Vincent in Tokyo

My parents

2007-10-19T22:01:00.000+09:00

It has been almost 2 months since my parents left me, so this post is really, really late, but still worth posting.

September 13th my parents arrived at Narita International Airport.
I hadn't seen them for over a year so I was very excited to see them again. I took them to Tokyo, Kyoto, Nikko and of course my apartment which was a huge mess.

It was their first time outside of Europe and although they already knew a lot about Japan, it's still a completely different thing to actually be here.

I think the first thing they noticed was that it's very, very humid here
. Especcialy during the month they were visiting, which is known to be a very humid month. My dad wore a cap that more than once was completely soaked with sweat. The first week they stayed at a really nice Ryokan in the old centre of Tokyo. The owners were really nice and the area was very beautiful, it was as if time had stopped there since the fifties.

Our first trip was to Shibuya, which is the area most of you will know from photos. Busy pedestrian crossing, lots of neon, tall buildings and lots of people.

After that we explored some more of Tokyo before taking the shinkansen to Kyoto. I've been to Kyoto before, but didn't really have the chance to visit many sights. My view of Kyoto has completely changed after my second visit. It is a really beautiful city with lots and lots of cultural heritage. I added some photos of our trip to Kyoto. (My dad made over 800 photos during their holiday!)

The first 2 are of Kyomizu Dera.
The third one is a photo of a monk begging for money. (They aren't allowed to work for money)
The fourth one is a picture of a monk signing my parents book, which is now completely full of calligraphy from almost every temple we visited. It's like an autograph from the temple.
The fifth is a traditional Shinto wedding ceremony.

Ok, that's it for now, next time more photos and more storytelling.

Gokiburi

2007-09-10T20:07:00.000+09:00

Last night I came out of the shower and while i was putting on my clothes to go to bed I could see 2 long antennae coming out from behind my closet doors.
I slowly opened the door and there I saw a big, fat, shiny cockroach sitting on the door. I am not afraid of bugs, but cockroaches scare the hell out of me, I believe that they are pure evil.

After i gathered some strength to confront this minion of Satan I picked up a small, empty box and moved it slowly towards the cockroach. Then I made my move, I tried to scoop it up with the box, but the damn thing was too fast and it fled in my closet ! I couldn't find it anymore!

Now, in Japan they use long wooden chopsticks for cooking instead of wooden spoons, so with one stick in my hand I poked around in my closet, but to no avail. It was already late so I decided to close the doors and worry about it in the morning. I closed the doors and checked the sides for openings through which he might be able to crawl. It didnt seem possible for him to make it to other side, so I relaxed a bit and checked my email before I went to bed. But! After 5 minutes I looked at the door and saw 2 tentacles sticking out of the bottom moving around. I immediately opened the doors but he was already gone.

Sleeping was difficult, knowing that there was a roach inside my closet. But somehow I fell asleep pretty fast..... An hour later though I woke up soaked in sweat because of the heat. It was at that time I heard something. I immediately turned around and saw something move right next to my futon. The evil bastard had somehow crawled out of my closet and was now after my blood !

I jumped up and turned on the light. Armed with my chopstick I tried to stab him to death. But he was just too fast and kept hiding under my pile of clothing (I really need to clean up). Then I opened the backdoor and started poking under everything in my room, suddenly he ran out from under my radio and went outside. My plan had worked. Victory ! ... I could finally sleep peacefully.

The most famous primate in Japan

2007-09-09T00:59:00.000+09:00

Pan-kun ! And his sidekick James the dog.

Sharks ! Or not...

2007-08-27T18:29:00.000+09:00

I like swimming and 2 weeks ago I found that there is a public swimming pool near my house. Upon entering the pool I felt as if everybody stopped with what they were doing and just started staring at me. Living in a fairly small town I've gotten used to that so I ignored everyone and looked for a location in the shades to lay down my towel.
The first thing I noticed was that there were 7 lifeguards in total for a really small pool. 4 of them were sitting on one of those ladderchairs and the others were walking around. They switched positions every 30 minutes. I was afraid to go underwater, because 1 of them might be thinking I was drowning.

Anyways, after just 10 minutes of swimming I heard an announcement on the loudspeakers. I had no idea what they were saying but suddenly I saw that everybody was leaving the pool ! "Sharks!" Was the first thing that popped in my mind, then realizing I was in a public swimming pool I copied the others and got out as well. Following was another announcement and I could understand something being said about a "15 minute break".

The day after I asked my Japanese friend about it and he told me that in Japanese swimming pools they make everybody get out of the pool every hour for 15 minutes. This is done so nobody wears themselves out by swimming too much and to check if there's no-one dead in the pool. The last 5 minutes is spent by doing this: Radio Taisou

YouTube videos

2007-08-23T21:17:00.000+09:00

I uploaded some youtube videos.

These are videos I made at a festival in Chiba:

Yesterday I went to Tokyo Disneyland, to give you an idea of how hot and crowded it was I present you with this video:

Hot, Hotter, Hottest, Japan

2007-08-09T22:08:00.000+09:00

I have never been in Japan in August. Last year I was at home during that month, so I missed Japan's hottest month.
It is hot ! Sometimes when I tell people back home that it's 30 degrees celsius they say: "Ow nice!" It's not that nice as it seems. At this moment it's just after 10pm and it's still 28 degrees (82.4 Fahrenheit) as you can see on the picture I attached to this post. The humidty is around 80% which can best be described as someone throwing wet hot towels in your face. Every shirt, pants, sock, towel in my apartment feels moist and when I'm outside I'm sweating bullets. The best thing to do is to just stay inside with the airconditioning switched on.

Visit from overseas

2007-07-24T03:58:00.000+09:00

On Monday I met my Japanese teacher from Holland, Masami, together with her children and a friend of hers, Miho. They were visiting their relatives in Fukui (福井) and decided to come to Tokyo. We met in Shibuya and went to an izakaya near the trainstation. I don't know how well she expected me to speak Japanese, but I hope she was satisfied. If not: "Gomen nasai! I will study harder!"

She also brought with her a few gifts for me, stroopwafels from Holland and Castella from Fukui.

It was a little bit tiring for me, because I had to keep switching between Japanese, English and Dutch. I noticed that her children don't seem to have any problem with it. While her son was explaining something to me in Dutch, Masami asked him a question and he quickly replied in Japanese before immediately switching back into Dutch to finish the story he was telling me. I wonder how long it will take for me to reach that kind of level. Thank you for the exquisite evening!

Last day at Dai-Nana

2007-07-24T03:19:00.000+09:00

Last Friday was my last day at Narashino Dai-Nana Chu-gakko (習志野市立第七中学校).
There was a closing ceremony where I had to give my goodbye speech to all students and teachers. I wrote my speech in English and had one of the English teachers translate it for me in Japanese. I used to be nervous to speak in front of big crowds, but being a teacher, I've pretty much gotten used to it. 30 or 400 students, it's all the same.
With a few minor mistakes in my speech I managed to pull it off pretty well, I even got a big applause when I finished.

