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Happy new year (Hisokani...)

I am back to london and quite exhausted from the loooooong flight.
But I'm finally back!


When I came back to my room, I felt relieved and home.

I always thought that I don't have home since I am moving around too many times and where my family lives now is a place I have only visited for few days.

But for me, home is not a place where my family is but where I am. It's kind of obvious but I always felt I need somewhere like "home sweet home" which can be seen often in Western movies. This became a stress and pressure to me sometimes. That kind of idea just didn't fit my life.

So after all, coming back to London, I told myself,
"It's ok to locate your home, wherever you want."

Be Arisa, be International

Arisa is my name. My parents chose this name for Japanese and non-Japanese to pronounce it easily. The "r" sound seems to make my name "international." My sister name also has the "international r" sound.


They obviously wanted me to be international. I can now easily imagine that what they expected from me was to become fluent in English and to merge into the western world. I don't know if they included Asian, African or the Latin American countries when they said "international."

They also expected or expect me to be "Japanese", too. It meant to be ( in their point of view) fluent in Japanese( can use Keigo fluently), respect the parents and the older, be conservative, be a "girl", and stick with the flow. Those are really difficult to achieve once you have experienced the outside world. Being international in the means of communicating with non-Japanese cannot connect with the idea of being  Japanese at the same time.

So whenever I introduce my name to someone mostly to non-Japanese, because I rarely introduce my First name to a Japanese when I met him/her the first time. Look at their eyes, stretch my hand to shake their hands, and clearly pronounce "Arisa" with a big smile. They will sometimes say if it is a English name which some Asians have. I say no. Other times they tell me Arisa is a common name in their own country, Italy, Indonesia, France(well, may be the name of the sauce, "Harissa") and so on. At the same time,

 I feel "who am I?" International, Japanese, or neither or both.

I actually love my name including my surname because in the end it doesn't define me at all. It is my name. And that is all.

Random pics from September...

Long time no see...

Hello, I knew that my blog would not continue constantly, but his frequency was horrible. So I will start o write bits by bits so that there will be no pressure on me to continue this.

Today I will write about what kind of courses I've decided to take.

Introduction to Global Forced Migration- I've always wanted to take a course about migration and refugees, so his was a perfect course for me. Although I have to write 5000 words essay in the end of the course, I thought this would be my chance to deepen my knowledge.

Chinese 1- Yes, I've taken Chinese already for a year, so it would be really easy for me at first but I couldn't fit Chinese 2 in my time schedule so I had to take this course. But hopefully SOAS is really famous for language so it will take to a much higher level.

People, States, and Power in Asia and Africa- In Hitotsubashi University, I did a lot of theoretical studies, so  this time I wanted to take some courses specified on fields, and topics. This is a basic course for political department but I liked the fact that it focuses on every region and do it for 3 weeks on the topic.

Ethnography of South East Asia-I was always interested in Southeast Asia since I was brought up in Indonesia and my family is now living in Burma. The approach is from an anthropological point of view which  differs from other courses.

These are my courses for the year. Very different from my Japanese uni, in each unit, it contains lecture and tutorials which is like Zemi in Japan. So I have a very good opportunity to widen my knowledge with friends and professors. The members also look very interesting for having different backgrounds.

I will talk about the contents of these courses later.
So finally my school year began!!!!!

My favorite phrase from my professor
"Knowledge is not neutral. It is a product of power and it can be used as power."

Can you imagine a life without...

ART?

One of the greatest points about UK is that the museums are free. I took the advantage of it and so far visited several museums. You will see so many paintings and art works that appeared in your text books, however, they are for all the people. Whether you are rich or poor, people have the right to embrace the treasure of history, and have the right to educate themselves with the art pieces.

It's hard for me to think that the government just let people go there for free. As Japanese, museums are the places you have to pay for, moreover need some energy and background information to go. Of course it is better to learn some of the art works before you go, but the important thing is that you really want to go there. It makes it much easier for us(not knowing so much about art people) to visit museums and appreciate the masterpieces also to catch up with contemporary arts. To tell the truth, I don't want to be the person who just can't help showing off their knowledge about art, but I merely want to enjoy the pieces and make my life fruitful.

So today I want to talk about some of the museums that I visited.


