❃❂❀❄Yoroshiku Kisetsu❄❀❂❃~日本の留学: Survived!

Last week was a rush, starting with Sunday!

On Sunday I went to the Music Lovers concert. After going to my Japanese friend's apartment to make cookies on Saturday night, we decided it would be cheaper to go to Yokohama Port Arena by motorcycle. For about an hour and a half. Such is life. I really wish I had taken some pictures while riding, as we got nice glimpses of Tokyo Disneyland, many interesting buildings and overpasses, and the famous Ferris Wheel that Yokohama is known for.
After arriving in Yokohama, I met up with my American friends and we headed to the arena. However, I ran away first to try to sell my last ticket outside of the arena. It did not turn out as I had hoped, and instead people tried to sell me tickets!! (Apparently in Japanese, one ticket left over= please sell me your leftover ticket). Sometimes there are people like that waiting outside of concert halls, but not this time. One man wanted to buy a ticket, and I even thought I could sell it to him, but apparently the seat wasn't good enough. I would say beggars can't be choosers, except that there were probably scalpers out there with better seats than mine.

However the concert was good. HY came first, and while I certainly meant to listen to them more beforehand, I have been exposed to them (thank you Lauren) and they presented themselves well. Next was Bekki, who struck me as a 5-year old, with her sparkly green sequin overalls. Poor Bekki, I get the feeling she still has a ways to go. Then Otsuka Ai came out, and before her performance members of the audience were waku waku (I could just be biased, but she is one of Japan's top artists). She performed Lucky Star, Zokkondition, Is, Planetarium and Rocket Sneaker. Each performing group/artist took about an hour, and afterwards there was a question and answer session. I learned that my favorite artist, Otsuka chooses what to eat based on how her diet as of late. Good job, Japanese role model. Last was Funky Monkey Babys. There performance was very impassioned, and a lot of their fans were brandishing fan goods such as T-shirts and towels before the concert. A large majority came to see them, which is probably why they came on last.

Perhaps I don't have a lot to say about the performances other than that. I think I enjoy music for music, not necessarily for show. I think a lot of Japanese people are the same way, as the crowd was pretty mild. (But they only asked for an encore from Otsuka, which she had to decline ;))
However, uring the middle of the show between artists, the crowd made a wave ripple with the lights from their cell phones and glow sticks.

After that I had a fairly busy week, including going to Table for Two, getting my bike tire repaired, going to Chiba Prefectural Goverment Office, memorizing and reciting two speeches, rearranging my room again, etc. Luckily, I turned in the introduction to my essay about school lunches in Japan ahead of time, so I didn't have homework to do on Sunday night. (Japanese children are required to eat specialized lunches prepared by the school cafeteria and are considered nutritionally balanced, although recently parents having been paying the fees to the school, so there's been some talk of cutting back on menu items.)

I barely made it on time for the Table for Two circle event after getting back from my farming class. This time my good friend went with me, so I felt like I could understand more of the proceedings, although like any Japanese circle, they were very formal and I found myself spacing out on occasion. But they are busy preparing for a event this Wednesday in which they test out new menu items on the general public while explaining the ideology of Table for Two. After the club meeting, I went to dinner with some of the members and didn't get back until late. There were some interesting discussions about the Japanese educational system and preparation for the work force that I could have understood better upon being less nervous and listening more, and I was asked some questions about the U.S. farming system that I could have answered more easily as well. Well, I wasn't the one drinking either. XD

The next day I went to the Chiba Prefectural Office with my economics seminar class.
We were given sheets and sheets of fliers about advice on living in Chiba (in case we decide to come back...?) Again, I was handed the microphone to say a few words as an American coming from an international background, about how to better incorporate foreigners into Japan. Despite having talked about this the night before with my good friend, I really really dislike being put on the spot without having thought of an answer ahead of time, so I could really say much other than "Just be more open-minded and forgiving." Which I think goes a long way.
I got a chance to talk with the American translator, and discovered that the JET program offers not only teaching but translation positions as well. I know someone else serving as a CIR, (Coordinator for International Relations) but I never knew that translating was an option. Next, we headed to the top floor of the Prefectural office, where we got a good look at the surrounding Chiba.

