(probably) Final Entry!

Hello all


Thank you everyone who's been reading my blog, no matter how rarely- it's so nice when you're in a far-away foreign country that people you love back home care enough about you to want to see what you're doing. Thank you!

I've been fairly busy recently since there's only a week left till I go home- I'm trying to do as much as I can! Yesterday I went souvenir shopping (due to luggage weight constrictions I haven't been able to get that many sorry!) and I found a Studio Ghibli merchandise store! For those of you who don't know, Studio Ghibli is a Japanese film company? or something that produce high-quality "anime" movies. Their works are very popular in the West and the most famous member of Studio Ghibli is none other than Hayao Miyazaki, maker of Spirited Away which won an Oscar.

Anyway I was like in love!- it was fairly expensive, but I love Hayao Miyazaki and all the merchandise I looked at had "only sold in Japan" written on it. As if I needed any more persuasion!

Today we had another house party which are always popular and I really enjoy. We were celebrating a Baha'i Holy Day, and also thought it might be a good opportunity for people who weren't able to come to my farewell party on Saturday to say goodbye to me. We had 19 people attend, which was the most there's been while I've been here- although apparently once 40 people turned up which I can't even imagine! Anyway, after using a couple of the quotes that were in Monday night's social night (This week's theme: Healing), I did a powerpoint presentation looking back on my 6 months in Japan. I was fairly nervous the last night and this morning, because (as those who know me know) public speaking isn't my favourite pasttime, and coupled with the fact that I had to do it in Japanese... Ha. Ha.
Anyway somehow I managed to get through it- and thankfully everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Afterwards, we had a "question time" about my presentation, and I was really impressed with the thoughtfulness of the questions that came up. Things like whether I'd experienced culture shock (no), whether I got homesick (not really), in more detail what were study circles like...

For the last question, I tried to emphasise how much I'd learned from all the other study circle participants' views- ie that it wasn't a "I know this, you don't and what I believe IS right" (haha), I found that by listening to what other people believed I was often like "Wow, that is so true!". I asked some of the study circle participants who were there today what they thought. A lady who is in Book 3 (Children's education) at the moment said she'd been thinking about study circles lately and realised that it's more group brainstorming than anything. ie Rather than there being a "teacher" who tells everyone what is "right" and what is "wrong", everyone says what they think- which is treated as important and really MAKES the group.

Anyway, I was thinking it might be nice to have a "welcome back" party or something when I get back and use a similar Powerpoint (about what I did when I was here and maybe also about Japan in general). I guess any kind of excuse to see my friends all together again :)


Japanese Culture

I thought on my (probably) last blog, I might talk a bit about Japanese culture. To me, Japanese and Western culture seem in many ways fairly opposite. Of course neither one is "good" or "bad", just different in many ways (and in some ways similar!). The differences between the 2 cultures to me come down to one central difference: GROUP vs INDIVIDUAL

Western culture to me seems to value the importance of the individual. This can be good (freedom of opinion, basically freedom to be different in any way) or bad (being too opinionated, not thinking of others or society, basically focusing on the self)

Japanese culture, instead seems to value the importance of the group. This can also be good (caring about others- even strangers, importance of unity) or bad (excessive conformity, not questioning what the group thinks & automatically thinking that)
I think the idea of unity in diversity is really important, ie having everyone in the world united, while still retaining their respective individual cultures. Treating the world as "one country" is really important, but to make everyone the same would make everything VERY boring!

Just like probably most other countries, culture in Japan varies markedly from place to place. While not nearly as pronounced as those in China, it has regional dialects, for example. The Tokyo dialect is chosen as "standard" Japanese used on TV and at school. This has lead to middle-aged and younger Japanese people's speech being fairly understandable throughout the country. Elderly people, like Obaa-chan (Osaka dialect) though, who grew up before TV are not so.
Every prefecture, city, town... in Japan has it's specialty- Kagawa's being udon noodles for example. Wasanbon, a handmade specialty sugar, is also one- as is lacquerware.

Then just the way people act varies from place to place. Ando-san, who is originally from Yamaguchi prefecture on mainland Japan talks about the cultural differences between her and her husband's Shikokuan family and how that was sometimes a bit of a struggle. There's even a TV show here which goes to different places around Japan and highlights each one's interesting feature. My favourite example is Osaka. Osakan people are renowned for their sense of humour. The TV show had been told that if you went up to a random on the street in Osaka and mimed shooting them, they would fall down "dead". When I heard this, I thought it was the wildest stereotype I had ever heard, until I heard the rest. They actually went to Osaka and did it- and the person they did it to DID fall down "dead" hahaha.

The other one they did in Osaka was they went up to a stranger, carrying an inflatable world globe. They then asked him that they wanted to go to "... Park (in Osaka)" and would he show them where it was on the globe? HAHAHa! The guy they asked took them really seriously and proceeded to pretend to think seriously, then pointed in the vague area of Osaka on the globe. We could see his girlfriend in the background in hysterics.


I'm sure everyone reading this knows someone (or it may be yourself) who needs some form of healing in their life- whether physically or emotionally. I'll leave you with this prayer from our Monday night social night on "Healing":

Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succour in both this world and the world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

-Baha'u'llah

Sonia

Final Weeks

Hello


It turns out my "eventful" week had its toll. Knowing my lovely, easily-exhausted body, I was barely surprised when I suddenly got dizzy and came down with a fever last week. In the interests of everyone's health, I stayed in bed the next morning. We were expecting several guests- some of them elderly, for the Feast and I thought they would be fine without receiving my germs.

