Once again, it's been a while since I've updated. Apologies about that. It's not that I've lost interest though, it's simply that there's been a lack of actual things to write about other than a sudden increase in the amount of assignments that were due in. Until fairly recently, that is.
Today, I finally managed to secure a job. I had managed to get a position with a modelling agency shortly after my arrival here, but since they've yet to find me any work, it didn't seem worth writing about. I say that they've not found me any work as I find that easier to say than "no agencies wanted me", my fragile ego couldn't take that.
I'm now working at a youth centre in Ebisu, which is a rather nice part of Tokyo. My work will consist of making friends with teenagers mostly, by speaking in English and Japanese along with helping out with a few events that they stage. It will essentially be like a community centre, I suppose. It won't pay as much as the modelling, but I assume I'll be speaking considerably more Japanese. The other staff there seem pretty nice too. Although, I was told today that being an Englishman and having a beard makes them think of the Beatles. I'm going to take that as a good thing, I think. My first shift will be on Monday, right after Christmas!
Aside from that, not a great deal has happened. I met a few people from Sheffield and we went to an actually authentic English pub in Meguro owned and run by a man from the West country. I say "authentic" because there's a chain called Hub, which is about authentic for England as Wagamama is for Japan. I never actually realised I was missing the taste of brown bread and Brown Ale until that night. It's rather interesting to hear how much variation there is in the courses at different universities.
No solid plans for Christmas yet, hopefully it's not a lonely one.
Thursday, 22 December 2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
Dual languages
Today, I had my second "I'm in Japan" feeling. The first was the time I was able to see Mount Fuji from the 26th floor of my university building, which, oddly enough, wasn't the one that declared itself to be the one that you could see Fuji from. The second time was being overtaken by the Shinkansen while on a local commuter train that was filled with salarymen.
This was on the way to Shinagawa, for the purpose of applying for a work permit, a process I should have perhaps began a while ago. It was a very simple process, only taking about fifteen minutes overall, but featured a slightly odd exchange, which is also the second of two things.
While being given instructions in Japanese for part of my application, there was an instance where I didn't quite pick up on what the lady was telling me, prompting her to instantly switch from polite Japanese to a rather thick Southern American drawl. It almost sounded like a completely different woman, which is not something I expected in the slightest. I felt rather envious, in fact. I left the place feeling that I hope I can easily switch between languages so simply, rather than being able to work.
The other odd exchange occured on Wednesday, which was a holiday. Having the day off, I decided that, having received some money for an early joint birthday/Christmas present from my mother, I was going to make a trip to Akihabara to replace what is now an almost ten year old digital camera. I did have my mind on one already, but before purchasing that, I found one that had superior specs for a lower price. So, naturally, I went for that, and had to explain to the attendant that, as I was in Japan for a year, five year insurance would not be necessary, which is an excuse I wish I could use back home. Interestling, upon saying that I was living in Japan, I made myself eligible for a loyalty card, which offered further discounts and was free to sign up for.
As I was heading to the register and feeling proud for negotiating in Japanese, I was greeted by a lady on the register who simply pointed at the till and declared in English "This is price", and then opened the box to say "this is camera, this is battery". Those two people seem to sum up Japan for me at the moment, the person who speaks to me in simple Japanese and is ever so polite, and then the person who simply doesn't check to see if I can speak and then just uses even simpler English.
While pondering that, I may have picked up a figure with the saving I made on that camera.
This was on the way to Shinagawa, for the purpose of applying for a work permit, a process I should have perhaps began a while ago. It was a very simple process, only taking about fifteen minutes overall, but featured a slightly odd exchange, which is also the second of two things.
While being given instructions in Japanese for part of my application, there was an instance where I didn't quite pick up on what the lady was telling me, prompting her to instantly switch from polite Japanese to a rather thick Southern American drawl. It almost sounded like a completely different woman, which is not something I expected in the slightest. I felt rather envious, in fact. I left the place feeling that I hope I can easily switch between languages so simply, rather than being able to work.
The other odd exchange occured on Wednesday, which was a holiday. Having the day off, I decided that, having received some money for an early joint birthday/Christmas present from my mother, I was going to make a trip to Akihabara to replace what is now an almost ten year old digital camera. I did have my mind on one already, but before purchasing that, I found one that had superior specs for a lower price. So, naturally, I went for that, and had to explain to the attendant that, as I was in Japan for a year, five year insurance would not be necessary, which is an excuse I wish I could use back home. Interestling, upon saying that I was living in Japan, I made myself eligible for a loyalty card, which offered further discounts and was free to sign up for.
As I was heading to the register and feeling proud for negotiating in Japanese, I was greeted by a lady on the register who simply pointed at the till and declared in English "This is price", and then opened the box to say "this is camera, this is battery". Those two people seem to sum up Japan for me at the moment, the person who speaks to me in simple Japanese and is ever so polite, and then the person who simply doesn't check to see if I can speak and then just uses even simpler English.
While pondering that, I may have picked up a figure with the saving I made on that camera.
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Yeah, but I'm taller
Since my last post, I have since discovered that cats treat people of all creed with disdain.
I know this as I recently made a visit to a cat cafe in Ikebukuro. I'd been well aware of them for a while, and I'd been eager to go for just as long, but it's taken me this long to actually go to one. The basic deal is, it's a cafe, with cats in it. You might be able to guess what the emphasis is on. This particular one asked for 1000円 for an hour's time, with as many biscuits as you'd like, and unlimited use of the vending machines. I assumed that was within reason, so I only had one biscuit and some awful tea.
But as I hinted, that feature wasn't really the point. There were about fifteen cats there, all of whom seemed all too used to attention, and never sought people out, they merely lounged around and put up with all manner of people lavishing attention upon them. My particular favourite was one that had it's hair styled to resemble a lion, and went by the name Krillin. It spent about half an hour asleep, but that didn't deter me from finding him wonderful. After typing that sentence I realise that I'm potentially a little too keen on cats, though.
To save myself from rambling about the wonders of cats, I'll instead shift onto how wonderful I find Book Off. I'd been told to find one as soon as possible, and I have visited a number of times since my arrival. Book Off specialises in second hand books, but also have videogames, movies, music, and so on. The thing is, they're almost as good as new, and most books go for a mere 100円.
While I had picked up a videogame from there, and spent a lot of time merely browsing, today I found something that I could not resist. It turns out, there is a section dedicated to translated adaptations of western films and TV shows. Among them, I found Star Wars, Love Actually, 24 and so on, but once I found Speed, I knew that was the one I had to buy.
It was made worth it when I discovered that Keanu Reeves speaks like a very macho badass. That's what keeps me giggling whenever I try reading it.
I know this as I recently made a visit to a cat cafe in Ikebukuro. I'd been well aware of them for a while, and I'd been eager to go for just as long, but it's taken me this long to actually go to one. The basic deal is, it's a cafe, with cats in it. You might be able to guess what the emphasis is on. This particular one asked for 1000円 for an hour's time, with as many biscuits as you'd like, and unlimited use of the vending machines. I assumed that was within reason, so I only had one biscuit and some awful tea.
But as I hinted, that feature wasn't really the point. There were about fifteen cats there, all of whom seemed all too used to attention, and never sought people out, they merely lounged around and put up with all manner of people lavishing attention upon them. My particular favourite was one that had it's hair styled to resemble a lion, and went by the name Krillin. It spent about half an hour asleep, but that didn't deter me from finding him wonderful. After typing that sentence I realise that I'm potentially a little too keen on cats, though.
To save myself from rambling about the wonders of cats, I'll instead shift onto how wonderful I find Book Off. I'd been told to find one as soon as possible, and I have visited a number of times since my arrival. Book Off specialises in second hand books, but also have videogames, movies, music, and so on. The thing is, they're almost as good as new, and most books go for a mere 100円.
While I had picked up a videogame from there, and spent a lot of time merely browsing, today I found something that I could not resist. It turns out, there is a section dedicated to translated adaptations of western films and TV shows. Among them, I found Star Wars, Love Actually, 24 and so on, but once I found Speed, I knew that was the one I had to buy.
It was made worth it when I discovered that Keanu Reeves speaks like a very macho badass. That's what keeps me giggling whenever I try reading it.
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Observations
It's been... a somewhat busy week. Nothing particularly major has happened, but I've been noticing a few things. It's also had a lot of ups and downs. There was a chart that was shown to students in Sheffield last year for what sort of experience we should expect to have, and the first month was supposedly going to be very enjoyable, while the second was much less so. I think I've begun to feel that, but it's being countered by sheer determination to enjoy what I'm doing and not wallow around in pity and end up wasting my time. It's an odd feeling.
Before I get properly rolling with a variety of topics, I'm going to summarise last weekend, as that seems to be my style at the moment. I went to Meiji Jingu, a temple located between Harajuku and Shibuya, and therefore in the metropolitan part of Tokyo. Despite that, the vast majority of it is in a forest. It's quite surreal to exit a train, cross a bridge and then find yourself in dense woodland. It didn't feel like Tokyo. I went there with Hiromi, an Intercultural Studies student who I met at a baseball game a few weeks prior. Therefore, about 90% of the day was carried out in Japanese, with a few stumbles here and there, but I felt quite proud of myself. I'm finding that there's quite a substantial amount of things I know how to say, but due to the absolute lack of confidence I had from my Japanese classes at Sheffield, I'm not at all used to saying them without some form of guidance.
I also made a visit to a museum there dedicated to the life of Emperor Meiji. The attention to detail stood out for me, and I ended up remembering one key part of the exhibit. Apparently, during the time of World War II, Emperor Meiji wanted to remain devoted to studying, but had some need to be frugal, and limited himself to using pencils. If this year doesn't go as intended, at least I've learnt one thing I didn't know before. I rounded that day off with having my first experience with purikura. A nice mix of old and new culture, I reckon. I can't seem to access the photo that was mailed to my phone, which is potentially to do with using a prepaid model, but I've got a sheet of photos at least.
