jyona-tokyo

It's Good to Have a Hobby

2010-07-18T10:20:00.001+09:00

Now that I live in Taiwan, have a job, and actually have some disposable income, my interest in video gaming has a hobby has flourished. In Japan they have lots of 'retro' video game shops where you can buy all your old favourite games from days gone by. From popular old Nintendo games to obscure titles for systems everyone's forgotten about (remember the WonderSwan? Neither do I!), they have it. But in Japan I was always too poor to think about picking up any of these old treasures.

Here in Taiwan, retro shops aren't quite as plentiful but they still have a few good ones. So every Saturday I've been going down to just browse and do a bit of shopping. I've also set up a YouTube channel, where typically I feature one old game from the past and talk about it. You can see the channel here: www.youtube.com/expgamerinasiaretro

Right now I'm just getting the hang of recording and editing, but I hope that eventually I can use the channel to give a more Asian perspective, which would help distinguish my channel from many similar channels out there.

Car Crash

2010-07-18T10:04:00.003+09:00

About a month ago, I was in a fairly serious car crash involving a few friends. Thankfully none of us were seriously injured. It was 100% the other driver's fault (not my friend's fault). He was pulling a U-turn too quickly and slammed into my friend's vehicle. Of course I found all this out after the fact.

I had just spent a great day out with my Chinese teacher's friends at a park northeast of Taipei. Her friend Mark has this cottage out there and he's a chef by profession. So he hosted this huge all-you-can-eat-and-drink barbecue out at the park, and it was really, really fun. Everyone was very friendly and although I can't speak Chinese well, there were quite a few English and Japanese speakers there, so that combined with my feeble Chinese skills enabled me to have some pretty good conversations. The food was fantastic, and I had more than my fair share of Taiwan beer.

On the way home, we went up and down a mountain which involved the car twisting and turning this way and that way which to be honest wasn't very good for my stomach. But I managed to fall asleep eventually. Then suddenly BANG!!!

I awoke and right away I knew my head had hit something. I couldn't see well - everything looked like it had a smoky blue filter over it. I've been hit by a car before so I know what it feels like to be in shock, and I knew that's what was happening at that moment - I was in shock. I turned and saw my friend Jack was passed out and had some blood trickling down his forehead. I thought, that's not good! I thought I needed to get him some help. I also thought, you know because I'm in shock, I have no idea if anything is broken or not. Last time I got hit by a car, I didn't realize until quite a while after the crash that my collarbone was broken. So I decided I should leave the car a) to get help for Jack and b) to make sure my legs, arms etc. are still working.

When I got out of the car, everything on my body seemed to be OK - I could walk, move my arms around, etc. I could see several people outside so I thought OK, someone should be able to help Jack. But to my relief, he had come to and left the car on his own.

After what seemed like an eternity of waiting, talking to police, etc. We all went to the hospital to get checked out. By this time my vision had come back 100%. I got x-rayed and CT scanned, and they said there was no obvious damage but they were still a bit concerned about my brain. By this time it was after midnight so I cabbed it home.

The next week I was so sore! The day after it even hurt to eat and talk because it hurt to move my jaw. I was limping around slowly and had no energy to teach my classes. Even as late as three weeks after the accident, I had back pain when sleeping and thus couldn't sleep for more than a few hours at a time.

But now I seem to be 100% better. Tomorrow my friends and I are supposed to talk to the offending driver's insurance company to negotiate with them. Apparently in Taiwan NT$1K-$2K per day of pain/suffering is the norm, so we'll see what they have to say.

Learning To Blog Better

2010-06-25T09:22:00.000+09:00

Well, I may be a little bit slow to learn about these things, but if you're reading this, it means I've finally learned how to blog directly from my iPhone by just e-mailing it in.

I recently downloaded the new iOS 4 for my iPhone, which supports Bluetooth (wireless) keyboards. And I bought an Apple wireless keyboard for my phone.

So what does this all mean? It means blogging should be easier for me and that will hopefully mean more updates!

Sent from my iPhone

The Other Side of the Tunnel

2010-06-08T09:39:00.001+09:00

OK so I haven't updated my blog in ages. Why is that? Well, my work got incredibly busy there for a while, to the point that some of the senior managers were legitimately concerned about my health.

Then things got better, but you know the longer you wait before you update one of these things, the more difficult it seems to do. But I enjoy this blog and I enjoy speaking frankly about my life here in Taiwan, so I am forcing myself to continue with it.

Recently my life here improved greatly. There are several reasons for this. First, I recently acquired two beautiful cats from two coworkers who were going back to USA. Their names are Chou Chou 臭臭 and Mei Mei 美美. Both of them were rescued kittens that were abandoned. Chou is ten months old now, and Mei Mei is nine weeks. When I first got Mei Mei, she was only three weeks old, so I had to feed her kitten formula and help her go to the litter box. She seemed so fragile and helpless back then, but she grew up quickly! At three weeks she weighed only 375g, but now she weighs 1.1 kilos!

Anyway, I can’t describe how much more ‘full’ my life feels simply with the addition of these two cats. They love to sit on me, talk to me, get cuddled by me, and play with me. They also love to play with each other which I find endlessly entertaining. But there have been other changes in my life as well.

My workload at work has gone down dramatically. I still teach the same number of hours, but the amount of work I need to do outside of just teaching is not nearly as much as it used to be just a month or so ago. They made some minor changes to the way things are at work that drastically cut down on the amount of time I need to spend working on extra things outside of class time. Fortunately my pay has stayed the same, so I get the best of both worlds.

There’s also been a bit of a changing of the guard at work, as previous teachers have returned to America and new teachers have been hired. Before there was a lot of friction between myself and the other English teachers, and I think part of that was because they knew me as ‘one of the guys’ before my promotion, so they found it difficult to accept me as a manager. But these new teachers haven’t known me as anything but a manager, so I tend to get along much better with them. In fact, several of them came back to my place on Saturday to drink beer/eat pizza/play video games, which was fun.

I’m also making new friends outside of work, including some Japanese friends. This is great, because not only does it give me a chance to practice my Japanese, but also it keeps me in touch with my ‘Japanese’ personality. I don’t know if I can explain it well, but I find that when I speak Japanese, my whole personality and mannerisms change slightly. I feel more entertaining, more engaging, and more charismatic when I speak Japanese. And people seem far more interested in what I have to say when I speak Japanese as well, so it’s great to have these new friends.

I’ll try and update the blog more often from this point onward, but for now I’ll leave it here, and just let everyone know that life is good!

Welcome to 2010

2010-01-10T18:03:00.002+09:00

It's hard to believe a new year has come again, let alone a new decade. But at this time of the year I like to take a look back at the year that just past, then think about my current situation, as well as my life moving forward.

I started 2010 on shaky ground. Facing the fact that, at that time at least, if was unlikely for me to stay in Japan long-term, I was carefully weighing in on my other options. Although I knew success in Japan was far from a sure thing, I bet heavily on it. Now I was running out of time and money. So I had devised a plan to get my TESL certificate in Canada, then go to Taiwan (where I knew I could get a work visa), and try my luck there. This was pretty much an “all-in” bet.

And I can say, with all honesty, that it was the best decision I could have made at that time. I've had many lucky breaks since arriving in Taiwan. Within one week of arriving, I had found a job at an American school that met my criteria (inside Taipei County, full-time day shift hours, no weekends). After 1 month of living in Shi Da, I found a great apartment in downtown Sanxia, just a 20 minute walk from my school, for only $NT5,000 per month.

After about five months of working there and trying to understand how to do my job effectively (they gave me a week of training but even that plus my TESL couldn't exactly prepare me for the stress and challenge of running a classroom. I think it has to be really experienced to be fully understood), I was offered (and I took) a newly-created position of Head Foreign Teacher (which has since been renamed to Coordinator of Academic Dept.)

Now, as we move into 2010, although I have to work very hard (in addition to my managerial duties, I still teach 25 hours a week, which is considered a full-time schedule), I also enjoy a higher standard of living, and can save more money per month than I could in Toronto. Plus the experience I'm earning will give me the option of obtaining a work visa in Japan, come spring 2012. That may seem far away, but honestly the last 10 months since I arrived here in Taiwan have just gone by in a blur.

