NipponReport

To lazy to write anything so am just posting some pictures.

Merry Christmas from japan.

Hello. Just quickly before I go to bed, as I’m really, really tired.

We did indeed go to Nagashima Spa Land today (apparently it’s called ”Spa Land” because they have a spa section, onsen (hot springs) and water slides as well as the standard amusement park rides). It was quite cold early in the morning when we sat off, but around noon it actually got pretty warm. So not only were there barely any people, we had clear skies and didn’t have to freeze! Almost to good to be true.

Anyway, I took a bunch of pictures but I can only get a few up now due to tiredness. The rest should follow shortly.

The main attractions of the Spa Land was the White Hurricane; the world’s biggest wooden roller coaster, and the Steel Dragon; the world longest roller coaster (all categories, I guess). Steel Dragon is actually more then 2.5km long, and is at the highest point about 100 meters above ground. It was also the first thing I saw as we entered, and so my first impression was ”there’s no way I’m going on that thing”.

Instead we started out with the White Hurricane, which isn’t much worse then Balder back in Sweden. Though it did shake a lot more, so it wasn’t as much fun. I guess that’s wooden roller coasters for you, but then I prefer the steel ones. After that, however, people were eager to get on the Steel Dragon. I decided not to join them. They did survive however, and I felt pretty silly as one of the few that skipped out, so, when the gang got off and walked around for a second run, I tagged along.

Before we left the park I had gone on it three times, and I don’t regret a second of it. It was, apart from the first climb that always caused me some vertigo, really, really fun. Reinvigorating, really.

Well, here are some pictures, I’m off for bed. Good night.

(Edit: Links aren’t working properly right now… Not sure why.)

Remember when I mentioned the oncoming winter, two posts and two months ago? Well, it turns out that winter was delayed. Just a few days ago it was too warm to bike with anything but a t-shirt – the very same day I read about the snow chaos back home in Sweden. But in all fairness, today it’s cold and raining. So I guess there’s a hint of winter in the air still – it’s just not here just yet.

In Japan the year is divided into four seasons; Mars, April, May marks spring, June, July and August constitutes summer, September, October, November would be autumn, and the remaining December, January and February are some kind of winter. By ”some kind” I mean the mostly snowless and – by Swedish standrards – not very cold kind. Don’t get me wrong though. It’s absolutely freezing here right now, if so only because the Japanese still haven’t learned to insulate their houses. One glass windows does not offer sufficient insulation! Period! I find it a lot harder to handle cold when I can’t even warm myself up indoors. Still, with some clothes on it’s not that bad. At least it’s not stopping me from enjoying my ice cream.

Speaking of enjoyment, we – most likely the entire school – are off to an amusement park tomorrow. The teachers surprised us with the planned trip some week ago, and the promised day has finally arrived. Unless, of course, it’s still raining tomorrow. Then we’ll go at a later date. I tried to find out some information online about this Nagashima Superland, but either I misspelled it or there’s not much stuff to read. Weird really, as I heard from another student that they apparently house the worlds biggest wooden roller coaster. So much for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balder_%28roller_coaster%29 I guess.

I did find the Japanese site, however. I think. http://www.nagashima-onsen.co.jp/spaland/index.html/

So it’s ”Spa Land”?

The Wikipedia article doesn’t cover the wooden roller coaster though. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagashima_Spa_Land

Well, I’ll just have to check for myself.

On another note, we got two tests coming up now as the winter vacation is closing in. First there’s one this Monday for the chapters that we’ve been working with since the last test, and then  there’s one the next Monday on everything we’ve done since we started here. The midterm exam, as I think it’s called. It will be interesting indeed.

We’re also working with a rather complex new way to conjugate verbs, so I’m actually somewhat busy for once. I’m still hoping to catch up on what I haven’t posted yet, but it might have to wait a few more days.

Now then, my dinner’s waiting for me so I’ll be heading off. Until next time.

Evening, people.