Onto the little observations though. Last week, I was finally introduced to some grammar that I have not seen previously at Sheffield, but at that point, I realised something about how the classes are taught here. We're introduced to something, and then somehow expected to just understand how it works. Looking back, most of the grammar had a very basic description, and then we get homework to complete for the following lesson regarding that grammar. If I hadn't already seen the majority of the grammar we've covered here previously, I'm sure I'd be having an incredibly different experience overall.
Next up, money. Every time I pay my monthly rent, I seem to find myself slipping into some kind of panic about expenditures. I'm fairly sure that, if I live somewhat frugally, I should be okay for the year, but with every little thing being more expensive, there is pressure to think about each and every purchase I'm making. Unfortunately, due to that constant pressure, I ended up feeling the need for some retail therapy, and picked up a videogame. A case of shooting myself in the foot there, perhaps.
This week is the Hosei School Festival. I went briefly today, following a request to watch a street dance performance. It's not something I have much of an interest in, if at all, but I did find it reasonably enjoyable. Most of the festival seems to lean towards various clubs selling food and alcohol, or dressing up in costumes. I even learnt that Hosei University has a Pokemon group. Unfortunately due to not bringing any of those games with me, I don't see much point in me taking part, but it's not really something I expected to see.
One thing I knew to expect when I came to Japan was being ostracised somewhat for being a foreigner. I've started to notice that this has resulted in me thinking that someone has done a certain thing for the mere reason that I'm foreign, which leaves something of a bitter taste. I think I've mentioned previously that I'll ask someone something in Japanese, and have broken English shouted back at me. Yesterday though, I had someone change where they were sitting on the subway train just to move away from me, which, being a regular traveller on public transport in England, has always seemed like a very rude thing to do. Later in the same day, I was stared at by a cat while on my way home, which then abruptly turned away from me. My very first thought that whis was also because I was foreign, and then I realised how absurd I was being.
And... that's probably everything that's notable at the moment. The only other thing is that I've rediscovered an appreciation I have for an idol, but that's not important at all. Oh no.
Before I get properly rolling with a variety of topics, I'm going to summarise last weekend, as that seems to be my style at the moment. I went to Meiji Jingu, a temple located between Harajuku and Shibuya, and therefore in the metropolitan part of Tokyo. Despite that, the vast majority of it is in a forest. It's quite surreal to exit a train, cross a bridge and then find yourself in dense woodland. It didn't feel like Tokyo. I went there with Hiromi, an Intercultural Studies student who I met at a baseball game a few weeks prior. Therefore, about 90% of the day was carried out in Japanese, with a few stumbles here and there, but I felt quite proud of myself. I'm finding that there's quite a substantial amount of things I know how to say, but due to the absolute lack of confidence I had from my Japanese classes at Sheffield, I'm not at all used to saying them without some form of guidance.
I also made a visit to a museum there dedicated to the life of Emperor Meiji. The attention to detail stood out for me, and I ended up remembering one key part of the exhibit. Apparently, during the time of World War II, Emperor Meiji wanted to remain devoted to studying, but had some need to be frugal, and limited himself to using pencils. If this year doesn't go as intended, at least I've learnt one thing I didn't know before. I rounded that day off with having my first experience with purikura. A nice mix of old and new culture, I reckon. I can't seem to access the photo that was mailed to my phone, which is potentially to do with using a prepaid model, but I've got a sheet of photos at least.
Onto the little observations though. Last week, I was finally introduced to some grammar that I have not seen previously at Sheffield, but at that point, I realised something about how the classes are taught here. We're introduced to something, and then somehow expected to just understand how it works. Looking back, most of the grammar had a very basic description, and then we get homework to complete for the following lesson regarding that grammar. If I hadn't already seen the majority of the grammar we've covered here previously, I'm sure I'd be having an incredibly different experience overall.
Next up, money. Every time I pay my monthly rent, I seem to find myself slipping into some kind of panic about expenditures. I'm fairly sure that, if I live somewhat frugally, I should be okay for the year, but with every little thing being more expensive, there is pressure to think about each and every purchase I'm making. Unfortunately, due to that constant pressure, I ended up feeling the need for some retail therapy, and picked up a videogame. A case of shooting myself in the foot there, perhaps.
This week is the Hosei School Festival. I went briefly today, following a request to watch a street dance performance. It's not something I have much of an interest in, if at all, but I did find it reasonably enjoyable. Most of the festival seems to lean towards various clubs selling food and alcohol, or dressing up in costumes. I even learnt that Hosei University has a Pokemon group. Unfortunately due to not bringing any of those games with me, I don't see much point in me taking part, but it's not really something I expected to see.
One thing I knew to expect when I came to Japan was being ostracised somewhat for being a foreigner. I've started to notice that this has resulted in me thinking that someone has done a certain thing for the mere reason that I'm foreign, which leaves something of a bitter taste. I think I've mentioned previously that I'll ask someone something in Japanese, and have broken English shouted back at me. Yesterday though, I had someone change where they were sitting on the subway train just to move away from me, which, being a regular traveller on public transport in England, has always seemed like a very rude thing to do. Later in the same day, I was stared at by a cat while on my way home, which then abruptly turned away from me. My very first thought that whis was also because I was foreign, and then I realised how absurd I was being.
And... that's probably everything that's notable at the moment. The only other thing is that I've rediscovered an appreciation I have for an idol, but that's not important at all. Oh no.
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Making progress
For a change, I'm not going to make a diary style entry like last time. Simply going over events always feels a bit dull for me, and I feel that's reflected in what I write down. So, as I've had a few things on my mind lately, I'm going to comvey those instead.
So, yet again, I've been getting somewhat frustrated with my progress. I am speaking more and learning new things, but at the same time I don't feel as if I'm making any genuine progress. Coincidentally, during this time, I learnt how to say "one step forward and two steps back", so it's quite apt timing really. It's been especially frustrating when I meet Japanese people who are pretty proficient at English and respond to me in English even if I speak in Japanese. I've been here for almost two months now, and it was starting to feel as if I'm falling into the trap of not putting enough effort in.
So, due to this, I've started to try and change my behaviour. The main thing, and so far most successful, is to try and really put myself out there. I had been visiting places by myself, where I would end up using less English and exposing myself to Japanese, but progress with that method has been slow. Now, I'm making an effort to meet and speak to people who speak more Japanese than English. At the moment, this seems to be paying off. Forcing myself into situations where I have to speak Japanese seems like the most effective method at the moment.
Today, I was quite pleased to end up speaking to someone in an arcade. I've lately been playing some Tekken Tag Tournament 2, as the players for that seem a lot more sociable than the Street Fighter crowd. After speaking to one of the players today, he's offered to try and teach me some of the basics and play agaisnt me if we're in the arcade at the same time. As I'm not especially skilled at Tekken or Japanese, it's going to be a long road, but it really does seem to be paying off at the moment, and has put me in a really good mood as a result.
I've also had some potential progress on the job front, but I'll update about that when something solid actually happens.
So, yet again, I've been getting somewhat frustrated with my progress. I am speaking more and learning new things, but at the same time I don't feel as if I'm making any genuine progress. Coincidentally, during this time, I learnt how to say "one step forward and two steps back", so it's quite apt timing really. It's been especially frustrating when I meet Japanese people who are pretty proficient at English and respond to me in English even if I speak in Japanese. I've been here for almost two months now, and it was starting to feel as if I'm falling into the trap of not putting enough effort in.
So, due to this, I've started to try and change my behaviour. The main thing, and so far most successful, is to try and really put myself out there. I had been visiting places by myself, where I would end up using less English and exposing myself to Japanese, but progress with that method has been slow. Now, I'm making an effort to meet and speak to people who speak more Japanese than English. At the moment, this seems to be paying off. Forcing myself into situations where I have to speak Japanese seems like the most effective method at the moment.
Today, I was quite pleased to end up speaking to someone in an arcade. I've lately been playing some Tekken Tag Tournament 2, as the players for that seem a lot more sociable than the Street Fighter crowd. After speaking to one of the players today, he's offered to try and teach me some of the basics and play agaisnt me if we're in the arcade at the same time. As I'm not especially skilled at Tekken or Japanese, it's going to be a long road, but it really does seem to be paying off at the moment, and has put me in a really good mood as a result.
I've also had some potential progress on the job front, but I'll update about that when something solid actually happens.
Thursday, 20 October 2011
Tourism
Last weekend, as I'd been to Yasukuni shrine earlier in the week, I decided to make a visit to Asakusa, which is a district in Tokyo that also houses a rather large Shinto shrine. I don't particularly subscribe to any forms of religion or spiritualism, so this visit was purely for sightseeing, which I soon learnt is the same case for many other people who visit the area.
As soon as I had arrived, I quickly realised that Asakusa seems to have the largest number of foreigners that I've seen in any one part of Tokyo so far. I had noticed a fair few in Shibuya on my previous visits, but nowhere near the amount in Asakusa. It almost encouraged me to try and speak Japanese more, to try and not be considered yet another tourist. I doubt it really worked, though.
I think the main point of attraction in Asakusa is the sheer size of the buildings and gates, most of which I struggled to contain in one photograph, which almost serves as a reminder to start properly looking for a new camera. But it's also worth mentioning that it's doing very well as a tourist trap, with the vast majority of items for sale in it's market area being little trinkets with the name quite clearly marked. This also extended to food and drink, as I ended up paying 700円 for a cup of tea and a small slice of cake in a little cafe, which would have been 500円 for the tea alone if I hadn't bought them as a set. Despite those little gripes though, it was a great place to go. I may be making a return visit for little gifts, as it wasn't expensive to get there.
