Seijin Festival and Goals

A Tree with bad luck fortunes tied to it at Heian Shrine

Here's another response to the Light Fellowship-generated question:

Re-evaluate your goals for the year. How have you done? Have you needed or wanted to change your goals over the course of your study? Do you have new goals for this term?

My goals and perspectives have indeed changed since returning to Japan. I feel like Kyoto has become my home in that I no longer feel the need to go out and see all the sights. Every day is just another day, not another day IN Kyoto. Like the residents of a city who haven't seen all the tourist attractions in their hometowns, I have lost the fervor of being in Kyoto. I've started going to the gym three times a week instead of going out and exploring the city. Clearly my goals and priorities this semester have changed. I have some mixed feelings because I know I should go out and see more, but sightseeing and playing tourist feel so unnatural and out of sync with the established rhythm of my daily life.

In an effort to combat this feeling of routine life, I have made another bucket list for Kyoto. At the same time I am busy trying to find a job. I am working on my resume and a list of firms to apply for as well as trying to contact my friends in Japan who are currently working in offices. One of my friends at Sou Fujimoto says she's going crazy from all the working she has to do. I have heard similar stories from other people who have worked in Japan, which is perhaps one reason why I don't want to live and work here permanently, but I think a year of working here would be a good experience before I move on to grad school.

The prospect of entering the workforce is exciting, nerve-racking, and stressful all at the same time, but it's the next step in my life and maturation. My birthday was yesterday and another year later I do indeed feel like I've grown up in so many ways. On the subject of growing up, here are some photos from Japan's "Seijin Festival"成人祭り, which is a coming-of-age festival for Japanese youth.


My friends and I with some newly minted Japanese adults