Three years ago, I spent an amazing year studying abroad in Tokyo. I met friends and had experiences I couldn't have had anywhere else and after I returned to the US, I was convinced I wanted to live and work there. One of my reasons for joining the JET Programme in the first place was to use it as an opportunity to gain experience and a high enough Japanese skill to get a job in Tokyo or Osaka.
Lately, I've been wondering if I was aiming for this for the wrong reasons...
I fell in love with Tokyo the moment I stepped out of Shinjuku Station and saw the sleek, elegant skyscraper buildings balanced with beautiful parks and shrines. Walking through the city at night was like walking through a fever dream. So many sights and sounds and things to do and so little time to do them in. Tokyo was a great distraction from my crappy part-time job and trying to pull the credits together for a diploma I wasn't sure how to turn into a career. And Tokyo is the grand metropolis of distraction. Karaoke bars everywhere, events and concerts going on every day, huge museums, expensive clubs, and one of the best railway systems in the world. "I could walk these streets for days and know not even half its wonders." (Yes, I just quoted Assassin's Creed, don't hate...) Compared to reality back home, getting lost in the city with a generous stipend from the government was paradise.
Yet whenever I had time to myself or walked down the crowded streets alone, I was amazed at how lonely one could feel among so many people. Besides the usual stare foreigners get every once in a while, people just pass by. No one cares. They had their own lives to worry about. The problem was that I didn't really have one.
Even in Milwaukee, I had started to feel that way. My close-knit circle of friends were graduating and moving on with their lives. And now it's happening again: my friends at Seijo are graduating and moving on. One of my best friends now lives in Nagoya and most of my international friends are back in their home countries moving on with reality. My social group has all but scattered and my social safety net is left in tatters.
There comes a point in our lives that we realize that nothing is truly permanent and that's hard concept to get used to. Most of us grow up in the same neighborhood with the same kids, the same neighbors, the same teachers. But all of that changes when you leave home to build a life apart from that safety net. Even those who stay with their family find everyone else going away. This cycle has repeated many times for me now and it doesn't seem to get easier.
However, when the dust settles on your social situation, you get to look back and see which relationships are still standing. You did have true friends all along, but you couldn't see them among the multitude of people you were trying to maintain connections with until people started moving out of your life. These are the people that are there for you no matter how far apart you are. The ones you can go months without speaking to and then strike up a conversation as if no time has passed at all. And it's worth the pain of losing those you thought were good friends.
Each time you repeat this process, the weak ties break, and you weave new, stronger bonds into your safety net.
Starting your life in Japan on JET is another iteration of this process. Most of us are recent graduates leaving the college life behind when we leave our home countries. We leave friends and family behind to start a new chapter and this can be especially challenging for us big-city folk since most us are placed way out in the countryside.
The abundant landscapes and mountains are gorgeous. I don't think any JET can deny that. However, after a whirlwind month of introductions, classes, conferences, eikaiwas, and other obligations being thrust upon us, we take a look around and think, "Is this it?" Let's be honest- the countryside isn't known for it's thriving nightlife or other such distractions. There aren't a whole lot of people your own age besides your fellow JETs.
Then the boredom sets in and the stage two culture shock takes hold and all you want to do is stay inside and re-watch The Office over and over. You feel a bit resentful because there's no one at work that understands what your going through and you have to carry on like nothing's wrong. You crave real pizza and burritos the size of your head, but there's none to be found.
But then, when you feel up to it, you start to reach out. You start that martial art you've always wanted to for the first time. You share a nice conversation with a fellow teacher and find you have things in common. You start to realize that there are people out there who care and want to help. You stop seeing events and enkais as obligations and more like opportunities. You take hobbies back up you didn't have time for before or start new ones. Slowly but surely, your social calendar starts filling up again.
We look inward and realize that while we can't do much to change anything outside, there is something inside that we've been ignoring for a long time. They say that the hardest person to live with is yourself, and you'll experience this firsthand on JET. Because when there are no lights and sounds and crowds of young people to distract you, all that's left is yourself and you'll be shocked to feel like a stranger in your own skin.
One of the fifth-year JETs who left this year told me something that had to do with "creating a version of yourself you can take anywhere". Many people come here to leave behind a dreary life, but remember- you'll always have to live with your own demons no matter where you are. Escaping from them to a hedonist's paradise like Tokyo is just that- escapism. If you're looking for a brief distraction, great, but don't let distractions become and control your life. Don't become a hollow shell of a person that's only working for that next buzz alcohol and club music will bring.
One of my remaining close friends in Tokyo Skyped with me recently and she always asks me every time: "What is there to do there? Isn't it boring?" I laugh and agree there isn't much "to do" here. The problem is she means clubs, restaurants, amusements parks, etc. The truth is that I have a ton "to do" here in a different sense: I have kyudo, kendo, knitting, gaming, a mountain to climb in summer and ski down in winter, cultural events to see, community English events to participate in and I could go on. And if I do need more of a distraction, there is a huge Round One in Akita City...
And I've been surprised to realize that I'm just fine with the way things are. It may not be the most exciting, but life is pretty good. I've never felt more at peace with myself. Most of them may be over the age of 40, but I do have stable friends who won't be moving away. I've lost over 20 pounds and have never felt better about myself or my body. My relationship with my husband is the best it's ever been. He seems happier than he has in a while and we both have our share of issues.
JET is an opportunity and you have to grab onto and make the most of it if you want to get anything out of it. Don't waste away inside your apartment praying for time to accelerate to next summer so you can get the hell out of here. Try new things. Explore the area. Talk to people. Spend time with yourself. Take a mental inventory every once in a while and think about who you are and who you want to be when you leave the programme.
If February comes around and you decide it's time to go, make sure you can look back and say with satisfaction that you made the most of your time here. The countryside can be an experience in despair and isolation or magnificence and community. There are no obstacles, only challenges and learning experiences. Walking away and hiding from your problems doesn't solve them or make them go away. Don't hide away from the boundless opportunities in front of you. Don't hide away from yourself.
Break out of the cocoon and fly from the JET programme a better you.
Showing posts with label Health and Wellness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health and Wellness. Show all posts
Monday, November 10, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Things I'm Just Beginning to Understand at 25.
I still can't believe it. I'm 25 years-old. A quarter of a century. I'm about a third through my lifetime if I'm lucky. It's come to my attention that I am not the same person I was in college and I'm starting to realize how much I've done and changed. There are mindsets and beliefs that have changed drastically and I feel like a more complete person for it. I'm sharing only a few of them here and I wholly expect to continue changing as I finally start to feel the weight of adulthood. So here are some things that I'm finally starting to figure out at 25.