While there are many good things in my life right now, there are many things I'd like to improve. As I predicted would happen earlier in this blog, my managerial position has resulted in some distance between myself and the other foreign teachers at work. Perhaps I'll talk more about this in a future blog, but suffice to say that I rarely hang out with any of them anymore outside work. I used to be invited to go out with them to various places to do different things, but now those invitations have stopped. In fact, I often hear them making plans with each other while I'm at the school, but they don't extend the offer to me. But this is to be expected – they don't see me as one of their group anymore. They are young. They see the workplace as an “us vs. them” situation. When I was in my 20's, I felt the same way.

I've also gained weight. Taiwan life has been good to me, and in Taiwan cooking food at home is not very cost-effective since restaurants are so inexpensive. Also, although I do a lot of standing and walking around when teaching classes, other than that I don't get much in the way of exercise. It's disheartening because (as noted here) in Japan I had lost a significant amount of weight due to the small Japanese portions, as well my traveling around from one station to another to meet my students. My belly has swelled up and my shirt is tight around the middle. Although I haven't weighed myself, I think I'm heavier now than I've been in my entire life.

My Chinese language acquisition has stalled. I had been making excellent progress with my teacher, but after getting promoted, I simply wasn't able to make it to her classes due to my work schedule. Instead of doing one textbook chapter every two weeks like before, I was still on the same chapter after two months!

I've also much in the line of romantic success since arriving in Taiwan. In Toronto, and also Tokyo, I found it very easy to meet women and there were often beautiful women walking in and out of my life, some on a romantic level and some on a platonic level. But so far in Taiwan it hasn't been nearly the same in this regard, especially since being promoted.

Another thing that has bothered me more and more as I live out in Sanxia, is the lack of a truly urban atmosphere. Although I live right out in the downtown Sanxia area, it still feels very rural to me and I miss the excitement and atmosphere of a big city.

But nothing ever stays the same, and there are some things I plan to do, as well as things I've already started doing, to improve my situation. The single most important thing, I believe, is to get out more. Working long hours during the week, I often feel tired and out of energy come the weekend. But staying at home and watching TV or playing video games isn't going to help anything. So, I've made a commitment to myself that, assuming I have no other plans, I'll come into Taipei at least once on Saturday or Sunday. In fact, I've been writing this blog at various locations in Ximending (which is in downtown Taipei).

Going out more means more exercise, more opportunity to meet new people, more city excitement and more opportunity to practice Chinese. I've also found a great new Chinese teacher that I meet here in Ximending every Monday and Tuesday evening. And when I'm out here on the weekend, I study Chinese at restaurants and coffee shops.

I've also tried to curb the portion sizes of the food I eat. Here in Taiwan the portions are generally quite a bit larger than in Japan, but there are also many 'serve yourself' kind of restaurants and I think it is at these places where I have a tendency to overeat the most. The food just tastes so good I don't want to stop ^_^ But over the last month or so I've been eating about half of what I normally would at the same restaurant. I think for my next phase I will try (once again) to limit the calories I drink. For several years, my main beverages were (black) coffee, tea, and water. I hope to get back to that and stay away from the Coke and sugared coffee. I've also started exercising - 20 minutes of brisk walking to raise my heart rate, and then stair climbing afterwards to build muscle. Right now I'm only going up about 3-4 flights, but I hope to increase that to all 17 floors of my building.

I'm still not sure exactly what I will decide in 2012. Will I move back to Tokyo? Or stay here in Taipei? A lot of it will depend on how I feel about Taipei at that time. But I don't want to dwell on the future, my life is happening right now. And right now, life is good.

So, I Got The iPhone.

2009-10-13T08:49:00.001+09:00

There are countless blogs written about the iPhone so I don't want to duplicate what's been said in many other places on the internet, but I felt I should talk a bit about the iPhone and why it's especially good for me.

#1 - It's the phone I know. In Taiwan it's hard to find good information in English about the different companies, what phones they offer, and what features each one has.
I've been an iPod touch user for the last year and a half. For those who don't know, an iPod touch is basically an iPhone will all the phone and cellular network cabilities stripped out of it. It will play your music, show photos and videos, store your contacts/calendars etc. and it even has e-mail and web features. But it has one crippling limitation - with no access to the celluar network, you need to be within the range of a wi-fi hotspot to be able to connect to the internet. For a long time I've always thought that the device would be so much more useful if only it had constant internet access. With the iPhone, I get such capability as well as many other things.

#2 - International inputs - I can change my iPod to English, Chinese, Japanese or countless other languages just by clicking a few buttons. I have mine set to English, but I have four virtual keyboards installed: English, Chinese (pinyin), Chinese (bo po mo fo), and Japanese. I can swap between any of these keyboards on the fly, so it's easy to write e-mails or text messages in any language (or multi-lingual e-mails).

#3 - Camera and Video - I love taking pics to put on Facebook and videos for YouTube, but the process of shooting, then loading on the computer, then editing, then uploading is a time-consuming pain. With the iPhone, I can do all this right from the phone while I'm waiting for other things to happen (waiting in line, waiting for the bus, waiting on the toilet, whatever). I'm hoping that I can capture my travels more frequently with this added convenience.

#4 - Reading/YouTube - Whenever I eat, I like to either read something like a newspaper or magazine, or watch TV. But the selection of English material here in Taiwan leaves much to be desired, and I don't have a TV on the go. With my iPhone, I can browse all my favorite blogs and news sites wherever I am, or watch my favorite YouTube videos.

#5 - Internet Tethering - I just found out about this feature a week before I got the device, and this is a pretty sweet feature! I have two computers, a MacBook and a NetPC (Acer Aspire One). While I enjoy the portability of each machine, they both suffer from the same problem as the iPod Touch - it's frustrating to find a wi-fi hotspot when you're out on the move. But with the iPhone, you can very easily set it up so that if you plug it into a computer, that computer will be able to get it's internet from the iPhone. Although I've only had the iPhone for about 48 hours, I've already used this feature a couple times and it's fantastic.

#6 - Google Maps and GPS - The iPhone model I got (3GS) has a GPS inside it to instantly show me where I am on Google Maps (or Google Earth). It also has a compass, so that I can have the map automatically rotate as I walk around, so I know exactly which way I'm going. This feature is invaluable when you're walking around a foreign city in a neighborhood you're not familiar with. I still hope to get a scooter at some point, so this would be fantastic if I ever got lost on the road.

#7 - Voice notes - So many times I think of a question I should ask my Chinese teacher, about how to say a specific thing, but then I forget - because I don't have a pen/paper handy to write it down. But with the iPhone it's easy to take voice notes and label them for later use. So if I have a Chinese question - or an idea for this blog, I can make a note of it so I don't forget. A simple feature but very useful!

Of course, it still does all the great things my iPod touch did, like play my MP3s, show my pics and videos, keep my contacts/calendar etc. Oh, and I forgot to mention - it's a phone! I can make and receive phone calls on it ^_^

Of course, not every feature of the iPhone is something I really need. Here are some other features on the iPhone that I don't really care about:

#1 - Added speed. Every review I've read on the iPhone 3GS raves about the speed difference. And as a former iPod touch (1st generation) user, I can say that yes the speed difference is noticeable, but honestly I never had a problem with the iPod touch being too slow. So the speed boost isn't a big deal for me.

#2 - 3D graphics. I'm told that the graphics chip in the 3GS is more advanced than the PSP. But honestly I don't really care. I have a PSP and a DS and both of them display amazing graphics in my view, and the iPhone really can't compare to either machine when it comes to playing video games.

#3 - Voice Control - it's neat to be able to use voice commands to control the iPhone, but honestly is it that hard to just touch the screen or the included remote?

All-in-all, I'm very happy with the iPhone (as I knew I would be). It was expensive to buy it though. In Taiwan the contracts work differently - you have to pay a large sum up front, and then the amount you paid is used to discount your monthly fee. So I had to pay NT$28,800 for the phone in total, but roughly NT$21,000 of that will come back to me in monthly fee discounts and returned deposit, so the actual phone itself will cost me $7,800 in the end (about $250 Canadian dollars). I've been told that Taiwan is one of the cheapest places in the world to buy an iPhone, if you look at it from a total cost of ownership perspective (phone + monthly service fee), but still - dropping that big a sum all at once made me wince!

I hope that this device enables me to keep in contact more often, both here on the blog and also on Facebook.

