I'M IN!!

For Christmas I received three career books so I would figure out how to get my life on track. I'm not saying that it was off the track but I was starting to complain that I didn't know where the track was going. The books were meant to coach me to determine a decent strategy of what the next few years would look like.

To tell you the truth, I didn't get through 10% from those books. What happened is I decided to put all my chips onto one number on the roulette. Well maybe the metaphor is not exact but point is I decided I wanted to try to get into Grad School. This idea was never really in the forefront of my brain because simply, before this, I couldn't go. In Canada, in order to get into any kind of Master's program, I needed to have at least a B average which I didn't have. The trend I noticed throughout uni was that I would get decent marks in anything in the Arts and abysmal marks if I swayed too far from the Faculty. I'm simply not good at memorising things and then regurgitating them.

Before I continue my story, one important thing to keep in mind is what kind of situation the world is in right now. Because of the recession and unemployment being higher than before, more people have angled to go back to school. Plus, not only is demand rising for entry into school (hence the competitiveness), schools have lowered the amount of available entry positions because of government restrictions thus making it even more difficult. If you're in school right now, congratulations because it's really competitive out there.

The reason I started to think about going back to school was I somehow came up with the idea that maybe school in Japan would be different. As it turns out, I was partially right. For Japanese applicants to university it is very similar to the way it is in Canada. However, I would be applying as a foreign student and thus my application would be weighed differently. I couldn't find any stipulations that mentioned a minimum average to apply.

The strategy went as such: First, I made a list of all the schools in Japan that offered a program related to the words INTERNATIONAL, FOREIGN or DIPLOMACY. I figured with my international experience and my interest in the world this was right up my alley. Second, I scanned their website looking for any sign that the school had an English program or at least had an English version of their website. As you can probably guess from the list of 100ish in my database I contacted about 30. From the 30 about 10 replied. My e-mail to them was very clear: A) is your stuff in English? B) when does your stuff start? As far as I was concerned if they failed these then there was no point. Third, I narrowed the list down to about four universities and then eventually three. Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Waseda Univeristy in Tokyo and Sophia University in Tokyo.

After my trip to Tokyo last February (which I promise I will write about), I wasn't crazy about going to live there. However, if the school accepted me then, I guess I would relocate. Helene was very against moving to Tokyo and thus all her enthusiasm was placed on Ritsumeikan. What's funny is that, when this whole thing started, I heard about this school and considered it the lowest contender at first glance. Eventually, it became the top choice. All my work with the database was essentially useless.

As soon as I finished my old job and moved into the new place, the plan was to work on these applications and make myself sound so much more awesome then I could possibly be. It turns out, I spent the better part of that month trying to understand what they wanted me to write then actually writing it. Most schools wanted at least 3 essays explaining what you want and why. Plus, they wanted a research proposal. I ran around, read lots of websites (using a stolen signal) and constantly writing and rewriting the application. As you can guess, this was not fun and all kinds of self esteem issues started to come to the surface.

In the end I only applied to two universities, Waseda and Ritsumeikan. At the last moment I had second thoughts on Sophia.

Both May and June were filled with ongoing stress and anxiety. Constant "what if" questions, thinking of alternatives and pretty much being anxious. Mid-May, I got an answer from Waseda saying thanks but no thanks, thus everything came down to the university I originally didn't care about.

I thought the results were suppose to come out on Monday July 21st. My impatience was driving me nuts and on Thursday I cracked and went to the uni to see what the results were. After getting lost trying to get there, |I finally tracked down the right secretary who told me I had to wait till the following day for the results to be released. Angry, I came back first thing the following day ... where I found this piece of paper. I brought it to their attention that an English program should have its announcement paper in English (they laughed). When I saw this paper, I impatiently asked the first person who was walking by to tell me what it said. The girl I chose spoke no English and blah blahed something to me but overall her mood was positive as opposed to being apologetic. Optimistic, I went in to the office and asked them to explain the paper to me.

Turns out I was accepted! I will start uni in September in the International Relations Master's Program at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.
I'm really happy that I can continue to live in my new awesome place. I love it here!! I'm currently trying to get my head in the right zone to do what I need to do. In two weeks I'm going back to Canada to get some books and make a game plan. Its going to be a crazy year.

Nano Block

When we first arrived in Kyoto, I found nano block. It's like Lego but smaller. The one of Himeji Castle is pretty cool. The sad thing is it's just as expensive as Lego. The add at the bottom, I found on display in a store called Loft in Tokyo. It is hands down the best promotion for an item I have ever seen. Ever see one of those commercials where you're not sure what they were selling? Well this is not one of them.

