Figured maybe I should write an update now, if by any chance anybody's still interested in what I am up to.
Firstly, I'd like to apologise for not updating my blog. I keep myself busy as always and when I do have time I have quite simply put priority on other things.
I returned to Sweden from Japan by the end of March last year and now live in Sweden together with my girlfriend (who is Japanese). Actually we're getting married here in Stockholm in May and then we'll have a Shinto style ceremony in Japan in July.
I'm currently studying economics and statistics at the Stockholm university and working part-time. My girlfriend is learning Swedish and doing research at a medical university in Stockholm.
I haven't had any professional use of my knowledge of the Japanese language yet. I guess I could find a job for the summer in the tourist industry if I wanted to, but I've got a part-time job I'm quite pleased with at the moment and the salary in the tourist business would probably be lower, which is a quite important point when you're working part-time to have money to survive.
Luckily I can get some training in speaking Japanese with my girlfriend and some Japanese friends sometimes at least, so I don't really feel like I'm forgetting Japanese that quickly. What I've noticed is that I'm slowly forgetting vocabulary and kanji, but I know it will all get back to me quickly if I just study it for a while again, which I will do at some point in the future.
It's quite interesting to follow my girlfriend studying Swedish now after I've been studying Japanese for two years. I realise how incredibly complicated and irregular the Swedish grammar is compared to the nice and simple Japanese grammar. On top of that, the Swedish language has pronunciations and a melody that makes no sense at all, especially not for Japanese people who have none of that in their language. Even if you consider the trouble for a westerner to learn kanji, I'm getting quite sure that Swedish is the more difficult language to learn.
I am of course missing Japan every now and then. Both Sweden and Japan has it's good and bad points, but I'd like to live in Japan again at some point in the future. I have some ideas what I could do over there in the future, but for now I'll focus on my university studies here and we'll see where we end up.
If anybody has got any questions about studying in Japan or anything, feel free to leave a comment, preferably with your email address and I'll get back to you!
One more thing, if you don't believe me about Swedish being more difficult than Japanese, I recommend you checking out this video clip!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Two tulips
Bought a pair of tulips for my girlfriend on Valentine's day.
I don't know much about flowers, but I find them having a quite interesting way of growing.
Together bending over, reaching out to get a bit more daylight from the window in order to prolong their lives.
Or maybe they're just trying to look at me when I'm sitting on the floor using my laptop.
If anybody wonders; I received the origami in the background when visiting an elementary school here in Sapporo, and the landscape photo is a place in northern Sweden :).
I don't know much about flowers, but I find them having a quite interesting way of growing.
Together bending over, reaching out to get a bit more daylight from the window in order to prolong their lives.
Or maybe they're just trying to look at me when I'm sitting on the floor using my laptop.
If anybody wonders; I received the origami in the background when visiting an elementary school here in Sapporo, and the landscape photo is a place in northern Sweden :).
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
JLPT 2008 test result
I got the result from the Japanese language proficiency test (JLPT) 2008 today and as I thought I passed it with a broad margin.
The passing score for level 1 is 280 points, 70%, I got 321 points which is about 80%.
While I had almost 90% correct answers on the most important part of the test, the reading and grammar, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed with the listening section of the test, only reaching a score of 67%. One reason for that is that the CD player broke down half way through the test, we had to listen to a bunch of questions another time, the CD player broke down again, causing people to get upset and some slight disorder in the hall and the staff had to get a new one. Also caused me to lose my focus totally.
Also I have to admit that I have a tendency to get confused easily during the JLPT listening tests. Even though I hear and understand what they say, the dialogues and following questions can be quite tricky and is not only a test of your listening comprehension, but just as much a test of your short-term memory. While I do have a talent for logical thinking and can usually get the gist of a long text very quickly, I believe that I also have a certain 'talent' for hearing things and immediately forgetting it or not really paying enough attention to it or just being lost in my own thoughts for a moment. It can be a useful talent when you're tired and spending time with someone who's constantly talking and you just don't want to hear it, but not when you're doing a listening comprehension test.
I also had my final examination at school a couple of weeks ago. Got 95,5% correct answers altogether on the four tests that we took (vocabulary, reading, grammar and listening). The best score in my class, which is the highest class in the school. In other words I can now leave Japan next month without any regrets regarding my studies. Ever since I decided to go to Japan to study Japanese, my policy has been that I'm taking big loans and using big money for my education here so I'm not going to let it go to waste.
Finally, I wonder how it can take more than two months for the guys at the Japan foundation, who administrates the JLPT, to correct the tests and send out the results. Especially since the tests are digitally checked by computers. Once you've finally received the result after more than two months of waiting, you just get a small note with your scores. If you want an A4 document with your result printed on you've got to make a photocopy of the small test result note that you recieved and send it back again to the Japan foundation together with 1000 yen. As if the 5500+yen that the test originally costed wasn't enough already.
To make things even more strange, people who take the test in Korea can pay some extra fee to get a code and check their test result on the Internet already a few weeks after the test. This is the one widely recognised test of the Japanese language and therefore very important when applying for jobs etc. Shouldn't everyone get their results at the same time to make things fair?
The passing score for level 1 is 280 points, 70%, I got 321 points which is about 80%.
While I had almost 90% correct answers on the most important part of the test, the reading and grammar, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed with the listening section of the test, only reaching a score of 67%. One reason for that is that the CD player broke down half way through the test, we had to listen to a bunch of questions another time, the CD player broke down again, causing people to get upset and some slight disorder in the hall and the staff had to get a new one. Also caused me to lose my focus totally.
Also I have to admit that I have a tendency to get confused easily during the JLPT listening tests. Even though I hear and understand what they say, the dialogues and following questions can be quite tricky and is not only a test of your listening comprehension, but just as much a test of your short-term memory. While I do have a talent for logical thinking and can usually get the gist of a long text very quickly, I believe that I also have a certain 'talent' for hearing things and immediately forgetting it or not really paying enough attention to it or just being lost in my own thoughts for a moment. It can be a useful talent when you're tired and spending time with someone who's constantly talking and you just don't want to hear it, but not when you're doing a listening comprehension test.
I also had my final examination at school a couple of weeks ago. Got 95,5% correct answers altogether on the four tests that we took (vocabulary, reading, grammar and listening). The best score in my class, which is the highest class in the school. In other words I can now leave Japan next month without any regrets regarding my studies. Ever since I decided to go to Japan to study Japanese, my policy has been that I'm taking big loans and using big money for my education here so I'm not going to let it go to waste.
Finally, I wonder how it can take more than two months for the guys at the Japan foundation, who administrates the JLPT, to correct the tests and send out the results. Especially since the tests are digitally checked by computers. Once you've finally received the result after more than two months of waiting, you just get a small note with your scores. If you want an A4 document with your result printed on you've got to make a photocopy of the small test result note that you recieved and send it back again to the Japan foundation together with 1000 yen. As if the 5500+yen that the test originally costed wasn't enough already.
To make things even more strange, people who take the test in Korea can pay some extra fee to get a code and check their test result on the Internet already a few weeks after the test. This is the one widely recognised test of the Japanese language and therefore very important when applying for jobs etc. Shouldn't everyone get their results at the same time to make things fair?
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Why one should never agree to having one's wisdom teeth pulled out
I had my widsom teeth pulled out on monday last week. My girlfriend, who's a dentist, recommended me to get them extracted, and since it's very much cheaper having it done here in Japan than in Sweden, I was foolish to believe that it actually was a good idea to get it done.
The clinic I went to (which is where my girlfriend works, but she's working under guidance from the dentist in charge since she started working as a dentist recently) actually has his own operation room. I had come from a quick walk for about 30 minutes to get to the dental clinic, on top of that already being quite nervous, so my pulses was already quite high. Arriving at the clinic I figured I'd lie on a normal dentist's chair for the extraction, so I was kind of surprised being told to put on a green shirt of the type that patients wear for a surgery, being led into an operating room and having a bunch of cables connected to my chest and a beeping pulse meter and being asked to lie down on an operating table. Lying there hearing that damn beeping of my own pulse of course made me even more nervous and the beeping became quicker and quicker.