Life In The New Position

2009-09-17T08:01:00.003+09:00

Now it's September! I notice it's not quite as hot as it was last month, but I'm still using the A/C quite liberally. But sometimes outside the heat is actually tolerable (but only sometimes). Maybe next month will be better.

I'm now about 2 weeks into the new position, about six months into my stay in Taiwan (has it been that long already?) and about 1 1/2 years into my time abroad. So how is life now?

Well, the hours are long. While I don't exactly have any shackles to my desk, and no one has explicitly told me that I should stay late, enough of the Japanese work ethic has rubbed off on me that I feel bad when my coworkers (the other two main supervisors) are still there and I'm heading off early. So whenever possible I stay and work with them. Sometimes that means working 14 hours in one day. The good news is that I can still go to my Chinese class (which I do twice per week). So on those days I don't stay late and they just schedule around me.

On the positive side, the work is exciting! I still do regular teaching every day, and there are some more remedial 'duties' I perform as manager (for example, I spend a lot of time correcting English documents written by the Taiwanese staff), but I also use any idle time to think of ideas and initiate my own special projects. I like having a job where I can take initiative instead of just waiting and being told what to do all the time.

There are some tough parts of the job. For example, twice this past week I've had to sit in on a meeting where an English teacher's class is not going well, and the school wants to have a meeting with the teacher to suggest some corrective course of action. Without going into a lot of detail, these meetings are difficult for me because I have to explain management's side to the teacher, yet the teacher is someone I also consider a friend. This creates an awkward situation on both sides and causes stress.

Many people have wondered how much I'm getting paid in this new position. Well, it's a modest increase in salary but it's one that I'm happy with. Before I met with the school owner I had sat down with a couple of Taiwanese friends and discussed the position I had left, and the position I was moving to, and what kind of duties, etc. I would have. We came up with a number that we thought was far and not overreaching. Later, when I met with the school owner, I was a bit nervous about it. Because I worried he would give me a number that was way lower than the one I had come up with. But actually, he gave me a number which was almost exactly the same, in fact it was slightly higher! So I'm happy that, even on this subject, we were on the same page.

So what's next? Well, in the short-term, starting next month I think I'll be doing my Christmas shopping. This Christmas will be the first time in my entire life (35 years) that I am not with my family for Christmas. But I still want to send gifts to them, so it's best to start early.

I also want to get a new cellphone. The one I have is a very cheap pre-paid phone that lacks anything but very basic functions. The iPhone 3GS has been released in Taiwan but supplies are still very short. Hopefully by next paycheck (Oct 10th) the phone will be in measurable supply. An iPhone would enable me to really connect with people in Toronto and Tokyo, as I'd be able to take pictures, video, etc. and upload them instantly. I may even be able to write my blog more frequently ^_^

Professional Development

2009-08-29T21:40:00.002+09:00

One aspect of my life that had been nagging away at me, at least a little bit, is the issue of professional development. As happy as I am to be living abroad, and as rewarding as I find my life here, I couldn't help but notice that I was doing the same job as people who were fresh out of university, and more than a decade younger than myself.

From a professional perspective, I was basically starting over from the beginning. My decade-long career in IT seems like a distant memory. And part of me was asking myself, "Is this it? Will I just keep teaching like this for years and years until I retire?"

But I chose to stay positive. I have a stable job, a stable income, and legal status, which are things that seemed so unattainable only a year ago. And who knows what's around the corner? Sometimes nagging questions have a way of answering themselves.

A couple weeks ago, the owner of the school where I work, who's name is Jackie (we call him Teacher Jackie), asked if he could talk to me for a minute. I had only spoken to him directly a few times, as usually any managerial/supervisory issues are handled by the Taiwanese teachers. I thought maybe he was going to give me crap for playing around with the students (when the students are in the lobby area putting on their shoes, etc. I often like to play with them, give them high-fives, etc.)

Jackie said that recently he has so much work to do, because one of the supervisory Taiwanese teachers left to study abroad, and recently his wife is working to obtain her MBA. He mentioned that in the past he had had a foreign teacher on the managerial side of things, and that it worked out really well. He said he had a good feeling about me and wanted me to consider being a supervisor.

So, last Wednesday, I had another meeting where he wanted me to share my ideas about how to improve the schools (there is a school here in Sanxia as well as one in Banqiao, another area of Taipei County). I'm not sure if he agreed with every idea I put forward, but he seemed very impressed with how organized and prepared I was, and how well I was able to articulate myself. I guess working in a business office for 10 years actually taught me something after all.

So this Tuesday, at our general meeting, Teacher Jackie himself will come to make an announcement, that I am the new head foreign teacher for the schools. I will still be teaching but I will have a reduced schedule to help me achieve my managerial goals and duties.

I still am not sure how it will all play out. I worry that the other foreign teachers (who are also my friends) might distance themselves from me. I also worry that at times, the workload might seem unbearable.

But on the whole, I feel happy. Last February I made a hasty retreat from Tokyo, and arrived here in Taipei with no money, and no job, feeling somewhat useless and more than a little bit desperate.

Becoming a manager in less than six months is a welcome turn of events. And with the knowledge and experience I gain in this new position, who knows what might come down the pipeline next?

On the Subject of Language

2009-07-15T08:08:00.002+09:00

One common thing I see with many expats who are unhappy here is that they can't speak the local language well, and often they can't speak it at all. Upon arriving in Taipei, my Chinese was minuscule at best. I had taken Mandarin for a few months in Toronto, but that was four years ago and we didn't really get that far in the classes. Although I've managed to adjust and have learned to communicate very effectively with grunts and hand-gestures, I realize that long-term success here means that I need to learn the local language and, even if I don't become completely fluent, I need to be able to express myself and understand others at more than just a very basic level.

So for the past couple months, I've been studying Chinese. Instead of taking a class, I've opted for a private teacher in 1-on-1 lessons. This has worked out very well for me, because she can tweak the pacing of the lessons to go as fast or as slow as possible. She says I'm going very fast - in fact she says she talks about me to all her friends; she says how she has this new student who is learning so quickly and making such great progress. She also told me that my test scores (after every chapter we have to take a test) are highest amongst all her students.

While I'm happy to receive such praise, and I'm happy to be moving quickly (I'm almost halfway through the first textbook now, and hope to have it completely finished within the next fourteen or fifteen weeks), and I can see measurable progress whenever I talk to the locals here, I have to remember that I'm still a very beginner level and that only through regular habitual study can I continue to learn quickly.

So many times, I've met people who have lived or are living abroad, who say they regret that they never studied or didn't study as hard as they should have. But never once have I met someone who studied hard and said they regretted it later. 所以，現在我學中文。

PSもちろん、最近あまり日本語を話せない。「日本語を忘れてる？」と思ってる。ちょっと心配してるね！

Long Overdue Update

2009-07-15T07:46:00.003+09:00

I've had a few e-mails, plus a recent comment, requesting that I update my sorely-neglected blog. Of course my first reaction is one of surprise (someone out there is actually reading this?) but anyway, I'll tell you about my life since moving to Taiwan.

How is Taiwan? Well, right now it's hot. Last Sunday the humidex (what it feels like when you include the humidity in the temperature) was 47C. I find that at the end of the day my shirt is a stinky disgusting thing filled with old sweat that I don't just take off, I peel off. The humidity is just as bad as Tokyo (if not slightly worse) and the temperature is hotter. It's going to be a long summer!

I've also felt two earthquakes since I arrived here. One happened last night around 2am and it literally woke me up. I wasn't really scared, but I woke up and felt my bed rocking, it was like I was a baby again and someone was rocking my cradle. I felt more uneasy after the event - although everything stopped shaking, it felt like the earth below me (I live on the thirteenth floor of a building) was unstable, and that made it hard to go back to sleep.

Aside from this life here is pretty good. I'm not sure if it's better or worse than Tokyo, but it's definitely different. Here are some good/bad points:

Apartment: In Tokyo my apartment was 5.5 tatami in size, and I had to share the showers, toilets, and living area with the other people in my building (there were 70 rooms in my building). And my rent was 72,500 yen per month (including utilities). In Taiwan my apartment is 20 pings (40 tatami) in size (yes, literally more than 7 times larger), and I don't have to share anything with anybody. My rent is 5,000 (about 15,000 yen) per month plus utilities. While I enjoy having my own living room and bathroom, and of course I enjoy the cheaper rent, I must confess I miss the sense of community we had in my building back in Tokyo.

