Today, the new students took their Japanese placement test. Yet I did not. This semester, I'm not taking Japanese language classes. I had aimed to study for one year, and then take some time to focus on judo, since while having Japanese classes, going to practice all the time is virtually impossible (if you're studying seriously, of course.)

But that doesn't mean my studies stop there. I continued my studies throughout the summer, and will pick up the pace again from now on. I purchased a fair amount of textbooks to help me along the way, as well as when I make it back home. The choice I have here compared to back home is ridiculous. My Japanese isn't perfect, of course. Therefore, I might as well study as much as I can while in Japan, right?

So I have somehow managed to make two songs during this semester. If you want to take a listen, here they are!

Now that school is over, I do actually have a break! The judo club is also off for a bit so I can now take time to breathe, think, and yep, you guessed it, plan. Even though it's summer, I want to take advantage of this time to centre myself, to take time to think, and prepare myself for the next wave. So what are my plans for the summer?

First let's talk about what I want to accomplish.

 - I really REALLY need to clean my room. Since I am not even sure that I can stay here in the Kaikan after September, I might as well prepare myself for the worst scenario. On top of that, I found my mind going a little crazy last semester, due to the status of my room. It took me more time to find things and in the end caused me more stress.

 - I would like to make some music. I haven't really talked about my music here yet, but I'm still doing as much as I can to continue making music during my spare time... This summer, I want to make a couple more tracks and a few more mixes. I don't really have time to do so otherwise.

 - I want to go to the beach! And I already made plans to go!

 - I want to keep working out. I have a training camp with the team during the third week of August, so I want to be at my best for that.

 - I want to eat well. I want to gorge myself with fruits since I haven't really done so since I've been here. I also want to find easy recipes that are full of vegetables, high protein, and so-so carbs. That way I'll be ready to go for the next term.

 - I want to keep my studies going. Japanese (language) is now part of me, but I still need to keep at it, especially while I'm here.

 - Lastly, I want to have some fun. I think I've had a lot of fun already since the summer started, which is great.

Now a few events that are going to happen this summer include going to Disney Sea with my girlfriend (August 9^th), the training camp with the team (August 17^th to 22^nd), and climbing Mount. Fuji, most likely at the end of the summer.

Now I have one last goal. I want to write a lot of blogs, so as much as I can, I will try to write one blog a day (or week) for most of the summer. The topics might get a little wild, but that's just more fun isn't it?

Also, I should probably say that most of those with whom I have studied with for one year now will be heading back to their own country throughout the summer. Miguel will be leaving soon, Carlos already left. Slowly but surely, the Kaikan is becoming more and more empty every day. Quite sad to think that I will most likely never see any of them again. But who knows.

(Note to self: I have to keep in mind that I need to start looking into resuming my courses at the University of Winnipeg in January.)

Almost one year has passed since I first set foot in Japan. Now on Friday, we had our closing ceremony for the Japanese Bekka Program. I didn't receive a certificate, which is weird, but I might get something later I guess. I think it's due to me not being an "exchange student", but we'll see. During this past week, I have had an exam every day, finishing on Thursday. I ended up with a good enough score as my final note, and according to the Japanese Language Proficiency Test we took in class, I have improved quite a lot since the beginning of this semester. Now if we compare where I am now to how I was when I first came to Japan, I have indeed come quite the way. Not only with my Japanese, but in many ways, I feel like this experience has taught me much more. After one year of hard studies, training, all while living in a completely different country, it is now time to look back on my journey.

Since September last year, the beginning of my stay in Japan, I would be a fool to say that I haven't changed. In fact, one might even say I'm a completely different person. My Japanese has evolved from being able to say a few memorized sentences to having complex conversations with friends, teachers, strangers as well as my family. With that being said, I realize that I have much more to learn, but I can say that I have given my best, and the best has paid back.

