I am continuing to work on my Japanese study, but I`d like to ask some of the other foreigners that have studied in the past or are currently studying a simple question.  Currently, I`ve attempted to create a method of writing (in Hiragana), the names of all the stations that I either pass on my way to work or the stations that I stop at and the names of the lines as well.

Can someone tell me if they`ve ever tried this and if yes, was it a helpful method for memorization of either Hiragana or Katakana?  I know that a lot of the stations are written in Kanji as well, but for the part of the Hiragana at this time.   Much appreciated.

 My next few blog entries will include photos of some of the places that I`ve visited so far.  I`m also attempting to come up with a way to show my photos from when I was in Japan previously, 2 years ago. 

I definitely miss shopping in Australian Supermarkets. I totally took for granted the plethora of multicultural foods we could easily access at a reasonable price.We seem to go on a shop here nearly everyday. I think that its because the portion sizes are smaller here and possibly because we have a tiny fridge and limited self space and possibly because it’s so easy to just duck out and grab something to eat for that day. Apart from the smaller portions, I think that the packaging of food is so overly done. For Example, we bought this packet of 3 mini pizzas, there was the initial outside plastic, followed by each individual pizza being wrapped in more plastic, followed by a plastic foam tray, which served no purpose other than to make sure the pizza looked all neat and tidy and heaven forbid, end up bunching up together. So packaging here is really ridiculous. Someone told me its because it makes the products look cleaner. But again, we bought a packet of cookies, the cookies inside the packet were being held in a platic tray and then all individually wrapped again! Its packaging gone mad. No wonder there are giant islands in the oceans of just plastic collecting and harming our marine environments. 🙁 This is why I take my canvas bag to the supermarket.

On another note though, you can a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables for a decent and sometimes awesome price. There are a few street vendors which claim some of the corners in our town’s streets, you can constantly hear “Yasai, Yasai, Yasai, Yasai…” and I mean all day. Yasai = Vegetables, lucky they don’t have to say “Vegetables, Vegetables, Vegetables” all day, now that would be more difficult.
This time of year(summer in Japan) you can usually get a bunch of bananas for 100yen, and tomatoes are really cheap too. But winter is the best for strawberries, I have never tasted such delicious strawberries until I came to Japan in March. They were sooo OISHII!!

A lot of the time you may hear that it is very expensive living in Japan. But if you know where to shop and look around for the cheap Yasai vendors you can make your yen go a long way.

Simon and I have made it through our first few months living fairly cheaply. Apart from rent that is.

You can buy heaps of house hold necessities like cutlery, toiletries, stationary, containers for everything and so on from shops called “Hyaku yen”(100yen) Shops, they have nearly everything you need. They are like the equivalent to the Reject Shop or Hot Dollar back in Australia, but totally kick their butts. They have the most random things you could need from storage drawers, to screwdrivers to popcorn, instant curry and noodles, or little tatami mats, thongs, ear cleaners, nail polish, etc, etc. And everything is actually 100yen, not like the Reject shop where you have to pay up to $5 for things. I guess Japan can afford such low costs for their items as there are just sooo many people living here they will still make a profit.

There is even a grocery version of the “Hyaku yen” i.e. 100Yen Lawsons, we have beenbuying a majority of our food from here. A key phrase I have learnt is “fukuro ga irimasen”(i don’t need a bag)-yes I take my canvas bag to the supermarket, lol, to which the cashier is more than happy to hear.

word about a Tokyo summer… wow

So I’ve lived in Japan for 5 years when I was little…

but that was many years ago. 13 years ago exactly.

I had completely forgotten how ridiculous(ly hot) Tokyo’s summer can get.

To be fair I think it got hotter in the last few years.

I mean… 3 days ago the weather network announced that the rainy season was officially over

2 days ago it was 35 degrees. FML!

I’m from Canad, the land of snow, Eskimos, poutine and everything else related to cold weather!!

No way on earth am I ready for a intense weather like this one.

And while I’m melting away under the heat dressed in a my wife beater and shorts…

The Tokyo girls are fully covered in long sleeve shirts, gloves, hats, umbrellas (but for some reason very very short shorts)

I find it amusing that while girls in Canada spend a fortune going  to tanning salons,

girls in Japan spend 10000X more money on whitening lotion!!

wow…

donation please?

Living in Ueno has been such an exciting experience! Every season Ueno Park has a different character, which makes every season enjoyable. Starting from July, there are evening lanterns all around Ueno Park along with the beautiful water lilies among tall lotus leaves. As I walk to work and home everyday for 20minutes, I feel so relaxed and peaceful. It’s nice living in Ueno!

Tokyo probably has one of the best transport systems ever! The longest I have ever had to wait for a train to arrive is 5mins(beating Cityrail and waiting at Gosford Station by a longshot). Trains in Tokyo can get you to nearly everywhere you want to go in the city and they are so frequent that your life is no longer run by timetables – as you know that there will be a train coming soon. But if you are on a schedule a good website to use and find out the best train route is Jorudan.

Below is a map of the Japan Rail(JR) lines used…
As you can see the trains go all over the city – talking commuters from one end of the city to the other everyday, and there are also the subway lines. When you first arrive in Tokyo this system might be a little overwhelming and confusing as there are sooo many different lines and different ways you can get from point a to b. But each line has its own colour coded trains.

