Interview with YUKA MORIMOTO

Interview:


1. What is your name: Yuka Morimoto


2. What is your Nationality: Japanese


3. How old are you: 21





4. Are you single: Yes


5. What is your Major/Faculty: Law


6. What year are you: Junior





7. Are you in any clubs: Yes


8. Which ones: I am in the WaWa Club and Group for International Students


9. What is your position in the club? What do you do?


I'm just a regular member. Unfortunately, this semester is very busy for me, therefore I wasn't able to take any people to tutor. Last semester I tutored an Australian student, actually ironically I believe that we spoke more English than Japanese. Because of that, I was able to improve a little of my English. I am also too busy to attend the WaWa club on Thursday nights as well.


9a. What is interesting about your club?


I am able to meet a lot of people from around the world. It can also be a learning experience. Their cultures, idiosyncrasies, and religions. I am very interested in that and enjoy learning about the differences and similarities.





10. Do you have a job: Yes


10a. What do you do?


Right now, I teach Middle and High school students at a cram school in KAKOGAWA, my home town. I teach them: English, Math, and Japanese Literature.





11. What are your hobbies?


Hmm.... I have many hobbies. Let's see I play the piano, sing, play badminton, shop, go to the batting cages, and enjoy communicating with foreigners.





12. What music shows do you like?


My favorite bands consist of US and British Rock and Pop bands. Now, I don’t really like J-POP and that is because all Japanese Pop music bands sound the same to me.





13. What do you like about Japan? Why?


What do I like about Japan, huh? My favorite thing about Japan is the history, especially in Kyoto. I really like the cultural and historical places in Japan. I have to admit that I really like Japanese rice too!


14. Do you like to travel: Yes


14a. Where have you been, outside of Japan: I unfortunately have never been outside of Japan.





15. Where have you traveled in Japan?


I have been to quite a few different places in Japan. The list is: HOKKAIDO, ALL THE PREFECTURES IN KINKI & CHUGOKU, TOKYO, NAGANO, NAGASAKI, and TOCHIGI in NIKO.


16a. Please, explain what you saw/experienced in these places:


HOKKAIDO - I went here because of a school trip, and it was the first time I went skiing. It was very fun.


TOKYO - I have been to TOKYO 3 times. The first time I was there I went to TOKYO Disneyland, and it was great! The second time I went, was to go site seeing. I went to ASAKUSA, UENO, ROPPONGI, TOKYO TOWER, TOKYO Station, and so much more! It was very fun!


TOCHIGI - This was a place north of Tokyo, and it is a very picturesque place. I advise you to go there and take photos!





17. Are there any places that you would recommend a traveler to visit?


NIKO, KYOTO, & NAGANO


17a. Why would you recommend those places?


NIKO - It’s just AWESOME! There are a lot of monkeys there, as well as the hear no evil see no evil, monkey story line. That is something that you just need to go see!





18. What do you wish to do in the future?


I want to come back to OKAYAMA University and work as part of the staff. I want to work in the International Staff to help students. I would also like to study abroad for international relations, and to join JICA, a JAPANESE NATO type group after I come back from being abroad.





19. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?


I would like to see myself working internationally, and have a family.


20. What are a few things about yourself, and your country, that you would like the world to know about, that can help describe your character and understand who you are, or where your from?


I’m a very friendly person and very optimistic. Therefore, if something bad happens I can forget it in a good way very quickly. I try to be very outgoing as well. My home city there is nothing really special, except for having the biggest river in HOUGO. A lot of people like to go and play there. The people are also very friendly. To end, I would really like to help people and to hear the sound of laughter.


Thanks for the interview! For more photos click on the title or HERE!

The UNDOUKAI (Sports Fest)

2009.October.11

UNDOUKAI

So, it has been quite a while since my last update. I’m actually VERY behind when it comes to articles that need to be posted. Anyone who is following this BLOG, you have my sincerest apologies. I am at a point now where internet is almost in my room. I have the modem! The only problem is that it doesn’t work. I will be continuing working with the company until I am up and running.

It is ironic that I’m unable to get internet in one of the most advance places on earth. You would figure that they have the net EVERYWHERE here. Nope, I’m on a deserted island. The customer service for the internet (BB YAHOO!) is almost non-existent as well. The internet rep came into my room, looked to make sure I have a phone jack, and then left telling me that my modem will be in my mailbox later that day.

At home, I remember having the guy install ports into the wall, and having him run wire. I thought that YAHOO! would at least check the phone jack and bring the modem with him to install. Funny, I really wonder what that guy comes to do. If I didn’t have a phone line what would he do? Be like, “Sorry, you cannot have internet. Good day sir!”

