Practically done!

Today was basically my last day of classes, topped off with a kanji final.  On Monday I have to turn in a report and go to farming class, but in place of a final there will be something like a "notebook check."

I'm going to miss high school.

This week was rather rigorous, with a presentation, panel discussion paper to turn in and 4 finals.   Nevertheless, I didn't let that stop me from visiting a good friend's home in Nagaura on Saturday.

Her hometown is quite removed from the city, and as she puts it, "there is nothing there."
Just like home.
Disregarding that fact that you can walk to most places that you want to go.

This time, we walked from the station to my friend's elementary school.  The people of the town came together to hold the annual summer festival, complete with booths of traditional fair fare, such as sausages and beer, as well as traditional summer festival fare, roased corn, fried pan in kinako, grilled konnyaku and shaved ice.  Shaved ice is a bit like like a sno-cone, so I think it could fall under either category. 

Roasted corn, konnyaku and fried bread with soybean powder and sugar.

As for konnyaku, there's nothing quite like it.  For those who are interested, this site explains it well (http://www.shakespeare-w.com/english/konnyaku/whatis.html)
For those who are less interested, it's a gelatinous chewy derived from a special kind of potato found in Japan and Indonesia, as well as oxide calcium, which is extracted from eggshells.  When I first arrived to Japan, it was one of the first things that I ate, and had an interesting time digesting (cf. fishballs).  According to the site above, it surely helps your mental health, so I will be looking into having it imported to America in bulk.

Throughout the day there were various events, such as writing Chinese characters with a body-length brush on a large sheet of paper sprawled out over the ground, school band performances, yukata and Ninomiya Sontoku.

Ninomiya Sontoku (who's tiny statue is located next to my friend's nose, for lack of ceasing a better photo op)  is one of Japan's more revered philosophical figures; an orphan who devoted his life to study and work in order to improve the welfare of village communities through agricultural development and economics.  He integrated his own philosophy into Shintoism, Confucianism and Buddhism to he produced a philosophy that reflected his own experiences, based on honoring nature through agriculture.  Ninomiya Sontoku's statue is quite common around elementary schools, serving as an upstanding model for youth.  However, apparently some horror films about schools have used his ubiquitous statue, undoubtedly attributing to him some malicious imagery.  Whatever, there's nothing wrong with being a school spirit.


As dusk hit, the feeling of a real summer matsuri emerged for me.  Lanterns became illuminated and the the heat from the day was translated into distant flareups of pink sheet lightning.  In the midst of this atmosphere energetic Yosakoi dances accentuated by occasional flashes of lightning made for an even more thrilling experience.  "Soran bushi" was even perfomed by elementary and middle school students.  The  middle school students were very serious; I also watched in horror as a hapless cicada was trampled during a zealous bout of galloping.  The seriousness brought back my own memories of dancing soran bushi, and after  learning that my friend had also participated in middle school as the leader of her group, naturally,  we had to dance when the ground was finally offered up to audience participation.  I wonder if Japan feels this nostalgic to most people.

Therefore, I am glad to have passed up a night of (intended) studying in order to feel closer to Japan.
That doesn't discount the fact that I was barely prepared to give a 30-minute-that-turned-into-an-hour lecture about food security in my circle activity on Monday.  Aside from my understanding of food security being far-removed from the Japanese perception of ratio of food available, I didn't really have time to prepare a lecture, so I used notes from my class about the world hunger problem that I took in freshman year of college.

English notes translated from English to Japanese by other club members= my level of Japanese writing when I first got to Japan.

No offense, of course, because translating requires much work in reading between the lines and taking liberties to ensure that the meaning is effectively expressed in without losing too much of the original essence.  However, having read  notes translated verbatim from English to Japanese, I am positive that there are times when I am very certain that I sounded like the Japanese version of google translate.  I could feel myself sweat in the hot room filled with serious people who probably wondered what I was on about.  Even I had no clue what I was talking about.  When it was over, constructive criticism was unnecessary, and instead I received a lot of motivational compliments.  Japanese people are so nice.


The next day I presented my portion of a panel discussion, which I was more concerned about to begin with.  I will give myself some credit for trying to explain carbon sequestration and biofuel.  It was really uncanny how I came to Chiba University expecting to deal with these topics very little and ending up getting exactly what I wanted.

After that I faced various exams, which were easy, and I made various slip-ups that could have been remedied with more studying or a greater attention span, more sleep, etc.  But this was probably the most stress-free exam week I've had, considering this is probably my most crucial academic year as a Japanese major.  I the final class of global economics, we even had a miniature party in which we had a quiz about Japanese culture and did radio taiso.¹ In the midst of pressure to do well, people must remember to live and enjoy life.  I've finally given in to this consensus.

But for now all I can do is soak up my remaining summer days in Nihon, cherishing my new memories and friendships.  This might include seeing some fireworks, riding an elephant, doing karaoke, visiting the embassy, and going to Sea World and a flea market.  Stay tuned.

¹Radio taiso:  At 6:00 in the morning, Japanese elementary school students (and elderly people) gather at the local park to do a warm-up routine.  This consists of stretching, hopping, and various forms of in stretching that lasts about 3 minutes.  This routine is broadcast over the radio network NHK, and is designed to foster unity among classmates.  I think that most Japanese know this routine by heart.