Tim in Japan

SakuraBranch, and Cousin going to Japan

2010-03-21T00:42:00.005+09:00

Well, It's literally been more than a year sinse I've last posted here.
I sort of left things unfinished, I know... It's basically because I still plan on going back to Japan some day and want to sort of pick up where I left off in terms of this blog when that happens.

In the mean time, some very cool related news! First off, my cousin Eric, 17 years old, is going to Japan as an exchange student at a Japanese highschool in Fujisawa, Kanagawa prefecture. I'm soooo excited and proud of him. Basically after I returned from Japan he had an interest in learning Japanese so I got him started with some basics and pointed him to a lof of the great resources that I've found useful in my journey through the Japanese language.

Now he's embarking on his own adventure (check out his blog @ http://eric-japantrip.blogspot.com/ )

Secondly, I get e-mail messages frequently asking me questions about Working Holiday Visa, GenkiJACS, Japanese study, and so on.. So, I've decided to start up a website/blog of sorts basically dedicated to sharing everything I know about studying Japanese including links to resources, reviews of tools, websites, schools, etc. and general tips and tricks.. I'm super excited to get this website off the ground and hope to nurture it and help it grow.
So, all you people with questions about Japan that you want to ask me, don't hestitate to continue writing me, but check out my website which might point you in the right direction aswell: www.SakuraBranch.com

Until I actually go back to Japan, any Japan-related posts I make will be on that website, so bookmark it, set it as your homepage, RSS follow it, whatever..
Sore dewa, mata ne~

Tim

Trip to Niigata

2008-10-30T15:00:00.007+09:00

I only have 6 days left in Japan, so I'm trying to make the best of the rest of my time here. I've recently been lucky to make a few new friends and we've really hit it off. Anyways, this past weekend Miho and myself took a tour bus to Niigata prefecture, famous for whine, mountains, and friendly people.
We got to visit a whine factory and sample a lot of different types of whine - I got a bit tipsy as Miho kept giving her samples to me in what was surely a conspiracy to get me drunk =P.
I got a lot of video but haven't had the chance to properly put it together just yet, so for now here are some pictures, please enjoy!

To get to Niigata prefecture, which is on the west-coast of Japan, we had to travel up and over, around, and often THROUGH a tonne of Moutains. Going through mountains was scary sometimes - the tunnels are up to 18KM long and they DO sometimes collapse but generally after earthquakes or heavy rains causing mud-slides. Anyways, we survived and came out in the middle of the mountains to be surrounded by beautiful fall colored tree covered mountain ranges!

We took a number of rest stops, one at a service area somewhere on Mount Akagi - my mom went there when she was here but it was my first time around Mt. Akagi - and another at a large dam. The above pic is Miho and me on that dam, the view was spectacular.

After we visited the winery and were treated to a very Japanese meal of rice, fish, natto (fermented soya-bean gue stuff, that actually to spite the smell was not so bad and is said to be really good for you.) We boarded a kind of cruise boat and took a tour down the river through the mountains. It was all very beautiful and ironically the scenery reminded me of Canada and Japan at the same time.

On a side note, I've been studying Japanese a lot while I still have time to be immersed in the language. I've become fairly fluent, at least to some degree, if I may say so myself, but learning new vocabulary is an ongoing process. For straight vocabulary-building, I've found a great (and FREE) website called IKNOW that has a number of games and spaced repetition systems available for learning vocabulary and Kanji (Chinese written symbols). I've embedded a couple gadgets in the right panel of the blog here showing my study time and even showing a review of the latest vocabulary that I've been learning. Many of the words I already know but hadn't learned the Kanji for yet so I'm trying to play catch-up in that regard as to not remain illiterate in Japanese. =P
Well, I'll try to get some video of my trip posted up here soon.

Tim

日本語でブログを書く

2008-10-14T21:16:00.002+09:00

I figured Id start posting my Japanese blog entries to this blog too since I refer my Japanese friends here from time to time.

日本語で日記を書くのは久しぶりですね
このサイトを登録した時「もしかしたら　一日おきに日記を書けるかも」と思ったけど・・

もうすぐカナダに　かえっちゃうから　本当にさみしくなちゃった・・
日本にいる間できるだけ生活を楽しみたいと思います。

カナダにいたとき、YESJAPAN.COMというサイトで日本語を勉強しました・・　そのサイトに、1ヶ月かん２回日本語について番組が出ます、日本に来る前によく見ました・・　　この間、その番組に出ている人たちと渋谷へパーティに行きました！　　本当にたのしかった！　　その番組を見てたので、なんか有名な人に会てた気がした。　　あとは、そのパーティで友達を作れた。　またいっしょに遊びに行くと思う・・

今、カナダに帰りたいと思う気持ちもあるけど、本当はあまり帰りたくない・・　ちょっと寂しい気になった・・

YesJapan party in Shibuya!

2008-10-13T02:12:00.005+09:00

George and me in Shibuya -
Well I feel really lucky right now. I had a rare opportunity to meet up with a bunch of fellow members and some of the hosts of YesJapan.com where I studied Japanese by myself before coming to Japan! Everyone had a really awesome time, and I will even say I've forged some new friendships. Two of the other members that came are living in Japan because their husbands are stationed here, and the other girl Rachel is here for pretty much the same reasons I am (study Japanese Language and Culture), so yea, everyone there was super cool! We all met at Shibuya's Hachikou statue (famous statue of a dog @ shibuya crossing) and then headed to Shakey's pizza in Shibuya to enjoy all-you-can-eat pizza and drinks and lots of good times. It was awesome to meet George and Hiro in person after seeing them on the YesJapan webcasts so many times over the years! I ended up missing the last train home (sinse I live far from Tokyo and have to transfer, that means the 9:07pm train) but it turned out for the better as we went to a bar in Ebisu to meet a bunch of foreign models (and some cute Japanese girls too) and enjoy drinks and chit-chat. Hiro and I really hit it off too and he's such a cool guy that he let me crash at his place. Great memories all around. I brought my camera of course, and did manage to throw a video together but unfortunately I didn't film as much as I'd of liked to in hind-sight since I was too busy having fun! Here's the video, check it out:

Video Memory

2008-09-29T20:00:00.002+09:00

Well, I had promised a few posts ago that I would start to put up some of the unseen footage I had gotten when I was in Fukuoka. If you read my blog you already know that Fukuoka and my experience at Genki JACS school, aswell as the dorm I lived in there have easily become some of my favorite places in Japan, and I made friends at this dorm (most of whom are in this video) that I'm still in touch with and hope to meet again someday.

So here's the first video I've thrown together, taken around valentines day. Students of both Fukuoka Industrial University who live at the dorm together with students of Genki Japanese and Culture school all celebrated Valnetines day together by playing a chocolate-covered-strawberry blindfold game, enjoy:

Tokyo

2008-09-26T15:05:00.001+09:00

Just thought I'd share this gem of a video with everyone; This video really captures the essence of all that is Tokyo. I still say my favorite city in Japan is Fukuoka, but Tokyo would take a healthy second place for sure. Please watch the following video:

Good times in Oota

2008-08-07T10:24:00.002+09:00

Not a heck of a lot exciting is happening in Rural Gunma prefecture. As such I'm hoping to do some traveling soon (details to come later). To be honest, I really miss Fukuoka lately; More specifically, I really miss the dorm life I had there. I found some old never-before-seen video from back at the dorm in my computer and I think someday soon I'll throw it onto the blog here.

Anyways, last night I went to Oota city to have dinner with Miho at one of our favorite Italian restaurants =). After, we went to the game center (arcade) and played a bunch of strange but cool Japanese games - unfortunately I only had the camera on for a little bit at the game center though, was too busy playing and sort of forgot to take footage. After that, I introduce my favorite dessert of Japan; The Japanese Crepe (I know it is french, but the Japanese version is just so much better so it deserves to be distinguished as the "Japanese Crepe" because I've had the french version too and this is just so much better).

The video is not overly edited and mostly is just strung together raw footage; To be honest it's more for my own memory's sake than anything else so I'm pleased with it. Enjoy!

2008-08-04T03:03:00.003+09:00

Hey all, what's up?

This weekend was pretty frickin hot outside so I spent most of it in the comfort of my AC. However, I had a great time hanging out with Miho and I went to Japanese class on Sunday - which was pretty cool but the grammer we studied I already know like the back of my hand, however the kanji part of the class kicked my butt as usual. It's interesting going to this class because I'm the only student who speaks English, and a lot of the other students are Chinese (and the rest are brazilian, indian, etc.) The Chinese people in the class have one really big advantage and that is they can already read and write kanji for the most part. I feel really pressured to "catch up" with them somehow in the writing part, but I really think that will take a few years.

Anyways, I also finally went down to the post office and sent a package of goodies back to Canada to some friends back home (you know who you are), so I look forward to those being recieved finally. The package I put together was mostly filled with Manga, but also included stickers, some crazy Japanese erasers, and a postcard from Asakusa.

Lately this J-pop girlband has really gotten popular here, I'll post a video of one of their songs below, but it's interesting that a) they are not that cute (they are kinda cute though I guess, but I dont see why they're *all that*), b) their songs are catchy but get annoying quickly, and c) who the hell knows what their real voices sound like (take a listen to the track below to see what I mean).

There is also this song which realllly sounds like the 80s has returned. It's also featured in a commercial on TV so I hear it quite often; Catchy but too artificial to make it on to my favorites list.

And last but not least, everyone's favorite チョコレイトディスコ Chocolate Disco

I just figured I'd share the ultra-pop music that is currently the top of the charts here in Japan. hehe. Mata~

七夕

2008-07-24T18:43:00.006+09:00

Hey everyone! Well, the summer is definitely here. Temperatures are so hot here I truly would take the cold Canadian winter over it any day!
However, with summer in Japan comes a wide variety of festivals, fireworks, and get-togethers.

This past week was my city's Tanabata festival. I previously showed a video I found on youtube of last years Tanabata, but I finally had the chance to make my own memories of it. So, to celebrate the occassion, Miho and I went out and bought Yukata and Jinbei. I made a video of the whole thing, so please enjoy.

Something funny

2008-07-17T16:42:00.003+09:00

Well, life has been pretty relaxed lately here in Gunma, Japan. There's honestly not a heck of a lot to do in this really rural place.. But, I'm making the best of it, for the most part. Lately I've been studying Japanese, Kanji, and even MATH.
I've also been hanging out with Miho a lot. We generally go to the Mall, or to the game center or Karaoke, etc. And we usually eat dinner at either Primo - my favorite italian restaurant - or this Japanese ramen restaurant with a REALLY cute waitress.

Also, this is extremely unrelated but I found this and found it really funny. As far as political satire goes this video is one of the best I have seen. Better still, the website this video is from allows you to put yourself in the video, so look for me (kind of towards the second half. hint: my first appearance is marching with a campaign sign in hand).. Anyways, here it is:

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

And for an extra bit of fun, I made this one of Miho and myself:

Send a JibJab Sendables® eCard Today!

Long overdue update!

2008-07-14T14:36:00.002+09:00

Well, I'm FINALLY updating my blog after a month+ long hiatus! Lots and lots has happened! Lately I have been seeing some great movies at the theaters around here. I'm finding it's a great way to enjoyably practice my Japanese listening skills.

Recently, I finally saw the Hana Yori Dango: Final Movie! Which, although good, was just not as good as the TV series. It was still a great movie though!

