Kwansei Gakuin Playas

Well, today I was having lunch with one of my friends Win and he told me something very interesting about my school that of course the ryugakusei's don't know about. Well, the nihongo partners esp. the girl ones are partners because well they want a foreign boyfriend. Basically, the team up with a cute foreign guy and then when he leaves the nihongo partner gets a new one. For non Kwansei Gakuin students basically at my school with get nihongo partners *japanese partners to help us adjust to school and life in Japan. Some of them do it just to switch up foreign boyfriends every year... I know pretty sneaky... hahah! Other than that, he told me how he went to South Africa and he saw women that are mixed with black/indian and think that they are so beautiful while he told me that black/japanese people mainly look black. This was interesting because he was so honest and very worldly. I also feel that if you're an immigrant it's easier to find who your true friends are because you'll meet people that are paitent with you and that are willing to go the extra mile as in oppose to if you were native in that language! Well, stay tune next time peace!

Confrontation in Japan

I was talking to my friend Fara about confrontation in Japan. In America, whoever is the loudest is the winner of the confrontation and the one that is getting yelled at is looked upon as being weak and meer and very easy to pick on. IF you're in public and someone is confronting you you don't say anything because if you don't then you're looked at as the winner of the battle. Confrontation is a huge no no in Japan esp. in public. If you confront somebody in Japan in public, you're looked as being crazy. I remember when this lady wanted to start something with me because she thought I was in the military. Because I'm black she assumed I killed people and that I was in the military. Well, she was old and crazy because we were in Nishinomiya. The military bases are in Yokohama and Okinawa. I pretty much just walked away. I felt bad because I should of confronted her but my dad told me to be silent and plus i don't have the advantage of speaking japanese. So my dad was right I did do the right thing. So when in Japan, if someone picks a fight with you just ignore and walk away! Because in the 3rd person's eye you won the battle!

Drama vs. Real life

Well, if you know me I'm a huge fan of japanese dramas esp. the fellas but other than that I would like to depict real life and the dramas

Drama
The characters are very direct. They say what's really on they're mind and can be downright mean about it. Sometimes to the point where they can be confrontational.

Real
Who wants to be direct everyone is just indirect meaning they just beat around the bush. Personally, I just got accustomed like here's a great example If you ask an american hey you want a pizza? American= no Japan= Well, it's ok I mean pizza is good for sure.....
Makes sense how they can be indirect beacause of the custom and the whole team mentallity

Drama
The men are the conquerers and very romantic. They send you cute notes sing to you and will even fight for you!

Real
I have never seen a japanese man get into a fight I mean I can't even imagine how that would turn out...plus I heard the guys here don't really express their romantic sides as much!

Other than that, the dramas are pretty accurate with real life but I just had to point out the 2 biggest things that I noticed! Plus it's so wierd how in japanese dramas the people are soo direct and to the point. Hmm... you'd think that occur more in real life... because usually media is the reflection of society but I guess not....

