My Japanese School Uniform (Nanchatte Seifuku)

Hello!! Long time no see!
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I received a lot of emails from people asking about the Japanese school uniforms and my uniform. I was really looking forward to school uniforms too since they are known to be very flattering (at least in animes). To my big surprise, my host school didn't have a uniform... What a shock!!
A lot of girls at my school wear "Nannchatte Seifuku(なんちゃって制服)" which are "fake" school uniforms that are more fashionable and cute. This allows them to mix and match with the colours they liked and the styles that please them. Some brands that sell this kind of clothes are East Boy, Don Quijote and Body Line, the first one being more expensive than the second one. Some stores are located in shopping malls (like East Boy is in Isetan) or places where young people shop at (Shibuya, Harajuku, Akihabara, etc.).
Some people might find these clothes very expensive (a skirt at East Boy could be around 100$ while a blazer could be over 250$), if you thought about it they are expensive but most girls will wear the clothes during most days in their 3 years of high school. The girls usually have multiple pieces of clothing to mix and match and of course allow their clothes to be washed. I have three skirts, a couple of dress shirts and couple of cardigans. I personally prefer this outfit because it's simple and allow me to wear accessories if I wanted to, without being over decorated like a Xmas tree. Most girls at my school had mainly pink coloured items (pink skirt, pink dress shirt, pink cardigan, etc.) I prefer the boyish look so I usually wear a tie. I never knew how to tie a tie so I always had to ask my host dad to do it for me, when I'm in a hurry, I just wear a ribbon which is much easier to wear (just put it around your neck and you're done!)

The sailor uniform I have is more of a cosplay kind of nature but it still looks pretty legit! I love it because it's easy to wear and can be worn with a lot of cardigans with different colours. 

The next ones are two other skirts that I own, just to switch it up a bit from time to time! All the Japanese skirts end up a bit shorter on me because of my height :(

I also pair these two outfits with ribbons on days I don't have time to tie a tie! 

Excuse the quality of these pictures, I don't know what the matter with my camera is -.-

I hope you enjoyed the video and this post, don't hesitate by any means to contact me!! :D

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Tumblr: superasianminnie

Youtube: Manou Liu

I also got instagram! follow me at migoko2

Back home in Canada! Thank you to everyone...

As the title suggests, I'm back in Canada! My exchange trip has officially ended on January 11th which is of course very very sad.

I would love to thank Greenheart Travel (CCI), the company I went through from North America to make this awesome experience happen for me! The staffs are really nice and easy going. And of course, the Japanese group JFIE, who took care of me during five months, from my arrival to Narita airport in August to the moment when I walked into the security section on five days ago. Thank you guys so much!!

Host Family

My host family, Nagashima family, is the best I can ask for. I love them! They were like my second family. At first, of course I felt really nervous because it's someone else's house and you know, it takes time to adapt. However, I soon realised how great they were after the first hour I spoke with my host mother. She's just such a sweet person with a big heart and she was funny so I loved talking to her! ^.^
My host father is very hard working so he's always away on business trips. Despite that, he still tries to deepen our family bond by taking me to different places.
Finally, my cute little host brother... He's just such a sweet heart! I fell in love with him at first sight, he's a bit short and a bit skinnier than other kids his age. When we first met, he was too timid to make eye contact with me so he kept on glancing at me every three seconds haha!
Writing about them still brings tears to my eyes even now. I miss them and I definitely hope I can see them again!

School

My host school is Kanagawa Sougou Sangyou High School (神奈川総合産業高校) or as most of us call it, LiSA. Everybody was so welcoming and I felt so lucky to be a student at this school. My classmates were so nice and funny people I feel lonely even on weekends from not seeing their smiles and hearing their jokes. They were ALL my best friends!! I could laugh with them, I could tease them and I could be myself with them. I can't be like this to everyone in Canada, even though it's my home. Everybody in the clubs I joined were amazing too. Some of them I just cannot forget because I had so much fun with them.
The teachers were all very kind too. They were very patient despite the fact that I brought a lot of trouble along with me. I had different teachers for almost every class but all of them were such wonderful people and they gave me the energy to try and understand everything in class. The teachers in the clubs I joined were so great! I love everybody at my school, no matter how they thought of me.

I'm not very good at expressing myself in these kinds of situations but I just want to say Thank you to everyone! I had a blast in Japan!!

Japanese

無事にカナダにつきましたー！！今回の留学は1月11日にて終了しました。

アメリカの団体Greenheart Travel CCIと日本の団体JFIEに感謝の気持ちを伝えたいです。お陰様で、こんなに素晴らしい体験が出来ました。本当にありがとうございました！！

ホストファミリーの長島家にもすごく感謝しています。本当の家族みたいに優しくしてくれてありがとうございました。最初はすごく緊張していましたが、お母さんと話してすぐこの家でよかったと思いました。お母さんは優しくて、寛大な心を持っています。一緒に話すのが大好きです。

お父さんはいつも仕事で忙しかったけど、それでも家族の絆を深めるために休日にいろんな所に連れていてくれるのです。

あとはかわいい弟です！出会った瞬間に一目惚れしちゃいました(笑)。同い年の子よりちょっと背が小さくて細い子です。初めてあった時はアイコンタクトするのが恥ずかしかったので、私のことをちらちら見っていました。

今でも長島家を思い出すとすごく寂しい気持ちになります。

五ヶ月間こんな面倒くさい私を受け入れてくれてありがとうございました！

最後は神奈川総合産業高校（LiSA）のみんなにありがとうございました！

みんなが親切にしてくれたから、すぐ仲良くなれました。クラスのみんなが大好きで、週末でも寂しくなるくらいだったです(笑)。一緒に笑って、ふざけて、そして私が一方的にケンカを売ることが全部素敵な思い出になります。部活のみんなもとても熱心で、最高の5ヶ月間でした。

先生たちも良い人ばかりで、たくさんお迷惑かけまして申し訳ないです。

これからもどんな未来が待ってっているとしても、みんなとLiSAのことを忘れません！

LiSAのみんなが大好きです！！また会いたいです！

私はこういう感情を表現するのがあまり得意じゃないですけど、ただありがとうって言いたいだけです。

ありがとうございました！

I still have some posts that I'm working on about my experience so this won't exactly be the last post about Japan but once those posts are up, I don't know what to do with this blog but I WILL keep this going!! 

