Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Welcome to Ritsumeikan University

On Wednesday last week I had to make a visit to my campus in order to get some visa questions cleared up. I showed up just as lunch was starting so everything was closed. This gave me an excellent opportunity to walk around and get my bearings on my new campus.

Overall most of the notice boards and information posted around the campus was in Japanese. I'm not sure how many English programs this school has, my guess is not very many, but it was very hard to find my way around. I think I may make it my mission to make that place more user-friendly for English students. You have no idea how hard it was to fill in some of the paperwork that they sent me. I don't know what they expect from me when schools starts but the staff seems pretty open to helping me. They need me in their school to promote that they are international but they make it so hard to get anything done in English.

I looked at some of the class pictures from the last few years and either a) I'm going to be the only white boy in this program or b) all the white people didn't understand that there was a picture day since the notice was entirely in Japanese or c) I was looking at the wrong thing since it was also in Japanese and I'm illiterate.

The first room that I found open (no I did not go around checking each door) was this classroom you see above. Between the A/C and large TVs I was impressed. I'm sure this doesn't look super special to you. But have you ever wondered what your class would look like if you went to a Japanese University. For all I knew we would be sitting on tatami mats on the floor around a fire or putting on our virtual reality helmets. Who knows?

This is the front of my new building. Clearly the reason why there are no people in this picture is the fact that it is August and everyone is doing something else. This gives the pictures that photoshop-zombie look that everyone likes. Abandoned and clean.

The building you see here is in the front of a larger plaza. To the right and left are the international house and the cafeteria and behind me is the library. Mostly everything I will need is right here. On the other side of the campus I found a Subway. By Subway I mean the sandwich shop not a transport hub. It's actually a pain to get out to this school from where I live. It takes about an hour.





This is the map of the campus that I found in the library. The one they sent me in the mail was black and white and I couldn't really make out anything on it. Their presentation needs work. The campus is small but overall that should make my life easier.


The last mission I had at the campus was to figure out if there was some kind of weight room that came with the tuition. On the map I found gymnasium. Typically, that comes with weights and a studio of some sort. But you have to check because if there's one thing I've learned is that what you think something is in Japan is not usually the case. It's something else, strange but tasty/acceptable. The first gym on campus ended up being no different. It was an open gymnasium, no weights and lots of kids playing table tennis. These kids were no amateurs. I'm talking standing 2-3 feet away from the table and doing a full out Forest Gump to their opponents. They had some serious game. The other half of the gym was filled with a fencing class. Once again there was skill to be seen.

On the other side of campus, with a little help, I eventually found the weight room. This will suffice. Now I just have to make myself go.


This last picture I thought was funny. It shows how even the most casual things have some kind of bureaucracy.

I've probably mentioned this before but I feel truly grateful for having this opportunity to go to Grad school. I would never be able to do it in Canada, my marks are not high enough. I really feel like I have a great opportunity and I'm really going to try to give it my all. With any luck I will be in England next year finishing the second half of my degree. More on that as it develops.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Flights Bite

I've been meaning to write about the flight over. People have been asking me how killer it was.

This trip over was pretty good. Only 18 hours. The last time was a total of about 32.hours. A light stopover in Toronto and a crazy adventure through the Tokyo airport got me to Osaka on Friday night. Since then its been about being jet-lag and cleansing my system. Air Canada defiantly gets my vote over JAL. My seat had a USB plug, touch screen and electrical plug to charge my computer so I had a chance to play on that without fearing the loss of power. My girlfriend however flew with Air China: the seats were tiny, there were no individual TVs and the in-flight movie featured both Robin Williams and John Travolta. If anyone ever tells you to fly with Air China, think again. They may be cheap, but is it really worth it on a 12 hour flight?

On top of everything I spent an extra 150 dollars to not fly through the States, and it was worth every penny! My flight to Canada was horrid. I don't understand why air travel through the US is so painful. It doesn't have to be so bad but they make it really horrible. For instance, I couldn't find any healthy food to eat at the Chicago airport. Everything was Taco Bell Fried Pizza. It was disgusting. 9/10 people were seriously obese. I guess that's what middle America looks like. When my plain was getting ready for take off, I watched them unload the plain beside us. The guy was throwing the luggage onto the ground. I mean tossing it. Plus, with the 7 hour layover it overall made the trip that much longer. I highly recommend not travelling through the States if you can avoid it.

On this trip I really couldn't be bothered to read very much or do anything else. Instead, I watched 5 movies in total. just seemed easier to space out.

Once getting on the first flight in Ottawa I started “Iron Man 2” and finished it on the next flight. I expected to find it mediocre but ended up really liking it. After that I clicked on the Canadian cinema button and found a movie called Chloe with Liam Nelson and Julianne Moore. Cool thriller about paranoia. Then I watched “Hot Tub Time machine” which unlike what people say has little to do with “Back to the Future”. I did like it but it was unnecessarily vulgar and simply silly. It didn’t make much sense either. It could have been much better but it did have John Cusack. Eventually I watching Shrek 4 and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not as good as the first two but much better than the 3rd. They reference a lot of things from the first two but not the 3rd one. I think they were trying to make up for the fact that the 3rd one was really bad and no one liked it. So they made a new part 3. The last movie was simply to relax to something familiar so I watched “Catch me if you can”. I love that movie. It’s just fun and original. I wish I had a chance to see “Expendables” before leaving Ottawa but whatever.

The first week back was all about paperwork for school and begging people for scholarships. Not sure what the plan is for that but I have a few leads. I also need to figure out what I have to do to apply for a student visa. I hope I haven’t somehow screwed up the process for that. School starts end of September.

