J-Pop and K-Pop Music

Music is a large part of Japanese culutre, everything from karaoke to traditional Japanese music. J-pop, Japanese pop music, and K-pop, Korean pop music, are also both huge here. Teenagers and even adults listen to it, and it's really good and catchy. It's basically just the Japaneses version of America's pop, mainstream music that plays over and over on the radio. I have so many songs from both genres on my ipod. The most popular J-pop bands are AKB48, (which is a pop group of 48 girls), BENI, Kat-Tun, and Yuki. Some popular K-pop groups, whose lyrics are sometimes changes to Japanese, are Big Bang (MY FAVORITE!), Girl's Generation SNSD, Taeyang, G-Dragon, and 2NE. American music is also very common here, like Micheal Jackson, Brittney Spears, Avril Lavinge, Justin Bieber, One Direction (which they call ichi di di), Katy Perry, Celine Dion, Katy Perry, and of course Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe." I knew that song was going to be impossible to leave behind. 

Here are some of my favorite J-pop and K-pop songs from Youtube: 

K-pop: Taeyang Wedding Dress (Korean Lyrics)
K-pop: Big Bang bad Boy (Korean Lyrics)
J-pop: Girl's Generation SNSD: Gee (Japanese Lyrics)
J-pop: BENI Dear Elie (English Lyrics)

Host Mother of the Year Maybe???

This is just an interesting story I thought I'd share on here with everyone.

Lately, my host mother,Yuka, and I have had a lot of time to ourselves since my host father is in Tokyo for work, and my host brother attends school on the weeks. We were talking the other night at dinner about my thoughts about Japan and traveling here. I asked here if she has ever traveled outside of Japan. Little did I know....she has traveled all around the world! She has been to China, South Korea, Vietnam, France, Italy, America (yay), Turkey, and many more; I couldn't even keep track of all the countries she has visited! It was great to talk to her about all her trips,and she things she bought there- very cool! I hope to be like her one day, and travel to many different places. I am so lucky to have such a caring host mother like her; she is very sweet and helpful. She also makes me breakfast, lunch,dinner, and does my laundry-couldn't ask for more!:)

Benefits of Being an Exchange Student

I know I've only been living in Japan for a month now, but I have made some great friends, both from school and other exchange students living in Japan. I have made friends with exchange students from all over the world; France, Australia, Ireland, Brazil, Sweden, Canada, Italy,Germany, London, Peru, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Spain, and some other I can't remember at the moment-SORRY! They are all so great/interesting, and it's great that were all having the same type of experience. In other words, "we're all in the same boat." It's fun to compare are lives back home and see how different we all live, and what we view as "normal everyday life." Also,it's funny when we joke about stereotypes about our countries.
I always say to the exchange students, that when our one year abroad is over, that I will be in the country and knocking at their front door wanting to live with them- so be ready for me!
HAHA International Love<3
One tradition Rotary Exchange Students have is exchangingpins from their country, for their Rotary Blazers. This way we can remember who we have met or places we have gone. I only had a few when I left America, but I'm starting to gain more and more, which makes me so happy! I always thought collecting pins was "nerdy," but now I'm into it..don't make fun of me!

You can look at these websites for more info on Rotary blazers, pins, and business card exchanges.
http://www.cultures-shocked.org/wiki/Rotary_blazer,_pins_and_business_cards
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotary_Youth_Exchange

Typhoon Season!

News Article: Typhoon Sanba- Japan & South Korea
                      Typhoon Sanba Hits

This past week, Typhoon Sanba passed over Japan heading to South Korea. It mostly had an effect on southwest Japan, causing flooded areas and loss of electricity. Yet, the wind has been so powerful here in Gifu,and it has rained all weekend. It rained so much today, that I had to ask my host mom to pick me up from school because I couldn't ride my bike home.
 I don't mind the rain. I actually love it, but at times it makes everyone tired and want to nap all day!!! I hope that the weather will soon clear up soon, and my prayers go out to those in South Korea who have been badly effected by this typhoon. 