Food: When I first arrived here, I missed Japanese food terribly. But now I've become used to eating Taiwanese food and honestly believe I would miss it very much if I moved out of Taiwan. While some Japanese food here is popular, such as sushi, ramen, shabu-shabu, tonkatsu, curry, etc. it's often not the same as Japan, they put their own Taiwanese twist on it. I've become used to eating out, because in Taiwan it's usually cheaper to eat at a restaurant than to cook for yourself. So I've become spoiled with all this good, inexpensive food at the local restaurants!

Work: In Japan I worked all over Tokyo seeing private students, and I worked 7 days a week, sometimes as late as 11pm, and sometimes as early as 6:30am. In Taipei I work Monday-Friday 8:30am-4:30pm (approximately - depends how quickly I finish marking everything). While I definitely enjoy the regular schedule and more free time, I also miss seeing different locations and talking to different people every day.

All in all, I've been very happy since moving to Taiwan, especially after I found my apartment here in Sanxia (a suburb of Taipei) and got settled and everything. Life here is not quite as exciting and dynamic as it was in Tokyo, but at the same time it's much less stressful because I have a steady paycheck, full health insurance and full legal status.

I will stay here at least three years, then decide if I want to go back to Tokyo or stay here in Taiwan.

I moved to Taiwan!

2009-03-10T20:10:00.000+09:00

Strawberries are in season now, so as I write this I'm eating freshly-sliced fresh strawberries with a bowl and chopsticks. Very very delicious!

So I moved to Taiwan. And I got a job. It's at Uncle Sam American School in Sanxia, Taipei County. I started training on Monday, and so far the new job seems like a lot of overwhelming information and I really doubt that I'll remember it all.. but I guess I can always ask someone later when I forget something. I think once I've got a few classes under my belt then I'll feel better. Teaching English in private one-on-one lessons to adults and teaching to classes full of young kids is somewhat different. I hope that whatever Taiwanese teacher I'm paired up with realizes I'll be depending on her to help get me through the first week.

I like this job because it's in Taipei county, so I can easily get to Taipei (1 bus ride to the MRT subway), and I don't have to work weekends or evenings (unless I have to do prep work for a class), so it's easy for me to visit and socialize with my friends. The market is not so good right now (or at least as good as it has been) for English teachers so I worried I would have to work far from Taipei and/or work a schedule that makes it difficult to visit my friends. When you live abroad, friends are what enable you to stave off homesickness (homesickness is actually a form of loneliness - you miss the support and sense of belonging that you get from your friends and family back home).

With a job I'll get a steady paycheck, and also a work visa. But payday is on the 10th of the month, so that means I won't actually see any money until that time, which means I've got to somehow ration out my existing cash to put me through. Right now I'm staying in rented room in a shared apartment in downtown Taipei, so I guess I'll stay here until I get my tax money later this month, then I can move into an apartment close to the school (as in like 10 min walking distance).

Speaking of apartments, holy crap one of the teachers from Uncle Sam took me to look at a couple rooms in this building (I guess most of their foreign teachers live in the same building), and WOW. Beautiful brand new high-rise building, with a 24-hour live security guard, swimming pool, gym facilities, kids' playground, and underground parking... and the apartment itself is 850 square feet! Remember my room in Tokyo was about 75 square feet, so this place is HUGE! It's fully furnished, has en-suite laundry (no dryer, but this is the norm in Taiwan), kitchen with stove, oven, big refrigerator.. living room with long L-shaped couch, 32" LCD HDTV.. two bedrooms, one with a huge closet that would easily hold my entire wardrobe several times over... air conditioner in each room, full unlimited internet... and all for NT$12,000 per month, which is about ￥3600 or about CDN$450. That's a little more than I had planned to spend on rent (I was thinking more around NT$10,000), but then again I wasn't thinking of a place this huge. I'm not sure yet but I might seek out a roommate, or I might just use the other room for guests since I'm hoping many friends from Japan will visit me while I'm here.

Today I went to the hospital for my 'health check', which is required by the government to get a work visa. I read stories of some foreigners that have to strip naked for the x-ray or take a stool sample, but actually mine was very painless. The hardest part was just figuring out where to go for everything. But thankfully there was a young, very cute nurse on the B1 floor that took pity on me and, despite her obvious lack of confidence with English, managed to help me fill out all the forms and get me to the right people. So the school should get my health check on March 21st, then they can apply for the visa on my behalf.

Tomorrow I have to 'demo' a few lessons as practice for next week (when I actually start teaching). Hopefully everything will run smoothly!

Canada and Back Again

2009-01-22T20:56:00.002+09:00

So for about a month, I went to my home country of Canada.

So how was it, to be back in Canada? It was cold!! But I managed to survive, and I'm really appreciating the warmer weather here in Tokyo. It was great to visit family and friends that I haven't seen in a while, as well as eat food that I haven't had in a while as well.

But yes, I'm back in Tokyo.. I arrived on the 14th of this month.

I went back to Canada for five reasons:

Reason #1: Visa Expiration

My visa was going to expire on December 15th, so I had to leave Japan by this date and go somewhere. A plane ticket to Taipei would have cost about 40,000 yen. A plane ticket to Canada cost me about 90,000 yen (only 50,000 yen more)

Reason #2: New Passport

The Japanese government would be very suspicious of me if I tried to enter the country on a fourth consecutive tourist visa. Renewing my passport enabled me to 'erase' my visa history and start fresh.

Reason #3: Student Holidays

Near the end of the year, most of my private students (my sole source of income) would be taking holidays anyway, so this was the perfect time to come back to Canada.

Reason #4: Home for Christmas.

Although winter is not my favorite time of year to visit (I'd much prefer to visit in the summer when Tokyo is unbearably humid and Toronto/Brantford is actually tolerable), there's something good about getting the whole family together at Christmas. It was especially good to see my grandmother. At 89 years old, I don't know how much time she has left.

Reason #5: To get a TESL certificate.

I found a place in Toronto that would let me finish the entire 60-hour course in 9 days. So now I have a TESL certficate. Why is this important? Because it should enable me to find work in Taipei with relative ease. I decided that if I can't stabilize my visa situation in Tokyo, I will work in Taipei and either finish my degree from there by distance, or obtain the work experience necessary to get a visa in Tokyo. In fact, recently I've been applying to places both in Tokyo and in Taipei. The first place I can get a work visa in, I'll go to.

There are some of you reading this that might think moving to Taipei is something of a step backwards, and that it's pushing me further away from my goal. But I don't believe that to be the case. Staying here on a tourist visa, teaching English under the table to pay the bills.. I'm just spinning my wheels at this point. I've learned what is important to me, and also what I need to do to get where I want to be. Now it's up to me to act - and put my plan into action.

Taipei

2008-09-19T10:42:00.001+09:00

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

2008-08-29T22:54:00.002+09:00

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

2008-08-27T08:03:00.002+09:00

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

2008-08-27T07:58:00.001+09:00

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

2008-08-22T23:14:00.003+09:00

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?

2008-08-17T08:01:00.003+09:00

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

2008-08-09T12:45:00.002+09:00

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)

2008-08-08T12:50:00.002+09:00

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)

2008-08-06T12:23:00.003+09:00

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

2008-08-04T23:12:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-24T15:27:00.002+09:00

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

2008-06-15T06:07:00.003+09:00

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

2008-06-13T10:00:00.005+09:00

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

2008-06-10T13:35:00.002+09:00

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

2008-05-26T23:49:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-12T15:15:00.003+09:00

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

2008-05-07T10:25:00.008+09:00

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

2008-05-01T19:50:00.011+09:00

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!

Sunny Side-Up

2008-04-22T13:10:00.002+09:00

How do you like your eggs? I enjoy my eggs poached, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, over easy and scrambled, but I think my favorite is sunny-side up. I just had three sunny-side up eggs with salt, pepper, and ketchup over a bed of rice. A fantastic breakfast all-around!

So now I’ve been in Tokyo officially 1 month and 3 days. And how is it? Well, overall I’d say it’s pretty good! I spend my days shopping for menial things (I'm in desperate need of some clothes hangers, and I'm trying to find a new pair of slippers but in Tokyo size 12 is hard to come by), playing video games (the Wii is very popular here at Oakhouse. Whenever I take it out into the common area, finding a few friends who are up for a round of Mario Kart is never a problem!) sending out resumes, and meeting with prospective private English students.