The process itself was not too bad, just a strange experience. The dentist first started cutting away lots of meat in my mouth with a surgical knife, then taking out a small electrical saw to grind down the bone enough to be able to get a grip of the tooth. The first tooth had to be cut into two parts to be able to get extracted by some reason. At one point during the sawing I was convinced that he was actually sawing somewhere in the front of my mouth. I know that dentist are evil people, but I still found it a bit strange that he would be cutting my bone in the front of the mouth during the extraction of my wisdom teeth. Figured out after a while that due to anaesthesia, I couldn't feel at all what was going on in the back of my mouth, but my bone was vibrating from the sawing, causing it to feel exactly as if the non-anaesthesized part was being cut, just without the pain. Well, if it would be possible to get sawed in the mouth on a non-anaesthesized part without feeling pain that is.
Anyway, I can assure you that it sounds alot more nasty than it was. I had a green paper covering my face and kept my eyes closed so fortunately I didn't have to see what was going on. It was just about staying calm for the a bit more than an hour or so that it took.
What's been quite tough is the aftermath. Been waking up pretty much every morning for the first week like a soldier who wakes up on the warfield with both his legs blown off, dying for a dose of morphine. An intense pain starting from the back of my mouth and reaching out along the jawbone to the front of the mouth, a massive headache on both sides and a tense feeling in my neck. According to my girlfriend the different nerves are connected and brain nerve number 3 or some stuff like that does a good job in spreading the pain all over my head. Thanks for the info, sure helps me alot...
During the first 24 hours it made no big difference if I took painkillers or not, tried for one and a half hour to eat a bowl of soup but finally had to give up after eating half of it and went back to bed.
After withstanding the first day it actually got a bit better and the pain became quite manageable as long as I took painkillers, I'm just wondering how healthy it is to take painkillers three times per day for more than a week. My always troubled stomach has actually gotten a lot better after the teeth extraction though, so maybe I should stick to the painkillers. Or it might just be because I'm eating a lot slower and a bit less than before.
Now, a bit more than a week after the torture began, I'm actually getting better. I can survive with taking painkillers just twice per day. Still quite troublesome with washing the big holes left after the 'amputation' of my teeth and it will be like that for quite a while. Pretty big pieces of food gets stuck in there and I have this thing that looks like a syringe but without a sharp edge that I have to put into the opening of the holes to squirt in some water a few times per day, but I can live with it for a while.
So everyone, my advice is; if you're told by a dentist that you should have your wisdom teeth extracted, run! My girlfriend might not agree with me, but I am now convinced that dentists are evil sadist who loves to inflict a lot of pain on you and then take all your money. Sure, you MIGHT get caries and infections etc if you don't have your wisdom teeth pulled out, but to me it sounds like a piece of cake compared to having them pulled out.
I have to admit that it's quite cool to have your own big nice tooth in a plastic bag though, isn't it?
Finally, one should note that the text above is written after enduring a week of combined mouth, neck and headache, so if you really want to have your wisdom teeth pulled out, go ahead. Just don't come complaining to me afterwards.
The clinic I went to (which is where my girlfriend works, but she's working under guidance from the dentist in charge since she started working as a dentist recently) actually has his own operation room. I had come from a quick walk for about 30 minutes to get to the dental clinic, on top of that already being quite nervous, so my pulses was already quite high. Arriving at the clinic I figured I'd lie on a normal dentist's chair for the extraction, so I was kind of surprised being told to put on a green shirt of the type that patients wear for a surgery, being led into an operating room and having a bunch of cables connected to my chest and a beeping pulse meter and being asked to lie down on an operating table. Lying there hearing that damn beeping of my own pulse of course made me even more nervous and the beeping became quicker and quicker.
The process itself was not too bad, just a strange experience. The dentist first started cutting away lots of meat in my mouth with a surgical knife, then taking out a small electrical saw to grind down the bone enough to be able to get a grip of the tooth. The first tooth had to be cut into two parts to be able to get extracted by some reason. At one point during the sawing I was convinced that he was actually sawing somewhere in the front of my mouth. I know that dentist are evil people, but I still found it a bit strange that he would be cutting my bone in the front of the mouth during the extraction of my wisdom teeth. Figured out after a while that due to anaesthesia, I couldn't feel at all what was going on in the back of my mouth, but my bone was vibrating from the sawing, causing it to feel exactly as if the non-anaesthesized part was being cut, just without the pain. Well, if it would be possible to get sawed in the mouth on a non-anaesthesized part without feeling pain that is.
Anyway, I can assure you that it sounds alot more nasty than it was. I had a green paper covering my face and kept my eyes closed so fortunately I didn't have to see what was going on. It was just about staying calm for the a bit more than an hour or so that it took.
What's been quite tough is the aftermath. Been waking up pretty much every morning for the first week like a soldier who wakes up on the warfield with both his legs blown off, dying for a dose of morphine. An intense pain starting from the back of my mouth and reaching out along the jawbone to the front of the mouth, a massive headache on both sides and a tense feeling in my neck. According to my girlfriend the different nerves are connected and brain nerve number 3 or some stuff like that does a good job in spreading the pain all over my head. Thanks for the info, sure helps me alot...
During the first 24 hours it made no big difference if I took painkillers or not, tried for one and a half hour to eat a bowl of soup but finally had to give up after eating half of it and went back to bed.
After withstanding the first day it actually got a bit better and the pain became quite manageable as long as I took painkillers, I'm just wondering how healthy it is to take painkillers three times per day for more than a week. My always troubled stomach has actually gotten a lot better after the teeth extraction though, so maybe I should stick to the painkillers. Or it might just be because I'm eating a lot slower and a bit less than before.
Now, a bit more than a week after the torture began, I'm actually getting better. I can survive with taking painkillers just twice per day. Still quite troublesome with washing the big holes left after the 'amputation' of my teeth and it will be like that for quite a while. Pretty big pieces of food gets stuck in there and I have this thing that looks like a syringe but without a sharp edge that I have to put into the opening of the holes to squirt in some water a few times per day, but I can live with it for a while.
So everyone, my advice is; if you're told by a dentist that you should have your wisdom teeth extracted, run! My girlfriend might not agree with me, but I am now convinced that dentists are evil sadist who loves to inflict a lot of pain on you and then take all your money. Sure, you MIGHT get caries and infections etc if you don't have your wisdom teeth pulled out, but to me it sounds like a piece of cake compared to having them pulled out.
I have to admit that it's quite cool to have your own big nice tooth in a plastic bag though, isn't it?
Finally, one should note that the text above is written after enduring a week of combined mouth, neck and headache, so if you really want to have your wisdom teeth pulled out, go ahead. Just don't come complaining to me afterwards.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
So what's up 2009?
First of all, happy new year to everyone!
So what's been up lately?
Well I've had a long winter vacation, which ends today, so from tomorrow I'm back to school.
Did a trip over the new year's holiday to Hakodate on southernmost Hokkaido, from there we continued by train, passing through the longest tunnel in the world, which connects Hokkaido and Honshu, and went to the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu. Had a good time staying at nice ryokans (japanese style inns) and eating lots of good food.
The snow is pouring down almost everyday, as usual in Sapporo. Nobody feeling like coming over for a visit of the famous Sapporo snow festival in February and go for some skiing and hot spring bathing? It's the last chance since me and my girlfriend will be moving to Sweden by the spring. The amount of snow that falls here in Hokkaido is just incredible. The snow that falls during a whole winter in Stockholm comes pouring down about every third day here. The ski resorts here on Hokkaido are also very nice.
Currently trying to make some plans for the future; what to study when I get back to Stockholm, finding a place to live and hoping I can get back to my former job at the airport in Stockholm for the spring and summer. In other words, I have some stuff to take care of.
If anybody happens to have a sublease apartment big enough for two persons in Stockholm, preferably around the Solna/Norrtull area available from April, please let me know! I will most likely start working at Sas ground services again, so I need to stay somewhere from where I can get to Arlanda airport easily. Since I don't have a car and don't want to spend money for buying one, it pretty much restricts me to the areas where I can get on the airport bus early in the morning, which is in the city, Norrtull and Solna/Ulriksdal.
I really wouldn't mind staying longer in Japan and especially in Sapporo, it's a great place to live, but I want to study at university when I'm finished with my Japanese language studies and other than getting more practise of using the Japanese language, there's not really any good reason to study at a university in Japan. For those of you thinking about studying at a university in Japan, I'll give you my reasons:
Firstly, Japanese universities are expensive, Swedish ones are free. I'm already taking big student loans to be able to study at the language school and it would not be reasonable at all to take more loans for studying 3-4 years at a Japanese university, furthermore, due to the financial crisis the Japanese yen has become about 45% more expensive in relation to the Swedish crowns compared to half a year ago.