Aside from that, it has been business as usual really. I'm going to be attending a baseball game between Rikkyou and Hosei at the weekend, so that should hopefully be interesting, as I've only been to a baseball game once before in the States, which somehow didn't seem to be of great interest to the people attending it.
As soon as I had arrived, I quickly realised that Asakusa seems to have the largest number of foreigners that I've seen in any one part of Tokyo so far. I had noticed a fair few in Shibuya on my previous visits, but nowhere near the amount in Asakusa. It almost encouraged me to try and speak Japanese more, to try and not be considered yet another tourist. I doubt it really worked, though.
I think the main point of attraction in Asakusa is the sheer size of the buildings and gates, most of which I struggled to contain in one photograph, which almost serves as a reminder to start properly looking for a new camera. But it's also worth mentioning that it's doing very well as a tourist trap, with the vast majority of items for sale in it's market area being little trinkets with the name quite clearly marked. This also extended to food and drink, as I ended up paying 700円 for a cup of tea and a small slice of cake in a little cafe, which would have been 500円 for the tea alone if I hadn't bought them as a set. Despite those little gripes though, it was a great place to go. I may be making a return visit for little gifts, as it wasn't expensive to get there.
Aside from that, it has been business as usual really. I'm going to be attending a baseball game between Rikkyou and Hosei at the weekend, so that should hopefully be interesting, as I've only been to a baseball game once before in the States, which somehow didn't seem to be of great interest to the people attending it.
Friday, 14 October 2011
Socialising
Once again, it's been a while since the last update, but I think that this is potentially going to be the rate of updates for the foreseeable future. I never really intended this to be a diary of day to day things, more a record of impressions from certain days, in which case things are going quite smoothly.
Yesterday marked the day I finally finished off my health checks. Back in Sheffield, I had to do a preliminary one of these, which wasn't anything particularly special, just a blood test, checking blood pressure and that kind of thing. The only thing I didn't receive was a lung x-ray, which is apparently something required of me if I'm to stay in Japan to study abroad. Nobody has ever explained why. What struck me about this though, was that my memory of the health service in Sheffield consisted of my first appointment being cancelled halfway through because the person conducting it realised they weren't qualified, which meant waiting a week to have a doctor do it, who then proceeded to complain about all the things he was having to do. To top that off, I was charged for the whole procedure, which I'm told I shouldn't have been. However, in Japan, the x-ray, which presumably takes a lot more time an effort than a blood test that the doctor in Sheffield was complaining about, was over and done with in little to no time, and with a doctor who quite happily chuckled the whole time, quite possibly due to a large number of bemused looking transfer students. The difference between the two really stood out to me.
Following that, while I've been to a couple of small shrines in the vicinity of my campus, yesterday we were taken on a class field trip to Yasukuni Shrine. Previously, I only knew of this because of the political unrest it causes whenever a politician visits the shrine, as there are a number of war criminals interred there. Obviously, considering I only knew that, I was surprised by just how grand the shrine turned out to me. The benefit of knowing a small amount of information, you could say. The main thing that caught me by surprise, having only been to small shrines in city, was just how big the Tori gates were. I attempted to get a few photos, but the sheer size of them meant I could never fit the whole gate into shot unless I was some distance away. I was told that there will be some form of festival next week, so I shall be making a return visit.
And then again, yesterday, I went with some friends to an izakaya for a fair few drinks. Thankfully the vast majority of people there were Japanese, and assisted by some Dutch courage, I felt relatively confident with speaking Japanese. It's maybe a bit silly, but I'm consciously aware of how much time I spend with other English speaking students and native Japanese people. I always have the fact that my year abroad is supposed to be to improve my Japanese rather than have a holiday, and events such as this help make me feel it's all worth it if I have fun at the same time.
Finally, having spoken to a very nice teacher at my university, I was asked which sort of clubs I was thinking of joining. At the moment, it's calligraphy, kendo and Ouendan, and she was quite surprised to learn of both of those interests. What surprised me though, was that several hours later in the same day, she found out which class I would be taking so that she could speak to me afterwards, to say that she had spoken to a few people to find out how I could join each of them. Definitely not something I was expecting, but it seems like it would be silly to pass up the oppurtunity to try at least one of them!
Yesterday marked the day I finally finished off my health checks. Back in Sheffield, I had to do a preliminary one of these, which wasn't anything particularly special, just a blood test, checking blood pressure and that kind of thing. The only thing I didn't receive was a lung x-ray, which is apparently something required of me if I'm to stay in Japan to study abroad. Nobody has ever explained why. What struck me about this though, was that my memory of the health service in Sheffield consisted of my first appointment being cancelled halfway through because the person conducting it realised they weren't qualified, which meant waiting a week to have a doctor do it, who then proceeded to complain about all the things he was having to do. To top that off, I was charged for the whole procedure, which I'm told I shouldn't have been. However, in Japan, the x-ray, which presumably takes a lot more time an effort than a blood test that the doctor in Sheffield was complaining about, was over and done with in little to no time, and with a doctor who quite happily chuckled the whole time, quite possibly due to a large number of bemused looking transfer students. The difference between the two really stood out to me.
Following that, while I've been to a couple of small shrines in the vicinity of my campus, yesterday we were taken on a class field trip to Yasukuni Shrine. Previously, I only knew of this because of the political unrest it causes whenever a politician visits the shrine, as there are a number of war criminals interred there. Obviously, considering I only knew that, I was surprised by just how grand the shrine turned out to me. The benefit of knowing a small amount of information, you could say. The main thing that caught me by surprise, having only been to small shrines in city, was just how big the Tori gates were. I attempted to get a few photos, but the sheer size of them meant I could never fit the whole gate into shot unless I was some distance away. I was told that there will be some form of festival next week, so I shall be making a return visit.
And then again, yesterday, I went with some friends to an izakaya for a fair few drinks. Thankfully the vast majority of people there were Japanese, and assisted by some Dutch courage, I felt relatively confident with speaking Japanese. It's maybe a bit silly, but I'm consciously aware of how much time I spend with other English speaking students and native Japanese people. I always have the fact that my year abroad is supposed to be to improve my Japanese rather than have a holiday, and events such as this help make me feel it's all worth it if I have fun at the same time.
Finally, having spoken to a very nice teacher at my university, I was asked which sort of clubs I was thinking of joining. At the moment, it's calligraphy, kendo and Ouendan, and she was quite surprised to learn of both of those interests. What surprised me though, was that several hours later in the same day, she found out which class I would be taking so that she could speak to me afterwards, to say that she had spoken to a few people to find out how I could join each of them. Definitely not something I was expecting, but it seems like it would be silly to pass up the oppurtunity to try at least one of them!
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Hurdles
Minor update really, but it felt like the sort of thing I could group together as one. It's just short a few days, but I've been in Japan almost a month now, and I'm starting to notice a few little things.
The first one is that I've got a good feeling now of what it's like to be foreign. Having lived in Britain my whole life so far, I wasn't exactly used to being treated differently. Having been stared at solidly, caught a few glances in my direction, had people move away from me on the subway and on a couple of occasions, even change seats when the oppurtunity allowed, and had English yelled at me despite speaking in Japanese to someone, I've got a fairly good idea how that feels. I knew to expect it, I just didn't really know how it might bother me slightly. I know it's not something I can move away from through, so I'll simply have to cope.
Also, around the time of my arrival, I was speaking much more Japanese than I did previously in Sheffield, which was essentially nothing. I noticed that I was speaking more and more and developing better sentences, but I think that wasn't anything more than what I knew coming out to be used. Now, that seems to have peaked somewhat and evened out, meaning I'm beginning to get frustrated when there's something I'm unable to say. I'm constantly trying to resist the urge to slip back into English, but it can be difficult at times.
Additionally, I've finally succumbed to an illness which has been going around the boy's dorm for about a week now. Thankfully it's not anything other than a cough, but a couple of people have developed flu symptoms, so I'm hoping I don't have that strain. Due to that, I'm getting myself well acquainted with Vitamin-C drinks and what I can only assume are the Japanese equivalent of Tunes, only they taste better and they're much smaller. They haven't killed me yet either, so my first experience with Japanese medicine has been a success! That is, of course, if lozengers qualify as a medicine.
Aside that that, that mostly brings us up to date. I haven't managed to find employment yet, the English language cafe I found wanted me to work the entirety of every Sunday, open until close, which I don't think I can manage, so it's back to the searching stage at the moment.
The first one is that I've got a good feeling now of what it's like to be foreign. Having lived in Britain my whole life so far, I wasn't exactly used to being treated differently. Having been stared at solidly, caught a few glances in my direction, had people move away from me on the subway and on a couple of occasions, even change seats when the oppurtunity allowed, and had English yelled at me despite speaking in Japanese to someone, I've got a fairly good idea how that feels. I knew to expect it, I just didn't really know how it might bother me slightly. I know it's not something I can move away from through, so I'll simply have to cope.
Also, around the time of my arrival, I was speaking much more Japanese than I did previously in Sheffield, which was essentially nothing. I noticed that I was speaking more and more and developing better sentences, but I think that wasn't anything more than what I knew coming out to be used. Now, that seems to have peaked somewhat and evened out, meaning I'm beginning to get frustrated when there's something I'm unable to say. I'm constantly trying to resist the urge to slip back into English, but it can be difficult at times.
