Notes to Myself

PC Accessorising

Hmm, has that got the right number of c's and s's? Ack. I was in Yodobashi camera a little earlier, which has now become my favourite shop! It's a huge shop stacked full of electronic goodness.

I was trying to talk to a rather nice assistant - wearing one of those excellent black Yodobashi jackets - about cameras and PC bags. I am enjoying trying to speak my amazing broken Japanese, translator in hand. From a selfish point of view, it's good that English isn't so well spoken as it makes me have to use some Japanese words to communicate.

Oh, the costs creep up on you after you buy your laptop - no bag of any sort included?! And I want to be able to carry it around sometimes, so I investigated what was on offer. There is a great heavy-duty VAIO bag, but it costs 13000 yen! That's about 70 pounds. Woah... so I went for a (temporary?) Sony meshy style bag designed for my VIAO. Not very water proof, no handle, not so good! At least it looks good! It was 3500 yen... Maybe later I should by a more water-resistant, unbranded laptop bag for a cheaper price. Did I just say that? Sony police, arrest me for my insolence.

Green Man's Hat

Call me sad (English term?), but I find it fascinating that Japan shares the green-man/red-man system for road crossings. Actually, the fascinating bit is that the Japanese ones are wearing hats! A little old fashioned? Anyway, I like it! I might post a picture for you later, when I get a digital camera.

As I was just saying in a comment somewhere, you have to be careful crossing the road, even when the little green man is beckoning you across. Cars seem to like ignoring the lights if there are no 'crossers': so if you pop out suddenly, beware!

VIAO!

At last I have got my VIAO. Actually, I've been after a VIAO for I don't know how long - years? I have a liking for the Sony style of things and some of their VIAOs are just great!

In the end I chose model 505; it's a beautiful piece of engineering and style. It's a small laptop that plugs into a kind of docking station which contains a DVD/CD-R drive and floppy drive. Nice. The only thing is that carrying the whole thing around is not so small - but I think you are generally supposed to leave that part at home, attached to your printer/scanner etc, while you use networking when travelling - it has wireless networking! Oh yes... It's not too new, not too old, yet expensive enough - I think you pay for its size and the Sony branding.

Well, when buying a Sony Viao here in Japan there seems to be no option of getting an English version of Windows. Perhaps you can in some specialist shops - Akihabara had some, but only on about 2 super old VAIOs. I might see how I get along with the Japanese OS, and reinstall an English version later if necessary. But if I do that, I wonder if the Japanese VAIO software would install correctly. Does anyone have any experience with this? Any advice would be gratefully received.

OK, I am going home to play with my new toy!

Akihabara I

It was only a matter of time before I went to Akihabara in Tokyo - for sightseeing of course - the 'electric town'. Actually, I was looking for a PC, but they seemed to have standard prices in all stores. Perhaps there are some shady back street shops behind all the mammoth glowing neon lights that offer better deals, but nevermind. So, guys, this is the Tottenham Court Rd of Tokyo? Where is the computer fair? Hmm, but why are there so many washing machines being sold?! A great place, with many games shops to purchase your wares...! My god, it looked huge and I only saw a small portion of it. Hopefully I can travel there again, but it's pretty far.

[Hon, if you are reading this, I found an SFIII 3S machine in Sega World (or something like that) - did you go there? I put in my 100 yen, chose Ken and beat 1 CPU opponent. Typically some guy challenged me - with his annoying Remy style.. and beat me. Luckily the best of 5 thing let me win a round after I thought I had lost at 2-0, and I wasn't playing that badly ;) Was too nervous against him...]

Road Rules

At first I was scared by the behaviour of people in my area on the roads, especially the main high-street. People just walk out in front of cyclists, as there is no pavement (just a white line which no one looks at as I mentioned before). Bikes, which earn no respect from anyone, swerve around crazy car drivers - anything goes! Now, I'm pretty much used to it and I suppose I am slightly more dangerous myself! Ha!

So, I've been wondering what the unwritten rules are. My initial theory is that 'you don't have to worry about what is behind you'. Why? People never look behind them as they change directions, walk across the road, cut you up... I'm amazed there aren't more accidents - actually, I have no idea how many accidents there are!

Escalators

Just a point of minor interest - while standing on an escalator in Japan, or at least in Kanagawa, people stand on the left; in London we normally stand on the right... Someone told me that in another part of Japan they do things the London way - Osaka perhaps, I can't quite remember.

