Day 20: Just another enkai

Sorry for the delay in posting, I had a rather busy weekend and beginning to the week. I also appear to have a response to stress of profusely napping.  "What were you busy doing?"I imagine hearing you cry. I was busy with goodbye enkais. In fact I had 3 in 4 days. Woe is me.

I left you on Friday just after telling you 5 of the Japanese words I will miss. After I posted that I headed out to my first Enkai. This was my Enkai with the teachers of my English department. There are currently 6 English teachers in my department and one teacher who assists the foreign students who aren't very good at Japanese. I also have taught with 2 other teachers who got transferred to other schools since I came to Japan. All of them, bar 1, came and the absent teacher was only away for health reasons (Like being advised by your doctor not to exert yourself is a real excuse!).

The enkai consisted of much food and of course a 2 hour nomihoudai. It was really enjoyable, the food was great and it was really nice chatting with my teachers. As with my enkai with my evening class I gave a speech all in Japanese. Unfortunately, despite practicing it a fair few times the nomihoudai got to me and I didn't do the best job but I got my feelings across and they all said that it was well done. They were either just being very nice or it was well done, I'll take it either way.

I don't know if you can tell but as the nomihoudai hit my photo skills declined.

Of course as I was leaving I received a lovely card from my teachers. Each of the teachers wrote a goodbye note on one of the seals. It was really touching. They also gave me the very traditional Japanese goodbye gift of money in an envelope (No I won't be telling you how much, cheeky!) 

I have to say I appreciate that they didn't draw the scar on my nose

The Japanese tradition of giving money is really interesting. Giving cash isn't considered rude it is exactly what everyone does and there are some social rules about how much, usually based on how close you are to the individual. In Japanese tradition you give money to people in special envelopes for weddings, deaths, when people are in hospital or when they are moving/ leaving jobs. You have different styles and designs for the specific events and the wedding ones are the most ornate. 

Receiving money in this way isn't without its rules however, you must return small gifts bought with the money that you have received. As I haven't gotten married or suffered a loss (Luckily to both of those), I don't know what the rules are exactly on buying gifts. In fact, that reminds me I should check the rules with leaving money. 

Next update very soon!

Day 21: "Nah, chigau, it's nomihoudai. ganbate ne?" PART 1

So the day before yesterday I reminded you about the word NOMIHOUDAI,  and I realised that there are a few things I am going to miss about Japan (of course) but I realised of the things I will miss there are going to be words that I will miss. When you live in Japan and I assume any country, you start to mix your language with that countries' language and you and your friends speak a mix of the 2 languages. This is sometimes called Janglish (just imagine Japanese is Brad Pitt and English is Angelina Jolie, then just mash them up like old Brangelina)

I think Janglish is prettier when it's combined than these two

So today, I would like to tell you about the 5 words that I am going to miss using, or more accurately, will use, get blank stares in response, realise what I just said and then have to explain myself in actual English.

(I said 10 yesterday but to be honest I don't want to make you read an essay so I'll post the other 5 another time)

Before we get going let me address a pet peeve of mine, when anyone on the internet uses the term "untranslatable". Just have a look at this when I googled "Untranslatable words"

Here is how those list should look if the words truly are untranslatable:

1)fbajf- There is no way to tell you what this means

2)jscsc- There is no way to tell you what this means

3)cnbja- There is no way to tell you what this means

Invariably these lists instead are lists of things that have no direct, word for word, translation or  are jsut words for things that we don't have a single word for. If you can explain a word it is not untranslatable it is just not directly translatable, we've gotten pretty good at this whole describing thing with multiple words.

For example:

"The Japanese have a word for that"
"Well we have 7 words but it all ends up meaning the same thing"

Rant over, here is the list of the 10 words I will miss the most in no order:

1) 飲み放題 - NOMIHOUDAI

Of course I have to start with this one, I would say that it isn't just the fact that the UK doesn't really have all you can drink much, it's also how casually all you can drink is in Japan. I feel that if I was going to go to an all you can drink in the UK everyone knows it is going to be messy (Even when it isn't all you can drink it's messy!). But in Japan nomihoudai is everywhere, and it's perfectly acceptable.

