Hello All and greetings from Japan, its the first update of the New Year!

So I had a long winter break in the United States, working back at the photo store, seeing friends, and getting pretty distressed about the gloomy world situation.  The break was good in that it was long enough to see most of my family and friends, and enjoy lots of tasty ethnic foods that you can’t really get here in Japan.  Of course I had my pictures developed and about 300 of them are on display on my website.  However, despite getting sucked into the scene back home, I found that I wanted to get back to Japan ASAP so as not to lose my language ability.

Culture shock:  Having gone through the process of returning home from abroad before, I had mentally steeled myself for some of the aspects of American culture that I had grown unaccustomed to (such as the disproportionate number of obese people).  Some things that I realized this time are that people are really obnoxious in the states.  Maybe thats an East coast thing, but in Japan even people with the most thankless jobs and menial tasks are polite, if not always very helpful.  Another thing I had forgotten was the different levels of physical contact.  For example in the states we might give people a hug every time we see them, but in Japan even friends who havent seen eachother in years would probably only grip a shoulder and/or bow deeply and repeatedly.  Another illustration of the differences of codes of behavior I guess.  One other thing I noticed, not until I returned to Japan, was the whole idea of gift giving.  In the States when we give a gift, it usually is something that either the person really wants or needs, or its a persoanlly significant thing representative of the giver.  In Japan the idea is to get something of an appropriate value, and the item itself almost doesnt matter.  For example, I brought a print back of one of my favorite pictures for my host family, and, without hardly a second glance at it, they placed it behind some other stuff.  Its not that they didnt appreciate the gesture, but its more the gesture that matters, not the item, and so the significance I put on giving my artwork to someone was lost.  Oh well.

I flew back to Japan via Toyko, as I will be studying there next semester and thus will leave from there, and for a few days stayed with a friend (once again, props to Mayumi).  Despite the craziness of her schedule, we had a lot of fun in the big city, and I got a little bit more of a chance to explore the place where I’ll spend three months from April though June studying at a large Japanese university called Waseda University.  I am getting excited for the change in pace and I think my activities will become a lot more focused as I try to dive into the underground art communities and contemporary culture scene.  Three months will probably only be enough to scratch the surface, but it will also be sufficient to burn me out.  Now I’m living back in Nagoya, with the same host family that I had last semester.

In the meantime I’ve been working on several projects.  The first one, after getting a little reaquainted with my Nagoya friends and family, was to take a 10 day trip to the northern island of Hokkaido.  There we saw the world famous snow festival in Sapporo and spent 4 days snowboarding at a resort called Niseko.  The festival was incredible; there were about 12-17 sculptures about 2-3 stories high with intricate carvings displaying everything from Mickey Mouse and Stitch to famous castles to Commodore Perry and his black ships.  Many of them also had ice slides for kids to play on, and there was an overabundance of cute children.  In addition there were hundreds of smaller sculptures made of solid ice and snow ranging in size from 6-12 feet high and equally if not more intricate.  Popular subjects were dragons, fish, birds, and the like, but there were also a surprising number of statues of very everyday things like beer cans, baseball heroes, video game and japanimation characters, and corporate logos.  There was also a campaign in the city to build 10,000 snowmen.  As you had to pay $2 to get registered (yes, even building snowmen in Japan costs money) we decided to build our own, illicit snowmen.  Ah what rebels we are in our youth.  All in all it was an incredible sight to see, both in the daytime and at night, when many of the statues had special illuminating lights that would change colors. Other interesting things we did in Sapporo were to go to the Sapporo beer brewery and museum, where yes, you too can get a ten dollar beer in a mug the size of your head and to go to Ramen Yokocho, a touristy alleyway crammed with tiny noodle joints where you can get some good ramen and pay too much for it.  Through all of this we had fun slipping and sliding around on the icy sidewalks and streets, which are surprisingly completely unsalted or sanded.  Renting crampon-like traction devices for your shoes is quite encouraged however.

Next stop on our trip was the romantic and touristy town of Otaru, home to a very pretty winter festival featuring a 2km canal lined with candles set into hundreds of little snow lanterns and sculptures.  The perfect Valentine’s Day spot, thank God we missed that.  After a night wandering around Otaru, we got up early and headed out to Niseko Ski area. The weather up to now had been cold, winterlike conditions similar to that of the Northeast, but as yet, no snow.  That all ended in Niseko, where the weather was full on blizzard conditions for three days stright.  With snow drifts accumulating to probably 15 feet on the roadside, and backcountry powder in the mid-thigh area, we definitely got enough of the white stuff to last awhile.  Highlights of the riding included some esoteric night time riding, where we had untracked powder runs in the shadows of the flourescent lights, complete disorientation due to lack of visibility even in the daytime (we couldnt tell the ground from the falling snow, which way was down, etc) and great tree runs.  Other fun times were had at the great youth hostel we stayed at, which had beautiful interiors, was only a five minute walk to the slopes, and served incredible five course dinners.  The value of this place was not lost on us, as we had been eating 2 meals a day from convenience stores the last five days to save money.  Rice balls really fill you up good, and only cost a buck.

Sooner rather than later however, our vacation was over and it was back to the real world of Nagoya, where I have begun to work on things to do for the next month before school begins.  I’ve been putting up flyers for a snowboard instructing job that I’m offering, but so far no calls.  I’ve also been studying a bit on my own.

The last bit of big news is that my parents have decided to see what all the hubbub is about Japan and are coming here for a week or so in the middle of next month.  I’m preparing an intense and and full trip to take them on beginning in the Kyoto region and moving east through Nagoya, Mt Fuji, and ending around Tokyo. So all in all its been really nice to come back, I am happy to be able to be here and am excited for next semester.  But perhaps the break was too long; on the plane ride back to Japan I already began thinking if I should’ve extended that return date a bit . . .

Peace to all, I hope wherever you are world events arent getting you too down.  Read on for shouts and write me!

Shizzouts:

East Coasters:  i heard you got one helluva snowstorm!  Despite my recent adventures in Hokkaido I am still jealous. beantown heads (who snowboard): oakley country club?  other beantown peeps: please tell me some of you guys got down to the NYC protests?

people who went to any of the protests anywhere in the world:  WHOSE STREETS?

trinity kids: the gap jump over the lower long walk is going down next year, mark my words!  also solidarity to the Anti war coalition and any and all actions of void and praxis.  and most of you guys suck at emailing me so get on that mmkay?  you know who you are.

family:  mom and dad i hope youre working on those chopstick skills!  and get ready for some intense sightseeing from day one.  abby and cynth i miss you both, keep me updated on your crazy lives.

everyone whos not in the US: arent you glad?  tell me whats up in france, trinidad, china, hong kong, germany, cuba, canadia, the midwest ;), etc.

everybody else who wants a personal email:  write to me, i have lots of free time!  sending candy/money/new skateboard decks is also highly encouraged!

peace and goodnight.