I'm still Canadian!!

The other day I had to subject Helene to this to prove how Canadian I am. I may go around the world but I still have it in me.

Workplace Bans Beards

I found this article the other day and I thought it was very funny. Because of the heat here I found that my beard grows twice as fast as it has anywhere else so if I don't shave everyday I really look like a bum. A beard doesn't look cool here.

Kyodo News By MIKI NAKANISHI

MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. — The issue of men with facial hair in the workplace has recently prompted serious discussions as well as actual bans based on "decorum."

Hairy issue: A bearded shopkeeper is given a "no" sign by a customer in an illustration addressing the issue of banning facial hair in the workplace. TARO ARAI ILLUSTRATION / KYODO

In May, the city of Isesaki, Gunma Prefecture, banned all male municipal employees from sporting beards in the office on the grounds that public servants should look decent. The city took the action after some residents complained about its bearded workers. In response to the news, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry said it had never heard of any municipality introducing such a rule.

Isesaki's move, however, is nothing new. A growing number of Japanese, including athletes, are being prohibited from turning up for work unshaven so they won't "offend" the public.

Seven-Eleven Japan Co. is particularly strict about the appearance of its employees and says it won't hire men with beards."We might fire workers growing beards regardless of whether they are regular staff or part-time workers," a public relations official said.

Oriental Land Co., owner of the Tokyo Disney Resort, also bans beards, like its U.S. counterpart."It's important that workers serving our guests maintain an immaculate image," an official said. "But the rule doesn't apply to the man playing the role of Captain Hook in our park."

The manufacturing arm of razor maker Kai Corp. tests the quality of its products almost every month on its male workers. They grow facial hair until the monthly test date arrives and get back to work cleanshaven after the tests.

Some men take issue with the bans. An employee of Japan Post Service Co. sued the firm to protest a pay cut imposed because of his beard. In March, the Kobe District Court ordered the company to pay him ¥370,000 on grounds that a person's appearance is a matter of personal freedom and a uniform ban on beards is unreasonable.

In sports, the Yomiuri Giants baseball club is well known for its ban on beards. When he left the Nippon Ham Fighters for the Giants in December 2006, infielder Michihiro Ogasawara made his fans gasp by shaving his trademark beard. The baseball star said abiding by his team's rules was a matter of manhood.

No regulations exist regarding facial hair in the world of sumo, the most tradition-bound of sports in Japan. According to the Japan Sumo Association, some non-Japanese wrestlers have taken flak in the past because they tend to be more hairy than most Japanese and some fans found their bushy facial hair unseemly. By and large, not wearing a beard is a tacit rule. The association, however, is rather flexible regarding the issue. "We work in the world where luck counts a great deal, so some wrestlers don't shave during a winning streak" because they fear it would change their luck, an association official said.

"It is said that growing a beard or not should be a matter of personal freedom and left to each individual to decide, but organizations fail to function well if they lack a certain measure of discipline," said Mitsuru Yaku, a cartoonist and commentator on various social issues who himself sports a beard.

"A beard is a symbol that is the polar opposite of a virtue associated with a serious-minded adult, and many people equate beards with decadence or moral laxity," he said.

Mario Violin

So many Cameras

This is a video I shot at BIC Camera just after I shot the last video. I meant to put it up a long time ago but it kept slipping my mind.

Boil'em? Mash'em? Stick'em in a Stew?

I don't know what this is, what it tastes like or what I'm suppose to do with it. I'm open to any advice or information.

I have no idea.

We just bought some yellow watermelon with some yellow kiwis. Both had a strange honey aftertaste to them.

TOILETS! The Next Generation

One of the famous fables of Japan is the toilets. I've received many requests to outline this amazing phenomenon.

Toilets are one of those things that you thought could never get upgraded. Leonardo's idea of a toilet is pretty much the same thing as it is today. But in Japan they have gone much further. We've heard stories of singing toilets or heated toilets and I'm here to tell you that ITS ALL TRUE. In the Simpsons, they even had a toilet that thanked you for your...whatever.

Up until the end of WWII the Japanese used the hole in the floor concept for their toilet system. I personally have standards so I will wait until I find some kind of alternative. However girls usually don't have that kind of luxury. The balancing act that you need to pull this off takes practice. And to be honest, I would rather avoid the possible mess that can happen. In most places, today, you will find a western style toilet.