I feel the menu for nomihoudai in the west would just say "Please don't bankrupt us"

食べ放題 - TABEHOUDAI

So if nomihoudai is all you can drink can you guess what TABEHOUDAI is? Yes, well done you, it does mean "all you can eat". Gold star for you. So again it is fairly obvious why I will miss this, and before you say it I know that the UK has all you can eat buffets, but does it have all you can eat fried beef?

Those numbers are the varieties of cut, bet u didn't even know there were 92 different parts of a cow

That is YAKINIKU, literally "fried meat", and you get given the raw beef and cook it yourself over a gas heater built into your table. I love it, and when I find a restaurant that lets you order as much of this as you want in a set 90 minute time period, I am pretty much in heaven!

ね - NE

Anyone who has heard me speak Japanese and understands Japanese knows that I love to use "NE". The closest translations would be something similar to "isn't it?" or "Don't you think?". To be a little more accurate it is a form of rhetorical question at the end of a sentence or statement that suggests a mutual understanding and is used to help the group cohesion. It sort of softens what you are saying away from being a purely personal opinion. 

ALTs will use it like so:

"It's hot ne?"

"That sounds great, I'll see you later ne?"

"Maybe we shouldn't have decided to climb this mountain 30 times ne?"

"That's a lot of ramen, whoever ate all of that must have something wrong with them ne?"

がんばって - GANBATTE

Sometimes translated as "Good Luck" GANBATTE is much closer to "Do your best" or "You can do it". When English speakers would say "good luck" before a race, test, performance etc. Japanese people say "Ganbatte". I think it is brilliant because it implies that you have a lot more control over the situation and your fate than "good luck" does. That being said, it also removes the chance factor which I think can be very important. You can study harder than anyone for a test but if someone else studied only the things that came up and you studied everything equally you may do worse. 

I believe that chance and action equally dictate our lives, however, in my opinion, we are victims of chance but masters of our own fate. I mean to say, chance may control our lives but action dictates what the odds are of chance taking control. 

Ganbatte is also thoroughly encouraging. While running (poorly) in my school sports day the students were shouting GANBATTE and I feel it is the perfect mix of reminding you that your fate is in your own hands, while also telling you that the person saying it believes in you. 

"Your going to eat 31 days of ramen? Thats crazy but ganbatte!"

ちがう - CHIGAU

This one I love and now use all the time, so much so that it has influenced the way that I use English. CHIGAU means "different". Sounds simple, and it pretty much is. It's not the meaning that I love, it's the use.

In class when a student answers and they get the wrong answer the teacher doesn't say they are wrong they say CHIGAU, "different".

It's simple, and it may be less of an important difference to Japanese people, but for me telling a student that the correct answer is different to the one they gave seems less discouraging than just saying "no" or "that's wrong".

When I say it has changed my use of English I mean that I occasionally say "different" when some makes a mistake (I'm going to be such a weirdo when I go home). It doesn't quite work the same with English's need for the subject but in Japanese they don't need to say what's different, it's just implied.

Remember this? Lets place spot the CHIGAU

Day 22: I got a Job

I had actually written out a whole post, one about the 10 words that I am going to miss using when I leave Japan. Either I just will miss using them or I will continue to use them until everyone around me either starts hating me or understanding what I'm saying.

As I say, I was going to post that, but then I received an E-mail and decided instead to talk about that. This won't be a long post as the title gave it away, but I got a job!

Now of course that is always something people are happy about, but in my situation I am extra happy because this means that I can start envisioning what my life back home is actually going to be like. I can FINALLY look into a place to live (Sorry mum and dad, looks like I won't be living with you until I am 30)

I shall be caring for adults with autism and living in Edinburgh. It is a huge change to my life and hopefully one where I can proceed into the field of psychology, because as much as I have loved Japan and my life here my number one passion is still psychology.

This is great, and also there is something called the JET curse, it is about the fact that many JETs have trouble finding jobs when they get home, some take months. I have beaten the curse (not that I believe in such nonsense) and now, as is the way of man, after achieving my goal of getting a job I have immediately set new goals of setting up my future life. 

