Christmas In Japan

Well, the Christmas season has arrived in Japan, finally. The "illumination" displays are up, the themed event lessons are quickly filling up, everyone's shopping. The spirit of Christmas is in the air, in a predominately Buddhist country. It's pretty surreal. In two and a half weeks, I'll be back in the States curling up next to the fire with my girlfriend and family. It'll be a great ending to a challenging and rewarding experience working in Japan.

Reflections on culture

I'm still working on updating more often! Sorry about that! I just wanted to address some things I noticed about Japan that I like and some things that I don't. First off, I think it's great that people here have a great amount of patience (which is great for me because I'm pretty slow). They are also kind (at least they appear that way) and show a lot of respect towards others. However, they tend to be a little too focused on order and have views on honor that seem a little scary being a Westerner. For example, the service is great wherever you go, but they are unwilling to adjust to changes that happen which are contrary to protocols.

The way companies work are quite different from what I'm used to because they are very formal. Whenever someone needs to tell you something, it goes through all the positions of the company. You can't just give a form to someone to give to someone else. You have to give it to that person, and if you don't they will tell you to. Even if they are sitting right next to that person in the office. Also, say something happened to a English teacher's family overseas (like a family death). The director will ask staff personnel to personally ask the teacher leaving to stay for the duration of the contract. In other words, it is more honorable to work than grieve the death of a family member.

I have also noticed parents acting what we would call brutal to their children. Smacking them on the head and yelling at them is common. Unfortunately, this extends to parents correcting their children for not being able to learn a new language as quickly as they would wish. It is pretty disturbing to me, and hard to accept.

I don't mean to complain or make it sound like I am. I only mean to address a different culture and how it made me think about my own. Living here and seeing what I've seen made me think about what I like and dislike about mine. Thus, it makes my stay here seem more valuable.

The year is flying by so quickly

If I remember correctly, it was the last week I was in my old apt. that I wrote last. Well, a lot has happened since then. I have moved into a new apt. with a roommate from my original training group, and have been there thriving. I have also gone many places within Japan and have even gone to Italy and back to the USA. I think those particular trips really helped me to heal somewhat. For the first few months I had been awfully homesick. It was good to be back where everything was English and people were so casual.

I know I had promised myself to update this often when I originally started the blog, but I have been updating Facebook a lot too. Whenever I want to talk about something interesting and share tidbits and such, this will be the first place I'll go to. Until then, take care and thanks to everyone for reading!

moving soon

Again I just wanted to share with you about goings on here in Japan. I'm realizing just how big the learning curve is for my job. It seems that there are just so many things that I have to do and I'm not. I'm wondering how much I should worry about it outside of work. At times, the job of a teacher is stressful, but I can see that after a few more months, with a lot of practice, it will be second-nature.

I have been living in a small apartment for the last few months. I think I've already talked about that. Fortunately, I'll be moving soon to Freebell. If you live in Nagoya and you're a foreigner, you've no doubt heard of it. Apparently, its a gaijin ghetto. I thought about this, but made the decision that where I'm living is overpriced and I need to save money for traveling and other expenses. Plus, its exactly the type of place I was expecting the company to put me in.. obviously I'm in a country where almost no one speaks English so its hard to do everyday things. Live is about to get a lot cheaper and easier.

The friendship department is one of the hardest things to get going here, I think. Mostly, I do things with other teachers, and that's fun. However, I feel like it'll take time to get the kind of friends I had when I went abroad, for example. The new apartment should solve this problem. Many more English speakers for sure!

World Cup fever is very much alive in Japan. I've been watching games on TV and went to a native teacher friend's place in the area to watch the Japan-Netherlands game. It was so exciting! I'm also very satisfied that USA is doing much better this time around. They seem more hardened and less amateurish.

I'll be writing again after I'm in the new apt. Kanpai!

