Fun with Japanese Formality

Yesterday, I had my first real class, where we learned the proper way to greet someone for the first time. They don't teach us formal meanings, because we are learning like we were 2 again--we basically learn by association. There isn't really any logic or technical structuring behind it, because they don't want us to overanalyze. This is a great thing, as far as I am concerned. It saves me a big headache.

Anyways, we learned phrases yesterday which I assumed amounted to "how do you do?' and "pleased to meet you." Today I was studying phrases and Hiragana (basic characters) in my textbook, when I came across those phrases again. It turns out I was right about what they mean, except they don't actually mean how they are used. It turns out that literally, hajimemashite means "I am meeting you for the first time," and that douzo yoroshiku means "please be nice to me," even though they are used to express "how do you do" and "pleased to meet you" when you first meet someone. Oh, you crazy Japanese!

Also, from now on I will likely refer to Japan as Nihon, since that's what it actually is called.

Sorting Trash in Japan Into 7 Different Categories Is Fun!!!!!!

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Being sick is no fun

Today was the first day of "classes." We actually didn't have any classes, we were tested and oriented. I especially enjoyed the placement test, which took me 5 seconds. I wrote my name and handed it in, as I knew no Japanese. I was then led to a room where they asked me a few questiongs (where are you from, why are you studying with us, etc), and then gave me a packet, the front page of which had every Hiragana. These are the most basic Japanese characters, as they form simple sounds instead of whole words, like Kanji. The rest of the packet was basically practice worksheets, about tracing, writing, and Identifying Hiragana. I tend to absorb stuff like this easily, so that wasn't so bad, and I finished quickly.

Later, I had orientation, which was basically a tour and all sorts of life in Japan information. Apartment dwellers like me were given large packets with information about trash, something which I was anxious to find out, as it is building quickly in my room. Trash in Japan is incredibly complicated, with seven categories of trash that you must separate everything into. And then there's recycling, which isn't picked up, you have to take it to a recycling station instead. Not to mention there are meticulous rules for how to recycle, such as cutting up and folding cardboard, milk cartons, and other various objects. This will make disposing of the cardboard boxes in my room a serious pain.

But I haven't really focused on any of that today, as I woke up with a malicious cough, and have been feeling off all day, especially after I woke up and for the last couple of hours here at night. It has drained me of energy, so that I can't really do anything but commute between my Apartment and Yamasa, and rest at either end. Ugh.

But aside from that minor detail, things are still looking good, as I am very much looking forward to jumping into the Japanese language fire, even though I am the only one of the new students who knows absolutely no Japanese. It should be exciting.

Alright I'm definitely going to bathe and sleep soon, and hopefully it will make me feel all better.

First Impressions: A Tour of Okazaki in Pictures and Thoughts

Well, this isn't actually a tour in pictures as much as it is a collection of pictures that I thought were worth taking as I explored Okazaki during my first full day.

This morning I took an early walk through the neighborhood in order to familiarize myself with the surroundings. I came upon a small lake in the middle of the neighborhood, and in the early mist, I thought it was quite beautiful. It's definitely a place I will return to.


This is the view of my apartment building as you walk towards it (or backwards walk away from it, as I did here).


There are vending machines everywhere. This one specializes in Boss Coffee, and for some reason Tommy Lee Jones is there mascot. I'm not sure how they managed that, but I'm not complaining.

Every non-high-end care sales lot I've seen (and I've seen quite a few already) has a section with cars on display like this. Why US dealerships don't do this is beyond me.

I found it interesting that a burger and an italian place were right next to each other. There was a delicious smell coming from the burger place, and it will definitely be a place I visit when I get sick of the local cuisine and get by with the language.


Every elementary school aged kids I saw had yellow caps. Every single one. I suspect that it's part of the uniform because so many kids walk to school, and it makes them stand out to the completely insane drivers.

Taking this picture was a no-brainer.

The Yamasa Institute, where I will be taking classes.

Once my Japanese is good enough, I am totally ordering pizza just so that it can show up in one of these bad boys.

Most of the main streets were surrounded by trees like this. Again, a valuable lesson for the US.

Not sure about this one. My guess is school bus, although it seemed like everyone walked to school.

There were a number of stores like this, all of which seemed like kinda dirty porno shops, and yet all of the ones that had windows I could see into seemed like they sold perfectly normal stuff

Although McDonald's has a large presence in Japan, I haven't seen one in Okazaki yet. This chain, Yoshinoya, is extremely common, though, and I hear it has delicious beef dishes for less than 500 yen (that puts it at around $4).

This park is a block away from my apartment and has a beautiful lake as well as a ferris wheel and merry-go-round.



Just beyond the park is a shopping center with a pretty big arcade, a shoe store, a video/game/book store, where I will almost certainly wait in line for a PlayStation 3, finances allowing, and Wal-Mart sized Super Center, where I went in to find rice and ended up buying sushi and some prepackaged meals, making decisions solely on the pictures on the packages, as well as price. I never found rice, which is confounding, to say the least.


I noticed on the train here that the reason cities are so densely populated is because they want to preserve the land's beauty, so they build cities in the flattest, least remarkable spots, and fit as many people in as they can. Indeed, when you can escape the cluttered surroundings, the view is always quite breathtaking.

