Life in Japan - A Q&A session

Since coming to Japan, I've had a bunch of different people ask me similar questions about living in Japan/getting a visa/Japan in general, I thought this might be a good time to do a Q&A blog post. There's probably some things people have been wondering and never asked, or didn't even know they wanted to know. I also wanted to write about what are common questions to ask before coming to Japan, but I realised I had been doing so much research for almost half my life on coming to Japan, I'm not actually sure what is common knowledge any more!

Visas

I have done an awful lot of research on the different type of visas a UK Passport holder can get for coming to Japan long-term. I feel like I know a lot, not everything, but a fair bit, and I should really share that knowledge as a lot of people don't even seem to know the basics of visas.

Q: What's a visa?

Visas are cool little stamps that go into your passport, that allow you special access to stay in certain countries. The most common that you've probably had before is a holiday visa, you don't need to apply for these, they are issued automatically upon landing, and usually valid for around 90 days. With a British passport, we have access to the most countries (173!) that we can just go to without applying for anything.

Q: What type of visas can I get and how long do visas last?

Japanese Holiday Visas last 90 days. They are actually renewable, but it's at immigrations discretion and if they suspect you want to stay longer because you are working it will be denied, as it is illegal to work in any way on this visa.

I am currently on a Working Holiday Visa. This is valid for up to 1 year from date of entry to Japan, but sadly non renewable past that. Working Holiday Visas entitle the holder to work pretty much full time when they are in Japan, excluding activities that involve selling alcohol or work in the entertainment sector. Working full time however, is not encouraged really, it's supposed to be treated as a year long holiday with the option of working to supplement your activities.

Probably the most common for foreigners looking to stay in Japan long term is an ordinary Working Visa. I find mainly Americans are on this visa, as they don't have the Working Holiday option. A Working visa is different in the way that you need to have a job in Japan first, to sponsor your visa. I think technically you can come on a holiday visa (for 90 days) and then switch to a working visa once you've found a job but personally I think that's really risky as if you don't find anything quickly it could mess up your plans having to leave and re enter.
If you plan to come to Japan for school long-term (longer than 6 months) you can get a Student Visa sponsored by the school, once you have applied and been accepted. This can be with anywhere from a language school to a university, though language schools usually have more relaxed entry requirements, and it can be difficult to get into a Japanese University, especially if you are proficient in the language. Student visas are usually valid for the length of your course plus a couple of months after, though they can be extended if you want to stay at school longer, or need to resit a year, as long as the school is still willing to sponsor you.
There are a few other specialist type visas too, such as a cultural visa, which is quite uncommon and not many are granted every year, and spouse or dependant visas, which I think are self explanatory.

Q: How do I get a visa, and how hard is it?
For a working holiday Visa like mine, I had to go to the Japanese Embassy in London in person to apply, and return a week later in person to collect my visa once it had been granted. Prior to that, I had spent almost a month preparing, as you have to write two short 'essays', a personal statement and an itinerary, explaining why you want to come to Japan and what you plan to do (and it has to be fairly detailed), I also needed 3 months worth of bank statements, with cleared funds of over £3000 to prove I could sustain myself here, and there was also an application form and photos I had to provide. Really, it wasn't that difficult I just had to be meticulous in making sure I got all the details right as if you are denied you must wait a year before you can apply again. Apparently they also only accept 1000 visas a year too, with April being the start of the new year, but I didn't have any problem with that and from my researched I gathered it's not really an issue, not that many people from the UK actually use this visa!
I can't really speak for the difficulty of the other visas, but usually if they are sponsored your contact in Japan initiates the process so I think there is a lot less preparation involved.

Life in Japan

I'm no expert, but I've been here 4 months now (plus 1 month last year) and I'm pretty used to living here now. Also, like I said earlier, I have done extensive research on living in Japan for at least 10 years of my life, I know a lot of things that aren't even necessarily relevant to how I'm living now but might be helpful to someone living alone etc. Who knows.

Q: Why did you go to Japan?
Since I was about 12 it has been my dream to live in Japan. I love the culture, the language, and Pokemon, I decided a long while ago even before my first visit here, that I wanted to stay for a while to experience everything properly. Originally my plan was to apply for the JET Programme. Even though I think I will never ever be able to be a teacher I even prepared to get a TEFOL qualification to teach over here. Luckily, this amazing opportunity to be an Au Pair came up, and to be honest its the perfect situation for me.

Q: What do you do in Japan?
My official job here is as an Au Pair, but I'm not really a traditional Au Pair. The family I am staying with have no children, instead I take care of their dogs (two cute poodles, Kuro and Shiro) and help with the housework as it is literally a mansion so there are a lot of things to do every day. I also spend a lot of time exploring (shopping) and I have Japanese lessons once a week.

