Considering one of the reading comprehensions on the Japanese Leaving Cert paper this year was about Tokyo Fashion Week, I`m gonna talk about something pretty cool about Japanese culture- the fashion.
Japan has so many fashion trends that have really impressed me and befuddled me.
School uniforms are pretty fashionable here, for example.
It`s not unusual to be loved by someone to see people walking around in their school uniforms, even at the weekend- and really, can you blame them？
they look cool.
Another popular trend at the moment is platform Converse!
They add at least an inch to your height, if not more, depending on the shoes. They are EVERYWHERE in Japan right now, everyone is wearing them. Mad!
A subculture of Japanese culture is Lolita, and while it`s not that common, it`s by no means unusual. I`ve seen a couple of Lolita girls already! Within Lolita there are more subsets, the most popular of which is Gothic.
Lolitas basically dress in cutesy Victorian-style dresses and carry parasols everywhere. What`s most amazing about this fashion is that the girls usually make their dresses by hand, which astonishes me (a girl who can`t even knit a scarf)
From Lolita emerged a fashion that looks very similar to Irish girls at times- ギャル (gyaru- the Japanese pronunciation of "gal" )
Gyaru girls dye their hair light, wear lots of makeup and fake tan, and often wear dolls' eye contacts, which make their irises look bigger and therefore, more Caucasian.
They`re very influenced by American culture. Unfortunately, as with Lolita, there are far more extreme subsets...
That`s "ganguro" and that passes for fashion here.
There are of course fashion trends among men too, such as "host" fashion
This comes from "host bars" which is basically the cat cafe from my earlier post except instead of paying to play with kitties you pay to flirt with effeminate men
There`s also "visual-kei", popular among musicians..
These guys just do their best to look like anime characters.
And my personal favourite, the punks!
Something else amusing about Japanese fashion (as I`ve said before) is the "Engrish". English curse words are on everything, it`s hilarious..
I know that`s the name of a Dead Kennedys album, but still...
On the other hand, I have seen dozens of women wandering around in beautiful traditional Japanese summer kimonos (called yukata)
Japanese fashion is a beautiful blend of old and new :)
I think today, after one whole week as an exchange student in Japan, I will tell you guys about my daily life so far. :D
朝（morning)
For a girl who has been known to sleep until 4 in the afternoon, coming to Japan has been a total body shock. Every morning, my darling iPod wakes me up with the sound of Ireland (i.e. church bells) at the ungodly hour of 6am.
When I searched for "sleepy head" on google I found this and it was much better than the picture I originally wanted so please enjoy it.
After the initial body-clock-shock of waking up this early, I get dressed and eat breakfast (generally something cool like eggs and sausage and melon-bread and salad) and go to the bus stop for 7am.
The bus costs ￥190 each way so it`s fair cheap. It takes about twenty minutes to get to the train station so it`s a relaxing, picturesque ride. For some reason most bus drivers in Japan (that I`ve encountered) make announcements with this kind of voice:
Seriously, do all professions in Japan come with a special accent or?
So then, at about 7:20 I get to Ofuna, where I am greeted with this marvellous sight:
This is the Ofuna Kannon statue, which is a gigantic bust of the Buddhist deity Guan Yin. It`s 25meters tall and absolutely breathtaking. Every day I can`t help but stop and stare at it. It`s truly beautiful. It overlooks Ofuna Station and the surrounding area.
Anyway, then I board the 7:37 train to Ishikawacho, which is the station smack-dab next to my school. Although there are no Buddhas at this station, there is one of the four gates to Yokohama Chinatown, which are also majestic.
Then, I get to school at about 8:00.
学校（school)
School is fun. I have 6 classes in a day (except on Thursday when I have 7) and two Home Room classes per day. Lunch is about 45 minutes which is cool, and I get a delicious homemade bento (Japanese style lunchbox) every day from my host mother. The school also has a cafeteria but it seems to me that mostly senior students eat in there. My year eat in our classrooms.
The length of a day can vary. Classes always start at 8:30 but sometimes they end at 3:15 and sometimes they end at 4:30. towards the end of July, they`ll end at 1pm, which is cool.
