Dicking Around
Hulloo! Been a while! I spent most of March in New Zealand for a mix of research/spring break/time in the sun, which was well received (I was getting awfully pale in the Japanese winter!)
Rather than giving a play by play of the month in New Zealand, I thought I'd throw a photo montage up instead before filling you all in on the current goings on now that I'm back in Tokyo:
Basically when I wasn't doing research in Wellington I was with friends and family, mostly in Nelson, but a little bit in the North Island as well, venturing with Perry up to Castlepoint, where we made friends with the wildlife and gazed upon the Pacific. Lots of craft beer was had, some photographic techniques played with, dogs played with, galleries visited, and general shenanigans had.
Back in Japan, I arrived at the end of 'Hanami" season. Hanami literally means 'flower viewing', so called because the sakura cherry blossoms are in full bloom, so what better way to celebrate the end of winter than by having picnics under the flowers?
All kinds of Japanese come out for this, with everyone drinking and eating, playing games, and generally being merry. Lots of people playing music, it was a far cry from the cold and grey Japan I left at the start of March - there was pink everywhere!
The highlight of my first weekend however was on the Sunday: the Kanamara Festival at Kanamara Shrine in Kawasaki. Legend has it, a woman was possessed by a demon, who took up residence in her vagina, and whenever she was with a man, the demon would bite off his penis (ouch). Deciding enough was enough, the woman went to a blacksmith and requested he forge her an iron phallus. Presumably with a bewildered look, he got to work, and the woman used the effigy on herself. The demon, thinking it another hapless man, bit down, and broke all his teeth. Disarmed (or is that disteethed?), the demon fled, and everyone else lived happily ever after (except perhaps the previous lovers of the woman). Now the penis is kept at the shrine as an idol to the gods of mining and blacksmiths, but it has also become an icon for prostitutes (to ward away STDs), as well as people wanting fertility (for obvious reasons). It has also become a popular place for the LGBT community, and a drag queen club has donated a second phallus to the shrine, which is carried in the procession once a year alongside the original iron one. With this popularity, proceeds from the festival now go to HIV research, which is a worthy cause I think!
Getting to the festival was not difficult, because as soon as I got to Shibuya (still around 40 minutes from the festival location) I just followed the sea of tourists who had the same Sunday plan as I.... And we were not disappointed! Penis related everything was on sale, from lollipops and whistles to shirts and keyrings and hats.
The penises themselves were on palanquins for all to see, and several hours after I arrived, the parade started. Being held aloft by hapi coat wearing men (for the iron phallus) and drag queens (for the donated big pink dick), it was carried down the street through a sea of people - quite the spectacle! In addition to the penises, there were numerous priests and priestesses, tourists with penis hats, and drag queens helping with traffic management. It was all a bit bizarre!
Onto a more serious note now, the reason I'm here - a Master's degree at Tokyo University (not that you'd know from the last six months of this blog!) Last week was the first week after spring break, and so the first week of me as an M1 (Master's Student first year)
I now have far more information than I have had for a long time here, so here goes:
I am doing a mixture of thesis and coursework for my masters (which I understand will confer upon me an MSc in International Studies - the idea of me having a science masters on top of law and humanities undergraduate degrees is a bit of a laugh). For the coursework, I have to take 30 points over the next two years. 8 of these come from my weekly seminar with my professor, with the other 22 coming from courses of my choosing. From this, 12 can come from courses outside of my department.
The academic year at Todai is split into two, and then into two again. There is a spring and an autumn semester (S and A respectively), and each of these is split into terms one and two. Some courses run across both terms, and others only across one. Those that run across both S1 and S2/A1 and A2 are worth two credits, while those that run only across one term are worth one credit. In addition, there are 'intensive' courses, which might run for one week, but have daily classes (all of my regular courses have one class a week for an hour forty five minutes).
I have stacked my courses so that I am getting something like 12 credits this semester, with the aim of getting the other 10 in the Autumn. This means next year I will be able to entirely dedicate my time to thesis work. I am taking courses on things like agricultural development, water development, disaster recovery, collective decision making, environmental systems, and debates and ethics of science.
In addition to this, I took something that I would ordinarily never take - an intensive course on mathematics. My day one orientation was entirely in Japanese, and I understood this week long course, which I finished Wednesday, to be compulsory...by the time I realised this not to be the case I had already done half of it and so I decided to ride out the storm. We had a placement test day one (4/10 for me), which put us into teams, in which we were to work through the week's curriculum, and then we'd have a test at the end of the week to see how we fared. Being entirely in Japanese I found it even more of a struggle than I would normally (and as someone who is certifiably useless at maths that is quite a struggle), but my teammates were incredible in dragging me along. The final test was arguably an improvement, where I got 25/120 (though in fairness I could only answer 11 of the 50 or so questions - again in Japanese), from 4 correct. As I cannot emphasize enough how garbage I am at maths, this was considered a success by me, and so I left the class chuckling to myself. It also turns out that the final score isn't necessary for gaining a credit; only active participation and evidence of having worked with the problems. So on Monday I will walk to the professor's office, drop off a dossier of my notes from the last week, and I'll be 1/30 on my way to fulfilling my credit requirements!