Being "Fit"
I touched on this one a bit in Physcial Wellness- What I Wish They Would Have Told Me, but I think this is the one concept related to health that still eludes me. We're all told that being "fit" is the ideal, but no one ever bothers to provide any clues as to what it actually is besides images of thin, lean people working out. When I worked at a Subway restaurant in Milwaukee, one of my more memorable customers always came in on break from a run. I swear this woman had no body fat. No curves, no boobs, nothing but lean muscle. Is she "fit"? Is she the pinnacle of "fitness"?
A quick google search of "fitness" will provide this definition:
The West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences center has a pamphlet on healthy living which provides this explanation:
The global increase of depression is well-known and according to the National Institute of Health, there is a strong correlation between depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders and insomnia. There is no clear evidence to suggest whether the psychiatric disorders cause insomia or vice versa, but they do make each other worse. This creates a vicious cycle that's hard to break out of since exercising will give you more energy and better sleep, but it also takes some energy to get started in the first place.
Since physical fitness is such a personal measure of health, I've learned that gauging it should involve certain personal benchmarks. For example, I decided that being able to go up the two flights of stairs at work without by heart racing and being winded was my first step. With the 15 pounds I've lost and my increased activity level, I can definitely say I'ved mostly achieved that and I sleep better and feel better during the day. I am by no means a paragon of fitness, but I am well on my way.
Self-Esteem
Closely linked to fitness, we have self-esteem. This is probably the topic on this list that surprised me the most. About a month ago I had in epiphany of sorts. I was standing in front of the mirror and came to a realization: I like my body. More surprising was the realization I didn't really like it before.
My usual reactions before included "Meh", "I'm alright", and "Could be worse...". I considered this to be good self-esteem because I thought it was the best I could do both physically and mentally. Now when I look into that mirror, I think, "I actually LIKE my body!"
The confusing part was my body hadn't really changed. I'd dropped a few pounds developed a few muscles, but they hadn't made that much of a difference in the broad scheme of things.
Considering my body hadn't changed all that much, I tried to think what had: I'd started working out and keeping track of my calories. I'd started archery and kendo. It seemed like the results of what I was doing wasn't as important as the fact that I was doing them. Just trying and pushing myself raised my self-respect and self-worth. I found out I was capable of so much more than I thought.
As kids we're told to look in the mirror and say to yourself, "I'm beautiful", "I'm awesome", "I can achieve anything I want", but there's a difference between saying these things and actually believing in them and making them a reality. Telling someone with low self-esteem to just start loving themselves is like telling a person suffering from depression to just be positive. You can't wish feeling and emotion into existence. The only thing that can change anything is action.
Don't like your body? DO something about it. I'm not saying lose weight and get thin. I'm saying work your ass off for something you truly want. Don't settle for anything less than what challenges you. Does it suck? Good- it means your learning and improving. Take that anger and frustration and throw it into the face of what's in your way. Your body and mind will thank you for the work you've done and you'll love yourself for it no matter what the outcome.
"Getting a Life"
Let me be clear here: "get a life" is an insult. It's a veiled attempt to assert your superiority complex over someone.
I only use this phrase because I assume most people want "a life", but don't know exaclty what that is nor how to "get" one. Unfortunately (like almost everything on this list), it's too personal to have a cut-and-dry answer.
Here is what I thought a "life" was at 18: graduate high school, go to college, graduate college, career. I thought that was the natural progression of a successful individual. Any step outside it was a fast-track to loserdom. It shames me to think I used to look down on those that deviated from this path, but the truth is that I did. Things had been pretty smooth sailing for me. I was a good girl, kept my head down, flew through high school, got into my private, expensive, university of choice, and met the love of my life when I got there.
Then I started failing classes. I started seeing the possibility of not being able to make it through. It terrified me, and when I finally threw my hands up and admitted defeat I was at a loss. I knew I wanted to transfer somewhere else, but I didn't know where or what for or how to pay for it. I didn't know where I was going to live. I didn't know where my relationship with my boyfriend whom I was very much in love with was going to go.
Looking back, I think that's when my true "life" started. That's when I started to have to actually work to survive and get what I wanted.
After I left the Milwaukee School of Engineering, I fought to get into UW-Milwaukee (which is ironically easier to get into than MSOE), moved into my first apartment, and made the unwise choice to let my boyfriend move in with me and kept it from my disapproving parents. From that moment, I felt like almost everything I did was against their wishes and expectations. It was like all the angst and rebellion I'd suppressed as a teenager had festered and burst open. I started doing things because it was what I wanted and not necessarily what others wanted from me. I learned that I'd been mentally trained to feel guilty about doing so. Sometimes everything seemed like a fight whether at school, in my crappy job making subway sandwiches, in my relationship, or with my family.
But you know what? Between the challenges, between the frustration and tears, I was happy. I was finally "living". Fighting the tide instead of letting it take me wherever it was going made me feel alive and more like myself (whatever that meant at the time). With every challenge I faced, I built up pride and self-respect.
I met some of the best, the worst, most-interesting, most terrible people at my job. I met artists, I met hippies, I met drug dealers, I met homeless people, artists, musicians, hair stylists. I realized that a "life" can just be exactly that- life. Shaping it into whatever you want it to be. And unless you're causing harm to other people, who is anyone else to judge? The only judge that matters in life is you.
Friends
This one's hard to think about even now because I feel like I've lost many friends in my lifetime and I can't figure out where the relationships went wrong. It's not like I ever start a friendship with the thought that it might end. Sometimes a person you thought you were getting along with for a while starts ignoring you in passing while others you met only once in real life end up becoming good facebook friends.
Somewhere in life we start to separate aqcuaintences from friends, but I still have trouble understanding why I can't be friends with my aqcuaintences too or why friendships fade with time. In Girl Scouts there's a song that goes,
I used to think, "Why can't they all be gold?".
When I left MSOE I still hung out there regularly. But then time passed, and friends graduated and moved on until I had only a few left in Milwaukee who became understandably busy with their own lives and careers. I realized that someday I'd have to move on too. People change. They never stop changing. Some people grow together while others grow apart.
I didn't start getting a feel for who my "gold" friends until after I left college. I've learned the best friendships are the ones that endure through distance and time and it's worth the pain and loss of finding them.