After my last blog, and with some of the comments I got on Facebook, I feel I need to post a follow-up blog to clear up a couple things. So here is the honest truth in black and white:

• After the ‘heartbreaker’, when I didn’t get the job at Citibank, I felt really down. I seriously worried about whether or not I could stay here long term, and was thinking about returning to Canada in June.

• Another thing that had me deeply worried is that I didn’t anticipate quite how long the visa process can take. Apparently, while usually it can take about one month before you can start working, there are times where the process can drag on for as long as three months. That means that even if I found a job in May, it could be as late as August before I can actually get a paycheck.

• I began to lament about my finances.. sure I have savings now but, can they last long enough?

But I realized that if I succumb to this kind of negative thinking then I may as well go back to Toronto right now, since I’ll have already ‘lost’.. If I’m going to think negatively like this, then I’ll never succeed here and I’ll never be able to realize my dream.

As many of you know, over the years prior to moving here, I’ve made many friends from Japan and other parts of East Asia who are visiting Toronto. Many of my Canadian friends would often ask “where do they get the money?”

Well, the answer to that question is that some of them have parental support, but many of them don’t. And the ones that don’t, they saved up their money, about $10,000 dollars, and they managed to survive in Toronto sometimes for 1 year or more on that small amount. Just like me, they dealt with visa issues, struggled with language, and had to deal with a certain level of inaccessibility due to the sheer difference between the way things work in Canada vs. they way things work in Asia.

I started to think about how much they loved Canada and loved Toronto, and what sacrifices they would make to stay there. This inspired me a lot.

Another thing I reminded myself is that I'm not attempting to do the impossible. There are many people in Japan who have done the exact same thing that I'm trying to do. I'm not asking for the moon and the stars, just a decent steady job doing the same kind of work I've been doing for over ten years on a professional, full-time basis. This is a realistic and attainable goal.

I decided that no matter what, I will stay in Tokyo for at least six months. And hopefully a job will surface within that time. In the meantime, I’ll take on as many private English students as I can, to cover costs. I already have 5 hours/week of paid teaching lined up and I’m really just getting started. If I can expand this to about 20 hours a week then I’ll have my living expenses completely covered.

And amazingly enough, as soon as I started to think more positively, my phone started ringing again. I got a call from an outsourcing company about a Help Desk position, as well as a call from a recruiter about a Technical Support Manager position. In both cases, they are aware of my visa status yet they are still interested.

So don’t worry about me too much!

Heartbreaker

2008-04-16T22:10:00.004+09:00

Well, I didn't get the job at Citibank (sigh).

For the whole story... I had been put forward by Skillhouse (a recruiter) for a position at Nikkociti (Citibank). While I didn't know what to expect, I had a good feeling about the position. The job description describes me pretty much to a tee (except for the part about being significantly overweight yet somehow amazingly handsome) ^_^

Desktop support, some Japanese skill required, Windows 2000, XP, etc, and a chance to use Japanese on the job. The salary is >50% more than what I was making at Torstar Digital, and taxes in Tokyo are way lower than Toronto on top of that. So, since the job is so fantastic, it was natural for me to get excited when I found out Nikkociti wants to contact me for a phone interview. I set a time with Skillhouse and then they e-mailed me the day before to let me know about it.

And in the e-mail, in a "by the way" kind of fashion, they mentioned that the interview would be in Japanese, and that the hiring manager I'd be speaking to was from India.

So let's just think about that for a second. I know many of you back home think I'm some kind of Japanese-speaking genius, but the truth is that my Japanese is rudimentary at best (although it's improved a lot over the past few weeks). Like I mentioned in a previous blog, sometimes even ordering in a restaurant is a challenge. And now I have an important job interview in this very same language.

This problem is exasperated by the fact that I'm conducting the interview on the phone. Facial expressions and hand gestures can go a long way to assist when speaking a foreign language, but over the phone those tools are not available to me.

And of course, the next problem is that the person is from India. I've spoken to Japanese speakers from Canada, France, Hong Kong, mainland China, and other places. And in every case, except for maybe Japanese speakers from Korea, I've had trouble understanding them due to their accent.

So of course, I was deathly worried that I wouldn't be able to understand this manager. But oh well, this is the shitty hand I've been dealt, so I'll just play it best I can. And that night I called my friend Yumichan, who patiently helped me prepare for the interview and get some notes down of things I want to say (ユミちゃん本当にありがとうね！）

And then I had the phone interview. Actually the manager's accent wasn't noticeable at all. She spoke a bit more slowly, but I'm not sure if that's just because Japanese isn't her first language, or because she wants me to understand her (I'm guessing the latter). So I answered her as best I could, but after the interview was over I had a bad feeling. I felt like they wanted someone who has a stronger Japanese skill to do the position.

So, my spirit sank and I took a walk around Kichijoji to get some shoelaces and some other stuff I needed, when I noticed I had a phone message. It was Skillhouse.

They said that they had "very positive" feedback from the phone interview and that Nikkociti wants me to come down for a face-to-face interview.

Now I'm on Cloud 9. Suddenly everything is right in the world, and my dream of my own apartment with a kotatsu, a Japanese kettle, and a shower toilet is well within my grasp.

But that night, I had a hard reality pill to swallow. It seems that due to some kind of breakdown in communication between Skillhouse and Nikkociti, the manager was unaware that I require visa sponsorship to work in Japan. And since that takes time to happen (a month at least), and since Nikkociti wants someone who can start right away, they are not going to interview me.

Sigh... so close, yet so far. The business of chasing dreams sounds so wonderful but ultimately I've found it to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

And now the chips are down, and it's gut check time. Do I quit and give up, or do I keep looking?

I choose to keep looking.

3 Weeks...

2008-04-08T20:13:00.002+09:00

Tonight I officially celebrate the completion of my third week in Tokyo, with a corn-mayo bun and a can of black coffee.

I had another recruiter interview today, for a different position within a financial company. I guess this one is looking to hire someone "very quickly" so I guess I should find out soon. The recruiter seemed certain I would get an interview. He also seemed far less concerned about my technical qualifications and much more interested in my personality. He says that my positive, calm demeanor is exactly what the manager is looking for. I hope he's right, it's only a 3 month contract but the salary is much higher than what I was making in Toronto.

My Japanese language is improving. I can't even begin to say that it's "good" per se, but speaking Japanese is far less taxing on my brain then it was when I arrived. I also have a lot more confidence speaking Japanese to strangers and new people. In fact, some new friends that I've made such as Chie, Seiko, and Etchan can't speak English well so we speak entirely in Japanese. I'm also using mixi.jp a lot more (blogging, e-mailing) so my reading/writing is getting better too.

I guess you could say I really feel 'at home' here. Of course sometimes I miss my friends and family in Canada (no seriously, really!) but you know, when I was in Canada I missed a lot of my friends in Tokyo and other parts of East Asia.

I don't know if I believe in fate or not, but I do feel that for the last few years in Toronto, I've been delaying the inevitable. I knew that for better or worse, I had to come to Tokyo not just as a tourist, but as a resident. I'll always be a 'gaijin' here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, after spending so much time in Canada with friends from abroad, it's great to experience the same kinds of things that I saw them go through when they came to Canada.

One last thing I want to say that's hard to describe. I feel like there's some kind of running dialog in my head, especially when I go out of the house. Like almost anytime I see something, I have some kind of observation or comparison to something from home. If I had the time and energy, there are a million different things I could say about anything from food to television to trains to fashion to cost of living prices, etc. However, as it is I probably spend at least 2-3 hours a day in front of my computer screen.

Becoming an English Teacher

2008-04-04T09:39:00.004+09:00

I honestly believe I will find a job here in Tokyo, doing the IT work that I did in Toronto. But i'm not sure exactly when that will happen. Could be next week, could be next month, who knows? I have enough cash to float me for a few months, but nevertheless I feel useless sitting out here with no reason to get up in the morning, except to maybe visit my friends or go chat with the locals at Inokashira Park.

So, I've decided that in order to make a few bucks on the side, experience something new and also give myself something to do, I'm taking a little baby step into the world of English tutoring. I registered with a website that offers such services, and my first student is on the 10th, at 7pm.

My biggest problem is, although I have years of informal experience teaching English to my Japanese friends, I've never done this kind of tutoring before. So I'm not sure what exactly I should do.

