Mottainai

もったいない (mottainai) is a regret felt toward waste, a concept deeply rooted in Japanese culture. It applies to everything in life: energy, food, water, garbage... It's the reason why most Japanese homes have small space heaters and A/Cs rather than central heating/cooling to save energy. It's why Japanese cars are tiny and fuel-efficient (lots of Priuses!). It's why garbage is sorted into I-don't-know-how-many types, all collected on different days. To reduce waste.

Before coming here, I knew that Japanese people were, generally, more eco-friendly than their Western counterparts. At one of my orientations (gosh, I don't know which one. They all blur together.) I learned the name. I didn't really understand how it would feel, though, until coming to live with my host family.

もったいない is very important to my host family. They attempt to waste nothing. When meals are made, they either eat every scrap or save what they can for breakfast or lunch the next day. Even a single bite's worth of potato salad is saved, appearing on the side for dinner. My lunches are always made from pieces of previous meals. My host mother saves all the plastic bags, from grocery-store bags to used Ziploc baggies (after being washed out, of course), in a drawer in the kitchen. The family is very particular about which trash goes in which bin, but I have yet to figure out exactly what goes where.

I love the idea of waste-reduction, of attempting to minimize what we take from the Earth and what we put into it. I've always tried to live consciously of my waste, to recycle what I can, and to not use anything excessively.

But at some point it gets exhausting.

I worry what they think of me, if I'm being too wasteful for their standards. I went out with my host sister, Sakura, and her friend and we ate curry and rice. We were given huge dishes, and I was obviously slowing way down with mine about three quarters of the way through. I had stopped for a bit when Sakura said, "If you can't finish, Hinano will eat the rest of yours." At first I was a little bewildered and thought, "Okay, I'll gladly let her finish it..." It wasn't until later that I realized that that's it; that's もったいない. I'm left thinking, "Oh, crap... should I have actually eaten the rest?"

I think もったいない is also why my host family has labeled me as a 少食家 ("shoushokuka", a light eater) and gives me smaller amounts to eat than the rest of the family (except my host mother, who eats nearly nothing), so no food is wasted. This was established on my first night here.

They put so much effort into it, even scraping and attempting to eat all the sugar that had fallen off a donut onto a plate.

Like I said, I have yet to figure out the trash bins. Just throwing something away becomes a big worry for me because I don't want to put it in the wrong place, and I'm left standing in the kitchen unsure of myself for a good while before making a decision.

I don't know if my family is extreme or normal by Japanese standards, having no other family to which to compare them. But I do understand that the sentiment at least is common to most households here.

It's both beautiful and draining.

The First Few Days (in brief)

When we arrived in Tokyo, we were all already sick of orientations. The day and a part we had spent in Los Angeles prior to our departure was enough. But, alas, we faced three more days' worth. Our first night was spent in a pretty nice hotel with everyone who arrived the same day as us (I think that's what is was... there were a ton of different countries...). We were then split into three groups according to where we'd be living and sent to three different locations for orientation.

Our (those of us placed around [relatively] Tokyo or in Hokkaido) orientation was at the National Olympic Youth Center, which was some kind of multipurpose superfacility or hostel or something. There were a ton of dorm-like rooms in different buildings, different meeting rooms, a cafeteria, classrooms.... and a variety of groups were there, from high school sports teams to businesspeople to a group of African children... It felt kind of like a university campus, but not? I don't know; none of us were really sure what the place was. I do know the people who used it were the ones who cleaned it.

At this orientation we were separated into smaller groups by country and we had two Japanese AFS returnee volunteers to each group. Those volunteers would guide us around to our different sessions of being told the same information repeatedly and then eating. We all got pretty comfortable with each other, so leaving was like a real goodbye with hugs and all that.

For the two nights we were there, we stayed in tiny dorm-like rooms, one person per room, several dorms to a hallway and common lounge. We bathed at night in the facility's sentou, which is a public bath.

Pretty much our whole group was paralyzed when we were told that we'd be in a public bath. I didn't make a big deal of it, but another girl and I kind of got used to the idea by poking fun (in an entirely light manner) at one girl who was adamant about finding a way around the whole situation. Come to the actual moment, I didn't get too worked up. I mean, obviously I didn't want to go naked in front of a room of other people, but I also knew that it couldn't be that bad if it was such a deep part of Japanese culture and they're all like, "whatever" about it.

Walking into the changing room, there was the initial shock of "butt!", but after that I calmed down and it felt all remarkably normal. The actual sentou was very dark and steamy, so that helped, too. We all washed ourselves at the shower stations and then sat in the giant bath, then walked back to our dorms slightly refreshed and feeling proud of ourselves.

Saturday morning we dispersed to go to our host families. There are five of us in the Obihiro area, so we flew together. We left from a Tokyo airport that wasn't an international airport, so everything was slightly less English-friendly. Kind of scary, but things were still fairly clear and we made it to the tiny Obihiro airport safely.

We were met by our host families before we all went into another meeting, which was given in Japanese with a white guy who lives in the area (from the US; he's the guy who will be teaching our Japanese lessons) translating for us students. Then we dispersed and went to our homes.

