Leeds Exam

Goodness, it's been a while since my last post...sorry! I've been really really busy recently, and to be honest will be busy until I leave Japan (which is in three and a half weeks...blimey!)

Something definitely of note to blog about is the Leeds exam, which I sat on Monday, 7th of May. It's the biggest assessment of our year abroad in Japan, and it was compulsory that we pass it if we were to go onto the third year at the University of Leeds.

For the exam, we had to learn hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kanji compounds (words made from various combinations of Chinese characters), as well as a fair bit of grammar. The exam itself was pretty hellish. For the first section we had to write the kanji for various readings, and then write the readings for different kanji compounds in the second section. Each of those was worth 20%. After that, we had to translate ten Japanese sentences into English; worth 30% overall. The final section, also worth 30%, was an essay which we had to write in Japanese (we could choose from three titles).

If I'm honest, I left the revision a little late, but after a few weeks of intensive cramming, I managed to scrape a pass. Most people seem to have passed, but a few didn't quite make it. They'll have to study pretty hard over the summer, and then they'll have one more opportunity to pass it in the resit in September. If they don't pass it then, they won't be able to progress to the third year, and will have to drop out. I was really worried about not passing, so it was such a relief to find out that I had made the grade. Even so, as I  didn't exactly do spectacularly well, I'm going to have to study a fair bit over summer anyway, just to make sure I stay on top of everything. But anyway, my resounding thought after the whole Leeds exam ordeal is just....phew!

In other news, this Sunday my friend Rachel, with whom I used to live during the first year of university, will be flying out to visit me in Tokyo! I'm almost wetting myself with excitement (this is hyperbole; my actual bladder control remains uncompromised). She'll be staying with me for nine days...and only leaving Japan a week and a half before I do...the end is very much in sight!

James

P.S. I'm aware that my comment on bladder control sounds extremely Alan Partridge-esque. I can only apologise.

Money Problems

Er, yeah, I don't have any of it. And I'm ill. Oh dear.

James

ふぐを食べた! - I Ate Fugu!

First of all, I know the formatting and fonts are weird in this post, but it won't let me fix it for some reason, so I'm sorry about that...

Last week my friend Matt and I were in the pub in Kichijoji, and we thought it would be an excellent idea to get some drunken munch on the way out. Not in the mood for a kebab, ramen or gyoza, we headed up the street to a fugu restaurant.

For those of you who don't know what fugu is, it's a fish. But not just any fish; it's notorious for being fatally poisonous when not prepared properly, and known as Pufferfish in English. For a brief overview of the consequences of a chef incorrectly preparing it, I've taken this delightful extract from fugu's Wikipedia page: Fugu contains lethal amounts of the poison tetrodotoxin in the organs, especially the liver, the ovaries, and the skin. The poison, a sodium channel blocker, paralyzes the muscles while the victim stays fully conscious along with causing paralysis. The victim is unable to breathe, and eventually dies from asphyxiation. There is no known antidote.

Lovely.

Waiting for the fugu to arrive

After being seated at our table, we waited anxiously for our first course to come. Whilst generally the only people who die from eating fugu are untrained fishermen who catch and eat it without realising what is, and we knew that really we'd be fine as fugu chefs have to go through several years of tough training to be allowed to prepare it, we couldn't help but be a bit nervous, what with it having such a reputation. 

The first thing to arrive was a large plate of fugu sashimi (thin raw strips). I didn't take a photo of it as we'd already devoured most of it before I even thought to, but I did get a couple of photos of Matt and I  about to tentatively take our first bites.

It was really really delicious. I definitely recommend it! It's hard to describe the taste, though. The texture is like most fish, maybe a bit tougher, and the taste was light at first, but strong in the aftertaste (but not like mackerel). See how it's hard to describe? That's not helpful at all, is it. Moving on...

The second course was some more fugu meat (some of which was still twitching on the plate...), fugu skin (remember how apparently that has poison in it..?) and lots of vegetables and mushrooms to put into a hot pot which had been placed on a heater in the centre of the table, as well as other salad-y bits on the side. Along with that we got some different dipping sauces, and even deep-fried fugu!

