Portrait of a Japanese Person

Give me a paintbrush, canvas, and some tubes of oil paint and I would be willing to paint a portrait of anyone. Why? Because it’s easy to look at someone and paint what you see. But using your words to create a portrait of someone is much harder. For me, it’s nearly impossible. Because I’m not a writer and I’m absolutely horrible at describing things and I can’t accurately  say what I want. To me, a picture says everything. The saying is true; a picture is worth 1,000 words.

 But if I were to use my words to paint a portrait of a Japanese person I would paint a portrait of someone I know, so that I could be accurate when it comes to my description.  My portrait would be of my old roommate, Yuriko Nishiguchi. She’s quiet and can be rather shy, and when you first meet her she can come off as a rather cold person who is a bit indifferent, so when I think of her I see soft pastel colors. But she’s also a really strong person because she is able to deal with hard times, such as the death of her father. She never seems to get too stressed because she can look at a situation from a calm perspective, so I would give her a pose that’s coming from below her to lift her up and make her seem a bit stoic.

When I asked her how she would paint a portrait of herself, as a Japanese person she said that she would just do purikura to show that she’s just a typical Japanese girl. And when I asked to her what kind of picture (from my collection of photos I have taken while in Japan) she would use to show who she is she chose the 2^nd picture I have posted.

This just shows that our perspectives are just so different and it’s rather hard to have an accurate portrait of anyone.

Neighborhood Hirakata

As of now, I am living in Hirakata, a small city in Japan. But when I think of Hirakata I don’t really think of it as a city. To me, it’s a suburb of Osaka. It’s just a quiet little town that doesn’t really seem to have much action. But I shouldn’t generalize Hirakata, since it is a large area and I only live/walk around a small part of it.

Where I live is in Kansai Gaidai’s Seminar House (3) for international students. The Area it is located in is just a quiet neighborhood. To me, this neighborhood reminds me a lot of home. Just by how the neighbors will be walking around and run into each other and start to chat about what’s been going on and to catch up with each other. The only other sounds that are present are the sounds of motorcycles and children playing. 

There are 2 main places that I go to in Hirakata; the first is Hirakata station, the “down town” area of the city. This area is rather lively compared to where I live because so many people are either going in and out of the area because of the train station and the small shopping area near it or local/international students are meeting up and hanging around the area. The 2^nd area I go to is Kansai Gaidai itself. When I think of Kansai Gaidai’s campus, it feels more like a high school. It’s quiet on campus, and people are running off and fitting different activities in between their classes and they truly live by the bell that rings throughout the campus.

I would say that Hirakata is a good area for both the locals and the international students to live in. it’s a nice quiet little area that one can call home.

My Impressions of Japan

Big cities, massive crowds, reserved people, and a world that was modern but very much so tied to the past. These were just a few of the things that came to my mind when I thought about Japan. If you asked me what Japan was like a year ago I would probably tell you about what I have learned in my various classes and talk about the people by telling stories about my friends. But if you were to ask me now, I’m not sure I would know how to answer.  Family and friends ask me, “So what’s japan like? Is it a lot like an anime? Are the people as crazy as they are portrayed in game shows?” and it's hard to answer these questions when I first got here (back in August) because it’s hard to paint an accurate picture of this/any country.

If I had to describe japan in one short statement I would say that it is it organized chaos. It can be overwhelming, and the cities might seem a bit hectic at first, but once you get your footing, japan isn’t too intimidating.

Japan is definitely NOT just like an anime, although anime characters are everywhere you go and are usually being promoted on many products. So I would say that anime has been integrated with Japan and it’s undeniably prominent. But people don’t go out of their way to talk to you about it. I’ve even found that Japanese students get upset when anime is the subject for too long.

And the people are not just a bunch of freaks running around in crazy costumes acting silly. From my point of view, the people of Japan are hardworking, kind and they can be really reserved. I’ll never fully understand them because I am not Japanese. Even now, after months of living here, I’m still never 100% sure if my actions are appropriate or not. Japan is a culture full of subtle complexities that only a native would fully understand. But Japan is also a country that is full of people who can be quiet but are very kind. And I want to spend the rest of my time here trying to understand Japan and it’s people a little more.