TATE MODERN
I always wanted to visit here, because I love contemporary art!!! And also I recently learned about British contemporary art in my afternoon pre-sessional class, so I wanted to see with my own eyes. Sadly, it ended last week, but the special exhibition done by Damien Hirst was one the most exciting ones(although, you had to pay for that one) I will talk about him next time. TATE MODERN is the place you need to visit before you die, I guess. The building itself is just incredible. It's huge and you feel like you are in a different world, sometimes there some art performances. This time, suddenly the people on the ground started to walk backwards slowly. It was creepy to watch but made a strange feeling towards human. Some people think that contemporary art is very complicated and hard to observe, but actually it is quite fun. Just ignore the meaning and purpose of the creator and enjoy your time with it. I think that is the hint to see contemporary art. Contemporary art is not popular in Japan, but I guess without knowing it, you cannot "see" what is going on this modern world.


TATE BRITAIN
It's located a little far from TATE MODERN. When I visited there, it was still renovating some parts. The museum is famous for Turner art works. Personally I don't enjoy his works, it makes me sleepy with the blurry atmosphere, sorry. However the special exhibition of photography was just wonderful. ANOTHER LONDON, is the photograph collections of 41photographers who took pictures of London. There were only black and white photos, but they succeeded in sharply expressing many faces of the city. I got interested in photos from last year so it gave me some inspirations of photography. Bruce Davidson was my favorite photographer.

NATIONAL GALLERY
The huge gallery containing historical paintings since 12th century. I went there today, but because of its size, we decided to choose only 2 sections to go. I personally loved the works of Vincent Van Gogh so chose Impressionism.  The famous picture called Sunflower was on the wall. There were too many people surrounding the picture, though. It's better to go there in three days or so since it contains soooo many art works. Also I felt that you need some basic knowledge of religious before visiting there because without it, you just be exhausted of man with dripping blood from his body.

I thought I went more, but it was three. Still three is enough for 2 weeks. I will try to write more when I visited the others.

Before I close my computer, I want to introduce some of the contemporary Japanese museums.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY OF ARTS
This is not really popular, but it is worth going. The price is not bad. If you need some basic idea of Japanese contemporary art, just go here.

MORI MUSEUM
Located on the top floor of Roppongi Hills. It is worth going with a lover since the view is beautiful. There was ONEPIECE exhibition and they always have the latest trends of Japanese art. The price is quite high, so save some money and go with some you like:)

TARO OKAMOTO MEMORIAL MUSEUM
One of the favorite artists in Japan. His personality the way of thinking are something different and respectful. Most Japanese would once heard about him because he was the designer of the TAIYOU NO TOU in Osaka. The museum was originally his house near Omotesando. Once a month, there is a museum staff explaining some of his art works so you better search on the internet about the date and go there. It is a small museum but I really recommend you to go there.

Last but not least....
Of course!!!!

GHIBLI MUSEUM
The famous director Hayao Miyazaki created the museum. It is very cute and worth visiting at least once. But don't forget that you need to reserve the ticket. There is a big park next to the museum so enjoy the nature, too. If you like his movies, why didn't you go there? Just book the ticket online and rush to it:)


Ok, so I hope some information was useful. I will sleep now, I walked too much today. Good night and have a nice weekend!!!!

There should be....

A meaning and reason to stay here.

I was writing my essay(1500words) last night until 4 and during that time, I was thinking about my exchange year.

An email came from my mother. A very short one.

"You have to think carefully why you have chosen to study there and spend the time without regret."

It stroke my heart. Since I knew this but never wanted to think about it. It's already more than 2 weeks staying here. I went to many places in London, ate delicious food, made many friends, settled down so far, and satisfied with them. But is that life going to continue for the whole year and suddenly I have to face the reality going back to Japan??Is that what I really wanted to do?

No and Yes. I cannot take out all those parts from my exchange year, although I don't want to spend just to enjoy the lifestyle. Then I will be ending up a mere tourist in London.
I need to drag myself out from the comfort zone.
Before I came here, a lot of people gave me some advice for studying abroad.
My senpai(senior who I respected since high school) told me there is no meaning to  study abroad if it ended up just having fun or having good experience because you can have those even though you were living in Japan.
My professor told me to choose more difficult decisions during my stay. Taking difficult classes, making friends who hate Japan or Asia, talking with different kinds of people, different classes of people, (It's very easy to talk with people, the point is, with whom are you talking) and going to places where people usually don't go.

I always need to question myself for dong this. If I ask myself now, I will admit to say "I haven't followed my professors words." It's not an easy thing but this will enrich my life.

I will not expect to have fun since I guess  no matter what I do here, in the end, I will enjoy the most of it. It's too easy to have fun(Or may be not, we still don't know) However, as my professor said, I want to challenge and give it a try in any kinds of things even though it's not my taste.