Changing Impression

As the semester is winding down, I am transported back to the time when I arrived in Japan. This makes me reflect upon how my experience has been so far up until now. I am sad to say that my impressions of Japan are mixed and cannot say that it has been an enlightening experience. I know that a semester in Japan is too short and not enough time to experience what the country has to offer due to the time restraint. I came to Japan expecting to live with a host family so I could master the Japanese language; however, due to the popularity of home stay, I was not able to have the opportunity of living with a host family and experience everyday Japanese life style. Currently, I live at Seminar House 4 and living here is like living at my dorm back in the States. I do not get to be around Japanese students and thus cannot really practice Japanese. And the few Japanese students that do live here speak perfect English and so it is easier to communicate in English. Furthermore, the entire international students speak English so trying to speak Japanese is not an option. Additionally, at Kansai English speaking people constantly surround me. I think it is very silly for Kansai to put all the international students in one building because it does not allow us to interact with other Japanese students. Yes, there are Japanese girls come to CIE wearing their latest designer clothes or bag so they can impress the guys. I feel like they are there to hunt for some nice guy to date/marry. However, leaving Kansai’s bubble and exploring Japan, I do feel that Japan is a beautiful place that is filled with so many untouched territories that I still need to explore. For example, when my friend and I went hiking at Kamikochi, the scenery, the peacefulness, and the purity the landscape offered amazed me. I literally was speechless. Still, even with few other experiences like this one, I cannot fully say that I love being in Japan. Yes, I met had the opportunity of meeting some very interesting people but I am happy that I am returning home soon.

Politics in Japan

http://www.kantei.go.jp/jp/hatoyama/images/actions/200911/13usa1.jpghttp://weblog.greenpeace.org/makingwaves/Yukio-Hatoyama-001.jpg

Just few days before my exchange program began, a huge event occurred in Japan. The national elections took place on the 30^th of August. This year, especially, was interesting rather than the Liberal Democratic Party that ruled Japan for the last half-century winning, the Democratic Party won. On the 16^th of September, Mr. Yukio Hatoyama from the Democratic Party was elected as the prime minister of Japan. This election has been radical for Japan because it changed from one ruling party to another showing peoples’ views and their involvement. The prime minister said: “"This has been a revolutionary election; the people have shown the courage to take politics into their own hands." (http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/h/yukio_hatoyama/index.html) However, just a few months after the elections, my friends that I have gotten to know were talking about their disappointment regarding the new prime minister. To explain, one of the fundamental parts of the new party’s campaign was about relocating the American Marine Base on the Island of Okinawa; however, when Obama came to visit Japan, Hatoyama did not mention Japan’s wish to renegotiate this deal with Washington. And so people were very disappointed and they thought that this issue was not as important for the new Prime Minister as he had claimed earlier. Furthermore, three months after the elections, Hatoyama got into a donation scandal where he has been accused of falsifying financial statements. He is said to have been taking more money than the law allows the candidates to and putting them under anonymous donations. This, in Japan, is considered as a major illegal action, and can especially hurt his credibility as a leader. The prime minister has been apologizing and saying that he didn’t know of these falsified statements. Yet, Japanese people say that they were dissatisfied with Hatoyama’s opaque explanation regarding on this issue. This has lead the public to think that the new prime minister might not be qualified for his new statues, and additionally hurting the new ruling party. Thus the question that arises is if the Democratic Party keeps on deceiving the public, is Japan looking for a power change again to the Liberal Democratic Party in the next election?