D'S HYPE

Advice for Teaching Adults EFL

2011-12-07T09:48:00.001+09:00

When I first started private teaching, I did not prepare for lessons beforehand. I simply showed up to the lesson to "shoot the shit" with my students. We talked about current events, every day life and experiences. While discussing, I taught them new expressions, corrected their grammar (to improve clarity) and helped with pronunciation. This was in 2006–7.

I recently started teaching privately again. I think my current lessons are better than the "general conversation" ones I used to do. Now my lessons seem to pass by smoothly and the students seem more satisfied. Though it may seem like common sense to veteran private EFL teachers, here is some advice for teaching adults.

Get Students' Expectations
Are they studying for TOEIC? For work? For school? For travel? As a hobby? If you know your students' goals, it's a lot easier to guide them in the right direction. Be explicit about what you will/won't teach. In my experience, students who are studying English as a hobby can be harder to teach, because they are not as motivated as students with a specific purpose. Though it's not always like this, it's something to consider. A motivated student is a pleasure (and easy) to teach.

Make Contract
Though not necessary, this can simplify the details, e.g., payment, time, place, cancellation deadlines. I prefer direct deposit to my bank account by the end of the month. No penalty for cancellation if lesson is cancelled a day in advance. Clarity is something both the teacher and the students can benefit from.

Visuals for Weaker Students
Bring props, e.g., magazines with lots of pictures, and practice describing what you see. Level up and discuss more abstract topics.

Select & Assign Materials in Advance
Get your students' email addresses! Assign homework and link them to articles and essays this way. I always try to assign at least one reading task for homework then follow up the next lesson. For reading assignments I very rarely use hardcopies, i.e., handouts. Email is the way to go.

Diversify Tasks
A good combination of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Only conversation is not good. I've had positive feedback from students with writing assignments. This is the best way to teach grammar and improve your students' sentence structure. Reading assignments for homework that you discuss the following lesson work well, too. The next lesson you can check their general comprehension then do Q & A, written or orally.

Establish Routine
Having a routine gives structure to your lessons, and a familiar environment can facilitate the learning process for your students. Proceeding randomly is not the way to go. With most of my students, I always show them my lesson plan before we start. My 60 min. lesson plan usually looks something like this:

warm up (catch up & small talk) [5 min.]
quickly review last week's main points (if necessary) [1–2 min.]
check writing assignment [10 min.]
review, Q & A and discussion of reading assignment [15 min.]
new topic; teach and practice new language [20 min.]
assign and explain homework [5 min.]
wrap up [5 min.]

I hope this helps you in your teaching. If you have any advice you'd like to add for teaching EFL to adults, please comment.

Clever, Diligent, Stupid and Lazy

2011-11-25T12:30:00.001+09:00

This is Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord's special classification scheme for his men:

I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined. Some are clever and diligent -- their place is the General Staff. The next lot are stupid and lazy -- they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent -- he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.

Interacting with large groups of people daily enables me to see not only the importance of good, i.e., intelligent, leadership, but also the danger of stupidity.

Beware of those who are stupid, ambitious and seeking positions of power.

Change to Blogger Dynamic Views

2011-10-12T10:16:00.000+09:00

A few weeks ago Blogger released Dynamic Views to improve our blog viewing experience. Though there is currently little customization, Blogger is working on it.

With respect to customization, we realize that many bloggers have invested lots of time and effort to personalize their blog with custom background, fonts, etc. We plan to enable similar customization of Dynamic View templates via the Template Designer in the very near future. Source

My main reason for switching was the simplistic, clean look of the Dynamic Views. My blog also seems to load more quickly than my original (customized) theme.

Comparing Canada & Japan 2

2011-09-13T09:32:00.000+09:00

Before I receive any complaints or criticism for this post, allow me to state that I will only be discussing things that I felt negatively about while in Canada. Though there are ways that I wish Japan was more similar to Canada, this will not be that post. Also, I included Canada in the title, but I will mainly be referring to/around Toronto, ON and Campbellton, NB (the places I spent most of my time in July–August). When I speak of Japan, I'm mainly referring to/around major cities like Ōsaka, Nagoya and Tōkyō.

Raise the anchors!

High Sense of Entitlement
Some people really think they deserve the best of everything, though they don't put in any work, effort nor show respect to others.

Poor Etiquette
I've seen some really gross table manners. I've always been disgusted by people who lick their fingers during meals. Leaning with your elbows on the table? Don't like it. Keeping your free hand under the table while you eat? Ditto. Though many "westerners" cringe at the idea of Japanese slurping noodles, it's not as bad as you think. It's okay to make some noise when you eat noodles, but you don't have to imitate a Hoover shop vac.

Unprofessional Service Industry Workers
I have problems with tipping. I really believe tipping should be included in the price, and good service should be expected. In some stores, on several occasions, I had to interrupt staff from their Skype video chat and phone calls with friends to be served. "When you're done updating your Facebook status, could you find me a size 9 in this shoe, please?" Though some like this, I don't like it when store clerks follow me around like a puppy.

Goods & Food Expensive; Quality Lacking
Food can be very expensive in Japan. Some restaurants will have meals that range well above ¥10,000 (approx. $100 CDN), but in my experience, the quality and service is always great (only to be disturbed by morons smoking near my table). But, you can also get very decent, appealing and healthy meals for under ¥1,000 (approx. $10 CDN) with no need of tipping; ¥500 is not rare either. In Canada it's more expensive. And just because you're paying more does not mean the quality is there. The Japanese are passionate about food; (most) Canadians cannot match this passion.

(I ate out at quite a few places while in Canada. My best experience was at a classy sports bar in downtown Toronto. It was my friend's treat; free food always tastes better!)

I also talked to a few Europeans who immigrated to Canada. Several complained about the quality of tools. "Even if you pay a lot, most of the tools break or don't work properly. I never had this problem back in Scotland." I've felt this way about a lot of things, too. A lot of things seem to be designed cheaply without intention of long-term use.

Younger Generations Represent Bigger Portion of Population
(Not negative but just a random observation.) In Canada you can see many adolescents and young adults roaming the streets and if you go to a park you can find hoards of kids. Japan is not quite so, but it may be due to the busy schedules that these demographics have. Also, Japanese seniors are usually healthy and have free-time (unlike younger demographics) so maybe that's why it's not rare to be surrounded by people over 60 on a train or in a restaurant. (Or maybe I just don't go to the "hip" places.)

Other Randoms

Though English and French are the official languages, in bigger cities like Toronto and Montreal, you may have trouble communicating in either.
The price of many goods has risen greatly in the last ten years, though not so much in Japan. Shopping in Canada used to be cheaper.
Many girls are wonderfully beautiful until they hit a certain age, sometime in their twenties, when their looks take a turn for the worst. (I blame diet.)
Though the average girl is not as attractive as the average in Japan, those who are attractive are knockouts!
People are generally content and like to chat with strangers. (I must appear aloof.)
Many love to debate even on topics they are completely ignorant to.

###

It's interesting to note the differences between this post and a similar post I did at the end of 2006, Comparing Canada & Japan.

My Experience Learning Japanese: The Road to Fluency (3/3)

2011-08-16T11:23:00.210+09:00

Yōkoso Japan
Though you may see English everywhere in Japan, it's a good idea to master some basics before you arrive. Trust me! Learn how to understand basic answers, too. Asking a question with no chance of understanding the answer is stupid.

Know the Basics
I arrived in Japan with a group of NOVA hires in Ōsaka. When I went to a restaurant with my group, I was the only one that could order in Japanese. My experience was completely different from the others because I could actually converse with the waitress. A simple "I just got to Japan yesterday" and "I'm from Canada" got me into a friendly conversation with the waitress. For the other NOVAs, they pointed and said "kudasai." It ended there for them.

NOVA

It was a job... Its biggest merit was networking. I got to meet English speakers from around the world, and of course getting to know my customers, native Japanese (toddlers to senior citizens) was a great cultural experience, too. The biggest problem with this job though, was that Japanese was strictly prohibited, and teaching beginner level English for eight hours a day was detrimental to my English. This was not what I was hoping for.

JLPT N3
I did not study for it, but I did take a few mock tests before the test date. I was confident to pass, but just in case, I took the day before off to get as much sleep as I could. After a year of living in Japan, I easily passed the third level of the JLPT, now N3, in winter 2006. My studying and lessons in Canada were the reason I passed. Study hard before you get here and everything will go smoother for you than the newbies.

Escape the Bubble
I had applied and was hired for a position as an Assistant English Teacher (AET) through a dispatch company about six months before NOVA declared bankruptcy. I had resigned just in the nick of time, and with my new job, some Japanese was necessary.

Even though I was an English teacher, once I started working in a Japanese public high school, students began talking to me in Japanese all the time. I responded in English, but hearing the Japanese was much better than always conversing in beginner English at my previous workplace. I was learning slang that Japanese my age (mid 20s) didn't know.

But on a completely different Japanese level, the morning meetings (uchi awase) in the staff room were probably the most motivating for me. With the students, I could usually understand about 75% of what they were saying; but in the staff room, I could understand no more than 25%. I really wanted to know what they were talking about. I listened intently every day, but didn't notice any progress in my ability.

After eight months at this school, I took a position at a middle school in a village outside of Nagoya. Here, I was told, Japanese will be necessary. And it certainly was. At this school, not only did I have to do various speeches in Japanese to the students and staff, but I also "became" responsible for translation and interpretation of different school events. To this day, I engage in conversation daily with Japanese staff.

JLPT N2
The N3 in winter 2006 had an "ethnically" diverse group of people taking the test. The N2, which I took in winter 2008, was mainly speakers of Mandarin-Chinese at my test site. I spoke (in Japanese) with a Chinese national after the test. His listening and speaking ability was not on par with mine (uncoincidently, he found the listening section of the test very difficult). But, I was envious when he said the reading section of the test was too easy. Though I was confident I passed, I knew I wouldn't be in the top percentile because I had skimmed through the reading section, guessing the answers for many questions without reading the passages. Months later I received the test results—I passed with a 261/400 (65%).

Japanese Girlfriend
Though many people say having a "partner" in your target language is the best way to learn, this is completely false with Japanese. Japanese men and women talk very differently, so only homosexuals will benefit here. As a heterosexual male, learning masculine Japanese to better appeal to not only women, but also to the people of Japan in general, was a motivator for me. I enjoy being able to confidently converse in Japanese with my girlfriend in public. However, for me, Japanese male influences were much more significant than female (for learning Japanese).

Don't expect your partner to teach you Japanese. You should be learning by trying to immerse into society.

TV
Watch a lot. Often. It's better than textbooks and classes combined. Dramas, variety, NHK and realistic TV shows are better than most anime (to teach you real Japanese).

Being Japanese
Like I said earlier, I did not think I was improving my Japanese. But after meeting some old (Japanese) friends that I didn't see for a few years, they were in shock. They explained, "Before your Japanese was good, but now your Japanese is Japanese!" Though I knew they were just being generous with compliments, I really felt that our range of conversation had grown wider. Being comfortable with a variety of topics in your target language is a great feeling. Exposure, ideally immersion, is the best way to become a native-like speaker (but you already knew this). As my Japanese ability grew, I started to notice more errors and "cultural faux pas" that other "foreigners" (gasp) made.

When you reach the point of making phone calls in Japanese, and after you tell the person (on the other line) your name and they're surprised "You're a foreigner?!" Give yourself a pat on the back.

Heisig
Though I'm approaching spoken fluency on some topics in Japanese, reading and writing is another battle. For native speakers of Romance or Germanic languages, Japanese will take you at least four times longer to learn than a language of your language group (I read this long ago; link me to the study if you find it). Yes, cultural differences are a factor, but more difficult is Japanese reading and writing.

Want to leap over this hurdle? Sick and tired of not being able to read books on topics of interest? Frustrated by forgetting how to write kanji you previously learned? Bored to death with learning by rote memorization? Work smarter! I think the Heisig method works better than most other kanji resources for foreign learners.

I created my own mnemonics. I haven't studied, nor reviewed the mnemonics I created, but I have retained a surprising amount thanks to the power of my imagination. I'm looking forward to reviewing and mastering them when I return to my Japanese studies. (I'm currently on a study break. I worked on RtK1 for at least an hour every day for eight months.)

Aspiration
I hope to one day speak in Japanese intelligently like an academic, yet professionally like a business person using keigo. To achieve this, I will continue to immerse myself by passively observing—and participating—in unfamiliar Japanese scenarios. And, I will do my best to remain studious!

初心を忘れるな

Comparison of Locals at Nagoya & Hong Kong Airports

2011-07-30T00:50:00.004+09:00

Though I was only in the HK airport for four hours, I noticed several things about the local people. I’m going to compare the HK and Chūbu Centrair (Nagoya) airports.

HK has much simpler fashion and hairstyles for both men and women.
The average HK man is not as metrosexual as in Nagoya. HK men seem to dress practically, yet fashionably. There are no questionable fashion statements.
Most women at the HK airport had long, undyed, natural hair. In Nagoya this is very rare.
A lot less makeup in HK. Again, the women appear very basic and natural. In Nagoya women rarely leave the house without “full-make.”
English diction is quite different.
HK workers socialize a lot with coworkers (while at work). This is rare in Nagoya.

The simplicity of HK women was very alluring—they were naturally attractive. If single, and presented with the opportunity to pick up at one of these airports, I would choose HK.

Learning Japanese Links

2011-06-07T21:29:00.014+09:00

Anki - friendly, intelligent flashcards

Stop wasting your time and study smarter. I use this for kanji, vocab. and expressions. This is hands down one of the best ways to get material into you head and retain it. http://bit.ly/kj8xnZ

Kanji Koohi

A great community to help you with Heisig's Remembering the Kanji. Heisig? Rtk? If you don't know, I recommend you to start RtK1 ASAP. I only did so after seven years of learning Japanese. I wasted a lot of time with kanji. I tried learning the same ineffective, time-consuming way most Japanese children do. Don't do this. Try Heisig and get help from Kanji Koohi. http://bit.ly/iPXJDL

Studying Japanese With Subtitles

I highly recommend you to be careful with what you watch. Have you ever heard the expression "be careful of the company you keep?" It can also be applied to what you watch. If you're an intermediate (or below) level student of Japanese, and are not immersed in Japan, chances are you can't distinguish the terrible linguistic complexities of Japanese context.

Repeating what you've heard based primarily on what you've understood from the subs can get you into some awkward situations. Imagine an international student visiting Canada that learned English via DMX and NWA CDs. He or she may be able to communicate, probably really well with the local hip hop heads, but maybe not so well with a host-family. Contexts that are experienced daily in Japan do not exist in the English world. Get used to it. http://bit.ly/maNpFz

5 Step JLPT Study Method Using Japanese Newspapers for Kids
Authentic materials written by natives for native children. This is great for beginners. A little tough though. http://bit.ly/jeII1t

Tangorin Japanese Dictionary
The best online dictionary I've seen/used so far. It has lots of example sentences! http://bit.ly/lOmkJD

How To Use Evernote To Study Japanese

I've been using Evernote for over a year now, but I had never thought of using it for Japanese. The link below describes some good ways to do so. http://bit.ly/iUchIO

Renting an Apartment in Japan

2011-05-19T23:07:00.007+09:00

Some helpful vocabulary if you're renting in Japan...

礼金 reikin

thank you money / key money
Usually a waste of at least one month's rent. It's a gift to the landlord.

敷金 shikikin

deposit
In some cases it's three months worth! The deposit is not really a deposit since it's only partially refundable even if the place is undamaged. The most returned I've heard of was 50%.

保証人 hoshōnin

guarantor
From what I experienced and heard from my (Japanese and foreign) friends, the guarantor must be Japanese, over 40, with a stable career and reasonable salary.

