Yoo!
So ya, I know it, you know it, so lets just move past this awkward moment of not having seen each other for a while.
Tons has happened, I don't even know where to start. I hope you don't mind if it's long.
Work! I took on a new job at Mitsubishi in December. I only have 3 students there, and comparatively (to my other students) their English is incredible. I had this whole lesson plan prepared, exercises, pronunciation, topics, questions, debates, everything, and I didn't use any of it. I walked in and was greeted by a very intelligent 26 year old Mitsubishi employee who had a sea of interesting questions and opinions that made my 40 minutes with him absolutely fly by. The other two students, though not as talented, were equally good company, and it has continued this way as I get to know them more and more. My class at Nissan came to an end in early December. My perfectly scheduled 18th chapter on the 18th class gave me just enough time to finish the next 6 chapters on the 19th class before their final test. Pacing, it seems, is a foreign concept to me. Either way the class was a blast, and even though I was allowed to leave early, I stayed in the class during the exam and observed as over 80% of them passed. I had really started to connect with the students as well, so when they asked me to teach the same class in January, of course, I accepted. My 3rd class continues on as per usual, but I made a really interesting observation just last week. While they may not be very strong at keeping a conversation in real time, we did an exercise of hypothetical situations where they had time to prepare an answer, and I was taken aback at how well thought out their answers were. It was as much of a learning experience for me as it was for them. I'm only here for another 5 months but I hope I can teach right up until the end.
As far as life outside of work, well shit, I've been busy. As most of you know, Simon moved back to Toronto in early December, but he will always have a place here at the borderless house. Seriously, if they didn't come to the house, 2 Canadian flags would still symbolize my room's inhabitants on the borderless house website. They were... surprised to see me living on my own haha. But now that the secrets out I might be getting a new roommate. This could be the only situation where being a beloved Canadian could backfire, people are gunna be lining up, ... maybe?
Speaking of the borderless house, since my last blog I have since lost 1 male housemate and gained 2 female ones, and with each major event there is, of course, a party to celebrate. The first of a series of parties was a Christmas party hosted by our neighbors and borderless house rivals, kikukawa1, (my house is kikukawa2), so as you can imagine, the competition was fierce. What competition? Kikukawa1's Jake had prepared several tournaments to put each house's athletic ability, fashion sense, and even gaming knowledge to the test, and eventually, kikukawa2 left with their tails between their legs. The night was filled with lots of Christmas spirit and good times. Charlie Brown would be very proud, particularly of our custom designed 1 foot Christmas tree (I hope I can find a picture).
Christmas approached very quickly, and once again, Kikukawa2 came together for a spectacular Christmas miracle! ... of various dishes from the local super market. We watched love actually and ate potato wedges and of course, got wasted. 3 days later a bit of a party lull was growing so Rina-chan invited 2 of her work friends over for a takoyaki (deep fried balls with octopus) party, which also happens to be one of my favourite foods here in Japan. After a few drinks the takoyaki party had expanded into more of a "whatever you want"-yaki party, and Rina-chan lost in a particularly hilarious fashion to a game of Russian roulette, featuring wasabi-yaki.
Just a few days to New Years and I was particularly excited about some plans I had made with a student of mine to go golfing in Chiba on New Years Eve. 5am rolls around and I make my way to kikukawa station with Andrew's clubs (can't thank you enough by the way), and I receive a call from my student and friend Eiji-san, and although I commend his efforts for speaking English at first, after about 10 seconds we just started speaking Japanese and I met him shortly thereafter. It was about a 2 hour drive to the club, and at first I was really nervous for obvious reasons, but after about 10 minutes in the car my Japanese just started flowing. I can't explain it, but on that day I think I started actually speaking Japanese. We talked about city driving, country driving, music, food, golf, learning english, learning japanese, it didn't stop, and before I knew it I was in the midst of a beautiful mountain range golf club. We dropped off our bags and went inside, where I made my bets for the fanstasy draft and went to the practice range. Eiji-san introduced me to all his friends, and it was such an incredible experience. Meeting new people, have them be in awe at me speaking any Japanese. At one point I remember us all gathering around for group introductions. When it came time for me to speak I was so nervous I was practically whispering. But at that moment, every man in the grouped shuffled in closer to hear what I had to say. It's an experience I can't really describe, and when I finished getting through my rather impromptu introduction they all applauded and smiled and I felt right at home. After that it was all smooth sailing. Having grown up on golf courses, the whole thing was very natural for me. Some of the more humourous parts of my game were learning that "tempura" is used like how we use "sky ball", since when tempura is finished it floats to the top of the oil, or how they shorten the english words "Driving Contest" to "Dri Con", which I misheard and comically mis-referenced as "Dragon". Since it was a country club, it was fully equipped with an incredible kitchen and spa, which I made full use of after the round. The food was excellent, but perhaps the most memorable experience was using the onsen, or public bathing house. After shimmying down and washing up at a little stool, I stepped into an insanely hot tub with my fellow golfing mates, where we chatted about the round and relaxed in the hot water. I've never felt quite as rejuvenated as I did in that moment, and I really look forward to my next onsen visit.
I spent New Years Day at Andrew's house, where his mom cooked us authentic Japanese cuisine, and afterwards I attempted to thank her for the delicious meal, but instead changed an "i" to a "u" and told her that I'm sorry for her loss. What can I say, Japanese is hard.
Since my last blog there have been quite a few arrivals and departures. The arrivals include Dianna and Julia of Portugal and Russia respectively to the Kikukawa2 house, and Alvaro of Spain has moved to a different house here in Tokyo. Also Andrew flew to Australia just 5 days ago to pursue his programming dreams. He will be missed, but I know I'll see him again.
That's it for now, also for those of you who did the math, I am now the only guy in Kikukawa2, living with 4 girls. That is all!
Ganbarimasu!
がんばります！
Friday, January 31, 2014
Sunday, November 24, 2013
First Paycheck...
I'm such a liar. I promised you guys I would post again in a week, and here we are, ... almost a month later, and so much has happened!
First I'll touch on work, since it's actually been progressing really well lately. I'm really starting to connect with my students. When I think about what I'm actually doing, it scares the hell out of me. In theory, a guy; with absolutely no knowledge of the Japanese language, goes into a room of 20 older, much more experienced men; who speak absolutely no English, and these two parties are expected to communicate effectively for 2 hours. At first, almost all of that was true. When I arrived 3 months ago, I barely had any working knowledge of the Japanese language. Furthermore, a vast majority of my students were having their first (official) brush with the English language. And it was, well, frustrating. Things have completely changed. I show up, and from the warm greetings to the confident question asking to the involved lessons, 2 hours just isn't enough anymore. During the breaks, and even after class (when I am "allowed" to speak Japanese with them) many of the students approach me and ask me personal questions, sometimes, even in English! I can remember all of their names now, and a few of them are even reaching out to me. One of the students from my afternoon class asked me if I have ever tried Shochu, a type of Japanese alcohol. When I said I hadn't, he immediately offered to buy me a bottle, to which I graciously accepted. Another student of mine (a personal favorite, if I might add), invited me to go golfing with him in Chiba after the classes and work term are over for the year. I'm actually really excited to golf here in Japan. I'll be using a loner set of clubs (THANKS ANDREW!) and the weather will be cold as hell, but I know it will be an incredible experience.
