Geocaching Aomori!


April 14, 2010

 

One thing that I’d spent some time doing during University was hiking. Whether it was Blomidon, Cape Split, Keji or even in the Alberta Rockies, I definitely spent more time just walking through wilderness than I ever had before. But I have to admit that even so, I’ve never been wildly motivated to do it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy anything about it, but rather it’s not something that I get fired up to do. Why? Because when we get to the destination (if there is one), I don’t always know what to do! Some people say that the hike itself is the motivation, or the scenery once you’ve arrived somewhere. But although I am able to appreciate those things and feel good afterwards, I don’t have the drive to go do it like other outdoorsy people have. I like to DO things. I like to keep my mind mentally occupied with things to consider, weigh options, and execute solutions. So on hikes, rather than spending time just absorbing whatever is around is around me, I often spend a lot of time thinking over a particular matter, usually something that I had been doing before I went hiking, so that I am eager to return home or work or whatever to try and execute those thoughts. This is why things such as programming and games are very appealing to me: they involve a lot of mental thought. They involve goals and things to do, and (the best part) coming up with ways to get there. Of course, the flip side to this is that I do enjoy being around people, so often that is one of the main reasons I’m willing to go hiking: just to spend time hanging out somewhere else.

Why am I going on and on about this? Because I want to bore you! :)

No, actually it’s because I’ve realized that geocaching changes everything for me! What is geocaching? Basically, people from around the world hide little boxes of “treasure” in various places, usually in a key spot in the wilderness. The treasure consists of small items from the dollar store, coins, logs, etc. Then the location of the cache is posted online so that everyone can download them to their GPS-enabled devices. So anyone from around the world knows where to search for treasure! Once you get to it, you sign the log, take a picture of yourself there, exchange a new item that you brought for an old item in the box, and then be on your way.

This works perfectly to motivate me to go hiking!! Now there is a goal!! There’s something to DO when you get there, not just something to look at!! It’s quite rewarding too, because you don’t always know if the treasure will still be there, or what it will be exactly, until you get there. And then you get some new little trinket and leave your own behind, and sign the log and post a picture of you with it online for other people who have been there to look at. It’s probably especially rewarding for the person who hid it initially to see people actually making treks out in the wilderness just to find the bobble-head they hid in a box under a rock. This may seem silly to most outdoor enthusiasts, but for me it changes everything! It’s like a game now! A treasure hunt! An adventure! It even involves some technology, which is a plus for me!!

As you can tell, I’m excited about this discovery. Steve (a friend from Acadia who is also an Aomori JET) and his girlfriend Helen and I went out geocaching on Saturday and had a really fun time! The first place that we went to was actually not in the wilderness at all, but rather in this somewhat off-the-road location that just had a leveled field next to a forest with some construction going on. The description was that it was hidden under a large rock in a triangle of trees. The location was super-easy to get to: probably only like 20 meters from the car, but we still had to search for like 30 minutes. Why? Because there were quite a few “large rocks” and none of them seemed to contain any treasure under them!! There was one rock which looked like it ought to have something special under it, but no luck. Helen even had to lift some of the rocks so we could look under them:

So, that was rather disappointing. On the upside, though, there was a slide!! Here is a picture of Steve and I being 5 years old again:

Also, we stopped at a random combini (convenience store, though “combini” is a much better word) and they had delicious sandwiches and cinnamon buns!! Bikurishita!! (I was surprised!!) Such things are rare treats here in Japan, so it was delightful to have found it. In fact, for me, that was the treasure we were looking for!! :D

Next stop was also not the wilderness, but actually a look-off. It was a tower sort of deal which you could climb up to get a good view. However, it was way up in the mountains. Although it is spring here in Hirosaki, and the snow is gone, this is not yet so up at higher altitudes. So this look-off was still dump-covered with snow!! We had to climb a big wall of snow just to get into it, and even then it was very windy, cold and dangerous because the snow was mixed with wet ice, which isn’t a welcome sight when you’re trying to climb steps!!

This particular cache was a nano-cache (about the size of your fingernail) and was described as being hidden “under a chair”. This could have been a major problem, because half the chairs were still covered with tons of snow, and we didn’t have a shovel… Not to mention that even if we did, it would have been very hard to find such a small item.

Thankfully, though, Helen found it!! It was under a bench at the very top of the tower, but was not under much snow because of the way the roof was built over it!! So we got lucky with that one. We signed the tiny bugger, which finished it off and was the only one signed in winter, put it back, took a picture (which I don’t have) and headed off on some more adventures!

Next we went to a jazz cafe/restaurant, which again was located out in seemingly nowhere. It seems to me that a lot of places here are in obscure locations, but maybe my idea of “nowhere” is broader than necessary. Anyhow, it was a very nice wooden cafe with a fireplace in the center and a stage complete with jazz instruments, waiting patiently to be played. I enjoyed some expensive “Pizza Toast” while other more Western-style dishes were enjoyed by the others. It would have been really cool to be there if something had been going on too.

Finally, we came to a wilderness cache. This was the “big” one. The whole wilderness was covered in snow. Deep snow. Probably about thigh to hip deep the whole way. Lucky for me, I happened to be wearing my winter boots, and I was dressed pretty warmly, so I was set. The other two, not so luckily, only had their sneakers and jeans on. But they are both good sports and we went ahead to get it anyway!

The first obstacle was that to begin there was a very short but steep hill to climb, which might not be so bad in the summer, but in the winter provided more of a challenge. This hill alone took a good 10 minutes or so to climb. We mostly just grabbed on to trees to use as leveraged and hoped for the best. After that, things got easier. The rest of the way was a climb, but a very moderate one. The hike there probably took about an hour, since trekking through snow is obviously a lot slower, especially when you sink in to your thighs every few steps. I led most of the way, since I had the best footwear for the job, with Steve’s Android as a guide. There were obviously some people out skidoing at some point because there were visible tracks along the way that we could follow to make things easier here and there. And then we finally made it: it was at the end of a river which became a lake, and from a certain angle the mountains went up on both sides, which reminded me of Lake Louise! Minus the tourists. This place actually had signs and such, and our clue was that it was by the roots of a tree about 6-8 feet away from one of the trees with a sign. We were talking the whole way about what a disappointment it would be if it weren’t there like the first one… but then I spotted it!! It was cuddled in the root of a tree!! And then we did a victory pose:

Inside were little trinkets, out of which Steve & Helen took a geocoin (which lets users track their coins as they travel from place to place) and I took out a wooden puzzle. We put in a Mario Kart coin holder, some Canadian coins, and a mint. The mint was mine. Yes, it is lame. It’s all I had to put in though. Except for a cough drop. But that’s just as bad.

