Life as a housewife in Japan and the world's most ugly building

Since I'm having summer vacation right now and my girlfriend is working long days, I've kind of experienced the life of being a Japanese housewife lately. I mean, I couldn't really have her start doing the laundry and cleaning the apartment when she come home after working 11 hours when I have the whole day off, so now I'm taking care of all this stuff lately.
Probably I should have tried getting a job for the summer and make some well-needed money, but haven't been in Japan for that long yet, so it's nice to have some time off. I figured I'll probably just be getting more and more busy in the future.
While it's nice to have time to relax, I had no idea how easy it is to get busy all day with just doing some cleaning and going to the supermarket and studying a bit.

One thing I've noticed now and even had time to document is that the world's probably most ugly building happens to be right outside my window! In Sweden and especially in an old city like Stockholm, the government is very restrictive about letting companies build new buildings. Hell, you're practically not even allowed to put up a sign anywhere in Stockholm. While it's good to preserve the uniqueness of an old beautiful city, it means not enough places are built for people to live and it gets kind of too conservative sometimes. Things seem to start happening to renew and expand Stockholm more quickly lately though.

In a young city in Japan like Sapporo, it's kind of the opposite. It seems any kind of building can be built anytime anywhere. It creates a kind of uplifting chaos. A mix of all kinds of buildings packed together on a small space. It's not very beautiful though, but it somehow makes me happy. Kind of an uplifting chaos.
You can find lots and lots of enormous shopping malls and the commercialism in Japan is like nothing I've seen anywhere. I've been to the United States two times, which is supposed to be the home of commercialism and I've been to quite a few other countries, but nothing even comes close to Japan.

Anyway, I took some photos from my balcony, thought it might be interesting, and surely, isn't that pink/white striped building the most ugly thing you have ever seen?



Yes, I mean the pink/white striped apartment building in the foreground, what were the architect thinking about? Can someone explain to me? (Christian maybe?). The tall building in the background is the JR Tower at the Sapporo station.



It actually looks slightly better (less bad) by night.




Also from our balcony, to the north. A pachinko hall. Meaning a place where people can go when they feel like wasting their money on watching small metal balls bouncing around and smoking too many cigarettes. I've never tried it, probably never will.



Bonus: Fireworks over the Sapporo Factory (huge shopping mall) to the south, also taken from our house but not our flat.

My school and some advice on studying in Japan

On request, here's a post about the school I am attending and my thoughts about it.

The name of the school is Japanese Language Institute of Sapporo, in Japanese 札幌国際日本語学院　（Sapporo kokusai nihongo gakuin), it's located close to the Maruyama park in the west of Sapporo, a few subway stops from the most central parts.
The school fee is 646,800 yen per year, which is about the same for all Japanese language schools in Japan, some are slightly cheaper and some are slightly more expensive.

There are 4 classes per day (Mon-Friday), 45 minutes each with short breaks in between. I start school at 1 o'clock in the afternoon and finish at 4.25, there are also morning classes for those who have studied a bit longer.

The pros:

The teachers are good. Of course, some are worse and some are better, but in general, they hold a good standard.

The books we use are good, a bit too much of the polite language and too little of how you actually communicate usually with friends and others of your same age, but that's the way it is at all language schools in Japan I've heard. After all, it also is very important to be polite in Japan, and you will start learning how to speak to friends as well after a couple of months. It will be a bit frustrating in the beginning though.

The cons:

When you sign the contract and accept the school's rules, it says everything you need for the course is included in the school fee, no extra purchases will be necessary. It's not entirely true. While the text/exercise book and kanji book is included, the grammar book is not, you'll have to buy it. In the first 10-15 chapters or so, the grammar is not that complicated, so you can manage with just the explanation that the teacher gives during the lessons. After that, the tempo gets a bit higher and the grammar a bit more tricky, and for me it's impossible to see how to follow without a book giving grammatical explanations in English.
The book's not that expensive though (around 2000 yen if i remember correctly), just I don't like signing a contract where it says everything's included in the school fee, but it's not.

When I started the course, the class consisted of 12-14 students, now as more people have joined, there's 20-22 students and the classroom is packed. Quite many in a small class room, a little bit tiring, but quite alright.

Finally, no soap or hand towels at the toilet at school. Sure, they want to save money, but at least soap? Even the public toilets here usually have soap.

These are no big issues to me however. I came here to learn Japanese and it's going well so far and I'm having a good time. That's what matters.

If you're from Sweden and thinking of attending the same school, one thing worth mentioning is that it really is becoming a lot of Swedes here now. When I started, we were 8 Swedes, now there's about 10-12 Swedes. Might even be the second biggest group after the Chinese students. While I don't mind Swedish people, it will be negative for your learning if you only hang out with other Swedish people after school and speak Swedish everyday.
But all that is completely up to you of course. The school provides you with good conditions for learning Japanese properly, but if you don't use the language regularly outside of school, it will take a lot longer time to learn and will be easier to forget. Your brain will not start thinking in the Japanese language.

So my advice is, go out to the bar, have a few beers and forget that you can hardly speak Japanese. Meet some Japanese people, make friends and use those few words that you have learned. Another good idea is to meet a Japanese girl/boyfriend.

If you're a shy person that feels very worried about trying to speak in a language you just started learning and tends to take the safe alternatives, like speaking those languages you already know, I would say the best thing is to specifically search for a school where there's no one who speaks your language. The smaller towns in Japan probably have less western students and the Asian students usually don't speak English well, and certainly not Swedish..

Useful links for searching language schools in Japan.
http://www.aikgroup.co.jp/j-school/index.htm
http://www.nisshinkyo.org/ (Click top left corner for English language).