Additionally, I've finally succumbed to an illness which has been going around the boy's dorm for about a week now. Thankfully it's not anything other than a cough, but a couple of people have developed flu symptoms, so I'm hoping I don't have that strain. Due to that, I'm getting myself well acquainted with Vitamin-C drinks and what I can only assume are the Japanese equivalent of Tunes, only they taste better and they're much smaller. They haven't killed me yet either, so my first experience with Japanese medicine has been a success! That is, of course, if lozengers qualify as a medicine.
Aside that that, that mostly brings us up to date. I haven't managed to find employment yet, the English language cafe I found wanted me to work the entirety of every Sunday, open until close, which I don't think I can manage, so it's back to the searching stage at the moment.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
お久しぶり！
It feels like it's been a while since I've updated this, which might be in part to the long days that I've been having here. Thankfully, my excuse is simply lack of time, rather than lack of interest. The problem there is that it's left me with potentially too much content to write about, so I'll bring things up to date rather than make what could potentially be an overly long diary style post.
Firstly, classes at Hosei are going smoothly. I've attended all of my chosen classes, so I know what I'm in for now. As previously mentioned, I'm in the upper intermediate bracket for Japanese language, and the classes are all easily understandable. The actual teaching proficiency of the lecturers varies quite widely, and thanks to that I have a couple of favourites and some I'm not so keen on, but the course content is solid enough. Regarding classes about Japan taught in English, those are also fine, but as there hasn't been much other than the orientations so far, there's not a great deal to say.
That is not the case with one class though, about youth networks in Japan. Today, we made a class field trip to the Advertisement Musuem in Tokyo. It mostly focused on Mitsukoshi and Parco, two department stores in Japan that have quite radically different approaches to advertising. It was interesting, I'll admit, but not much of it actually applied to what we were studying. Despite that though, it's not a place I would have known about otherwise, and it was free to attend, so I could have done a lot worse with my day.
Socialising wise, I've met up with some other Hosei students who have previously been to Sheffield, and there was also a welcome party by an international circle at my campus. The welcome party wasn't radically different to the weekly socials that ran in the Japan Society at Sheffield, so that wasn't too bad, and I found out later on in the night that I'd been drinking alcohol without really realising it, as it simply looked like a can of juice. I need to pay a bit more attention with that, it's the second time it's happened.
Meeting the previous transfer students was fantastic though, and presently it might be the highlight of my year abroad so far. A handful of Sheffield students were also in attendance. We went to a place which I believe is called "The Lockup", which is located in Shibuya. I was expecting an all you can eat/all you can drink kind of situation, which is what happened in a sense, but the theme was new to me. The entrance, which took about ten minutes to get through, was made up like a haunted house. Each of the rooms were made to look like a cell, and various drinks came in beakers instead of glasses. The highlight was that, every so often, all of the lights would go out without warning, UV lighting would come on, and then people dressed up as horror movie characters would burst into the room. I'm told that there are quite a number of theme bars such as this, and I'm somewhat tempted to experience others.
Finally, to wrap this update up, following the advice of a graduate, I've potentially managed to find some form of employment with an English cafe. Whether or not I secure such a thing, I will post about in the near future.
Firstly, classes at Hosei are going smoothly. I've attended all of my chosen classes, so I know what I'm in for now. As previously mentioned, I'm in the upper intermediate bracket for Japanese language, and the classes are all easily understandable. The actual teaching proficiency of the lecturers varies quite widely, and thanks to that I have a couple of favourites and some I'm not so keen on, but the course content is solid enough. Regarding classes about Japan taught in English, those are also fine, but as there hasn't been much other than the orientations so far, there's not a great deal to say.
That is not the case with one class though, about youth networks in Japan. Today, we made a class field trip to the Advertisement Musuem in Tokyo. It mostly focused on Mitsukoshi and Parco, two department stores in Japan that have quite radically different approaches to advertising. It was interesting, I'll admit, but not much of it actually applied to what we were studying. Despite that though, it's not a place I would have known about otherwise, and it was free to attend, so I could have done a lot worse with my day.
Socialising wise, I've met up with some other Hosei students who have previously been to Sheffield, and there was also a welcome party by an international circle at my campus. The welcome party wasn't radically different to the weekly socials that ran in the Japan Society at Sheffield, so that wasn't too bad, and I found out later on in the night that I'd been drinking alcohol without really realising it, as it simply looked like a can of juice. I need to pay a bit more attention with that, it's the second time it's happened.
Meeting the previous transfer students was fantastic though, and presently it might be the highlight of my year abroad so far. A handful of Sheffield students were also in attendance. We went to a place which I believe is called "The Lockup", which is located in Shibuya. I was expecting an all you can eat/all you can drink kind of situation, which is what happened in a sense, but the theme was new to me. The entrance, which took about ten minutes to get through, was made up like a haunted house. Each of the rooms were made to look like a cell, and various drinks came in beakers instead of glasses. The highlight was that, every so often, all of the lights would go out without warning, UV lighting would come on, and then people dressed up as horror movie characters would burst into the room. I'm told that there are quite a number of theme bars such as this, and I'm somewhat tempted to experience others.
Finally, to wrap this update up, following the advice of a graduate, I've potentially managed to find some form of employment with an English cafe. Whether or not I secure such a thing, I will post about in the near future.
Saturday, 24 September 2011
問題第一
Rate of updates here has died down somewhat, which can only really mean I'm settling in I think. I'm getting used to how things work here and getting into the role of a student here, which, in a sense, means there's less to talk about. That, however, has given me a little time to reflect. As much as I detest whining on the internet about problems, this post may contain a little bit of that.
Having been here a mere two weeks now, although it feels a lot longer than that, I've realised just how expensive Tokyo can be. Granted, my main two purchases thus far have been a six month commuter pass and a phone, but all the little bits and pieces have added up pretty fast. We were advised to take £1000 worth of yen with us before coming here for the first month, which I took slightly less than, but I didn't expect to go through that quite so fast.
In summary, after a couple of weeks, I've already become concerned about money. Rent wise, I'm actually going to be paying ever so slightly less than I did in my first year at Sheffield, but that didn't allow for a lot of freedom. This quite possibly means I'm going to need to try to find some sort of job while I'm here, if I'm to do the things I've been hoping to do for the past couple of years.
I'm well aware that this isn't a holiday, and I'm not going to begin treating it as such. I'm here to improve my Japanese, all in regards to reading, writing, speaking and just general understanding. I have thankfully remained strict with what I've been spending my money on, with a day trip to Tokyo Game Show, and today buying a couple of books, but somehow my money has still depleted quite rapidly. I'm hoiping it'll balance out in the coming weeks, but for the time being, I'm concerned.
I'm not sure if writing this had much of a point beyond getting it out of my system, but that's probably enough navel gazing for the time being.
Having been here a mere two weeks now, although it feels a lot longer than that, I've realised just how expensive Tokyo can be. Granted, my main two purchases thus far have been a six month commuter pass and a phone, but all the little bits and pieces have added up pretty fast. We were advised to take £1000 worth of yen with us before coming here for the first month, which I took slightly less than, but I didn't expect to go through that quite so fast.
In summary, after a couple of weeks, I've already become concerned about money. Rent wise, I'm actually going to be paying ever so slightly less than I did in my first year at Sheffield, but that didn't allow for a lot of freedom. This quite possibly means I'm going to need to try to find some sort of job while I'm here, if I'm to do the things I've been hoping to do for the past couple of years.
I'm well aware that this isn't a holiday, and I'm not going to begin treating it as such. I'm here to improve my Japanese, all in regards to reading, writing, speaking and just general understanding. I have thankfully remained strict with what I've been spending my money on, with a day trip to Tokyo Game Show, and today buying a couple of books, but somehow my money has still depleted quite rapidly. I'm hoiping it'll balance out in the coming weeks, but for the time being, I'm concerned.
I'm not sure if writing this had much of a point beyond getting it out of my system, but that's probably enough navel gazing for the time being.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Typhoon
Well, term has well and truly started here, but it's been an odd beginning. The very first day, which I've detailed already, was on a Friday, and right after the weekend was Respect for the Aged day, a national holiday, which means there were no classes. Tuesday was fine, and I'll detail that in a bit, but today's lessons from 1pm were cancelled due to concerns over a typhoon passing over Tokyo today. So, while there have been four days since the start of term, I've only really had two "full" days.
On Sunday, I made a visit to the Tokyo Game Show, but as that's almost exclusively videogame related, the details of that will be over at Samurai Rocket. But other than that, my days have mostly been spent studying in my dorm, going to university and back. The daily grind has well and truly begun, it would seem.
Regarding classes, I've had my second Japanese language one, which was exclusively for speaking, and it wasn't bad at all. With the content relating to relatively simple things like restructuring a sentence to convey the same meaning, or talking amongst ourselves to ask eachother what our favourite foods are, it's really quite comfortable. I'm convinced that the next level up would quite possibly be too much for me, so it's a bit odd that the level I'm in right now is straightforward. It's doing a good job of proving to me what other transfer students have told me, in that you'll only really learn and improve outside of class. That being the case, it's almost just as well that I'm enjoying going out by myself for a wander and immersing myself.
Yesterday was a bit odd on that front, however. After class I made yet another trip to Shibuya to meet Rory, another transfer student from my year in Sheffield, and Daiki, a student from Hosei who had studied at Sheffield during the second semester of my first year. It was a very bilingual day, but I found that it kept taking me a few moments to adjust between English or Japanese. Staying in one language was fine, but switching over on the fly made things troublesome, even moreso when I started really thinking about what I was saying. I can only assume the problem was that I was trying to speak in Japanese while thinking in English, which could explain some of my struggles at Sheffield really!
