I had meant to post sooner, but it just didn't happen. The Wi-fi in the airport was awful, and I barely had any time to use it anyway, since my first flight was an hour late, cutting my layover in half. And once I arrived, I realized I hadn't packed a power converter for my laptop, and would have to hunt around for that. Looking back though:


The flight


The first flight was great. "Enterprise" was the in-flight movie and I sat next to Tom, another student studying abroad. We talked about our respective programs, and home cities, and ate his home-made beef-jerky. Not bad. And only 3 hours

The second flight came after a frustrating rush in the San-fran Airport to get food, change money, and call home briefly. Between that and the lateness of the first flight, there was just enough time for everything before it was time to take off. While I waited, I chatted with another study abroad student waiting to board, a Michael Myer. Really. Seems he's already studied for a while in Beijing, and is trying Kansai out now. And I thought going to Japan was something.

Once we boarded and went our separate ways (his isle much farther back) I settled into my very roomy economy plus seat (no sarcasm, it really was pretty comfy). For some time the seat next to me was empty, but just as I was starting to think it was unbooked a Japanese business woman in her 30's sat down. It was awkward at first, but we started to talk: she was employed by a prune juice EXTRACT company, as were the group she was guiding onto the plane. From what I gathered (and she volunteered), the trip here was a reward for particular success at their job. I mentioned Kansai Gaidai, and her face brightened: apparently she'd graduated from there herself.

Arrival and first day:

On arrival we were directed towards the security setup, a non-descript, grimy white room where they checked for influenza (by country (and obvious signs perhaps), then gathered fingerprints and photos, collected our disembarkment form and sent us on. Then baggage pickup, another form collection, and we were out in the main area of the airport. Instantly the mood of the space changed, from sparse, no-nonsense security wall to colorful, bursting commercialism of the kind you'd expect from airports.

Several representatives from Kansai were waiting for us, dressed to the hilt. We were directed to a medium-sized bus, which we boarded, then watched in embarrassment as the driver struggled to get our mountain of massive luggage in place.

After this was a long, meandering drive through Osaka/Hirakata to the school. As tired as I was, it was something to see. This was the big part, the reveal, as we crossed a massive bridge to the mainland and got to see the city for the first time.




And what a sight. High guards covered the edges of the highway on both sides, but over and through them we could see the metropolis. The first word that comes to mind is sprawl, and as I've started wandering today that word has sunk deeper. The Kansai area is sprawling, in a way that's hard to fully understand without being here. A metaphor for those who, like me come from the mid-west: imagine Wisconsin Dells with one-hundred times the population and no zoning whatsoever. Much of the area looks almost tourist-trap-ish: themed suburbs, amusement facilities everywhere (driving ranges especially. At least one small theme park.






But the (seeming) lack of zoning is the most striking part. You may be standing next to a house. Walk a few yards, and you may be standing next to a business. A few more and it's a factory. A few more and it's a small garden, not flower but vegetable. Certainly similar things tend to be clumped together, and a given location is more likely to attract one thing than the other: suburbs are mostly houses, and you're more likely to find businesses on a major street. But the rules are far from absolute, or even generally followed. The most perfect example of this was a scene I hope to get on film eventually: in the middle of your view is a large, wide apartment building. In front of it grows an impressive garden. And behind it, literally on the next lot, an industrial smokestack pumps classically filthy smog into the air.

There are no blocks. I'm getting into current experience now, but I'll get back to the narrative. Roads go where they must, curving and twisting as they feel like. No particular structure to them. As a result the infrastructure feels more organic, like a life form evolved over time rather than a crafted machine, laid out to perform a function. This makes navigation maddening, but also a lot of fun.

The other observation is that everything is squashed. On a low-traffic residential road in the US there are two lanes, sidewalks, and often even boulevards. Then a lawn, and finally a house. In the big cities this diminishes, but you still can rely on a side-walk and two lanes almost all the time.

Residential streets here are like back-alleys. No sidewalks, one lane, and a very very, small lane at that, and high speed limits. The roads are kept up beautifully, but they are very small and very twisty. The larger roads do widen out into two or more proper lanes, but even then sidewalks are scarce. You walk in the space there is, and keep an eye out.