We enjoyed a good laugh when we were deciding what to put into the box:

Steve: “Let’s put in the nickel.”
Helen: “Okay.” *Takes nickel and puts it in the box*
Steve: “Wait! No! Let’s take the nickel out and put the penny in instead!”
Helen: “Why? What’s the difference?”
Steve: “4 cents!”

Anyway, so we signed the log, took a break, discussed our victory, and then look some pictures of a us next to an oddly-spaced tree:

Actually there were many oddly-spaced trees in that forest. It seemed like there was some disease that was affecting a lot of them, although many were surviving regardless of their illnesses, but were quite twisted as a result.

Then we headed back. One of the biggest advantages of having done this in the winter was that it was impossible to get lost as long as we followed our own tracks (the ONLY tracks). It was a lot easier because of this, and also a lot faster because we could just step in our own footsteps, it was down-hill, and we slid down a lot of slopes penguin-style to speed things up:

Finally we got back to the car. Mission successful!! On the way back, while winding though the curved sloped mountain roads, we were ALMOST hit by a sports car who was coming at us in the wrong lane. He we obviously trying to race/dare his friend, who also was driving a very expensive car in the CORRECT lane. Thankfully, Steve’s reactions were quick and he blared the horn, though unfourtunatly in my experience horns don’t cure stupidity.

Anyway, just wanted to share that fun adventure with you guys. I hope that in your own way, you were able to live out the experience in your own minds. If not, get an imagination! :) And try geocaching yourself!

 

What’s Your V I S I O N ?


March 23, 2010

 

Have you ever noticed how adding spaces between letters in a title makes it a bit more dramatic? If so, I’ve already got your attention, because that’s what I did for the title of this post. If not, please read on anyway because you’re my friend.

This past weekend I went down to a JET Christian Fellowship Retreat in Okutama, which is about 90 on a train due west of Tokyo, yet is still technically within Greater Tokyo. I tell you that city is HUGE!! Anyway, it was a very lovely and off-the-path location out in the mountains, hosted at “Fukuin no Ie” (or “Gospel House”). Recommended spot if you’re wondering. Here are some pics I nabbed off Facey-Booky without permission (shh… don’t tell!!):

Group Photo!!

Eating one of the Dericious Meals! (I think this one was Bacon-wrapped Salmon)

Looking at the results from the HILARIOUS picture-telephone game!

If you hike out from the cabin a bit, it looks kind of like this…

This is us, musicing for worship time!

On the train back to Tokyo Station

It was a GREAT time, and I really feel like I learned a lot about God and myself while I was there. The guest speaker who came to join us for the weekend’s name is Lewis Rice. He is CRAZY energetic, is very loud, loves his life, and is very passionate about discussing God. But before I get too much into where he is and what he said, there should be something mentioned about me.

For the past few years I’ve been feeling compelled to do something more public in my life. By that, I mean becoming more vulnerable by putting myself out there in front of people on a regular basis. Secondly, the reason I would be in front of these people is to both energize them as well as to share God’s love for them. Thirdly, my heart is broken for the youth of Japan, as I read story after story of Japanese youth who feel they have no identity, they feel unloved by their parents, they tie their self-worth to academic success, and are committing suicide when things don’t work out. So many of them don’t realize that there is a God who loves them unconditionally, who has a plan for their lives, who will forgive them for anything they have done, who birthed them diliberatly, who will free them from any bondage and who will offer them eternal life in heaven. It hurts them if they don’t know that, and it hurts me if they don’t know that.

Now back to Lewis: when he was 15, he had more-or-less the same convictions that I have now. When he was 18, he worked for a few months in New Zealand (his home) to get enough money to get to Japan. When he arrived, he had no place to stay, no where to go, no work, and he knew nobody. He prayed about it, and within a week he had an apartment, work and was a part of the people at Jesus Lifehouse in Tokyo.

Now he spends his days in front of Japanese youth, sharing about God’s love for them, and spending the evenings doing outreach. He basically has a life that is pretty much exactly the kind of thing I have been envisioning. He has amazing stories to tell of lives transformed, from lives of hatred, depression, parental abandonment and suicidal thoughts, to lives that are completely transformed by the gospel of Jesus. They have become loving, happy, people who couldn’t say enough about God’s love.

Lewis shared about many different things to consider and think about. Here are some of the points I can immediately remember:

  • Vision vs Goals – Having goals in life is a good thing, because it keeps us focused on what can/should be done next. Things like getting married, having children, getting a house etc would all be example of goals. But these are not God’s “vision” for our lives. By that, I mean that our life is not considered complete just because the goals have been achieved. If that were true, then one you had a wife, children and a house, you wouldn’t know what else to do with your life. The problem is, so many people, even Christians, settle on goals, and then go through mid-life crisises (crisi? Ug… English…) because they don’t know what else to do. Contrast this to vision, which is an endless goal. For example, sharing God’s love with youth. There will always be more youth to share it with, and even after it is shared the relationships and fellowship that comes out of that is endless.
  • Don’t think, pray! – So many times we try and figure out our own problems by thinking and mulling over them endlessly. I sure know I do! My general strategy when predicting things is to think about the worst-possible scenarios so that I will be prepared to handle them. Then think of the bes-possible scenarios so I remain optimistic. Then think of the middle ground between the two and realize that’s probably what’s going to happen. But still, my brain will endlessly think of it more and more until I can’t even concentrate on things anymore. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does I hate it. But for those of us who know about Jesus, we know that we can cast our cares onto Him and let Him take care of them. We can turn our thoughts and worries into prayers and petitions, and if we get in that habit we will have a consistant relationship with Him. And trust me, God’s a good guy to be talking to! Even if He answers in sometimes very strange, difficult, or hilarious ways…
  • Only God and People matter – The only thing that we can take with us to heaven are the people who go with us. Any goals which don’t involve people ultimately won’t matter after we are dead. And since we are only alive on Earth for about 70-90 years and we are alive in heaven for eternity, I would say that goals that focus on the latter are much more important!

When I first came to Japan, I didn’t know where things would lead. Now I feel like they may lead to the big city, to the youth searching for meaning.

For now, though, I am here, in Aomori. And I am more than in my place here for the time being. I feel like there is still a lot to be done here and a lot to learn, not to mention that the free time I’ve been having has been great for learning Japanese and maintaining a strong relationship with my wonderful fiancee Solveig. We will continue to pray about all these things and see where God takes us from there.

This blog post leaves me curious though, what’s YOUR v i s i o n ? Not your goals, but what means the most for you to do while here on this Earth for such a short time? Who will you serve? What will you do? Who will be affected? What is the purpose?

 

A Quarter of a Century


March 2, 2010

 

After well over a month of silence on this blog, at least I have some news to report!!

For the first few weeks of February, I went back to Canada for a two week visit. It was a wonderful visit, but certainly very busy!! It seemed like every day was a packed collection of people to visit. It felt great to be back in Halifax and Wolfville for a while, both at home with my family and among my friends at Acadia.