This is the e-mail that was sent to me from the website:

About the first trial lesson
date/time : 10th of April at 19:00 for 30 minutes
meeting spot : At the No4 exit of Monzen-Nakacho station on Tokyo-metro Tozai line

About the student
gender : female
age : 20's
English level : Beginner
purpose : colloquial English

My impression is that the main point of these lessons is to give the student an opportunity to converse with a native English speaker. But I'm not sure what else we should be doing besides just talking So for those of you reading this, if you have any experience (either as a teacher or as a student) with these kind of tutoring sessions and have some advice, feel free to offer it. Either on this blog as a comment, or on my Facebook wall.

Comparing Toronto to Tokyo

2008-04-02T01:10:00.002+09:00

An interesting discussion developed under one of my Facebook pictures regarding the comparison of Toronto vs. Tokyo. So I thought I would add my own thoughts on the subject. I really can't make a completely fair comparison. I spent ten years living in Toronto, and about two weeks living in Tokyo. I feel I need to live here at least one year before I can judge fairly. But my initial impression is that almost everything I like about Toronto, I get the same in Tokyo except many times over:

- I like Toronto because it has a subway system so it's easy to get around without a car. But Tokyo's train system is much, much better and can take me to many more places.
- I like Toronto because I can see lots of people and the streets are lively. But in Tokyo I can see many more people, and the streets are much more lively.
- I like Toronto because I can get interesting Japanese food at some grocery stores like ingredients for okonomiyaki, chirashizushi, etc. In Tokyo I have lots more selection and the price is much cheaper.
- I like Toronto because I can meet lots of people from other parts of the world. I especially like to make friends with Japanese so I can use my Japanese language. In Tokyo I have many more opportunities to meet and speak with Japanese people. I also have met people here from France, Hong Kong, England, Korea, etc.
- In Toronto I can see interesting concerts from artists I like such as Puffy AmiYumi and Shonen Knife. But in Tokyo I can also see concerts from Hamasaki Ayumi, Koda Kumi, and other favorites that would never make the journey to Toronto.
- In Toronto I can get a good job and make a decent salary. But in Tokyo it seems I can make a better salary even to start, and as my language skill improves I can make considerably more money.
- In Toronto I can live downtown so that it's convenient to walk to most places. From Christie I could walk to Dufferin Mall, the grocery store, many restaurants, etc. But in Kichijoji I can literally walk to almost anywhere that I would go in all of downtown Toronto.

I'm the first person to say that Tokyo is not for everybody. Even most Japanese seem to complain about Tokyo. They say it's too busy, and too crowded. And there are some things I will definitely miss about Toronto.

But for me, I prefer Tokyo. It's why I gave up almost everything I had, just to have a chance to roll the dice and see if I can make a life for myself here. It doesn't mean Toronto is "bad" per se, but given the choice, I prefer to live in a city that is well-suited for the kind of life I like to live. And Tokyo is exactly that city.

News from Tokyo

2008-03-31T18:14:00.008+09:00

Well, aside from posting pics on Facebook and replying to all the great comments I've received (thanks everyone!) I haven' t updated recently so I wanted to just do a general news update from the world of Inokashira/Mitaka/Kichijoji/Tokyo/Japan/Whereever it is I am ^_^

My city name is Mitaka.
My address is 3-15-23 Inokashira.
My place is called Oak House Kichijoji.
My prefecture name is Tokyo (Tokyo is not actually a city even though most refer to it as such it's a prefecture, like a province or state, made up of many wards and cities).
See where it gets confusing? ^_^

So anyway, here is all the news that's fit to print:

Cell Phone: Got one! Finally! It's a Sharp AQUOS W61SH from au/KDDI. Pretty spiffy!!

Job Hunt: I had an interview with a recruiter last week, and tomorrow I have an interview with two more. I'm confident a job will turn up soon!

Social Life: I continue to make new friends and visit existing ones. Last Saturday I had a big hanami party with several friends. That's where you sit and eat/drink under the cherry trees and see the beautiful cherry blossoms.

What I've been up to lately: My friend and ex-coworker Chi is in Tokyo for a few days so I've been playing tourist/tour guide. Pretty fun, I've discovered some great new restaurants in Shibuya and Kichijoji that are SO delicious and SO cheap... my taste buds have never had it so good.

Chi leaves tomorrow so after I go back to 'normal' everyday life, hopefully I can tell more stories here. In the meantime, I'll continue chasing my dream.

The Elusive Japanese Cellphone

2008-03-25T08:17:00.003+09:00

If there's one thing most westerners know about Japan, it's that their cellphones are light-years ahead of ours.

Here are some interesting things I've learned about Japanese cell phones.

The screens are big. Most phones are 'clamshell style' (what I affectionately refer to as 'pakka pakka style'). The bottom half is the keypad, and the top half is a screen about the same size as a deck of cards.

The screens are high resolution. These phones are not for the far-sighted! I'm not sure exactly how many pixels you can fit on them, but the text and graphics are tiny and they manage to jam a ridiculous amount of information on there.

The network is fast. '3G' phones are nothing special here, they are just normal. And newer networks such as FOMA have advertised speeds of 7.2Mbps! To give you an idea, a Rogers 'extreme' broadband connection in Canada is 6Mbps. That's right, these guys can get faster-than-Canada's-fastest-broadband speeds ON THEIR CELLPHONE. It's beyond impressive, it's ridiculous.

So it goes without saying that I've been a bit anxious to get my hands on one of these cellphones. Not only is there the immediate "gee whiz" technology factor, but there are practical reasons too. One is that since moving here, I've been anxious to try and cobble together a social network of friends similar to what I had in Toronto. Without a cellphone this is proving to be excessively difficult. Also, I don't wanna send resumes out to recruiters until I have a phone number to put on my resume. So there is a bit of a sense of urgency to getting this phone.

But that's OK! Given that I'm now living in Japan, it should be easy to get a cellphone right? Wrong!

And so goes the story of my elusive cellphone.

February 2008: It started back in Toronto. My research of Japan showed me that as a foreigner with only a tourist visa, legally I'm not allowed to buy a cellphone. So the only way for me to get one is to have a friend buy it for me. OK, well that sucks (I like to be independent) but oh well. So my plan was to have Aki buy the cellphone on my behalf. But even this has been a bit of a challenge. It's not that Aki can't do it. The problem is that she's just been too busy. She works two jobs and they're both kind of far from where she lives. So it's hard to see her often. Also it's hard for her to find time to shop.

Wednesday March 19: We met last Wednesday in Shibuya, in the evening. I thought at this time that we were going to buy the cellphone. But Aki didn't understand my sense of urgency, she thought we were just going to look at models and try to decide. I told her I don't really care, as long as it's cheap and has the features that I need, it's OK. She seemed surprised by this. She said "but what about your personal style?" I said just make it simple and black and I'll be fine.

So, we didn't get a phone that night but we decided on the model.

Thursday March 20: So Aki tried to buy the phone on Thursday but she was told it would take time to set up the account, etc.

Friday March 21: Aki got the cellphone! So we agreed that on Saturday we would meet and hang out, and she was gonna give me my cellphone. I was pretty excited about it.

Saturday March 22: I called Aki Saturday but she said she was having stomach pains and couldn't go out that day. She said she'd try to meet me on Monday.

Sunday March 23: Sunday I went out with Yumichan (I'll save that story for another post) and I called Aki at night to confirm our meeting on Monday. She said that after work Monday she was gonna go to the clinic (I assume about the stomach problems but I didn't ask, it's not my business). My heart sank as I thought she couldn't meet me. She said that no, she could still meet me, but it would be late like 8 or 9pm. I said that was fine. I just wanna get my cellphone!

Monday March 24: So yesterday (Monday) was finally gonna be the day. I called Aki during the day and she said that I should call her around 8pm to arrange the time to meet. I said that was fine.

8:15pm: I actually didn't call her until 8:15pm because I got distracted; I was chatting it up with Unchan, an adorably cute Korean girl that lives upstairs from me. So anyway when I called Akichan, she said she would e-mail me when she leaves work, and then we can meet at Asagaya station and she can give me the cellphone. And so I waited. And waited.

9:30pm: My remnants of jet lag were kicking in and I was having trouble staying awake. I sat on my bed and tried to keep my increasingly heavy eyelids open. And I kept waiting.

