I figured I could start with one of my favorite photos I took while I was abroad the first time. An attempt to cut the awkwardness I'm feeling at keeping a blog.
Even though I'm not actually in Japan yet, I am going to fire up the ol' creative engine and try to commit as much as I can to the electronic page about the whole experience of readying myself and then actually being there. It remains to be seen just how consistent I will be with posts, but I'm hoping to recreate this little corner of the internet into a space where I can share stories, photos, and thoughts with the largest number of people and not have to bother with personalized e-mails and Skype calls. Not for nothing, but there will be nothing to tell if I'm sitting around talking to everyone from home in between the presumable deluge of homework coming my way.
So let's get down to brass tacks. Even though anyone reading this blog likely already knows all of this, I'm going to write it all down just for clarity, and also for the sake of keeping with the forward momentum. I will be venturing to Japan to enroll in the Inter-University Center of Japanese Language Studies' 10-month program in Yokohama, which begins orientation on September 6th. My main purpose in all of this is to get my language skills up to the point where I'm capable and comfortable conversing, reading and writing in Japanese so that I am rip-rarin' to go if I am able to get into a Ph.D. program in history for the fall of 2011 (that cannot be a real number). Seeing as though I am 5 years out of my last stay in Japan, my abilities have slipped considerably and at most, the language courses I've taken as a Master's student have stopped the brain drain. As it stands, I am nowhere near what I could do in 2005. I will be living in a monthly mansion in 三ッ沢下町 (Mitsuzawa-shimocho) and will be (from what I understand) taking on a considerable workload, a kind of Japanese boot camp. There are a few details here and there that I'm not going to bother to write down, but that is basically what I have to work with once I depart for Japan on August 24th from Seattle, arriving at Narita on the afternoon of August 25th. From there on, it will be up to me to fill in the blanks with something worth writing about.
It seemed this was a good a time as any to start this blog. I've got a month to get myself in gear before venturing abroad, a month that will include a week in New York (August 11-18th) as well as a number of errands I don't want to run and wish someone would do for me. I just recently bought my plane tickets this past Friday, I will be heading to the Consulate to put in the final paperwork for my visa, and I also just got word that my funding is on its way if I jump into that mass of bureaucratic red tape and by the end of it looking something like this, only a lot less sexy and fashion-forward:
With all of this starting to sink in, it's set off a flurry of thoughts for me about my experiences with Japan and made me wonder just what I can expect this time around. I know I'm different and I know Japan will be different, so what kind of cocktail will this be? I'm always down for a cassis and soda (my drink of choice the first time I was there, and what I continue to order when I can here stateside), I like anything with whiskey, and there's also something to be said about the surprise of a specialty cocktail... I'm just trying to avoid the molotov variety, thanks. This trip is a long time in coming, and in truth, the real reason I entered graduate school in the first place was so that I could one day go abroad again. I thought about teaching English in Japan, but I knew that wasn't for me, and it's nigh impossible to get there as a company employee, particularly with my language skills. So here I am, going about this the only way I know how: as a career student.
I have also done a lot of thinking in recent days about how I have not written for myself in a long time. I've got pages and pages of research papers - many of which I am quite proud - but it used to be that I would take time to - if not write outright fiction - at least contemplate the world around me through the blank page. I miss doing it, and considering that at least in my own mind I have an audience, it will keep me from the same self-indulgent, melodramatic style that makes me so embarrassed about my old diaries (no you cannot and will not ever be able to read them). More so than providing entertainment (though as you all know, I am more than happy to play the dancing monkey), I want this to be a chance to reignite those parts of my mind that have laid either dormant or roiling in inert agitation for years. I'm killing many birds (why settle for two?) with one stone here: recharging my writing skills, documenting what is sure to be an eventful year so that when I'm old, infirm and (more) curmudgeonly I can look back and remember when I was, er, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed or something to that effect, finding a place to dump all the photos I'm sure to take (Facebook already hates me), and also reaching out to whatever form of an audience I can create. I guess I will just have to see how many of those birds I actually kill... maybe I should just aim for maiming them slightly, or maybe just not pissing them off enough that they turn me into a Tippie Hedren-shaped bullseye.
At this point, it's a potent mixture of optimism and anxiety. I'm excited at the prospect of a new adventure (and having just watched "Up," I'm itching for one), but in my characteristic style, I am worried about everything. Best thing I can do at this point is get all my ducks (or should I just say birds? I'm trying not to mix metaphors too much here) in a row. For my own peace of mind, I can at least set up the bare bones for a life in Japan and then flesh everything else out once I am there. Ugh, too late on that metaphor mixing.
And a word on this blog's title: it's lifted from an Elvis Costello song about being a foreigner in another land, one which I listened to a lot when I was in Japan the first time around (the entire "King of America" album is worth listening to). Maybe I'll change it, maybe I won't, but for now, it serves its purpose in tying past with present, and also is a warning to you all that I am going to keep with obscure references that likely only mean something to me. It's what gets me through the day, and also gives me an excuse to post youtube videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX0D1oVM_1E
Here's hoping I don't feel nearly as lost as EC does in this song.
Yay for blogs. Even more ways for me to stalk you now :-)
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