other side of Hirakata is the slightly more fast-paced world around Hirakatashi - with Izakayas, Nomihodais and 24-hour Karaoke bars aplenty. A very concentrated but diverse entertainment district where the question is never what you should do, but what you should do first.

An average night out in your local Hirakata Izakaya

Kiddyland, just under Hirakatashi. A haven for some, scary for others.

And last but not least - if you're talking about Hirakata, then, to a ryugakusei, you're also talking about Kansai Gaidai. Which, to many is synonymous with the CIE lounge. A meeting place, a study lounge, convenient nap location - it's anything you want it to be and more.

relaxing in the CIE lounge