Anticipated Journey

It is a late Saturday night and I can’t sleep because there is a list of tasks I have yet to touch.  I’ll be heading to Japan in only two weeks.  I will board an airplane alone, suffer the sixteen hour flight to Osaka alone, and and while I’ll be hosted by a Japanese university, I will still be very much alone.  It is an independence I am anticipating with much excitement and terror.  I decided I would study abroad this spring in order to understand who I am.  Japan is a country with a culture very different from America, and I cannot depend on old customs and securities to get me through the four months.  I have to rely on my intelligence and my ability to adapt.  I will be alone, and alone is how I will strengthen and grow.

I have several goals for my trip to Japan, aside from my personal journey.  I am on a quest to understand the language, as well as the media.  The language itself, is extremely different than the English or Spanish we’ve studied in the United States.  It is a language based mainly on context.  Depending on where you say something, you might change the entire meaning of one word.  By elongating a vowel, you may change one word to another.  And meanwhile, you must be cautious and keep your voice from peaking.  As Americans, we have a tendency when we speak to raise the pitch to express our meaning.  In Japan, the language is spoken with a unique monotone sound.  Personally, this will probably be one of my greatest challenges (that and…well…remembering any Japanese vocabulary whatsoever).

Japanese media, my second interest, will be based around anime, manga, television, newspaper, advertisement and the radio.  Media has an effect on culture through history, and can demonstrate the nature of the people as well as reflect the events of the time period.  I am curious to know how this differs from American media and culture.  What sort of programs are on TV? What is acceptable for children? How are women portrayed? How are men portrayed? Is there an ongoing theme? Do people working in the media make a decent living? What news do they report? What does the culture see as “important?” How does media portray other countries and international events?  How do Japanese Advertisements communicate their intent?

There is enough to learn that four months may not be nearly enough time.  In the meantime, I’m still waiting for the next two weeks to pass.  Wow. Excitement and terror…I’m going to live in Japan. =D