Japan Society — Attraction in New York

At night, I dream of Japan. I dream of her bridges and her roads and her anime. I dream of her cherry blossoms and her mountain hot springs and her instant ramen. I dream of her samurai and her sushi and her bullet trains. When I dream of Japan, I awaken with a heavy feeling in my heart. Doctors tell me it is heart disease brought on by excessive eating. Deep down, I know that the true cause is the pain I feel being away from my honorary homeland.

In life, I have had many loves, none of them were women. How could a human woman ever compare to the treasures that Japan offers me? Sometimes, as I make a sandwich for the next customer at Subway, I slip into a wandering hallucination where I am but a humble lantern fly. Through the humid night air I float as fireworks go off high above me. I wander through the festival and look at all the happy faces and imagine myself among them.

It is around this point that I notice I've cut my thumb and blood is spraying heavily across the sandwich. I do not linger on this memory and I pay no mind to the customer crying and asking if they should call an ambulance. A hospital is the last place I want to spend the night and the medical bills would hinder me from eventually being able to afford a week long vacation in Japan.

For now, Japan Society is the closest I can get to the magical land across the sea. Sure, I overwhelm the people who work their with my raw passion for the culture but deep down they know it comes from a place of respect and love. I have been trying my best to learn Japanese so I might one day assure myself a beautiful Japanese wife but my tongue still struggles with the syllables and my brain struggles with the words. Thankfully, I have developed a method by which to still swoon a Japanese woman without knowledge of her native language. I have started to learn haiku poetry. Behold.

My kimono sweats Lavender oils mask my stench Grace becomes my smell

See? Even this gaijin can write a beautiful poem. Well, I have labored over this text long enough, it is now time for me to retire to the basement of my mother's soon to be foreclosed home. I will be enjoying a glass of oolong tea and I hope you do the same my fellow...

I have been there many times taking different classes and learning new things. They have great professors and they are easy to understand. The only thing I rate 4 stars instead of 5 is for the following reasons. Some of the programs like the performing arts are sort of expensive and sometimes the content is not what you were expecting. Some people fell asleep during the shows.

The classes are expensive and some teachers will speed up and talk too fast! I lost interest after they kept raising their prices for the classes.

Also, I took some Shodo classes around a few years ago, but haven’t gone back there to take them again after having a bad experience with one of the teachers at that time. She was nice but she will only serve desserts to Japanese people and not foreigners which makes us feel weird. I felt like they treated Japanese people differently from people who weren't Japanese. That is how I felt in the shodo class.

Times have passed so hopefully, everything has changed for good! Just take a class and see how...

Absolutely loved this place. The attending staff were so gracious. I didn’t have a mask on hand and they found one for myself and my friend. At my visit they requieres masks and proof of vaccination. Indoors they ambience was very mellow and serene. They have a small waterfall that I could just stare at all day. Their architecture works well and I feel I’m not in NYC when I’m here. I visited to see an exhibition by kazuko miyamoto, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The exhibition was broken into 3 small rooms but I felt completely enthralled and submerged into it. I spent about an hour here. The bathrooms were one of the most cleanest in the city. They were heated and had a bidet option which as a traveler I...