After me, another teacher got up on stage and explained to the students to behave during the summer-vacation and suddenly he said my name, and then again, and then one more time. I was trying to figure out what he was saying but it was too fast. When I asked the English teacher, she told me that he was lecturing them about TPO (Time, Place, Occasion). Which basically means that you should behave according to what time of day it is, where you are and what the occasion is. He used me as an example. The reason for using me was because I gave up on wearing formal clothing about a month ago. Maybe it's just me, but I don't like wearing a tie and suit when it's 30 degrees inside the school. But, since it was the last day, I wore a tie and a nice shirt, neatly tucked in my pants.

When the assembly was over, I sat back and relaxed a little in teacher's room. Then one by one students came to give me presents !
Every student wrote a little note and had them all binded together into a little book. The messages were really sweet. One student even made me drawing ! I will add the drawing and one of the messages to my post.

From September I will be going to my next school. Narashino Dai-San Chu-gakko (習志野市立第三中学校). As you can see on Google maps, the school is a little further than my previous.

Niigata earthquake

2007-07-18T22:14:00.000+09:00

Upon arriving Tuesday morning at school the principal asked me if I had noticed the eathquake on monday morning. That monday was 海の日 (Ocean day), so I had the day off.
My reply was, "Earthquake? What earthquake?". That was when I found out that Niigata had been hit by a big earthquake which was apparently felt as far as Tokyo. I tried to recall what I was doing at 10:30 but came up blank. I think I was just taking a shower, but I hadn't felt a thing.
So all of you at home who are worrying about me, I am OK :)

Earthquake report on MSN-Mainichi

Typhoon

2007-07-14T15:07:00.000+09:00

I just got back from the convenience store. I bought instant ramen, cigarettes, potato chips and a bottle of coke. There is no need to leave the room this weekend.
The wind is already picking up and i'm getting ready to welcome typhoon number 4, named Man-Yi.
The news says that by the time it reaches the Tokyo bay area, it has already lost a lot of it's power, but i'm guessing it will still be a lot more powerful than anything I will have ever seen back home.

UPDATE: Got all excited for nothing. By the time the typhoon reached Tokyo it had lost strength en was moving away to the south. No strong winds, no heavy rainfall, no mudslides and no power-outages. So I went to see Die Hard 4.0 at a movie theater in Soga (蘇我). Nice movie. Not the kind of excitement I was aiming for, but entertaining notheless.

Baseball

2007-05-25T19:33:00.002+09:00

2 weeks ago (sorry for the late update) I went to the Chiba Lotte Marines. I have never been to a baseball game in my life. Baseball isn't very popular in the Netherlands, so I was very excited to witness a live match.
The Marines played against the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks which of course didn't mean anything to me. We arrived at Kaihin Makuhari at around 4 o'clock, the game started at 6 which gave us enough time to shop for food, walk around the stadium and check out the museum, cheerleaders, mascottes, foodstalls and performances. "Shop for food!?" I hear you ask, yes, you are allowed to bring your own food and drinks. After seeing that a single beer costs Y600, I was very glad.
The first thing I noticed when I walked into the stadium was the fact that there was no security. None. No metaldetector, no angry looking patrols and no police. Another thing I noticed was that baseball is a real family event, the last time I saw so many children was when I went to Disneyland.

The atmosphere was excellent, you could tell that everybody was there just to have a good time and watch baseball. And even though the game itself was kind of boring (1-1), I had a really good time and will definitely visit again.

And now for some photos and a movie I made.

1 year in Japan !

2007-05-06T19:00:00.000+09:00

I just realized that it's 1 year ago since I came to Japan with the intend of living here. A lot of things have happened since then. I have made many good decisions and a lot of bad ones. I have wonderful memories as well as painful memories. Overall I think that I could've done a lot better. A long time ago I made a promise which has now fallen to pieces. I pictured myself on my deathbed and try to imagine if I would have any regrets about the decisions I made in my life. Now I know that this goal is an Utopia. It's impossible to live a happy life without making any big decisions which will or won't turn out to be good choices. Right now there are many things I wish I could change, but since this is not possible I will just have to live with the consequences of these choices and try to make the best of it.

You can run but you can't hide !

2007-04-23T20:14:00.000+09:00

When I got home this evening I checked my mailbox as always and was shocked at what I saw lying in there. It was the notorious (at least in Holland) 'blue envelope'. The tax office sends all it's letters in an envelope of a specific blue color which nobody dares to use for other purposes because nobody wants to scare their friends or family. Obviously I was a little hessitant about opening the letter. Upon opening and reading it a weight fell of my shoulders.
They have tracked me down and just want to know for how long I will be planning to stay here, what my new address is etc. etc.
It's funny to see how the system works. In February I had to get a new passport, for which I had to apply at the embassy in Tokyo. They informed the city hall or Roermond whom informed the tax office. At least, that's how I think it went.

Just one of those days

2007-04-10T18:25:00.000+09:00

This morning everything went as usual. I woke up, took a shower, had breakfast, got dressed, put on my coat and take my backpack.....Hmmmm... where's my backpack? Maybe it's in the genkan. Nope, not here. Suddenly I remembered. I left it on the train the evening before! And the worst part is, I managed to get home yesterday without even noticing it was gone !

Is it possible to get Alzheimer at age 26? Probably not, I have always been sloppy with stuff like that. It runs in the family. Thanks dad ! ;) I can't even remember what was in it. To be honest, I just carried it around for no particular reason. It's not like it looked cool or that I was making a fashion statement, but I'd gotten to the point where it became a habit to bring it with me. Except for this one time.

My next step is finding the lost&found office. I don't know where it is.

--1 hour later--

Got it ! I found a telephone number for JR East and called them. A kind young woman answered the phone in English and asked me what I had lost and when and where I lost it. After giving her this information she called the lost&found office for me. After about 50 minutes she called back with good news. My backpack was found.... at the last stop of the Uchibo line in a place called Awa-kamogawa, 25(!) stations from where I live. (You can check all the stations on my line here) I can pick it up at at the station attendant.

My favorite Japanese shows

2007-03-25T00:00:00.000+09:00

Last year I wrote a bit about Japanese television. Having lived here for almost a year I have grown fond of a couple of shows.

Here are 2 of my favorite Japanese shows:

1. Gaki no tsukai (full name: Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende)
A show about 5 comedians who are famous for their 'batsu games'.
Really funny clip (object of the game is NOT to laugh, or else you will get punished):

Here is another clip of them playing Silent Library (forbidden to make noise) with Ernesto Hoost:

2. Hard Gay
This clip is with subtitles so you can enjoy what they're saying as well.

Religion

2007-03-24T15:54:00.000+09:00

I've just been woken up by a Jehova's Witness. I was taking a really nice nap when the doorbell rang. Since not many people visit me, I actually thought it was something important. When I opened the door I immediately realized the mistake I made. Luckily she noticed quickly that I am a foreigner who doesn't speak Japanese. This time I completely switched to Dutch and didn't speak a single word English/Japanese.