New Photos

I found time to upload more photos to my Flickr page from Nagoya, Kobe, school, school festival, and of Gifu! Hope you check them out, thanks!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/haileymertes/

-Hailey

The Sound of Traditional Japanese Music

Today, I went to a music concert event in my city, Gifu. It was for the Gifu Culture Festival, and one of the English teachers from my high school gave me two extra tickets ( how sweet of her<3)!
The music was beautiful. Traditional Japanese instrumental music was played with instruments  like the Tsuri-daiko drum, the shakuhachi flute, and string instruments such as koto and shamisen. For more information on traditional Japanese instruments and music you can click on this website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Japanese_musical_instruments. The songs played sounded so perfect  and people of all ages, elderly people and small children, were playing the songs. You can tell they had spent much time practicing because everything went perfectly which made it sound so beautiful, I loved it. It was a new,different type of music for me.
 Photos were not allowed to be taken, but I managed to sneak these few. Sorry Japan, I needed some pictures!

Much Talent and Hard Work at Kano High School

If you walk through the hallways of my high school, you will see the many forms of talent the students; artwork, photography, poems, speeches, sports records, and awards. I noticed that Japanese students work very hard, and they want to do their best. Most students in my class alone, go to a private school after our regular school hours, and a lot of these students also belong to a club or sports team. Even on Saturdays and Sundays students will attend school to do extra work or studying.You can tell how truly tired they are the next day. They study hard, and always submit their best work. I have not yet seen any students in my class forget to do their homework. Don't get me wrong they make mistakes like most teenagers, and do silly things in class like text under the desk, fail a test or two, and talk during a lesson. Their not some type of crazy  robots, they just want to do their best and not disappoint their teachers or parents. I hope to pick up their studying habits and hard working ethics before I return to America because they will help me all through out life.

On a similar note, some Students from different grades have asked me to help them with their English work; which I'm more than happy to do. Two students at my high school have entered a local English speech/essay contest, with native English speaking judges. They have asked me to correct and make some improvements on their essays/speeches. The work they had before I corrected it was pretty good, I was impressed even though there needed to be a few grammar changes. I have been helping the students practice their public speaking and pronunciation, so then they won't be nervous in front of the judges. Also, another student has entered a interviewing contest for teenagers who want to be news reporters. She asked to interview me about what I think of my new life in Japan, why I choose to come here, how I like school, and compare/contrast my American life to Japanese life. She asked me some interesting questions! I was happy that she choose me to be interviewed, and I'm sure she will do great at the competition.

Be sure to check out the new photos of some of the amazing artwork I see at school on my Flickr page.
Thank You!

Update: Possible Upcoming Trips

Just to update everyone, I believe that I will be going to Universal Studios Japan for Halloween next month with some other exchange students. I  really would love to visit their cause I always see the commercials on TV, and it looks amazing! But, its not certain yet if I will be going or not. I have to have to money, time, and permission to go. 

Also, another trip is to Osaka, a city much like Tokyo, at the end of the year. I think that it would only be a day trip, and some students from Kano High School's brother school in South Korea, would attend the trip too. 

Both of these trips are not 100% certain, but I hope they will be! I'll update everyone if I get any news about it. 

Life if good!<3 

Things I Get Asked Being An American...

Enjoy.

- "Do Americans really eat McDonalds for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?"
- "Why do they call it football?"
- "Have you been to Hollywood?"
- "Can high school girls really wear makeup and jewelry to school?"
- "Did you cry when Micheal Jackson died? Steve Jobs?"
- "Isn't Brittney Spears SO cool?"
- "Do you like Obama?"
- "What even is Facebook? I don't understand it!"
- "Do they teach Japanese in schools?"
- "Don't most Americans hunt and carry guns with them?"
- "Do you always wear jeans in America?"
- "Why is English so difficult to learn? Ugh"
- "Are people in New York really rude?"
-"Why is the food and clothes so big?"
- "How do you spell Mississippi exactly?"
- "Isn't Abercrombie & Fitch where all teenagers shop?"

Hope that made you laugh, cause I know it makes me laugh whenever someone asks me these types of questions.

