When I was in Tokyo for Golden Week I visited several districts.  Shibuya, Shinjuku, Harajuku and other famous areas I was able to explore and see what Tokyo had to offer.  One district I personally had a lot of fun at was Akihabara.  Of course this is known by some as the otaku capital of the world, however I was curious to see if this was actually the case.  To my great surprise, it was exactly what I expected it to be.  People looking in shops that were plastered with pictures of AKB-48 members, talking to their friends or themselves about how cute they looked in their school girl uniforms.  The streets lined up with young looking women dressed in maid costumes beckoning people into their café.  I had always had a stereotype that maid cafes were visited by creepy otaku Japanese guys to be served by young girls dressed in reveling maid costumes in a completely sexualized atmosphere.  In order to confirm my suspicions I decided to try one out. 

 When I walked in I was greeted with the usual “welcome back master” and was showed to a seat at the bar.  Looking around, I saw young girls dressed in maid costumes and middle aged men sitting at tables clutching their newly bought manga of some sort.  At this moment I realized that I was the only girl customer in the entire café and immediately ordered a beer.  The maid washed my hands for me with a cloth and brought me my beer.  Relaxing slightly, I began to listen to the conversations around me.  To my great and utter surprise they were completely innocent conversations.  Of course somewhat socially awkward in their execution however, just a normal conversation talking about their favorite anime characters or problems that they were having at work.  It actually caught me off guard.  The innocence of the actions around me was almost appalling.  By ordering anything at the bar you could play one game with one of the maids. When one said game, I was almost afraid to see what the game was. But when I asked to play I was showed a list of games that consisted of Jenga, Uno and several other board games.  I wondered to myself how can something that I expected to be so sexualized be so innocent.  However because of this experience I was able to realize that maid cafes are made for people who are not respected in society, who do not have people to listen to their conversations about anime and games.  I could almost say that I felt as though this sort of place was not a bad thing but something good to help these people feel respected and encourage them to talk and engage in other people.  All in all it was a good experience. 

What do Japanese people do?  Of course they do a lot of different things.  They cook different foods, they work different jobs and they practice different religions.  However regardless of the age, type of person or upbringing, Japanese people love sports.  Soccer, Baseball, Rugby, even Ultimate Frisbee; the collective exciting atmosphere really appeals to the Japanese.  In general they also love outdoor activities, especially hiking.  Japan, being a mountainous region allows for a large range of different hiking areas and trails.  In general the Japanese find the mountains to be somewhat of a tranquil place, untouched by society. Therefore, we can assume that Japanese people spend time in the mountains to get away, to think, or to take a break from the stressful life that takes place in the cities below.  Coming from a region that has no mountains at all, hiking was also a personal first for me.  I was always curious why people, especially my Japanese friends love to do it so I decided to try it out myself. 

A friend and I had decided to go to Hoshi no Buranko, a local hiking spot that is about a 30 minute train ride away from Hirakata station.  Upon arriving to the entrance to the trail leading into the mountain, I was surprised of range of different people that had decided to go hiking that day. There were the people that I had expected to be there, the people with the full hiking getup who looked like they were a cutout from a magazine.  However there were also families with babies and children, groups of college guys just having a guy’s day out and even the couple on their Sunday date.  What really got me was the girl was wearing heals even for a hiking date, which I personally could not help respecting because the terrain was not smooth when winding up the mountain. 

I suppose what was the most famous part of this trail was the large bridge that connected the tops of two small mountains.  Standing on it was definitely pretty and as for the couple that strayed behind I suppose that was the goal of their date.  Continuing on with the trail we reached the top of the mountain and had a perfect view of Hirakata and some of Kyoto.  All and all I was not only able to see the different types of people that participate in hiking, but discover for myself why Japanese people consider the mountains to be such an important part of their culture. 

 What does a Japanese person look like?  From what I have seen, they generally have dark brown to black semi-straight hair.  Pale to average tinted skin and almond shaped eyes.  Of course that’s just what Japanese people are born with, that’s not including the people with dyed hair or who wear colored contacts.  In a country where everyone is born with generally the same features, the amount of diversity that actually exists is surprising. For example, within Japanese society as a whole there are several sub-cultures of people that look and act a certain way.  For example the “gyaru” and “gyaruo” that exist mostly in largely populated areas.  They have a tendency to dye their hair a ridiculous shade of orange-blonde, wear incredibly fierce heels or overly large jeans and shoes in the male case, and wear colored contacts.  In my opinion this genre of Japanese is closely related and intertwined with the “yanki” and “yakuza” genre of people.  Even though this sort of extreme type of self expression exists in Japanese society, it is not as common as one expects.  For choosing a “portrait of a Japanese person” I decided on someone who is a good friend of mine and who has a good balance of individuality and Japanese.  

