Taipei

Well, last week I went to Taipei on what is known out in these parts as a "visa run". That means you leave the country, because your visa is about to expire, and then you come back to get a new visa. If you're a foreigner in Toronto, a visa run means simply getting on the next bus to Niagara Falls. But Japan is an island-nation, so a visa run means a costly airfare ticket. I was gone from Thursday the 11th until Tuesday the 16th.

I really enjoyed my visit to Taipei, but I can't honestly say that nothing bad happened. The first bad thing that happened is that my friend Pi Chen got sick on the same day I arrived, so I couldn't see her that day, which sucked. I didn't get to see her until Saturday. The second bad thing that happened is that a typhoon struck down on Taipei at that time, so it rained every day and many stores and restaurants were closed. The third bad thing is that my friend Joyce, who I've only seen once in the last four years or so, didn't make it down to Taipei because of the typhoon.

But what good things happened? Well, my first night there I met a cool British guy named 'Huggy', and we went to the night market. On my second night there I met two girls from Osaka, Ayumi and Touki, who I basically spent my whole time with except for when I was with Pi Chen. Also, I managed to pick up some DVDs I had been looking for. Ironically, DVDs of Japanese movies, even legal copies, are much cheaper in Taipei and they come with English subtitles.

Things I learned on my trip to Taipei:

• Scooters can be dangerous. A scooter literally ran over my foot because the guy wasn't paying attention to pedestrians! It's OK now though.
• People who drive scooters can be crazy. Some guy was riding his scooter in the middle of the typhoon with his wife sitting behind him, and his kid sitting in front of him! The rain and wind didn't bother them as they rode down the street, all smiles.
• Umbrellas are not built to handle a typhoon. The wind broke my umbrella approximately 5 minutes after purchase.
• The food at the night market is amazing. Actually I already knew this but it's worth repeating.
• Lack of a language isn't always a barrier to getting around. Despite minimal Chinese, I was able to get around by supplementing my speech using primal grunts and hand-gestures.
• Taipei loves the Nintendo DS. Then again, doesn't everyone? ^_^ I saw DS systems everywhere in Taipei. I even joined a group of Taiwanese kids playing Mario Kart over wireless connection in a coffee shop, and whipped all their asses.

Also, I found there are many differences between Taipei and Tokyo:

• Taipei seems more relaxed. People are not as much in a hurry, people laugh more and talk more. At the stores and restaurants, sometimes staff have a casual conversation with the customers. In Tokyo this rarely happens.
• Taipei seems less preoccupied with presentation. For example, when I got to Excelsior to get a coffee in Tokyo, it comes on a tray with a stir stick, a napkin and everything all nicely arranged and presented to me. When I go to Mr. Brown's coffee in Taipei, I just get a mug full of hot coffee. Period. Stir sticks, etc. are on the side and you get them yourself.
• Taipei is not as clean. Both cities have their clean and not-so-clean areas, but in my opinion Taipei generally has more grungy areas, and more old buildings. That being said, I can't say that Taipei's grungy parts (at least the parts I saw) are any worse than Toronto. Toronto was once revered for being such a great clean city back when I was a kid, but sadly the years have not been kind.
• People dress more casually. For example, in Tokyo younger women often wear expensive clothes, some form of leggings or stockings, high heels, elaborately decorated nails, full makeup, crimped eyelashes, and hair that looks like it was just recently done at an expensive salon. Even if they're just going out for shopping on a Saturday. I often see them fixing their makeup on the train. In Taipei, women often wear sandals, a tank top, and (very) short shorts. Some don't even wear makeup. Don't get me wrong, they often still manage to look good (some very good!)
• The train is not so busy. Even at rush hour I don't get the "I can't breathe" squish that I sometimes get in Tokyo. And at night time (like 12 am) the train is so empty you can sometimes even sit down! At 12 am in Tokyo the train is still crazy busy, at least on the lines I take.
• Taipei is the land of the scooter. While motorcycles and scooters are certainly popular in Tokyo, you don't see them nearly as often as in Taipei. In Taipei the sides of the downtown streets are completely lined with parked scooters, and you see legions waiting at every red light. A student told me that in Vietnam
there are even more scooters, but I can't imagine it.
• Taipei is less expensive. While some things are the same price as Tokyo, generally food, transportation, housing etc. is less expensive in Taipei.

There are also of course, some differences between Taipei and Toronto:

• Taipei is warmer. Imagine Florida's weather (sub-tropical, warm winter, heavy rains) but a million times more humid.
• Taipei is more crowded. While it certainly didn't feel crowded, having just arrived from Tokyo, there are definitely more people around than in Tokyo.
• Toronto is much more diverse. While in Taipei I saw many food and store items from Japan as well as a few from mainland China, as far as actual people go, I would say that by-and-large most of the people in Taipei are Taiwanese (i.e. they were born in Taiwan).

Huggy said he was surprised by Taipei, that he was expecting a city that was 'more poor' (in his words). I think that a common misconception about Taipei is that it's an underdeveloped area. But while living expenses are much lower than in Toronto or Tokyo, Taipei feels very safe and in the main areas, most of the buildings are nice and new.

One question I had to ask myself is: Could I live here? I mean, if Tokyo really doesn't work out, would I be happier living in Taipei than in Toronto?

It's not an easy question to answer. Living somewhere vs. visiting can be very different things. I've learned this staying here in Tokyo (don't get me wrong, I love living in Tokyo, but it feels a lot different now than when I was here on vacation). But if I was forced to answer the question, I would say that yes, I would enjoy living in Taipei very much. While I still prefer to live in Tokyo more than anywhere else, I believe I would be happier living in Taipei than in Toronto.

The Quest for Cheese

Now here is a familiar scenario: a mouse is in a maze, and at the other side of the maze is a piece of cheese.

The mouse can smell the cheese, so he starts to look for it. Even from the very start, he has to choose between several different paths. So, using his nose and his gut feeling, he chooses which path he believes will get him to the cheese. He gets further and further, certain that he is getting closer to the cheese. And just when he can almost taste it, he hits a dead end. He can’t go any further.

At this point, the mouse has to make a choice. There are several choices available to him, but basically they boil down to four options:

1. He can give up. He can decide to just stay where he is, or he can just go back and exit the maze from the entrance, and decide to forget all about the cheese.

2. He can go back to the start, and make the same decisions again. He can keep trying the same route over and over and hope that for some reason, the maze will change in some way, so that the route he tried and failed at before will now work for some reason.

3. He can try to climb over the wall. With tremendous strength and a bit of luck he might be able to jump high enough that he can get over the wall and continue on his route.

4. He can go back a little bit, and then try a different route. He can keep trying different routes and different directions in an effort to get the cheese.

The thing to remember about this scenario is option number 4. If the mouse keeps trying different routes, and never gives up, eventually he will get his cheese.

My scenario is not unlike our friend, the mouse. For over five years, I have dreamt of living and working in Tokyo. In my mind, I can envision having my own apartment, with a kotatsu, a Japanese-style kettle, and a shower toilet. For more than five years, this vision has been alive in my mind. This is my cheese. And, in smelling the cheese, I have tried options one through three, above, and now I’m in the process of trying option number four.

To be honest, I tried option number one first. I tried to just close my eyes and let the feeling pass. I told myself that I have a good job in Toronto and a good life, and that I should just forget about Tokyo and be happy living in Toronto. I even created a different dream, a ‘false cheese’ if you will. And I tried to focus on the false cheese, and just ignore my dream entirely.

But real dreams have a habit of not dying. And in my case, focusing on the false cheese just led to hardship for both myself and some of the people I loved the most. And in early 2006, my life pretty much fell apart.

So since my false cheese was gone, I started to try and work my way through the maze. I was off to find my real cheese. I looked hard at ways I could teach English in Japan. I searched through many websites, read countless documents and thought of every way I could possibly do it, but in the end I reached the same dead end: a bachelor’s degree is required, from an accredited university.

So, I tried to go to university. I spend a few hundred bucks and went through the complicated process of applying to both York and U of T. I mean seriously, why do they make it so complicated? Anyway, U of T sent me a rejection letter, and York didn’t even process my application before the courses started (even though I sent my application in on time). So, I had reached another dead-end.

So I created a new false cheese. I tried to create a life in Toronto that was as close as possible to a life in Tokyo. I worked downtown, I took transit everywhere, I lived in Korea town, and I shared a tiny apartment with a rotating cast of young, single, Japanese women. I spent most of my evenings conversing with Japanese people over foods such as curry, spaghetti, omelette rice, and temakizushi. I ate bibim-ba, kim chi, and maki rolls at local restaurants on a regular basis, made frequent trips to the local karaoke bar, and played 4-player Mario Kart until my thumbs were going to fall off. How could life be better?

