Cultural Exchange In The Field

[Mulboyne]

[FG Lurker]

Someone should tell her to turn her fingers around...

[ichigo partygirl]

Someone should tell her to turn her fingers around...

or put them down full stop. damn i cringe when i look back at my photos from
high school in Japan.

[Kuang_Grade]

nice to see the piece end with this

Matsubara is planing on returning to the United States for two years of college, and she said she would prefer to not return to the South for school. Instead she would like to try the Northern United States.

"I don't like the hot," she said.

but then again the writer's own style is fairly suspect

Matsubara will be taking her memories home with her to Japan, and hopefully she will remember her time here in America as the best lesson she was ever taught as well as the best lesson she ever gave to the people's lives she touched.

Time in the US is like a lesson? Who taught it? She gave a lesson to others by touching?

[Mulboyne]

Belmont Citizen Herald: Singing their way to Japan
Belmont resident Jackson Thea made a lot of memories during his recent trip to Japan, but one in particular stood out. "It was really hot and really humid," he said. "Everyone seemed used to it ... Everyone wore long jeans. It was really hot. Thea and another Belmont resident, Lily Wasserman, traveled to Japan last month with the Boston Children's Chorus... Singing in another country was not much different from performing in Boston, Wasserman and Thea both said. In fact, performing in front of a Japanese audience made Thea feel less nervous. "I kind of knew that since they don't speak English, if I messed up, they wouldn't know," he joked...The students stayed with host families, whose English speaking and comprehension skills ranged from fluent to minimal. "I have never been anywhere where less people speak English," Thea said... He said the language barrier did not affect him too much as a tourist. When shopping, he would point to an item he wanted to purchase. Communicating with his host family was a different story. Thea and another student stayed with the Togawa family, who understood very little English. The two students communicated with the family through a computer translation program...Wasserman stayed with the Kurihara family, who she said could speak enough English to communicate. Students practiced common Japanese phrases before their trip. Wasserman said she did not utilize her newly acquired skills because most people she met could say those common phrases in English. Wasserman said her overall impression of the Japanese lifestyle was that it was much simpler than the American way of life. "They have less of everything," she said. "They have smaller portions, and smaller cars."

[Mulboyne]

In a similar vein...

KennebecJournal: Cony band goes over big in Japan
AUGUSTA -- For a week, 16 Cony High School students made up one of the biggest bands in Japan. At least when it came to the physical stature of its band members..."It was like we were celebrities," senior flutist Anna Pillsbury said of their reception by the people of Aomori Prefecture. "They were some of the nicest people I'd ever met. They took so many photos, there are probably a million pictures of me around the world now. I guess we just stood out as Americans. There is not a lot of diversity there. So our faces were really different. That, and I was a foot taller than everybody."...[A]fter arriving with plans to play a much-rehearsed selection of marching music -- which they planned to play standing stationary in opening ceremonies at the festival -- they were told to change their routine by festival organizers, who wanted them to do something more active..."We had been practicing that routine for a year or so, and then changed it in an hour,"....As different as the culture there was, there were a least some similarities. The mother of the host family Henry stayed with confided to him, "I love 'Smoke on the Water.'"

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

LimaOhio: Students experience Japan

When he was just a child, Ross Short looked at books about Japan. It started with an interest in the country’s history and evolved into a curiosity about the culture...Ross was among 10 high school students to take the five-day trip, sponsored by the Lima Sister Cities Association. They each stayed with Japanese families, some speaking a little more English than others...The students had a few surprises, including the difference between Japanese food there and Japanese food found in the United States. “It’s kind of weird eating something with eyes still on it,” Elida High School senior Jenni Theodore said. The size of the houses and close proximity of those houses also surprised the students. “Everything was a lot smaller,” Theodore said. “I have a picture of their house where you can see their neighbor’s house, and if you stood there with your arms out, you could touch both houses.”

Along with learning a little Japanese and being exposed to a new culture, the students said they also now see the American culture a little differently. “Part of it made me look at our society differently,” Hartzog said. “We’re kind of sloppy and mean.” Theodore said, “Everybody was so nice over there. The hospitality was amazing. We are so greedy here. They were so excited with their little house. They had one car, and they were so excited. They just don’t take anything for granted.”

