Some Views

Last night, I met up with a number of the other language teachers in the area and hung out in a park by the bay before heading across town to a bar for some karaoke.  They were a great group of people and all of them have been teaching anywhere from 2 to 4 years in Nagasaki city, so hopefully that bodes well for me.

I spent my saturday out walking and getting acquainted with the area.  I saw this amazing bridge covering the entrance to the harbor and decided to spend the rest of my afternoon walking to it.  It took about 2 hours to get there since I was just doing it by sight, but I made it and the view was well worth it.  I did get a bit sunburned and managed to sweat through 2 shirts and a thick pair of khaki shorts (by sweat through, I mean the entire pair of shorts were wet and it looked like a whole new color).

 

Employment

I was officially employed by the principal of my school today.  We had a miniature ceremony in his office.  In general formality is a big part of Japanese society (like bowing), so when I went into his office we jumped from informal small talk into this ‘ceremony to note a change of employment.’  The principal, two vice principals, and an accompanying teacher formed a half circle around me and presented me with a notification of employment and we exchanged bows and greetings.

The city is gorgeous as well, I’m torn between cleaning and establishing my apartment or going exploring.

[View from School]

[Picture taken on my way walk to school]

[View at a park by the bay.  5 minute walk from my apartment]

Interesting Exchange

Me: M. Sensei, I was thinking about running to school in the mornings, do you think that would be alright?

M. Sensei: Of course!

Me: Is there anyplace I would be able to take a shower?

M. Sensei: Oh I see… Well just use the student shower in the gym or pool house.

Me: Don’t you think that is a bit strange, I’m not sure students and teachers should use the same shower.

M. Sensei: It is fine. The students would be really excited and happy to ‘see’ you!

[A crab I met on the way to school!]

Orientation

Had a full day of orientation meetings yesterday and some ceremonies along with a few people from the Ministries that sponsor the program.

There really hasn’t been much time to get out (not that I expected there to be), but I did manage to catch up with some friends from last year.  It really feels like I hadn’t even left the city.

[Picture of Chuo Ward (financial center of Tokyo), Same view as yesterday but at night, opening ceremony, cute mascot]

Arrival and a new blog!

After another long flight, I’m safely back in Japan!  Touched down at Narita earlier today and I’ll be spending the next 3 nights here in Tokyo.  Tonight is my only free night before we enter two days of orientation meetings and I’m not going to let JET lag stop me from catching up with friends.

This is my new old blog and I’ll try to keep it updated more than the last one!

[Picture of Shinjuku from my hotel room]

A Hefty Whale-sized Serving of Blog

Back again. Here’s an outline of this post:
(fast) Q&A
Whale

Where did you get these numbers from? According to US 2000 Census, US average family size is 3.14. Based on Google, sampled Japanese family size is 3.66 in 2006, and projected to be 2.73 in 2010.

Well mister anonymous, I’m not so sure why you want to take issue with my numbers, but I’ll treat you anyway. I pull all my numbers from CIA World Factbook. I used the average number of births per family (wherein a birth is measured as a child that lives past a certain age, usually around 5) to determine my family size. This is my general definition of a family (ie, children + parents). On the other hand, your census 2000 (8 years old!) numbers are simply stating the US family household size (ie, a family with children under the age of 18). So a family with 1 child out of school and one child under the age of 18 would be counted as a family size of 3 instead of 4. Therefore it is a bit different from what I was looking for. Secondly, the CIA World Factbook uses 2008 estimates where possible. And looking at your numbers we could project Japan’s estimated family size in 2008 to be around 3.2 children per family, which only supports that my number of 3.2 is quite valid. So I hope that clears things up for you, and you’ll do a bit more than a basic google search to obtain your data in the future.

What have you missed the most about the US while you've been in Japan?

Cars, Mexican Food, Hot Sunny days

What will you miss the most about Japan when you get back?

Trains , Japanese Food, Rainy Humid Days (Just kidding! lets switch this to short skirts)

But really, its hard to say, because what I miss changes on a daily basis, and its really hard right now to know what I will be missing in the future about Japan. It’ll be one of those, you-never-knew-how-much-it-meant-until-its-gone moments.

Hmmm...ever thought of becoming a politician...or a speech writer for one? Lol

Ouch. Must be a very boring for you guys to read this!

WHALE

2 weeks ago, one of my students and I were talking about Japanese food, and I said that I had never had whale. So during our next meeting, he presented a small essay he wrote about whale, and then finished the essay with a line like “so why don’t we go enjoy whale together next Tuesday!” Needless to say, I complied and he even invited me to drag along Jen so he could bring his girlfriend! Anyway long story short, he paid for everything (50$ per meal! 12$ per drink), then we went to a ritzy bar on the tallest tower in Shibuya, and were promptly removed from the bar because I was wearing sandals and shorts (Jen, student, and student’s girlfriend were all in formal wear (oops!)), so instead we drank at some other fancy bar in Shibuya, were he paid for more drinks. All in all in was a good night, and maybe the highlight of the trip was where we were asking questions back and forth about each others cultures and at one point the conversation went something like this.

Student: ….. and that’s why Japanese girls carry empty suitcases with them everywhere they go.

Me: So anything else you ever wanted to ask?

(pause)

S. Girlfriend: Would you mind if we drove you to Nikko (three hours away!) one weekend?

So yea, now we are going to Nikko in 2 weeks. Okay picture time!

Us ready to eat some whale, and sporting these sexy bibs.

This is some whale tale. Its a bit chewy, and had some spice to it.