Secondly, there's a big difference between a good and a bad university in Japan. If you have studied at a not so famous university, you'll have a tough time finding a job afterwards. Practically all the big companies in Japan only employs graduates from universities with a good reputation. The famous universities in Japan is not very easy to enter, especially for foreigners. There's a lot of tests and examinations, both of the Japanese language and other subjects to pass to enter a university in Japan.
Thirdly, Japanese universities does in general not hold a very high level. Entering Japanese universities is often difficult, but once you manage to enter the university, the courses are not very intense. This does of course differ depending on what you study, but most of the university students in Japan appear to spend more time on part-time work than on studying. This is a well-known problem in Japan and there's a lot of debates going on on how to stop the decline of the Japanese students knowledge.
To summarize it, there's not really any good reason to spend alot of money that I don't have anyway on an education that most likely is of a lower standard than what I can get for free back in Sweden. I need to get something back for those insane taxes I've been paying while working in Sweden, you know. Also, if I study at a university in Sweden I have the possibility of studying as an exchange student in Japan. Exchange students don't have to pay any tuition fee and the Swedish universities only have agreements with the high-level universities in Japan.
My problem now is just to figure out what to study when I return to Sweden. Slightly regret that I didn't study much at all during high-school and therefore have not too good grades, but I'll apply for what seems interesting and if I can't enter I guess I'll just have to study for the university entrance test (Högskoleprovet) and give it a new try 6 or 12 months later.
In other news, I had my wisdom teeth extracted a couple of days ago at the dental clinic where my girlfriend works, the extraction itself was quite tiring and unpleasant, but thanks to anaesthesia, manageable. The pain afterwards for the first 24 hours or so was quite tough though. It's however getting alot better quickly and I hope my slightly swollen face will return to it's normal slim shape soon.
That's it for now, thanks to anyone who bothered reading this long post. If you have anything specific you want me to write about, post a comment! I've got lots of photos and stuff that I could post if anyone's interested.
So what's been up lately?
Well I've had a long winter vacation, which ends today, so from tomorrow I'm back to school.
Did a trip over the new year's holiday to Hakodate on southernmost Hokkaido, from there we continued by train, passing through the longest tunnel in the world, which connects Hokkaido and Honshu, and went to the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu. Had a good time staying at nice ryokans (japanese style inns) and eating lots of good food.
The snow is pouring down almost everyday, as usual in Sapporo. Nobody feeling like coming over for a visit of the famous Sapporo snow festival in February and go for some skiing and hot spring bathing? It's the last chance since me and my girlfriend will be moving to Sweden by the spring. The amount of snow that falls here in Hokkaido is just incredible. The snow that falls during a whole winter in Stockholm comes pouring down about every third day here. The ski resorts here on Hokkaido are also very nice.
Currently trying to make some plans for the future; what to study when I get back to Stockholm, finding a place to live and hoping I can get back to my former job at the airport in Stockholm for the spring and summer. In other words, I have some stuff to take care of.
If anybody happens to have a sublease apartment big enough for two persons in Stockholm, preferably around the Solna/Norrtull area available from April, please let me know! I will most likely start working at Sas ground services again, so I need to stay somewhere from where I can get to Arlanda airport easily. Since I don't have a car and don't want to spend money for buying one, it pretty much restricts me to the areas where I can get on the airport bus early in the morning, which is in the city, Norrtull and Solna/Ulriksdal.
I really wouldn't mind staying longer in Japan and especially in Sapporo, it's a great place to live, but I want to study at university when I'm finished with my Japanese language studies and other than getting more practise of using the Japanese language, there's not really any good reason to study at a university in Japan. For those of you thinking about studying at a university in Japan, I'll give you my reasons:
Firstly, Japanese universities are expensive, Swedish ones are free. I'm already taking big student loans to be able to study at the language school and it would not be reasonable at all to take more loans for studying 3-4 years at a Japanese university, furthermore, due to the financial crisis the Japanese yen has become about 45% more expensive in relation to the Swedish crowns compared to half a year ago.
Secondly, there's a big difference between a good and a bad university in Japan. If you have studied at a not so famous university, you'll have a tough time finding a job afterwards. Practically all the big companies in Japan only employs graduates from universities with a good reputation. The famous universities in Japan is not very easy to enter, especially for foreigners. There's a lot of tests and examinations, both of the Japanese language and other subjects to pass to enter a university in Japan.
Thirdly, Japanese universities does in general not hold a very high level. Entering Japanese universities is often difficult, but once you manage to enter the university, the courses are not very intense. This does of course differ depending on what you study, but most of the university students in Japan appear to spend more time on part-time work than on studying. This is a well-known problem in Japan and there's a lot of debates going on on how to stop the decline of the Japanese students knowledge.
To summarize it, there's not really any good reason to spend alot of money that I don't have anyway on an education that most likely is of a lower standard than what I can get for free back in Sweden. I need to get something back for those insane taxes I've been paying while working in Sweden, you know. Also, if I study at a university in Sweden I have the possibility of studying as an exchange student in Japan. Exchange students don't have to pay any tuition fee and the Swedish universities only have agreements with the high-level universities in Japan.
My problem now is just to figure out what to study when I return to Sweden. Slightly regret that I didn't study much at all during high-school and therefore have not too good grades, but I'll apply for what seems interesting and if I can't enter I guess I'll just have to study for the university entrance test (Högskoleprovet) and give it a new try 6 or 12 months later.
In other news, I had my wisdom teeth extracted a couple of days ago at the dental clinic where my girlfriend works, the extraction itself was quite tiring and unpleasant, but thanks to anaesthesia, manageable. The pain afterwards for the first 24 hours or so was quite tough though. It's however getting alot better quickly and I hope my slightly swollen face will return to it's normal slim shape soon.
That's it for now, thanks to anyone who bothered reading this long post. If you have anything specific you want me to write about, post a comment! I've got lots of photos and stuff that I could post if anyone's interested.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
JLPT level 1 2008
So 2 days ago was finally the day of the JLPT (Japanese language proficiency test), the test that's been the goal of my studies pretty much since passing level 3 of the test 1 year earlier.
I decided quite quickly to skip the level 2 and go straight for the most difficult level 1 test. It's been a really good way of motivating myself. Knowledgewise, the step from where I were by december last year until where I am right now is, if I may say it myself, freaking huge. But to achieve that I've practically been living a strictly disciplined Buddhist monk life the last 6 months. Waking up at 5 every morning, strict discipline, no blog updates, no alcohol and no sex.
....Ehm okay well that's not completely true, but I can say without exaggerating that I've been studying for about 8-10 hours per day for the last 6 months and about 10-12 hours per day pretty much 7 days per week the last 2-3 months. I guess it's because I'm that kind of person. Give me a challenge and I will do almost anything it takes to manage it.
I can honestly say that I've actually been enjoying it most of the time though. It's a nice feeling to notice how your brain quickly adopts to learning tons of new stuff every day. The problem now when the test is over is that I've fallen into some kind of weird anticlimax.
What am I supposed to do now with all my time when I don't have to study like a mad man? My brain's not used to not getting an overdose of information each day. I certainly do have tons of other stuff to do that I've put aside for many months because of my studies that I can take care of now, but it's quite simply more fun to have a goal to aim for and challenge yourself with. So in some strange way feeling kind of lost now the days after the test. It's also been a satisfying feeling over the last months how quickly I can catch up to the same level and even pass many of the Chinese and Korean students in my class, who not only comes from countries with similar languages (Korea) or already knows the kanji characters (China), but also have they been studying Japanese at university for 3-5 years, while I started studying from first beginner level slightly more than 1 and a half year.
About the test, I feel quite sure I managed to pass it, unless I messed up the columns on the answer sheets or something, who knows. The results are not made public until the middle of February and you're not allowed to bring the questions with you after the test, so it's a long wait. However the entire test and the correct answers were leaked on the Internet only a few hours after the test was finished, so had a look at it yesterday and tried to recall my answers to check up if I was correct or not.
I found the listening part of the test quite difficult, other than that the test was quite manageable I think. No part of the test was extraordinary difficult, it was pretty much in line with what I had expected. I'd say it was slightly easier than last year's test, which I did for practise about 3-4 months ago and failed with only a few points, which led me to make my monk lifestyle training even more strict.