I realized updating a blog is quite a hassle. Especially without the proper tools (read: without any real graphic editing software for my pictures). I’ve been wanting to post something for a long time, but it’s just not as fun without pictures, and all I had to work with was MS Paint. Well, I finally installed a decent program a few days ago and I was set on updating the blog this weekend. Evidentially, that didn’t happen. Not – for once – because I had something more fun to do, but because I more or less ran out of time. It’s been a busy weekend, basically.

So, I decided to just leave a little note here to make sure I get to writing within the next few days. Things will get better! And there will be pictures!

Also, life here in Japan is great. Our Japanese classes are more and more starting to cover areas that I’ve not touched before, and I feel my knowledge of the language is rapidly increasing. It’s amazing what good focus you can get under the right circumstances. Robin has a few problems with the pace, but it’s nothing a few extra hours of studies won’t fix.

Oh yeah, and I’ve finally gotten around to expanding my diet from the most basic ”rice and meat” state, to a less vegetable hostile approach. Carrots aren’t too bad when prepared properly.

Anyway, I got to go to bed now. I’ll post again within a few days. Good night.

(Updated with pictures!)

It’s been getting gradually colder over the last few days. I mean, it’s still about 10 degrees Celsius warmer here then back in Sweden, but today was the first day that actually had me feeling like winter’s just around the corner. Mostly due to the strong wind that has been blowing since lunchtime. I even got my sweater out. Speaking of keeping warm, my tea’s finally cooled off enough. Be right back.

Oh wow, that was quite nice. Perhaps a tad too sweat though, but better then I expected from canned tea. See, vending machines here are not like those outside of Japan. Perhaps some of you know of them, but I’m guessing most of you don’t. The thing is, they’re literally everywhere around here. If you’re out walking even remotely close to a road or a town and you just stop and look around: you’re bound to find one. If not instantly, then within 20 meters of your current location. It’s like trashcans in Sweden. Which, by the way, are incredibly rare in Japan – more on that later. Another thing about the vending machines is that they’re not just selling your standard Coca Cola, Fanta and Pepsi cans – they got around 10-20 different sorts; anything from water to soft drinks, to coffee to protein water. Some of which are served warm. Really, really warm, mind you, just like the cold ones are really, really cold. It’s all quite ingenious, I must say.

They really have a feel for details and service, the Japanese. It’s like how the openers on the cans here – the tabs – aren’t completely flat like they are at home. They have a little bump where you’re supposed to put your finger, and it makes them so much easier to open. It’s just ridiculously how something so small can make such a huge difference. Though not as ridiculous as not changing the design in the rest of the world. Speaking of smart design, the toilets we have here really surprised me when I first saw them. After flushing, instead of just filling up the cistern like I’m used to, they have a little tap and sink-like area on top of the cistern itself. So you can actually wash your hands in the water that you’re going to use to flush the toilet next time. Not that I’ve dared to use it just yet though. It might be really economical and all, but it feel a bit dirty still and there’s no warm water or any place to put the soap. I do plan on using it eventually nonetheless.

Oh, another thing; the ceiling lights we have here have three different settings. Full light, half light, and a faint, red night-light mode – reminds me of the lamps used by photographers in their darkrooms. So no need for a dimmer that make the lamps buzz; you just pull the on/off wire to change setting. I prefer sleeping with all light sources off, but the night-light is quite good for nightly toilet visits.

I mentioned that trash cans are incredibly rare here. The truth is, I’m not sure I’ve seen any that’s not inside a shop or house, or those just outside the convenience stores. You’d think the lack of trash cans would cause people to just throw their garbage anywhere, but that’s certainly not the case. There’s basically no trash on the streets here at all. Sure, there might be a cigarette here and there, but trash in general? It’s nowhere to be seen. I don’t know how they do it, but it sure works. Perhaps people are just cleanlier here, then they are in the west? I’ve been thinking a bit about the reason there’s no trash cans around, and I think it’s because it’s just easier that way. In Japan, you sort your garbage, and that’s that. Combustible, non-combustible, aluminium cans, glass bottles and PET bottles each go into their separate areas outside the houses. The collectors will swing by a few times a week – here it’s Tuesday, Wednesday (only non-combustible) and Thursday – and you’re supposed to bring out your trash on those days – and only on those days. Because of the way it’s set up, having trashcans around town just wouldn’t work out.

