December U, 1992
Living in Toyko: A day in the life
Amanda HolUnger
Special to the Gullfbrdlan
7:42 am
Brring, brrring-I shut off my
alarm clock and huddle deeper into
the covers, avoiding the chill of an
unheatedroom. 7:50 am and I grog
gily cling to the rungs of my bunk
bed as I attempt not to fall climbing
down. Tomo-chan and Ran-chan,
my roommates, are still asleep. I
pour a bowl of banana flakes (a
Japanese version of corn flakes)
and sit on the floor under the
warmth of the heated table (kotatsu)
from which a thick blanket (futon)
spreads out.
8:30 am
Japanese class begins. There are
11 of us. 10 Americans, 1 German,
9 females, 2 males. We struggle
learning the different verb forms
which change according to the rank
of the person you're speaking to
and then change again according
to the gender or the person who is
speaking. I cringe as the teacher
instructs me in the use of the femi
nine particles, which to me denote
deference and hesitation. Later I
forgive her as she tells us that she
quit her job at a company when
men with the same position as her
insisted that she pour tea. She
asked, "Why?" They said, "Be
cause you are a woman," and so
she left.
9:30 am
A ten minute coffee break.
Americans sprint to the next build
ing where we huddle around our
God, CNN, worshipping the news
which we barely bothered to keep
up with at home. "Bernie (Shaw)
is wearing the same tie as yester-
Foreign Facts
Compiled by Paula Swongucr
1. In Bulgaria, the average
length of time that a govern
ment has stayed in power since
1900 is one year and three
days. (Submitted by Teddy
Kolev)
2. Bulgaria is one of the few
countries in the world that had
a national holiday of litera
ture and a national holiday of
alcoholism. (Submitted by
Teddy Kolev)
day," someone mutters. "Shh,
Clinton's on," we respond.
11:00 am
Class is over and after picking
up the various newsletters from
my mailbox, which I can't read, I
step outside. The grass is turning
yellow and the trees are changing
colors, over which I can see the
cross of the ICU chapel. A few
students are laying outside talking,
professor's kids are playing catch
and speaking a funny mixture of
English and Japanese, and the
grounds keeper wearing a big straw
hat is sweeping leaves off the side
walk. A bloodmobile is parked
outside and so I decide to try a new
experience, giving blood in Japan.
There are no questions like in
America, except for "are you feel
ing well?" and "have you been to a
foreign country in the last year?"
The first one was easy, but to the
second question I said, "Yes, Ja
pan." He gives me a funny look
and asks me again. Suddenly I re
alize my ethnocentric mistake and
embarrassed say, "I mean
America."
12:30 pm
I go to a meeting of CSPP (Cul
tural Sharing Partners Program)
where today's topic is animal
rights. However, as usual, the sub
ject veers and we begin talking
about relationships in Japan and
America, particularly the lack of
affection amoung Japanese people.
The Americans explained the with
drawal we felt from human touch.
For over two months, I said, I
haven't been hugged. A Japanese
looked at me as if to say, "So
what?" "I've never been hugged,"
he says. We Americans stare at
3. Indonesians rarely
spank their children. In
stead, they give them a
stinging, painful pinch.
Light pinches are also
given to children as a sign
of pleasure. (Submitted
by Joanna Eure)
4. In Greece, gifts are ex
changed on New Year's Day
rather than Christmas in honor
of St. Basil, the epitome of phi
lanthropy. (Submitted by
Loretta Boll)
5. An old Bermudian wedding
custom which is still practiced
today is the arrival of the bride
and bridesmaids at the church
Features
him if he said he's never been
born. "Never?" we say together.
"Yeah, me neither," says a 21-
year-old Japanese woman. "Well,
maybe once when I was little I
hugged my Dad by mistake."
Our eyes must have shown our
feelings of great pity for them, for
the next minute a Japanese asked,
"Why do Americans have to show
physical affection to show love?
Why do you always have to say the
words 'I love you'? We never say
that, either, but it's not because we
don't feel love. We just show it in
different ways."
