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.