I'm Lazy

Hey there Y'all. So, I'm being lazy and haven't really posted lately. I promise to make a legitimate post tomorrow...or the next day. Today I'll just mention the difference in ordering at a restaurant. Here in Japan, when you enter into a restaurant you're either seated by a waiter or, in a more casual establishment, you go sit yourself down wherever you want and then a waiter comes and gives you water/tea and a wet washcloth (a warm one if you're lucky), to wipe your hands off. After that, you look at the menu at leisure, and here's the big difference between the US/Europe and Japan: a waiter doesn't come to take your order. In fact, they don't come around at all after they've given you your towel. So as not to make you feel rushed/show any impatience on their part, Japanese waiters mill around and busy themselves withother stuff and when you are ready to order, want a refill, or need anything whatsoever, you raise your hand, or call out "Sumimasen (excuse me)" and they'll drop whatever they're doing and come help. Also, because many restaurants use digital, handheld order taker things, no waiter is specifically assigned to a certain table, so you can catch just about anyone and ask for what you want. This is a helpful tip for those coming to Japan so you don't sit around forever, then get angry and impatient because no one has come to take your order. Also, there is NO tipping in Japan. It is considered very rude to even try. And while there is tax on things, it is always included in the price you see, which they calculate to come out to an even number. So if you see a dish that says 1000 Yen (appr. $10), it is really something like 980 Yen, but with tax, it's 1000. Pretty handy stuff. That way, you can add up exactly what you're going to spend before you get to the counter, and don't have to worry about what the tax percentage is. Well, I promise to post more interesting things tomorrow: bean throwing with actors, a Denny's by the sea, and getting chatted up at Tsukiji fish market. Sorry I'm lazy! Later you guys!

The Itaewon Murders

Hey there everyone! Not much new to report, I don't think, but I wanted to suggest a movie for anyone interested, and I'll blub about movie tickets/movie theaters here in Japan. But first of all, my movie recommendation of the month. I just watched a Korean film (something I do in moderation), called The Case of Itaewon Homicide, which is a movie about a true story from the late 90s where two Korean-Americans, in the Itaewon area of Seoul, Korea, were accused of brutally murdering an innocent Korean guy. Both of the guys maintained that the other did it, and the movie follows the examination and trial of the murder case. Now that, in and of itself, doesn't sound so thrilling, but the movie was quite well done (though the English wasn't 100%), and it's easily the best Asian movie I've seen in months. I'll attach the trailer, though it isn't subbed, so, watch it if you get a chance.

Secondly, I wanted to talk about the experience of going to the movies here in Japan. First of all, one should come knowing that going to the movie theater is an expensive luxury, as one adult ticket costs $20 (more if it's 3D). But, that being said, the theaters give you lots of chances to save a buck, which is nice. Every month, on the first of the month, tickets are $10. Also, if you're a woman, every Wednesday, tickets are $10. Many theaters also have 'couples days', 'senior days,' 'senior couple days,' and other special days for card holders. Movie theaters here have concession stands, like back home, which sell fountain drinks and popcorn, but often have other selections like Haagen-Daaz ice cream stands, croissant sets, etc. depending on the theater. Also, all theaters I've seen sell merchandise specific to the movies out at the time. This merchandise almost always consists of a pamphlet/photobook, a cell phone strap, stickers, folders and a variety of other things depending on the movie. Also, the merchandise here is not the same as stuff you find in the states. For instance, New Moon just came out here and there is a wider selection of merchandise (and a better selection, if you ask me), which you can conveniently buy whenever you come out of the movie. The movie theater itself, at least the one I go to, has things called double seats, which are very like loveseats, and you buy tickets for the special, and they cost a bit more. There are also special reclining chairs that cost more, but which are much nicer. Outside, there are cushions of two sizes for you to choose from in case your seat isn't comfortable enough. And, the theater I go to has assigned seating, so when you purchase the ticket the attendant will ask if you want middle or back, then show you seats on a diagram which you can approve or not until you get ones you're satisfied with. Even so, not every cinema operates like this. The movie theater I speak of is a plush one, part of a chain called 109 Cinemas, owned by the 109 corporation. The other theater I went to didn't have assigned seating and didn't have cushions, but was otherwise more or less the same. Of course, as in America, they have previous, warnings not to smoke or talk and turn off your cell phone, and then a rather ridiculous anti-piracy video, which I'm sure is rather threatening if you can understand it. But anyways, I've found the movies to be a welcome escape when I get overwhelmed by the Japan-ness of Japan, and go more than I thought I would (even if most movies are in Japanese). Another interesting thing to note, before I sign off, is that kids' movies (like Disney and Pixar) are always dubbed in Japanese (since, like me, the little kids can't read kanji), and of course the Japanese films are in Japanese, but American live action films are often in English with subtitles, though on TV they are often dubbed. Anways, I guess that's all for now. Talk to you all later!