On February 6th during my return visit, 2 significant events happened for me:

First, I turned a quarter of a century years old. Weird!! I’m half-way to 50!! Mark Moses refers to 25 as the boring age in which people settle down, have families, and all in all don’t do anything exciting or interesting with their life. I guess we’ll wait and see!

The second significant event was that it was the day that I proposed to my girlfriend of three years, Solveig Spielman!! I met her during the beginning of my fourth year, in which I was taking a shift at the Welcome Center and she was a cute little frosh wandering around looking for something to do with her friend Christine. Despite the difference in school years, however, Solveig is only just over a year younger than I am: she took one year off and spent one year at the Canadian Lutheran Bible College in Camrose, Alberta, where she comes from.

She is very musically talented, has tons of charm and care, is extremely beautiful, is very serving towards people, and is spiritually mature. How could I not have chased after her until she agreed to go out with me? And alas, how could I not ask for her hand in marriage after 3 years of such consistent character? She’s loyal, trust-worthy, honest, and handles difficult situations with grace. My grand-mother, Gam, has confirmed that she’s a keeper!! And my sister, Elisabeth, and her Father, Brian Spielman, had given me permission to marry her. ;)

Our wedding date is set for September 4th, 2010. The ceremony will be held at the Manning Memorial Chapel at Acadia University, followed by a reception in Centreville, where Anastasia’s parents Rick and Shirley Brittain have very generously offered their house up for the cause!! I have already been to two receptions at that house: Mitch & Anastasia’s and Jordan & Katrina’s, and we love that we are able to have ours there as well!! Thereafter, 2 weeks later there will be another reception in Camrose, Alberta so that no one who knows Solveig or I will have to miss out on the action.

For anyone interested, James Bainsbridge graciously took some photos of Solveig and I for our engagement photos. You can check them out here. Here are some examples:

The typical smiley “Awwww…. aren’t they cute!” shot.

Solveig always wanted a pearl ring. :)

I was falling one way, she was falling the other.

For more information on our wedding-related agenda, we will soon be booting up another temporary blog starring Solveig herself as a poster!! We are both very excited about the future, and I am excited to see her publish things on her very own website!!

 

Congratulations on the Opening!


January 6, 2010

 

If you read that sentence and were wondering “the opening of what?”, then I guess the answer is the opening of a new year! In Japanese, they say “Akemashite Omedetou” which roughly translates to the above. Of course, an interpreted translation is “Happy New Year!”

Originally, I wasn’t sure what a Christmas and New Year’s in Hirosaki-land would be like, especially because many of the other foreigners went home for Christmas. Having to work on Christmas Day, initially, took out the ol’ Christmas cheer, stomped on it a few times, and fed it to the wolves. However, it ended up being just fine.

In our English Club here at the school, the students and I made some home-made (school-made?) Christmas decorations, and later that week I brought in a Christmas Tree, which we decorated with the decorations we made. It was actually quite amusing because it was right near the entrance to the staff room, and every time a teacher came in they would look at it and give a inquisitive “eeeeeeh?” This is much easier and funnier for people living in Japan to imagine. Here are some pictures to prove it!

Christmas Tree

As mentioned in the previous post, on Christmas-Eve Eve, Travis, Angie and Takarou went out to sing Christmas Carols. Sadly, it was somewhat rainy that evening, so not many people were passing by, however it involved singing, which automatically makes it awesome. Takarou, one of the least-shy Japanese people I’ve ever met, was belting it sometimes. I don’t know if he understood what he was singing, but he sure gave it all he had! Then on Christmas Eve proper, I attended a pleasant Christmas service at the Japanese church I attend. I didn’t understand the message, but my guess is it had something to do with a baby and a manger. We had flashlights that we shaped like candles and used those to light our hymnals enough to see them.

On Christmas Day, the staff let me into the kitchen for the afternoon where I made some banana bread and eggnog. Perhaps banana bread isn’t traditional Christmas food, but a) it’s something I know how to make without messing it up, and b) most Japanese people have never had it before and will never know that we eat it year-round. The banana bread was quite devoured by the staff and students after making it available…. however the eggnog mostly sit there getting warm and gross. Maybe bright yellow liquid with foam on top is scary for miso soup drinkers. But a few brave teachers, including the vice-principal, gave it a shot and gave an affirming “umai”, which is a manly way to say that it tastes good.

After that, I disassembled our English Club Christmas tree and brought it home to re-assemble it in my apartment, where it still stands and will likely continue to stand until winter is gone, since I seldom make any adjustments to decorations once they have been placed.

That night, I skyped into my immediate family’s Christmas morning, although for me it was Christmas night. Thankfully, I had received a package from my mother on time, so I was able to join in the present-ravaging fun… on my turn, of course. It was really neat to be able to join it, and will stand out for being so unusual. I had to keep asking my mother to turn the camera around so I could see what was going on. I felt like I was sitting there and had to get someone to move my head in the right direction or something. I also got to see Winston’s hilarious new trick, but I won’t spoil it by telling you what it is. Instead I will leave you in suspense. Mwahahahaaa!! (<– Dan O’Shea tribute)

The next day, I had a Christmas party at my apartment! I’d like to say that I was so motemote that everyone came, but because of a mixture of “already have plans” or “not in the country” excuses, only Travis and Angie were able to come. It was still a good time though! We mostly chatted, ate a lot and played board games, as seems to be the world-wide standard for parties that I’m involved in.

After that was English camp! The English camp takes place twice a year at the Aomori Christian Center. Because it is both for learning English and about God, it incorporates both Biblical lessons in (mostly) easy English… although I thought a lot of it was difficult! This year the theme was “Battling the Goths”, which focused mostly on temptation and fighting against it. As a result, we learned about Gothic literature, Gothic movies, our assumptions about what is and isn’t a threat, Gothic architectures, and modern goths.

The “goths” were originally the barbaric bunch who came down from the north and trampled over the Roman empire. The word “goth” since had a negative connotation, meaning “ruthless”, “barbaric” and “uncouth”. The French built a number of buildings in their own “French” style, but during the age of Renaissance, people felt like their architecture was much more artistic, and that the old French style was “Gothic” at best. It was intended to be an insult, but the name stuck. Gothic novels and movies usually take place in these kinds of scary buildings, and there are a number of key elements that characterize it: a damsel in distress, a huge, old building with tons of secrets, a dark and spooky atmosphere, etc. Modern goths don’t directly come from this, but rather compare their dark looks to that of Gothic times.

