Nagoya, Japan

Madison Jenack

UMBC Exchange: Nanzan University

Major: Modern Languages and Linguistics

 

 

 

Pre-Departure

Just a couple more days before my flight and not only am I super excited but also super nervous. It is such a new feeling to me to be without the people I am used to being around like friends or family, but I think this kind of experience can be very important for growing as a person and getting a harsh but refreshing sense of independence by being alone in a totally new environment. My choices for my last experiences in my local Annapolis area were visiting downtown Annapolis to have tea and roasting hot dogs at a bonfire. While I look forward to gaining a new sense of independence while abroad, I also am bringing a few keepsakes of home with me like a picture of the Chesapeake Bay and a painting from my best friend.

This is my first time flying internationally and thanks to my friend who previously studied abroad, I had some insightful input. She mentioned to me how it’s important to bring things not widely available in Japan like deodorant or hair care products for non-straight hair, so if you are considering going abroad be sure to look into things that you use daily that may not be accessible in the country you plan to go to! So, with my suitcase full of deodorant, curl gel, and everything else I hold dear I feel closer to being prepared. I had a lot of difficulty packing light for the purpose of having more space to bring things back, but I was able to leave a lot of space for souvenirs or any other shopping done while in Nagoya. With it being in the dead of winter when I arrive, a lot of my packing space is taken up by coats or scarves. I think that will be worth it though not only to experience the winter light shows in Nagoya but also the coming spring season and the flowers blooming.

As for preparing for the airport procedures and my flight itself, a stranger at a cafe gave me some advice on taking melatonin to combat jet lag. With a fourteen-hour flight time and a placement test only a couple of days after landing, I was really worried about jet lag. I think I will do my best to lessen it and work around it, but I believe jet lag is not something that can be completely avoided. I also stocked up on things for during the flight like a good pillow, a blanket, some Dramamine (just in case?), and an eye mask. I was recommended to fly with ANA by a few frequent Japan goers, so I feel a little better knowing it seems like I will be in good hands. I am staying at a hotel on my first night in Japan due to my flight time not matching up with staff availability to check into my dorm, but I managed to get a really comfortable-looking and very cheap place in the heart of the city. The hotel has an AMAZING looking public bath so I am looking forward to relaxing after the flight and unpacking.

Looking ahead to what is to come in the semester, I am most excited about the growth I hope to make in my Japanese skills. The intensive Japanese program looks challenging, so I will have to make my best effort to stay on top of things and to earn the results I hope for. I am so grateful to have the opportunity to attend Nanzan University and to improve my Japanese skills by living in Japan. Another thing I am excited about is exploring Nagoya! I have been looking into all sorts of places in the area like thrift shops, restaurants, nature parks, and traditional bathhouses. One specific place I am looking forward to going to is Yabaton, a restaurant popular for one of Nagoya’s specialty dishes: miso katsu. I have eaten a lot of Japanese food but surprisingly never katsu and people say that miso katsu is one of the best. As the third largest city in Japan, Nagoya has so much to offer and seems endlessly rich and vibrant. I plan to go explore the city with the people in my residence but also maybe some alone walks in the nature parks to refresh, but maybe that will be more realistic when the weather warms up. I cannot wait to update you on finds in the area and experiences throughout my time in Nagoya!

 

Blog #2

After having settled into my new home in Nagoya for over a week now, I feel I have undergone a lot of new and challenging experiences. My trip to Japan and my first night here were hectic and stressful in a way that made me feel scared and uncertain, but then after the first few times of experiencing kind encounters with strangers who could tell I was lost, staff at my dorm residence who have been nothing but kind and helpful, and amazing times with friends I met in the program, I have a feeling that makes me look up at the sky as I walk to class in the morning and appreciate the cold but refreshing morning air.