This is Kayo Ikoma, we have been friends for several years now and convincing her to participate in this exercise was not difficult at all.  For the first portrait I chose, it not only shows off the physical characteristics of a Japanese person, (dark hair, almond brown eyes) but it also has a taste of what a “Japanese” lifestyle is.  By showing her standing at a bus stop in the morning the viewer gets an idea on how much Japanese people value public transportation.   However she personally asked me to not show the specific bus stop sign for privacy reasons.

The second picture, I chose to express a more personal version of Kayo by showing her participation on two very important things in her life: sweets and work.  In the picture she is eating a large candy bar and wearing a suit.  By showing her eating a candy bar the viewer understands that sweets or indulging in things that one enjoys are important to this person.   Also by her wearing a suit it shows that she also actively participates in Japanese society by going to work every day. 

Up until now, what I have seen of Hirakata is a good mixture of rural, residential and urban landscape.  It is conveniently located roughly between downtown Osaka and Kyoto, therefore it allows for a mixture of people.  Its current population is approximately 407,000 people and its one of the larger cities within Osaka prefecture.  I suppose the most known aspect of Hirakata is the amusement park Hirakata Park that was opened up in 1910 and was the first amusement park to be created in the Kansai area.  However from where I live, I would need to get on a train and pass through three stations to reach the amusement park, therefore I am going to focus on an area closer to where I currently live. 

Near the seminar houses there is a park that is a great place to observe both the scenery and people of Japan, and no I am not talking about “Beer Park” I am talking about Yamada-ike Koen.  The park is located near Ichi-go Sen highway and is roughly a seven minute bike ride from the seminar houses.  There is no particular difference from this park than the other parks of Japan however it is in my opinion a great spot in Hirakata.  The park consists of several winding paths connected by a large one that circles the lake in the center.   It is a great to relax and get away from the bustling roads and sidewalks that make up a lot of Hirakata. 

One of my favorite aspects of the park is that depending on the time of day you go, the type of people change.  Whenever I go and run the park I usually go in the morning, therefore you see lots of elderly people taking their morning walk.  In my opinion the entire elderly population of Hirakata walks Yamada-ike Koen in the morning.  If you go around noon you’ll usually find mothers taking their children to play and adventure along its many paths. In the evening you might see young people still in school uniforms hanging out or couples hand in hand sitting by the lake.

One unusual thing that I noticed about the park is the number of stray cats that roam the woods and thickets by the lake.  It almost gives off the vibe that the cats run the park and you’re intruding upon their space.  Upon further investigation, I discovered that a lot of Japanese people come to the park to release previous house cats that they cannot care for anymore.  It is quite a sad reality actually.  Also most of the cats are bob tailed.

So, I suppose I'm supposed to write all these wonderful things about my first impression on Japan on how it's so different than my home country. How it's so clean, ancient, and how everyone is so nice and wonderful.  Well being here for quite a decent amount of time I suppose it's kind of hard to remember the first impression I had of Japan.

I have never written a blog before, nor have I ever really been interested in writing one.  However I could make a guess that blogs are made for other people to read, look at and learn from.  So I figured I would base my first post on something that would be a little different than what other foreign exchange students from Kansai Gaidai are used to, or what they have been up to during their first month or so in Osaka.   Also I participated in something that I personally have never done before, therefore it could be considered my "first impression" of a certain part of Japan. 

This entire week it felt, especially today that I just had too much stress built up.  With the semester well on its way, and a combination of personal things I felt like a had to go on an adventure.   I ended up getting out of class in the early afternoon and the weather seemed right I decided I would go to Kyobashi.  I felt as though the destination for this adventure was a good choice so I decided to pack up my backpack and head down to Hirakata station.  However I had no intention on getting on a train.  I had a good plan of finding my way down there on my bike.  I was a little nervous at first considering I have never taken this route and also I was riding on a broken bike.  But of course it all worked out the same.  Thanks to the running club I had known about the Yodogawa trail that follows the Yodo river and leads from Kyoto to Osaka and luckily for me there is a nice entrance to it behind Hirakata Station.   

I entered the trail and enjoyed the entire ride.  It’s amazing how quiet the trail is compared to the roads above and the city around it.  I passed people walking their dogs, cycling on their bikes and running what seemed to be miles.  I passed people smoking cigarrets while fishing in the river, and old ladies gossiping together while their grandchildren played together in the grass.  My personal favorite part was passing the little homeless people village that was set up in a little clearing in a thicket next to the river.  There were tents, bicycles and clothes hanging to dry surrounded by little fences of tarp.  It was quite an amazing sight.  Right around Kyobashi I realized that the sun was starting to set so I decided to turn around and head back.  I arrived back in Hirakata just as the sun was fully set.  The entire ride took around three hours, however it was an incredibly good time.   I personally felt as though I saw a part of Japan that not many people have seen before, and I plan on doing it again sometime in the near future.