In Kasugai with Sekki - せっき先生と春日井にいます!

Today I went from my Family friend in Tachikawa to meet one of my friends and Japanese teacher Sekki sensei! On my way there I saw a receptical that made me laugh a little. Japan is really big on sorting their trash into plastic bottles, burnables, and cans. In Japanese, a way to refer to the plastic bottle is pronounced pettobotoru (ペットボトル). It's called this because bottles are made out of Polyethylene Terephthalate. In short, Japanese will just call bottles PET or Petto while leaving out the bottle part of the word. The trash bin in the linked image asks you to put any PET into the trash 😆🐕‍🦺

I met Sekki for the first time at the train station and gave him a big American hug. I could definitely tell he was not used to someone giving a hug like that 😅 In Japan, it is not common to hug. I would say where people would hug in America, Japanese people would probably bow or wave instead. I try to hug my friends in Japan because I've never met anyone who says they dislike hugs. Even my Japanese friends have told me they enjoy it but it's not part of the culture so it would be weird to do it. A hug would be seen as something more intimate so it might look weird to the people around if two Japanese people were hugging. In America, even mixed genders hug each other and sometimes it can be on the first time meeting one another. I think the absence of the hug in Japanese culture really solidifies the idea that people tend to keep to themselves and prefer to interact without physical contact. I think this cultural phenomenon can make it seem like people don't want to interact in such a way but I think that's mostly just a perception! Emotions within Japanese culture seem to be so much more concealed than in the boisterous American culture. These differences are so fascinating, the two cultures are like polar opposites.

We stopped by the grocery store and picked up some ingredients to make something called okkirikomi (おっきりこみ). Sekki asked me to pick from a few options to cook and I picked this one because it's from his home prefecture called Gunma. Gunma is not a very populous prefecture so I thought it would be really cool to learn a specialty from that region.

We picked up a number of vegetables that I had not seen or cooked with before and started preparing them once we reached Sekki's residence. It was really cool seeing Sekki for the first time in real life since we have had so many lessons virtually. He could have been an Artificial Inteligence this whole time and I wouldn't have known 😆 We talked about some Japanese and English differences while preparing the food then finally sat down to eat.

We ate at a small table that had a blanket drape down over your legs. Since the house did not have much insulation or heating, the warm area under the table felt amazing. It kind of gave the act of sitting around the table a very cozy and familial type of feeling. I can understand why I've read that kids sometimes sneak under the table to sleep. This is called a kotatsu and is pretty common within Japanese households. I'm a fan and I think it would make family time together a bit cozier and homier.

The meal was super delicious and I want to learn how to make it so I can have a living memory of my friend and time in Japan 😊 Sekki sent me the recipe so I'll do my best to recreate it!

We had some drinks then went to bed. Sekki got out a futon for me in the living room and a super heavy blanket so I was extremely warm even tho it was could and there was no heating on during the night. It's suprising Americans have entire rooms dedicated to beds but many futons seem to be able to be put away after sleeping. This saves so much space BUT my American bed definitely gives me a lot more cushion and better sleep. It's interesting that something as essential as a bed can be different in these two different cultures. I like the resourcefulness of the futon but I will stick with my American size and cushioned mattress.

Thanks sekki for making my time in Japan special by having me over and teaching me a bunch of Japanese so I could communicate during my time here 🥺

Recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqDCHJJ_HQWeiterlesen