By Malia Griggs
W
hile in Japan this past May, I purchased a blue tote bag from a convenience store. On the tote were printed various icons and the text: “STORAGE-CASE. Service Life. You are freer than whether to use with what kind of use.” These words make no sense, I know, but my trip to Japan was rather like the ‘Engrish’ on this bag: disjointed, amusing and illogically logical. I was fortunate enough to visit Japan for twelve days with Capstone’s Maymester Study Abroad program. Prior to the trip, I spent a year in an intro-level Japanese class. Don’t let the word “intro” fool you – Japanese is not an easy language to pick up. Save basic American words that translate painlessly (“party” is paatii, “cake” is keeki), Japanese sounds and looks nothing like English. There are three alphabets. The kanji alphabet is comprised of over six thousand characters, all of which resemble those calligraphic tattoos people get which embody abstract emotions like love and happiness. What follows is a city-by-city account of my trip. o c t oI’llb eonly r 08 30 garnet&black
highlight a few things, as I’m sure you don’t want a detailed description of every temple and shrine I visited. Temples and shrines in Japan are as widespread as churches in the South and Starbucks in the North. Every day brought a new one with elaborately carved statues, rolling gardens and a sense of profound calm. The Japanese have a great respect for their ancestors, and while they are not overtly religious, this reverence and spiritual composure pervades their cultural mindset. I am one-fourth Japanese (Okinawan, more specifically). I thought this trip would be a good way to practice my Japanese, but also to pay respect to my own ancestors. So, ikimashoo. Let’s go!
Kyoto
After a thirteen-hour flight from Detroit to Osaka, our tour guide Jason and his assistant Yuka met us. Jason is technically a white guy from middle America, but the toll of six years in Japan made him look bona fide Asian. We took a train to the Super Hotel in Kyoto where the rooms
were very small and cute (like everything in Japan). They came complete with pajama sets, bathroom slippers, and mini trashcans labeled “filth putting.” Because Japan is such a tiny country with a large population, most of its objects are miniaturized to save space. The Japanese love when things are kawaii (cute), which makes the small size easier to accept. The cuteness factor translates into everything – miniature cars, fruity soft drinks, tiny erasers. You name it, it’s cute: boys; vending machines. You can find vending machines everywhere – ones that sell beer, cater to weird fetishes, and even some that prepare full meals. We stayed in Kyoto three nights. May is field trip month in Japan, so everywhere we traveled we saw hundreds of yellow-capped school children. They liked to scream “Fonzie!” and “America!” at us, and many wanted interviews for their English classes. Sanjusan Gindo is a long hallway of wooden Buddha statues, each with forty-two hands. There, I bought a temple book, which is a blank book