I'm pretty comfortable here. It's all kind of awkward, with me not knowing what to do and them not quite sure how to show me everything, but I'm sure it'll smooth out. Sakura's really quite good at English, so she tells me things. I worry, though, that it's becoming a crutch. I need to start speaking Japanese, but I still don't feel forced to. (I can't get much more forced, though... bahh....)

They seem like a quite relaxed family. It hasn't been too strange for me. It almost feels like they could be relatives, like an aunt, uncle, and cousin. A different family with different habits and things, but nothing incredibly strange yet.

My host mother cooks three full meals a day. And I mean full. Always a salad, a main dish, usually something traditional Japanese on the side, and fruit for dessert. I'm always so full. I'm going to get so fat... ahhh... 

Yesterday we went to the school to watch a basketball game (Sakura's a manager for the boys' team). I don't know if it was any sort of official game or a scrimmage. Ohtani (our school) was demolished by the other team, but the whole game was kind of sloppy. Lots of missed baskets and strange passes, and very few fouls were called. It was entirely student-run, though, from what I could gather.

After that we went shopping for a few things for me at a huge department store that was cramped, filled with signs, and nonsensical divisions between sections. Not even divisions, really, it was like a Walmart with two stories and when you walk across the aisle from appliances to home goods you're actually stepping into another store (? I think?). Like a mall without extra space or walls.

We also went to a DVD rental store. Lots of stuff.

Yesterday we went to some kind of Japanese-exclusive race where they race clydesdales pulling a plow-like contraption over what I think was gravel. I think Obihiro is known for it. Sakura's grandfather (I assume my host mother's father because we met her brother there) breeds horses for it. I didn't know whether to feel excited or horrible for the horses. It seemed excruciatingly hard to do.

Gateway Orientation

In the first step of this long adventure, I flew out today to Los Angeles to attend my gateway orientation before I leave to Japan tomorrow.

I've been able to meet all the other students going to Japan from America, all of whom are very energetic and enthusiastic. We'll fly together tomorrow to Tokyo.

The orientation was very low-key, basic, "this is what to expect" information. A long lecture that put most of us very close to sleep.

It's late, though, and I've got a big day tomorrow. A more inclusive post can be expected soon.

Thanks for all your support!

日本、今行くよ!

Family

I woke up this morning to my alarm and to a cat in my face.

Not quite. That never wakes me up. I really woke up this morning to Mum running down the stairs shouting, "Check your email!!!"

And then this:

Just like that, I go from, "I don't know where I'll be. I don't know who my host family is, whether I'll have siblings, what my school will offer, or what sort of area I'll be living in," to:

I'll be living in Otofuke-cho, Katou-gun in the Hokkaido prefecture.

It's a residential area with a population of about 45,000. From what I can gather, it seems to be in the country (or at least not in a densely populated area). The nearest large city is Sapporo, which is 200 km away.

Hokkaido's climate is comparable to that of northeastern US. It has very cold winters and relatively hot summers.

I'll be living with the Ono family. My host father, Tatsuo, is an insurance agent and my host mother, Yuri, is a clerk. (After waking me up this morning, Mum went on about how she was betting that my host parents would be super artsy and interesting and amazing. I said that they'd be accountants. I was pretty close. [I wouldn't judge them on their occupational titles, though. They seem to be pretty interesting people.])

I'll have a sister, Sakura, who is one year younger than me. Apparently she will be an AFS participant this year, as well, going to the United States. I hope that she won't be gone while I'm there; it'd be nice to have a sibling and someone to show me around.

My host family has two small, fluffy, white dogs named Momo and Ume (Peach and Plum). I'm very relieved that I'll have some pets in my company, even if they're not cats.

I will attend Obihiro Ohtani High School, a Buddhist private school about 9 km from my host family's home. It seems like a pretty typical Japanese high school in that it has standard courses and clubs, including a mountaineering club (that's interesting) and a brass band, among many others. For some reason, though, way more girls attend it than boys.

My host family has described themselves as "formal, neat/tidy, and planned/organized," among other things (this is from a list of characteristics that they were to choose). Looking around my room at this moment, I realize more than ever that I'll be needing to make some adjustments to even the most fundamental aspects of my current lifestyle... ("messiness accepted" was NOT checked)

Every time I look at the file, it seems like I discover some new detail. It carries a lot of information in its deceptively few pages.

It's exciting and more unreal than ever to think that I'll be living for a year with these people, becoming a part of their family.

Departure Date

I finally know when I'm going to leave, other than "sometime in March."

My flight to Japan leaves March 18 at 12:05pm from LAX.

I have a pre-departure orientation with AFS the day before.

Things are getting real.

日本に行きます。

Why Japan?

Being an exchange student, regardless of which country is your host, forces you to live with a different family in a strange country and to adopt a new way of life. You're put through immense challenges and forced to grow as person regardless of exactly where you are.

So if I could receive benefits from being a student in any country, why am I so insistent on Japan?