"I'm not a dog, I'm a mysterious creature that lives in Chiba!"

The speeches went well due to more consistent practice. My topics had to have some relevancy to America, hence I spoke about eutrophication of the Chesapeake Bay (the gulf spill might be a bit to embarassing) and Thanksgiving (America is also the only country outside of Canada that really has a unique Thanksgiving). After each speech, the speaker has to answer questions from the audience. I really dislike this part, for obvious reasons, but speaking in Japanese is even more embarrassing.

"So, why is it called 'Black Friday'?"
"Well, erm, you see, um, it's way crowded and um a big problem so there are um a lot of people that don't want to go shopping."

I also sound pretty unethusiastic when I'm giving the speech, after listening to my recorded voice. Better work on that as well as intonation.

Now I’m going to start preparing for a panel discussion on genetic modification. I will feel a bit awkward in class though, the only American in a class full of Chinese students. America is the largest producer of genetically modified organisms in the world, exporting GMO soybeans and corn to Japan. It dawned on me that the egg I’m eating for dinner is cooked with soy sauce that probably came from genetically modified soybeans grown in America. (Most soy products in Japan are not made with genetically modified soybeans, exclduing soybean oil and soy sauce.)

I still haven’t started seriously preparing for my essay about food availability in the APEC (Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation) community yet. I’m really hoping that the overlapping topics of my courses will converge and give me a brilliant idea to save the world (and my time and sanity). That will certainly justify the usefulness of studying abroad in Japan. Warning, non-sequitur thought processes ahead..

Let’s see… importing and exporting genetically modified crops… genetically modified pigs produce less water-polluting phosphorus… the Chesapeake bay recovers (wait… poultry farms are the source of water pollution, start over)

Back to square one…Japan imports roughly 3.8 million tons of American soybeans, 90% of which are genetically modified, and 14 million tons of America’s corn. 40% of the 11 million tons used in the pig farming industry is GM. Also, 90% of Japan’s rapeseed oil is produced in Canada, where 80% is GM, and China's cotton industry is 70% GM cotton, with the cotton products imported into Japan largely expected to consist of this cotton.

Therefore, if Japan lowers it’s 780% tariff on importing rice and begins aggrandizing large scale rice farms instead of subsidizing small scale rice farms which sell at a high price, Japan can increase it’s rice production and stabilize it’s food security and not have to worry about other country’s rice flooding the market, allowing for a more liberalized trading system where Japan can import more goods such as beef and wheat in the event that rice yields are poor some years (curse the day).

But in the event that Japan’s genetically modified rice, NERICA, takes off in Africa, then Africans can enjoy stable economic growth and rely less on ¥20 donations towards school lunches from organizations such as Table for Two. Instead, table for two can put its funds towards balancing the lunches of Japanese elementary and middle schools (and maybe American schools, for that matter). In the meantime, schools can acquire extra produce through farm-to-school organizations, in which children travel to nearby farms to practice growing organic vegetables, which will later supplement their lunches. They can practice planting corn and soybeans and peanuts, placing thin strings over the rows of vegetables to prevent attacks from monster crows. Since train fare might get expensive children can commute to and from the farm using special buses that run on biofuel produced from the excess biomass of the manicured cedar trees of Kumamoto. No worries, surely the organic produce grown on the farms will offset the carbon emissions of the bus.

Meanwhile, China will import more fresh, not-so-rotten produce from Japan and other countries in Asia’s liberalized market, producing less organic waste that increases pollution and illnesses in and around homes. The leftover waste can be sent a factory modeled after a composting facility in Edmonton, Canada, where my good friend lives (in Edmonton, Alberta, not in the factory). In this way, the excess waste can become compost that can amends the soil of China and mitigating it's annual accumulation on Japan in the form of yellow dust.

As you can see, I have spent many years in college to contrive academically sound arguments. :D

I summed up my eventful week with an uneventful weekend of lazying around in my room and taking pictures to remember Inage by.