Eating the skin made my lips tingle a little bit, which was a worry as I'd heard that that was one of the first effects of poisoning, but it turns out that apparently that's the intended effect. Yay. Everything was really delicious, and not as expensive as I'd heard. Matt and I split all of that, and it was under 2,000 yen each. I really do recommend it. If anyone's interested in going there, I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but if you leave from the Park Exit of Kichijoji Station and turn right, it's a couple of hundred metres up that street, on the left. You can't miss it; there's a huge tank of fugu swimming around on display outside. Even if you don't live near Kichijoji, there's bound to be somewhere selling fugu near to you. If you're reading this from the UK, sorry but fugu is completely banned in the EU!

Next time I eat something strange and delightful I'll be sure to write another blog post! The next one will be about my travels this Spring break, I'll hopefully get it done soon, but I'm very busy with revision at the moment; my big Leeds exam is in three weeks today!! D:

James

Registration for my Third and Final Term at ICU & Cherry Blossom Viewing

Yesterday I cycled into ICU for the first time in what felt like ages to register for my spring term classes. Having taken Japanese level 4 last term, I took level 5 for this one. I was originally planning to take Intensive 3, which combines levels 5 and 6, and takes up twice the amount of time, but as I need as much time as possible to study for my upcoming Leeds exam on May 7th, I opted to take level 5 instead. This also has the advantage of meaning that I'll be able to resume my job after the Leeds exam, as I would have finished too late every day to have made it to Shibuya in time for work, had I picked Intensive 3.

I had to take another course in order to have the required number of credits for my student visa, so I decided to study Middle English! This was the language spoken in England between roughly 1100 and 1500, and the precursor to early Modern English. It's something I've had an interest in for a while now, so it's great to finally get a chance to study it properly! It looks really interesting in its grammar and structure, and you can definitely see more Anglo-Saxon and Norse influences than are left in the language now. Below is a sample of Middle English, from Wikipedia.

Forrþrihht anan se time comm
  þatt ure Drihhtin wollde
ben borenn i þiss middellærd
  forr all mannkinne nede
he chæs himm sone kinnessmenn
  all swillke summ he wollde
and whær he wollde borenn ben
  he chæs all att hiss wille.

So I should have some fun with that! Another thing worth mentioning about going into ICU to register for courses yesterday is that we are currently slap bang in the middle of the cherry blossom season, so yesterday was a great opportunity to take loads of photos on campus, as there are hundreds of sakura trees on ICU's grounds. I've put the best ones below. Today I start my last term at ICU...wish me luck!

James

5 Things I Miss, and 5 Things I Will Miss

It's dawned on me recently that I really don't have all that much time left in Japan. I don't have an exact date in mind yet, but I'll be returning home at the end of June or the beginning of July. That's only about three and a half months. I've been here six and a half months already, but it really doesn't feel like it's been that long. This got me thinking about the things I appreciate or even take for granted in Japan, which we don't have in the UK, and that I imagine I'll miss once I've left. Whilst considering these I started thinking about the things I miss back home, and because it's been a while since I last blogged, I thought I'd turn this into a post.

Things I Miss

1. People

I suppose this is an obvious one, but I really do miss lots of people back home; my parents, friends and relatives. I also miss my dogs a lot, too! I know that they'll all be there when I get back though, so I don't really get down about it. Thank goodness for Skype, though! And going back at Christmas to see everyone really did work a tonic.

2. Yorkshire Grub

Oh dear. Whilst Japan's culinary peculiarities are varied and delicious, there are times when I could positively murder some roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding. However, I think giving up the diet of northern stodge for that of the Japanese is a big reason for me having lost so much weight since coming here, so I'll have to be careful not to indulge too much when I'm back home!

3. Being Able to Understand Everyone

Don't get me wrong; my Japanese has definitely improved a lot since coming to Japan, and I'm perfectly capable of holding down a conversation, but it's just not the same as a mother tongue. I've had to make a fair few phone calls in Japan, for things such as post redelivery or sorting out my (sometimes astronomically high) mobile bills. The fast-paced, high-level honorific language used by the people on the other end of the line makes such calls virtually impossible for anyone who's not Japanese. These calls are naturally much easier in the UK, even if everyone I speak to seems to be from Belfast, Newcastle or Mumbai.