10:55pm: I drifted off for a few minutes, and woke up about 10:55pm. There was an e-mail from Aki's cellphone timestamped 10:42pm. "Can we meet at Asagaya station at 11:15pm?" Oh, crap.

I replied right away "I'm leaving right now!" and then scrambled to get my jeans and jacket on. Where is my wallet? Where? Where? Oh there it is (when I'm in a hurry I often can't find things that are sitting right in front of me). I ran to the front door, kicked off my slippers, threw on my shoes and ran out the door. I finally got to the train platform and waited for the train to arrive. "Hurry up! Hurry up!" I was thinking.

11:25pm: Finally the train arrived and I got to Asagaya station. 10 minutes late, but finally I got here! But where is Akichan?

I searched all over the platform, and then all over the station. Where is Akichan? Crap, I better find a payphone and call her.

OH CRAP.

I realized that in the haste to leave my place, I neglected to bring my iPod. So I don't have Aki's phone number. Ahhhhh....

11:35pm: I exited the station and ran around the station area. I thought there must be a manga-kissa (internet cafe) around here somewhere. I'll look up her number in my e-mail, then call her, then get my cellphone.

But I couldn't find the internet cafe. Even more aggrivating was that I saw a sign advertising an internet cafe, saying that it was nearby, across the road from Mojo Ramen. I thought, I guess that must really mean something to someone who knows where Mojo Ramen is.

12:00am: As the clock struck midnight, I realized I was in danger of missing the last train. So finally I boarded the train back to Kichijoji, with a broken heart and a broken spirit.

12:30am: After I got home I noticed that I had a returned e-mail. The e-mail I sent Aki never reached her, it came back to my with a "Syntax Error". She thought I didn't get her e-mail so she didn't wait for me at the station :(

12:45am: So I talked to her on MSN Messenger, and she's gonna try to meet me at Kichijoji station on her way from her first job to her second job. Of course I'm gonna go, but at the same time I'm not gonna get my hopes up too much. There's no guarantee that somehow our paths will misalign once again.

For now, the Japanese cellphone - which is still my key to finding a job, rebuilding my social life, and ultimately finding true peace and happiness - remains but an elusive dream.

井の頭と吉祥寺 Kichijoji and Inokashira.

2008-03-23T05:47:00.002+09:00

Some of my friends in Canada have wondered about my Japanese language level, and exactly where it is. This is a difficult question for me to answer. The truth is, I know a lot of Japanese. But the other truth is, there is a lot I _don't_ know. My listening skills, while much better than they were even a year ago, are still weak.. to the point that even ordering in a restaurant can be difficult. And even though I can say a lot, I often stumble over my words and and/or give the wrong tense, wrong politeness level or I saw a word that means something close to what I'm trying to say, but it's still the wrong word. In the case of the tense/politeness level, it's not that I don't know how to say it properly, it's just that my brain can't work fast enough to conjugate properly, in a timely fashion. In a conversation, you have to reply right away, you don't have time to think about what the right tense or form should be.

But nevertheless, I thought it would be interesting to post a blog I wrote in Japanese and then translate it to English as accurately and as literally as possible. Therefore you can read it and judge for yourself where my Japanese level is at. The only thing I used a dictionary for is to verify some of the Chinese characters and some of the katakana spellings. The words themselves are completely my own.

-----

今朝に悲したった．
アキちゃんは元気じゃないから会えない。
Appleちゃんは京都にいるから会えない。
ゆみりいちゃんは忙しいから会えない。
どうしょう？

This morning I felt sad.
Akichan is not feeling well so I can't meet her.
Aichan is in Kyoto so I can' t meet her.
Yumi is busy so I can't meet her.
What should I do?

トロントに毎日友達と会えるでもそれはトロントだね。東京ライフは全然違うを思う。
どうしょう？

In Toronto I could see my friends every day, but that's Toronto. I think Tokyo life is completely different. What should I do?

「間違った？」と思った。「トロントに帰りましょう？」
違う。
仕事が見つけたら、１年ぐらいここに住む。本当に。
でもどうしょう？

I thought Did I make a mistake? Should I go back to Toronto?
No.
If I can find a job, I will stay here 1 year. For real.
But what should I do?

最近寂しくなった。オークハウスで日本人を見たら、「一生に遊びたい」と思ってる。「友達と紹介しておねがい」と思ってる。
でもこれを話せない。
「こんばんわ」だけが話せる。多分僕を見たら、親切な人が見えない。トトロが見えない。面白い人が見えない。
デブな白人だけが見えると思う。しょうがないね。
でもどうしょう？

These days I became lonely. When I see the Japanese people at Oakhouse, I am thinking, I want us to hang out together. Please introduce me to your friends.
But I can't say this.
All I can say is "Good evening". Maybe when they see me, the can't see a generous person. They can't see Totoro. They can't see an interesting or funny person.
I think all they see is a fat white guy. But it can't be helped.
But what should I do?

じゃ、「さんぽしましょう！」と思った。一人で井の頭と吉祥寺で散歩した。その時に、めっちゃ嬉しくなった。

Well, Let's go for a walk! I thought. By myself, I walked in Inokashira Park and Kichijoji. At that time, I became much happier.

１７Cの天気から外に行ったら、気持ちがよかった。井の頭公園に沢山の人は遊んでいた。にぎやかから嬉しかった。ボートは楽しそう。ピクニックも楽しそう。ギターを弾くも楽しそう。

It was 17C when I went outside, so I had a good feeling. There were many people hanging out in Inokashira Park. I was happy because it was so lively. The boats look so fun. The picnic looks so fun. Playing guitar looks so fun.

「じゃぁ、吉祥寺に行こお」と思った。「ショッピング・アケードを見たい」

OK, let's go to Kichijoji I thought. I wanna see the shopping arcades.

トロントのルームメートは吉祥寺がミニ渋谷だと話した。多分渋谷のほうが大きいでも吉祥寺はミニじゃないと思う！面白い店は一杯あるよ！スッゲ〜〜！

My roommate in Toronto told me that Kichijoji is a mini Shibuya. Maybe Shibuya is bigger but I don't think Kichijoji is mini! The place is full of interesting shops! So cool!

アーケードで散歩したら、右に大きい店が見えた。へ〜〜ヨドバシカメラ？！ワオワオワオ！全部ヨドバシカメラで歩いた。幸せ！

When I was walking in the shopping arcade, I saw a big store on my right. Huh? Yodobashi Camera?! Wowowow! I walked all over Yodobashi Camera. So great!

吉祥寺で散歩したら、いつも「家から歩いて来た！家から歩いて来た！」と思っていた。チョ〜すごいよ！

When I was walking around Kichijoji, I was always thinking I walked here from my place! It's so amazing!

一杯人。一杯店。一杯レストラン。一杯居酒屋。一杯楽しんでる人。一杯Life！！トロントにこれがない。

Full of people. Full of shops. Full of restaurants. Full of bars. Full of people having fun. Full of life!! In Toronto this doesn't exist.

家に帰ったら、本当に決めた。

When I came back to my place, I really decided.

トロントに帰れない。
東京に愛してるから。

I can't go back to Toronto.
Because I love Tokyo.

---

If I had more language skill, I would have added the fact that I used to think that living at Christie was a really handy spot to live, but Kichijoji completely blows Christie out of the water. I would have also described in depth the feeling I had walking around Kichijoji. To a kid who comes from a 'dead' town, where news of a single new restaurant or new company is enough to send shock waves of excitement through the whole town, Kichijoji is a mind-blowing experience. Remember I'm not just visiting Kichijoji, I live here. It's a completely different feeling.

But anyway, those language skills will come with time and practice. Rome wasn't built in a day. If I work hard, I can establish myself here. Lots of other people have done it, and they're no more special or capable then I am.

Getting To Know The Neighborhood

2008-03-22T07:18:00.005+09:00

It was so cool to go back to Shibuya. It's my favorite place in the whole world and now its only a twenty minute train ride from where I live. I went to my favorite spot in Starbucks overlooking hachiko square. Such a great feeling.

Aki and I decided which model of phone would be best for me. I said I wanted one that had a decent camera, web browsing, a 1-seg tv tuner, MP3 player, and a microSD card slot (for saving MP3s and pics). I was told that this describes almost every phone that they currently have on the market. So I just picked one that was cheap and looked fashionable.