But still, deep inside my dream was still alive. I felt like I was living a dual-identity: at work I was ‘pretend’ Jonathan, and at home I was ‘real’ Jonathan. I tried to work hard at my job but I had no passion, no drive to succeed at it -- at least, nothing beyond the simple desire to do a ‘good job’. I was told I should study and get certifications, etc. But really, I had no interest in servers, programming, etc. aside from the extra money it might bring in. The main thing I really liked about my job was my constant interaction with other people.

And then in early 2007, I discovered that with ten years’ work experience, I could potentially get an Engineer’s working visa, and do IT work in Tokyo even without a degree. It would be very hard, given my limited language ability, but I thought if I really try, it just might work. If I could just get over there, and talk to recruiters, and meet and greet and shake hands, surely something would surface.

So, I saved my money, and planned. I never ate so much tuna in my life ^_^ I bought a laptop, a plane ticket, a couple of suits, some dress shoes, and I booked a place to live. I hopped on my plane, sure I was going to find my cheese. Sure I was going to live my dream.

But a few months after arriving here, I reached another dead end. Lacking a work visa, lacking truly fluent Japanese, and lacking advanced and senior IT skills, I was unable to secure an IT job, despite my work experience. I came so close, so many times, but in the end, the visa processing time always turned out to be the deal breaker. For a help desk or support job, it’s just easier to hire some guy with only 1-2 years experience (or even no experience and just a certification) who already has a work visa.

As in option number two above, I kept running down the same path and running into the same dead end. I ran down it again and again, hoping for a different result. But it never came.
So, I had to try another option. My friends at the guesthouse suggested teaching English. I told them I had been down that road before, but they suggested option number three. They said that maybe I could jump over the wall – just try to get a job using my college diplomas in lieu of a degree. I was skeptical but I thought maybe it was worth a try. After all, I’ve read reports of people in Japan who’ve actually been able to do it.

And again, I came so close. I got a job offer and everything – and they said they would sponsor my visa and everything looked great. But in the end, it all fell apart, and I reached the exact same dead end that I had reached in 2006.

I will continue to go down this path a few more times, but at the end of the day I have to be prepared that this path might not work, and I have to think of new paths. I have to find a new way to get my cheese.

So, with that in mind, a couple nights ago I drew up a new plan, a new path to the cheese. It’s still in rough pencil, and there are a few unknowns about it, but based on what I’ve learned, here is my plan:

Step #1: Raise money. Sadly, I’m pretty much broke at the moment, living entirely off the scrap money that I get from private lessons. The plan I’m thinking of will take about $2000-3000 of initial funds to get off the ground. There are a couple of possibilities with regards to getting that money:

a. Work illegally in Japan. I have a friend of a friend who runs an English conversation school. It might not be possible, but if she can give me something with steady hours and steady pay, then I might be able to stay here and just raise the money that I need, doing visa runs and renewing my passport when necessary.

b. Work illegally in Taipei. I’m not sure if this is feasible or not, but many people work illegally in Taipei. Again, if I can get a steady job with steady hours, enough to save some money, then this might be a good option.

c. Work in Toronto. Of course, another option is to go back to Toronto and get an IT job there, at least for a few months until I can raise enough cash. Toronto would suck in the wintertime, but I’ve suffered through 34 winters already, what’s one more?

Step #2: Get a CELTA. In order to teach legally in Taipei, I need a TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) or TEFL (Teaching English to Foreign Learners) certificate. The CELTA (Cambridge English Language Teaching to Adults) is world-recognized as a high-standard certificate. It takes one month of full-time intensive study. If I raise my money in Asia, I can get the CELTA in Phuket for $1400 USD. If I raise my money in Toronto, I can get the CELTA in Toronto for $2050 CDN.

Step #3. Move to Taipei and get a job (or, if I work illegally in Taipei, go back to Taipei and get a legal job). With my two diplomas and a CELTA, along with Pi Chen’s help, work should be easy to find in Taipei. I could probably secure a job before I even landed there, although I heard the best jobs are available if you can go there in the flesh and look.

Step #4: Get a degree or get experienced: I found out just a few weeks ago that my school, Fanshawe College, has an agreement with Athabasca University in Alberta. Apparently, with my diplomas, I can get 2-3 years worth of university credits toward a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Arts. Also, Athabasca’s courses are all available online through distance learning. So theoretically, I could get my degree in Taipei after maybe one calendar year or so (depending on the number of credits I need). Just plop $715 CDN down for a course, take the course online, and repeat 10-20 times, and then I have a degree. If that doesn’t work out, even with three years’ work experience, I could work in Japan without a degree (although if possible, the degree is the better option).

Also, working in Taipei wouldn’t be so bad, I think. I don’t know if I would want to live there forever, but for a few years, I think it would be fantastic. It might not be my cheese, but it’s not really a false cheese either. It’s more like a tasty trail of breadcrumbs I can enjoy on my way to the cheese.

So, after all this, I would have a CELTA certificate, a 4-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited Canadian university, and 1-2 years work experience as an English teacher to foreign students.

And then maybe, just maybe, I can finally get my cheese.

I will go to Taipei on the 11th of this month, and come back to Tokyo on the 15th. I will look for an illegal job while I am there. And then, if nothing surfaces in either Taipei or Tokyo before October 7th, then I will go back to Canada, and look for a job in Toronto.

For those of you in Toronto, I sincerely look forward to the possibility of seeing you again.

Thinking Aloud - Plans For The Future

As I mentioned in a previous blog, on the line between hope and despair, I am now on the side of despair. What that means is that, while I will still try to do what I can, at this time I don’t believe there is any quick fix for my situation, and I believe I will not be able to get a job in Tokyo.

You might think that sounds horrible, but there is a positive aspect to this. It forces me to really look hard at my options and consider my plans for the future.

I have many possibilities that I am considering at this time, but one option that is becoming considerably more attractive to me is the Taipei option. The Taipei option would be for me to move to Taipei and teach English there. Here is what I find attractive about the Taipei option:

Good money. Exchange rates fluctuate, but generally speaking an English teacher in Taipei makes a comparable wage to one in Tokyo, when you compare actual dollar/yen per hour of teaching. But in Taipei, living expenses are much lower. I’ve read reports of people saving $500-1000 USD a month once they are settled there, which sounds pretty good.

Chinese language. Right now my Chinese really sucks. I took a couple of semesters at Seneca, but I forgot most of it. But apparently Chinese classes are pretty cheap in Taipei, and learning Mandarin would be a potentially useful skill down the road.

Japan in the vicinity. Tokyo is just a few hours and a couple hundred bucks away, as are places like Fukuoka, Osaka and Nagoya. Going to Japan for a two or three-day visit to see my friends is actually feasible and doable.

Tokyo on the horizon. With three years of directly-related work experience, I could then go on to teach English in Tokyo and get a work visa, even without a degree.

Many of the same benefits as Toronto: Toronto is attractive because in Toronto I have the option to work legally, save money, and possibly try to complete my university degree by distance. But these are all the same benefits I would have in Taipei. Plus in Toronto, I worry that if I get a job, get an apartment, get some furniture, sign a lease and everything, then I might get too ‘settled’ again and it would be difficult for me to take off.

But of course, there are bad things about Taipei as well, and so these are things I have to consider:

Chinese language. I know I listed this as an advantage, but like I said my Chinese really sucks. Unlike in Tokyo, where I can get around pretty easily and read the signs and stuff, in Taipei I can’t do any of that. The places I could go and the and things I could do by myself, at least at first, would be very limited.

Lack of Japanese language. In Toronto I am very connected with the Japanese community so it’s easy for me to make friends and find people to practice with. I worry that if I go to Taipei and study Mandarin, I will forget a lot of the Japanese that I have learned. But it’s possible they have a Japanese community in Taipei as well, so if I can get connected with them, maybe this won’t be as big of an issue.