I really don't have any problems with religious people but I'm seriously starting to hate being stopped on the street by Christians, preached to by Mormons and woken up by Jehova's Witnesess. Some even speak English pretty well. But whatever they have to say, "I am not interested in it" I always tell them. Apparently they've gotten used to this 'tactic' so they now camouflaged their speeches in the form of stupid meaningless questionnaires.
Yes, I am not always happy. Just like everybody else on this planet. No, I don't think god can help me with that. Why not? Because I don't believe in god. Why? There is no proof. You feel god in your heart? Have fun with that, but please leave me alone and stop bothering me !

It's nice to do a little rant about this, but most of the time I am too kind to tell them that to their faces. I just answer their questions until I am finished. The reason is that most of these people are really friendly which makes me feel that I should treat them in the same way.

I have yet to see a Buddhist/Shintoist (Which are by far the 2 biggest religions in Japan)on the street forcing his believes on random bypassers. This fact alone makes me respect these religions much more. Believe what you want to believe, but please... leave me alone. Go read a good book or have a few drinks with some friends.

Hangman

2007-03-20T22:52:00.000+09:00

While according to The World Health Organization suicide rates in Japan are not especially high compared to other countries it is still a big issue in Japan. The reason for this is probably because suicide has always been a part of the Japanese culture. I just have to mention “Seppuku” or “Hara-kiri” and I think you know what I mean. A few months ago the newspapers were full of horrible stories about children committing suicide. Doing a quick search on a Japanese news website shows many examples. Some of the students were in Elementary School !

I can’t believe that students at that age even think of something like suicide.

Today I witnessed another example of the fear parents have.
When I have a couple of minutes of spare time in my class I sometimes play hangman with them. It’s a fun game and it helps to broaden their vocabulary. But today I heard that there were complaints coming in from parents who didn’t like the dangling stick figure that their children were confronted with after they failed to guess the word. So they requested me to change to hangman to something more ‘friendly’. I’m a nice guy so I changed it to a spider without making any fuss about it.

The name is Door, Convenient Door

2007-03-15T13:18:00.000+09:00

Let me tell you something about signatures in Japan. They don't mean the same thing as they do in the west. Signatures will get you nowhere. Whether it's a buying a car, opening a bank account or loaning money, you will be asked for a Hanko. A Hanko is a namestamp and it serves the same purpose as a signature in the west. So when I opened a bankaccount last week the bank teller suggested that I had one made. Although lately they can open a bankaccount without one, it's still a whole lot easier to just have one made for future purposes.

I now have a couple of options, I can either have one made with my name in Katakana or I can change my name from the phonetic word "Binsento" to a Japanese word with an actual meaning.
Yesterday I asked a couple of students to try and 'Japanize' my name and they came up with 2 options:
1. 瓶泉兎 (Bottle Pond Rabbit)
and my personal favorite
2. 便鮮戸 (Convenient Fresh Door)

There are A LOT more options for my name and I will let you know once I have decided. If you can read/write Japanese I would really appreciate it if you'd let me know your suggestions.

Cell phone addiction

2007-03-07T15:13:00.000+09:00

A week ago I bought a new cell phone (ketai in Japanese), I'm very happy with it. It has email, internet, TV, GPS, mp3-player, e-money and a camera and it wasn't very expensive. Cell phones are big business in Japan. I can't find the exact number of subscribers, but walking down the street in any Japanese city will give you an image of how many people have a cell phone.

Yesterday I saw a report on the news about people being addicted. They asked people on the streets 10 questions. A couple of these questions were:
Do you feel like you have to reply emails within 15 mins?
When your battery is almost empty, does it make you feel bad?
Do you feel irritated when you discover you forgot you phone at home?
Do you know at what time certain people will call you on your phone?
Do you use your phone on the train?
Do you have more than 1 cell phone?

Surprisingly, a lot of people answered "yes" to almost all questions. After that they showed some footage of polictians secretly using their phone during meetings, truck drivers who were on the road talking on the phone and normal people while walking on the platform at the trainstation. At least 1 person almost got killed who walked off the platform because he was looking at his phone instead of where he was going.

Having said this, there aren't many times I'm actually disturbed by people using a cell phone. When people in Japan are on the phone in a public place, they will most likely cover the mouthpiece with their hand to avoid being a disturbance to others.

My Japanese acting debut !

2007-02-17T18:58:00.000+09:00

This morning at 9 am I was picked up by my friend and co-worker 'Yoppy'. He is a friend of a director that works for Channel 9 in Ichihara-shi and I was asked to play a role in a series about folk stories that take place in Ichihara.
My role was that of a Doctor, named Edmond.

The leading role was a guy that received a lot of money but because he liked to spent a lot of money it took him only a couple of weeks before he was almost poor again. He spent most of it in hostess-bars. His father got fed up with him and tried to reason with him. Without any success. Through a friend he learned that there was a foreign doctor (me!) that could cure him of his habit through a strange treatment.

We all gathered in a forest and I made the lead character climb a tree without a ladder. Ofcourse he almost fell and while he was hanging on a tiny branch I made him realize that this branch represented everything he had left. His parents, his friends and his money. If he let go, he will lose everything. And of course he came out a changed man and we all celebrated this change in a bar.

That's the basic story, from what I understand at least.

The show will be aired on 4 March.

The spoiled cyclist

2007-01-25T16:41:00.000+09:00

As a cyclist in Holland you're at the top of the traffic food-chain.
There are special paths just for cyclists and cars and pedestrians will always keep an eye out for you.
Not in Japan.
Pedestrians walk in the middle of the sidewalk, cars can be parked ON the sidewalk, bumps and holes seem to fixed with only the pedestrian in mind and nobody seem to notice you until you are 1 feet away.
This is by far my biggest pet peeve I am experiencing in Japan.

From earth

2007-01-15T12:22:00.000+09:00

English is a fashionable language in Japan. It looks cool, but a lot of the times it makes no sense to an english speaker. Yesterday I opened a bag of peanuts and when I looked at the package I couldn't help but laugh.
From earth?!?! Where am I now?

akemashite o-medetō-gozaimasu !

2007-01-09T08:41:00.000+09:00

3 ! 2 ! 1 !.... *silence*
That about sums up the Japanese change into the new year.
No fireworks, no late night clubbing, no shaking hands and no kissing friends and family.
Total silence, that's it.

My friend and I knew this so the day before the 'big' countdown we went shopping for party snacks. We got home that evening with donuts, beer, champagne, party crackers (not really food, but there you go) and an illuminated sheep (I'm not even going to explain) as our midnight-mascot.
A few minutes before 12 I turned on the TV to start looking for a channel with a countdown-clock. There was an end-year concert going on in Tokyo Dome and 1 minute before midnight they showed a clock in the lower-right corner.
In Holland I am used to hearing fireworks at midnight, but here in Japan there is only silence and a distant sound of someone banging on a bell at a shrine.
We decided to go and check out what was going on there. But before we went out I flipped through some other channels to see what what on. There were many shows about food and the rest of the channels were taken up by home-shopping garbage.
At the shrine many people had gathered from around the neighborhood to pray.
They had set up a tent near a huge campfire (which we were told was a god) where they were serving some sort of rice drink (very sweet), soup and sake, free for everyone.
We got a lot of attention, probably due to the fact that most visitor weren't expecting any foreigners to visit this small shrine.
We stayed until 2AM drinking sake and talking to the locals about Holland, food and women.

