おは異様ございます！ (Good morning!)
As I get better with my Japanese, I will start typing sections of the log in Japanese. Do not fear as I will have the English translation too. The length of this log shows how much I have been procrastinating, but I made a promise to get this and the video out by today. The video is frozen in the downloading queue, so unfortunately it will not be out today. It is currently Tuesday in Japan, so I am still consistent with the Monday schedule I have been having for the logs in the US, but I want to be consistent relative to me, so the logs will be posted on Sunday.
The first week of classes has officially wrapped, and we are now in Week 2/3. I say "Week 2/3" because the semester started April 8th on a Wednesday, and my classes do not meet two or three times a week, except my Japanese language class. I am taking the bare minimum 7 courses; Japanese language, Japanese Popular Culture, Basics of Informatics and AI, Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence, Python Programming Practice, and Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience. It's actually 6 courses, but my Japanese language course counts for two courses since lectures are twice a week. I am so happy I won the lottery for that course because my humanities general education requirement is completely wiped out. Kyoto University is giving me 8 credits as the course articulates to 8 hours of work a week when in reality, it is just four 90-minute lectures, totaling 6 hours. I guess the Japanese education system loves to round and are generous with how much credit they give. All my courses are a cakewalk, except my Japanese language course 😂. Most of my courses do not have a final exam nor a weekly assignment, so I should probably start studying for the upcoming batch of ECE courses I have to take this Fall back at UCSD. Kyoto University reminds me so much like community college in a sense that the lecture rooms are tiny and the student to faculty ratio is so small. The reason I say my courses are a cakewalk is because although they are meant for international exchange students, Kyoto University students can take them too, and it is more catered to them for improving their English. Although my English courses seem very easy to me, I really like the catering towards Japanese students' method of teaching because it helps breaks down these big concepts such as Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience to the absolute bone as to where a 5 year-old can understand. I was sitting in my Python Programming Practice course the other day, listening to the lecture, and it just hit me as to why all my international colleagues at UCSD are so good at coding (particularly my Chinese colleagues, you know who you are). They have such strong coding skills because they have been performing a double-compilation in their heads since day one. Since C++, Java, and Python are all built on English-based syntax, they did not have the luxury of just 'skimming' the code and getting the gist of it like a native speaker might. They had to learn the logic, syntax, and the linguistics simultaneously. Not relying on intuition, but focusing on mastery of the actual mechanics. It is like that Japanese teaching style I am seeing now—by breaking everything down to the absolute bone because of the language barrier, they end up understanding the 'why' behind a line of code better than people who speak the language natively. By the time they get to a place like UCSD, that extra mental heavy-lifting has turned into a massive competitive advantage. I am going to talk to my neuroscience professor about this, but he might hit me with and say, "This is just basic neuroscience and how humans biologically learn." My neuroscience professor a cool guy, he is from Philly (short for Philadelphia), does brain research on monkeys with brain-computer-interfaces, and why eye movements weaken after head injuries. He offered me a tour of his lab and to listen in on some of his research meetings, so I am pretty stoked about that.
With a 690 Duolingo streak and a Japanese level of 60, you would think I would be pretty darn good with Japanese, but when the professor calls on you to speak, it is a very humbling experience. I am having a lot of fun in learning the language in a classroom setting again, it has been 3 years now since my high school Japanese class. I wish I had kept continuing to study Japanese at community college, so I could clear the general education requirement and I would not be so lost as much in my daily-interactions in Kyoto, but we here now. God has given me the opportunity to immerse myself in learning the language. Despite my language class, I do not believe I am improving my Japanese because all my suite-mates communicate in English, and Kyoto people can spot your broken Japanese right away and will proceed to converse with you in their English. I am pretty embarrassed by not being able to speak Japanese, but unlike my older brothers I did not go to Japanese-English dual language program in my early childhood. Sure they are not fluent either, but they have those early foundations, which internalized in them to be able to speak and understand better than me. I was literally and physically bouncing around in my early childhood. I am pretty much recycling my UC essay here, but I started out my academic career in special-ed because I was extremely shy, so physically I was riding the short bus and being over-stimulated on a bouncing yoga ball or something. My family moved a lot too, a month after I was born in the Bay, we moved to Chicago for 5 years, then to SoCal for 3 and a half years, then back to the Bay, and been there ever since. When I think to that early childhood age of 3-8, I think of my time in SoCal, spending every day outside, playing with the other neighbor's kids, and learning how to skate and play hockey. I only briefly remember my time in Chicago. You could probably tell I wrote this up at 3 AM because I am only 19 talking about early-childhood. Before I got off-topic, the point I am trying to make about my older brothers' Japanese being better than mine is that it does not matter because I am here in Kyoto right now. It is crazy to think I went from special-education to the 2nd best university in Japan and one of top universities in Asia, let alone the world.
Hockey is so taxing here. I thought my practice and game times at UCSD was bad, but here it is worse. Midnight practices and games at a rink an hour away. I often get back to my dorm around 4 AM. Thankfully I do not have any early morning classes at all, but waking up at 10 AM is a challenge in itself. My sleep schedule and overall circadian rhythm is just broken. The hockey culture here is just so different from what I am accustomed to. No coaches, only two lines get played when they dress over 20, upperclassmen and lower class men cliques, and multiple managers that are female only. The managers part tripped me up, at first I just thought they were puck bunnies or girlfriends of players, but they handle all the equipment, practice films, etc. I have no clue how this team is able to pull off getting these girls to show up for late night practices and games, and have them be ok with driving back with a bunch of smelly men because the rinks have no showers. I applaud those girls though, they are troopers.
The level of play here is in-between house league and A. It is fun at first because you can just toy with them as they can not compete with you, but then it just gets to a point where you are being a jerk. I already got banned from Michiganing in practice. I hold back a lot, out of respect for them as I am only a visitor, but then again by holding back I am not getting any better either 😂. There’s definitely a huge language barrier between my teammates and I, but a few international players joined the club. By international, I mean from Canada and one from Redwood City, which is wild. He told me he played Blackhawks, and started the Islanders hockey pipeline. Funny enough we both played for Justin Alonzo Sr. I probably have not seen or heard of him since 2020. Praying both him and Jr. are doing great! It’s crazy how big yet so small the world is. My whole time in Japan so far has felt like a fever dream and an acid trip.
I love Japan. Every time I visit I find a little more. Coming during peak Sakura season was special. The two weeks they were in bloom was pure bliss and I do not think I ever felt as content with my life as I did. I never noticed trees let alone how beautiful nature is until then and now. You are probably reading this and looking at the photos like I am writing empty filler words because I cannot describe or make sense of how beautiful it is, I just feel. These are one of the things that you just have to see and experience for yourself. I think the beauty of Sakura trees is that their bloom time is so brief, and you have to appreciate it while it lasts. When you are anxious, spiraling, and in a negative state, your perception of time is all messed up, and you are just frozen as time passes. You do not know what you got until it is gone, so enjoy yourself. You are not behind nor ahead, just exactly where you need to be; right here, right now.
I think I will end the log here. I apologize about the video again, but I cannot control the upload speed and I also need to regulate how much I use the internet at my place. It is a very cheap dorm, but such a steal compared to what I have been paying and about to pay for La Jolla. Hopefully this log was something of substance to you. I definitely have a lot more to write about, but I just have been procrastinating, and I am not as depressed as I was before, which is good. It’s funny the way my brain thinks that my best work comes at my lowest. I do not want to be in that head-space again, but it is bound to happen, so I need to be stronger to handle it. Stay safe, God bless!
See you next week!