Just a day after I checked into my dorm we took our placement tests, but despite my jet lag after a sleepless 30 hours, I was able to place into the course I was hoping to be entered into! Our first day of class was on Tuesday, and I am really looking forward to the rest of the semester after having experienced a little of the professors’ styles of teaching as well as how approachable they are. For anyone at UMBC thinking of going to Nanzan to study abroad, Nanzan goes off of the Genki textbooks for the first two IJP levels and then moves to Quartet beyond there. So, you might just have a very smooth transition if you studied Japanese at UMBC with the Genki textbooks.

Aside from the academic details of the courses, I am also really happy to have been placed into classes with some friends I have met along the way since getting here. One thing I have noticed is that despite how worried I was about having trouble making friends while being here, I have never had an easier time making friends in my life. My assumption is that everyone is kind of in the same boat: far from home, in a new environment, and feeling lonely and looking for a group. For these reasons, all of the international students come together in a way. With a good majority of the Japanese students being away, I have not had too many interactions but the leader of my group in the dorms is Japanese and she is very down to earth and easy to talk to. I have had so many great times just within the past ten days hanging out with friends, like going shopping and experiencing the night life in Sakae and Kanayama.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Monday, some friends and I spent the last day of our three day holiday weekend by going to Nagoya Castle, probably the biggest attraction in Nagoya. There were crows everywhere and the sight of them flying above us and the sounds of them cawing throughout the park added to the atmosphere in my mind. The castle itself is massive, being the second largest castle in Japan. For any architecture or history buffs, this is an obvious must-see. I often had seen the castle pictured with cherry blossoms, but the absence of the cherry blossoms was more than made up for with the camellias that are in bloom right now. For people who may not be history buffs: the park that surrounds the castle is full of little shops selling trinkets, souvenirs, and beautiful handmade jewelry and items. Not only this, but the food stands have things like matcha lattes, red bean treats, and dango. Some people may consider these tourist traps but I feel like the park might have been incomplete without red bean Kit Kats and matcha ice cream.

In terms of my language acquisition, I spend sizable portions each day speaking and listening in Japanese while out and about at the store, using transportation, and on campus. The Japanese language course I am in uses Japanese only for my level, which will definitely have a massive impact on improving our skills. When it comes to Japanese usage in my friend group of Japanese second language speakers, there seems to be a mixed opinion. Some people in my group feel that we should only use English or their other native language amongst themselves to avoid language fatigue. I initially disagreed with this but now I wonder if straining yourself to a point of mental exhaustion could be bad like how overdoing it at the gym can be bad. I still try to use Japanese more often than not, but if you are considering going abroad, maybe think about how you would want to go about things when it comes to language use.

 

Blog #3

Now nearing the four week mark and nearly a month in Japan, I still feel like I’m having a hard time grasping that I’m around six thousand miles away from Maryland! Everyday seems to be a new experience, whether it’s something I planned and was looking forward to, or something I never would have expected. Among things that I was looking forward to since before I even got here, some friends and I went to the famous PARCO mall that hosts events and pop-up shops like the current Chiikawa themed ramen pop-up shop and a Death Stranding pop-up art exhibit, along with its most famous attraction: the Pokemon Center. For all the people interested in Japan for pop culture, PARCO is definitely a spot to go and visit shops

dedicated to classic anime and game culture as well as pop-ups dedicated to rising trends and media. Another experience that I was looking forward to and got to do recently was eating one of Nagoya’s many famous dishes: miso katsu! Miso katsu, a specialty dish of Nagoya, is a breaded and fried pork cutlet with miso sauce and greens. Regular katsu is one of the better known comfort foods of Japan, but the miso sauce gives it the distinctive savory, rich, and sweet taste that makes miso katsu so famous.