Q: How different is Japan (to the UK)?
You can pretty much assume it's almost the opposite. But I really do love it here. There are a lot of cultural differences that I think really make sense in Japan, people are much more kind, you can absolutely not wear shoes in the house, everywhere is always clean and I have yet to eat a meal that wasn't completely delicious. There are a few things that feel a little difficult to get used to even still, the weather is a big one, arriving just before summer started meant that I was leaving 12C England for 35C Japan and that was hard to adjust to. There are also some terrifying bugs here that I can not cope with, and it's no joke or stereotype that there are robots everywhere. Well, maybe not everywhere but there are a few common shops that employ robots to greet you or help you and my morbid fear of robots makes it difficult to accept that.

General Japan 

I do know a bunch about Japan, honest.

Q: Are you allowed to use forks?
It's just kind of expected that foreigners don't know how to use chopsticks. Even now when older people see me using them I get all sorts of unnecessary praise for it, it's kind of funny.

Q: Do the cats meow differently?
It has come to my attention that some animals have different accents and that is true it is weird.

I hope you all enjoyed question time! If there are any unanswered questions though, please feel free to ask me, I guess I can keep this post updated and link to it somewhere!
So for now, またね〜 From Osaka!

Japanese Diary - Japanese Lessons!

Since coming to Japan, I knew one of my main goals was to become better at Japanese, so of course the obvious thing I needed to do once I got here was join a language class. I was lucky enough to be introduced to some free, volunteer based Japanese lessons pretty quickly, and although I was originally prepared to pay for classes I'm so glad I have these now instead!

The format seems a little strange at first; the class is run by volunteers and is for learning both English and Japanese. So Japanese residents are there as well as foreigners, and mostly they are teamed up to talk to one another and learn from one another. Although, most of the volunteers do speak both languages, so in my case I was paired with a volunteer, Soma-Sensei, and she teaches me a little more formally (print outs from work books and kanji drills etc.). It's pretty good, especially since she used to be a teacher before. She also kind of chose me, as she loves England, which is cool. She lived there for a couple of years, in Reading too! So she was really excited when I said I lived near there (even her email address is her old Reading Postcode!). As well as that though, every other week there are slight changes to the format, where people are asked to form small groups and talk about a specific subject etc. which is great from a getting to know new people side, as well as being forced to communicate with people who may not share English as a language!

In all, I think these lessons are great for me! I'm already learning a lot, and the chance to talk to natives who are really interested in talking to me, as well as talking to other Japanese learners at a similar level to me is really helping me to cement concepts such as grammar patterns, which I struggle with! Now to just cram vocabulary in my own time and I'll be good... eventually. I really want to aim for N4 in December, maybe I can do it! (Or not...)

This is kind of a short one, but I thought it was an important thing to talk about, if you know where to look then finding quality language lessons is possible!

But for now, またね〜 From Osaka

Japanese Diary -Arriving in Japan, Part 2

So, where were we when I left off at part one? Arriving in Osaka I guess! It was the first time I had ever flown domestically so to be honest, I was not expecting the simplicity. I mean, it sounds stupid but I wasn't expecting it to be so quick! I flew between Haneda Airport and Itami, and it was a really pleasant short flight, actually! Just over an hour, but there was so much complimentary food and they brought drinks round every 5 minutes!

 

Osaka!!

 Upon arriving at Itami I got a taxi to my new home for a year-ish. The airport is actually in the middle of the city so it's kind of cool to see it from a distance, looks like the planes are landing right between the buildings! So the taxi pulls up outside where I am staying, the security guard comes out to help me with my bags and open the huge entrance gates for me, pretty much from that point on it became a surreal dream. One thing I was really lucky about was to have the previous au pair girl still there for two weeks. The very sweet Maiken from Norway, if it wasn't for her I would have been so much more lost and panicky. She gave me so much advice and instruction both before and after my arrival. She had also told me that the house was really big but I still underestimated it and didn't really believe it till I arrived. 

Scale model of the house...

The house is kind of a mix between some huge English mansion, with marble floors and statues, and huge crystal chandeliers, and a traditional Japanese house, with tatami flooring, a tea house, even an onsen style outdoor bath. As I said, it feels totally surreal to be here and I'm still not sure if I really am! So, obviously I am here to work, as an au pair to the couple that live here, and lets not forget the best bit; they don't have children, I am au pairing for their two poodle puppies. Yeah, dream job. Their names are Shiro and Kuro, translating to white and black, from Japanese. Incase you were wondering, Shiro is the white poodle, Kuro is the black one :)

 

So not only are the couple really sweet, the dogs are great (though really really naughty at times) although they take very little looking after, so most of my work is cleaning and tidying the house and gardens, which as you can imagine is a lot of work. It can be quite varied though, as there are so many things to do. It can range from scrubbing the floor, to sweeping leaves, to making rice, so far my favourite tasks are grocery shopping and taking the dogs out, though I do dislike going outside for any other reason. Somehow, I am a magnet for bugs, especially ones that bite, so it doesn't matter how much mosquito repellent I wear, I will always come inside covered in marks. I now sleep with a pesticide near my head as they bite my face in the night, isn't that sad? The main problem though is just how many bugs Japan has. The answer is too many, and they are all so damn big, I mean giant versions of normal bugs, and it's terrifying. I could actually go on for ages about the bugs, but maybe I should leave that for another blog. Or maybe I should just leave it altogether... 

