Barely Literate | A Blog About Living, Teaching, and Learning in Japan |
Here are a few of the pictures from the Tokyo orientation before I forget to post them. They’re sort of all over the place because I was functioning off probably around 12 hour off sleep that whole weekend.
Well I got up today and some of the other JET’s in the area went together to the aquarium. It was quite road trip. The aquarium itself is located a little bit northeast of Aomori city close to the beach. We drove east from Towada, which si located in the Nambu region of the prefecture a little bit east of the center. From there we went north through Shichinohe, Tohoku, and through to Aomori city. The aquarium itself was really nice, there were some giant tortoises at the front that looked like they needed a bit more room. Further inside there was an area where you could walk under a fishtank and observe the fish. We saw a manta ray that was around 2 meters wide. Also there was this seal that was WAY too fat and was resting in the headstand position. It was so bizarre there was a sign attached in Japanese that warned that the seal was actually not dead. Further in there was a dolphin and some other varieties of fish. After that we relaxed at the beach and threw a football around. We made friends with some Japanese dudes who were interested in learning how to throw the football. They were super nice and when they left they gave us a bag of chips and these bizarre cheese/fish tube things, as a thank you. After that we decided to go to the onsen (Japanese hot spring) which is actually the third one I’ve been to so far. This one was especially good because it had an amazing view of the coastline. Finally we grabbed some ramen at a shop that my friend wanted to try out, and then headed back to Towada. All in all a very fun day I can’t wait to get my car and probably a GPS of some kind and do some exploring of my own.
Yesterday we went to a place called Lake Towada. I was really excited beause my previous Japanese teacher had been to Lake Towada and told me that it was an amazing place. It didn’t dissappoint at all. There was a great Jinjya (Japanese temple) that we visited. Also there were these crazy watch out for bear signs where the bear looks like it has vampire fangs (see album). Also there was this super secret spot that a friend showed us with a really long ladder that you could climb down to the beach. Goign down was kind of sketchy and I kind of white knuckled my way down. The climb was worth it though and we were rewarded with an amazing view of the lake. After that we walked down the beach and checked out the ferry and some scenery then enjoyed some of the Aomori style apple ice cream.
Things have been going very well so far living in Japan. I’ve been getting used to my house, which is absolutely huge. I think I’ll dedicate an entire post to it a bit later and maybe post a quick video tour. Also today one of the other JET’s in the area took myself and another JET from Vancouver to get our bank accounts set up. This was an experience to say the least. First of all we filled out all our paper work perfectly. Everything was in place and we handed it in. We waited around an hour, then we were told that we had to re-submit the paperwork because all the letters of our names were not capitalized. I was really choked about this because it would have just been a simple matter of crossing out the characters we had written, and re-writing them, but unfortunately this was not possible. Finally after another hour we were given the green and the other JET and myself were both given brand new bank books. These bank books have cool magnetic strips and they basically function as interac cards. Also bill paying and other features were set up so I’m really excited about having this done.
So far I am loving Japan! As a quick reminder I was placed in a prefecture called Aomori Ken which is in Tohoku which is in northern Japan, and my city is called Towada shi. The last few weeks have been really busy. So far I had my orientation in Tokyo. It lasted for 2 days. I think between those two days I probably got around 12 hours of sleep, well more like 13 I fell asleep in the subway with some of my friends when I went to Akihabara. The orientation itself was really good. I was pleasantly surprised by the guest speaker, who’s name escapes me at this moments presentation on culture shock. He talked for about 90 minutes and the whole presentation was structured almost like a standup act it was hilarious. My favourite line was “I’ve found parmesan cheese… I’ll survive in Japan.” Also the seminar on driving was super helpful. There was some really good information that I think I will put to good use. Because I will be goign to multiple schools I will definitely need a car. One really helpful item that was brought up was leasing, which I think will serve me just fine. Okay I’m a bit rushed because I’m meeting some friends for dinner so that’s all for now.