Now it's just a long wait until the middle of February when I get the result, let's hold our thumbs that everything goes well!
I decided quite quickly to skip the level 2 and go straight for the most difficult level 1 test. It's been a really good way of motivating myself. Knowledgewise, the step from where I were by december last year until where I am right now is, if I may say it myself, freaking huge. But to achieve that I've practically been living a strictly disciplined Buddhist monk life the last 6 months. Waking up at 5 every morning, strict discipline, no blog updates, no alcohol and no sex.
....Ehm okay well that's not completely true, but I can say without exaggerating that I've been studying for about 8-10 hours per day for the last 6 months and about 10-12 hours per day pretty much 7 days per week the last 2-3 months. I guess it's because I'm that kind of person. Give me a challenge and I will do almost anything it takes to manage it.
I can honestly say that I've actually been enjoying it most of the time though. It's a nice feeling to notice how your brain quickly adopts to learning tons of new stuff every day. The problem now when the test is over is that I've fallen into some kind of weird anticlimax.
What am I supposed to do now with all my time when I don't have to study like a mad man? My brain's not used to not getting an overdose of information each day. I certainly do have tons of other stuff to do that I've put aside for many months because of my studies that I can take care of now, but it's quite simply more fun to have a goal to aim for and challenge yourself with. So in some strange way feeling kind of lost now the days after the test. It's also been a satisfying feeling over the last months how quickly I can catch up to the same level and even pass many of the Chinese and Korean students in my class, who not only comes from countries with similar languages (Korea) or already knows the kanji characters (China), but also have they been studying Japanese at university for 3-5 years, while I started studying from first beginner level slightly more than 1 and a half year.
About the test, I feel quite sure I managed to pass it, unless I messed up the columns on the answer sheets or something, who knows. The results are not made public until the middle of February and you're not allowed to bring the questions with you after the test, so it's a long wait. However the entire test and the correct answers were leaked on the Internet only a few hours after the test was finished, so had a look at it yesterday and tried to recall my answers to check up if I was correct or not.
I found the listening part of the test quite difficult, other than that the test was quite manageable I think. No part of the test was extraordinary difficult, it was pretty much in line with what I had expected. I'd say it was slightly easier than last year's test, which I did for practise about 3-4 months ago and failed with only a few points, which led me to make my monk lifestyle training even more strict.
Now it's just a long wait until the middle of February when I get the result, let's hold our thumbs that everything goes well!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Photos from the summer vacation
Did some travelling during the summer vacation in August.
Firstly, here's a few pics from the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu (the main island of Japan).
All photos are clickable for high resolution. Photos may not be used for any purpose without my permission.
A famous cave called 龍泉洞, Ryusendo. Pretty cool stalactites huh? (thanks wikipedia for reminding me it's called stalactites).
Signs in funny English are always appreciated. Luckily they can be found at many places in Japan. Even in caves!
Because of the high humidity and hot summers, the greenery in Japan is just incredibly dense. Just have a look at that tree, there's not just leaves on the branches, the whole tree is covered with leaves. The greenery on Hokkaido is a bit less dense because of the colder and more dry climate, but still more dense than in Sweden.
In the foreground, my dad, who came to Japan together with my brother to visit me and do some travelling together.
An interesting car in Morioka, the main city of the Iwate prefecture.
Two boys on bicycles in Morioka.
From Morioka we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto, the place where you will want to go to see the old Japan and visit lots and lots of temples and shrines. Here's one of the Buddhist temples and a more modern building in the background.
三十三間堂 The Sanjusangendo, a temple with 1001 Buddha statues lined up inside. Definitely a place worth visiting. No photos allowed inside the building. According to my brother, one of the monks inside the temple started hitting an old woman with a stick who didn't follow this rule.
My dad eating soba noodles. He clearly need to practise his slurping skills though.
Gion, the old parts of Kyoto.
Gion again. I have more nice, authentic looking where there are no cars to be seen. However I was really annoyed about Kyoto city allowing cars drive on these narrow streets with old houses packed with tourists. It's such an effective way to ruin the atmosphere that I just had to take a photo of it.
Gion, Kyoto.
Salarymen doing fishing after work.
Swedes eating their fill.
Number 1 selling sports bicycle at Bic Camera was a... Saab! Since when do they make bicycles?
Bamboo.
Kyoto station. Modern beautiful architecture in a city packed with old, beautiful temples and shrines.
The machine for cleaning the floors can be used in the stairs as well, how cool isn't that?
The Shinkansen.
Delays are unacceptable. We're setting off for climbing Mount Fuji, will upload photos from that adventure next time.
Firstly, here's a few pics from the Iwate prefecture on northern Honshu (the main island of Japan).
All photos are clickable for high resolution. Photos may not be used for any purpose without my permission.
A famous cave called 龍泉洞, Ryusendo. Pretty cool stalactites huh? (thanks wikipedia for reminding me it's called stalactites).
Signs in funny English are always appreciated. Luckily they can be found at many places in Japan. Even in caves!
Because of the high humidity and hot summers, the greenery in Japan is just incredibly dense. Just have a look at that tree, there's not just leaves on the branches, the whole tree is covered with leaves. The greenery on Hokkaido is a bit less dense because of the colder and more dry climate, but still more dense than in Sweden.
In the foreground, my dad, who came to Japan together with my brother to visit me and do some travelling together.
An interesting car in Morioka, the main city of the Iwate prefecture.
Two boys on bicycles in Morioka.
From Morioka we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto, the place where you will want to go to see the old Japan and visit lots and lots of temples and shrines. Here's one of the Buddhist temples and a more modern building in the background.
三十三間堂 The Sanjusangendo, a temple with 1001 Buddha statues lined up inside. Definitely a place worth visiting. No photos allowed inside the building. According to my brother, one of the monks inside the temple started hitting an old woman with a stick who didn't follow this rule.
My dad eating soba noodles. He clearly need to practise his slurping skills though.
Gion, the old parts of Kyoto.
Gion again. I have more nice, authentic looking where there are no cars to be seen. However I was really annoyed about Kyoto city allowing cars drive on these narrow streets with old houses packed with tourists. It's such an effective way to ruin the atmosphere that I just had to take a photo of it.
Gion, Kyoto.
Salarymen doing fishing after work.
Swedes eating their fill.
Number 1 selling sports bicycle at Bic Camera was a... Saab! Since when do they make bicycles?
Bamboo.
Kyoto station. Modern beautiful architecture in a city packed with old, beautiful temples and shrines.
The machine for cleaning the floors can be used in the stairs as well, how cool isn't that?
The Shinkansen.
Delays are unacceptable. We're setting off for climbing Mount Fuji, will upload photos from that adventure next time.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Sneezing in Japan
There's one thing that annoys me every time it happens here in Japan. When people sneeze. Not that they sneeze more than anywhere else in the world or sneeze in my face or anything like that really. Just the fact there's no word to say when people sneeze.
In Sweden people say 'prosit', which sounds like it comes from French or something, in English 'Bless You'. If I'm not mistaken there's some old belief that you're possessed by a demon/devil when you sneeze and someone needs to say these above mentioned words to help preventing anything bad from happening to you. Nowadays it's practically just used as a polite phrase.
In Japan, there's practically a word for everything, but no word to use when people sneeze. However, Japanese people in general insist on being very polite and show consideration for other people, so usually they just have to say something rather than not saying anything. This means when someone sneezes, 9/10 times their friend or person they're speaking to will say '大丈夫ですか' (daijoubu desuka) which means 'are you alright/okay?'.
Each time I hear it I find it more stupid. Why the hell would someone not be alright only because they just sneezed? Personally I sneeze every time I go out from a dark place and get blinded by the sun. I don't find it that dramatic. The next time I sneeze and someone asks me if I'm alright, I'll answer 'No, I guess not, after all I just SNEEZED so probably I've caught a bad case of lung cancer, but thanks for asking'.
Well, to not only be a whiner, I've decided to do something about this! I'm going to come up with some word in Japanese to use when people sneeze and see if I can spread the message. Anybody who reads this and speaks Japanese, why don't you give me a hand and figure out a good word to use when people sneeze and write me a comment!
About photos I promised to upload. Erhm well, they're on their way in a few days or so. When I've got time :P.
In Sweden people say 'prosit', which sounds like it comes from French or something, in English 'Bless You'. If I'm not mistaken there's some old belief that you're possessed by a demon/devil when you sneeze and someone needs to say these above mentioned words to help preventing anything bad from happening to you. Nowadays it's practically just used as a polite phrase.