Happiness
There are people I've met that seem almost too happy. You know the type- the bubbly, smiley ones that have an unbeatable zest for life and their facebook statuses are nothing but sunshine and rainbows.
These people bug me. It's not like I don't like them, but something about them rubs me the wrong way. I used to think it was because I felt resentful and jealous. I believed that level of happiness was the baseline for "normal" people and if it wasn't you were doing something wrong.
Now I know it's the inherent insincerity. These people aren't as happy as they portray themselves to be. It's nothing I hold against them- it's just the persona they've learned to present no matter how they feel. As a person who wears her heart on her sleeve, I hold emotional honesty in high regard.
And if I'm being honest right now, I'd say I'm mostly happy. I've learned that money can't "buy" happiness, but not having enough to survive certainly lowers your baseline. I've learned that putting yourself first is okay. I've learned that you can have great relationships with people even when you disagree with them (or even because of it). I've learned that the highs aren't a baseline and we wouldn't even appreciate the highs if we didn't have a baseline or the lows.
I've learned that when people talk about "happiness", they're really talking about "contentment". If you can say, "Yeah, I'm doing just fine.", I'd say you're happy. You have enough highs in your life to off-set the lows. You have enough to get by. You have a little more than enough so you can enjoy things beyond mere survival. You have an emotional safety net of people you trust and care for. You're body and mind are functional in a way that allows your daily life to run smoothly.
Most importantly, I've learned that happiness is different for different people. This goes back to the whole "having a life" thing a bit. If your current life is happy for you, than don't let anyone judge you for it. Love who you love and do the things you love to do.
And if you're not happy, DO something. Anything. One little change can make all the difference. If you need a big change, break it into small, less intimidating changes. It's hard, I know. Breaking out of the vicious cycle of a negative mindset is difficult. If you need encouragement or help, don't be silent. Reach out. Know that failure is a natural part of the learning process, not a stop sign.
After writing this, I'm amazed at how different I was ten or even just two years ago. As a quarter-of-a-centurian, I've experienced a lot of things and it's good to know I've actually learned a thing or two from them. If there are any other mid-twenty somethings out there, I encourage you to take a moment and think about what these things mean to you. I have a feeling that all too many people watch life pass them by and not take a second to fully appreciate exactly what and who they are. You're the only one in the entire universe and are here for only a brief time. Wouldn't it be nice to get to know yourself while you're here?
Being "Fit"
I touched on this one a bit in Physcial Wellness- What I Wish They Would Have Told Me, but I think this is the one concept related to health that still eludes me. We're all told that being "fit" is the ideal, but no one ever bothers to provide any clues as to what it actually is besides images of thin, lean people working out. When I worked at a Subway restaurant in Milwaukee, one of my more memorable customers always came in on break from a run. I swear this woman had no body fat. No curves, no boobs, nothing but lean muscle. Is she "fit"? Is she the pinnacle of "fitness"?
A quick google search of "fitness" will provide this definition:
1. the condition of being physically fit and healthy.Gee, thanks- had no idea "fitness" had anything to do with "being physically fit". Also, being "healthy" is a separate thing. Even when I was 195 pounds I could go to my physical and get a clean bill of health (after which my doctor will say, "Now about your weight...").
The West Virginia University Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences center has a pamphlet on healthy living which provides this explanation:
Fitness means being in good physical condition or being healthy. Fitness means"More energy", "better sleep patterns", "able to carry out tasks more easily". Now we're getting somewhere. Of course, these are different for every person which means fitness is going to be personal as well.
having more energy and better sleep patterns. A person who is fit is also able to
carry out tasks more easily.
The global increase of depression is well-known and according to the National Institute of Health, there is a strong correlation between depression, anxiety, and other psychiatric disorders and insomnia. There is no clear evidence to suggest whether the psychiatric disorders cause insomia or vice versa, but they do make each other worse. This creates a vicious cycle that's hard to break out of since exercising will give you more energy and better sleep, but it also takes some energy to get started in the first place.
Since physical fitness is such a personal measure of health, I've learned that gauging it should involve certain personal benchmarks. For example, I decided that being able to go up the two flights of stairs at work without by heart racing and being winded was my first step. With the 15 pounds I've lost and my increased activity level, I can definitely say I'ved mostly achieved that and I sleep better and feel better during the day. I am by no means a paragon of fitness, but I am well on my way.
Self-Esteem
Closely linked to fitness, we have self-esteem. This is probably the topic on this list that surprised me the most. About a month ago I had in epiphany of sorts. I was standing in front of the mirror and came to a realization: I like my body. More surprising was the realization I didn't really like it before.
My usual reactions before included "Meh", "I'm alright", and "Could be worse...". I considered this to be good self-esteem because I thought it was the best I could do both physically and mentally. Now when I look into that mirror, I think, "I actually LIKE my body!"
The confusing part was my body hadn't really changed. I'd dropped a few pounds developed a few muscles, but they hadn't made that much of a difference in the broad scheme of things.
Considering my body hadn't changed all that much, I tried to think what had: I'd started working out and keeping track of my calories. I'd started archery and kendo. It seemed like the results of what I was doing wasn't as important as the fact that I was doing them. Just trying and pushing myself raised my self-respect and self-worth. I found out I was capable of so much more than I thought.
As kids we're told to look in the mirror and say to yourself, "I'm beautiful", "I'm awesome", "I can achieve anything I want", but there's a difference between saying these things and actually believing in them and making them a reality. Telling someone with low self-esteem to just start loving themselves is like telling a person suffering from depression to just be positive. You can't wish feeling and emotion into existence. The only thing that can change anything is action.
Don't like your body? DO something about it. I'm not saying lose weight and get thin. I'm saying work your ass off for something you truly want. Don't settle for anything less than what challenges you. Does it suck? Good- it means your learning and improving. Take that anger and frustration and throw it into the face of what's in your way. Your body and mind will thank you for the work you've done and you'll love yourself for it no matter what the outcome.
"Getting a Life"
Let me be clear here: "get a life" is an insult. It's a veiled attempt to assert your superiority complex over someone.
I only use this phrase because I assume most people want "a life", but don't know exaclty what that is nor how to "get" one. Unfortunately (like almost everything on this list), it's too personal to have a cut-and-dry answer.
