library

Today I got off work early and planned to sleep on the train on the way back. I took the train that stopped at every stop and fell asleep all the way until 5 stops before mine. Now very awake, I went to the library and started browsing some books and I came upon a prize winning composition essays written by students from primary four to secondary three. So I started reading the essays and realised that my level is somewhere between primary 5 and secondary 2. For the passages, I will be able to understand the general meaning behind it, but for the words, I am able to understand but could only read all the words at about primary level. So I guess I'm not at primary 2 as I thought I would be. Well primary 5 isn't very far from it either so I got lots to work on. Wish me luck.

End of long weekend

Women dancing on a makeshift stage.


fish on a stick on charcoal. Looks good but didn't try.


Fishing game using an easy to break net. Seems like a traditional Japanese game.


Colored balls where children buy, scoop and bring home with them.

Me and my father had a splendid lunch of buffet shabu shabu. Lets just say we ate so much that there is no need for dinner. haha. After that, my father came over to my apartment to have a look at the environment. On the way to the station from my house, there happen to be a festival (which has been going on for 2 days and I didn't know) and both of us went to have a look. It's pretty interesting with games and food all of which are very typical of Japanese culture. After that, I met a friend and we watched shrek(with japanese voice over) on my computer. It's kinda interesting to watch a show in English dubbed over with another language. It's just like watching americans talk and instead chinese words come out. That's the end of the week of 2 super long weekends and back to work on monday.

FUGUUUU

Today we had fugu. Met up with Sachiko and then my father and friends and we covered some parts of Ueno before heading for the Fugu resturant. In case you don't know, fugu is a very poisonous blowfish that needs a chef with a special certificate to be able to prepare the delicacies. There are reports of people who try to cut fugu at home and ended up poisioning themselves. Anyway, the resturant we went to sells only fugu dishes and we had a set dinner that cost about 4000yen per person. The first dish is fugu sashimi and fried fugu, followed by a fugu shabu shabu style. When the plate of "raw materials" come, parts of the fish can be seen moving, imagine the freshness of it. The following dish is when they use the soup for the shabu shabu to make fugu porridge followed by ice-cream. Haven't had such a fantastic meal for a long time. Got to thank Sachiko for introducing and my father for bringing us. Anyway, he will be heading back 2 days later. Will be going out to lunch with him before he leaves.

mooncakes

Together with supplies, I had about 7 mooncakes. So today I had a small gathering with 4 friends, eating mooncakes and drinking chrysanthemum tea, feels good as even in the states, I don't do this much. Father is in other parts of Japan right now and so I had to start my unpacking of all the supplies which will probably take a couple of weeks. Weather is getting cooler. I think I might be one of the few people who wants the weather to get cold so that I could eat food that tastes better in winter. Weird as it seems, I am actually looking forward to the cold winter, at least now I am.

Supplies!!!!

I'm currently at the hotel that my father is staying at. For those who do not know, my father came to Japan for business for about a week and I am staying with him for this period of time. At the same time, he brought supplies for me all the way from Singapore. At first I thought that it will be a relaxing and fun trip. Well, it isn't that bad except that I had 3 heavy bags of stuffs to bring back home from the hotel and after the 2nd trip today. My body is aching all over and I still have one more to go tomorrow. Well, guess that's the price to pay for a better life ahead. Japanese tv has nice shows, makes me want to buy a television.

On the train today, there was a guy sitting on the seat trying to put on a short sleeve shirt and he was having difficulty. An old lady standing at the side helped him put the shirt on. Both of them are strangers! Makes me wonder, from acknowledging the person holding the lift door open to helping a stranger put on a shirt, how far will kindness of Japanese people go. Also, history does have an influence on how the culture of the country becomes, all which I have no idea of. Too many things to find out, too little time to do so.. Maybe these answers will show themselves to me soon..

language exchange

Today met up with a Japanese housewife to carry out language exchange. Today's topic is cooking and I found out receipes for many simple dishes. I also realised that I could not easily come up with receipes for dishes in Singapore. Maybe now will be my quest to search out for good food and learn their receipes. Get ready guys, the chef is coming out of his shelf.

Train tips

For those people going to Tokyo, you will definitely need to use the trains to go from a location to another destination. Here are some tips( I feel) will be able to help you enjoy a smooth squeezy ride instead of an uncomfortable squeezy ride.

1) Always use the first few or the last few carriages of the trains as they are usually the least crowded ones. If you happen to catch an all female carriage and you are a female, then lucky you. Else you will have to move up afew more carriages.
2)If possible, when you enter the train, try to squeeze your way into the middle of the carriages, as in between the two doors. Most probably you will not get a seat but you will avoid the weight of human beings crashing down on you from all sides.
3)Second worse case scenario is when you are squeezed standing near the entrance of the door. Don't worry. You will not die of suffocation. Just stay calm and grab a bar or handle if possible and pray that no one will push their weight on you when the train moves. If possible, stay close to the sides and avoid at all cost to go against the flow of human traffic. You will definitely regret it if you don't do so.
4)Worst case scenario is when you have people leaning their whole body weight on you when you have nothing to hold on to. If you are in that situation like me today, you could
i)Push any bars nearby to balance back your weight.
ii)Lean back at the guy when you have the chance to.
iii)Or free fall.