TEFL certificate. In order to teach legally in Taiwan, I have to get a TEFL certificate. The problem is, there are so many different kinds of TEFL certificates available, I really have no idea what kind of certificate is required to meet government standards. I’ve seen TEFL courses that are $190 and 20 hours online, or courses that are 1 month of full-time intensive training at a school and $2,000. I’m tempted to go ask the Taiwanese consulate here in Tokyo if they have any guidelines on how to choose a TEFL course. It’s possible that before I go to Taiwan, I might have to get a job in Toronto, save some money, and then proceed to Taipei. Another option is to move to Taipei and work illegally to save some money, then take a month off and get the CELTA TEFL course in Bangkok ($1400 USD), come back to Taiwan and get a legal job. I know “working illegally” sounds scary but from what I’ve read it’s quite common in Taiwan, and many teachers actually prefer to work illegally due to the way their laws are set up. That’s not to say it’s not without risk however.

Lack of friends. While it’s true that I could and would make new friends once I’m over there, the reality is that I really have only one good friend in Taipei at the moment, and that’s Pi Chen. In Tokyo I’ve needed favors from friends but I can spread it out and ask different friends for different favors. But in Taipei, at least at first, I’d be dependent on Pi Chen for everything. Especially due to my embarrassingly poor Chinese (see above).

But at the end of the day, the real question I have to ask myself is, if Tokyo is not an option for me at this time, where would I be happier? I guess I won’t know for sure until I try it, but having been to Taipei a couple times before, I actually think I’d feel happier living there than living in Toronto. And maybe from Taipei, I can continue to work toward my dream of living and working in Tokyo.

Lessons of Life

After my last blog, there are some of you that might think I’ve just given up completely. That I’ll just go back to Toronto, with an empty wallet and a broken spirit, and live out my days in lonely misery, pining for the ‘good old days’ when I lived in Tokyo, and everything was a big ball of utopian fun.

Well, rest assured, at the moment I clearly don’t see that happening. I’ve learned so much in the last few years, particularly about budget and change.

Change.

I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is how to cope with change. Most people talk about how they embrace change and how ‘change can be a good thing’, but in reality most people don’t like change. They become attached to certain places or things, and they become upset when things are different.

This isn’t always a bad thing, but in my situation, I have to always be prepared to accept change and I can never truly get ‘too comfortable’.

But change is always what gives me hope. A few years ago, I thought it was impossible for me to move to Tokyo. But then a few years later, my situation changed, and I was able to go.

So now, I’m trying to find a way to get a job in Japan. But if it’s not possible right now, then I have to find a way to change my situation.

Budget.

I thought I had learned how to budget pretty strictly before I got to Tokyo. I had managed to scrounge up enough cash to pay off all my debts and get over here, and have enough money to live quite comfortably for a few months. But these days I am only making a fraction of the money I made in Toronto, and I’m living in what I’m told is one of the most expensive cities in the world (although I personally disagree with that somewhat), yet still I am able to get by.

Even worse than having less income is the fact that my income is incredibly unstable. I live entirely off private students. When students have holidays or have to work late, they cancel. And when they cancel, I don’t get paid. This summer was especially brutal, as holidays and festivals caused many cancellations. Without a careful budget, I’d easily be either on the street or in a big load of debt right now.

I believe that, if I use these two skills effectively, I can find a way to come back to Tokyo, long-term.

Return of the Heartbreaker

Well, as much as I hate to do it, sometimes I need to pass on the bad news as well as the good news. Everyone loves a happy ending, but sadly real life doesn't always work that way.

My new employer, G-Communications, does not want to sponsor my visa. They are concerned that it might be rejected by the government, and that this would somehow damage their reputation. Basically they don't want to sponsor my visa unless they are 100% sure it will be accepted. Even though I got a letter from my college, saying that my programs are of university status, they complained that the letter is 'not specific enough' so they won't accept it.

And just like that, I watched my dream crumble in front of my eyes. This actually happened a few days ago, but it's taken time for me to come to grips with it.

In a way I feel like they lied to me. I was very honest about my academic credentials in my job interview, and at that time I was told "Well I guess we can send it to immigration and see what they say". And when they asked me for a letter from my college, they told me that even if I can't get the letter, they'll still sponsor me and apply for the visa. But now suddenly they're whistling a different tune.

So, my visa is up on Sept 15th. I'll try and extend it from inside Japan, and if that fails it's another visa run to Taipei. And I guess I'll keep trying to get a job here.

But to be honest, fatigue is starting to set in. For five months, I've been fighting the system, trying to find a way in, and trying to get help and advice for my situation. And after five months, I'm really not any closer to landing a job than I was when I first arrived. The money I saved is all gone, and time is no longer on my side.

In short, on the line between hope and despair, now I'm clearly on the side of despair.

Sometimes I feel homesick. I think about my friends in Toronto, and I want to see them. Sometimes I think about how much I've learned, being here, and how I could apply it to a life in Toronto. Maybe I could learn to be happy there.

And sometimes I think about returning to Toronto, and doing some work to prepare for another trip to Asia. I could get a job, then take a class and get my MCSE. Or I could try to complete my university degree. I read that my degree is worth 60 credits (two full years) at an online university in Calgary. If I did 3 courses per term part-time, I could finish maybe in seven terms.

But when I think about Toronto, it reminds me of all reasons I left. I don't know if I can explain it well, but in Toronto I just don't feel like I fit in well. Here in Tokyo, I can just relax and be myself. In Tokyo, things like eating omelette rice, brushing your teeth in front of the TV, and listening to Ayumi Hamasaki aren't considered weird or eccentric, they're actually pretty normal. And my 'Canadian' habits, like showering in the morning, or speaking very casually to someone I just met, are just kind of expected, since I'm a foreigner.

So even though I feel homesick sometimes, I can't say I really want to go back to Toronto long-term. But I might not have a choice.

I've been trying to decide what options I have... but I decided that if I can't get some kind of legal status by the end of my next visa extension, which will probably be in December, then I will move.. somewhere. And wherever I go, I want to be able to work legally.

Sometimes when the simple things are taken away from us, we learn to truly appreciate them.

Am I Really Shrinking?

I've received many comments from people recently saying "You've lost weight!" I especially hear this from people I haven't seen in a couple months. I know my shirts feel looser than before, but have I really lost? Since I haven't weighed myself in ages, I thought I'd use pictures to tell the whole tale.

So here are three pictures, one from two years ago, one from March 2008 when I first arrived here, and one from this month. Tell me, do you think I've gotten smaller? And if so, where do you notice the biggest change? If there is noticeable weight loss, I wonder if it's due to my new Japanese lifestyle, or if it's just a natural occurrence from some other reason. Please either comment here or on my Facebook wall.

I have my own opinion, but I won't share it yet, just to see what others think first. But I will say one thing, holy crap I've tanned a lot! Look at that pasty white boy in the middle! I guess walking around in the sun for five months will do that to you ^_^

Wealth

I wanted to say 'thank you' to all the messages I've received on Facebook regarding my recent blog posts. So to say 'thank you' I wrote this little bit. It's a bit cliché but that doesn't mean it isn't true. Besides, this is how I really feel.

My wealth is not measured in dollars or in yen. My wealth is not measured by the size of my house or the speed of my car. My wealth is not measured in fancy clothes or elaborate nights on the town. My wealth is measured by the friends and family that surround and support me. Therefore, every day, I feel like a very wealthy man.

Thanks for reading!

In The Business of Chasing Dreams (part 3)

Last Friday was not an easy day. The issue of my visa status was still weighing heavily on my mind. Also, the night before I had stayed up until about 12:30am to try and pack up my stuff for moving, but I didn’t finish so I woke up again at 4am to continue to pack some more.

Yuji, the manager of the old guesthouse helped me move my stuff to the new one. It was my first time to enter the new place, and what a great place it is! I’ll try and do a blog later with pictures so you can see it. I was supposed to meet Nagisa, the manager of the new guesthouse downstairs at 11:40am, so I set my alarm for 11:38am and proceeded to unpack my stuff.

Well, the alarm went off, so I went to go downstairs, but as I tried to lock my door, I couldn’t find the key! I’d feel so stupid, to lose the key just minutes after it was given to me. I knew I had put it in my wallet, so I hastily ran into my room and cleaned out some cards and stuff, and also put away most of my money except for 2000 yen. Once I had ‘streamlined’ my wallet, I was able to find my key. So I met Nagisa, and together we walked back with me to my old place so I could finish cleaning it up.

Once I officially signed out of the old place, I tried to walk back to the new place. It’s only about a ten-minute walk between the two places, but it’s in a very residential area and the roads wind and twist and don’t really follow a logical sequence. So I got lost, I got very lost.

What should have been a ten-minute walk turned into a nearly hour-long head-scratching event full of wrong turns and plenty of backtracking. All in the scorching-hot, hazy, humid Tokyo summer. The whole time I was on my way back, my mind was racing. Why am I even bothering to move? I probably will have to go back in mid-September anyway, when my visa runs out. I should have just stayed at the old place.