I suddenly thought about how
my host mother used to wait for me
to get home until late at night, or
how when I was sick, my room
mates made me hot tea and brought
me candies and cold packs, or how
my friend paid for my taxi fare so
that I wouldn't have to walk back
to the dorms in the dark. I've never
hugged any of these people, but
their gestures have touched mejust
as deeply.
Although it doesn't change the
fact that I miss hugs, it did change
the look of pity on my face to one
of understanding. Love, like any
thing else, doesn't exist only in
terms of how Americans define it.
And only by learning how to feel in
ways other than those that our cul
ture teaches us, does our experi
ence of human love deepen.
3:00 pm
I go running around the spacious
campus and out into the suburb,
passing ancient tea gardens and
ancient high-rise apartments,
smelling McDonald's cheesebur
gers as well as sweet bean pastries
of the street vendor. An elderly
woman in a kimono sits on a bench,
in a decorated horse-pulled
carriage. (Submitted by
Deirdre Lohan)
6. In Korea, young people are
forbidden to smoke in front of
older people such as teachers,
parents, or senior students.
(Submitted by Nick Choi)
7. The Cameroon Mountain
in Cameroon is one of the
wettest places on Earth, re
ceiving more than 30 feet of
rain in a year.
8. Kenya is East Africa's
most prosperous country, but
it also has the world's fastest
growing population.
head bent, wailing for a bus which
finally arrives, bearing a huge
Coca-Cola sign with a young, smil
ing, blond girl. Never is there a
whistle or a honk as I run and never
do I fear strangers, whether it be
dark or light.
5:05 pm
I transfer from the crowded bus
to the more crowded train, hanging
onto the rings above me as bodies
lurch back and forth to the rhyth
mic pulsing of the train which
throws strangers' bodies against
each other, leaving lipstick imprints
on white shirts and smashed toes.
Everyone hates rush hour and des
perately tries to avoid the hel 1 from
5 pm to 6 pm, but sometimes I feel
a secret comfort in being supported
by all these bodies which rock and
sway together into one massive
being. The train lurches to a stop
and I stumble off, disentangling
myself limb by limb as I become a
separate body once again.
6:00 pm
I arrive at the Toyamas' to teach
English for two hours, once a week.
Tonight's dinner is sashimi, a rare
treat of raw shrimp, squid, and
tuna, along with pickled potatoes,
radish salad, and fish paste patties
with vegetables, and of course, rice.
I eat every bite while Ms. Toyama
and her two teenage daughters prac
tice their English conversation with
me. By the time we finish tea and
coffee with truffles, apples, kiwi,
and sweet chesnuts, I have stayed
half an hour late and have to leave.
She apologizes for keeping me and
pays me $45 for the two hours.
I feel almost guilty for taking
this from a mother who works 9 to
5 in a department store, raises two
children by herself and lives in a
tiny two-room apartment the size
of my family room at home. I can't
even honesUy understand their
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desire to learn English, seeing as
the mother has no chance to travel,
orfor a promotion, and both daugh
ters study English at school. But
then, English is becoming a grow
ing necessity for all Japanese
people. As Ms. Toyama asked me,
"Why do you study Japanese if
you already know English?"
8:30 pm
The hot water is finally turned
on in the dorm and I step into the
bathing room, leaving my towel
and robe in a cubby. Three other
people are already bathing and I
greet them as I grab a bucket and
stool. I sit down and we all chat as
we wash using both the buckets
and shower heads. After I'm to
tally clean, I step into the hot bath
tub, joining two girls already there.
We talk casually until someone
squirts us with the shower head
and we retaliate by shooting steam
ing water with our hands from the
tub until a truce is declared. After
relaxing for a few more minutes, I
leave feeling warm, sleepy and
lightheaded.
9:30 pm
I am again under the warmth of
the kotatsu, ending my days as I
started it, this time studying and
chatting with my two roommates.
We complain about tomorrow's
test and cleaning duties: "You have
first-floor stairs? I have second
floor toilets." We speak in Japa
nese, which has become more and
more familiar to me, English slip
ping away as the days go by. Gradu
ally, I remember tomorrow's early
alarm and crawl into the top bunk,
running over vocab words in my
head, trying to decide what train
would be the fastest to get to Ginza,
reminding myself to bring my laun
dry in from the line...until I fall
asleep.
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