I have also being able to experience the Japanese culture. I had the chance to visit many world renowned places, participate in many Japanese activities, and of course, fill myself with succulent Japanese cuisine. I was able to see different aspects of the country and from different perspectives, from Tokyo's busy life to the quiet villages; a student's life and more, of one being part of a sports club. Now due to my progress in Japanese, I was also able to hear the opinion of many of my friends, and understand their perspective on life. That is probably the most incredible thing I was able to receive from this whole trip.

I also had the incredible chance to make friends from all around the world. Those I was studying with, whether they were from Thailand or Spain, showed me that life is such a wonderful thing. I realized that no matter where you are from, everyone has the same needs. We simply express those needs in different ways. I was able to see this with my own eyes. I was able to interact with them, see them smile and laugh, get mad or frustrated. I was able to share my ideas with them and listen to theirs. If I thought, before coming here, that I was the only one fighting a battle, these new friends of mine taught me differently.

My stay in Japan is not over just yet, but now that my studies are completed, I feel as if I have reached another chapter in my life. This next chapter will be full of changes, full of hard decisions. But thanks to my family, I was able to acquire this experience which has prepared me for this next step. And for that, I am beyond words as to how much I am thankful to them.

Almost one year has passed since I first set foot in Japan. Yet I feel like it was just yesterday.

This next semester has now already started. The first week was very easy for me. I had studied ahead of time and most of it I already understood. This gave me time to study extra on my own time with Miguel. We are studying an extra textbook on vocabulary which is made in such a way that we study a certain amount of words per day, take a small test, and do that every day till the 7^th day where there is a test of the past 6 days. It went well for the first week, but this second week has been too busy and we didn't get very far.

Besides that, our listening class is probably the hardest since Miyagi sensei seems very determined to force our ears and minds to adjust to the Japanese language. Nishiyama sensei is quite kind and gentle, and teaches us in a such a simple way so that we can all understand. Yamamori sensei is just as she was last semester, nice, clear, and funny!

I'm really going to push through this semester, because I think if I get to complete the extra two textbooks I'm studying as well as the course, it will go hand-in-hand to benefit me in everything. Already, some of the vocabulary and kanji I studied are coming up in class.

With that being said, I also plan on going hard in judo practice. I really want to rejoin the normal practice, which I have started since the beginning of April, but I'm still quite scared.

Finding a balance and working hard is what I plan on doing during this next semester. Here I go!

After the placement test was taken, I was invited to join a group of students going over to the Odawara Castle to see the Sakura! I didn't have any specific plans so I joined in. I had never been to Odawara, which is actually the last station of the Odakyu (Odawara Kyuko) train line, (the only train available from Tokai). I had actually never even gone in that direction, which is the opposite of when going to Tokyo. Wait, I did once go to the next station by accident since I had stayed on the train too long.

But anyways, around 1 o'clock, we were all off to Odawara. By "all of us" I mean me and about 15 other international students, including a lot of Italians. I spent most of my time with Nnadi, my Nigerian friend. Mai, who is half Israeli, half Japanese also joined us after a while. It was a nice relaxing time, and it was really beautiful to see this all with Sakura.

I didn't really want to approach the new students just yet, so I kept my distance that day. But besides that, it was good experience.

On March 25^th, almost a month ago already, I was able to attend the Tokai University Graduation Ceremony.

Now just to give you a little background on the Japanese culture, first of all, most students have a set time of 4 years of studies, with the first semester starting in April, the second one in September. They do this for four years, and as long as they passed all their courses, most of them all graduate at the same time. Also, it is very common for some people not to attend their own graduation ceremony. Some of them have already found a job and are working hard or being trained.

This day was a very special day. I would say that about... 80% of the friends I have made so far in Japan were now all graduating on this day. This meant that it would most likely be the last time I see them before I head back home. So I packed up some of the organic hand soaps I had brought from Canada into little packages, making one for all of my friends. I also printed out and framed a picture for Chipa and Anzu, who were the ones who helped me the most since I've been here.