KFC Party and Tokyo

Sorry, for keeping yall' waiting but yes I am in a blogging mood and taking a break from studying but I have to start back up again pretty soon. Well, on christmas day I did have a party at KFC yep in the restuarant. I know you're thinking hahah that's funny a black girl hosting a KFC party *hence the african american stereotype of liking fried chicken! But we had about 8 people all together which was a great mix indeed. We had KFC chicken feasts and talked about everything. Even my good buddy Takaaki came but then he told me the dreaded news. KFC for christmas is not a japanese tradition!! ahhh He told me it's just basically commercialism.! AHHH I was tricked man I tell yah I was tricked! But it was good and the funniest part is that some of my guests didn't even like KFC hahah they just came for a good time! But, yes I have pictures of my party at KFC! I was disappointed because for the amount I paid I didn't get enough chicken and no biscuits pssh I mean come on no biscuits. Other than that, for 2 days I saw my cousin and his family in Yokohama. My cousin is married to a japanese woman name Junko. I had so much fun and Mike is sooo lucky to have a great family. I mean they pay for his schooling, bought his car, and do so much for him! Not only that, but mike talked about how good he's doing and how he's even in Japan. I'm so proud of him because it shows that his wife was a great influence on him and he's even going to study Japanese! Good for him! They have to beautiful blasian kids together Jayden and Janario. They're so beautiful. Tokyo was fun I went back there for 2 days from Yokohama because Tokyo and Yokohama are very close to each. So I did some good shopping at Harajuku and bought this really cute hat and a cute poster of this nice asian guy. But I didn't feel like Harajuku was the same though. I felt that it was too commericialized because there was a claires and now HM has a huge block of it in Harajuku. I felt that Harajuku lost it's oldness and it's youth which meant to go against the big boys and to start out own style and trend. I hate that when big business has to come and corrupt everything. But other than that, I went to the maid cafe in Akihabara I wanted to take soo many pictures but it's prohibited so I was like aww so I had a $5 poloraid picture but it was worth. Of course Mike had to go up there and put his hoody on acting thuglike hahah but it was all fun though. I appreciated him and his wife company. At least we can say we actually went to a maid cafe. But yeah, Tokyo is soo big and I just feel overwhelmed by it because there's always something to do. Like since Junko grew up in Yokohama she always went to Harajuku and Tokyo. Basically Tokyo was her playground and she can take the train. I know nice huh!! But yeah, in Vegas there is nothing to do unless you're 21 with a car! But yeah, how cool growing up with always having something to do. Other than that I had to get the family something before I left so I got them Krispy Kreme donuts since it's very popular in America and they've never had it before. Well, anyways it's the only Krispy Kreme in Japan it's only in Tokyo and the lines were loong but everyone kept they're cool and moved quickly. See what I mean about Japan having the best customer service fast, and nice! But yes, Yokohama was soo much fun and so was Tokyo we were going to this one club in Yokohama but it was dead no one was there but there was a bunch of black military guys I was happy Mike was there because they would of tried to talk to me. I was definitely not going to talk to them either buncha dogs. So even though the girl that came with us Kaori felt bad I was like it's ok I'm glad I didn't go because I didn't want to talk to any playas! But yeah, other than that I have to admit besides the studies the hardest part in studying abroad is the friendship. It's tough making good friends when u're language isn't native but luckily I'm content because I have developed a small but GREAT friendships and that's all I need here. So I'm pretty happy about that besides I don't need a bunch of acquaintences if I can have a small amount that I can always practice my language. Well, anyways I have exams ttyl peace

Top Things I noticed about Osaka Region

Hey yall, I can't believe it is 2009. I'm getting older but yea I'm adjusting more and more to this lifestyle in Japan well Osaka because I don't want to forget every perspective and every region is soo different! Well my top perspectives

Politeness
I can't seem to stress this enough. I like how people on the trains don't talk on their cell phone because of the fact that they're being courteous and plus maybe everyone doesn't want to hear your conversations! I like how the trains are always clean too and there's always someone that wants to pick up the trash too.

Safe
Even though, of course some parts are not safe. I must say it's pretty safe compared to the States where you see men with their wallets hanging out in their back pockets! Like literally, where sometimes you'll see credit cards sticking out. Or how when you drive by stores like one time I went past a car shop and there was merchandise outside! Wow, you know if they're auto parts back in the states sticking out like that people would steal them in a heartbeat!

Places to eat if the clubs suck!
Osaka Region I can assume safely that mcdonalds, ramen and udon shops are the places to go if the nightclubs suck or you're having a bad night. The internet cafe is a huge place to spend the night if you night is not going so well and you just wanna chat and have a cheap place to spend the night!