Calligraphy and Chicken Hearts

First of all, I will start off by saying that yesterday, for dinner we had a mini-party with a bunch of family and friends, and we had take out yakitori, which is basically like chicken shish kabobs, but there are different kinds that use different parts of the chicken, and in addition to eating some chicken breast and green onion shish kabobs, i was told to try the chicken hearts, and the chicken skin (kawa). The skin basically tasted like grilled chicken, but chewier, and the chicken hearts basically tasted like chicken breast peices, just a fraction of an inch different in texture, but they weren't bad at all. I was surprised. Anyways...

Today’s main event was going to the calligraphy class. It was pretty cool, I have to
admit, but I think that the tea ceremony stuff is cooler. The Sensei (teacher), has our stations already set up when we got there. There’s a tray with a little box carved with a slope, where you put water, and then there’s a thing that looks similar to a block of wax, that you dip in the water and then move around and around in a circle on the slope of the box until finally, your water has turned to ink. Also, there’s a felt mat you put down, then you put down your paper and then a long, skinny weight on the paper. She set the real students (i.e. my host mom and others) to work and then asked me what symbol I wanted to learn, so I said Hana (which means flower). So, the sensei got out her neon orange ink and showed me just how to slant each stroke, and overall how it should look, and then set me down to practice. It took quite a few tries, and I still don’t think I got it right, but finally she gave my calligraphy thing a big orange swirl (which means well done), and we moved on to another symbol: Yume (dream). While I was doing that one she came over and showed me how to position everything to do it right. You have to sit dead center, and place your right hand on the paper to steady it, then your index and middle finger go on the top of the brush, your ring and pinky finger go behind, you stick your elbow out and the brush should be straight up and down. I kept hunching over to the left, like you do when you’re writing, so my symbols kept veering left on the paper. Eventually she okay’d my second one and we moved off to the third and last: Kibou (hope). That one was more difficult because it is made of two symbols, rather than of just one like the others were. I finally sorta got it, but I can see why being a calligraphy person is a profession in and of itself, because I was no where near as good as the lady, and it seemed so effortless when she did it. Also, as a present she took out some fancy paper and wrote one of my words (Hope) in the second type of calligraphy (there’s the proper, easy to read stuff and the scrawly stuff that most people like to hang up), and signed it for me. It was pretty cool.

