Japan is....hmm...
Recently, I was talking with my roommate, Mike. We talked about how when we talk to our friends back home, (surprisingly) they always want to know about Japan. "What's it like?" We decided that to sum it up--or even if you weren't to sum it up for that matter, if you were to try to describe it in as many words as necessary--we would only be able to say, "well......Japan is.....hmm....strange.....?." I hope I can illustrate this for you in the next few months.
We started going to Gold's Gym just less than one month ago. It's been wonderful. In fact, we both feel that if we had no other experience in Japan besides the gym, we would absolutely love this country. The people are so friendly; always smiling and--here's your first indication of the odditiy indeed--they have employees who walk around the gym just looking to spot you (if you need help lifting or re-racking weights), and more importantly, to say "Good Job!!" The first time I heard it, I was be myself. I told Paul as soon as I could. It was just hilarious. I tried not to laugh--and succeeded--but Paul often made fun of them in the beginning. There are about eight employees, all of whom went out of their way when we first started, to introduce themselves and others who were interested in new english speaking members (second odditiy, by the way). In our student files at Nova, we have a biographical profile the student. Often, they're quite amusing since the staff who write them have limited English ability, themselves. I have a student, one of those who are interested in new members, whose file under hobbies says, "I like to go to Gold's gym to talk to foreigners." When I had this student, I asked what he did for fun, just to see how it came out of his mouth.....it was just as funny as seeing it on paper.
Alright, so we learned pretty quickly, that the country is quite keen on pleasent musical sounds. The cross walks have a distinct sound (for the blind), each train station has it's own jingle (which--ugh, I'd have gotten so sick of if I'd had to continue taking the train everyday), the stores have several noises--from the repetitive "irasshaimasu" (welcome) shrieks, to the stores with their own upbeat theme song, the streets (some streets) with speakers in their light posts with American 70s-90s music, and the shopping "arcades" (covered shopping strips, which, by the way are great for when you're walking home at night or in the rain) with their funky Japanese lyriced American songs. The sound, though, that gives me this calm, nostalgic, and absolute giddy and very confused feeling--just so completely reinforcing the "Japan is strange" statement (ok, I've built it up way too much---I'm so sorry that you're going to be totally let down)--is the closing song at most stores, Auld Lang Syne--the New Year's Eve song. It gives me the same feeling at New Year's--the delirious ('cause you've been up all night), romantic feeling......
Ah...(<--grr, that's a Japan saying) so there is going to be another blog for pictures @ kobeislovelyphotos.blogspot.com authored by me, but it's not great--we're not doing so well on finding incredibly picturesque sights--but we will.....
We started going to Gold's Gym just less than one month ago. It's been wonderful. In fact, we both feel that if we had no other experience in Japan besides the gym, we would absolutely love this country. The people are so friendly; always smiling and--here's your first indication of the odditiy indeed--they have employees who walk around the gym just looking to spot you (if you need help lifting or re-racking weights), and more importantly, to say "Good Job!!" The first time I heard it, I was be myself. I told Paul as soon as I could. It was just hilarious. I tried not to laugh--and succeeded--but Paul often made fun of them in the beginning. There are about eight employees, all of whom went out of their way when we first started, to introduce themselves and others who were interested in new english speaking members (second odditiy, by the way). In our student files at Nova, we have a biographical profile the student. Often, they're quite amusing since the staff who write them have limited English ability, themselves. I have a student, one of those who are interested in new members, whose file under hobbies says, "I like to go to Gold's gym to talk to foreigners." When I had this student, I asked what he did for fun, just to see how it came out of his mouth.....it was just as funny as seeing it on paper.
Alright, so we learned pretty quickly, that the country is quite keen on pleasent musical sounds. The cross walks have a distinct sound (for the blind), each train station has it's own jingle (which--ugh, I'd have gotten so sick of if I'd had to continue taking the train everyday), the stores have several noises--from the repetitive "irasshaimasu" (welcome) shrieks, to the stores with their own upbeat theme song, the streets (some streets) with speakers in their light posts with American 70s-90s music, and the shopping "arcades" (covered shopping strips, which, by the way are great for when you're walking home at night or in the rain) with their funky Japanese lyriced American songs. The sound, though, that gives me this calm, nostalgic, and absolute giddy and very confused feeling--just so completely reinforcing the "Japan is strange" statement (ok, I've built it up way too much---I'm so sorry that you're going to be totally let down)--is the closing song at most stores, Auld Lang Syne--the New Year's Eve song. It gives me the same feeling at New Year's--the delirious ('cause you've been up all night), romantic feeling......
Ah...(<--grr, that's a Japan saying) so there is going to be another blog for pictures @ kobeislovelyphotos.blogspot.com authored by me, but it's not great--we're not doing so well on finding incredibly picturesque sights--but we will.....
posted by MarisaPaulCharlie | 12:17 AM
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