As I've been writing this, the intensity of the typhoon has increased, and my attention from this has been diverted somewhat to just how strong the rain and wind is coming down. I think it's going to be most intense around 9pm tonight, and it's currently 5pm. Be interesting to see what tomorrow morning brings.
On Sunday, I made a visit to the Tokyo Game Show, but as that's almost exclusively videogame related, the details of that will be over at Samurai Rocket. But other than that, my days have mostly been spent studying in my dorm, going to university and back. The daily grind has well and truly begun, it would seem.
Regarding classes, I've had my second Japanese language one, which was exclusively for speaking, and it wasn't bad at all. With the content relating to relatively simple things like restructuring a sentence to convey the same meaning, or talking amongst ourselves to ask eachother what our favourite foods are, it's really quite comfortable. I'm convinced that the next level up would quite possibly be too much for me, so it's a bit odd that the level I'm in right now is straightforward. It's doing a good job of proving to me what other transfer students have told me, in that you'll only really learn and improve outside of class. That being the case, it's almost just as well that I'm enjoying going out by myself for a wander and immersing myself.
Yesterday was a bit odd on that front, however. After class I made yet another trip to Shibuya to meet Rory, another transfer student from my year in Sheffield, and Daiki, a student from Hosei who had studied at Sheffield during the second semester of my first year. It was a very bilingual day, but I found that it kept taking me a few moments to adjust between English or Japanese. Staying in one language was fine, but switching over on the fly made things troublesome, even moreso when I started really thinking about what I was saying. I can only assume the problem was that I was trying to speak in Japanese while thinking in English, which could explain some of my struggles at Sheffield really!
As I've been writing this, the intensity of the typhoon has increased, and my attention from this has been diverted somewhat to just how strong the rain and wind is coming down. I think it's going to be most intense around 9pm tonight, and it's currently 5pm. Be interesting to see what tomorrow morning brings.
Saturday, 17 September 2011
お待たせ~
Totally forgot to update yesterday, and therefore, that is what tonight's post shall be about! I won't be writing about today's antics because, put simply, all I've really done is get into studying properly and get frustrated at a very poor internet connection, which is quite possibly something I don't exactly feel driven to write about.
In any case, yesterday marked the first day of classes at Hosei, along with the creation of my bank account. The bank account came first, along with my first time experiencing rush hour on public trains. I can happily say that I don't feel much intention to experience them often, as for the first part I had a man sneezing and hitting my elbow each and every time, and on the second part of the journey I had a woman's ponytail in my face. If it wasn't for aircon, the whole experience would have been a whole lot worse.
Creating a bank account was a simple affair, most in part to Kondo-sensei from Hosei University. We did get a few odd looks in the branch when about fifteen foreigners walked into a Mitsubishi bank, but the staff didn't waste any time in finding us a seperate room, potentially due to the noise that was being made, I'm not sure. While I do have a bank book, I think it's two weeks until I have an account proper, but with some budgeting then that shouldn't really be an issue.
I had a rather substantial five hours to kill between that and the start of class, so I went with Daniel across to Shibuya to direct him towards the Softbank store where I got my phone, as he was still in need of one, and then arranged to meet Kim, another student from Sheffield. Apart from Daniel, who I live with and sort of kind of doesn't really count for that matter, Kim was the first person from Sheffield who I've arranged to meet, and it was pretty fun. Didn't really do a great deal apart from having another wander, finding a rather barren park situated on the roof of a carpark, going to a beef bowl restuarant and then making an ever so brief visit to a Taito arcade.
After that, I returned back to Iidabashi for Hosei University, navigating the Yamanote circle line by myself after having abrief introduction to it from Daniel on the way to Shibuya, and then had about half an hour to kill before class started. During that time, I had the fortune of bumping into Hide, a Hosei student who came to Sheffield last year. For the second time that day, it was a great feeling to see a friendly face. I was unfortunately able to join him later in the evening for some yakiniku, and he apparently didn't receive my message to say so as I'm still getting used to my phone!
For my Japanese class, I'm in group three out of four, which I believe is upper intermediate, one down from advanced. It feels like it's about my level, as while the grammar we covered was something that I had covered previously, I still don't feel completely solid on it. The kanji is also a mixture of new and old, so I am at least guaranteed of covering something new to me. Oddly, with the flashcards for this week, I have a mere fourteen to learn for next Friday, as opposed to around sixty to learn over the weekend, which is what I was only barely coping with at Sheffield.
It's a wonderful change.
In any case, yesterday marked the first day of classes at Hosei, along with the creation of my bank account. The bank account came first, along with my first time experiencing rush hour on public trains. I can happily say that I don't feel much intention to experience them often, as for the first part I had a man sneezing and hitting my elbow each and every time, and on the second part of the journey I had a woman's ponytail in my face. If it wasn't for aircon, the whole experience would have been a whole lot worse.
Creating a bank account was a simple affair, most in part to Kondo-sensei from Hosei University. We did get a few odd looks in the branch when about fifteen foreigners walked into a Mitsubishi bank, but the staff didn't waste any time in finding us a seperate room, potentially due to the noise that was being made, I'm not sure. While I do have a bank book, I think it's two weeks until I have an account proper, but with some budgeting then that shouldn't really be an issue.
I had a rather substantial five hours to kill between that and the start of class, so I went with Daniel across to Shibuya to direct him towards the Softbank store where I got my phone, as he was still in need of one, and then arranged to meet Kim, another student from Sheffield. Apart from Daniel, who I live with and sort of kind of doesn't really count for that matter, Kim was the first person from Sheffield who I've arranged to meet, and it was pretty fun. Didn't really do a great deal apart from having another wander, finding a rather barren park situated on the roof of a carpark, going to a beef bowl restuarant and then making an ever so brief visit to a Taito arcade.
After that, I returned back to Iidabashi for Hosei University, navigating the Yamanote circle line by myself after having abrief introduction to it from Daniel on the way to Shibuya, and then had about half an hour to kill before class started. During that time, I had the fortune of bumping into Hide, a Hosei student who came to Sheffield last year. For the second time that day, it was a great feeling to see a friendly face. I was unfortunately able to join him later in the evening for some yakiniku, and he apparently didn't receive my message to say so as I'm still getting used to my phone!
For my Japanese class, I'm in group three out of four, which I believe is upper intermediate, one down from advanced. It feels like it's about my level, as while the grammar we covered was something that I had covered previously, I still don't feel completely solid on it. The kanji is also a mixture of new and old, so I am at least guaranteed of covering something new to me. Oddly, with the flashcards for this week, I have a mere fourteen to learn for next Friday, as opposed to around sixty to learn over the weekend, which is what I was only barely coping with at Sheffield.
It's a wonderful change.
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Simple things
Who'd have thought buying a phone would have felt like such a mission?
Today, myself and Daniel went to collect the temporary forms for foreigners, which we can use until we receive the actual registration card in a couple of weeks. With that, we'd be able to buy a phone and open a bank account, so right now it's quite important to have.
For me, it was back to Shibuya again, while Daniel headed off to Ikebukuro. The reason I wanted to go to Shibuya was because there's a Softbank phone store which has English speaking staff, and I'd been told previously that it's quite a complicated process and therefore it's quite important to have a fluent speaker with you. I wanted to bypass that completely and just get a phone as easily as possible, so I headed there quite quickly.
Problem was... I wanted a prepaid model, rather than a contract one. I found out today that these are possibly quite high in demand, or there just isn't that many of them. The English speaking store informed me, in Japanese, that they have no stock at all, and suggested I headed to a nearby Bic Camera, which I had walked by beforehand. So, I headed there, and found that they too were out of stock. Thankfully the staff member was kind enough to provide me with a map where I could find any Softbank, Docomo or other similar stores.
All in all, I headed to about six shops in total, and only in the last one did they have some prepaid phones. They didn't have the model I wanted, and with what they had, they didn't have the colour I liked the look of, but by that point I was actually beyond caring. I just wanted to be done with it, and honestly, the worst phone they had would probably be better than the LG Cookie I used up to a week previously in England. Nothing can be worse than that.
The whole procedure took about... an hour maybe, and they checked my passport, student ID and registration certificate, and then I almost happily paid 11,000円/£90, and then I was the very proud owner of a Softbank 821SC. I've already attached my Phoenix Wright charm to it.
The main thing is though, I did the vast majority of my search for a phone in Japanese, along with the purchasing of, and even understood a fair bit of Keigo. Simple Keigo, obviously, but the fact still stands that I managed something I didn't expect I'd be able to do.
It's been a good day.
Today, myself and Daniel went to collect the temporary forms for foreigners, which we can use until we receive the actual registration card in a couple of weeks. With that, we'd be able to buy a phone and open a bank account, so right now it's quite important to have.
For me, it was back to Shibuya again, while Daniel headed off to Ikebukuro. The reason I wanted to go to Shibuya was because there's a Softbank phone store which has English speaking staff, and I'd been told previously that it's quite a complicated process and therefore it's quite important to have a fluent speaker with you. I wanted to bypass that completely and just get a phone as easily as possible, so I headed there quite quickly.
Problem was... I wanted a prepaid model, rather than a contract one. I found out today that these are possibly quite high in demand, or there just isn't that many of them. The English speaking store informed me, in Japanese, that they have no stock at all, and suggested I headed to a nearby Bic Camera, which I had walked by beforehand. So, I headed there, and found that they too were out of stock. Thankfully the staff member was kind enough to provide me with a map where I could find any Softbank, Docomo or other similar stores.
All in all, I headed to about six shops in total, and only in the last one did they have some prepaid phones. They didn't have the model I wanted, and with what they had, they didn't have the colour I liked the look of, but by that point I was actually beyond caring. I just wanted to be done with it, and honestly, the worst phone they had would probably be better than the LG Cookie I used up to a week previously in England. Nothing can be worse than that.
