Evan's Birthday

Friday was Evan's birthday (a friend and fellow JASIN student) and of course he was turning 20, which in Japan is the legal drinking age, so we went out to dinner at a local ramen shop (the name of which I could not understand because it was written in Kanji, the only word written in English was "Arashi") in Sumiyoshi and then it was off to a local bar. I apologize for the pictures being a little blurry, I am still getting use to my new camera phone, I'm not quiet sure where in the animated shutter closing it take the picture and so I may be moving it while it's actually taking the photo.

 This is Evan, without him we would have no real reason to do anything tonight

 Left to Right: Travis and Dani

 Aaron

 Left to Right: Travis, Dani, Mai, Jessica

Left to Right: Olly and Andy
This is how ramen is done in Japan:

So after Ramen we went over to a place called the Monkey Wrench one of the "Snack Bars" that I have seen around the city (apparently this one is popular with Nagasaki Gaidai students). I was curious what these were because in the information packet we received it had "snack bar" in quotes. So I had thought there was something more to them, but basically it is exactly what it sounds like, a bar that serves food as well. The owner was also really friendly and was asking me about where I was from and where I went to college in the US. This Japanese bar had a option that would put bars in the US out of business, nomihodai. "Nomu" means to drink, and "Dai" is big, what it boiled down to though was all you could drink for two hours, you could get whatever you wanted as often as you wanted during your two hours for a fixed price of 2000 yen, and when drinks cost 500-800 yen a piece you can see that if you plan to have three to four over two hours it's a good deal. Obviously though if Japanese drank like Americans do the bar would go under, but the Japanese, for the most part do not drink to get drunk, they drink in a social context. So I can honestly imagine Japanese people taking this option and then having less than "their money's worth". It is interesting to see a culture in which drinking is not largely abused and where alcohol does not carry a social stigma with it. Though the most interesting thing to me was, at no point did anyone ask for ID to verify our ages, but that seems to be the way things are in Japan, following the law is YOUR responsibility, not that of businesses, and I find that refreshing.

 Evan receiving his first beer (Sapporo, which is much better here than in the US)

 Left to Right: Caz and Lucy

 Left to Right: Elan and Sam

Left to Right: Evan, Issac, Josh

It was a fun night hanging out with friends from JASIN and just socialize. We see each other in class and at school, but that time is always broken up by the days events, so it was nice to just hang out and talk. I think nearly 2/3 of us were there. It's not something I plan to do often however, the biggest reason being that my host mother waits up for me, and even if I do try to get on a train by 10pm (because they stop running at 10:50) she works hard and could use more sleep. I can not speak for everyone there, but any chance of me doing something stupid while we were out was put in check by the reminder that I had to hike a half mile up hill to get home at the end of the night.

There is one more insight a teacher gave me this week that was helpful that I wanted to share. After being in Japan for sometime and making some Japanese friends he asked one of them why some Japanese avoid even looking at foreigners, he thought perhaps they were scared of them, or did not like them, but the answer he received, I think is closer to the truth. His friend told him that Japanese are just uncomfortable or sad that they do not know how to communicate with foreigners, they have no way of knowing if we speak Japanese and many of the older generation do not speak much English if any. So in my neighborhood at least I have taken it upon myself to be the first one to offer a greeting if anyone makes eye contact with me while walking along the street. I want fairly pleased with the results yesterday, even the few that did not respond smiled, and that made me feel good.

Classes

Classes have been interesting here. I have 6 hours of Japanese a week, but all my other classes meet once a week for about an hour and a half. So this week has been pretty light on work. I still need to get my books, I am thinking about ordering them from the Amazon website here in Japan, it would just be cheaper and easier as the bookstore has very limited copies of some titles. To give you an idea of what I have been learning this week please watch this video.

And yes this video is largely humorous and filled with errors. We were told to watch it repeatedly and to figure out what was true and what was not, as well as looking for true things presented in an over exaggerated way. Our teacher also recommended showing it to a Japanese friend or host family member and get their reaction to it. It was funny to watch Okasan watch it and see things and say "no". As for my classes in Martial Arts and Traditional Japanese Ceremony, I got into both, but am in the later sessions, so those classes will not begin until about the end of November. This means that I have Mondays off, two classes Tuesday through Thursday and then three classes on Friday. After these other classes begin I will have Martial Arts on Monday night, and three classes the rest of the week.