Aaaaaaaaanyway. 

So I've been here a month now, I feel like I should quickly summarise a few of the things that have happened, and some of them will be getting their own posts too! So, I was shown all the best shopping spots in Osaka by Maiken, including my new favourite clothes shop called Secret Honey, and most importantly, the Pokemon Center. I have frequented the Pokemon Center many times, and there are many more times to come.

We went to Wakayama Adventure World! This is an amazing Safari Park/Zoo/Research Center and we  had a great time there!

Maiken left Japan two weeks after I arrived, and then I had to continue on my own from there... It hasn't been too bad though, I think I have mastered the trains and busses now, and getting around is just so easy!

I started my Japanese Lessons! Its a free volunteer-based thing, but I feel like it's really good for me, and I'll write more about this one at some point.

FOOD. I have eaten so much good food in Japan. I've tried Osaka's speciality, Okonomiyaki, and I've eaten so much cake! I've also learnt how to cook a few dishes myself. I think food deserves it's own blog post at some point.

I've also joined a boardgames group/club? I've only been once so far (next meet is next month) but it was tons of fun and I think it was a super great way to make friends.

Ah, to be honest this last month has passed by so fast, I'm probably missing quite a few things that I can't even remember any more! I hope I can do more frequent (but maybe shorter) posts and try and record all the cool things that happen here on a daily basis, thats a much better plan.

So for now, またね〜 From Osaka, I really hope I don't slip up on updating this thing, but I forgot how hard blogging was!

Being Sick in Japan

So, something I was definitely not counting on whilst in Japan was an urgent need to go to the doctors!

After being in excruciating pain for 4 days, literally since I was on the plane, I was sobbing over the phone to my mum (because I was completely terrified and it hurt so much!) and she gave me the ultimatum to ask my teacher to take me to the doctors in the morning or she would call my school and tell them to send me an ambulance... haha...

It can be incredibly frightening to be so sick that you need to go to the doctors in a foreign country where you barely speak the language, and certainly don't know any medical terms beyond "I have a headache", "I have an earache" and "I feel sick". In Japan, it is much more common to go to the doctors for mostly anything, as opposed to here in the UK where I feel we do try to avoid it. I also know that in Japan, anything the doctor says is taken as fact, antibiotics are prescribed for most things, and in fact the whole process is completely different to booking a doctors appointment in England. 

Firstly, I asked my English-speaking teacher if she could take me to the doctors. Expecting to have to make an appointment, I was completely unprepared when she immediately grabbed her coat and lead me outdoors. The doctors surgery was only a few minutes walk from the school, and on the way there she asked me of all my symptoms.

Upon arriving at the doctors, we went into a small waiting room, I filled out some forms to say I was a foreigner I guess, and some of my symptoms, the receptionists puzzled over how to pronounce my name, then I sat and waiting awkwardly for ten or so minutes whilst my teacher checked over what was wrong.

After what felt like the most dramatic wait ever, my name was called and we were led to a second waiting room, where I had to put my bag and coat in a special box whilst I waited, I still don't understand why! After a few more minutes I was called into a doctors room like I had never seen before! Four doctors were lined up, with chairs in front of them, all with a patient bar one (my doctor!) and so many tools and things hanging from above and on moveable arms, I could seriously liken it to some mad scientists human experimentation room!

I sat awkwardly and terrifiedly down, whilst Watanabe-sensei explained what was wrong. She talked for a very long time, I had no idea what she was saying. The doctor talked back, also for a very long time. Watanabe-sensei explained that he needed to look in my ears and my throat, which I expected, but also up my nose and in my eyes, which was kinda weird. So he did, he then talked for a very very very long time, at least it felt like it. Finally Watanabe-sensei turned to me and said that I have two very bad ear infections, then she had to look up the word for 'sinus' because I also had a sinus infection and a mild throat infection, probably caused from a pocket of air swelling from the air pressure on the plane. Yes, I am super unlucky. I then got given two options. Medicine, or warm water squirted at high pressure up my nose to wash the infection out? Uhm, I think it was a no-brainer. I then got awkward and asked if they had any liquid medicine, because I don't think I could cope taking 3 capsules a day for a week the size of my little finger. He said yes, but it's kind of expensive, but at this point I wasn't fussed as long as the pain went!

I settled with this, and so left the surgery. I was so worried it would be expensive, as I had insurance but I knew I'd have to pay upfront then claim it back later, but it was only about ¥3000 (£17) for the appointment, then we had to go to the pharmacy and pay for the medicine... The 'liquid' medicine I got was actually a weird powder that I had to mix with water and down in one. Not fun. But I was surprised that this 'expensive' medicine was actually only another ¥3000, I was genuinely thinking £50+

FYI, that night I took the medicine, it was completely disgusting, I didn't quite make it in one go and I almost threw it up instantly, but amazingly it worked! Basically by the next day, all the pain had gone, and the only things left were an annoying cough, which I could cope with, and unequalized ears, so pretty much everything sounds very underwater. Actually, I still have problems with my ears now, I don't think it will ever go away at this point! 