My feet are prone to blistering, especially in the hot weather. And by the time I arrived at my new place once again, I had two blisters about half the size of a loonie, on each of the balls of my feet. And then another blister about the size of a quarter on the heel of my right foot. They were all excruciatingly painful.

So when I got back to my new place, I really wanted to take a very long sleep. I noticed someone had called my cellphone but I didn’t recognize the number, so I just ignored it. I set my alarm and then had a short two-hour nap before I had to get up to go see a student. I had a student at 4:30pm in Machiya.

So, I left early to walk to Kichijoji station, because I was worried I would get lost again. It was not easy to walk with blisters, and it was not easy to walk in the intolerable heat and humidity, but I told myself that I have to pay the bills somehow. So I hobbled my way to Kichijoji station. While I did take a wrong turn, I didn’t get TOO lost. And in a way, the detour was a very good thing, because I discovered a great restaurant for pancakes. I’ll put more about that in a separate blog as well.

So since I had some extra time, I decided to eat at the pancake restaurant. I noticed that same person from before had called me a second time, so I decided to call the number and see who it was. It was Yuri (pronounced like “Julie” but with a Y), my student from Machiya. She said she had a cold and she can’t come to the lesson.

So I walked all the way to Kichijoji for nothing, and I could have just slept at home for many more hours, if she had only left a message when she originally called. “Oh, that’s OK” I said in pleasant voice, in Japanese. “I can see you next week”. I wanted to scream.

So now what should I do? I thought. I don’t wanna walk all the way back to my place, with my blistered feet. But I have lots of time to kill. So I limped over to the hyakuen store to buy some stuff for my new place. I got a pot, a pan, two bowls, two sets of chopsticks, some plastic wrap, some dish soap and sponges, a tupperware container, and some other stuff... and when I took it all to the counter, they rang it in as 1470 yen.

Then I realized that because I had cleaned out my wallet earlier, and because I spent 600 yen at the pancake place, now I only had 1400 yen. Oops! So I took back one pair of chopsticks and paid the 1365 yen. And now I had 35 yen on me.

I still had a lot of time to kill, and my feet felt like they were gonna explode, so I decided to go to the coffee shop inside the station, because there I can use my Suica card. A Suica card is a kind of ‘smart card’ to simplify quick transactions of a small monetary amount. You just swipe it on your way into the subway station and it will automatically deduct the fare. You don’t even need to take it out of your wallet or purse or whatever, you can just hold it up there like a CHUBB security card. You can also use it in some vending machines, stores and restaurants, often at ones inside the train station.

So I ordered an iced coffee and a matcha-vanilla “twist” (soft ice-cream). I whipped out my wallet to pay with my Suica card, but there was no ‘beep’ to signify a payment was made. So I tried again. And again. And then I reached inside to try and find the card, and that’s when I realized. I must have taken out my Suica card when I cleaned out my wallet earlier, at my new place.

So after some profound apologies, I left the coffee shop and came to the realization that I had no choice, I had to go back to my place. No Suica card and no money means no way to take the train to my next student. So I embarked on the long, agonizing road back. By the time I got to my room, I was exhausted from the heat, and the excruciating pain of my feet. I set my alarm to wake me for the next student, cranked the air conditioner, drank 1 liter of water and then collapsed on my bed, in a pool of my own sweat.

When the alarm went off, I really didn’t feel well at all. I wanted to just crawl under the covers and forget all about the day. It doesn’t matter if I piss off my students, I thought. Because soon I’ll have to go back to Canada anyway. Maybe it’s for the best.

But then I realized that I can’t give up. If I give up, then years from now when I look back, I’ll think to myself that the reason I couldn’t stay in Tokyo is because I gave up. Even if I have to go back to Canada, at the very least I want to look back and say “I did everything I could.”

So I jammed my blistered, now-swollen feet into my shoes, and slowly and painfully made my way to Inokashirakoen station. And I noticed that, while it was still incredibly hot and humid outside, it was now getting into the evening, and the killer sun wasn’t quite as intense as before. And then my phone rang.

It was Mr. Fleming, from G-Communications. He offered me a teaching position at an eikaiwa school. He said that his company will sponsor my visa.

“I happily accept” I said. And any trace of exhaustion/frustration was gone from my voice. I sounded as fresh as a spring morning after a gentle rain. He said that I will get an e-mail from one of their staff on how to proceed with my visa application.

After I hung up the phone, I looked up and I saw my dream reassemble, right there in front of my eyes. A visa means a long-term stay. A job means a steady salary. And the chance for a much better job in the future. This is it. This is the key I’ve been hunting for, literally for years. This is my ticket in.

I said aloud “Holy Shit!” I just couldn’t think of anything else to say, so I said it many times, again and again. “Holy Shit!” “Holy Shit!” “Holy Shit!” A Japanese guy rode by on his bicycle, clearly baffled by my behavior. But I didn’t care about that. I didn’t care about the heat, my blisters, or anything like that. I just merrily continued on my way to the station.

I’m still not completely out of the woods. There’s a chance that G-Communications’ HR department will look at my diploma and complain that it’s not enough to apply for the visa. Or there’s a small chance that the government will reject my visa application as well.

But for now, on that line between hope and despair, I’m firmly planted on the side of ‘hope’. And that is a great feeling.

My dream is alive. I can see it right in front of me. I can’t touch it yet, but I can look it in the eye and say “Just wait right there, I’m on my way.”

In The Business of Chasing Dreams (part 2)

Last week was just like this week, weather-wise. Hot and humid. Back in May and June, I used to sometimes forget that I was in Tokyo. I’d be lost in my train of thought or something, and for a moment I'd think about how I hadn’t seen such-and-such a person for a while, and that I should call them and see if they want to hang out.

And then I’d remember “Oh yeah, I’m halfway around the world.” In a way it’s a very good thing. It means that I feel so comfortable here. And it means that for a brief moment, I had mentally taken a ‘vacation’ from Tokyo and mentally, I was back home in Canada.

But that doesn’t happen often these days. When it’s 36C and the humidex is around 40C, I don’t feel like I’m in Canada at all. I walk 15 minutes to the subway station, and already my T-shirt is literally soaked in sweat. The constant, unrelenting funk of the Tokyo summer serves as a clear and constant reminder that yes, I am in a foreign country and I have to learn to deal with that.

Sure I can and do use the air conditioning when I’m inside, but the kind of cold, canned air that comes out of those things is no substitute for a beautiful warm summer day with lots of fresh air. My friend told me that this intolerable weather will last until October. I sincerely hope she is wrong.

To make me sweat even more, I had two job interviews last week. Going to a job interview means wearing a suit. In my case, a black wool suit. And just to make sure I’m extra comfortable, I have to squeeze into my new size ten business shoes. (My old business shoes wore out. I’m actually a size eleven or twelve, but size ten was the largest size I could find that was affordable).

One job interview was with a company called IES, for a position in as an ALT (assistant language teacher) in an elementary school. The other was for G-Communications, for a position as an English teacher at an eikaiwa (English conversation) school. Either job would be great for me, because either job would enable me to get the sponsored visa I so desperately need right now.

On Tuesday of last week, I had the IES interview, and I charmed the pants off those guys. Both the manager and the company president loved me, and thought I’d be perfect for the ALT position. So I had a good feeling about it.

(Side note: Also on Tuesday, for those that know her, I met my friend Masami who was visiting from Calgary. She seems like she’s doing very well.)

Then on Thursday of last week, I had my interview with G-Communications. It didn’t go quite as well as the one with IES, but still I think I could present myself in a positive light and show them how I’d be an effective language teacher for them.

But still I worried. For both of the positions, “bachelor’s degree” was clearly stated as a requirement for the position. For the interview with IES, I danced around the subject of my schooling with a finesse that would make Fred Astaire blush. As for the interview with G-Communications, he asked me if my diploma would be enough for immigration, and I told him straight up “These things are determined on a case-by-case basis, but because I have a three-year diploma, I should be OK”. But I realized that there wasn’t much else I could have done. I need that work visa, and if I shy away from every position that says they require a degree, I’ll never get anywhere.

So on Thursday night I got a call from IES. The guy said “I really want to hire you” but he asked again about my school. He said unless I have a university degree it’s “impossible” to get a visa. I tried to explain to him that what I have is perfectly fine for immigration, but he wasn’t convinced at all.

