Finished!

All finished with my project and it is up on a wall at Design Festa now!



What I did was I finished writing out my paragraphs and then printed them out and cut them up. For the photos I bought a thick board with adhesive on one side to paste the photos on. Cutting the board to fit the photos was kind of difficult but it made them look a lot better so it's okay in the end! The photos I had from my digital camera, then added text on photoshop, and finally took the photos to Bic Camera and had them printed out. It was all a lot of work but now that it's over I feel really accomplished!

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Here is my project:

Arrival

First arriving in Miyagi was a shocker for me. I’d never been in Japan before and certainly wasn’t the best at Japanese yet. Everything was very new to me at the time, but the program I went to Japan with, Rotary International, set up orientation programs and other events throughout the year to help me and other exchange students out. Although Rotary was a bit strict, they helped me to adjust to my new life. Coming to Tokyo two years after I left Miyagi was exciting. I already knew what I was getting myself into, I had brushed up on my Japanese, and was ready to go. Without Rotary breathing down my neck, I knew I would have much more freedom. Being in a city as big as Tokyo was a first, however, and I got lost on in the train system multiple times. Now I’m used to living in Tokyo though, and I’m loving it just the same as I loved Miyagi!

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End of Full Year / Departure

The end of my exchange in Miyagi was difficult. I didn’t know when I would be able to come back to Japan again, if ever, and I knew most of the people I met I would never see again. I didn’t want to leave, even though my host family didn’t like me very much. Rotary had a going-away ceremony for the exchange students, which was the last time that we were all together, no one knowing when they could come back to Japan. However two years later, here I am in Tokyo. I’m leaving this August but I know that I’m coming back by the end of the month to start another year here. I recently saw an old friend from my exchange in Miyagi, and I feel free to stay in Japan or leave when I feel I need to. Although it’s expensive for me to stay here, I know this is where I want to be. I’m thankful for my time in Miyagi for introducing me to Japan in the first place!

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Holiday Season

The Holidays in December (Christmas, New Year’s) were interesting for me in both Miyagi and Tokyo. I didn’t go back home for either one. In Miyagi I was getting really homesick, but I had my friends from school around and so we had a Christmas party together. For New Year’s, I went to Tokyo for the first time and stayed with my host mother’s sister. Ironically, one of the first places I visited was Asakusa, which is where I live now! In Tokyo however, most of my friends from school all went home for the holidays and I was pretty much alone. Christmas I spent with a new friend, which was okay if not a little lonely. Japan celebrates New Year’s much more than they do Christmas so my Christmas celebration was nothing special. New Year’s I had a small party with some friends which was more exciting than Christmas was for sure. Being away from home at these times is hard, but eye-opening to Japanese culture, especially with New Year’s, their biggest holiday.

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Living Situation

My living situation has changed greatly from when I lived in Miyagi until now in Tokyo. In Miyagi I was still a teenager and lived with a host family who took care of me and gave me a place to stay. Although I struggled with communication with my host family sometimes, overall it taught me a lot about Japanese culture. Now in Tokyo I live alone and take care of myself and pay for my own things. I don’t have a host family to learn from anymore, so now everything is my own responsibility, including furthering my knowledge of Japanese and the culture. I might have went from a 4-story house to a 1 room apartment, but in a way the small apartment is a way of learning about Tokyo life. These two ways of living are very different for me.

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Difference in Schools

My school experiences in Japan are just about opposites. In Miyagi I went to a Japanese high school with Japanese classmates and Japanese classes and wore a school uniform. Fitting in was difficult, and understanding my classes and classmates even more so. Now in Tokyo I go to an American University where I understand everything and fit in well. Both experiences have ups and downs, and neither is especially bad. Living in Tokyo has made me realize the difference between how internationalized Tokyo has become in comparison to the majority of Japan. Although Tokyo still has a way to go before it’s really “international”, it’s still a much easier place for foreigners in Japan to live in. However, I learned more in my year in Miyagi than I feel like I ever have here, so in the end both have been great experiences for me, whether I speak Japanese or English at school.

Putting it together

So my piece is basically just a refelection on certain aspects on my time in Miyagi and Tokyo, and how they are different, or sometimes similar. There's nothing really deep behind it besides my own feelings, but it was refreshing to go through my memories and see what came up. Although the final product may not look like a lot, I put a lot of thought into what to do, so the process was really a good reflection for myself.

The journal entries were really a flop but it was still fun to go back and read what I had written. It brought up a lot of old memories about my time there. It's almost been 3 years since I left and I haven't been back since, so my memory is starting to get fuzzy now. I want to keep my memories as intact as possible though of course. I had also never compared my time there to my time here in Tokyo, and while of course I knew it was different, I don't think I realized the extent... Tokyo is SO different! And I get a lot less Japanese practice here. Well, at least it's much less stressful for me because I don't have to be confused by the culture and language as often. (Except when I work at Starbucks, call in sick, and then almost get fired... Whoops. I don't understand Japanese work ethic I guess!)

I decided on framing a box of text next to two pictures, one from Miyagi and one from Tokyo, both relating to the paragraph's topic. I'll have 5 of these little text-picture combinations, one per topic, arranged in a neat/artistic manner on the wall. My 5 topics are: Living Situation, School, Arrival, Holidays, and Departure. I have pictures for all of these, although I'm not a photographer and not trying to be one so they aren't the best... the ones from Miyagi especially. I'm going to try to touch them up in photoshop a bit to make them look cooler.

I hafta go off to Bic Camera and Tokyuu Hands to print out my photos and get cardboard to mount them on!! Tomorrow will be a busy shopping day... (Among other things that I have to do. Ugh, finals!!!)

