My name is Jonathan. But in Japanese, you can call me "jyona". I am a Canadian who spent one year in Tokyo, and now I live in Taipei. Follow me on my wild adventures!
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.
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 Ican 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!
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..
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!