Also, people here are desperate to use the escalator when they get off trains - what, come on, some of you can use the stairs! I am making an effort to use the stairs - it all helps to add to your fitness right?!

Pork & Rice

Ok, there must be some mistake. On a sight-seeing trip to Yokohama we stopped for dinner at a Chinese restaurant - well I say Chinese, but when I asked for barbecue pork and rice they said... sorry, we don't make that... Huh???! Ok then, wun ton noodle soup then please... sorry, we don't make that... oh my god, I wanna go back to China Town in London guys. Eat some ho fun for me won't you? ;-(

School Clubs

This morning I arrived at school shortly after 9 a.m. to see if there was anything I am supposed to be doing - school doesn't start for another week and my supervisor has sort of gone missing on me! The vice-principle apparently rang this morning, but I had already left, so it was a good decision to come in! He is very friendly and says he will get his teachers to take me sight-seeing!

I've been to school a few times so far and every time there are school clubs practising or doing whatever their clubs do. Fair enough, but they were here before 9 a.m. playing tennis! And from what I have seen these guys can play for ages. Perhaps they are playing early to avoid the afternoon heat, but I'm not sure. In England school clubs stop and start with term time - no student would get to school before 9 in the holidays! No student would even get up that early or even go to school!

Each time I see a sports club playing I want to play some sport. Perhaps they will let me join in some activities - badminton and tennis would be a good place to start. I wonder if the students are any good?

J-Pop Intro

I have started my voyage into J-Pop culture (thanks for the tips Maurice) by purchasing a couple of CDs: Utada Hikaru's Deep River and Ayumi Hamasaki's 'best' album. So far I have briefly listened to Deep River which seems good enough and I've listened even more briefly to some of Ayumi's songs - but they sound familiar - guess I have been background listening in certain friends' houses (or from their mp3s?)

Actually, I haven't paid for a CD in quite a while, as casual mp3 listening here and there has been good enough. But, I have no pc, no mp3s... and I am contributing to the artistic talents of Japan! Mini-disk seems to be the way to go for listening to music in Japan and I might purchase a player when I get some spare money. Hmm, but I haven't got a way of transferring music to one! If I get a laptop, will it have digital out? From the headphones jack would be analog right? God, I'm so dim at music cables [right Lee?].

I'll report more as I learn things about Japanese music - I have music channels on cable TV which would help, but I'm probably going to cancel it as I will have so many outgoings! Keep ya posted.

Manga Cafes

Woah, I'm back! Hmm, I had some free time after hitting the shops... I don't know if I have mentioned manga/internet cafes before, but...

"Comic Internet TV Game Relax Space Etc.Zone," so says the description on my member's card. This place has it all! There are shelves and shelves of manga, places to sit down and read, play TV games, check your email, get food... I should check the prices of these services - so far I have just been using the internet access. Someone suggested that these places adopted the internet cafe idea when it came along and it seems like an ideal place. You should drop by one if you are in Japan!

Deceptive Queues

Why do I always end up talking about trains?! Well, they are so much a part of our lives - but I'm not a train spotter or anything!

Anyway, yes, what I'm making a note about are the orderly queues that appear on the train platforms before the train arrives. Little triangles on the floor show where the doors will open and it is here that the queues start. Now, when I first saw this I was very impressed. How orderly.

However, when the doors open chaos unfolds! It's an all against all, every man for himself scenario. Men just barge past, knocking little women without a second thought! One man was particularly brutal, but compensated with a couple of 'sumimasens'! I will find this aspect of life difficult to adjust to - it's hard to put aside what you have known to be 'right' all your life. Hmm it's a learning experience. By the way, I am not critisizing, just trying to see cultural differences - but obviously my slant will be heavily influenced by my background.

I wanted to write about other things, but I don't have time right now - gah, need to get my own net access...

Street Advertising

An interesting thing for me in Japanese towns are the people that stand outside shops/bars/restaurants in their lovely uniforms and shout (pointlessly?) to the passing public. I just passed some outside - not to mention someone dressed in a heavy fluffy bear costume walking along the street in the baking heat! The women on boxes are quite funny! So far I have been trying to avoid the people giving away free tissues, but I am not sure why!

Typhoon I

Yesterday and the day before yesterday it rained. It rained quite hard at times, but not that hard. In Tokyo a typhoon warning was issued - level 2 I think. It must have been a gentle typhoon (?), as I wouldn't have even guessed it was a typhoon. Personally I liked the cool air! I'm sure there is worse to experience yet!