But that pretty much sums up my experience with Japanese doctors. It was a weird one, a unique one, and a very unexpected one, but I'm glad I got to experience something like that, just in case it ever happens again!

'Til next time~ またね〜

My Time in Japan, Part 1!

So, is everyone ready to hear about my amazing adventure in Japan? For those unaware already, this past summer I travelled to Yokohama in Japan to study at Yokohama Design College, where I attended Japanese language and culture lessons for one month! I had the most amazing time of my life, despite the humidity, typhoons and bugs! I met some amazing friends, ate some amazing food, had some amazing experiences and brought back a load of amazing souvenirs!

Day 0 in Japan: So long, England! See you in a month! #travelling #japan #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 4:15am PDT

The flight was an insane 12 hours... I was pretty lucky to get a direct flight though! I think I watched the lego movie twice, and slept some, also made friends with the guy sat next to me which definitely made it more bearable! Funny story, in the lobby before boarding we were both taking selfies with the plane and laughing at each other, and it just so happened that on a plane of 500 people we ended up being sat next to one another!

Day 1 in Japan: Well, I made it! #japan #travelling #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 7:21pm PDT

The only other event of the flight though, a much less enjoyable sudden ear pain that I had gotten... I had been suffering with an ear infection prior to flying out that I thought I had gotten over, apparently I hadn't and it turns out that the next week of my life, no matter how amazing in Japan, was going to be incredibly painful. I'm still mega grateful to Robbie though (The guy I was sat next to!) as he managed to get me some painkillers and checked I was alright throughout the flight! Once we landed, I had a few hours to wait for my lift from the airport, and Robbie had a couple of hours till his conecting flight to Okinawa, so we had a nice breakfast (dinner? Lunch? Time zone confusion) together, I went to 'bagel and bagel'! It was sad when we had to part, and I still regret not getting some contact details to keep in touch since :(

Day 2 in Japan: Today I went exploring Yokohama, my accommodation is right next to a 24 hour mcdonalds... Also went to the Pokemon centre and got a new phone case! #japan #travelling #adventure

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 3:50am PDT

After settling into my fairly quaint student accommodation all by myself, I decided to start exploring Japan immediately! I was super lucky, actually, that through this very blog I managed to meet a fellow Brit (Infact, the only other English person on the same course) before we both left for Japan! I met with Nikki for the very first time this day in Japan, as well as Svilen from Bulgaria. And these were just the first of some amazing international friends I found. Together, we explored the main centre of Yokohama, including the pokemon center! This was my first of many trips to this and other pokemon centers whilst I was in Japan, but this was the time that I got my AMAZING phone case! I also found that my accommodation was near a 2 hour McDonalds, which I ended up frequenting...

Day 3 in Japan: Today was the first day of school! We had a placement rest which was difficult and then orientation but that was it for today. After a few of us went to look around some shops and on my way home I may have stopped at mcdonalds... I have a new respect for foreign students, ordering mcdonalds in another language is hard! #japan #travelling #adventure #mcdonalds

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 10:35am PDT

I think the caption for this day pretty much sums it up, the placement test was extremely long though, and some bits were so simple whilst others were complex, there wasn't much of a middle ground.

Days 4 and 5 in Japan: oops I forgot to photo yesterday, sorry! Yesterday was the first Japanese lesson, I think it was too easy for me though! I also had to go doctors yesterday boo! Today however was Mount Fuji, and Fuji-Q highland Theme Park! That roller coaster was crazy! We went on it first :p #japan #travelling #adventure #fujisan

A photo posted by Jazz Thornton (@roverandomness) on Jul 7, 2014 at 7:19am PDT

Day 4, my first Japanese lesson, which I was late too, as I had to go to the doctors first thing that morning. I think I should make my experience of being ill in Japan into its own post as there was a lot going on around it. It was exciting to start my first lessons though although the class was much too easy (though that was improved on in later lessons). Mount Fuji day and Fuji-Q Highland were something else though. I had already been to Mount Fuji before, the first time I'd been to Japan, but that was almost 6 years ago now! This time was just as busy with tourists, school coaches and day trips as I remembered though! It was a shame that it was such a cloudy day, when we arrived at the rest stop we couldn't see any of the peak at all, but there are so many shops and shrines up there that we still had plenty to do, I started off my collection of kit kats that day, with mount Fuji strawberry Cheesecake flavour. There are none left now. Fuji Q was pretty intense, our tickets included 4 free rides on whatever we wanted, I actually only ended up using 3 I think, as my ear infection was so painful I couldn't go on more rollercoasters, but I did make my first stop the "FUJIYAMA, the "KING OF COASTERS," which boasts world-class specs, including a maximum speed of 130 km/h (81 mph), a maximum drop of 70 m (230 ft.), and a maximum height of 79 m (259 ft.)" which was so incredible I could have done it 15 times in a row... There was also EVANGELION WORLD, which I was so excited about! Neon Genesis Evangelion is one of my favourite animes of all time, though I did get majorly freaked out by the giant life-size Unit 01 head going berserk, the gift shop for that was also a thing of beauty!