Lame, is a word that doesn’t even come close to explaining it. Oh, well. I should have just went and bought an internet anywhere card from AU. Well, onto what I really wanted to post about and less about an excuse for not posting.

A few weeks ago, a great event happened. It was something right out of an ANIME. It was a UNDOUKAI(sports festival). It just so happened that I only got 2 hours of sleep that night prior as well. It sucked! The reason being is that I went to an IZEKAYA, which one of these days I will explain properly. The short explanation of an IZEKAYA is an all you can drink bar. Yes, it is awesome.

Back to the UNDOUKAI. It started early in the morning. We had to be at the sports field at 0900 HRS. This was one of the few events that I actually signed up to go to. Therefore, I went to the field at 0900 HRS. Again, I just got home at about 0700 HRS. It was a brutal first couple of hours.

First thing that we did was stretching. It was funny because some of the kids were dressed up in costumes (COSPLAY). There was also funny music that went along with the stretching. Also, there was a lot of talking. I can’t really remember/understand what they said. Then the event began!

It started with running events. This would include 50 meters and 100 meters. There were separate races for men and women. There was a total of 4 events here. Our team came in last for all, but we were there to have fun.

I was smart and brought my camera, which just looked expensive and scary (well, it is expensive). People left me alone and didn’t ask me to participate until the last event.

Next, came an event that can only be described in English, as a scavenger hunt and tug-o-war. It was only for girls. But the point was, there was a series of items strewn about a dirt lot, and the items all have different point values. The girls would start on opposite ends of the field and run towards the items and tug-o-war them until they were able to drag it back to their end of the field.

It was very interesting to watch, and girls ended up being dragged all over the place. They were also always laughing as this happened. It was actually nice to watch them have so much fun. It was a very interesting event, and even has some interesting items. One of the funniest is the fact that they had a guy out in the middle of the field and none of the girls really cared that he was there. He was actually the most points in the game too. Unlucky dude….. ^^

Next up, was something that I only thought happened in ANIME. It was the three-legged race, and was a little different than what most people are probably thinking of. As you can see, there are three people on the base of this pyramid and a jockey on top.

The points of this event is to knockoff your opponents from their “horse” or to capture/throw your opponent’s cap. They had two types of competitions: battle royal and team play. The battle royal was far more exciting. It was funny to see the people fighting over the hats. It was a really crazy thing to watch.

After the three-legged race, it was the baton race. This was a unisex sport and had people dressed up in funny costumes as well. It was funny because one of the runners for the baton race was at the IZEKAYA with me and was hung over worse than I was. The unlucky sap that was running drunk is: Luke. He actually is my neighbor at the dorm. He left immediately after he ran, because he was going to be sick… *snicker*

Following the baton race came the obstacle course. This is a four-person relay event. First a person is supposed to get spun around by their partner in a chair. After that they run about 30 meters to a station where there is a balloon that the two need to pop by hugging each other.

After popping the balloon, the two need to run to the next station and feed each other a banana, whilst blindfolded. When that is done, they run to the next station where they need to both fit in one shirt and run together to their last station.

This is where the trade off to the second team of two begins. The new partners need to do the human wheel barrel to a tub full of powder. The partner needs to dip their face into the powder and find a piece of candy. After they find the candy they need to run to the next obstacle: scavenger hunting the crowd.

The idea is to pull a paper out of a box, like a lotto number, and there is something you need to find on the paper. The thing that our team had to find was: “A Lover”. HAHAH! That was awesome; our team just grabbed a random girl from the field and hoped that it would pass. After the judges allowed you to pass, you ran 25 meters to the goal. It was an awesome event, and even I got grabbed as an item.

Next event, came the tug-o-war event. This was a little different than what most of us are used to. Typically the rope would be perpendicular to the players on the field and both teams would grab one end and pull opposite ways. Now, in JAPAN, they like to put the rope parallel to the teams and they have to run to the rope and start pulling it towards them. The point was at the end of the field there was a set of cones, and you need to knock all of them over.

With that, the events were over. We had a closing ceremony and we foreign students were asked to have someone say something for us. I thought that Chris Maples would be a good choice and pushed him to the front. After saying about 10 words, he decided to hand off the microphone. YUKO then took the mic, and said a few words.

Then the longest day of my stay in JAPAN, finally ended. I don’t really remember what happened after that. I’m thinking something along the line of going home and passing out.

Thanks to all that are sticking with me. I hope that you will continue to visit. There will be more postings soon!

As always click on the title for more photos or HERE!