Among experiences that came unexpected to me, a fellow international student I became friends with invited some of us living in the dorms to go to her host family house to study while her host family was away. The family came back early and being the professional hosts they are, the host mother invited us to learn how to make takoyaki with her and eat dinner with them! She even gave us vitamin C drinks that come in a small, brown glass bottle that are popular in Japan for staving off sickness during times of flu season like now. We all went to the supermarket together and got the ingredients, and then when we came back we sat around the dinner table and poured the batter into the special takoyaki tabletop stove. The tabletop stove, called a takoyaki nabe, has hemispherical concave molds built into it. We poured the batter over the whole thing, waited for it to cook slightly, and then used toothpick-like sticks to move the batter into the molds. After that, each person uses two toothpicks to continuously spin the takoyaki balls within the molds until they are cooked an even golden brown. I had had takoyaki in the States, but the experience of making them as well as the host mother’s unique ingredients changed my whole outlook on them. You may have had classic takoyaki with octopus, but she made ones with sausage, tuna, squid, and my favorite: camembert cheese. If you come to Japan or if you have the means to make it in the US, I highly recommend trying camembert cheese takoyaki!

Moving away from food, the Japanese students studying at Nanzan are in their finals season at the moment so my Japanese neighbors here on my floor at the dormitory seem to be working really hard lately and pulling all-nighters. Coming up in February, the entrance exams are taking place for recent high school graduates testing to get into Nanzan University. The forecasted sea of nervous teenagers coming on campus is large enough that the campus will be closed to everyone except those taking the entrance exam and of course all staff due to the all hands on deck nature of the entrance exams. So, myself and my classmates will have a break at that time, with field trips hosted by Nanzan. As a word of advice that I wanted to get across through this point: the Japanese academic calendar is quite different from the American one, so if you choose to go to Nanzan keep in mind that things like this may happen, though I don’t think it takes away from the experience at all. I have a fairly large number of Japanese neighbors already here in the dorms, but it is expected that an influx of newly admitted Japanese students will happen once their semester begins around March, so there are always changes to expect and new people to look forward to meeting!

On a more exploration related note, my friends and I have become fascinated and obsessed with the Japanese phenomenon of gacha machines. Definitely a distinct part of Japanese culture, gacha machines are always in places you would least expect them. Even in the city municipal office when we had to go to fill out paperwork, there were gacha machines with the mascot of the city! A popular feature of a lot of malls and shopping centers is stores that are nothing but aisles and aisles of gacha machines. They are always full of people, from little kids to grown-ups, looking for gachas that appeal to them. The prizes inside range from keychains, makeup, accessories, reusable shopping bags, figurines, or anything you can think of really. The machines only accept one hundred yen coins so be sure to get a coin pouch! While cards are usable in a lot of places in Japan, if you come here you may be shocked at how much more useful physical money is compared to the States! My wallet that I used back home was no match for the amount of paper money and the pile of coins that I would end up with, so I ended up having to get a new wallet that was more suited for carrying a lot of physical money.

Thanks for reading and look forward to my next blog post, where I’ll share my time traveling during our break for the entrance exams!

 

Blog #4

Back again with another update! My friends and I had an incredible time in Osaka during the break! We took the shinkansen from Nagoya to Osaka and arrived at our airbnb which was in a comfortable and quiet location on the outskirts of the city. This distance was definitely needed because Osaka is such a fun and LIVELY place. Osaka is the second largest city in Japan and the people from Osaka are often characterized as being chatty and having bold personalities. We all definitely felt that Osakan locals seemed to come up to us and chat more than we were used to in Nagoya, so it was a really pleasant experience meeting strangers. One person we met was the owner of a karaoke shop we went to on the night of my friend’s birthday. We went in expecting the usual private karaoke rooms but realized it was an open floor bar with a karaoke setup. It was empty except for us and two staff who we expected to just give us our drinks and go about their business, but the two ladies were so chatty and friendly! They ended up singing with us (completely blowing our skills out of the water) and even treating my friend once they realized it was her birthday. We have fun in private karaoke rooms, but getting the “Southern-hospitality” (south-central hospitality?) that Osaka is known for from the two ladies we met that night was such a memorable experience.