If you happen to catch the train at peak hour it could mean your playing sardines with a train full of people. And I’m not kidding. Just look at this clip from youtube. Luckily we haven’t been during these times. Well only once or twice like when we went to Disneyland as it was early morning. But a lot of the time I have to stand up on the train from work. Apparently the train line that we live on (Kehin Tohoku) is one of the busiest, as it travels from Omiya in Saitama (north of Tokyo) to Yokohama (South of Tokyo), which means that it would be very convenient for many people to use as they don’t have to transfer lines.

The only thing that I don’t understand about the trains is – Why stop operation at midnight??!?!?! Yes, sadly the trains of Tokyo City cease operating Cinderella style, which seems like such a shame as it means you can either go out early and get the last train home, or pull an all nighter and catch the first trains home, or catch a taxi(which we all know is going to cost at least 100,00 yen). Sigh, there could be so much bar hopping potential.

Apart from that downfall, the ticketing system is awesome! Maps at each station show you how much your ticket will cost for where you want to go. You can get commuter passes called SUICA. Which are plastic magnetic passes that you can load with yen and means that you can sweep through ticket gates without worrying if you have the right ticket amount, as the amount is deducted from your card automatically(If you do happen to go to a station and not have paid enough for their ticket, all stations have conveniently placed a “Fare Adjustment Machine” which automatically calculates how much more you need to pay, minus any embarassing moments). Suica cards are much more sturdy than the flimsy Cityrail paper tickets and are also waterproof, plus they have your details on them in case you accidentaly leave your card on the train.

Yesterday and Today I went to the Tokyo Career Forum!

For those of you who don’t know what it is… it’s an annual job fair held at the Big Site in Tokyo for bilingual students!

Compared to previous years, there was a noticeable decrease in the number of companies that attended (less than half!) but nevertheless it was a good experience.

Most of the interviews are conducted in Japanese, but there are still good number of interviews that are conducted in English, so it’s an ideal job hunting destination for foreign students living in Japan. Actually, I was surprised to see how many foreign people there were!

In total, I was interviewed at 4 different companies… one of which was done in Japanese. I can’ describe how stressful it was! Conversational Japanese is ok for me, but as soon as I have to speak formally, I freeze up… keigo is too difficult! and I’m sure it’s even difficult for some Japanese students!

Some notable companies that attended this forum was Goldman Sachs, Royal Bank of Scotland, Mitsubishi UFJ, P&G etc etc… and believe it or not, Abercrombie and Fitch. Apparently they’re launching their product into the Japanese market (finally) and they’ll be opening their first store later this year, and they were recruiting staff for the position of “management trainee”… it sounded interesting definitely, and their booth was very popular!!

I really hope by next year, the economy will pick up a bit… there are too much competition and too little job positions available this year…

Anyways, for those of you who are considering a long term commitment in Japan, I suggest you try out the Tokyo career forum next year!!

The first single from the upcoming third album of my favorite band was released on itunes today. Unfortunately I don’t have any itunes credit so I’ve been listening to it on BBC radio. It sounds quite different to their other older stuff. The song  has a very dark and heavy bass line to it and with the way it’s sung and its lyrical prowess, it reminds me a bit of a Nick Cave song. Can’t wait to hear the whole album.

A mate of mine in the guest is reading “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell. I read it about five years ago and only have a vague recollection of happened in it. My mate keeps bringing up certain things that happened in the book and even though I did once know what happened it feels like he’s giving away the story, it’s a strange. Thats why I’ve taken it upon myself to once again read it before he ruins the whole story for me.

my japanese friend was laughing at me, “WHY? WHY JAPANESE? why you HAVE to use japanese as a tool to communicate with another foreigner??? i can understand if it is english, but WHY JAPANESE?????????!!!!!!!!”

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! i got cracked up SOOOOOOOO hard! it was such an interesting point that i have never even thought about! it is true, but to me, it of course it is natural, because we are in japan so of course we speak japanese, but yet, hahaha! さすが私の long time friend.

language is definitely a curse, to separate us, human being, and make us LESS united, as a whole, no doubt about it; however, in the meantime, by using different languages, we can also get some fun out of it.

always 2-sided story isn’t it?

like my classmates, some of them are “chinese”, well, when i am in foreign land, we are all “grouped” as chinese, cannot be helped, i am used to it, however, i cannot understand Mandarin, so i cannot talk to the chinese that speaks Mandarin since i can only speak Cantonese, as a matter of fact, 85% of the time, i had to talk to them in japanese … in here, i feel natural, but when my dad asked me, …

“you have chinese friends??? but … you cannot speak Mandarin~, how did you communicate with them???”

“i speak japanese with them, dad~”

“OH!”

it is at moments like that i realize what type of interesting/weird thing i have been doing~.

cute.

i am now listening to BIG BANG, their songs SOOOOO good. some of them. like  “Heaven”, “Baby Baby”, “Lie”. i do think the leader that made ALL of the songs is very talented. seriously. even though i have absolutely not even 30% of any interests in their appearance. oops, the friend that gave me the songs will kill me, haha.