The land of 1,000 clubs
No, no, not nightclubs. Although I’m sure there are plenty of those too. Student clubs. Oh man, Sophia has a ton. Today (and for the next two days) all the groups sent out representatives to clog the streets on campus and give out flyers and info to anyone who’d listen. There are tons of groups, and they all want new recruits. It’s much more intense than Grinnell’s activity fair. Not to mention, there are often several groups for each activity. I’m thinking of joining a martial arts club, but there are two aikido clubs, and at least one each of judo, karate, kendo, kickboxing, etc. etc. I’m also thinking of joining the darts club, which seems like a great social opportunity to just hang out with Japanese students, something I’d really like to do. I’m going back tomorrow to check it out in further detail.
By the way, I want to thank Chang-sensei and the Grinnell Japanese staff for linking to me from Grinnell’s Japanese page. Very cool. If anyone decides to come to Japan to study abroad because of anything I’ve written, or even if I make their decision a bit easier, that will be enough for me.
One thing I can’t help but notice. Often, Japanese people wear hygienic face masks like this. I’ve been told this is because many Japanese people are allergic to the large number of Cedar (I think) trees here, and these masks help filter out the tree pollen. But I have to admit that they look pretty familiar. Maybe to some other stereotypical Japanese-inspired character? MKII, anyone?
Oh, Mortal Kombat. Also, I would kill for a chance to join a Kendo club. Just sayin’.
Dude. I saw some Japanese tourists in Madurai with facemasks. They probably had the right idea–that air is FOUL.