Thankfully Self Studying Has Been Working for Me

Since I got news that I will be doing self studying to learn Japanese, I have been studying with a English teacher at school 2 or 3 times a day for 45 minutes. I have been learning new vocabulary, and I now know Hiragana (one of the three Japanese syllabary, this is the one that is most used) sounds and the characters. That is only one small step though, but luckily I brought my Japanese learning books with me from America. I am able to say basic things in Japanese and I understand what my host family says to me for the most part, but I can't really form sentences to respond back and I can't read Japanese. It also took a while for my ears to adjust to Japanese sounds, and how fast/quite the Japanese speak as well. So hopefully over time, this self-studying will help me over come that! I want to speak Japanese so badly, and I think learning it is fun. It's defiantly a lot of work, but I think the best way to learn the language is maybe fully immerse yourself in the culture/life only knowing how to say the word for hello....and you'll have to learn it....sounds like the job of an exchange student! Hmmm?

Busy with Volleyball & Volunteer Job!

If you didn't know I have joined the volleyball team  at my new high school. I was hoping to join swim team, but our schools' pool is currently being fixed, but that's no problem for me. My team mates and coach are great to me, and I quickly picked up on some Japanese volleyball terms! We have 2 (or sometime 3) hour practices after school and on Saturdays. We all work very hard, even in 90 degree weather in a gym with no air conditioning- "hot" isn't even the word to describe it. We do everything as a team- from setting up the net to stretching. Also, there are two, higher level girls on my team ( who are both really good volleyball players), we have to bow to them, call them "Senpai,"  and they make all the calls under the coach. We bow to our coach and call him "Sensei." You never throw a volleyball in the basket, instead you have to hand it to the coach, "Sensei." There is much respect and organization rules; these are all a large part of Japanese culture which I have become use to now.

Also, in each class in Japanese high school there is one or two students who are in charge of making sure the class does one specific thing. For example, one person may be in charge of making sure everyone turns in their science homework, understands what was taught in class, or finished any missed work. As of last week, I have been put in charge of volunteer work. My job is to plan and make sure, as a class, we do a few types of volunteer works in the community by the end of the school year; such as visiting a nursing home or helping preschool students in class. I am very excited for my new job in school, and it's something I think I would be particularly good at! I'll be sure to update everyone with any new details about it.

Nagoya and Kobe Trip 9/8/12 - 9/9/12

My most recent trips, outside of Rotary, were to Nagoya with my host mom and brother, and then Kobe with some upper level students from school.

In Nagoya, which only took about an hour and a half to get to there by car, I went shopping, pretty much the whole time. I went into a mall with six floors of the most fashionable women, men, and children's clothes I have ever seen- but some what on the expensive side. The clothes were all so fashionable and unique, and there were all different types of shops for whatever style you can rock; this has been the usual when I go shopping here! Yet, sometimes it is hard to find my size in certain things- it's the worst feeling when you see the cutest pair of pants and they look like they would barely fit a toddler, but most of the time I can find my size in shirts, dresses, and shoes. 

It was great to see the "night life" in Nagoya as well; the fashion, city lights, music, dancing, and crowds. 

I had a great time, and I was clearly amazed by everything around me. I hope to return to Nagoya, and maybe  not spend so much money ¥¥¥! 

The next day I went to Kobe, Japan with some classmates and Sensei Okuma, my high school's world history teacher. They invited me along to join them for the day. We got their by train, which took a while, maybe 2 hours, but I didn't mind cause I got the chance to speak to the students and get to know them more. 

When we first got there, we went to China Town. Who would think that there would be a China Town in Japan??? It was very cool, and so much to see, eat, and buy! The food, obviously Chinese, was delicious. People were waiting in hour lines just to order certain foods. Also, there were many traditional Chinese decorations around- like dragons and lanterns. 

Later, we did some street shopping, it was very busy the day we went, so shopping was kind of difficult to do. Plus, I had little money...thanks to Nagoya! UGH HAHA! Next, Sensai ( Note: this is mostly what you call your teachers, you may have heard the word before, it's a title of respect) and I went into the mountains were there was much German and British influence in the area. There, we went into the "Old Thomas House of 1909," which was the house of a German family that settled in Japan and brought with them bread and pastry recipes with them. Now, Kobe is know for their bread, candies, and desserts; there were MANY shops selling these items, SO DELICIOUS! It was great that I got to go with Sensei because he taught me a lot of things. Since he is a world history teacher, he was very knowledgeable on Kobe and its history; very smart man, he is great! 