The next morning we took an early train with our Japanese friend to visit Asukusa in Tokyo. One of the most visited temples at new year in the Kanto area.
I am not very good at estimating amounts of people, but I can tell you that there were A LOT.
The were all lining up to get inside the temple and make a new year donation. We did the only sensible thing to do. We cut in line. We walked all the way past the immense queue and when we almost reached to front we slided unsuspiciously into the line. Which is not so easy being a tall foreigner I might add. In 30 mins. we reached to front of the queue and were allowed inside. Everybody was shoving and pulling, trying to get into the right angle to throw there money into a big hole that was there for that purpose alone. I really wasn't paying that much attention since i was more busy trying to protect my Japanese friend from being squashed.

When we got out of the temple we were confronted by food stalls as far as the eye could reach. There was Okonomiyaki, Mochi, Yakisoba and even Doner Kebab. Have I told you that Japanese love food?
After we filled our stomachs with a fine selection Japanese new-year food we took the train back home, far away from the crowds.

Winter’s around the corner

2006-11-29T16:40:00.000+09:00

Getting my apartment up to a comfortable temperature takes a lot of fiddling around with my heater. The walls in most Japanese apartments seem to be made of paper. Double glass and central heating is something that not many people have in their home.

I usually get home around 5:30 at which point I immediately turn on the heater and go out to buy my dinner. (Since my stove takes 30 minutes just to boil water, I stopped bothering to cook for myself) When I get back it’s like walking into a tropical forest so I turn the heater off. But the second it’s switched off I can feel the cold creeping in again. It’s like an icy wave engulfing me and slowly seeping through my bones. So 15 minutes later I turn on the heater again. Within no-time it starts blasting a hot wind comparable with something a slice of bread might experience when put in the toaster.

The last 2 days I tried wearing 2 sweaters and the heater switched to off. It’s more environment friendly and inside my 3 layers of clothing I can finally relax in a comfortable temperature and read my book without being distracted.

Seoul

2006-11-20T11:46:00.000+09:00

Last thursday I made a quick crossover to Seoul, South Korea.
My VISA is currently being processed and it will be done in December, but my last VISA expired the 22nd of November so I needed to leave the country.

Seoul itself is pretty nice and the people are comparable with the Japanese. Although Koreans seem to be a bit more....uhmmm.. how do i say this.....They are more open.
I also noticed that everything is more messy then Japan. There are foodstalls everywhere, there's more garbage in the alleyways and it's noisier. And there is A LOT more police and military on the streets. You could see guys walking around with black pants, black bombers, black caps and black sunglasses, carrying a automatic machinegun. They looked pretty intimidating. In Japan you see police just as often as you'd see a girl WITHOUT a Louis Vuitton bag.

The most frustrating for me was that I can't speak a single word in Korean. Even now, I still don't even know how to say "Hi" in Korean. Luckily for me, most Koreans can speak English pretty good. Maybe it's because there are so many Americans in Seoul.

Anyways, i'm back safe and sound and now and it feels like i've never even left.

Changing of the leaves

2006-11-07T11:59:00.000+09:00

In spring, there are a couple of days where every park in Japan is overrun by people to witness the Sakura, during the fall season there is something similar. I'm talking about the annual "changing of the leaves" where the colors of tree leaves change from their normal green to a bright red.
Last Thursday the teachers of my school (including me) went on a trip to Kurobe dam, Matsumoto castle and finally Kami Kochi.
The bus left at 5:55 in the morning with enough drinks and food on board to feed a small third world country.
A lot of teachers started drinking beer at 6:30 which was a little bit TOO early for me.
After a long travel we arrived at Kurobe dam. I found out that this dam provides electricity for the whole Osaka area.

The size of the Dam was pretty impressive but all in all, it was just a dam like any other.
After that we went to Matsumoto and I was a little disappointed at the fact that we were behind schedule and couldn't visit the castle itself. I have visited it a couple of years ago though, so I could live with it.

We then continued our way to an old traditional styled Japanese hotel with a view of Matsumoto city. This was awesome and the food here was unlike anything I had seen before. I almost felt sad by eating eat, simply because it looked so beautiful.

After a good night sleep we got on the bus again and headed for Kami Kochi. It was exactly how I imagined it would be. Loads and loads of people visiting for the same reason we were there, to see the pretty leaves. It was the only time in Japan where i didn't feel like the only tourist.

The view was astounding. I'm not used to seeing mountains, coming from a country that's as flat as a pancake. So it's a very nice change of scenery.

Rabbits are actually birds?

2006-10-17T15:59:00.000+09:00

Counting things in Japanese can be a pain in the ass. Flat objects (ichi mai, ~) are counted differently than long thin objects (i pon, ~) for instance.
There are different counters for small animals, large animals, birds, people, etc. etc.
This is because in the Japanese language they combine the subject's (usually shortened) name with the number.

Yesterday I was told that you count rabbits (ichi wa, ~) the same way as you count birds.
My brain started working immediately trying to figure out why this is.
I couldn't figure it out so my co-worker started explaining:

A long time ago Buddhist priests weren't (aren't?) allowed to eat animals with more then 2 legs. So fish was ok, as well as chickens.
Of course, the priests wanted to have some other meat than chicken and fish and since there was a abundance of rabbits they said considered the rabbit as a full member of the bird-family.
Conclusion: Rabbits are birds and birds have 2 legs... Let's go and hunt us some rabbits for lunch !
It's small stories like these that keep me interested in finding out more about the Japanese culture.

Name of the game

2006-10-03T08:55:00.000+09:00

Natsuki, Akko, Mayuka, Ayana, Miho.... the list goes on and on. The girls in my school seem to have made a game out of asking me if I remember their names. I’m having a hard time remembering western names, let alone Japanese names. It’s almost impossible!

Yesterday I had my weekly English conversation class with 12 girls who all told me their names at the start. The next hour all of them asked me if I could remember their names at least 6 times. Even the names of the girls who told me their name 5 minutes earlier had slipped my mind.

When I’m walking through the school, the first thing I hear from students passing me by is “Namae?” while pointing to their nose. I give them an apologetic look while saying “Gomen ne“ and hope that they’ll let it go. But they hardly ever do. They make me repeat their name at least 5 times before they let me go. I really feel bad about it, because it might seem that I don’t care about it, but I really do. If there was just some easy way to remember them. Any tips are welcome!

Capsule Hotel

2006-10-02T07:38:00.000+09:00

Saturday evening, 12pm.

After having a couple of drinks I decided to take the second last train back home. For some reason the train was delayed (first time I ever experienced a delayed train in Japan)

Now, I had a couple of drinks so at this time I really needed to go to the bathroom, but since there was no telling when the train was going to leave I decided to stay on board.

After 15 minutes the train finally left, but the need to go to toilet had grown. Since it was the second last train I thought it would be alright to get of at the next station, hurry to the toilet and take the last train. But when I got of the train 4 stops from my final destination I discovered that due to the delay I was actually on the last train.

Now I was left with a couple of options. The first thing I did was look around for a 24h restaurant, but after roaming the streets for an hour I still couldn’t find one.

