Week 4 in Japan

On July 6th, I attended the Shodo club, also known as the Calligraphy club. Prior to our arrival, the members translated our names into kanji and we were all amazed by how amazing the calligraphy looked as well as the meaning of our translated names. My name was translated into 透玲志 which means “clear, bright ambition.” At Shodo, we practiced calligraphy by using a brush and bokuyuu ink and writing one character and the various kinds of strokes multiple times. After some time, we moved on to practice writing our name and finally wrote our names on a long piece of paper. The stroke I’m most proud of in the final product is the fourth stroke of the first character.

The following Tuesday was the day of the midterm in Japanese. The midterm consisted of two parts, the oral and writing. The oral section was a bit more nerve wracking than the writing section but it’ll probably be okay.

On Wednesday, we got to watch the Hanshin Tigers vs the Chunichi Dragons baseball game at Koshi-en. One of our teachers is a very big fan of the Tigers so she came along with us and bought several balloons for us. It was an interesting experience even though it’s easy to miss what is happening during the game and it sprinkled a few times. Unfortunately, the Tigers lost 1:5 though their next game against the Dragons was a win for them.

The following day, I went to Kendo club. Kendo is a type of Japanese martial art that uses the bamboo sword and protective armor. We were taught the basic footwork, swing, and yelling. It was slightly difficult for me to coordinate my feet with my arms and yelling. Something interesting about Kendo was that we weren’t allowed to wear socks. Another thing of interest is that at the beginning, we’re supposed to stomp one foot really loud. I couldn’t make a sound that was as impressive as the Kendo club members.

On Friday, we were invited to the Flamenco Club dance practice as they had a performance coming up on July 13th and wanted international students to be a part of it. Once again, I had trouble with the hand and foot coordination stuff but it was a fun experience. After Flamenco, there was Sokyoku club. At the club, we got to learn how to play the koto, a Japanese traditional instrument. I really enjoyed it and I hope I would be able to play the koto again in the future.

During the weekend, I mostly chilled with my friends but on Sunday, Jackie and I went to Umeda to visit the Umeda Sky Building. We had dinner at a restaurant called Sweets Paradise which was a buffet of mostly cake and desserts. The food was quite delicious!

After eating, we walked around the area for a bit before heading to the Sky Building. It took a while before we got to the observatory due to the long line but it was worth the wait. The night view was lovely and a newly wedded couple were having some of their wedding pictures taken there. That’s all for last week’s updates. I’m pretty excited for this coming week’s events but at the same time, it’s getting closer to the end of the program.

Until next time,

Tracy Nguyen