家（home)
Once I get home, the same way I came to school, I study, do homework (or attempt to) or read. At the moment I`m re-reading A Game of Thrones and falling in love with it all over again. In the evenings, I help my host mother cook dinner and clean up. Yesterday, I made my first ever Dublin Coddle for dinner to say thank you to my host family. Although it wasn`t a patch on my mama`s tried and tested Coddle, I have to say I did a good job :) and everyone emptied their bowls so I was delighted!
Then I usually spend about 40-50 minutes online, writing this blog and sending emails, and then I shower, bathe and sleep. The shower is very interesting, I`ll save that for another post ;)
Also it may interest you to know that all the girls in my class think that I`m very beautiful, which is sweet. They all say "I want to be white like you!" (which I don`t know if I should take as a compliment cos I`m so pale or...) or "I want your blonde hair" etc etc. So far I`ve heard:
"Your eye colour is very beautiful!" *cue staring into eyes*
"Your hair colour is very beautiful!" *cue stroking my hair*
"Your skin colour is very beautiful!"
"Your eyebrows are very beautiful!" (I think this was just a polite way of noticing that my hair and eyebrows are different colours)
"Your feet are very beautiful!" (as I changed into P.E. socks and shoes. Yep. My feet are beautiful here.)
Anyway folks I`m very nemui (sleepy) so I`m off to bed now. Leave suggestions in the comments if there`s any particular topic you want me to write about!
Today was my first day of Japanese High School, and whoooooa. SO different.
I didn`t really understand much, but I had fun. I'm gonna seperate this post into sub-headings because I have so much to say here!!
かもく (subjects)
I`m taking all the same classes as my Buddy System partner, Mana-chan (who is the most adorable lil thing) here they are:
English Conversation
Freshman English
Japanese (very difficult for me)
Maths
Home Economics (surprisingly the subject I understood the most after English)
World Science (basically a mix of Science and Geography, an absolutely deadly class)
P.E
Computers
Music (very different to Leaving/Junior Cert Music, it`s completely performance-orientated)
Social Studies
Health
I thought Maths would be easy enough, as, y`know:
"why are you taking 12th grade calculus?"
"cos it`s the same in every country"
OH BOY WAS I WRONG
Students
Japanese students are the sweetest thing! I love them!
Today I heard the word "Kawaii" (cute) at least two dozen times. Literally everything I did was adorable to them, my accent, my clothes, even my yawns :P
Everyone seems fascinated by me, which is lovely. All the girls have taken my photo already :`) at one point, everyone was touching my hair and saying "kawaiiiiii" over and over again.
Also, cos I can`t go on Facebook at the mo, somebody please tell Aisling Kearns that there is a girl in my Home Economics class that looks and sounds exactly like her. Except, y`know, Japanese.
Also, the students here are more lax regarding rules. Everyone has a phone in their pocket and texts between classes (and sometimes during) and the teachers are completely unfazed. Long conversations take place during classes and it`s completely normal.
Uniform
Although the school has a set uniform, the rules are very lenient. The essential components are the school skirt and a white shirt. After that, you can choose your own sweater-vest, socks, tie and shoes. My vest is a navy button cardigan, I love it :)
Each brand has it`s own logo on the chest. Mine is a man riding a horse- like Ralph Lauren ;) - and lots cater to the "cute" culture of Japan. However, I`m not sure that the logos are completely understood, because I`ve seen a good few Playboy Bunny sweaters and socks...
Some other popular logos I`ve seen are the Eiffel Tower (on my socks), Statue of Liberty and Minnie Mouse.
General amusing things
A teacher asked me today if I watched football, so I said yes and he raised his arms and said "ROBBIE KEANE"
There are sinks in the hallways where the girls brush their teeth at the end of the day
I brought a big box of Love Hearts for the class, and they are a huge hit
I would not be considered small here :D :D
Ok, I`m off now. Actually, I think I`ll do the toilety post cos people have asked..
Big shout out to Joe Fontana in Macari`s Tullamore who awesomely sponsored my trip :D