Seems I managed to ramble on quite a bit. As a last note, we’ve had curry three times in the last two weeks now, and it’s about ten times better with cheese on top. Just a tip.

Now, I think we have a gaming session coming up – hopefully we’ll get around eight people this time on two computers, rather then just four on one. Should be fun. Until next time – bye, bye.

Hello everyone. Sorry about the recent lack of updates, but there is a reason for it. Well, a few really. First of all, there is surprisingly little happening right now – not counting school (which will be the topic of today’s post by the way). Second: there is just too much stuff I could write about Japan, the people, the culture, how the society works and so on, but as I’ve only started scratching on the surface myself I will need some time to go through it before I sit down to print out that inevitable wall of text. Last, but not least, this blog ended up getting a lower priority then… well, eveything else – especially food, sleep, school and socializing (not necessarily in that order). But fear not; for words will be written and pictures will be posted once I get to the actual writing and posting of those words and pictures respectively. Or something like that.

Now I would like to take this chance to warn sensitive readers, as the following text will contain a lot of school related words and phrases and may not be sutible for all ages.

Where to start… Hm… Well, the chairs are really uncomfortable, and the desks are too small for me to stretch my legs under them. It doesn’t help that my bed isn’t the softest one ever made either, or that we spend way too much time on our bikes’ poorly designed saddles, so it’s all just a real pain in the butt (pun intended). But apart from that? I love every second of it.

Every day, at the beginning of the first period, we greet the teacher in classic Japanese manner. That is, the students stand up, the teacher takes a bow and says good morning, and we respond in kind before we sit down again. At the end of the last period, we stand up, bow, and thank the teacher for the lesson. Or well, sometimes we thank the teacher, sometimes we just say good bye. None of us know if we’re supposed to say something specific so we just mimic the teacher, and our three teachers have three different phrases they use. No-one has corrected us so far, so I guess it’s all good. Either way, it’s one of those things that just feel so special, even though they’re just daily routine for anyone from this country. Which is the reason it feels so special, I guess.

The lessons themselves are 99% in Japanese. We get print outs (until out text books arrive) with the Japanese words for the lesson, and their translations in English, but that’s basically it. As only two of our teachers know English (and only one is good at it) it’s a lot of body language, a couple of pictures, and a decent number of whiteboard drawings that help us through the explanations. Despite how it sounds, it works great and I feel I learn so much more then I ever did back in any Swedish school I went to. That I have a genuine interest in the subject of these lessons could help of course – I rarely had that back in Sweden. I actually want to go to bed in time – rather then feel I have to – so I won’t be tired in class. I, believe it or not, truly want to go to school and study! I hope there’s nothing seriously wrong with me…

Now there really isn’t much more for me to write. School’s school, after all, and despite the huge differences there are a lot of similarities. Such as; we go to class, we study, we study some more, we go home, and we do our homework.

I could mention today’s dinner, if anyone’s interested? Grilled mackerel in some sauce – I think it was teriyaki – with rice. It was quite good.

Bed time. Good night.

Evening. School started yesterday, and while the very beginning was pure repetition we quickly started working with stuff I I had so far not touched. I’m positively surprised by the pacing, as after two days we’ve covered a lot of ”basic” phrases (mostly stuff you’ll need in the class room during a lesson), days, months, time, numbers, hiragana and – while we practiced hiragana – a lot of simple words. Pretty much what it took us two weeks in Sweden to work through, excluding all grammar. Now, hopefully that grammar will appear once we’ve covered this starting ground, which is to say; as early as possible.

I’m really glad I went to that course in Sweden before I came here, though. Since the teachers all speak Japanese, translating only a few words to English, I think I’d be really lost without some background knowledge. Now I can make out most of what the teacher’s saying, or at least get the meaning of it. It might be very simple Japanese – we’re talking elementary school level at best – but just being around the language so much is going to do wonders, thanks to that background knowledge.