Story: Friend A's father passed away. Despite his mother having money (a lot!), she could not become his guarantor. The friend paid an extra month's deposit and the agency waived the need of guarantor.
Story 2: Friend B's 22 year old girlfriend, a dental assistant, became his guarantor.

Note

All of these factors are highly variable depending on the rental agency you're using. Some places don't require all of the above mentioned, and some places are much cheaper than others. Negotiations are possible too, but don't expect to do this in English or broken Japanese—this is Japan—step your game up, look professional and use keigo (you'll be surprised how far this will take you).

Personally, I have never experienced any xenophobia or discrimination with the apartment rental agencies, and I have moved four times.

I recommend athome because they have a good selection of stylish, modern places for a reasonable price, but their helper's fee is a bit more than MiniMini et al.

Welcome, Farewell and End-of-Year Parties in Japan

2011-05-02T09:49:00.011+09:00

On the omnipresence of company-related formal gatherings in Japan...

You can never underdress for these—ladies and gentleman, dress formally according to the season. Wearing your NYU hoodie and Crocs is not acceptable (perhaps in any social situation).
They're usually held at slightly upscale restaurants, so don't eat beforehand—unless you're trying to appeal as cute like a moron by not eating.
Be prepared to make a speech if you're a newcomer; a brief, yet formal greeting is best.
Don't drink before kampai!
Don't pour your own drink, but keep an eye on the drinks of those around you. Keep the glasses of those senior to you wet and your glass will never go dry.

歓迎会kangeikai
This is the welcome party. It's held to welcome new staff to the company.

送別会sōbetsukai
This is the farewell party. The first character is [send], the second is [part (separate)] the third is [party (gathering or event)]. Need I say more?

歓送迎会kansōgeikai
This is the convenient one. Rather than have a sōbetsukai in March and a kangeikai in April, why not combine them? You can send off your coworkers (hopefully moving on to better things) and welcome newcomers—hazing is so fun! (Just kidding)

忘年会bōnenkai
This is usually in mid to late December and also the funnest, but the least likely event anyone will speak of the following day. If for some sick reason you are planning to not drink on this event, you will be bored (although I feel this way with most social gatherings). The characters read [forget] + [year] + [party].

These gatherings entail a lot of alcohol, good food, red faces and incoherent conversations. How could you complain? A little embarrassed about riding the train home while intoxicated? Fear not—you won't be alone. While Japan idealizes its people to show self-restraint, you may notice that after a few drinks, nomyunication (from nomu, to drink; + communication) comes into play and you get to see a different side of your coworkers, while the boundaries of this seemingly rigid society start to blur. Enjoy yourself!

Office Inefficiency

2011-04-13T14:42:00.001+09:00

As mentioned before, I've been translating JP/EN and EN/JP documents for school since the quake of 3/11. These tasks are now daily. I've made several suggestions about how our transactions could be done more efficiently, e.g.,

1. Current process
Client: Compose -> Print -> Fax -> Call to confirm if received
Me: Translate -> Print -> Fax -> Call to confirm if received

vs.

2. How I suggested it should be
Client: Compose -> Email
Me: Translate -> Reply

My suggestion saves time and resources. Can anyone enlighten me the merits of using the former in the post 56k modem era?

Japanese Composition - JP/EN & EN/JP Translation

2011-03-18T16:28:00.006+09:00

If you haven't heard about the recent Tohoku earthquake that happened in Japan last week, I'm curious to know what you've been up to—seriously.

I've recently been doing a lot of translation for my school as a direct result of the sensationalism occurring with foreign news. We've gotten a lot a emails from our sister city. The parents in the sister city are quite concerned about their eighth graders annual visit to Japan in June. For the record, the Japanese islands have not been infected by a virus like in Resident Evil, nor has Godzilla attacked (yet).

I've been translating emails in EN to JP for the local village hall, and the village hall's reply in JP to EN. I've done very little professional Japanese composition, and even less EN to JP translation. But this is becoming a great learning experience for me. After translation, I have one of the local teachers proofread my Japanese draft to make it more presentable. It's great having an assistant.

Update 2011-04-21 The group of students and chaperones that were supposed to visit decided to not cancel, but to postpone their trip until Japan is deemed safe.

My Experience Learning Japanese: The Road to Fluency (2/3)

2011-02-09T21:01:00.006+09:00

Chi Guys
I procrastinated my apartment search for too long. I found a place in late Aug. Chinese again?! Yes! After living with Chinese for two years in a row, I still wanted more. But this time, I moved in with two guys: one SMU business major and one ESL student. The apartment was a 10 minute walk to SMU and 30 minutes to DAL.

We Be Piratin'
I went from a Japanese to Chinese environment. I knew how to get pirated movies et al. before, but living with these Chi's upgraded my BA in downloads to Master's degree in piracy (they know their shit!).
From my housemates, I learned how to download vast libraries of media, including anime and J-movies that were literally unaccessible via English means at the time. The shows were all in original J-audio with hardcoded Chinese and English fansubs.

Anime Retarded
One day I saw my housemate playing a Minesweeper-Chess-like game on his computer.

When I asked him how to play, he introduced me to an anime. He said, "Watch this and then let's play together." Hikaru-no-Go was the first anime series I got into. Seventy-five 22 minute episodes later (watched two or three times each), I had digested a lot of vocab. and learned how to play Go. On top of that, I was also introduced to a lot of culture—one of the best reasons to watch TV in your target language.

Shorty after that, I spent a great deal of time, literally hours and hours a day, watching Naruto in Japanese. I was addicted and couldn't get enough. It actually interfered with my real studies. I don’t remember when it happened, but suddenly the Japanese language was much clearer in my mind, as if the fog had cleared and I could navigate in simple Japanese without thinking. I did not have to think or translate what I heard, as most content was immediately understood. Though I broke up with the Japanese girlfriend shortly after she moved back to Japan, I called her after not talking to her for a month. She was extremely suspicious of how my Japanese got so much better and so quickly. No monkey business. I just watched TV shows.

Classroom Support

This milestone was accomplished by sponging vocabulary from anime like Hikaru-no-Go and Naruto, but also from dramas like Orange Days. The majority of my growth came from outside of the classroom. But the support and structure from the classroom was vital.

My second year Japanese class at SMU was now much smaller. If I remember correctly there were approx. 15 students. The Chinese numbers decreased significantly, although several Canadians remained, making our class roughly equal in terms of nationality. As our kanji load increased, it became much more difficult for Canadians. As in first year, we used the same textbook, but a level higher: Japanese for Busy People 2. At this point I began to realize the Japanese I heard in natural conversation (J-house & life) and in anime were quite different from the textbook and classroom material. I did not understand why we were learning words like embassy before words like run.

I continued to rewatch my favorite anime and began to understand more and more. Class progressed well and I made more Japanese friends through Koreans at the basketball court.

I Used the System
I volunteered for the TESL language exchange program as a part of the TESL course I was taking at SMU in my fourth year of university. Paired with a cute and well mannered Japanese university student, one year junior to me, I was drawn to her and started dating her. Her major was teaching Japanese (in Japan), but she was in Halifax studying English. Oddly, she never had any questions about English and rarely spoke to me in English—good for my J.

Atlantic Canada Japanese Speech Contest
The new GF helped me a lot with a speech contest that my university Japanese teacher forced me into. This experience was good because previously I only listened to Japanese and rarely spoke (input focussed). But this time, I was in a situation where I had to speak for three minutes about a certain topic (output only). I entered at the intermediate level and spoke about Personalities and Blood Types in Japan. I didn't win the intermediate, but at the end, quite a few Japanese viewers told me my speech was the least gaijin-nihongo-like (meaning it sounded natural). Were these Japanese just being nice to me? Maybe I lost points for my baggy jeans and Lugz. (The other participants wore a shirt and tie.)

Graduation and Beyond

I moved back to my mother's in NB (approx. 600km from Halifax) and was now surrounded by French, the language I was once fluent in, and not Japanese. I no longer had the structure and support of the classroom, nor did I have anyone to converse with in Japanese, but in my free time (when not working, skateboarding, mackin' on the locals or spending time with family) I continued to watch Japanese shows on my computer. I started working two part-time jobs, and began to save all the money I could in prep of moving to Japan, something I had decided some few years ago.

Japanese Job Hunting
While working in NB, I applied for an English instructor position with NOVA (now defunct—not my fault!). My interview was in Halifax at the end of summer. I received the job offer several weeks later, and was scheduled to leave for Japan in November 2005.

End of Part 2

My Experience Learning Japanese: The Road to Fluency (1/3)

2010-12-20T11:35:00.009+09:00

Intro
I started learning Japanese when I was in my second year of university. My interest developed from a younger age, but I was never fully aware of this interest until 2003. Some examples of my Japanese interests were:

Japanese video games (especially JRPGs), e.g., Megaman, Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, Resident Evil, Legend of the Dragoon, and Onimusha
chosen to represent Japan and learn about the country (especially the Kyoto Protocol) for a several month long world issues debate in high school; this UN simulation was an awesome project (thanks Mr. LeBlanc)
interest in martial arts (member of university Karate Club for 3 years)

The Awakening
I'm not sure if I developed or just became aware of this interest, but it happened in my second year of university (2002) thanks to living with international housemates (2 Chinese, 1 Chinese-Canadian, 1 Syrian and 1 Taiwanese). One day, one of my Chinese housemates said, “Wow, you really like Japan.” Not really knowing how to respond because I never thought about it, I replied, “Yeah, I guess I do.”

After that conversation I decided to start learning more about Japan. I bought an audiocourse consisting of a textbook, several CDs and a JPN & ENG dictionary. I started reading various books about Japan at the university library and I enrolled into the only Japanese course my university offered: Japanese Religions.

Even though I took interest into Japan, I wasn’t learning the language. The DIY Japanese package I bought, I never used. It was the lamest language resource ever. I occasionally looked up words in the dictionary but I had no idea how to pronounce them.

First Contact
At my karate club, I was occasionally partnered with another student about my age. In addition to martial arts we shared a common interest in video games. One day when exchanging video games and talking about the look of feudal Japan from the cutscenes of Onimusha, he said, “If you’re interested in learning Japanese, I have a friend who volunteers as a Japanese teacher. She does it as a part of her university course.” I agreed.

I started meeting this woman in downtown Halifax’s Park Lane Mall food court a few times per month. She talked to me about Japan, showed me Japanese things, e.g., comic books and origami. She also encouraged me to learn kana. I had little trouble pronunciation thanks to all the sound effects and impersonations I did as a gradeschooler. She was quite surprised I could mimic her so well. But after six months my language skills progressed very little because I was more interested in learning about Japan than the language at that point.

She eventually returned to Japan but introduced me to her friend who worked in Halifax as Japanese kitchen staff at a few restaurants. This woman, like the other, was in her early thirties, and I was a 19 year old boy with a skateboard and working at McDonald's... This woman befriended me, but also taught me about how to cook. She was quite surprised I ate cereal, oatmeal and fruit for almost every meal... (At the time it seemed like a time/cost effective solution to cooking.) The friendship became rooted in cultural, linguistic and culinary exchange. We met weekly.

Japanese at SMU
Since my university didn’t offer Japanese, I decided to enroll part time at a nearby school offering Japanese and have those credits transferred back to my university. It took a lot of paperwork and patience for the application process, but I successfully registered for Introductory Japanese (full year) and Introduction to Japanese Culture (fall) and Contemporary Japan (winter) at SMU while majoring in Sociology at DAL.

The Russian
I was excited for my first day of class, but upon entering, I was surprised to see over half of the class was Chinese. (At the time I wasn’t aware that they already knew how to read and write over 95% of the script used in Japanese.) At the front stood a sharply dressed man in a suit (it looked custom made). The class soon discovered he was stern and intolerant of half assed effort to the point of patronizing the linguistic loafers. When some realized it wasn’t going to be an anime watching class, many dropped out, and those who remained were all interested in learning. If you were attentive and did your work, he went out of his way to help and was always enthusiastic.

Minimal Progress
In first year Japanese I learned how to read and write kana and about 100 kanji. I could do simple greetings and understand simple, textbook sentences. And even though I mastered our course’s Japanese for Busy People textbook, I could not converse well in Japanese.

Download & Watch
From the end of that course (spring 2004) to the beginning of second year Japanese (fall 2004), I made great progress. It seemed that every Japanese person I met in Halifax introduced me to another two of their Japanese friends. I networked without much intention and made a lot of Japanese friends in a short amount of time. Also, while studying, I began watching a lot of Japanese TV shows and movies, e.g., Orange Days, GTO, The Ring and Juon, thanks to a high speed Internet connection and recommendations from Japanese friends I made. My ears were constantly being exercised.

A Lady Friend
I eventually met a girl that interested me beyond a platonic relationship. We started dating in spring and got along well. She often spoke to me in Japanese and taught me a lot about about Japan. When my apartment’s lease terminated in early summer, I decided to move back to New Brunswick and spend time with my family until the next school term, while she would resume life in Halifax. We occasionally talked on the phone and kept in touch via email, but about one month before the fall term began, she asked me if I would like to stay with her so we could be together again. I was pleased with the temporary offer and gladly accepted.

We lived together in a beautiful downtown Halifax waterfront apartment. She was subletting this place from a fellow Japanese-Canadian occupational therapist at DAL. This woman, however, was rarely there at the same time I was, because she was often away for research or visiting in Japan. This woman had a great scheme of subletting her place to Japanese students and tourists. Because of this, that summer I became housemate to a handful of fresh off the boat Japanese. The majority were sightseeing in Canada for a few weeks at most, therefore, some spoke very little English. Many of the conversations were translated via my girlfriend or the researcher (when she was there). It was great experience because I got to meet a lot of interesting new people and practice Japanese. More importantly, I could take the role as an observer, while occasionally participating, in a natural Japanese environment.

Livin' La Vida Loca
Hear Japanese. Time with girlfriend (occasionally communicate in Japanese. Register for university courses. Look for apartment. Hear Japanese. Look for work. Skateboard. Basketball. Hear Japanese.

Yes, this several week experience was great for my Japanese. But eventually it became time for me, as well as my girlfriend, to move out. She was going to the U.S. for two weeks to volunteer at the famous Patch Adams center in Virginia, and I had to prep for university and find a sublet for the 2004-5 school year.

End of Part 1

Ethnocentric Beauty Ideals - Ethnocentrism vs. Exoticism

2010-12-14T23:57:00.004+09:00

This was written in the third year of my B.A. in Sociology at Dalhousie University. I surveyed Japanese women in their twenties and thirties to find out what their physical preferences were in the opposite sex. I recently edited my report's grammar to improve its clarity (my grammar was quite atrocious). This is the recent version in PDF. Please share your thoughts.

Michael Zielenziger's Shutting Out The Sun - Hikikomori

2010-10-15T09:31:00.024+09:00

About six months ago, I read Michael Zielenziger's Shutting Out The Sun. Overall, it was an interesting read, and I highly recommend it to any Japanophile, person living in Japan or anyone interested in contemporary social problems.

As a non-Japanese, to understand Japanese society is a difficult task, even for someone fluent in the language and aware of the customs. Therefore, seeing minor Japanese errors in SOTS made me a little skeptical of the book's authenticity. Regardless, many of the issues discussed in this book will be familiar to non-Japanese in Japan. Sometimes those on the outside can best see the problems occurring within.

Here are my notes via Google Docs.

Inkan, Hanko, Stamps & Registered Seals in Japan

2010-09-22T18:08:00.019+09:00

NOVA Stamp
Many years ago, when I first became an eikaiwa instructor at NOVA, I received a wooden stamp with デレック derekku written on it. I was told that this would be necessary for any major paperwork in Japan, e.g., registration at local city hall or ward office, opening a bank account and applying for most jobs. Even though デレック was not how I wrote my name in Japanese, I took special care of this stamp and used it many times over the years.