[Greji]

Austin was treated like a celebrity. The girls flocked to him, gawking over his tall frame, his blue eyes and his light brown hair, which they thought might be a wig. "He's always having lots of friends and lots of girls," said Mary Mizumoto, "He would just walk along and many girls would watch him. Cars would stop to look at him."... It was an experience of a lifetime, but Austin wants to do it again..."I can't wait to go back."

I can see another case of YBF about to break out!

[Mulboyne]

Greeley Tribune: Japan makes teacher feel like a star

For the fist time in his life, Northridge High teacher Kelly Gonzales felt like a rock star. All he had to do to get the attention was go to Japan. Gonzales recently returned from a two-week expenses-paid trip from Japan. He was one of 39 U.S. teachers who went to the country for Toyota's international teacher program. While there, he was given first-class treatment and was so popular with the elementary students that they clung to him when he left their school. High school students held an assembly in honor of the teachers and sang songs just for them. "I had tears in my eyes from the sincerity and power of their song," he said. As a high school teacher from the United States, he's not used to such attention...more...

[Mulboyne]

[Mulboyne]

Good advice for FGs

Stamford Advocate: Eager middle school students leave for two weeks in Japan

...Some parents said they were anxious about being so far away from their children for so long. Roton parent Tracy Holder said goodbye to her son and oldest child, Tyler, and sent him off with two important instructions: Call home and change your underwear...more...

[Greji]

[Mulboyne]

Seminole Voice: Geneva student's Japanese escapade

Chelsea Horton, 21, spent four months attending school in Japan, learning the language and culture in the process. She's a Geneva resident of 12 years and an anthropology major at the University of Central Florida. Chelsea regularly volunteers for the Geneva Historical and Genealogical Society. She went to Japan with three classmates in fall 2007. Here's what she had to say about it.

My parents were nervous about my being out of complete contact. But they were very supportive, knowing that I've been interested in Japan since I was 10 years old...I never felt unsafe. The only thing I ever worried about was losing my money. Once, we asked a policeman for directions to a convenience store. He said, "Let me come with you, it's not safe." We laughed at that. We think he wanted to practice his English...We lived in the town of Shin-Urayasu, 30 minutes from Tokyo and five minutes from Tokyo Disney by train. The program provided bikes for us with strange little bike locks. Living in a Japanese suburban setting gave a very ordered feeling, very different than living in Geneva. Everything felt very well-planned and was easy to navigate.

Another interesting thing was they generally don't use dryers. We had a washer and then hung everything out to dry, which took some getting used to, figuring out how the clotheslines worked inside and outside...Although we think of it as very modern, Japan is a cash-based society, so hardly anyone uses credit cards except at tourist places. It's normal to carry about 20,000 yen, the equivalent of $200. I arrived with traveler's checks, but the banks are only open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m...A constant joke between us was that it is nearly impossible to find a trash can when walking around Japan! In Japanese culture, generally if you're going to eat, you're going to sit down and eat; you don't just walk around eating and then throw something away. Trash cans are in the train station or sometimes hidden in an alley, but the paradox is it is amazingly clean.

I was obsessed with subways! Their train system was one of my favorite things. Maybe if I lived in New York I wouldn't be so enamored with them, but we don't have anything like them here. Even the older subways were very clean, and I confess I love their smell. There is nothing better than talking to a 60-year-old Japanese man who has been to America once and is so intrigued with us. They were always interested in why we were there and what made us want to come, as not many people study abroad there. The Japanese people were really wonderful. For example, here people you don't know will wave or smile at you, but in Japan that is not their etiquette. If you look lost or ask them for help, however, they are more than willing to help. We were lost once when we were first there, and a lady came to us out of the blue and was so helpful. People don't understand how I like Japan but don't like seafood. Japanese food is so varied that even if you don't like seafood, there's a piece of carrot or seaweed or something you will like.

It's an interesting dichotomy. Americans think that all Japanese people like to watch cartoons or video games. Here if someone calls themselves 'otaku' it has a positive meaning like, "I love Japanese electronic culture" or "I'm cool, I'm into Japanese anime or video games" in an underground sense. However, in Japan, to call someone an otaku is rude. The root word means "house," so it gives the implication that you sit around your house and watch video games. There's a stigma attached to it. I'm under the impression that many things portrayed in their art don't translate exactly into the daily culture. Cartoon depictions may not translate to what a Japanese person on the street believes.

[Greji]

Seminole Voice: Geneva student's Japanese escapade

That's a hard act to follow. Take, I'll turn 'em over to you. It looks more like your baliwick......

[Mulboyne]