Outside of work I've been trying to fulfill my quota of new experiences by, as Andrew refers to it, turning it up! This weekend was the Kikukawa2 Borderless house's very own Alvaro's birthday, and the bottom floor bad boys (name pending) a.k.a Simon and me were invited to celebrate at Gyu-kaku. 7 strong, we marched through the familiar Kikukawa area to the conveniently close all-you-can-eat-and-drink cook-it-yourself bbq meat establishment, though I prefer Gyu-kaku, ... the Japanese really have a way with words. The night was spent eating many different kinds of meat, including several different parts of animals I'd care not to mention. The drinks and conversation were flowing, and with the addition of a few Spanish friends of Alvaro's, a third language was added to the mix. A most entertaining night which continued late into the morning in the Borderless house's kitchen. Before checking out, I decided, like everyone else in their drunken state, to check facebook. An invitation was awaiting my impaired judgement, and without much thought and overly swayed by Andrew's favorite catchphrase, I accepted the 9 o'clock meet up for the following day. This was not in the p.m., and if not for my overly dedicated late night gaming habits, I might have missed the confirmation about the date and time of said meet up. Shinjuku station, 9a.m. After reading this message I had a decision to make. Go to sleep and wake up at 3p.m with a massive hangover, or stay up for another 3 hours and leave for Shinjuku. After some zero-risk convincing from Simon and Andrew, and regret from doing something similar last month, I decided NOT to cancel on the early morning/super late night meet up, and simply played a few more games of League of Legends before departing for round 2. I met with a pair of international chinese students, who, by the state of their energy levels, did not go out partying and most certainly did not stay up all night. I had no idea what was in store for me for the day, but let me just say I'm lucky I packed my hiking shoes.
Because we went hiking...
I probably should have confirmed the days agenda before agreeing to hungover, sleep-deprived mountain climbing. But hey, it's nothing a few dozen red bulls can't solve, right? And that was my last complaint for the day. The train ride was absolutely incredible. We slowly transitioned from the industrialized, densely populated city of Shinjuku to the rolling mountains of central Tokyo. At one point along the trip we passed Mt. Fuji, which for those of you who don't know, is an iconic Japanese mountain with a beautiful frosted tip. Even from the window of the train it was a beautiful sight. But our destination lied further. Shortly after our encounter with Fuji-san, we arrived at the base of Mount Takao, a tourist spot flawlessly woven in with nature (many pictures to follow). Every turn in our path could spark inspiration for an aspiring nature artist. Even the city at the base of the mountain boasted elegance and authenticity with its old, Japanese style buildings and colorful greenery. The foliage drew many tourists and locals alike to the mountain, but it did not take away from the beauty or the experience. I could go on about all sites of Mount Takao, but I think the pictures will do a better job of detailing the canvas, so be sure to check them out!
While my trip to the mountains was the peak of my weekend (pun definitely intended), it certainly wasn't the end. After saying goodbye in my broken cantonese (people are always so impressed if you know even a little bit of their native lanuage), I went to Andrew's place in Roppongi. I was absolutely exhausted, so after hearing about my 48hours of turning it up, he wasn't too upset about me crashing relatively early. The next day we went out for katsu-don, a.k.a Denny's that doesn't serve katsu-don. So I ordered the recommended japanese-style hamburger, which is just mislabeled, but still delicious meat loaf and a tasty dessert as a thank you to my body for coming out of the last 2 days functional. We then had a few hours to kill before our next engagement, so we hit up an arcade in Shibuya, and I got a long, over due haircut (don't worry, it was at a seperate establishment). We then went to meet up with an old friend of Andrew's over some shisha, a type of harmless, flavoured smoke that stems from India, but is now enjoyed world-wide as a pass-time in special bars. For just 10$, Andrew, Grace and I wasted the next 3 hours talking, smoking and drinking chai tea. I'm really happy I overcame my irrational fear of talking to hairstylists, because after correcting my order, I recieved several compliments on the new me (yes, my hair was THAT long). I was even approached by a recruiting agency on my way back to the Borderless house. After a quick exchange of information in Japanese (which is getting a lot better now!), you may be seeing this Canadian blogger appear in some form of poster or magazine or something (hey, my Japanese isn't THAT good).
On the learning Japanese front, I'm starting to understand just what it takes to speak a foreign language. I know a lot of words, and I know how the grammar works, but getting out there and speaking it is a whole new 野球 game. It's also really hard to track progress, since my end goal is to become fluent, and anything less than that is still "learning". But I think I'm learning a lot more than I can keep track of, and it wouldn't be possible if I weren't in Japan. For example, last week a student asked me a question in Japanese, and I knew every part of the question except for 1 word, "donogurai". So when I translated the question in my head, it became "donogurai lived in Japan?". After clarifying that it meant "how long" with a clever drawing (I'm getting damn good at drawing btw), I answered with confidence. On that very weekend I was with a group of Japanese-only gamers, who at one point interpretively asked me "donogurai studied Japanese", to which I immediately responded without hesitation. And finally in my exchange of information with the recruiting agency, I used the word "donogurai" to ask about the hours. So there you have it. Without any studying I had completely learned to recognize and utilize this new word. Obviously this isn't the only word I've learned this way and it's not the only way to learn, but I do think it is the best method for complete absorption, because not only did I not resort to English, but I didn't even need to study.
And that concludes the blog for the day. As a final parting gift I will include the fruits of my hiking labor, nature pictures! (click them to make 'em bigger) Also I get my first paycheck tomorrow!
がんばります！
First I'll touch on work, since it's actually been progressing really well lately. I'm really starting to connect with my students. When I think about what I'm actually doing, it scares the hell out of me. In theory, a guy; with absolutely no knowledge of the Japanese language, goes into a room of 20 older, much more experienced men; who speak absolutely no English, and these two parties are expected to communicate effectively for 2 hours. At first, almost all of that was true. When I arrived 3 months ago, I barely had any working knowledge of the Japanese language. Furthermore, a vast majority of my students were having their first (official) brush with the English language. And it was, well, frustrating. Things have completely changed. I show up, and from the warm greetings to the confident question asking to the involved lessons, 2 hours just isn't enough anymore. During the breaks, and even after class (when I am "allowed" to speak Japanese with them) many of the students approach me and ask me personal questions, sometimes, even in English! I can remember all of their names now, and a few of them are even reaching out to me. One of the students from my afternoon class asked me if I have ever tried Shochu, a type of Japanese alcohol. When I said I hadn't, he immediately offered to buy me a bottle, to which I graciously accepted. Another student of mine (a personal favorite, if I might add), invited me to go golfing with him in Chiba after the classes and work term are over for the year. I'm actually really excited to golf here in Japan. I'll be using a loner set of clubs (THANKS ANDREW!) and the weather will be cold as hell, but I know it will be an incredible experience.