Theres more to come on my adventures in Japan, I thought separating it out would help with the sheer amount, but the more I think about tit the more I want to share and talk about! It's also maing me incredibly nostalgic, and now all I know is I have to make it back to Japan sometime! 'Til next time~ またね〜

Yokohama, and Yokohama Design College

こんばんは、みんな！

I wanted to talk a little about where I am planning on staying and studying when I visit Japan this summer! I've talked a little about Yokohama city before, but not in great detail, and I think I've only briefly mentioned the school I will be studying at, Yokohama Design College! 

I found out about this college through gogonihon.com, a site I was originally looking at to do their own summer course, and potential year-long Japanese course at one of the many schools they are linked with, and when looking through all the potential language schools I could go to, Yokohama Design College really caught my eye.

I didn't actually use Go Go Nihon to book my place on the summer course though, I actually got into contact with their international correspondent to ask a few questions about the course, and when I was finally ready (after she answered all my questions) she booked my place on the course, and sorted out my accommodation for me! Now, although I haven't seen the accommodation, it is a single flat in student accommodation, so I won't have to share a room with someone I don't know (and potentially don't share a language with) but I should still be around some of the other summer students should I make friends! I have been told the flat is 5 stops/20 minutes away from the college, I don't have the address yet though and I'm actually uncertain whether that is by train or bus, haha!

As you may be able to tell from the name, Yokohama Design College is not just a language school, but also an art college. Attending an art college now, and being as interested in illustration and other artistic subjects as I am, this was a big factor into my division to study at this college. As part of the summer course, language students get the chance to join in with some of the design lessons going on in the rest of the college. This includes subjects like badge making, illustration, manga techniques and translation, and I'm actually really looking forward to trying some arty stuff out. There are also Japanese culture lessons scattered in through the language lessons, and they include things like shodo (Japanese calligraphy), a tea ceremony and trips to Japanese temples and shrines, as well as a trip to disneyland and the sky tree that are listed on the itinerary! I don't know if I'm actually mostly excited for Disneyland now!

I will be in Japan for a little over a month, I intend to leave England on the 19th of July, and Leave Japan on the 23rd of August, even though the simmer course runs from the 22nd or July till the 15th August. I wanted to give myself a day or so to adjust when I arrived, and possibly find out how to reach the college, and I thought an extra week after I've finished to do some touristy things would be a perfect idea!

I'm really excited and terrified actually, and some of the things I am worried about are completely stupid (like, what do I do about cutlery and plates when I get there?!). This will not only be my first time living alone, but also my first time travelling abroad alone and I'm not going to know anybody at all.

I am glad I chose to stay in Yokohama for this trip. The more I research the area and watch videos etc. the more I think it was the perfect choice for me. Although at some point I would like to go and stay around the Chūgoku/Hiroshima area, I think around the Kanto region is the kind of area I would be most comfortable in. I have always grown up near the sea for one, and Yokohama really reminds me of Plymouth, in South West England where I currently go to University.

Yokohama is a beautiful seaside port town, the first port and harbour built in Japan to accommodate foreigners bringing in trade from across the sea in the 1800's. Since then, the city has grown dramatically, and now is great tourist attraction for both foreigners and the Japanese. There are hundreds of shops and restaurants along the waterfront, and possibly my favourite bit, Cosmo World, a theme park on the waters edge that boasts the worlds second largest ferris wheel (which is also the worlds largest clock!). I don't know if I will be too afraid to go on the wheel (certainly I will be by myself) but theres also a roller coaster and various other attractions that I am sure I will be visiting. The other great thing about Yokohama is the proximity to Tokyo! An hour on the train and you can be in central Tokyo, and exploring Tokyo is definitely something I am looking forward to a lot.

I hope my strange ramblings have made Yokohama and the design college sound like idea places to visit and study; I am certainly looking forward to going and I just wanted to share my excitement with you all!

Enjoy this cute tourism video I found of Yokohama! Till next time, またね〜

Kinda irresponsible of me...

I appear to have taken a very long and very unexpected hiatus, and for any readers who actually read, for that I am very very sorry!

A lot has happened in the last few months, hopefully over the next few days/weeks I will write up a whole load of posts to document everything evenly.

Probably the most important thing being however, I have been accepted into the summer school at Yokohama design college! All fees are paid and ready to go! I will make a much more detailed post about this at some point, but I just thought I should start now trying to get back into blogging! I have a whole load of things I want to talk about so hopefully I can make it pretty regular again!

'Til next time~ またね〜

New Job!

