Directory: Useful Japan Posts

For those of you who are here in search of information about either ICU or Japan as a whole, below are a few lists of posts that you may find helpful.

You can find a complete list of the posts on this blog in the right sidebar, but I assume most of my visitors would rather not search through my personal posts in order to find information. Please let me know if there is anything you would like to know about that I haven't yet posted about, or if you have any questions at all. I want to be as helpful as possible!!

Generally Useful Things Coping with Culture Shock 40 Things You Didn't Know Money Matters What Japanese Money Looks Like Getting a Cell Phone A Brief Lesson on Keigo	Touring The ICU Area Entrance of the School Around Campus Global House Ginkgo House Dialogue House Honkan Library D-Kan and Bookstore A Day in My Life Nogawa Park (Near ICU) ICU's Surrounding Area
Places Around Japan Imperial Palace Hiroshima and Miyajima Yokohama Shinjuku and the Bus Ride There Odaiba Asakusa Ghibli Museum A Bit About Kichijoji, Sukiyaki, and Hachiko	Food Japanese Snacks Groceries and More Snacks Yet Another Snack Home Made Onigiri Store Bought Onigiri Home Made Okonomiyaki (made wrong)
Other Japan Things Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami Aftermath Typhoon Aftermath Tea Ceremony A Little Bit About Kabuki Nihon Buyo	Possible planned posts ICU Exchange Personnel Info Individual Dorm Info Bests and Worsts

Comments

40 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Japan

Before I jump straight into this list, I want to clarify that some of these points may be generally incorrect, or could be exclusive to Tokyo. I could also have some of my reasonings wrong. This list is simply something I compiled based off of my own experiences throughout the year that I lived and traveled throughout Japan. This list is also not, in any way, a complete one. I'm sure if you search the internet you can find many other very true facts about Japan that I have forgotten to list here. In urban areas there will, at any given time or place, be at least one コンビニ ("conbini" / convenience store) within walking distance. Japanese people don’t usually have middle names . Japanese people are very interested in each others' blood type - it's like astrology in America, except people take it very seriously. Expect to be asked what your blood type is at least once. Japanese deodorant supposedly doesn't work very well. I brought my own deodo...

Osawadai Elementary School

Just a short (15 minute) walk from campus there is an elementary school, and I was one of the people who visited it today. When we first walked in, we saw a bike rack... full of unicycles!? Two steps into their territory and Japanese children are already proving their superiority over me. We walked into the school building where we took off our shoes and were given slippers to wear. Then we met all the children (the 5th grade class) in the gym. Each of us was paired up with two children. My partners were Yuta (the boy) and Olivia (the girl... obviously). The children gave us a tour of the school. Olivia is half British and fluent in English just as much as she is in Japanese, so I received a very comprehensive tour. Her accent was very interesting, as you can imagine. Yuta was pretty good at English, too, but was a little bit shy and spacey. This elementary school was just amazing. They had classrooms for each grade...

Coping

Being away from friends and family has gotten me down a bit lately. It's been a month, and the homesickness started to kick in. Also, I think I understand what they mean by culture shock now. I admit, I was starting to regret my decision just a little bit. All I could think about was how long it would be until I could have a hug from my mom and my dad and my boyfriend, and my mind started to become physically tired from all the Japanese. It's exhausting to feel like you don't understand a single thing in your life; when you don't understand what anyone is saying, when you don't know anything about where you are, when you don't know anything about the people around you, and when nobody who truly loves you is by your side, and won't be for another 11 months. But then I remembered: I may not understand anything around me, but I understand myself. It sounds so moral-y, but I honestly think it's important to remember. I need to remember it, and...

Alysse Abroad

Search This Blog