Outside of work I've been trying to fulfill my quota of new experiences by, as Andrew refers to it, turning it up! This weekend was the Kikukawa2 Borderless house's very own Alvaro's birthday, and the bottom floor bad boys (name pending) a.k.a Simon and me were invited to celebrate at Gyu-kaku. 7 strong, we marched through the familiar Kikukawa area to the conveniently close all-you-can-eat-and-drink cook-it-yourself bbq meat establishment, though I prefer Gyu-kaku, ... the Japanese really have a way with words. The night was spent eating many different kinds of meat, including several different parts of animals I'd care not to mention. The drinks and conversation were flowing, and with the addition of a few Spanish friends of Alvaro's, a third language was added to the mix. A most entertaining night which continued late into the morning in the Borderless house's kitchen. Before checking out, I decided, like everyone else in their drunken state, to check facebook. An invitation was awaiting my impaired judgement, and without much thought and overly swayed by Andrew's favorite catchphrase, I accepted the 9 o'clock meet up for the following day. This was not in the p.m., and if not for my overly dedicated late night gaming habits, I might have missed the confirmation about the date and time of said meet up. Shinjuku station, 9a.m. After reading this message I had a decision to make. Go to sleep and wake up at 3p.m with a massive hangover, or stay up for another 3 hours and leave for Shinjuku. After some zero-risk convincing from Simon and Andrew, and regret from doing something similar last month, I decided NOT to cancel on the early morning/super late night meet up, and simply played a few more games of League of Legends before departing for round 2. I met with a pair of international chinese students, who, by the state of their energy levels, did not go out partying and most certainly did not stay up all night. I had no idea what was in store for me for the day, but let me just say I'm lucky I packed my hiking shoes.
Because we went hiking...
I probably should have confirmed the days agenda before agreeing to hungover, sleep-deprived mountain climbing. But hey, it's nothing a few dozen red bulls can't solve, right? And that was my last complaint for the day. The train ride was absolutely incredible. We slowly transitioned from the industrialized, densely populated city of Shinjuku to the rolling mountains of central Tokyo. At one point along the trip we passed Mt. Fuji, which for those of you who don't know, is an iconic Japanese mountain with a beautiful frosted tip. Even from the window of the train it was a beautiful sight. But our destination lied further. Shortly after our encounter with Fuji-san, we arrived at the base of Mount Takao, a tourist spot flawlessly woven in with nature (many pictures to follow). Every turn in our path could spark inspiration for an aspiring nature artist. Even the city at the base of the mountain boasted elegance and authenticity with its old, Japanese style buildings and colorful greenery. The foliage drew many tourists and locals alike to the mountain, but it did not take away from the beauty or the experience. I could go on about all sites of Mount Takao, but I think the pictures will do a better job of detailing the canvas, so be sure to check them out!
While my trip to the mountains was the peak of my weekend (pun definitely intended), it certainly wasn't the end. After saying goodbye in my broken cantonese (people are always so impressed if you know even a little bit of their native lanuage), I went to Andrew's place in Roppongi. I was absolutely exhausted, so after hearing about my 48hours of turning it up, he wasn't too upset about me crashing relatively early. The next day we went out for katsu-don, a.k.a Denny's that doesn't serve katsu-don. So I ordered the recommended japanese-style hamburger, which is just mislabeled, but still delicious meat loaf and a tasty dessert as a thank you to my body for coming out of the last 2 days functional. We then had a few hours to kill before our next engagement, so we hit up an arcade in Shibuya, and I got a long, over due haircut (don't worry, it was at a seperate establishment). We then went to meet up with an old friend of Andrew's over some shisha, a type of harmless, flavoured smoke that stems from India, but is now enjoyed world-wide as a pass-time in special bars. For just 10$, Andrew, Grace and I wasted the next 3 hours talking, smoking and drinking chai tea. I'm really happy I overcame my irrational fear of talking to hairstylists, because after correcting my order, I recieved several compliments on the new me (yes, my hair was THAT long). I was even approached by a recruiting agency on my way back to the Borderless house. After a quick exchange of information in Japanese (which is getting a lot better now!), you may be seeing this Canadian blogger appear in some form of poster or magazine or something (hey, my Japanese isn't THAT good).
On the learning Japanese front, I'm starting to understand just what it takes to speak a foreign language. I know a lot of words, and I know how the grammar works, but getting out there and speaking it is a whole new 野球 game. It's also really hard to track progress, since my end goal is to become fluent, and anything less than that is still "learning". But I think I'm learning a lot more than I can keep track of, and it wouldn't be possible if I weren't in Japan. For example, last week a student asked me a question in Japanese, and I knew every part of the question except for 1 word, "donogurai". So when I translated the question in my head, it became "donogurai lived in Japan?". After clarifying that it meant "how long" with a clever drawing (I'm getting damn good at drawing btw), I answered with confidence. On that very weekend I was with a group of Japanese-only gamers, who at one point interpretively asked me "donogurai studied Japanese", to which I immediately responded without hesitation. And finally in my exchange of information with the recruiting agency, I used the word "donogurai" to ask about the hours. So there you have it. Without any studying I had completely learned to recognize and utilize this new word. Obviously this isn't the only word I've learned this way and it's not the only way to learn, but I do think it is the best method for complete absorption, because not only did I not resort to English, but I didn't even need to study.
And that concludes the blog for the day. As a final parting gift I will include the fruits of my hiking labor, nature pictures! (click them to make 'em bigger) Also I get my first paycheck tomorrow!
がんばります！
The mountain base city
fresh fish?
shrine1
the long trek!
first pit stop
the lone rose
half way shrine
dango daikazoku
the peak!
Sunday, October 20, 2013
So it's been a month...
みんな、ひさしぶり！ごめん。
Hey everyone, it's been a while... SORRY.
Where do I even begin. I really regret not doing this every week, because now, I have WAY too much to talk about.
For starters, the job.
I really like it. The students are awesome. On the first day (Friday, the 5th), I took a very complicated train route to the outer rim of Tokyo, where I met with a Linguage employee at the local train station. I only had a name, so for the first 10 minutes I just gave an awkward, approachable smile to every 30 something non Japanese man that happened to look my way. To my relief, there was just the one (not that many foreigners outside the city haha), a California-born, billingual English teacher who has been living in Japan for almost as long as I've been alive, so needless to say, I was excited to learn from this man. The learning, however, was short lived. After a 15 minute bus ride and a short walk through several waves of security clearance, I was left in the hands of one of my students, who's english, was, well, not as strong as the american national. And that was it. Time to entertain 6 business men who speak next to no English for the next 90 minutes. I was, ... a little nervous. I had somewhat prepared a vague lesson plan, but I really expected to get some direction from my linguage mentor. So the door closed and they all looked at me with eager eyes, and I started to teach. Simple stuff at first, what you would expect on the first day of a language class, but after a few minutes the nerves were gone, and I just started explaining things to them like I would anyone else, drawing and acting (maybe a little singing, who knows? ;))So that was it, the hour and a half flew by, and honestly it was all in thanks to my amazing students. Day 1 complete, time to celebrate.
That weekend I went out again, with Andrew and Simon, to experience the Tokyo nightlife. I'll start off by saying Andrew knows the everything and everyone in Tokyo, so we met in Roppongi, and went to a restaurant/bar around 10, where we instantly bypassed the line (it pays to know people XD), and sat down in the lounge after a few drinks at the bar. The food was, quite possibly, the best food I've ever had, EVEN better than the dish I had the previous weekend.