Here is what I thought a "life" was at 18: graduate high school, go to college, graduate college, career. I thought that was the natural progression of a successful individual. Any step outside it was a fast-track to loserdom. It shames me to think I used to look down on those that deviated from this path, but the truth is that I did. Things had been pretty smooth sailing for me. I was a good girl, kept my head down, flew through high school, got into my private, expensive, university of choice, and met the love of my life when I got there.
Then I started failing classes. I started seeing the possibility of not being able to make it through. It terrified me, and when I finally threw my hands up and admitted defeat I was at a loss. I knew I wanted to transfer somewhere else, but I didn't know where or what for or how to pay for it. I didn't know where I was going to live. I didn't know where my relationship with my boyfriend whom I was very much in love with was going to go.
Looking back, I think that's when my true "life" started. That's when I started to have to actually work to survive and get what I wanted.
After I left the Milwaukee School of Engineering, I fought to get into UW-Milwaukee (which is ironically easier to get into than MSOE), moved into my first apartment, and made the unwise choice to let my boyfriend move in with me and kept it from my disapproving parents. From that moment, I felt like almost everything I did was against their wishes and expectations. It was like all the angst and rebellion I'd suppressed as a teenager had festered and burst open. I started doing things because it was what I wanted and not necessarily what others wanted from me. I learned that I'd been mentally trained to feel guilty about doing so. Sometimes everything seemed like a fight whether at school, in my crappy job making subway sandwiches, in my relationship, or with my family.
But you know what? Between the challenges, between the frustration and tears, I was happy. I was finally "living". Fighting the tide instead of letting it take me wherever it was going made me feel alive and more like myself (whatever that meant at the time). With every challenge I faced, I built up pride and self-respect.
I met some of the best, the worst, most-interesting, most terrible people at my job. I met artists, I met hippies, I met drug dealers, I met homeless people, artists, musicians, hair stylists. I realized that a "life" can just be exactly that- life. Shaping it into whatever you want it to be. And unless you're causing harm to other people, who is anyone else to judge? The only judge that matters in life is you.
Friends
This one's hard to think about even now because I feel like I've lost many friends in my lifetime and I can't figure out where the relationships went wrong. It's not like I ever start a friendship with the thought that it might end. Sometimes a person you thought you were getting along with for a while starts ignoring you in passing while others you met only once in real life end up becoming good facebook friends.
Somewhere in life we start to separate aqcuaintences from friends, but I still have trouble understanding why I can't be friends with my aqcuaintences too or why friendships fade with time. In Girl Scouts there's a song that goes,
"Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver and the other's gold.
When I left MSOE I still hung out there regularly. But then time passed, and friends graduated and moved on until I had only a few left in Milwaukee who became understandably busy with their own lives and careers. I realized that someday I'd have to move on too. People change. They never stop changing. Some people grow together while others grow apart.
I didn't start getting a feel for who my "gold" friends until after I left college. I've learned the best friendships are the ones that endure through distance and time and it's worth the pain and loss of finding them.
Happiness
There are people I've met that seem almost too happy. You know the type- the bubbly, smiley ones that have an unbeatable zest for life and their facebook statuses are nothing but sunshine and rainbows.
These people bug me. It's not like I don't like them, but something about them rubs me the wrong way. I used to think it was because I felt resentful and jealous. I believed that level of happiness was the baseline for "normal" people and if it wasn't you were doing something wrong.
Now I know it's the inherent insincerity. These people aren't as happy as they portray themselves to be. It's nothing I hold against them- it's just the persona they've learned to present no matter how they feel. As a person who wears her heart on her sleeve, I hold emotional honesty in high regard.
And if I'm being honest right now, I'd say I'm mostly happy. I've learned that money can't "buy" happiness, but not having enough to survive certainly lowers your baseline. I've learned that putting yourself first is okay. I've learned that you can have great relationships with people even when you disagree with them (or even because of it). I've learned that the highs aren't a baseline and we wouldn't even appreciate the highs if we didn't have a baseline or the lows.
I've learned that when people talk about "happiness", they're really talking about "contentment". If you can say, "Yeah, I'm doing just fine.", I'd say you're happy. You have enough highs in your life to off-set the lows. You have enough to get by. You have a little more than enough so you can enjoy things beyond mere survival. You have an emotional safety net of people you trust and care for. You're body and mind are functional in a way that allows your daily life to run smoothly.
Most importantly, I've learned that happiness is different for different people. This goes back to the whole "having a life" thing a bit. If your current life is happy for you, than don't let anyone judge you for it. Love who you love and do the things you love to do.
And if you're not happy, DO something. Anything. One little change can make all the difference. If you need a big change, break it into small, less intimidating changes. It's hard, I know. Breaking out of the vicious cycle of a negative mindset is difficult. If you need encouragement or help, don't be silent. Reach out. Know that failure is a natural part of the learning process, not a stop sign.
After writing this, I'm amazed at how different I was ten or even just two years ago. As a quarter-of-a-centurian, I've experienced a lot of things and it's good to know I've actually learned a thing or two from them. If there are any other mid-twenty somethings out there, I encourage you to take a moment and think about what these things mean to you. I have a feeling that all too many people watch life pass them by and not take a second to fully appreciate exactly what and who they are. You're the only one in the entire universe and are here for only a brief time. Wouldn't it be nice to get to know yourself while you're here?
Monday, August 25, 2014
"Hair"rowing Tales
Like many fans, I was shocked and saddened by the sudden announcement that Ghibli studios would be closing down and then relieved when a friend informed me mere hours later that they were only restructuring, and then sad again when I learned it was due to Miyazaki retiring (for realz this time). Ghibli has touched the hearts of many the world over with their stunning visuals, masterful storytelling, and progressive, believable, characters.
One could write multiple essays about just one movie let alone all of them, but there is one theme that has become especially relevant in my life recently. I will describe it thusly:
The pattern is very apparent: main characters with long hair tend to lose it by the end of the movie. The metaphor for character development and loss of innocence and childhood is made stronger by most of these characters losing their hair by force: the above character's braids are literally shot off with a pistol, Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle has to sacrifice her long hair in order to find Howl, and Prince Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke cuts off his hair in a more ritualistic fashion before starting his journey away from home. However, the change is almost always taken in stride. By the time the hair is removed, the characters have already acquired the attributes befitting the symbol: self-confidence, maturity, and courage.