The whole procedure took about... an hour maybe, and they checked my passport, student ID and registration certificate, and then I almost happily paid 11,000円/£90, and then I was the very proud owner of a Softbank 821SC. I've already attached my Phoenix Wright charm to it.
The main thing is though, I did the vast majority of my search for a phone in Japanese, along with the purchasing of, and even understood a fair bit of Keigo. Simple Keigo, obviously, but the fact still stands that I managed something I didn't expect I'd be able to do.
It's been a good day.
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Registration
Today marked the day that I registered as a foreign resident. A lot of it was guided by Hosei, but I was still quite surprised at the simplicity of the whole procedure. A mere two sheets were filled out, and with a lot of blank spots, then we handed over passports and photos, and that was all that was really required of us. After that, it was an hour and a half wait, which mostly consisted of walking around the town a bit, and then we completed our registration. Slight issue is that there's another two weeks to go until we actually have our registration cards, but we're able to get a certificate tomorrow that allows us to buy a phone and open a bank account tomorrow, which I'll be attempting to do!
The rest of the day was mostly wandering around Shibuya, which was also the first time I've really wandered around the city by myself. I found a few occasions to speak in Japanese, which was responded to in two different ways. While I asked a question in pretty simple Japanese, I would either get something in broken English, or I'd get something which was much too complicated to understand, which I guess is just part of what you get when you're a foreigner speaking Japanese. The exception to this was only when I asked policemen for directions, who I also found are all pretty nice people, making sure I understood and responding in simple Japanese. They even threw around a few jokes, which I didn't expect! Regardless, I think the response to me being foreign is something that I'm very unlikely to shake, which is a bit of a shame.
Very little is coming to mind at the moment, which makes me feel like I'm forcing myself to write at least something, which is probably a bad sign.
The rest of the day was mostly wandering around Shibuya, which was also the first time I've really wandered around the city by myself. I found a few occasions to speak in Japanese, which was responded to in two different ways. While I asked a question in pretty simple Japanese, I would either get something in broken English, or I'd get something which was much too complicated to understand, which I guess is just part of what you get when you're a foreigner speaking Japanese. The exception to this was only when I asked policemen for directions, who I also found are all pretty nice people, making sure I understood and responding in simple Japanese. They even threw around a few jokes, which I didn't expect! Regardless, I think the response to me being foreign is something that I'm very unlikely to shake, which is a bit of a shame.
Very little is coming to mind at the moment, which makes me feel like I'm forcing myself to write at least something, which is probably a bad sign.
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Developments
Wow, well, where to start?
Today was unbelievably busy. There was an early start to arrive on time for the interviews at Hosei University, which were supposedly going to last for a couple of minutes each, but ended up actually taking about 10-20 minutes each. There was initially one group of teachers conducting the interviews, but as time pressed on, they split into two to get through everyone quickly. Only issue was, this created two different interview patterns, which created the possibility of either being asked a few questions about yourself and your experience with Japanese, or questions relating to the application that was initially sent to Hosei. I received the former, and I'm not entirely sure on how well I did. I am aware that I'm in the intermediate bracket, but I'm not sure yet if I'm in the upper or lower tier.
After that, there was roughly two hours to kill between the end of the interviews and a welcome party for international students. I took the oppurtunity to wander around Iidabashi, the suburb that Hosei University is located in, and was quite pleased by the experience. I visited a couple of temples, and messed up the entrance procedure to the first one, but thankfully remembered what to do at the second one. Not a great deal of things to do there, as you might expect, but they're relatively quiet and secluded spaces amongst everything else. I also made sure to visit another arcade, as the oppurtunity to do so was there, and limited myself to one match on Street Fighter 4, which I didn't do quite as bad at second time around. I eventually made my way back to Hosei University, only to be slightly overwhelmed by the humidity, and I'm quite ashamed by how sweaty I became. Not just mildly, my shirt was genuinely damp and wet. What with the party approaching, I thought that it might be a poor first impression to make, so bought a Hosei shirt from the University shop, but then learnt that medium here is just too small for me.
So, yes, I met some lovely people at the welcome party, including a handful of Japanese students who have been to Sheffield previously, and thankfully didn't make a big deal about my sodden situation. Not a lot happened there aside from mingling, but I doubled my effort to speak in Japanese and can already feel my confidence gradually developing. After that, the plan was to go to an Izakaya, which is essentially a traditional Japanese tavern, but the sheer number of international students and prices which the majority considered a bit too much, we ended up going to a convenience store, buying alcohol there and drinking it in the park. Very classy times indeed.
Apologies for the rambling nature of this post, but I'm almost overwhelmed by tiredness tonight. I think I actually have to go to bed, much earlier than usual, but wanted to get this down before any details escaped me!
Today was unbelievably busy. There was an early start to arrive on time for the interviews at Hosei University, which were supposedly going to last for a couple of minutes each, but ended up actually taking about 10-20 minutes each. There was initially one group of teachers conducting the interviews, but as time pressed on, they split into two to get through everyone quickly. Only issue was, this created two different interview patterns, which created the possibility of either being asked a few questions about yourself and your experience with Japanese, or questions relating to the application that was initially sent to Hosei. I received the former, and I'm not entirely sure on how well I did. I am aware that I'm in the intermediate bracket, but I'm not sure yet if I'm in the upper or lower tier.
After that, there was roughly two hours to kill between the end of the interviews and a welcome party for international students. I took the oppurtunity to wander around Iidabashi, the suburb that Hosei University is located in, and was quite pleased by the experience. I visited a couple of temples, and messed up the entrance procedure to the first one, but thankfully remembered what to do at the second one. Not a great deal of things to do there, as you might expect, but they're relatively quiet and secluded spaces amongst everything else. I also made sure to visit another arcade, as the oppurtunity to do so was there, and limited myself to one match on Street Fighter 4, which I didn't do quite as bad at second time around. I eventually made my way back to Hosei University, only to be slightly overwhelmed by the humidity, and I'm quite ashamed by how sweaty I became. Not just mildly, my shirt was genuinely damp and wet. What with the party approaching, I thought that it might be a poor first impression to make, so bought a Hosei shirt from the University shop, but then learnt that medium here is just too small for me.
So, yes, I met some lovely people at the welcome party, including a handful of Japanese students who have been to Sheffield previously, and thankfully didn't make a big deal about my sodden situation. Not a lot happened there aside from mingling, but I doubled my effort to speak in Japanese and can already feel my confidence gradually developing. After that, the plan was to go to an Izakaya, which is essentially a traditional Japanese tavern, but the sheer number of international students and prices which the majority considered a bit too much, we ended up going to a convenience store, buying alcohol there and drinking it in the park. Very classy times indeed.
Apologies for the rambling nature of this post, but I'm almost overwhelmed by tiredness tonight. I think I actually have to go to bed, much earlier than usual, but wanted to get this down before any details escaped me!
Monday, 12 September 2011
First day at Hosei University
Well, the placement test has come and gone. It... was alright. It could have been a lot worse, but I also think I could have done better.
As expected, it was multiple choice, with a few things that I haven't seen before in regards to kanji, and there was a lot of emphasis on getting particles correct in the grammar sections. I think there are four groups for Japanese language at Hosei, and I know for sure that I'm not in the top one, that'd be silly if I even considered that, but I'd like to think I'm not going to be ranked in the lowest group. I've heard time and time again that at Hosei and for the year abroad in general, you learn more outside of class than you do in it, but in a sense it's more just to justify the effort and time I've put in. Not that I think I'm entitled to it, that just wouldn't be proper, but I'd like to hope.
I've also identified an issue I seem to have with the language. So far, I've not had a great problem with listening, and I can generally understand what is being said, but I don't seem to do a great job when it comes to speaking. I want to think it's a confidence thing, as I generally know what to say, I just can't seem to actually say it when I need to. That's something that I definitely need to work on, so I suppose I just really have to get out there and put myself in situations where I have to talk.
I've also met a few of the other transfer students now, including all the ones from England. Quite pleased to find that two of them are from Newcastle University, so there's something in common already. The range of students here is quite wide though, with one person who, from what he said in his self introduction, can't understand Japanese, along with someone who is on a second attempt at a year abroad what with it being cut short by the earthquake last year. It's reassuring in a sense, I really can't compare myself to that many other people here.
Tomorrow, there's an interview to deal with. I'm not sure what is expected of me, and it's likely that it's another part of the grading process, but I'm understandably more nervous about that then the placement test itself.
頑張りましょう~
As expected, it was multiple choice, with a few things that I haven't seen before in regards to kanji, and there was a lot of emphasis on getting particles correct in the grammar sections. I think there are four groups for Japanese language at Hosei, and I know for sure that I'm not in the top one, that'd be silly if I even considered that, but I'd like to think I'm not going to be ranked in the lowest group. I've heard time and time again that at Hosei and for the year abroad in general, you learn more outside of class than you do in it, but in a sense it's more just to justify the effort and time I've put in. Not that I think I'm entitled to it, that just wouldn't be proper, but I'd like to hope.
I've also identified an issue I seem to have with the language. So far, I've not had a great problem with listening, and I can generally understand what is being said, but I don't seem to do a great job when it comes to speaking. I want to think it's a confidence thing, as I generally know what to say, I just can't seem to actually say it when I need to. That's something that I definitely need to work on, so I suppose I just really have to get out there and put myself in situations where I have to talk.
I've also met a few of the other transfer students now, including all the ones from England. Quite pleased to find that two of them are from Newcastle University, so there's something in common already. The range of students here is quite wide though, with one person who, from what he said in his self introduction, can't understand Japanese, along with someone who is on a second attempt at a year abroad what with it being cut short by the earthquake last year. It's reassuring in a sense, I really can't compare myself to that many other people here.