I'm Back Now

Hello again everyone! So I went to the doc today and was informed that I just need to be careful about the old leg, and that part of my problem is that I have moving, or as I believe she called them, floating something which meant kneecaps. So my kneecaps don't stay where they're supposed to. So that was fun to find out. But, so long as they don't go popping around again, I can't complain. I've managed to more or less get packed. I will be carrying a small dufflebag for carry on, a 25ish in. bag of clothes and a 21ish in. bag for shoes, etc. The only concern is that the bags each have to be under 50 lbs. I haven't weighed them yet, so we'll be holding our breath. On a different front, me and the family finally figured out our banking situation problem. Up until this point, our problem was how to get money from an American account into a Japanese account (which I will set up when I get there). First of all, personal checks are not used in Japan. A Japanese bank can accept them, but it takes a few months, as many of the banks send them back to the US to check them out, before accepting the money. There are also things called INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDERS (not like regular money orders). These cost $3.85 at the US post office and can run any amount up to $700. Then, when you recieve them in the mail in Japan, you simply take it to the Post Office and they cash it out, then I would take the cash and deposit it. The snag here is that they are relatively cheap to send snail mail, but can get stolen, and to ship them securely and quickly, it's $40-50. Before I go on, let me explain why just using my American account is an issue. My bank charges 3% every time I make a debit or a credit purchase, or withdraw money, whereas there is no fee for a Japanese card. Also, not all ATMs in Japan are international (usually the post office adn some 7/11s have international 24 hr ATMs), so that means I'll be limited, and many places do not take credit cards. In Japan, most people pay with cash, so it is not unusual to carry hundreds of dollars (yen) on your person (the low crime rates allow this to be possible). Also, because I got the JASSO scholarship, $800/month are being given to me by the govt. into a Japanese account, so I have to get one. Anyhoo, so here's what we settled on. I am going to go with some yen with me, with a IPMO, and then, I'm going to withdraw money from my American account until I get a Japanese bank account. At that point, my family can then wire money directly into my account. For wiring money, there is no limit to how much you can wire, but there is a $45 fee. Even so, if you do it sparingly, it comes out to be the cheapest way to do things.

I still haven't heard any more about my family, but I'll e-mail the coordinator soon to find out. One should note that Citibank in the US is not connected in accounts to the Citibank in Japan, so having a Citibank account here will still be a problem once you get over there, though I've heard that the Citibank's have international ATMs, for anyone who needs to know. My next project is figuring out the different rail passes, so we'll be checking onto that soon. MY ADVICE: check different banks rates well in advance of your leaving to find which ones charge no fees for overseas spending. I've heard that Commerce and First Bank have no fees, though I'm not positive about that. This will save you some cash if you'll be paying out of that account for any amount of time overseas (this goes for places outside of Japan as well).

What the Frick?!

So, I dislocated my dang knee and now it's threatening to keep sliding out again. I don't know what to do. Just thought I'd post that. Also, ATMs in Japan are typically open between 9am and 7pm in Japan on weekdays, and until around 5pm on weekends. There are 24 hour ATMs, but they often charge you $1 for using them past regular hours. Wish me luck with the knee!

I'm Still Alive

Heyo! I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd do it tonight. I've been cramming in kanji flashcards all weekend and have processed about 100, logging them away in my brain, but I've got about a million left, so we'll see how that goes. The countdown is on. I've got about 3 weeks left and I'm really starting to freak out. The packing is still not going as ideally as one might hope, so we'll see how/if that turns out. The thing I wanted to post before was about takkyubin. These are services similar to FedEx or UPS in that they go all over town and deliver pretty much anything. The great thing is that, not only do they ship small packages, but they can ship bicycles and luggage (even from the airport to your hotel/personal residence and back). I've heard that the prices are relatively reasonable and the time for delivery is usually either same day or next day unless you're shipping it beyond the city you're in. (For instance, if you're in Tokyo and traveling on the bullet to Kyoto, you can ship your stuff a day or two ahead and it will be there waiting, thus ridding you of having to heave around bags on a train). The only snag is that I'm not sure if you have to call ahead and get the arrangements done, or if you can do them when you arrive at the airport, so we'll see. I'm hoping it's the latter so I don't have three bags to haul around on my own in a cramped, rush hour train to the busiest stop in Tokyo. Alright, enough of my whining. Alice Nine's new pv came out, "Sleepwalker." I'd heard great things about it, but I have to admit that I'm not wild about the song, though the video is beyond gorgeous and the guys all look consistently good. And lastly, I will try to upload a pic of a Takuhaibin application form and a typical train ticket to help show anyone who might go to Japan, what they'll need to look at/fill out. I'll try to do that soon. Until then, ttyl and wish much luck with Sensei tomorrow!

