Yokohama 2003
 ell, seven weeks later and I'm finally home from Japan. This trip, though far shorter than my year in Gifu (August 2001-July 2002) had a far greater impact on my life and I felt that I underwent far more personal growth. With that said, I really miss being in Yokohama. When I flew out of Narita a year ago in 2002, I couldn't wait to get back home, but this time I didn't want to go home yet, and felt as though I wasn't quite ready to leave. I think this is mainly because I had so many memories tying me back to Yokohama that I was afraid to let go of them too soon.
So yes, a lot happened to me in Yokohama on both extremes of the scale. To begin with, a little background info regarding my trip to Yokohama: When I first applied to grad school way back in the fall of 2001, I had already planned ahead to spend this summer studying abroad in Japan. In fact, part of my grad school selection process took into account the presence of the IUC Yokohama summer program. I had always wanted to study in Japan for years when I was at UC San Diego, but never really had the opportunity (that went for studying in China, too). With this in mind, I went to Japan through the JET Programme after graduating - an experience that failed to live up to my expectations in many regards, particularly with respect to my language study. Thus, it was essential that I seek out a good Japanese program to study overseas during my time in grad school. So it was that I planned to go to the Inter-University Center for Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama well before ever receiving acceptance letters from my grad schools.
The IUC Yokohama program itself is formed through a consortium of some of the best universities in the country such as Stanford, Yale, Harvard, etc. including some top Canadian universities and is administered through Stanford. Its academic year long Japanese program is considered the best in Japan and is geared towards graduate students as well as certain professionals, eg. foreign ambassadors. However, given my academic timeline for completing grad school, I didn't feel I could afford the time spent on the year program and so the summer intensive language program seemed ideal.
Arriving in Japan
In a whirlwind week with less than a two day turn-around each between finishing my finals, moving out of my apartment, and driving home to Southern California, I was on a plane off to Japan from LAX. At that time, I would never imagine how different a person I would be when I would fly back seven weeks later.
I arrived in Narita with no problems and made it in to Tokyo station around 3:30 in the afternoon on Monday, June 16th. It felt strangely good to be back in Japan and I was looking forward to a good experience to help wipe away the bad taste that had been left in my mouth from my time in Gifu. I remember sitting on the train on the way to Tokyo station and staring out the window at all the greenery and traditional Japanese houses nestled in the countryside as I passed by. The scene was very calming and was reminiscent of the image of Mark Salzman staring out the window on his way home from China in Iron & Silk.
Interestingly enough, my first major communication with anyone when I got to Japan was actually in Chinese as there was a small Chinese family sitting across from me on the train when I first arrived, which gave me a chance to exercise some of my Mandarin. In fact, I had brought some of my Chinese language books with me to study on the side to keep my ability up while I was in Japan. However due to the host family issues that I would later encounter, I found myself barely able to stay abreast of my Japanese study, let alone my Chinese and so sadly watched as my Chinese skills deteriorated during my time in Japan. I had a few friends with whom I could speak in Chinese, but by then my Chinese level had fallen so far, I became self-conscious about using it, and it was only upon a good friend's insistence that I continued to try to work through my language block. Amazingly enough though, upon returning to the States, my Chinese "improved" again. I think what it came down to was the fact that being in a Japanese-speaking environment I found it more difficult for me to fully switch over to Chinese as easily as I am able to when I'm in an English-speaking setting.
My Host Family
I applied to the program early so I could get a head start on locating a good host family in the Tokyo/Yokohama area for the summer. However, for various reasons, the several host family possibilities that I had in mind didn't work out, so I ended up going through a homestay application process through the city of Yokohama to locate a host family. I received a response about a week later and felt about ready to go with that lady when I heard from a member of the Japanese Bible study that I attended at Stanford that a friend of hers in Tokyo who was a former Stanford student and belonged to a Christian family had agreed to host me. So, opting for the recommendation of someone with a Stanford connection over a complete stranger, I agreed to go with the second woman. She seemed really nice and said that I could stay with her parents in Yokohama during the week and then return to her place in Tokyo on weekends. This appeared like a good arrangement at first because it seemed more ideal for exploring Tokyo and experiencing the nightlife there on weekends. If I had only known then what I know now... but then hindsight is always 20/20 and no one could have possibly predicted at the time the horrible ordeal that I would have to go through later.