As you saw in my video from a few days ago, the Japanese, like Europeans, separate the toilet from the shower/bathroom. It would be more accurate to call it a Water Closet. Inside the first thing you will see are a pair of slippers. Usually made of a rubber material, they are toilet slippers. My guess is so that your feet don't get cold on the tile floor or some have told me its to avoid slipping on some water that may have splashed out of the bowl. Now, I've never seen any water on the floor but you never know. Maybe it's so that any questionable excrement that may be on the toilet floor is simply not tracked through the house.

Now, on the toilet itself, there is a sink. This sink has no taps on it. When you flush the toilet the water starts to to fill the toilet tank and you can wash your hands with it. At first, I did find it a little strange but if you think about it, it totally removes the need of putting in a sink in the room and saves space. We put a little soap dispenser near the sink and there you go.

On a side note, in Europe they have the big button and little button. I once had to explain it to someone so I'll explain it here. The big button is for big toilet experiences and the little button is for little toilet experiences, thus regulating the amount of water being spent. In Japan they have the same idea. They use the Kanji 大 for big and 小 for small. I have no idea why we don't have this in Canada.

Unfortunately, in our new place our toilet has not been upgraded to any of the modern conveniences. In our last place, the toilet seat could be adjusted up to 40°C. That was nice in the winter. If anyone wants to start a business with me selling these things to Canadians let me know. But this is nothing compared to some of the newer models. In Japan you have to buy toilet seats in electronic stores.

Now for some higher levels.
This first toilet is the first kind of basic upgrade to the heated toilet.









The options that this one offers is not only heated seat but cleansing. Cleansing means that when you press the button that looks like a little bum, a nozzle comes out from the back of the bowl and gives it a little shower. Now the stream is very exact and leaves you with a very fresh feeling. I think the idea freaks some people out but I personally hate the..not fresh feeling that one can get after a...you get the idea. Sometimes no further wiping is required. The lights on the side are for the options of energy saver, heated seat, heated water, and cleaning the nozzle.



This next toilet is one of the first series of upgrades to the standard one shown above. Rather than having the remote on the toilet, it's on the wall for better control of the options and deeper contemplation of what you want. This one offers a control for the intensity of the water cleaning you. One of the buttons is to clean your bum and the other is for bidet, which cleans the whole general area. Some toilets come with a drying option.

Other options vary dramatically. Some play music to cover the sound of anything you may do, others have proximity sensors that lift the seat cover when you approach. Ones with deodorizers are cool because they spray just a little bit of something that smells nice on your bum. Also, the latest models store the times when the toilet is used and have a power-saving mode that warms the toilet seat only during times when the toilet is likely to be used based on historic usage patterns. Some toilets also glow in the dark or may even have air conditioning below the rim for hot summer days.

On the news recently, they announced a new toilet with sensors in it to assess the quality of your urine based on blood sugar and other levels. Overall, toilet seats can run from $100 to $800.

Now these are not the only toilets I've seen in the world that were special. Last summer, I was in Switzerland in a place called St. Gallen and at the train station I found this.

Dairy KitKat

I've mentioned before that Japan has this thing for KitKat Chocolate bars. KitKat means good luck or luck or having luck.in Japanese. From what I've figured out, you can always find the standard red chocolate KitKat but they also have 1-3 seasonal KitKats. To date I've eaten about 10 different kinds!

I found this one on New Years Eve 2009. This is Cheese KitKat. I have no idea how healthy the cheese part was or how much Cheese was in it because I didn't get it from a refrigerated section. It was on the shelf right next to the chips. Thus, I'm guessing it must have had a crazy amount of chemicals in it.

The cheese part and the KitKat part was separated. The KitKat part tasted more or less like a regular chocolate KitKat but missing the sugary part that you would normally get. It was milk chocolate but without the extra sugar.

The Cheese tasted kind of like cheese curds or cheese string. Bottom line it didn't taste natural. It tasted very artificial. Unlike cheese string this so called cheese was harder more like the crust of a Camembert cheese.

The idea is to take a piece of the cheese and a stick of the KitKat and bite it together. Strange enough, it was pretty good. If you want to simulate this kind of taste try cheese curds and a regular KitKat. Somehow this one tasted saltier.

Rice Pixelation...Views from Above

Some people have too much spare time on their hands and figure if you're going to grow rice you might as well make it interesting. Well there are different colours of rice plants and they grow different kinds of rice, I guess. Today, one of my students gave me a bag of black rice and then told me what kind of recipes I should try with it. Anyway, that's neither here nor there, but it did encourage me to put up this posting of how a little bit of patience can go a long way. Enjoy!