Tomorrow, there's an interview to deal with. I'm not sure what is expected of me, and it's likely that it's another part of the grading process, but I'm understandably more nervous about that then the placement test itself.
頑張りましょう~
Sunday, 11 September 2011
Wandering around Kasai
So, today, aside from studying for the placement test tomorrow, I got out of the dorm a bit and got a feel of Kasai, my suburb. The initial reason for that was simply because I needed food, what with there being no food served in the dorm on Sundays, but it also seems that tomorrow is a holiday, so there's no food then either.
Therefore, I had my first experience with a 7/11, one of the bigger convenience store chains. I'd had them recommended before, so I knew I'd have to go at some point, and today seemed as good an excuse as any. Everything is moderately priced, I paid a little over 400円 for a large bottle of Pocari Sweat and a large pizza bread thing, which was heated up by the clerk. I didn't really know what to expect from Japanese bread, I believe there's a different yeast content, or maybe a complete lack of, I'm not exactly sure, but it's ever so soft. Pretty tasty stuff really, I'll try to take a photo next time before I devour it!
After that, I made a brief trip to a local mall with Daniel, for some proper lunch. I found out today that I actually like ramen. I'd only really tried it at Wagamama previously, and it's usually quite bland and tasteless, but the stuff today was so good. I can see why people like it so much. I also tried out some capsule toy machines! I'm now the proud owner of a Phoenix Wright phone charm, which will soon be adorning my phone, whenever I get it. Daniel was quite jealous of the fact I got Phoenix, but in my endeavour to get one of Edgeworth instead, I ended up with Apollo as well. Thankfuilly I ran out of 100円 coins, so I couldn't get carried away. Capsule toy machines may become an achilles heel to my funds.
Made my first visit to a McDonalds here for dinner as well, which isn't really anything radical, I know, but it's the small things that make up the whole experience, and it was the small things that stood out for me here. Firstly, they're pretty quiet, it's not a place full of screaming children and noisy teens. Most of the clientele were students or office workers. Also rather amused by having a "smile" listed on the menu for 0円. Before we leave, myself and Daniel intend to visit at one point and ask for a smile, and then simply walk out.
In any case, it's back to studying grammar for now! Next update will most likely cover registration and the placement tests!
Therefore, I had my first experience with a 7/11, one of the bigger convenience store chains. I'd had them recommended before, so I knew I'd have to go at some point, and today seemed as good an excuse as any. Everything is moderately priced, I paid a little over 400円 for a large bottle of Pocari Sweat and a large pizza bread thing, which was heated up by the clerk. I didn't really know what to expect from Japanese bread, I believe there's a different yeast content, or maybe a complete lack of, I'm not exactly sure, but it's ever so soft. Pretty tasty stuff really, I'll try to take a photo next time before I devour it!
After that, I made a brief trip to a local mall with Daniel, for some proper lunch. I found out today that I actually like ramen. I'd only really tried it at Wagamama previously, and it's usually quite bland and tasteless, but the stuff today was so good. I can see why people like it so much. I also tried out some capsule toy machines! I'm now the proud owner of a Phoenix Wright phone charm, which will soon be adorning my phone, whenever I get it. Daniel was quite jealous of the fact I got Phoenix, but in my endeavour to get one of Edgeworth instead, I ended up with Apollo as well. Thankfuilly I ran out of 100円 coins, so I couldn't get carried away. Capsule toy machines may become an achilles heel to my funds.
Made my first visit to a McDonalds here for dinner as well, which isn't really anything radical, I know, but it's the small things that make up the whole experience, and it was the small things that stood out for me here. Firstly, they're pretty quiet, it's not a place full of screaming children and noisy teens. Most of the clientele were students or office workers. Also rather amused by having a "smile" listed on the menu for 0円. Before we leave, myself and Daniel intend to visit at one point and ask for a smile, and then simply walk out.
In any case, it's back to studying grammar for now! Next update will most likely cover registration and the placement tests!
Saturday, 10 September 2011
Settling in
So, I've now experienced a full day here, and it's actually going pretty well so far. I've only really had two little mistakes, the first of which was misunderstanding a clerk in a lift in Taito arcade, and then going for breakfast on the day when meals aren't served.
Aside from that though, everything has been going quite smoothly. I've been into Tokyo now, and I was quite surprised how easy it is to get around. It doesn't feel like a city where you can wander for a bit and then realise you don't know where you are, which is usually how I find London.
The suburb I'm in, Kasai, is quite a pleasant place also. Some of the houses here are really nice, and is quite contary to the whole vision you often get of Tokyo with huge towering skyscrapers everywhere. Although at one point I was quite puzzled when I noticed a small house sandwiched between two blocks of flats.
While I have done a little bit of shopping, I haven't picked up anything quirky yet, or related to any particular hobby. I am quite pleased that I have my own pair of slippers now, and have graudated from 'Little Boy Big Heart' to some simple checkered yellow. That's not to say I haven't been tempted though, every single time I saw Nora and the Carving Studio, I kept wondering if I should or shouldn't get it now. For the time being though, I'm waiting until I'm properly settled in here, perhaps as a little reward to myself for making an effort before I settle down with a videogame.
It also occured to me that I'm yet to write about my dorm. Main reason being that the most outstanding factor is just how quiet it is here. It's not like the dorm I had in my first year, with drunken people singing on their way back from a club after midnight, or people wedging their doors open to play everyone else some music. It's a lot calmer and... I guess restrained is the word. I've not really seen anyone acting out of the ordinary. It's really quite different to how student life seems to be back home. There are a few vending machines here as well, including a canned coffee one just outside. I haven't tried one yet, but I reckon that's only a matter of time. There's just something intriguing about a coffee which is a 'Rainbow Mountain Blend'.
I've also picked up a Japanese grammar book, from what seems to be the equivalent of Waterstones here, Kinokuniya. What struck me most is that somehow all books here seem to be nice. I think every single one I saw yesterday had a dust jacket. I think I may be making several return visits there, but for now, I have to focus on the grammar one, as I've got a placement test tomorrow, as well as an interview the day after. I'm honestly hoping it won't be anything too taxing, but it's wise to at least try and be prepared at this point.
For now though, I think it's about time I went for some breakfast, I may actually go to a Seven-Eleven for that, I'm told it's really rather good there!
Aside from that though, everything has been going quite smoothly. I've been into Tokyo now, and I was quite surprised how easy it is to get around. It doesn't feel like a city where you can wander for a bit and then realise you don't know where you are, which is usually how I find London.
The suburb I'm in, Kasai, is quite a pleasant place also. Some of the houses here are really nice, and is quite contary to the whole vision you often get of Tokyo with huge towering skyscrapers everywhere. Although at one point I was quite puzzled when I noticed a small house sandwiched between two blocks of flats.
While I have done a little bit of shopping, I haven't picked up anything quirky yet, or related to any particular hobby. I am quite pleased that I have my own pair of slippers now, and have graudated from 'Little Boy Big Heart' to some simple checkered yellow. That's not to say I haven't been tempted though, every single time I saw Nora and the Carving Studio, I kept wondering if I should or shouldn't get it now. For the time being though, I'm waiting until I'm properly settled in here, perhaps as a little reward to myself for making an effort before I settle down with a videogame.
It also occured to me that I'm yet to write about my dorm. Main reason being that the most outstanding factor is just how quiet it is here. It's not like the dorm I had in my first year, with drunken people singing on their way back from a club after midnight, or people wedging their doors open to play everyone else some music. It's a lot calmer and... I guess restrained is the word. I've not really seen anyone acting out of the ordinary. It's really quite different to how student life seems to be back home. There are a few vending machines here as well, including a canned coffee one just outside. I haven't tried one yet, but I reckon that's only a matter of time. There's just something intriguing about a coffee which is a 'Rainbow Mountain Blend'.
I've also picked up a Japanese grammar book, from what seems to be the equivalent of Waterstones here, Kinokuniya. What struck me most is that somehow all books here seem to be nice. I think every single one I saw yesterday had a dust jacket. I think I may be making several return visits there, but for now, I have to focus on the grammar one, as I've got a placement test tomorrow, as well as an interview the day after. I'm honestly hoping it won't be anything too taxing, but it's wise to at least try and be prepared at this point.
For now though, I think it's about time I went for some breakfast, I may actually go to a Seven-Eleven for that, I'm told it's really rather good there!
Friday, 9 September 2011
Follow-up
Reading over my last entry... I can't help but feel a little disappointed. I think I was merely going through the numbers, determined to make an update, and then skipping on the details, which isn't really something I like or intend to do. But, to be fair, I was a bit out of it, I'm not even sure how many hours I'd been awake by that point, and it's only really taken until this morning for me to be sure on what day it is. First night went pretty well though, as I went to bed just after midnight and woke up about 6:20 in the morning. Adjusting to the time difference shouldn't be too much of an issue at this rate, I hope.
Facilities wise, the dorm has pretty much all I'll need, and I'm somewhat thankful that there are western toilets rather traditional Japanese ones. I have little intention in trying one of those. I'm also not especially keen on trying the communal bath, but Daniel, another student here from Sheffield, insists we should try it as some kind of "bonding" experience. It might be some time before I'm able to attempt that, as simply being in the communal changing area for the showers made me slightly wary that someone might walk in. It's all part of the experience, I suppose, but I don't savour it!
My room is fitted with aircon, which even with my amateur knowledge of kanji, I'm able to use. Having arrived in the evening, humidity wasn't that much of an issue, although it's possible that I was just lucky on this particular day. Daniel is going to be taking me to the 100-yen shop later today for some essentials, so it's quite possible I'll be experiencing the worst of it then. I'm told it's at it's worst around 1-3pm.