Long Break

It's been a while since I've written. Now I'm lucky to have a few followers (although they are basically my family). I wonder how many posts I have to write in order to get more. I'll try harder, I swear. Since the last post, I've been going from place to place in Japan. I just came back from Tokyo to visit a family friend, and it just reminded me how much cooler that city is than where I live now, the wonderful industrial city of Nagoya. Seriously, mostly everything there is interesting. Before I had gone there, I had my doubts. When I watched "Lost In Translation," I expected it to be overwhelming, but it turned out to be really cool. There are never too many people like you would think. There are plenty of parks to go to as well. I took the bullet train, or Shikansen there as well, which was a great experience. On the way there, alas I mistakenly sat in the smoking car and had to stay there for like 2 hours because I was afraid of falling into people while it was in transit. That thing is so expensive, but I guess it's worth it if you have the dough. While I was there, I had to go back to Omote-Sando to check it out. I was disgusted again of the prices. If I could go to only one area in Tokyo, though, I'd probably choose Ginza or somewhere nearby. There's a little something for everyone there. In Ginza there's the Sony Building too. Last time I went there they were showing some 3D Wega TV. I swear, 3D is really pitched nowadays. It's not as good as they say, too. Back to work tomorrow.. gotta teach kids.. probably shouldn't comment on that.

Drink take-out

I went to Starbucks today, and got a Latte. They had an extensive tea menu. I told the guy at the counter about how popular Chi teas were in America, and he seemed very interested. I asked for take-out and they put it in a bag with a holder as well. They do this at all places here so I thought I might share. Pretty smart!

Hey, I just wanted to share with you one of the many amazing things about Japan. I don't know how this whole craze started, but in many office buildings and businesses that are well-to-do, there are these cool devices in the bathrooms I like to call, "Super Toilets." They have seat heating control and even water pressure settings for the... rinse. This is very puzzling, considering the traditional Japanese toilets are basically holes the ground.

Back from first travels

So I know I haven't written in a while, so I figured I could shed some light on what's been going on lately. My GF just left after staying with me for 3 weeks, and we did a lot. We traveled to Kyoto and Osaka and saw a lot. It's sad to have someone you are close to leave after you just had so many experiences together. I know it sounds lame but it's true. Osaka is a great city. It has a lot of things that Nagoya has but more of it. It also has way more sushi restaurants which is key. I wish I had applied to a job in that area but I guess everything worked out in the end. Nagoya is a little shopping-heavy but is very laid-back which I like a lot. Kyoto seemed very "Old School Japan." There were Geishas (and some Gaijin Geishas which got stares). I highly recommend going there for a couple days but you would have to go there for 3-4 days to see everything. Sooo many temples.

We stayed at a friends place in Osaka (me and the GF met him studying abroad) but we had nowhere to sleep when we got to Kyoto. We seriously walked everywhere and even the crappy places were booked. We had remembered our friend say that "Love Hotels" were nice and not what you would expect for hotels basically designed for sex. It was huge but affordable, with a built-in radio system, a huge bed, a Manga library, a sofa, refrigerator, humidifier, jacuzzi, shower, full bathroom with heated seat etc.. all for 8000 yen (total). The funniest thing were the red lights that you could dim for full effect. All you needed was the '70s porn music and you were all set. I would recommend going to one for an evening stay if you are in the same situation traveling in Japan, but you can only sleep in the room after 10pm (yeah you can't make reservations) and you need to be a male-female couple. If you are a gay couple you might get turned away. We were actually turned away twice, and we didn't realize why until we read our travel book that some of the Love Hotels don't like catering to foreigners. I don't know why; we are paying customers. That and the sketchy part that the door locks you in until you call the front desk to unlock it takes away a high recommendation. I would only use them in times on emergency... but it's one of those things you can probably only get in Japan. They are so organized it's scary... I think they are catching on in Europe. No chance in America, unless maybe in Vegas.

