Carrie Oakey

No, this post isn't about a person, but KARAOKE! :D

So I just want to say right now that Japanese karaoke is AWESOME!! Like American karaoke doesn't even compare, though rightly so since the karaoke machine is a Japanese invention.

So how does it work in Japan? Well you can sing alone or with friends; it's more fun with friends but sometimes it's nice to sing alone too. You go the counter tell them how long you want to sing for (anywhere from 30 minutes to all night long) and they give you everything you need plus your room number. The price varies depending on place and time, but it's usually very reasonable. There are even drink bars included at most places, and one place I went to in Takatsuki has all you can eat ICE CREAM (which makes the American in me happy! ;P)

Once you get into the room, there is a touch device with a screen on it near the machine. You use it to select the songs. If you don't know Japanese, prepare to spend lots of time fiddling on it xD For this reason, I suggest going with friends the first time you go. Once you get the hang of it, picking songs is really easy, and there are thousands and thousands of songs to choose from. Not only is there JPOP, but there's also a lot of foreign music, anime/video game music, and KPOP and other genres. Once you pick a song, it'll appear on the screen and you can start singing! You can queue up songs too, so you can have a long list of songs that play one after another.

If you pick Japanese songs, don't be afraid of kanji because there are furigana readings for most if not all kanji on the screen :) Also, if you pick any foreign song, there will ALSO be furigana above the words. Some songs have backup and some don't, it all depends.

 Karaoke place in Takatsuki

 Kawaii ne ;)

Bottom line: If you come to Japan, do karaoke! It's a lot of fun for groups, easy on the wallet, and a big part of Japanese culture! The worst part about it for me is when I go back home to the US because there is nothing as good as this...at least where I live.

Hanami

So the season of sakura has hit Japan, and what does that mean? HANAMI TIME!!!

So what is hanami?

Basically in a nutshell, hanami is having a group picnic near sakura (cherry blossom) trees which may or may not involve sake. Since the sakura tree blossoms are rather evanescent, hanami season doesn't last for a long time, usually only a couple of weeks. However since this year is chillier than usual, the hanami season is even shorter.

Luckily, I've been to three hanami parties: one at Minami Senri, one at Ryokuchikoen for the Beer Olympics, and  a yozakura, or evening hanami, at Osaka Castle. They were both a lot of fun, and it really is a great way to hang out and socialize in such a pretty setting.

A popular food during hanami is dango, which are little mochi dumplings served on skewers, and there are special hanami dango which include a pink one, a green one, and a white one on a skewer. There is a saying:  花より団子 (hana yori dango) which means dumplings over flowers which refers to practicality over aestheticism because the pretty pink flowers will only be there for a short time. There is also a pun of this saying, which is the title of one of my favorite dramas, 花より男子 （also hana yori dango), Boys Over Flowers ;)

Trash in Japan

I love recycling, I really do. But I'm not a huge fan of getting up at 8am to do it ><

In Japan, recycling is a huge deal and very much a part of everyone's daily lives. Since Japan is an island, they can't afford to create a large number of landfills of unrecycled trash, so instead everyone recycles, which I think is pretty cool. How the trash gets sorted depends on the city you're in. In Suita, we separate 3 ways: bottles and cans go in one, recycled paper and cardboard go in another, and then most everything else is put in もえるゴミ(moerugomi), or burnable garbage. Trash is collected on Mondays, Weds, and Fridays, though sometimes you can only take out a specific kind of trash on a certain day (I just take it all out on Monday since you can take out all 3 kinds on that day). And you HAVE to take it out between the hours of 7am-9am... my least favorite part of the trash ordeal :(

The trash task seemed kind of daunting at first (since of course I didn't want to make a mistake xD) especially with what is considered burnable by Suita standards, but the Japanese students were more than willing to help me out!

Some cities do require specific bags for specific kinds of trash, but at the dorm it doesn't really matter thankfully. I don't know if it's a Suita thing or just a dorm thing, who knows.

