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Theresa's Blog #4 - Last Blog (Reflective Essay)

So, I’m finally writing my final blog post. This month has gone by in a flash and I’m truly missing Japan so much already. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first decided to take this program, but I am so glad I did. I was able to gain so much confidence in not only my Japanese, but in hesitation to try new things. I met so many people along the way and learned a lot about Japanese culture by living alongside Japanese students and seeing Japanese people in their everyday life. Although because this program was a lot of studying and classes, I didn’t explore as much as Tokyo as I would’ve liked to, I still experienced so much in this short period and met so many amazing people. It was only a month, but Japan had started to feel like another home for me. Even during my homestay, I felt part of the family because Japanese people know how to make you feel at home even when you’re so far away from it. Since my research topic was Japanese pop culture and I already had such ...
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Lachlan's Final Blog Post

I can not believe that here we are at the end of the month already. I had no idea that this spring program was going to be this impactful on myself and also this fun. I am very happy that I was given the opportunity to have this experience. And to be able to experience with this wonderful group of students, teachers and new friends. I was able to learn a lot in and outside of the classroom. I am now able to better understand Japanese culture and daily society. Along with some of Japan's rich and interesting history. Importantly, to myself, I was able to improve my Japanese language skills. Especially my speaking and listening skills. After completing this program I feel way more comfortable when speaking Japanese. This is definitely because of the immersion aspect of this program. Having a Japanese roommate and conversation partner really helped my everyday conversation speech and let me communicate with all the residents in the I-house. When going out to restaurants or karaoke ...
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Rhea Blog # 4

Well here we are, the final blog post to end off the 2019 Japanese Spring Study Abroad Program. It has been a very fun and eventful trip this spring. I’m so honoured I got to experience the beautiful culture that was Japan, alongside many good friends, classmates, and wonderful teachers. I have learned a lot throughout this trip and have grown tremendously as a parson because of it. The experience of an entirely new culture was one that had to get some getting used to, but was definitely worth the wait for. Japan is a beautiful place filled with wonderful people, and I think that, that location and the people residing within it were able to teach me new ideas of adaptation, communication, improvisation, and of course reflection. This trip was one of the best experiences I have had in my youth. I learned a lot about Japanese customs, society, and even more about the language. Although I still have trouble speaking out in public to some Japanese people, I have seen my conv...
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Rhea blog post #3

So far, I have been settling into Japan quite well. I will say that balancing shortened school work whilst also trying to travel everywhere is not exactly ideal, and I find myself forgetting most of the assignments due in class or just generally running behind. Our newest hurdle to overcome being, the final presentation we have to end off this term (and the test a couple days after it as well). My topic is about comparing the Canadian national animal of the beaver with one of Japan’s more famous animals. Japan does not technically have a national animal so I had to settle for one most local would recognise  or know form hearing the name. With that I picked the Japanese snow monkey. I had never known about this animal before my stay here but now that I have had the time to research everything about it, It’s got to be said that I’m in love with these monkeys and all the cute photos I keep finding of them. I started to talk about the whereabouts of where each animal lives. Beaver’s ...
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Josh blog 3

I have found a fair number of interesting things and discovered some technologies I did not know existed since my last post. I have again travelled to Akihabara among other places and made yet new discoveries. For example, an arcade piano rhythm game that can sense how far your hand is from the keyboard in order to accommodate an extra dimension of movement into the game. This is interesting to me because, in the past I solely believed and found that Japan pursued the advancement of technology as a side effect of their collectivism in that it helped the greater good. A game like this however, while very fun and interesting, is not helping the greater good in any way and would be quite the costly feat of engineering to accomplish. Why then does such a game exist? The answer is in profits, particularly among hikikomori or NEETs as they are more commonly known as. Any arcade I have gone to in the Tokyo area and particularly in the more otaku type places like Akihabara have been filled w...
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Theresa's Blog #3

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In my research, I looked into anime/manga culture and how it began to thrive in Japan.  Before, I had visited Akihabara, which was the hotspot for all anime/manga and otaku culture. Since the past 3 weeks of being here, I was able to visit various places and find anime/manga in lots of different places such as convivence stores, train stations, and around Tokyo. Beforehand, I had not visited Ikebukuro. But, in doing so, I found that it is fairly similar to Akihabara and has a vast amount of anime/manga shops that cater to the otaku culture. However, there are some differences between Ikebukuro and Akihabara. Akihabara is the largest anime/manga hotspot in Tokyo in addition to catering to the more male fans. However, Ikebukuro has a lot of anime/manga as well, but while not being as large it also caters more to females. For example, in Akihabara you may find tons of anime girls or ‘bishoujo’ that are catered towards a more male audience. But in Ikebukuro, there will be a lot of ‘...
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Lachlan's blog post 3

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Blog Post 3: Hey everyone! Lachlan here to once again talk about my research on Ukiyo-e prints and other experiences in Japan, and more specifically in Tokyo. Since last time I have had time to experience some Ukiyo-e prints in the Tokyo National Museum. Unfortunately with the Japanese presentations and other university-related work I have not been able to see all I had planned to see. Although I have been able to see some street art that I believe has been expanded from the Ukiyo-e style from exploring various places in Tokyo. To understand why Ukiyo-e had an interesting and unique style you had to understand how it was made. Ukiyo-e is made much like a multi-layered stamp. Pieces of wood are carved with the desired outline, ink is then applied to that wood and a piece of paper is pressed onto these wooden pieces to create an outline. This process is then repeated multiple times with different colours and wood blocks until the desired piece is created. Hence, why Ukiyo-e is r...
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