Anyway, there were 12 campers, 4 teachers, and others were taking care of logistics and over-whelming quantities of delicious food that I don’t often get the privilege to eat here in the East. There were 5 high school boys, 1 university-aged man, 2 high school girls, and 4 women. It was a fun and pretty relaxing camp, with a mixture of study time, eating time, movie time, game time, sermon time, discussion time, skit time, sleep time and do-whatever-you-want (ie. free) time. If you so desire to check out some pictures of the aforementioned camp, there are pictures on this website, maintained by John and Laurie Elliot, who are Christian missionaries who’ve lived in Aomori, Japan for 30 years. They are also the ones in charge of running these English Camps twice a year. I just recently came back from spending three pleasant and relaxing days at their house in Ajigasawa.

New Year’s was a similar story to my Christmas Party, except for the following differences:

  1. Fiona, a student from South Africa studying at Hirosaki University, joined in the fun.
  2. It was hosted by Travis and Angie, not me.
  3. It was New Year’s, not Christmas.

So, we stayed up late, CEPing (chatting, eating and playing board games) until midnight, at which time we went out towards one of the temples, just like the Japanese do. It was PACKED with people, which we were quite surprised by, and many younger people at that. We of course didn’t take part in any of the worship rituals, but it was very interesting to watch people clap their hands, pay money to ring a giant bell, and yell “Happy New Year” (in English) to us as we passed by. Here are some pictures:

New Year
NewYears3
NewYears4
NewYears5
New Year2

Prior to the people packed at the temples, it was strange that as I was talking through town on New Year’s, there were almost no people on the streets, and almost no commotion. Unlike Canadian New Year’s which have people out on the streets partying and such, it seems that most Japanese people are at home celebrating with their families by eating mochi. What is mochi? It’s a traditional treat eaten in Japan at New Year’s! It’s sort of a sticky, doughy treat that you wet and dip into various things, like soy flour or sugar. Here’s a picture I nabbed from another site:

mochi

While at church, I had a local tradition: eating mochi with melted cheese on it with a hot dog wrapped in seaweed and dipped in soy sauce. I thought it would be an incomprehensible mesh of flavours in my mouth, but it was actually super delicious. Of course, I’m not a picky eater.

And this almost brings me to the end of my fingers’ typing quota.

By the way, for those of you who’ve been wondering about that Japanese Language Proficiency Test that I was talking about back in the day, I took it on December 6th, and I feel it went okay. However, I won’t have the results until February or so, so I can’t really let you know anything until then.

Speaking of February (one of my favourite months, by the way), for those of you who don’t know, I will be heading back to the land of the rising tide (Nova Scotia) at the end of this month. That’s right! I’ll be somewhere between Halifax and Wolfville (inclusive) at all times between January 29th and February 14th (exclusive)! If you like me to any degree, please make sure that I get to see you while I’m there, assuming you are there as well. If you are not there, then you should consider a similar trip yourself during an overlapping period of time. Please do not deny me the privilege of your company!

Oh, and for those of you who have decided not to talk to me anymore because I don’t update my blog often enough, I hope that this long post makes it up to you. If not, come here, I’ll give you a hug.

Jean Of mArc

 

It’s Christmas Time-ish!


December 23, 2009

 

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas! This is my first time being away from home for Christmas, and it is quite different, but interesting. First of all, as in Canada, right now is the winter holidays at the schools. However, it is not to celebrate Christmas, but the New Year, which is a much bigger deal here. To demonstrate this point, even during these “holidays”, teachers are required to continue coming to school this week and to teach classes… but attendance by the students is optional. You would think that would mean a bunch of empty classes, but students here in Japan are quite a bit more diligent I guess, because they are still around the school. This, sadly though, means that I too have to work this week, even on Christmas Day. That part is kind of depressing, I must admit. I’m going to ask tomorrow (Christmas Eve) if I’m at least allowed in the kitchen or something so I can bake some snacks on Christmas Day, rather than just sit at my desk and weep or something.

That being said, there are a number of things that make it feel like Christmas here: there are some lights out around town. Not on anyone’s houses, but just along some trees and in shops, for example. Stores here are trying to push the idea of Christmas to make people buy more, of course. Sheesh. Also, it is snowing here…. it has been snowing pretty much every day for the past week. That has definitely made it feel more festive. Also, within the various church gatherings, there are special events made for Christmas, such as a Christmas Eve service tomorrow night, and carols for singing. Speaking of carols, I am going out carolling on Dotemachi, which is the more popular of streets for walking in this city, with some friends: Travis and Angie, a missionary couple who are teaching English at a Christian High School, Takarou, a Japanese friend who is very excitable, a good business and quite good at English, and others. It should be a good time, and I don’t know if anyone has ever sang carols outside at Christmas in Hirosaki before!!

On Christmas evening, I’ll be logging onto Skype to log in to Christmas Morning in Halifax with my family, so I can be at least a part of whatever is going on there. I just organized a Christmas Afternoon with Travis and Angie, and hopefully a few more of us who celebrate Christmas. It’ll be on Boxing Day, but this year, Christmas is 2 days long!! And next week, I’ll be going to help out with a Christian English Camp. I’m really looking forward to being able to spend some time getting to know some Japanese people during that time.

Anyway, as a message to my family and friends back home, as well as anyone else that I don’t even know who is reading this blog, I leave you with this heart-felt message:

Very Xmas

I guess that’s the Japanese version. Close enough?

 

I Thought the Tests Were Over…


December 2, 2009

 

Dear Everyone,

I’m sorry that I haven’t been keeping up on the posts. To be honest, I just plain forget about the blog a lot the time, or don’t think about it when there’s a good opportunity to do so. Anyway, there’s my apology, on with the post!

As the title of this post states, I have a test coming up this weekend all the way up north in Sapporo city. It is the JLPT test that I mentioned way back in fall on this very same website! Don’t believe me? Well check it out for yourself!

So, many people have been asking me if I feel ready for this test, and the honest answer is: I think so, but I’m not sure. I’ve been spending countless hours studying from various books for the past 4 months in preparation. I’ve learned over 2,000 words, numerous grammatical structures, about 1,000 kanji characters (or combinations thereof), and read countless examples.

However, there is a problem: in the practice tests that I’ve been going through, there are always a number of words that are NOT listed on the vocabulary list, or some new way of wording things that I’ve never seen before. So my thoughts are: if the material on the test only uses what I’m SUPPOSED to know (according to the standards), I should be fine. Not perfect, but fine. But if there are too many things on the test that they never even told me I needed to know, then things probably won’t turn out so well. There’s no way I can memorize the whole dictionary just in case I run into some words I’m not familiar with. And if you don’t know what a word is, sometimes it is possible to figure it out based on context, but sometimes you are just at a lost. So hopefully what I know will do. Also, my listening comprehension is kind of low, because the input is so much faster with a voice than it is on paper. Not only that, but you can’t go back and re-read something that was spoken. So, we’ll see how it goes.

The reason I chose the title for this post was because when I finished my last exam at Acadia, I was so excited, telling everyone that I just finished my “last test ever!!!” Guess that was a bit premature. At least this one has no barring on graduating from a school or anything.