Miho and I also went on a date and saw a cute romantic comedy called Boku no Kanojo wa Cyborg and I enjoyed it so much. However, when I looked around youtube for the trailer for the movie I found that no one had yet translated / subtitled it so I decided to translate+subtitle it myself for practice! (I would love to get in to Fan-subbing of J-drama or maybe even Anime someday) Anyways, here's my subtitled version:

Also, to play catch-up a little with the time I haven't posted anything in. Just before May we went to Tokyo and watched a baseball game - which was a totally amazing experience and in some ways completely different from seeing a major league game back home. I put together a little video of that adventure:

And finally.. Being that summer is definitely here (the temperature is crazy outside), the summer festival season in Japan has come into full swing. Yesterday I was teaching an English class for an NPO in Maebashi, and got the chance to participate in the festivities of Tanabata - Summer Star Festival. This festival was really really great and I regrettably didn't bring my Camera, but my city will soon have its own Tanabata and I'll be sure to get some pics / video. In the meantime, here is a great video I found about Tanabata, check it out:

Well, that's all for now, but I'll be sure to get my blog back into gear. I promise!
- Timothy

Earthquake Update

2008-05-09T17:22:00.003+09:00

Well, I thought they were over for a while, but I was wrong..
This morning at about 9AM Japan time, there was ANOTHER quake, and this one was not from Mikagi prefecture (the previous two were, and Mikagi is a ways away in the north part of the main island of Honshuu), the quake this morning was centered IN the Kanto area (where Tokyo is and where I live). It wasn't very big, but now there is some evidence from researchers and sensors that, you guessed it, it is related to the previous earthquake as the movement of one tectonic plate inevitably effects the plates around it. Now there is speculation that in the next while we may have another fairly large earthquake because one of the plates offshore from Tokyo appears to have shifted a little due to the previous quakes. No one knows for sure though, all I know is that to spite being semi-excited about being in an earthquake before I came to Japan, now that I've been in a couple (and they weren't even that strong, just average), I REALLY would prefer NOT to have any more of them. I don't trust the integrity of my house either, as it's a bit old (19 years - yes that is considered old here as most modern houses have a shelf life of about 30 years due to the earthquakes they have to endure) and theres now a small crack in part of my wall from the shifting that the ENTIRE HOUSE does when a quake hits.

Phew, sorry to rant, but I have quakes on the mind now.. Anyways, I'm brushing up my disaster plans as I write this - in my head - that's how I can do that and write this at the same time.

Anyways, take care until next time.

Day Trip / Earthquakes

2008-05-08T23:00:00.002+09:00

Well I havent really done the best job lately keeping this blog updated. It is not due to a lack of excitment, in fact lately I have been rather busy and I have some great pictures and video that I will soon get around to putting together and posting up here.

So, two big things to mention for now though. First, we had a rather sizable earthquake last night. Actually, not sizable but only average.. However, this one lasted for a good 30 seconds, and about 2 minutes later there was another one that was even stronger than the first. Then there were some small aftershocks, and then it was over... so I thought.. about 2 hours later at about 3am I felt another big tremour.

Secondly, today I sort of did a spir of the moment thing and decided to take a train to Asakusa, Tokyo. I just really needed to go out exploring, and find that feeling that reminds me of why I came to Japan.. And that feeling of being able to go anywhere and blaze my own trail by myself. And to that goal, has been SUCCESS.. I am really looking forward to starting my Japanese class this sunday.

Anyways, until next time when I post some cool videos and stuff.. This is Timo, signing off..

*NEXT TIME* Gone to a baseball game in Japan, totally different experience, and geek-kingdom of AKIHABARA.. check it out here soon.. I mean it SOON..

Mom Came to Japan

2008-04-14T00:25:00.012+09:00

Above: Mom and me under some Sakura trees while cherry-blossom viewing at the park near my house

Well, it's been some time between updates and I appologize to everyone who has been waiting to read. Anyways, my MOM came to visit me for two weeks and we had an AWSOME time! I was really happy to see her, but there are lots of people I miss from back in Windsor too and for everyone who can't come visit me I hope my mom can fill you in on my life here better than my blog does.

My mom stayed at my place in Gunma, but because Gunma has basically nothing cool to see or do (that's not true either as my mom found out) we also stayed in Tokyo for a couple days to see the sights and I think my mom fell in love with the city of Tokyo as much as I did when I arrived.

During her time here, she volunteered at the international kindergarten I was working at, saw many different sides of Tokyo including Shibuya crossing, Asakusa, Ebisu, Harakjuku, and so on, and even ventured for a hike up Akagi mountain here in Gunma. Aside from that, when she was stuck in the house while I had to work, she was brave and went exploring by herself and found her own favorite place near here - the local grocery store.

Akemi-san was also very kind and showed my mom around the beautiful city of Yokohama (part of Tokyo) and they really had a great time together too I think.
It was great to see my mom, but also felt kind of strange to have her close by after being over here on my own for the past 4 and a half months. Anyways, I miss her every time I go to the grocery store (kind of inside joke). I got a tone of pictures, so I'll upload some of them below...

above: Mom and Akemi in Yokohama - My mom was very lucky because the Sakura trees were blossoming just when she arrived and it only lasts for about a week in terms of full bloom, so the timing couldn't of been better.

My mom had the chance to visit Yokohama, a very beautiful and modern city in the Tokyo area.

We made a point one night of venturing out to Tokyo Tower, which is pretty much a must-see. My mom and me both ate some cheap 7-11 Bento food for dinner afterwards to escape the high prices of the area's restaurants, but it was a memorable night anyways.

We also visited Harajuku (where the free hugs picture above was taken) and saw the great emperial garden/forest there. Here my mom stands under a giant Tori gate.

We got really lucky when in Asakusa one day and happened to see a young Maiko (apprentice geisha), she was so beautiful!!!

My mom was also a hit at the school I was teaching at! They don't have many clowns in Japan so she was a special treat!

Picking up Mom

2008-03-25T13:45:00.002+09:00

Well, I am sitting in the internet kiosk room thing at Narita international airport in Tokyo. I'm waiting for my mom to arrive. Will she arrive? haha, I only say that because I can't be sure if she made her transfer in Chicago, if she is on the right plane, etc. We have no way to contact each other until she comes out of the arrivals gate.

Anyways, I should have lots of interesting posts about our time together. I am really looking forward to showing her around Japan! Right now though my head kind of hurts, but I think it's because of a slight anxiety about meeting my mom, I haven't seen her, or anyone else from my home town for that matter in over 4 months(except Mr. and Mrs. Taguchi who moved back to Japan from my home town after I came here by chance). Anyways, we have a long day of trains ahead of us to get back into Tokyo and get to Sakura Hostel where we'll spend the night before heading back to Gunma tommorow.

From the countryside in Gunma..

2008-03-17T15:42:00.003+09:00

Hello everyone, I am still alive. I just happen to live in the middle of nowhere at the moment and thus have no internet access except at the internet cafe or manga cafe.

Anhyways, it seems like I found a place to move to in Isesaki which is about a 5 minute walk from the train station there and thus I can commute to Tokyo or Ota where Miho lives rather easily (however the train to Tokyo takes about 2 hours, but its really cheap, about 15 dollars if you convert from yen)

My mom is comming in just a week or so, so I`m hoping that there are no snags in her travels. It also looks like maybe I will move to my new apartment before she arrives. I am really looking forward to touring her around Tokyo and generally spending time with her. I`ve also started a second job part time just on saturdays teaching English at a school called COSMO. The pay is decent and its a lot of fun. In fact, I think its very similar to GenkiJACS except they teach english instead of japanese. ^.^;

I have been havig a hard time adjusting to my other job though - the kindergarten teaching job - it is so not teaching actually its just a really really giant babysitting job. At least this is how it feels most of the time. Every once and a while though I really like it. Most of the time though I just feel overwhelmed.

2008-03-06T23:55:00.006+09:00

*NOTE: This is my second post in one day, so make sure you read my other post (below this one) about my adventure today!
Anyways, I've been hearing this song a lot everywhere here as it's racing to the top of the charts here in Japan. For some reason I like it even though it's not really my type of music. The first time I saw this music video was actually on the side of one of the buildings at Shibuya Crossing (see picture):

The singer is Utada Hikari - the same singer that sings one of the theme songs for Hana Yori Dango season 2 (mom you know the song, it starts with the word arigatou), anyways this song called Heart Station took a minute for me to recognize when I found it on youtube, but at about 1:05 it changes pace and I immediate recognized it. Give it a listen, maybe you'll like it, maybe you wont:
A little note on the translation that is in the video: The one line she says at about 3:29 in the video is himitu no herutsu which can be translated in 2 ways actually and I think it's a play on words. The translator put "Secret Frequency" because they took Herutsu to mean "Hz" as in Hertz - this japanese word is borrowed from english, but Herutsu can also mean a word borrowed from German meaning Herz which means Heart.. SO.. it could be interpretted as Secret Heart OR Secret Station/frequency which is a really good play of words because the song is called Heart Station hehe.. I have to admit I'm proud to have figured that out! haha. Enjoy the song:

Kamakura

2008-03-06T23:05:00.007+09:00

Well, today Akemi-san and her friend Junko-san took me to Kamakura - a small town outside of Tokyo that she described as a "mini kyoto" because of its many many ancient temples and shrines and extremely traditional Japanese culture. I must say that it was absolutely wonderful and enchanting. The entire feeling of the place was like I was back in time, not to mention I sincerely enjoyed the pleasant company of Akemi and her friend Junko.
Right: I took this picture for my Mom, this tree was just absolutely amazing looking, the picture doesn't do it justice but my mom would love it!

I was extremely lucky though, as I had the chance to observe a Japanese wedding ceremony - 2 of them in fact - taking place at one of the shrines. Akemi said today is a "good luck" day on the Japanese calender - some days are bad luck, some normal, and some good, today is a good one, so many people may choose to get married today.

Anyways, I also bought an Omikuji kind of a fortune, you pay 100 yen, shake a small barrel, and a stick comes out that determines which fortune you get. Mine was a good one (I've improved, until now I always get so-so or even bad ones - but no fear because if they're not good you just tie them to the tree or to the rope and the bad luck is said to be taken away by the wind - see image below)

I finally have put together another video outlining todays events including a full bit about the wedding that I really really felt moved by, please watch it:

This is also my second last day staying at the Taguchi's house as I'm moving to Gunma from tomorrow night. They have been amazingly wonderful to me and I really hope I can make it up somehow some day! Anyways, I had a really great day today and it was nice to feel enchanted about being in Japan again. The novelty of this trip was slightly rekindled today to say the least. ^.^ Hope you all enjoy the video (see above)

2008-03-05T17:30:00.006+09:00

I have been extremely busy lately trying to get everything sorted out in terms of my job and where I will live. Things are still rather up-in-the-air right now. I actually spent a day at ICS on Saturday with a class that I might be soon taking over by myself. I think it will be ok, but the problem is that ICS is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so the closest place I found I could live in is like 5km away. And for some reason there is no train station or anything like that in Tamamura, so going to Tokyo or even to neighboring Oota to visit Miho would be difficult.

Anyways, Miho suggested also looking at another school called OES that has a school right next to oota station (which would mean I could easily go to anywhere in the Tokyo area). So on Tuesday I had an interview and I think it went well, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Anyways, between all the craziness, I have tried to keep enjoying myself.. I went to Shibuya and Asakusa (areas of Tokyo) a couple times. I bought a souvenir in Asakusa, and grabbed a picture of one of the weird stores in Shibuya (see below).

