HURRY UP PLEASE IT'S TIME
Hullo all~
It's been a long time, I've not had the internet on my laptop so I haven't been able to upload photos and my body schedule's been all over the shop, but I’m here writing now and it’s all good.
Since I last wrote I’ve been to Okayama, to visit my old homestay families, Kobe, for good food, a bit of culture and a lovely hostel, and I got into Osaka a few hours ago for... everything Osaka has.
So Okayama. It’s amazing how well I remember the city after all this time. I visited last year, but only for a day, it’s not that that jogged my memory; it’s the memory of any place that one makes their home. Walking around this time, two years older and with very different interests I find that it may in fact be a cooler city than I realised. Tokyo it’s not, but it’s not lacking in nice coffee shops, boutiques and bars, coupled with the small size, and the comfortable familiarity it’s a very pleasant place to return to and one that I’ll always have the time for.
But the main point of my return, and what really made my experience of Okayama special 2 years ago, and lovely a few days ago, was seeing my old families. I phone up Minako - my host mother from the first family I stayed with, the one with the more suburban lifestyle - at the station, telling her I’m in town and that it would be nice to see the family. “Where are you staying?” “I don’t actually have a place yet...” “Would you like so stay with us?” “I couldn’t possibly...” But yeah SCORE for kinda cheeky expectations and lovely people living up to them.
Keeping roughly in a chronological order, I must postpone my details of my time with Minako and the Sugimoto family and move from the telephone at the train station to the coffee shop a few blocks away with my second – more ‘urban’ minded – homestay family the Fukushimas. It’s fun returning to their coffee shop – just underneath the place that was my apartment for two weeks – now that I drink coffee. Japan is a country in love with coffee. Every vending machine sells cans of ice coffee from manly black coffee to the sugary delights of Cafe Au Le – a quick way of getting a dose of caffeine goodness. There are cafes everywhere and due to lax advertising laws, ingenious cigarette companies are allowed to sell joint packs of cigarettes and coffee cans. For this trying to find a good, or indeed, existent espresso or cappuccino is a thankless task that often leads one dejected, self loathing, to a Starbucks. The Fukushima coffee house has all sorts of wonderful beans from all sorts of delicious sounding third world countries and makes a good cappuccino. RESULT. They’re doing much the same, still very friendly, the wife still very giving but somewhat on edge, the husband still chilled out (cooler than cool, ice cold etc) and into jazz, their daughter, 18 when I first came to Japan recently had a baby HOW TERRIFYING IS THAT and I was obviously cooler than the Chinese exchange student they have at the moment.
My next move was taking the bus to the Sugimoto’s home. I remembered the bus route with eerie vividity, it felt like I was making my way back home after a day at the language school again. The kids are doing well, Tomoki the oldest, 11, is now going to ‘juku’ – cram school – which to me seems tragic but he seems very upbeat about. The youngest, Satoki, 9 is still ridiculously sweet and has been doing well in English tests at school. The husband remains nice but very quite, I assume it’s the salaryman’s fatigue and Minako remains one of the most kind hearted people I have ever met. With something like homestay, your motives for hosting a stranger in your house will either be a bit dodgy or tremendously commendable, one does not do it with apathy. Minako embodies many of the qualities often attributed to the Japanese, their hospitality, devotion to helping others, and beyond that a level of decency that can only make one want to return it as best as they possibly can. I have nothing but good feelings towards the family, and I believe them when they tell me I am often on their minds. But while I chose fully of my own will to do the homestay two years ago, their current homestay student – a Jewish Russian, only 13 years old – seems to have been reluctantly forced to by a strict father, a terrible shame on his part and I think a terrible irresponsibility on his father’s. For me, a more than willing student, open to learning of a very different culture and eager to return the kindness that was given to me, my wonderful experience was still a great challenge. All the more so for this young kid who does not have the will or desire to rise to it. He’s been making their life difficult and it seems the homestay will end shortly. A real shame.
Wow, I think I’d better speed this up a bit. Kobe: a city I visited last year, great clothes, great food, and a hostel run this lovely, intelligent and really funny English guy and his Japanese wife. Our long, late chats are a good part of the draw of Kobe. But Kobe’s a cool city. It’s perhaps the most European of the Japanese cities, the streets are quite literally alive with Jazz:
And it’s a city where every shop you walk past could have a history of a hundred years or so, or at the least the coffee shop hasn’t changed much since the 50s:
It’s an international city, by Japanese standards at least, you see pleanty of foreigners around and one area in particular has a rather Middle Eastern feel, Halal supermarkets, Turkish restaurants and a quite beautiful Mosque:
I chatted to an interesting guy in the Halal supermarket, the really lovely Spanish priest at the Catholic Church, and stuff got a bit intense with the guy at the Synagogue. A decent man, clearly very passionate and with deeply felt religious convictions, but trying that bit too hard - as I suppose he would feel more comfortable to do with another ‘Jew’ than the Muslim or Christian – to change my ways. I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m pretty happy with my ways, thank you.
Kobe has really good shops:
Where I proceeded to get decked out in ridiculous clothing:
That's a little pink giraffe necklace.
And the rest of my time was mostly “indie fashion”:
Artsy flicks:
And... miscellaneous (._.?)
