Kyoto, Here We Come!

Posted on June 19, 2015 by geajapan

By: Christina Brown

We were packed and ready for our excursion to Kyoto and hadn’t slept the night before (writing blog posts and journals, exploring the city in the wee hours of the morning, and just drinking a bit too much coffee). On June 8, we took the bullet train from Tokyo to Kyoto–all of us catching a few hours of shut eye on the way.

Japanese Trains: Always Punctual

When we arrived in Kyoto, we met up with our tour guide and went straight to a shrine to practice Zen Meditation. Zen Meditation was a true challenge for me–particularly sitting still and not letting my thoughts wander, but in the end, the class did a good job meditating quietly for thirty minutes. Afterwards we went to an old shogun’s palace. The most interesting thing was the “nightingale floors.” The floors back then were built in such a way that they creak with every step, sounding like little birds chirping. This was done in order to serve as an alarm system against ninjas. Naturally, the whole class ninja-walked through the entire tour trying to prove that we could’ve been S+ tier ninjas.

Jo loves posing for candid pics

Toku in his natural habitat; in action

Next, we had a few hours in Kyoto’s main commercial area Shi-Jō and San-Jō (4th and 3rd street) to explore shops and the large shrines and temples. Collectively we bought scarves, bags, jewelry, postcards, anime toys, and lots of matcha!

exploring the bustling streets of Kyoto

Luis, Ye Sol, and I posing for our karaoke album cover

We met up at Touka-Saikan, an old, authentic Chinese restaurant that our very own TA, Toku, worked at during college.

It’s called Touka Saikan, but we liked to secretly call it Toku Saikan <3

Before the meal, his manager, a Chinese man who grew up in Japan and continued the family business of traditional Chinese food– and not changing his family name (like many Chinese and Koreans do to avoid discrimination) to ensure the whole package of authenticity of Chinese food. He spoke about the discrimination in Japan, the life of Chinese people living in Japan, and of course about food! The meal was SOOOOO good. Especially the egg rolls. I could eat ten right now as I write this. The food, while authentic Chinese food, had very subtle changes to fit the Japanese palate. It was interesting to see the differences, mainly in terms of how spicy it was. Studying the slight ways a particular cuisine changes to fit the palate of the native people is an interesting and unexpected way to gain insight into a certain culture (FYI: Japanese food in France is WEIRD). After dinner, most of us were pretty tired and knew we had to be up fairly early for our excursion to Kobe and Osaka. It was a great first day in Kyoto and I was thrilled to finally see our beloved TA’s city and to hear how adored he was by his old colleagues at Touka-Saikan–which of course came as no surprise! Yay Kyoto!

One of the wonders of Kyoto…can’t decide if he’s kawaii or KOWAI

Emigration and Immigration in Japan

Posted on June 15, 2015 by geajapan

By: Joyce Lee

Today June 9 marks the twelfth day of the trip! Despite having a long traveling day yesterday, we were all still excited to experience two great cities of Japan: Kobe and Osaka.

Our experiences in Kobe began at the Kobe Center for Overseas Migration and Cultural Interaction (formerly known as the National Emigrant Center). The site acted as a home base for emigrants before they departed Japan. Today, the center seeks to be both an educator of overseas immigration and a promoter of multicultural integration. For students like me researching minority groups in Japan, the center provided a great introduction about many Japanese who had left for foreign countries such as Brazil and the historical context for why their descendants and other immigrants came to live in Japan today.

Some kind words greeting us at the Kobe Immigration Center

Some kind words greeting us at the Kobe Center for Migration and Cultural Interaction

Many people living in and outside of Japan are unaware of the diversity of immigrants living in the country. Although Japan is 98% ethnically Japanese, living in Japan are people with ties all around the world. This includes regions like South America, Southeast Asia, China, Europe, North America, and the Korean peninsula.

Learning the history of Japanese emigrants to Brazil

Professor Kurashige talking about the Japanese diaspora

One of the most inspiring aspects about the Center was that it did more than just educate visitors about the history of emigration from Japan to Latin America. The center pushes visitors to gain an understanding of the past in order to analyze the present and predict future immigration and diversity issues in Japan. For example the center asks visitors to consider how globalization, both from workforce immigration and foreign students staying after graduation to work in Japan, can help create a richer society. It leads visitors to wonder what needs to improve in order to create an environment full of equal and harmonious relationships across all cultural backgrounds. I especially appreciated this aspect of the Center because I have been considering how to fix the mis-perceptions of Koreans living in Japan. Hearing the Center worker’s perspectives on how to mediate these tensions across all different ethnic groups was extremely influential to my research.