Five Years Later

Up until this point, I never had any problems using my stamp. While most countries use a signature, Japan strongly believes in the inkan (registered seal). Japan even forced Korea to adopt this system while Korea was under Japanese rule (FYI South Korea has officially dropped this system, believing it to be inefficient and easily susceptible to fraud [I concur]). However, Japan, known for its reluctance to change, continues to use this system. Thank Japanese bureaucracy. While stamps are just another of Japan's prehistoric practices, they are still pretty cool. Unfortunately, my stamp sucks! It would definitely be cooler to have a stamp in kanji. After long thought and consultation with Japanese, I decided for my surname, ブレイズ (bureizu), that 武裂泉 would be best. And for my given name, デレク (dereku), I decided to keep katakana. Now to check with town hall.

Town Hall
Kill two birds with one stone. While here for other business, I asked the civil servants about changing an inkan. I was told that

Your inkan has to match your full name that you use in Japan 通名 (tsuumei), e.g., if you write "Joe Cockman" on legal forms, your inkan has to be "Joe Cockman." If your bankbook says "アイライクメン," your inkan should say "アイライクメン" too.

So in my case, because I don't use kanji to sign my name, I wouldn't be able to make an inkan in kanji (or so I thought—you'll see later). I began looking at inkan designs at e-hankoya.com and found some that would even look cool in katakana. In Japanese order of surname-given name, I made a ブレイズ・デレク inkan.

Town Hall Visit 2
This time I returned ready to register my custom made 15mm inkan (made of black water-buffalo horn). I showed them my old デレック inkan and told them I want to register my new ブレイズ・デレク one. "It's not registered," they said bureaucratically. "But I've been using it for almost five years. I use it all the time, even at the bank!" To their reply,

That's OK. But if you want to register this new one, you have to show us some form ID that you go by this name exactly as it is on your inkan, e.g., a bankbook, bill or even a self addressed postcard.

Interesting...

Conclusion
After this experience and consulting with several Japanese, I discovered that inkan do NOT have to be registered. The only time Japanese register them is before major purchases like a car or house. Because for these purchases, a registered inkan is necessary (unless you're paying straight cash like a real G, homie ¥¥¥). So this means that for the majority of stamping duties, you can pretty much use whatever you want, even an 当て字 stamp of your name, except for MAJOR purchases like a house. When this situation occurs, you have to bring a form from your local ward office or city hall, certifying that this inkan is yours. Happy stamping!

How to Live Longer

2010-09-14T16:02:00.012+09:00

I've developed my own philosophy of health via many means:

courses, e.g., sociology of nutrition and sports nutrition
daily research through the years out of personal interest
living as an expat in Japan, I can observe the dietary and culinary habits of a food-obsessed nation

I never made such a list, but I was surprised when reading Emergency by Neil Strauss, how similar his ideas were to mine.

Sleep between six and seven hours a night.
Don't smoke.
Get a pet.
See a doctor for an advanced cholesterol test and alter your diet accordingly.
Get closer to family and loved ones.
Have an active sex life.
Be optimistic.
Reduce stress and avoid getting angry.
Have a purpose in life and take on new challenges.
Reduce your caloric intake, avoid processed food, eat more nuts, and consume fruits, vegetables, red wine (moderately), and other sources of antioxidants daily.
Perform daily physical activities you enjoy.
Surround yourself with people who practice the previous eleven steps.

I (personally) would add a few other points:

never stop learning, whether it be a skill, trade or academic discipline (relates to 9)
hydrate well; consider your climate and activity level
frequent (daily) exposure to greenery

What do you think? Anything you disagree with or would like to add? Please let me know in the comments section.

2010 Japanese Election

2010-07-13T14:57:00.015+09:00

Issues Discussed in The Japan Times

one surname per family issue

often the man's unless the woman is an only child from a wealthy family

the man adopting the woman's surname will ensure her surname's survival

in most cases there is no choice for women

inconvenient for academics and professionals
often adopt "work aliases"

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) proposes a progressive agenda

permit married couples to have separate surnames
conservative parties suggest this would destroy Japan

give Permanent Residents (PR), specifically zainichi Koreans who've been in Japan for several generations, the right to vote in local elections

I think the agenda proposed by the DPJ is progressive (for Japan), but still lacking. The older, highly conservative politicians (Ishihara & Kamei) cringe at many of these ideas, and would probably cringe even more at mine. See below.

Education

English education reform

it's not hard to mimic other result producing countries
feudalistic Japanese bureaucracies and businesses have proven they should not be involved with English education
Japan scores as well as North Korea on TOEIC, yet invests more money on English than Asian neighbors

Japanese Teachers of English (JTE) often lack the skills to communicate in English, as they were trained to teach grammar, and often have little knowledge outside of the textbook's English
over-emphasis on standardized testing allows little room for change

removal of juku
reduce class sizes; the current 40 is too high
critical thinking > rote memorization

Work

flexibility for full-time working mothers
legal action against companies demanding unpaid overtime

enforce times employees should go home
even for breadwinner males, work should NOT be life

karoushi, death by overwork

instead of salary by seniority, promote salary based on merit

Economic

young parents with school-age-children need tax breaks

there is little support and few benefits for people to have children in comparison to other developed nations

promote local and domestic economies
allow open market competition
empowerment for individuals and organizations by reducing bureaucracy
transparency in financing

legal action against corruption

Social

removal of "stamp" or "seal" registry
legal action against discrimination and bullying

Vibram Five Fingers (VFF) KSO Review

2010-06-30T15:54:00.014+09:00

[pronounced vee-brum] I was first exposed to VFF via Tim Ferris. I read several reviews and did my research. After careful consideration I decided to purchase VFF KSO.

VFF technology is simple. Have you ever run barefoot on the beach or on grass? Did you feel it (specifically your form) was different from running in sneakers? Well, it is. In short, running barefoot vs. running with sneakers uses different muscles and affects your body differently. The best for us upright apes would be barefoot. But running barefoot in the city may not be too sanitary; just as running barefoot on a trail may not feel too lovely. So, how can we protect our feet while running, without loss of speed or dexterity, while keeping our (upright ape) natural form? VFF.

Day 1
Because it was raining and I didn't want to go outside, I was confined to testing the KSOs indoors. Fitting was difficult, but I did not take it easy once they were on. I did repeated couch jumps, which is something I occasionally do. They stood the test and I was impressed. They definitely have more control and stability than sneakers. Balance, landing your jump et al. will take some time to adjust to. FYI, if you don't land properly, your heels will hurt.

After First Run
I had trouble with the fitting again. It took about 3 min. to put them on. As for the run, I took it slow. I ran 1k, stretched, then walked back home. It really felt like I was running barefoot. Sharp rocks will hurt your feet, but they won't penetrate through the rubber soles. I felt like an upright running frog. After the run, areas that were never sore before began throbbing, such as foot arch, above and around the ankles and below the calf muscles. I think they were newly activated muscles, or strain on muscles that were rarely used with traditional footwear.

After Second Run
[approx. 1 week later] Fitting still takes a few minutes to get on properly. I tried to run a bit faster and further this time: 1.5k. The main thing I noticed this time was a stamina increase. For some reason I didn't feel tired while running, which I usually feel soon after 3000m. After the 1.5k, when I stopped, the strain hit me, but it was nothing major. The same muscles, as in the first run, were feeling strain again. When I got home and took my VFF off, my feet and lower legs felt stronger. Walking on hardwood floor had never felt so comfortable.

After Third Run
[a few days later] After rereading the instructions, I discovered a section I skipped: how to put on VFF. This solved my only problem and I can now put both on in <30 sec. As for the run, I tried to run faster and further again: 2k. Unfortunately, I hurt the area below my right calf at about the 1.5k point, while trying to jump over a 1.5m bush.

After Fourth Run
[approx. 1 week later] I should mention I played 3on3 basketball a few days before and my leg didn't feel well then. Yet, I decided to challenge myself with a short run. Injured again; bad idea.

After Fifth Run
[> 2 weeks later] I gave my leg ample time to heal. This time I ran slowly, but longer than usual: 2.15k. Afterward, I felt the appropriate soreness and was happy with the run. The soreness eventually developed into new muscular definition.

Overall
I'm very satisfied with this product and would recommend it to runners or health geeks. The only negative I can say was the original fitting, but I resolved this after rereading the instructions. I don't think I would wear them on a date or when going out, but they're great for training. If you're in an area where you can run barefoot without any trouble, this product is not necessary for you.

Foreigners in Japan: Greasy Gaijin

2010-06-03T18:08:00.010+09:00

Being able to converse in three different languages has enabled me to engage with and observe all kinds of people. Because of this exposure, I have always felt out of place, never belonging to one side, but always maintaining a position in the middle as an observer.

Gaijin, from Gaikokujin aka outside-country-person (foreigner), in Japan have a complicated reputation. I would like to discuss the Western, Anglo-Saxon male, as a foreigner in Japan. Here are some of the groups I have noticed. If I missed any, please add them in the comments.

Warning: This post may be "offensive."

Frat Boy

most likely here via JET or eikaiwa chain
recent university graduates
little practical work experience
high sense of entitlement
complain a lot
live in gaijin bubble
in Japan very short term

Escaper & New Experience Seeker

I've met ex-nurses, teachers (real ones), civil servants, real estate agents and so on, who came to Japan to experience a new world
make the most of their time in Japan
have work experience
usually reliable
some ran away from something back home and took refuge in Japan; they can be mysterious, quiet ones who rarely socialize or quite the opposite
usually here short term, as their goal was a break, not permanent refuge

Anime & Manga Geek

study Japanese to access more anime/manga
usually speak rambo-like Japanese (from watching too much ninja and/or samurai anime)
IF they come to Japan, they must refine their Japanese (no more anime talk)
the introverts I've met seem to have better language ability
as long as they have a high speed internet connection, they don't have to be in Japan, but may stay for other reasons

Traditional J Culture Obsesser

visit temples & shrines for prayer
engage in Shinto & Buddhist practices
read/learn/talk about bushidō, samurai, ninja and the feudal era on a regular basis
want to have a Japanese wedding ceremony
practice seiza
drink matcha the proper way
would like to be here forever

Mr. Charisma & J Pervo

socially awkward
little experience with women in home country
have little pride, therefore will persist to any level to be with J-women, even if this behavior would be considered ultimate douche-behavior in home country
gaijin women can see his true identity; they are his kryptonite
see J-women as their nightly conquest, exploiting naivety
most likely here for life; Superman does not return to Krypton
more here

Language Geek

often in Japan as exchange students or
eikaiwa or ALTs who study hard in their spare time
try hard to make Japanese friends and/or conversation/exchange partners
generally content with Japan

Japanophile

love everything and are interested in all things Japanese
often have a distorted view of Japan due to zero, to little experience in Japan
only exposure to Japan is usually via English language resources
listen to J-Pop
usually only here as a tourist

The Last Samurai

would vote against all immigration policies (if they could vote)
believe Japan is and should be monocultural
anything Japanese is better
the Japanese way is the right way
avoid other gaijin; feel threatened around gaijin; believe gaijin are dangerous
"whaling is our culture, we don't tell you to NOT eat hamburgers"
would naturalize as Japanese, if it weren't against their beliefs

J Hater

bitter
critical or negative about anything Japanese
believe because Japan is different (from their home country), it's wrong
live in a bubble with like-minded people
learn very little of the language, if any
don't respect local customs
feel trapped in Japan and can't return to home country (but why is the better question)

Here for Work Only

common among US military, factory workers and those with a special trade
often try to live the same way they would back in home country
learn survival Japanese at most
not interested in Japan; don't pay attention to Japanese media or culture (living in the bubble, but not bitter)
here short term
send money back to home country

J Wife with Half Kids

fit into this category plus at least one other
in Japan his kids will be viewed as half (half in Japanese refers to someone who is half Japanese.

While being half is viewed as stylish and cool for adults, half children are sometimes the target of bullying

some integrate really well; some are terribly bitter and live in the bubble

Translation, Business and Facebook Free

2010-05-13T01:15:00.005+09:00

This week has been extremely busy at school. It’s been my busiest ever in four years teaching public school. I have classes almost every period, lots of translation work for the international exchange program and it’s also just before mid-term exams (term 1). Last year: 2-3 classes/day; this year (so far): 3-6 classes/day. I’m also busy as English interviewer/examiner (面接官) for the exchange program. I ask students random questions from a Q&A list, in front of a panel of judges and sponsors for the exchange program. How well they answer decides (in part) how worthy they are for this fully paid opportunity. I’ve been quizzing the students all week; this Saturday at 9am will be judgment day.

In addition to constant translation for the exchange program (translating presentations into English), I’ve also recently translated a letter (JPN –> ENG) for AJ of the Backstreet Boys.

I made new business cards.

I deactivated my Facebook account. I prefer not to go into much detail about it, but here were some of my reasons:

privacy and security issues
not flexible for sharing pics with non-users
time waster
productivity killer
addictive
users become lazy with real friendships (quantity > quality = no good)
annoying status updates
group and event invitations
Facebook has replaced calling, texting and emailing for its addicts
FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Gifts, Pokes and so on…
friendship requests from strangers
low quality information overload

After deactivating, I suddenly felt more free and less time-hungry, as if the time in my day slightly increased. Was I really wasting that much time on Facebook?

Better Yourself: Learn a New Skill

2010-04-01T11:38:00.008+09:00

Every season I try to learn something new. Fall 2009 was to master kimchi making (FYI, I've been making it since Summer 2009). I've discovered several different ways to make kimchi. I've made some of the best I've ever tasted... along with some of the worst. I'm still trying to become more consistent.

Winter 2009-10 was bonsai. I wanted to engage in some kind of art. I've had bonsai in the past (about 3; all gifts from my mother during grade school), but I was too young to appreciate it at the time. Now, I have a Japanese maple on my balcony and I prune it when necessary. It's a beautiful art and it is something I plan to continue.

My current goal, Spring 2010, is to learn how to draw. I'm horrible at drawing. It's something that I was never able to do. In grade school I used to draw sharks, swords and other sorts of weapons a lot, but I could never manage to draw people. It's ironic that my younger brother, Dane is a genius when it comes to drawing. He's good enough that his schools' have always asked him to decorate their buildings with his work. He gladly paints them classroom-size dragons and so on. He can draw anything, but he creates mostly animals. I, on the other hand, am artistically-challenged.

I have been learning how to draw for a few weeks now. I'm learning to draw in the manga-style, after all, I am in Japan. And, I can honestly say I've made progress.

This is what I drew for my first exercise in my manga textbook. This was the model in my textbook. I slightly changed her wardrobe. Skimpy clothing is easier to draw.

1 Week Off Facebook, Twitter & YouTube

2010-03-17T09:20:00.016+09:00

I was inspired to try this thanks to my recent purchase of Tim Ferris' The Four Hour Workweek. BTW, great book, Tim.

Plan: no Facebook, Twitter or YouTube for one week
Purpose: waste less time on meaningless tasks and use this new-found time productively
Results: Good. I resisted all initial urges. I have one day left.

SNS
One of the ideas in 4HWW was to batch tasks. Rather than checking your Facebook and Twitter updates several times a day, batch 'em. Check once a day; better yet, once a week. You won't miss anything important. Trust me. If it's important enough, people will call or text. SNS are great and convenient for staying in touch with friends far from home. However, there are downsides. Are your Facebook friends really your friends? Are friends' Twitter status updates like I'm going grocery shopping really essential for your well-being? People feel more connected via SNS. But I think it may actually be the opposite: Quantity vs. quality.

YouTube
YouTube is great; amazingly useful, but can also be a major time eater. I recommend you to batch your YouTube sessions, unless what you're viewing is educational or personally meaningful. Watching guys get hit in the nuts with a tennis ball AMV-style doesn't count. College girls in panties shaking their ass on webcam to Gucci Mane in their bedroom, neither. A time limit may also work, e.g., 30min./day.

