Category Archives: Grad School in Japan

Philippines – The Arrival

CAMIGUIN

“Island of your Imagination”

Taken from a sandbar one kilometer offshore.
Taken from a sandbar one kilometer offshore.

February 11th, 2006

“Camiguin”

…Before I arrived on the island I thought I knew what that word meant. All reports I was able to find, and everyone who I talked to who had heard of it – Filipino and Foreigner alike – confirmed that it was a tropical island paradise, a sunny jewel adrift among the sheltered waves of the Philippine Sea. Today, Saturday, marks my 5th day in the Philippines, and what would have been my 4th day of research had I not fled the island for the comparative comfort of nearby Cagayan De Oro…

Perhaps “fled” is too strong a word. Truth be told I’m here in CDO today because my research assistant, Melvin, must teach a Japanese class every Saturday at the local university. This weekend I accompanied him back into the city for one reason and one reason only – to dry out.

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Winding Down the Show

My date of departure approaches. I leave Japan on the morning of December 28th for a three month absence that will have me circumnavigate the planet by airplane – seriously. APU, bless its frosty heart, is doing all it can to make me desperate to leave. Winter so far has been unseasonably cold – we’ve had snow 5 out of the last 7 days, including the current tempest I woke up to this morning. I enjoy snow, very much in fact – but the snow I enjoy falls gently down to earth, accumulating into a beautiful silent white panorama as far as the eye can see. APU snow, on the other hand, on account of our ever-present hellacious winds, *never* accumulates. Instead, it prefers to stubbornly drive itself into your eyes, up your nose, and occasionally even into your ears. I don’t particularly enjoy this…

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Memoirs of a Gaikokujin

They tell me time is relative, which is the only explanation I can conceive of to explain how I managed to go 5 days without writing a journal, and yet it felt like no more than 2… Things have been busy here, but it is the kind of busy that is, for lack of a better phrase, not busy. To elaborate, there are days when you wake up in the morning with nothing planned, anticipating time to do things you would otherwise put off, like vacuuming the floor, or bathing. Yet as the day wears on, one thing after another appears that needs attending to, and before you know it the sun has set and while you’ve been busy all day, you don’t feel as if you’ve accomplished anything.

I have decided that this is what it must feel like to work in an office.

I digress. Today, with 5 associates, I journeyed to the far off city of Oita (10min train ride) to visit what you folks would call a “movie theater.” The talkie that we had chosen to see was none other than Sayuri, which was released nationwide yesterday.

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It’s Windy Here

Underneath every aspect of APU life there has been one thing, one theme, one reality that is so constant that it simply cannot be denied. In fact, the existence of the thing of which I speak is so certain that it might as well be considered the genesis of Truth itself. That thing… is wind. Laugh not at this seemingly simple observation. I have heard of places on this fair planet that are what you might call “windy.” Chicago seems to be one place in particular that carries with it a sort of mythos of moving air…

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Safari Land

Sunday found 8 or so of us, the core 4th Floor Team and a handful of associates, shivering inside of a pathetic excuse for a bus, steadily trundling our way towards Destiny. That’s right, we were headed to Safari Land. Just in case you’ve somehow forgotten, I live in Japan. This was a fact I had to remind myself as well, as my feeble mind tried in vain to visualize anything remotely resembling the plains of Africa in the land of samurai, shinkansen, sushi, and skyscrapers.

I think the one on the far left has become self-aware.
I think the one on the far left has become self-aware.

After disembarking from our rusty freezer on wheels, we were all fleeced to the order of 3000Y, and then unleashed upon the majesty, the wonder, that is… Safari Land!

As it happened, our first clue that we had mistakenly ventured into an alternate reality was the motor pool. Mistake not the true nature of these vehicles!

01-battlevehicles

 

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Fukuoka

Fukuoka was the chosen location for celebrating the completion of our first quarter at APU, and Fukuoka was the place we found ourselves bright and early on a Thursday morning after a 2hr bus ride through the boondocks of Kyushu. It was Ting, Satoshi, and I’s first time in Fukuoka. It was just like any other big city, pleasantly beautiful so long as you didn’t look too closely.

04-fukuoka

03-fukuoka

We had the run of the place for two whole days and must have walked 40k easily once everything was said and done. My pictures from the trip are reflective of my mood at the time, which is to say, light-hearted.

YEAAAAAAAAAAH!
YEAAAAAAAAAAH!

That is by far the strangest pair of mannequins I’ve ever seen…

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A Man Abroad, aka, My Research Plan

Camiguin… +10,000 points if you’ve heard of it before. Camiguin, as it turns out, is a small tropical island towards the southern edge of the Philippine Archipelago, and Camiguin is where I shall be doing my thesis fieldwork.

My official degree title here is Masters of Science in International Cooperation Policy. My unofficial degree title, based upon my chosen specialization, is Masters of Science in Environmental Policy and Administration. To delve further, my thesis theme is community-based forestry management policy within Southeast Asia.

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Salon Japan – An Adventure

Wednesday afternoon found me desperate to get a haircut. I hadn’t had one since mid-June and things were getting quite a bit out of hand above the brow. Just prior to my first trip to Japan I shaved my head, and as such had no use for a haircut while I was there. Accordingly, Wednesday was to be my first time setting foot inside a Japanese salon. That lengthy build-up might seem a bit unnecessary, after all haircutting is haircutting, right? No, not right. Sit back, relax, and allow me to regale you with tales of such splendor your eyes will grow as big as side-plates…

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A Great Honor

My presentation completed successfully, I staggered back home and collapsed into bed for a well-earned nap. 9pm rolled around and I decided it might be time to get some work done – ahh yes, the hours us students keep – so I plopped down into my chair and commenced with the email checking. At this point in my life, after well over a decade of computer use, I’m pretty sure that if one were to sit down in front of said machine and *not* immediately commence with the email checking, his head would explode right there on the spot. We can make allowances for lack of an internet connection of course, but be warned, there is ritual written all over your lil’ PC, and you are it’s unknowing slave.

I digress.

In any case, I checked my email and found one waiting for me from Prof. Zhang entitled “Could you give me a hand?” — odd. Thinking it was some sort of class mass-email, I opened it, and was further surprised to see that it was addressed solely to me. My surprise gave way to sheer astonishment as I read the contents therein:

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Got Buddhist Temple?

Sunday found me rising early after little sleep in the pursuit of some authentic Japanese culture. As much as I love APU, being stuck up here on the mountain most days makes for a decidedly sterile experience if one is searching for a deep exposure to the innate currents of Japanese life.

Choki-san had invited me the week before to spend this Sunday visiting a Buddhist temple with her in order to observe the Fall foliage. I can confidently say that Japanese people, as a rule, are the most appreciative and devoted culture in the world when it comes to honoring the shifting of the seasons. To quote a relevant passage from an often ridiculed movie, “The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.”

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