The Fourth of July: Japan Style

Just over a week into our time in Iida, we had to take a break from trying to embed ourselves in Japanese society and show off our American pride. The reason? While it may have just been a regular Wednesday in Japan, back home it was the Fourth of July and national pride wouldn't let us take it lying down.

Obviously we had been rather caught up trying to adjust to living with a host family, so admittedly, the holiday had slipped our minds until it was almost too late. Being the guests that we were, no one really had access to a barbecue and private swimming pools were too much of a rarity to have a traditional celebration of America's birthday. We were forced to improvise.

In a compromise, we decided to buy a couple cartloads of food from the supermarket that wasn't your typical holiday fair. Instead of hot dogs and hamburgers, we had some pre-made okonomiyaki and sushi along with some appetizer-esque dishes provided by some generous host families. We were able to load up on our American sodas and the Japan equivalent of some Lay's chips. Those of us that were of age also brought some beers to enjoy.

We had our food problem solved, sort of, but we still needed a location. We were all in favor of swimming, but it would have been rather difficult to celebrate in appropriate fashion at a public swimming pool. However, given the many years our professor, Martin Holman, had been conducting this program, he knew of a place

Host Families in Japan: Advantages and Daily Life

For today's post, I thought it might be a good idea to discuss what is one of the most important aspects one has to consider when planning a study abroad trip - host families. There are people with a lot of trepidation about living with a host family while studying in a foreign country. Will I be able to communicate with my family? What if they're too strict and don't allow me enough freedom? What if our cultural differences leads to arguments?

All of these are valid concerns, but what you have to consider when weighing the options of living with a host family is this - what is your purpose for studying abroad? If you're considering studying abroad, I'm inclined to believe you have an interest in foreign culture or language. There's some aspect that drew you to the country, and as my professor, Martin Holman, loves to say, the best way to learn a foreign language is to live with a foreign family. (Below is the second host family I stayed with, the Nashidas. To my right is my host mother and my host father on the left with two of their grandchildren in front. To his left is my good friend John, who also lived with the Nashidas during our program.)

Naturally, there is probably going to be a bit of a language barrier if you're studying in a foreign country, especially if you are choosing a country

Learning the Art of Bunraku and the Three-Man Puppet

Bunraku, or ningyo joruri, is the traditional japanese performing art of puppetry. In addition to the puppeteers and their tools, the puppets themselves, a usual bunraku performance will have two other key parts. One is the tayu, a narrator similar in practice to the Japanese performance art of Noh dramas, who, using a variety of voices and inflection, tells the tale the puppets are acting out on stage. In accompaniment to the tayu is the shamisen player, or players depending on the theatre. A shamisen is an instrument similar to a guitar or sitar, only with three strings and instead of using a normal pick or hand to play, a shamisen requires a specialized pick, called a bachi. (Examples of bachi (top) photo by KogeJoe. Examples of a shamisen (bottom) photo by Ryukei at the Chinese Wikipedia).

Usually, the tayu and shamisen player sit on their own small stage to the side of the main performance, remaining seated in the seiza position for nearly the entire performance. The pieces I saw performed by larger theatres would usually have multiple stories performed and the tayu and shamisen would swap out in between performances. Occasionally additional performers backstage handle other responsibilities such as playing on the taiko drums when required or assisting in quick scene changes.

We again watched taped past performances of the pieces we would be performing, Oshichi and Hidakagawa and began discussing who would be fulfilling each role. We had nine students and one student leader, just barely enough

First Days in Iida Pt. II: Meeting the Imada Puppet Troupe

The second set of introductions to be made in our first days in Iida were to the good people of the Imada Puppet Troupe. For the next seven weeks, while we were living Iida, we would be having bi-weekly lessons with troupe members to learn the ancient Japanese performing art of ningyou-joruri, or puppet theatre. (Below is what the Imada Puppet Theatre looked like inside and out. Photo courtesy of Kelly Washatka)

This would serve as the cultural studies portion of our summer program. Our ultimate goal was to perform at the Iida International Puppetry Fest, an annual festival during which performers of various types of puppetry gather from around the world to showcase their talents. Through this festival not only did we get exposed to Japanese culture but also a variety of other countries from Russia to Germany to France.

The main three Imada performers who would be working with us were the head puppet master, whom we called zachou-san, lead puppeteer, Kinoshita-san, and Kinoshita-san’s son, Yukihiko-san, who played the shamisen for our performances. Each performance also had its own tayu, a narrator for the story. (Below is one of the better group photos. Kinoshita-san is the woman on the far left, while her son Yukihiko-san is two people to the right of her [black t-shirt]. On the far left is our tayu, who narrated for both of our performances in the absence of a student. Just to the left of him is Zachou-san, the leader of the puppet troupe.)

Japanese puppets are unique for their size, which requires three people to operate it. In traditional theater, performers wear completely black uniforms,