Dasha in Japan

For my last blog post regarding my studies at Zokei University, I have had to make it a PDF document as it became way too long to post all of it here at once.

For my class entitled “Tradition and Innovation in Japanese Culture" at Zokei University, I had to write an essay about one aspect of Japanese culture, and I chose to write about the music industry, more specifically the culture behind female Japanese pop idols.

After this, we went to a Chinese restaurant for one last meal together. It was really fun, and the food was delicious. I got to try some jellyfish which was very strange because the texture was not what I expected (not really jelly-like at all!), and duck eggs, which looked and smelled disgusting but were actually pretty good. I don’t think I’d eat them again though. My favourite dish was this peanut gyoza (dumplings) and they were seriously divine. I sadly forgot to take a picture of them.

After the meal, each of the students gave me and James some amazing gifts, which was incredibly unexpected and such a sweet gesture that I almost felt like crying. I thought at first that they just had bought one gift for us, but then each group of students had bought a different gift for us and they just kept coming. It was so wonderful, I couldn’t believe that they were so kind as to buy all these gifts for us, but it was also a little overwhelmed because I feel that they didn’t have to go through so much effort for me.

All the gifts that James and I received from the other Animation students.

First, we received two games. One was Jenga but instead of ordinary wooden blocks, they were painted like sushi, and a small version of pop-up pirate. The pop-up pirate gift was extremely thoughtful as they had bought it for us because I had previously played it one time at the Izakaya beforehand. Then, we received two Japanese fans which were beautiful, and they both came in little wooden boxes. We also received stamps from our lecturer, Mori, which had our names on them in Japanese katakana, and some delicious traditional Japanese sweets from Aihara which looked very fancy. Lastly, we both received a small sketchbook each, and a small book that contained some Disney drawings and layout designs. I could not express how grateful I was, and how thoughtful the gifts were, and it really made my night. I’m so happy that the Animation students wanted me and James to feel welcome, and they told us to come back to Japan again soon.

This was a wonderful night, and I have been so incredibly lucky to have met such wonderful, amazing, kind people. I wish I’d have known more Japanese words to express my immense gratitude and happiness. It was very emotional and something that I will never forget.

On Thursday, I started my hike up Mt. Fuji. Me, James, and our friend Carlos left the share house at 4:15pm to start the climb and returned the next day at the same time without sleeping. Climbing Fuji took about 7 hours in total (though Carlos did it in only 4 since he’s an experienced hiker), and 4 hours to get back down again. We went during the night-time, so we had time to reach the top before sunrise. I tried to write a breakdown of the hike each time we stopped for a break, but in the end, I got too tired and just wanted to push forward until I got to the top.

The climb itself was good, extremely tiring, and difficult at some points but it was an amazing feeling once we got to the summit. I have never climbed a mountain before, so it felt like a real achievement for me (even though I was pretty slow and had to take a lot of breaks). At some stages, it was so steep that you had to go on all fours to climb, but I really liked those parts as I found walking to be more exhausting. The higher you got, the higher the price of water went, so I ended up having to ration only two and a half bottles because I refused to pay. At the top, the water was priced at ¥500 which is almost £4! Climbing at night was a great idea, since I think that walking in the day would just be unbearable with the crazy hot summer sun beaming down. Plus, there was an incredible view of the stars since there was barely any light pollution towards the top.

The walk down was worse than the way up, it was so steep and slippery that you could have used a sled to get down, and it was that way for almost 5 hours. I didn’t even feel tired when I was up at the top, and my legs and feet didn’t hurt at all, but when I had reached the bottom I had painful blisters and my legs felt like jelly. Also, because the sun had come up, the weather was unbearably hot, and it was like torture walking in the heat with no shade. As soon as I got home I took a cold shower and went to bed immediately at 5pm. I didn’t wake up until 9:30am the next day.

Overall, the climb was an amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience, and seeing the sunrise was just amazing, I actually shed a few tears because I thought it was so beautiful, and I had never seen a view like it before. Being above the clouds was magical and the amount of beautiful green trees and the view of the city below was breath-taking. I never thought I would ever do something like this before so it was extra special and I’m really happy that I got to do it (even though the last few hours were so crazy).

Last weekend was open campus weekend at Zokei and me and James had to partake in an Animation parade where we played instruments and marched around the campus. I feel like if I were to have done this at UWE back home, it would be extremely embarrassing as we also had to wear big cardboard hats with fake sushi on them, but since we are in another country it doesn’t feel as bad. It was an interesting experience to say the least.

We made these hats during the months leading up to the event, and each person in the class had a different type of sushi, as my lecturer, Mori, wanted to theme the parade around a sushi conveyor belt restaurant. I made shrimp sushi. The rice was made from white flannel stuffed with sponge, and the shrimp was made from sponge pieces glued together and coloured with red, pink, and yellow markers. In this time, I also practiced some Japanese songs on the Melodica to play in the parade including the opening song from My Neighbour Totoro, and a song called ‘Tarako’ which is from a bizarre TV advert about spaghetti sauce.

Despite the fact that it was 35°C outside and I was sweating more that I ever have done in my life, it was actually a lot of fun, and it’s definitely not something I would usually do.