Productivity & Freedom
RantWith the new-found time, I was able to accomplish many more tasks than usual at work and home. I've found time to read books I wanted to read and time to study Japanese again. I actually wasn't that busy in the first place. The meaningless tasks were eating my time and distracting me from the important. Isn't it strange that by restricting and disciplining, you feel more free?

Canada's 14th Gold & Olympic Coverage in Japan

2010-03-01T09:14:00.064+09:00

Sidney "Sid the Kid" Crosby scored the winning goal in OT, granting the Canada (mens hockey) a 3-2 victory and their 14th gold medal in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. This is not only huge news for Canada as a whole, not to mention Sid's home Cole Harbour (Halifax Regional Municipality), Nova Scotia, but also for the Olympics. 14 is a new record for total gold medals in winter Olympics. Congratulations and thank you. Oh, Canada.

However, this news is not aired at all in Japan. I understand a country should give priority to its own athletes. It should be that way.

But what does this say about sportsmanship if you withdraw and completely lose interest once your locals are out?

I hate to compare, but if residing in Canada (I live in Japan), and Canada was to be insignificant in the Olympics, I would still want to know how other countries were doing, regardless of the event. Yet, in Japan, if Japanese athletes are not involved, don't expect much coverage. It's the same for non Olympic sports, as well. It's not Seattle Mariners highlights, it's Ichirō Suzuki highlights.

Local Coverage -> Event Coverage
Local Coverage -> FINISHED

What do you think?

English Education in Japan Rant

2010-02-06T18:17:00.008+09:00

The textbooks (New Horizon 1-2) are pretty rigid, therefore my materials are centered on spoken English. Isn’t it interesting that there is a distinction?

IMO, English education in Japan is taught for testing only. In middle school it is conducted mostly in Japanese. There is little emphasis being placed on communication. If there were an English immersion approach, I think there could be a huge improvement in communicative ability. But, since Japanese Teachers of English (JTE) usually aren’t highly proficient themselves, English immersion is unlikely. Most students and JTEs are extremely busy and hardworking.

BUT, if the recipe sucks, it doesn’t matter how good of a cook you are.

New Year’s Resolutions

2010-01-26T17:30:00.002+09:00

NYRs for 2010

drink at least 1.2L of water/day (water only—does not include tea)
study Japanese for at least 30 min./day, 5 times/week (start after I get my JLPT results in Feb)
stretch for at least 5 min./day before bed
drink at least 3 glasses of wine/week (preferably red)
exercise 3 times/week
run once/week (100-200M sprints at high intensity)
practice an art (I decided on bonsai: miniature tree cultivation)

Best Purchases of 2009

2010-01-01T16:28:00.006+09:00

I wanted to narrow it down to top five, but there were some extra items that I had to include. In order of date of purchase, here are my best purchases of 2009:

250万人の漢検プレミアム for DS. The most complete kanji textbook, portable and designed to keep ADHD kids focused on study—so you know it’ll work for adults. About 3,500 yen.

Air cleaner by Daikin. It removes pollen, allergens, dust, viruses, bacteria and etc. from the air. I live next to a busy street with no trees in the area. All of it’s functions are automatic, increasing power when dust and etc. levels are high. On sale for about 25,000 yen.

Kotatsu from Nitori. No central heating in Japan. And, since Japanese homes aren’t insulated, it’s not very effective to use heaters. A kotatsu will heat a critical cold point of your body—your feet! If your feet are warm, for some reason, the rest of your body will be comfortable. Kotasus are also very cheap on electricity. Using an AC will add around 3000 yen or more per month during the winter to your electricity bill if you use it a little bit each day. My kotatsu will add 1000 yen per month if it’s left on 24/7. Total set, including 2 blankets & 2 chairs: about 20,000 yen.

HeatTech long sleeve undershirts from Uniqlo. Incredible technology to keep you warm & dry, while wearing an incredibly light material that can stretch but doesn’t change form. 1,500 yen. (The one you see here is dirty laundry. Sorry.)

Premium Down Ultra Light jacket from Uniqlo. In addition to the title, it’s warm & waterproof. Most impressive feature: it can be compacted to fit into a sock without any damage to its original form! 6,000 yen.

Water bottle by Rubbermaid. Water is so important for good health, yet most people don’t drink enough water per day. Buying bottled water every day is not only expensive and bad for the environment, but it’s also gay (no not homosexual); something fags do (again no, not homosexuals).This water bottle has a simple design so it’s easy to clean, making it sanitary for long term use. 1,000 yen.

iPhone 3GS provided by SoftBank. I would have to give this my overall top spot. It’s an amazing piece of technology. I am VERY satisfied with it. See here. Free for new SoftBank customers that sign a 2-year contract.

Bukatsu: School Clubs in Japan

2009-12-16T15:14:00.009+09:00

Schools have clubs (部活). In North America (NA) there is a difference between club and team. In Japan team & club seem to be used interchangeably. In NA teams are for sports; clubs are for non-athletic cultural activities, such as drama, chess, photography, computer clubs and etc. They are also different because school teams in NA have tryouts
–Japanese schools don't. But that doesn't mean you will be a starter—some join practice but aren't at the level to play in games. IE: My school has 15 members on the school basketball team (or club, as often said), but of course there are only 5 starters and 2-3 subs (in game).

Practice here is more frequent—especially at my school. All teams at my school have practice Tue-Fri before and after school, and Sat mornings. In most cases I've seen, other than baseball, the coach has a very minor role. Coaches occasionally attend practice, but it's usually only to supervise. Usually the team captain controls practice and the team. I've found that practice more often seems like a place to socialize and have fun with friends while practicing a sport at the same time. I feel that club is more suitable than team, in most cases.

Practice and games are prohibited for seniors at the end of the first term (Apr-Aug). During the regionals and prefecturals in Aug, many seniors cry after their final game, while the non-seniors continue with practice and games in the second and third term (Sep-Dec & Jan-Mar). Seniors finish early to devote their time to high school or university entrance exams (入試).

Students in Japan have very busy schedules with school, bukatsu and juku. I think less would be better. They need more time to just be kids.

Dec 2009 Level 2 JLPT

2009-12-10T16:12:00.006+09:00

I took the level 3 JLPT in Dec 2006 and passed with an 86%. At this time I was working for an eikaiwa and was not using Japanese at all work. After changing jobs and working for public schools as an AET, I noticed a huge jump in my Japanese.

Working in a Japanese environment is much better than just studying or using it in your personal life. Using the language at work and doing presentations can formalize your language—assuming you already have the basics.

I wrote my exam at Nagoya Keizai University. There were SO MANY Chinese! To be honest, my exam room was probably 80% Chinese, 15% Asian (non-Chinese) and 5% white or mixed-looking. Obviously the Chinese have a major advantage with Japanese, since they don’t have to learn kanji from zero.

On the other hand, from what I saw in the level 2 room, is that a lot of Chinese had trouble with listening. Speaking posed another problem for some. There is no speaking on the exam, but during break times when I was talking to some, I noticed they were far from fluent, with even basic topics of conversation. Of course I’m not saying all Chinese learners of Japanese are like this. It just seemed this way in my exam room.

Here’s what I thought of the exam:

Writing	Vocabulary	Listening	Reading	Grammar
OK	OK	easy	hard	easy

For the last section, Reading & Grammar, I skipped the reading and did grammar first, since I could ensure more points quickly this way. The first passage in reading, for example, was to read two pages to answer 6 questions. This was a severe chunk of time so I saved it for last, but ended up not having enough time (to do it thoroughly). Therefore, I read the questions only and guessed accordingly.

For every other section, I’m happy that I could confidently answer a lot of questions. I’m predicting a pass, so I’m looking forward to the results in Feb. I’m guessing 65-75%. We’ll see when the results are published. Stay tuned!

Sports In Japan

2009-11-12T12:46:00.037+09:00

This post was a reader's request. Here's to you, Megatron.

I've been able to observe a lot of differences with sports in Japan (compared to the USA & CAN) after living here for four years. I've been involved with sports in public school and in the community. It's hard to not generalize, but I'll tell you what I've seen.

The most popular sports are baseball and soccer. Baseball is often shown on TV, but I don't know anyone who watches regular season games. Most people just watch the highlights or read them in the paper. But, a lot of people suddenly get into baseball during the playoffs, especially the final games—supporting and cheering for the local team at an izakaya.

Soccer is more popular to play than it is to watch, especially with students. I haven't heard of any girls who play though. It's mostly middle and high school boys. A deviation of soccer, futsal, is more common with men in their 20s—often those who played soccer. There are lots of futsal clubs for working age people (社会人).

Sumo is popular for the older generations to watch on TV. People often watch sumo when visiting their parents or grandparents. It seems like a family thing. It also happens to be the national sport. It is pretty exciting to watch, and I would love to see a real bout! I have friends that have gone and said it was a great experience.

Football (American) and hockey are non-existent. People know what they are, but I haven't met anyone who knows the rules or who has watched a game. The biggest presence football has in Japan is with the manga Eyeshield 21 (I have no idea how well it's represented). I've heard that there are private company football teams, but they certainly are private, or hidden, because no one knows about them. Some high schools and universities have a rugby team/club. Most people I've met seem to think rugby and football are the same.

Basketball is somewhat popular (thanks to Slam Dunk and Buzzer Beat), but this hype usually finishes at the high school level. The professional league (JBL) is FAR behind the NBA. It doesn't even come close to the NCAA. I'd much rather watch high school basketball in Canada than Japanese professional. I've only seen a couple games on TV, but there are some foreign players. Also, I've noticed a lot of people (especially girls) shoot with both hands (like a chest pass) and that a lot of players jump when shooting free throws, which is never seen in the USA or Canada. (FYI, you are allowed to jump on free throws.)

Another interesting comparison: In Canada I lived mostly in Halifax, NS, CAN; population of 375,000. Within city limits there were many outdoor basketball courts (I just counted 12 in my head). Nagoya has a population of 2.2 million, but I've only seen 1 outdoor basketball court (and it's a half court!). It gets packed on weekends and holidays with Chinese, Filipinos and some from English speaking countries. Very rarely can you see Japanese there.

Volleyball is common with both boys and girls. Tennis is more popular with girls than boys. Ping pong is not uncommon—some schools have teams. All middle and high schools have a pool to teach swimming in PE. Most schools will also have a swimming club.

Golf is really popular amongst a much wider demographic than in North America. There are driving ranges all over the place, and some of them are open 24/7. You can see a lot of ojisan and salarymen practicing their golf swing with umbrellas while waiting for the train.

Ironically, martial arts are more common in the West. Judo is the most popular martial art in Japan though, followed by Karate. Kendo clubs attract members at the high school and university level. But I don't know any Japanese of working age who practices martial arts. On the other hand, I know a lot of people in Canada who do. Just in my family there are several black belts in Tae Kwon Do and Judo, while I have a brown belt in Karate.

Goodbye Microsoft: The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back

2009-11-10T10:39:00.071+09:00

Vista has caused a lot of problems for me. These problems may have been exacerbated by the fact that I'm using the OS in Japanese (my third language). I bought a laptop in Japan in late 2006. There was a lot of hype about Vista at the time, especially from retailers. I was wary about using a new OS in a foreign language.

The first problem that I suspected was
that I would not be able to change the language interface. The retailer said it would be possible to change in the settings, but I realized afterward that it's only possible in the Ultimate version, which was of course not included on my laptop. I would have to upgrade to a lot of features I didn't need, and don't forget pay extra. But I decided to stick with the Japanese OS to help improve my technical Japanese.

The next problem happened when trying to connect to the internet. My flatmate had a wireless network set up in our apartment, but the router (new) would not welcome Vista. The problem could not be fixed; I had to buy a 15m Ethernet cord (creating clutter from the living room to my bedroom). My flatmate was running XP and enjoying his wireless, high speed, fiber optic internet. Even currently there are a lot of bugs with Vista. They do improve a little with the (constant) Vista updates, but I would never say Vista is a stable OS.

My main problem with the OS was not with the bugs or language problems though. The root of the problem was the lack of simplicity. My old XP desktop in Canada could not compete with my current laptop in terms of hardware and performance potential, but because it ran on XP, it was a lot faster than my current system. Vista is very demanding on your system, regardless of what software you're running, and to what benefit?

Yet, Windows 7 claims to have solved all of these problems. I did my research and it seemed OK. I visited the Microsoft website in an attempt to download the W7 upgrade, but it was another failure. It's not possible to download the English version from Japan. I called the help line to ask for advice and I was suggested to either look for an English version in major Japanese retailers (which I haven't found) or purchase the more expensive Ultimate version in Japanese and change the language interface in the settings. No thank you.

Microsoft, I've given you enough chances. We will no longer be doing business together. I am now dual booting my laptop with Ubuntu 9.10 (for productivity) and Vista (for Skype, iTunes and downloads). I've been using it for a day now and it puts Vista to shame. Ubuntu 9.10 is incredibly simple, has a beautiful interface and is lightning fast. My laptop is now a dual boot of Vista and Ubuntu. But after using Ubuntu I simply don't have the patience to deal with Vista any more. Thank you Ubuntu.

JLPT N2 Prep & Upper Intermediate Japanese Study

2009-11-04T13:56:00.026+09:00

I am now in 勉強モードbenkyō mōdo for the N2 JLPT. These are my three main methods of study.

日本語総まとめ問題集２級「語彙編」

not a bad textbook; it has ENG, CHN & KOR translation; covers a pretty good range of vocab.; day 1-6 are reg. chapters (2 pages) with short quizzes at the end; day 7 is a test on the week's vocab. and expressions; designed for 8 weeks of study

完全マスター２級日本語能力試験文法問題対策

my first Japanese ONLY textbook; it covers the grammatical nuances and lots of convenient structures that are and aren't used in every day conversation; it will definitely mature your Japanese; I highly recommend this textbook

ＤＳの２５０万人の漢検プレミアム
- another major recommendation if you want to understand real Japanese; kanji are the building blocks to the language--it's a lot easier to learn vocab. if you understand the kanji; my full review

I also plan to take the practice exam sometime before the real one in December. I remember doing this was a big help when I took the JLPT N3 in 2006.

Cars Are Convenient

2009-11-02T19:45:00.015+09:00

I re-acquired a company car on Friday. On the work-plan plus, I pay the gas and insurance (roughly 8,000 yen per month), and my employer will pay parking, maintenance and other related fees. This is the whip
Mitsubishi Kei Minica. I am free to use it as I please.

The car was very productive for me over the weekend. I brought my over-sized table and other unneeded items the recycling center and got 2,500 yen for them. I got rid of two desks from a cluttered office space, and replaced them with a slim, long and classy desk suitable for two. And, I bought a few Japanese items: a kotatsu and two zaisu.

The living room and desk space of my apartment are now decluttered. It's all thanks to the car for giving me access to better stores and easier ways to transport large items. I cannot imagine carrying my recent purchases by bike.

In Japan, I'd say in most places you're safe, maybe even better off, with not having a car. This applies to major cities like Tōkyō and Ōsaka. What the heck, why not throw Nagoya in there, too?

Three Annoying English Expressions in Japanese

2009-09-28T17:17:00.023+09:00

~~Oh my god!~~ This one actually sounds more like "Oh my GAA!" It all started from an ECC commercial a few years ago. The ECC beauty Sung Sun-Im (pictures), aka Sonim-chan, who is fluent in Japanese, English and Korean, used this expression, translated as 信じられない in Japanese (I can't believe it). In the commercial it was used and pronounced correctly. In my experience, I've heard it mostly used in situations like this:

A:"I had a lite breakfast today."
B:"Oh my GAA!"

~~Don't mind!~~ In Japanese it's pronounced "don mai". I have no idea how or when this one entered the Japanese language, but it's used like "Don't worry (about it)" in colloquial English. It was used a lot in one of my favorite mangas, Slam Dunk.