In Japan, there's practically a word for everything, but no word to use when people sneeze. However, Japanese people in general insist on being very polite and show consideration for other people, so usually they just have to say something rather than not saying anything. This means when someone sneezes, 9/10 times their friend or person they're speaking to will say '大丈夫ですか' (daijoubu desuka) which means 'are you alright/okay?'.
Each time I hear it I find it more stupid. Why the hell would someone not be alright only because they just sneezed? Personally I sneeze every time I go out from a dark place and get blinded by the sun. I don't find it that dramatic. The next time I sneeze and someone asks me if I'm alright, I'll answer 'No, I guess not, after all I just SNEEZED so probably I've caught a bad case of lung cancer, but thanks for asking'.
Well, to not only be a whiner, I've decided to do something about this! I'm going to come up with some word in Japanese to use when people sneeze and see if I can spread the message. Anybody who reads this and speaks Japanese, why don't you give me a hand and figure out a good word to use when people sneeze and write me a comment!
About photos I promised to upload. Erhm well, they're on their way in a few days or so. When I've got time :P.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Spring holiday
Alright, now I'm having spring vacation for a few weeks, so by public request (erh well not really), I'm back with a new post!
If my English (and Swedish) seems to be getting worse, then that's probably correct. Seems to be forgetting alot of words lately. Studied the Japanese word for 'kitchen sink' a couple of days ago. I had the word in English and in Japanese in my book and in my electronic dictionary, but I ended up walking around a whole day trying to figure out what a kitchen sink (流し, nagashi in Japanese) is called in Swedish. Finally the word 'diskho' popped up in my head, should be correct, right?
Anyway, this starts to occur more often recently, I also notice that I've learnt the Japanese names of many vegetables and food products, but I have actually no idea what they're called in Swedish or English or if they can even be bought in Sweden. I've also become able to cook more Japanese dishes than Swedish. In other words, I lived with mommy before moving to Japan.
I was invited to a party last week and was asked to cook some Swedish food and bring. I couldn't think of any other Swedish food than pasta and meat sauce, pasta and tomato sauce and pasta and cheese sauce, which is not really Swedish food anyway, so I ended up cooking some Japanese food instead.
That's something else always occurring lately, I'll end up talking about food constantly. Possibly if I'd have a tv at home I've become brainwashed enough to start watching the 'food porn' that's always on Japanese tv. Ehm well not really.
If anybody's coming over to Sapporo, be sure to not miss out the soup curry, a local specialty here and possibly the most tasty stuff you can find on the planet. Spicy curry soup with vegetables and usually pork or chicken.
So what's been up the last months?
I've:
If my English (and Swedish) seems to be getting worse, then that's probably correct. Seems to be forgetting alot of words lately. Studied the Japanese word for 'kitchen sink' a couple of days ago. I had the word in English and in Japanese in my book and in my electronic dictionary, but I ended up walking around a whole day trying to figure out what a kitchen sink (流し, nagashi in Japanese) is called in Swedish. Finally the word 'diskho' popped up in my head, should be correct, right?
Anyway, this starts to occur more often recently, I also notice that I've learnt the Japanese names of many vegetables and food products, but I have actually no idea what they're called in Swedish or English or if they can even be bought in Sweden. I've also become able to cook more Japanese dishes than Swedish. In other words, I lived with mommy before moving to Japan.
I was invited to a party last week and was asked to cook some Swedish food and bring. I couldn't think of any other Swedish food than pasta and meat sauce, pasta and tomato sauce and pasta and cheese sauce, which is not really Swedish food anyway, so I ended up cooking some Japanese food instead.
That's something else always occurring lately, I'll end up talking about food constantly. Possibly if I'd have a tv at home I've become brainwashed enough to start watching the 'food porn' that's always on Japanese tv. Ehm well not really.
If anybody's coming over to Sapporo, be sure to not miss out the soup curry, a local specialty here and possibly the most tasty stuff you can find on the planet. Spicy curry soup with vegetables and usually pork or chicken.
So what's been up the last months?
I've:
- Been to Sweden for Christmas holidays and back. The most striking thing I noticed back in Sweden was the non-existing service. In Japan, as a paying customer, you're a God and will be treated that way. In Sweden, a customer is practically someone who comes in to the store and causes trouble by wanting to buy products, demand service and possibly even rude enough to ask different questions. Kind of hard to get adjusted to the Swedish service after living in Japan I think.
- Been slightly shocked by the amount of snow that's just been pouring in Sapporo constantly from November until the beginning of March. Finally most of it has melted now. The amount of snow that falls during one year in Stockholm was practically falling every week in Sapporo. Also slightly shocking to see (old) people's devotion to clear the sidewalks and entrance to their houses of snow every day. The Sapporo snow festival in February was very cool, I'll upload some photos from it next time. Also went skiing at Niseko, the most famous ski resort in Japan, last weekend and had a nice stay at an Onsen (温泉), hot spring bath, I'll post some photos from that as well, I promise. Well sorry I don't have any photos from the naked hot spring bath, but from the skiing.
- Managed to update my visa! Quite surprised they actually decided to allow me to stay in the country for another year, I thought I'd disappear somewhere in the bureaucracy or miss filling out one of all the piles of papers and get kicked out from the country.
- Been busy with studying kanji characters and word. Seems like that that's the big challenge now. What we study at school now is mostly reading texts. Carefully going through all the grammar and special expressions in the text in the book until hopefully at least the students that has been listening understands everything in the text. The actual reading and grammar feels like it's just getting easier and easier lately. Since we've studied all the essential basic grammar quite long ago already, it's just about adding similar expressions and different types of special expressions. Not that difficult actually. The challenge is the kanji and words that's increasing in a high tempo. Lately each chapter contains about 50-70 new words which we have 3-4 days to learn before we proceed to the next chapter with about the same amount of new words again. I certainly can't say that I manage to remember how to correctly use all the words right away and especially not how to write all the kanji characters. However, usually I can remember at least how to correctly read most of the kanji and words and understand the meaning of the words when seeing them in the text. I hope then they'll be stored somewhere in the back of my head and after hearing/seeing them in other contexts a bunch of times, I kind of get the correct usage of the words confirmed and become able to use them myself. At least that how I feel like it's working. I have kind of stopped thinking about how many kanji I've studied, the amount is not that relevant really. Because the kanji characters has tons of special readings and differing meanings from case to case, it's alot better to just try to see it as learning words, no matter if the word you're studying consists of kanji characters you've already studied or if it consists of kanji characters that are new for you, what's important is to remember how to read it correctly, the meaning and finally which kanji characters it consists of. I've found it to be an easier approach than trying to categorize the kanji 'one by one' in my head. This might have been a change in my head while getting more used to seeing and remembering the kanji characters though, I'm not sure. What's for sure though is that both me and Japanese people in general tends to forget how to write alot of kanji by hand, it's kind of quite enough to remember how to read them and the meaning of the word in a society where everyone writes on computers and mobile phones anyway.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Bureaucracy
In Japan, you practically need to write your address and phone number on three papers and put your personal 'hanko' stamp on each of them and then wait one week for your application to be processed to be allowed to go to the toilet. Then there's two additional papers to sign for using the toiler paper. Well not really, but almost.
I'll be returning to Sweden during the Christmas vacation for a few weeks.
Since I'm studying here, I'm holding a visa for staying in Japan until the end of March next year when the new school term starts and then I'll have to renew my visa. However if you're leaving the country for and coming back, you'll have to get a re-entry permission visa, even though you're having a valid visa. I'm not a big fan of excessive bureaucracy so it got me grumbling a bit, but at least it didn't seem that complicated, only it'd cost 3000 yen (>200kr).
So I got on my bicycle and rode down to the immigration bureau building, fill out two papers and show my foreigner registration card and passport. The man wearing a suit in the very official looking building tells me I have to go to the basement floor and pay the re-entry fee to receive a stamp that I put on another paper and fill out to prove that I've paid the fee for the visa.
At least it's a big relief that I can understand enough Japanese to understand these kind of instructions and even fill out the paper in Japanese and write my address in Japanese. Of course, you can't expect the staff at the city's immigration bureau to speak English, no way, this is Japan.