As far as travel to these cities go, there are many methods to get you there and back (Bullet Train, Kintentsu Train, Bus etc. but after trying them all, booking a bus ride in advance is the best; it takes longer but it's pretty comfortable and half the price of the Bullet Train. If you wanna get there sooner, take the Bullet Train, but as soon as you get to the station immediately book a Bus trip home. I was so glad I did that. That's all I have to say right now, I'm kind of tired.. there are just so many things to write about but it will have to wait.

I've been here for over a month now...

...and I still cannot speak a sufficient amount of Japanese. I feel that everything I know about Japan in general is the bare minimum. However, that will get you pretty far in most cases. "Gaijin" in Japanese means "Foreigner" and I am a prime example of one. Someone in my training class taught me the term "Gaijin Smashing," which I assume means to do something so ridiculous that it freaks out Japanese people. I do this everyday. My mission is to record all of my travels and adventures in Japan, especially these aforementioned instances of "Smashing".

I've seen a lot already since moving to Nagoya. When I first got here, it was being on another planet. The housing agent, we'll call him Bob, picked me up outside of Exit 13 at the Sakae Underground Mall/Subway stop. Let's first move backwards a second and get to the point when I actually get off the airplane. As soon as I get through Immigration, I still half-expected to find Bob standing there and helping me get directly to the apt. I realized I was dreaming. This was Japan, and I had to learn that I was on my own. No longer was I going to have to rely on people helping me all the time. They did tell me about the baggage delivery service, so I decided to go to them for help. Sorry, no English. The baggage delivery service at Central Japan International Airport did NOT speak English. After some repeating and frustration because I could not write my name in Katakana alphabet, my baggage was on the way for delivery and I could now take the Meitetsu train to the Subway then to Sakae where my new Apt. lie.

When I get to Sakae subway stop the realization that I am in Japan starts to set in. Suddenly I am surrounded by hundreds of people, of whom 80% are dressed for a funeral. The other 20% are either dressed as princesses, pirates, or 80's hairmetal concert-goers. There are shops left and right, and of course nothing is in English. I finally get to Exit 13, and Bob gives me a short rundown of the Sakae area, but I of course am too jetlagged to listen close enough so it just goes right over my head. The big thing I should have asked was where the closest Supermarket was, because it took me a couple weeks before I found one by accident in the underground Sakae mall (another co-worker from training calls it the Mole Village).

We reach the apartment building, and it doesn't look that bad. It's for sure in a great location, so I am not alarmed, until we get to the hallway on the 8th floor. It kind of reminds me of cross between a psychiatric hospital and a decades-old Holiday Inn. The doorways are about 5'9'' tall, so I had to duck to get inside. Bob, the agent, is very Canadian, and stands there next to me saying, "So ah just check the money, make sure it's correct eh." He is wearing a sweatsuit and a beanie and looks very alarming. I am jittery but count the money and give him the first month's rent plus other expenses like sheets and internet hook-up. I am alone again in a tiny apt. It reminds me of being on a submarine. I like to think of it as a Captain's quarters, so I feel a little more positive. Hey, at least there are no mice or broken utilities.

It wasn't until I got into work for the first time that I was told the Japanese have low standards for housing, for which reason I have no idea. There is no insulation or sealing in the corners, no heat can stay within even if you use a space heater. The walls are also thin, so everyone outside can hear your music or even you talking on Skype. I have accepted this and know that it is rare anyone can understand it anyway. I don't want to get into too much nit-picking with regards to the apt. but the bathroom is so below American standards it is worth a mention. Overall, it is the size of a plane's, and just a little bigger for the shower. The tub isn't even big enough for me to lay down sideways. Apparently, they sit down or squat when they are washing themselves. There is also a drainage hole on the floor because flooding is very easy to do since the curtain keeps coming unattached. It is a big step dpwn from what I've been used to, but there was really no alternative when I got here. I've been looking elsewhere for a better apt. There is a building with a lot of English speakers called Freebell Apts. that I am interested in. About the same price as the one I'm in now but near the Nagoya Train Station and in better condition (from what I've heard). I will write more about other experiences later. This is just the tip of the iceberg.