Shinto Shrine

Author: AJ Navarro | Major: Finance | Semester: January Intersession 2023

I have always been passionate about Japanese language and culture, so this past Winter, I spent three weeks in Kyoto, Japan. Since I’ve been minoring in Japanese, I wanted to truly immerse myself where I could hear and speak the language everyday as well as absorb the culture. Despite having traveled to the opposite side of the world before, nothing could have prepared me for Japan. From the food, the people, the places, each aspect of life was so different from the United States.

For four days of each week, I took classes with the CIEE program studying anime and manga (which are Japanese animation and comics). While for most of my life, I consumed this form of media casually, I had never experienced it through an academic lens. Understanding how this art is influenced by the language and art allowed me to understand bits and parts of the culture as well as the lifestyle of many Japanese people. Japanese has three different alphabets, one of which is borrowed from Chinese called kanji. These are pictorial symbols that represent ideas. The Japanese people have held on to this writing system for many years, which lends to its illustrative culture. Everywhere you go in Japan, you see drawings of characters on buildings, staircases, signs, anything you could conceivably print or paint a character on. You could even find Hello Kitty warning you of some road construction ahead. Studying anime and manga helped me understand how much illustration and pictures are valued in the country. I decided to go to a kimono store and pick up a happi, a traditional Japanese jacket, with one of these kanji on its back to remind me of my time there. Here it is below, with the kanji for “victory” printed:

While in Japan, I got to witness its history as well, marveling at all the temples in Kyoto. The main two religions in Japan are Shinto and Buddhism, so I made sure to shrines for both. Some important values of Japanese culture are respect and tradition, so when going to these, I made sure to follow all the customary rules for the respective religion. For example, making sure to walk on a specific part of the road, not passing in between the center of gates, and bowing at the shrines. Tradition is also valued heavily in Japan, so while I was at a shrine for New Years, I was able to partake in the tradition below where you light the tip of a rope on fire and swing it around for good health.

Many of the places I visited in Japan felt so attuned with nature. For example, I visited the city Nara, where one can find deer walking around with the people anywhere you go. They walk near restaurants, in the parks, and they even cross the street. Speaking of respect earlier, they will even bow to you if you feed them rice crackers!

My visit to Nara

Studying abroad in Japan had to be one of the most rewarding and fun experiences of my life. As a student, I was able to experience such a different culture from my own and appreciate everything the country has to offer. For those who want to learn the language, it is the perfect opportunity to immerse yourself and learn something every day. Regardless of your goals, I strongly encourage any student while they still can to study abroad and go see the world.