On a more practical note, I am living in Komaba Lodge, but studying in Kashiwa. For those who don't know, Komaba is in West Tokyo, and Kashiwa is on the far side of Chiba Prefecture (the province next to Tokyo). This means I have a 113 minute commute one way, across two trains, and with a 15 minute walk at the beginning. This was going to be costing me around $15 one way every day, so I have invested in a teikiken commuter pass, which set me back close to $700 for three months, but it will pay for itself within 6 weeks. Fortunately I am going against the flow of traffic coming into Tokyo, so I get a seat on the trains and plenty of space to spread out - I am listening to a LOT of podcasts every day. The commute also means if I have a class in first period (starting at 8.30), I have to wake up at 5.40 and depart the dormitory at 6.20 - meaning my circadian rhythm basically has me operating on NZT perpetually - but I figure this has set me up nicely.
In Japan, entrance ceremonies are a big thing. This serves to congratulate new students as they begin at primary/intermediate/college/university, hear some encouraging words from important people, sing the school song, etc etc. For this, classes were cancelled yesterday so that we could all go to Nippon Budokan (a huge performance venue a stones throw from the Imperial Palace) where all first year post graduate students donned suits, had photos with family, and then spent an hour forty listening to some old guys talk. Not terribly engaging, but when the school song was sung, led by a student with some VERY enthusiastic conducting, I was cackling away with my (Japanese) friends.
While the entrance ceremony wasn't necessarily the most interesting thing in the world, the after-party certainly was worth the wait. The new students from my department (International Studies at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences) booked into a three hour long, all you can and drink Korean/Japanese restaurant, where we made merry, having a grand old time. This was followed up by a visit to an all you can drink bar (if Japan's attitude to alcohol was transplanted to New Zealand we would all be dead within a week). After 6 hours of eating and mostly drinking, it was back to the dorm, and then up again at 6.30 (no maths class first period anymore), and back to Kashiwa for class!
This weekend is a good mix of normal and novel, with my Saturday mostly spent at work doing English conversation, but in the evening we have the Komaba Lodge welcome party, which will no doubt turn into shenanigans. Sunday I am planning to go to Yabusame (horseback archery) in Kanagawa, so be sure to look for some photos of that!
Now that I'm back and in the swing of things (finally) I am hoping to get back into this on a more regular basis, and keeping a good work/life balance at that!
Til next time friendos!
Troy :)
Rather than giving a play by play of the month in New Zealand, I thought I'd throw a photo montage up instead before filling you all in on the current goings on now that I'm back in Tokyo:
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| I had the privilege of photographing my friend, Perry Crous, at his Barrister and Solicitor's Admission |
Basically when I wasn't doing research in Wellington I was with friends and family, mostly in Nelson, but a little bit in the North Island as well, venturing with Perry up to Castlepoint, where we made friends with the wildlife and gazed upon the Pacific. Lots of craft beer was had, some photographic techniques played with, dogs played with, galleries visited, and general shenanigans had.
Back in Japan, I arrived at the end of 'Hanami" season. Hanami literally means 'flower viewing', so called because the sakura cherry blossoms are in full bloom, so what better way to celebrate the end of winter than by having picnics under the flowers?
All kinds of Japanese come out for this, with everyone drinking and eating, playing games, and generally being merry. Lots of people playing music, it was a far cry from the cold and grey Japan I left at the start of March - there was pink everywhere!
The highlight of my first weekend however was on the Sunday: the Kanamara Festival at Kanamara Shrine in Kawasaki. Legend has it, a woman was possessed by a demon, who took up residence in her vagina, and whenever she was with a man, the demon would bite off his penis (ouch). Deciding enough was enough, the woman went to a blacksmith and requested he forge her an iron phallus. Presumably with a bewildered look, he got to work, and the woman used the effigy on herself. The demon, thinking it another hapless man, bit down, and broke all his teeth. Disarmed (or is that disteethed?), the demon fled, and everyone else lived happily ever after (except perhaps the previous lovers of the woman). Now the penis is kept at the shrine as an idol to the gods of mining and blacksmiths, but it has also become an icon for prostitutes (to ward away STDs), as well as people wanting fertility (for obvious reasons). It has also become a popular place for the LGBT community, and a drag queen club has donated a second phallus to the shrine, which is carried in the procession once a year alongside the original iron one. With this popularity, proceeds from the festival now go to HIV research, which is a worthy cause I think!
Getting to the festival was not difficult, because as soon as I got to Shibuya (still around 40 minutes from the festival location) I just followed the sea of tourists who had the same Sunday plan as I.... And we were not disappointed! Penis related everything was on sale, from lollipops and whistles to shirts and keyrings and hats.
The penises themselves were on palanquins for all to see, and several hours after I arrived, the parade started. Being held aloft by hapi coat wearing men (for the iron phallus) and drag queens (for the donated big pink dick), it was carried down the street through a sea of people - quite the spectacle! In addition to the penises, there were numerous priests and priestesses, tourists with penis hats, and drag queens helping with traffic management. It was all a bit bizarre!