Sunday Part II: Dejima

So I need to make one correction as I begin this post, Dejima in Nagasaki was not the only port open during the isolation, though it was the most significant, and the only one consistently in use. There were 5 in total, which is why the symbol for Nagasaki looks like a star, it is actually 5 "V" interlaced. I was beginning to wonder, because I see it everywhere. That aside, last Sunday, as part of our day long outing we went to the site that was once Dejima. Constructed as an artificial island for the Dutch East India Traders during Japan's isolation period, Dejima is now land locked as the harbor was filled in in later years. I did discover that Christians were largely the reason the boarders were shut, not because of Christian doctrine, but because Christians were supplying local Daimyous with guns and other supplies and the Shogun did not want the Daimyous to grow in power and threaten the order he had established. To start here are some photos that give an overview and show a model of the island.

Also while these have nothing to do with the rest of the tour here are some shots of two cannons from the Dutch East India Company, the large "A" indicates they were made in Amsterdam. Also there was this early sun dial on display.

Below is a picture of the oldest protestant seminary in Japan, it was built in 1878, which was after the reopening of Japan. One of the promises the Dutch made in order to keep trade is that they were not interested in proselytizing (converting people to their faith), so there was no such structure in the days of the Tokogawa Shogunate.

This monument was erected by Siebolds (the island's physcian) to honor his two predecessors: Kaempfer and Thunberg. Dejima was closed, so people could not leave the island to seek medical care or anything else. They could only leave by ship and would often remain on the island for nearly half a year.

This is the Nagasaki International Club, built in 1903, again after the end of the isolation, as a meeting place for friendly exchange between the Japanese and foreigners. It showcases some games played during the era and some of the original tiles and items from the period, as well as local trade items.

 This game (I'm sorry I do not know what it is called) was interesting, you set the metal pole at one end and use the sticks to each hit your ball at it. Once you have both done that you remove the pole and try to knock the other person's ball out through one of the holes you see along the side. They also had better known games like backgammon and checkers.

 This is the dragon head used for the Kunchi festival which I will be attending the second week in October.

 I apologize that these are upside down, and for any future photos that are upside down, google thinks it is being helpful when it auto-rotates pictures and I have not found a way to correct it, it is rather annoying.

 I also apologize for not being able to capture the whole building, my back was literally against the wall when I took this, things are a little cramped on this tiny island, it gave me a sense of what it must have felt like to live there.

This next building is inside the stone warehouse, again erected after Japan was open in the mid 1800s. It shows many artifacts excavated on Dejima and has some displays on the reconstruction. I did my best to included kiosks when helpful and only took pictures of distinct and interesting items, but there was too much to get photos of everything.

Next is the main gate, it is not in its original position as a river is flowing through where it once was, but it was still great to stand there and look across the gap and realize that in those days that was as close to Japan as you were ever going to get.

 From the Dejima side

 Looking across the river to Nagasaki

 View from the front

This is where the bridge and gate once were

Next we visited another stone warehouse constructed after the reopening of Japan there wasn't much to see there, it had been set up to do a video presentation.

 Next was the Head Clerk's Quarters which featured items detailing western knowledge that came through Dejima as well as some ledgers from the period.

 Static electricity generator

 This was a model of the universe

 Some form of clock

This was a bell tower located just outside the clerk's office.

Next we entered warehouse No. 3 that existed at the time, although restored. The warehouse held sugar sacks; sugar was one of Japan's most important imports.

Also here are some staff dressed as a watchman and samurai, and a picture of my roommate and I since I'm almost never in any of my pictures.

Warehouse No. 2 was used for the storage of imported sappan wood, but currently displays the goods both imported and exported from Dejima. This first picture shows the details of how Japanese walls were constructed.

After that we checked out the Deputy Factor's Quarters, this was the home of the trading post's deputy factor of the dutch factory on Dejima. Most of the rooms were empty with descriptions of what the rooms contained. My personal favorite was the library without books or shelves, I guess everything was checked out. What is pictured is what they had on display.

This is the kitchen, for the whole island, they must have been busy.

Next was the building that housed the Japanese officials who handled the clerical work on Dejima. These administrators were chosen from influential men who had built Dejima.

Near the end of our adventure we came to the Chief Factor's Residence. This was the largest building on Dejima, not only did it serve as the residence for the Chief Factor, but was also equipped to entertain officials and dignitaries who visited Dejima. The first floor had displays from the period, the second floor was furnished to period specifications to show living conditions on Dejima.

Finally we came to the Sea Gate, this was the doorway that connected Japan and the outside world. There were two door (which you can see) the Northern door (right) was the gate that exports went out through while imports came in the Southern door (left).

I hope you enjoyed the look at Dejima. I continue to be amazed that so much ancient history exists all around me. Most of the things I have seen date back before America was even founded.