=)

hey folks,

it's been awesome reading the past few entries thus far. =) I'm actually blogging with the Harvard Voice this summer (http://www.theharvardvoice.com/blogs/hann-yew) but I'll definitely be reading blog entries and keeping y'all updated on what I'm up to. It's day 2 in Japan for me - Sunday morning here at 6:30am, and naturally my circadian clock is utterly busted, but who cares? There is a small pasar malam (malay for 'flea market') place just downstairs from my apartment, and the soya bean man will probably be up again by now. It turns out people do indeed speak Chinese in Chinatown, a fact for which I have never been more grateful, and that only in Japan can one wander through a huge underground mall to the stirring strains of Star Wars. Erik and I (he's a fellow Harvardian, lives down the hallway) walked around half the city yesterday, and were pretty much blown away by almost everything we saw. Remember what Daniel Gilbert said about the loss of choice actually producing happiness? The language handicap has been both incredibly disenfranchising and surprisingly enough, freeing as well. To walk a city without understanding what people are saying... somehow that enforced deafness focuses one's eyes instead, creates new challenges I've never experienced. My mother says I sound happier in Japan than I did in France same time last summer, despite knowing French and bits of French culture... why is it? What is it about the Asian cityscape that is so achingly familiar? Wandering around Japan I am irresistibly reminded of pockets of Singapore, from the Yakult vending machine on the street corner to the yawning long kau zui drains in case of flooding. Kobe is not a beautiful city, not compared to the cobblestoned paths of Europe. But I somehow feel like I understand these people, this city. The fruit store two alleys away has a beauty all its own.

Take care,
--Hann