And I realized that now it wasn’t just about the degree. Now he doesn’t trust me, because he feels that I lied to him about my credentials. If I lied about my credentials, what else could I have lied about? So I can’t blame him for being angry.

This call came about 5 min before I was supposed to see a student. So needless to say I was a bit rattled when I was trying to give the lesson. I was watching my dream fall apart again before my eyes. No visa means no long-term stay, no steady job, and no chance to do anything I had planned to do. I began to despair. In the middle of September, when my visa runs out, should I just pack up and go home? If IES won’t hire me, after having such an amazing interview with them, what chance would I have anywhere else? My mind went on and on with this, so when I got home on Thursday night I was no mood to pack. That’s right, Friday I moved to my new place.

(to be continued)

In The Business of Chasing Dreams

This is my daruma.

I got it last Christmas from Pam Laycock, the COO of Torstar Digital, in a “Secret Santa” exchange.

I painted one eye of the daruma. If and when my wish comes true, I will paint the other eye.

Of course, I had to make a wish at that time. But what to wish for? Well, that was easy. My wish and my dream are the same: to get a job in Japan.

Actually my dream is a bit more than that. My dream is actually to live and work in Japan, and to have my own apartment. And in the apartment I will have a kotatsu, a Japanese-style kettle, and a ‘shower toilet’. And then from there, I can pursue success in love, career, and Japanese language, as I live out my days in the land of the rising sun.

But nothing like that can really start until I get a job. No job means no money, no stability, and no permission for long-term stay. Come September I will have already used up two consecutive 90-day tourist visas, and to be honest I’m a bit nervous about what suspicious immigration officials might say, if I attempt to enter a third consecutive time.

I didn’t really know exactly what would happen once I arrived here, but I had a basic plan. Rent a room in a guest house, then get my resume out to as many recruiters as possible, in order to land some kind of IT job, likely with a foreign company where English-speakers are needed. I didn’t know if my plan would work or not, but I knew I had to come here and give it a try.

But after 2-3 months of living here, it became apparent that this plan was not working as well as I’d hoped. There are many things working against me. My Japanese is not “business level” (at least not yet). I have no technical certifications, only ten years' work experience. And the one thing that has worked against me the most is that I do not have a proper work visa - only a tourist visa.

I knew this would be an obstacle when I arrived here, but I had no idea just how much of an obstacle it would be. Many times I’ve come so very close to landing a job here. Some of them great jobs that pay way more than what I was making in Toronto. But in the end, things always fall apart in the end over one thing: the visa. Companies don’t want to wait 1-2 months for the visa to process. When they are hiring someone, they want someone right away. So instead of hiring someone like me, with ten years’ experience, they’re more than happy to hire a guy who is less experienced but can start right away.

To be honest, emotionally these past few months have been quite a roller-coaster ride for me, as I continually weave back and forth across the line between hope and despair. So many times I’ve seen my dream within my grasp, only to watch it fall apart right in front of my eyes.

But dreams have a habit of not dying, even in dire circumstances. I’ve been doing everything I can to stay here, in hopes that somehow a solution to my problem would present itself. I discussed my problem with Boris and Mark, two friends I made at the guest house, and I’ve done my best to follow their advice.

What they recommended to me is that I get a job with an English school, thus enabling me to get a work visa. Once I have the visa, then I can continue my search for a meaningful IT job.

Now those of you who are reading this, you might wonder why I didn’t consider this option before. But there were two perceived facts that prevented me from pursuing this course of action in the past:

1. To get a work visa, a bachelor’s degree from a university is required. I do not have a university degree, I have a three-year college diploma.

2. If I got a job as an English teacher, my visa would be a ‘humanities’ visa, which is not the kind of visa required for IT work. IT work requires an ‘engineer’ visa.

But after spending time here, I have learned that not everything you read and hear is actually true, and that some commonly-accepted truths are actually not entirely accurate. Since arriving here, I have learned that:

1. There are many college graduates, even from two-year programs, who are holding sponsored work visas. Many of these are from Canada.

2. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs website in Japan (MOFA) makes no mention of “bachelor degree” when speaking of the requirements for a humanities visa. It merely says “college graduate”.

3. Although the ‘engineer’ visa is the most commonly-used visa for IT work, in the realm of English-language IT support, a humanities visa can also be used (I learned this from a recruiter).
Even in the cases where an Engineer visa is required, the time it takes to change from one work visa to another is considerably shorter than it is to get a new work visa from scratch.

So, armed with this new information, I took it upon myself to look for an job at an English school. And that’s where our story, my story of last week, begins.

(to be continued)

Three Months In

Well, it's now officially been over three months since I first arrived here in Tokyo. So I thought this would be a good time for reflection on past, present and future.

Thoughts on the past three months:

Before I moved here, I really had no idea exactly what to expect. So it's been great to finally spend a measurable amount of time here and understand things better. I always wondered what would happen.. "What if" I saved my money, quit my job, and headed off to Tokyo? What would happen? What kind of life would be waiting for me there? Now I'm finding out the answer to this question that has been nagging me for years.

There have been some disappointments. The main disappointment has been that I have been unable to secure a job after three months. I thought for sure that after three months of pounding the pavement, something would turn up. I've had some times where I came close, but so far nothing concrete has materialized.

Readers of this blog might be surprised to hear my other disappointment - that I haven't been able to meet my friends so often. This may come as a bit of a surprise, given all the pictures of me hanging out with my friends. But friends that I used to meet 2-3 times a week when we both lived in Toronto, I'm now lucky if I see 1-2 times a month in Tokyo. It's partly a reflection on how busy Tokyo people are, and it's also a reflection on how big Tokyo is. For example, my friend Aichan who lives in the neighboring prefecture of Yokohama, it takes her about 2 hours to get to Kichijoji, including multiple trains and a bus.

But there have been some surprises. The biggest surprise is how quickly my neighborhood has begun to feel like 'home'. I feel very settled, living in my room in Oakhouse. While of course there are many aspects of Tokyo (and Japan in general) that are still unknown to me, the main areas of Kichijoji and Inokashira Park feel very safe and familiar to me.

I'm also surprised how much I enjoy teaching private English lessons. While it's essentially just a way to help pay the bills, I really enjoy teaching my students. I guess because it's really just an extension of what I was doing in Toronto with my Japanese friends.

Thoughts on the present:

Now that I'm back from Taipei, I've been given a visitor's visa for another three months. If I want to stay much longer than that, I'll need to do something different than I've been doing over the last three months, as my dwindling funds and visa status will prevent me staying here long-term. So with that in mind, here is my 'action' plan for the next three months:

1. Get re-acquainted with recruiters. I've met with countless recruiters over the last three months, but all of them know my visa expired in June. Now that I've got a new visa, I need to go back and contact all those recruiters again to let them know I have a new visa and that I'm still in Japan looking for work.

2. Get Microsoft Certified. I worry that simply re-acquainting with recruiters might not be enough. In order to help make myself more viable in the Japanese job market, and as a way to make myself more visible on job searching websites, I will try to get at least an MCP (Microsoft Certified Professional) certification. I've already obtained the appropriate prep materials so once I've finished studying, I'll take the exam. It's only about $150 US dollars so it'd likely be a worthwhile investment.

3. Hunt more aggressively for private English students. Right now I can get some money teaching English privately, but it's not quite enough to live on (although I'm getting close). I've been looking at ways to get students more quickly so that I can at least fix my financial situation. It won't fix my visa problem, but at least it would let me stay here a bit longer so I can find a way to fix that.

4. Practice Japanese more. When I first arrived here, I noticed my Japanese improving a lot for the first few weeks. But now that I teach English seven days a week, I find I'm speaking Japanese a lot less and therefore I'm not improving as quickly as I'd like. I need to look at ways to increase the amount of Japanese I use in my daily life. Living here is a tremendous opportunity to improve, and I feel like I'm not taking full advantage of that.

Thoughts on the future:

I can hear the words of Yoda, "Clouded, this boy's future is." My future will largely depend on two things: finances and visa status. If I can find a way to stay here long-term, then I will. An IT job with an Engineer visa is currently the only way I can see that happening, but I'm open to other options if I see them come up.

If I can't stay here, then I'll go back to Toronto. But please don't think that if I go back to Toronto, it would be such a horrible thing. I have already learned so much about Tokyo and what is needed to succeed here. Even if I go back to Toronto, there's nothing to stop me from saving my money and coming back to Tokyo again in the future. Plus the skills I'm gaining in English tutoring would help me in Toronto too, as I understand there's a market for English tutoring with Japanese and Korean students in Toronto.

