Haruki Murakami

As part of my Japanese learning I read the translated version of Haruki Murakami books.
Well, it's not really part of my Japanese learning, but it definitely brings me closer to Japan. Discovering Murakami has definitely contributed to my decision to try to understand Japan.

The reason why I started reading him was because he made me feel like Japanese people could be just like me (murakami is soo, just like me). Reading not only Murakami's books, but others like Junichiro Tanizaki and well, for now just Murakami, has exposed me to how people are in Japan today.

Growing up outside Japan I'm exposed only to a small world of Japanese people and that unfairly shapes my understanding of the Japanese people. After I lived there through the JET program I realized that I have to broaden my horizons. I have to expose myself to more Japanese people and my quest is to do that through books.

For the longest time I thought Japanese people were materialistic, uptight and racist (i know, how nice). This may still be so, but these authors don't fit my stereotype and I am pleasantly surprised.

who do you read?
What Japanese authors changed your conception about Japan?

Coming to an End

My semester of Japanese learning is coming to an end (sigh).
I have no idea if I will be able to take Japanese next semester because it depends on whether I get in to the Japanese studies program I am itching to get in to.
I will find out this week or next and it makes these weeks so grueling.
Then again, if I don't get in, at least for these few weeks I can dream that I am in and I wouldn' t be totally tricking myself.
if you get what I mean.

wish me luck. (library rant from yesterday taken out because I need to have focus on this blog and can't go off on tangents like that)

Writing about Chado

My topic for my end of the semester presentation is Chado (Japanese Tea Ceremony).
A draft is due on Wednesday.

I have a personal attachment to the art because my grandmother teaches it from her home in America. In fact, I grew up practicing the tea ceremony for what feels like forever. In retrospect, it was was probably only 2-3 times a month during the peak years of age 6-12. These years I felt like I was not allowed to leave unless my brother, sister and I all performed the ceremony at least once.

When I think of the tea ceremony, my immediate reaction is: "this will only take 20 min." I know, I need to have more reverence for the art. Part of the problem is that I don't really know what it is supposed mean to me. I learned it in this cultural vacuum. What the tea ceremony means to the outside world is somewhat of a blur to me.

This is why I want to do my presentation on the subject. Books written on the subject emphasize the spiritual quality and the wabi sabi aspect of the art. I am skeptical about accepting that everyone does it for the art. What I want to discover is that there is more to it, like social status and how it must survive as a business as much as an art.

If I find out that I am being too pessimistic about the art, then I ask: What is the relevance of this art for arts sake in ANYBODY's life? And if it can only be relevant to the idle few, then what is it really worth? What are we propping up? The question is not so much "of what use is chado", but more like "how is it used". "As art for arts sake" is a suckie answer.

I am pessimistic about it.
call it a phase.