Life As A Japanese Homestay Student

Ever wondered what it's like to live with a family of friendly strangers in a foreign country far away from home? Experience culture shock and not being able to communicate with anyone (except via body language) when you're miles and miles away in the countryside? As a Malaysian city girl, I got to do just that when I went to Japan for a week long homestay, and boy, was it different. This was my life - in pictures.

Welcome to Japan! Arrived at Narita International Airport and we (a group comprising of 20 or so students from all parts of Malaysia), got onto a bus and headed towards the capital city, Tokyo. With a population of 12 million people with 23 wards, Tokyo is a vibrant city of lights, people and entertainment.

The famous pedestrian crossing in Shibuya, one of the more famous wards in Tokyo. A survey conducted by The Discovery Channel in 2002, found that almost 55% of people imagine Shibuya's famous pedestrian crossing when they think of Japan.

The Shinkansen or bullet train - the fastest moving train the world. Moving at the speed of 200-300km/h, this was the train I took from Shinjuku train station in Tokyo to Koriyama, Fukushima Prefecture where I was to meet my host family.

We were welcomed by this huge yellow banner at the station where we met our host families for the week. Fukushima prefecture is right next to Tokyo and was about 2 hours away on the Shinkansen. The children aka our host brothers and sisters, made the banner for us we were told they were very excited to meet us!

My two host sisters. Left, Kana, 10 and Hitomi who is 12. My first night in Koriyama was spent going to the local Jusco supermarket with the family and buying groceries for dinner. We bought glutinous rice balls with sweet and salty sauce for dessert and watched TV with our feet tucked under the heated and blanketed coffee table - like the ones seen on Japanese dramas!

One of the many perks of a Japanese supermarket - they even have an IDOL section! Yes parents, right next to the vegetables and fruits, your teenager can now browse the rows of hip-swiveling male idols as you browse the Fresh Produce section. Keychains, photos, posters, notebooks, stationery, stickers and magazines - you name it, we have his face on it. Only in Japan.

Celebrating Malaysia Day at Higashi High School with the rest of the Malaysian students in my prefecture. We played games, ate food from our countries and introduced ourselves to each other. I bonded with a girl named Mikiko who was also a fan of the same idol, Kamenashi Kazuya. Nothing in life is more satisfactory than fangirling with a real Japanese fangirl. We exchanged emails and promised to keep in touch.

The pride of Fukushima prefecture - Aizu-wakamatsu. This castle has a significant place in Japanese history as it is the home of the Byakkotai or White Tiger Corps. The Byakkotai were teenage samurai who fought in the Boshin war. Due to loyalty to their lord, they committed suicide when they saw that the castle on Imori Hill was on fire. Benito Mussolini heard of the story of the Byakkotai members who committed suicide, and was deeply impressed by their loyalty to their lord. In 1928, he donated a column from to be erected by the graves at Iimori Hill; this column remains there to the present day. Aizu-wakamatsu also served as a backdrop to idol Yamashita Tomohisa's movie Byakkotai in 2006.

The Akabeko, or red cow, is a traditional toy of the Aizu region in Japan. Aizu legend claims that the toys are based on a real cow that lived in the 9th century and showed its devotion to Buddha by willing its soul away or by refusing to leave the site of a temple it had helped to construct. The earliest akabeko toys were created in the late 16th or early 17th century. Over time, people came to believe that the toys could ward off illnesses. Akabeko has become one of Fukushima Prefecture's most famous crafts and a symbol of the Aizu region. In Aizu-wakamatsu, visitors are given an opportunity to paint their very own Akabeko.

A picture taken with the Fujiki family in the hills of Fukushima. A typical day in the Fujiki household started with me eating breakfast with the family then walking with Hitomi to junior high school where I would sit in class and pretend to understand. We would have lunch in the school and my host mother would pick me up to go shopping or visit a fellow Malaysian student's home. Japanese junior high school students start their day as early as 8am and come home at 5pm due to after-school activities. We would have dinner in front of TV and fangirl whenever an idol we like comes on.

Saying goodbye to everyone before we left for home. A big thank you to the Ministry of Education Malaysia for the big opportunity and experience. Where else would I have gone for fully-nude hot spring bath? Never will I ever forget the image of a naked old woman if it weren't for this experience, and for that, I am very grateful. Japan - a country of endless possibilities, technology and history.

- Nicole Yeong, DMC12

Money Grows On Trees

The next time your normally uninterested neighbour asks you for advice on how to best grow green plants – you better be a little wary.