On our second day, we went to Kaiyukan which is actually the world’s largest aquarium! The exhibits and even just the hallways are artistically designed in a way to make you feel like you’re underwater and the variety of creatures living in Kaiyukan is incredible. One of the more popular exhibits is the massive tank containing the whale sharks. I have always wanted to see one in real life and not only was their gigantic size amazing but the spotted and striped pattern on them is beautiful. Another group of residents at Kaiyukan are the penguins, whose habitat enclosure has crystal clear water for them to swim in and snowy terrain for them to walk and relax on, meant to mimic Antarctica. It was incredible how fast and graceful they are swimming in the water compared to their cute waddling on land. Another famous animal at Kaiyukan is their seals, which we got to see from below swimming gracefully in the water and then from above playing with their caretakers. I think their popularity comes from their duality of being kind of funny and loaf-shaped but also being so beautiful while swimming, which seems to be an occurring characteristic.

 

Our third night in Osaka we visited Dotonbori, a very popular tourist spot of tall buildings with shops and gorgeous bright city lights spanning a river. The famous Glico Running Man landmark is in Dotonbori, being one of the more popular photo spots to signify that you’re in Osaka. That night, we went to an eleven story indoor sports building called “Round One”. The first few floors featured crane games, gacha machines, and arcades. The upper floors featured sports slightly tweaked to be played indoors and to be more quick and fun than the original to better suit the arcade-like atmosphere. For example, the tennis area featured was changed to be played with giant rackets and a gigantic, inflatable ball. There were other sports offered with similar tweaks such as boxing, volleyball, golf, cricket, and plenty more. The only unchanged sport was baseball, with an outdoor batting dome on the top floor of the building. This was actually my first time hitting a baseball but the feeling of getting a successful hit and hearing the crack against the metal bat was super satisfying. If you ever go to Osaka, I would definitely recommend this place to have fun with friends!

Having returned to homebase in Nagoya, I feel a lot closer to my friends in the program having spent such an awesome trip with them. I’m also grateful that they’re a little on the studious side, as the first plan we made after coming back was to group study to prepare for classes starting back up. Our break and experiences were amazing, but I am glad to be switching gears soon and getting back into our studies. There’s something nice about the weekly and daily routines I have going of seeing people in class and going for lunch with my friends in-between or studying, but I also enjoy that self-fulfilling feeling that comes with taking these classes that I hoped so much to get into. Thanks for reading and look forward to my next update!

 

Blog #5

 

Blog #6

Currently coming up on midterms! Leading up to midterms and the small spring break, my friends and I made time recently to take a day trip to Inuyama, an area that had the historic, centuries old Inuyama castle as well as the traditional style streets leading up to it. The area attracts a good deal of tourists for its traditional feeling, reminiscent of Kyoto with its traditional Japanese architecture, wagashi shops, and kimono. This time, we didn’t get to go to the castle but walking the traditional streets in the

(unusually) warm weather was for sure a treat. My friends and I went to a wagashi shop where we got wagashi and the shop’s spring specialty Sakura soda! The Sakura season in Japan trumps all seasonal flavors in America to me and it’s so easy to find Sakura flavored things no matter where you go. Even in Starbucks they have it at the moment, but I would never trade Starbucks for a place like the one in Inuyama!

Next we went to a traditional goods shop that specialized in chirimen, crafts made out of kimono fabric. If you ever go to Japan and want to get a traditional souvenir, I highly recommend anything chirimen! The kimono fabrics always have beautiful colors and patterns and the variety of things people craft out of them is endless from bags, wallets, stuffed animals, keychains, and wall decorations. We also went to some antique shops that had everything from kimono and traditional home wares to high heels and vintage western style clothes. While back on the street, a lot of people were dressed up in kimono for their visit to the castle but we also ran into a cat wearing an oni costume/bag named Tsukune (chicken meatball)! He had just come down with his owner from the area with the view of the castle and Kiso River. There was a large area to sit on park benches and look down towards the river while the castle was visible to the right above the river.

A few days after the trip to Inuyama, I made some new friends in the CJS program and we ended up going to a place in Sakae where you can pay to throw axes, knives, and random sharp objects like rulers at wooden targets. This suggestion definitely caught me off guard but while we were there we had a great time trying to make the targets. First, the attendant went over rules and safety precautions and then he went on to demonstrate each item while giving us tips for each one. Even he had a lot of trouble getting some items to puncture the wood, so it was a real challenge. I managed to get the lowest score of all at zero points because I didn’t quite have the aim for it but one of my new friends managed to score with an item that not even the attendant could get a point with: the protractor! Themed places like this that offer group activities are in my opinion the best thing to do with friends while in Japan. Going out to dinner or wherever is fine but places like this really offer rare experiences.

