Laken Williams: Post 5

Laken Williams Akita International University Japan Spring 2019 Saying Sayonara to Japan and All of My Friends As much as I enjoyed every minute I was in Japan, I knew it had to come to end at some point. For most, the end of their adventure in Japan was the last week of July and the first few days of August. But, for me, I had an archaeological excavation that was part of one of my classes and ended August 7th. So, as one of the last to go, I had to say goodbye to everyone. Some left quietly on […]

Laken Williams: Post 4

Laken Williams Akita International University Japan Spring 2019 Working with AUWA Since being at AIU, I have done my best to stay busy, whether that be with studies, clubs, events, or friends. That plan has been a resounding success, but, on the down side, I have not had much time for retrospection or blogging. Nevertheless, I wanted to take the time to talk about my wonderful adventures with a club on campus named, AUWA. The premise of the club is to connect AIU students, especially International students, with the local community. During my time with the club, I have planted […]

Laken Williams: Post 3

Laken Williams Akita International University Japan Spring 2019 A Competitive Cultural Exchange As I promised in my last blog, I plan on catching back up with the present, which means I will have to go back in time a few weeks. A few weeks ago, I stumbled into an amazing opportunity, but I had no idea what was actually involved at the time: all I knew was that there was an opportunity to stay over a weekend and meet people from other colleges in the area, as well as a group of Taiwanese students. The program was called, “Yokote City […]

Laken Williams: Post 2

Laken Williams Akita International University Japan Spring 2019 Settling in With New Friends I apologize for the wait, but every day seems like a new adventure, and I don’t know where to start or where to end a blog post. Here at AIU, we are now mid-way into our spring break, which is known as “Golden Week,” and, apparently, it is something that is planned semesters in advance for Japanese students, so, for us international students, many of our plans had to be altered because of flights and trains already being bought out. Also, the recent events with the abdication […]

Laken Williams: Post 1

Laken Williams Akita International University Japan Spring 2019 Why AIU? I have always wanted to come to Japan because of its unique cultural traditions and the beauty of the country, especially in spring. The reasons I chose Akita International University are 1) that all the classes are taught in English, 2) the university is set in a rural area, which is important to me because I have always lived in small towns, and 3) being an international university, I have the opportunity to meet students from all over the world, in addition to meeting Japanese students. What am I most […]

Quinn Sipes: Post 6

Quinn Sipes NOH Theatre Tokyo, Japan Summer 2017 When I last wrote, I had just finished my class and had an awful performance and I was so ashamed that I wanted to commit ritual suicide on stage to make up for how terribly I had performed. Well safe to say, I am still alive and I woke up the next day after my evening escapades with my classmates and teachers. I decided that after such an intensive class that I would take a one-day breather, so I really didn’t do anything except watch YouTube all day that Saturday. On the […]

Quinn Sipes: Post 5

Quinn Sipes NOH Theatre Tokyo, Japan Summer 2017 I just finished my class here in Tokyo and I couldn’t be more upset. Before I get into the performance I had yesterday I want to look back at the days leading up to the performance. Every day we chanted Gekkyuden and danced our respective shimais for hours. We practiced the shoulder drum until our hands went numb and sat seiza until our legs couldn’t support our body weight anymore. Oshima sensei told me the day before the performance that I have good energy for Takasago and that I was timing my […]

Quinn Sipes: Blog 4

Quinn Sipes NOH Theatre Tokyo, Japan Summer 2017 I apologize for waiting a week to write one of these blogs but to be perfectly honest; I have been extremely tired after class to do anything, much less be witty on the web and write about the bad decisions I make while abroad. So, the past week has been a tough one. The pair of hakama that I bought turned out to be too small for me and I was out 40 dollars until someone in the class who did fit into them bought them off of me. My sensei also […]

Quinn Sipes: Post 3

Quinn Sipes NOH Theatre Tokyo, Japan Summer 2017 Sorry for not blogging about my Japan adventure but I have been very busy with my Noh Training. For those of you who don’t know why I am here in Tokyo, I am studying the traditional Japanese theatre form known as Noh theatre. The theatre form was created by Zeami in the 1300’s and became big when the first Shogun was created. Most of the noh plays revolve around the Tales of Genji and many of the plays focus around a main character that is otherworldly like ghosts, demons, and gods. This […]

Quinn Sipes: Post 2

Quinn Sipes NOH Theatre Tokyo, Japan Summer 2017 It has been two days since my last blog post and already so much has happened! First off, I would like to say that the crazy and overwhelming city of Tokyo is now easier to navigate after I wised up. Now, before I leave, I look up the address of the places I want to go while I have Wi-Fi and then screenshot the map and the directions to get to that place. I also have decided to just let the whirlwind that is Tokyo, take me to where I need to […]