Japanese Pizza and Joe Blogs

[foolish_m0rtal]

So apparently one thing Japan doesn't do right is pizza (gasp, you say. Japan is actually BAD atsomething?) but I dunno- these pizzas look pretty good. At least, better than some of the American stuff I've had. Maybe it's just jarring for people who expect typical American toppings. It's always nice to have some spice (squid ink sauce?) in life, I suppose!

I also ran across this blog about an American exchange student living in Japan. A little disappointing in that he lived in Japan for a whole year and there aren't many many blog posts. Apart from talking about his Japanese language teacher, he really doesn't say anything about school life or people he met at school, which is what I was really interested in: how he fit in at school, what kind of differences exist between school systems and social realms.

It talks a lot about going to random places and eating food. Which is great, no doubt, but it seems more touristy and doesn't focus a lot on school even though he says in his first entry that this is a kind of 'for students by students' blog about living in Japan. Like, there's a school trip to Hiroshima, but he doesn't go with everyone else and goes off by himself to Osaka. I don't really...understand...Okay, so there's the whole uncomfortable 'this is the site dedicated to those killed when America was stupid and used nuclear weapons in the war."-

(Aside: I think it was stupid. Yes, it was a tough decision to go through with it, and yes it got the quick end that they wanted, but really? Really? You did that? In middle school we had a contest where we had to write an essay about how America was the best and had done all these fantastic things. I wrote about the complete wrongness of America bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Guess who didn't win? Geez, I'm probably on some obscure hit list somewhere...)

-but really? I wanted to hear about how he integrated with his classmates and how he met people. What kind of food they served in the dining hall? And cleaning: I know unlike American schools, Japanese students clean the school (I like this a LOT. I think it makes people have more respect for their environment. You're not going to draw stupid things on the desks if you have to clean it up) but does this extend to college? I'm guessing we would clean our own dorms as usual, but how would I sort rubbish into burnable and non-burnable items and are there any other rules in dorms, in general? Arg!
He was going to hand the blog off to a girl who was leaving soon, but I don't think she posted anything. Pitty, I never play the Girl Card, but this is legitimate. It's kind of more difficult to travel and be a girl. Girls, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. I hate boys sometimes. They can go wherever they want whenever they want.

And it seems like he becomes more...do I want to use the term bitter here? I mean, he definitely sounds a lot more optimistic about Japan in his earlier posts. My respect for living by himself in an apartment, though! That can be harrowing wherever you go! 

Comments

[broken-moons.livejournal.com]

Mm, those pizzas actually do look good. Not too different from the pizzas we get here, either.

I'll check out the blog, I've always been intrigued by the experiences of westerners in Japan (and how I'd do over there, myself), but if he really wrote as little as you said...

[foolish-m0rtal.livejournal.com]

The blog is at least interesting in that you see how he manages to live there and the places he goes to eat

[foolish-m0rtal.livejournal.com]

p.s. I've always wondered about your icon. What's the story?

[broken-moons.livejournal.com]

This. Or, go here and look for The Windserpent Saga.

The art in my icon was done by snufffie, a very talented artist. I have a couple more icons with her art, depicting Kala (the blond in this icon).