I also have some photos from my last few days at the dorm that I want to upload to here. We ate french style crepe. I really miss Fukuoka lately. *la sigh*

A group shot of a bunch of people at Tomo dorm in Fukuoka. I'm the nerdy white guy in the glasses

2008-02-27T10:52:00.002+09:00

This wont be too long, just wanted to note that I'm having a great time with the Taguchis! However, they are both busy today so I will be going out to explore Tokyo a bit. Haven't decided where I'll go but Akemi gave me a subway pass to use. It's called Suica and it has an IC Chip in it, so you don't have to swipe it or anything you just keep it in your wallet and when you pass through the gate, you wave your wallet past the sensor and it beeps and lets you through. So convenient compared to the subway pass I bought in Fukuoka.
Anyways, I hopefully wont get too lost wandering around by myself, Tokyo is huge after all.
PS - found out today that my mom is finally comming to visit! I am so excited to show her around!
PSS - I will be doing my first training class this Saturday at the school I'm teaching at, feeling kind of nervous, but looking forward to getting my feet wet.

I survived!

2008-02-26T10:30:00.003+09:00

Well, after what had to be the worst plane flight I have ever experienced, followed by a skillful landing by our pilot, fighting against unpresidented and fluxuating gusts of winds, onto a fog-covered, near zero visability runway, the people in ANA flight 254 gave a small standing ovation to the crew of the aircraft.

Anyways, it was quite the experience. Needless to say, I`ve arrived in Tokyo.
I spent the weekend with Miho trying to find an apartment for myself, buy a cell-phone and such. Japan is very strict about apartment rentals and usually requires a Hyoushounin (Co-Signer) if you are a foreigner or if you are not a full time worker.

Also, there are a number of other fees attached renting an apartment from　most places. Key-Money is usually an extra month`s rent paid up front on top of the first and last months rent, and this is not refunded it is a present for the landlord. There is also a security deposit which is about 2 months of rent worth, and a cleaning fee of about 10,000 Yen (100 dollars). The security deposit is refunded, the cleaning fee is not. There is also a commission paid to the realtor (you dont rent places here by shopping for houses with for-rent signs. Rentals are only advertised at this large rental agency offices).
Anyways, there is this paper about the whole headache of the process someone already wrote in their blog, but I can`t find it right now, but basically, your $800/Month apartment will cost like $6000 upfront or something ridiculous like this, regardless of if you are a foreigner or not.
So how do people do it? Well, most smaller places (what we would call a bachelor) don`t have some of these fees attached, while some student-housing companies and such have basically no extra fees at all. So, Miho was going to be my co-signer and get this all set-up, but because she is a contract worker, even though she works full time, they could not accept her as a co-signer, and in-fact if she were to rent an apartment herself she would require her mother to co-sign even though she is Japanese.
So yea, it was kind of annoying and as of right now I am not %100 sure where I will live yet but we will figure something out.
In the mean time, Mr. and Mrs. Taguchi have invited me to stay at their place for 2 weeks in Tokyo. They are so generous and kind people. Today Mrs. Taguchi and her friend and I will go out shopping in Shibuya, not that I have a lot of money to spend, but it should be fun anyways I think.
またかくよ・・

Like Bambino...

2008-02-22T23:03:00.004+09:00

Well, it has come time for me to leave my little nest in Fukuoka and go to Tokyo..
If you have seen the Japanese TV Drama Bambino (hint hint, Shaye), then this might sound familiar. Truth be told I have not seen much of that show yet (just started watching it).. Anyways, this post is mostly unrelated to that.

Today was my last day at Genki Japanese And Culture School (aka GenkiJACS) in Fukuoka, at least for now. Apparently I've put in 284 hours of study there according to my certificate of completion. But it is hardly a time for me to brag, I really owe so much to everyone that made my experience there so great! They topped it off with a huge farewell party at a local Izakaya (Japanese Pub), and it was fun like our parties always are!

ABOVE: Just a sign from Hakata station. On the way home from today's farewell party I became very nostalgic.

The past three months have really flown by too quickly, and while I am excited to be going back to the Tokyo area, I could not help but shed a couple tears on the way home, walking down the same streets and corridors that I have walked every day for the past 3 months on the way too and from school. I have REALLY come to fall in love with this city of Fukuoka! I really feel that GenkiJACS is more than a language school but also a family. I will write a formal review of the school sometime soon (not right now because it would admittedly be too bias as I'm missing it already having just said goodbye to everyone an hour ago or so).

Anyways, for now I just wanted to say I really had an amazing experience, I've picked up some great study habits and improved my language skills noticeably. I will miss everyone at GenkiJACS very much, and I definitely am planning to return.

So, like Bambino, I will be leaving Fukuoka tommorow to go to the big city of Tokyo, the adventure will continue, but I will never forget this city. It kind of feels like my Japanese hometown of sorts.

I tried to get a snapshot of my friend Peter and his girlfriend, but Chihomi sensei somehow snuck in to the picture aswell, haha.

2008-02-13T12:36:00.000+09:00

Well, Miho came to Fukuoka over the long weekend this past weekend and we had a really great time. I have never felt like a tourist in Fukuoka until this past weekend. I am not sure why there was a long weekend but perhaps it was kind of related to valentines. In Japan on valentines girls give chocolate to guys.This might sound one sided until you find out that later on March 14th - known as white day - guys are expected to give a much more expensive gift to the girls that gave them chocolate..
Anyways, I got lots of chocolate from Miho, so I am saving my Yen to buy her something nice hopefully around March 14th.

It was really interesting having her visit - she has never been to Kyuushuu (the southern island of Japan that Fukuoka is on) before and to spite being non-Japanese I was the one who was the guide around town, having lived in this city for the past 3 months I've gotten farmiliar with most of it, but we still managed to find new adventurous places to explore.

We spent a lot of time at the mall around Canal city where we played some type of metal-coin gambling machine which was dangerously addictive. The hightlight of that game was when we won the Jackpot and thus with only having spent 500 yen were able to keep playing for about 2 hours before our coins ran out.

Miho finally got to try Tonkotsu Ramen - the famous Ramen of the Hakata area, and she loved it I think (Miho loves Ramen in general). We also went to Karaoke with Hiroki (one of my friends from the dorm I live at) and had a blast belting out songs. Again we ate Yakiniku (pictured here) which is becoming one of my favorites though its a little on the expensive side.

One of the other cool places we went was Fukuoka Tower, which is built right next to the beach and thus was extremely windy and it was a little unnerving seeing the top of the tower shake, but in a city that gets plummeted by typhoons every year I think the tower is built to withstand much stronger wind.

Next to Fukuoka Tower is a TV station building, and inside there is a Robotics Center called RoboSquare which has a TON of amazing robots and gadgets - a geek's paradise! There is even a workshop where you can build some robots and write computer programs for them if you've got some coding talents (although I love to write apps in C and VB I didn't give it a go) There is also a demonstration/tour put on every few hours and some competitions held there sometimes where students from local universities showcase their latest research by competing automated bots against each other in rounds of soccer. There were even a bunch of robots for sale including the automatic vacuum bot that I so want to buy. Here are some pics we took:

Also check out this video we took of one of the robots there. This one basically can move around the house and play music, and you can call it to your room when you want music or it can act as an alarm that runs away or it can dance to the music. In this video its stuck on a platform so it basically just "dances" but it was cool none-the-less.

Anyways, I had a really really great time this weekend with Miho! I will be heading up to Tokyo in 2 weeks, so in my final stretch at GenkiJACS I am trying to hit the books and study hard! Mata ne!

First Signs of Spring?

2008-02-02T17:18:00.000+09:00

I am in great spirits lately, and enjoying the mild weather especially. I really look forward to spring coming into full bloom here!

I was surprised when I looked out of the window of my dorm today and saw that the plum tree across the street from the dorm had begun to spring some buds. Meanwhile, my hometown in Canada is being plummeted by a snow storm as I type this.

This weekend in Japan everyone will be celebrating Setsubun, which literally means the change of seasons but in this case specifically is a celebration of the comming of spring or something like this.

A few ceremonies are performed, the most famous of which is Mamemaki, which means "Bean Scattering", and basically... well, I will take an excerpt from Wikipedia because I don't feel like explaining this:

Pan-heated soybeans (called irimame) are thrown either out the door or at a member of the family wearing an Oni (demon or ogre) mask, while the throwers chant "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" (鬼は外! 福は内!). The literal meaning of the words is something like "Demons out! Luck in!" The beans are thought to symbolically purify the home by driving away the evil spirits that bring misfortune and bad health with them. Then, as part of bringing luck in, it is customary to eat soybeans, one for each year of one's life, and in some areas, one for each year of one's life, plus one more for bringing good luck for the year to come.

I think tommorow a bunch of the Japanese from the dorm, and myself will go to one of the temples/shrines to take part in the celebrations.

Japanese Study Resource Round-Up

2008-01-30T17:39:00.000+09:00

Well, I am pretty much back in the groove here, studying lots! I really don't have any adventurous stories to write right now, so I thought I would take a moment and share some of the resources I found really help in my study of Japanese, so anyone else studying Japanese or any other language might be able to benefit.

Tokyo Mokyo's Kana and Kanji Practice Sheet Download Page
I really recommend this page for anyone starting to learn Japanese and wanting to learn the basic writing system. It includes PDF format practice-sheets for both Hiragana, Katakana, and some of the elementary level Kanji.

Genki JACS
I want to keep this post more focused on internet resources and books, but I have to give a shout-out to my school first! GenkiJACS has practically been my home in Japan for the past 2 months, and 5 days a week I attend school there to learn Japanese. The teachers are very approachable, fun and loving people, and the quality of the classes are top-tier. We always have a great time there too, both in and out of the classroom. It is a bit on the expensive side, but not deathly unaffordable, and completely worth every penny I think.

YesJapan.com

I cannot say enough about YesJapan.com, it is in my opinion the best way for someone studying Japanese by themselves to learn the language. Compared to many of the books I've read and used, YesJapan's lessons are much more interesting, engaging, and easier to stay motivated with. The site requires you to have a monthly subscription to use it though, but is relatively cheap and even has a free 7 day trial to check it out before-hand. Along with the lessons, (complete with a free ask-a-teacher service for when you get stuck) YesJapan has quizzes, games, and lots of useful tools to aid in your studies as the site was designed from the ground-up for the self-studier. It also has a very fun and interesting Japan/Japanese language related video webcast that explores different cultural aspects of Japan and teaches the language in ways that textbooks never could. Here's a clip they uploaded to youtube from an episode about Taboos to Avoid in Japan:

- FlashCardExchange.com

I use Flash Card Exchange mainly for pounding new vocabulary into my head, but it is honestly a really great tool for any language learner, it lets you make your own flash-card sets which can be studied any time using a friendly interface, and from anywhere in the world where you can log in to the site. When I am chatting online with my Japanese friends and they use a word that I don't know, and look up the word in my dictionary and think "Hey, that's a cool word/phrase, I should remember that", there are two things I do. First, I try to use the newly learned vocabulary ASAP, the sooner you use it, and the more you use it, the more it sticks.. but also, I log in to my account on FlashCardExchange and throw the new word into one of my flash card sets..

www.sharedtalk.com

SharedTalk.com is a voice-chat website that is setup for the soul-purpose of language exchange. It is free, and is a really great place to meet people to practice speaking the language you are studying with, in exchange for helping them practice speaking your native language. Unlike a lot of other chat sites, sharedtalk is specifically set-up as an international language exchange community, and thus you wont find perverts, weirdos, and other low-lifes there, but rather just people who are students of language and who want to exchange culture and language with you. It's also tonnes of fun!

