Friday 13th

On this day my friend Clare, who is studying at Kanazawa Univeristy, came to Kumamoto for the weekend and Obama began his Asian tour in Tokyo. It was great to see Clare again and show her Kumamoto. We had a bbq and visited Mt Aso, although we couldn't see it all because Aso san was emitting poisonous gases :( then it was off to an izakaya and karaoke. This has no relation to Obama, except for the same dates.

Obama came to Japan to renew alliances and discuss topics such as economic growth, the war in Afghanistan and the US airbase situated on the island of Okinawa etc. However, Japanese peace activists criticised Obama for not taking the time to visit the atomic bombing sites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (I found this particularly interesting because of my upcoming trip). His response was that he would do this on another occassion.

Obama's schedule was; friday 13th, arrive in Japan. Saturday, Apec summit in Singapore. Sunday, talk with Russia's President Medvedev etc. Tuesday, Summit in Beijing. Wednesday, visit to South Korea. End of tour.

Depsite the busy schedule of events, I do believe that it should have been important for the President of the United States to visit these sites before he arrived in Tokyo. It is an important part of history that should be respected and not forgotten and it surely would help with the alliance of both countries? Having said that, it is also another generation and the atomic bombs was beyond his control. So should there have really been this stress to visit these sights before his tour? I would be interested to find out how Japanese people feel about this, and whether they think it is rude that he hasn't paid his respects first. Would this change their opinion of him?

Finally....I noticed that it was Friday 13th. A very unlucky day in the English calander, but apparantly not in Japan. So do English superstitions like this only count if you're in England, and not in Japan? This seems wierd because surely geography should have nothing to do with whether something is lucky or not? And if these don't exist in Japan, then do they exist anywhere else? Would it not be considered unlucky if you walked under ladders here, or put new shoes on the table etc. I spoke to my friend and apparantly in Japan they have a superstition where it is unlucky to cut your finger nails at night. I think it was something to do with the representation of death. Other ones inlude the passing of food from chop stick to chop stick, ressembling the bones of a cremated body at a funeral, sticking chopsticks directly into a bowl of rice because this is another thing that is done at funerals. The number 4 is supersitious because of the 'shi' that is also in 'death'. I am intrigued to know what I should consider to be supersitious as an English person living in Japan. Would it be Japanese supersitions, or still English supersitions as thats what I have been brought up to believe? What would a Japanese exchange student consider supersitious in England? Their own culture, or Englands'?

ふくおか！！！

木曜日、イギリスの友達「ゲン」と言うは熊本に来た。飲み食べ放題とカラオケをした。うれしいですから、ゲンさんにまた会え！ゲンさんは熊本のきれいなところと思った。

一緒にふくおかに行った。マーチんさんのアパートに泊まった。Happy Cock でHalloween Partyに行った。ここで、まじいそがしくてあついだ！でも、ビールを飲んで、ダンスをした。そして、楽しかった！パーテイ後で、ラーメンを食べたながらバスを持った。８時まで帰った、そしてつかれた！

過ぎの夜、Fukuoka Tower に行った。まじきれい！！

This is Nagasaki

So...the plan is to go to Nagasaki with my Seminar III class on the 21st/22nd November, which I'm pretty excited about!!

Nagasaki isn't too far away from us here in Kumamoto. This once little harbour village grew into a diverse port city and became a major Imperial Japanese Navy base during the First Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese War. However, it is the nuclear incident which Nagasaki is well-known for.

During World War II, Nagasaki was subject to a nuclear attack, along with Hiroshima, due to it's importance regarding it's wide ranging industrial activity including the production of ships, military equipment etc. The atomic bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man", destroyed the north of the city and killed around 40,000 people at 11:00am, 9th August 1945. In total, it said that around 80,000 people were killed by the bomb by the end of 1945. Six days after this detonation, Japan announced it's surrender which ended the Pacific War, and therefore WWII.

Since then, the city has been rebuilt with new temples, and churches (due to the increase of Christianity in this area) along with memorial structures etc. However, some rubble has been left as a memorial like the One-Legged Torii Gate.

