Carly's Year in China and Japan

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ORRAN LEE!

Orran Lee is 28 today!  I called him at 1:00 pm here (12 midnight Richmond time) from an actual phone, and even though we only got to talk for a few seconds, it was great just to be able to say hi.  Yay, bruvy!  28!

So, I know that I usually update around the start of the week, but I'm just now getting around to it.  My b.

Last week was a good time.  We had a holiday on Monday and again on Thursday, so it was pretty relaxed.  Then, on Friday, several of the students excused ourselves from afternoon classes to attend a conference in Roppongi (Tokyo) on American Studies (by Japanese students).  So, basically we were listening to research presentations from the inverse students of ourselves; whereas we are Americans who are obsessed with Japan, all of the presenters last Friday were Japanese students obsessed with America.  There were some very interesting research topics, and I was surprised to hear one girl's presentation which pinpointed the Daughters of the American Revolution as an "elitist, totalitarian, violence-oriented" secret society... thereby making my family monstrous warmongers... yeeeah.  I advised the girl that she may be making a bit of a stretch there.  It certainly made me think about the readiness with which I will make judgment calls about Japanese historical collective mentality.

After the conference, I went out with some new friends to dinner in Shibuya.  At Shibuya Crossing, we happened upon a big, anti-Chinese rally, which was pretty fascinating to hear.

Anti-Chinese rally at Shibuya Crossing... despite my distaste for Chinese train stations, I did not participate ^

My friend Wilson (from Stanford) led the way to a Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki restaurant, and we all enjoyed the delish fare.

Wilson-san is awesome^

Alex-san is going to town on the okonomiyaki^

Afterwards, we went to do some karaoke, but DANG, those Tokyo karaoke prices are ridiculous.  We spent 1660 yen per person for one hour (that's around 19 bucks).  Some of the best crowd pleasers were "Defying Gravity" from Wicked and "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas.

On Saturday, Chris Bobvjerg-san invited the students to his apartment a few stops on the Tokyuu line from the Minato-mirai station.  Woods-san and Feig-san also helped with the hosting, because they all live in the same apartment complex.  It was really fun.  We all sat around and enjoyed the potluck-style drinks and food.  Then the landlord came by around 9:30... on a Saturday... to ask us to quiet down.  Ahhh, such is the life of a foreigner in Japan, I guess.

Feig-san, 私, and Woods-san ^

This is how we do in Japan... tatami-mat sitting cocktail party--beats standing for 5 hours^

This week at class really flew by.  We had to do an interview (20 minutes with a teacher, using keigo honorific speech) and then present our findings in a speech on Thursday, but other than that, it was a pretty normal week. 

Kendra from downstairs just visited with her adorable little 18-month-old Emma Ruth, and now I'm going to finish getting the apt. ready for Garrett's arrival (in T minus 40 minutes).  YAY for the weekend.