大南瓜冒険
This is the latest episode of Transplanted. Transplanted is a podcast I do about people living abroad. I like to talk with ex-pats and ask them about their experiences abroad.
This week, I speakwith Dean Ruetzler, an English instuctor working in Japan. He talks about his life in Japan and his former life in Finland. If you are planning on living overseas, you may wish to listen in and find out what he has to say on the subject.
Let me give you a little bit of a background here. Back when I as in University, there was a meeting held, where we decided what direction to take our lexicon in. After many hours of hot debate, a consensus was reached on two new suffixes that could be added to almost any verb, thereby transforming them into a noun. “-xor” would be added to anything to make it good, see “l33t haxor”, or “delicious meatxor” for examples. “-mo” would be added to the end of any word, to signify displeasure, and a certain air of mental retardation, see “lame-mo” or “tard-mo”.
Well, it seems that Japan has once again chosen something from the west to latch on to. Enter the Pasmo! Pasmo, from what I can gather with my limited Japanese, is two things. First, it is a wonderful RFID based rail pass system, that can easily be recharged at any train station. However, unlike its brilliantly marketed cousin Suica, Pasmo not only works at JR stations, but also on the Tokyo Metro, Busses, and most notably to me, the Noda Tobu line and Tsukuba Express! It also appears that Pasmo, and Suica can be friends, but more on this later.
Continue reading ‘I am a Pasmo, and Proud of It’
When it comes to tests, I’ve pretty much seen it all. I have been through the labs and essays. I’ve survived four hours exams and thirty minute interviews. I even walked away with a University Degree at the simple cost of my soul. Yet no exam in the entire world has frustrated me more than the dreaded Japanese Proficiency Exam(日本語能力試験.) I just wrote the 2nd level test for the third time this past Sunday and I want to scream “bloody murder!” Now I’ll tell you why.
The first and foremost reason why I hate this exam is that it’s very difficult. It keeps getting more difficult every year you take it. Almost like a cold war between exam writers and participants. Every year, I approach the exam site with an arsenal of new grammer and vocabulary. Oh, but the test is ready for me. It constantly finds new ways to confuse the hell out of me and leave me bleeding on the floor. But that is only the worst part. I bet you didn’t know there were other nasty elements to this exam. .
Did you know that the exam only happens once a year? Yes, you have one shot to nail it or you’re screwed. But if that wasn’t bad enough, you also pay 5500 yen to take the damn thing. Oh, and guess what happens if you actually find a way to pass an exam. If you ant to receive the a diploma, you need to send them money for the diploma and the shipping cost. Yes, they are so cheap they won’t even send you a diploma with your results. Also, did want to see how you did on the exam. Too bad! You don’t get your results. You only know if you passed or failed. You can, however buy a copy of the answer for about 1200 yen at the bookstore.
So you can see, I am not a big fan of this exam. Lucky for me, the only reason I take it is to improve my Japanese. I’d be in real trouble if I needed it for a certification of something. To wrap this up, I’m going to go out and call JESS(the organization that administrates the exam) something they need to be called. You are TEST NAZIES. Stop being so damned cheap and extreme about this test! There, I feel much better now.
I wanted to open up the launch pad this week with some good news. However, it seems Japan doesn’t want me to have a good week. Let’s explore the front page of popular Japanese news site Japan Today to get an idea of just how unhappy people in Japan are at the moment.
If you take a good look at that page and it’s November 12th you’ll see what I mena. If you are reading this article at another time, then you’ll see articles about suicide here, here here and here. That is not to mention the principle who killed himself a couple of weeks ago. The saddest part of this is that most of the people killing themselves are younger people. This is simply a tragedy, and more needs to be done to get to these people before they go through with it.
If you take the two principals who have killed themselves in the last two weeks, it set a disturbing trend. You can start to see how some Japanese people in power positions handle responsibility. Instead of dealing with their problems, they escape them and leave them for others to clean up. At one point in Japan’s history, ritual suicide could almost have been considered an honorable way to end ones life. I can’t think it is like that anymore.
I have one request for the people of Japan. Please, for the love of god, start taking care of each other. You obviously have people in your society that cannot handle this artificial rat race you’ve created. Now either start making Japan a better place to live or face international condemnation.