Now I actually had to attend two ceremonies. Since they all had to graduate on that day (but there were too many students to fit the gymnasium), they needed to separate the arts and the sciences students. And still, the room was filled! First up was Chipa's graduation. He graduated from the Architecture Department. I watched the ceremony which lasted about 1 hour. Gift where given to those who excelled, speeches were made, a video was showed and it was then time to leave.



After that, I gave Chipa his gift, and he headed off to his department to receive his certificate.

Two hours later, I headed back to the gym to attend the art's ceremony. But this time, my friend Kenta who was a staff at the dorm, invited us to go down with him. Being a little crazy, four of us who aren't graduating headed with the graduating students to watch the ceremony from a student's perspective. It was quite funny, and it didn't bother anyone. Since I won't really be graduating from Tokai, this gave me the opportunity to know how it feels to graduate from a Japanese university. Besides that, the ceremony was exactly the same.


After it ended, I had to chase down all my friends to take pictures with them and give them gifts. They all had to head to their departments, so it was quite interesting to try and spot them out of the hundreds of students coming down the road. Here they are, all dressed up for the ceremony!







*I didn't get a picture with all of them since some of them took it on their phone and still haven't sent them over...*

Most of my friends were graduating from the International Department, so I followed them there, and ended up listening to the last speech they received from their teacher. I must say, it really felt like I was graduating. Many of them actually asked me if I was haha!

Random but funny, the judo guys that were graduating saw me at one point, and asked me to take a picture with them. Most of them had never spoken to me before, but I don't mind. I just don't think I'm never going to see that picture since I don't have them as friends on Facebook.

But yeah, after saying goodbye to everyone one last time, I headed back to the Kaikan. That night, we had a supper to celebrate Chipa and Kenta's graduation and departure from the dorm.



Feelings:
 - First, most of my friends are going to leave, which makes me quite sad. I had really built this family atmosphere with all these friends I would come across on the university campus. Many of them had helped me at least once and I was really thankful for them.
 - This means that next semester, I get to start "anew". Since most of my Japanese friends are leaving, this makes me anonymous again. Not a bad thing I guess.
 - Every single one of them said that their four years had gone too fast and they wanted to stay here. All I could think of, is how fast my own trip had gone so far, and it really just made me scared that I wouldn't be able to accomplish all my goals within the remaining time.

One thing you might notice, and that I also noticed that day, is that most of my friends are girls! Well, what can I say... haha, no I did not do this on purpose. It is because most girls' Japanese is quite easier to understand, and they actually teach me Japanese. Also, guys in Japanese simply approach me to have "international experience", and so I prefer to keep my distance, although I believe I might change this for this next semester, but we'll see. ;-)

So two weeks ago, we had a school festival here at Tokai! This was my first time participating in such a big event and it was overall fun! Back home, there's no way that the University of Winnipeg could pull something off that is nearly as similar as this, therefore I benefited greatly from the experience.

Now what exactly was this festival all about? I'm not quite sure, to be honest. All I know is that, from the south gate all the way down to the bottom of the "Tokai Hill", tents were set up and sold foods from different countries all over the world. On top of that, if you went up the hill, there were even more booths set up there! In total maybe... 100 or more booths were set up, selling various things (mostly food), where the average price was about 300 yen (about 3$ dollars). There were also concerts here and there, at night some Korean artists came over who are apparently very popular from the looks of it; the line up was huge! Within some of the buildings there was a few more activities from all the rec activities and clubs from the university, such as sign language and drawing. The last night of the festival, there were fireworks, but the best part was that we had no school the next day nor throughout the festival! So you can imagine how much fun it was!