"Perhaps I should take a taxi", I thought to myself. I had no idea how much this was going to cost me so I decided to go and ask a taxi driver back at the train station.

On my way back to the train station I suddenly saw a huge sign which said ‘Kapuseru Hoteru’ written in Katakana which of course means ‘Capsule Hotel’ in correct English. Great! It was only Y3000, which was definitely cheaper than my taxi ride would be and I could check another item on my ‘things I want to do in Japan’ list. After reaching the 3rd floor of the building I was greeted by a kind woman who immediately told me that I was maybe to tall to fit in my room.
She showed me a ‘room’ and from the looks of it, I would be able to fit if I laid diagonally. After saying "Daijobu" to the nice lady she handed me the key to my locker, gave me a pair of pajamas and a towel and showed me to my ‘room’ for the night. Inside were a TV, radio, light and air-conditioning. It felt like I was sleeping on a spaceship orbiting earth. It was pretty cool and I felt really safe in my own little protective cocoon.

The next morning I got woken up by the staff who told me that it was time to check out, by now it was already 8:30. I crawled out of my capsule and headed down to my locker, most of the other people walking around seemed to be middle-aged men who probably drank too much the night before and missed their last train……. Seems like I’m not so different from them after all.

I have found a website which have photos of a hotel with the exact same type of capsules I have slept in. You can check it out here:

http://www.yesicanusechopsticks.com/thesequel/capsule/index.htm

Gomen nasai !

2006-09-29T13:01:00.000+09:00

I'm really sorry !
The reason why my blog hasn't been updated for so long is simply because i don't have an internet connection in my apartment.
Not having access to the internet is almost like missing an arm or a leg.
I do have internet here at work, but it doesn't feel right to use the internet for private things. After all, i've only been working here for a month.

There is so much i want to tell and show and i can't wait till i have internet access at my house.
It's all very frustrating.

I promise that i will do anything in my power to speed up the process, so i can finally keep in touch with my dutch friends and family more often.

Ok, there's 1 thing i can show you all, 18 september was my 26th birthday and the teachers here at work made me a birthday cake with my name written on it in Katakana.
So, please enjoy your digital piece of cake.

I'm back, again...

2006-08-28T14:10:00.000+09:00

Last Thursday I arrived in Narita a little after 6pm, there was a delay because the ground personnel in Charles de Gaulles loaded a wrong baggage cart into our plane and we had to wait for them to take it out again.
The flight itself was surprisingly comfortable, i even got a few hours of sleep, which was at first for me. After I arrived I immediately ran outside to have a cigarette, and got punched in the face by the tremendous humidity. To illustrate how hot it was, a baggage claim sticker actually fell off of my suitcase. After I had successfully pleased my addiction I continued my journey by train. Let me tell you something about Tokyo Narita International Airport. The name makes you think that the airport is actually in Tokyo. It is NOT. The airport is in Chiba, which is a completely different prefecture. The train ride to central Tokyo is a little under 2 hours, which was fine by me because I was really tired. I woke up 5 minutes before my stop which kind of sucked because I was sleepdrunk for the next couple of hours dragging around my suitcase in my sweatdrenched clothing before finally arriving in Hibarigaoka, which is where I am staying right now.

I just got a call from my good friend Atsuko, so I will be going now to see her.
More updates coming soon !

I'm back !

2006-08-01T22:08:00.000+09:00

After a very long and boring flight I arrived back home in Holland. I got to see my family and friends again which I missed a lot during the last 3 months.
On the 24th of August I will be flying to Japan again to start teaching when the schools summer vacation is over.
This time I won't be living and working in Tokyo though, but i'm not going to change my weblog's name, since it's too much work and I still live very close to Tokyo.

I don't know if i'm going to update this blog during my 'vacation' in Holland, but I promise that I will continue when I get back.

Till then, have a nice summer!

Summervacation

2006-07-21T19:27:00.000+09:00

English Teacher: "Binsento-sensei, as you know, tomorrow is the last day of school before the summervacation. Do you think it's OK for you to talk a few words with the students so you can say goodbye to them?"
Me: "Ok, sure!"

The next day...

English Teacher: "Binsento-sensei, all the students will gather in the gym this afternoon, so when do you want to do your speech?"
Me: "Uhmmm... What speech?"

...

So, due to a little "lost in translation" miscommunication I found myself totally unprepared 15 minutes before the big moment. To make matters even worse.... it had to be in Japanese.

I quickly started writing a short speech in English and handed it in so the English teacher could translate it.
She wrote it in Hiragana first, but I'm still to slow when it comes to reading Hiragana, so she rewrote it in Romanji as well which saved my life.
I quickly read it 3 times out loud and made my way towards the gym.
All of the students AND teachers had gathered there and I could feel my heart pounding in my throat. I don't mind speaking in English in front of so many people, but it was the Japanese and the fact that everything was so formal that freaked me out.

Then the principal stepped forward and gave me a introduction "...*japanese*... ALT ...*japanese*...Binsento-sensei ...*japanese*..."
I knew that it was my turn to step forward, I took one big breath and slowly moved towards the principal who was still standing there.
The main focus was now on me, 150 people were looking at me.
Kyoto-sensei (the principal) gave me a nod and said that i should do what he did.
Stand up straight, bring your arms to your sides, make a bow (students bow as well at this point) and take one big step forwards towards the microphone.
He nodded again which was a sign for me to start the speech.
"Tatta sanshuukan deshitaga.
Totemo tanoshikatta desu.
taneshii natsuyasumi wo sugoshite kudasai.
benkyou mo ganbatte kudasai.
Sayounara and see you." (You can click on the photo to see the speech I had with me)
I bowed again, everybody applauded and I was free to go.

The English teacher told me that my pronunciation was perfect, but I assume she was just being polite.

This seemed like the final test before succeeding in Japan, next week I will have to the immigration office and get my Visa sorted out before going back to Holland again to complete the Visa application.

Elementary school

2006-07-09T13:56:00.000+09:00

Last Friday I stood in front of 38 8 year-old boys and girls. I had no idea what to expect, but as soon as I entered the school I knew that everything was going to be OK. It almost seemed like the children had never seen a foreigner before. When I entered the class room I must've looked like an actual giant since I had to duck under the doorway. When I looked up again I saw 76 eyes staring right at me. The first thing on the program was an introduction, i told them my age, where i was from and showed them some photos of Holland. Then we played a game of Janken (The Japanese equivalent of Rock-Paper-Scissors) It was me vs. the entire class. I kind of felt bad since i won everytime, but I couldn't help it.

Then we did food. I would pronounce the name of a certain food and they would repeat that. Then I said "I like icecream, what do you like?" and they could all raise their hand and tell me what food they liked. Some children asked me what the English word was for Sushi or Okonomiyaki, which made me and the kindergarten teacher laugh out loud.

At the end of the class all of the children could shake my hand or give me a high-five. Safe to say that the last option was somewhat more popular.

I had a really good time at that school and I would love to come back once to teach some more.

So much to tell, so little time.