Just as one simply knows that chocolate has a desirable taste, so have I felt that Japan (and most East Asian cultures/countries, really) is appealing. I haven't really had a reason for it, just the inherent knowledge that Japan is "cool".

A few years back, my mum remarked on the oddness of her children's interest in Asian culture when she, as a child, had a sort of aversion to the region. It wasn't until then that I realized that Japan wasn't universally recognized as awesome, that it was something that I felt.

And then, as I thought about it more, I came to realize how shallow that characterization of an entire region of the world, of an entire country and its people, is. Saying, "Japan is cool," shows a lack of understanding and appreciation of the complexities of Japan's culture (of any culture, really).

So, yes, I like Japan's flavor. But that's not really the answer to the question.

Reading other exchange students' blogs, I've seen that a lot of kids want to go to Japan because of their intense love of anime and manga, their wild fantasies of becoming J-pop idols, or something similarly related to the Japanese pop culture that we increasingly see in our Western lives.

Yes, I watch anime and read manga and enjoy it. My earliest ventures on Youtube consisted of me watching pieced-apart episodes of shows of which I'd never heard, following the recommended videos until I would eventually reach a dead-end (especially if that dead-end was Lucky Star, which bored me to death and beyond which I couldn't seem to find anything else). But I didn't become a real anime watcher until the past year or so, after I had already decided to go to Japan. My interest in Japan didn't spark from anime. Maybe they've grown alongside each other, but "Japan" has been something to me long before "anime" ever was.

But still, why Japan? I'm going to Japan to understand why I like it. I can study it all I want and still never truly know it until I've actually lived there and, at least for a short while, become a part of its culture.

Beyond that, though, I feel that Japan can provide an experience unlike anywhere else.

Japan's long history of isolation developed in it a culture entirely unique to any other in the world. Today, Japan still carries deep ties to its past and is rich in customs of beauty and discipline. Japanese traditions seem alien to us Westerners, and it is difficult to truly comprehend the reality of the society.

On the other hand, modern Japan has highly Westernized elements. It has become a world economic leader, and so many of our electronics and vehicles carry Japanese names that they no longer sound strange. Japanese citizens pull on their cotton t-shirts, tie their Nike shoes, and eat at McDonald's (MAKUDONARUDO, or MAKU for short) just like us in America.

This balance of totally strange and completely familiar is why. Japan having a culture that is arguably the farthest from what I've come to know while still being so similar is why. Coming to understand a society that is so alien to me will stretch me, force me to grow and to see our world with a bigger view while seeing what I already know will give something to which I can connect.

To me, Japan can provide that contradicting familiarity and complete foreignness to an extent that no other country can really match.

That, coupled with my already existing desire to understand it more, is why.

Introduction

Our globe is getting smaller as our communications expand. The world is becoming increasingly interconnected on all levels: information, technology, economy, agriculture...

But we're still so closed off. We, especially we Americans, aren't really coming to understand the people, the humans, behind the pictures and articles we encounter in our daily Internet adventures. We know intellectually that there are other people and ways out there, but can we really conceptualize them? Do we really know?

My name is Taylor Chelak. I am currently a senior at Riverton High School in Riverton, Utah. I have claimed an avid interest from a very young age in our world and its places, people, and cultures. Yet I still know nothing.

Until I actively seek to visit the places whose pictures leave me in awe and to become friends with the people whose culture I admire, I will remain ignorant. I can't truly appreciate our world until I step outside into it. Until I feel it, live it.

So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

This coming March, I will be leaving with AFS Intercultural Programs to live for a year in Japan. I will be staying with a host family there and attending Japanese high school, encountering all kinds of new and unimaginable experiences and emotions.

And what good would it do for anyone if I kept it all to myself? This blog will follow my adventures before, during, and after my exchange, sharing my experiences of being an exchange student and the emotions and thoughts connected to coming to understand another language and culture.

No doubt it will be entertaining, if nothing else.

The tuition for this program, though, is a very steep $14,000. To help me make it to Japan, you can contribute directly to my tuition through the "Sponser an AFSer" widget on the side. This is an online fundraising tool provided by AFS to allow potential sponsors to make easy, secure, and non tax-deductible contributions to my AFS program fee. Your contribution won't be used for entertainment, snacks, or souvenirs-- it only goes to making my experience possible.

I hope to get some other fundraising projects up and running, as well. In the meantime, any purchases of Blue Monarch soaps are also contributions to my program expenses. These are handmade soaps thoughtfully crafted (by my very own mother!) in small batches from beneficial, natural materials. They work wonders unlike any commercial soap can, leaving your skin soft and refreshed while coming in unique, interesting, adorable designs. It's also a gift idea ten times more thoughtful and appreciated than any Bath and Body Works or Yankee Candle will ever be. You can purchase some of this goodness online at bluemonarchsoap.com.

Any contribution, no matter how small, will be a tremendous help. And if nothing else, please just stick around, read, and share. I want to share my experience to benefit, in any small way, those beyond myself.

To sponsor my AFS program, please click the "Donate Now" button on the side to make a non tax-deductible contribution directly to my AFS program account.