~~Happy Wedding~~ In Japanese the expression 御結婚おめでとうございます is expected to be said whenever someone marries (which is fine). It can be translated word for word as wedding-congratulations. In Japanese there is a grammatically similar expression for English's Happy Birthday. It seems the logic from happy birthday was used to create happy wedding. It's often used on TV and cards, especially with young adults.

There are many other annoying expressions, but hey, let's not be too negative. I often try to correct the bastardization, but there are only so many that I can reach. If you're a native English teacher or Japanese with English skills please correct, because the battle against the Japanese media trying to use English is a tough one.

GEX Mega Power 9012 Canister Filter Review

2009-09-23T11:40:00.004+09:00

My turtles have been getting bigger and bigger, and my filtration system has not been able to do the trick. Making daily water changes and skimming the water several times a day has been a pain. I have been thinking about buying a new filter for months now.

Yesterday I finally decided to splurge and buy the best from the local home center. I bought the GEX Mega Power 9012, which is designed for tanks of 90-120CM (or 150-300L). My tank is not this big, but three times the filtration of a fish tank is recommended for turtles (if your tank is 20L get a 60L plus filter). The filter uses 18-19W of energy so that should calculate to 15 yen (15 cents) a month if the filter is left on 24/7.

After two days of using the filter I am impressed. The water is very clean; it looks drinkable! No Joke. The only problems I have with it are (1) it’s a little noisy but not too bad; I turn it off at night (2) heavy/big (3) it’s a little hard to customize your setup with the way some of the pieces are arranged. Overall it’s a pretty good performance filter for turtles at 13,000 yen ($130).

Ōsaka & Nagoya

2009-09-16T18:54:00.009+09:00

My girlfriend and I went to USJ in Ōsaka for her birthday. To make things a little more interesting for me, she agreed that we could go to the Ōsaka Aquarium, since I have no interest in theme or amusement parks. Traveling with my girlfriend is an interesting experience. She usually makes a jam packed schedule with many things to do.

The last time I was in Ōsaka was in Nov 2005 (when I first came to Japan). I stayed in the Namba area and was wide-eyed and in shock about the differences from my home in Canada. During this visit, four years later, I was desensitized. Not many things in Japan surprise me anymore. The reason I am posting is because I would like to compare some of the differences I noticed between Ōsaka and Nagoya (where I live).

The first thing I noticed was that Osakans are not afraid to make eye contact. In Nagoya, at least in my experience, many try to avoid eye contact. Some, usually older generations, may stare but the average Nagoyan avoids it. This can affect your pick-up game in a serious way. For me, I like to make a bit of eye contact before I approach a girl. If eye contact is avoided, you’re left with no choice but to make your move from the blind side, which in my experience is a lot less successful. Maybe the surprise element throws us both off… In Ōsaka I get the eye contact, so my confidence increases.

Being a tourist of course I want to eat out and sample different foods. One problem: everyone smokes! Isn’t it interesting how my takoyaki, ramen, okonomiyaki and water all taste like cigarettes? Head count from two restaurants I went to in the Namba area.

Smokers: 16, Non-Smokers: 2 (girlfriend and I).
Smokers: 8, Non-Smokers: 4 (girlfriend and I; mother and daughter).

Everywhere I went I noticed there were so many smokers. (Is all of Osaka like this?) In Nagoya there are many smokers, but Osaka definitely has more. When in Tokyo I didn’t notice many smokers, then again I was there for less than a day.

In terms of fashion Osakans seemed a bit more basic than Nagoyans. Osakans were very fashionable, but not as many chara-chara or gyaru. But there were more young adults in Osaka that look like anime characters, e.g., face, hairstyle, hair color and fashion.

It also felt like there were fewer cars on the roads in Ōsaka. In Nagoya there is traffic pretty much everywhere, even though there is a great public transportation system. Possibly because of the proximity to all the car factories in Nagoya.

Please take note that these are generalizations.

Stress in Japan

2009-09-05T11:01:00.017+09:00

This is not exactly verbatim from the Japanese news special I saw, but here is my rough translation, mixed in with my observations (living in Japan) and opinion.

A soto komori is a Japanese person who works a temp., contract, short-term, part time or arubaito job for a few months in Japan, often while living with their parents (see also parasite singles) to save money. After saving up enough money, they then move abroad to a country with lower living expenses, e.g., Thailand and the Philippines. Most work for a few months in Japan and then live comfortably abroad without the stress of Japanese society. When they run out of money, they return to Japan to arubaito again. This cycle keeps repeating itself. There are 10,000 Japanese soto komori in Thailand. Many Japanese are doing this because living in Japanese society causes a lot of stress and the work-life balance is poor (see karōshi, death from overwork).

The ohitori sama is more common among women. This is also a result of ningen kankei stress in Japanese society, but it's a softer version of the previous. These women usually go to classy restaurants, bars, karaoke, trips and do most activities alone. They prefer to do activities alone because being around others means they have to ki wo tsukau: be concerned or mindful about what your friend or partner will think.

There are some great things about Japan, but some customs from traditional Japanese society are causing a lot of interpersonal problems (direct and indirect) for modern society.

I'd love to hear some opinions on this.

Summer Fun Pt. 3

2009-09-01T13:35:00.007+09:00

3. Animal Experience

I was lucky to have this experience. It happened on my way to Ōgaki, Gifu. Darren and I were biking near the highway (Route 258), and I saw something in the distance, between a forest and a field. It was a wild monkey. I got off my bike and followed it. As I got closer, I noticed he was carrying something: an armful of limes. When it noticed me, it got scared and dropped a few limes on the ground. I proceeded to move closer; therefore the monkey became hesitant to pick up its fruit. It slowly backed away, as I approached while I staring into its eyes (not recommended). I picked up its limes and followed after the monkey into the forest, but I lost it into the trees. I walked back to my bike and began eating a few of my recently picked up items. The monkey was beautiful and the limes were delicious.

This was enough to satisfy me for my third goal of the summer. But I also got to touch a lizard somewhere between Gifu and Shiga. It was in the mountains on our bike trail. I saw it and picked it up, but it squirmed out of my hands and ran away into the forest. The lizard was about 30 cm long, with a black back and gold/copper sides. I’ve never seen a lizard like this before, but it was pretty cool.

Summer Fun Pt. 2

2009-08-29T21:19:00.026+09:00

Here is part two of my Summer Fun post.

2. Bike to Kyōto

Supplies

Calorie Mate Jelly (4)
2L of Aquarius
2L of Pocari Sweat
2L of water
toothbrush

toothpaste
mouthwash
2 sweat towels
small bath towel
washcloth
2 t-shirts
2 polo shirts
2 pairs of shorts (soccer & casual)
3 pairs of socks
3 pairs of underwear
sunblock

Route
I originally wanted to take the Route 1 the whole way to Kyōto, but I was strongly advised against it by several friends, saying it would be too busy and dangerous with longs spurts of no civilization and big hills. I then asked about the Route 421 (the shortest route) and was again strongly advised against it; reasons being mountains, hills, wilderness, narrow roads, no stores and etc.

A Japanese friend that often goes to Kyōto advised me to bike north to Route 21 in Gifu, and from there head west towards Shiga and Lake Biwa. Once near Lake Biwa, get onto Route 8 and head south parallel to the lake, and keep following this route until arriving in Kyōto. This friend told me that this route would be longer, but much safer and easier to do on bike, with considerably less hills and more scenery. The distance of Route 1 directly would be 120 km; approx. 8 hours at my regular pace (non-stop). But the route we took, as advised by my friend, appeared at least double the distance.

Checkpoints

Kanie, Aichi (start)
Kuwana, Mie
Ōgaki, Gifu
Maibara, Shiga
Ōtsu, Shiga
Kyōto (finish)

Story
My Canadian friend Darren Leanage came and stayed over on Wed., so we could leave at sunrise on Thu. We woke up at 4:30 am, had a big breakfast with extra vegetables, since I assumed we wouldn't be able to eat any fresh vegetables for a while. After breakfast we double-checked our route and supplies, then left at about 6 am. The weather couldn't have been better.

We got to Kuwana with relative ease. It took approx. 90 min. to 2 hours to get there. Road conditions were great and we had lots of room to bike comfortably on the side. From there we headed north to Ōgaki. We knew this was going to be a long haul, just on the map alone, it looked really far. Not only that, but cycling on Route 258 north to Ōgaki was extremely dangerous. Japan is known for narrow roads, but it seemed worse at some points on the 258. The scariest was having transports and huge trucks fly by at 80 km/h non-stop; this really kept us awake and sharp. Even though we biked outside of the white line, there were moments when these trucks would pass just a few cm away from us. The worst was when we had to cross bridges or overpasses. It was either get hit by a Mack truck or fall off a bridge 20 m down into rocks or shallow water.

(On the way I also accomplished my third goal for the summer, which I will explain later in Pt. 3.)

We eventually arrived to Ōgaki in one piece, slightly in shock, adrenaline high, weakened and hungry. We didn't want to leave too far off the route for food. Why not McDonald's? It was 12 noon, we ate a lot and we were very tired from the journey, but still had much longer distances to travel.

After a 45 min. break we started to head west towards Lake Biwa and the next checkpoint, Maibara. This was when we started taking some side streets with Darren's very reliable iPhone GPS system. The GPS really saved us when we were out in the middle of nowhere. I have no idea when we got to Maibara or what we did there; we just kept biking like zombies while enjoying some of the beautiful scenery, especially mountains, in Gifu and Shiga. As it got darker and deeper into the forest on Route 21, we started to get bored, because we couldn't see much in the dark, other than the random transports. My bike had a small light, but navigation felt much like Silent Hill and Blair Witch, since we could only see a few meters in front of us.

At around 8 pm we ate at an okonomiyaki restaurant that looked pretty decent from the outside. But on the inside it was a little different; containers of sauces and etc. left open on the tables all day (not very sanitary). Also, when we got our meal, the lady spilled some of the batter on the table then proceeded to wipe it with her bare hand. But after biking under the sun all day (non-stop) since lunch, we really didn't care. We left and continued in the dark.

Eventually, we reached a random love hotel in the middle of nowhere and decided to check it out. We thought that this was the best possible choice for us in this situation. I'm sure not too many guys, especially gaijin, check into a love hotel together. We parked our 6-speed bikes into the private car parking space and headed up into our room. The room had a queen size bed, Jacuzzi, big screen LCD TV with PS3, free DVD rentals and a big couch. When confirming our stay details on the computer the price was 12,000 yen, rather than the advertised 8,500. I made a call to the front desk and they said check-ins after 10 pm get the 8,500 yen price. It was 8:30 pm and we had to make a choice.

stay and pay the extra
wait an hour and a half and get the discount price
keep biking (in the wilderness) until the next hotel

Naturally, we chose 3. And to think, things were just about to get romantic… We kept biking and then a good few hours away from the love hotel, we found a business hotel. We arrived at around 10 pm and gained some major distance on the map. It was 5,000 yen for a small single room. We couldn't care less at that point, so we decided to each take a room and crash for the night.

We woke up at 8 am, refreshed and ready to go. We went to a nearby 711 for a rice ball, protein jelly and an energy drink breakfast. At this point, we started to realize the route we took was three times longer than the one I wanted to take. The route was scenic, but extremely hard on our bodies and dangerous. I wanted to be back by Sat., and at the rate we were going it wouldn't be possible. We started making backup plans. Since we had so much time on our hands, I think we got up to Plan J. But the modified Plan G was our best way home:

rent a pick-up truck and drive home with our bikes in the back

Unfortunately, all rent-a-cars were out of cars in the Kyoto area. Then we thought about getting one in Shiga, and biking from Kyōto the next day to pick it up. After going through a long discussion and explaining our situation to the Mazda rent-a-car people in Shiga, they gave us the option to have the car sent to Kyoto (from Shiga), and return it to the Mazda branch near Nagoya station. We were charged a bit extra for the different return point (9,000 yen extra), but this was our best option: Modified Plan G. Total charges: 14,500 yen plus gas. After signing all the papers and knowing we would have a truck near Kyōto station the next morning, we felt a sudden burst of energy and continued our journey.

When we reached the Ōtsu checkpoint, we knew we were close. We skipped lunch and kept biking towards Kyōto. Once in Kyōto there were many hills and the majority of the roads were like spider webs. Some sections of Kyōto are well organized on a grid system, such as the immediate north of Kyōto station, but other places are the complete opposite. It would have been impossible to navigate without GPS. But we were relieved to finally complete our task. Our first priorities were to eat and then go to a public bath to remove the stink and stiffness from our bodies. We ate at a small local restaurant and were surprised that the owner could speak English. Apparently the Kyōto English level is one of the highest in Japan, thanks to the tourism. The locals were also pretty comfortable around foreigners and were very friendly to those who could speak Japanese. We asked the cook if he knew of any public baths in the area and I guess we were in luck, because he pointed right next door.

We finished our meal and headed to the bath house. It was a small local place and slightly different from Nagoya. It was the type where you have to bring all of your own things. In Nagoya, soap, shampoo and etc. are usually included. When we entered into the actual bathing area, we noticed a lot of men covered in tattoos, meaning yakuza. I immediately told Darren not to do anything stupid and to be mindful of his Japanese manners. The men around us kept talking to each other while looking at us, but they never said anything to us. It was nice of the old lady who runs the place to tell them to be nice to us.

One yakuza had a beautiful tattoo of a sumo wrestler wrestling a giant koi fish. I also noticed the water at this place was a lot hotter than places in Nagoya, by at least 10 degrees. We cleaned up, changed and left to explore the city a bit. We never did any sightseeing, but Kyōto is beautiful. The women are also more natural; less makeup and fashion more basic than Nagoya. Kyōto is also full of tourists. I saw many different groups of French, Italian and English speaking tourists. The staff at all stores we went to was also very helpful. I asked a man at a restaurant if he knew any nearby hotels. He then proceeded to check and call a few numbers to check the availability of places in the area. He told me that they were all booked, but gave me the number and drew a map to tell me where they were, just in case something opened up. This didn't bother us too much, because we were originally planning to stay in an internet café.

After searching for a while we realize that not only the hotels, but also all the internet cafes were full. Store clerks told us that there were several other internet cafes south of the Kyōto station, but going around the station was troublesome and also far from our Mazda pick-up point. Since we wanted to stay in the pick-up area we tried to take a nap in a local McDonald’s (yes, again, but we didn’t eat anything). It was really strange because this McDonald’s was crowded with people at midnight; people playing DS, a couple doing graphic design on laptop, a group of four housewives having coffee (WTF?!), students studying English, girls looking at wedding magazines, people sleeping and etc. I couldn’t sleep here though, because the AC was too cold.

We left and headed for a place to sleep outdoors. We found a really good place near a bank that was secluded by a short wall. We got some cardboard and made some bedding and used our backpacks for pillows. It was actually pretty comfortable. We quickly fell asleep for a few hours, but kept getting woken up by drunken people, people talking on their phone and cars (transports too) passing by. I should mention that this was on the Route 1, a very busy highway in Japan. Then, we realized why there were no homeless sleeping near this street: way too noisy and too many interruptions. Darren got bit by some insects, so he seemed pretty happy to leave this spot as well. We began looking for a new spot and then found an internet café that we previously missed. We decided to check it out and it was actually available! What a relief that was. Darren took the massage chair and I got the recliner; 1,500 yen for the night.

We woke up at 7:30 am. I had 2 Espressos and Darren had a coffee from the café to keep us awake during the upcoming drive home. We went to the Mazda rent-a-car on Route 1 to discover that this was NOT our pick-up point. The clerk made some calls and told us our truck was at the branch south of Kyōto station… How did we miss this? Most likely because we didn’t have a map of the pick-up point, and the only branch listed in the Mazda Kyōto pamphlet was on Route 1. Anyway, we rushed to the other branch, got the truck, loaded the bikes into the back, drove home via Route 1, took the truck back to the Nagoya Mazda rent-a-car branch and biked home.