Let's tell the Aliens were really smart.
It pays off when you get to the bottom.
What do you think?
This is not Photoshop.

The Old Place

As I mentioned before, we recently moved to a new place. I would love to show you all the details of the new place but I'm paranoid that having all that information on the Internet will bring unnecessary security risks. However, I do have another video to show you today.

Since I'm not living in the old place anymore, I can show you what it looked like. It was a much older house. Mostly made of wood. In the winter it was crazy cold and there were lots of holes in the house where you could feel the cold coming in. I have no idea how my old boss lived there in the state it was in. But I won't go into too much detail. This picture is of a window in the upstairs bedroom that I boarded up because the window that was there was so poor quality that it permanently kept the room cold. Before last winter hit, I made sure it wouldn't bother us.

I took this video on the last night we were in the house, March 29th 2010. We spent the better part of a week bringing our stuff by subway to the new place. This is the last suitcase of the trip. Yes, I bought a giant hippo. I'm a 10yr old I know. My boss flew in at 7pm and he was coming to stay in his house. We were trying to clean up, pack and get out as soon as we could. This video was taken at 8:50pm. I'm rushing (because I'm Russian..oh bad) because we wanted to get out before he got there.

It Sucks as it Cuts

One of the biggest fears I had living in France was getting my haircut. Language textbooks and general vocabulary don't prepare you to explain what you want done. And this is where cultural misunderstanding can get you some strange results. Since I got to Japan I've experienced some strange things when it came to haircuts. I'm all for getting a haircut to look clean and proper but I sometimes just dread going out because a haircut in Japan is "like a box of chocolates...".

Now when I mean weird I mean not the things I usually experience when I get a haircut. Every time I got a haircut in Asia, something strange happened.

Haircut #1
After being here for about a month and a bit, I finally came to the decision that a haircut was needed. We got out a sheet of paper and looked up all the words in the dictionary that I would need to say and went out to look for a place. In Canada and France I understand that a haircut for women can run around $50, but to be honest women only get a cut once every few months. Guys should have it done every month or so. Plus the job is not nearly as high, so it should be cheaper! As it turns out the cost of haircuts in Japan are CRAZY, about $40-$50 for men or women.

We walked around looking for a barber for nearly an hour. Two things, 1) I'm not that cheap but I refuse to pay $50 for a haircut, which I ended up doing anyway because we couldn't find a cheaper place. 2) Japanese must have some kind of hair fetish because they have salons on every street corner. I'm talking worse then Tim Horton's and McDonald's put together! For every major street there is a hair place every 10min by foot.

The cut itself was alright...

Haircut #2
End of January while in Taiwan, a group was holding some kind of charity sale on the side of a major road. And strangely enough they were offering haircuts. I just did it for the novelty of this picture because I've never had a haircut on the side of a road before. The wind felt nice. It was only a trim but it looked good

Haircut #3
This was truly a strange experience. The guy I found could not speak English. The hair models were all Japanese and, in my opinion, all had terrible hair in the pictures. I guess I don't get Japanese men's hairstyles. I mean look at this guy. Can you imagine a westerner getting a cut like that? He looks cool like out a manga or something, but on me that would just look queer.

My barber tried to impress me with his bad English and his interest in 24 and Keifer Sutherland. His phone even rang the way the CTU phones ring.

So what was strange about this cut? At the end of the cut, he gave me a quick back massage. I'm sure the expression on my face would have made this blog really great but it freaked me out. I'm sure he liked me but that was really strange.

Haircut #4
Turns out the whole massage thing is not that gay as a female stylist did the same thing. This time, a friend of mine took me out to somewhere Japan and did all the explaining for me. This woman was like a master swordsman with her scissors. It was cool to see but it took forever.
One interesting thing that happened at each cut, except for the street one of course, was that first they cut my hair and then shampooed it after. It was really nice. I defiantly approve of leaving a place with a completely clean head. They should do that in Canada.

Haircut #5
This week I found a place that charges $10. All I needed was a trim so I went in. Everything as as expected, massage, cut, but this time he did something new.
After cutting my hair he took out one of these and began to vacuum my head. Afterwards, he continued cutting like nothing happened. I know there is a Wayne's World "it sucks as it cuts" joke in there somewhere but it certainly did not suck. Surprisingly it felt really nice.

Not sure what will happen the next time I get a haircut. Not sure how much it will cost but even though I have the vocabulary down, this place still finds a way to surprise me.