Well I’m in Tokyo right now. My trip went well and I was actually really impressed with the flight over from Vancouver. There were some good movies and as a result it didn’t seem that long although I didn’t sleep a wink. Also for movies I watched the Wolfman, which was well… interesting, and I also watched The Hurt Locker, which was really cool. Before departure at the airport we met this great guy in the aiport before we left and he started to teach the 45 Vancouver JETs origami. I think he was a Japanese elementary school teacher, and he was really good at origami too. He made this panda head that was unbelievably complicated and it was really cool to see him make this crazily complicated origami piece. After arriving in Tokyo we took a bus ride that was around 1.5 hours, but after the 9.5 hour flight it felt a bit draining. However, we saw some fireworks on our way over which was definitely a good omen. After that we arrived in the Keio Plaza Hotel. After some udon a few of us walked around and grabbed some well priced udon. I ran into a zombie later that night. It was really weird some guy bumped into me buy accident, but instead of apologizing he just groaned and lumbered off in a zombie like fashion, very weird!
Well as of 2:00 pm on Saturday I’m going to be moving to Japan for one year. I will be participating in the JET Programme (Japan Exchange Teaching Programme) as an English teacher. I will be at a two day orientation in Tokyo, followed by a trip to my new home city, Towada shi, in Aomori Prefecture. I will miss a lot about Vancouver, but I am really looking forward to the new experience of living in Japan. I will be posting a great deal of pictures for the upcoming orientation in Tokyo, as well as my travels in Japan.
From: http://sports.ca.msn.com/top-stories/cp-article.aspx?cp-documentid=25017188
North Korea World Cup team reprimanded
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea’s soccer team and coach have been reprimanded for losing all three games at the World Cup in South Africa, a news report said.
The team and coach Kim Jong Hun were summoned to a meeting at the People’s Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on July 2, the U.S.-financed Radio Free Asia reported Monday.
Sports Minister Pak Myong Chol was among some 400 government officials, athletes and others at the six-hour closed-door session, the report said.
Team members were forced to reprimand their coach at the end of the gathering, the report said.
Japan-based players Jong Tae Se and An Yong Hak were exempted from the meeting, RFA said.
Competing in its second World Cup finals after an absence of 44 years, North Korea exited at the group stage, beaten 2-1 by Brazil, then lost to Portugal 7-0 and to Ivory Coast 3-0.
The report cited two unidentified sources in North Korea and a Chinese businessman named Yu, described as knowledgeable about North Korea affairs.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, said Wednesday it could not immediately confirm the report.
Groups in Seoul that monitor information out of North Korea said they could not corroborate the report, and there was no mention of any such meeting in Pyongyang’s state media.
A veteran of North Korea’s 1966 squad had previously said the team would be receive a warm welcome despite their poor performance.
“Now when the Korean team gets home, officials and crowds of people will go to the airport to welcome them,” Pak Du Ik, who led his country to the quarter-finals in England 44 years ago, told television news agency APTN in Pyongyang last month.
“We have learned a lesson from the three World Cup matches, we accumulated experience and we found an answer to how to improve our football.”
Some Books I would like to Read:
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Japan
Beyond the Event Horizon
Bushido, the Soul of Japan
Idoru
Wow it’s really nice outsid. About 22 degrees, but a nice breeze and not a cloud in sight. I’m about to go for a 12 km run around Vancity, I think later in the week I wouldn’t mind getting some good trail running in around Pacific Spirit Park at UBC. Also I’ve been doing some rock climbing this week and it’s been great. My hand looks like I’ve been rubbing them with sandpaper and my forearms are wooden, but I’ve been enjoying getting back into the groove. Also I miss the Craig X (Rock climbing gym in Victoria) bouldering routes. I found for the entire bottom half of the gym you could climb around anywhere, however, at Cliffhanger you can only boulder in one corner. In addition, I am finding that the difficulty at Cliffhanger seems a little easier. I think that has more to do with the routes being shorter, because of the lack of space. But still I felt like when you climbed a V3/V4 at Craig X you really felt it. Regardless those days are behind me and I’ll be climbing around on V1/V2 for the next little bit, but having fun nonetheless.