So a couple of weeks ago I finally got a job, now I can start saving for real for Japan! This is so exciting, although the job is surprisingly hard, and after every shift I'm so tired!
I've only really worked a few training shifts so far so I haven't earned a whole lot yet, but I will be working pretty much full time over the summer so this should help such a huge chunk of what I need to save by this time next year. I know it will get a lot harder in September when I start the final year of my degree and my dissertation, but I am going to work super hard over the summer to make sure I don't fail that, too!

Just a small update on my life, really. Posts may be even more far between now, I need to make up some kind of schedule I guess, and find time to write posts whenever I can.

Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu!

So yesterday I had my first session of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, or Ninjutsu! I have really wanted to get into some kind of martial arts for a while now, and this one seemed like such an interesting one to practice! I've never really been interested in karate or those kind of common martial arts that I know a lot of people do, not because I'm awkward or anything, but I know a few people who do them and I never wanted to be the one who was less good at it because I started late! 

What is Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu?

The Bujinkan, or "Divine Warrior House" is the Martial Art system bought to life by Dr Masaaki Hatsumi the current soke of 9 authentic Japanese Ryu. "Martial School". Within these schools, we get a complete self protection system, that is as effective now, as it was all those years ago on the battlefields of Japan.

Soke Hatsumi has spent his life both studying and teaching the arts passed down to him from his teacher, Toshitsugu Takamatsu. Hatsumi has travelled the world to pass on his knowledge so that we all can get to no the true art, and the very essence of Ninjutsu.

My first session was really great, I had so much fun and I am looking forward to going back next week! I'm going to buy my gi next week and hopefully some tabi soon. My arms are so sore though, I guess I'm going to be covered in bruises for the next few months at least...

I need to try and get my head around all the terms too!

At the end of the lesson, everyone kneels, bows and claps and recites this with sensei:

[ 四拳 波羅蜜 大光明 ] しけんはらみつだいこうみょう

 Followed by どもありがとうご ます.

The Things I want to do...

It's always important in your life, to have a plan for the future. Until a few weeks ago, I had no plan, no idea what I wanted to do, and I feel like I wasted so much time trying to pretend I did. I'm not saying it's bad if you don't know what you want to do yet, but everyone always wants you to know, and I think I kind of panicked and went to University because I thought it was the right thing to do. I was kind of interested in Photography when I started, and I am grateful for all of the experience I actually have gained in the field (I think I can take a pretty picture now!) but all the course really taught me was that I don't want to be a photographer. I found the stuff I was good at and the stuff I was bad at and the stuff I liked and the stuff I didn't, but I only really got interested in photography in the year before I started my course. There are loads of thing that are just passing interests. Maybe I would have continued photography as a hobby anyway, who knows? All I know now is I don't want to be a photographer and I don't want a career in photography. I like editing, but that's different and I am probably better off doing it on my own anyway, my degree doesn't even really teach it!

I have one year left, the final dissertation year, so there's no point in me quitting now. I'm probably going to pass the year, I know what to do I just don't enjoy it any more, but at least I'll have a degree. But anyway, the point of this is I know what I want to do with my life now.

I was inspired when I found this website, gogonihon.com. I have always wanted to live in Japan. There have been fluctuations of what to do and why but the one constant has always been to go. It started with me considering JET, that was what I planned to do for quite a few years. Then I just went through different phases of why I wanted to go, and then I kind of gave up hope. I thought there would be no way I'd be able to do it. But one thing I never considered was to study! Somehow! After discovering the Go Go Nihon site, I realised as long as I could get the money together, it is completely possible that I would be able to go for a year!

I have a friend, Emily, (She can be found here!) and she is going to University to study Asia Pacific Studies. Her third year is a placement in Japan, and I am so jealous, it's all I've ever wanted, and I wish I had discovered this before I started mine (but I also had a thing about not wanting to move immediately to the other side of the country). She has really inspired me too, being able to talk to someone, physically talk to them when they want similar things to you can get you so motivated! It was also inspiration from her to start this blog! Reading hers just made me want to write, even though I don't think I'm very good, except at rambling!

The school I have fallen in love with in Japan is Yokohama Design College. At the moment, I am saving up to go to their summer school next summer 2014, then in a few years when I have more money I will be applying for a 1-year long Japanese course at the same place. This is actually my dream, and it looks like it's finally coming true!

So this is really the long back-story behind my blog, if you read it all, thank you so much and I hope I didn't bore you too much! There are going to be a variety of different styles of posts on this blog as I have said before, it's a really personal thing for me but telling people about it makes me happy, so thank you, reader, for being involved!

'Til next time~ またね〜

My Favourite Apps!

For lots of people (myself included!) it's tough to find time to practice languages sometimes, so if you have an iPhone, a handy little app to keep up revision when you have a spare moment can be perfect! So I thought I would share a small insight into the apps I personally use from time to time!

So as you can see, I have a small collection of language apps! I'll be honest, some of them I don't really use, but I like to keep them just incase, sometimes I like to revisit them! I do have a few favourites though that I use often, so here we are:

Kanji Sticky Study is a really straightforward app to use, it has a huuuge range of vocabulary, even in this free version, and everything is organised by JLPT level which is always useful!

