In Mito

I took the JLPT today. The work I put in clearly paid off and I felt really confident on pretty much every section. The kanji was a breeze except for, ironically, the easiest ones. I only studied off the JLPT 3 vocab list and didn’t do any work from the JLPT 4, which is a step below. There were some level 4 kanji on this test that I wasn’t sure about but everything else went well. Listening was tough only because it went on forever. I’m used to rapid, full Japanese so easy slow Japanese is a cinch. But it gets tiring fast and by the 30th question I couldn’t concentrate through the whole thing. So I missed a few near the end. Reading and grammar were the hardest. Particles are very annoying. We don’t have particles in English. The mark parts of the sentence. So you put a particle after the topic, a different one after the object, and so on. There are particles for places, times, people, things, and then all change depending on which verb, verb form, and who the sentence to directed towards. Ugh. And I don’t use them that often in everyday speech. With my friends the conversation is so casual that I just drop some particles all together. So particles are always tough; so are the polite expressions. The Japanese have different words for go, come, be, see, do, hear, ask, visit, know, eat, drink, receive, give, and some others depending on who you’re speaking to. If it is a formal situation and you’re speaking to a superior, use the respectful form. It you are speaking to a superior about yourself or your family, use the humble form. Gah! But overall the test went very well. I’m rather pleased with my performance. I get my score in February.

After the test I decided not to waste the $20 train ticket to and from Mito and sightsee a little bit. So I grabbed an English map at the tourist information center and walked over to a park near the train station. I expected Mito to be a little town, but it was a big city. It’s the capital of Ibaraki prefecture and for some reason reminded me a lot of San Francisco. Except San Francisco doesn’t have shrines everywhere. I would be walking down a crowded street with no sidewalks, and suddenly between two small houses would appear a shrine or temple. Only in Japan. The weather was crisp and cold but the park was beautiful and full of colorful trees and statues to the Tokugawa lords. Mito was originally a castle town for the Daimyo of the Mito domain in the Tokugawa era. It was a very powerful, very important city in that age and there are remnants of it everywhere. The park I visited was centered on a small lake/ large pond and had statues around the edges. After taking my picture with a few of them I headed off to the Ibaraki History Museum but got sidetracked at a lovely shrine and botanical garden. I was stunned with the beauty of the places even in December. I can only imagine what it looks like in spring and summer. After a visit to the shrine I set off towards the Museum. It looked like a cool place but I got there just as it was closing. I did get some brochures and I plan to go back before I move. Maybe next weekend. I like museums and Japanese history fascinates me.

Disappointed with the museum being closed, I wandered back to the train station, taking pictures along the way. Mito looks pretty cool at night. There were Christmas lights everywhere, strung all along the streets. I liked the town and I’m sure to return. Overall a full and rewarding Sunday.