Joe from Osaka

October 9, Saturday

Japanese culture continues to subtly freak me out. This morning, I woke up at 6:45 and was downstairs washing my hands and face and hair and my host mother came in and told me there was no school. "But it's Saturday!" I said and she replied that all Japanese schools have certain Saturdays off in October, adding the two English words "Japanese style."

Having a day off from school was enough to make me jump for joy--straight into my futon. I woke up again at a quarter to nine and ate breakfast, making the very smart decision to go to Umeda. I had Japanese school at 3:30 anyway, so I would have to go at some point...

I left at about 9:45 and got to Umeda around 10:30. I suppose I should explain the concept of Umeda for those of you who don't know yet: it's basically a gigantic underground shopping mall made from the basements of office buildings and a few subway stations and passages in between them lined with stores. For the majority of us exchange students, Umeda is Mecca. It has a

bookstore where I can get every English magazine and language book imaginable, and what I believe is the only Starbucks in Osaka, and the largest ice-cream sundaes that ten dollars can buy. (That might sound steep, but you haven't seen these things. On more than one occasion, I've eaten one as a meal.)

So I looked around the bookstore, and got a frappucino, and bought a CD at Virgin, and suddenly I found myself with an hour of time and very little to do, so I decided to explore.

And explore I did. I walked through Umeda for half an hour, and never seemed to find a spot where Umeda ended for good: it was kind of like the movie Cube, only more eerie because everything was tiled and lighted and air-conditioned.

Finally, I reached the end of one of several shopping concourses and found myself in a large room with dim lighting and bizarre modern sculptures strewn about its inside. It was like a tiny museum, lost in the middle of the underground city, and on one wall was a waterfall surrounded by huge metal discs and leading into a dark tile tub studded with more of the discs, and I found myself wanting to sit and meditate on some bizarre truth of it all.

This sums up how Japan has been going recently for me. I've been moving a lot, and every now and then I find something so bizarre that I want to just look at it and try to figure out why it's there and who put it there. The museum-room was next to a Japan Rail station, but it's hard to think that a tiny museum would grow next to a train station and a shopping mall... and yet that seems to be the only reason for it.

I've done quite a few things since I last sent a large report: there was the Taiiku-Sai or Athletic Festival, where I got to see Japanese high school students attempt to play soccer. One thing that I learned about Japan recently is that the vast majority of Japanese people can't run well because of a certain thing in their genes that makes their hip ligaments too short. The result of this (as well as the fact that everyone is about five feet tall) is that I am Michael Johnson here. I run and walk twice as fast as everyone else, just because my stride is twice as long. The time when this becomes most obvious is judo class, where the only time I have ever fallen to a leg lock was when I didn't know that the match had started. I swear I am not making any of this up.

Actually, I've lost a considerable amount of weight here, mostly because I've been confined to a diet based on soybeans and seaweed and rice and whole fish, and because I walk for about an hour every day to and from and between trains. Of course, I seriously miss some of the staples of my diet at home, and I keep on praying for pepper steak or sukiyaki just for a good helping of beef.

I hope everyone at home and overseas is doing well, especially Nicole, who I refuse to write to, just to make her angry. I also hope that Claudia is eating miso and gohan right now.

Until next month, ja ne!

-joe



	*October 9, Saturday* Japanese culture continues to subtly freak me out. This morning, I woke up at 6:45 and was downstairs washing my hands and face and hair and my host mother came in and told me there was no school. "But it's Saturday!" I said and she replied that all Japanese schools have certain Saturdays off in October, adding the two English words "Japanese style." Having a day off from school was enough to make me jump for joy--straight into my futon. I woke up again at a quarter to nine and ate breakfast, making the very smart decision to go to Umeda. I had Japanese school at 3:30 anyway, so I would have to go at some point... I left at about 9:45 and got to Umeda around 10:30. I suppose I should explain the concept of Umeda for those of you who don't know yet: it's basically a gigantic underground shopping mall made from the basements of office buildings and a few subway stations and passages in between them lined with stores. For the majority of us exchange students, Umeda is Mecca. It has a bookstore where I can get every English magazine and language book imaginable, and what I believe is the only Starbucks in Osaka, and the largest ice-cream sundaes that ten dollars can buy. (That might sound steep, but you haven't seen these things. On more than one occasion, I've eaten one as a meal.) *So I looked around the bookstore, and got a frappucino, and bought a CD at Virgin, and suddenly I found myself with an hour of time and very little to do, so I decided to explore.* And explore I did. I walked through Umeda for half an hour, and never seemed to find a spot where Umeda ended for good: it was kind of like the movie Cube, only more eerie because everything was tiled and lighted and air-conditioned. Finally, I reached the end of one of several shopping concourses and found myself in a large room with dim lighting and bizarre modern sculptures strewn about its inside. It was like a tiny museum, lost in the middle of the underground city, and on one wall was a waterfall surrounded by huge metal discs and leading into a dark tile tub studded with more of the discs, and I found myself wanting to sit and meditate on some bizarre truth of it all. This sums up how Japan has been going recently for me. I've been moving a lot, and every now and then I find something so bizarre that I want to just look at it and try to figure out why it's there and who put it there. The museum-room was next to a Japan Rail station, but it's hard to think that a tiny museum would grow next to a train station and a shopping mall... and yet that seems to be the only reason for it. I've done quite a few things since I last sent a large report: there was the Taiiku-Sai or Athletic Festival, where I got to see Japanese high school students attempt to play soccer. One thing that I learned about Japan recently is that the vast majority of Japanese people can't run well because of a certain thing in their genes that makes their hip ligaments too short. The result of this (as well as the fact that everyone is about five feet tall) is that I am Michael Johnson here. I run and walk twice as fast as everyone else, just because my stride is twice as long. The time when this becomes most obvious is judo class, where the only time I have ever fallen to a leg lock was when I didn't know that the match had started. I swear I am not making any of this up. Actually, I've lost a considerable amount of weight here, mostly because I've been confined to a diet based on soybeans and seaweed and rice and whole fish, and because I walk for about an hour every day to and from and between trains. Of course, I seriously miss some of the staples of my diet at home, and I keep on praying for pepper steak or sukiyaki just for a good helping of beef. *I hope everyone at home and overseas is doing well, especially Nicole, who I refuse to write to, just to make her angry. I also hope that Claudia is eating miso and gohan right now.* *Until next month, ja ne!* *-joe*