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.
Saturday, 24 September 2011
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!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)