I myself didn't participate too much in it for a few reasons. First of all, I still had judo practices. Second, I wanted to study haha. But I did walk around quite a bit giving "FREE HUGS" with Anzu (my sister's roommate when she came to Japan) and a few others girls. Now what is this whole free hugs thing? Don't ask me, I still don't know haha. I just like doing it and it's fun with Anzu. She kind of sucked me into and I had to say yes haha. We just hold signs saying free hugs and those willing come and give us free hugs. Now in Japan, hugging isn't really a common thing so many people are too shy. ESPECIALLY THE WOMEN! It really hit me that weekend how women can be reluctant to touch anyone. Obviously, I'm a stranger to most of them, therefore it's understandable, but for example, one girl was trying to push her friend to give me a hug, and her friend was soo scared, she fell to the ground in order not to get any closer to me. Heart breaking right? But yeah, during that time, I get to practice my Japanese with my friends so I don't mind doing it. I got a LOT of hugs that weekend.

My friends from the Japanese staff at both international dorms were working to help the Russian booth. I have also come to befriend most of the Russians that are part of the Bekka program and so I would find myself hanging out there as well! I tried their soup which was... okay. My mom has really ruined me for life when it comes to food. I would also help them a little bit, and I helped them bring down the tent on the last day!

One night, after the day of work was done, the staff and I went back to the dorms and cooked Nabe. I wrote already about this and you can read about it here: http://thesoundsofjapan.blogspot.jp/2014/11/friends-and-food.html

All in all, the festival was a pleasant experience and I was glad to be able to take part in it.

Here's a little taste of how it looked.

On Thursday, September 18^th, I participated in the entrance ceremony for the Nihongo Bekka students (only for those not part of an exchange program that is.) The ceremony was slightly strange. We had a band playing in the back, most likely the affiliated high school's band or the university's. They played a mixture of Doraemon theme songs, Aladdin, other songs I could recognize as well as some I couldn't. The band was playing as we entered the room; I was first to enter, lucky me. We sat down in regular class chairs, where we waited for about 20 minutes for the officials to enter the room.

Soon, the "master of ceremony" stepped up to the mike, and to no surprise, began to speak in Japanese, lucky me. haha The whole presentation was in Japanese, therefore I barely understood anything. Soon, the music, which had stopped to let the man talk, began again, and the curtains of the stage in front of us began to rise. Another microphone as well as 8 other officials were revealed, including Yasuhiro Yamashita, the most famous person in judo after Jigoro Kano, of course. One of them stepped up to the mike and began to speak.

Something I didn't mention was that this ceremony was taking place at 2:00 PM. If any of you know me, you know that for me, that time of the day is a terrible time to ask me to sit down and listen or study. As usual, I began to doze off. Not being able to understand didn't help either. I felt my head drop down a few times, and even almost fell asleep for a split second. But to my great surprise, so were the other officials. Many were closing their eyes, bowing their heads, and so I didn't feel too bad. A second official stepped up to the mike, taking as much time as the last one, and was just as interesting to listen to... haha. We were then asked to rise from our seats, for the 5^th time during that ceremony, and the band started playing. But this time, the officials and everyone around us began to sing. Apparently this was the Tokai Anthem? Afterwards, another man came to the mike, yet he spoke in much simpler language than the previous speakers. He told us that he noticed we didn't sing along with them and asked us to memorize this song so that we could sing it at the ceremony of our departure. Easier said than done, but I guess I'll give it a shot.

Walking back to my dorm I had a few thoughts. I was now part of the University. I was now officially a student at Tokai University, and that is no small feat. I was part of the 26, 000 students here, living the life of an international student, in a Japanese lifestyle, a Japanese regime, on my own. Pride and fear were what I felt at that moment.

"Ganbatte." they said. And so I will.

I have now been in my dorm for a few days and I have to say I like it. They have renovated the building since my last visit three years ago, and I'm glad they did; the old one was slightly... unkempt.

I'm just going to post a bunch of pictures so you can all see for yourself. If each picture is worth a million words... that would be way too much reading you, and writing for me.