http://orillasdelriotiempo.blogspot.com/2013/09/no-es-otro-discurso-feminista.html?view=classic
My beautiful friend, Claudia, from Colombia wrote this inspiring blog post.
It’s in Spanish so either go on Google Translate or ask someone fluent to translate it for you.
It’s worth it!
-Jazz
Good morning to you all!
It’s 9:30 in the evening in Japan but you all are just waking, or will be waking soon, from your slumber. In Minnesota it is 7:30am. It’s crazy to think that rush hour has began, people are driving out of their way to a coffee shop for a “pick-me-up” before their work day even starts, and office buildings are beginning to fill with sounds of keyboards clicking. Wow – the daily grind for my friends in the United States has just began, and here I am.
I have just gotten home from one of the best meals I have had in Japan thus far. My family and I went to a traditional styled Japanese restaurant in the Shiodome Tower named Harahoro Hirehare. If you’re ever visiting the Shiodome district eat here! It is a bit intimidating, I admit, but I think the intimidation comes from the (my) lack of familiarity with the customs. For instance, before you go into the restaurant you must take off your shoes before entering on the raised platform. I knew this prior to going inside the restaurant but the act of actually taking off my shoes before going in was kind of scary! Does that sound stupid? Okay – that sounds stupid, but you go into a totally different culture and take off your shoes before eating at a traditional restaurant and see how confident you feel.
The awkwardness and self-consciousness was well worth it! The staff was so sweet and patient with us. They even offered an old English menu and attempted to make our language barrier a non-barrier. Once I had a few glasses of Jasmine Plum Wine all the worry if I was doing something culturally offensive washed away and I sat back and had a great time with my family and the staff at Harahoro Hirehare.
This is our last night staying in Tokyo but if it weren’t our last night I would eat there again!
Anyhow, I am extremely exhausted from the days adventures. Tomorrow morning we are leaving Tokyo for Osaka to stay at a hostel and go to a baseball game (!!!!! I love baseball). We are only staying at Osaka for one night and then we’re off to Kyoto for three nights, Fuji for two nights. A lot of places to see and not a lot of time to see everything (guess that’s an excuse to come back).
I’m not sure when I will have access to WiFi again – but I will go to coffee shops at least a few times until I am back in the United States to update you all!
I promise, pictures will be uploaded soon!
Until next time, xox
Greetings from Tokyo, Japan!
I’m writing with my younger sister’s extremely small netbook, dreaming of how great my life would be if I had a cup of coffee to go with this blog update. Hotel rooms in Tokyo, Japan are not similar in size to the ones in America – so fitting five adult people in two rooms has been a challenge. But, right now – it is perfect. I am sitting alone in my hotel room bed, the window curtains are cracked open, and the sun is slowly rising. Really though, a nice cup of medium roast coffee would really fit my mood. Currently, it is 4:56am on Monday here and 2:56pm Sunday in Minnesota. I’ve been up since 3am here so it is becoming apparent that I have a little bit of jet lag – oh well, bring me the coffee and I’ll be fine.
On Friday early morning we had my boyfriend, Alex, drop all of us off at Minnesota/St. Paul Airport. From there (after we got our coffee) we took an American Airlines flight from MSP to Dallas and then took the same airline from Dallas to Narita-Chi, Japan. All in all I think we spent about 16 hours in the air. Luckily, we flew standby so on our flight from Dallas to Narita-Chi and fate would have it that we all got into business class – which was so awesome.
First things first: I am enjoying my experience so far in Japan. Mostly, for the quality time I am getting with my family again. Now that we are all getting older it is much harder for us all to get together at the time same time.
Second things second: My thought all day yesterday – Holy Starbucks. There seems to be more here than there are in the south! On almost every street, every subway station, and every mall there are at least one or two. It doesn’t stop with stores either, family marts, grocery stores, little food vans – they all have Starbucks options in to-go containers (similar to the Starbucks drinks at gas stations). In America, having a Starbucks in your hand used to be a source of status – it told other people who you were or who you’d like to be. Yet, now that the “go local” movement is such a trend, chain coffee shops are becoming less fashionable and having traveling tumblers from the local coffee shop down the street is more “in”. Here in Japan though, Starbucks is still their source of status – along with the iPhone. Really, it’s quite interesting phenomenon.
Yesterday, after we figured out the subway system, we went to Comiket. My brother (who knows way more about this than I could ever dream) explained to me that Comiket is a comic market. It is the largest dōjinshi fair and is held two times a year in Tokyo. It is extremely popular and I think this is because, from my understanding, dōjinshi, means self-published Japanese works.
At this convention, there must have been hundreds of thousands of people (not being dramatic), but there was little noise. My mom and I keep talking about how strange it was to have such an orderly, quiet mass event. Now – don’t get me wrong “orderly” may be a little too nice – but compared to conventions on the same caliber that I have been to in the United States, very orderly.
Unfortunately, due to our lack of Japanese skills we walked blindly into the wrong section of comics and our time at Comiket was shortly lived.
Okay! I am in serious need of some coffee. Today we are going to see Tokyo Tower and then there is some talks going around that we may go to Disney World. So, I’m going to get some coffee, get dressed, and maybe I’ll blog again before I fall asleep!
I’m sure today will be much more interesting (:
After over 23 hours of traveling I am home.
I arrived Saturday late morning and have been on the go ever since.
It’s so odd being back in Minnesota.
Instead of having the ability to walk everywhere I need to go I have already used half a tank of gas.
Instead of having to purchase bottles of water I have filled my water bottle, given to me by my dearest friend Ari, with tap water.
Instead of having coconut rice, meat, and soup for lunch for a little over USD $3 I have to eat at home or else spend double the price of a Colombian lunch for a lesser amount and lesser health concious meal.
Instead of waking up every morning to a countdown, I’m waking up every morning to seven alarms warning me that although I have obligations for the day – I should stay in bed.
Instead of sitting on the wall that protected Centro from pirates, singing with one of my newest best friends playing his guitar – I am sitting at a coffee shop getting ready for a day of statistics class.
Instead of going out at night with my roommates asking, “Donde esta Mr. Pib” (that’s for you, Amanda!) I’m taking walks around my neighborhood until the early hours of the morning with my love.
It’s different.
It’s not bad, not better – it’s different.
My home is where my heart is. My heart happens to be split between Cartagena, Colombia and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
My next adventure outside of the coutnry? August – Japan!
"I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list" - Susan Sontag 