Changing Impressions

Before taking this class of Visual Anthropology, my idea of the field of anthropology was very vague and to tell the truth, I had no idea about it. I just thought we would learn about Japanese people and culture, which I believed I knew to a certain extent as a Japanese, however that belief was totally wrong. 

What I learned in the class were very new to me and were the things I had never thought about in my daily life.  Even for me, a Japanese, I found many things which I could not believe or the issues few Japanese people might know. 

I thought we, Japanese, of course knew things happened in Japan. However, every after watching the videos in class, I was always surprised and ashamed that the truth that I did not know what happened in Japan. At the same time, I felt really glad that I could know them by taking this class and I thought we, Japanese should pay more attention to our own culture and life. 

In my opinion, recently in Japan many people look at foreign things because they are attached to those from abroad. However, to know our own culture and to keep them are also of course important. 


Moreover, I was very glad that foreign students were very enthusiastic about the issues talked in class. They said their opinions positively, which made me rethink about those issues with new view points from the other perspectives. Then I strongly thought that to think about our culture within our Japanese view points was too narrow so it was a very good time to discuss with them and to listen to them in class. 

And it is true that I encountered many things about Japan, which I had no idea about, therefore when I have a little question mark in my head about something, I will try to search it by the ways I learned in this class. 

Go!! Hanshin Tigers!!!

On May 13th, I went to Koshien Stadium to watch the game of Hanshin Tigers!!!!

On this day, we had a game between the Tigers and the Dragons.

The game was of course interesting but there were many things that entertained me a lot at the stadium!! 

First of all, there were many girls and boys who were screaming to sell the alcohol or something to eat with the alcohol at the stadium. 

They were very amiable and friendly to talk with, and very cute!!!! Their way of dressing is very showy because it is easier to be found in a crowd. 

The second interesting point is the way people dressed up. 

Normally people wear the uniforms of Tigers like this. 

However sometimes we can see the very enthusiastic fans of Tigers, who dress up in a unique and showy ways. They wear all the yellow things around them because the color of Tigers is yellow.  They make themselves as flashy as possible anyway. 

The next interesting point is the balloon thing!! 

We blow up the balloons before the attack of Tigers at 7th inning. The reason why we do this at 7th inning is because the number 7 is auspicious. We do this with a certain melody moving the balloons up and down. click

On this day Tigers lost the game, but I could find many interesting things around me at the stadium. 

For me as a fan of Tigers, to win the game is of course important but when I look around the stadium, I could find many unique things, meet new people and have a special time with them. To communicate with new people and shout in unison for Tigers, I can enjoy the moment and feel happy. 

Art in Gaidai

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that

influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions and intellect. 

When we walk outside, we can find many kinds of art, which are beautiful, simple, huge, small, etc. One can be impressed by something and the others cannot. One likes something and the others do not. 


We can find art in our campus of Kansai Gaidai University. We have some art objects, which we do not pay attention usually. 

This is the stone object, which we  can find soon when we enter the gate of Kansai Gaidai. This is comparatively new one. 

This is the art we can find at the library. This is the smaller version and we can find the huge version of this on the back wall of the library. 

This is the art object which we can find on the right side when we enter the gate. 

This is the art object which we can find next to the students' ground. 

This is an art object which we can find at circle open space near Mc Donald's. 

This is the art object which we can find near the 1st cafeteria. 

As I mentioned above, we have many art objects in our campus. 

We, Gaidai students seldom care about them though they are always there. 

Fashion is...

Clothing is a very important and indispensable thing for human beings to protect our body.
However, not only to protect our body but also to enjoy, we, human beings, use clothes. 


As many different kinds of people exist in this world, each of us has a different taste toward many things, the taste in color,  characteristics, people, movies, books, music, and fashion. 


And of course the role the fashion plays in people's life differs. 

For her fashion is...
the supplementation her negative aspect. 


She said she wears clothes to express what she cannot express by her words. 

For them fashion is...
the exact expression of their thought.


They said they wear clothes because they express themselves by wearing clothes how they want to be looked like.

For her fashion is...
the best way to express herself.

For him fashion is...
the opportunity to make new friends. 


He said fashion is the best key to start a conversation and to know the people better. 

For her fashion is...
to add one more color to herself. 






As I walk everywhere, I see many people in very unique clothes, which are very interesting to me. And actually when I meet new people, I often judge people by the ways they are wearing because the stuff people have may represent what kind of person he or she is. Therefore, I believe fashion plays a very important role in our daily lives and in a relationship between people. 


"Fashion is not something that exist in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with the ideas, the way we live, what is happening. " Coco Chanel

Before I watched two films about the two worldwide famous photographers; Annie Leibovitz and James Nachtwey, I have thought that photograph is just an expression of the world of the person who took it. Both of them are photographers, however the ways they describe what they see through the lends are quite different from each other.



Annie is an American portrait photographer and became famous for the great works for the Rolling Stone Magazine and Vanity Fair.


She was born as the third of six children and she and her family frequently moved to place to place by the car, that means she has sawn many kinds of worlds through her own lends. 


In my opinion, she tries to express her world through her works so that her works are unique and interesting to see and we can say that her works are artistic. When we look at the pictures she took, we can see that she took pictures of well-known celebrities. She asked them to express many unique things to realize her ideas for her works. 