Oh, and tomorrow’s our first test. It’s on hiragana, so I don’t think I’ll have much trouble personally. It might actually be the first time I’ve ever looked forward to a test.

Otherwise both today and yesterday was pretty much standard procedure out here. A few things of interest happened, however. First, we’ve been talking with the school about the cockroach problem and the fact that some of our apartments were quite dirty when we got here, and they’ve been most helpful and understanding. They promised a cleaning crew, and it arrived today. Or so we thought. It turned out the crew we got today was just for getting rid of the cockroaches. We’ll see what happens, otherwise we’re just going to have to clean ourselves. It was never that bad, and we’ve been bugging the staff too much already, so having to do some cleaning ourselves is quite okay.

Second,we visited a kaiten sushi restaurant today. It’s one of those places where the sushi’s placed on little plates that are put on a conveyor belt that goes around the restaurant. When you want a certain dish, all you have to do is take it, and then you pay for each plate on your table. Really cool system, though we were at the last table so it took a few minutes before anything we wanted came floating by. Once you’ve started eating, however, the next dish you want usually appears before you’re done with your current one. Or you could just try whatever comes by and see if it’s any good. Either way, the sushi is amazing. Not like in Sweden where it’s kind of dry and dull – at least in comparison. I mostly just ate the salmon ones, but it was by far the best sushi I’ve ever had. The taste is just incredibly rich.

Pictures will be uploaded tomorrow, or whenever I get the time for it.

I have a few things I’d like to write about how stuff works here in Japan, but I don’t have any more time tonight. Can’t be tired during my first test. So, without further ado, good night.

Hey. Tomorrow’s the first real day of school and both me and Robin are pretty psyched. I’ve really been looking forward to this, and I hope we’ll kick off for real right away.

All the students have been divided into four different groups, depending on our skill level, and both my and Robin got put in the first beginner group. Though I was originally put one step above, the only difference between those two groups seemed to be if you could write hiragana (one of the three Japanese alphabets), so we asked if I could go down a step so that we could study together. I really need to go through hiragana anyway, as I just barely know it and still forget a few characters at times. So I know we’re starting with the absolute basics, but I just get so motivated by being here that I don’t want to start slow or anything like that.

As an example, I was just with a few of the others students, playing Worms, at my next door neighbor’s place. He’s been here for six months and he can take part in basic conversations, and can actually talk to the teachers and staff. I want to be able to do that too!

On a completely unrelated note, we took our bikes to Gifu city today. We left the school around 1, and returned around 7, so we got to see a lot of stuff and visit quite a few stores. It was really fun, just seeing how different everything is to back home. Because it really is different. We went to a curry shop again, so I decided to take a picture of the meal this time. On our way back we went to an amazing little ice cream place, and had a Halloween sundae, which I completely forgot to take a picture of. Meh. I’m not going to go into more detail right now, as I’m heading to bed and really can’t be late tomorrow. I will post some random pictures of the trip first however. Hm, seeing these pictures on my computer is really making me want to buy a new camera… Oh well, they’ll do for now. Good night.

Evening. Another day, another visit to a store. Finally got a frying pan and a real saucepan with a lid, which we immediately put to use once we arrived back home. We managed to prepare our first, proper, self cooked meal in Japan: spaghetti with minced meat sauce (if that’s really what it’s called in English). Turned out quite good, considering I didn’t have all the ingredients (luckily the tomato purée sported a label covered in tomatoes, and some spices had their names written out in English). Not to mention that the kitchens here are really, really tiny. Sadly, I wasn’t able to eat a full portion. Kind of forgot to drink enough water and ended up with a headache caused by the dehydration, which – until I had compensated for it and Robin had eaten what was left of my cold portion – had me in no mood for eating.

Well, live and learn. Though I do blame the heat – it was around 22°C here today.

