Participating in a Japanese Archery Tournament!

This past Sunday was my first Japanese archery tournament!

My school club is kyudou, otherwise known as Japanese archery, and due to that I got to compete in a tournament! I'm not actually sure if it's legal for exchange students to participate, so shhh don't tell the Japanese government.

The day started out with me waking up at 5:20 so I could catch the 6:50 train, even though the tournament didn't start until 8. The reason I had to take a 6:50 train is because Miyazaki is very rural, so the trains only run about once every hour in certain directions.

While biking to the train station, I realized I forgot my lunch box at home. Whoops! I caught the train right on time, and knew I had to get off after about 3 stops. 3 stops later, I looked up and didn't recognize the name of the station. At that point I was nervous and fidgety. By the time the train stops at the next stop, I knew that I took the wrong train. I mean, where the hell is Tano!?

The station sign that made me lose all hope

I needed to get to Kibana station!! I also needed a taxi. I guess the one lucky thing was that an empty taxi with a nice driver was stopped at the train station. I asked him how much it would cost to get to the kyudou dojo, and he told me I would need around $50. At this point my heart sank because I didn't have enough cash on me. However, the taxi driver kindly stopped at a 7/11 for me to withdraw cash. The whole ride ended up "only" being about $40, but I still was not happy when I got to the tournament.

However, the tournament itself went well! Each time someone participates, they get 4 arrows. The first time I went up, I didn't hit any. The second time I went up I hit 2, which made me really happy!

During tournaments or formal practices, you have to wear special clothes called hakama. Everything from entering the target area to collecting the arrows is done in a very precise, specialized way. It's quite efficient, and we were able to go home at around 3.

Everyone lined up (I'm second furthest down!)

Overall, despite the mishaps, it was fun and I'm glad I participated!

(I do not recommend biking with a big ass bow in Japan's narrow streets)

Halfway Through My Exchange

August 28, 2017 is exactly halfway through my exchange.

Wowowow. It just feels so surreal. It feels as if I've come so far and changed so much, yet I'm still only halfway there. How much more will I change?

If someone asked me to say the ways I've changed, I would say the tenseness I had from America is almost gone. I just want to have fun with people I love! I want to learn, and challenge myself, and create. I want to do everything! I wanna live forever!

Anything that could be considered shyness is practically gone. I still have my moments, but considering all the embarrassing and awkward things that have happened, it's pretty hard for me to feel shy.

For example, there was a period of time here where I was getting diarrhea constantly, like every day ahaha (TMI) My body showed me no mercy even when hanging out with friends. So I was on a road trip with my friend's family. We had just stopped at a road stop, where I didn't feel a hint of anything that was to come. As soon as we pulled out I felt a little rumbling in my stomach, but I thought it would quiet down. Nope! Not even 15 minutes later I whisper to my friend, "Uhhh, I gotta go to the bathroom. Badly." I was the only one that got out to use the bathroom, and left them all waiting there for like 8 minutes. The finishing blow was when the concerned parents kept asking "Are you okay now?" throughout the trip. Ahah!



I don't want to go back home, but at the same time I'm excited for my future back in America. I want to see all my friends back in America, but I don't want to leave my Japanese ones. My Japanese friends are some of the kindest people I've ever met, I cannot stress enough how much I love Japanese girls! They are so sweet, interesting, expressive, and sometimes even a little sassy.

As for my Japanese, I feel pretty happy with how far it's gotten! Today I went to a cafe with a Japanese friend and it didn't end up feeling awkward at all, even though we were just talking for 2 1/2 hours. That's a pretty good indicator of my Japanese level! However, I still have plenty of room for improvement, especially when it comes to vocabulary. Hopefully I'll be able to easily read manga and easy novels when I come back.

I still definitely want to keep posting more stories on here and more YouTube videos, but now that school is starting up again I'm going to lose a lot of my free time. I'll try the best I can!

Thank you to everyone that is cheering me on from back home. I love you all!

Japanese Summer Festivals!

To put it simply, Japanese festivals are great, and a must if you go to Japan!

The smell of sizzling meat, sweat trickling down my back, and laughing with friends. Could a summer day get any better?

 As a HUGE foodie, one of the biggest attractions about festivals is the stalls that offer foods from ice cream to chicken to even fried squid! Some of the foods that I always get when I go to festivals are takoyaki (fried balls with octopus in them), hashimaki, shaved ice, and sometimes tornado potatoes.

Hashimaki

Tornado Potato

All this delicious food is the reason why I gained 7 kilos since coming to Japan!!! :,(

Another charm of festivals is wearing traditional Japanese "Yukata" or "Jinpei." My friend Natsuko actually gave me a yukata, which I'm super thankful for :) I'd recommend buying flipflops to wear with the yukata, because the traditional Japanese shoes that go with yukatas are not comfortable

Other than the food stalls, there is always some sort of event going on at festivals. Usually, there is a stage featuring dances, acts, etc. Sometimes, festivals are based entirely around fireworks, like a giant Fourth of July party! The recent festival I went to, which is one of the biggest in my city, had around 7 stages as well as big marches.

A lot of people use festivals as a chance to meet up with friends as well as take pictures with any acquaintances they happen to meet. It's always a festive environment, and fun to yell/squeal if you see a friend!

If you ever come to Japan, please try going to a festival at least once! And you can also buy yukatas for fairly low prices ;)