New Workout Plan

2009-08-21T12:16:00.005+09:00

I am posting this pic because I want to document the progress and changes in my body based on activity level (and diet). Once a week I will report my activity level, and once a month I will post a pic. This is kind of my before pic.

I started working out again yesterday. My workout for the last few months has been mainly sports: soccer, basketball, running, swimming, biking (for transportation) and etc. And JFYI, I play sports for fun, not to workout. In terms of actual purpose specific exercise, I have been doing very infrequent and inconsistent workouts at the park by my house; variations of chin ups, dips, push ups, squats and etc. But this was once a week at most.

My new workout plan is to train hard more frequently with a program I designed, which is kind of similar to P90x, but more specific for the sports I play and results I want. I usually don't workout in the summer in Japan because it's way too hot/humid and I don't like using the AC. Now the heat/humidity is getting bearable so I started up again.

Yesterday was my workout day 2: plyometrics with Jumpsoles + soccer.

Summer Fun

2009-08-13T22:57:00.013+09:00

I made a list of the top 3 things I wanted to do this summer.

~~Climb Mt. Fuji~~
Bike to Kyōto (about 120 km)
Animal Experience

I plan to accomplish 2. next week. I will be taking a slightly longer but safer route than I originally planned. Rather than taking Route 1, I will be taking another highway to the north near Lake Biwa. My friend told me that this way will be more scenic and there are a lot less hills and traffic. The journey should take about 1-2 days max. I'm going with a Canadian friend.

For 3. I was planning to hunt, kill and eat a wild boar, but my critics cried in outrage and I also realized that it might turn into a longer and more dangerous adventure than originally planned. However, I might settle for fishing (never been fishing in Japan) or a visit to the turtle park in Shizuoka.

Kimchi Jjigae

2009-08-13T21:24:00.002+09:00

Another favorite. I eat Kimchi Jjigae at least once a week.

Japanese Cooking - Hisashi Buri

2009-08-02T20:09:00.006+09:00

Onions, potatoes, konnyaku and yellowtail amberjack (buri in Japanese) sauteed in sake, mirin, sugar and soy sauce.

Cucumber Kimchi

2009-07-15T13:24:00.019+09:00

I got a bunch of cucumbers from school and made kimchi with them.

I know with kimchi we're supposed to leave the vegetables ferment at room temperature for the first few days, then refrigerate. But what if our room temp. is 30C with 100% humidity? Japan, please: central heating and insulation... Recently the weather has been disgusting. Nagoya has consistently been the hottest city in Japan for the last month. It also happens to be the most humid.

Baked Fish

2009-07-07T07:10:00.005+09:00

Over 10 vegetables used in this meal, brown rice, Miso soup, Korean seawead and baked fish (I forget what kind) with tartar sauce.

Homemade Pizza

2009-07-06T22:24:00.006+09:00

I made everything from scratch; fresh tomatoes for the sauce and whole-wheat/regular flour for the dough. Pizza in Japan is way too expensive - make it yourself.

Homemade Kimchi

2009-07-06T22:20:00.005+09:00

Making my friends in South Korea proud. I love Korean and Kimchi. Korean over Japanese any day!

Shellfish Pasta

2009-07-06T22:15:00.007+09:00

After getting sick of Japanese all the time I started making Mediterranean. Shellfish pasta is an all-time favorite. I wish I could find whole-wheat pasta in Japan though...

Apple Pie

2009-07-06T22:13:00.004+09:00

One of my grandfather's specialties. I couldn't make it as good as him; he's on another level.

Beef & Broccoli

2009-07-06T22:11:00.004+09:00

A personal favorite that I learned to make in Canada (Chinese roommates).

BBQ @ Tsurumai Park

2009-07-06T22:09:00.006+09:00

Back in 2006 my friend Brett and I used to BBQ and get drunk at the park on Wednesday afternoons.

New Topic - Cooking

2009-07-06T15:41:00.016+09:00

Cooking wasn't necessary in my first year of university because I lived in a residence with a meal plan. In my second year, I moved into a shared apartment with two Chinese and one Syrian girl. At first I was eating cereal three times a day and a lot of fruit (my parents never taught me how to cook).

I started observing and asking a lot of questions while watching my roommates cook. I eventually started to cook real meals for myself, based on my roommates' cooking styles. Place after place, I lived with easterners. In my third year, I lived with the same Chinese girl, a new Taiwanese girl and a new Chinese guy. In my fourth year I lived with an all-Chinese cast (guys).

I noticed my Chinese roommates rarely ate out, but my Canadian friends (same age) often ate out. Also, my Chinese roommates could cook; my Canadian friends couldn't (and/or didn't). Hmm.... Cause or correlation?

From my second to fourth year I did a lot of cooking for myself and rarely ate out, mainly to save money, but also because I started to enjoy the food I made more than food I ate in restaurants. Maybe seeing different types of cuisine (and possibly my grandfather being an amazing French/Chinese chef) sparked an interest in cooking for me.

Kanji Study: DS Kanken Premium Review

2009-07-05T11:06:00.010+09:00

In my previous post I mentioned the many pros of Kanken DS3. However, there is a major flaw in this game that I discovered once I surpassed 9th kyu: they stop teaching you the kanji. For the 10th and 9th kyu you can go to a section called Nazori Gaki なぞり書き; this section is good but could be better. There should be different tracing exercises and additional readings.

For some reason after the 9th kyu there are no more kanji lessons. You can take the kanji drills and practice with them (assuming you already know the readings and how to write the kanji). But this is like taking a test before you learn the material, and learning from the test (and re-taking the test) is not very effective - especially for beginners.

I had a great time learning with this game at the beginner levels, but it doesn't make any sense that they removed the Nazori Gaki. Wouldn't it make more sense to have it for the more difficult kanji, rather than the beginner? This game is good for Kanken prep and drills, but I would not recommend it for learning kanji.

I had a great pace of study since getting my DS and I didn't want my progress to end. Therefore, I got a new 脳トレ学習 game, as they are categorized in Japanese. The new one I got is 250 Man Nin no Kanken Premium (250万人の漢検プレミアム). If you're planning on learning kanji thoroughly, from the beginning, this is the choice for you.This game (so far) seems more complete and in depth than Kanken DS3 Deluxe. Take the kanji learning/tracing section for example; it gives you all readings, even the rare ones. It also gives you 10 tries when tracing the kanji; the first few on auto-pilot (you'll see what I mean), the next few free-hand with the blueprint to follow, and the last 5 free-hand with no help. This kind of practice really forces the kanji into your head. I've mastered some difficult ones that I had trouble with before, thanks to this game.

If you're serious about learning Japanese, you will need writing skills. The 250万人の漢検プレミアム for DS will help you get there in an effective and result-producing way.

250 Man Nin > Kanken DS3

DS & Kanken DS3 Review

2009-06-23T11:33:00.006+09:00

I bought both of these items last Saturday and I can't stop playing, or should I say studying...

First off, kanken is short for kanji kentei 漢字検定 - meaning kanji exam. There are 10 kyus; 10th to 1st kyu (kyu = grade, level). These levels measure your kanji ability. 10th kyu is about the level of an early elem. student, while 1st kyu is about the level of a kanji Ph.D. An educated university graduate should be able to have a 3rd kyu level.

The Kanken DS3 game is great for learning kanji and prepping for the kanken. IMHO it is so much better than studying kanji from a textbook. Here are some reasons why:

portable & compact; the amount of info and exercises held on this game would amount to a few backpacks of textbooks
it's fun and it doesn't feel like you're studying, which is the natural way to learn
the guidance you get from this game would amount to 1000s of dollars in lessons (FYI the game was $25)
you can gradually increase your level; the game displays charts that analyze your abilities and tackles them accordingly
10 min. mach and 40 min. actual test simulations

The Paleo Diet

2009-05-28T14:00:00.006+09:00

I've been following it to the best I can for about a month now and I have noticed results. The biggest difference is that I'm more energetic and alert, even though I've been waking up 30 minutes earlier every day. Also, after school I used to always take naps, but now I don't feel as tired, so I usually go to soccer or basketball practice instead.

My muscles aren't as big as they were before, but I'm still muscular in a leaner way, giving me a lot more speed for sports.

Turtle Hunting

2009-03-15T20:25:00.006+09:00

Today was such a nice day that I had to go outside. My girlfriend and I decided to go for a run together, but unfortunately she got tired too quickly so we had to quit. Our run turned into a walk...

I wanted to take a new route to get to our destination point. Instead of the normal sidewalk we did riverside, and there were so many turtles in the river. I tried to catch a few, but it was nearly impossible to catch them; red-eared sliders (RES) are extremely fast and well aware of their surroundings.

We went home. Rina got ready to go have lunch with her friend. And I went to the store to buy a net. I wasn't ready to give up on those river turtles yet. When I went back to the river I was immediately greeted by the RES, but could not catch any. I did however manage to catch a slower and less aware Reeve's turtle. This Reeve's was about 20cm (from the front to the back of the shell). I caught him, inspected him, and released him back into the river. Shit, did this turtle ever stink... I have a pet Reeve's and mine does not smell anything like this one did.

NYR Updates & Japanese Speech

2009-03-10T12:08:00.007+09:00

In mid-January I made severall New Years Resolutions. I have actually kept up with them very well. The 10,000 yen per month savings has been no problem.

The 1-drink limit has been going well also, but there were a few exceptions. Since January I have only had more than one drink on two occasions (three drinks over a time span of about three hours, both times). Acceptable? I think so.

As for the study Japanese for 30 min. everyday goal, it's been good up until about the last two weeks. I did not exactly define what I meant by studying, though (my mistake). However, I read quite a bit in Japanese everyday and I also recently did a 20 min. (cut down to 5 min.) speech in Japanese about some of the things that surprised me in Japan (cultural differences and etc. between Canada and Japan). So, lots of Japanese practice and use DAILY. Acceptable? I think so.

I did the speech during the weekly Monday morning assembly in the gym in front of the whole school. The speech went well and everybody was stoked. My main message in the speech was that learning about another culture through real experience, e.g., study abroad, homestay, working holiday visa, and travel teaches you not only about the new culture, but also about your own.

Here is the Japanese speech for those who are interested. And yes, of course my girlfriend helped me a lot with it.

最後に今日のような大勢の人の前でお話をしたのは５年ぐらい前でした。大学の日本語スピーチ大会に学校の先生に無理やり参加させられました。そのスピーチでは血液型と性格について話しました。とてもいい経験になりました。今日はその日以来です。

今日は来日してから驚いたコトについて話したいと思います。まず、３年前来日して、全く違う世界に入った気がしました。大学で日本語が少し話せるようになったけど、日本の文化や習慣が一番難しかったです。

日本の学校とカナダの学校はだいぶ違うと思います。小中高の公立学校は無料です。学校は普通９月に始まり、６月に終わります。教室で習う生徒の数も普通２０－２５人が一クラスの人数です。公立には制服がありません。勉強しなかったり、宿題をしなかったりすると次の学年に進級ができません。

食べ物は、和食が美味しいと思いますが、値段がちょっと高いと思います。スーパーの野菜、果物、肉、パン、米でもは、日本で買うと3－5割ぐらいの値段です。しかし、日本のスーパーにはカナダのスーパーより、魚の種類があり、とても嬉しいです。それに旬のモノしかありません。

カナダでは、ほとんどの人が車通勤です。地下鉄やバスがある町は日本と比べると少ないです。日本人は地下鉄や列車をよく使います。それに自転車もよく使われます。すばらしいと思います。カナダももっとこのようになって欲しいです。

仕事についてですが、日本人の労働時間の多さにとても驚(おどろ)きました。カナダでは普通７から８時間です。残業もあまりありません。

日本では働かない女性が多いコトに驚きました。カナダでは、ほとんどの女性が働いています。結婚しても、子供がいても、働いています。家事は主婦の仕事ではなく、家族の仕事です。

次は中央暖房についてです。カナダではどこの家にも中央暖房があり、壁(かべ)の中にも寒さや暖かさが逃げない特別な装置がセットされていて、冬でも家の中では暖かくて、Ｔシャツでも快適に過ごすコトができます。日本の家は冬に寒くて、夏は逆に暑すぎます。

話は変わり、日本語で建前と言うコトです。欧米では建前はなく、思っているコトを心から話せと教えられます。建前はよくないモノと考えられています。率直な意見を相手に伝えるコトが正しいと思われています。外国人にとっては、これがとても難しいコトです。

なぜ本日これらのコトを話したかと言うと、海外や違うと所に行って、違う言葉で会話して過ごすのはいい経験になります。他の国の人の文化や、考え方を知るコトだけではなく、自分の国や、自分自身について学びます。一番大切なコトは、人について学ぶと、自分自身について学べると言うコトです。今年、海外研修でたくさんのコトを吸収して、たくさんのコトを体験をしてきてください。

Yamada High - Chapter 6 - Relationships With Non-OC1 Teachers

2009-03-05T11:45:00.017+09:00

At YHS there were quite a few teachers. I'm sure there were over 50, but less than 100. Since I had some free time on my hands I spent a lot of time talking with them. It was also great practice for my Japanese (and French, which I will get to later). Everyone at this school was very nice.

Matsuoka-Sensei
English teacher (grammar and etc., not OC1). One of the highest English levels at the school. He studied English for a while in Cleveland. I think this is one of the main reasons for his high fluency. His English is very clear and easy to understand. He really liked food, especially milk in the USA, compared to Japan. Many Japanese who study abroad tend to hang out with only Japanese (and sometimes Koreans), but MS seemed to have many local friends. Hence, the natural English. He played hockey and also learned some Spanish during his stay. He also travelled to Peru. He said that being able to interact and communicate with the locals is a great feeling. I couldn't agree more.

Izawa-Sensei
Math teacher. His desk was next to mine in the staff room. We talked together a lot. He likes joking around and having fun. He was always ordering different types of brain puzzles and games. He always had me try them, too. Some of them were really hard. He also loves to read the manga One Piece. He collects and reads them religiously. He lent 2 books to me at a time and usually quizzed me on them when I gave them back. Again, great Japanese reading comprehension practice. His questions were always in English, though. He can speak English pretty decently. It's his open mind and personality that enables him to communicate well.

Kōno-Sensei
Japanese teacher. She also sat near me; the desk behind me. Great personality, smart, interesting, funny, well-mannered AND beautiful. She always seemed so cute and pure. She taught me some really good Japanese words and expressions, too. She also loved the manga Slam Dunk (one of my favorites).

The French Guy
Not a teacher but he did administrative tasks in the office. Eccentric. He could not speak any English but his French was really good. We always talked in French. It really had the other teachers around us surprised. He said that a long time ago he went to France to study art and he fell in love with French culture. He told me about his paintings, experiences in France and etc. He was always a very fun person to talk to. He has a special energy that rubs off onto people.

Morioka-Sensei
Another English teacher but not OC1. Very friendly woman. Confident speaker. I talked to her a lot as well. She often told me about her family. She taught me some good Japanese expressions, too (such as metabo). She often gave me good advice about studying Japanese (in English).

Yamada High - Chapter 5 - The School Festival

2009-03-03T14:07:00.022+09:00

After I did a week of lessons the students had to start getting ready for the school festival. This is a major event in Japan. They’re usually held in September. All students must participate and do something to contribute to the school festival. The students had about a week to prep. for the festival; meaning I had no classes. I spent the majority of my time walking around the school and joking around with the students. I also did a lot of arm wrestling with the yanki (delinquent youth).

Source

At YHS there were different kinds of performances, games and cultural classes.

For the performances, some were dances that had me thinking these girls definitely watch MTV. The girls danced using sexually provocative moves, wore lots of makeup and dressed in skimpy costumes just like the music videos. The girls actually danced really well, though. Absolutely no complaints!