4. Cheap Drinks

£2 doubles, £1 bottles, £2.30 pints, £15 cases. Oh Japan, why is 500 yen a cheap pint?!

5. Not Being Racially Profiled by the Police

Just because I am riding a bike does not mean I stole it.

Things I Will Miss

1. Konbinis

Ah, anything you would ever need right outside your front door. They're sort of like Spar, One Stop, or the shops you get attached to petrol stations back home - only much better. In the UK I'm a fan of shopping locally at independent shops, but I certainly wouldn't mind the odd konbini knocking around for emergencies.

2. Trains That Run on Time

To the minute. Except when someone's decided to throw themselves in front of one of them.

3. People (again)

I've made many, many friends at ICU and in Tokyo generally, from all corners of the world, and I'm dealing with the fact that it's extremely likely that I won't see the vast majority of them ever again after this year's up. Come to the UK, yeah?

4. Clean Streets

I hadn't thought that the streets of the UK were particularly bad until I came back to Leeds over Christmas; all I could see were thousands of pieces of gum, fag ends and dropped litter...come on, England!! In Japan every street seems to be spotless, despite the fact that there are hardly any litter bins anywhere. Japanese people take pride in the appearance of their country and cities, something which we're sorely lacking in back home; it's quite depressing.

5. Just Living in Tokyo

I will miss being here full stop. Tokyo is the most amazing, interesting and unique city I have ever been to. I'll miss all the different places you can go to, the things you can see and the people you can meet. It has an amazing vibe which is totally different to anything I've experienced before, and I'll really miss it. I can't see myself living here in the future, but I look forward to coming back as often as I can afford.

James

End of Term Two & Studio Ghibli Museum

Okay, I'm not going to write about the rest of my Christmas break as the memory has been somewhat bittered by subsequent events...I'll just say that it was really lovely, and seeing everyone was amazing.

Righty, I've just finished my second term at ICU! This one seems to have gone much quicker than the first...and it was a lot harder too! Last week I had my exams and I had to turn in a long paper for my other module, but now I have no class until April! I do have to study lots of Kanji for Leeds though, ugh...

I have no concrete plans for the Spring break as of now, but I'd like to go out of Tokyo. I'm thinking of going up north to Nikko, a really nice-looking mountainous city with lots of shrines and temples, and a stunning national park. It's also the home of the famous Three Wise Monkeys! A couple of friends have been there already, and said it was really good. It'd be nice to see some of traditional Japan!  Other than that I'd like to go southwest to the Kansai region, to Osaka and Kyoto. Naturally I'll keep up with anything I get up to on here! It's been a while since I've blogged isn't it...in fact I haven't really kept it properly since September...hopefully that'll change from now on!

Something I've wanted to blog about for a while was my trip to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka at the end of January. I'm not a fan of anime, but I do like the Ghibli films, such as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away and My Neighbour Totoro. 

I went there with my friend Amii, and I really do recommend it. To get there you take a train to Mitaka Station, and from there you can either get a short bus trip or walk along the side of the canal for about 10 or 15 minutes. You need to get tickets in advance, which can be bought from the Lawson chain of konbinis for 1,000 yen (£7.80).

You couldn't take photos inside (something that was very strictly enforced), so I guess you'll all just have to visit it to have a look! It's really, really nice. Very hard to describe though...nice and old fashioned, with a big iron spiral staircase, 1930s style lift, and about half of it was a mockup of a studio, with all the different paints and pencils and so forth set out. I'm not doing a very good job of describing it, am I? If only they'd let us take photos! There were little scenes from the different films dotted around, such as the food stall from Spirited Away where Chihiro's parents gorge themselves on food and turn into pigs, and a life-sized Catbus from My Neighbour Totoro! There was also a smaller Catbus for kids to play on, which I wanted to jump on as well but alas, it turns out I'm about ten years too old :(

After having a look around inside we went up to the roof garden, which was small but very, very peaceful and nice (apart from the large group of Chinese tourists getting in the way of almost EVERY photo I tried to take). 