Like Nagoya, Kobe was very city like. Yet, there was much more to see like mountain areas and Kobe sea port. I was so fortunate to be invited to Kobe, I learned so much and made some new friends from school. 

Here are some other things I did: 

- tried Tofu Donuts- SO tasty & healthy 

- went to Prada and Louis Vuitton- Beautiful clothes/purses, but nothing my Visa card could cover :( 

- visited a Cat Cafe which is basically a cafe, with random cats walking around you can play with and dress     up. Japan is so funny sometimes!

- went into a pet shop and saw some exotic fish and snakes! My worst fear in snakes.............

-  eat octopus for the first time, (In Japanese: ta/ko, タコ)

- saw 2 Japanese weddings - very cute

- Purikura with friends ( the Japanese photo booths) 

- saw an International school- I wonder what it would be like to go to one? 

- went to a tea shop called Musica Tea, that imported tea from all over the world, mostly India. I ordered Peanut Butter tea- YUM!<3

I uploaded my photos from Nagoya and Kobe to my Flickr, so you can go look at them! 

www.flickr.com/haileymertes/photos

Apologies!

I have been SO busy here, and I will be this whole week, so I apologize for not updating my blog and Flickr photos. I want to update everyone about my trip to Nagoya and Kobe, and also tell everyone about some new trips I will be taking! Hopefully, I will have everything updated by this weekend. Be sure to check back. Thank you.
-Hailey

Starting Self Study

At school, I will now start self study instead of attending some classes that I don't understand, like Classical Japanese (which even the student have a very hard time with, no less me) and my math class! In self study, I will bring my study materials and books I brought from America to study Japanese. This way, I can start to read and write in Japanese, while improving my speaking skills. Hope it helps! I'll be back soon to update everyone on my weekend in Nagoya and Kobe. Have a great weekend!

NEWS!

I got invited by the band director at my school to go on a trip to Kobe, Japan with the 2nd level band group this Sunday. The band will be going to spend the there together. Of course, I said yes and got permission from my host mom/Rotary to go! I'm very excited to see what Kobe is like and be able to meet some new friends from my school! In addition to my busy (yet FUN) schedule, I will be going into Nagoya to go shopping with my host mother and brother on Saturday. My weekends here in Japan are sounding a lot more fun and adventurous then what they use to be in America. HAHA
I'll be sure to blog what my weekend was like and add some photos!

Staying After School Lately For Good Purposes

This week I will start to stay after school for a while to help some students with their English. A few students are entering a English essay/story contest in Japan, and Kano High School usually places very well I hear, but the students and their teachers have kindly asked me to help the students make sense of their work and make any spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors; which I love to do. The teachers apologize to me so much that I have to stay after to help, but I try to explain to them that I'm happy to help!!:)  The students try their very best at forming English sentences that make sense, you can tell in their work, but sometimes they need help from me to make it sound better. Even my English teachers have asked me to make examples in class or pronounce the vocabulary of the week. I am so glad that I can help out with something (especially if that something I'm good at..and speaking English is something I'm good at...OBVIOUSLY!!!) since my teachers and classmates help me out so much with my Japanese and understanding. To summarize this blog post, staying after school is no problem for me!

HAKUBAISAI Was Great!

Monday and Tuesday was my high schools' cultural festival, also know as Hakubaisai. The theme was "Time Waits for No One." The students, and even teachers, put a lot of time in preparing and practicing for the festival. Over to the two days, I saw the students form into groups and put on all different types on performances or presentations; dance, music, skits, art, and science, and much more! I got to see a Snow White as a musical, attend a Tea Ceremony with Tea Ceremony Club, saw Calligraphy club do large paintings, and watched many classes do dances to Micheal Jackson songs.  
There was so much talent to see, and you could truly tell the students spent much time practicing for their performance/presentation.
Also, at the opening ceremony I was asked to give a speech, in English, in front of the WHOLE school about my thoughts on Kano High School. It went great, and luckily I wasn't nervous at all because the students were all clapping and cheer when I walked on stage. I was honored to give my speech.:)
 I had a great time and I was so happy to be able to experience the festival and see all the students come together and put in the effort to celebrate!