Classes start tomorrow!

So I start classes tomorrow!! I've got Japanese in the morning at 10:40am and then Japanese Lit. at 1:00pm, just 3 hours today :) I'm pretty set as I've got everything situated now, well except for.......


My bank book, the people at the bank messed up and misspelled my middle name on the cover >_< So I think I have to get a new one, but it's no big deal. So if you have a complicated name (like my middle name Christian, apparently xD) and you have to set up a bank account or whatever, be prepared! I have seen quite a few versions of my middle name, but you can't really blame them since Japanese people don't have middle names! CRAZY GAIJIN WITH SO MANY NAMES xD

Well it shouldn't be that hard to switch one letter on it hopefully. Heck I even used an ATM with my account today. You can actually stick the ENTIRE bank book in the slot and deposit money that way, no card necessary. Pretty neat huh?

Also, I had Indian food for dinner at this restaurant called Pariwar which has student discounts :D It was incredibly delicious, especially the naan omg....

First Week in Osaka! (Part 2)

So going off on my first post for this week, I wanted to talk more about cultural nuances of Japan that make it interesting and unique in many situations :)

Let's talk about passenger trains! Well obviously America doesn't do well in this category as most people just drive around in cars, which gets really old after awhile since I HATE driving =/ In Japan, you can take the train and get ANYWHERE. And the train fare isn't too bad either, plus there are ticket discounts and the like as well. Trains are an important part for Japanese commuters and workers. The interesting thing though is that Japanese trains are well known for being VEWY VEWY quiet inside; it can be considered rude to talk loud inside a train. However, Osaka might be an exception to that rule as people still chat a lot inside the train, and other people don't really seem to mind all that much (at least I think, I can't read minds).

So next, the crime rate in Japan is like reaalllllly low, and honestly, I feel pretty safe here in Japan. Even walking alone at night feels incredibly safe, which is a rarity in the rather ghetto city of Columbia. I was thinking about why this is, and I've boiled it down to three things:

1. There is no Second Amendment. I fucking hate the Second Amendment in the US, and I think it leads to more problems honestly. Sure without guns, people could find other ways to be violent, but I don't know if it's really so easy to say that.

2.  Collectivist society. I think because of how collectivist Japan is as a country, there are so many pressures put on the individual. If one were to steal in Japan, not only would that affect the individual, it REALLY affects family. It would be a full blown scandal.

3. Okay call me what you want, but I think the fact that Japan is such a homogenous society is a contributing factor. I'm not saying it's a good thing to be a homogenous society, it's more of a double edged sword in my opinion, but I do think because there's no (if any it would be very rare) race drama like in the US.

I'm not saying crime doesn't exist in Japan, but the rate is quite lower. As I type this, I notice my USC email with crime alert emails *sigh* I don't want to go back to USC....


Now to talk about FOOD. First, I want to dispel some myths about Japanese food:

1. It is all expensive. FALSE! While there are definitely a larger number of places that are pretty expensive, it is actually not as bad as you might think, at least in Osaka. Grocery stores are pretty much the same as the ones I go to in the US in terms of price. Also, as always conbini food will never let you down and it's always really cheap. Or if you like McDonalds, there are cheap options on the menu there ;P

2. All they eat is seafood. FALSE! You can find plenty of choices other than seafood. If anyone tells you otherwise, well they're dumb ;)

3. There are only Japanese restaurants. TOTALLY FALSE! There are plenty of international choices. The most common places I see other than Japanese food are French pastry shops, burger joints, and Chinese restaurants.


So all in all restaurants in Japan are all really good; I haven't had a bad meal yet. The presentation has been really stellar in a lot of places, and the food is always well prepared. When you go to a place that serves REAL ramen, you won't want to buy Maruchan shit ever again ;)


Well, that's all for this post. I'm getting more into the groove of things, so I will be posting on a more regular basis! :D