Also her works focus on the beauty of human beings. And her pictures show that how she tries to put her every little energy into her works. 

Her works try to express the beauty people have originally and try to bring out the ability that the human beings have.




James is a photojournalist and a war photographer. 
Compared to Annie, he tries to show what is happening all over the world taking the photos of the real situation. 


He says he takes pictures in such dangerous places because he believes that his job is to let people know the real situation of the word through his works. 

    http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

    http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

    http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/

Through comparing those two different photographers, I thought the different thing among them is James takes picture as a tool to communicate with people through his works but Annie tries to stick to the idea that the photographs are the part of the art. 

However their works are sometimes similar in some way because in their works, the objectives are so clear to be understood that I can catch the messages straightly from them. Also, both of them tell a story and a message by taking a pictures of people. Both of them focus on people and they try to see the core part of people and shot them. 

Through watching two films about those famous photographers; Annie Leibovitz and James Nachtwey, I realized that one shot has a very huge power to people and we take photographs for both of art and the tool for communication. 

AndI thought the most important thing to take pictures is to trust, which means to understand the object to catch and face them. 

Japanese People

When I tried to start writing this article, I had no idea of who I should take the pictures of. 

Then, suddenly my little cousins called me and I decided to use the pictures of them. 

He is a 4-year-old boy, who loves trains.

Whenever I meet him at my grandmother's house, he takes me outside to see the passing trains. 

He also loves animals such as dogs, cats, insects, and reptiles. 

The day when I took this pictures, we visited the "焼き鳥"(grilled chicken) restaurant, 

which belongs to my aunt and uncle. 

Since I had 6 turtles at home, I gave two of them to my uncle. 

As I mentioned, my cousin likes animals so he was very interested in the turtles. 

He was crazy about playing with them forgetting eating Yakitori. 

Whenever we visit my uncle's 焼き鳥 restaurant, my cousin takes me to the park next to the restaurant even if I say no, but this time was different. He never stopped playing with turtles even though he was bitten by mosquitoes a lot. Usually, he gets tired of things very quickly, but turtles were special and strong for my cousin. 

He has a elder brother who is very noisy and strong. Compared to his elder brother, he seems to be quiet and calm, but when he played with the turtles, he talked to them a lot and said many funny things to them. That was really funny to me and I thought I could find his funny characteristic which I didn't know. 

I seldom have a chance to meet and talk to him, but the more he gets older, the more things of him I can find, so I always enjoy the time I spend with my cousins. 

Neighborhood Koshien

I've lived in the town named Koshien for my entire life, which every one in Japan must have heard of. The reason why every one knows here is because Koshien has a very famous baseball stadium, which is Koshien Stadium.







This stadium is famous for, first of all, the home stadium of Hanshin Tigers, the Japanese baseball team. 


Most people in Kansai (関西) area in Japan like Tigers and on the day that they have a baseball game, I see a lot of people around here wearing the uniforms of Hanshin Tigers. 

Secondly, this is famous for High school baseball, which is a really big event for Japanese!! 
Every boy who plays in high school baseball club has a dream of playing a game at this stadium. 
In summer and spring, the teams, which wins  in every prefecture, gather at this stadium and have games to decide the winner. 

Next to the stadium, there is a place of practice for players of Hanshin Tigers, so if you are lucky, you may be able to see some players here. 














The Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1999 affected Koshien. Cracks appeared and part of the stands collapsed. In July 2004, a concrete plan surfaced for improvement of the complete baseball ground facilities. That means if you visit this stadium, you can see the very new and beautiful one now! Before the improvement, Koshien stadium was also famous for ivy, which was around the building, but now all the navy's gone so people concerns this stadium now is trying to restore them by planting the seeds. 










Moreover to this Koshien stadium, there are many other places to see around in Koshien. I love this town here. 

Recommendations about Japanese culture

In Japan, we have an event called "seijin no hi"(成人の日), when translated into English is called 'coming of age day' in January for those who turn to 20 years old in that year. This is the day for those people to realize that they are the members of society.  For instance in the U.S. when people turn to 18, they are not considered a minor any more. In contrast, 20 is the age for Japanese that we are no longer considered as a minor. As you know 20 years old is a special age for Japanese and we call 20 years old "hatachi."


On this day, every girl and boy dresses up for the ceremony called "seijin-shiki"(成人式), coimg age ceremony in English. Generally, girls wear a "furisode"(long sleeved kimono) and boys wear a suit or a hakama. 


Here you can have a look at the atmosphere of "seijin-shiki."

Even for us Japanese, wearing a  furisode or a hakama is very rare and a very special experience. 

In this January, I actually experienced my coming age ceremony and wore my furisode, which was made by my grand mother, who is very good at sewing. 







I've worn kimono, but this was the first time for me to wear furisode.  When I finished wearing it and looked at myself in the mirror, I felt tensed and refreshed. While I was walking outside with it, I could keep a good posture and being a graceful in manner. 




You guys also have a chance to wear a kimono or a hakama in Kyoto! If you google the word "kimono, rent", you can find the place where you can experience kimono, its price, etc.  You can choose your favorite color, types of kimono and hair styles! Also you can walk around Kyoto by wearing a kimono and visit some temples. Those experiences will make you enjoy Japanese atmosphere!