Police in Somerset, England have found an increase of 130% in home-grown cannabis plants. Good quality cannabis plants apparently can fetch up to at least £1,000 (RM7000) which would cover the costs for growing and making more than enough profit for the grower.

In a way, I feel that this is good – and bad. On one hand, we are encouraging the nation to become more “green” and eco-friendly. Through the growing of plants, planters would develop green thumbs – a talent that would be lost in the world of technology.

On the other hand, the bad would be obvious. Growing drugs is considered a federal offence and should not be taken lightly. What happened to having part-time jobs to make extra money?

I guess, money does literally grow on trees.

by Nicole Yeong

Escalators Are Evil When You're Blind

My experience as a blind person. Well if I were blind I wouldn’t be able to type this in the first place. The first thing I realize is that being blind is a lot of work. You really do need to rely on your senses a lot more, which means NO MORE daydreaming/stoning. Sense of hearing was really important to me, and thanks to my deaf friend Kaze who continuously shouted orders to “turn left after 20 steps”, “walk faster”, “hold onto the wall” and “walk at 2 o’ clock”, I was nervous at first but relaxed after realizing I was in good hands. Wait. No, there was that one time he asked me to put up my right hand to hold onto something, and I pitifully banged my hand HARD against a cement wall.

My mute partner Inessa was also helpful. Holding onto my shoulders and steering me whenever I was in the wrong way, I really appreciated that as it really helped.

Being blind is a challenge. Going onto escalators is a bloody nightmare. Crossing a road and finding out there’s a bump or a step going down as another problem. Holding onto walls for support was fine, until you reach out your hand and realize that you nearly just walked into a corner. Hearing was important in trying to figure out where I was. Sense of smell also helped, cause the moment I (clumsily) opened the doors, I immediately knew that we were in Starbucks thanks to the rich aroma of coffee.

As a blind person for 20 minutes, I think I have devised an effective way to climb stairs. One, hold onto the rail. Two, kick out your foot to feel for the step. Three, once felt, lift leg up. Repeat at 2 again.

- Nicole Yeong, DMC12

Hypocrites - All Of You

BREAKING NEWS! Teen sensation Miley Cyrus sings about undressing!

Give Miley (and me) a break. What is the big deal? Why all this hate and concentration on every little thing that Miley does?

Parents, you should feel ashamed of yourselves. She provides entertainment for your kids, she is their role model yet you still feel the need to criticize every small mistake that Miley does. As parents, you should know that youths make mistakes. Miley herself even once sang on her song "Nobody's Perfect" on the Hannah Montana soundtrack that, "everybody makes mistakes".

Kudos to Miley for defending herself, I agree with every single word she says. As for parents who are against the short line, come on, get a hold on yourselves. Don’t you undress to take showers? Don’t you undress to change clothes everyday? Unless you shower with a bathing suit underneath or don’t bathe at all (how smelly. Shame on you!) then I don’t think any of us are in a position to criticize her.

And to further prove my point, shows like MTV’s 16 & Pregnant don’t seem to get as much controversy as Miley does – and she’s not the one pregnant. Girl wears a purity ring for God’s sake. Stop criticizing everyone on TV and maybe walk out of your house once in a while, you’ll see there are more promiscuous teenage girls in the real world. Heck, who knows, one of them might just be your daughter. Serves you right.

Source


by NICOLE YEONG

Sex Sells - Yes, It Does!

Companies with sexy banners, ads and billboards featuring provocative models in Seberang Prai, Penang are now being slapped with a RM250 per advertisement by the municipal council.

They say sex sells, and I think that this line rings true in any sector in the business world. In a multi-racial country like Malaysia with many races, religions and of course, languages, any savvy business man has to work hard to reach out to his customers who come from all walks of life.

With a melting pot of languages, it’s obvious that the only language that everyone would understand is – BODY LANGUAGE.

The official language in Malaysia is Bahasa Malaysia.

I do not recall there being any other country speaking this language. How is an entrepreneur going to expand his business beyond his own nation? Sell his product in Brazil in Portuguese when he knows none? Japanese in Japan?

Why adapt to every country when we already possess a language that can be spoken with our bodies that everyone from anywhere, from all walks of life can understand?

Banning “sexy” billboards will not stop the moral decay of the nation’s youth. If anything, it will surpress their sexuality and just bring more social problems to the country.

Since we’re talking about suggestive and provocative items being banned from advertisements, let’s ban everything altogether! Let’s ban bananas and cucumbers from Tesco flyers that they drop at our houses every month. Stop selling sausages. Let’s stop driving manual cars, because shifting the gear stick looks really wrong!

- NICOLE YEONG