 

JLPT Study is probably my most used app, again I only have the free version which only covers JLPT Level 5 but I am definetly going to be upgrading to the full version soon! This app has loads in it, everything is separated by JLPT level and also kanji and vocabulary are separated which means you can practice exactly what you want!

JP Card is purely for recognising kanji and vocabulary, which is great because there is so much! You can either use it to test yourself, or turn on browse mode to just read through and memorise.

imiwa? is truly a beautiful app. It's a Japanese dictionary, Kanji dictionary and vocabulary teacher all in one. You can look up any Japanese word and get examples of how it can be used in sentences, you can revise Kanji, you can look up kanji by JLPT level, School grade levels and even search it by radical if you know how to write it! This is such a useful app and its completely FREE! It can also translate into other languages except English at the same time, so it's pretty much useful for anyone learning Japanese! (also, some of the example sentences are completely bizarre and adorable, so it's great to keep you entertained whilst learning!)

So, not learning apps, but LINE is a super popular communication app in Japan, similar to iMessage on iPhones and completely free over an Internet connection, which also means its international, no restrictions like with texting! Perfect for keeping up with Japanese Penpals or other friends! Plus it has a lot of really cute stickers and emoji to keep your messages cute~
LINE play is a cute game for users of LINE, you create an avatar character that you can then dress up and decorate their room whilst visiting other friends houses and giving them hearts! It's a really cute and addictive game, you will want to keep collecting coins to make your room look amazing!

And, being a photographer, I couldn't resist including my favourite かわいい photo apps, so here they are!

First, there is LINE camera! Just like LINE and LINE play, it's part of the same collection, and has a huge amount of stickers and frames you can use on your photos, just like a real purikura! In fact, my other two photo apps are also very purikura-like, Kids Alpacasso has a lot of decorations themed around alpacas, of course (and I adore alacas so finding this was a wonderful thing!) and Rakuga Cute has tons of stickers, frames and pens to draw your own decorations!

 

Here's me, all cuted up!

I know that really, this wasn't all that informative of a post but I hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless! If you have any questions please feel free to contact me, so until next time~ またね！

Great Learning Resources - Slime Forest!

lrnj.com - Slime Forest!

I am always looking for ways to learn Japanese interactively, as I have never been that great at just sitting down and studying for hours from a book. There are plenty of apps and websites that are designed to teach you (I intend to go over some of my favourites in a later blog!) but by far my favourite learning resource ever discovered is Slime Forest! Now, you do have to enjoy (and understand) RPG video games to enjoy it to the fullest, though it's not hard to get the hang of, and you need to keep an open mind about the graphics, but Slime Forest really is a one of a kind learning tool that I really think is one of the funnest ways to learn Japanese!

The game is basically an old-school RPG game, you have to fight monsters, explore dungeons and even save a princess! Of course the main point is to learn Japanese though, right? So that's the twist! In order to defeat monsters, you must quickly type the romaji corresponding to the Japanese above the monsters heads. You can start of simple, learning to quickly read Hiragana and Katakana this way, and eventually moving on up to kanji, vocabulary and grammar, it's great! It's also got a lot of subtle humour, which makes it all the more enthralling!~

The best part is, this project is still going on! The creator is still updating with new words, kanji and chapters often, so at the moment there is no real end to what you can learn from it!

I highly recommend this program, it requires downloading but happily works on both PC and Mac (Yay!) and even Linux! It also keeps track of what you have learnt, and reviews characters, so if you play it every day it will check you up on things learnt the day before to make sure it really is embedded into your mind!

There are only a few bad point about this game, but even then they are not so serious. One is that a few of the kana characters you are taught are no longer used in modern Japanese (Wi, Wu) so those already fairly familiar with kana may get a little tripped up on these at first. The only other point is that although it is very effective at teaching you how to read quickly, unless you keep up practising writing on your own, you may find it difficult to write certain kanji even though you can read them without hesitation!

I loved it so much I bought the full version, but for beginners the free version is more than enough to keep you going for hours and hours and hours! Here's a little run down of what each of the versions offer:

 

Free version of Slime Forest Adventure:

• optional introduction to katakana and hiragana
• start learning kanji recognition and readings
• Adventure begins with Episode 1:
  • 2 caves test on 100 kanji each
  • save the princess to win!

The Full version additionally has:

• expanded set of nearly 2,000 kanji
• complete readings training with ~3,000 example words
• the adventure continues on islands in Episodes 2 and 3 (more coming soon!)
• additional play modes and training topics

 As I already said, this is highly recommended by me as a fun, casual way to start learning Japanese, and to keep up with it, the free version is completely adequate, but of course the paid version offers a lot more, and it's only $25/£16ish, which is so much cheaper than a normal video game but much more useful and just as much fun, if not more!

lrnj.com - Slime Forest!

Keep learning Japanese, don't give up! がんばって！ And remember, please get in touch if you want to suggest anything, correct anything, ask anything or just chat!