Regarding these "essentials" I'm going to buy, the current number one priority is a pair of slippers. Being in Japan, the dorm requires that everyone takes off their shoes in the entrance hallway and puts on their slippers. I don't have my own pair. Thefore I received a temporary pair with a picture of a bear on them, which declare "Little Boy Big Heart" on them. That alone is incentive enough for me to get my own.
We might also be venturing into the city after that little excursion, so I'm looking forward to that. I may be updating again this evening if that happens!
Facilities wise, the dorm has pretty much all I'll need, and I'm somewhat thankful that there are western toilets rather traditional Japanese ones. I have little intention in trying one of those. I'm also not especially keen on trying the communal bath, but Daniel, another student here from Sheffield, insists we should try it as some kind of "bonding" experience. It might be some time before I'm able to attempt that, as simply being in the communal changing area for the showers made me slightly wary that someone might walk in. It's all part of the experience, I suppose, but I don't savour it!
My room is fitted with aircon, which even with my amateur knowledge of kanji, I'm able to use. Having arrived in the evening, humidity wasn't that much of an issue, although it's possible that I was just lucky on this particular day. Daniel is going to be taking me to the 100-yen shop later today for some essentials, so it's quite possible I'll be experiencing the worst of it then. I'm told it's at it's worst around 1-3pm.
Regarding these "essentials" I'm going to buy, the current number one priority is a pair of slippers. Being in Japan, the dorm requires that everyone takes off their shoes in the entrance hallway and puts on their slippers. I don't have my own pair. Thefore I received a temporary pair with a picture of a bear on them, which declare "Little Boy Big Heart" on them. That alone is incentive enough for me to get my own.
We might also be venturing into the city after that little excursion, so I'm looking forward to that. I may be updating again this evening if that happens!
Minami-kasai
Well, I've arrived in Japan, had my first dinner in the dorm, and not only had a tour, but used some of the facilities and so far, I've nothing to complain about.
But before I get into the details of those, which I'm sure you're eager for, I figure I'll finish my write up for the rest of the journey. I had a three hour wait in Dubai airport, which wasn't too bad in retrospect as it gave me sufficient time to stretch my legs a bit. The only problem arose when actually getting onto the plane for the trip to Narita. Upon boarding, there were a few workmen in the plane, working with circuit boards hanging from the ceiling. It's not an especially calming feeling to see parts of the plane you're about to travel from hanging from bits of wire. Due to whatever it was that was a problem, the plane remained on the runway for three hours. I made use of that and had my only bit of sleep on the journey.
A lot of the journey was broken up with naps, or watching Thor and Source Code, both of which were pretty cool. There was also a fellow sitting next to me with quite a severe cold that woke me up with each and every time he cleared his throat. The only other thing of note was waking up to find that my glasses had fallen off my face, and I couldn't find them straight away, so I had a mild panic to myself that my entire year in Japan would result in struggling to see anything properly. Found them in about two minutes though, almost as I trod on them.
Immigration went fine, as did customs, almost so much that there's little to even say on the matter. I met some people from Hosei University in the arrivals lounge, and one of them was kind enough to buy me a bottle of water. I managed a few broken sentences in polite Japanese, which went down pretty well. The staff at the dorm are all really nice, and I'm relieved to find I understood more of what the dorm-mother was saying than I usually did in my Japanese language classes.
All that's really left to do now is get some sleep, unpack, and then get to the hundred yen shop for some slippers of my own.
But before I get into the details of those, which I'm sure you're eager for, I figure I'll finish my write up for the rest of the journey. I had a three hour wait in Dubai airport, which wasn't too bad in retrospect as it gave me sufficient time to stretch my legs a bit. The only problem arose when actually getting onto the plane for the trip to Narita. Upon boarding, there were a few workmen in the plane, working with circuit boards hanging from the ceiling. It's not an especially calming feeling to see parts of the plane you're about to travel from hanging from bits of wire. Due to whatever it was that was a problem, the plane remained on the runway for three hours. I made use of that and had my only bit of sleep on the journey.
A lot of the journey was broken up with naps, or watching Thor and Source Code, both of which were pretty cool. There was also a fellow sitting next to me with quite a severe cold that woke me up with each and every time he cleared his throat. The only other thing of note was waking up to find that my glasses had fallen off my face, and I couldn't find them straight away, so I had a mild panic to myself that my entire year in Japan would result in struggling to see anything properly. Found them in about two minutes though, almost as I trod on them.
Immigration went fine, as did customs, almost so much that there's little to even say on the matter. I met some people from Hosei University in the arrivals lounge, and one of them was kind enough to buy me a bottle of water. I managed a few broken sentences in polite Japanese, which went down pretty well. The staff at the dorm are all really nice, and I'm relieved to find I understood more of what the dorm-mother was saying than I usually did in my Japanese language classes.
All that's really left to do now is get some sleep, unpack, and then get to the hundred yen shop for some slippers of my own.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
Dubai
At the time of writing, it is 12:55am in Dubai, it is 9:54pm back in England. I've no idea what it is over in Japan, but I'm due to arrive about 5:35pm I believe. I have £9, $3 and 86,000 yen in my wallet. I'm slightly perplexed by the numbers.
I'm somewhat pleased to say the last pound coin I spent for the next year was on an Outrun 2 cabinet, although this was one which would constantly turn towards the left. I didn't do well, but it was another oppurtunity to hear Magical Sound Shower.
The journey so far has been straightforward, which is something of a relief as I've not actually travelled by myself before. The only issue, which has only really been a technical thing, has been logging onto the wifi in Dubai Airport, which for some reason required me to connect to something called 'maxspot', and then use Internet Explorer to receive some advertisements from Hilton Hotels. If I didn't go through that process, I wouldn't be able to connect at all. Slightly curious as to why that is. If it wasn't for a friendly American fellow, with a beard no less, to suggest what to do, I wouldn't be updating this right now.
Also, for those that might be wondering, inflight entertainment consisted of watching X-men: First Class for a second time, which was worth it for Fassbender, The Beaver, which was worth it for Mel Gibson hitting himself in the face several times, and then I napped throughout Super 8. If that's not a recommendation, I don't know what is.
Only other topic of note is that I did, unfortunately, forget a couple of items while packing. Those are a mouse, and a network cable. Neither of these should be something I have to use in the immediate future, but I'm not sure what the dorms at Hosei are like regarding internet connections.
To save myself from rambling, I'll sign off here, and update again in... however many hours it is.
Miss you, Monika.
I'm somewhat pleased to say the last pound coin I spent for the next year was on an Outrun 2 cabinet, although this was one which would constantly turn towards the left. I didn't do well, but it was another oppurtunity to hear Magical Sound Shower.
The journey so far has been straightforward, which is something of a relief as I've not actually travelled by myself before. The only issue, which has only really been a technical thing, has been logging onto the wifi in Dubai Airport, which for some reason required me to connect to something called 'maxspot', and then use Internet Explorer to receive some advertisements from Hilton Hotels. If I didn't go through that process, I wouldn't be able to connect at all. Slightly curious as to why that is. If it wasn't for a friendly American fellow, with a beard no less, to suggest what to do, I wouldn't be updating this right now.
Also, for those that might be wondering, inflight entertainment consisted of watching X-men: First Class for a second time, which was worth it for Fassbender, The Beaver, which was worth it for Mel Gibson hitting himself in the face several times, and then I napped throughout Super 8. If that's not a recommendation, I don't know what is.
Only other topic of note is that I did, unfortunately, forget a couple of items while packing. Those are a mouse, and a network cable. Neither of these should be something I have to use in the immediate future, but I'm not sure what the dorms at Hosei are like regarding internet connections.
To save myself from rambling, I'll sign off here, and update again in... however many hours it is.
Miss you, Monika.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Broadening Horizons
Well, the time has finally come for me to go abroad. Although, if I was to be specific, that time would actually be about 1:30pm tomorrow. But for the sake of writing, it's easier to say "now".
In any case, I decided it was probably about time for me to make some kind of travel blog to document my travels and experiences, partly for myself, but also for friends and relatives to keep a tab on what I'm actually doing over in Japan for roughly twelve months.
Packing so far is going... slowly. I'm not expecting any issues, as the lovely people at Emirates have given me a rather substantial 30kg just for check-in luggage, which is a fair bit more than other people I've spoken to. The only other parts of my preparation that seems notable is the surprising amount of effort it took to get my contract changed with Vodafone, and also how I somehow cut my finger three times getting some earbuds.
But yes, I'm going to make a better attempt at keeping this up to date than the partner blog I've got going, which has mostly fallen out of use due to not having proper time to devote to it's actual focus, but with any luck, the two will be updated in tandem.
There will hopefully be an update in Dubai, should I have access to the internet while I'm there!
In any case, I decided it was probably about time for me to make some kind of travel blog to document my travels and experiences, partly for myself, but also for friends and relatives to keep a tab on what I'm actually doing over in Japan for roughly twelve months.
Packing so far is going... slowly. I'm not expecting any issues, as the lovely people at Emirates have given me a rather substantial 30kg just for check-in luggage, which is a fair bit more than other people I've spoken to. The only other parts of my preparation that seems notable is the surprising amount of effort it took to get my contract changed with Vodafone, and also how I somehow cut my finger three times getting some earbuds.
But yes, I'm going to make a better attempt at keeping this up to date than the partner blog I've got going, which has mostly fallen out of use due to not having proper time to devote to it's actual focus, but with any luck, the two will be updated in tandem.
There will hopefully be an update in Dubai, should I have access to the internet while I'm there!
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