So what can I say to wrap this up... living in Tokyo is an amazing experience. It's something that will stay with me forever, and will permanently alter my way of thinking and perspective on life. And when I look back at my life 20 years from now, I won't have to wonder "What if I had done it?" because I'm here right now, doing it!

Sweetness From Malaysia

One thing I've noticed since I moved to Japan and started this blog is that I sometimes get friend requests on Facebook from people in other parts of the world that I've never met before.

Normally I'm a little bit mistrustful of such requests, but one caught my eye. This was from a girl that many call "Sweetie", from Malaysia. She said she was traveling in Japan, and how much she loved it. 'It's like another planet out here' was what she said. I can relate to this, I had much the same feeling in 2005. So I befriended her on Facebook and sometimes we swap e-mails about Japan.

Well, one time we were chatting, and she said she wanted to send me a gift. I was a bit surprised but I thought 'sure, why not?' So she sent me some biscuits from Malaysia.

It took a while for the package to arrive (I guess the Japanese post office wanted to make sure there really is a Jonathan McDougall that lives here before they deliver the package), but eventually the package did arrive safe and sound!
Inside the package was a box that took some fandangling to get open (it was impeccably well-packed with tape and everything), but eventually I pried the side of the box open and I was able to slide these out.
So I opened one of the packages and this is what I got. The shell is quite firm and the outside flakes off like a pastry. Only thing left now is to take a bite!
Sorry this pic is a bit out of focus, I guess the camera was more focused on the bag than on the biscuit ^_^ Anyway, it was very delicious, but the taste is kind of hard to describe. It was sweet, but not a sickly, sugary sweet.. something much more palatable. Which I find is common with a lot of Asian desserts. I guess I'd put the taste as somewhere between a Chinese sesame dessert and a Canadian butter tart. Let's take a look at the ingredients:

Wheat Flour, Sugar, Maltose, Sesame, Onion, Margarine, Salt, and Water.

I'm surprised to see onion in the list, since I don't really taste any onion, and I have no idea what maltose is, but the rest all makes sense.

Anyway, these will be very good to have around! I don't like to keep a lot of extra food at my place, and so sometimes I find myself in need of something to eat but nothing around to prepare. Also, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and can't sleep until I put something in my stomach, so these should fit the bill just fine!

One thing I noticed though, is that I really should eat these over a plate or something. Because the flaky outer shell can make a bit of a mess! But it's OK, the envelope that they were packed in also doubled as a great 'flake collector'.


I just used my hand to sweep them all away!

So what can I say? I thought that this girl from Malaysia was called "Sweetie" because it was a variation on her first name. But now I'm not so sure.. I wonder if maybe she is called "Sweetie" because of her acts of kindness, like this one.

Thanks Sweetie, and please visit me when you come back to Japan!

And Then Helen Came To Visit

Helen in Asakusa

For those of you who have been watching my Facebook pictures, you'll probably notice that late last month and again early this month, my friend Helen came to visit. For those of you who don't know Helen, let me give you the backstory:

Helen was born in Beijing. She moved to Toronto about seven years ago, and since that time has become a Canadian citizen. More recently, she married a Chinese-Canadian guy in Toronto named Samuel, and together they had a baby girl, her name is Reina.

Helen's parents came from Beijing to look after the baby, but after six months their visa expired so they went back to Beijing. Since Helen is still on maternity leave, she and Reina also went to Beijing, so that Helen's parents could continue to look after Reina.

I met Helen at The Toronto Star about about four years ago. Her desk was right beside mine so I often talked to her. Through Helen I have learned a lot about Beijing and mainland China. We've been through a lot together and helped each other through some difficult times.

When I heard news of her marriage and pregnancy, of course I was very happy for her, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel a slight sense of loss. I just kind of accepted that we wouldn't be able to hang out together like we used to. So when Helen left Reina in Beijing, and came to Tokyo to visit for a few days, I felt like we got a bit of borrowed time. One more chance to hang out and have fun together, like the old days.

In Odaiba with Aichan

Onsen (hot spring) near Chofu station

It also gave me a chance to feel like a tourist again, taking her to places like Odaiba, Asakusa, Sunshine City, Akihabara, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. We also went to an onsen near Chofu station.

Kichijoji

Inokashira Park

Even some of my old hangouts like Kichijoji and Inokashira Park seemed new again, seeing them through Helen's eyes.

Shibuya's Elephant Café with Aichan, Megumi, and Kumi.

For her final night in Tokyo, we went out dinner with several of my friends, then after went to karaoke. Helen looked completely exhausted, like she was ready to pass out. And that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing! If you vacationed in Tokyo and you're not completely worn out by the end of it, then you didn't do it right!

The Quest for a True and Proper Breakfast

One great thing about living in Tokyo is that I can always try new things. Every day is an adventure! And sure that is great for a couple of weeks, but how about after a couple of months? Well, eventually there comes a time when you need a break from the new stuff and you need to experience something comfortable and familiar. And I was at that point last month. It was morning, and I was craving a good western-style breakfast.

I didn't want miso soup or rice or green tea or fish, I wanted fried eggs and toast and coffee and hash browns and orange juice and the whole bit.

So I looked around the station and after I found a Jonathan's restaurant!


That's right - I share the same name as a Japanese restaurant chain. For those who have never been, Jonathan's is very similar to the Denny's chain of restaurants which they also have here. Knowing I could get an amazing breakfast at Jonathan's, I immediately became excited and went inside.

But sometimes thing's don't quite work out as planned. I asked for the "Fried Egg Set" and the waitress asked "with rice is ok?" I asked if I could have toast, and she said they ran out of toast. So given that I really didnt gave any other option at this point, l said rice was OK.

And then my next surprise was the drink bar.

At Jonathan's most of their meals include the "drink bar", which is an unlimited serve-yourself selection of drink items. Kind of like a salad bar for drinks, hence the term "drink bar". Get it? ^_^

So I went up to the drink bar and got my coffee. But when I went to get my orange juice, the orange juice selection was broken. No OJ. Hmmmm.

So what else could I have?

Well... they have grapefruit juice, which I don't like because its too bitter. They have iced tea but it's black iced tea and I only like green iced tea. And they have soda but I don't want anything that's gonna make me burp. So.... So I have a Calpis.


What is Calpis? Ummm... Well its kind of like a yogurt-flavoured drink that's sweet but not carbonated. Not bad, but definitely not the same as orange juice!

So I sat there, in the restaurant featuring my own namesake, eating what was supposed to be a tradtional western-style fried egg breakfast.

Except with rice instead of toast.

And no orange juice, only Calpis.

Goodbye Unchan

Today I said goodbye to my friend Unchan. She doesn't want to leave, but she is here on a working holiday visa that is about to expire, so she's going back to Korea.

I really don't like to say goodbye. For many years, I was always saying goodbye to my friends as they went back to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, etc. In fact, I believe one reason I came here in the first place was so that I wouldn't have to say goodbye - I could make friends here and not worry about them going back home, because they're already home.

But sometimes goodbyes can't be helped - and this is one of those times. So I made a card for her in the only way I know how - I went to the 100 yen store and bought some paper, a pencil, eraser, a felt pen, and some pencil crayons and went to work. I made the card with lots of happy smiling faces and bright colors. I wrote the note inside in Japanese. I couldn't think of the words to express my exact feeling. I wrote that I was happy I got to meet her, and that she can always talk to me whenever she wants.

If I could think of the words, I would have told her how much I understand her situation. She's fallen in love with Tokyo - she has so many friends here and after she goes back home, being truly happy will be difficult.

Her room is directly above mine. Sometimes late at night I can hear her laughing and talking on the phone. She came down and knocked on my door just now, and I gave her the card and a small gift. I was hoping that getting such a card would make her smile and feel happy, but it had the opposite effect - she just looked down at her feet and cried. She said that she wished she could have spent more time with me. She seemed very sorry and apologetic. But she doesn't have to be sorry... her time here was limited and there simply isn't enough time to do everything. She managed to smile for a picture, and then she ran upstairs and back to get her camera so she could take my picture. And then there was a slightly awkward goodbye.

In the wake of recent events like Sicuan and Myanmar, you might wonder how I could feel sorry for a girl simply because her year-long Tokyo party has finally come to an end. But the sadness of a friend, especially a sadness you can directly relate to, is something that feels so much more real.

It's midnight. I can hear her up in her room as I write this, just like so many other nights. But there is no laughter tonight, just sobbing. The heartbreak of a girl who is forced to leave her one and only true love, Tokyo.