Journal = No go

After going through all my journal entries I decided against using them. They really don't work with what I wanted to do anyway, and they're really random and kind of all over the place. I didn't remember the entries being that way but looking back on them they really aren't that interesting.

Instead I decided to write from my memory about times in Miyagi. This way I can not only talk about my memory and how life was there, but I can also compare it to how my life is now in Tokyo. I think if I do this it will be more relevant to my project overall.

I'm still deciding whether I want to record it as narration or not though. I might just want to have a clip of the text next to the pictures that it relates to. But I'll probably go with narration unless I feel like it doesn't really work. I'll at least give it a try after I've finished writing everything.

I've also thought that because I've been in Tokyo almost the exact same amount of time that I was in Miyagi, I want to make it more like "a year there" versus "a year here". Not phrased like that... but I want to order the pictures and events chronologically instead of by topic. More like, at this time of my year in Miyagi I was doing this and thinking this, but at this time in Tokyo I was doing this and thinking this. I do want to keep a couple of the topical things in there though such as quality of living and such aspects like that. I want people to be able to feel the difference of a foreigner trying to live in the country side and one living in Tokyo.

I don't want to make it too long or have too many sections though so I'll just be doing the events/times and the topics that I think are the most important. I'm thinking about 5 or so total, but elaborating. Maybe have a longer bit in text and just read a section (the most important part) of each for the narration.

And now, I'm off to write!

Progress so far

I've been looking through my old journal entries thinking of what I should include or not include, and so far the search is not going so well. The entries are a little bit all over the place and not so useable as something in my project (I don't think). I was hoping for some profound statements or first impressions of Japan that I might have had, but there wasn't really any of that. Of course, I haven't read my journal since I wrote the entries so I wasn't exactly sure of what I had written.

I might or might not use the journal entries now. Instead I might just use the entries to bring back memories and write from what I can remember. Or I might try to find a way to not use so much text. After I've decided I'll write about it here I guess.

For now with pictures I've been mainly focusing on the old ones from when I was on exchange in Miyagi. These are harder for me because the selection is slightly limited, and obviously I can't go back in time to take more pictures. For the Tokyo aspect I can go take as many photos as I want though. Fortunately I do have pictures of my host family, house, classmates, school, etc. I'll probably be using these. For the comparisons I'll probably doing something similar to what I have in my previous post.

This weekend I hope to make a lot of decisions and get some good progress made!

Picture Comparisons for Final Project

One of my ideas for part of my final project was to compare different aspects of life in Miyagi and Tokyo. I went through some of my old photos and found some to compare. I've made a large folder on my computer with possible images to use, but they could change depending on what I find in my journal entries (which I still need go to through). Here are some examples of possible comparisons:

Different City-scapes


Sendai, Miyagi

VS


Taito-ku, Tokyo

Another example,

Change of School

Compare these with pictures from TUJ:



Another,

Change in living

A 4 story stand-alone house (with a host family)


VS

A one-room apartment (alone)


These are some examples. In my next blog update I'll show some journal entries. Also, if I've become more concrete on my photo ideas I'll post those as well.

Artist Statement

I’ve been interested in Japan from a young age. Even in elementary school I had a little bit of exposure to the Japanese culture due to the large population of Japanese people in my city, and so when I got into middle school and my choices for foreign language were Spanish and Japanese, the choice to me was obvious. I started taking Japanese classes in 7th grade and from then on became very interested in the language and culture of Japan.

I continued my studies all through middle and high school, and in my junior year of high school I was finally able to go to Japan for the first time as an exchange student. I lived for a year in the country-side of Miyagi prefecture and there learned about the country firsthand. This was a huge experience for me that changed how I am as a person. A year after I returned to America, I went back to Japan again with a high school delegation to Kawagoe and Tokyo for two weeks. To me it felt like going back home.

Now I’m here in Japan again, this time in Tokyo. I’ve been here for almost a year, going to Temple University Japan, and having various part time jobs: first at a sushi restaurant, and now as a barista at Starbucks. My life here now is vastly different from how it was then, but both my time in high school and my time here now have been the biggest influences in my life to date.

In my project I will reflect my time in Japan; first in Japanese high school and that country life, and then I want to contrast it to my life here in Tokyo going to an American University. I will use mainly still photography and voice over narration to convey my stories. I’ll reflect on school life, friends, and way of living among other topics that may arise. I want people to be able to understand my different experiences and maybe see a different side to foreigners in Japan.

Possible Projects

1.) Backpackers in Tokyo

I was thinking I could either follow one person or just research backpacking in general. I could either find out in depth how one traveler is spending their time here, why they came here, what they plan to do next etc., or I could just in general interview some travelers here, maybe talk to the people in charge of the hostel about their experiences with visitors, etc.

2.) Stereotypes

I was thinking it would be interesting to hear what some foreigner's stereotypes of Japan they had before coming here, and how those ideas changed after living here. Or what things they still see as stereotypical. Also, I think it might be fun to ask Japanese people their ideas about America or other places in the world and what stereotypes they see. I could talk to Japanese people who have not traveled very much and are just average, and then I could talk to maybe a student at TUJ or some other Japanese person who used to be average but then experienced being "international" in some way (living in anothe country, or maybe just going to TUJ), and now understand more about the world.

3.) A reflection on my time in Japan

It could either be a day in my life, or just something that represents my time here as a whole. I might include things and people that are important to me here. I think there are a lot of different ways I could go with this, so I need to narrow it down, but I'm sure I could do something good with it.