Osaka
Seems to have a huge underground music scene.. seems like a lot of people want to be musicians like singers, rappers and RB singers. How do I know well, the amount of performances I saw at Club Candy. The fact that I seem to meet a lot of musicians in the area esp. in Shinsaibashi

Accent
Seems to be the coolest must have accent in Japan esp. in Tokyo. Everyone loves it and wants it! like for example to say thank you ありがとう＝おきに　おいしい＝うまい　とても＝めちゃ　あかな　あかな　いいねええ　なんでいね　<-- I know I spelled this wrong but yea arigato= okini oishi=umai totemo=mecha

I know some people are like polite but it's fake well sometimes I prefer that instead of the rude and direct approach. Sometimes I just wanna do my thing without hearing rude talk! I mean save the rude drama for your mama! But other thing the women here seems to be more like playas and dogs then the men. Every japanese guy I spoke broke up because their girl was cheating on them! Daang in America it's the opposite but I guess it seems like it's hard to find a genuine good japanese girl, but then again one of my homegirls use to be a playa too. She didn't say it but my vibes told me and I had to use a lot of that to keep me from trouble and it's always worked!! Yay!! Well will blog more peace

Oh there goes that accent!

So at my school, I kind of had the rep. of being that black girl speaking japanese. Well, I decided to study one language because I suck at languages! Even with my passion I suck at it, but yeah I would have people tell me well I can speak 4 languages. So I'm thinking ok that's cool but how's your accent? What do you do about that?! I mean it's cool to speak several langauges but the downside is is the accents. How do you differentiate those accents? One of the most important aspects of a languages is the ACCENT if you don't have a good accent no matter how hard you study no one won't be able to understand you or don't even want to talk to you because of your accent. I've heard some people speak english and some of them are STRONG. That fresh off the boat accent you can tell they're not native because that accent is soo strong. It's mostly tolerable but at the same time funny because well the accent is so strong. You know what I'm talking about you met a foreign student and had a woo that strong back ole' country accent. I admit it I'm a lover of that british accent I find it refined and very sexy. But some accents, I'm not so fond of. So yes, I'm just fine with 2 languages because speaking a lot of languages can in fact hinder you if you don't get that accent down! So that's just my thoughts well peace!

Oh and I am currently studying but I will post up pics. about Kobe Lumineria and the Xmas party so I know I have a lot of catching up to you!

My mom and the host family

I had a great conversation with my mom. I haven't spoken to her in months and it feels great. Before I came to Japan, my mom advised me to stay in the dorms and not stay with a host family. Of course, I didn't take that advice because I wanted to have a unique experience by staying with a host family and having them show me the things of Japan that normally tourists can't see! Well, of course I didn't realize that but not all host families are good. There are actually some mean host families out there! To be frank not everyone is meant to be a host family. I feel that if you're not open minded and expect someone by your "definition" to be perfect then you're not cut out to be a host family period! But yes, unfortunately I had a very bad host family. Due to the fact that I slept walk well more of a scream once due to culture shock in 2 weeks they wanted me out! Yes, in 2 weeks they wanted me out. How rude is that. You don't even know more but yet you think you do. But other than that, I felt that they didn't see my good qualities that I posess! I cooked them american food and I help cleaned. Yes, I helped clean! I was also very respectful and get this I actually spoke to them alot. The biggest complaint among host families is that their kids don't talk alot! Well, honey I gave them an earful and I spoke about my experience and everything I got into the groove. Some people believe that my host family wanted me to have a better experience. Ok well if that is the case then after I moved out why didn't they call me?! Why didn't they check up on me when I moved to my new place?! Why didn't they at least take me out to dinner to make sure I was well adjusted?! I didn't recieve any of that what so ever because that would of been the thing to do if they really cared! So other than that, I spoke to my mom about that and of course she gave me that "I told you so" talk but we reconnected in a way that it was amazing. I was soo happy to be able to talk to her. I feel my relationship has improved with her in many ways. Plus she's going to send me more goodies too. I can see why she wanted me to live in the dorms because she feels it's wierd to stay in a stranger's home and that by me living in the dorms I can stay on campus and do activities. Plus it is very convienent too! Yeah, I admit it I am more of a dorm person because I put myself out there and I love talking to others. I'm an open book and a great friend! But yes, after that hardship till' this day I still feel they have no business being a host family. Don't get me wrong there are host students that are very rude like bringing in their boyfriend or girlfriend! How dare you do that?! That is the most rudest thing I've ever heard but I have gossip so if you want to know please message me because ooo I will tell you in a heartbeat. But yea, it was nice speaking to my mom since I haven't spoken to her in months! I love my mom and I vow to talk to her more often for now on!