Koyo in Japan

Studying Japanese among the fall leaves.

I’m writing to you on a slow moving Sunday morning here in my town of Yao. Yao is the bedroom community I live and work in, about 45 minutes outside of downtown Osaka. I am getting more used to living in Yao, near my station there are some cute restaurants, bakeries and shops that I can check out and explore. Last weekend I went to a cute laundromat/coffee shop near me and ordered an oat milk coffee jelly latte, such a hip drink for a commuter town. Oat milk was the spark of our conversation and I was able to talk to the barista, in Japanese!! We bonded over our shared dislike of cow’s milk. I asked her (in Japanese) where I could buy that oat milk (at least I think I did….?) and this led into a little conversation. It was an exciting small win for me.

I have been studying Japanese a lot. It’s so different than English that it’s incomparable. The best piece of advice I got for learning Japanese was to not even think about it as English. So many things just don’t translate or you say completely differently. It can be exhausting to live in Japanese all day and still not understand how to say basic sentences. Everyday I try my best….I “ganbaru” everyday.

Ganbaru is a very very common word in Japanese that sort of translates to “try your best” or “fight!” or “don’t give up!" I think of it as something very culturally Japanese…the concept of working really hard and never giving up. Often you will hear “Ganbatte!” said to people so they keep working on something or keep trying. Sometimes I want to give up but I keep “ganbaru”-ing.

A lot of people at my school don’t speak English. I would say most. This is part of what lights the fire for me to study Japanese. It can be so isolating to not be able to speak with my coworkers. Some people speak a bit of English, but not enough to carry much of a conversation.

I decided to make calendars for my coworkers as a new years gift and a sort of “olive branch"“/sorry I don’t speak Japanese gift. There are some people at my school that I have barely (if ever) spoken to. I’m hoping the calendar might break the ice. The calendar has a monthly flower (or fruit) for what is blossoming in Japan. I spent a lot of time drawing it. Check it out!

Here is a digital download of the calendar. You are welcome to print this calendar for yourself. It’s tabloid size (11 by 17 inches). If you enjoy the calendar and feel inclined, I am accepted donations for the cost of printing the calendars for my coworkers. My Venmo is erikamazzasmith (no pressure! it just helps me a bit!)

I also made a little video about how I printed the calendars at my local 7/11. You can see the video on my instagram here.

As you might have guessed from my calendar, I love the nature and plants of Japan. I’m enjoying the fall leaves (koyo) of Japan. My hometown of Seattle has a lot of Japanese plants such as Japanese maples and Gingko, but I still find so much delight in seeing them here. My bike ride to work has a lot of Gingko along the way and I love it! Yesterday I went to Osaka Castle to enjoy the Koyo and the extremely mild fall weather.

Osaka Castle among the Gingko

Me in the Japanese Maples…I loveeee Japanese Maples….even though they remind of the short stint I did for two months working as a landscaper in Seattle and the seemingly endless amount of maple leaves I had to rake.

Sayonara! See you!

Erika