It’s hard to believe how long I’ve been here: when I came it was hot and humid, and the students’ summer vacation was just starting! Now it is December and we are beginning to see winter. I’m already done 1/3 of my first year here! It went pretty fast!

In December, I am used to seeing Christmas decorations all around, stores get more packed, and Christmas music is always playing anywhere in public. I was not expecting this in Japan, since Christmas is not really important to most Japanese people; New Year’s is the big deal here. However, just as in Canada, there are Christmas decorations everywhere here, and Christmas music is always playing… but the stores aren’t any more packed than usual. I was told that in Japan, Christmas Day is a day where young couples celebrate their love by going to Kentucky Fried Chicken. No, I didn’t make that up.

On the topic, yesterday was my first full-day school visit to another school besides the one I teach at. This is a school for disabled children. Because of that nature, each child has their own care-taker, and classes are only between 2 to 8 students. It was tons of fun: we played games with them, and sang songs with them. This DOES have to do with Christmas, because we sang “Silent Night”, and they got me to dress up like Santa Clause, complete with beard and red clothes, and come in to give gifts to the students. The pants were way too wide for me, so I had to fight to keep them on. After I left and came back as my regular self again, the kids were telling me that I had just missed seeing Santa!

Anyhow, that’s all I feel like writing right now, so that’s all I’m going to write! But some day soon, I will put up a more amusing post… as soon as this darn test is over with!

 

About Various Things


November 5, 2009

 

So, usually I like to think of a topic to talk about, and then write about that, but I can’t seem to think of one solid topic to talk about for now, so I’ll just talk about random things that are going on over here in Anime-land. I guess talking about random things is what most people use their blogs for anyway, so forgive my normality please.

First of all, last week my Dell laptop broke down. On doing some research, I believe that the video card fried, and after examining things a bit more, I think I figured out why:

1) I have a table that has a heater under it (called a “Kotatsu”. Very benri indeed)
2) In order to keep the heat in, I put a light blanket around the table.
3) There is a certain video format that puts a certain amount of strain on the video card. Nothing it can’t handle, of course, but it still makes it warm.
4) My poor Dell was playing said-kind videos, on said table, which was heating up because of the heater that was under it, and the said video card’s fan was smothered by said blanket.

Yes, I know, I totally brought that upon myself, but I didn’t really think about it at the time. Hindsight is 20/20, but I wear glasses. Maybe if I got laser eye surgery??

Anyway, the thing is warranted, but I have to get it down in Canada, so that’s not going to happen any time soon. And because my body’s proper functioning seems to depend on having a computer to use (it’s not my fault: computers have nicotine in them) I went out looking for its successor. Fortunately, I found one very quickly: a second-hand Sony Vaio VGN-NS50B from 2008, which was as good (if not better) than the computer I already had. And it was only 57,000 yen, which at first glance may seem like it’s more than my student loans, but if you consider that that is about 600$ Canadian, you’ll notice that I got quite a deal. The only downsides with it are:

1. The keyboard layout is in Japanese, but is mostly the same as what I’m used to with a few minor changes. For example, @ is its own key, and quotation marks are Shift+2, etc.

2. Windows Vista comes with the thing. If that’s not bad enough, it’s in Japanese, so I can’t even read all the error messages that pop up every 5 minutes. It seems like they made it suck in every language, so no one feels discriminated against. Of course, this is almost moot because I mostly use Ubuntu anyway, and only go into Windows for Skype, since my webcam’s video drivers aren’t released for Ubuntu.

3. The keys on the right-hand side, such as the Enter key and arrow keys, are kind of sticky. They work fine, but I don’t like pushing them. Oh well.

As you can see, I got a pretty good deal. I would go tell the store I bought it from that they got ripped off, but I don’t know what “ripped off” is in Japanese, and even if I did tell them, they would probably just say “Yes sir! You are right, most honourable customer! Thank you for allowing us the privilege of being ripped off-ni narimasu!” This will ring true to anyone who has lived here, I’m sure.

Anyway, I guess there was really no point in telling you about all that, since it doesn’t at all affect you in anyway. So thanks for letting me waste your most honourable time.

More importantly, thanks to everyone who sent me replies regarding my previous post about English Club! Reading over them is both helpful and amusing. Helpful because of the encouragement and ideas, but also amusing because of the conflicting suggests (ex allowing versus not allowing Japanese). Even among the English teachers here this is a debate, but I don’t want to wage any wars so I’ll just think about the options and try and go with whatever works best.

This past week we did indeed end up baking cookies with the English Club. They wanted to make a lot of cookies, so we doubled the batch, which of course means that they’ll take longer to bake as well. It ended up taking a total of 2 and a half hours, but part of that was my fault because although I thought I had everything in place, it turned out we needed more eggs. So we had to walk to the store to get some and then come back. And then I looked in the fridge and found that I HAD indeed bought enough eggs in the first place, but they were in a bag so I missed them the first time. Sometimes I’m so absent-minded I shock myself.

But overall they seemed to enjoy it in their own quiet way. At least being quiet in a big area while doing something is less awkward than sitting in a small area with nothing to do. I’m beginning to think that the English-only rule doesn’t have much to do with why they aren’t speaking much, I think they might just be quiet people by nature.

Anyway, we ended up with lots of cookies, and they all gave me quite a few from their batches! I was just eating one. Yum! I’d offer you one, but I’m not really sure who you are, since I’m not made aware that you’re reading this, and the whole being on the other side of the world thing makes it difficult… except for Steve: if you come to Hirosaki before I eat all the cookies, I promise I’ll give you one.

Speaking of dear ol’ Hirosaki (and indeed the place is old), it’s definitely getting colder here, which means new considerations and discoveries. In fact, there was a light snowfall on Monday, and a bigger snowfall on Tuesday, believe it or not. Pikurishita! (Literally “I was surprised!” but that’s not as catchy). To be honest, this was the first time that I’ve ever seen snow outside of Canada before: every time that I had gone travelling, it was always to warm places or during the summer. When I saw it, I almost felt like Hirosaki was warped to Canada or something, since I just have such a strong association between Canada and snow. Maybe it’ll make me feel more at home.

I really did not bring anything to prepare for winter though, aside from long johns and some fleece pants. I guess I’ll have to do some shopping for some warm things, which is good because then I can get some of the locals to show me some good but cheap articles to buy.