Let me take a short second to talk about Japanese food. Japanese people who travel abroad usually find foreign food to be very bland. And honestly its so true. In NA, we garnish our meats and smother everything with sauce until it becomes a flavour we like. It doesn't really matter what you order at a Canadian restaurant, you will always add something to it, and usually good food boils down to the sauce. BUT, in Japan, the biggest difference I've noticed is that every dish has its own unique flavour which doesn't require any additions after the meal has arrived, and I think it comes from how they prepare the meat. But it's really different from everything tasting like Heinz, or Franks, or whatever your sauce of choice is. Japanese food needs nothing but a good beer to go with it. And there was lots of that.
So after the amazing meal, Simon and his youthful ID went back to Kikukawa, and Andrew and I went to a massive club, with 5 levels, great music variety, and free drinks. Yes, free. Andrew has the hookups.
My next few days were spent recovering from my 9pm-7am drinking binge, as well as preparing for my other class that I had to teach, which is, again, on the outer rim of Tokyo, but in a completely different and much more industrial area. This class featured 20 Nissan employees split into 2 groups of 2 hour sessions, twice a week (that made sense, right?). So on Tuesday I once again suited up for another 5 transfer, 2 hour long transit, and found myself having about 3 times as many eyes waiting for me in a small classroom within the Nissan plant. Again, a great group of guys, some were friends, other were just friendly, some shy, some outspoken, and I learned really quick who I could rely on to help me demonstrate activities that I'd planned.
And that has pretty much been it. I just finished teaching my 3rd week of classes, and even had someone from HQ sit through one of them, and told me how great the lesson was (she even joined in on some of the activities), so it's a big confidence boost to know that I'm starting to get good at my job (because the first few classes had their hiccups haha).
I havn't been doing a whole lot of travelling, mostly to roppongi, or work, or more recently to a fellow gamer's house just outside Tokyo. The last 2 days I've actually spent around only Japanese speaking gamers, so I was forced to speak Japanese for a long while, and I actually learned a ton just in this short amount of time. When you have to express thought after thought in a foreign language, it becomes easy to start connecting ideas before translating them, so English sort of fades out. Eventually I got so good at what I knew (even if it was rudimentary), that I could do full explainations in Japanese and have them understand. If I stay the course, and maybe add some study time for Kanji, I think I can become pretty well versed in the language before the end of the year, and maybe apply to some other jobs. There has been talk between Andrew and me about using our free time to be a little more productive and work on some game design, so I'm thinking that will be a nice project for me kill all this time between classes and beer.
There you have it, updated at last! The next one will be within the week, I promise. Also I'm not sure what pictures I can include this time, since my Canadian phone has been surviving less and less on Japanese voltages. I'll see what I can dig up. Hopefully I can upload the picture of this famous restaurant the borderless house gang and I went to for our roommate Rina's birthday. Tarantino and Stallone ate where I ate, :D.
Ganbarimasu!
Hey everyone, it's been a while... SORRY.
Where do I even begin. I really regret not doing this every week, because now, I have WAY too much to talk about.
For starters, the job.
I really like it. The students are awesome. On the first day (Friday, the 5th), I took a very complicated train route to the outer rim of Tokyo, where I met with a Linguage employee at the local train station. I only had a name, so for the first 10 minutes I just gave an awkward, approachable smile to every 30 something non Japanese man that happened to look my way. To my relief, there was just the one (not that many foreigners outside the city haha), a California-born, billingual English teacher who has been living in Japan for almost as long as I've been alive, so needless to say, I was excited to learn from this man. The learning, however, was short lived. After a 15 minute bus ride and a short walk through several waves of security clearance, I was left in the hands of one of my students, who's english, was, well, not as strong as the american national. And that was it. Time to entertain 6 business men who speak next to no English for the next 90 minutes. I was, ... a little nervous. I had somewhat prepared a vague lesson plan, but I really expected to get some direction from my linguage mentor. So the door closed and they all looked at me with eager eyes, and I started to teach. Simple stuff at first, what you would expect on the first day of a language class, but after a few minutes the nerves were gone, and I just started explaining things to them like I would anyone else, drawing and acting (maybe a little singing, who knows? ;))So that was it, the hour and a half flew by, and honestly it was all in thanks to my amazing students. Day 1 complete, time to celebrate.
That weekend I went out again, with Andrew and Simon, to experience the Tokyo nightlife. I'll start off by saying Andrew knows the everything and everyone in Tokyo, so we met in Roppongi, and went to a restaurant/bar around 10, where we instantly bypassed the line (it pays to know people XD), and sat down in the lounge after a few drinks at the bar. The food was, quite possibly, the best food I've ever had, EVEN better than the dish I had the previous weekend.
Let me take a short second to talk about Japanese food. Japanese people who travel abroad usually find foreign food to be very bland. And honestly its so true. In NA, we garnish our meats and smother everything with sauce until it becomes a flavour we like. It doesn't really matter what you order at a Canadian restaurant, you will always add something to it, and usually good food boils down to the sauce. BUT, in Japan, the biggest difference I've noticed is that every dish has its own unique flavour which doesn't require any additions after the meal has arrived, and I think it comes from how they prepare the meat. But it's really different from everything tasting like Heinz, or Franks, or whatever your sauce of choice is. Japanese food needs nothing but a good beer to go with it. And there was lots of that.
So after the amazing meal, Simon and his youthful ID went back to Kikukawa, and Andrew and I went to a massive club, with 5 levels, great music variety, and free drinks. Yes, free. Andrew has the hookups.
My next few days were spent recovering from my 9pm-7am drinking binge, as well as preparing for my other class that I had to teach, which is, again, on the outer rim of Tokyo, but in a completely different and much more industrial area. This class featured 20 Nissan employees split into 2 groups of 2 hour sessions, twice a week (that made sense, right?). So on Tuesday I once again suited up for another 5 transfer, 2 hour long transit, and found myself having about 3 times as many eyes waiting for me in a small classroom within the Nissan plant. Again, a great group of guys, some were friends, other were just friendly, some shy, some outspoken, and I learned really quick who I could rely on to help me demonstrate activities that I'd planned.
And that has pretty much been it. I just finished teaching my 3rd week of classes, and even had someone from HQ sit through one of them, and told me how great the lesson was (she even joined in on some of the activities), so it's a big confidence boost to know that I'm starting to get good at my job (because the first few classes had their hiccups haha).
I havn't been doing a whole lot of travelling, mostly to roppongi, or work, or more recently to a fellow gamer's house just outside Tokyo. The last 2 days I've actually spent around only Japanese speaking gamers, so I was forced to speak Japanese for a long while, and I actually learned a ton just in this short amount of time. When you have to express thought after thought in a foreign language, it becomes easy to start connecting ideas before translating them, so English sort of fades out. Eventually I got so good at what I knew (even if it was rudimentary), that I could do full explainations in Japanese and have them understand. If I stay the course, and maybe add some study time for Kanji, I think I can become pretty well versed in the language before the end of the year, and maybe apply to some other jobs. There has been talk between Andrew and me about using our free time to be a little more productive and work on some game design, so I'm thinking that will be a nice project for me kill all this time between classes and beer.