It wasn't until recently that I realized how much I thought of my hair in this way. My hair has been long as long as I can remember. I considered it the thing about myself I liked most and took great pride in my long, brown-golden locks that shined in the sun. I never in my life thought I would ever cut it short. I thought it was the thing that made me beautiful. No matter how hot the summer, how much shampoo and conditioner it took to keep it clean and oil-free or how much brushing it took to keep it untangled, I stubbornly refused to let more than an inch or two go at each trimming.
Sometime in High School I dove headfirst into the popularity explosion that was Japanese pop culture. Spirited Away moved me to tears. I'd never seen anything like it (although after watching Totoro I realized I'd actually seen it a long time ago in elementary school!). Around this time I became engrossed in a rail-shooter game called Panzer Dragoon: Orta- a game highly lauded as the best game of the year that no one played due to poor marketing and the stigmatizing of rail-shooters in general (Starfox forever!).
As a teenage girl vulnerable to romantic flights of fancy, I was drawn to the main character Orta- a girl chained up in a tower for an absurd reason who is soon rescued by one of the most bad-ass dragons ever. They then fly off together to destroy the evil empire that hunted her.
This next time I went for a haircut, I brought of picture of her along with me and asked the stylist, a friend of the family, what she thought. It was a reverse bob (front in long tapering to short in the back) with a tad sharper angle than the usual and I didn't think it was too radical. However, she thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea and I instead got my hair cut to just below my shoulders. I regretted it later. I didn't even think that maybe I wanted that hairstyle so much because it was worn by a person who fought for her freedom to reject her past and choose her own destiny.
The next radical thing I tried was to dye it blue when I was in college. I loved it, but then had to face the realities of a possible career after graduation and let it return to normal.
Recently, I've been working vigorously to lose weight and have noticed a rise in my self-esteem and self-confidence. I decided I was finally ready to appease the thirteen year-old me and get the haircut that had since nagged me in the back of my mind.
As I sat in the chair waiting for the snipping to begin, I couldn't believe how nervous I felt. There was no going back once it started and I'd have to live with it for a long time. I kept convincing myself I was ready for this change. I finally felt ready to join the ranks of Sheeta, Sophie, and Ashitaka. I didn't need my long, thick hair to hide my face and body or feel beautiful anymore, and I was sick of how it was always in my way or pulling on the back of my head like a chain.
With the sound of metal-on-metal, my hair began to fall to the floor. Pieces of my life interwoven with guilt, shame, timidness, and uncertainty were severed and swept away. As any other part of a person, I can still feel it's absence, but I'm better without it and I don't need the safety net it provided anymore.
I walked away from the salon a carefree women. I feel lighter and more like myself. I didn't get to fly with dragons or befriend a totoro, but I got there nonetheless. When I see old pictures of myself with those long, beautiful locks, I'll look on them fondly, but with no regrets.
*All screenshots belong to Studio Ghibli and Panzer Dragoon: Orta is a property of Sega*
One could write multiple essays about just one movie let alone all of them, but there is one theme that has become especially relevant in my life recently. I will describe it thusly:
The pattern is very apparent: main characters with long hair tend to lose it by the end of the movie. The metaphor for character development and loss of innocence and childhood is made stronger by most of these characters losing their hair by force: the above character's braids are literally shot off with a pistol, Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle has to sacrifice her long hair in order to find Howl, and Prince Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke cuts off his hair in a more ritualistic fashion before starting his journey away from home. However, the change is almost always taken in stride. By the time the hair is removed, the characters have already acquired the attributes befitting the symbol: self-confidence, maturity, and courage.
It wasn't until recently that I realized how much I thought of my hair in this way. My hair has been long as long as I can remember. I considered it the thing about myself I liked most and took great pride in my long, brown-golden locks that shined in the sun. I never in my life thought I would ever cut it short. I thought it was the thing that made me beautiful. No matter how hot the summer, how much shampoo and conditioner it took to keep it clean and oil-free or how much brushing it took to keep it untangled, I stubbornly refused to let more than an inch or two go at each trimming.
Sometime in High School I dove headfirst into the popularity explosion that was Japanese pop culture. Spirited Away moved me to tears. I'd never seen anything like it (although after watching Totoro I realized I'd actually seen it a long time ago in elementary school!). Around this time I became engrossed in a rail-shooter game called Panzer Dragoon: Orta- a game highly lauded as the best game of the year that no one played due to poor marketing and the stigmatizing of rail-shooters in general (Starfox forever!).
Seriously, why didn't anybody play this game?!
This next time I went for a haircut, I brought of picture of her along with me and asked the stylist, a friend of the family, what she thought. It was a reverse bob (front in long tapering to short in the back) with a tad sharper angle than the usual and I didn't think it was too radical. However, she thought maybe it wasn't such a good idea and I instead got my hair cut to just below my shoulders. I regretted it later. I didn't even think that maybe I wanted that hairstyle so much because it was worn by a person who fought for her freedom to reject her past and choose her own destiny.
The next radical thing I tried was to dye it blue when I was in college. I loved it, but then had to face the realities of a possible career after graduation and let it return to normal.
Recently, I've been working vigorously to lose weight and have noticed a rise in my self-esteem and self-confidence. I decided I was finally ready to appease the thirteen year-old me and get the haircut that had since nagged me in the back of my mind.
As I sat in the chair waiting for the snipping to begin, I couldn't believe how nervous I felt. There was no going back once it started and I'd have to live with it for a long time. I kept convincing myself I was ready for this change. I finally felt ready to join the ranks of Sheeta, Sophie, and Ashitaka. I didn't need my long, thick hair to hide my face and body or feel beautiful anymore, and I was sick of how it was always in my way or pulling on the back of my head like a chain.
With the sound of metal-on-metal, my hair began to fall to the floor. Pieces of my life interwoven with guilt, shame, timidness, and uncertainty were severed and swept away. As any other part of a person, I can still feel it's absence, but I'm better without it and I don't need the safety net it provided anymore.
I walked away from the salon a carefree women. I feel lighter and more like myself. I didn't get to fly with dragons or befriend a totoro, but I got there nonetheless. When I see old pictures of myself with those long, beautiful locks, I'll look on them fondly, but with no regrets.
*All screenshots belong to Studio Ghibli and Panzer Dragoon: Orta is a property of Sega*
Monday, June 9, 2014
Physical Wellness: What I Wish They Would Have Told Me
I'm 24 years-old and around 184 pounds at the time of this writing. I am also an athlete and that still boggles my mind.
