This Room Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us!

Welcome to Seminar House!
It dawned on me first that I was in Japan when I nearly walked into seminar house with my shoes on. However, as is custom in Japan, one does not wear shows inside a home. Therefore, this is where all the residents place the shoes just after entering.


I'm sure many of you who have ever had any ambitions of traveling to Japan have been told that space is much more limited in Japan than the US. Perhaps I've become spoiled by the wide, open space that the US has to offer, but I realized quite swiftly upon my arrival that space is a limited resource in Japan.
Consider for instance my living/sleeping area.
My room is not very big as the picture clearly illustrates. What is usually just enough space for one in the United States, is just enough space for two individuals. I sleep on a futon which, surprisingly enough, is more comfortable than it appears. It's quite soft and sleeping on the floor is not as horrible as it might seem. However, the rice pillow can be a bit disagreeable at times. As you can obviously see, my roommate and I are quite acquainted with one another...
Kansai Gaidai University is quite discernably identifiable from the rest of Hirakata city. Once entering, it easily recognizable as a college campus. One feature that is quite striking is the cleanliness of the campus. Every morning, one can't miss the cavalcade of individuals literally scrubbing the already spotless ground of the campus. Although not as big as most college campuses many American students might be accustomed to, it has all the normal amenities expected from a university. The campus library is about average size and includes books in not only Japanese, but English as well. There is also a large section of magazines and newspapers from all over the world. An easy to spot amenity of the campus is the McDonald's. Surprisingly one of the popular locations to grab a bite to eat, it is unlike any other McDonald's you'd find in the US. The employees are probably excessively polite and and helpful and the food is better prepared than anything you'd find back home. The campus cafeteria, to the contary, offers food of the more local sort, including soba noodles, udon noodles, ramen, and curry rice. The prices are considerably less than expected. For the equivalent of about $2.70 one can have a fulfilling meal of curry rice (my personal favorite), a serving of fresh fruit, and free water and/or tea. Much to my surprise, Kansai Gaidai students claim food is cheaper at most public universities in Japan (KGU is private).

Seminar house and the campus are about a 15-20 minute walk away. Each morning I leave about half an hour before my first class and walk to the university. Suffice it to say that streets in Japan are quite narrow. In fact, quite narrow is an understatement. I am literally walking on the shoulder of the road while cars are passing by in both directions with pedestrians and cyclists on either side of the street. It's quite shocking the amount of traffic that must pass on such narrow streets and I'd delve into it further, but for the sake of my mother's health, I'll just leave the rest to your imagination.







I'll have more photos on my Flickr page soon. Feel free to comment!
Next week I hope to talk a bit about Keitai, but don't hold me to it!