There you have it, updated at last! The next one will be within the week, I promise. Also I'm not sure what pictures I can include this time, since my Canadian phone has been surviving less and less on Japanese voltages. I'll see what I can dig up. Hopefully I can upload the picture of this famous restaurant the borderless house gang and I went to for our roommate Rina's birthday. Tarantino and Stallone ate where I ate, :D.
Ganbarimasu!
The Chemistry of Beer
Dinner at Gonpachi
The amazing food
Displaying my amazing photography skills
Incredible cheesecake (I want this again)
Some bacardi frosty drink on the 4th floor of the club (FREE!)
A cool rotating Sushi shop just outside my office in Shinjuku (Outside)
Eeeeeeeel (Inside)
The main office for my friday class (inside)
I ate raw chicken (on the left) and didn't die from Salmonella poisening, and it was really good!
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
2 Weeks In
See bottom for lots of pics!
Once again, a LOT has happened in the past week. Where do I begin.
First and foremost, I GOT A JOB!
Starting October 1st, I will be teaching business English for the company Linguage, an unpredictable combination of the words "link" and "language" (yes, I guess linguistics too).
I had only applied to a couple jobs before I started getting emails back from the companies, and I set up an interview for Thursday with one of them. Their office is in Shinjuku, about 25 minutes by subway, and then a nice 10 minute walk through a very crowded downtown shopping district. I was about 15 minutes early for the interview but I was greeted as soon as I walked in by the supervisor of instruction, Tomas Fuji. His english ability was incredible and the fact that he was so nice and easy to talk to made the whole process easier. The interview was pretty straight forward. After the usual questions, I was given the chance to do a demo lesson, where I had 10 minutes to prepare a class for 2 beginners, and it was my goal to teach them the difference between words like "usually" and "sometimes" and so on. I was nervous and stumbled a few times but overall the lesson went great, and Mr. Fuji welcomed me to the team shortly there after. I was ecstatic.
I figured everything would fall into place once I got a job, but it turns out I'm still in Japan, and everyone speaks Japanese. This was made especially apparent when I tried to open a bank account that same day. The man at City bank was not as proficient as Mr Fuji at english, so our google-translate guided conversation led me to realize I needed to get an Inkan (a stamp with my name on it). Conveniently enough, that was already on my list of things to do, so I went to the nearest Inkan-ya and picked up my very own stamp (a day later of course).
The banks were closed until Tuesday so I had some time to relax before opening an account for my NEW JOB!
I decided to celebrate by going out every single night that weekend (I probably would have felt guilty if I didn't get the job, since all the plans were made ahead of time haha, but for once I got lucky).
Friday night I went out with Simon and the rest of the Borderless House to an Indian food restaurant. Cultures were colliding over drinks and foods and conversation from all over the world. Even with 2 native Japanese speakers, we still managed to accidentally order way to much food, but good times were had and the atmosphere was great.
On Saturday I met up with another English enthusiast over drinks in Jinbocho. We went to a pretty famous Takoyaki restaurant (deep fried octopus balls), and ordered lots of beer and balls. Unfortunately my first experience with Japanese takoyaki, as delicious as it was, was a traumatic one. The insides of these Takoyaki were a mixture of octopus, sauce, bread, and liquid hot magma. I can still feel the burn to this day... But I had a lot of fun with Yoshi as she laughed at my misfortune. I learned a lot of things that day, including apologizing for my lateness and getting lost, the proper use of "yonin" (so that) and most importantly, about Izakayas, which are eating and drinking establishments with a possibility for an all-you-can-drink option for 1000 yen (10$). Needless to say, we made arrangements to go on the next available date.
Sunday was a much more sight-seeing filled day with a conversation exchange friend of mine. I took the train to Asakusa, and waited patiently at the 1A exit for Mio to arrive. Future goers beware that there is more than one 1A exit for Asakusa station. How cruel of them. Hour long delays aside, our first stop was a very authentic Katsu (pork cutlet) restaurant. We couldn't see in, we weren't allowed to wait inside, and when we finally received an invite, our shoes were not extended the same courtesy. But the wait was worth it. The atmosphere was some homely, and the ground level tables and pillow seats made the quaint shop almost worth the 25$ piece of meat. I had the cheese stuffed cutlet with miso soup and rice, which was very good, although I think it was just a one time experience for me. We then walked through the Asakusa shrine, past a lot of touristy shops and tents, to the main shrine, where I supposedly cleared myself of all illness by patting smoke on my head, SUGOI!
When Tuesday rolled around, I went back to the City bank, Inkan and translator phone in hand, and set up my very own Japanese bank account. Now all I have to do is count the days until I start making that yen.
Ganbarimasu!
On a side note, meeting all these language exchange students has been fun, but a lot of the time it didn't really feel natural, since we are both there to help each other get better at our language of choice, and not just to keep each other company. But yesterday I got to hang out with a half Austrailian, half Japanese gamer, and that was the most fun I've had since coming to Japan. We just talk about whatever, we walked around Shibuya and went for the best food I've had, possibly ever, at a really cool Izakaya. He knew the area inside and out, so he just kept suggesting things to do and I was like, hell ya, drinks and billiards, fro-yo, rhythm games at the arcade, lets do it. And he knew all the best places to go so the night was a lot more fruitful than my Asakusa adventure haha. I even learned some Japanese on the side. If you want the house's draft beer, you can just say the Japanese word for raw, which is "Nama". I love nama. I think it has replaced "atatamemimasu" (please heat it up) as my new favourite phrase.
Once again, a LOT has happened in the past week. Where do I begin.
First and foremost, I GOT A JOB!
Starting October 1st, I will be teaching business English for the company Linguage, an unpredictable combination of the words "link" and "language" (yes, I guess linguistics too).
I had only applied to a couple jobs before I started getting emails back from the companies, and I set up an interview for Thursday with one of them. Their office is in Shinjuku, about 25 minutes by subway, and then a nice 10 minute walk through a very crowded downtown shopping district. I was about 15 minutes early for the interview but I was greeted as soon as I walked in by the supervisor of instruction, Tomas Fuji. His english ability was incredible and the fact that he was so nice and easy to talk to made the whole process easier. The interview was pretty straight forward. After the usual questions, I was given the chance to do a demo lesson, where I had 10 minutes to prepare a class for 2 beginners, and it was my goal to teach them the difference between words like "usually" and "sometimes" and so on. I was nervous and stumbled a few times but overall the lesson went great, and Mr. Fuji welcomed me to the team shortly there after. I was ecstatic.
I figured everything would fall into place once I got a job, but it turns out I'm still in Japan, and everyone speaks Japanese. This was made especially apparent when I tried to open a bank account that same day. The man at City bank was not as proficient as Mr Fuji at english, so our google-translate guided conversation led me to realize I needed to get an Inkan (a stamp with my name on it). Conveniently enough, that was already on my list of things to do, so I went to the nearest Inkan-ya and picked up my very own stamp (a day later of course).
The banks were closed until Tuesday so I had some time to relax before opening an account for my NEW JOB!
I decided to celebrate by going out every single night that weekend (I probably would have felt guilty if I didn't get the job, since all the plans were made ahead of time haha, but for once I got lucky).