When I was in school I never imagined I'd be as active as I am now. I played soccer as a child for a bit and while I did enjoy it, I absolutely hated being center and usually ended up in the wings or in front of the goal. I hated anything to do with running- how fast everyone was compared to me, the sporadic, panting breathing (and how much my throat would hurt if it was cold outside), the stitch in my side, how fast my heart raced and how long it took for it to go away afterward. The bottom line was that it was uncomfortable and painful for me. So I avoided it like the plague.
Since coming to Japan and observing how sports and physical wellness are treated here, I've learned a lot about my own physical health and I think to myself, "Why didn't I learn this earlier?!". I've realized that due to the way our health and physical education classes are structured in the US, children aren't learning enough about how their bodies work and why exercise is so important. The ones that don't conform to the accepted standard of "physically fit" are ignored and end up feeling like they have no options open to them in high school. I've come to believe that there is something active for everyone to do no matter who they are and children could benefit greatly by being exposed to more options early on in life.
Physical "Education"
Gym class is taught as something that must be done as opposed to something that anyone should do on a regular basis. Gym teachers tell you to play badminton so you play badminton. Today we're playing basketball and tomorrow we're swimming because we say so and for no other reason. At no point was any of this physical activity connected to any actual physical "education". Why is this kind of exercise good for you and what are the physical and mental benefits? What's the difference between "aerobic" and "isometric" exercise? Why are nutrition labels based on 2,000 calories a day? How do you even read a nutrition label?
At no point do I remember learning anything about our actual bodies. All we pick up is that taller and/or more muscular bodies are good at sports. Naturally this leads to the attitude that if you don't have this type of body, you just aren't ever going to be good at or enjoy sports at all. It doesn't help that football and basketball are the standard by which all athletes are measured in the United States. The result is that many adolescents feel they just aren't "built" to do sports and aren't encouraged to look for any other options outside high school.
Our laughably terrible health classes tell us about our petuitaries and how they make our bodies go bananas, but we're taught to be ashamed of them. How are we supposed to talk about the best way to develop good physical habits if we're not even comfortable talking about our own bodies? We need to educate kids about how to incorporate more movement in our daily routines and emphasize that they still have a big impact on their health even if they are not extreme changes.
The Importance of Role Models
I met three people in high school that started to change this attitude for me:
1. The first was during my strength and conditioning class when my gym teacher was discussing my progress and remarked, "You have a naturally strong body." This simple remark kinda blew me away. Whenever I looked in the mirror, I never saw "muscle" or "strength". This got me thinking that maybe there's more potential in the human body than what can be seen.
2. When I was fourteen, my dad took me to the shooting range. Soon after, the Stoughton Archery Club was formed and I began what is probably my favorite sport. Here was something I could not only do, but not feel intimidated or discouraged from doing. People of all backgrounds and body types gather at the range. Moreover, this became a family sport that my father, brothers, and I could enjoy together.
3. The third is when I was working on a large graph for math class on the hallway floor with a friend since it was too big to draw out on the desks. Eventually, we started play-fighting with the yard-sticks as dumb kids do when tasked with mundane things. As our shenanigans ensued, a teacher walked by and casually asked, "Would you like to learn how to do that properly?"
After staring like a deer in headlights for a few seconds, we giggled nervously, shook our heads and said, "Nah." This man eventually became my fencing instructor and one of the most important mentors in my life. He emphasized invaluable concepts like true discipline and critical thinking.
I stumbled into these sports by happy accident, but too many children don't have healthy role models in their daily lives outside their gym teachers. Nobody steps up to help them find a sport or form of exercise that is right for them and they can make into a life-long activity.
The majority of my students belong to sports clubs and practice every day after school for 2-3 hours. Then they have practice on weekends. Then they have tournaments. These clubs become a major part of their lives and are viewed as almost as important as academic class. In university, these clubs and social circles become an essential part of their resumes for prospective jobs.
Then there are the multitude of physical events throughout the warm seasons. There's the annual "sports day" where the whole school participates (teachers included) to split into teams and compete in various physical activities like relay races, 100m dashes, and tugs-of-war. There's a prefecture-wide track-and-field day.
Why We Do Sports
Throughout high school I hardly ever missed archery practice. Here's the thing though: I didn't understand why. For whatever reason, I just wasn't very good at it. Both my brothers and my dad were always leaps and bounds ahead of me and I found it very discouraging. But time and again, I found myself going back and I didn't know why. If I ended up disappointed at every competition, why did I keep going?
Kyudo is the complete opposite of Western archery in many ways. One of these is that the emphasis isn't on hitting on the target so much as the shooting process and proper form. Without the pressures of racking up points and "winning", I finally realized: enjoyment doesn't have anything to do with how good you are. When it came to archery, I wanted to be better than my brothers and I wanted to win and those expectations marred my experience. When it comes to kyudo, I just enjoy doing it.
Again, this has a lot to do with role models. Part of the reason I stayed in archery was because my instructors and family were very supportive and encouraging, but they also shared my goals and mindset. My kyudo instructor told me from the get-go that hitting the target isn't important and that even the highest-ranking archers can't always do it perfectly. Every time I retrieve my arrows from around the target, I'm reminded of a Japanese saying, 猿でも木から落ちる, or "Even monkeys fall from trees."
Too many children find themselves doing sports they don't like or spending more time on it than they would like. Coaches weed out the "weak links" and leave them on the sidelines. Overzealous parents force there children into sports and then get frustrated when they show no motivation or aptitude. When their team doesn't win, they're made to feel like failures. In this environment, exercise becomes something difficult, frustrating, and not enjoyable.
There are so many things that I know now that shouldn't have taken me so many years to figure out on my own.
What Do We Get Out of Sports?
I never would have started kendo were it not for my husband. I attended his first kendo class purely as a translator, but then the instructor walked out of the storage room with two shinai and handed one to each of us. Since my prevailing philosophy as a foreignor in Japan is "go with the flow", I gave it a try. Then I came to the next lesson. And then the next one.
Whenever I watch kendo practice, I marvel at how fast and fluid they are. They almost fly across the floor and each strike is fast and precise. As I watched, I felt more and more that I wanted to be able to move like that. I wanted to be that graceful, strong, and fast.
I'm not gonna lie: it wasn't all fun and games at first (I read in an article somewhere that said, "If you're enjoying kendo, you're not doing it right"). One thing I didn't notice before was how aerobic the sport is and I could barely get through the warm-up at first. I hated how hard my heart pounded and how my calf muscles hurt. But I knew that it would get better and I now had a better reason to fight through the beginning excrutiating struggle. Every time I saw my fellow kendoshi fly across the dojo I saw my reason for continuing.