The 'ganbatte' mentality

Something I've noticed is that an important part of the Japanese culture is to always do your best. When it comes to working, studying and especially when helping other people or providing a service for someone. It's all about how hard you try.

My challenge to you is to bother reading through this whole long text. Ganbatte kudasai!

There's a Japanese phrase that's very often used, 'ganbatte kudasai' (頑張って　下さい). 'Kudasai' just means 'please' and can be left out, so don't focus on that word too much.
This phrase is used in pretty much exactly the same contexts as in one would say 'good luck' in English. For example, before taking a test, facing a difficult task or to a person who's striving hard to reach her goals.
However, the meaning of this word (verb) 'ganbatte' is more close to 'please do your best/try your hardest' than good luck.

This captures something interesting and vital about the Japanese mentality. If you'll think strictly about the difference in the languages, it's like people in an English-speaking country (Swedish as well) would settle with just hoping that luck will give you that little extra push that you need, while the Japanese encourages to do your absolute best to manage.
'Good luck' is usually answered with 'thank you'.
In Japanese, the response to 'ganbatte kudasai' (please try your best) is usually 'hai, ganbarimasu' (yes, I am trying/will try my best) accompanied with a small bow.

I'd say that telling someone to please try their best in English often would have a slightly bad sound, as if accusing the person of not trying hard enough. That's not the case at all in Japan. Here, the most important thing is that you try hard and it's actually polite to encourage someone to do so. In the same way as it's polite to wish someone good luck in English.
You can also say 'yoku ganbarimashita' to someone (also accompanied by a bow), meaning 'you did try your best'. This phrase would in English quite surely have a slightly negative sound as in; 'you did try [but it wasn't good enough].' In Japanese it's just a way of showing respect for another person's efforts.

Of course, this difference in the languages doesn't mean that all English speaking people rely on having good luck while the Japanese push themselves to the limits, but all those small differences in the language are also part of the culture and found in everyday life, I assure you.

I guess many people have heard about the Japanese's long working hours, practically non-existing holidays and willingness to work hard. I can't say anything else than that from my experience so far, it all seems to be true.
Back home in Sweden, a job is first and foremost a way of making money to make sure you can eat food and pay the rent. Your family is the most important thing, on second place is usually your friends, free-time and hobbies and on third place is work. For some people, work might be number 2, and for a few people it might be the most important thing, it's not very common in Sweden though.

In Japan, signing that full-time contract doesn't mean you'll be working from 9 to 5 every day as it might actually say on the contract. To me, it seems more like you're signing the contract for selling your soul.
Not only will you be expected to work until the work is done, not until the hour written on your contract, which probably means very long days, you'll usually be expected to do it without any extra overtime payment and might have to work in the weekends as well. Vacations are short and even if you might be allowed to take vacation in theory, it's not really okay to do so as long as your superiors and colleagues don't take any vacation.
When you do manage to finish work for the day, you're often expected to go out and have a few drinks with your colleagues, even if your family is waiting for you at home. The group and being a part of it is a very important thing in Japan, so choosing to go home to your family instead of going out with your colleagues might mean you become an outsider at work and ruin your chances to make a career at the company.
(Edit: The Japanese companies are required to pay overtime salary for overtime work according to the law, I've heard that often they don't do it anyway though).

I do like that it's important to try your best and usually people will notice that you try hard and give you credits for it.
For example, I consider myself to be a quite ambitious student. I have decided to spend time and money on learning Japanese and it's something I want to do. For me, that means I will want to focus 100% on studying. So I prefer to do my homework and studies carefully rather than finishing it quickly so I can spend time relaxing or hanging out with friends, usually I'll have some time for that anyway. In Japan, the more ambitious students are given credits by the teachers for their efforts which the less ambitious students are not, as opposed to Sweden where the obsession of treating everyone equally has gone so far that it's absurd. A bit of competitiveness is something I think is very good.

However, studying is one thing. It's something I do because I want to learn Japanese. The question is just, when my studies has been finished, if I find a job here, am I willing to sign that contract for selling my soul to a Japanese company? After staying only a few months here, I'm getting a bit worried there's this risk my brain has turned 'ganbatte' enough after a few years.
Or maybe I'll rather go back to Sweden, find a job and enjoy my 5 weeks of vacation per year.

Finally, some examples on how this mentality takes shape.

Like I mentioned in the beginning of this post, especially when providing a service for someone, it's very important to show that you do your best, which means the service at stores or restaurants in Japan is outstanding.

There's an enormous pride taken in doing your job properly, even if you have a crappy job like standing outside a parking lot with a funny flashing neon red-colored stick and directing the traffic. Even if there are hardly any cars coming and there's more than plenty of signs put up already, those guys will stand straight and make an elegant circular motion in the air with the neon stick with an enormous grace. In Sweden, we don't have those guys with the neon sticks, but if we would, probably they'd at least be looking bored and tired. In southern Europe, they would probably be sitting on a chair and sleeping at work.

One of few digitalized guys with a neon stick making sure no one parks in front of a building in Tokyo. Usually they are real guys.

If you go to a store in Japan you will notice that the staff is often running inside the store if they're going somewhere. Actually, often they'll be taking such small steps running that it's quite obviously a slower way of moving than if they'd be walking quickly. It seems to be more about showing the customers that they really are on their toes and do their best rather than getting as quickly as possible from point A to point B. The gas stations in Japan are really serious about their service though. There, it's not about fake-running, working at a gas station in Japan really means running between the cars, polishing, bowing and a lot of shouting polite phrases.

The most funny thing is how quickly you start adjusting yourself to all kinds of routines and rituals. Probably my friends will ask me what the hell I am doing when I get back to Sweden.

(For non-Swedes; yes you read it correctly, 5 weeks of vacation per year is normal in Sweden).