Goodbye and good luck my friend.

Simple Daily Life

I've had many comments about my pictures; everyone says how I look like I'm having such a good time here in Japan. Well I can't disagree with that, I really am having a good time here! But I worry that I'm giving the wrong impression - that people think my life here is just one non-stop wild party.

But in reality, most of my time here in Japan is spent on more routine, day-to-day activities. So what are these activities you ask? Well, I'll talk about them a little bit:

The Train
While most of the things I need are easily purchased within walking distance of my house, every time I go to meet a student, meet a friend, or go to a job interview, I am on the train. And depending on where I'm going, sometimes I'll take three or four trains to get there. If I'm going to a major station like Shibuya or Shinjuku, then the ride is only about 15-25 minutes (depending on the time of day). But many other places can take 40-45 minutes or longer, so I need to leave myself lots of time. Of course the train gets crowded sometimes, but it's not always quite as jammed as some would have you believe. It's actually a very convenient and efficient way to travel, as long as you know where you're going (getting lost on the train, especially when you have to be somewhere quickly, is not fun)

Cell Phone
Although I don't know if Japanese cell phones are quite as good as they're hyped up to be (personally I'd replace my phone with a 3G iPhone in a heartbeat, if they were available), I nevertheless find myself spending an endless amount of time fiddling with my cellphone. Checking train schedules, reading e-mails, checking hotmail, reading mixi.jp, etc. But mostly reading and sending e-mails. I was a text message junkie in Toronto, and e-mails on Japanese cellphones are pretty much the same. The only catch? Japanese cellphone have no English predictive text, so I write everything in Japanese, and almost all the e-mails I receive are in Japanese. Writing is usually fine, but often the e-mails I receive have kanji that I don't recognize T-T so I have to either use my best guesswork or ask the person next to me.

Interestingly enough, I got my first cellphone bill, and I wasn't sure how to pay it. Aki said I could pay it at the convenience store. But I was shy to go there; I was sure they were going to ask me questions that I couldn't understand or ask me to read things that I couldn't read. So I thought long and hard about what I was going to say. There is one girl who works at the 7-Eleven near my place, and every time she sees me, she makes eye contact and smiles a genuine friendly smile (not the fake smiles you often get from Japanese customer service staff). So I waited until the late evening to go there, because I know that girl doesn't work during the day. I thought because she seems so friendly, she would probably have the patience to bear with me if I don't understand her. Also, in the late evening the store is usually not very busy.

So I went to the 7-Eleven but the friendly girl was not there - there was another girl about the same age that I had never seen before. So I was a bit nervous but I finally decided it was silly to be so nervous, my Japanese isn't that bad! So slowly walked up to the cashier and pulled out my cellphone bill.

"Umm... I have this cellphone bill. In this store, is it possible to p..."

"Pay?" she replied. "Sure." And she took my phone bill and scanned the bar code. "That will be 4660 yen."

I handed her a 5000 yen bill and she prompty smiled, gave me my change and receipt, and told me to have a nice day.

So there you have it. I was so nervous about paying my phone bill, and it turned out to be about as challenging as buying a pack of gum. I guess sometimes you never know until you try!

iPod Touch
About the only thing I fiddle with as much as my cell phone is my iPod Touch. Although the availablity of free Wi-Fi in Tokyo is disappointing at best (yet understandable, who needs Wi-Fi when you can get broadband-level connection speeds on your cellphone?), I'm constantly using it to check my schedule, update contact info, show pictures and videos of my travels or of my home country, and of course listen to music. I can only imagine how useful an iPhone would be, because then it would be constantly connected to a network, so I could always use e-mail, web browsing, maps, weather, YouTube, etc. Are you listening Apple? We want iPhone in Tokyo, and we want it NOW!

Laundry
In Oakhouse, the washing machine has no dials. There is no way to set the temperature, or delicate cycle or whatever. You just put in 200 yen and the machine starts working.
The washing machine works fine, but the dryer is a piece of... well, anyway you get the idea. It's horrifically expensive (100 yen for 10 minutes), and you can't put too much in the machine or else it won't spin. Even still, sometimes it takes 40-50 minutes to get the clothes dry!
So in other words, for the cost of doing laundry myself in Oakhouse, I could take my laundry to a professional in Toronto and have it cleaned, pressed and folded neatly into a nice plastic bag waiting for me to pick it up.

But you know, when things in Tokyo become prohibitively expensive, I start to wonder if I'm doing something wrong, or at least doing things in a non-Japanese way. And sure enough, most Japanese don't care about dryer prices because they don't use it - they just hang their laundry up outside.
I noticed that outside my window are a bunch of clotheslines, so I asked a friend what the word is for clothespins (he said laundry scissors), and headed to the １００-yen store. But the package of clothespins I got actually says "laundry pinch" which I think sounds more cute ^-^

So now I only dry my laundry outside. When it's a beautiful warm sunny day, the laundry actually comes out VERY nice and smelling very fresh, feeling much nicer than clothes out of the dryer. But when it's a cold cloudy day (like today), the laundry gets dry but it's not so nice >.<

Dry Cleaning
Dry cleaning is expensive and slow. I dropped off a suit and three dress shirts last Wednesday, and I have to wait a week to get them back! And they still happily charged me 2880 yen for the service. So that does it. I decided whenever I wear my suit, I can't eat anything. At least not anything with mustard!!

Grocery Shopping
I'm not a guy who likes to stock up on food, and I don't have any place to put it anyway, so I get groceries almost every day. Recently I found a grocery store that's only about a 2 minute walk from my house, and their prices are the same if not cheaper than the supermarket in Kichijoji! I didn't see it before because it's kind of lost in all the winding residential streets. It's small but it has pretty much everything I would need, including a fresh fish counter and lots of fruit/vegetables. They even have decently-priced breakfast cereal. I had a bowl of cereal for the first time in over two months... Frosted Flakes with some sliced banana.. it was like a taste of heaven. So these days I can eat very well, I just walk down the street and get anything I need!

CNN - And Toronto's Position as the Centre of the Universe
I can only get a few English channels so I watch a lot of CNN. The CNN we get here is a kind of "world edition" where I can get all the latest news and weather and sports information from places I know very little about. The American politics is at least mildly interesting, but I never see any Canadian news AT ALL.

In fact, the more time I spend out here, the smaller and more insignificant Canada feels. Most Japanese know that Canada is a country north of USA, but that's about it. It seems like most Japanese know more about Whistler, BC than Toronto!

In Canada we rather arrogantly like to make fun of "ignorant Americans" for not knowing who the Canadian Prime Minister is, or for thinking we all live in log cabins or whatever. But maybe it's not so much that they're "ignorant", maybe they just don't care, and frankly don't have a reason to care. I bet most Canadians couldn't name the Japanese Prime Minister, and why should they?

I've had many Canadians ask me so many "ignorant" things about Japan. They think every train car has 'pushers' to pack the people in, and that every hotel is a capsule hotel, and that every street corner has a vending machine that sells the used panties of local teenage girls. I honestly don't see how Americans having misconceptions about Canada is really all that different.

Video Games
I'd like to say I play video games to make up for the lack of English television, but who are we kidding? I often played video games in Toronto and Japan is no different. If I ever get bored, all I have to do is drag my Wii out into the common area and hook it up to the TV, and within minutes I'll have a crew gathered around waiting to play. Current crowd favorites include Guitar Hero (music game where you pretend to play the guitar), Mario Kart (cartoony go-kart racing game), Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles (go through a haunted house and shoot the zombies), and of course the undyingly popular Wii Sports (cartoony version of Tennis, Bowling, and other sports). I got Wii Fit but I don't have enough space in my room to play it, so I might do some rearranging of my bed and fridge to make room.

When I'm on the train, on my Nintendo DS, I play Final Fantasy VI (an old aventure game), or a new adventure game called "The World Ends With You". I like this game because the story is set in Shibuya, which is my favorite place in the world and also only a 20 minute train ride from my place. So I recognize many 'real' things in the game like certain buildings or intersections. And it has a funky art style. Very cool!

Anyway, I don't know if that helps you visualize my life here or not, but these are some of things I deal with on a regular basis. If you have any questions about Japan, big or small, just ask me and I'll give you my opinion!

Osaka - Aki's Wedding Party

Last weekend I went to Hiro and Aki's wedding party. I'll try and explain what that means.

In Japan, it's not uncommon to have a very private wedding ceremony with just family, and then later (possibly months later) have a 'wedding party' for friends of the bride and groom. And this party is what I went to.