Til next time~

The First Steps to Learning Japanese! - Lesson 1 - Kana!

So, sometimes the first steps in things are the hardest, but personally, my experience with Japanese says that's not true :p

I has been a long time since I first started learning Japanese, and I have had a lot of breaks and off-time in between, which I now sincerely regret but, that's all in the past, now I'm determined to never give up! And here's the first of my mini lessons to keep myself motivated!

Of course, the most basic step in learning a foreign language is getting to know the alphabet they write in. Japanese actually has three alphabets (Hirigana, Katakana and Kanji!), and this can seem really intimidating at first to beginners but never fear! Two of them are actually phonetic which makes them easy once you've learnt the characters, and they are Hiragana ひらがな and Katakana カタカナ! They basically consist of all the same sounds, 48 different ones in total, although a couple aren't used often in morden Japanese any more.

The sounds of the alphabets are actually quite simple, once you get around the pronounciation differences of the letters!

There are 5 main vowel sounds, which are A, I, U, E and O.

'A' is pronounced as in 'hat'

'I' is pronounced as in 'ski'

'U' is pronounced as in 'moo'

'E' is pronounced as in 'bet'

and 'O' is pronounced as in 'go'

There is also the sound 'N', which is hardest to describe but it's a one off character that's like a 'nnhhh' such as the beginning of 'never'.

And after those first 5 sounds, all the other characters just have a different consonant on the front, for example, the hiragana and katakana alphabets, along side their romaji (Romaji is the Japanese word for the Western or Roman alphabet, so simply, Japanese spelled out in English!

-->

あ	い	う	え	お		ア	イ	ウ	エ	オ
A	I	U	E	O		A	I	U	E	O
か	き	く	け	こ		カ	キ	ク	ケ	コ
KA	KI	KU	KE	KO		KA	KI	KU	KE	KO
さ	し	す	せ	そ		サ	シ	ス	セ	ソ
SA	SHI	SU	SE	SO		SA	SHI	SU	SE	SO
た	ち	つ	て	と		タ	チ	ツ	テ	ト
TA	CHI	TSU	TE	TO		TA	CHI	TSU	TE	TO
な	に	ぬ	ね	の		ナ	ニ	ヌ	ネ	ノ
NA	NI	NU	NE	NO		NA	NI	NU	NE	NO
は	ひ	ふ	へ	ほ		ハ	ヒ	フ	ヘ	ホ
HA	HI	FU	HE	HO		HA	HI	FU	HE	HO
ま	み	む	め	も		マ	ミ	ム	メ	モ
MA	MI	MU	ME	MO		MA	MI	MU	ME	MO
や		ゆ		よ		ヤ		ユ		ヨ
YA		YU		YO		YA		YU		YO
ら	り	る	れ	ろ		ラ	リ	ル	レ	ロ
RA	RI	RU	RE	RO		RA	RI	RU	RE	RO
わ				を		ワ				ヲ
WA				WO		WA				WO
ん						ン
N						N

As you may have noticed, there are a few minor differences in pronunciation with a couple of characters. Shi, Chi, Tsu and Fu don't fit in the pattern, but they do lead to easier pronunciation of some words this way!

It's also important to point out that the RA line (RA, RI, RU, RE, RO) aren't exactly pronounced as RAAAAHHH, but the R is more subtle and rolled, halfway between an R and an L. Maybe if people like my lessons, I might make a video about pronunciation!

In my opinion, it makes the most sense to start by learning hiragana. Then, once you've got the sounds down, katakana seems so much simpler, as it can be tricky trying to do both at the same time!

Hiragana is generally used for most Japanese words, spelled out phonetically of course. It can be used for entire words and sentences, or intertwined with Kanji, the third alphabet that I think I might save for another lesson! Words like Kawaii かわいい, Konnichiwa こんいちは and Sakura さくら can be written in Hiragana. Katakana, though sometimes used for Japanese words, is most commonly used for foreign loan-words, like cola コーラ, ice cream アイスクリーム　and cake ケーキ and also foreign names (my own name, Jazmin ジャズミン ) and onomatopoeia in manga ( キラキラ (kirakira) = sparklesparkle etc.)

Kanji is tough. I won't go into detail here, but I will give you a brief outline now, for those who are curious! There are thousands of kanji characters, borrowed from Chinese, and usually a single Kanji or a compound of two (but occasionally more) signifies one word. They range from super simple 日 to really complicated looking 語, and most have multiple meanings and readings. This probably sounds really daunting and scary now, but that wasn't my intent! I just wanted to prepare people!

I hope you have enjoyed this, the first step to learning Japanese, and my first attempt at writing a lesson! Hopefully next time I will have a few followers to suggest things, if you like what you've read here, please do leave a comment! 

I hope my next post will include some useful learning resources and maybe a little vocabulary!

Have some adorable charts to help you out! One you get the hang of the characters, it teaches you some cute words too!

And you can even download them as PDF's to print out at home by going to these links (Here and here!)and clicking this: PDFをダウンロード