And that’s me for now, I hope to fill you in a bit quicker next time, but rest assured I having a very Japanese time and all is well.
xxx
It's been a long time, I've not had the internet on my laptop so I haven't been able to upload photos and my body schedule's been all over the shop, but I’m here writing now and it’s all good.
Since I last wrote I’ve been to Okayama, to visit my old homestay families, Kobe, for good food, a bit of culture and a lovely hostel, and I got into Osaka a few hours ago for... everything Osaka has.
So Okayama. It’s amazing how well I remember the city after all this time. I visited last year, but only for a day, it’s not that that jogged my memory; it’s the memory of any place that one makes their home. Walking around this time, two years older and with very different interests I find that it may in fact be a cooler city than I realised. Tokyo it’s not, but it’s not lacking in nice coffee shops, boutiques and bars, coupled with the small size, and the comfortable familiarity it’s a very pleasant place to return to and one that I’ll always have the time for.
But the main point of my return, and what really made my experience of Okayama special 2 years ago, and lovely a few days ago, was seeing my old families. I phone up Minako - my host mother from the first family I stayed with, the one with the more suburban lifestyle - at the station, telling her I’m in town and that it would be nice to see the family. “Where are you staying?” “I don’t actually have a place yet...” “Would you like so stay with us?” “I couldn’t possibly...” But yeah SCORE for kinda cheeky expectations and lovely people living up to them.
Keeping roughly in a chronological order, I must postpone my details of my time with Minako and the Sugimoto family and move from the telephone at the train station to the coffee shop a few blocks away with my second – more ‘urban’ minded – homestay family the Fukushimas. It’s fun returning to their coffee shop – just underneath the place that was my apartment for two weeks – now that I drink coffee. Japan is a country in love with coffee. Every vending machine sells cans of ice coffee from manly black coffee to the sugary delights of Cafe Au Le – a quick way of getting a dose of caffeine goodness. There are cafes everywhere and due to lax advertising laws, ingenious cigarette companies are allowed to sell joint packs of cigarettes and coffee cans. For this trying to find a good, or indeed, existent espresso or cappuccino is a thankless task that often leads one dejected, self loathing, to a Starbucks. The Fukushima coffee house has all sorts of wonderful beans from all sorts of delicious sounding third world countries and makes a good cappuccino. RESULT. They’re doing much the same, still very friendly, the wife still very giving but somewhat on edge, the husband still chilled out (cooler than cool, ice cold etc) and into jazz, their daughter, 18 when I first came to Japan recently had a baby HOW TERRIFYING IS THAT and I was obviously cooler than the Chinese exchange student they have at the moment.
My next move was taking the bus to the Sugimoto’s home. I remembered the bus route with eerie vividity, it felt like I was making my way back home after a day at the language school again. The kids are doing well, Tomoki the oldest, 11, is now going to ‘juku’ – cram school – which to me seems tragic but he seems very upbeat about. The youngest, Satoki, 9 is still ridiculously sweet and has been doing well in English tests at school. The husband remains nice but very quite, I assume it’s the salaryman’s fatigue and Minako remains one of the most kind hearted people I have ever met. With something like homestay, your motives for hosting a stranger in your house will either be a bit dodgy or tremendously commendable, one does not do it with apathy. Minako embodies many of the qualities often attributed to the Japanese, their hospitality, devotion to helping others, and beyond that a level of decency that can only make one want to return it as best as they possibly can. I have nothing but good feelings towards the family, and I believe them when they tell me I am often on their minds. But while I chose fully of my own will to do the homestay two years ago, their current homestay student – a Jewish Russian, only 13 years old – seems to have been reluctantly forced to by a strict father, a terrible shame on his part and I think a terrible irresponsibility on his father’s. For me, a more than willing student, open to learning of a very different culture and eager to return the kindness that was given to me, my wonderful experience was still a great challenge. All the more so for this young kid who does not have the will or desire to rise to it. He’s been making their life difficult and it seems the homestay will end shortly. A real shame.
Wow, I think I’d better speed this up a bit. Kobe: a city I visited last year, great clothes, great food, and a hostel run this lovely, intelligent and really funny English guy and his Japanese wife. Our long, late chats are a good part of the draw of Kobe. But Kobe’s a cool city. It’s perhaps the most European of the Japanese cities, the streets are quite literally alive with Jazz:
And it’s a city where every shop you walk past could have a history of a hundred years or so, or at the least the coffee shop hasn’t changed much since the 50s:
It’s an international city, by Japanese standards at least, you see pleanty of foreigners around and one area in particular has a rather Middle Eastern feel, Halal supermarkets, Turkish restaurants and a quite beautiful Mosque:
I chatted to an interesting guy in the Halal supermarket, the really lovely Spanish priest at the Catholic Church, and stuff got a bit intense with the guy at the Synagogue. A decent man, clearly very passionate and with deeply felt religious convictions, but trying that bit too hard - as I suppose he would feel more comfortable to do with another ‘Jew’ than the Muslim or Christian – to change my ways. I appreciate the sentiment, but I’m pretty happy with my ways, thank you.
Kobe has really good shops:
Where I proceeded to get decked out in ridiculous clothing:
That's a little pink giraffe necklace.
And the rest of my time was mostly “indie fashion”:
Artsy flicks:
And... miscellaneous (._.?)
And that’s me for now, I hope to fill you in a bit quicker next time, but rest assured I having a very Japanese time and all is well.
xxx
posted by Domuseswords at
02:44
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