Sorry about the short post, but this blog is partly for you but also partly for me, and I really want to remember that today was the day I felt a huge sigh of relief about my future back home and that today was the day that I started back on my path of psychology. 

As an apology for a lack of pictures or wit (Some argue there is always a lack of wit) I submit to you a video that I think is one of the funniest on the internet.

CAUTION: There is bad language and Scottish accents

Day 23: If You Want to Eat 2000 Dead Animals....

I left you last night just before heading to my 3rd goodbye enkai. Before I introduced you to one of the first words I ever learnt in Japanese: NOMIHOUDAI (飲み放題). Nomihoudai means all you can drink and it is generally what you get at big parties in Japan and it is going to be one of the things I miss about Japan. That said I do understand the limitations there would be in the west. Mostly that after the first night the restaurant would go under.

That is unless they do decide to give the size of glasses that they give you in at a Japanese all you can drink.

Anyone who knows me knows that I find the best form of size measurement is comparing things to my head

Isn't he so cute and small

So we ate, drank and were generally very merry. I am sure you have all heard that rice is great if you want to eat 2000 of something. What you haven't heard is that SHIRASU is great if you want to eat 2000 animals. SHIRASU is this wondrous pizza topping:

It was actually really delicious

Shirasu in English is Whitebait or just tiny sardines. Now these are great as I say if you want to eat 2000 of something, or more to my taste, want to hold more dead things than you have ever held before. As you can see:

Each time the most dead things I have ever held, I decided to stop after 4 packs before I went mad with power

Moving on....,the food was pretty good and then half way though Kelsey and I gave speeches in Japanese. I being the organised man I am, spent the afternoon writing my speech, typed it up and printed it out. I then proceeded to leave that printed out speech in my apartment when I left to go to my enkai.

Fortunately we arrived early and I managed to recall about 90% of it from memory and gave a not terrible speech about how I will miss Japan and my friends in my evening class. Then we received some pretty awesome leavers presents.

This turns out to be the first time I have ever received flowers as a gift, Japan is still giving me firsts

I have been so lucky with my evening class, they were all such a bunch of lovely people and they really have all become my friends. Some of them took me on trips around Japan and others simply were my window to understanding life in Japan. They were always open, kind and honest and really allowed me to know Japan. I will never forget them and as I told them last night, they are always welcome to visit me in the UK any time they want.

Oh and they also taught me that saying "My house is your house" in Japanese doesn't make any sense.

That was last night, today I had an interview, this is a good thing, but also rather confusing because I'm relieved that I might have a Job but terrified at having to do a Skype interview for the first time.

I have found leaving Japan to be just as terrifying as coming here was, but for different reasons. Coming here I was worried about not knowing the language or the culture, not having friends and just generally how I would survive being completely alone and not understanding anything. As you can tell, I survived.

Returning home is a different fear. When I came to Japan I had a job, a home and a life pretty much set out before me. I may not have been able to tell the difference between cat food and human food but I knew I would have a job and a roof over my head. Coming home I know I can deal with the day to day stuff, but where and how I will be living I don't know. So just having a job interview is relieving as hopefully the fears of being homeless and jobless can soon be put to rest.

Turns out that even in Japan cat food pretty much just look like cat food anywhere

I felt the interview went well and hopefully I will hear back soon, but either way it's promising and helpful to know I can get to the interview stage. Oh, and of course, because Japan is always going to make me seem like a bit of a weirdo 2 things happened that would be fine in Japan but in an interview make me look a bit crazy.

1st- I was talking, made a mistake then said "sumimasen" the Japanese for sorry, I then corrected myself and got a bit flustered about looking weird, which of course, made me look weird.

2nd- I don't know how many times it happened but as I was saying goodbye I realised I was bowing like crazy, I'm sure I bowed loads of times in the interview and didn't even notice.

I just hope that they didn't end the interview and then say, "Oh he was a great candidate and he would be great for the job, but he mumbles to himself and bows like he has a problem. Nah lets just get someone else."

Day 24: Meet my Archnemesis and a Cute Dog

I may have not mentioned SOFTBANK (I'm not shouting ust thats's their name) before, but I think I would remember if I had, and you most certainly would. This is because I hate them, they are a phone company and they also supply my internet. I feel there are many things I dislike or even hate in Japan, Some have a good reason and some don't. I feel that my hatered of SOFTBANK has the most legitimate reason.