Onto a more serious note now, the reason I'm here - a Master's degree at Tokyo University (not that you'd know from the last six months of this blog!) Last week was the first week after spring break, and so the first week of me as an M1 (Master's Student first year)
I now have far more information than I have had for a long time here, so here goes:
I am doing a mixture of thesis and coursework for my masters (which I understand will confer upon me an MSc in International Studies - the idea of me having a science masters on top of law and humanities undergraduate degrees is a bit of a laugh). For the coursework, I have to take 30 points over the next two years. 8 of these come from my weekly seminar with my professor, with the other 22 coming from courses of my choosing. From this, 12 can come from courses outside of my department.
The academic year at Todai is split into two, and then into two again. There is a spring and an autumn semester (S and A respectively), and each of these is split into terms one and two. Some courses run across both terms, and others only across one. Those that run across both S1 and S2/A1 and A2 are worth two credits, while those that run only across one term are worth one credit. In addition, there are 'intensive' courses, which might run for one week, but have daily classes (all of my regular courses have one class a week for an hour forty five minutes).
I have stacked my courses so that I am getting something like 12 credits this semester, with the aim of getting the other 10 in the Autumn. This means next year I will be able to entirely dedicate my time to thesis work. I am taking courses on things like agricultural development, water development, disaster recovery, collective decision making, environmental systems, and debates and ethics of science.
In addition to this, I took something that I would ordinarily never take - an intensive course on mathematics. My day one orientation was entirely in Japanese, and I understood this week long course, which I finished Wednesday, to be compulsory...by the time I realised this not to be the case I had already done half of it and so I decided to ride out the storm. We had a placement test day one (4/10 for me), which put us into teams, in which we were to work through the week's curriculum, and then we'd have a test at the end of the week to see how we fared. Being entirely in Japanese I found it even more of a struggle than I would normally (and as someone who is certifiably useless at maths that is quite a struggle), but my teammates were incredible in dragging me along. The final test was arguably an improvement, where I got 25/120 (though in fairness I could only answer 11 of the 50 or so questions - again in Japanese), from 4 correct. As I cannot emphasize enough how garbage I am at maths, this was considered a success by me, and so I left the class chuckling to myself. It also turns out that the final score isn't necessary for gaining a credit; only active participation and evidence of having worked with the problems. So on Monday I will walk to the professor's office, drop off a dossier of my notes from the last week, and I'll be 1/30 on my way to fulfilling my credit requirements!
On a more practical note, I am living in Komaba Lodge, but studying in Kashiwa. For those who don't know, Komaba is in West Tokyo, and Kashiwa is on the far side of Chiba Prefecture (the province next to Tokyo). This means I have a 113 minute commute one way, across two trains, and with a 15 minute walk at the beginning. This was going to be costing me around $15 one way every day, so I have invested in a teikiken commuter pass, which set me back close to $700 for three months, but it will pay for itself within 6 weeks. Fortunately I am going against the flow of traffic coming into Tokyo, so I get a seat on the trains and plenty of space to spread out - I am listening to a LOT of podcasts every day. The commute also means if I have a class in first period (starting at 8.30), I have to wake up at 5.40 and depart the dormitory at 6.20 - meaning my circadian rhythm basically has me operating on NZT perpetually - but I figure this has set me up nicely.
In Japan, entrance ceremonies are a big thing. This serves to congratulate new students as they begin at primary/intermediate/college/university, hear some encouraging words from important people, sing the school song, etc etc. For this, classes were cancelled yesterday so that we could all go to Nippon Budokan (a huge performance venue a stones throw from the Imperial Palace) where all first year post graduate students donned suits, had photos with family, and then spent an hour forty listening to some old guys talk. Not terribly engaging, but when the school song was sung, led by a student with some VERY enthusiastic conducting, I was cackling away with my (Japanese) friends.
While the entrance ceremony wasn't necessarily the most interesting thing in the world, the after-party certainly was worth the wait. The new students from my department (International Studies at the Graduate School of Frontier Sciences) booked into a three hour long, all you can and drink Korean/Japanese restaurant, where we made merry, having a grand old time. This was followed up by a visit to an all you can drink bar (if Japan's attitude to alcohol was transplanted to New Zealand we would all be dead within a week). After 6 hours of eating and mostly drinking, it was back to the dorm, and then up again at 6.30 (no maths class first period anymore), and back to Kashiwa for class!
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| Everything was live translated into Japanese sign language, which I thought surprising progressive for Japan |
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| The Dean/Chancellor of Todai |
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| Hilarious conducting |
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| First year post grad students of DOIS at GSFS |
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| The first of many many courses |
This weekend is a good mix of normal and novel, with my Saturday mostly spent at work doing English conversation, but in the evening we have the Komaba Lodge welcome party, which will no doubt turn into shenanigans. Sunday I am planning to go to Yabusame (horseback archery) in Kanagawa, so be sure to look for some photos of that!
Now that I'm back and in the swing of things (finally) I am hoping to get back into this on a more regular basis, and keeping a good work/life balance at that!
Til next time friendos!
Troy :)
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