Today the weather is back to being very hot. I don't seem to notice the humidity as much anymore, and I am slowly adjusting to being constantly hot. Roll on Autumn, though!

Mozza Hell

After two weeks, apparently I have been located by the insect community. Actually, I was out in the countryside with shorts on... Next time I'll remember the old repellent. Behind the knees must be a particularly juicy area - Mosquitoes with their little fetishes, tsk, tsk. Wait until I get out my badminton racket...

Politeness

One thing that has surprised me so far in Japan (vs London) is politeness in certain situations. On the train especially, people don't ask me to move by saying excuse me, or the Japanese equivalent. I have two ideas concerning this: the first being that Japanese people are very polite, but only when you are introduced to someone (i.e. not strangers); the second being that they are scared to talk to a foreigner and so just nudge you in the back - actually, isn't physical contact frowned upon also?!. So, perhaps you can tell me your opinions on this subject?

Power cut!

I was sitting here, typing away, when the whole place went dark with a big click! There are rows of pcs at this internet cafe and everyone just sat in silence (and darkness) until someone figured out how to put the lights back on.

From what I can hear, maybe it was something to do with the raging storm outside! Unfortunately I haven't got my (100 yen!) umbrella with me! Well, maybe I should ride out the storm in here. But this could get quite expensive. Ack!

Culture Shock

Now, I did of course expect a hefty slice of culture shock when I arrived in Japan; and for many months in the future. However, the biggest culture shock so far has been the Americans/Canadians!! Well, many of you may come into that group, and it's not that I have anything against you, but at the Tokyo orientation I felt more intimidated by you guys than the Japanese! It's weird, I'm just not used to it.

When we were out for drinks the other night, I was being stipped of my Britishness to be taught how to say 'anyways' and 'whatever'. Woah, these accents are wild. But for some reason they/you love the British accent which is good for me! There are also Austrailians and South Africans here so there are lots of new things to listen to!

Yokohama

Well, in case you are wondering where I am writing from today, yes, you guessed, Yokohama! About 2 mins walk from the Yokohama baseball stadium is where I am bashing these keys from.

Yokohama is actually quite far from my little town but all of the JETs from the prefecture had to meet here for some contract signing and introductions.

My dreams came true and we went to the China Town here in Yokohama! It's supposed to be very big, but we didn't have time to look around, or even to enjoy our meal properly. Yokohama, from what I have seen looks nice, but I am so tired and it is so amazingly hot outside. I'll have to visit again another time...

Hanko

In Japan you have to use a hanko/inkan which is like your signature that you use for official documents. I had been pondering whether I could use my Chinese kanji for my name stamp. That would be better than a Katakana version, I thought.

Unluckily, my supervisor had already gone ahead and got me a Katakana version ('Chen'). How disappointing. To make matters worse, some of the other JETs have got kanji hanko, even though their surnames don't have anything to do with kanji! For example, my friend's name is 'Bell', so they translated her name to a bell in Japanese. I am so jealous!

The problem is that you aren't supposed to change your stamp once you start using it, so I may be stuck with mine for a while. Sigh.

Transportation

At first I felt as though I was in the middle of the sticks - even though it is a huge residential area with no room for pavements. Well white lines might provide a clue to where to walk, but anything goes road usage is what I have seen so far. Anyway, as I was about to say, the train station looked very far away, but actually I think it's only a 15-20 min walk.

To get to the station I can use my rather feminine blue bike. Handed down from generation to generation, this is one smooth rider. Initially, I thought, 'hell no, that's for a woman,' in my London thinking mode. But then I realised that everyone here rides women's bikes! Ok, so I had a ride to the station yesterday and had great fun whizzing along. The only problem is the treacherous back-roads with bikes flying past at tiny junctions. No one bothers with lights either. Dangerous... yet fun :)

Yes, so now I don't feel so isolated as I can get to the station easily enough. On top of that, the trains are excellent!! Yesterday I had a go and I'm beginning to understand the system - with express trains that skip stations and local trains that go to all stations and so on. [Do we have this in England? I never used the trains there. But I remember there is an express Underground train near Harrow, right Mog?] I love the way the trains run exactly on time. In fact, I think my watch was wrong - I might set it to the station clocks!!