The party was in Osaka, and since it's Golden Week, I had to look for a cheap ticket well in advance. So a few months ago in Toronto, I bought a ticket from ANA (All Nippon Airways).

The ticket was only about 20,000 yen, but it was EARLY. My plane left at 7am, which means I had to be at Haneda airport around 6am, which meant I had to get on the first train from Kichijoji at 4:34am, which means I had to wake up around 3:30am to get ready.


I met Nao before the party (she had booked a hotel for us). It was cool to see her again. She couldn't find the hotel so I teased her about being an 'airhead' since I could find the hotel quite easily.


No one gives blenders or fon-due sets at these kind of things, it's all cold hard cash! And to give money, you need to prepare a special envelope and put the money inside. You also have to write your name with a brush. So this is my envelope with my name on it.

The wedding party was fantastic. Hiro's friends are so funny and friendly. And I could also meet some of Aki's friends, like Hachiko (who I haven't seen since 2005) and Risa who I met for the first time (she kept saying how she heard so much about me from Aki).


Hiro did this rather amusing spanish dance before pulling back the curtain to reveal Aki in full wedding attire. They made a striking pair coming down the stairs!



I had to give the "wedding toast" speech. I didn't have much time to prepare (I was notified about it 4pm the day before) so I did the best I could. Nao helped me check the grammar, etc. before I gave the speech.


After the wedding party, we went to the "after party" which was at a nearby spanish bar. As the group got more drunk, the antics got even more ridiculous..



and later we went to an Izakaya where the jokes and generally silly behavior had me in tears I was laughing so hard. After the izakaya we went to another bar!

After this Nao and I finally went back to the hotel, although I later found out that Hiro was up drinking until 7am!


The next day we met my friends Sachi (from Kyoto) and Dominic (from Toronto). It was cool to see them again, and all six of us (Sachi, Dom, Nao, Hiro, Aki and myself) went out for some traditional Osaka food, namely Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki. Soo good!


I first met Aki in 2002 and at that time she was 25 years old, but in my eyes, she was just a young girl. Over the last 5 years or so, I feel like I've watched her grow into the woman she's become. It reminds me of a song called "Last Dance" by The Cure:

But older than me now
More constant
More real
And the fur and the mouth
And the innocence turned
To hair and contentment
That hangs in abasement

A woman now standing,
Where once there was only a girl..

Golden Week and all that business

As I write this we are in the middle of "Golden Week", a collection of holidays that occurs right around end of April/early May, the longest vacation period of the year for most Japanese. And we couldn't ask for better weather, wow 23 degress, sunny and not humid. So I try to spend as much time outside as possible.

April 24 - "Jackson Hole"

Well, last week I had my official manga geek-out moment. For the uninitiated, the term manga is a generic term applied to all Japanese comic books. I don't read that much manga but there is one series I do enjoy called NANA. One thing I really like about this comic is that it takes place in modern Tokyo and uses real-life places, music bands, clothing labels and landmarks. This comic has also been made into a live-action film which was shot in various places around Tokyo.


One such place I visited recently is called "Jackson Hole", a western-style restaurant near Chofu station, which is a little bit southwest of where I live. Since I had a student not far from there, I decided to stop in for lunch. Except I had a little problem finding the place.

Apparently the original Jackson Hole location is no longer there. The shop has been closed and they've relocated to a new spot north of the station. This was a little disappointing, as it would have been cool to be in the exact place where the film was shot, but with the help of a kind lady I spoke to on the street, I was able to find the new Jackson Hole location without much difficulty.

And once I got inside it was so great! Sit up at the bar, and enjoy a hot meal and a cold beer. I could see a second floor which some more tables, but it didn't seem like they were using it. Everyone sat right at the bar or in a couple of the little tables on the end. The clientele, as well as the staff, seemed to be comprised of college-age kids just like in the comic book. I could just imagine that the 'regulars' here develop a good relationship with the staff, just like I had a good relationship with East Town Pizza in London, Ontario back when I was in college. In short, the building might be new, but you could still feel the atmosphere.

April 27 - Pi Chen and The Sad Sad Planet

Last Sunday I had a visit from my friend Pi Chen. I originally met Pi Chen back in 2004 in Toronto, but these days she lives in her home city of Taipei in Taiwan. She was vacationing in Japan and took some time to visit me in Tokyo. It was great to see her again, because the last time I saw her was last year in Taipei, and the time before that was back in 2004!


Pi Chen and I hung out with our friends Jun, Ryoko, and Akichan as we went to Shibuya, Harajuku, Omotesando, and Shinjuku. Pi Chen was on a mission to 'shop 'til she dropped', and this time 'dropped' meant ending the day at an okonomiyaki restaurant in Shinjuku.

On the way back to the station I heard some amazing buskers. Buskers in Toronto are usually just a solo act - maybe a guy playing a sax or keyboard or something. But this was a duo putting on an all-out show, with original written songs, guitar, a full backing tape and some truly amazing vocals. I felt like I was at a concert.


The name of the band was called "The Sad Sad Planet". They had a back catalog of CDs going back several years, and the newest CD was pretty cheap so after they were finished performing, I walked over to their little sales booth and picked it up. When the singer saw me go up to purchase the CD, she pushed the sales guy out of the way and sold it to me personally, and then she and the guitarist signed it. She was so happy she was beaming. I told both of them that I was just going back to the station from the restaurant when I heard their music. I couldn't explain it well in Japanese, so I just said that when I heard their music, I felt happy. That seemed to please them both very much.

April 28 - Enrica and Avelina

The very next day I had another pair of visitors. This time it was my friend Enrica from Toronto, and her twin sister Avelina. Although they are fraternal twins and thus have slight differences, it's obvious to anyone that looks at the them that there are twins. I've known Enrica for years but I've only met Avelina a couple of times, so it was great to spend more time with her and get to know her better.

We met in Akihabara station and had a delicious lunch at the food court (mine was some udon, curry, and rice) then did some laptop hunting in the area, but they were frustrated by the lack of pink laptops. So we gave up and went to my home neighborhood of Kichijoji for some kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi). It was supposed to be just a snack but Enrica amazed me with the amount of sushi she was able to pack into her tiny frame. How can she eat more than me yet manage to be so skinny? It's not fair (sigh)

After kaitenzushi we walked to Inokashira Park and took out one of the rowboats onto the river. This was SO fun! If you mentally block out the buildings on the horizon, and the music of the local buskers in the park, you can almost feel like you're up in Muskoka. Or at least, you certainly don't feel like you're in Tokyo, in the world's largest urban area.

Enrica was rowing the boat for the first bit, but then she got tired and let Avelina take over. Avelina was very eager to row, but she seems a bit navigationally challenged. The boat just kept turning around in a circle and not really going anywhere. So I finally took the oars and used my good old Canadian boat paddling experience to get us up and down the river.
So after the boat riding, I had to go see a student in Awajicho so I left the girls to go shopping in Kichijoji for a few hours while I went to Awajicho and back. I thought they would walk around and see the whole area, but I guess it took them two hours just to go up and down one street!
Once I got back, we decided to go for even more food, this time dinner at a famous yakitori restaurant at Inokashira Park. The places oozes with atmosphere.. and the barbecue smells so good! Apparently the place is kind of famous because the staff, being all young college guys, are kind of rude and not the same kind of over-polite staff you get almost everywhere else in Japan. Apparently patrons find this kind of refreshing!

After we left the restaurant we decided to head back to my place to chill out for a while since it's only a few minutes walk away. The girls were cold so I offered my jacket. I thought it would be a difficult choice to decide which girl to give my jacket to, but I'm embarrassed to say that both girls fit into my one jacket quite easily.



April 30 - Yamashitasan and The Izakaya

Yesterday I went to visit my student, Mr. Yamashita. He is a company director and usually we have our lessons at the local Tully's coffee shop. But last night he took me to an izakaya, a Japanese pub!


He was so great, he gave me beer, sake, cooked swordfish, sashimi, and sushi, and it was so delicious. We sat and drank and talked in simple English and just when I thought I was getting full, the staff brought out something I had never ever seen before: the iseibi tempura. An iseibi is a very large Japanese tiger shrimp. They deep fried it, and then they cut it up with scissors and gave me a small fork to scoop out the meat from the shell. It's a similar process to eating lobster, but I found the iseibi to be much more delicious!



OK that's about it for now. I'm going to Osaka this weekend for Akichan's wedding party. I'm sure I'll have a few stories about that!