Friday night I went out with Simon and the rest of the Borderless House to an Indian food restaurant. Cultures were colliding over drinks and foods and conversation from all over the world. Even with 2 native Japanese speakers, we still managed to accidentally order way to much food, but good times were had and the atmosphere was great.
On Saturday I met up with another English enthusiast over drinks in Jinbocho. We went to a pretty famous Takoyaki restaurant (deep fried octopus balls), and ordered lots of beer and balls. Unfortunately my first experience with Japanese takoyaki, as delicious as it was, was a traumatic one. The insides of these Takoyaki were a mixture of octopus, sauce, bread, and liquid hot magma. I can still feel the burn to this day... But I had a lot of fun with Yoshi as she laughed at my misfortune. I learned a lot of things that day, including apologizing for my lateness and getting lost, the proper use of "yonin" (so that) and most importantly, about Izakayas, which are eating and drinking establishments with a possibility for an all-you-can-drink option for 1000 yen (10$). Needless to say, we made arrangements to go on the next available date.
Sunday was a much more sight-seeing filled day with a conversation exchange friend of mine. I took the train to Asakusa, and waited patiently at the 1A exit for Mio to arrive. Future goers beware that there is more than one 1A exit for Asakusa station. How cruel of them. Hour long delays aside, our first stop was a very authentic Katsu (pork cutlet) restaurant. We couldn't see in, we weren't allowed to wait inside, and when we finally received an invite, our shoes were not extended the same courtesy. But the wait was worth it. The atmosphere was some homely, and the ground level tables and pillow seats made the quaint shop almost worth the 25$ piece of meat. I had the cheese stuffed cutlet with miso soup and rice, which was very good, although I think it was just a one time experience for me. We then walked through the Asakusa shrine, past a lot of touristy shops and tents, to the main shrine, where I supposedly cleared myself of all illness by patting smoke on my head, SUGOI!
When Tuesday rolled around, I went back to the City bank, Inkan and translator phone in hand, and set up my very own Japanese bank account. Now all I have to do is count the days until I start making that yen.
Ganbarimasu!
On a side note, meeting all these language exchange students has been fun, but a lot of the time it didn't really feel natural, since we are both there to help each other get better at our language of choice, and not just to keep each other company. But yesterday I got to hang out with a half Austrailian, half Japanese gamer, and that was the most fun I've had since coming to Japan. We just talk about whatever, we walked around Shibuya and went for the best food I've had, possibly ever, at a really cool Izakaya. He knew the area inside and out, so he just kept suggesting things to do and I was like, hell ya, drinks and billiards, fro-yo, rhythm games at the arcade, lets do it. And he knew all the best places to go so the night was a lot more fruitful than my Asakusa adventure haha. I even learned some Japanese on the side. If you want the house's draft beer, you can just say the Japanese word for raw, which is "Nama". I love nama. I think it has replaced "atatamemimasu" (please heat it up) as my new favourite phrase.
Elevator to Linguage
Linguage Lobby
Asakusa
Katsu-Ya
Inside the Katsu-Ya
My Katsu
Asakusa Shrine Entrance
Asakusa Tourist Central
Asakusa Shrine
Asakusa side Shrine
Inside the Shrine
Downtown Shibuya
Izakaya Food (amazing photgraphic skills)
Monday, September 16, 2013
1 Week In
Mina-san, Konnichiwa!
So the past week has been amazing. Before I came to Japan, I did a lot of research into Japanese culture, and what it would be like to live here as a foreigner. But there are some things that you honestly can't know until you experience them, and I want to touch on them before talking about what I've been doing.
Let me start off by saying, everyone that I've tried to talk to (shop clerks, friends, etc.) has been really, really nice, and they never seem to get frustrated because I can't speak Japanese very well. They just smile or laugh and try really hard to understand my meaning (which usually after I start saying random words as clues they understand and are eager to continue). I find this really refreshing when I think about some people in NA who just get mad or give up if someone's english isn't up to par with their standards, which, in my experience, happens quite a bit.
Simon also noticed a reoccurring theme in the way we were commenting on Japanese technology. I knew beforehand that Japan (in the cities) was ahead of the curve, but we found ourselves saying, "Wow, that's such a good idea" on many different occasions. To name a few, when you flush the toilet, there is a tap on top of it that begins to run so you can wash your hands, and this water is used to fill the toilet. How efficient. Another one along the lines of cleanliness is that McDonalds has a hand washing station next to the door as you leave, grease be gone! The country is just so convenient, and its beginning to shine through the more I try new things.
Anyways back to some cultural differences, they always said that the Japanese keep to themselves in public, because they don't want to be a Meiwaku (a bother). When I first heard about the "train molestors", I always shocked, and wondered why the women wouldn't just call out for help. But after being here for a week, I'm starting to get why they might just stand in silence. Everyone really, REALLY keeps to themselves. Even in restaurants, a lot of the people will just sit and eat, or perhaps have a really quiet conversation. When Simon and I go out it feels like we are the only ones conversing in the world. I wonder if we just look like a couple of loud americans.
I know I rambled a lot but I really wanted to express just what it feels like to be a foreigner, and it may take a lot of change before I start feeling like I fit in (if at all). So back to the blog.
The past week has actually been quite busy for me. I applied to a bunch of English teaching jobs, and even heard back from a few of them already. They seem really eager to meet me and want to set up interviews for this week. I'm pretty excited and also a little nervous, since one of the interviews requires a demo lesson. But then I remember that all I have to do is speak my native tongue and follow the rules set out by by TEFL class and I should be fine.
To prepare, Simon and I ventured to find a Uniclo the other day to pick up some spiffy collared shirts. After getting very lucky with our aimless wandering, we bought some cheap, stylish shirts while listening to vulgar english music that went seemingly unnoticed to the non-english speakers of the store.
In the process of applying for interviews, I also signed up for a site called "Conversation Exchange". Since I don't really know anyone here, I thought it would be a good to meet some Japanese locals who can speak a little English. Right away I was receiving messages and responses from a variety of japanese-english enthusiasts, and I even met up with one them yesterday over tea. Having friends is going to make this whole experience a lot easier, and yesterday was the most fun I've had since arriving.
Not everything is looking up Mil-house however. A week straight of eating from the konbini food and mcdonalds has taken its toll on our stomachs. The food isn't particularly unhealthy, but it doesn't leave you wanting more. So to change things up, I went shopping at a grocery store and bought what I believed to be ingredients for curry, but once again, it was all in this foreign language, and the only successful ingredient was rice. Cooking is hard. So after that we transitioned back into konbini bentos, but like Simon says, "after I eat this meal, I feel like I have nothing to look forward to in life". He says it all in good fun but there is some truth to it. I learned a useful phrase from my conversation exchange friend. "Chanto tabenakuya dame", You must eat properly.
Also, side-bar. For a country with basically no garbage on the streets, there are absolutely no garbage disposals. I don't know where to put something when I'm out, so if you buy a vending machine drink, you better be prepared to carry it all the way home and wait until garbage day haha (I learned this the hard way).
So that concludes my week 1 experience. On the list of things to do... attend the job interviews, meet more people from language exchange, and for the love of god, chanto tabemasu!
So the past week has been amazing. Before I came to Japan, I did a lot of research into Japanese culture, and what it would be like to live here as a foreigner. But there are some things that you honestly can't know until you experience them, and I want to touch on them before talking about what I've been doing.