This is whale tongue. This tasted exactly how I thought whale would, that is to say a bit oily and fatty, probably my least favorite (but still delicious) part of the meal

This is some fried whale. It was very good, but still somewhat chewy.

Raw whale. The white part is the skin, the red part is the meat. This was really good, like a big piece of sushi.

Easily the best part of the meal, we grilled the whale at the table along with some vegetables. It was seasoned well, and very soft going into your mouth.

We ended the meal with this rice meal with whale bits on top. It was just to cleanse you mouth so you could eat your dessert. Not much to say here, it tasted like...warm.

Okay, thats it for today, catch you next time!

Q&A! and くじら！

Hey guys, I’m back in action on the blog again, sorry the updates aren’t exactly regular.. .woops! The weather in Japan hasn’t been all that good, in fact I’m wearing *gasp* a long sleeve shirt today, and was a quite cold in my shorts (I refuse to wear pants this close to June). We’ve had a lot of rain, and it is really just enough rain to inconvenience you while doing anything outdoors that day, but not enough to keep you inside. Also, it’s a shame, but the weather always seems to peak in the middle of the week, tempting me to skip class… (don’t worry parents, I haven’t been).

Anyways, last week I asked you guys to ask me some questions about Japan/myself that you’d like to see answered here. Mr. Anonymous really went all out, asking a total of four questions! Oh my! Props to Jen’s Dad (I think) for the second (a two-parter at that!). After I answer these guys (that’s about the time where the text ends and the pics begin) I’ll tell you about my Tuesday night… where I ate a whale! But not the whole thing.

How do you plan to apply what you have learned in Japan when you get back?

Oh man, now I have to figure out what it is exactly I’ve been learning all this time in Japan. I think as far as language is concerned, I’m hoping I can take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test – for the nonacronym-nerds ), which would allow me to say that I kinda-sorta know Japanese at a high enough level to write it on my resume..also I’d like to try and learn Chinese next year so hopefully all the Kanji I’ve had to learn here can ease the transition to that language slightly. Otherwise, in terms of things I’ve learned about Japan, I’m hoping it will give me another angle to view subjects from next year in the classroom and I can look smart. Also, I’d like to think that I’m somehow more independent, but that probably depends on who you ask (Me- Yes! Parents – NO!) Oh..also something about a thesis.

Top 3 things to do and not to do in Japan for future students aboard?

Okay, I apologize here, because I can never remember this stuff on the spot… but if I was hanging out with you, I’d probably have something to say every few minutes that would be a do-or-die event to see in Japan. So instead I’m just going to misread your sentence and come up with a list of things that you should do, even though they shouldn’t be!

To Do and Not To Do in Japan.

1). Gaijin-smash* – Mystical technique in which you a). run through ticket gates or b). pretend to have lost your ticket and have just come from 1 station before… use of the gaijin-smash requires that you pretend to have no knowledge of the Japanese language… ie… use sentences such as “Me Speaking No Japan” (*Technique not limited to trains)

2). Pay for things using the Korean 100 won-coin… or if gutsy, the 500 won coin. They are the same size and look relatively the same marking-wise as Japanese yen, especially in a dark lit bar. Also they carry 10% of the value! (Notice how techniques 1 and 2 result in me saving money)

3). Go to the aforementioned Penis Festival (or something similar). You won’t want to be there because of all the foreigners and the fact that it doesn’t feel like something very traditional, but then again, you’re at a penis festival.

If you were to go back in time, what would you do differently? And why?

Okay, so I’m really not sure what I could say here. Generally, if there are things I’d have wanted to do differently, they get passed along to my brothers... so you might want to see how they approach study abroad… if at all. Of course, that isn’t happening anytime too soon. I think, I would have liked to study abroad earlier, or maybe even extended my time here with an extra spring or summer semester. I don’t know, time just seems to go by so quickly, especially in these last two months.

But if I could do something, seriously differently, I would have opted to study abroad in Korea. Sure I only took the language for 1 year, but I think there would have been so much more to gain from going there over Japan (Taking the road less travelled-kinda thing). I had this thought echoed by a friend, but to explain, I’ve been waiting to come to Japan for a long time, and I’ve studied about it intensely for two years in college, and having been here for a few months, it has lost some of its luster to me. That’s not to say I don’t enjoy it, it just doesn’t surprise me as much as I thought it might.

What's the meaning of life? How is it different in Japan vs. US?

It is often said that the meaning of life is family. That would mean that the difference between the US and Japan is 4.1 People per family – 3.22 People per family, so about .9 people per family. Quite the difference!

Do tell: What do you want to be/do when you grow up?

Good question, and one that I understand will need some answering since I’m now a 4^th year. Okay, so first off, after graduation, I am hoping I can join a good English-Teaching program in either Japan, Korea, or China. I’d like to do that for 2-4 years, depending on many factors (money, personal enjoyment, more school). If there is anything I’ve learned in Japan, it is that you don’t need to feel rushed to find a career. From there, I’m hoping I can find some job working with the state department or the CIA drawing on my experiences abroad (and I’ll have had 2-4 years to prepare for their respective tests). These generally involve writing up lots of reports about the attitudes of the citizens of a particular country and/or doing translation services. This would make use of the experiences I’d had here (take that question #1!) and allow me to continue doing what I like. I’d also like to continue to be myself.

Wow, so look at that, answered all your questions (but please leave more!) . I’m afraid that if I make this post any longer it will get even less reads. So I’m going to cut my self off now, and leave the whale for another time.