Overseas program(s):
Fuji Summer 2017
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Deerly Beloved Nature - I thought I was prepared for my visit to Nara Park, home to hundreds of Japanese sika deer. I’d seen friends’ selfies with the wide-eyed animals and heard about tourists feeding them the crackers sold by local vendors. I even passed a television screen in the train station of a cartoon deer on two feet […]
Sayonara, Satoyama Seniors - I’m sitting in a bakery café in Shinjuku, a popular shopping and business district of Tokyo. The floor rumbles as trains pass underneath the building, but it’s largely drowned out by the upbeat ‘60s American jazz and lively social chatter among fashionable Japanese women. I realize that it’s been a little while since I’ve seen […]
Performance of Rituals: Evolution of Tradition - Four days ago, twelve undergraduates (myself included) moved into a thatch-roofed house with sprawling tatami mats and no air conditioning. When we return from our fieldwork or lectures, we trip over ourselves trying to follow the traditions and customs that come with the house: taking off our shoes in the entryway, sharing the bathwater, cooking […]
Shrinking and Growing the Mountain - As I travel in Japan, I am constantly regaled with the silhouette of a steeply sloped mountain that is now iconic around the world. Mt. Fuji, the focus of our summer research, is everywhere from the horizon to the konbini (convenience store). Throughout my experiences, I’ve noticed the miniaturization of the mountain, its internationally situated […]