Nagasaki sets a strong example of perservearance and peace.

Sight seeing spots include:

Nagasaki Peace Park

Gunkanjima

Glover Garden

Mount Inasa
Dejima

Sofukuji Temple

China Town

Kofukuji Temple

Confucian Shrine

Dutch Slope

Oura Church
Meganebashi Bridge

I am really interested in seeing the Peace Park, Gunkanjima, the view from Mount Inasa, Oura Church and the temples and shrines (ok so pretty much all of it! Yayyy exciting!)

Typhooooooon

昨日、日本に「メロウ」と言う台風が来た。イギリスでは普通台風は来ないので、私は楽しかった。しかし、熊本を通りすぎたので、私は少しざんねんだった。でも、台風が来なかったことであいかわらず日本はあんぜんだからよかった。

Computers in English Task

今日はヴィキーとみき

とりょうとゆきが一緒に熊本で二つの神社にさんぱいした。神社はおもしろいやきれいを思

った。ここでたくさん写真を取った、みきくんは神社について説明した。初めて行った神社は、牛追いの神がいる神社。次の神社には、味噌の神が住んでいるということだった。神社を見ることが楽しかった、多く見たい！

あとで、よしのとゆきとヴィッキーは一緒に　Ouchi Cafe で昼ご飯を食

べた。野菜カレーを食べた。まじおいしかった。このレストラン一押しする。サービスは早くていいで食べ物が安かった。
みんなでありがとうううう！楽しかった！

Seminar III ... Office Hours

On friday, myself and some friends from the dorm and Japanese friends visited a restaurant for some food and drink. On the table next to us were a group of people who appeared to have come straight from their job at an office to this restaurant where they drank lots of beer and downed shots, all encouraged by their boss.

To me, this seems bizare. In England, drinking vast amounts of alcohol in this manner would more thank likely be frowned upon rather than encouraged. Also, it is very rare that people would socialise in this way with people they work with.Don't get me wrong, people do go out if they work together and there are office functions, but it seems to be in a different manner.

One of the Japanese friends who was with me commented on how they don't like this part of Japanese culture and that they would prefer to work in England where socialising and work is more separate. In Japan, it seems that working hours run till late at night, and even if you are drinking, I would have thought you would have to be in a 'professional' state of mind as you are with your boss, or maybe I am wrong?

From seeing this it made me curious as to how businesses function in Japan, and what is classed as 'office etiquette'. Personally, I wouldn't like to get drunk in front of my boss, but if I had this attitude when working for a Japanese company I wonder whether this would hinder my job prospects and relationships with colleagues and my employers.

Round 1!

金曜日時に天気がよくなるレストランに行った。らめんとぎょうざを食べた。おいしかったね。後でビールを飲んだ。隣のテーブルにもビールを飲んでいる会社員達がいた。たくさんビールを飲んでそして声が大きかった。それを考えさせられた。仕事はイギリスより日本に異なっている。
過ぎの日Round 1!に行った。大好きね！ここでたくさん物ができことがある。テニスをしたり、ローラブラードをしたり、ゲームなどをした。もう一度行きたい！

Seminar III 自己紹介 and 今日の議論

自己紹介
始めましたカーリーです。熊本学園大学の２１歳留学生です。イギリスから来ました。リバプールジョンモーズ大学で専門は日本語と国際ビジネスです。私の町は「ノチンハム」と言います。今年、熊本に住んでいます。楽しみです！熊本が好きです！日本で旅行したり日本語が上手になりたいです。友達になりたい人は、会った時に「こんにちは」と言って下さい。よろしくお願いします。

Hello, my name is Carly. I am 21 year old exchange student at Kumamoto Gakuen University. I am from England and study Japanese and International Business Studies at Liverpool John Moore's University. My hometown is Nottingham, but this year I will be living in Kumamoto. I love Kumamoto! Whilst in Japan I would like to travel and become excellent at Japanese! I'd like to make lots of friends so if you see me please say hi!

Today's Discussion: ...................