My favorite performance was a play. The class acted a 20 min. horror on stage in the gym. All the lights were out and the story and music were really creepy. It was extremely well put together; so well that a few girls actually passed out during the climax scene. The story, music and etc. reminded me of Silent Hill.

Most of the games were really similar to the games you would play at an amusement park, only the prizes were lousier. However, the actual games were usually pretty fun. There was a kind of homerun derby, basketball, fishing, diving in a pool of newspapers to find the dragon balls and etc.

The cultural classes were Japanese tea ceremony, flower arrangement, art and etc. I went to the tea ceremony one. They taught us how to drink Japanese matcha the proper-traditional way.

The festival was held on a Friday. And for those who couldn’t attend on Friday could see the exact same show on Saturday. Most parents and students from other schools came on Saturday. I remember this Saturday was really hot and quite a few people passed out from heat stroke.

Yamada High - Chapter 4 - The Grind

2009-02-26T12:19:00.014+09:00

Not that my work was actually difficult in any way, I just decided to title this chapter The Grind because I was getting into the regular swing of things.

In the morning I took the train (Tsurumai Line) from Shiogama-guchi to Kamiotai. So everyday I was going from east to northwest Nagoya. In the mornings the train was jam packed with salarymen and OLs (as they call them in Japan). But when I got near Kamiotai (the last station) it was nearly all high school students. I nodded and said hi to most students but I rarely ever conversed with any of them on the train.

Once a week I had to get ready for class, because basically I taught the same lesson 12x per week; meaning I had a lot of free time on my hands. Where did I spend my free time? Usually on the school PCs (facebook, mixi, wikipedia and etc), studying Japanese and when I could, I would join other classes. Girls gym class was my favorite. I wanted to join Japanese, Science, History and etc, but when I asked the teachers, their yes reply felt like a no. This is called shakōjirei in Japanese (社交辞令).

When teaching I did not feel like the assistant at all. I felt that I was the main teacher. Usually the Japanese Teacher of English (JTE) was on the side and would support me during the lessons, not the other way around. I made the lesson plans and was alone in front of the class. The JTE was usually on the side and would help if anything needed to be explained in Japanese.

Next time: Chapter 5 - The School Festival

Yamada High - Chapter 3 - My First Classes

2009-02-23T09:19:00.018+09:00

In Japan the school year starts in April. I started at this school in September because the previous teacher quit because she wanted to travel around England... I don't know the details but apparently a boyfriend is involved... So basically I was started at the midpoint of the textbook. The Eng. Dep. told me that for OC1 week 1 should always be textbook material and for week 2 we should do language related games and activities. OC1 classes run on this 2 week split.

For my first lesson they told me I should introduce myself to the students.
I printed off some A4 pics of family, hometowns with a 10 question handout. The students would have to fill-in the blanks based on my presentation. For example

Derek's favorite sports are ___________ and _____________.

At the bottom of my questionnaire I also wrote

聞きたい事があったらぜひ聞いてください。
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask :)

It went very well. And the part for the students to ask me questions proved to be the most interesting. Some of my favorite questions were

Do you have a girlfriend/Are you married? Is your girlfriend cute? Do you love her? Does she love you? What is your favorite Japanese food? Can you eat sushi? Why did you come to Japan? Who is your favorite Japanese celebrity? Do you know Exile? What is your phone number?

The girlfriend question was definitely the most asked. It was always the first question at the end of my presentation. Most of the questions were asked to me in Japanese, but I always repeated the question in English after them to show them the proper way to ask. And I did NOT give my phone number (even though I may have wanted to, just joking, I swear).

A lot of the students were really surprised about how young I was. I was 23 at the time. They were also really surprised that I have 2 much younger brothers (Robert in junior high and Dane in elementary).

My first classes went really well. And I found that teaching in public school (especially @ Yamada) was MUCH MUCH MORE enjoyable than eikaiwa.

Next time: Chapter 4 - The Grind

Yamada High - Chapter 2 - The Teachers Room

2009-02-20T09:37:00.020+09:00

I left the principal's office feeling pretty confident. On the way to the teachers room I saw a few girl students in the hallway. They said

あっ？イタリア語の先生がきた！

Which basically means

the Italian teacher came (or is here).

I have no idea why they said this but I thought it was interesting.

When we entered the teachers room there was a lot of bowing in unison... it sure is interesting to watch Japanese culture unfold before your eyes.

I met the vice-principal. He gave me a warm handshake and said hello. He spoke to me in English. His delivery was slow but well-spoken. Then I met the English department. I think there were about 12 members total but I would only be working with 3; the OC1 (Oral Communication 1) teachers. The head of the English Department (Mrs. Sakagawa; very polite and friendly) then showed me my schedule. It looked pretty easy. (12) 50 min. classes and a once per week English Club on Tues. for 40 min. My classes were organized from 1A-1F, 40 students per class but for OC1 they decided to split the class in half for more effective teaching. 20 students X 12 classes = teaching 240 students per week. School for me would start everyday at 8:30 and finish at 4:30 (even though all classes finished at 3:10).

I was next introduced to the OC1 teachers.

Mr. Itō - A polyglot with native Japanese, advanced German and English and intermediate French. He majored in German literature and I was very happy to find out he enjoys speaking French and playing Go. He is very critical of Japanese bureaucracy and culture, extremely knowledgeable and wise in many things. He keeps to himself a lot and prefers not to be bothered but he has a great sense of humor. Every summer he travels around Europe to avoid the Japanese humidity and to enjoy the European lifestyle. He has an official Japanese/English translating license, incredible vocabulary and has been teaching high school English for around 25 years.

Mr. Katsuta - The comedian. He loves to laugh and joke around. Great to talk to, very friendly and laid back. When he was young he wanted to be a pro soccer player. When I met him he was in his 2nd year at YHS but before that he taught at a night school (which he has many interesting stories about). In Japan most Japanese teachers of English speak mostly Japanese in English class, NOT Mr. Katsuta. Our classes together were always pretty near to English Immersion.

Mrs. Ōki - A very sweet older woman who actually was in her first year at YHS. Before that she was teaching junior high school English but one of the YHS teachers went on maternity leave and she became the replacement. Her English was not as good as the other English teachers but she was interesting to work with and always really friendly. I think she was originally from Kansai because her dialect and personality were of the Kansai flavor.

Next time: Chapter 3 - My First Classes

Yamada High - Chapter 1 - My First Visit

2009-02-19T15:41:00.017+09:00

The first time I went to the school was in late August 2007. I had to go with the CEO of my company. She picked me up at the station nearest to the school in her SUV. She's a Japanese woman that speaks English very well. We made small talk in the car while we headed to the school. When we got to the school I was surprised. I found that the school had a striking resemblance to the prison on the TV show "Prison Break" (but without the grass).

As we entered and took off our shoes we got into our Japanese slippers then headed to the secretary. The CEO was doing all the talking at this time and I was just keeping it cool in my recently dry cleaned suit. The secretary then took us into the principal's office. His office was huge; easily the size of a 2 bedroom apartment in Japan. He even had a big coffee table with 2 couches facing each on the long ends and 2 fancy chairs facing each other at the short ends.

The principal was tall and lanky (about 180 cm and 60 kg). He was extremely calm and always smiling.

He asked us to sit down. The CEO and I both sat on the couch, the principal sat in a chair diagonal to us and two other men that I had never seen again for the following eight months at this school sat on a couch opposite to us. They asked me to introduce myself (in Japanese) so I did so in a very simple way: name; where I'm from; how long I've been in Japan; a little bit about my work history in Japan and what I like to do in my free time.

こんにちは、デレク・ブレイズと申します。デレクとお呼び下さい。東カナダ出身で日本にきて２年目です。以前英会話で働いていました。子どもや大人に英語を教えました。趣味はバスケや筋トレです。よろしくお願いいたします。

All the jaws dropped. They were all surprised about my Japanese level. I then proceeded to tell them that I had been in Japan for almost 2 years now, so I should at least be able to introduce myself. This just amazed them. The principal then said in Japanese "Yeah, Canadians are pretty good workers. We've had trouble before with the English and Americans..." I just nodded and took a drink of the green tea that was on the table for me.

Stay tuned for: Chapter 2 - The Teachers Room

Yamada High School

2009-02-17T15:12:00.008+09:00

All of these posts will be in retrospect. I will try to make them as chronological as possible. I was an AET (Assistant English Teacher) at this school from September 2007 to March 2008. I am doing this because I want to share my experiences with those interested in Japan. I will try my best to write in a socio-anthropological way. My goal is to do at least one entry per week, highlighting all of my most memorable and interesting experiences at Yamada High.

Bed Project pt. 2

2009-02-09T22:18:00.005+09:00

I found an easier way...

Plan B

Make a bench the same height/length as the bed.
Put it next to the wall side of the bed.
Place the new double size mattress over the single bed frame AND the new bench attachment.

Perfectly sturdy and economical.

Although it's completely unnoticeable, here's what the bench looks like without the mattress on top of it. Can you see the Jumpsoles under my bed?

Bed Project

2009-02-03T11:09:00.003+09:00

No nothing sexual, but it may lead to so. My new project is to improve my current single bed, by transforming it into a double bed. I'll keep the length/height as it is, but I'll be adding 40cm in width. The bed frame is wooden so it should be pretty easy to do. I could go all out and buy a new bed frame, but then I would have to spend more money in the disposal of my old bed and then more again to purchase a new one. Waste less because it's cool.

I currently sleep in a single bed every night with my girlfriend. We usually sleep for 7-8 hours per night but sometimes it doesn't feel like we had a deep sleep. Lack of space is most likely the cause of this. I'll be ordering a new double mattress online and I'll be building the bed frame this weekend. The tech teacher that took three months to make a link (see previous post) will be lending me the tools from the school and I'll be buying the wood from the local home center.

I'll be sure to provide before and after pics for all you hardcore readers. Stay tuned!

Tobishima Junior High School Website

2009-02-02T21:40:00.007+09:00

Earlier this school year in September I made an English website for my junior high school. At the time students were getting ready for the school festival so I had a lot of free time. I decided to use that time productively. I reviewed the content on the Japanese site and translated most of the things that might be of interest. I created a new design and took some pics from the school network.

It took roughly a few days to make. Unfortunately it took the tech teacher about three months to add a link to it onto the original Japanese site. Once he uploaded it in early January there were some problems and I wanted to redo the page. I simplified and changed the design and reduced the original size of 50 MB to 3 MB by reducing pic size and quality and also by cutting unimportant content.

If you're interested in learning more about Tobishima Junior High School in Aichi, Japan go to http://www.tobishima.ed.jp/ and click on the English Here link.

New Year's Resolutions

2009-01-14T09:54:00.008+09:00

Everyone makes them. Not many follow through with them. I disagree with them. I think as soon as people find a fault or something they should improve, they should take the necessary steps immediately.

BUT, there is no mistake in making goals. Easy and specific goals are the easiest to accomplish. The more vague the easier it is to weasel your way out. A specific reason to accomplish your goals is also useful, and if you can add pressure to them all the better. In my case I told my girlfriend that I would give her 100,000 yen (roughly $1000) if I fail my resolution. The more pressure, the harder I will try to succeed.

I made mine in mid-Dec. and changed them around a bit since then.

A 1-drink limit (social events only). I prefer not to have beer but under certain circumstances there are exceptions. Wine, sake and similar drinks are the preferred choice. REASON: Alcohol has a serious effect on people who are active. It dehydrates you, reduces your muscle content and impairs performance on a variety of tasks.

To study Japanese for at least 30 min. every day after school or before bed. If I skip a day it's double the next day. REASON: To prepare for the N2 of the JLPT this summer. The N2 is the second highest grade of Japanese proficiency; N1 being the highest.

To save 10,000 yen (roughly $100) per month. REASON: I never saved before just because I was always making huge payments on my student loan. The loss in interest rates outweighed the benefits of a savings account. However, the interest rates have fallen with $CAD while the Japanese yen has risen--- allowing me to have a bit more flexibility with my money. Also, I'm having surgery in March and it should cost between 200,000-300,000 yen (roughly $2000-3000) with insurance. Savings are always great for emergencies and compulsive shopping sprees.

I also began many other changes of personal development. They can not really be included in NYRs but they are personal goals. They include: decluttering, HST-specific training, drinking lots of water (2L/day), no coffee (I never liked or drank coffee before but it's offered to me all the time in Japan; from now on I will just politely decline) and checking my inbox only once per day. REASON: because I'm trying to be as productive and as effective as possible in all areas of life and work. Actually, I'm not sure if that's a reason but it is my goal.

Economical Solutions for Semi-Aquatic Pet Turtles

2008-12-04T17:47:00.024+09:00

If you're planning to buy turtles, but can't afford the start up costs, here are some ways to save money.

The Tank
Instead of buying a really expensive aquarium, head to your local hardware store and look for a large plastic container. It should be about 90% cheaper than the price you would pay for an aquarium of equal size. Mine is quite large and I got it for $7. Plastic containers are clear but not fully transparent. The turtles will feel a little more at ease in this environment. Plastic containers are also light and easy to move.

The Basking Platform
There are many options for basking. Bricks, large river rocks, beach wood, and etc. The problem with these is that your turtle will lose swimming room because the platform takes up space in the water.

A great solution for hatchling to medium size turtles is to go to a dollar store and buy a sponge tray (for the kitchen). They have suction cups to stick on the side of your tank, they can easily be tilted or slanted to make climbing out of the water easier for your turtles. $1!

Achilles

2008-11-05T13:58:00.012+09:00

I injured my Achilles tendon playing basketball before I went to Canada. I had lost all functionality in the lower left part of my leg. In late September I made a full recovery plan.

No running or leg exercise of any sort, except for biking.
The RICE method (Rest Ice Compress Elevate).
Glutamine supplement.

Glutamine is similar to protein, as in it helps your body repair when injured. It's also recommended to patients after surgery to help speed up recovery.

Engrish Education in Japan

2008-07-16T22:17:00.010+09:00

So many things can be said about English in

Japan

Most English classes start in middle school. Elementary schools have occasional visits from an AET, but some schools have their own. Most middle and high schools have their own regular AET. Some kids go to an Eikaiwa or Juku.

My Analogy

Young kids show a lot of potential and have great phonetics, but most of that is usually destroyed in middle school by the over-emphasis on directly teaching grammar. Imagine if one takes basketball classes, learning the rules of basketball and studying how to play. Would that learner actually be able to play? Most likely not!

Improvement

From the beginning of middle to the end of high school there is little improvement in terms of speaking ability. High school graduates can usually introduce themselves, talk about likes and dislikes and understand simple written English. Though in terms of being able to communicate effectively with a native speaker, I would rate the ability as low.

Not the students fault at all in the majority of cases, they’re English is a product of their education system. Six years of language study and still be a beginner? Doesn’t make sense!

Solution
More content learning, e.g., social studies and math taught in English only (English immersion). Learn the basics at a young age and slowly progress to understanding, communicating and thinking in English. Of course the teachers would have to have some competence in English, which should be expected, right?

French immersion schools in Canada produce bilingual students. I do understand that French is more similar to English than English is to Japanese. But with the exception of New Brunswick, French Immersion students rarely encounter French; it's basically only at school, and for select classes only. If you live in a major city in Japan, it's not always correct but English is everywhere.

This may not seem important in any way to people who have never been to

Japan

, but if you’ve been or worked in

Japan

you would certainly understand. With all the emphasis, effort, and time placed on learning English, why not try a more efficient way that can produce results?

Engrish, aka Japanese-English, aka Wasei-Eigo is everywhere; on TV, the radio, billboards, clothing, ads, and etc. For examples check out the http://www.engrish.com/ website. You’ll be sure to have a laugh and I’m sure even be confused.

Contracts, Kanie and Driver's License

2008-07-11T23:58:00.014+09:00

I moved to Kanie, which is just west of Nagoya. The reason for this was that the Nagoya Board of Education (BoE) decided to change their contracts with ALTs: 190 work days reduced to 140 per year, and of course a pay cut (25%).