Genki: An integrated course in Elementary Japanese (book)

Although I find the content of the book to be more class-room geared, and not as engaging for the self-learner as YesJapan, I have to say I am thoroughly impressed with this set of books (there are 2 textbooks, 2 workbooks, and a set of CDs which can be purchased, but really you only NEED the textbook).

Minna No Nihongo
I have only looked at this book briefly when one of my classmates at GenkiJACS showed it to me after I asked him how he learned Japanese, and I was impressed enough that even without having read it from cover-to-cover myself, I thought it deserved a mention. Minna no Nihongo (みんなの日本語) is a book written completely in Japanese using the Japanese syllable-based writing system (see This Page for an explanation of that writing system), so maybe it sounds intimidating for complete-beginners, but as a complimentary tool to other tools like YesJapan, I think this book has a lot of great content and a sound teaching method.

Well, I feel like somewhat of a salesmen for these links, but I thought in the spirit of academics I would share some of my resources with everyone, in case anyone else reading this is interested in learning the language of the rising sun.

Study Slump

2008-01-24T20:56:00.000+09:00

Well, for some reason lately I have felt kind of "stuck" in my studies. It is not because my class got exceptionally hard or anything like that, no. I seem to be having a hard time finding my motivation.. Especially last week, but it is comming back now, finally. This is normal I think. Learning Japanese is not an easy task, and I (unfortunately) am a perfectionist sometimes. Furthermore, because of my bad habit of comparing myself to others, I am left with a feeling of apathy (yes I am still Canadian) every time someone waltzes into the room and rolls off a ton of Japanese very fluently that I may (or may not) understand, but sure as heck cannot speak myself, especially not that fluidly.

Above: Flash-card sets, these are really common in Japan for all types of students.

Some of the factors that used to really motivate me don't anymore. Things like the sheer novelty of being in Japan - this has mostly warn off. I am still thrilled to be here, and generally smiling from cheek to cheek, but more and more because of the people I am with and the fun things we are doing than the feeling of "Hey, I made it to Japan!" that used to make me grin so much.

Also, no longer being on the look-out for a girlfriend kind of takes away a big chunk of motivation. I wont lie, I often dreamt of being able to speak more fluent Japanese so I would have more to say to the cute girls I meet. This is sort of a none-issue now.

Well, luckly.. the lack of motivation is passing.. And, honestly, this is nothing new or strange. In fact, doing a quick Google search, I found a few forum posts from other people going through the same types of feelings while studying foreign language. The key is to keep studying anyways. It is really difficult to see your progress, even more so when you get past the basics.

Above: A pic I snapped of a white board during class at GenkiJACS, usually the lessons are not quite THIS illustrated.

Anyways, I have 4 more weeks of GenkiJACS and I want to make the best of it. Some of my motivations now are taking the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) and some professional goals such as working as an interpretter for IT firms. I try to keep those in focus when the "funner" motivations are harder to grasp on to.

On a side note, I went to Dazaifu temple the other day with 2 guys from my dorm (A Japanese and a German). It was really really amazing, the video I got unfortunately does not come close to doing it justice.

東京と美穂 // Tokyo and Miho

2008-01-21T02:37:00.001+09:00

Well, I have not died. Sorry to everyone for the extensively long break between updates. After returning from Tokyo I really hit the books at school and got a little lazy about the blog but I will make a long-overdue post on it now.

Anyways, I had an absolutely great time in Tokyo. I suppose I should introduce Miho, my girlfriend.
I met Miho the first time I was in Tokyo towards the beginning of this trip, and we have kept in close touch since. In Japan it is really common for couples to spend Christmas together, Christmas here is almost like Valentines in western countries. Unfortunately both of us had professional/academic obligations around Christmas so we got together for New Years instead (as I said before, probably the MOST important holiday here is New Years, so it worked out well).

I had a great time! We stayed at the very nice Shinagawa Prince Hotel.
I also had make-it-yourself Yakiniku for the first time, which is a meat-lovers dream come true.

We visited the so-romantic Tokyo Tower (which is a replica of the Eiffle tower, but is actually a little taller than the real Eiffle tower), and visited the man made islands of Odaiba, which features a smaller replica of the statue of liberty (its bigger than it looks in the picture, its hard to tell the scale from the picture but its about 3 stories tall), and the FujiTV building.

We also visited Ebisu Garden Place, and I got enough video to put together a nice little clip of that particular adventure..

I love Inoue Mao so I had to get my picture taken with her.. er.. sort of, when we visited FujiTV. By the way, the FujiTV building is really cool!
At the fujiTV building, there was a display set-up all about Mao's new TV mini series about a Japanese princess a few hundred years ago. Hence the Kimono.
Miho has finally come to accept my obsession with Inoue Mao, and has even started to embrace it I think as she took the picture for me.

Aside from that, we went to batting cages, bowling, game-centers, and pretty much everywhere in Tokyo. I have a few videos of some of these places, see below:

Miho and Tim visit Sensoji Temple in Asakusa - Asakusa is a historical area of Tokyo, and the hostel I first stayed at when I arrived in Japan was literally a block behind these temple-grounds. I love Tokyo!

Shibuya Crossing - I returned to shibuya crossing with Miho where we shopped and ate..

Some bar in Harajuku - After settling in at our hotel we grabbed a subway over to Harajuku (known for its hordes of young people with very off-the-wall fassion sense, it is a very artsy area of Tokyo, and one of my favorites!).

Tokyo Tower - Either shortly before or after new years day, we went to Tokyo Tower. It's a very romantic place and I really recommend it! Great view too! The tower is pretty tall, but it's also on a hill which really adds to its height and viewpoint.

Well, it took a while to really get this post put together and I apologize about the delay. I have extended my stay at GenkiJACS Japanese School for 4 more weeks, so I am really hitting the books.

Oh, in other news I have landed a job.. But that will have to wait until another blog post. (Oh the suspense hehehe).

あけまして　おめでとう // Happy New Year

2008-01-03T18:48:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year from Japan. More specifically, from the city of Tokyo.. I have come back to Tokyo for 1 week since we enjoy a National holiday this week to observe the coming of the new year. New Years is the most important holiday in Japan by far, it is a time to reflect on the past year and start fresh. While we have spring cleaning in Canada and the US, the Japanese completely clean their homes at New Years in what is called O-souji (great cleaning)..

Anyways, I did not bring the chord needed to transfer the pictures and video from my camera to my PC, so I will be making another post after I return to Fukuoka further outlining my stay in Tokyo.

In the mean time, I thought I would share this with everyone.. Last month Japan's Priminister began posting videos on Youtube in an effort to "reach a younger and more international audience", and has even released an english version video of his new years greeting to the world where he outlines some of the issues the world is facing and promises for Japan to play a leading role in helping to find solutions and calls for harmony amongst all nations and world peace. He rarely smiles, in line with his dour image.

Here is the actual video:

Merry X-mas and Party Time

2007-12-24T12:32:00.000+09:00

Quick note about the picture to the left, yes I know my eyes are closed but it was the only pic I got of everyone together before my camera died.. Well, first of all it is Christmas Eve in Japan already (It is still the 23rd in some parts of the world including my hometown), but I just wanted to wish Everyone a Merry Christmas! Christmas in Japan is a bit different as it has basically no relation what-so-ever to the biblical story, and they also have a few traditions that we don't such as eating Christmas Cake, and eating Christmas Chicken..

Also, yesterday was the Emperor's Birthday so today (being a Monday) is a national holiday. So making the best of it, Kosuke (said "COS-KAY") invited myself, James, and Armin (our German dorm-mate) to a Christmas / Takoyaki party. It was too much fun. In fact, everyone (including us) brought a small gift to the party to randomly exchange with another person at the party using a musical chairs type of game to determine who gets what..
I also enjoyed lots of conversation in Japanese and English, and even taught a small lesson about the difference between using "to" and "for" as Japanese often get these confused.
Anyways, I have a small video as well, my Camera's battery died so I could not take more unfortunately, but it was a blast none-the-less.

Karaoke and Chinese Food

2007-12-22T18:32:00.000+09:00

Well, last night a bunch of the students and pretty much all the teachers and a few other Japanese people all got together and went out for Chinese food and drinks, and then off to Karaoke.. Anyways, I tried to keep the camera rolling, and managed to compress the entire experience into a 7 minute video. Please enjoy. PS - it was a blast!!!

Timo Registers

2007-12-20T14:52:00.000+09:00

Well, I have officially registered at the foreigner registration office of my ward - something that all foreigners holding a visa are required to do within 90 days of arriving. This essentially *activates* your visa and makes you officially considered an immigrant.

Anyways, now I can do a few things I could not do before such as buy my own Cell Phone (Though it will have to be pre-paid as the regular ones usually come with a lengthy contract that I will not be able to fulfill.)
I can also look for a job, which is something I am going to start doing shortly after the new year as my money supply continues to dwindle away.

I want to quickly digress from this topic for a second and share some culture-shock with everyone. For starters, most of the cars here (and taxis of course) have car-navigation(GPS). Also, taxi-cab doors automatically open and close by themselves as the driver can open the door for you by simply pressing a button. Sometimes at bus stations, train stations and other places with many Taxis waiting for patrons, to spite the automatic doors there is someone dressed like a bell-boy that places their hand over the handle of the door and ACTS like they are opening the door for you and also like they are closing it for you and simply says thank you to you for boarding the taxi.
Akemi told me before that when she was in Windsor she once sat in a taxi and waited for the door to close by itself until eventually the driver snapped at her `Hey lady, close the door its cold outside`.

Anyways, there is no video to post today. But I do plan on continuing my video series...
Mata ne - Timo

Moving Day

2007-12-17T14:10:00.000+09:00

Well, I have moved to my new place of residence - a dormitory that houses about 40 people, mostly Japanese students from the nearby Fukuoka Industrial University...

I have once again recorded and put together a small video to share with everyone. This one is not too much more exciting than the last but it is a little better I think. They should progress as I get more of a feel for what I want to do in these videos.

I am hoping to interview some of the other people at the dorm sometime in Japanese and put it on here (I will add subtitles of course)...
Please enjoy this for now though:

Episode 1 of `The Show`

2007-12-15T22:29:00.000+09:00

Here is my first composite video that I threw together to go with my blog about my trip to Japan and my time here. This video is a testimate to how boring my current town of residence truely is, but hopefully this will be the first in a series of short clips I will make. Please enjoy and leave comments!

PS - The next videos should be much more interesting, this was more of a test-run than anything. ^.~

Comming soon...

2007-12-15T17:09:00.000+09:00

Well, I have given in and bought something that puts me a little over my budget but I think it will be well worth it, and my mom talked about giving me a little bit of money for Christmas and this was the perfect present for myself. What did I buy? A brand new Camera, this one records video with sound, has a VERY nice display, and supports my existing 1GB XD Memory chip. And it only cost 24,800... yen that is..

I haven`t used it yet, but I plan on posting many videos here so stay tuned.