2006-07-06T20:26:00.000+09:00

Last Sunday I received a phonecall that I was expected at a Junior High School in Chiba-ken to start teaching. Chiba is a 2 hour commute from my place, which means that I have to get up every morning at 5am. When I get back home I get to spend 2 hours of free time before I will have to go to sleep again.
Finally having a job and being in a completely different surrounding has really boosted my inspiration to write, but I just don't have the time everyday. I'm sorry.
On the other hand, summer school vacation starts on the 21st, so I will be finished by then, maybe even before that date.
This job is somewhat of a trial, if I pass I might be looking at a full-time career, probably at a school closer to home. I do have to go back to Holland to arrange the VISA though.
Anyways, I'll try to make a big update this weekend.

Irezumi

2006-07-01T18:00:00.000+09:00

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. Right now I'm sitting in front of my laptop sipping on some Ichigo strawberry milk wondering what I should have for dinner this evening.
Last night I went to a birthday party held by the one and only Will, where I've met with some really interesting people. One of them was Ken, who's a Japanese tattoo artist.

He only does tattoos using the old method of bamboo sticks (Irezumi) instead of state-of-the-art machines. I asked him why many people associated tattoos with Yakuza. He explained me that in Meiji period (1868-1912) there was a big western influence in Japan and that the art of tattooing was actually banned and made illegal. So it moved it's way to the underground, but when the Americans made tattooing legal again after the WWII the damage to the reputation of Irezumi was irreversible.
Ken went on showing me some photos of some clients of his and I was amazed by the amount of detail that's in the tattoos. Some full-body drawings took him over 12 years to finish and are really pieces of art. It was nice to meet somebody so passionate about his job.

Food

2006-06-21T20:28:00.000+09:00

If there's one thing you'll notice when you're in Japan it has to be that Japanese people LOVE food.
I'd say that maybe 7 out of 10 shops are at least related to food. Whenever you turn on the TV at any time of the day you are bound to hit a show about either cooking food or eating it. Food, food, food. Last week I saw an interview with a Japanese TV celebrity (pictured on the left) who is rather, well...., fat. The question was: "What is your favorite drink?" Totally unexpected he laughed and replied: "Curry".

In Tokyo, it is quite easy to find restaurants serving foreign food. Most popular are Italian and Chinese restaurants. And then there are of course the big American fast-food restaurants like McDonald's, Wendy's and KFC which I sometimes too am guilty of visiting.
But there are also Japanese fast-food restaurants like Yoshinoya who serve surprisingly good meals for a cheap price.

I know that some people outside Japan are a little suspicious of eating raw fish and meat, but in a country where food is taken so incredibly serious there is no reason to be scared of getting sick. Even the most tiniest restaurants usually have really high standards when it comes to the quality and hygiene of preparing your meal.

Nihongo II

2006-06-17T23:46:00.000+09:00

Most people know that politeness and hierarchical stature is a very important aspect in the Japanese language. Today I came across a perfect example of this.

The word "down" in Japanese is "shita" (pronounced as "shta")and the kanji looks like this:

Now, whenever you are requesting something, like "May I have some tea", you can say "Ocha o kudasai" which would look like this in Japanese:

As you can see, the word "kudasai" uses the same kanji as the word "shita", this is because when you use it, you are "lowering" yourself to the listener, thus showing him/her respect.

The use of politeness in everyday speech is very important in Japan and even though most Japanese people will say that they are very forgiving when it comes to foreigners, you can sense that they (mostly elders) become uncomfortable when you use the wrong form of politeness.

Japanese television

2006-06-13T13:54:00.000+09:00

When most people think of Japanese television they picture themselves people on stage getting humiliated and being hurt while the audience laughs like Takeshi's Castle.

This of course is a stereotype, most Japanese shows are just like western shows, they have talkshows, game shows, drama, news, sports etc etc.

My favorite show is called Ungirls, mostly because it is humor that even I can understand with my bad Japanese skills. The stars of the show do all kinds of sketches and also many appearances on other shows. This is where Japanese shows differ most from Western shows. You can see many hosts appear on almost every other show as guests and many commercials as well. Flipping through the channels just now I've already seen at least 3 persons that I know from another show. But the absolute king of TV shows is Takeshi Kitano. I can't remember the last time I turned on the TV and didn't see him on some show.

He pulls of some crazy stuff, probably just because he can, his shows are usually what the Western audience knows Japanese television from. Not so long ago he made a show where he had his assistants called at 3AM with the message that Kitano was really sick and that he was about to die. Then he sat on his couch timing everybody to see who got there the fastest.

SCG:NED - 0:1

2006-06-12T21:25:00.000+09:00

It was a warm and rainy evening in Tokyo, but inside the Nakata cafe in Omotesando it was cool and dry.
There I met up with some people who work at the Dutch embassy in Tokyo to watch the soccer game. The cafe is a temporary establishment which is build just for the purpose of watching the World Cup games. They have special seats provided for the men and women who come to cheer for their country. No other countries are allowed up there then the countries that are playing at that moment, so it kind of felt like VIP seats. Too bad that I don't have an orange t-shirt, which kind of made me stand out.

Normally I don't really care so much for the national anthem, but being with a small group of Dutch people in this faraway country, it felt kinda nice to stand up and sing it along with the rest. A Canadian then asked me what our national anthem was about. I couldn't explain, since it's actually kind of weird and I haven't really thought of the meaning. Does this make me a bad Dutch national or am I not alone on this one?

Where the &*%@ am I ?

2006-06-07T21:09:00.000+09:00

I have an enormous amount of respect for the mailmen in Japan. Let me tell you why.
The Japanese address system is completely different from that of most western countries.

Let me explain by using a fake address:
Mr. Taro Tanaka [Name]
5-2-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo-to [Subarea-blocknumber-building number followed by Subarea name, City or Ward and finally the Prefecture]
140-0098 [Postal code]

As you can see, Japan does not use street names (except for major roads).
To make matters even worse, houses are not numbered by location, but by the time they were built. So the oldest building will be number 1, the one built after that will have number 2 etc etc.

When you go out for a walk it's easy to get lost, because blocks don't necessarily mean that they're square. You are bound to hit a dead end somewhere along the road and you can suddenly find yourself at some abandoned parking lot or frontyard of a house.
It's a fun fact that even most Japanese people get lost when they're in an unknown neighborhood, so it's nothing to be ashamed of when asking a stranger where the building is that you are looking for.
This is why most restaurants and other businesses have little maps printed on the back of their business cards along with their address.

Unlike taxidrivers, postmen don't have some fancy GPS navigator built onto their bike and i can only imagine how long it must take them to get to know their neighborhood.

Nihongo

2006-06-05T14:24:00.000+09:00

Yesterday and today I was practicing my conversational Japanese using an exercise from my Japanese class in Holland which my dad emailed me.
The first question of the exercise alone took me 20+ times to memorize it correctly. Reading it is pretty easy but repeating it after a Japanese person pronounces it is something totally different. When the sentence was pronounced by me, I sounded like either a Yakuza or like I was singing .... apparently.