Well so far I was looking into getting an electronic dictionary. However, I read through some forums and I was actually really surprised that the iphone had some really good apps set up for reading Japanese. The cool thing is that it has a stylus where you can enter kanji characters and look them up. I also have some stuff for that on my Nintendo DS, but I feel like it’s really only good for looking up a few characters and it just doesn’t have the all in one multi tasking convenience of a phone. My Steve Jobs esque comment aside I think an iphone 4 would be really helpful for learning and it also has Japanese TV, and Audio so I won’t need my ipod anymore. Also I like the tools that are built in to study for the JLPT test.
Well I’m getting all my stuff finished off for going to Japan. I think I put a good dent in my to do list, and yet I keep having this awful feeling like I’ve forgotten something so I’m going to have to do another check off all my stuff etc. Also I got an international drivers license, which is cool, but the weird thing about this license is you don’t actually have to take a test. Meaning if I can drive in Canada the powers at be have deemed me competent to drive in Japan, scary no?
Well I thought since I’m going to Japan I should flex my muscles and bear some Canadian nationalism. I give you Mr. Rick Mercer, interviewing our PM Mr. Harper:
Also a little David Suzuki plus Mr. Mercer:
Well I finished my Japanese class at UBC. Kind of an odd feeling because this was my last class here and I don’t think I’ll be seeing the university again for a while. Other than the awkward feeling of not being a student anymore the Japanese final went ok. Most of the grammar is not too bad, but there are these awkward fill in the blanks where you have to use a grammatical device and it’s kind of annoying because you can choose, and make a sentence that makes sense, but is not the model sentence people are looking for. Anyways I digress I’m happy to be done and I though the final went okay, next stop Japan!
Check out this video. These houses are called Machiya houses they are traditional Japanese houses. In the past few years there has kind of been a push to get rid of some of these houses due to cost. However, I think they are really cool check out this video and take a look for yourself.
Beijing, China (CNN) — In China, white people can be rented.
For a day, a weekend, a week, up to even a month or two, Chinese companies are willing to pay high prices for fair-faced foreigners to join them as fake employees or business partners.
Some call it “White Guy Window Dressing.” To others, it’s known as the “White Guy in a Tie” events, “The Token White Guy Gig,” or, simply, a “Face Job.”
And it is, essentially, all about the age-old Chinese concept of face. To have a few foreigners hanging around means a company has prestige, money and the increasingly crucial connections — real or not — to businesses abroad.
“Face, we say in China, is more important than life itself,” said Zhang Haihua, author of “Think Like Chinese.” “Because Western countries are so developed, people think they are more well off, so people think that if a company can hire foreigners, it must have a lot of money and have very important connections overseas. So when they really want to impress someone, they may roll out a foreigner.”
Or rent one.
Last year, Jonathan Zatkin, an American actor who lives in Beijing, posed as the vice president of an Italian jewelry company that had, allegedly, been in a partnership with a Chinese jewelry chain for a decade…
http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/index.html
Well it’s a Thursday afternoon and I just finished 4 hours of class, hmm what to do? Post embedded video of random anime stuff of course, enjoy.
Were reaching the end of my Japanese class and it looks like a sprint to the finish. The last two chapters have had way too many Kanji (Chinese characters used in Japanese). Why didn’t my parents put me in Manadarin school? If that was the case by now I would have 3 languages instead of 1.5 ish. Alright time to get back to work.
Check out these cool Japanese cellphones!
So far this week has just been a flurry of stuff to get done for the intensive class that I’m taking this semester. It is basically a Japanese class packed into just 3 weeks in contrast when I took the same 2nd year Japanese class at UBC it took 4 months for the class so things have been going quick. I’ve still been working on all my preparations for going to Japan, and I felt a little overwhelmed yesterday. However, I think things will calm down by this Saturday once the class wraps up and I have a bit of time to get all my final arrangements done.
Bollywood movies are strange and fantastic
Granola and berries is the key to success
Early to bed early to rise makes one healthy wealthy and wise
Anime is underrated