Otherwise, I have not posted on here in a week because not alot has happened that is noteworthy. The vacation type feeling has worn off almost completely as I become more and more integrated into life in this country and begin to really feel like I live here. I mostly keep very busy with school and studying, and might I add my Japanese is improving noticeably to the point where sometimes I talk too quickly instead of too slowly in Japanese. By nature I am a fast talking person so it seems to have carried over to Japanese aswell.

Tommorow I will be moving out of my homestay residents and into a Dormitory in a different part of Fukuoka. I am looking forward to it as I will have alot of opportunity to meet Japanese people of my age there.

Last night we had a very enjoyable Christmas party at the school. Some of the teachers drank too much (I wont name names) and so did some of the students (you know who you are). I only had one drink though, but the party was very fun. Also a noteworthy occurrence last night was the final farewell of my only classmate Allan, as it was his last week at GenkiJACS. So, unless we get any other new level3 students, I think I will be having 1-on-1 lessons for the next while.

Anyways, I have some great ideas for videos to make and things to show everyone with my new Camera, so please check back soon to see what I have in store.
Mata ne,
- Timo

美論 // Miron - Beautiful Theory

2007-12-07T20:49:00.001+09:00

Just wanted to share this with everyone. I was thinking about Kanji tonight (Chinese-derived writing used in Japanese), and I found a really nice Kanji for my Family name: ミロン (Miron)

美論

It is said "Mee-rO-n" or basically exactly like the French pronunciation of our name. In fact, Japanese pronunciation of my last name is more correct than the English pronunciation as the RO sound is long and the MI sound is like "Me".

The best part.. is the meaning.. It means Beautiful Theory.

For relaxing times...

2007-12-07T15:12:00.000+09:00

I will start things off with a picture. As much as the town that I am living in has nothing to do in it, and as much as I miss Tokyo, there is something to be said for the scenery here, including my extremely Japanese outlook from my bedroom window, pictured to the left. I can look out the window and really appreciate that I have made it to Japan, even 1 month after my arrival, even in my middle-of-nowhere town, there is still a special feeling for me about having made it here and just being in this country.

Well, things have been more quiet lately. It rained a lot overnight last night and I think we had a small earthquake/tremour this morning that woke me up (It wasn`t much, but I`m a light sleeper).

School is going well, but there is so much vocabulary to memorize, it has been rather humbling in some ways as any sense of my Japanese being descent is overshadowed by the realization that I am still so far from fluency. I have 3 decks of blank flash cards filled with 110 cards in each deck, and the first one only took 3 days of classes to fill..

As my favorite Japanese proverb says チリもつもれば山となる - if tiny specs of dust pile up, they can become a mountain. This is something I have to keep in mind constantly.

Oh, and a note to any of my fellow YESJAPAN members, I could of sworn I heard Maria Gadget when I was in AM-PM (common convenience store in Japan) this morning.. But I could be wrong..

Busy Timo

2007-12-02T18:05:00.000+09:00

Well, it has been some time sinse my last post on here. This has not been because of any lack of events as in fact I have been very busy here lately between studying and a wide assortment of extra-curricular activities.

I have some goodies to share with everyone as even though I have not been using my camera a lot lately, Boris - my german room mate - has recently purchased a new Nikon camera that not only takes great pictures, but also has nice video (WITH AUDIO) features aswell.

First up, this past week on 2 different occassions some us GenkiJACS students signed up to go to the local university for language exchange with Japanese students there. To my surprise, the classes we visited were almost entirely made up of girls (no complaints though).. Most of them are about 19 years old and they are so curious about us strange gaijin. It is really an interesting experience!

Also, on Thursday a small group of us went to Fukuoka university to learn about and watch Naginata which is basically a Martial art where very long sticks (or in real battle a very long blade) which are curved at the end are used. This first video is of some of the Naginata students practicing form and technique (but without armor at this point as they do not make contact during this warm up phaze of their practice):

*NOTE: During this sport they yell out the name of the body part which they are striking.

Next is another clip from the same place, but this time a couple of the students (Ben - an American, and Uncle Phil) decided to participate:

*NOTE to the left is Phil, and to the right you can see some guys practicing Kendo. After this warm up phase, the girls put on Kendo style armor (see the pic above) and actually wack each other with these big sticks. It was all very interesting.

On friday night after school, we had a Takoyaki party at GenkiJACS. Takoyaki is basically Octapus Balls (not really, but really). Anyways, it is a type of seafood that was surprisingly very good. Alot of foreigners don`t like Takoyaki but I am getting used to everything tasting like the ocean here (it doesn`t all taste like the ocean, but alot of it does). I really liked Takoyaki, but we also cooked and ate Okonomiyaki- Oh-Koh-NO-MEE-Yah-Kee - basically a type of pancake/omelette thing that has veggies and sometimes seafood in it. Okonomiyaki is actually my favorite Japanese food right now.

Yuuji-sensei cooks Takoyaki

Phil and Me enjoy some grub...

Anyways, things have been very fun lately and I actually look forward to going to school tommorow! Well, until next time..
- Timo

2007-11-23T18:19:00.000+09:00

Tonight on FujiTV (and テレビ西日本 in my area here in Fukuoka), there will be a 2 hour show called 花いくさ (Hana Ikusa) - A story about a young Maiko (apprentice Geisha) in Kyoto set just after the war. It stars my favorite Inoue Mao from Hana Yori Dango.. I REALLY am looking forward to seeing this!!! Check out the trailer below:

Also, take a look at the official website HERE for some cool pictures. Yay MAO-chan!!! <3

2007-11-22T22:31:00.000+09:00

Today was our last day of classes before the long weekend (this Friday is a national holiday in Japan), and it was also the last day of school at GenkiJACS for one of my classmates - John-kun. John is also from Canada, but is of Philippine descent so he looks Asian and blends in pretty well. I have a good picture of our class, he`s the one sitting beside me. Our teacher for this class, Yuuji sensei, is one of the only male teachers at GenkiJACS right now, and is also the youngest faculty member and one of my favorite teachers because we can make perverted jokes together that I just wouldn`t say around the female staff.
The guy with longer hair who you can`t quiet see on the left side of this pic is my only classmate in Grammar class, as we`re the only Level 3 students at GenkiJACS right now. His Japanese is really good, and I enjoy having class with him because he keeps me on my feet as in some ways he`s ahead of me. At the same time, I know stuff that he doesn`t and we compliment each other well that way.
Also, Yuuji sensei took us to the local grocercy store near the school to search for the ingredients to make Miso soup. Before going out, we learned all about making Miso soup (only in Japanese though), and it was really interesting actually.

The video is rather pointless especially without audio, but todays class was so much fun I wanted to share it on my blog. Anyways, I`m happy for the long weekend, I literally have about 75 new verbs to work on memorizing.
Maybe this weekend will also hold some fun times though, stay tuned.
- Timo

Uncle Phil makes Headlines

2007-11-21T13:31:00.000+09:00

Well, My uncle Phil has recently come to Japan aswell and we are both attending GenkiJACS. After doing the level check test, he was placed in the level 1 class and I was placed in the more advanced level 3. None-the-less, I hope he does his best. Yesterday as part of Phil's culture class here at the school, Phil's class visited the local Kushida shrine, and one of the teachers snapped a pretty good picture of Phil saying a prayer. This picture has now been posted on GenkiJACS official school blog website, and you can view it HERE. Check it out!

On a side note, I came accross this really cool video on 3yen that I just had to share with everyone. This is everyday Japan for sure, and does a great job of showcasing my time here (even though I have nothing to do with this video).

2007-11-20T10:34:00.000+09:00

I completed my first day at GenkiJACS yesterday. Honestly I'm very excited to be here and really hit the books and study. I actually did all of my homework last night (about 45 minutes of work, I may have more from here on out though because yesterday I missed a 2 hour class because we had to do the level check test thing). On top of the assigned work, I also took a bunch of notes of words that I didn't know during the lesson and there were about 20 or so verbs in particular that I want to memorize.
I found the first class rather challenging, but it was fun and probably just at the right level. Unfortunately there are some small gaps in what I know and what the other students at my level know (in both directions) due to different backgrounds in what courses we studied with before. At GenkiJACS, we're using the GENKI series of books, and at my level we're starting off somewhere in the middle of book 2.
The course at YesJapan.com takes a very in-depth approach to teaching verbs as it explains the context and usage of each individual verb that you learn, but at GenkiJACS they throw groups of maybe 10 verbs at you and have you "plug them in" to various sentences and structures and conjugations. On the other hand, thanks to the course at YesJapan.com, I have probably a more extensive vocabulary of nouns then anyone in my class, as well as knowing a bunch of "tricks" that others may not know, sometimes leaving everyone (except for the teacher) scratching their heads wondering what the heck I just said.
Anyways, I realized that I need some school supplies, so last night Boris and me took a subway over to the nearby Aeon shopping mall. I found some great paper notebooks, including a bunch of them ruled specifically for practicing Kanji (Chinese derived written symbols). I also bought a set of study cards that come on a key chain type ring, and after getting home, I wrote down all of my new words that I want to memorize. Between last night and the subway ride to school this morning, I think I almost have the whole lot of 20 or so new words memorized.
I'm going to be taking a lot of pictures so my next big post should be exciting to see (everyone has asked for more pics and video), I'm also thinking about doing a special about the kappa (mythical swamp monsters?) that live in the water next to my homestay house. Until then take care.
- Timo

好きになった・・・

2007-11-19T11:27:00.000+09:00

Well, I've really warmed up to my homestay family. When I first arrived, I thought this place was going to be so boring, but later that night I met Ms. Hatsue's sons. I cannot remember their names right now, but they are very nice and they both have kids. Her elder son has a little boy named Jun (said like "June" - same name as the actor who plays Domyouji in Hana Yori Dango [shaye you love him you know it!]). Jun is 1 year old and he's just like any other baby probably anywhere in the world. I can best him at Japanese too which makes me feel great =P (joke).
He has a sister named Karin (I think), who's 4 and FULL of engergy! Her Japanese is better than mine, but she speaks simply so it's fun to try to hold a conversation with her. haha.
Anyways, their father is a really nice Man who's patient with my Japanese and is always interesting to talk to. I look forward to getting to know this family more over the course of the next 4 weeks.

Anyways, today was my first day at GenkiJACS. I'm at the school right now actually waiting for my first lesson to start. I just finished taking a level check test with my uncle phil. The test consisted of listening comprehension, an interview in Japanese, and a written test aswell checking for vocabulary and grammar knowledge. I didn't do as well as I'd hoped or expected, but it's ok because if the class is too easy I can be moved to a harder class. They have MANY different levels of classes at this school so it's really convenient for anyone studying Japanese.

Uncle Phil didn't fare as well on the tests either, and we'll be in different classes. Anyways, I shot some video of Phil when he first showed up today. It was really weird to see a familiar western face after so long.

On a side note, I still miss Tokyo.. Somehow that city has a special place in my heart and I do long to go back, but that can wait. In the mean time, I'm going to study like crazy. Esspecially to my family back home, I hope you enjoy seeing a short clip of Phil and me.
- Tim

Missing Tokyo

2007-11-18T15:30:00.000+09:00

Well, I`ve arrived in Fukuoka... First impression of this city: Smaller than Tokyo (any city might feel tiny after living there). Upon my arrival, I had no plan... No reservation at any hotel, no idea of transportation from the airport to the city core, no one to meet with, nothing. It was honestly my biggest mess-up in my travels thus far. But, I like a challenge, so it`s all good. From the airport I took a subway to Tenjin station, because a) I liked the name TENJIN and b) It seemed to be pretty much in the city core on the map. Luckly for me and unknown to me at the time, my school is also located in Tenjin ward.