Let me start off by saying, everyone that I've tried to talk to (shop clerks, friends, etc.) has been really, really nice, and they never seem to get frustrated because I can't speak Japanese very well. They just smile or laugh and try really hard to understand my meaning (which usually after I start saying random words as clues they understand and are eager to continue). I find this really refreshing when I think about some people in NA who just get mad or give up if someone's english isn't up to par with their standards, which, in my experience, happens quite a bit.
Simon also noticed a reoccurring theme in the way we were commenting on Japanese technology. I knew beforehand that Japan (in the cities) was ahead of the curve, but we found ourselves saying, "Wow, that's such a good idea" on many different occasions. To name a few, when you flush the toilet, there is a tap on top of it that begins to run so you can wash your hands, and this water is used to fill the toilet. How efficient. Another one along the lines of cleanliness is that McDonalds has a hand washing station next to the door as you leave, grease be gone! The country is just so convenient, and its beginning to shine through the more I try new things.
Anyways back to some cultural differences, they always said that the Japanese keep to themselves in public, because they don't want to be a Meiwaku (a bother). When I first heard about the "train molestors", I always shocked, and wondered why the women wouldn't just call out for help. But after being here for a week, I'm starting to get why they might just stand in silence. Everyone really, REALLY keeps to themselves. Even in restaurants, a lot of the people will just sit and eat, or perhaps have a really quiet conversation. When Simon and I go out it feels like we are the only ones conversing in the world. I wonder if we just look like a couple of loud americans.
I know I rambled a lot but I really wanted to express just what it feels like to be a foreigner, and it may take a lot of change before I start feeling like I fit in (if at all). So back to the blog.
The past week has actually been quite busy for me. I applied to a bunch of English teaching jobs, and even heard back from a few of them already. They seem really eager to meet me and want to set up interviews for this week. I'm pretty excited and also a little nervous, since one of the interviews requires a demo lesson. But then I remember that all I have to do is speak my native tongue and follow the rules set out by by TEFL class and I should be fine.
To prepare, Simon and I ventured to find a Uniclo the other day to pick up some spiffy collared shirts. After getting very lucky with our aimless wandering, we bought some cheap, stylish shirts while listening to vulgar english music that went seemingly unnoticed to the non-english speakers of the store.
In the process of applying for interviews, I also signed up for a site called "Conversation Exchange". Since I don't really know anyone here, I thought it would be a good to meet some Japanese locals who can speak a little English. Right away I was receiving messages and responses from a variety of japanese-english enthusiasts, and I even met up with one them yesterday over tea. Having friends is going to make this whole experience a lot easier, and yesterday was the most fun I've had since arriving.
Not everything is looking up Mil-house however. A week straight of eating from the konbini food and mcdonalds has taken its toll on our stomachs. The food isn't particularly unhealthy, but it doesn't leave you wanting more. So to change things up, I went shopping at a grocery store and bought what I believed to be ingredients for curry, but once again, it was all in this foreign language, and the only successful ingredient was rice. Cooking is hard. So after that we transitioned back into konbini bentos, but like Simon says, "after I eat this meal, I feel like I have nothing to look forward to in life". He says it all in good fun but there is some truth to it. I learned a useful phrase from my conversation exchange friend. "Chanto tabenakuya dame", You must eat properly.
Also, side-bar. For a country with basically no garbage on the streets, there are absolutely no garbage disposals. I don't know where to put something when I'm out, so if you buy a vending machine drink, you better be prepared to carry it all the way home and wait until garbage day haha (I learned this the hard way).
So that concludes my week 1 experience. On the list of things to do... attend the job interviews, meet more people from language exchange, and for the love of god, chanto tabemasu!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Day 5
In an attempt to regulate my sleep schedule from its' seize-the-2am morals, I decided to nap for a short while around noon yesterday. Not unlike my other unflappable strategies to accustom myself to life here in Japan, it inevitably ended in failure (when will I learn). So I help myself to a nice 11pm breakfast and spend next few hours waiting for my roommate to catch me watching J-Dramas at 5am in the common room ... as she came home from late night Karaoke-ing with friends. We had a really nice meet and greet after that, until she retired to bed and I was left waiting for sunrise and the second half of my day to begin.
The plan for the day was to meet with a language exchange friend of mine; Masae, at some point in the morning, somewhere in Tokyo. After exchanging hopeful facebook instructions with Masae, Simon and I depart for our first one directional trip on the subway. When we arrived, there were probably 20+ ticket booths in the station, with N-S-E-W ends and several similarly named lines. But luck was finally with us, FINALLY, because the first terminal we entered was actually the right one. Of course we couldn't help but wander the entire mall-sized station to eliminate any chance of a doppelganger terminal hosting a young Japanese language exchange student.
Three strong, we went to have some Japanese curry (another check for my japucket-list) at a humble restaurant that seemed to take the best cafe ideas from more than one of the Back to the Future movies. I got lots of chances to practice my Japanese, and with Masae there to help me, I felt more confident than ever. Unfortunately my skills did not follow my confidence up the ladder and I fell on my face more than once throughout the day. But it was still an amazing experience.
With a quick stop at a pseudo-accessible iPod repair store atop a quaint cafe, we headed for Harajuku, a popular tourist spot known for its' shopping and scenery. And I must say it delivered on both fronts. Takeshita Street (see pictures below) was described by an anonymous source as "gomihito"which roughly translates into people garbage, and the metaphor really started to make sense as we joined the sea of said gomihito.
We stopped at several places on Takeshita Street. My favourite, for anyone who knows me, was the amazing candy shoppe dubbed "Candy a Go-Go", while Simon was more partial to the hilarious times had at Purikura (pictures coming soon). These are the rather famous, high-tech photo booths that attract more Japanese school girls than a surprise Bieber concert ever could.
Emerging from the garbarrage of people on Takeshita Street to the open air of the Meiji Jingu shrines was such a breath of fresh air and even water. Seriously, we drank water from an old style washing vat outside the main shrine in a very tedious, almost religious method. The grounds were incredibly well kept, with lush greenery that appeared to be trimmed and styled by either jet pack operators or very, VERY tall people. I can't be sure, but it really was a spectacle, and among all the beautiful shrines and forestry, we got to witness a traditional japanese wedding as they marched through the main shrine into the garden. Passing by the ancient mosaic of sake jars again on the way back, we began to say our goodbyes to Masae, who we couldn't thank enough for touring us through the best of Harujuku before leaving for Kenya for 6 months. It was an amazing day, and it was all thanks to her.
The long awaited Monday is just around the corner, and Simon and I will be picking up our Alien Registration Cards and cell phones first thing tomorrow morning.
Ganbarimasu!
The plan for the day was to meet with a language exchange friend of mine; Masae, at some point in the morning, somewhere in Tokyo. After exchanging hopeful facebook instructions with Masae, Simon and I depart for our first one directional trip on the subway. When we arrived, there were probably 20+ ticket booths in the station, with N-S-E-W ends and several similarly named lines. But luck was finally with us, FINALLY, because the first terminal we entered was actually the right one. Of course we couldn't help but wander the entire mall-sized station to eliminate any chance of a doppelganger terminal hosting a young Japanese language exchange student.