I cannot believe that Japan has returned to the top ten best places to live. Obviously the U.N. isn’t counting suicide in their criteria. Perhpas they have also ignored hour worked, or vacation time taken. Good stats there, UN. I hope your week starts off on a better note than mine.
Good news for those of us who order books and software from Amazon Japan. I was walking to school this morning and stopped by lawsons for a quick breakfast snack. Low and behold, there were amazon pre-paid cards waiting for me at the cash register. This is wonderful news for us who order from Amazon using the “Cash on Delivery” method. Previously, if you ordered using COD, they’d ding you 250 yen. Well, you can kiss that charge goodbye as of now. This means that I will be shopping online at Amazon Japan for years to come. I am not sure if this is an exclusive with Lawons or if they can be bought anywhere. I’ll let you know when I get home from work today.
Hey there everyone. This is Jason Hill, the owner and author “jasohill.com” and “Jason’s Launching over Japan.” First of all, I want to apologize for all the construction that has been going on around here. I decided that the site needed to be moved to a more scalable technology, so I purchased some webspace and moved everything over to wordpress.
You might notice a few things are different. First of all, I delete many of the posts that I made before coming to Japan. There really wasn’t any need for them. You can, however, now search the entire blog with the built in search feature. I have also added a number of categories. This will make finding an article much easier. All you need to do is search by the category tag.
I still intend to carry on in the same way I did before. Although, this time I hope to be a little more hard hitting, and digg up some great social and cultural information about Japan and Iwate. Please be patient while I categorize the 300 some articles that I have written up to this point. Thanks.
For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, I will translate it into something a little more readable. If you live in Japan, and own a Television, you have to pay the Japan Broadcasting corporation a lot of money. What? Yes! Money! Let me give you a run down of how my morning went.
Me:(on computer) “type type type”
Person at Door: Ding Dong!
Me:(getting up to check who is at said door)
PAD: (speaking in Japanese) Top of the morning to you sir!
Me: Er, can I help you?
PAD: My good man, telling from the color of you skin, it appears you come from a country other than Japan. Did you know that if you have a television you must pay us around 1400 yen a month. And if you use a satellite receiver you must pay us twice that amount. There is no way around this. Even if you are white.
Me: Er, what if I don’t watch NHK.
PAD: That doesn’t matter. According to article 32 of the broadcast law of 1950, you must pay us just for the privilege of owning a TV. Now pay!
Me: Uh, are there any repercussions for not paying.
PAD: I will get very angry with you, and possibly stalk you.
Me: Okay, what if I don’t have a TV? What if I use the Internet for all my media consumption?
PAD: Then there is no need to pay. But the minute you purchase a television, you must contact us immediately. Or else!!!
Me: Or Else what?
PAD: ….the stalking!!!!
Me: Are there any criminal or legal repercussions?
PAD: Well no, but we will hunt you down ..
Me: Um, okay. Well, since I don’t have a TV I guess there is no need to charge me.
PAD: Right you are sir. Have yourself a majestic day.
Me: Oh, I will!
So as you can see, there is a law in Japan that forces you to pay a monthly tax just in order to own a television. However, there doesn’t seem to be anyway to force people to pay. This makes me happy. I don’t have a TV right now, but should I get one, I don’t think I’ll be in a hurry to inform NHK of my new purchase. Japan, I think I love you.
Story from Crisscross Japan
There is some unfortunate news in the world of space tourism this week. It appears that Daisuke “Dice-K” Enomoto’s dream to be Japan’s first space tourist was quashed this week when it was determined that he is medically unfit to travel into space. the specific cause of this sudden cancellation hadn’t been revealed at the time of the announcemnt, but it’s obviously something bad enough to keep him from space travel.
It doesn’t take much to keep someone from launching into space on a controlled explosion. One bad heart beat here, or a eye problem there is enough to ground someone. Some might even say that nasty condition we call common sense keeps most of us from attempting such a risky proposition.