Once off the subway, I found myself once again in a maze of people and honestly it was a little comforting because it almost reminded me of Tokyo (which I`m already getting homesick for but more on that later). After wandering around aimlessly looking for anything that says ホテル (hotel) for about an hour with no luck, I gave in on my pride and called Evan (the director of the school I`m attending). I explained to him my lack of planning, and appologized in embarassment. But, to my delight Evan is an extremely nice person and was more than helpful, he informed me that I was not too far from the school in fact, and he would meet me at the busy intersection just north of my current location.

So onwards I went. Evan met me there, guided me to a nearby hotel and asked if I would need help getting a room. Being overly sure of my self again, I bid him farewell and told him I could handle it from here. So he road away on his bike, and I made my way to the hotel lobby.

Unfortunately, I did not know it was Sumo season in Fukuoka and because of this the hotel would be overrun with semi-intoxicated salary men to the point that there was simply no rooms available to anyone who didn`t already have a reservation. After this was explained to me by the girl behind the desk, I turned around, and realised that once again, I was in a pickle. Worse, Evan had just left and I would feel like an idiot to have to call him again. どうしょう？ I thought to myself.

Then I realised I was only about 6 blocks from the school. So off to the school I went to seek help. Might aswell get a sneak peak at the school anyways right? Well, I arrived at the school alive, and made my way up the steps. It`s actually a really nice building with a good atmosphere conductive to learning and I should add the teachers are really nice too. To make a long story short, I found Evan at the school, we called a couple hotels until we found one that had an available room, and I took the Taxi there where I stayed for the rest of the weekend.

The hotel unfortunately has nothing to see or do around it within walking distance, and there was no internet either, so I spent my time watching Japanese TV. It was interesting to stay in a Japanese style room where the floors are covered with TATAMI mats, and sleeping in a REAL futon is EXTREMELY comfortable. Breakfast is served at the Hotel for free until 9AM, without any stove available (like I would use it anyways, right mom?), and only a water heater, I ate mostly CUP NOODLES, NIKUMAN, and POCKY or ICE CREAM for desert.

On sunday (today) I made my way to my homestay house. This place is in a town outside of Fukuoka that is right on the coast of the Sea of Japan, and is surrounded by both mountains and beaches. It`s really beautiful, but there is almost nothing to do here either. This is ok though, it will hopefully mean more time studying, less money being wasted, and some nice quiet before going back to the likes of Tokyo or visiting Kyoto. My host mother is a very kind older woman, and there is another student from GenkiJACS homestaying here aswell. He is from Germany, his name is Boris, and he looks almost identical to my cousin Mike but with lighter hair.

Anyways, thats probably enough to read for one sitting, and my fingers are getting sore. Off to check my e-mail for the first time in a few days.
- Timo

2007-11-16T00:58:00.000+09:00

Reports of my disappearance have been greatly exaggerated. I've had a busy past few days.
On Sunday I went to Yokohama and hung out with one of my Japanese friends. We saw a street performer, then went to the top of Yokohama Landmark Tower where I had the best view yet of the cityscape of the greater Tokyo area.

After that, we went to China town and had some really good Chinese snack foods. I'm really grateful to have made good friends in Japan・ It's really an interesting experience to be guided around town by a local person.

You are made aware of a lot of the little streets and paths that you might otherwise not notice or choose to take.
The next 3 days I also spent away from Tokyo in the town of Oota - which is a city about the size of Windsor. It was so weird to be in such a quiet place after living in busy Tokyo for a while.
Anyways, these little trips are the reason I haven't posted in a while.
Tonight I met with Akemi san in Ginza. It was so much fun. First of all, I arrived in Ginza almost 2 hours early, so in need of some way to kill time before meeting Akemi-san, I decided I'd take a subway over to Ebisu - a place I've reallllly wanted to go to but have not made it to until today. Ebisu is about 6 stops away from Ginza station on the Hibiya line. Now, any of you who've seen the Japanese drama Hana Yori Dango (Mom, Shaye) will recognize Ebisu garden place as the special meeting place where Tsukushi and Tsukasa meet (or otherwise wait hopelessly for each other). The scenes from this Japanese show were filmed on location near a prominent concrete sculpture in Ebisu Garden Place. The only problem is, unknown to me at the time, Ebisu Garden Place is a good ways from Ebisu station. So, like usual, I asked someone for directions. This time I asked a middle aged Japanese woman with a nice smile. She was so kind, used very simple Japanese and even walked with me part way until we got to this overpass with an automatic sidewalk (like the moving sidewalks you find in airports. Japan has them in many other places as this country is obsessed with being convenient (usually). Anyways, the woman told me to go to the very end and out the doors and I should be right there.
So, I followed her directions which took me to a small intersection. Upon arriving here, I instantly felt this place was familiar - and looking ahead of me, I spotted a small set of steps leading up to a concrete tarmac・.

You know what, just look at the pictures! This place is maybe meaningless to anyone who hasn't seen Hana Yori Dango, but to us HYD fans, having the opportunity to be there and touch the sculpture and stand right there fulfilled a little dream.

After wandering around this place in awe and trying to re-create various camera-angles from the show, I returned to Ginza where I met Akemi in front of Mistukoshi departo.
Ginza is a bustling shopping district (how many of these Tokyo has is beginning to become uncountable, but they are always exciting and lively.). Akemi was so generous and great to hang out with tonight. We started our excursion by visiting Tokyo tower. Tokyo Tower is basically a smaller replica of the Eiffel Tower. We took a tour up to the observatory of this Tower and I caught some magnificent views of Tokyo's skyline at night.
After that, Akemi treated me to an amazing and classy Japanese restaurant in Ginzawhere we had a great assortment of delicious food. Not everything in Japan tastes like the ocean (but a lot of it does), but the food was great and we ate so much of it too! Oh, and we took a taxi on the way there - the first taxi I've taken in Japan - and it reminded me of the opening shots of Lost in Translation so I captured some video..

Anyways, after all of that, I came back to the hostel and packed up all of my stuff as Tommorow I知 flying to Fukuoka. It will be interesting as I don't know where I'm staying for the first 2 days in Fukuoka before my homestay begins so I guess I'll have to figure out a hotel or something once I arrive.
Well, enough rambling for one day, enjoy the pictures and video.
- Tim

2007-11-11T08:17:00.000+09:00

Well, just wanted to post a quick update because I woke up extra early this morning for some reason. Yesterday was another adventure of Lost in Tokyo... This city is so big, yet, its actually pretty easy to navigate on the macro level once you get a feeling for where all of the different boroughs are located relative to each other. The subway system here, although massive with something like 18 different subway lines (compared to Toronto's 4), are extremely convenient and easy to navigate - esspecially if you speak Japanese.
Yesterday it pretty much rained all morning and most of the afternoon and on and off all evening too.. Tokyo becomes this picturesq scene of crowds of busy people walking, almost all of them with the exact same type of completely transparent plastic umbrellas over their heads.
Anyways, today's itinerary is basically, I'm going down to Yokohama (a city in the Tokyo area of about 3 million people).
This is the first time aside from my first day here where I've travelled so far away on my own so I'll be practicing extra dilligence. Luckly, all of the areas I have to pass through or transfer at are very safe areas of Tokyo. Still, it could be scarey to get lost by myself, but I have a few friend's cell phone numbers on hand if needed.
Well, I'll post again later on.. I should come back with lots of pictures too!
PS - I went to Akihabara last night, its basically the electronics / anime / computer / managa / video game heaven.. Complete with Maid Cafes, which are basically coffee shops where cute girls dressed in Lolita maid costumes serve you and pretend that you're their goshuujin sama (meaning "master" in this context).. It's a little weird but I'm curious to experience it though a little embarrassed as it might be considered slightly hentai (perverted). I'll make a full Akihabara post after I return with my camera in hand.

Anyways, I'm off to eat breakfast. ja mata

Arrival, Pictures, Updates

2007-11-09T18:18:00.000+09:00

Well, I've arrived in Japan without a hitch! I'm going to try to lay this post out like a photo Journal because I managed to snap a lot of pictures on my journey!

First, the flight was smooth sailing almost the entire time through, except that I got air sick part way through but after some much needed sleep I felt better!

^ The food served on the flight from Vancouver to Tokyo was the first hint that I was going to Japan (and the fact that all the flight announcements were repeated in Japanese). A quick note that I must make: Japan is FULL of CUUUUUTE girls!!! Tim is in heaven!

After going through customs and immigration at Narita, I found myself finally in Japan. I have to stress, the Japanese people have been soooo helpful to me thus far, but at the same time, I think someone who only spoke english would have a very difficult and frustrating time travelling in this country. Some people in Canada often told me "Everyone there speaks English anyways" and this could not be further from the truth with the exception of airport and hotel staff. There is a train station in Narita airport, which is important because Narita is actually not in Tokyo but rathering in the neighbouring city of Chiba which is a 75 minute train ride from Tokyo.
As soon as I got to the train platform, I found myself a little lost, and for the first time, my Japanese skills came to the rescue. I met a really nice woman and her daughter, and explained to them that I needed to go to Asakusa and that I know I'll have to transfer but I'm not sure which line to take. Fortunately, they were also headed in the same direction. Boarding the train/subway, I found myself surrounded by interesting posters. I cannot lie, this city - Tokyo - is VERY commercialized!

After making it to Asakusa station, I followed the directions given from the Sakura Hostel website. However, a few parts of the instructions were a little foggy and once again I found myself starting to get lost as it's a weaving 15 minute walk from Asakusa station to Sakura Hostel, which, by the way was filled with Tori gates, temples, and... an Amusement park. I found a local construction worker or traffic director, I couldn't tell which, and explained to him Sumimasen, chotto maigo ni narimashita... etto... Kaminarimon wa doko desu ka?, which basically means Excuse me, I'm a little lost, where is Kaminari gate? Unfortunately, he wasn't sure, and told me it could be in 2 different directions, but then he stopped 2 women passing by, and asked them about the location of the temple.. The women explained to me (again in Japanese) that I'd have to go the other way, cross the street at the next corner, and walk a little down the street.