Here's my cozy apartment, extra cozy kitchen, narrow bathroom door, mind-bogglingly small and dense bathroom, and my fun little bed







Finally, here are my initial impressions of Japan after one full day:
-It's actually prettier with clouds and mist than with sun and heat
-Everything is more efficient in Japan, from the store clerk system to the trains
-No one jay walks. Absolutely no one. Except Me.
-Traffic laws only pretend to exist, since NO ONE obeys them. Everyone here is psychotic behind the wheel. This is probably why no one jay walks.
-In the US, if a store or restaurant were to carry just one flavor of Fanta, that flavor would be Orange. In Japan, that flavor is Grape.
-Always compare items at the grocery store. There is always one version much cheaper than the rest (case in point, the Volvic bottled water in vending machines is 120 yen for 330 mL, but I found good bottled water 8-10 times that volume at the supermarket for 108 yen. I drink one a day for my whole trip and spend less than 10000 yen on water. That is awesome).
-The Japanese have a serious sexual fixation, as eroticism finds its way into many more aspects of Japan than in America. In convenience stores, at last half the magazines are pornographic, the manga (comics) sold everywhere has tons of nudity, and is available for anyone to purchase, and nearly all ads are either super-happy or super-sexy (or super-both). The list goes on and on.
-Honda and Toyota have cornered the automoblie market. I'd say 70-80% of cars I saw were made by either of those companies or their subsidiaries. My favorite car not made by either of them: the Suzuki WagonR. I want my car to be called the WagonR in the worst way now. It's too bad that would never fly in the US. Why do so many Americans like such good taste?
-I hate Japanese keyboards. The space bar is tiny and next to buttons that turn your keys into Japanese characters, which gets annoying fast, and they've rearranged the setup of symbols. For example, it took my like 5 minutes to find the @ symbol (it has its own key) and the apostrophe (Shift+7 in Japan. Ugh)

That's all (so short, I know) for today. Tomorrow is the big day. I have to be at Yamasa at 8:55 for the start of hardcore intense language immersion. By the time I'm done here, I'm going to be running language circles around all of you (does that even make sense?). Till then, tata.

Japan: Day One

Okay, first things first. They said there was no internet connection in my apartment, but I'm totally stealing WiFi from someone (or probably all of Japan) since I'm getting 1-3 bars in my room. SCORE!

So, I had quite an adventure today. My flight was smooth, uneventful, and boring. I got upgraded for free, which was WONDERFUL, but they were showing like six movies at a time, and only one was good: Inside Man. And I've seen it like 3 times. The rest of the movies were really standard, boring stuff like "Posiedon," and "Hoot." Blech. So that was boring, but nothing bad happened, and we landed a wee little bit early, so overall things were looking up.

Videogames make everything better. Want proof, Mom and Dad? When they asked to see my bag, they opened it up, found my ps2 and some games, and immediately got really excited about the Videogame Trade Show that had just happened in Tokyo. I smiled along, and was cleared in a total of like 15 seconds.

Now I'm in Japan, and it didn't take me long to realize how awesome the country is. I had absolutely no idea how to speak or read the language, but when I went up to the ticket-booth for JR (Japan Railways) and said "Okazaki" they charged me 11000 Yen and printed out 3 tickets, one for each train I was to be on. I was hesitant at first, because I expected the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) to take me to Nagoya from Tokyo, but instead my ticket was for some backwater town called "Toyohashi" which had me worried, because I couldn't find it on a map. But I trusted the Japanese and followed my instincts, and Toyohashi ended up being a better station to catch a standard train to Okazaki from than Nagoya.

Furthermore, the trains and the train system are AMAZING. The US could learn a lot from this. The immediate feeling I got was one of comfort and welcoming, everything was quiet, relaxed, and everyone is so polite. Mom would love all of the manners that go on around here. It actually makes for a very pleasant country, since no one wants to offend you, so you end up liking everyone immediately. The train system itself is incredibly easy. You buy one destination, and you get as many tickets as there are trains you will ride. You then feed all of your tickets at once into the gate, and it verifies them. If one of your rides is already over, than it takes the ticket off your hands permanently. The signs in the stations are all well labeled, so in the end its an easy and convenient experience. Also, SWEET BABY LORD JESUS the Shinkansen is fast! And I was on the slowest version, too. It is mind blowing that these don't exist in America, because they would be really successful, they are so safe and fast.

I would also like to note the existence of Kiosks and Vending Machines. John Noyes would be in hog heaven here, because there are Kiosks (which are basically hyper-condensed but fully equipped convenience stores) about every 5 feet from what I can tell. Furthermore, the vending machines are all from the future, and contain quite a number of unusual drinks and foods. I can see John already: "Hmmmm, I woooooooooonder what button I want to push this time......"

Finally, after three trains, I arrived in Okazaki at about 830 PM. I called Yamasa from the station, but no one answered, so I took it upon myself to find them, since I needed a place to stay, and I was having trouble standing I was so tired. Armed with a cleverly printed in advance map, I wandered the UNLABELED streets of Japan. UNLABELED. No streets are named here, and the address system is re-tar-ded. I wandered in the dark through alley-sized streets acroos the world from my home until I found Yamasa, which was locked up. Not relenting, I walked around back, to find a door unlocked. Inside were a man and a woman, both older, and both apparently secretaries of a sort. They spoke very little english, so I showed them my Letters from Yamasa and they managed to get ahold of Declan Murphy, the head honcho, who came by 45 mins later to bring me to my cozy apartment, which is where I am now, about to engage in a long-overdue sleep.

All in all, I'd say it was quite a successful day.


All of the stuff I had to put into one backpack.










Magically, everything made it in but War and Peace, which was just to damn big.












About to set off on my mystical adventure.


















My first view of Japan from the Train












A view of Tokyo from the Shinkansen












The ticket to the mysterious town of Toyohashi














The Shinkansen toilet....I just had to take a picture














Another Pretty Picture, and that's all I could take before it got too dark and I had to concentrate on staying awake.