Aki and I later went to a famiresu (family restaurant) and I had some pasta for dinner. Its gonna take me a while to readjust to the smaller portion sizes in Japan. ^_^

Thursday I was determined to find my way to walk to Kichijoji instead of taking the train there. I knew it was close to me but I just didn't know the way. Armed with the map I bought on that unfortunate night that I couldn't find my place, I found the route to Kichijoji is actually very short and easy. Just walk left of Inokashirakoen station, go over the bridge in Inokashira park, walk north to your first major street and turn left. Boom! You're in Kichijoji. The total walk from my place is about 15 minutes. And it's a pleasant walk, mostly the park and quiet residential areas.

In Kichijoji I met a new friend Mariko. She's going to Guam this weekend and since she is going to take the airport limousine bus from Kichijoji, she suggested we meet there before she leaves. So we went to a pasta restaurant and then later she took me around the neighborhood.

Kichijoji seems like part Shibuya, part Kensington Market. They have Maru and RonRon and HMV and lots of big-name stores, but also lots of side streets chock full of inpendent retailers and rare items. It's also just as lively and the stores are almost as crowded as Shibuya. When I make my way through the skinny lanes in the store, it reminds me just how big I really am. Maybe after living here for a while I'll become smaller (eating less food and moving around more can have that effect on people) :p

Mariko seemed a bit nervous when we first met, lots of nervous laughter. But she can speak English fairly well and my goofiness seemed to put her at ease. She said Kichijoji is her favorite drinking spot so she wants to take me drinking there sometime after she gets back.

Later I wandered around my immediate neighborhood, and I found the supermarket! If I don't start cooking my own meals I'm gonna go broke very fast, and the 7-eleven just doesn't have enough for me (can't live on tuna mayo buns forever). It's actually VERY close to my place, even closer than the 7-eleven. It's a small supermarket but I can get what I need there.

My first 24 hours in Tokyo

2008-03-20T08:03:00.005+09:00

I arrived about 4pm. I was a bit nervous about going through customs because I didn't wanna tell them I was gonna look for a job in case it complicated matters. But customs was painless so that's good.

Immediately after I got out of the arrival gate I saw the booth for the airport limousine bus. So I got a ticket and was told that the bus would be arriving in four minutes. When the bus arrived I let the ojisan take my bags and then took my seat on the bus.

I asked the girl beside me what time we would arrive in Kichijoji. This started a conversation that lasted the whole two hour bus ride there. Her name is Aiko and she lives in Kichijoji and she's very cute! She gave me her email address and said sometime we should hang out. So even though I had just arrived in Tokyo, I made a new friend. I was also happy that my Japanese was holding up and I could converse with her.

Aiko was so helpful when I arrived in Kichijoji. She let me use her cellphone to call Yuji from Oakhouse and then helped me find him.

Yuji took me to Oakhouse and even though he can speak English, he spoke to me in Japanese the whole time. The room is bigger than I imagined it, and the closet is really big. But there are only three power outlets in the the room and they're all in the same spot, so I'll have to seriously invest in some power bars and extension cords to charge up all my gadgets. Yuji told me how to get to Inokashirakoen station (the closest station to my house) and then he left.

Feeling a need to connect to the outside world, I hooked up my computer to the internet. I was all set to blog/e-mail/whatever when I saw Akichan was on MSN Messenger. So we talked and decided to meet in Asagaya for a late dinner. I found the train station as per Yuji's instructions and went to Asagaya.

I haven't seen Aki in almost a year, but when we met it seemed just like yesterday. We picked up right where we left off and just talked about my plans for Tokyo. We went to an izakaya for dinner. Ohhh man, how I've missed really good Japanese food!!

When I got back to Inokashira station I suddenly realized I had a very big problem. I didn't know my way back to Oakhouse from the station. I didn't think it would be hard to find but I walked around for over two hours and couldn't see it anywhere. I went to the 7-11 and bought a map (because they had e-mailed me the address prior to arriving in Japan) but according to the address they gave me, the map said my place was east of the station when I knew it was really south. So then I called a taxi and the taxi driver couldn't find it either (he went to the same place that they said on the map). So I gave up because by this time it was 2:30am and I was really tired. So I had the taxi driver take me to a mangakissa (like a 24 hour internet cafe) in Kichijoji.

I stayed and slept at the mangakissa until about 7:00am and then I went back to Inokashirakoen station. In the daylight I was able to find the place; I was so happy! I
slept in my room until about 1:30pm and then I woke up and called Aki's cellphone via Skype on my computer. She said she thinks I can get a bank account and cellphone in my own name if I register with the city. She said her dad can help me. She said I should meet her dad at Asagaya station at 3:30 pm.

And that's exactly what I did. I went to the 7-11 and wolfed down a couple of corn mayo buns for brunch and then boarded the train for Asagaya.

Aki's father is so kind to help me like this. I can see how busy he is and yet he takes the time to help me out. He took me to the city government building and had me registered there. I'm not exactly sure but I think that by putting his name on the form, he's taking personal responsibilty for me. So they gave me a certificate and said that if I come back after April 7, I can get a proper alien registration card.

So that's my first 24 hours. All I can say is that it feels great to be back in Tokyo!

Free

2008-03-16T00:25:00.006+09:00

Today I become 34 years old.

Today I start my first new day since I quit my job.

Today I will go to the spa.

Today I will have a huge karaoke party with my friends.

And today I will look forward to my new life in Tokyo, which starts Tuesday.

Today I am doing exactly what I want to do.

And for that reason, today I feel free.

Goodbye Adrienne :'(

2008-03-11T23:24:00.003+09:00

On Saturday I said goodbye to my cat, Adrienne.

Adrienne has been a loyal and true friend for over eleven years.

When I sit on the couch, she is there, to sit on my lap.
When I take a bath, she is there, waiting by the tub for me to get out.
When I am late for bed, she is there, waiting at the bedroom door.
When I go to sleep, she is there, sharing my pillow.

When I gave her away to her new owner, I felt like I was reaching in and tearing out a piece of myself.

I feel bad for Adrienne. This is a huge trauma for her, and she did nothing to deserve such a thing. I just feel happy that I found a good home for her.

Goodbye Adrienne, I already miss you very much. I hope we both can be happy in our new lives.

お花見パーティー

2008-03-11T03:11:00.001+09:00

３月２９日にお花見パーティをしましょう！
２時に井の頭公園駅に会いましょう。
その時に僕の台湾人友達は東京で旅行していますから、彼女もパティーに来ます。
僕はパティが初めてですからすごい楽しみにしてます。♪★

代々木公園と井の頭公園、どちがいい？

2008-03-06T02:54:00.003+09:00

４月５日に花見パーティをしたい！東京の近くにいたら、来ませんか？

でも所について、決めない。Appleさんは代々木公園を教えたでも僕は井の頭公園の近くに住む。

君はどちがいいと思う？

Family

2008-03-03T21:24:00.003+09:00

So, last weekend I went back to my hometown, and said goodbye to my family. Perhaps I won't see them for a very long time.

For my parents, it didn't seem like such a big deal. Because with today's technology I know I'll keep in touch with them now and then.

For my sister, and her husband, I wanted to say something big and important, when I said goodbye. But I couldn't think of anything to say.

For my sister's kids, they each gave me a big hug. I don't know if they understand how long I'll be gone for, but I know I will miss them very much. I hope sometime they can visit me in Tokyo.

For my grandmother, I didn't see her but I gave her a call. I think she realizes now that I'm actually moving to Tokyo, and that she likely won't be around long enough to see me come back. It made me feel sad, to say goodbye to her.

So, next one to say goodbye to is my cat, Adrienne. I'm not looking forward to it >.<

Resignation

2008-02-29T06:38:00.003+09:00

Just so everyone knows, today I resigned from my company, Torstar Digital.

The reason I resigned is because on March 17th, I will move to Tokyo.

I will go there on a tourist visa, and look for a job. Once I have an employer who will sponsor me, then I will change to an 'engineer visa' and start my new job.

At first I will live in a 'guest house', it's like a shared house where I have a private room, but I share the kitchen, showers and toilets. Once I have a job, then I can look at getting a 'real' apartment. Tokyo is a very large city and I want to find an apartment that is reasonably close to my place of work.

The next couple weeks will be busy as I prepare for my departure. But please don't mistake me - I will miss Toronto very much, and I will miss working at Torstar Digital.

I just feel that both on a personal, and professional level, moving to Tokyo is the best thing for me, and for my future.