Part of the exhibit reflecting the center’s goals for diversity

One of my favorite exhibits of the Center was one that showed the growth of society’s acceptance. Many events have encouraged mutual understandings across different cultural groups. For example, the Kanto Great Earthquake in 1923 culminated in the massacre of many Koreans and Chinese. This tragic chapter in Japanese history reflects the racism and discrimination that Koreans and Chinese had faced for years up until that point. Nearly 72 years later, another devastating earthquake occurred, but ended in many people coming together to overcome the struggles following the event.

The Center was a great pit stop for our group to gain a greater understanding of Japan’s history and current diversity issues. I’m sure everyone learned a lot about the historical issues shaping Japan today. Our time here in Japan is running short, but visiting insightful sites like these makes me confident that we’ll be making the most of our time here.

Spiderman in Kobe Chinatown?!

Posted on June 15, 2015 by geajapan

By: Andrea Munoz

Tuesday morning I awoke to the sound of the busy Kyoto traffic. Everyone was spending their second day in Kyoto at the Ibis hotel, right across from the Kyoto Station. Kyoto and Tokyo are located pretty close, but both cities are very different. Tokyo tends to be more polite (everyone says “excuse me” and bows a lot)… Tokyo is referred to as the ‘NY of Japan’. Breakfast at the hotel was buffet style in the hotel but it featured Japanese styled foods (tofu, miso soup, eggplant….). Lon-sensei joined me for breakfast and we discussed Japanese and Mexican foods.

Breakfast overlooking Kyoto Station

Around 9:15 am, everyone met up and we set off for the first stop in our day: Kobe. While on the train, I sat with Ye Sol and I found 10 yen- the signs of a good day to come! In Kobe, we went to the Kobe Immigration Museum. In 1928, Japanese citizens immigrated to Brazil in search of a better life. They worked in coffee fields while studying the Portuguese language and its culture. In 1971, the building was closed and later became an earthquake emergency center. Today, the local government protects the building. Cool fact: There are more Japanese-Brazilians than Japanese-Americans! The museum contained photos and personal articles belonging to the immigrants.

Japanese Immigration museum photo op

Toku translating at the Japanese Immigration museum

After the museum we traveled to Kobe’s Chinatown to eat lunch. The main street was Kobe Motomachi and it was filled with vendors selling intoxicating Chinese delicacies. After drinking several bobas, I was tempted to change my research topic to focus on the “bobalization on Japan”. To everyone’s relief, I stuck with my initial research idea: American comic books’ influence in Japan. I didn’t think I would find any comic book related things in Chinatown. To my surprise, Spiderman was a big influence in Chinatown. Several Kobe beef restaurants had a larger than life Spiderman decorating the exterior. I asked one of the restaurant’s workers why they had Spiderman. The simply replied; “Spiderman is cool.”

Spiderman decoration in Chinatown

We took the JR to Osaka to visit the Osaka Castle. The castle is on a cliff surrounded by walls and motes. Sadly, the elevator was super slow and only went up to the 5^th floor, so instead I ran up to the Castle’s top floor. The view was amazing. Osaka Castle is surrounded by nature but still has sky scrapers visible in the distance. For dinner we went to a Italian restaurant. We all ate so much. It didn’t really have any Japanese features but it was good. #SquidInkPastaForTheWin

Osaka Castle

Photo op at the top of Osaka Castle

Toku after eating the squid ink pasta during dinner

After our 3 appetizers, 4 pastas and 7 pizzas, we got ready to do the must anticipated KARAOKE!!!!!!!!!! It was a special time for Chris, Luis, Steve and me. When we first met (weeks ago) we went to a karaoke place and sang. Toady we relived that moment by singing the same song (“All Star” by Smash Mouth). It was so fun!!!!! The songs ranged from Alicia Keys to Mumford and Sons to Journey. Everyone sang! Even our TA; Toku, sang about 4 songs. It was awesome.

Chris, Steve and Andi singing their hearts out during karaoke

A Ye Sol and Toku duet!

EASC GLOBAL EAST ASIA JAPAN – TOKYO

Category Archives: Kobe

Kyoto, Here We Come!

Emigration and Immigration in Japan

Spiderman in Kobe Chinatown?!