Give it To Me Straight

If it's one thing that I kind of know about Japanese people from the "Gaijin" perspective, it is that they are rather vague in their responses, ESPECIALLY when it come to business of one sort or another. I get a sense that they are vague - some are direct (like my language exchange partner, she is such a sweetheart) but I was always told that the language is designed to give hints and you need to draw the rest of the response from what they have said. According to a documentary on my "Animatrix" dvd, one of the Japanese filmakers stated that "Japanese is a language of subtraction."

That irks me - a bit. I have to learn patience when I go to Japan; turns out I need to learn the skill of addition as well, in a linguistics sense.

Which brings me to my point. I sent the Japanese Consulate in NYC a somewhat-panicky email concerning accomodation and who pays for it, nit-picky detials for my visa and about my stipend - which seemed to me that if I travel out of the country and don't check in at the school's office at the beginning and the end of the month, I don't get my stipend?

Huh? This means I can't go back home for a long stay in summer 2007, and that I would only have two weeks to find my wedding dress. Bah humbug! One remedy is to start looking this summer to get a basic idea of what works. Another idea was to go to the Isetan in Shinjuku (thought this means a trip to Tokyo but that's fine by me!) and try on dresses there - if they fit me, that is.

Back to vagueness.

The Consulate answered my visa questions pretty straightfoward - those were easy questions. The other ones irked me:
"1) Accommodation - I am afraid we don't have any information concerning your accommodations in Japan because each school has different policy. Please contact your school.

2) Enrollment - I know it is confusing.. basically, it is just to make sure that you go to school and utilize the opportunity. If your school finds you don't study hard, they have to report to the Ministry of Education. So don't worry about this, you will receive stipend regularly."

So what then - I CAN travel out of the country for like two months during summer holidays and still get my stipend? In retrospect, the Fulbright can cover my accomodation, provided that I do both. Haven't heard anything from Prestigious Fellowships, they were in meetings all day today. Bah. This is killing me, I realy want to know if I can do both and now I have to wait till MONDAY.

I need details! Just tell me straight!

Hmm, I am really wound-up. Let's hope going to Kyoto will slow me down a bit.