The trickier part will be heating up my apartment. Central heating is coming into some parts of Japan, I’ve heard, but for the most part kerosene heating is still the in thing. Everything is heated with gas: the stove, the hot water at the tap, the hot water for the shower/bath. Thankfully I have a good heater in my apartment, which burns fuel and heats up the main room. I just keep the sliding doors closed and it doesn’t take too much to heat the place up. And, thankfully there’s a pipe from it leading outside, so I don’t get carbon monoxide poisoning. The problem is the hallway/washroom area; it’s already quite cold, and it’s not even December yet. I have done a few things to help get it down a bit: used bubble wrap on the windows, put a rug down in front of the toilet so my feet aren’t as cold. But the main problem is that the shower room is the coldest room of all! I’m sure that you can imagine why that’s unpleasant. Even with the hot water running, the steam is not enough to make the room pleasantly warm. So if anyone has any suggestions about different techniques on how to cheaply insulate my apartment a bit, please let me know.

Anyway, that’s it for now. I would like to say that you are a much wiser person after having read this post, but I’m pretty sure you’re now about as wise as when you started reading. To make up for it, here’s a quote from CS Lewis: “He who believes himself not to be proud, is very proud indeed.”

Something like that.

 

The Balance of Teaching English: Advice Welcome!


October 27, 2009

 

In recent posts, I have been noticing a dwindling amount of comments after a post. The last one, about food, hit an all-time low of 0 comments. As a result, I must admit that I am much less motivated to write a new post. However this time, I am going to be asking for advice, so I hope you, dear reader, will respond!

As you know- or if you don’t know I’m about to tell you- my current employment is as an English teacher, and I am very much enjoying this experience. It has its ups and downs, as most things do, but overall it is very rewarding to try and share my language with the students to help improve their foreign communication skills. For my classes, the situation is always different: some teachers prefer to do most of the teaching, asking only for help with pronunciation and to read scripts, while others would like me to come up with activities for the students to do, while others want me to explain concepts in English, which is then translated into Japanese.

The problem with the classroom environment, though, is that there are too many students all at once, so getting them to improve their speaking skills is very difficult. Whenever I get them to speak out-loud to me in class, they are understandably very nervous because of the pressures not only of speaking with peers listening, but of speaking to a native. Whenever I get them to speak to each other, it’s very hard to monitor their pronunciation, grammar, understanding of usage, etc. Also, they could just be speaking in Japanese and I’d never know. Also, no matter how the class is run, the material must either come directly from or be closely related to the textbook material. This limits the possibilities.

However, on Mondays after school, I run an English Club, and I consider it to be such a unique opportunity for the students: it allows them to get a chance to really try to improve their English skills because there are only a few of them, so they can try talking with each other and with me in English. Therefore, when I first started the English Club, I was quite insistent that we try only speaking English with each other. Also, I tried teaching them some common English sayings that are not textbooky: for example “What’s up?” instead of “How are you?” We also did some self-introductions.

I handed out a survey about what they wanted from English club, and the biggest response was that they wanted to watch English movies. Fair enough. However, I also was getting the impression that they were having a very hard time with the English-only instruction that was being given. I tried going slowly and speaking clearly, but I could tell by the puzzled looks that not everything was being understood. When I asked if they understood everything, I just got blank stares, which I took to mean “no”.

So the next week, we were going to watch an English movie. I brought 3 to choose from, and we ended up going with Stardust. In order to help them out, I thought it would be nice to put the English subtitles on too, so in case they missed what was being said, they could at least read it. However, they seemed quite shocked that I wasn’t setting the subtitles to Japanese. However, having watched Japanese shows with English subtitles and barely learning anything from it, I know from experience that if you can see subtitles in your own language, you can more or less ignore the language it is being spoken in. You might learn certain words when said in isolation (for example, if they only say “Let’s go!” and the subtitles says “いくぞ!” then it’ll be pretty clear what it is). However, as a whole, it’s very hard to actually learn a language that way.

Because this was so difficult, I paused the movie and tried to explain things at very regular intervals. However, I think that even a slow, paced explanation in English may have been too much. After the movie, I asked if they would prefer to try and continue working with this method, or just put on Japanese subtitles. The latter got the favour.

So, the next time we had English club, I’m sad to say that the number of attendees was much lower. I guess they found it too difficult. I brought some episodes of Full House (which my predecessor recommend that they liked) for them to watch. It was kind of funny watching them again because I used to watch it as a kid and it was strange to see it all over again. However this time there were Japanese subtitles. They had no problem understanding what was going on, of course, but I don’t feel like it was useful in improving English understanding.

I decided that the least I could do was make up a list of expressions that I heard in the show and give an explanation of how to use them. So I gave that to them the next week, and then we played some card games. However, they were very quiet games, because most of my attempts to initiate some English conversations were met with mostly silence, and there was very little chatting going on between them.

This past week, I tried something different: I booked the kitchen so that we could try baking some chocolate chip cookies together. I brought all the ingredients, but sadly, all the members had to back out that day, so we will be trying that again next week.

Anyway, I have to admit I’m at a bit of a loss. I feel like I know what to do for classes and such, but I can’t seem to find the balance between actually helping them learn some English while not making it too difficult for them.

I was talking to some other ALTs, and they have faced similar situations as well. One ALT, named Mark, is planning on sending me some ideas that I can try out. However, I want your advice too! What do you think I should do about this? Should I just choose non-language-related things, which end up being mostly silent, or should they be English-related, but then it’s very difficult and people don’t want to come? I don’t know.

And if your advice is to try and find out what THEY want, I’ve already tried that… but I’m not really getting much response about it. In general I find that if you suggest an idea, students are willing to go with it, but it’s because you are the teacher and they are the students and they think they should do what it is the teacher wants. How they actually feel about it is a bit of a mystery, even when you ask about it…

Anyway, this is by no means a complaint, but rather a request for some advice about how to find the balance between actually learning some useful English, while not making things too difficult. Many ALTs say that English Club should be relaxing and fun, but I find that even the “fun” things aren’t getting an enthusiastic response. So, I’m a at a bit of a loss. What do you think?

 

Japanese Food


October 13, 2009

 

One of the most interesting and unique things about visiting different countries is the particular palette of food that is offered there. This includes what you find in the grocery store, what you get from chain restaurants, and what you get when you go to a locally-owned restaurant run by a man who thought it was a good idea. It’s also a good topic to discuss, because everyone likes food. Whenever you don’t know what to talk about, food is a good choice. Even if you’re not talking about, the suggestion of going out to eat is something most people think is a good idea.

So, I thought that it would be interesting for everyone else to read about some observations I have had regarding the food here in Japan.

First of all, I’m pretty sure I know what you’re thinking: Japan? Food? I’m already an expert. You eat sushi day in and day out! Well, the short answer to that is: no, actually, I don’t. In fact, in Hirosaki there aren’t that many sushi places to choose from (but thankfully, the ones that ARE here are quite good). In fact, sushi is NOT an everyday thing to eat here. Yes, you can get it pre-packaged freshly every day at any number of combini (convenience stores) or suupaa (grocery stores). But then again, in Canada, you can get pre-packaged cut-up fruit trays… but how many of those do most of us eat in a normal day? The truth is, sushi is treated here more-or-less the same way that it is treated back home: something that you say “Hey I know! Let’s go out and eat some sushi!” And everyone says “Yeah! I haven’t had that in a while!” Of course, they don’t say “Ewwwww raw fish!!” because it’s delicious… and you should like it too.