Before, I could barely walk up the stairs at school without my heart pounding. Now it takes an hour at practice to do that. Before, I looked in the mirror and saw room for improvement, now I see power and muscle hiding under all that cellulose. Although I can't really say I see huge physical changes, I still somehow feel and look "better". People have tried to tell me what self-esteem is and that I should have more of it, but it took more than words for me to fully understand.
You will be surprised how much momentum you can build once you start exercising regularly. A body at rest wants to stay at rest and a body in motion wants to stay in motion. If I'm at my desk with nothing to do all day, I'll start to feel terrible unless I get up and move. Before, I couldn't get myself to exercise. Now, I can't seem to get enough. Instead of going home and collapsing into my bed after practice, I want to hit the gym instead.
Something for Everyone
People who look down on "gamers" really bug me. Everyone plays games. The only difference is what kinds of games and how much we play them. When I was little, my family used to play all sorts of board games. I loved them. I grew up playing Halo with my twin brother. The growing popularity of murder mystery games amuses me to no end since it's basically Dungeons and Dragons with a different setting and no dice. With so many different ways to play out there, I sincerely think that we are all gamers at heart and there is a game for everyone to enjoy. If you don't believe me, watch Will Wheaton's show Tabletop and tell me there isn't something in there you want to try.
In the end, games are all about make-believe no matter what medium you do it through and sports are no different. For a period of time, like-minded individuals come together to pretend that how we throw a ball around a field to reach a certain goal matters. In the end, it really doesn't. The value we put in sports besides the physical is like the value we put in money- socially constructed and meaningless in reality. A dollar bill isn't worth anything unless enough people agree that it's worth one dollar and throwing a ball around doesn't really have any value until enough people think it's interesting enough to charge money for and invest in.
With so many different options available, there has to be a sport for everyone out there.
"Sports" vs. "Martial Arts"
As I mentioned above, the problem with sports in high school and college is that the barrier to entry is pretty high. Even if you make the team, there's a chance you'll be warming the bench almost every game. This makes overweight people lacking the ideal "athletic" body extremely discouraged from joining a mainstream sport at all.
This is why I'm an archer and martial artist. These haven't fallen victim to the institutionalization and commercialization of mainstream sports (even if movies still tend to perpetuate the image that fencing is a sport for uppity rich people. Believe me, it's not!). Anyone can join, your skill level doesn't matter, and the emphasis is on your own self-improvement instead of whether you can "make the team". There can be financial hurdles, but most martial arts clubs allow students to borrow equipment until they can afford their own. Students progress at their own pace and often have more personal attention from trainers since clubs tend to be smaller.
And the rest of world's beginning to notice. The Stoughton Archery club went nuts when The Hunger Games came out and now Arrow is causing huge waves.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Since coming to Japan, I feel like I've found my niche in the physical activity world. I'm starting to drop pounds and I respect my body so much more than before. I've found ways to be active that are both enjoyable and continually motivating with instructors that are patient and welcoming. I feel so lucky to have found this great environment to start my wellness journey and I sincerely think we should fight to make something similar available to everyone.
When I was in school I never imagined I'd be as active as I am now. I played soccer as a child for a bit and while I did enjoy it, I absolutely hated being center and usually ended up in the wings or in front of the goal. I hated anything to do with running- how fast everyone was compared to me, the sporadic, panting breathing (and how much my throat would hurt if it was cold outside), the stitch in my side, how fast my heart raced and how long it took for it to go away afterward. The bottom line was that it was uncomfortable and painful for me. So I avoided it like the plague.
Since coming to Japan and observing how sports and physical wellness are treated here, I've learned a lot about my own physical health and I think to myself, "Why didn't I learn this earlier?!". I've realized that due to the way our health and physical education classes are structured in the US, children aren't learning enough about how their bodies work and why exercise is so important. The ones that don't conform to the accepted standard of "physically fit" are ignored and end up feeling like they have no options open to them in high school. I've come to believe that there is something active for everyone to do no matter who they are and children could benefit greatly by being exposed to more options early on in life.
Physical "Education"
Gym class is taught as something that must be done as opposed to something that anyone should do on a regular basis. Gym teachers tell you to play badminton so you play badminton. Today we're playing basketball and tomorrow we're swimming because we say so and for no other reason. At no point was any of this physical activity connected to any actual physical "education". Why is this kind of exercise good for you and what are the physical and mental benefits? What's the difference between "aerobic" and "isometric" exercise? Why are nutrition labels based on 2,000 calories a day? How do you even read a nutrition label?
At no point do I remember learning anything about our actual bodies. All we pick up is that taller and/or more muscular bodies are good at sports. Naturally this leads to the attitude that if you don't have this type of body, you just aren't ever going to be good at or enjoy sports at all. It doesn't help that football and basketball are the standard by which all athletes are measured in the United States. The result is that many adolescents feel they just aren't "built" to do sports and aren't encouraged to look for any other options outside high school.
Our laughably terrible health classes tell us about our petuitaries and how they make our bodies go bananas, but we're taught to be ashamed of them. How are we supposed to talk about the best way to develop good physical habits if we're not even comfortable talking about our own bodies? We need to educate kids about how to incorporate more movement in our daily routines and emphasize that they still have a big impact on their health even if they are not extreme changes.
The Importance of Role Models
I met three people in high school that started to change this attitude for me:
1. The first was during my strength and conditioning class when my gym teacher was discussing my progress and remarked, "You have a naturally strong body." This simple remark kinda blew me away. Whenever I looked in the mirror, I never saw "muscle" or "strength". This got me thinking that maybe there's more potential in the human body than what can be seen.
2. When I was fourteen, my dad took me to the shooting range. Soon after, the Stoughton Archery Club was formed and I began what is probably my favorite sport. Here was something I could not only do, but not feel intimidated or discouraged from doing. People of all backgrounds and body types gather at the range. Moreover, this became a family sport that my father, brothers, and I could enjoy together.
3. The third is when I was working on a large graph for math class on the hallway floor with a friend since it was too big to draw out on the desks. Eventually, we started play-fighting with the yard-sticks as dumb kids do when tasked with mundane things. As our shenanigans ensued, a teacher walked by and casually asked, "Would you like to learn how to do that properly?"
After staring like a deer in headlights for a few seconds, we giggled nervously, shook our heads and said, "Nah." This man eventually became my fencing instructor and one of the most important mentors in my life. He emphasized invaluable concepts like true discipline and critical thinking.
