This picture was taken just down the street from Kansai Gaidai University, and I pass this particular wall quite regularly when I am out and about on my bicycle. Being an art major, I always tend to spot and take notice of graffiti around the city, although I really only have my own hometown graffiti to compare to. Even so, I found this piece very intriguing because even though I am in a foreign country, it is images like this that remind me of my own city (Houston), which is large and covered with all sorts of different graffiti. Looking at this image reminded me of the people I know personally who do graffiti in Houston and how outrageous these characters tend to be by nature. It made me wonder what the person (or persons) who did this might be like; are they outgoing and full of life like the people I know from back home? Or are they more reserved, choosing to throw up their tags on the walls of Hirakata in the middle of the night like ninjas? Upon taking this picture, I stood in front of the wall for a good 3-4 minutes, lost in my own thoughts of home and by comparison, my new home, Japan. **If you would like to check out some graffiti art from my hometown Houston Texas, check out this site: http://www.graffiti.org/houston/houston_1.html
In comparison to the first photo, this photograph represents for me all that is extremely different about Japanese culture and American culture. Although this is not my first time in Japan, it is the longest I have ever stayed abroad and so I am, of course, bound to have many cultural experiences which are somewhat uncomfortable and also expand my horizons in terms of becoming more immersed in a new culture. This photograph was taken on the 15th of September 2008 around 3:15 AM. A couple of friends and I took a train to Kyoto and then took the Keihan Dentetsu Otokoyama Cable Car to Otokoyama-sanjo to check out a festival which started at 3:00 AM at the Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine. As I was taking this picture, several Japanese people dressed in traditional, white ceremonial garbs walked by and so were captured in the photograph, looking almost ghost like. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes being in a foreign country can produce uncomfortable situations, and I believe this was one of them. As everyone who was participating in the ceremony lined up along the walkway, preparing to descend the mountain, myself and my fellow 'gai-jin' made a walk of shame, trying to get to the front of the procession so that could get a better view of the festivities. As we walked together, I could feel the eyes of the Japanese and it felt as though they were watching our every move, waiting for us to make a wrong step. I believe no matter how long I remain in Japan, I will never truly be considered 'part of the culture', but I am starting to be more comfortable with being an outsider.
**If you would like to know a little more about Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine, please visit this site:
