hit with japanese stick: my new life in japan

goodbye adventures: part three

2012-03-09T07:59:00.004+09:00

i spent the last 3 weeks of my stay in japan traveling around and saying goodbye to my favorite people and places. this is the third part of a too-many-parted series describing my goodbye adventures in japan (heres part one and part two).

__nagano (長野)__
due to some heavy snow storms passing through northern honshu (本州), some of the trains were forced to stop running. luckily, we were able to ride a bus through the worst of it instead. the bus driver must have been half suicidal, half the-luckiest-driver-on-earth, and half driving-on-ice pro because he barreled down narrow icy roads with little-to-no visibility and snow walls packed taller than the bus and got us safely to a working train station in the same time it would have taken the snowed-in train to do it.

a small snowy town in between nagano (長野) and niigata (新潟)

outside our lodge in hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬)

we stayed in a ski lodge in hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬) that was only a block from the lift. if we wanted to, we could actually board down the mountain and stop directly in front of the lodge. it snowed the entire time we were up there, which made visibility pretty atrocious at times, but made the fresh snow a freaking delight to board. i seriously cant wait to do it again next year!

on one of the massive lifts in hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬)

just two guys who are having a good time, having a good time. hakuba, nagano (長野の白馬)

after snowboarding we headed into matsumoto (松本) for the day. there we got to see matsumoto-jo (松本城), which is my second favorite castle in japan (himeji-jo (姫路城) is still the best).

matsumoto castle (松本城)

nagano (長野)

__osaka (大阪)__
we arrived in osaka (大阪) at night. and with the kind of city osaka is, the night time is the best time to be there. my friend and i quickly dropped off our stuff in a cheap hotel and headed directly to a highly recommended blow fish restaurant. blow fish, or fugu (河豚), is poisonous and even deadly if prepared wrong, so it was important to us to go to a reputable place. we both chose slightly expensive set courses consisting of 10 different ways to consume tiger blow fish including: sashimi, sushi, nabe, tempura, sake, and more. the meal was interesting, delicious, and judging by the fact we didnt die from it, well worth it!

tiger blow fish (トラ河豚) dinner set, osaka (大阪)

after dinner we met up with a really good friend from new england who currently lives in japan and wanted to have one last hurrah with me in osaka before i left. the rest of the weekend is a bit hazy, but i do remember there was waaaay too much drinking involved. the nights were awesome, but the mornings were tough for all of us. we eventually lost track of how many takoyaki (たこ焼き), or octopus balls, we ate that weekend. there was a castle (osaka-jo) in there somewhere. at one point we ended up at a spanish bar after they closed for the night and sat down with the owners and spoke japanese, spansih and english to them while they continuously and graciously filled our wine and sangria cups. my buddy ended up wearing a michael jackson hat somehow and moonwalked across the bar for everyone to see. ahhhh, osaka is always good times.

osaka castle (大阪城)

dressing up and playing the part, osaka castle (大阪城)

goodbye adventures: part two

2012-03-07T01:57:00.000+09:00

my next set of japan adventures started off with a bang when a good friend from LA came to japan to hang out with me, see some sights, and then escort me back to the states. before he arrived, i spent some time saying goodbye to friends in mie (三重), wakayama (和歌山), and tokushima (徳島). you can check the highlights from that trip in goodbye adventures: part one.

mt. fuji (富士山) from my shinkansen (新幹線) window

__tokyo (東京)__
immediately after picking up my friend at the airport, we headed out for some fun in the city that i currently called my home, tokyo (東京). in the span of just one day, we started drinking in a foreigner pub at 9am while watching the superbowl live, hung out in harajuku (原宿) and people watched, walked through the tranquil yoyogi park (代々木公園) to the meiji shrine (明治神宮), pet the statue of hachiko (ハチ公), one of japans most famously loyal dogs, and walked through one of the busiest intersections in tokyo, shibuya crossing.

walking through yoyogi park (代々木公園) to the meiji shrine (明治神宮)

petting japans most famously loyal dog, hachiko (ハチ公)

a five-story pagoda near senso-ji (浅草寺)

__nikko (日光)__
next we were off to nikko (日光). after eating at the best restaurant in town (for vegetarians, at least), hippari dako (ひっぱり・だこ), we took obligatory pictures if nikko's beautiful red "sacred bridge" called shinkyo (神橋). after that, we headed for the shoyo-en garden (逍遥園) to experience some nature. because we were there in the beginning of a cold february, the garden was covered in snow and the pond was half frosted over - which made it absolutely beautiful to explore.

curry udon (カレーうどん) at hippari dako (ひっぱり・だこ), nikko (日光)

standing in front of the "sacred bridge", shinkyo (神橋), in nikko (日光)

shoyo-en garden (逍遥園), nikko (日光)

we spent the rest of our day walking around tosho-gu (東照宮), where we got to check out various shrines, ornate buildings, and another five story pagoda. one of the more interesting parts of tosho-gu was the depiction the "three wise monkeys" (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil). dating from the 17th century, its actually one of the first pictorial representations of confucius' code of conduct.

tosho-gu (東照宮), nikko (日光)

the three wise monkeys (三猿) in tosho-gu (東照宮). see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

a five story pagoda in tosho-gu (東照宮), nikko (日光)

life after JET

2012-02-02T23:55:00.001+09:00

japan has treated me very well. it makes me sad to think about how quickly my time here is disappearing, but at the same time, im getting pretty stoked about going back to boston and starting up where i left off. im excited to get back into some of the hobbies/interests i had to put on hold here in japan.

im looking forward to getting back into music. i havent been able to play guitar in my tokyo apartment because of the ultra-thin walls and ceilings between me and my neighbors. i seriously cant wait to start playing again! i want to get back into writing and recording music - and this time im serious about wanting to try performing in front of real, live people too.

call me an alcoholic if you must, but im also pretty excited to be moving to a country where non-crappy beer can be found in abundance. oh how i miss those precious porters, stouts, wheat beers, and any other type of beer that isnt made from rice. id even like to learn how to make some of those delicious beasts on my own too.

im looking forward to having the chance to do more outdoor activities as well. bike riding, kayaking, sailing, hiking, and snowboarding are all definitely possible to do in japan, of course, but not with the crazy salaryman hours ive been putting in here in tokyo.

im trying my hardest to get back into the start up scene as well. i want that excitement again. almost everyone ive worked with in start ups - or small companies that act like start ups - was so in to their jobs and felt appreciated by their coworkers. ive been skyping with a couple start ups already, and i hope to talk to more when i get back to the states.

in conclusion, even though japan is awesome and im going to miss it and the people ive met here like crazy, im stoked to be going back to the states.

goodbye adventures: part one

2012-02-01T00:10:00.002+09:00

my japan adventures are quickly coming to an end. i finally quit my job. fuck the salaryman life (サラリーマンの生活は残念だよ). im giving myself "two and a half" (a nickname from lives past) weeks to say goodbye to as many of the awesome people ive met in the last year and a half, and to visit as many of my favorite places i can one last time.

__kushimoto's fire festival (串本の火祭り)__
last weekend i traveled down to the southernmost tip of honshu (本州) to visit some good friends in mie-ken (三重県) and wakayama-ken (和歌山県). we all met up in kushimoto (串本) to check out the annual fire festival (火祭り). most of us had already seen the festival the year before, but its just so darned cool we had to see it again. after a bunch of dancing and some taiko drumming, kids lined up on top of a hill and shot flaming arrows into a grassy field. it felt like most of the town was there with us to watch the field burn. after a while, the firemen even help SPREAD the fire. and when i asked one of them politely, they even let me spread the fire around with a flaming ball of something very burnable. fire can be a lot of fun sometimes. just like last year, we brought sticks and marshmallows and roasted them on the [gigantic] open fire.

ready.. aim..

..fire!!

the field didnt even know what it had coming

throw in some fireworks for good measure

the field never stood a chance

__kiikatsura's camel onsen (紀伊勝浦のらくだの湯)__
the next day some of us went to kiikatsura (紀伊勝浦) for some relaxing in an outdoor onsen, or rotemburo (露天風呂). the onsen we wanted to check out, rakada-no-yu (らくだの湯) - literally "the camel spa" - was only accessible by boat so we had to wait at the harbor to get picked up. when we finally arrived, it quickly became apparent why it was called the camel spa (check out that picture below). we soaked in the natural, beautiful, extremely sulfur-smelling, onsen and gazed at the giant camel rocks chilling just a few feet away.

rakuda no yu (らくだの湯) - literally "the camel spa"

just chillin

__shingu's floating forest and mcdonald's "las vegas burger"__
on the last day, we visited a floating forest in the middle of a swamp called ukishima no mori (浮島の森) in shingu (新宮), and a nearby shrine.

during our last meal, i had the pleasure of watching a friend enjoy a "las vegas burger," which is the special that mcdonalds is running right now in japan. please note: there is nothing vegasy about this burger except, as my friend described, the regret that may come after experiencing it.

mcdonalds "las vegas burger"

does it taste as gross as it looks?

answer: yes

it was hard to leave such good friends and such beautiful scenery, but my first weekend of goodbyes had to eventually come to an end. ill miss you guys.

karoshi (過労死) - death from overwork

2011-12-22T00:39:00.001+09:00

first, let me start this off by saying that i dont work nearly as many hours as most salarymen in japan. furthermore, im healthy, content, and actually like the job im doing. this post is not about me, but rather the hardcore salarymen out there and the japanese social structure that forces them into working more and more hours until their bodies just cant take it anymore.

dying from working too much is a real problem here in japan. seriously. its a common enough occurrence to have a word created just for it: karoshi (過労死), or "death from overwork." the first reported case happened in 1969 when a salaryman in his 20's with no major health problems suddenly died after working more than 40 days in a row. the number of reported karoshi victims per year has generally increased since then to almost two hundred confirmed deaths every year (the most recent official stats i could find: 189 deaths and 208 severely ill in 2007 wikipedia). the most common medical reasons for these deaths are heart attacks and strokes due to stress and fatigue. salarymen are literally working themselves to death.

im not trying to say this is the biggest problem in the world right now, cause in the whole scope of things, its really not. but it is still a tragedy nonetheless.

why are so many japanese people working themselves to death? i think the answer is much more complicated than what i, as a short-term foreigner, can determine. but im pretty sure it has something to do with the incredible number of hours they work. japanese people, on average, work more hours per year than any other industrialized country (international journal of health services). the companies and corporations that make their employees work these hours are only half of the problem though. the other half comes from the values found in japanese society that make salarymen think they should dedicate themselves completely to their job. i see it everyday from my coworkers. many of them work 12-14 hour days, 6 or sometimes even 7 days a week. they have been trained to put health, family, and leisure time second to their job. though most salarymen get away with this unhealthy lifestyle, every year a couple hundred of them are not so fortunate.

as an outsider to the system, i dont have any power to fix this problem. sadly, all i can do is write about it and hope that things eventually get better. ive got my fingers crossed for you, japan.

i am a rubber band

2011-12-04T20:29:00.000+09:00

like pulling on a rubber band, i too have been trying my damnedest to expand my mind. this rubber band has been stretching itself thin by trying new things, living in different countries, meeting interesting people, and learning about the world around it.

like stretching the rubber band out further and further, i feel like ive been continually pulling myself into newer and stranger situations where im forced to expand and adjust. learn and adjust. grow. and you know what? its been fantastic.

but if you stretch a rubber band out too far, you run the risk of snapping it. and i feel like theres a real danger of stretching myself out too far as well. thus begins my journey backwards.

i reached the breaking point almost two months ago, during my first week in tokyo. my head had already made up its mind without telling me. its time i leave and pull back before im stretched too far away from who, where, and what i want to be.

since that moment, ive been saving money and biding time. making plans and looking forward (or is it backwards?). waiting. japan, youve been great to me, but i feel like its time we start seeing other people. its not you its me. its been quite a wild ride, but its just time that this rubber band starts retracting. returning back to its original shape. back to where it belongs.

and pretty soon ill have the means to do it.

reading between the lines

2011-11-17T23:22:00.001+09:00

i live directly above a bar which is directly above a drug store
my apartment is a mere 159 square feet (14.8 m^2)
change trains twice a day at shinjuku station, the busiest train station in the world
on clear days (rare in tokyo) i can see mt fuji from the office windows
miss being around people i can understand in a city i enjoy
i hear every train that passes through the station outside my apartment window
not going home before 8pm is rewarded by free (sometimes sushi) dinner in the office
getting to write code and playing with bank-related gadgets all day is a pleasure
home is where the heart is; mine seems to have never left boston
on the first floor of my office building is a tasty little coffee shop
my business card is in japanese on one side and english on the other
employed by a company employed by a bank
started wearing a jacket to work just last week
old drunk people on the street can be funny no matter what language they slur their words in
on my first week my manager called a meeting to tell us that no one can work only 8 hour days
nearing the end of my journey and excited about the next one

a day at the office

2011-11-06T23:21:00.000+09:00

a typical weekday for me (and some weekends as well) goes something like this.

__before work__
i wake up around 6:45-ish, usually after my third alarm goes off. i shower, maybe eat some boring yogurt, do a couple of sit-ups, and then commute to work. it takes about an hour from my door to the office due to 15 mins of walking, 10 mins of waiting for trains, and the rest of the time riding said trains. i usually review japanese flash cards on my way to and from work.

__at work__
when i finally make it through the (multiple) security guards and security card scanners, i get to sit down at my desk around 8:30am - and thats when the real fun starts! gadgets that are currently chilling on my desk right now just waiting to be played with include:

* an atm card reader
* a couple of fake atm cards
* a laptop
* a high-end tablet
* a thin client computer

each of these have different security settings and most are even on separate networks. it is my job to play with these devices and to write the code so that they all communicate to each other securely and correctly. most of the code im writing these days is actionscript for front end adobe air applications and java for back end jboss services. personally, the work im doing is really interesting, and professionally, i think the experience here will greatly help me grow as a software developer.

__after work__
despite the fun projects i get to do on the job, the hours are pretty atrocious and make it difficult to have a life outside of work. on an average day, i might leave work around 8:30pm or so. its hard to complain about the 10-12 hour days to any of my coworkers though, because most of them arrive before me and leave after me. after the commute back to my apartment, im usually pretty drained. ill have just enough energy to talk to some friends online, eat something japanese and tasty, and chill a bit before i fall asleep.

a foreigner (外人) working for a japanese software company

2011-10-24T22:39:00.001+09:00

this is my version of what its like to be a foreigner (外人) working for a japanese software company. please note that everyone's experience may be different, and ive only just begun working here, so mileage may vary.

i work for a software consulting company in tokyo. all of the developers on my project speak english fluently, but almost everyone else in the office, including the project managers, clients, and staff, do not. though my company appreciates developers who can speak japanese, it is not a requirement to work here.

as expected, the language barrier makes normal software tasks much more interesting. for example, every day we have a daily stand-up meeting where we all pile into one room and discuss the tasks we are working on and identify any problems we have. it usually starts with the project manager talking in japanese about high priority issues. he occasionally gets interjected by bi-lingual interpreters who try their best to translate the important parts of his speech into english for the half of the room who dont understand. this is usually followed by developers asking questions and discussing certain problems theyre working on, which then have to get translated for the japanese speakers to understand. its good practice for my japanese skills, but honestly, technical japanese is way, way over my head. i spend my time during these meetings trying to decipher an unintelligible language and hope that the crucial parts will eventually get translated later for me.

because we're working for a japanese client, all of our requirements documents are written in japanese. most of the older documents have already been translated into english for the developers, but unfortunately, there are always new requirements coming in which have not been translated yet. ive spent countless hours dealing with screenshots, flow diagrams, and spreadsheets that are still written in technical japanese. when google translate doesnt suffice, we have to track down a bi-lingual coworker or schedule time with an interpreter for help.

obviously, since i work in japan, i am expected to use a japanese computer. the operating system and my development tools all are all in japanese, but thats not too big of an issue. most of the time, i can either slowly read the japanese menus or just set the language to english when im in a hurry. but the one problem i didnt expect was using a japanese keyboard. this is kind of what mine looks like:

it looks basically the same from far away, but on closer inspection you can see that (a) there are a couple new keys (check out the ones near the space bar), (b) many of the keys have been changed to do various new things (hitting caps lock turns the keyboard into some kind of possessed japanese demon), and (c) some of the keys have been moved to new locations completely. go ahead and try to find the single or even the double quotes. now how about the caret (this thing ^). where the f did that key go?

of course, there are some frustrations to be dealt with working as a foreigner in most other countries - but working in japan offers some unique benefits too. for example, ive never experienced more respect towards others in the office and downright dedication to the job than i have here in japan. sure, i cant have real conversations with most of my coworkers, but i can still use my time here to learn something from all of them. ill be leaving here soon, but i hope to take with me the memories - both the good and the bad - of my brief professional experience as a software developer in japan.

and i miss all of you

2011-10-18T23:18:00.001+09:00

another birthday has come and went (give or take 42 minutes or so). after reading some really nice things that friends have been posting on my wall all day, it really hit me hard how much i take my friendships for granted. even though i am severely independent and hard-headed, i wouldnt have made it half as far or become half the person ive become if it wasnt for the people who have supported me through these years. i am truly grateful for everything my friends have ever done for me. for all the times i left them hanging, spelled their names wrong, confused them, moved further away from them, or made bad jokes at their expense, i am genuinely sorry.

instead of partying all night and drinking so much i cant even tell which language im speaking anymore, i decided it was a better use of my time tonight to sit down and write out this quick post. even though i do a terrible job of showing it sometimes, i really appreciate the friends ive got. and i miss all of you. now, cue the emo music.

japanese salarymen and comical sleep deprivation

2011-10-14T01:52:00.000+09:00

ive recently fallen into a great opportunity to witness the legendary japanese salaryman (サラリーマン) in person. before this week, ive only caught fleeting glimpses and heard rumors of how they spend more time in the office than out of it, how the only clothes they own are suits and neckties, and how they drink themselves stupid multiple nights a week. but now that ive moved to tokyo (東京), the breeding ground of said legends, i am surrounded by them all day everyday. and it seems that almost everything i heard is true and then some. i bet i could write books on all the peculiarities of salarymen, but ill try to keep it to just a couple of blog posts.

__japanese salarymen and comical sleep deprivation__
the salarymen that ive been meeting lately typically work about 12 hours day. one diligent person i work with didnt even go home one of the nights this week; he worked the entire night through, working more than 24 hours straight. on top of the long weekdays, salarymen often work at least one day of the weekend too. its easy to see how all those hours could make someone exhausted pretty quickly. but what makes it worse - at least in tokyo - is that many salarymen have incredibly long commutes as well. another person i work with commutes close to 2 hours a day.. EACH WAY!! so, if you add almost 4 hours of commuting to a 12 hour work day, these people are left with about 8 hours of free time. after factoring in the time spent eating meals, binge drinking because of the crazy amounts of stress, and raising a family, theres literally not enough time in the day for salarymen to get a decent amount of sleep.

and it shows!! not only do many salarymen pass out on the trains (sometimes even while standing) during their commutes to and from work, they also fall asleep at work. and because everyone is so sleep deprived, its become socially acceptable to sometimes take quick naps at their desk during lunch. just within my first 3 days at my new job, ive already heard 2 salarymen snoring at work.. IN THE BATHROOM!! thats right, some people were so tired they either purposefully or accidentally (im not sure which is worse) fell asleep while sitting on the john. one thing to note is that they werent silently nodding off either; these salarymen were so tired they fell into deep snore-tastic sleep. on the toilet. in a public restroom. at work. incredible.

hungry for new things (and selfishly eating all i can)

2011-10-08T23:15:00.000+09:00

i am here because i can be. but im also here because i dont know where else to go. i am young and anchorless. but i am also naive and careless. im seeking adventures and taking risks while i still can. but i am also saying more byes than hellos lately. im doing great things and making good choices, while constantly doing terrible things and making stupid choices. im hungry for new things, and im selfishly eating all i can.

im not looking down at anyones life plan nor am i trying to prop up mine. i have a friend whose full time job is a mom, and shes happy as a clam raising her family of cute kids. i admire the fact that she found what she wanted in life and i support her choices (even though she probably could have picked a much much better city to live in). i, on the other hand, have not yet found what it is im looking for. there will come a day when my responsibilities become too great that i wont be able to maintain this life of thrills and new experiences. but until that day comes, i intend on making as many blind, adventurous, pointless, and interesting decisions as possible.

im trying my best to learn, experience, and grow as much as i can before i grow up, grow old, or end up growing out of this phase.

trips to tokyo

2011-10-06T00:15:00.000+09:00

ive been traveling to tokyo (東京) a lot lately.

last week it was for the job interviews. exactly one week ago, i put on the only suit ive ever owned, boarded a shinkansen (新幹線), and interviewed with some tech companies in tokyo. one of them was crazy enough to want to hire me. and so after a bit of negotiation, i had a beautiful job lined up. i start next week!!

this week im going to tokyo to look for apartments. i think i found a pretty sweet one in shinjuku (新宿), but the application process is crazy intense and can take weeks for some foreigners. the building owner is even going to research my new employer to make sure they are a solid enough company to employ one of their tenants (me). if i fill out the application correctly and there arent any problems holding up the process, i should know whether theyll let me rent their apartment within two weeks from today.

this weekend i plan on moving to tokyo permanently. since i wont have an apartment just yet, i reserved a hotel room for a week to give me some sort of stable roof over my head. hopefully i wont have to stay there too long. living out of suitcases is exciting and all, but im looking forward to getting back to a sort of normal life. emphasis on the "sort of."

things are getting crazier still

2011-09-23T17:28:00.003+09:00

warning: this post is probably one of my more rambling and boring posts. things have been getting crazier within the last few days. this post is more for me to get my thoughts out of my head than for people to read and be entertained.

so like i said, things have been getting crazier still. at long last, the interviews have started coming in. i had two interviews so far this week: one was a non-technical interview over the phone with a small exciting company based in tokyo, and the other was a video/screen-sharing technical code writing interview with a big consulting firm just outside of tokyo. one interesting side note was that i was asked to show off my japanese skills during one of the interviews, which marks the first time ive ever spoken more than one (non-programming) language during an interview. terrifying to think about, yet satisfying to accomplish.

anyway, to my surprise, one of the companies asked me the very next day to do a second interview with their software engineers in person next week. which is great news for the part of me that really wants to find a job as quickly as possible, but bad news for my japanese studies because it means ill have to miss a day of class during my last week of school.

oh, and thats another thing; ive got 7 days to decide if i can/want to stay longer at yamasa. there are two reasons why i would like to extend my stay here for two more weeks, one is that i dont want to give up on my japanese studies yet, and the other is that i want to have a roof over my head. i would love to stay longer, but i dont know if i have that option because of interviews and/or starting a new job. but if i dont decide soon to continue studying japanese at yamasa, ill be forced to move into a hostel/hotel until i can either find a job or run out of money and leave the country.

things to do next week:

1. study japanese
2. tell my friends and family i miss them
3. prepare for two more phone interviews
4. go to tokyo (all day) for a second interview
5. decide if i can stay at yamasa and study japanese for a couple more weeks
6. if i have to leave school, then i need to pack and find a cheap hostel/hotel to live for a while (starting friday the 30th)
7. try not to lose my mind
8. shave

hey mr homelessness, did you miss me?

2011-09-18T23:01:00.000+09:00

with less than two weeks left until i go homeless again, things are starting to get a little more tense. im paid up on tuition and housing until the 30th of september, but after that im not sure what will happen next. the money i saved while teaching kids english in the JET program has been evaporating at a blinding speed lately, leaving me with only a couple options until i have to return to the states. im not complaining about the situation, because i knew it would eventually come to this. i guess im just a little surprised by how fast it all happened.

my immediate goal is to find a software job, and soon! when im not busy doing school stuff, im writing a lot of code, playing around with new languages and frameworks, and sending my resume out to recruiters and foreign companies in tokyo (and occasionally writing stupid blog posts).

basically, my options are: (a) enroll in more japanese classes at yamasa until i run out of money and have to leave japan, (b) move to tokyo and keep trying to find a job until i run out of money and have to leave japan, (c) move back to the states while continuing to look for a job in tokyo, or (d) completely give up on japan and move back to the east coast where im pretty sure i can find an awesome job pretty quickly.

ive got 12 days to figure things out and make a decision. hopefully at least one of the two interviews i have this week will blossom into something great, but i wont hold my breath. if nothing happens soon, ill be saying hello to my old friend homelessness again. hey mr homelessness, did you miss me?

hitchhiking fail (june, 2010)

okayama castle (岡山城) and kourakuen park (後楽園)

2011-08-20T00:01:00.000+09:00

a couple of weeks ago i got to hang out with a good friend from vegas who now lives in japan with his awesome wife and kid. not only did they let me crash at their place for a couple days while i was temporarily homeless, but they also took me around and showed me some of the neat places okayama (岡山) had to offer.

kourakuen park, okayama (岡山の後楽園)

we first went to a famous park/garden called kourakuen (後楽園) where my friends, incidentally, got their wedding pictures taken years before. kourakuen is one of the Three Great Gardens in japan (日本三名園), and it was easily apparent why it was so highly thought of; it was definitely one of the most beautiful parks ive seen in japan.


vegas friends in japan!!

though the park was absolutely beautiful, the incredibly hot and humid weather made it quite unbearable to walk around it for very long. luckily for us, the comfortably air-conditioned okayama castle (岡山城) was just on the other side of the park. it was neat to look at from the outside, but all of the modern conveniences like elevators and AC were constant reminders that the original had unfortunately been destroyed in world war 2, and that we were only experiencing a reconstruction. that being said, it was still fun to walk around and explore it with good friends.

okayama castle (岡山城)

nagoya's cosplay parade and okazaki's fireworks festival

2011-08-15T00:01:00.001+09:00

last weekend was the first time i had the opportunity to witness what the cosplay scene in japan is all about. "cosplay," for people out there that dont know, is short for "costume play." it usually entails people dressing up like their favorite video game and/or anime characters and sometimes even acting the parts. on saturday, some friends and i heard about a world cosplay parade in nagoya and we were curious enough to go check it out.

since my friends had press badges, we mainly hung out near the press boxes which were great places for people watching. i saw hundreds of anime and video game fans from around the world wear interesting makeup and sport awesome handmade costumes and props. aside from a few uncomfortable moments dealing with the occasional weirdos, as cosplay events have a way of attracting, the parade was pretty fun. and even with my very limited knowledge of japanese anime and video games, i was able to recognize a couple of characters myself.

a character from "one piece" named sengoku, at the nagoya cosplay parade

after the cosplay parade, we came back to okazaki to check out a 2 hour fireworks festival at okazaki castle. ill say it now: no one does fireworks quite like japan can. since more than 70% of japans fireworks are designed and manufactured here in okazaki, the annual fireworks festival here is used as a showcase of the latest models and arrangements. it was pretty awesome to sit next to hundreds of people on grassy castle grounds and enjoy our picnics, drinks, friends, and the explosions in the sky together.

a new perspective

2011-08-07T22:00:00.000+09:00

my first weekend living in a modern city in japan has opened my eyes wider than i could have imagined. it was more than just the physical aspects, like the social options and conveniences of living in a big city, that affected me. and it had more to do than changing jobs from a teacher to student. the move to okazaki was merely a catalyst to an overdue self reflection, and helped bring about a readjustment of perspective on who i want to be and what i want to do with my life.

i feel like an entire layer of confusion has been peeled back to reveal the person i used to be. i lived an entire year caught up in self-inflicted hardships while complaining about it the whole time. i went one year staying clear of technology and the software industry only to realize how much i miss it. and i spent an entire year pushing myself further down the rabbit hole of adventure, all the while not noticing how far ive pushed myself away from my friends back in the states.

JET was supposed to be my sabbatical; i was burnt out from two crazy years of full-time grad school and full-time work and needed a break to sit back and relax my brain. but somewhere along the line i got caught up in the web of my own adventures and lost sight of the things i really love most.

to the friends out there who have almost given up on me for being a selfish masochist who pointlessly seeks out new adventures just to complain about them to the world: i hope you can understand that i needed to come here and do what i did, but that i realize now what it cost me. i plan on finishing up these two months of study and then getting back to the things i love.

sayonara, JET life. konnichiwa new adventures.

2011-07-29T02:13:00.000+09:00

tomorrow marks the end of a chapter. its been a wild ride as a pseudo english teacher, but come tomorrow im getting off this roller coaster for good. this past year has been eye opening to say the least. i discovered many things about myself i never knew before, like how i dont like teaching english, living in a small remote town, or living in a house without a flush toilet and with an outdoor shower. but i want to stress that not all of it was negative. in fact, i feel that i accomplished everything i came here to do.

__three goals__
one year ago i arrived in kihoku with three specific goals in mind:

1. learn how to not hate kids,
2. learn some japanese, and
3. explore the hell out of japan.

im happy to admit that i feel good about my progress so far.

as for the not hating kids thing, i mainly wanted to learn how to deal with them; i wanted to learn how to interact with them and see things from their perspective. and though i still dont like some of the kids ive spent the last year or so teaching, at least ive learned how to not automatically hate all of them.

ive been told that im progressing quite well with my japanese ability, but i personally feel that theres still a lot of room for improvement. A LOT. out off my three goals, i feel like this was my weakest accomplishment.

and as for the traveling and exploring goal, i thing i pretty much nailed it. ive amazed all of the teachers i worked with everyday with stories of seeing temples, castles, and beaches near and far. i feel very lucky to have had the opportunities to travel so much. exploring japan was a blast! some of the teachers have even told me that they think i saw more in the year i lived here than they saw their entire lives; i didnt disagree with them.

__the next chapter__
so now that this adventure is over, what comes next? i miss my friends back in america and i feel that this distance is definitely straining things, but i just cant quite come back yet. i feel that there are still a couple more adventures to have in japan before i can return without regrets.

tomorrow ill leave this small town filled with old people and spiders and head for my next adventure. after a couple of quick visits with some boston and vegas friends who now live in japan, ill head north to okazaki city (岡崎市) where i plan to study japanese for a couple months. theres a non-profit japanese language school there called yamasa that offers short but intense language programs, and i look forward to learning japanese in a more formal setting.

after studying japanese for 2 or 3 months i plan to move to tokyo (東京) where one of three things will happen:

a. i get deported because of work visa issues,
b. i run out of money and have to leave, or
c. i find a software developer job and happily work there for about a year before leaving japan.

this means that no matter which option actually pans out, i only intend on living in japan for at most one more year before moving on and trying something new.

as i close this first section of my third life, i look forward to the upcoming challenges and self exploration. tonight ill fall asleep one last time in my old centipede-infested house. come tomorrow, may the next adventure begin.

okinawa (沖縄): beautiful, sunny, and rude

2011-07-25T22:05:00.000+09:00

the beaches in okinawa (沖縄) were some of the prettiest things ive ever seen. the water was clear and warm. the sand was soft and white. the coral was colorful, the weather was sunny, the girls were beautiful. ah, 'twas truly an awesome trip.

aragusuku beach, miyakojima (宮古島の新城ビーチ)

snorkeling at aragusuku beach, miyakojima (宮古島の新城ビーチ)

i stayed on a small southern island called miyakojima (宮古島) for three days. even though there was a typhoon fast approaching japan, i braved the strong waves and snorkeled in the crystal-clear waters at aragusuku beach (新城ビーチ). the next day i went to maehama beach (前浜ビーチ), which could very well be the nicest beach ive ever seen. its pristine white sand stretched out for what seemed like miles into the horizon. after swimming and tanning (tanning? pssh, more like burning) for a bit, i went to a small nearby island called kurima (来間島) where i climbed the stairs to the top of a watch tower and gazed at the beautiful shoreline below.

underwater pic of the coral reef at aragusuku (新城ビーチ)

maehama beach, okinawa (沖縄の前浜ビーチ)

next, i spent a day and a half on the main island, okinawa hontou (沖縄本島). i spent my time there checking out an average japanese castle and a sweet aquarium with whale sharks and manta rays.

a whale shark and his friends at an aquarium in okinawa

an okinawan sunset from the shores of miyakojima (宮古島)

for all of the beauty that okinawa had to offer, it also had a really crappy side to it. because of the heavy american military presence that still exists there, it has quite a different feel from mainland japan. the people in okinawa were much less friendly than im used to, either because our rude american customs have rubbed off on them or because there are more anti-westerners due to the many US bases. though the people in miyakojima were nicer, they were upsettingly open about selling sex to tourists (almost as much as amsterdams red light district). when the sun went down it seemed like every block had girls standing outside wearing too much makeup and fake smiles, eager to hike up their skirts whenever i walked by.

kurima island, okinawa (沖縄の来間島)

outside of the rudeness and sex-peddling, okinawa was an awesome place to spend a week in the sun. im glad i went, and i hope i can visit it again someday.

deja vu. color me stoked.

2011-07-12T22:01:00.001+09:00

these last two weeks have felt eerily familiar. it was almost a year ago when i first came to kihoku (紀北), wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. the first couple of weeks were spent living out of a suitcase and not knowing what to expect for the upcoming year. i spent that time tirelessly introducing myself to the 50 or 60 new coworkers i met. i was also fretting over writing a decent introductory speech to give to the teachers and students when summer vacation ended. when the time came, i was escorted to various school gymnasiums and asked to give said speech in front of the entire school in nervous and broken japanese (full disclosure: they didnt ask for nervous and broken japanese, i just sort of added that on my own). next came the hours of stress planning my all-important first lessons of the year (priority #1: trick the kids into thinking i know what im doing and that im totally awesome at it).

there was so much excitement in the air too. the kids were excited to find out how many bad things they can say/do to the new foreigner before hed get mad. the teachers were excited to see how little work theyd have to do now that the new "team teacher" had arrived. and i was stoked to start my third life in a foreign land speaking a language i didnt understand and doing a job i didnt know how to do.

but soon enough, things calmed down. as the days flew by everything just sort of fell into place and became somewhat normal (with heavy emphasis on the "somewhat").

now that my JET year is [finally] coming to an end, im getting daily visions of deja vu from last year. once again, im close to living out of a suitcase while pondering what to expect for the upcoming year. im spending too much time planning all-important final lessons (priority #1: trick the kids into forgetting how many times i screwed up and instead, to remember how awesome i was). once again im fretting over writing speeches - but this time theyre to say goodbye instead of hello. im getting whisked off to the very same gymnasiums from last year to give my goodbye speeches in front of the whole school (though the speeches are using more complex grammar and vocabulary, let me assure you that they are still delivered in nervous and broken japanese). and instead of teachers asking me where im from, they ask me where im going.

and ooohhh, is the excitement back! kids are stoked to be getting out of their non-air-conditioned schools for summer vacation, teachers are looking forward to a much needed break from the kids, and im excited to enjoy as much of this life i can before i move on to bigger and better things.

the year really has gone full circle, making me feel like im almost back where i started. one things for sure though: this constant deja vu will definitely be coming to an end in less than 3 weeks. color me stoked.

attack of the kancho (カンチョー)

2011-07-07T22:01:00.000+09:00

they trick you with their cute smiling faces. they lure you in with their small size and innocent appearance. "kujira sensei," they might say in excitement as they run towards you. they fool you into a false sense of security with their bright cheerful banter. as many as 20 kids at a time may try to hug you, cling to you, and climb you. they break through your defenses with their adorable smiles and genuine laughter. "wow, these kids really like me," you might think to yourself as they start pushing their way closer. you may find it harder to move as they begin swarming around you like an angry hive of cute 6 year old bees. they trick you into believing that theres no problem with the fact that you cant move your arms or legs anymore..

..and thats when they attack!!

in any group of japanese elementary school kids you can find at least one boy or girl who wants nothing more in the world than to give their foreign language teacher a kancho (カンチョー). kancho, for those lucky souls who are unaware, is the act of putting your hands together with the index and middle finger from each hand sticking straight out (thats a total of 4 fingers, mind you), and trying to thrust said fingers into someones butt. in any other country, this would probably be considered sexual harassment and would be followed by just punishment and/or scolding. in japan, however, kanchos are totally normal and acceptable acts that kids do to each other AND THEIR TEACHERS.

a real statue somewhere in japan

ive had kids try to kancho me in front of teachers. ive had kids try to kancho me during class. ive even had kids try to kancho me during ceremonies in front of the entire school and their parents. oddly enough, i feel like the weird one for being the only adult who gives them dirty looks and tells them to stop. fortunately, most kids are much too slow, dumb, or obvious about their intentions to be successful. a quick block, sidestep, or turn of the body is all thats usually necessary to defend oneself from such evil games.

but oh, much like the menacing raptors, theyve learned that its better to hunt in packs. with 20 cute children hugging you and telling you how much they like both you and your english lessons, its impossible to stop the one or two jerks from accomplishing this malicious deed.

fortunately, 6 year olds are much too weak to push through the pants and get their fingers close to anything they shouldnt. but its still shocking, awkward, and terrible nonetheless. the worst part is when the teachers see it happen, they see you dont like it, they realize you cant scold the students because you dont speak japanese, and they do nothing to stop or prevent it.

oh japan, with your very socially acceptable kid-on-adult butt-probing, you never cease to amaze me with just how weird you can be.

deportation: why everyone needs to calm the fuck down

2011-06-22T23:10:00.002+09:00

i have a friend who is in the middle of an escalating crisis over their japanese visa and their rights as a foreign resident. their board of education has been trying their hardest to convince my friend to voluntarily give up their work visa the second they become unemployed (which is happening in 39 days) because they think its what my friend should do. but my friend thinks that they dont have to do this - and would rather not - because this person already made plans to stay in japan a little bit longer after JET. this is causing many people to get quite angry at my friend. as the days go by, more and more people are getting involved including other boards of education, other JETs, the prefectural office, and immigration. its become quite the spectacle with both sides claiming that they are right and the other is wrong. my friend has been doing some research on this convoluted issue, and id like to share their thoughts on why they think everyone else is wrong and needs to calm the fuck down.

first of all, the visa belongs to my friend. it is illegal for anyone, whether they be from the board of education or prefectural office, to try to confiscate it or force them to change it while my friend is still employed. secondly, the sponsor of their work visa, aka the town that employs them, cannot legally revoke their visa until 90 days after the termination of employment. because of this, my friend would really appreciate it if everyone could stop threatening them with deportation. thirdly, the school that my friend wants to attend for a couple of months after JET has confirmed that it is perfectly legal for them to attend school slightly-less-than full time for up to six months on a work visa. and lastly, even if my friends visa status gets revoked (which must be after 90 days), as long as they havent committed any "highly malicious" crimes while in japan, immigration will not immediately arrest, detain, or fine them. the immigration bureau of japan clearly states that the individual will be given a "departure grace period" of up to one month to get their affairs in order before they leave the country on good terms.

of course, since my friend is not a lawyer, there is a sizable chance that theyre completely wrong with their interpretation of the laws and might just get deported tomorrow. but that being said, the people at their board of education and their higher-ups who are getting increasingly angry with them are not lawyers either and might be just as wrong as well. this truly is a game of everyone thinking theyre right until proven wrong.

i cant speak for my friend, but in my personal opinion my friend is a nice, well-intentioned individual who is not deliberately trying to commit crimes and cause trouble. this person is merely trying to enjoy the multiculturalism of living abroad in an amazing country while trying to be a productive (yet temporary) member of japanese society and would rightly appreciate everyone around him to calm down about this issue.

spiders, slugs, and centipedes.. oh my!

2011-06-14T23:05:00.000+09:00

without a doubt, my favorite part about living in an old house in a small remote japanese town is the number of things that crawl around on my floors, walls, ceilings, and face. how could i possibly feel lonely when ive got what seems like hundreds of roommates always begging for a chance to hang out with me?

__friends with 8 legs__
first, i want to give a shout out to my old friends from last year, the gigantic huntsman spiders. i havent seen your hand-sized bodies perch on my walls all winter. and frankly, i was getting a bit worried that you may never come back to visit. sometimes i swear i can still hear the echos of your heavy footsteps - not unlike the sound of a typewriter - click-clacking on my floor as i chase you around my house with a shoe, playing a friendly game i like to call "get the fuck out of my house right now or die." fortunately, the fast-approaching summer has put my mind at ease because i get to watch all of your lovely offspring grow up right before my very eyes (dont think i didnt see them hiding in the folds of my curtains the other night, cause i totally did).

just hanging out in my tatami room

__friends with no legs__
to some of my newer guests: i appreciate the company, but can you please try to pick up after yourselves more often? though i thoroughly enjoy the fact that you invite all of your lovely slug friends to party in my house on a nightly basis, seeing your trails of slime across my floors every morning kind of bums me out. no one likes messy roommates. i hope theres no hard feelings from all the salt i sprinkle around the cracks in my walls, around my doors and windows, and sometimes on your gooey bodies. its not that i enjoy watching the salt shrivel you up like a testicle in a cold breeze, its just that i really despise having to wash my floors every fucking morning because of your mess.

__friends with 100 legs__
and lastly, i want to thank all of the ムカデ ("mukade"; poisonous centipedes) for all the attention youve been giving me lately. i can tell that you are quite infatuated with me because of all the times you try to snuggle with me at night. to be honest, im quite flattered. remember the time i was about to fall asleep but suddenly noticed you were crawling around inside my pillowcase exactly where my head was supposed to go? that was cute. so cute, in fact, that i had trouble falling asleep the rest of the night because i couldnt stop thinking about it.

this is what my friend looked like dead

i think i should draw the line after last night though. to be clear, im not looking for a relationship right now and id rather us just be friends. i dont know why you thought itd be ok, but crawling into my futon while i was sleeping and gently yet poisonously nibbling on my fingers was not cool. i like you and all, but i did not appreciate waking up to you trying to climb onto my face. because i fell asleep alone that night, i was so startled to wake up with you in my futon that i may have accidentally sprayed too much bug spray on you while you tried to run away from me. maybe now youll get the hint that im just not that into you.

kids can be cute sometimes

2011-06-08T22:03:00.001+09:00

look, i hate kids just as much as the next guy. but since i started teaching english to little japanese children, ive actually had a slight change of heart. and though it pains me to admit it, ill man up and say it here: sometimes kids can be cute.

every week, when i show up to one of my elementary schools, a bunch of tiny kids who arent yet to-cool-for-school stop what theyre doing and run right up to me. "ku-ji-ra sen-sei!" theyll yell through gigantic smiles as they try to give me huge hugs and hold my hands. as we all keep walking closer to the entrance, some of them break away to show off how good they are at unicycling, jumping rope, or hula hooping. their faces light up when i say "上手ね" ("jouzu ne"; youre skillful) or "すごい" ("sugoi"; thats great). its pretty awesome to see kids get so happy to see me. heck, ive been in relationships before where the girls werent even half as excited to see me as some of these kids are every single day.

there have been several times now where ill be sitting in the teachers office planning future lessons when ill hear a couple of small voices call my name. first theyll say the required "しつれいします" ("shitsureishimasu"; im being rude. all students must say this before they enter the teachers office. upon leaving, they say "shitsureishimashita"; i was rude), come over to my desk, and shyly hand me something. ive received some beautiful cards and letters - usually written in japanese or the occasionally admirable but terrible attempt at english - thanking me for teaching them english, asking me to teach them more, or telling me how fun my classes are. now dont get me wrong - i, like you, think children are terrible creatures from the depths of hades - but innocent thoughtful gestures like this prove that some kids can actually be pretty freaking rad.

i like to jog around my neighborhood (read: around most of the town) a lot. more than just fun exercise, its also been a great way to interact with some of my kids outside of school. some of my younger students get so excited to see me jogging down their street that theyll stop playing catch or whatever they were doing and chase after me. "鯨先生、待っていい！" ("kujira sensei, matte ii!"; wait up, whale teacher!). some kids even jog along side me for a block or two after i ask them if theyd like to join me. my favorite time though, was when these two cute 3rd grade girls followed me on their bikes for over 3 miles, laughing and smiling the whole way. they tried talking to me while we jogged and biked, saying things like "speed up" when we were going downhill (cause bikes can coast faster than legs can jog) and "speed down" when going uphill (cause little girls are apparently wimps at biking up hills). to me, language practice, exercising, and having fun with kids that dont suck, made the time fly by so quick i barely even noticed how tired i was after the 5th mile.

ah, good times.