Next week, I’m going to try to start up my classes again so that I can afford rent and food for the next month.

I hope to have some time this week to work on the Kanji book I’m writing. I disapprove of all the methods I’ve come across so I decided to write my own book. More on that as I get into it.

Overall it feels really great to be back in Japan. I love the overwhelming hospitality that Japanese people give me. For instance, the airport personnel on the tarmac waved to the plane as it was taking off. Or another situation: I took a cab from the airport and the driver insisted that I wait outside so he could come around and open the door for me. It was exceptional service. I don’t know how to explain it but it just feels really easy here all of a sudden. People are polite, they never cut in line, they let people get off the subway first instead of pushing their way in, and most importantly they bow all the time. I missed the “sorry for making you wait” I get after waiting for an average of 30 seconds in a shop, the shop-assistant bowing to me as I leave, the next customer holding the door open for me on my way out and the overall feeling that I get knowing that each and every person is doing their job to the best of their capabilities and is proud of it too.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Karujaga

I found this at the supermarket. It didn't really make me want to buy their product.

Friday, August 27, 2010

What is that stuff?

Here is some strange stuff that I've found since getting back. I know the first picture may not be super special because it does show up from time to time in North America but it tastes amazing.
A lot of products are remolding their marketing nowadays because of the recession but I did find this one cool.
This is 7up zero, more or less. It tastes really good and you don't get that sugar overload feeling.

One of the great things about Japan is all the vending machines everywhere. I'm not sure what this one is trying to tell me but either it will kill me if I come near it or it will make me mighty if I buy from it. I didn't know what to do so I took this picture and ran full sprint in the opposite direction. Coincidentally I rant towards this machine and I felt much better for this one offered me life, IN ENGLISH!


What is wrong with this Chinese bootleg? Any guesses?
Yes this is the famous square watermelon. It does cost $100 but its SQUARE!!







What's she wearing?
I'm not sure what she's thinking or what her shit means and I doubt she wanted to be famous for it but hey that's Jinglish (Japanese English) for you.

For all you campers out there this is the penthouse of camping. You get a garage, dining room, living room and 3 bedrooms. Hell with it you can buy 7 of them and make a little community for camping.








Lastly, I thought this 1978 poster was classic. StarWars is 33 now. I think this was used for it's re-release in 1978

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Has Ottawa Changed?

Since leaving to France 3 years ago, I’ve come back and visited Canada 5 times. Each previous trip left some good memories but overall a sense of disappointment. I can rationalize that the disappointment came from not having enough time, bad organization and other people’s busy schedules. But more than that, it was a sense that little had changed and life in Ottawa remained stagnant. This is always the feeling that one gets when they’re gone for a period of time from their home town and, yet, this was also my honest opinion of the state of affairs in Ottawa. It honestly felt the same. People were doing the same things and overall had the same ideas about what they wanted without knowing how to bring about this change. I too was searching for change but didn’t know what I wanted.

This year, my visit back to Canada was not only highly enjoyable, but I could really see the changes in the city, the people and mostly myself. I can look back at what I left behind 3 years ago and I was truly happy to see what I came back to in 2010. One could suggest that the reason I felt disappointed before was that I hadn’t changed enough myself to really feel a sense of difference. I think it’s more than that. I really feel that everyone I know has made leaps and bounds since I’ve been gone and it truly is wonderful to see. Babies and houses, school and jobs have all been shuffled around for the better.

The issues that I’ve been dealing with for the last few years have simply to do with not knowing what to do with myself. People say to me that they hope I will find what I am looking for but it’s not that simple. It’s about finding your passion and keeping yourself busy in ways that make you happy without feeling that sense of stagnation. I felt there was a sense of stagnation for a while even though I was travelling. I didn’t know where to apply myself. Now it seems that some form of maturity has embraced me and those I know to give us some idea of what to do with ourselves. But I can only hope that what everyone is doing right now is something that they enjoy and not simply settling because they gave up trying or got backed into a corner somehow. It’s hard to tell sometimes because people can rationalize most of their decisions and trick themselves into believing that they are happy. It’s important to take that step back and assess and not just live day to day.

There are other reasons why this trip was particularly great. I got some nice reverse-culture shock which is always fun. I didn’t have to take any summer school this year which I had done the last two summers I visited. I spent a week in the U.S. which was interesting. The weather was really great. But overall people made a serious effort to plan things out and have fun. Because everyone is busy it takes more of an effort to see people so planning has to be involved.

For the first time, I’m thinking that I actually miss living in Canada. The trauma of having to deal with cross-cultural communication for the last 3 years has been tiresome and sometime back in Ottawa would be relaxing but that won’t be happening for another two years at least and I already know it won’t be permanent.

I know many people want me to move back to Ottawa but the truth is no matter how many friends and family members I have there, I simply can’t see myself staying there for the rest of my life. Canada overall, I feel, has little to offer me in the long term. There are many reasons that I can get into but overall the real feeling is that, even though the trauma of living in other cultures is tiring, it does provide a constant simulation and an overall avoidance of stagnation.

It is my firm belief that one must live outside of their comfort zone in order to constantly learn more about themselves and keep their brain stimulated. Staying in your home town / country / job / relationship / hobby / routine is simply not stimulating enough for the human brain to keep interest alive. Not when the world is so big and complicated and it’s impossible to do everything.

The things that attract me back to Ottawa besides, obviously, friends and family is government work, and a chance to improve my French in an atmosphere that’s not overwhelming. Learning French in France was very exhausting. A few years back in would feel nice. But there are still lots of places that are worth seeing and living in.

For the next two years it’s all about going back to school. I regret that I will have little cash to do much more than that. But that’s the trade-off.