First an introduction:

No caption needed.

I hear you, what's not to love? They have a talking dog who is the father of the family, they have a black son in law and in this advert they also have the legendary Tommy Lee Jones. And I totally agree with you, the Adverts are some of the best, I love them and the dog is awesome. In fact I have a fair amount of SOFTBANK paraphernalia. One thing must be said for SOFTBANK, they know what is cute and that people like cute. 

SO cute!

All is good so far. Also, they are one of the only companies with English speaking staff and if none of their staff speak english they have a phone number for you to call. Add that to the fact they have not only a gaijin but a black gaijin in their advert they seem like quite a forward thinking and foreigner friendly company. 

They are by no means as overtly bad as ANA

And they are, until it comes time to renew your contract or buy one with less than 2 years on your visa, as I did last September. That is to say that for gaijin to get a new contract for a phone, as I did when the iPhone 5S came out, you are required to have a minimum of 26 months left on your visa. That is on a 24 month contract. They expect 2 months longer than the contract is for! There is no option of changing it to a year contract, or opting to pay more each month. The only option is paying flat out for your phone or no phone. 

If this were industry standard I would still take issue with it, but it would be easier to accept. However, when I went to their rival company, AU, I expected the same thing however all they required was 90 days left on your visa. They spoke no English and have no foreigners in their adverts, but this really is a situation where action speaks louder than words. 

It was fairly apparent to me that SOFTBANK had a very clear "We don't trust foreigners" attitude

Not quite so cute now is he?

Anyway, I only bring this up because today I had to go about getting my internet turned off before I leave. This has nothing to do with me being a gaijin but I felt I should explain the legitimacy of hating this company. And now I can add to the list that they inconvenienced my Japanese mother and I for more than 2 hours today just trying to arrange the cancelation of a service I have had for 3 years. It was very frustrating, but Torii-sensei took it all in her stride and just laughed that it was an interesting experience. I owe her so much. 

Anyway, that was a much longer explanation than needed. However, it does give a slight insight into one of the reasons I can't foresee a future for me in Japan. I love Japan, and nearly everyone I meet is lovely and kind and friendly, I have made amazing friends here and I will be returning in the future (If for nothing else, so I can get some real ramen!). However, there is always an awareness of ones otherness, the fact that we aren't Japanese, that we are thought to be intrinsically different. Also, the fact that there is very little recompense for such behaviour by companies.

Japan will always be another home for me, but unfortunately, I would never be able to feel truly at home here. That being said I will be leaving a piece of my heart here, I know I will, and I know there will always be a strange incomplete feeling I get knowing that it is out there. 

Maybe if I am lucky, one day a lone adventurer will find it and it will help them on their quest. Like this guy. 

If you don't get the reference you had a very deprived childhood, go out and get a Wii and a game of Zelda NOW, seriously, stop reading, don't even worry you are in you slobbing around the house clothes and go buy it

Moving on, I have my 3rd Goodbye Enkai tonight with my evening class students, this one I'm going to have to make a small speech in Japanese to everyone. Wish me luck, I'll update tomorrow with how it went, hopefully there won't be any embarrassing mistakes of language like the time I told a guy I hated his painting when I meant to say it was beautiful. Sigh......

Day 25: It's like I'm actually leaving

(EDIT: So I finished this last night but them my computer froze and I decided that I would rather sleep than fight with my computer after midnight to post this, apologies)

Not the most thrilling of days I'm afraid, I had school as normal. It was a little strange because with only 8 classes left I have started getting the students to write welcomes to the new ALT. It's like I'm really going.

After that I had to get Torii-sensei, my Japanese mother, to sort out getting my utilities turned off. EXCITING. For the rest of the day I just had to keep getting everything ready for the woman who will be taking over from me after I leave.