After the two days of marching and playing Melodica, I went to an Izakaya (kind of like a Japanese pub) with Mori and the Animation class and we had lots of delicious dishes including sashimi, fish sausages, pickled aubergine with wasabi mustard, Korean style pancakes, and deep-fried fish cakes with cheese. Going to the Izakaya is always fantastic and I had a lot of fun. I’m very sad that I only have one lesson left with Mori.

Today was also my last Intercommunication class and we read a lecture from Daisetz T. Suzu about Zen Philosophy, Christianity, and Buddhism which made me understand the concept a zen a lot more. At the end of the class, we went outside and practiced some Zen Buddhist meditation which was a perfect way to end the lesson, and I would actually love to try this again.

I also finished my last session of yoga. I haven’t really talked much about my yoga class at all on the blog since it’s pretty self-explanatory and my yoga classes are pretty much the same every week. I’ve very much enjoyed it and I would love to keep going when I get back to Bristol because it has made me a lot more relaxed and I’d like to be a lot more active.

I’ve decided to write a ‘report’ to summarize each of my classes at Zokei to make up for some of the gaps in my blog. I realise that I haven’t written much about the actual classes or what I have learned in University and it’s mostly just the places I have been and the experiences I’ve had so I’d like to make up for that. I also have to write a paper for my Tradition and Innovation class so I will also upload that here as well.

Me, James, and Lisa after the log flume ride at Tokyo Dome City

The Thunder Dolphin!

A cheesy squad photo

We also got to experience a terrifying Haunted House attraction. It was absolutely terrifying, and it told a story about a house that has been haunted by the ghost of a woman who was killed by her boyfriend through poisoning her make-up, causing her face to look burned and disfigured. He eventually buried her under the floorboards and legend says that her ghost still haunts the house. The house had a mixture of realistic wax figures and live actors and you couldn’t tell one from the other. This was one of the scariest Haunted House attractions I have ever been to, and I thought it was very unique due to the traditional Japanese theme of the house and it reminded me a lot of the Grudge. There was also a huge Ferris wheel that was equipped with a karaoke machine inside which was a lot of fun, and we got to see an incredible view of the city (though the karaoke machine didn’t have the best song choices available). After this, we found a British pub nearby and decided to have drinks there. It was interesting to see a British style pub and how it was different from a real British pub back home. It was especially weird seeing people eating fish and chips with chopsticks. Overall, I had an amazing time and it was truly unique and memorable way to celebrate my 21st Birthday.

Today, I visited a squirrel garden in Machida where you could feed the squirrels by hand, and they would climb up on your shoulders to get the food from you. There were also lots of different animals like rabbits, Guinea pigs and tortoises which were very sweet and I managed to do a couple of quick sketches of them. This was a lot of fun but the temperature outside was extremely high (35°C) which was incredibly draining and difficult to cope with because I was sweating like crazy and drinking water by the gallon. The weather has been getting increasingly hotter day by day, and apparently it can reach up to 39 °C! I find it hard to imagine how I’m going to cope when it gets to that heat. It’s crazy to see Japanese people still wearing jeans and cardigans in this weather when I find it hard wearing shorts and vest tops.

I also got to go to the Studio Ghibli Museum, which you have to buy tickets for a couple of months in advance due to the high demand, and also the limited supply. This means that the museum was not too crowded like other places that do not have this system in place. I thoroughly enjoyed the museum, and there were lots of painted cels, sketches, character design concepts, model sheets, and interactive exhibits to enjoy, and there were also some absolutely gorgeous paintings of backgrounds from the Ghibli films which were incredibly impressive and inspiring. I was disappointed that you weren’t able to take photographs as there were so many amazing things I would have liked to take pictures of. You were only allowed to take pictures in a few outside areas.

There was a room that was designed to look just like a personal Animation studio, and there was a shelf that contained all the different types of coloured paints that used on cels in the older Ghibli movies. I thought this was a fascinating part of the museum as cels are seldom used anymore to make films and it was like looking at a part of film history.

At the end of the tour, I got to see an exclusive clip from the newest Hayao Miyazaki movie that is going to be released in 2020. It felt very special that I had the opportunity to see part of this film, and I am looking forward to seeing the whole movie when it comes out (though it’s quite a long wait). 

This was definitely one of my favourite museums that I have visited so far, as it made me feel very inspired seeing all of the different work that has been produced by the Studio. It also made me happy to see that Ghibli’s films are so popular and loved by so many people. Sunday has definitely been the highlight of the student exchange for me so far, and was a truly a once in a lifetime experience.

Other than this, my time at University has been amazing and I think I just need to keep hanging on to those positive feelings. I have done amazing things and I have a lot of things to look forward to.

For my Japanese Animation class, I have to produce a short, 3 minute Animatic entitled “My Story”, which means it has to be based off of a personal story/ memory that you feel strongly about. Originally, I was going to make my animation about a very sad and personal memory about the sudden death of my uncle, but I decided this was maybe too heavy a topic to tackle, so I decided to go with a much lighter and comedic story about an embarrassing memory I have from secondary school. So far I have made about half of the Animatic, and have drawn one complete turnaround for the main character. I also plan to do another turnaround another character in the story when I have completed more of the Animatic. I will post some work below and update as I progress.

Here are some concept sketches for the two main characters.