Our topic of conversation initially came from Alexa who noticed that Japanese people tend to look at us foreigners weird, they may point and laugh, giggle under their breath. Sometimes they stare in shock, or look at us in disgust. There are varied reactions but the fact is, from just being a foreign student in Kumamoto, we will get reactions just by walking down the street.

My friend Kie is from Thailand and also studies Japanese. She had an amusing experience when asking where a shop was in Camitori, Downtown. She approached a middle-aged woman and despite asking directions in Japanese, the woman actually ran away from her. I think experiences like this we must not get offended, as it is just the langauge barrier and unfamiliarity that may intimidate non-English speaking Japanese people. And besides, it was hilarious to watch! However, I can't help to wonder that the situation would be very different in England. Due to our multi-cultural society I don't the the above incident would have occured.

There are other occassions when small children have wispered 'gaijin' and giggled amongst each other, sometimes they say 'hello' and its very cute, and they are always surprised when we answer back especially in Japanese. Yes, we are walking AND talking gaijin :o) However,adults seem to be slightly hostile and seem to just stare at us because we look so strange.

An interesting point was raised about the school education system and because pre WWII English classes did not exist, the older generation (70/80+ year olds) are willing to talk quite happily to us once they realise we know some Japanese and don't attempt to speak in English. During my homestay weekend I stayed with a family, including the grandmother who also lived there. She was so pleased to just be able to speak to me, although here dialect was very difficult to understand so conversation was limited! Below this age range there seems to be an emphasis on Japanese people having to talk English to a foreigner, and so the stress on this would obviously cause anxiety about their own langauge skills and may feel inadequate to talk to foreign people, therefore resulting in someone running away! The sad situation is, I want to speak Japanese!I'm here to learn and speak Japanese, and I really don't want people to be scared of me :o( I'm nice really!

Rainy Days 雨の日

最近たくさん雨が降った。イギリスを思い出した。傘を買わなければならなかった。晴れて欲しかった！それから、授業後に帰った。つまらなかった！

Officially an Alien 外国人登録

今日は外国人のカードを貰った（証明書）。それから、一時から四時十分まで授業にいた。しかし、自転車がパンクになったから最初の授業にちょっと遅く着いた。だから、私の自転車がなおるまで自転車を借りなければならない。学園大学で友達に会って、友達の智子とゆきの卒業式に行った。智子とゆきもまじきれいだった！早く仕事を見つけて欲しい。がんばって！！

Weekend Reflections 週末の出来事

土曜日は'Welcome Party'に行った。まじ楽しかった！でも、始まった時は、自己紹介をしなければならなかった。そして、不安になった。しかし、みんなさんはまじ優しかった。パーテイではプレセントをもらってたくさんの食べ物を食べてたくさんの人と話したからうれしかった。そして、友達が来た。後で、'Cabbages and Condoms' に行った。食事がおいしかった。それから、'Jeffs Bar' で飲んだりカラオケに行った。
次の日、疲れていた。イギリスの食べ物を食べたかったから、'Jolly Pasta'にヴィキーとトビーと行った。楽しくておいしかった！
今日は二つ授業にいったりジムに行った。ジムがまじ暑かった！！

This is my disclaimer:
I apologise if the above doesn't make much sense....my Japanese isn't very good, but hey I tried!! Basically, it should say how much fun I had on saturday at the Welcome Party, Cabbages and Condoms, Jeffs Bar and Karaoke! Also, that I went to Jolly Pasta on sunday and today I went to uni (or university/college for you non Brits) and the gym!! Hopefully my posts will make more and more sense once my Japanese improves! But, I need your help guys!The lessons are a great in helping me understand Japanese, I feel like I am already learning so much!

Seminar III Task

今日は、疲れています。
昨日の夜、はなさか爺さんにいった。そして、みんなで飲み食べ放題で楽しんだ。たくさん友達ができた。
ともみと友達になった。ともみはリバプールに来年いきます。楽しみです！

First Day at School

Testing, testing 1, 2, 3...

This is my first blog. It's my first day at KGU, but I have been in Kumamoto for just over two weeks now and  LOVE it!  Will be trying to update my blog with fun things I have been up to! See you soon!!! x