Indeed, when I got into Tokyo and met up with Miyuki, the elder sister and contact person of my host family, we got along well right away and I moved my things comfortably into her apartment. It would be her apartment in Meguro-ku that I would stay at for the first couple days before moving over to Yokohama to start school. It was also at Miyuki's that she had asked me to stay during the weekends.
On Wednesday night, I moved from Miyuki's place in Tokyo to go stay at her parent's place in Yokohama. My host parents there were very nice. Mama-san enjoyed talking with me endlessly when I was home and we often took short evening walks together after dinner. At times, Mama-san's continuous desire to talk with me left me with little time to study, and so I often found myself staying up late into the night and getting up extra early the next morning to complete my homework. But I didn't really mind so much because Mama-san and I were able to develop a good relationship through our long talks together and it gave me ample opportunity to work on my speaking and listening skills in Japanese, my primary language goal for coming to Japan. In addition, since Mama-san was a shodou 書道 (Japanese calligraphy) instructor, I had the chance to practice my brushwork as well, a quiet hobby of mine. Because of my background in Chinese 繁體字 we were able to concentrate on more classical sayings which I was enthused about as I am not very familiar with as many kotowaza as I'd like to be.
However Mama-san could sometimes be a little too motherly. On my first day of school, when we all went to take our placement exams, she insisted on walking with me all the way to the Center. Even though it had been not quite a year since I was last in Yokohama, I knew exactly where to go and felt a little childish with her seeing me all the way to the Center. After she saw me into the school library with much ado where everyone was waiting, one of the other students made a light quip about my being led in by my host mother. So much for making a strong first impression. Still, it was nice.
Though there were times when I did feel restricted by Mama-san's mothering that occasionally made it difficult for me to stay out late with my friends, I nevertheless still had enough freedom to go out maybe once a week with people if the opportunity arose. This bit of social freedom later became considerably hindered by all the moving around I was forced to do at Miyuki's behest. But in general, I always felt very at home staying with Mama-san.
I never saw too much of my host father. He lived on the first floor of their split-level apartment and I only usually saw him at dinner. My host father had recently had surgery for liver cancer, which left him rather fatigued throughout the day. Still, he was always eager to see how I was doing and seemed constantly interested in and amazed at what I knew about Japanese history and culture. So the times that we did get together, we found that we could chat over a variety of topics and thus enjoyed each other's company fairly well. His energy level rose dramatically after his tumor was diagnosed to be benign (he was really happy to find this out when I was still staying with them).
In addition to Miyuki, my host family also had another daughter named Michiko, whom her mother always called Kiwi, the name of her black labrador, since the two seemed inseparable. Michiko was really sweet and we occasionally got together on weekends. She also took me to church with her once, since I had hoped to find a church to attend while I was studying in Japan. Due to a busy schedule and other unforeseen circumstances, however, I only ever did go to church just that once while I was in Japan, but God reached out to me in many other ways during my stay in Yokohama that would cause me to feel His presence far greater than I ever would have in church.
The Inter-University Center For Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama
The Inter-University Center For Japanese Language Studies in Yokohama is the place that would become a home to all of us over the next six weeks. It is wonderfully situated in Minato Mirai in Yokohama - a brand-new business, shopping, and entertainment complex overlooking the harbor. Our morning walk from Sakuragi-cho station to the school would bring us through Landmark Tower - formerly the tallest building in Asia - and the Queen's Square shopping complex, past bustling businessmen and people handing out free tissues. The Center itself is on the 5th Floor of the Pacifico Yokohama, a hotel and exhibition center that plays host to numerous international conferences and business conventions on a regular basis. The outdoor balcony of the school, designed in the style of a Japanese garden, commands an impressive view of the harbor and surrounding area, making it an ideal spot to watch the summer fireworks with friends.
The IUC program accepts graduate students, high-level professionals and government officials at the intermediate and advanced level of Japanese from some of the more elite universities in the country, as well as in Canada. So it was through the IUC program that 26 of us from throughout North America were brought together for six weeks in Yokohama, with all of us sharing a common interest in Japan and the desire to further our Japanese language ability. Thus it did not take long for many of us to form great friendships with people whom we may not have otherwise met except perhaps later in our professional lives. We all shared good times together, and it is them who I miss the most. Like any experience, it is often the people you meet who leave you with the greatest impression, and for my summer in Yokohama, this held very true.
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