It’s been getting easier to adjust to balancing social life and schoolwork a little bit more. This feeling stood out to me because as a commuter back at UMBC who lives far from urban areas, going out was much less accessible so while I would still see friends off campus a few times a week I have never experienced the insane accessibility of activities and nightlife as there is in Nagoya. I think that if you decide to come here, something to prepare for is balancing your workload with your desire to go out and do things and be an active part of your new friendships. Once you nail down a routine and maintain a good level of strictness with yourself, you can do a lot here while also getting a lot done for your own academic goals. Now, leading up to my midterms I’m doing my best to put together presentations and papers that will impress my professors together with my friends as we give one last push before the spring break. My friends from my hometown back in Maryland are coming to visit me during that time so be sure to check out my next blog to see everything we get up to!

 

Blog #7

The warmer weather is slowly settling into Nagoya and thankfully I got to experience the beginning of it together with my friends who visited all the way from Maryland! They arrived before my break started and went to Kyoto to visit my one friend’s host family from when she studied abroad in high school who let them all stay the night and even took them out for dinner! When my break began, they came back to Nagoya and stayed at an Airbnb in Ozone which was on the same train line as I take so we could get together easily.

The first place we went was Komaki, a more rural area about an hour North of me by train, to attend the popular fertility festival that a lot of my classmates at Nanzan were going to. The festival was bustling and full of people and food stands like castella cakes and meat kabobs. We got our fortunes at the shrine which was actually a first for me! I had been nervous about visiting a shrine because I thought there were a lot of rules and I was scared to do something wrong and seem disrespectful but my friend who studied in Kyoto walked us all through it and explained the different things like what to do with your fortune slip. If you get a bad fortune you tie the fortune up at the shrine to leave the bad luck behind and form a bond with the deities. Mine was “small luck” which is pretty good, so I took it home with me and put it in a safe place in my bag. I’m supposed to treat it well so I put it in its own little pocket with a bag charm that I like to keep it company. My friend said some people keep them for a bit and then either return them to a temple or burn them but some people keep them for life! Hopefully my luck stays for the rest of the year.

During the festival procession, we were trying to navigate the crowd and then went a different way outside of the crowd to what we thought was the next stop in the procession. We ended up going the wrong way to a shrine that was completely empty and far enough away that the noise of the huge crowd and music couldn’t be heard at all. We went up a small mountain taking care not to slip on the stone stairs in the rain. When we reached the shrine at the top, the silence and the mist from the rain was really beautiful. We could just barely hear birds and the rain hitting the ground and we stopped caring how damp we were from the sudden rain as we slowly walked around and explored. I’m really grateful we got to experience this especially during the festival which likely lent to the emptiness of the shrine we were at. I wasn’t interested in nature focused spots too much and had only been hitting urban areas until this point, but I would like to experience that meditative feeling again.

A few days later into my friends’ time here after taking them around places in Nagoya city like game stores and shopping, we made a trip to Kiyosu Castle. Northwest of Nagoya Castle, Kiyosu castle was the stronghold of Oda Nobunaga who was one of three figures in Japanese history considered to have unified a once divided Japan. Kiyosu castle was in a more rural area unlike Nagoya Castle which is in an urban area, and we were able to enter the castle. The inside is a museum which not only showcases the interior of the structure but also preserved artifacts. My favorite displays were the golden Nobunaga crests and the display relating to his wife, Nohime. From inside the castle on the upper floors we got a beautiful view of the zen garden.

Time is flying by really quickly and myself and the other students in the program will be attending a pre-departure orientation in just two weeks. In my next post I think I’ll have some warm updates from a sunny, springtime Nagoya as my friends and I are preparing plans for a hanami hangout now that the cherry blossoms are blooming. Thanks for reading!