Travel Stuff

Hey ho! So I'm guessing that right about now, everyone's getting tired of the Jrock overload, so I'm going to break from that for a little bit and start back in on the travel stuff. So, my first bit of advice for you is about vaccinations. When you first start the entire study abroad experience, you of course have to have a physical exam. For my particular college, they wanted a hearing test and a chest Xray , as well as the regular height/weight stuff, so be sure to give yourself time for any specialist stuff you have to go do. As far as vaccines, Japan does not require any special shots, but you might want to get Hepatitis and the Meninjacocle (spelled wrong) shot just in case. Be warned though, as I'm finding out right now, the Meninjacocle vaccine will make your arm majorly sore and make you feel like you have the flu for a few days. Also, you might note that Vicks vapo-rub and other similar products are illegal in Japan because they can be used to make drugs, so don't bring that with you. Also, Japan, I'm told only has deoderant, not anti-perspirant, so if you're an American, you're used to having both in one stick and might want to pack an ample supply. I'm also told that the toothbrushes and toothpaste are different and so, you might want to keep that in mind when packing.

And we're moving on to the subject of packing. I tried it today, and let me tell you, it isn't easy to pack for a full year with only two suitcases. Bear in mind that I have all my toilettries (more than I need probably) in one bag, with my various shoes too. And that was the easy bag. The other bag does have all my clothes, many pairs of jeans, underwear and shirts. When all was said and done with bag number two, I still didn't have room for my PJs, my socks or my sweaters. You're wondering what I did manage to pack then, but believe me, a years worth of clothes is a lot. So, we're gonna upgrade that bag to a larger model. The bags I'm working with now are carry on size, so one step up shouldn't be a big deal. What makes me wary about it is that everyone I talk to says to pack way light and I know I'm overdoing it, but oh well. I should mention here that if your are flying into Japan from an international area, which you will be probably, then you'll be flying into Narita airport. Unfortunately, Narita is not actually in Tokyo, but is a 40 min. train ride outside from the heart of the Tokyo Metropolitan area, so you'll be lugging all your bags around on a train, and I'm arriving at rush hour, which makes it that much worse. Oh well...can't be helped.

Another piece of info that might be useful for anyone with plans to travel out to Machida (the suburb where my school is): the train fare from Shibuya to Machida is 290 yen, which is about $3 one way. So that means that I'll be spending $6 a day, 5 days a week to get to school. I know there was something else I wanted to post here that might be helpful, but I can't remember it right now, so I'll just post that later. Well everyone, enjoy the rest of your day!

My First Post

今晩は、みんな！ Hello everyone out there! You've probably accidentally stumbled on my site, but I hope you'll kick back and stay a while. I know it doesn't look like much yet, but I'm planning on adding and adding as the year goes on. Right now, I'm just about two months away from my departure for Japan. So far, let me put down what I've gone through to get where I am. After deciding for sure that I was going to be brave and go, I applied and was accepted into my university's study abroad program and began writing essays for scholarships. The next step was to get my passport, which thankfully I already had. Passports can take an extraordinary amount of time, so it's always best to get right on that, asap. I was then told to fill out the application for my chosen Japanese college, Tokyo Jogakkan College, and submit that and await acceptance. When that acceptance letter came from Japan, I was given a form called the Certificate for Eligibility to fill out. Basically, this form is for the college to take to the government to prove that you are going to be in their country for legitimate reasons, i.e. study. I have yet to recieve the completed form for this, but when I do I will be able to fill out the Visa form and get my Student Visa. My college also has particular International Student ID cards, overseas insurance, and emergency insurance I had to buy. So, for right now, what I'm waiting on is the Certificate to get my Visa, information about my homestay family and I need to fill out the classes I plan on taking (only 11 classes are offered in English). Well, enough business talk for now. This blog is also meant to be fun, not just informative, as I'm sure you'll see soon enough. I'm going to end up talking about Jrock and alice nine and dramas I've seen, so I hope you'll stay tuned in. Talk to you guys later!