I will upload some photos I took to Flickr soon!

Happy and Content to Say the Least

I am very happy here in Japan; I notice it in my attitude. I'm comfortable with my host family, school, and friends. Everything is going just perfect, and the best part is I'm learning something everyday! I don't need much, I keep it simple, and I never say no to trying something new- even if it means I have to try a food dish or vegetable that I have never even heard of! I'm so grateful and blessed to have an opportunity to experience Japanese culture/lifestyle all while making life time memories. I know there is defiantly someone high up in the sky looking out and working for me.
Looking forward to the week ahead.


P.S) Be sure to check out all my photos from my adventures in Japan at http://www.flickr.com/photos/haileymertes/. Also, feel free to contact me via Email or Facebook.
Thank you, have a good week!

Had a Stressful and Tiring Day of.....Shopping:)

My good friend Clotilde, an exchange student from France living in Japan too, invited me to go shopping with her host family today! They picked me up around 12 in the afternoon and we went shopping at AEON mall in Gifu for the whole day. I had a great time. AEON Mall is like Westfield mall (but ten times better), they are pretty much in every city in Japan. This mall had 3 floors of designer clothing stores, dollar stores, a book store, movie theater, sporting goods store, pet shop, school supply shops, electronics store, food court, restaurants, game arcade, countless clothing stores, and so much more! I was on cloud 9.... the clothes for girls were so fashionable and literally the exact things you see in high-fashion magazines but at reasonable prices. For example, I've been wanting to buy these Dr.Martens boots for $120 (about 9,405 yen), but today I found the EXACT same pair that I wanted for about $50 (about 3,919 yen)...I then made my first shoe purchase in Japan, with many more to come.:) There were clothing stores for every age and preferred style. The clothing is made was very,very small, but thankfully I manage to fit in the biggest size sold... embarrassing. I noticed all the clothes were not only stylish, but classy and conservative, not trashy or flashy at all. Clotilde and I shopped for 4 hours! Later, we had lunch in the food court and went to the Japanese photos booths (aka Purikura) in the game arcade. Note: If you ever visit a Purikura booth in Japan you will see a million girls waiting in line to use one of the many photo booths (maybe you can google what Purikura looks like and what it really does).
The service from the workers at the mall is excellent. They are very nice and helpful, but they also keep the store clean and the clothes very organized. Also, when you decided to purchase an item the worker will go to a back room and get you a new one in your size; in other words you would never buy the one displayed on the shelf that other people have tried on as well. Note 2: When you go to try on clothes in a fitting room...do not wear your shoes in there....a small mistake I made today because I'm not use to that rule!
Overall, I has a great time today and I hope to do more shopping here in Japan and bring back some Japanese teenage style clothing to America and make it the "cool" thing to wear. HAHA Hope my mother and father will be ready to finance that...maybe not?!

Here are some photos of AEON shopping mall & my purchases I made today:

Out of My 11 Years of Wearing a School Uniform - This Is A Style I'm New To

Here are a few photos of my complete school uniform; my navy blue school skirt, white dress shirt, black shoes, school pin, and jacket to wear for the colder months or special school occasions. In my opinion, I think that my school uniform is classy and  at the same time, cute! HAHA (If you haven't noticed I think everything in Japan is cute?!) Yet, it gets very hot in class since it is such thick material and the heat and humidity in the air.  The thing about uniforms in Japan is that every school has them and most students wear them on the weekend by choice. Even at the mall and stores I will see teenagers wearing their school uniform. 

携帯電話-Keitai Denwa

This week, I finally got a cell phone here in Japan, also known as a Keitai ("kay-tie"). There are very popular here, along with the iphone, but they are more "Japanese looking" and has much more features and design compared to an American phone. My keitai is pastel pink complete with a jewel as the middle button- VERY CUTE! The features include camera (front and back), slide-up keyboard, music player, wi-fi, app store, dictionary, mirror, pedometer, and even TV! My plan has only 2 hours a month and no email ( the Japanese using email straight to the phone instead of texting- there is no such thing here HAHA), but that work perfectly for me! All I need now is some cell-phone charms, like most of the girls obsess with collecting, that you can attach to the phone.