On the topic of sushi, the sushi here is (as expected) very good. However, I was surprised to find out that it tastes very similar to the kinds I’ve had back in Canada. I figured since “Chinese food” in Canada is kind of a joke compared to the real thing, that sushi would be the same, but it’s actually quite similar. Some choices are the same: tuna, salmon, egg… but of course, many of the choices are quite different: back in Canada you could get some with cream cheese in it, or (my favourite) the dragon roll with has tempura bits in it and is wrapped in avocado (I’ve been told you can get that here, but I have yet to see it). Here in Japan, most sushi concentrates on one main ingredient: seafood on top. You can get fish, like at home, but also squid, eel, octopus, shrimp, scallop, etc. Of course, most of it is raw, and most of it I can’t eat due to allergies, so I just stick with the safe bets.

Sushi here is served via conveyor belt. The chefs put sushi on a plate and place it on the belt, and it goes around to tempt the customers. If you want it, just take it off the belt and enjoy. At the end, they count your plates and you pay accordingly. I’ve seen this in Calgary, but it’s not as common in Canada overall. In some restaurants, the sushi chefs are in the middle of the circular belt, chopping up fish, shaping the sushi, using wasabi to stick them together, etc. If you want a particular order of sushi, just yell out the name of it and it’ll be coming right up!

So what do the Japanese people eat on a normal day? Well, like back home, there is a lot of variety: you’ve got Japanese food (duh), Chinese food, Korean-style BBQ, Italian food, “American” food (ie. McDonald’s), Indian food (the real deal!), etc. But on a regular day, I often see these 2 things:

A) Bento – a boxed lunch. These are cheap, are all the same, and are changed everyday. The cafeteria at our school allows staff to order them before 11:00, and at 11:30 comes to the office to deliver them to whomever ordered them. The cost is 450 yen (or about 5.00$ Canadian). These usually have a good mixture: something salty, something meaty, rice, a little dessert, a little garnish, and some soup.

B) Curry Rice – This is a very common dish here, except that the Japanese curry is very different from Indian curry: it is darker, sweeter, less spicy, and thicker than Indian curry. Honestly, I like both Indian curry and Japanese curry a lot, but I can’t decide which I like better: they are so different that they are hard to directly compare. So I guess it depends more on my taste-buds for each day.

But, by far, the dish that I see people eating the most up here in Hirosaki, and the dish I eat the most:

RAMEN!!

Ramen is what we back home would call “noodles”, except that the dish tastes are so different it’s almost an insult to call what we eat in Canada ramen. The ramen they serve here is delicious! First of all, the sauce is often home-made, not from a packet. The most common flavours are miso, salt and shouyu (soya). Second, they usually have a number of different spices, vegetables and other garnishs in them. Finally, they usually have some sort of substantial extra in them, such as slices of cooked pork, slices of egg, etc. It is served piping hot, and is intended to be slurped down as loudly and quickly as possible. Of course, I don’t like to rush my eating, so I take my time with it.

My favourite ramen shop is actually right at the corner of the school I work at. It’s called “Mendorak”, and is run by a man and a woman (perhaps married). Neither of them speak any English (or if they do, they are avoiding it well), which is good because it gives me a chance to practice my Japanese. The woman is very nice, and finds everything I do funny (probably because I’m a foreigner and am probably doing everything wrong), and the man is pretty quiet but always busy preparing dishes for people. They usually know what I’m going to order, because I usually order the same thing: Saishoku to Nyuu Tantanmen. It’s absolutely delicious. Roughly translated, it is “Vegtables and Milk Spicy Ramen”. I’d never thought of having something that was both spicy and creamy before, but it’s an amazing blend, and it is the restaurant’s specality: they invented it. It comes loaded with carrots, sprouts, celery and some other stuff that I don’t recognize. Here is a photo of the delicious dish itself:

Oishii!

One of the best things about this particular restaurant is that the longer you stay there, the more side-dishes that you get for no extra charge! The woman will just had you some pickles, or some pumpkin, or whatever else she decides to give you! And she’s discovered I really like iced coffee with milk in it, and since then she’s almost always given me a free glass of it at every visit.

Speaking of service, Canada has a lot to learn from the Japanese: the service you get in Japan is far beyond what I’m used to. Of course, it’s a bit of a show: they don’t ACTUALLY think the world of you just because you’re a customer, but still, it is nice to be treated like someone who is paying money to them to run the business.

The most noticable example of this is if you go to a fast food kind of place. In Canada, this is considered kind of a low-end beginner’s job: you don’t expect much of the service, and the service doesn’t expect much of you. However in Japan, working for fast food is actually kind of prestigious because you are working for a big company, and that’s a bigger deal here. To give you an idea of the difference, let’s compare a Canadian fast-food donut shop (ie, Tim Horton’s) to a Japanese fast-food donut shop (ie. Mister Donut):

Tim Horton’s: You enter, wait in line, and get up to the counter. The staff member at that point finally notices you exist, and says “Can I take your order?” to which you list everything off. You drop a penny on the ground, and you say “oops” and pick it up. They tell you how much your order is, you pay it, they give you the food, and you are forgotten about.

Mister Donut: As you enter, you are welcomed from behind the counter to the shop by the staff. You get in line, which is usually short, and when it’s your turn, you begin listing off what you would like. You drop a yen (ie penny) on the ground, and the employee runs from BEHIND the counter to your side, picks it up, gives it back to you, and then runs back behind the counter again. You only want a coffee and a donut. They tell you how much it is, you give the money, and they ask you to sit down. Within a little bit, they come to wherever you’re sitting and bring you your donut on a plate with your coffee, and a glass of ice water on a tray. As you’re enjoying your food, your coffee starts to get low, but loe and behold there is already a staff member behind you, ready to refill your cup. You simply hand it over, they refill it, and you continue to enjoy your stay.

This is EXACTY what happened to me when I visited Mister Donut once. There are disadvantages to this: the staff welcoming every single guest is quiet loud and over-whelming, and in general the food is more expensive (126 yen for a donut), but you can see the difference! Of course, this will not be the same EVERYWHERE you go, but in general the service is of a much higher standard here.