Well, hope this helps and if anyone have any other suggestions do let me know, especially solutions for the worst case scenario.

Greetings

What is still confusing about Japanese is the greetings. Whether it is the morning or the afternoon, as long as you step into the office, the greeting used will be ohayougozaimasu, which means good morning. In textbooks we are drilled to use the greeting only in the morning and here I am faced with a situation where I could use it anytime in the day. Also, before you leave the office, you are suppose to say otsukaresamadeshita(literally means you had a hard day's work). Well, mostly this phrase is used at the end of the day before you leave but then I just realised today that there are a whole variety of situations where this phrase can be used. In an elevator greeting strangers, in the streets greeting public sweepers, the situation is endless. Guess after studying a language for years, I have just barely skimmed the surface of it and there is a whole wide sea of knowledge out there to be explored. Somehow, I got to find a way to drink out all the sea water fast. Maybe I will buy more straws.

special weekend

At last there is one special eventful weekend. On saturday early evening, I went with my friend, Taka over the border to Saitama, which is above Tokyo. The plan was to hang out in Saitama and to stay over at his place at night. When I reached there it was around 7.00 and we headed down to an open air hot spring. It's the first time I have been into one and it's quite an interesting experience. Other than the normal spring water, there is another heated spring water area and also another jacuzzi style area. Basically, after the whole experience, I left feeling refreshed. Next my friend's father brought us to a sushi bar where I had the freshest sushi that I have ever eaten before. I was also introduced to sake and another variation of Japanes alcohol. After that, I followed Taka to meet his childhood friend to a few food and beer places that lasted till about 3.45 before we returned home. Sunday was basically spent at a park in Saitama, followed by a nice afternoon chat with Taka's mother. Somehow I am able to understand like more than 1/2 of the converstion but I still need a translator. I only managed to return home in the evening to get ready for the next day.

laundry

One thing I love about having a laundry machine in my house is that I will never never ever lose another sock again. Yeah!!!

food.

Saizeriya is one place that me and my friend from the same training program planned to visit at least once a week. It has been deemed his favorite place as the place have the food he likes and a nice environment. For me, the food is of reasonable price and a good chance for me not to eat alone. Few days ago I was resting at an open top resting area and looking at the clouds, things that I had not done for a long long time. Felt relaxing except it is kinda weird because the wind was very strong and the clouds were moving really fast. Sort of felt that the earth was moving instead of the clouds.

back

Hey guys, I'm back. I just went on a break from blogging to reflect on my life and what I want to do for the future. Sorry to keep you guys waiting. These days nothing much have happened. During the weekends, I went out with Kenya and a couple of friends to a BBQ gathering at a park. One of my friend, Taka, cooked for us really good yakisoba and we had fun. The park was pretty big, about the size of 1/2 of Bishan park, I think. The weather was really good, windy and sunny all the way until Sunday night when the typhoon travelled to southern Japan where the wind picked up speed and it started to drizzle non-stop. Just now when the weather was cleared for a while, I went out to the library to look at some books and around my neighbourhood to have a look at the houses designs and what they grow in their gardens. My area has lots of landed houses, the designs vary ranging from traditional designs as in the wooden doors and arches to modern concrete and high tech looking houses with their own garages. Occasionally, there will be an apartment building that stretches up 12 stories that adds flavor to the area. My place is relatively safe although some say that crimes are increasing. There is a police post right outside my house so I am not really afraid.

Next thing that caught my attention is the trains. Well, as many of you already know, the trains in Tokyo are crowded as hell, especially when I am on my way to work in the morning. Although, I rarely see the train attendants pushing people into the trains, it is still packed to the point where you are cushioned in all directions by humans and all you see is heads and the advertisements displayed in the carriages. It is during times like this when I don't even have the chance to take out my learning card where I observe the people and what they do. In the order of what most people do on the trains, sleep, read, phone message or checking email and make up( for women). Thought that the last one is strange as I don't think there are many females will touch up their make up in the trains in Singapore. Thought that it is interesting.

got milk?

I am not sure what changed but I have started a habit of drinking milk. Not that I am complaining but it is kind of weird because I have never been a big fan of milk and I have never liked it. Probably because I think I am not healthy enough. I guess. Anyway, a small carton of milk cost around 200 yen and I can drink like 2 cartons a week which makes about 2 litres of milk per week. I think if Clifton were to see this, he will be shocked because he knows that I usually do not drink that much milk in one week.