It feels like it's been a while since I've updated this, which might be in part to the long days that I've been having here. Thankfully, my excuse is simply lack of time, rather than lack of interest. The problem there is that it's left me with potentially too much content to write about, so I'll bring things up to date rather than make what could potentially be an overly long diary style post.
Firstly, classes at Hosei are going smoothly. I've attended all of my chosen classes, so I know what I'm in for now. As previously mentioned, I'm in the upper intermediate bracket for Japanese language, and the classes are all easily understandable. The actual teaching proficiency of the lecturers varies quite widely, and thanks to that I have a couple of favourites and some I'm not so keen on, but the course content is solid enough. Regarding classes about Japan taught in English, those are also fine, but as there hasn't been much other than the orientations so far, there's not a great deal to say.
That is not the case with one class though, about youth networks in Japan. Today, we made a class field trip to the Advertisement Musuem in Tokyo. It mostly focused on Mitsukoshi and Parco, two department stores in Japan that have quite radically different approaches to advertising. It was interesting, I'll admit, but not much of it actually applied to what we were studying. Despite that though, it's not a place I would have known about otherwise, and it was free to attend, so I could have done a lot worse with my day.
Socialising wise, I've met up with some other Hosei students who have previously been to Sheffield, and there was also a welcome party by an international circle at my campus. The welcome party wasn't radically different to the weekly socials that ran in the Japan Society at Sheffield, so that wasn't too bad, and I found out later on in the night that I'd been drinking alcohol without really realising it, as it simply looked like a can of juice. I need to pay a bit more attention with that, it's the second time it's happened.
Meeting the previous transfer students was fantastic though, and presently it might be the highlight of my year abroad so far. A handful of Sheffield students were also in attendance. We went to a place which I believe is called "The Lockup", which is located in Shibuya. I was expecting an all you can eat/all you can drink kind of situation, which is what happened in a sense, but the theme was new to me. The entrance, which took about ten minutes to get through, was made up like a haunted house. Each of the rooms were made to look like a cell, and various drinks came in beakers instead of glasses. The highlight was that, every so often, all of the lights would go out without warning, UV lighting would come on, and then people dressed up as horror movie characters would burst into the room. I'm told that there are quite a number of theme bars such as this, and I'm somewhat tempted to experience others.
Finally, to wrap this update up, following the advice of a graduate, I've potentially managed to find some form of employment with an English cafe. Whether or not I secure such a thing, I will post about in the near future.
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