As a fan of Japanese popular culture I am a little saddened by this. Enomoto was a Gundam fan and had planned to Cosplay as Char from Gundman while he was in space. That may sound a little silly to you, but I think it’s a bold step in the right direction of space tourism. After all, if you are going to pay 20 million to travel somewhere, shouldn’t you be allow to wear whatever the hell you want. The agency that puts these trips together is having a special meeting next week to determine who will be Enomoto’s replacement. One thing I can already ascertain is that whoever it will be, they certainly won’t be as interesting as Enomoto was.
I read a disturbing story today on the Asashi online website. You can read it here.
It appears that a teacher to taunted and bullied a student after learning the student had an american grandfather. He was caught by someone(or reported by the boys family), but has so far dodged any responsibility for his actions. In Japan, it seems that as a public servent, the government will protect you and compensate victims in your name. In addition to this, the teacher appears to be back at work. What a wonderful day this must be for that poor boy, who had to endure abuse just for having some american in his blood.
This story wouldn’t enrage me so if it wasn’t something I read about all the time over here. An isolated story is one thing, but this is becoming a weekly topic. As a response to this, I have decided to provide a series of thought provoking questions that foreigners in Japan might want to bring up in a public forum. Here they are:
1. Should a government institution shelter an employee from taking responsibility for his or her actions?
2. Does coming from a mixed background make one human being lesser than another?
3. What do you think of foreign residents in your area?
4. What do you think of children of mixed races? Do you call them half, or something else?
I fear the answers you get may not be the answers you are looking for. I pray I am wrong here, but I am pessimistic about this.
Monday was a special day for me. I was invited along with the other prefectural JETs to a sayonara and thank you lunch. We received our thank you certificates and we got a nice speech from the superintendent of the Iwate Board of Education. After receiving our speeches, a number of us got Iwate Friendship ambassador plaques. I guess a small number of JETs are chosen every year to represent Iwate when they go back to their home countries. I think it is a nice sentiment. However, I am not going back to my home country right away. But that doesn’t mean I can’t offer all of you some good reasons to come here and visit Iwate. Let me start with some of the reasons I chose to stay here for at least another year:
1. Iwate is simply one of the most beautiful prefectures in Japan. You have jaw dropping scenery and amazingly lush forests. Winters are a frozen wonderland, and spring and fall are simply some of the best times to see colours; more colours than you’ve seen in your life. Also, don’t get me started about temples and shrines. Iwate contains some of the most beautiful Shinto shrines in all of Japan. Not to mention Chusonji temple, which is currently being considered for World heritage status.
2. Nature not good enough for you? Well, Iwate is very affordable. Apartments in the cities aren’t as expensive as they would be in Tokyo or Osaka, and I’ve found that I can get to know all my neighbours. That is something that would be hard to do in a big city. So if you want to visit Japan and save some money, then come to Iwate.
3. Culture anyone? Iwate is full of traditional Japanese festivals and ceremonies. Each town or city has their own respective festivals, and there are the big ones like the Morioka Sansa festival. We are also close to Japan’s largest fireworks festival in Akita, and just above Sendai’s Famous Tanabata festival. Iwate is also a great place to learn Japanese. You actually won’t have much of a choice in the matter. There aren’t as many English speakers here, so you’ll get a chance to flex you Japanese muscle. You will also have plenty of opportunity to live in rural Japan and partake in things the way they were before everything went all industrial.
4. But aren’t you way out there in the middle of nowhere? Not at all. Iwate is connected all major cities by a Shinkansen Bullet Train that runs straight through the prefecture. If bullet trains are too rich for your blood, than we also have buses and local trains going all over the place. Hanamaki airport also offers connector flights and some direct flights to places like Korea and Hong Kong. Seriously, you can’t go wrong.
5. But what is there to eat in Iwate? Well, Morioka has it’s famous Wonko Soba, and I’ve eaten the best Katsudon I’ve ever eaten at Yorimichi in Fujisawa-town(it’s so good I’m planning a future article on it.) I also think the fish is fresher here than it is in other prefectures. But don’t take my word for it. Come and check it out yourself.
If those five points aren’t enough to get you here, I don’t know what is. I am being totally honest here folks. If you are in Japan and want to check out something awesome that many tourists will never see, then get yourselves over here as soon as possible. If you are looking to carve out a unique experience for your trip, I cannot think of a better place than Iwate Prefecture.