I realise that I never gave an overview of my final month, as you can tell from this weekend it is pretty full, it is full of events, goodbye parties and final trips to fully round of my 3 years here. I am doing the following:

• 6 Farewell Enkais
• Climbing Mt. Awagatake 4 more times to reach 30
• 4 Day Road trip to Nagasaki visiting a few cities on the way
• Climbing Mt. Fuji for a second time
• Travelling to Tokyo for a few days before flying home
• Giving a speech in Japanese to my whole school

Oh and if you have seen this video, I realised that in my town there is a bird sanctuary that this was filmed at so i really should include that on my list too.

On top this I still have 2 weeks of classes, 2 more evening classes and 2 more karate classes. I never did make it past white belt. 

I look formidable don't I

I am also making a bit of a bucket list of food, but so far it just consists of my favourite ramen shop and the one i went to for my ramen challenge.

So thats it for today, short, sweet, lots of information and a transforming owl, what more could you want?

Day 26: 30th times the charm

I think I should start with an apology, the last 2 days I haven't been what you would call on the ball with he whole blogging thing. That said I was on top of the whole leaving party thing so that pretty nice.

So firstly on Friday all those leaving the prefecture had a ceremony where we were thanked for participating in the JET programme, and then given certificates. After that the leavers went for a meal and drinks with other people on the JET programme. This is the first of 6 leaving parties that I have over the next 2 weeks. oh how tough my life is!

Now for a greater explanation than the 5 pictures I posted yesterday.

Firstly if you recall my friend Kelsey and I decided it would be a good idea to take on a challenge to climb a local mountain 30 times so that we could get our name on the wall of the café at the top of the mountain. If this blog has taught me anything it's that challenging to do something 30 times is not always a good idea.

We have done well and yesterday I had to climb the mountain solo the 27th and 28th times.

 

Welcome to the worst spot the difference ever, the photos I took at the top of each time. Hint: It's all in the eyes, you can see I lost the will to climb somewhere between the 2 photos

I'm not sure if you can tell, but if you can't you're blind, it was hot and i am sweaty, like really far to hot to be doing anything more strenuous than turning on the AC, but I had a challenge to do so my stubbornness won and I climbed the mountain.

As soon as I was done there I had to rush home and prep for a goodbye party (Number 2 for those who are counting) that I had decided to host. I have been here for 3 years and in that time many friends have come and gone. It is sadly the nature of the JET programme, everyone is coming on their own time lines and every year people leave and get replaced. However, my Japanese friends have been a constant, which has been incredibly reassuring, as well meaning I now have definite friends for life. I wanted to cook a meal for them and thank them for everything they have done for me.

I invited them and a few other JETs to mine for dinner. I then had the dilemma of what to cook for 16 people. to further complicate matters my kitchen is not built for cooking for more than a few people. I have 2 hobs and one tiny electric oven.

Photo of kitchen not included: This is either because its now unbelievably messy after the party or I'm lying and i have a glorious marble kitchen and I don't want to show you I'm lying. You decide which. 

What can an Englishman cook then for that many people in this situation? Only one real answer to that isn't there?

Can you guess what I made?

That's right, Bangers and Mash, really get the Japanese to understand how British food can look unbelievable unappetising but is surprisingly not too bad.

I also made some nice caramelised onion gravy to go with it and that's what this pic was all about:

Something something before and after joke

It all went down fairly well as you can see with the sheer level of excitement and party atmosphere going on in this picture:

I know what you're thinking, This looks crazy fun, all the smiles and banter.

You may also wonder where any of the Japanese people are, well they had already left before this photo was taken but honestly I think they and fun, and they seemed to like the bangers and mash. All in all a success, but bloody weird to think that its the last time I'll be hosting something like this in Japan.

Onto today, today was another last, but this one a little more joyous that the previous one.

It's not exactly my name up in lights but it will do for now

 Yep, that's exactly what it looks like, and if you can't tell what it looks like I'll tell you. That is Kelsey's and my name up on the wall of the café at the top of the mountain. We have officially climbed it 30 times and people throughout the ages who visit that café will think "What the hell did 2 gaijin climb this mountain 30 times for?"

And that's all you need to know about today cause I honestly believe that was quite the accomplishment, and we were lucky enough to get a photo with the 2 old ladies who run the café, they were always very sweet and encouraging.

No witty comment, nothing but respect for these awesome women