Anyway, I get in the elevator and go to the basement floor, expecting to see another office with official looking people wearing suits. Coming out from the elevator, there's a guard with a uniform sitting at a small desk, bowing to me and pointing out the way, so far everything as expected. I walk by the guard and continue 30 meters, finding a.. Seiko mart convenience store! Look back towards the guard, who nods towards me and points towards the convenience store with his hand. Why is there an absolutely normal convenience store, like those you see absolutely everywhere in Japan, selling official visa application stamps and papers in the basement of the immigration bureau? Anyway, the young typical convenience store clerk girls shouts their typical 'welcome' in Japanese and I get in and buy my official stamps.
After a little while, it starts making sense. Japan takes their bureaucracy seriously, but what their really fanatic about is consuming. You have to be able to buy anything at any time with good service.
I get in the elevator and go back up to the first guy, hand over my papers, hoping he'll check them for a while, put an official looking re-entry visa paper in my passport with a few stamps on and things'll be settled. Of course it wasn't that easy, I had totally missed out that I need a paper from my school that they allow me to leave the country during the vacation. At least the immigration guy with the suit told me my application papers were correctly written and I can just hand them over again as they are when I come back, hope so.
So, next step were going to school and filling out an application paper for getting the paper proving that they allow me to leave Japan during the vacation. At least I have no problem remembering how to write my address in Japanese after filling out all these papers. Also I had to write the reason for leaving the country and hand over a copy of the flight tickets, which of course was impossible since I have an e-ticket, but could be solved by e-mailing the e-ticket info to the school. Then I just had to wait one week for receiving my very official looking 'The school allows this student to leave Japan during the vacation'-paper with a couple of stamps and signatures on.
Tomorrow is time for round two at the immigration bureau.
If they finally allow me to leave the country, they'll be taking my fingerprints and photo when reentering, as the politicians have decided recently that all foreigners entering the country are potential terrorists. Not that there has ever been an act of terrorism by foreigners in Japan, but the main reason they've given is to prevent terrorism. One would think they should have checked up already if I'm a terrorist or not when they gave me a visa to live in the country..
Well they do take their bureaucracy seriously...
I'll be returning to Sweden during the Christmas vacation for a few weeks.
Since I'm studying here, I'm holding a visa for staying in Japan until the end of March next year when the new school term starts and then I'll have to renew my visa. However if you're leaving the country for and coming back, you'll have to get a re-entry permission visa, even though you're having a valid visa. I'm not a big fan of excessive bureaucracy so it got me grumbling a bit, but at least it didn't seem that complicated, only it'd cost 3000 yen (>200kr).
So I got on my bicycle and rode down to the immigration bureau building, fill out two papers and show my foreigner registration card and passport. The man wearing a suit in the very official looking building tells me I have to go to the basement floor and pay the re-entry fee to receive a stamp that I put on another paper and fill out to prove that I've paid the fee for the visa.
At least it's a big relief that I can understand enough Japanese to understand these kind of instructions and even fill out the paper in Japanese and write my address in Japanese. Of course, you can't expect the staff at the city's immigration bureau to speak English, no way, this is Japan.
Anyway, I get in the elevator and go to the basement floor, expecting to see another office with official looking people wearing suits. Coming out from the elevator, there's a guard with a uniform sitting at a small desk, bowing to me and pointing out the way, so far everything as expected. I walk by the guard and continue 30 meters, finding a.. Seiko mart convenience store! Look back towards the guard, who nods towards me and points towards the convenience store with his hand. Why is there an absolutely normal convenience store, like those you see absolutely everywhere in Japan, selling official visa application stamps and papers in the basement of the immigration bureau? Anyway, the young typical convenience store clerk girls shouts their typical 'welcome' in Japanese and I get in and buy my official stamps.
After a little while, it starts making sense. Japan takes their bureaucracy seriously, but what their really fanatic about is consuming. You have to be able to buy anything at any time with good service.
I get in the elevator and go back up to the first guy, hand over my papers, hoping he'll check them for a while, put an official looking re-entry visa paper in my passport with a few stamps on and things'll be settled. Of course it wasn't that easy, I had totally missed out that I need a paper from my school that they allow me to leave the country during the vacation. At least the immigration guy with the suit told me my application papers were correctly written and I can just hand them over again as they are when I come back, hope so.
So, next step were going to school and filling out an application paper for getting the paper proving that they allow me to leave Japan during the vacation. At least I have no problem remembering how to write my address in Japanese after filling out all these papers. Also I had to write the reason for leaving the country and hand over a copy of the flight tickets, which of course was impossible since I have an e-ticket, but could be solved by e-mailing the e-ticket info to the school. Then I just had to wait one week for receiving my very official looking 'The school allows this student to leave Japan during the vacation'-paper with a couple of stamps and signatures on.
Tomorrow is time for round two at the immigration bureau.
If they finally allow me to leave the country, they'll be taking my fingerprints and photo when reentering, as the politicians have decided recently that all foreigners entering the country are potential terrorists. Not that there has ever been an act of terrorism by foreigners in Japan, but the main reason they've given is to prevent terrorism. One would think they should have checked up already if I'm a terrorist or not when they gave me a visa to live in the country..
Well they do take their bureaucracy seriously...
Studying, studying
I've finished the 'beginner level' of Japanese a while ago and am an intermediate student now, which means I should know enough survive daily life, feels very good.
The new book we've started studying a month and a half ago or so actually has real texts, compared to the beginner level studies which are just basic sentences and exercises presenting the new grammar. Feels nice when you notice you can actually begin to understand real texts written in 'normal written Japanese'. Of course, the kanji characters used in the texts are only those we've studied so far, about 650 or so.
Also the listening exercise have become normal daily spoken Japanese between Japanese people. Not exactly about space science, but Japanese people speaking to friends (normal, non-polite langauge that is) is fast as hell and quite tricky since they leave out half of the words and the remaining words gets cut off halfway cause it's faster that way. The polite language and conversation between people who are not close friends is alot easier to pick up.
Took the JLPT, the Japanese language proficiency test (日本語能力試験) last week. It's the one big test for non-Japanese people used to measure Japanese language proficiency, practically necessary to take if you want to get any job where more or less advanced knowledge of the Japanese language is requred. The JLPT comes in 4 levels, where 4 is the easiest one and level 1 is the most difficult. Level 3 & 4 are quite useless, since they only cover basic Japanese. Often level 1 is required, sometimes level 2 is alright.
I took the level 3 test, which is for people who have learned all the basic Japanese required. Had previously bought the last years test and taken at home, which was very easy, I could practically nail every question on that one, with a few exceptions. This year's test was kind of in another division of trickiness though. However reaching the passing rate of 60% correct answers shouldn't be any problem though.
The JLPT is known for having quite big differences of difficulty from year to year and is said to be more difficult every other year, which seems to be quite right. Kind of like they look at the statistics for the test and notice the average score was a bit high/low this year and decide to make it more tricky/easy for the next year.
My goal right now is skipping the level 2 and going straight for the level 1 in one year from now. The level 1 is however absolutely in a class of it's own when it comes to difficulty. The level 2 is supposed to be a quite manageable test if you know Japanese quite well and the passing rate on the test is 60%. The level 1, however, is even tricky for Japanese people and requires 70% correct answers. Most people who manage it are Chinese people who already know the kanji characters, or Koreans who have a language with very similar grammar.
But on the other hand, I love challenges and I've managed to learn a big part of the necessary Japanese in 8 months and one third of the necessary kanji. Also, I'm can match any of the Asian students in my class when it comes to using grammar, so why shouldn't I be able to reach the level 1 in 12 months from now? About 1200 kanji to go... And after all, the JLPT is supposed to be easier next year. 頑張れ！
In the meantime, it's becoming increasingly difficult to remember all those not-so-often-used Swedish and English words and sometimes even in which order the words are supposed to come. I guess I'll be coming back to Sweden with mad skills in the Japanese language, but having to take a Swedish for immigrants course.
The new book we've started studying a month and a half ago or so actually has real texts, compared to the beginner level studies which are just basic sentences and exercises presenting the new grammar. Feels nice when you notice you can actually begin to understand real texts written in 'normal written Japanese'. Of course, the kanji characters used in the texts are only those we've studied so far, about 650 or so.
Also the listening exercise have become normal daily spoken Japanese between Japanese people. Not exactly about space science, but Japanese people speaking to friends (normal, non-polite langauge that is) is fast as hell and quite tricky since they leave out half of the words and the remaining words gets cut off halfway cause it's faster that way. The polite language and conversation between people who are not close friends is alot easier to pick up.