The question was: Anata no machi wa. Donna machi desu ka? (lit.: Your home. How is it?)
My initial reply was something like: "It is nice", but Hitomi didn't seem to agree with such a short answer.
In the end it became:
Watashi no heya wa Kami Saginomiya ni arimasu. Kuruma no oto ga urusai desu. (My room is in Kami Saginomiya. There is a lot of noise from cars driving by.)

Japanese is a pretty 'flat' language, so you never really have to emphasize words. This is the main reason it is difficult to repeat a complete sentence someone just said. Then there's the matter of speed. I would still be on the word Kami while a Japanese person would've already finished the sentence which makes it difficult to tell apart the words. It just sounds like one huge word.
Nihongo wa totemo muzukashi desu.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some more studying to do....

Skyscrapers

2006-06-02T20:21:00.000+09:00

The weather is nice, so I decided to take a stroll through the skyscraper district of Shinjuku and make some photos.
Here are the results:

Watching people

2006-05-30T21:34:00.000+09:00

Watching people go about their business is one of my favorite things to do in Tokyo.
Today I sat for almost 2 hours in front of Shinjuku station observing men and women as they got out of the station or walked towards it. This station gets an average of 3.22 million people per day, so that's a lot of watching !
Just like every big city Tokyo has a lot of 'weird' people, men dressed as women, women dressed as men and some women even dress as candy. They have pink hair, colorful clothing and white mascara. As I watched them walk by I noticed something else: A lot of young women were approached by slick looking guys with tanned skin and cowboy boots who asked them something and most of the time the girls ignored them and just kept on walking. Some stopped and returned an answer which seemed to satisfy the guy and continued the conversation.

When I asked a friend about this he told me that they were either Yakuza recruiting women for hostess bars or in the case of older men they were probably asking the girls if they were interested in making some quick money. (I think I don't need to explain this in detail)

Now, in any European country the girl would probably tell them to piss off, but in Japan, where people tend to avoid problems and always stay polite, the women just try to ignore them until they go away. Which usually works by the way. Still, i couldn't help to feel a little sorry for the girls.

World Cup fun?

2006-05-28T00:31:00.000+09:00

With the World Cup of 2006 closing in on us it's nearly impossible to turn on the TV without seeing some sort of analyzing show on it. Soccer isn't that big in Japan, but with the Samurai Blue (Nickname for Japan's team) being a part of the game, it's getting a huge attention boost in the media.

I was wondering where to watch the game myself until I heard something very interesting. Because of the time difference, most games are being played very late at night and bars/clubs aren't allowed to sell alcohol after a certain time (sorry, i can't find the exact time) and to make things worse, there can't be any noise !

So, what do you get?
A club filled with people who want to drink and cheer but have to keep quiet during the match.

For some reason I just feel like watching it at home on my 30cm LCD TV with a can of Kirin beer next to my bed and cheer in silent, careful to not wake up my neighbor.

The "Green Evil"

2006-05-26T22:49:00.000+09:00

Here it is !
I found out the name of the green drink, it's called Aojiru, which surprisingly means Green Juice and is made from a Kale Tree. I have no idea what this tree is, but I assume that they only grow in hell.
Just looking at this tasty beverage sends chills up my spine. I consider myself lucky that my drink didn't have that gnarly foam on top of it which would've left a nice green moustache after consumption.

I wonder what the guy who 'invented' this goo was thinking. "Hey, why don't we pick some leaves of this tree, stamp on them and see if liquid comes out and then drink it !"

In all honestly, I love Japanese food, but I can not see anybody drink this because it tastes good. I'll just stick to the Udon, Soba, Sashimi and Sushi for now.

Stop playing with the strings !

2006-05-25T18:42:00.000+09:00

This morning my girlfriend prepared 2 nattō dishes for me.

One with kimchi and the other one "au naturel".
The moment she opened the package an aroma of unwashed feet made it's way through my nose and made my hairs stand up straight on my arm.

I've heard many people talk about this, for westerners, strange dish, so I kind of knew what to expect and took the odor for granted. When she stirred the Nattō something really strange happened, it started to make spider web-like threads. You could seriously grip one of those beans between your chopsticks, walk to the other side of the apartment and the "thread" would still be connected to its origin.

I'm guessing that the first thing everybody does when they eat Nattō for the first time is analyze the webbing. It actually proved difficult to eat it, because of the strings that seemed to go everywhere when you eat it. It felt like I was walking through a hedge in the early morning, fresh with newly-made spider webs.
Now for the most important part, the taste.
I don't love it, but neither do I hate it. The taste is hardly what you'd expect from its foul smell.
If somebody offered it me again, I would eat it. I can't describe the unique taste, but it's not bad at all.

I'm happy I did it.

Unlike the drink I had beforehand. She poured me a drink she got from her mother that supposedly was made from leaves, it was dark green and it was not tea. I've seen some commercials about that drink and when I asked what it was she showed it to me.
I couldn't control my facial muscles when I drank it, it was bitter as hell. It's supposed to be good for your health, but I always wonder why things that are good for your health have to taste so bad.

The egg

2006-05-23T16:27:00.000+09:00

I love eggs, whether they're boiled, baked or scrambled.
When I grew up I was always happy when it was Sunday morning, because that would mean a nice breakfast. Croissants, warm out of the oven and a (medium) boiled egg.
This Sunday was no different, I boiled myself 2 eggs and had a chocolate croissant. That afternoon I went shopping for groceries.

Between the nattō (please don't get me started) and soy milk I ran across a single boiled egg, neatly packed in a small plastic container. Now, bear in mind that I thought it was weird to buy just one apple, which seems to be normal in Japan whereas in my homecountry you get charged according to the total weight.
It even felt strange putting the thing in my basket.

In a country where they're not afraid to separately package every little thing you can buy (I have even seen them put a bag around a single pencil) I could've expected this though.

Sleepless

2006-05-17T04:04:00.000+09:00

Maybe it's just because I need to get used to the environment, but there are nights when it's difficult to fall into sleep. Sometimes I get the feeling that I live next to a testing track for all sorts of vehicles. I don't know what the speed limit is on that road, but I doubt that it's over 200kph. There are some dangerous sidestreets and every time I hear a bike approaching in the distance I brace myself for the sound of a huge crash. It really is strange that I have never heard or seen an accident here.

Then there are the unexplainable noises which could be described as either zooming, gushing, ticking and sometimes even banging. Last night I was sitting straight up in bed because I clearly heard something like a metal pipe falling from somewhere high. There's a construction yard across my building, so I can only assume that it fell there.

So now I'm just gonna turn on the TV to drown out the background noises.
Good night....

24h shopping

2006-05-12T01:46:00.000+09:00

I just bought 3 clothing hangers at 2 in the morning. At midnight I started to feel an appetite, when I tried to sleep it got worse until I suddenly started looking for something to eat. But my fridge contained only some strawberry jam, a couple of eggs, some bacon, but no bread or anything else I could settle my stomach with. So I put on my clothes and hit the streets. Whilst looking for a 24h convenience store I was amazed by the amount of other shops that were open at this hour. Most of them were restaurants and a couple of shady bars that have their entrance in the basement. I'm not sure what they serve down there, but I do not want to know.