Finally, getting back to food, another commonly-served dish here is Okonomiyaki. Basically “however you like it”. It’s probably the Japanese equivalent of a pizza, since it has a flat, circular base and is served a number of different ways. The base is sort of like a pancake, made with soy wheat, cabbage and yam, held together by an egg. It is then topped by special sauces, which I can’t remember the name of, and you often put fish flakes on it (though, that makes them dance a bit, which turns some people off). The beauty of this is that you can go to restaurants which let you fry them yourself, so you get a bowl with the ingredients and you can cook a number of small, fresh ones, and eat them all differently. Also, Japan seems to be a big believer in giving you a cup and letting you go pour your own drinks from a selection, and you can do it endlessly until you leave.

Well, this certainly isn’t an exhaustive list of the foods and services available in Japan, but it is an introduction! I’ll probably have to talk more about it in another post, but for now this should do juuuuust fine. I hope you’re feeling hungry now! Go eat!

Gochisosama Deshita!

 

Return to Tokyo


September 30, 2009

 

When I first arrived in Japan, waaaaay back in July ‘09, we were taken to Shinjuku, Tokyo, to the Keio Plaza hotel. I wrote about it a bit and posted pictures, but I really didn’t get a chance to look around or explore Tokyo on my own time.

Last week, the Japanese had 3 consecutive holidays in a row for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Naturally, I took 2 days of paid leave on Thursday and Friday to make a whole week of it. And then, on Saturday, headed down to Tokyo to meet up with Samuel. Samuel is another JET who came with the Montreal group; we met at the orientation there and have become travel buddies. He lives quite far from me, so this is really our only chance to hang out together.

Anyhow, here are some of the cool things that happened:

1. On of the first things we did was head to Shinbuya. If you haven’t heard of it, it is the home of a lot of shopping and such, but more interestingly, a TON of people everyday. In fact, it is the home of the world’s busiest intersection. You wouldn’t really tell when the lights are red and there’s only cars on the streets… they alternate so that only cars or people go at the same time here… but as soon as those lights turn green, whoooooooooa!!!! PEOPLE!!! Here’s a picture after the light has turned green:

The Busiest Intersection in the World
The Busiest Intersection in the World

As you can see, it was kind of busy there. And while being there, we saw a glasses shop that was closing for a bit for renovations, and they were selling glasses for really cheap (about $50 with perscription). I happen to really like glasses, and found a really neat blue pair, and Samuel found the same pair except silver and got them. It’s kind of cool because now we’re going around with really cool glasses. Okay I’m lame. Whatever.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I really like how much people use bikes to get around here in Japan, even in Tokyo. Here’s a picture of a bike rack in a busy area:

BIKES!!!

On our first night, we decided to be adventurous and stay at a capsule hotel. For those of you who haven’t heard of them, Tokyo is kind of famous for having many capsule hotels, so-named because you actually sleep in capsules that are all laid out on either side of a wall. They are for men only, since they are usually occupied by businessmen who need a place to stay while on a business trip. When I read about them, I thought that it was probably pretty crampt and not very nice, considering that it only costs about 28$ a night to stay in one. However, for the sake of adventure, we went and stayed in one, and were pleasantly surprised! First of all, when you arrive, you just pay by the night: they give you a key, a robe and a towel. You can go into a locker room to lock up your stuff and change into the robe, and the towel is for the shower/hot tub/sauna area. They also had a really nice lounge area with lots of chairs all pointed towards a TV that no one seemed to be watching, because they had walls and walls of manga (Japanese graphic novels) that you could take out and read. But because of my limited Japanese-reading ability, it was really no good for me. But still, the chairs were nice and they had free computers with internet to use. But the first night we were quite tired so we just headed up to the beds. They weren’t nearly as crampt as I had expected them to be: there was plenty of room to stretch out, and enough height to sit up. In fact, it was pretty much just like bunk-beds, except with walls around them. And you had a little roll-down screen that you could pull to block the light and for privacy. Here are some pictures of Samuel and I at the hotel!

Capsule Hotel!
Capsule Hotel 4

Unfourtunatly, on the first night of being there, I ate something that didn’t settle with me… I don’t know if it was food poisoning, or there was some shellfish stock in the soup I had or what, but I started to bring it all back up. And then I went to sleep for a while, but then I woke back up to bring some more of it up, over and over for a few hours. After that, I was more feeble than I’d ever been before: I could barely move, and when I did it took all my strength. They only thing I was good at was sleeping… so Sunday was completely out for me.

After I recovered, we went to several other districts in the area. These included:

Akihabara, the electronics district, selling pretty much any kind of electronic, video game, anime, manga, or whatever else your geeky little heart can think of. Everywhere you went, there were cheap gadgets, flashing lights, old and new games, and girls dressed up like anime characters trying to get you to come into the shops and buy stuff. Don’t believe me?

Akihabara
Akihabara 2
Video Games
Cosplay

When going around the city during the day, you never know what you’ll see! Take for example this giant hamburger that I ate:

Biggest Hamburger in the World!

If you think that’s big, you should have seen the fries! Oh, and after you are done eating, eventually you have to use the pooper… or in Samuel’s case, buy a toy at a vending machine that ends up being an Asian-style squat toilet with a “present” already in it!

Samuel and Poop

And everywhere you go, there’s interesting buildings to see, such as the following ones from Asakusa:

Asakusa 1
Asakusa ２
Asakusa ２
Asakusa ２

And there were others everywhere we went, like this one in Tsukigi. However, it doesn’t look Asian, and we have no idea what it actually is. Somehow that doesn’t bother us though.

An Interesting Building

When I saw the following, I just had to take a picture; it reminded me of a certain place from a certain university in a certain small town in a certain small province in a certain second-biggest country in a certain world in a certain galaxy of a certain Universe:

Tully's Coffee

And even in the subway stations, there were amusing things to look at, like the following sign:

Do It at the Beach

Truth be told, I didn’t know you weren’t allowed to swing your arms around at a subway station… at least, I think that’s what they are doing, I can’t really tell. At least now I know that I’m supposed to go to a beach first.

Oh, and by the way, we met up with Spider-Man!!! Although it looks like Tokyo’s low crime-rate is making him bored or something, because he’s starting to take up part-time jobs:

Spider-Man!!!

Of course, being a city, it looks coolest at night with all the lights lit up!

Night Time!

The following picture was a wall that we saw at night that was completely lit up, and displaying numbers around a corner in Roppongi.

Numbers....

The numbers changed often, but not in any noticable order; they weren’t increasing or decreasing, so we’re not really sure what the point of them was… probably none, but they looked cool!!

Later after that, we went to Yokohama, a city in the greater Tokyo area, but considered a different city. It was a pretty huge minato-shi (harbour city) with one of the biggest China towns in the world. Of course, if you really want a China town, you best go to China. Here is the China town:

China Town in Yokohama

And here’s what the harbour looks like at nighttime:

Yokohama Lights

Pretty cool, eh?

Well, I know this wasn’t my best writing ever, but I just wanted an excuse to post a bunch of pictures since I found a newer, easier way to do it and wanted to take advantage of it. Thanks for humouring me.

 
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