Took the JLPT, the Japanese language proficiency test (日本語能力試験) last week. It's the one big test for non-Japanese people used to measure Japanese language proficiency, practically necessary to take if you want to get any job where more or less advanced knowledge of the Japanese language is requred. The JLPT comes in 4 levels, where 4 is the easiest one and level 1 is the most difficult. Level 3 & 4 are quite useless, since they only cover basic Japanese. Often level 1 is required, sometimes level 2 is alright.
I took the level 3 test, which is for people who have learned all the basic Japanese required. Had previously bought the last years test and taken at home, which was very easy, I could practically nail every question on that one, with a few exceptions. This year's test was kind of in another division of trickiness though. However reaching the passing rate of 60% correct answers shouldn't be any problem though.
The JLPT is known for having quite big differences of difficulty from year to year and is said to be more difficult every other year, which seems to be quite right. Kind of like they look at the statistics for the test and notice the average score was a bit high/low this year and decide to make it more tricky/easy for the next year.
My goal right now is skipping the level 2 and going straight for the level 1 in one year from now. The level 1 is however absolutely in a class of it's own when it comes to difficulty. The level 2 is supposed to be a quite manageable test if you know Japanese quite well and the passing rate on the test is 60%. The level 1, however, is even tricky for Japanese people and requires 70% correct answers. Most people who manage it are Chinese people who already know the kanji characters, or Koreans who have a language with very similar grammar.
But on the other hand, I love challenges and I've managed to learn a big part of the necessary Japanese in 8 months and one third of the necessary kanji. Also, I'm can match any of the Asian students in my class when it comes to using grammar, so why shouldn't I be able to reach the level 1 in 12 months from now? About 1200 kanji to go... And after all, the JLPT is supposed to be easier next year. 頑張れ！
In the meantime, it's becoming increasingly difficult to remember all those not-so-often-used Swedish and English words and sometimes even in which order the words are supposed to come. I guess I'll be coming back to Sweden with mad skills in the Japanese language, but having to take a Swedish for immigrants course.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
A thought about cabbage after a long time..
I'll have to apologize about my non-existing blogging the last couple of months. I'm having a great time in Japan with school and everything and had a great summer vacation with a trip to Kyoto. Haven't really felt much like writing anything, and when I do have felt like writing something, there's always 5 other interesting options to consider.
Thinking I should try writing shorter text and maybe I'll bother updating more often..
Looking at other blogs, at least in Sweden, the way to become popular is to write as stupid as possible and throw dirt on everyone else, especially famous people. Ahm well, I'm not really into that stuff, I will just try to wake up this blog again in my own way. Hope anyone bothers reading it.
Oh and just something I've been thinking about the last month or so..
The small small bugs that appear in the cabbage when it's getting old, can anyone tell me where they come from?
I keep the cabbage in plastic and not outside or anything, so it's not so likely the small bugs come from outside, so the bugs are in the cabbage when you buy it, right?
However, when the cabbage is still fresh, it's impossible to see any trace of eggs or small bugs, meaning they're probably too tiny to see. Then the next question is; do they disappear when you wash the cabbage with water a bit? If they're really tiny eggs and possibly inside the cabbage itself, probably they don't wash away that easily I guess. So my theory that you're eating these really tiny eggs everytime you eat cabbage, makes sense, right?
Doesn't really bother me, I'm not sensitive and can't see it anyway, but would be nice if someone could answer where these tiny little cabbage bugs come from. If anyone still checks out this blog that is.
Oh, and I'm happy to receive any requests on topics to write about from anyone who has interest in Japan or life over here in anyway. It'll give me some motivation to write something.
Thinking I should try writing shorter text and maybe I'll bother updating more often..
Looking at other blogs, at least in Sweden, the way to become popular is to write as stupid as possible and throw dirt on everyone else, especially famous people. Ahm well, I'm not really into that stuff, I will just try to wake up this blog again in my own way. Hope anyone bothers reading it.
Oh and just something I've been thinking about the last month or so..
The small small bugs that appear in the cabbage when it's getting old, can anyone tell me where they come from?
I keep the cabbage in plastic and not outside or anything, so it's not so likely the small bugs come from outside, so the bugs are in the cabbage when you buy it, right?
However, when the cabbage is still fresh, it's impossible to see any trace of eggs or small bugs, meaning they're probably too tiny to see. Then the next question is; do they disappear when you wash the cabbage with water a bit? If they're really tiny eggs and possibly inside the cabbage itself, probably they don't wash away that easily I guess. So my theory that you're eating these really tiny eggs everytime you eat cabbage, makes sense, right?
Doesn't really bother me, I'm not sensitive and can't see it anyway, but would be nice if someone could answer where these tiny little cabbage bugs come from. If anyone still checks out this blog that is.
Oh, and I'm happy to receive any requests on topics to write about from anyone who has interest in Japan or life over here in anyway. It'll give me some motivation to write something.
Monday, August 6, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, August 5, 2007
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 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).
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
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).
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Humidity and cleaning the bathroom
Japan is a very humid country, especially in the summer. If you're in central Japan, for example Tokyo, in July-August, don't expect to be able to walk more than 10 meters without being soaked in sweat. Japanese people call this 蒸し暑い (mushi-atsui), pretty much meaning humid and hot.
That was a big reason for me to go to Sapporo, on Hokkaido in the north of Japan. The climate is quite a bit cooler and a lot less humid here, also it's always windy which is nice in the summer, but not so nice in the winter.
However compared to Sweden, even Sapporo is a lot more humid, which has some consequences.
That was a big reason for me to go to Sapporo, on Hokkaido in the north of Japan. The climate is quite a bit cooler and a lot less humid here, also it's always windy which is nice in the summer, but not so nice in the winter.
However compared to Sweden, even Sapporo is a lot more humid, which has some consequences.
- Everything here in Japan is packed in lots of plastics. If you buy a pack of cookies, of course it comes in a plastic bag like anywhere in the world, but here, each cookie is in a small plastic bag of it's own also, or there's one of those small bags included that absorbs moisture, that only comes in shoe boxes in Sweden. Partly because of the humidity but also because Japanese people are obsessed with having all food very fresh.
It becomes a lot of plastics, I am telling you. Just too bad that you can only throw away plastics once per week here in Japan. All refuse is sorted into burnables, non-burnable and plastics and has specific days when you're allowed to throw it. So you need to keep your garbage in your apartment until the day when it's supposed to be thrown.
- Here in Sapporo, the laundry might be dry after about 24 hours if you're lucky. Sometimes 24 hours is not enough. I wonder if it's possible at all to get your laundry dry in southern Japan in the summer?
- There's always some funny pink stuff growing on the floor in our bathroom. The Japanese bathrooms are entirely made of plastic and has a bath tub and a shower next to it. Japanese people love taking a bath, but showering in the bath tub is not okay. Anyway, the floor's surface in our bath room is not even, which is good since a perfectly flat plastic surface would be a lot more slippery. However, the cute little pink colored stuff loves the small bumps in the floor, combined with the humidity and no window in the bathroom, it's obviously very good conditions to grow quickly, and it's an absolute pain in the ass to get rid of. We have some kind of bathroom cleaner, on the bottle it says you're supposed to just spray it on, wait a few minutes and wash with water and you're bathroom is clean (not that I can read it at all, but my girlfriend says so). Hah! More than one hour of rubbing the floor like a maniac with a sponge is what it takes to get rid of the pink bastards. And within a week they'll be back again...
夏休み！Summer vacation in Sapporo!
Celebrated the beginning of my summer vacation last night by paying a visit to the Sapporo beer festival that started this weekend, an absolutely huge party with a great atmosphere that goes on every day for 3 weeks!
The festival has 6 big areas, each with a capacity of a few thousand people. The big Japanese beer breweries; Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory has one area each, and then there's one area with international beers and one area with German beers.
If there would be a 3 weeks beer festival in central Stockholm with capacity of maybe 10 000 people (rough estimate) I am sure it would turn into a war field. The Japanese people really like drinking but tend to go home earlier and behave more responsibly than drunken people in Sweden do.
Though Sapporo might seem like a quite ordinary modern city at first, with not so many beautiful buildings (for a person coming from an old European city at least), it's actually a really nice place to stay.