After about 10 minutes I found what I was looking for, the Lawson Store 100. Everything you can find in this shop costs Y100. (actually it's Y105 because of the taxes which are charged at the counter)
And there is a lot to find there, from towels to canned fruit. As I picked up some bread and walked towards the clerk, my eyes fell on clothing hangers and got reminded that I still needed a couple for my closet. So I picked up a few of them as well.

So, after I finish this nice slice of bread with jam I'll go back to sleep.
Good night !

How to put out garbage

2006-05-10T01:03:00.000+09:00

In Holland, I was used to separating garbage in only 2 categories. There was 'vegetables, fruit and gardenwaste' and the other one was 'almost everything else'. On thursdaymorning you'd put it on the street and when you got back from work it was gone most of the times.
It's a completely different story here in Tokyo.
First of all, there are far more categories, they are: 'burnable', 'non-burnable', 'resources', 'glass, bottles and cans' and 'pet bottles'.

The categories are actually more detailed, but to save some time, I've photographed the 'instruction manual' which you can see here:
Categories

Another big difference is the times one which to put out your garbage, once again, I have photographed the manual for your viewing pleasure.
When&What

Maybe it is just my crooked mind, but I think that the categories 'burnable' and 'non-burnable' are not very clear. I just kept thinking "Hmm, would this burn?", which is probably not the way to do it. I will try to separate like a good citizen, but I can't make any promises. (^-^)

Why we eat dessert

2006-05-07T15:02:00.000+09:00

Trying to understand and learn about a different culture also helps in understanding your own.
Last night I got asked this question: "Do you know why western people have desserts after dinner?"

I assumed it had something to do with eating something cold and fresh after a warm dinner. This however, didn't seem to be the case.
"By your response, I can assume that you do know why?" I asked.
Here's where it got interesting, I was told that in most western countries, people don't use sugar as an ingredient for their meals. Our bodies need sugar though, so the lack of sugar is being evened out by dessert.
I don't know if this is true or not, but it does make sense.

But the fact remains that I miss having some nice "vanille vla" after dinner.

Hello Tokyo !

2006-05-04T13:08:00.000+09:00

It's a nice and sunny day here in Tokyo and I have finally found some time to update my blog. The previous days I've been busy buying stuff for my apartment and doing a lot of walking. I've gotten my phone to work again, so those of you who requested my cellphone number can expect an email soon.

The apartment is much smaller then I expected, but at least it's clean and everything is new.
The first thing I did was rearrange the furniture though, since the TV was standing in a position that would allow me to only watch it from the bathroom.
Then there's the magnificent view I have from my window. When I open my window and stick out my arm I'm touching the outside wall of my neighbor.

This week is Golden Week, which means a week of crowded trains and streets. I don't get why people go out this week, it's no fun to stand in line in front of restaurant.

I also felt my first earthquake last night in bed. My girlfriend told me that it was probably a Shindo4 quake, which is a different measurement than we use in the west. You can find more information here.
It woke me up, but it wasn't all that scary as I thought it would be, probably because there was no sound that came with the quake. It was just a gentle shaking.

Now I'm off to the Y100 store to get some more supplies and some groceries.

Goodbye Holland !

2006-05-01T06:39:00.000+09:00

I've said my goodbyes, I've packed all my stuff and I checked in online. Tomorrow I will be stepping on the plane that's going to take me not just to another country, but also to a new life.

Now all I have to do is jump into the deep-end...

My next post will be sent from Tokyo.

Last day of work

2006-04-22T08:33:00.000+09:00

A lot of people spend more time with their co-workers then their own families.
If I had to choose a single word to describe my final day at work, I'd pick 'bizarre'. Everybody sometimes gets pissed of at the boss or the work in general, but at times like these you can feel that whether you want to or not, you have build up a bond between your colleagues and the place you called work for a long time.

To be honest, I'm going to miss it, but the feeling of starting something completely new is much more important and makes me forget the idea that, as of today, I am unemployed.
But, looking on the bright side, this has given me the green light for starting my career all over. In the comment from Atsuko on my previous post she mentions "Wie niet waagt, die niet wint." which is the Dutch equivalent for "He who dares, wins". The Dutch saying is more honest in my opinion, because it doesn't say that the one who dares wins, but the one who doesn't dare, will nót win.
Uhmm, anyways, (got a little carried away there, sorry) it's just a good saying which describes my situationvery well, that was all I wanted to say.

7 days left !

Plane-pain

2006-04-16T10:00:00.000+09:00

11+ hours of torment

"The saying "Getting there is half the fun" became obsolete with the advent of commercial airlines."
-Henry J. Tillman

Planes aren't made for people above 1.85m. I will be searching for a comfortable position the whole flight to only discover that it doesn't exist. To make things worse, I always find myself sitting behind someone who likes to recline their seat the second we are in the air. Resulting in me having to sit up straight the whole time with my kneecaps being pressed on by the seat in front of me. Sometimes I put my legs in the isle, but this causes my feet getting run over by food carts.
Sleep is rarely being achieved by leaning my head on the tv-monitor with a pillow in between. This semi-comfortable position will most likely be disturbed by the person in front of me who for some reason finds it necessary to move a lot during his/her sleep, making my head bounce up and down.
After the plane has landed, they make you walk through Business Class. There you will see chairs that look like they were props from a Star Trek movie, these 'chairs' are surrounded by empty champagne glasses, slippers and newspapers. After all that, I just want to get some sleep and forget about the whole crappy experience.

No more mess !

2006-04-15T12:24:00.000+09:00

For someone who only has a little less then 3 weeks to go before he ventures of to the other side of the planet without any certainties of where life is going to take him, I feel very relaxed.

The only thing that's annoying me right now is that I have to make choices on what to bring and what to leave here.All day long I find myself looking over my room thinking to myself: "Hmm, that might come in handy, do i have room for that?"

But it's impossible to stuff my entire room in a suitcase and a backpack, so I will just have to settle for items I actually need. Besides, my current room could best be described as the center of the garbage-universe. To give you and idea, I can see a coke-bottle standing on my desk which I can't even remember putting there. Looking further I see candy-wrappers, cookies, empty glasses, scissors, magazines, ashtrays, cd's, dvd's and even money.So let's make this entry a little more memorable by vowing that I will leave this habit at home.

My first post

2006-04-03T16:56:00.000+09:00

On 1 may 2006 I will be trading the comfortable and familiar surroundings of my hometown for the crowded and unknown streets of Tokyo, Japan.

Well, not completely unknown actually, this is the 5th time I will be visiting Japan, but like every time, I expect it to be completely different from the time before.
Especially big cities like Tokyo can manage to change it's appearance in such way that every time I had to re-orientate myself when I stepped out of the train coming from the airport.
The first thing that makes my mind and memory snap back are the smells.

According to Wikipedia "Odor information is easily stored in long term memory and has strong connections to emotional memory. This is possibly due to the olfactory system's close anatomical ties to the limbic system and hippo campus, areas of the brain that have long been known to be involved in emotion and place memory, respectively.", which makes a lot of sense to me.
...
Anyways, I'm at work now and I should probably at least pretend to be working these last 3 weeks.
To be continued...