So, I followed those directions, and found myself at the entrence gate, which was lined with traditional shops on either side of the path leading to the temple ground. Finally at the end of this path, which is extremely long and still had a fair amount of people at it even in evening hours, I came to Sensoji temple and some people were at the top stairs to the entrance, saying prayers and throwing money into the big bowl (which you do when you pray). And, of course, again I found myself a little lost (no offence to the hostel's directions but they are a little unclear about direction when they say something like "Go past the entrance" and there's two ways to go.
So, this time I asked an older man who was standing outside of some sort of shop outside of the temple grounds where the theme park is (there's a theme park near the temple, and the hostel is behind the themepark.. that's Japan though =P), I soon realised he was drunk from the smell of his breath, nonetheless he showed the the correct direction and explained how to get to the other side of the theme park. And so I arrived. Later that night, I went out to a Karaoke box with some people from the hostel that I've met (more about them in a future post perhaps), and had an awsome time! It reallllly reminded me of the Karaoke scene in Lost in Translation and I think for that reason it fulfilled a little dream of mine as I LOVE that movie. *deep breath* Today I had the coolest time exploring Tokyo! I've been constantly surprised at how approachable people are. I realise, it's part of the culture to save face and be polite whenever possible, but at the same time, it's amazing that in such a big city complete strangers are easy to share a joke with. For example, on the way of our travels, I was explaining to one of my hostel friends the difference between ippai (which means "Full") and oppai (which means breasts, haha) and some random younger Japanese guy, maybe around 20 years old, laughed a little at overhearing our conversation and said "oppai ne" (basically "Breasts, huh?") and I told him I was explaining the word to my friend but that it was a funny gaijin joke.
Also, we were given help by many people in getting lost, and I found out something really interesting, if we started the conversation with even one english word, for example, if I said "Excuse me, chotto taskette kudasai" and used EXCUSE ME instead of sumimasen (Excuse me in Japanese), people would avoid us.. I've heard from some people to not expect people in Tokyo to be helpful or approachable, esspecially to us Gaijin (foreigners), but now I think maybe that was only because those people were trying to speak to them in English. Japanese people, although many times eager to learn and practice english, seem to get very nervous about their english when on the spot. Maybe this is why they appeared cold to some people I've talked to about Tokyo. I LOVE TOKYO! It's soooo big and sooooo busy... but surprisingly, I'm finding the people are mostly friendly! Anyways, I'm getting tired of typing alot, so following are a bunch of pictures.. They're mostly of Shibuya crossing which I visited today. It's the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world, you'll believe it when you see it! Take a look, I even included some video because the pictures don't do it justice.

*OVER STIMULATION ALERT*, the advertising and commercials on the buildings have AUDIO too that broadcasts over loudspeakers for all to hear! Unfortunately (or fortunately for those who can't handle it) my digital camera does not record audio.

This is a video I took while crossing shibuya *As seen in Lost in Translation

The birds eye shots of Shibuya crossing were taking from a place called "Shape City" (I think?) which is a sort of shopping mall/center that encircles half of the perimiter of Shibuya crossing.

and another video, showing why it's the busiest crossing in the world. NOTE: This is not even close to rush hour, as this was taken at about 2pm. You should see it around 5 to 7pm. Personally, I loved it, but I think my mom would hate it very quickly it's just so much sensory overload! ^_^

This next video was taken from the pedestrian crossing next to Ueno station in Ueno Tokyo (You can take a subway from Ueno to Shibuya very easily) This was my first time in a "downtown" type place in Japan, and it really hit me how big Tokyo is when I came here so I took this video:

This next video is of my first glimps of Shibuya crossing, as we approached it, the sidewalk became more and more alive with people, and the sounds of the advertisment commercials started to be heard (though you cant hear anything in my videos v.v)

Next: Asakusa Sensoji Temple. Very cool place, the smoke is said to have healing properties if you put it on your body that part of your body that it touches will become better. Many students put this smoke on their heads. hehehe

As a final note of something I just wanted to add, on the way back from my travels I walked down this side street here in Asakusa, and there's always traditional japanese music playing on a series of loudspeakers mounted on the posts to the street lights which on this street are traditional style lanterns. There's many many nice Japanese shops and restaurants! Maybe I'll take some pictures and add them here soon so keep reading! Mata ne!

About to fly...

2007-11-07T21:19:00.001+09:00

Well, we're about to leave in about half an hour from now to go to the airport. As I'm slightly pressed for time, I'll have to make this brief. I'm about to embark on the largest journey of my life. I've had wonderful support from my friends and family and I'd like to thank everyone who's been there for me and lent a hand with putting this all together. I love you all, and I hope to tell some great stories to everyone when I return (In the meantime, read here for more or less realtime coverage).
I've also had a great 2 days in Toronto hanging out with my Mom. She really has put up with a lot of obsessive compulsive type behavior from me, and managed to still keep her cool and has also been the most supportive person for me in this endeavour.
Yesterday, after we ate at some chinese buffet place (and I avoided the sushi and seafood like the plague sighting an oncomming daily diet of rice and fish), we all recieved fortune cookies. Ironically, they seemed to really fit..

My mom's fortune cookie read
You are a social and entertaining person - which is funny, because my mom is a clown and entertainer as a profession.
and mine said:
You will soon step foot on the soil of distant countries - I wont even point out the coincidence here as I don't want to insult anyone's intelligence.

Last but not least, at the last minute last night we went to a big wal-mart and I bought a new luggage suitcase as the existing one was too big and bulky. My new luggage is ultra small, compact, and portable. Yay me!
Well, my next blog post should be from Japanese soil, until then.

- Tim

Packing and Road Trip

2007-11-05T23:19:00.000+09:00

Well, this will have to be a short entry because I'm a little pressed for time. But I must say that packing is a bit of a nightmare come to life.
First, you should always make a packing list, this way, you'll be sure not to forget anything.
Also, especially for a long trip, you should always make sure to pack lightly, because you will have to carry your luggage sometimes whether you like it or not. So yea, pack lightly unless you have a team of linebackers or pro-wrestlers to help you out.

Unfortunately, I have more luggage than I aimed for. Only 1 suitcase and a small backpack, but the suitcase is heavier than I wanted and a little bigger than I need. I would of bought a smaller suitcase in hindsight.

It's also a good idea to put a brightly colored sticker or tape or something attached to your luggage to help it stand out a bit when it comes off of the carousel.

Well, today we're leaving for Toronto, in approximately 1 hour. There's a slight chance of rain and I always hated driving on the 401 in the rain. I think we'll be safe though. I have a good feeling about everything right now.

Last day of work

2007-10-19T10:06:00.000+09:00

Well, the counter is down to 19 days remaining. Friday, October 19th is my last day of work. Some friends from work and myself are going out tomorrow night to celebrate, and I'm looking forward to spending some quality - albeit probably intoxicated - time with the people I've had to spend my time with nearly everyday.

Lately I've been a little lazy with the Japanese studying - shame on me! Except for something really cool I've found - read on to find out...
I do plan to study my oshiri off as soon as I'm done with my job, but until then I'm just trying to stay afloat and not forget anything.
However, there is a valid reason for this recent slacking (kind of). My new shift has been from 8:30AM to 5:30PM, and although I like the day shift over the night shift by far, by the time I get home from work I don't feel like looking at a computer screen, let alone trying to study on a computer. Even studying with good old pen and paper is often too much of a chore as my job leaves me mentally exhausted.

I work at a call center doing tech support for HP computers. A lot of stress. 'nough said.

Anyways, as an alternative to hard studying, I have had the chance to exercise my 日本語 (read: Japanese language) in an entertaining and indirect way. I've found myself nearly addicted to a number of Japanese Drama TV series. I can finally rationalize wasting hours on end watching TV, as I get to practice listening comprehension. Mind you, subtitles are usually included, but just the same I try to go without reading them as much as possible.

Anyways, as the time to take-off creeps closer and closer, I find the reality that awaits me sinking in. I'm getting ever more excited, and slightly nervous. I wont lie, part of me is borderline scared, but I'm just as anxious to get my feet wet and step outside of the western world for the first time.

Well, I'm off to watch some more J-drama. Ja...

35 Days to go

2007-10-03T03:03:00.000+09:00

Well, I haven't posted on here in a bit because I've been so busy. I'm getting anxious to quit my Job, and I'm also really looking forward to becoming a student again. I have basically 5 weeks from tomorrow until I leave, and my last day of work will be in about 3 weeks. I definitely feel the excitement building up as the days go by, and it makes it kind of hard to keep going to work while anticipating my last day.

I've gotten a few really important things taken care of since I last posted.
First off, I've paid my tuition for the school in Fukuoka. It was pretty pricey and I wont go into the details, but it was more money than I've ever paid into anything before. Nonetheless, it felt good to get that out of the way.

Secondly, I've secured a plane ticket from Tokyo to Fukuoka. I will be flying on All Nippon Airways (ANA). Now, a little tip for anyone buying a domestic flight ticket from ANA - dont buy it from their American website! This is because, on their American website they generally charge a flat-rate price no matter if you buy the ticket a month in advance or a week in advance. On the Japanese site though - and might I add there is an English version of their Japanese site - they have a different price for each ticket depending on how far in advance you book your flight.
If I were to purchase the same ticket from the North American ANA website, I would of ended up paying $296 US! But, I found the same ticket on the Japanese website - same price - except after a big discount for buying my ticket 8 weeks in Advance, the total came out to about $115 US. The only catch is that you need a contact phone number in Japan.. Luckly, one of my friends in Japan - Yuko - let me use her phone number to buy the ticket. She even called ANA in Japan and verified that it would be ok if I used her number - thanks Yuko! ^^

This past weekend I visited Mr. and Mrs. Taguchi, we had a really great time. I've been learning some Japanese tongue twisters and proverbs and we exchanged some of our favorites as well as some English ones. Akemi has found some good directions for getting from Narita Airport to Asakusa, where the Hostel I'll be staying in for the first 8 days of my trip is located. It will actually be about a 1.5 to 2 hour commute because Narita Airport - even though it's called Tokyo New International Airport, is not located in Tokyo, but rather in neighboring Chiba prefecture.

Anyways, aside from helping me with that, Mrs. Taguchi and I also made plans to meet in Tokyo. We even set a date, time, and location to meet. It's kind of cool to have a plan to meet at a certain place and time in a city I've never been to. Needless to say, I'm excited. =D

As always, we enjoyed some nice Tea and conversation.

Well, I have to go to work now. Mata ne.

Commence Planning

2007-08-23T04:53:00.000+09:00

I've never undertaken such a huge endeavor in my life thus far. I had no idea there would be so many details to be worked out. I wasn't expecting it to be easy either, but I'm constantly thinking of new things that need to be sorted out. Transportation, Accommodation, Insurance, Food, Entertainment, Money, Safety, Allergies... The list seems to continue indefinitely.. At the same time, I'm a strong believer in leaving alot of breathing room, and letting the chips fall where they may.

Over the past few days - faced with the challenge of landing in Tokyo, still 1,400KM from my destination in Fukuoka - I've been looking at adding some more detail to my itinerary. I'm leaning towards staying at this wonderful hostel in a nice part of Tokyo called Sakura Hostel that Akemi and Noboru found and recommended to me.. I'm thinking I'll stay in Tokyo for 1 week once I arrive before I make my way to Fukuoka. This will give me some time to adjust to the time difference and give me a little taste of Tokyo before I re-visit it later in my travels.

The second thing I'm trying to iron out the details about - and perhaps the biggest as it accounts for nearly half of my trip's budget and over a third of my time - is the details of my course at Genki JACS.. I'm hoping to have a mix between homestay with a Japanese family and dorm life, hopefully with some Japanese students from Kyuushuu university.. Homestay is more expensive, so I'm hoping to be a little easier on the budget by mixing and matching. I've sent an e-mail to GenkiJACS outlining my proposal. They've always been good at replying within 48 hours.

I'd like to make a side note that working in YEN has really made things seem like an even larger undertaking than they already are. It just seems mind-boggling to think to myself 'I have to put aside ￥140,000 for transportation over the course of x number of months'. I have to constantly remind myself that this equates to less than 140,000 pennies.

My challenge to all westerners: Try budgeting in pennies for a month, you'll see what I'm going through.

