By: Lane Belton

After spending our first night in Kiyosato, and getting to experience what it’s like to sleep on a Japanese futon, we all got up bright and early for our group presentations.

Everyone got to do some really exciting fieldwork here in Japan, supplementing what we’d learned in our classes in Los Angeles with first-hand, on-the-ground-experience. Now it was time to share our findings with each other. People’s research methods ranged from roaming around Tokyo searching for subjects to interview, to participating in a traditional tea ceremony, to visiting gay bars and LGBT community centers, to sending out online surveys with the help of our Meiji supporters, and all sorts of other fascinating experiences and sources of information. The Meiji students also helped us prepare and deliver our presentations. They provided really helpful insights and perspectives. While each group came at the problem from a different perspective, we were all trying to answer the same kinds of questions: What does diversity mean to Japan? Where is the line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation? What are the experiences of people who exist outside of the mainstream Japanese society? How is Japanese society changing, and in what ways is it resistant to change?

GEA scholars, Shon and Krystal, and Meiji students presenting their research

We presented our projects for a couple hours, broke for a delicious curry lunch, and then presented for a couple more hours. Once the final presentation wrapped up, everyone needed to rest their brains for a while. We used our free time to play some ping pong and badminton, catch naps, relax in the ofuro, and go hiking. The seminar house is in a beautiful area with lots of trees, greenery, and hiking paths, and while Tokyo has been a lot of fun, it was nice to get to spend a little quiet time in nature.

Beautiful area where the seminar house is located

Then we met for dinner—all that hiking and badminton had worked up an appetite. The previous night, the seminar house had treated us to standard Japanese dinner (one of the Meiji students mentioned that the food was a little boringly familiar for them, but it was cool to us!), but that evening they tried to make us feel at home with dishes like fried chicken, corn on the cob, and mac and cheese. After dinner, the Meiji students kindly gave us a calligraphy lesson and taught us how to write our names in kanji.

And then it was party time!

We had already gotten to know the Meiji students through shared meals, icebreaker activities, and working on our projects together, but it was really fun to get to hang out with them in a more casual setting. We took turns choosing the music, which was a great chance to talk about our favorite bands and artists, sing along to ABBA and Queen (apparently everyone knows all the words to Bohemian Rhapsody in Japan too), and bond over our varying levels of dancing skill.

After an early wake-up, the adrenaline of our presentations, and a late night partying, everyone finally crashed. Hopefully, now that we’ve had a chance to relax and let off some steam at the retreat, we’ll be ready to write our papers.