If you want to contact me for anything please comment here or

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Tumblr: superasianminnie

Youtube: Manou Liu

Bunkasai School Festival Part 1 (my class)

Today was the last day of my school's Bunkasai (文化祭)!! It's a school festival where all the classes and clubs come up with an activity to sell and present to the public for two days. My class was a Japanese themed restaurant (namedおいでやす一の二) selling wrap sticks (tortillas with meat sauce, corn and tuna in them) and a club I joined was called MES Club, which is for exchange students and international learning, is selling fries as "MesDonald's". It was extremely fun and useful because it really helped me to know everybody in my class and connect with them.

Our class's leader for Bunkasai (and my Prince of Tennis buddy)

Our class's black board was so pretty!!

Classmates preparing for opening to customers

Our delicious wraps!

Class mascot Wrap-kun!! (ラップくん)

We got costumers in!!

School hallway

Our class T-shirt with everybody's names on them

Class picture

We had some problems like not enough materials to make it until the end of the day or a lack of people for the different shifts but overall it went well and I'm so proud of my class and club!

The time we had to prepare for the festival was two days which, trust me, is very busy and still not enough time. My school is rather new so it has lots of new things going on.
There's a leader kind of person in each class who decides everybody's shifts and the amount of money we spend on each thing. I was first put in the cooking team but since I had to leave for my shift at MESDonald's I was transferred to the commercial team. Basically, I just walk around the school or stand in front of our class and tell people what we are selling and try to get the most customers into our restaurant as possible. I personally think this is the best shift for me because I surprisingly have a loud voice!

If you want to contact me for anything please comment here or

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Tumblr: superasianminnie

Youtube: Manou Liu

Host Family!!

After 2 days of orientation provided kindly by the program, I finally arrived at my host family's house! The orientation was very fun while being extremely helpful. It teaches the students how to survive in Japan including how to ride a train and how to buy food! I got to know a lot of new people from around the world such as Finland, Australia, America, France, etc. This is such a great way to meet people, I'm glad I came! 

My host family is the Nagashima family from Kanagawa Prefecture. They are so kind I even got surprised! My host mom is a very youthful and energetic person with a great sense of humor. My host dad is funny and very friendly even though he's very busy everyday. Last but not least, my little host brother, he's the cutest kid I've met in Japan! He looks like a half child since he has light brown hair and big eyes. He's very energetic and has a great personality, I'm sure he's going to be really popular when he gets older. This family is just... So cool and awesome! They're way more than I can ask for. I feel like I'm going to have a lot of fun with them. Their house is very pretty and clean too! The grandma who lives across the street is very kind and friendly too, always giving us vegetable from her garden. This is so helpful for Japanese people because fruit and vegetable are very very expensive in Japan! 

We ate sukiyaki today and had our own little Hanabi festival (firework)! It was very fun. 

Sukiyaki

My host brother. 

If you want to contact me for anything please comment here or

Email: liumanou@gmail.com

Tumblr: superasianminnie

Youtube: Manou Liu

Before the exchange trip to Japan (my thoughts)

Hey guys!

I'm Manou, a 16 year old girl from Canada. I will be going to Kanagawa, Japan as an exchange student. I will be going into a high school there for five months. As you can probably guess, I am very excited while being anxious as well. It is a once in a life time experience that many don't have the chance to obtain!

With this intriguing trip before my eyes, I am still very worried about my soon to come adventure. I grew up in Canada, French and English being my first languages, eating crepes with maple syrup and enjoying over 30 cm of snow in winter. I didn't realize until recently how hard it would be to leave my house and home country for such an extended period of time. It is very hard to leave my home which contains all my treasures and junks. My family and friends are also a major factor to my anxiousness. With my schedule, I won't be able to spend Christmas, New Year, and most importantly, my mother's birthday with them. Only thinking about those times would make me feel painful. Some of my friends would be leaving when I come back as well; some are graduating high school while others are leaving the country. I have noticed, ever since graduating elementary school, that once you are not in the same place as someone any more, there is only distance that keeps on growing that's left. In my host school in Japan, I will not know anybody and I would have to find my way through the halls, which let me tell you, isn't my strongest point! Now, worries such as "What if they hate me?" "What if I have to spend lunch alone?" "What if I have bad relations with my host family?" "What if I don't understand the language or the culture?" start settling in.

Then, there's the worry of getting bad grades or simply not understanding anything in class (except English class maybe). The company I am with requires the students to obtain a minimum grade of C- (which in the Canadian standard is a 50) and that kind of worries me about the fundamental classes such as Japanese class and Math. I know that Japanese classes will have kanji tests which to be honest, I prefer not to talk about it, and in Math, not meaning to be racist in any way, is much harder than the North American standard.

Considering all of these 'problems', I can only tell myself that "All this is just imagination! You haven't been in a Japanese school before, you won't know until you get there!"

"You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead."

-Gandalf the Grey (The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey)

Finally, thank you so much to even have clicked on this blog!

If you have any questions, advice or other things, please don't hesitate to contact me (I don't bite!) at

liumanou@gmail.com

I will have a Tumblr account soon that I will try to update too!
Don't forget to comment and share!!

Manou :D