I finally got my camera out today and started taking some pictures. The battery’s still doing its own thing, but it seems like I can get it to hold for about a full day if I load it during the night. So while I didn’t get to taking some real pictures, I did get a few decent ones.

The first one’s of the present we got as we arrived here – it’s a piggy bank. Or a ducky bank, I guess. I’m thinking it’ll be of great use in holding all the 1 yen coins you get back from shopping. I really fail to see any reason you’d want to keep them with you, after all, with 1 yen being worth about 0.009 euro… It seems the Japanese simply like their coins, because you do get a lot of them. The last one is of these really cool frogs that live around here. They’re climbing around on walls and ceilings outside, and this one had just done a 1-2 meters forward, 2-3 meters downward jump, a minute before the picture was taken. Somewhat impressive.

Until next time! G’night.

Hello again. Our Internet went down for a while, so the planned update I wrote two days ago got postponed until now. Then again, that update was just a few lines about two rather uneventful days so I might as well rewrite it into a proper update today. So here goes.

It seems rain in Japan isn’t like rain in Sweden. When it really pours at home, we get lots of small drops very intensively for a short while. Here, we’re getting a lot less but a lot bigger drops, and they just keep falling. It’s the kind of rain that will just calmly soak you to the skin, and you just have to accept that there’s no helping it. Then again, it’s not like it’s cold or anything. It’s actually quite refreshing. Good thing too, since it took us about 20-30 minutes home on our bikes in that rain.

We had been at the closest electronic store, which was surprisingly similar to a big electronic store in Sweden, not counting all the Japanese price tags. One thing I did notice, however, was the large staff. There were perhaps 10-12 employees on the second floor (I didn’t check the first) just standing around; waiting for a shopper to request their assistance. Oh, and while I’m on the subject of service; if you buy any microwave food in a convenience store they will ask if you want it heated, and heat it for you in about 2 minutes. Too convenient, perhaps?

On our way back we stopped by a ramen place for lunch, in a futile attempt to escape the rain. Ramen is noodles in a fish- or meat broth with different kinds of toppings depending on what you order. I got one with sliced pork, I think Robin had the same, while the others went for the vegetable version or the spicy one. This was easily the best meal this year. Not that I even remember what I had a week ago, but it was amazing nonetheless. It even looked amazing.

Speaking of food. Me and Robin tagged along two days ago to a curry shop, which was our first restaurant visit here. Curry is a hugely popular dish in Japan, and it’s basically rice with a curry sauce, with some pork, carrots and / or potatoes thrown into the mix. This one I don’t have any pictures of, I’m afraid, but it was still good. Nowhere near the ramen though. On a related and somewhat obvious note, we’ve been getting better acquainted with the other students here – especially the other Swedes (big surprise there). There’s just so many of us! We’re so overrepresented – I think we’re like 10 now.

Also, Thursday – now two days ago – was the first day of school, though it wasn’t an actual school day. We had an introduction, which basically meant we got to hear the rules of this place and got some information about how to sort our trash, and we got to fill in important papers for about two hours. Most important of these important papers were the application for alien registration – a system to keep track of all alien residents in Japan, and a requirement for many things, including opening a Japanese bank account to get around the international withdrawal fees, and purchasing a cell phone subscription. The day after, the whole class took the buss to Gifu city, to the city hall, to hand in the papers and our passports. Since we’re required by law to always carry ID, it will take about three weeks before we get our alien registration cards and we’ve now handed in our passports, we got a ”receipt” from city hall to use as identification in case the police would ask us for it. It’s really just a standard A4 paper though, something anyone could print out, so it feels a bit… unofficial. Though checking it’s validity is just a phone call away, I guess.

Apart from that, we’re really just adapting to living by ourselves. With all the people running around, it’s not like you’re ever really by yourself though. Still, there’s a lot of stuff to take care of. Hopefully the rain will have let up by tomorrow, against what the weather forecast says, and we’re able to go to Super Center Plant 6 (the ridiculously huge store) to get some food. We’re running dangerously low.

Off to bed now! Good night.