Up on the roof was one of the robots from Laputa! It's my favourite Ghibli film, and the robot was just about my favourite character, so it was an unmissable photo opportunity!

After the roof garden we went down to the inhouse cinema to watch an unreleased mini Studio Ghibli film, about some Sumo mice...which was very entertaining and charming. It was also nice to see how my Japanese ability is just about at the level of a six year old, heh.

Following that we went down into the courtyard area, and I got just a little carried away on the water pump.

As we were leaving the museum we had to stop off at the big Totoro for a photo! He's pretty much the mascot of Studio Ghibli. It's a shame he was behind glass, I imagine squeezing him would make anyone happy.

And thus concludes my trip to the Mitaka Studio Ghibli Museum. I had a really, really fun time and heartily recommend it to anyone. Be careful of the gift shop though, it's insanely expensive, but lots of the things they sell are beautiful. A fun day out, all in all, especially with the subsequent walk through Inokashira Park to Kichijoji for gin and fish & chips.

Goodness, I never thought I'd speak so enthusiastically about anything anime related!

James

Christmas & New Year Back in the UK (Part 1)

Goodness, it's been a while since I've posted here. I had started to write a blog post whilst in the UK, but I was so busy and, to be honest, having far too good a time to really do it properly. Below is what I wrote!

Wow, I'm writing this blog post on my sofa in my front room, there's a log fire burning in front of me, and Come Dine With Me is on the telly! This certainly feels a lot different to how I spent my evenings in Tokyo...

I haven't blogged since the day before I set off to come back home nine days ago, so I'll resume where I stopped last time!

I got up at 5am on Wednesday the 21st, before packing the last couple of things into my suitcase and popping to the Konbini to get a sandwich for breakfast. I left my guesthouse at 5:45 to take the train to Kichijoji, arriving there just after 6, and then getting on my Odakyu bus to take me to Narita airport at half past.

Um, so yeah, shall I continue where I left off? I got to the airport in just over an hour, and went through check-in and security far quicker than I had anticipated, so it turned out I had almost three hours to kill at Narita. It didn't go too slowly though; I just read some more of 1Q84 (Haruki Murakami's latest book) and listened to music on my iPod. At 11:45 we took off and started the twelve-hour flight back to London Heathrow. Unlike the time at the airport, however, this certainly didn't go quickly. I am really, really bad at sleeping on planes; there's not enough leg room at all and I can't curl up in any way. So instead I thought I'd just watch lots of films and hope the time went quickly, but it turned out that JAL has a pretty poor selection...I did watch Mrs Doubtfire though, which I hadn't watched for years! So aside from that I listened to plenty of music, enjoyed the unlimited supply of free lager and eventually got sozzled enough to doze for a couple of hours. 

After what seemed about a week and a half, we landed in London. I was relieved to get off that plane, but I still had plenty of travelling to do. I had to go to a different terminal to get my connecting flight up to Manchester, and for some reason had to go through security twice to get there. Eventually I got through to the waiting lounge, and had to wait three hours to get my next flight. I passed the time by chatting to Ayu and Mum on the phone, and I did a lot of people watching. One thing that really surprised me was how relatively fat British people are compared to the Japanese! I mean I always knew that we have a bit of a national weight problem, but it doesn't startle you until you've lived in a country where a 32 inch waist for men is L size.

Finally, I was able to get on the bmi flight up to Manchester. The plane itself was tiny! The cabin had 18 rows of three seats; one on the left, then the aisle, then two on the right. I was at the very back on the left of the aisle. Now this flight was quick, only about 45 minutes. We landed in a fair bit of turbulence, and then I went to pick up my bags. But the journey still wasn't over! After getting my bag I had to transfer over to the Manchester Airport railway station, and then wait another half an hour to get the Transpennine Express to Leeds. After an hour and a half on that train, I had to leave Leeds Station and get a taxi back to Otley. But then, finally, I was back home!!

I think that's quite enough for now, I hope you can see how exhausting the whole journey was, it's tired me out just writing about it. I'll write about my actual holiday soon :)

James