I stumbled into these sports by happy accident, but too many children don't have healthy role models in their daily lives outside their gym teachers. Nobody steps up to help them find a sport or form of exercise that is right for them and they can make into a life-long activity.
The majority of my students belong to sports clubs and practice every day after school for 2-3 hours. Then they have practice on weekends. Then they have tournaments. These clubs become a major part of their lives and are viewed as almost as important as academic class. In university, these clubs and social circles become an essential part of their resumes for prospective jobs.
Then there are the multitude of physical events throughout the warm seasons. There's the annual "sports day" where the whole school participates (teachers included) to split into teams and compete in various physical activities like relay races, 100m dashes, and tugs-of-war. There's a prefecture-wide track-and-field day.
Why We Do Sports
Throughout high school I hardly ever missed archery practice. Here's the thing though: I didn't understand why. For whatever reason, I just wasn't very good at it. Both my brothers and my dad were always leaps and bounds ahead of me and I found it very discouraging. But time and again, I found myself going back and I didn't know why. If I ended up disappointed at every competition, why did I keep going?
Kyudo is the complete opposite of Western archery in many ways. One of these is that the emphasis isn't on hitting on the target so much as the shooting process and proper form. Without the pressures of racking up points and "winning", I finally realized: enjoyment doesn't have anything to do with how good you are. When it came to archery, I wanted to be better than my brothers and I wanted to win and those expectations marred my experience. When it comes to kyudo, I just enjoy doing it.
Again, this has a lot to do with role models. Part of the reason I stayed in archery was because my instructors and family were very supportive and encouraging, but they also shared my goals and mindset. My kyudo instructor told me from the get-go that hitting the target isn't important and that even the highest-ranking archers can't always do it perfectly. Every time I retrieve my arrows from around the target, I'm reminded of a Japanese saying, 猿でも木から落ちる, or "Even monkeys fall from trees."
Too many children find themselves doing sports they don't like or spending more time on it than they would like. Coaches weed out the "weak links" and leave them on the sidelines. Overzealous parents force there children into sports and then get frustrated when they show no motivation or aptitude. When their team doesn't win, they're made to feel like failures. In this environment, exercise becomes something difficult, frustrating, and not enjoyable.
There are so many things that I know now that shouldn't have taken me so many years to figure out on my own.
What Do We Get Out of Sports?
I never would have started kendo were it not for my husband. I attended his first kendo class purely as a translator, but then the instructor walked out of the storage room with two shinai and handed one to each of us. Since my prevailing philosophy as a foreignor in Japan is "go with the flow", I gave it a try. Then I came to the next lesson. And then the next one.
Whenever I watch kendo practice, I marvel at how fast and fluid they are. They almost fly across the floor and each strike is fast and precise. As I watched, I felt more and more that I wanted to be able to move like that. I wanted to be that graceful, strong, and fast.
I'm not gonna lie: it wasn't all fun and games at first (I read in an article somewhere that said, "If you're enjoying kendo, you're not doing it right"). One thing I didn't notice before was how aerobic the sport is and I could barely get through the warm-up at first. I hated how hard my heart pounded and how my calf muscles hurt. But I knew that it would get better and I now had a better reason to fight through the beginning excrutiating struggle. Every time I saw my fellow kendoshi fly across the dojo I saw my reason for continuing.
Before, I could barely walk up the stairs at school without my heart pounding. Now it takes an hour at practice to do that. Before, I looked in the mirror and saw room for improvement, now I see power and muscle hiding under all that cellulose. Although I can't really say I see huge physical changes, I still somehow feel and look "better". People have tried to tell me what self-esteem is and that I should have more of it, but it took more than words for me to fully understand.
You will be surprised how much momentum you can build once you start exercising regularly. A body at rest wants to stay at rest and a body in motion wants to stay in motion. If I'm at my desk with nothing to do all day, I'll start to feel terrible unless I get up and move. Before, I couldn't get myself to exercise. Now, I can't seem to get enough. Instead of going home and collapsing into my bed after practice, I want to hit the gym instead.
Something for Everyone
People who look down on "gamers" really bug me. Everyone plays games. The only difference is what kinds of games and how much we play them. When I was little, my family used to play all sorts of board games. I loved them. I grew up playing Halo with my twin brother. The growing popularity of murder mystery games amuses me to no end since it's basically Dungeons and Dragons with a different setting and no dice. With so many different ways to play out there, I sincerely think that we are all gamers at heart and there is a game for everyone to enjoy. If you don't believe me, watch Will Wheaton's show Tabletop and tell me there isn't something in there you want to try.
In the end, games are all about make-believe no matter what medium you do it through and sports are no different. For a period of time, like-minded individuals come together to pretend that how we throw a ball around a field to reach a certain goal matters. In the end, it really doesn't. The value we put in sports besides the physical is like the value we put in money- socially constructed and meaningless in reality. A dollar bill isn't worth anything unless enough people agree that it's worth one dollar and throwing a ball around doesn't really have any value until enough people think it's interesting enough to charge money for and invest in.
With so many different options available, there has to be a sport for everyone out there.
"Sports" vs. "Martial Arts"
As I mentioned above, the problem with sports in high school and college is that the barrier to entry is pretty high. Even if you make the team, there's a chance you'll be warming the bench almost every game. This makes overweight people lacking the ideal "athletic" body extremely discouraged from joining a mainstream sport at all.
This is why I'm an archer and martial artist. These haven't fallen victim to the institutionalization and commercialization of mainstream sports (even if movies still tend to perpetuate the image that fencing is a sport for uppity rich people. Believe me, it's not!). Anyone can join, your skill level doesn't matter, and the emphasis is on your own self-improvement instead of whether you can "make the team". There can be financial hurdles, but most martial arts clubs allow students to borrow equipment until they can afford their own. Students progress at their own pace and often have more personal attention from trainers since clubs tend to be smaller.
And the rest of world's beginning to notice. The Stoughton Archery club went nuts when The Hunger Games came out and now Arrow is causing huge waves.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger
Since coming to Japan, I feel like I've found my niche in the physical activity world. I'm starting to drop pounds and I respect my body so much more than before. I've found ways to be active that are both enjoyable and continually motivating with instructors that are patient and welcoming. I feel so lucky to have found this great environment to start my wellness journey and I sincerely think we should fight to make something similar available to everyone.
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