Visa: Aquired

2007-08-17T11:18:00.000+09:00

Well, after a busy 2 days in the big city of Toronto, I'm finally back home... With me, I've brought a plane ticket and *drum roll* .. a visa to live / work in Japan for half a year!

Today at about 1:45pm I returned to the Japanese consulate to get my passport back, and in it, my visa. With my plane ticket and traveler's cheques in-hand, I approached the counter, a nice looking older man on the other side asked "How can I help you?", and after showing him my plane ticket and $2,500 in traveler's cheques, he handed me a neat little package. In this package were my passport, along with a 4 page guide about registering with the immigration office once in Japan and also a list of contact numbers for support on my endeavor should I need it.

When I'd entered the consulate, there was a young Japanese couple - not too much older than myself - at the booth to my right. While the visa officer was away looking for my visa for me, the young man beside me turned to me and asked what company I would be teaching English with. I explained - to his surprise - that I was not intending to teach but rather to study. He seemed pleasantly astonished, he smiled and told me 「勉強は　がんばって　くださいね」 "do your best/good luck with your studies". It kind of made my day, as I haven't spoken to any Japanese that close to my age before. Also, he seemed so happy to hear that I wanted to learn Japanese, it makes me hope I'll be that well received in Japan. では、がんばりますよ！ Well, I'll definitely try my best!

Departure Date Set: November 7th

2007-08-16T09:16:00.000+09:00

Well, I bought my airline ticket today.
Cost: ~$1,300 after taxes etc.
Departure Date: November 7th, 2007 @ 10:00AM
From: Toronto Lester B. Pearson International Airport
To: Tokyo Narita International Airport
Stops: Vancouver, British Columbia Canada

Unfortunately, buying a ticket directly from the airline means I was unable to get a ticket directly to Fukuoka as no Canadian airlines fly directly to Fukuoka. So, I have a ticket to Narita international airport, once I get there, I'll have to find my way to Fukuoka either via a Japanese airline or perhaps the Shinkansen.
Anyways, we'll see how that all works out once I get there, as long as I'm in Fukuoka by that Sunday I'll be good. Besides, it's the challenges that will give this journey flavor (I'm gunna kick myself for saying that later on, I know.. hehe)

Anyways, I'm back in Toronto again for a couple of days. Tomorrow I'll be going to the Japanese consulate again to hopefully pick up my passport and visa given that they're ready. They told me to come back today but I figured I'd give them an extra day. However, there's still a chance that they could ask me to come back again later if it's not ready yet. Hopefully everything is ready.

チケットをかいものしています // Shopping for a Plane Ticket

2007-08-13T12:01:00.000+09:00

Everything is very busy at the moment; Work has been busy, in what little free time I have I try to spend brushing up on my Japanese at YesJapan.com (Probably THE best way to learn Japanese online.) Though lately I dont have alot of free time to study or do much of anything. Furthermore, after saving up for almost 3 years I'm suddenly throwing tons of money around like nothing in preparation for this trip (read on, you'll see) - kind of a strange feeling.

In a few days I have to return to Toronto to pick up my Working Holiday Visa. (NOTE: The Japanese government currently has my passport >.> - for some reason I like saying that hehehe.)
Anyways, in order for them to hand over your passport WITH the visa in it, you have to bring 2 items when you go to pick up your visa.
a) $2,500 in Traveller's Checks - this is to show that you have sufficient funds to get yourself situated while you find a Job etc.
b) Actual return airline ticket - this is to prove that you're eventually going to return and not over-stay your visa.

Getting the first of these items was pretty easy, except that my bank is an online bank and because it doesn't have any tellers it's difficult to get traveller's checks from them, so I had to buy them from a different bank.
Buying the traveller's checks from a different bank presented it's own problems, as at one branch they wanted to see my passport to sell them to me (uh... yea.. the Japanese government has my passport <.< and wont give it back until I show them these traveller's checks.. hehe still love saying that..)
Anyways, I went to a different branch of the SAME bank (CIBC), and they sold them to me without any photo ID at all.. So item a) is covered.

Item b) is a bag of issues on it's own. No Canadian airliner flys to Fukuoka (where I'll be staying for the first duration of my journy to attend Genki Japanese and Culture School); Most of the flights go to Tokyo and then you have to transfer to JAL or All Nippon airlines to go from Tokyo to Fukuoka.. You can buy tickets from Expedia or Travelocity or Orbitz that include this entire trip, but unfortunately they are only e-tickets and no actual ticket is given to you, you simply goto the air port, show them photo ID and they give you a boarding pass. This wont work for me, as the Japanese consulate wants to SEE a return ticket itself. Also, I've heard a number of horror stories about e-tickets and people getting to the airport and being told they need an actual ticket, etc. and it sound's like a possible headache waiting to happen...

So...

I've decided that I'll purchase my ticket in person at the Airport where I live: round trip from Toronto to Tokyo, with a stop in Vancouver; Once I get to Narita International Airport Tokyo, I'll have to buy another ticket to goto Fukuoka or I may take the Shinkansen. I'm aiming for a departure date of November 6th, and a return date of April 30th or May 1st..

So, I have my plate full in the next few days, and on top of all of this I have to stop at greyhound and buy a greyhound ticket to go back to Toronto on Wednesday or Thursday. isogashii ne~ (aren't I busy? -.-)

Working Holiday Visa: Approved

2007-08-09T09:00:00.000+09:00

Well, I'm in Toronto today (closest Japanese consulate to me is in Toronto, so I took a little trip up here). I visited the Japanese consulate to submit an application for a Working Holiday Visa which will allow me to live and work in Japan for 6 months to a year..

I took a big elevator up to the 33rd floor of this really tall office building in downtown Toronto.. Off of the elevator, I made a right, and saw this big sign in both english and Japanese that says Japanese Consulate General, and it has some scrolls next to it and some bamboo and it's a very "japanese" feeling place.. So I make my way down the hall, and take a seet in a small waiting room, along the wall there's a row of booths with forms and brochures in them, all in Japanese. The visa officers were just comming back from their lunch break when I arrived, and there was this glass window with a slot at the bottom like in some movie theaters, but it was covered by some blinds... Suddenly, the curtain behind the glass window thing opened and a short Japanese woman standing on the other side of the glass said "Ha~i, dozo.. Please come forward"..

There were about 4 other people there in the waiting area, and they had all arrived before I did, so I let them go first.. Finally, everyone else had gone, and so I stood up and walked over to the window, half nervous, have brave (weird feeling).. I took my file folder with all of my required documents out of my school bag.. and handed them to the lady along with my passport.. She took a few minutes, sorted the papers, and didn't really say anything at first.. Then for a second she seemed confused and told me one of the forms was missing, and I got really nervous for a second, but then she found it stuck to the back of another sheet.. Big sigh of relief.. She smiled, and went over all of my forms that I'd filled out.. and asked me a few questions like "Have you ever been to Japan before?" "Have you ever applied for a working holiday visa before?"..

And then she read my "letter of intent" which is basically a short letter describing why you want a working holiday visa and what your motives are etc. The first paragraph of my letter is in Japanese, and basically introduces myself and explains that I've been learning Japanese for about 2 years but am still pretty week at it, thus the letter would be written in english from this point on... She smiled when she read it, and asked "Where did you study Japanese"...

Finally, after going through my submitted itinerary and a few other papers, and cropping my submitted passport-sized photograph and glueing it onto one of the forms, she looked up and me and said "your visa has been approved! please return here in one week to pick up your passport and visa, if there are any issues we'll call you"

I felt like a 10 billion yen, but was still pretty shocked and nervous so I dont think it was really showing on my face!

花火 // Fireworks!

2007-06-28T10:45:00.000+09:00

Last night, Mr. and Mrs. Taguchi had a wonderful party that I was happy to be invited to. Every year around the end of June there is a magnificent (and huge) fireworks display over the Detroit river, as my city and Detroit share in celebrating the respective Independence Days of Canada and the US.

This is not very Japan related except that this is the first time I've gotten some pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Taguchi.

田口さん家に　行って　すごく　たのしかったです // Fun at Taguchi's place

2007-05-27T11:40:00.000+09:00

I had a wonderful visit today with Mr. and Mrs. Taguchi - these two people have become so much more than language exchange partners, they've become dear friends to me! I met them through a friend of my mom, and we've really hit it off.

Noboru-san is an extremely kind man who I've grown to really admire - he's a man of few words, but he has a wonderful sense of humor and is a smart and kind person with a good heart!
Akemi-san is a woman with so much character and laughter, yet alot of wisdom too - and she's become a great mentor and a friend.

They invited me to their place at about 4 today. I walked to their building, which is about a half-hour walk from my house. They live in a beautiful condo-minion on the waterfront downtown, and somehow every time I visit I feel like I'm taking a day trip to Japan.

Irrashaimase, they greet me as I enter their home, with a slight bow, and they're always so considerate as they pull up a small chair for me to sit on as I untie and take-off my shoes, hai, douzo, I'm welcomed to make myself comfortable. Akemi always prepares some delicious tea and an exotic Japanese treat of some sort.

Tonight was especially wonderful, as I was introduced to two of their friends - Susan and Akio-san (Sorry if I got your name wrong - ごめんなさい). Susan lives in their building, and her husband is working in Japan right now, she's a very nice Indian woman with a great sense of humor, and she wants to learn Japanese. Akio-san is living in Canada on a Working Holiday Visa, which is actually the same Visa I'm applying for to stay in Japan. She's very nice very nice and friendly, it was just chance that Akemi and her met, as they bumped into each other at the local library (considering Windsor has less than 0.5% Japanese population).. Funny foot-in-mouth moment happened when I met her, immediately after being introduced, I asked Akio how old she is - which I didn't realise might give the wrong impression, but I was genuinely curious about her age because she looks about my age, though apparently she's a bit older than me, anyways, at realising how forward I sounded, my face turned red but we laughed it off in good spirits ^_^.

After some interesting conversation (in both Japanese and English), Akemi invited us to stay for Dinner, and so we had a wonderful (and may I add healthy) Japanese dinner - rice, japanese curry, chicken, and desert of Ice Cream with Red Bean sauce - Sundae style, sooooo goooooood....

We then went to Susan's apartment and played DDR (Dance Dance Revolution), and burnt off any calories the dinner might of added...

I walked home and it started to rain lightly - I love rain - and I took the sceneic rout, passing by some fountains and wonderful gardens, not even feeling like I was in Windsor until I started to approach my house.

I cant wait for my next visit with the Taguchis!

ようこそ // Welcome!

2007-05-22T10:36:00.000+09:00

Please, enjoy this video (I didn't make it, but it gets me excited!)

As my first post in my new blog, I'd like to take a moment to express my thanks to everyone who's helped me move forward and closer to realising my dream. First and foremost, my mother who has been supportive and encouraging as I prepare to undertake one of the biggest adventures of my life... and to all of my friends who've been there to keep me going. As a memento of my first post in this blog, I would like to outline my goals

Fluency in Japanese Language, learning more and more each day!
Immersion in the exotic culture of Japan.
Making lots of friends along the way.
and most importantly...
Making memories!

As of right now, I'm still in my home in Canada. I study Japanese on my own time, sometimes with the help of my dear Japanese friends (こんにちは、田口さん、ゆかりさん、宜しくね). I'm still months away from my departure, but I want to start the story here, at home where it begins.
I'm anxious for the future to unfold and an adventure in a far-off land to unravel before my feet.

またね～