Friday, July 24, 2009

Nihon!

A few days ago, I resolved to do at least one thing in the next year that I've always wanted to do, but could never get around to. So I'm going to Japan! Specifically around May-ish to July-ish. I'm still trying to decide what season I want to encounter. Preferably when tourists hit an all time low is ideal for me.

I intend to go for a month to have fun, to eat the food, see the sights, take in the culture, and really make an adventure of it in general. I've already started learning a little Japanese, though I understand that many Japanese people usually speak some English. In general I think I'd be more comfortable if I could carry a conversation with a stranger. Actually, if I have my way, I'll be proficient in the language before I leave. There are people who say that it's one of the harder languages to learn, but I've learned a long time ago that simply considering something "hard" often becomes the singular significant barrier to completing any task. I really do mean any task. For now I'm going to resist the urge to go off on a tangent about this.

If you can't figure out the title of the post, to the Japanese, the name of their country is Nihon or Nippon, depending on what they're reffering to. My understanding of usage is that Nihon is the country, and Nippon is the State. I'm not going there to see the state, whatever its merits or demerits.

It wasn't a random spin of the globe, I've been interested in Japan in particular for a while. My father was a practitioner of Judo when he was younger. Like so many parents who enroll their kids in an activity, I got enrolled in a Judo class at a very young age. It was a lot of fun and I remember enjoying it immensely. Ever since then I've been interested in Japan, though my interests go beyond martial arts.

As far as I'm concerned, it's going to be a total lark. I really have no business there and no one I know there. Aside from some lodging arrangments I'll basically be parachuting in, a prospect I find especially appealing though I'm not sure why. When else will I get a chance to do something like this? During a grad program? As a post-doc? Fuhgettaboutit. I'll go now. Er- May. You know what I mean.

5 comments:

  1. SOOOOO JEALOUS!!! Go see Kyoto for me and take a billion pictures and put them all up on Facebook.
    Wait, then I wouldn't be able to see them.
    I've always wanted to go there too--might get to head out there for a conference in a year or two :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What's this? A subtle dig at my apparent Facebook shyness? ;)

    Well if you, or any other reader wants to tag along you're more than welcome to fire off an email. (I'm not offering to pay for anything, just to be clear.) I have very few insane people commenting here, so I'm not too worried doing an open invite.

    EXCEPT YOU SPAMMERS! NO JAPAN FOR YOU!

    ReplyDelete
  3. i wish i could tag along...but i lack money and vacation time. who knows? maybe this grad school thing won't work out and i'll spend a few years traveling (and racking up some insane debt).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah, I'm sure having grad school fall through would probably be one of the better things that could happen to you. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yeah, I'm sure having grad school fall through would probably be one of the better things that could happen to you. ;-)

    ReplyDelete

Freedom of speech! Comment freely. I will delete just as freely. Generally, avoid being obnoxious and you'll avoid frustration.

Keep in mind your comments may be held up by a spam filter.