Wow. I can’t believe that my time here is almost over already. Just one more month and I will be headed back to America. It still feels like I just arrived here!
So far I have blogged a lot about traveling, so I thought this time I would cover a little bit of the day to day here in Hikone. Monday through Thursday I have Japanese class from 8:50am until 11:40am. This class is held here at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities. On Fridays we have a test at 8:50 that lasts about an hour, and afterwards we have an optional “Friday Project” which is a special Japanese culture seminar. Some of these included tea ceremony, playing taiko drums, various martial arts, and trying on kimono.
On Thursday afternoons I have my Japanese politics class once. This class is held at Shiga University, which takes about 15 minutes to bike to from here. This class is very interesting, I feel like I have learned a lot from it. Right now we are starting to prepare our end of the semester projects; my group is covering Junichiro Koizumi who was Japan’s Prime Minister from 2001 to 2005.
Once Japanese language class is over I usually get some lunch. If I’m cooking for myself I usually make instant ramen, yaki-soba, or some rice and vegetables. A difference between Japan and America is that Japanese people go grocery shopping almost every day. I usually go about twice a week, which is much more frequent than I do in America. Japanese food tends to expire quickly though, so there is no other choice. Some of my favorite places to go out to eat are Coco’s, a family style restaurant, Sapna, an Indian restaurant, and Kaiten Sushi, a rotating sushi bar.
For entertainment I usually hang out with people in the dorms and watch movies or tv shows. Sometimes I’ll go jogging or take walks with friends; there is a lot of great scenery around here to look at. If I feel like going out, karaoke is always a popular choice. Karaoke in Japan is a bit different from in the U.S. Here you rent out a room, so it is just you and your friends taking turns singing, instead of performing in front of a huge crowd like in the U.S. If I take the train one stop to South Hikone there is a big shopping mall with a movie theater and arcade, so that is a good way to spend time (and money) too.
Today was pretty normal. Went to class, came back to my dorm and skyped a bit, watched some tv, got dinner at the sushi bar with a bunch of friends, and then came home and did homework. All in all a good day.