Today, I have managed to find my school on my bike - and using a map. It was really good fun actually. I want to go orienteering with my map and compass again. Actually, my bike has an onboard compass and GPS. Joke, just the compass. But it doesn't work. Riding to school took me 40mins, so it's quite far. I should be able to cut 10 mins off that in future when I know the route properly. Ok, time for some emails and then I'll leave and try and find my way home in the blazing heat.

Gaikoku-jin

Just a quick note about my first feelings as a foreigner here in Japan. In the middle of Shinkjuku, Tokyo, with the other ALTs it felt great. Even perhaps on your own there is fine. In my own town though, the residential area doesn't feel like a city (London?) at all. As my friend pointed out, I haven't seen the residential areas in Tokyo yet.

Apparently there is a military base not far from my area. I have to admit, I was quite impressed by an F15 flying past... upside down. So, people in the area are supposedly used to foreigners. However, when I was walking along the main road yesterday I was the only foreigner and it did feel strange. The term 'alien registration' doesn't seem so harsh anymore.

Nothing Right

I haven't started off in good fashion! First of all, for some bizarre reason, which has me totally perplexed, I didn't hear my alarm yesterday morning. Unfortunately, I was woken by the teacher who had come to pick me up. Lateness... in Japan... bad. So embarressing. I wonder whether it was just genuine tiredness or perhaps the tatami absorbed too much of the sound!

Today's piece of luck comes courtesy of a misunderstanding. I met a girl from the US named Nicole who actually lives in my 'block'. I thought she agreed to show me how to get somewhere I need to go to next week. As it turns out, though, she was planning to show me the way to my main school by bus - so I am here in my jeans and T-shirt!! So unprofessional - though the teachers are quite casually dressed. Argh. What next?

Konnichiwa

Hello! Well, I'm safely in Japan and boy is it hot. And humidity should be defined as a %age of Japan's! But it's pretty much as I expected, which surprises me.

Tokyo, and more precisely, Shinjuku where my hotel was located was great, from what I saw. Unfortunately we were only there for about 3 days in total and didn't get much of a chance to look around; except for at night trying to find bars :)

Now I'm in Kanagawa-Ken and spent last night in my itsy-witsy-tiny-but-rather-beautiful flat. I'll describe it later... But it feels kind of out in the sticks, even though it's part of a city (suburbs I think). I'm too used to London I think. Hmm, yes, already I am a little homesick. That what have you got yourself into feeling. But I suppose the next few months will be full of ups and downs.

The people here are super friendly, which is unnerving to us untrusting London-types! My landlords are very nice. They even bought me some bread and fruit, and arranged for their son to take me for dinner!

This is the first chance I've had to use a PC since I left so if I haven't replied yet, this little note will have to do! Will write more when I get the chance. Sayounara!

Mata ne!

I am writing this while I still have a little time, but really I should be packing my bags - and trying to reduce some of their weight!

As I said previously, I'm not sure what will happen to my blog updates, but we'll see. I'd like to carry on if possible, so stay tuned! Should be OK once I save for a laptop... I've always wanted one!

Anyway, wish me luck, off to Japan we go :)

Mobile Recovery

I went downstairs and saw a familiar looking Nokia phone on the living-room table. 'That looks like my old phone,' I thought. Well, it is my old phone! Yes, that's right, the one I lost about 8 months ago. So what happened?

My mum said 'Oh, well, it was in your jacket (suit) pocket.' Do you know what this means? Well some of you might. I had the phone with me on graduation day, of course, in my suit pocket. Was it as simple as not taking out?! How stupid, but I can't think of any other explanation. Also, the timing sounds about right, too - or maybe one of those careers fairs? The strange thing is that I have worn the suit since then, but didn't find the stupid phone on my own!

I wonder if the phone still works. The battery doesn't seem to work, even after being charged all night. What is supposed to happen to batteries left in phones for 8 months without being charged? If it reawakens my mum wants to use it!

Splash

I was walking along my local high street, filled as usual with busy people going about their business. The heavy rain had stopped, the air was cooler, and puddles were everywhere. I have to say that I wasn't prepared, this time. A van sped past, close to the gutter and splash, went straight through a huge puddle in the road. Water went flying, easily to head-height and many people were drenched. Thankfully, I was on the other side of the road. The woman most soaked was also the most shocked. With water all over her, she stood stunned, pointing after van in disbelief. It's much funnier when it's not you getting soaked!

This has actually happened to me before. It was along by the river, when the tide was unusually high, flooding the road. A motor-cyclist thought that it would be funny to spash me. But as I was messing around, cycling in the river anyway!