I wanted to stay in Nagoya, but searching for privates or getting another side-gig to pay the bills is stressful. Some areas decided to stay with the 190-day contracts, which is still a great deal of time off per year (6 weeks summer, 3 weeks winter, 3 weeks spring, and all national holidays).

I got a Japanese drivers license. There is so little effort involved in getting it if you’re Canadian. Americans have to go through all kinds of tests and pay a lot more. The school I now work at is not commutable by train, though there is a bus, but it’s not as convenient. Altia Central (my recruiting agency) kindly provided me a company car. They pay the gas and the insurance, but it's for commuting to/from school only.

I work at one of the richest public junior high schools in J

apan,

Tobishima Junior High School. So rich that they have solar panels on the roof and sell that power to the local power company. Also, all of their 8^th grade students have a fully paid 1-week study abroad trip to Rio Vista, California. Two of the days are a homestay with a local family (two students per family).

Kanie

Land tax is more expensive; 9000 yen more than in Nagoya
The only foreigners are Brazilian and Filipino
My apt. is in a pretty convenient area
Convenience store in front
Home center couple min. down the street
5 min. from the JR and Kintetsu station
Close to several grocery and movie stores
Mall down the street

Parasite Singles

2007-12-29T11:56:00.006+09:00

This term was first used by Masahiro Yamada of Tokyo Gakugei University in his book The Age of Parasite Singles. A parasite is basically an organism that feeds off another organism, but contributes nothing to the host. In Yamada's book he talks about how modern Japanese parents are the host and their offspring are parasites.

Since the 1970s this phenomenon has being steadily increasing. It is now said that in Japan, approximately 60% of men and 80% of women between 20-34 live with their parents. 85% do not help with the living expenses and 50% receive additional financial aid from their parents. WIKI

Usually these parasite singles stay with their parents until they marry. Some say they stay with their parents because it's too expensive to live independently. I don't think it's an economical problem since young professionals, even office ladies, could afford to live on their own, granted their lifestyle choices.

Parasite singles often spend their money on brand name goods and trips abroad; very little of their disposable income is spent domestically or on domestic goods. Therefore, very little of this money is returning to the Japanese economy.

Parasite singles have also affected the age of marriage and fertility rate; Japan has one of the lowest fertility rates in the developed world.

Overall, I think living on your own is good for yourself, because you develop skills and learn how to survive efficiently on your own. All of my friends who grew up in Canada had pretty much the same situation as I did. In high school most of us worked part-time jobs and helped out around the house (at least a little bit). In U it was basically the same thing; some of us stayed home and lived with our parents to save money. But they real joy of U is getting away from your parents. Living in a dorm or a cheap ass apartment, while getting experience and developing life skills. Rarely do the people who live on their own go back to dwell with parents. After graduation most parents charge their children rent and give them chore overload. It's like the parents are saying

"We love you, but it's time for you to get the fuck out and grow up..."

After U graduation, we have the opportunity to work full-time, so we leave the nest. I like this system.

I blame the bubble economy parents of Japan. Parasite singles rarely develop social or life skills, nor never fully mature as an adult. This is going to damage to the Japan; social problems are already rampant.

Eikaiwa to AET

2007-10-28T00:32:00.004+09:00

In late Aug. I had a job interview with a public school recruiting agency. The position was for an Assistant English Teacher (AET) position. At the time I was working for the biggest Eikaiwa (English Conversation School). I had the interview and it went well. I was offered the position on the spot, and arrangements for training were already being made.

Shitty Job -> Interview -> Hired -> Resignation -> Training -> New Job (This all happened within period of less than three weeks.)

I'll be teaching 10th grade English with a Japanese Teacher of English (JTE). I'm scheduled to teach 12 lessons per week, English Club on Tuesday, and I should join other clubs on the other days.

Bali, Indonesia

2007-07-04T23:52:00.003+09:00

I went to Bali, Indonesia. $700 for the return flight, five days in hotel and personal charter service around the area. Growing up in Canada, visiting the US a few times and now living in Japan has been educational. It's interesting to see how cultures are different and alike. The trip to Bali was my first time to a developing country.

The Balinese guide, Yuri spoke very little English, but his Japanese was top-notch. The driver was Balinese as well but he never said anything (kind of like I Need Money from How High). Rina and I communicated in Japanese with Yuri. We told him what we wanted to see and where we wanted to go, and he told the driver. This was a two day service that we paid for, useful for up to 12 hours per day. Well worth the money.

Here are some things that I found interesting...

The street vendors are seriously desperate for your money; they will put their arm around you and call you buddy, boss, pal, amigo et al... just ignore them and don't make eye contact or even try to respond unless you're interesting in fake Oakley's for $20 that you can bargain down to $2.
You can see families of three riding on scooters; husband in front, wife in the back, newborn in the middle. There is heavy bike traffic in Bali, these scooter bikes outnumber cars at least 10:1. The way these people drove had me anticipating an accident but luckily I didn't see any, even when scooters took 90 degree turns at 60 km/h.

The locals are laid back and spend a lot of time just sitting around outside on the streets ... kind of like the steps back home. I liked this. In Japan things are so busy and nobody has anytime.
The women have an exotic touch, dark skin and eyes, slim bodies with slight curves and natural skin. At the massage parlor an attractive woman gave me a full body massage but her hand strength was like the Hulk. Such a delicate looking woman with such power.
There are temples and stone sculptures everywhere. If you're interested in sightseeing ruins, here it is. The beaches are beautiful, and crowded with Australians. The Japanese are into sightseeing. I'm into chillin'.

Everything is cheap. This was amplified by the fact that I was coming from Japan. Japan is the type of place where people pay $6 for a cup of coffee; where watermelon is $40 and smaller than a basketball. In Bali you can get a fresh coconut filled with different kinds of 100% natural fruit juice for $1; a meal with a good size steak for $6.
Wild monkeys that steal from people in the parks. There's this forest near the edge of a cliff, the drop is about 30 m down into the water (in some places rocks). The monkeys like to run around this area and mess with people.

My hotel was 10 seconds from the terrorist attack site of 2002-10-12 which over 90 Australians and 100 locals were killed. Like most monuments, it draws loiterers. It's a great place to sit down and chat because it's next to a busy street. Lots of people passing by and lots of things to see while sitting on the steps.

Bali was great. I highly recommend.

JLPT N3 Pass

2007-03-03T22:52:00.005+09:00

I took the annual Japanese Proficiency Test (JLPT), in early Feb. I got my results back and I passed the level 3 with an 83% (about 20% above the standard deviation). Meaning I know at least 300 Chinese characters (Kanji) and can take part in everyday conversation. The test had 3 parts: writing-vocabulary; listening; reading-grammar. The test could easily be done in 90 minutes, but the way it's administered turns it into a full day event. Wonderful.

I've been doing some translating work and I've realized that English to Japanese isn't that hard, but putting Japanese into natural English is another story. The complexities of the Japanese language is what really gets in the way of basic communication. English is straight and simple. Japanese is all about respect and hierarchy. French & romance go hand in hand. Language and its influence on personality... people write books on this shit.

It's getting warmer and I'm hyped to ball & skate. Winter has limited my life. If you know me, you know all I do is stay inside all winter. I've been this way since middle school. I'm more suited to a southern climate.

Quotes From Work

M: Are you going to Pizza Hut? Can you get me something?
D: Stop askin me to buy you shit. I bought you 100% juice and a salad yesterday. Today I'm going to Pizza Hut and I'm getting 1 Hawaiian A-Set with spicy chicken and OJ and nothing for you unless you pay me.
M: I'm sorry. Do you really want the money from yesterday?
D: Yes, I want the money. I'm not your daddy. Where's my money?

NEW Sean P

Off my favourite album of 2006 by Game and Kanye

Comparing Canada & Japan

2006-12-19T15:51:00.015+09:00

After a year of living in Japan I decided to make a return back to Canada to see my family for Christmas.

Here are some of the differences I noticed in Canada

Girls have curves and like to reveal them. Just about every girl I see wears tight fitting jeans and low cut shirts, the avg. cup size must be two sizes bigger. In Japan women usually dress conservatively and especially enjoy short skirts and brand names. Young Japanese women are very high maintenance.
Service in Canada can't compare to the service in Japan. I waited 30 min. at Taco Bell for a #2 with chicken. After I got it, it was cold. This is unimaginable in Japan.
Nobody wears suits. Including every city outside of Japan that I've visited so far on this trip back, I haven't yet seen one person wearing a suit. But, in the land of the rising sun 4/5 men on the train are wearing suits and many women wear office lady uniforms.
You can pay with an interac/credit card anywhere. But this is only doable at major department stores in Japan.
Food is so big and cheap. Go to the grocery store and you can buy 4L of milk, 2L of coke, big ass vegetables and boxes of cereal, 200 tablets of Tylenol for $10... Deodorant! In Japan fruits and vegetables are half the size for double the price.
Ethnic diversity. So many colors of people—we truly do have a cultural mosaic and I think we work hard at trying to integrate our cultures together. Not Japan.
Homes have central heating. Inside is warm and cozy, while outside is cold during winter. It's perfect for relaxing and watching TV or getting naked with you significant other. Japanese prefer space heaters and air conditioners, which by my standards, are expensive and inneficient.
People have free time. Everybody seems to have lots of time to relax and to do the things they like. The laid back lifestyle and normal work schedule has everybody happy, well rested and sociable. 60 hours/week at work is not rare in Japan.
People are fat. People of all ages are fat, at least by Japanese standards. I've lost weight (and maybe even height) since I've been in Japan. In Canada it's not rare for 6th graders to be heavier than I am. Japanese are usually lean and slender, even after they pass their middle ages.
Everybody is direct and open with each other. After a year of living in Japan, I've gotten to know many different people. A high ratio of young to middle-age Japanese are nervously timid. But, I'm sure they think Canadians are fat and lazy.

Reminiscing About Skateboarding

2006-08-21T21:27:00.006+09:00

I started skateboarding when I was about 15. I was living in Newfoundland and I remember seeing people on the streets doing tricks and it just really got my attention. In fall '99, I was always skating in the streets by my house and at an underground parking lot.

I left Newfoundland at the mid-point of grade 11. I moved to New Brunswick and this was when I first really got into doing tricks. I remember skating for 6-7 hours a day then going home and watching skate videos for another couple hours. My crew hit the streets a lot and got hassled by the cops on a daily basis. Tickets and court dates didn't really matter to us. Skateboarding kind of kept me away from a lot of the substance abuse problems that most little towns have.

A lot of people really hate on skateboarding and this kind of urban culture. At this time in high school skateboarding was a positive outlet for me. A lot of people at my school dropped out, some are in jail or selling drugs, others unemployed or aren't really going anywhere with their lives now. I wonder if I weren't skateboarding, would I be in the same position as they are now?

RBK DGK Stevie Williams

Shout Outs
Nacho, Tiny, Dre, Pat, Marc D, Chevy, Pete's Frootique, Cap, BZA, Malloy, Clancy, Kinoc, Ryan Lambe, Nicols, Dru, Roussie, J Meister, Regan, Lespy, Jermaine, Mike M, Jesus and anybody that I left out—good memories skating with everybody.

The Great Poutine

2006-07-25T21:39:00.004+09:00

Poutines (pronounced poo-teen) are one of the most popular foods on the Canadian east coast. A Poutine is made with French fries, cheese curds and gravy but sometimes people add other ingredients like fried chicken or bacon. You can get the generic Poutines at almost any fast-food chain on the east coast; McDs, A&W, Burger King, New York Fries and even KFC. This French Canadian food is a delicacy in Quebec and New Brunswick, but you can find it sometimes in Nova Scotia.

It all began in rural Quebec in the late 1950s. Fernand Lachance of Warwick, Quebec claims that one day in 1957 an impatient customer ordered cheese curds while he was waiting for his French fries. To mask the fact that the French fries were cold they decided to put hot gravy on them . When he got his order he decided to combine the fries and hot gravy with his cheese curds. While combining the ingredients Lachance hollered Ã§a va faire une maudite poutine ("this is gonna make a fucking mess!"). Linguists have no record of the word being used before 1978, but from this time on it's been associated with the cheese covered French fries topped with gravy. And golly wee it tastes good!

Quotes from the Pros

2006-07-17T20:32:00.004+09:00

All my life I was really into sports, especially football and basketball. Everybody around me was competitive... I used to follow the stats, play on the school teams, buy the games for Sega Genesis and PlayStation, watch Sportsdesk every morning before school, gamble... anything to do with sports I was down. I really looked up to a lot of the pros, here's a few quotes from some of the best athletes and personalities in the sports world.

"I have not talked to him, but I have been eating a lot of tuna." - Emmitt Smith, when asked about new Cowboy coach Bill "The Big Tuna" Parcells

"I don't have to worry about what people think of me, whether they hate me or not. People hated on Jesus. They threw stones at him and tried to kill him, so how can I complain or worry about what people think?"- Philadelphia Eagles WR Terrell Owens, comparing himself to Jesus (7/20/05)

"I don't want to fight no more ... I don't have the stomach to do it no more. I don't even kill insects in my house. I just don't kill anything no more. I used to kill pigeons, rip their heads off, 'You dirty rat pigeon!' I don't even have the heart to kill an animal no more."- Mike Tyson, after losing to Kevin McBride (6/11/05)

"If women weren't present, I'd take off my shirt and show you how good I look. Trust me, 37-year-olds can't do what I do." - Baltimore Ravens corner Deion Sanders, on his physical status (6/9/05)

"Randy Moss is like a beautiful woman who can't cook, doesn't want to clean and doesn't want to take care of kids. You really don't want her, but she's so beautiful that you can't let her go. That's how Randy is. You have to take the good with the bad."- Deion Sanders, during an appearance on Sporting News Radio (1/13/04)

"I know one day, I'm going to wake up and it's (the soreness) not going to be there. When that day comes, whoever we're playing, they're going to be in trouble. I've been playing like Erick Dampier."- Miami Heat C Shaquille O'Neal, on his thigh bruise (5/14/05)

"And to say if we had Brett Favre, that could mean that if you had another quarterback of a different descent or ethnic background, we could be winning. That's something I thought about and said, 'Wow.' It was definitely a slap in the face to me. Because as deep as people won't go into it, it was black-on-black crime."- Donovan McNabb, on comments made by Terrell Owens earlier this season (2/2/06)

"I have to be assertive, and if the ball doesn't go in, it gives us a good rebounding opportunity."- Los Angeles Lakers G Kobe Bryant, on why he shoots so much (12/9/05)

"You could see at any given time, our offense can move up and down the field. We've got a hellacious offensive line and a great quarterback. It's up to us to make it happen. We can give anyone the ball and move it up the field. This is probably the best offense I've been in, from high school all the way to the pros." - Aug 13th, 2005, Randy Moss, After his first preseason game with his new team, the Oakland Raiders

"It ain't nothing but 10 grand. What's 10 grand to me? It ain't shit. Next time I might shake my dick." - Jan 13th, 2005, Randy Moss, After being fined $10,000 by the NFL for pretending to pull down his pants and moon the crowd after scoring a touchdown

Learning Japanese: Respect, Modesty & Politeness

2006-06-26T22:47:00.006+09:00

I started learning Japanese three years ago from a girl studying to be a Japanese teacher. She was teaching people introductory Japanese, e.g., hiragana, katakana, and self-introductions. Eventually, I enrolled into Japanese classes at St. Mary's University (SMU) in Halifax, NS for two years. I had/made some Japanese friends, so I had chances to practice outside of the classroom (in natural situations).

I recently bought a second-hand JP/EN electronic dictionary (Casio XD-V9000) from a fellow NOVA teacher from Halifax, NS in Japan. Coincidentally we also went to the same junior high school. He was a grade above me, but I remembered his face, and he remembered mine. Small world, isn't it?