Tuesday, April 13, 2010

4月13日 Day 20: First Day of School pt.2

I had my other 2 classes today: Religion and Society in Japan and Contemporary Japanese Culture. My professor of Religion and Society in Japan is an older woman whose face really reminds me of the grandma from Totoro.


Unlike Granny though, she pushes her head forward, juts her jaw out, and stutters when she talks. She also closes her eyes when she thinks. Every so often, she's able to successfully complete a sentence that scares the crap out of you. For instance, when going over the syllabus she said, "Th-th-th-the Japanese people believe in dif-dif-dif-different k-kami which ar-ar-are almost like d-d-d-dieties. They are not like Christian God."

My professor for Contemporary Japanese Culture is named Nana Oishi. Yeah, that's right. Oishi. Like delicious (that's how my friends remember her). One thing that bothered me about her self-introduction was that she referred to herself as "Nahnuh", pronouncing her name like "banana" using a flat A sound. Not cool, considering she was born and raised in Japan. Anyway, the woman was really animated about the syllabus and must have talked for about 20 minutes about the joys of motherhood (we're talking about gender empowerment in a few weeks, so I guess that's what sparked that crazy pre-menopausal rant). It's mothers like her that raise Japanese men to be so inadequate. ANYWAY-- I DIGRESS. The class sounds really fun and I'm excited to learn all about Japanese society... heh.

Every day, I learn more and more about the social life at school. For instance, today I learned that while all the cafeterias on campus serve relatively the same food (for dirt cheap) each one caters to a different demographic. The Building 2 cafeteria is called "The Terrace" because it has a breathtaking 360 view of the greater Tokyo area. It's the only cafeteria located above ground on the 5th floor. It's probably the most diverse and popular cafeteria on campus, full of both Westerners and Japanese people. I think all the hot chicks on campus eat there because it's got all the dainty ice cream type dishes that they decide to substitute for lunch.

Building 11's cafeteria is where all the jocks hang out. LITERALLY. It's like high school! All the sports teams hang out their in their letterman jackets and act obnoxious as they watch shiai on their cell phone TVs. Other people eat there because the food is probably the best on campus... and they have a soft-serve ice cream machine *drool*

Building 9's cafeteria is probably the best kept secret on campus. None of the gaijin foreign exchange kids know about it... 'cept me! ;) I've met a new friend, Kana, and she took me to this exclusive caf! It's got a bomb bakery, which adds an element of deliciousness to the fact that you don't have to listen to people who want "the tun-CAT-soo-ker-ray." EVERYONE is Japanese, is speaking Japanese, and is just normal... I can see why they would retreat to that particular cafeteria, it's really hidden because it's in the basement! It's also free of all the anime/manga Japanophiles who are looking to meet a hot Japanese girl.

2 comments:

  1. ...photos of some fly ass J-hos

    it sounds like there are more gaijins than natives.

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