Observations

It's been... a somewhat busy week. Nothing particularly major has happened, but I've been noticing a few things. It's also had a lot of ups and downs. There was a chart that was shown to students in Sheffield last year for what sort of experience we should expect to have, and the first month was supposedly going to be very enjoyable, while the second was much less so. I think I've begun to feel that, but it's being countered by sheer determination to enjoy what I'm doing and not wallow around in pity and end up wasting my time. It's an odd feeling.

Before I get properly rolling with a variety of topics, I'm going to summarise last weekend, as that seems to be my style at the moment. I went to Meiji Jingu, a temple located between Harajuku and Shibuya, and therefore in the metropolitan part of Tokyo. Despite that, the vast majority of it is in a forest. It's quite surreal to exit a train, cross a bridge and then find yourself in dense woodland. It didn't feel like Tokyo. I went there with Hiromi, an Intercultural Studies student who I met at a baseball game a few weeks prior. Therefore, about 90% of the day was carried out in Japanese, with a few stumbles here and there, but I felt quite proud of myself. I'm finding that there's quite a substantial amount of things I know how to say, but due to the absolute lack of confidence I had from my Japanese classes at Sheffield, I'm not at all used to saying them without some form of guidance.

I also made a visit to a museum there dedicated to the life of Emperor Meiji. The attention to detail stood out for me, and I ended up remembering one key part of the exhibit. Apparently, during the time of World War II, Emperor Meiji wanted to remain devoted to studying, but had some need to be frugal, and limited himself to using pencils. If this year doesn't go as intended, at least I've learnt one thing I didn't know before. I rounded that day off with having my first experience with purikura. A nice mix of old and new culture, I reckon. I can't seem to access the photo that was mailed to my phone, which is potentially to do with using a prepaid model, but I've got a sheet of photos at least.

Onto the little observations though. Last week, I was finally introduced to some grammar that I have not seen previously at Sheffield, but at that point, I realised something about how the classes are taught here. We're introduced to something, and then somehow expected to just understand how it works. Looking back, most of the grammar had a very basic description, and then we get homework to complete for the following lesson regarding that grammar. If I hadn't already seen the majority of the grammar we've covered here previously, I'm sure I'd be having an incredibly different experience overall.

Next up, money. Every time I pay my monthly rent, I seem to find myself slipping into some kind of panic about expenditures. I'm fairly sure that, if I live somewhat frugally, I should be okay for the year, but with every little thing being more expensive, there is pressure to think about each and every purchase I'm making. Unfortunately, due to that constant pressure, I ended up feeling the need for some retail therapy, and picked up a videogame. A case of shooting myself in the foot there, perhaps.

This week is the Hosei School Festival. I went briefly today, following a request to watch a street dance performance. It's not something I have much of an interest in, if at all, but I did find it reasonably enjoyable. Most of the festival seems to lean towards various clubs selling food and alcohol, or dressing up in costumes. I even learnt that Hosei University has a Pokemon group. Unfortunately due to not bringing any of those games with me, I don't see much point in me taking part, but it's not really something I expected to see.

One thing I knew to expect when I came to Japan was being ostracised somewhat for being a foreigner. I've started to notice that this has resulted in me thinking that someone has done a certain thing for the mere reason that I'm foreign, which leaves something of a bitter taste. I think I've mentioned previously that I'll ask someone something in Japanese, and have broken English shouted back at me. Yesterday though, I had someone change where they were sitting on the subway train just to move away from me, which, being a regular traveller on public transport in England, has always seemed like a very rude thing to do. Later in the same day, I was stared at by a cat while on my way home, which then abruptly turned away from me. My very first thought that whis was also because I was foreign, and then I realised how absurd I was being.

And... that's probably everything that's notable at the moment. The only other thing is that I've rediscovered an appreciation I have for an idol, but that's not important at all. Oh no.