But back to the story. We arrived, unpacked, and got set up. After a bit of info, we were told there would be a brief tour of the surrounding shops at 8. No, not 8 tomorrow, 8 this evening. Asking that of jetlagged students who have been in the air for over half a day is a bit much, but I braced myself and went along anyway. The knowledge gained of the immediate area was incredibly helpful, and the tour is an excellent idea: It just might be better to put it off till the next morning.

The room itself is pretty impressive: new, well laid-out and pretty spacious by Japanese standards. Once the homestay roommate moves out I should have an entire closed and drawers to myself, as well as a small desk and shelves.






The view from my window:



While waiting for the tour I discovered my lack of a power converter, scrambled to call home briefly, then hung out with the other students in the Seminar house and traded origins and interests. Most are from the US, although there are a few from South American, Canada, and at least one from Australia. After the tour I returned to my room, gave up on the laptop for the night and, after getting things mostly settled in, collapsed on the bed.


Day 2

Jet lag woke me up at six local time. I had bought milk and cereal on the tour earlier, but they were both useless as I had forgot to get a bowl, spoon, and cup (or rather, not realized I needed to). A trip was called for.

I set out to the 100 yen store, managed to find everything needed, and was almost back when I saw Mike. He ended up in house three, rather than four, so I hadn't seen him since the drop-off. Even better, he happened to mention power converters and, when I explained my problem, noted he had several. So we stopped by house three to pick one up, then went out to explore the area, since each of us still had a few items to get (a light and batteries for my part). Watching him ask for directions made a valuable point: you don't have to be brilliant or fluent to figure out where you're going. With a little practice maybe I can start asking my way around soon. Oh, we also stopped at a real Ramen shop for some (much needed) lunch. Seven hundred yen got us giant bowls of amazingly delicious noodles.

I also sampled the various novel drinks as we went. Vending machines really are everywhere: every block or so on average. Even in residential areas. My first try was an orange drink with a kind of gel-ish sludge mixed in. Kind of like Slice with pulverized gummy bears mixed in. Not bad actually. I think I'm gonna start a collection of the cans. One of the biggest companies operating the vending machines is Suntory, and their labelling is unmistakable. Across the bright-blue side of every machine is the white etching of a very business-like man with a pipe, and below it their slogan:

"Suntory is the boss of them all since 1992."

Beautiful.

Just a brief post today. My flight leaves tomorrow: at 6:20. So to avoid a painfully late drive, I'm camped out with the family in a hotel called La Quinta. Incredibly good for the price. I was expecting a creepy horror film motel: it's actually pretty large, well stocked and comfy. No photos today; hopefully a few tomorrow. Between the early departure and the long flights it might be tricky, but I'll try to get at least one good post in before the day is up. The actual arrival will probably have to wait til the next day's post.

Hello all!

I'm Casey Carroll, something like a Junior at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. This fall semester I'll be studying abroad at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan and doing my best to record the experience here.

Studying abroad anywhere, let alone Japan, is one of those things that doesn't really process until you're into it. It's just too big. I've rarely been out of my home state, and never out of the country before. In a way this makes me all the more eager to go: I'm twenty three and eager to get out and see the world. And I'm far from inddifferent to Japan: Japanese is my minor and I draw a lot of inspiration from the country and its culture, part of which feeds into my major, Illustration.

At the same time it's certainly intimidating. A lot is in the air, unknown. But that's a good sign. All worth-while adventures start that way.

This marks a lot of firsts for me: first time out of the country, first serious attempt at (semi)publicly blogging, first visit to Japan. Should be fun.

I'm keeping this blog for two main reasons: first, because I'll be discussing my time abroad with fellow-students and classes after I get back, and second as a handy way to journal for myself. Even if no one else ever lays eyes on this blog, it still has the advantage of being a durable journal that's easy to use and read, where I can compile thoughts, photos, movies and links for future reference.

That said, if you have happened to stumble on this blog somehow, by all means subscribe or slap up a bookmark. I'll be leaving on the 28th and arriving the following day, having spent some eleven hours in the air on the over-sea flight. I've only flown once before, but even that was enough that I can [sarcasm]hardly wait[/sarcasm]. Once I'm there and settled in, I plan on updating twice a week, though I might slip back to once a week instead. Until the flight draws nearer though, this blog will probably idle for a few days.

Till next I post!