There is just lots and lots of festivals of all kinds throughout the year in Sapporo. In the summer, other than the beer festival, there are also more traditional Japanese festivals with dancing and music. In the winter, Sapporo hosts the world famous Sapporo Snow Festival, with lots of huge snow and ice sculptures. Also, the city is kept very clean and very much in order, all this adding up to the feeling that there really is lots of things done to make the citizens thrive. It works very well for me at least. Probably this is the reason why Sapporo seems to have a quite young population.
Of course, in Japan, it's not okay to have one month of vacation and just relax, actually it seems like it's a sin if you have more than a couple of hours to relax per week, you should always be busy. So I've got a huge pile of papers to complete and new kanji to study during my summer holiday. As if that wasn't enough, they've put a test on the first lesson the first day after the summer holiday.
Finally, some more photos from the beer festival!
Waitress girl with silly hat.
Party!
Group photo with friends.. And some random Japanese people who were just passing by and decided they wanted to be in the photo as well.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Earthquakes
Took myself a little blog vacation kind of.. Felt lazy to write anything and been busy as usual. Lots of kanji characters to learn and grammar to study.
I guess everyone heard about the powerful earthquake in the Niigata prefecture of Japan, causing a lot of devastation.
My first thought was, probably it was mostly the old traditional Japanese houses that collapsed, not built to resist earthquakes, and the fire at the nuclear power plant didn't seem so serious either.
So far I've felt a couple of very small earthquakes here in Sapporo. It's kind of like sitting on a diesel bus not so far from where the engine is located while it's idling at a red light. Vibrating a bit. Haven't made me worried really. Modern buildings like the one I live in should be built to resist quite big earthquakes, right?
After reading this article (in Swedish) though, my thought is 'how the hell can they build the world's biggest nuclear power plant in the world's most seismologically active (is that correctly spelled?) country and not make sure it can handle a powerful earthquake?
According to the article, Japan's regulations for nuclear power plants used to be that they need to resist earthquakes of up to 6,5 on the Richter scale, however last year these regulations were changed. Now, the companies operating the power plants themselves can set the regulations, which then has to be approved by the government.
Also, it says this earthquake was 2,5 times more powerful than what the power plant was built to handle.
Okay, you can't trust the newspaper reports completely, but it sounds like complete madness to me. I thought everyone knew that nuclear power plants can be very dangerous unless strict safety and security regulations are observed.
Makes me think, if they don't build the nuclear power plants earthquake-safe to save some money, why should my house be? On the other hand, the Swedish nuclear power plants had a lot of safety issues lately and we don't even have the risk of earthquakes.
It's all about the money. Why bother about a small risk of some kind of incident if we can say a few yen? Kind of reminds me of the situation at my job before leaving Sweden.
Or maybe we simply just don't have a chance anyway if mother Earth decides to shake us hard enough, no matter how good engineering. Well nothing I can do about it anyway, so no need to worry. Of course, the earthquake is big news here also, but people in general don't seem worried or chocked really, I guess they're used to it.
If you want to read daily news from Japan in English, I can recommend Mainichi Daily News.
I guess everyone heard about the powerful earthquake in the Niigata prefecture of Japan, causing a lot of devastation.
My first thought was, probably it was mostly the old traditional Japanese houses that collapsed, not built to resist earthquakes, and the fire at the nuclear power plant didn't seem so serious either.
So far I've felt a couple of very small earthquakes here in Sapporo. It's kind of like sitting on a diesel bus not so far from where the engine is located while it's idling at a red light. Vibrating a bit. Haven't made me worried really. Modern buildings like the one I live in should be built to resist quite big earthquakes, right?
After reading this article (in Swedish) though, my thought is 'how the hell can they build the world's biggest nuclear power plant in the world's most seismologically active (is that correctly spelled?) country and not make sure it can handle a powerful earthquake?
According to the article, Japan's regulations for nuclear power plants used to be that they need to resist earthquakes of up to 6,5 on the Richter scale, however last year these regulations were changed. Now, the companies operating the power plants themselves can set the regulations, which then has to be approved by the government.
Also, it says this earthquake was 2,5 times more powerful than what the power plant was built to handle.
Okay, you can't trust the newspaper reports completely, but it sounds like complete madness to me. I thought everyone knew that nuclear power plants can be very dangerous unless strict safety and security regulations are observed.
Makes me think, if they don't build the nuclear power plants earthquake-safe to save some money, why should my house be? On the other hand, the Swedish nuclear power plants had a lot of safety issues lately and we don't even have the risk of earthquakes.
It's all about the money. Why bother about a small risk of some kind of incident if we can say a few yen? Kind of reminds me of the situation at my job before leaving Sweden.
Or maybe we simply just don't have a chance anyway if mother Earth decides to shake us hard enough, no matter how good engineering. Well nothing I can do about it anyway, so no need to worry. Of course, the earthquake is big news here also, but people in general don't seem worried or chocked really, I guess they're used to it.
If you want to read daily news from Japan in English, I can recommend Mainichi Daily News.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Swedish Midsommar (midsummer) on Hokkaido
There's a place about 30 minutes by train from Sapporo called 'Sweden Hills', which is a town on the countryside consisting entirely of Swedish style red houses with white corners. About 2000 people live there, only Sweden-loving Japanese people though, no swedes.
Went there the weekend before the last one for Swedish midsummer celebrations, it was a very surrealistic experiences for sure.. Not only because it was one week too early, but because here in Japan I run into the most traditional midsummer celebrations I have ever taken part in.
Firstly, it is kind of chocking for a Swede to arrive at a place on the Japanese countryside which is a more or less exact copy of the Swedish countryside; Swedish houses with Swedish flags (some Japanese flags also, but from what I can recall they were in minority), just mostly the cars in front of the houses were Japanese brands instead of Volvo.
Secondly, for young people from Stockholm (probably most young people in the rest of Sweden also), the Swedish midsummer mostly means eating lots and lots of food and drinking too much beer and Swedish style schnapps and then it all ends in a big fog of drunkenness.
The Japanese people however, were taking their midsommar celebrations a bit more serious than that. Many of them wearing the traditional Swedish folk costumes, they had raised the maypole, and of course learned all the traditional Swedish midsommar dances, including 'the small frogs'. They had even made some folk musicians from Dalarna (province in countryside Sweden) come and play the midsommar songs. Other than that, we were only a few Swedes there.
I was mostly sitting in amazement, laughing and watching the activities going on. Also, I'm very happy I could buy some proper rye bread (which I of course finished in a couple of days). The white bread you find everywhere in Japan is just terrible for us Swedes.
Of course, I forgot to bring my camera, but at least took a few photos with my mobile phone camera, not too bad quality eh?
Japanese people wearing Swedish folk costume.
Swedish maypole.
My girlfriend and one of the hundreds of Swedish houses.
Update: If you want more info about Sweden hills, visit their website at http://www.swedenhills.com. It's only in Japanese though.
Went there the weekend before the last one for Swedish midsummer celebrations, it was a very surrealistic experiences for sure.. Not only because it was one week too early, but because here in Japan I run into the most traditional midsummer celebrations I have ever taken part in.
Firstly, it is kind of chocking for a Swede to arrive at a place on the Japanese countryside which is a more or less exact copy of the Swedish countryside; Swedish houses with Swedish flags (some Japanese flags also, but from what I can recall they were in minority), just mostly the cars in front of the houses were Japanese brands instead of Volvo.
Secondly, for young people from Stockholm (probably most young people in the rest of Sweden also), the Swedish midsummer mostly means eating lots and lots of food and drinking too much beer and Swedish style schnapps and then it all ends in a big fog of drunkenness.
The Japanese people however, were taking their midsommar celebrations a bit more serious than that. Many of them wearing the traditional Swedish folk costumes, they had raised the maypole, and of course learned all the traditional Swedish midsommar dances, including 'the small frogs'. They had even made some folk musicians from Dalarna (province in countryside Sweden) come and play the midsommar songs. Other than that, we were only a few Swedes there.
I was mostly sitting in amazement, laughing and watching the activities going on. Also, I'm very happy I could buy some proper rye bread (which I of course finished in a couple of days). The white bread you find everywhere in Japan is just terrible for us Swedes.
Of course, I forgot to bring my camera, but at least took a few photos with my mobile phone camera, not too bad quality eh?
Japanese people wearing Swedish folk costume.
Swedish maypole.
My girlfriend and one of the hundreds of Swedish houses.
Update: If you want more info about Sweden hills, visit their website at http://www.swedenhills.com. It's only in Japanese though.
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