Baha'is in each town gather every 19 days at the "Nineteen-Day Feast" to spiritually recharge and unite the community. It consists of 3 parts: spiritual (prayers and Sacred Writings are read), administrative consultation and socialising. The word "feast" refers to a "spiritual feast" rather than a mountain of food- if the host is only able to provide water, that's ok. Anyway, I always enjoy these gatherings so I was a bit annoyed at being sick. Mind you, being sociable when I'm not feeling well is not one of my strong points, so it was probably for the better!

Today I helped out teach English at the local primary school again. I really feel like I've got a relationship going with them now- I love them. One of the main reasons I wanted to help out with these classes is I really believe in the importance of meeting people from different cultural backgrounds. If I somehow manage to leave a good impression, this will hopefully stay with them for the rest of their lives, and help them to overcome any prejudices that may arise. At first I must admit, every Monday evening I would dread the next day and go to sleep not looking forward to it at all. But every time I see the kids, I feel so happy- they are just so insanely enthusiastic.

Last night, we had a social night. It was like aaaaargh... the best thing ever. Peter and Lacey, the Indian restaurant-couple and Mioko, a Japanese friend of ours, came- along with Ando-san, Andrew & Angela.

We first ate dinner together, then sat on the floor of the tatami room together and listened to Andrew play a beautiful song a friend had composed, on guitar. Then we listened as people read various prayers and quotations in English and Japanese, each based on the theme of "Contentment". While we were soaking up the spiritual atmosphere, Angela continued the theme by reading us a story from the life of Abdu'l Baha, the son of the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, who was renowned for his selflessness and love for others. What followed was one of my favourite parts of the night. Everyone shared what they thought contentment was, any thoughts they had relating to the concept at all, and any other Scriptures/poems anything they had. The thoughts that resulted were really touching and demonstrated the level of trust everyone there had for the environment. I gained a lot from what others shared. Peter and Lacey are Mormons, and although they didn't bring any Scriptures, they shared some orally with us which were really beautiful and really added a lot to the evening.

Then out came the guitars, and we all sang along together as Peter and Yuichi took turns playing. The funniest was definitely Yuichi's rendition of "We will rock you" (my request!)- complete with us all clapping out the rhythm as Yuichi yelled the whole song in this unbelievably entertaining voice. Peter is an amazing singer and really gave it his all everytime he sung. At the end of the evening, I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say I was extremely refreshed and felt... content :D. Andrew and Angela want to have one every week, and I was thinking it'd be nice to have one when I go back home. There's already regular get-togethers like this in the community I'm from, but there's something about doing it yourself, that control... we'll see. I'm already excited haha.

Here's a prayer that was shared last night, revealed by Abdu'l Baha:

"O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life. O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord."

Sonia

An Eventful Week

Hello once again


We had another guest this week, this time- Cathy's cousin, Skye, who grew up in Australia. She's currently living in Tokyo with her husband while he works on his PhD thesis in anthropology. Skye originally came to Japan for a year as a 15 yr old on exchange- and if she adds up all the times she's been here, she says its probably about 6 years. Her Japanese, as you would expect, is amazing. Skye is a professional journalist and photographer, which I also found interesting as I enjoy taking photos too.

The other day, I went out bowling with Andrew, Angela and Ando-san. I think out of all of us, I had been bowling the most recently which was probably about 3 or 4 years ago. Anyway, it was hugely fun- we all got really into it (jumping up and down and yelling in support of each other, clapping enthusiastically even when one of us got zero...).

Andrew and Angela were interviewed today for the same segment in the newspaper that I was in a few months ago. The section is designed to give Japanese people an insight into "the lives of foreigners". This particular segment is going to be about what movies Andrew and Angela enjoy. It was fun for me though, because I sat in and *tried* to interpret what everyone was saying, which at times was particularly difficult.

The weather is continuing to get worse and worse- this week is going to be 31 like everyday and HUMID. It's worst when you are wearing jeans, a hat and a jacket- for sun and mosquito protection - and cycling. You get so sweaty that Japanese people carry mini-towels around with them in summer, to wipe themselves off before a meeting. To be fair, I don't mind the current weather too much, it's more the knowledge that it is going to become significantly even hotter that I find difficult. I have a newfound respect for my uncle, who, whether its 42 degrees or 8 degrees, cycles to work from the outer suburbs of Melbourne into the city everyday.

We went to the orphanage again with Nahid yesterday to give the children "virtues education" (lexically-dense explanation?). This time, Ando-san and Angela also came with us. This month's theme was "love". The kids are all between 1 and 5, and for being so young I was really impressed by how well they listened, and how well-mannered they were.
We read the first part of the following quote together, then the children coloured in a picture of a rose:

"In the garden of thy heart plant naught but the rose of love,

and from the nightingale of affection and desire loosen not thy hold"

- Baha'u'llah

Once again, if people want to comment or email me, have any questions, opinions or anything about what I'm doing and my blogs- feel free!

Love from Japan,

Sonia