Three strong, we went to have some Japanese curry (another check for my japucket-list) at a humble restaurant that seemed to take the best cafe ideas from more than one of the Back to the Future movies. I got lots of chances to practice my Japanese, and with Masae there to help me, I felt more confident than ever. Unfortunately my skills did not follow my confidence up the ladder and I fell on my face more than once throughout the day. But it was still an amazing experience.
With a quick stop at a pseudo-accessible iPod repair store atop a quaint cafe, we headed for Harajuku, a popular tourist spot known for its' shopping and scenery. And I must say it delivered on both fronts. Takeshita Street (see pictures below) was described by an anonymous source as "gomihito"which roughly translates into people garbage, and the metaphor really started to make sense as we joined the sea of said gomihito.
We stopped at several places on Takeshita Street. My favourite, for anyone who knows me, was the amazing candy shoppe dubbed "Candy a Go-Go", while Simon was more partial to the hilarious times had at Purikura (pictures coming soon). These are the rather famous, high-tech photo booths that attract more Japanese school girls than a surprise Bieber concert ever could.
Emerging from the garbarrage of people on Takeshita Street to the open air of the Meiji Jingu shrines was such a breath of fresh air and even water. Seriously, we drank water from an old style washing vat outside the main shrine in a very tedious, almost religious method. The grounds were incredibly well kept, with lush greenery that appeared to be trimmed and styled by either jet pack operators or very, VERY tall people. I can't be sure, but it really was a spectacle, and among all the beautiful shrines and forestry, we got to witness a traditional japanese wedding as they marched through the main shrine into the garden. Passing by the ancient mosaic of sake jars again on the way back, we began to say our goodbyes to Masae, who we couldn't thank enough for touring us through the best of Harujuku before leaving for Kenya for 6 months. It was an amazing day, and it was all thanks to her.
The long awaited Monday is just around the corner, and Simon and I will be picking up our Alien Registration Cards and cell phones first thing tomorrow morning.
Ganbarimasu!
Friday, September 6, 2013
Day 3
Once again, my day begins at 3am, after a long and comfortable sleep atop my futon palace. Wide awake and raring to go, it`s a short 4 hours until Simon and I depart for our second attempt at conquering Tokyo Metro. On the list of things to buy in Akihabara, a laptop and cellphone were high on my list of priorities. I had once again done my research on which subway we needed to take and where we needed to go, but once again I was ill prepared.
For some reason, with no time constraints whatsoever, we randomly decided to travel in Tokyo in the middle of transit rush hour. It seemed that a majority (if not all) people in Japan have a tap-and-go transit card, which we had heard about from our landlord the day before. We both really wanted to get these cards to make our lives easier, and part of me knew it wasnt going to be as easy as buying a single ticket.
There were 3 machines, 2 of which had pictures of 2 different cards, Passmo and Suica. With a 50/50 shot I decided to test my luck with the passmo card. 2000 yen, 2 cards, 1 lost reciept, a confused tokyo metro employee and a broken passmo card dispenser were among the things that fell victim to my Gaijinitis (foreigners disease). Simon, my trusty "waits for me to get it right before trying" partner, was for some reason much more efficient in his escapades. So we walked down to the subways, and travelled in a classic 1 stop back, 5 stops forward fashion with the help of 2 very coordinated transit commissioners manning the gates to the east/west stations. At this point we knew we had to transfer but it was only 1 stop north and neither of us were feeling the confidence for round 2. So we surfaced.
Akihabara really is everything I was expecting. Even though we arrived well before most of the shops were open, the atmosphere was electric. We had a quick meal at Mos Burger (which incidentally was one of the restaurants I really wanted to try here in Japan, and we walked in by sheer luck) and then stopped by some arcades before arriving at Softmac, which I can only describe as a multi level Best Buy.
Cell phones were first and foremost our most desired piece of technology, so we b-lined it for the Keitai section. The employees were very helpful, and after sifting through their many translation strategies (including phone apps and a 3 way game of telephone) we were almost ready to sign the papers for our new best friends when they realized we didn't have anything with our address on it. Better luck next time, so we went to the other sections and drowned our sorrows with laptops and tvs.
Electronics in hand, we were exhausted and on route to the station when we were pulled aside by representatives of Japan TV and interviewed about our favourite animes. I got to do an awesome impression of a Kamehameha, and Simon was praised for his extensive knowledge of the field. After that we were absolutely otsukare (a very common Japanese word for exhausted). So the day had come to an end, ... at 2pm.
It wasn't the most successful day of shopping, and we may have came home with a few items we didn't mean to (I had accidentally purchased crown glasses from Mcdonalds when trying to upsize our small-sized medium drinks to medium-sized large drinks), but overall it was an amazing first experience, and we plan on going back tomorrow to retrieve the illusive japanese Keitai.
Ganbarimasu! 
For some reason, with no time constraints whatsoever, we randomly decided to travel in Tokyo in the middle of transit rush hour. It seemed that a majority (if not all) people in Japan have a tap-and-go transit card, which we had heard about from our landlord the day before. We both really wanted to get these cards to make our lives easier, and part of me knew it wasnt going to be as easy as buying a single ticket.
There were 3 machines, 2 of which had pictures of 2 different cards, Passmo and Suica. With a 50/50 shot I decided to test my luck with the passmo card. 2000 yen, 2 cards, 1 lost reciept, a confused tokyo metro employee and a broken passmo card dispenser were among the things that fell victim to my Gaijinitis (foreigners disease). Simon, my trusty "waits for me to get it right before trying" partner, was for some reason much more efficient in his escapades. So we walked down to the subways, and travelled in a classic 1 stop back, 5 stops forward fashion with the help of 2 very coordinated transit commissioners manning the gates to the east/west stations. At this point we knew we had to transfer but it was only 1 stop north and neither of us were feeling the confidence for round 2. So we surfaced.
Akihabara really is everything I was expecting. Even though we arrived well before most of the shops were open, the atmosphere was electric. We had a quick meal at Mos Burger (which incidentally was one of the restaurants I really wanted to try here in Japan, and we walked in by sheer luck) and then stopped by some arcades before arriving at Softmac, which I can only describe as a multi level Best Buy.
Cell phones were first and foremost our most desired piece of technology, so we b-lined it for the Keitai section. The employees were very helpful, and after sifting through their many translation strategies (including phone apps and a 3 way game of telephone) we were almost ready to sign the papers for our new best friends when they realized we didn't have anything with our address on it. Better luck next time, so we went to the other sections and drowned our sorrows with laptops and tvs.
Electronics in hand, we were exhausted and on route to the station when we were pulled aside by representatives of Japan TV and interviewed about our favourite animes. I got to do an awesome impression of a Kamehameha, and Simon was praised for his extensive knowledge of the field. After that we were absolutely otsukare (a very common Japanese word for exhausted). So the day had come to an end, ... at 2pm.
It wasn't the most successful day of shopping, and we may have came home with a few items we didn't mean to (I had accidentally purchased crown glasses from Mcdonalds when trying to upsize our small-sized medium drinks to medium-sized large drinks), but overall it was an amazing first experience, and we plan on going back tomorrow to retrieve the illusive japanese Keitai.
Ganbarimasu!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)